Disclaimer: Sadly, all I own is a collection of the manga, a set of the dvds, a copy of the art book, some keychains, and a Kyo plushie (squeeeeee!). My name is not Natsuki Takaya (maybe if I changed it?) nor is my daddy a big director at Tokyopop.

Authoress' Note:

Thank you for checking out my story, I appreciate it.

This is set right after chapter 48 of the manga, for those of you who do not remember it's the beginning of summer break, when Momiji persuades everyone to go to a haunted house. In the story, Tohru is having a nightmare because of said haunted house and Kyo comes to try and wake her up and calm her down. This is a one-shot.

Any reviews/comments/constructive criticism will be highly appreciated.

Japanese words are as follows:

Nezumi- rat

Inu- dog

Usagi- rabbit

Neko- cat

The rain poured down as she watched the two silent figures embrace. Creeping closer, the fog cleared slightly as she studied the people that lay before her. One of the figures was a small child about 10 or 11 years old and the other was an older woman. She couldn't make out either of their faces. The woman clutched the child to her breast and both appeared to be crying. Suddenly Tohru heard a sharp snap and realized that she had stepped on a stick. She hid behind a tombstone (when did that get there?), then realized that the scene before her had changed into an old, crumbled graveyard. Not only that, but also that the two figures were walking towards her. As they got closer, she saw that they were faceless and that their bodies were old and, crumbling and, at some parts, eaten away. Suddenly, a loud, cackling laughter erupted out of nowhere as the figures continually moved forward. Tohru opened her mouth to scream but, to her horror discovered that no sound came out. She-

"Damn it Tohru! Wake Up!" A furry orange paw bopped her on the face, but was only rewarded with another scream. Kyo swore again as he tried to shake her awake without opposable thumbs, and without having to resort to his claws.

(flashback)

He felt his ears flatten as another scream tore out the window underneath him. He had hoped that she would settle back to peaceful slumber on her own but, apparently this was not the case. He decided he would go calm her down, since that damn nezumi could sleep through anything and that sick inu would probably try and seduce her if he got the chance. Sighing, he jumped off the roof and entered the house, going up the stairs and into her room, unaware, that he was being smirked at by said inu.

"Tohru?" he called softly.

No response.

He moved over next to her bed, she lay there shaking and whimpering. He could see traces of tears on her face. Mentally cursing Momiji for taking her to that stupid haunted house in the first place and Haru for planting that stupid story in her head, he gently shook her shoulders in an attempt to awaken her. Sadly though, his attempts were in vain. Tohru screamed again and started muttering:

"No! No!"

"Wake. Up."

She screamed.

"Tohru."

Kyo leaned over the bed, with his arms on each side of her, and began softly smacking her cheeks and muttering.

"Tohru, come on, it's only a dream. It's not even real, so snap out of it."

After a few moments she started to settle down and Kyo relaxed his arms a little thinking she had finally stopped.

He had just started to realize how close he was to her and how he could even make out the individual hairs of her eyelashes when,

POOF

Before he had realized what was happening she had screamed and started thrashing around again, trying to get away from whatever was chasing her and hold on to the only refuge she could get to.

Which had happened to be Kyo's neck.

Then she had started kicking again and before he could've done anything she had kicked one of his legs so that his knees buckled. Since he had relaxed his arms, he wasn't able to catch himself as he fell forward.

(end flashback)

He sighed and picked his beads up in his mouth, so that in the event he turned back he wouldn't scare her further with his true form. He climbed of her stomach, around her shoulder, and sat right in front of her head on the pillow. He bopped her on the face a few more times for good measure, and then slumping his shoulders, he gave up on that.

He noticed, to his relief, after a few minutes, that she started to quiet down a bit.

"Are you okay now Tohru? I don't know what that stupid usagi was thinking today, pulling you into that haunted house. What were you thinking?" He paused and watched her sleep, her chest rising and falling softly with each breath.

"It's okay to be scared Tohru, you don't have to love everything. And you don't have to do something if you're not comfortable with it, even if you do want please people. You should decide on your own, when you want to face your fears, not when you're being put under pressure. And when you are scared don't be afraid to tell people, speak up. You are not here to serve people; you are here to enjoy life with the ones you love and," his voice cracked slightly, "the ones who love you…"

Slowly he picked up his beads and jumped off the bed, when he was about halfway to the door, he dropped them again "I'll protect you." he said, half to himself.

The orange neko quietly slipped out of the room.