Syaoran was jolted upright in an instant. His breath blended in with the chilly night air, leaving a crisp white cloud fluttering in front of his eyes. His heart pounded against the bones in his ribcage so loudly that he had to cover his ears with his hands to stop the noise. It did nothing ton lower the volume, but the gesture was somehow able to calm him down enough to slow his rapidly beating heart.

He shifted his gaze left and right, trying to focus on anything that seemed out of place. The room was still. So silent that even the thinnest of pins dropping could be heard as clearly as the shattering of a fragile glass vase. The wind rustled anything that was flimsy enough to be caught in its grasp, but was gentle enough to leave everything else in the room alone. His wife lay sleeping next to him. She seemed unfazed by her husband's startled awakening and was currently enthralled by a batch of sweet dreams playing in her mind. Her breathing was even, a smile lay dormant on her face, and there was no sign to indicate that she knew that anything was wrong.

He carefully lifted the blankets off of his body, and as soon as his feet touched the ground, he silently put the sheets back in place and walked out of the room. The halls of the castle were lined with the dim glow of slowing melting white candles. Syaoran could smell the burning wax as he continued down the long corridors. His throat now seemed dry and cried out for something cold to soothe the burning sensations that plagued it. He was too tired to make it to the kitchen, but the bathroom was not too far away.

He flinched when the all too bright bathroom lights hit his eyes. Willing them to stop throbbing, and get used to the lack of darkness, he turned on the silver faucet and watched as water began spouting out of the cool metal nozzle. The sounds of the running water had a soothing affect on Syaoran's nerves. While he had the chance, and while he was calm enough to do so, he mentally went through the events that had awoken him. The nightmare that almost had him screaming out in pain. The second he did, his heart almost felt as though it was about to collapse.

It really wasn't all that much of a nightmare now that he thought about it. More like a batch of bad memories. Perhaps that was the reason why they were so scary to him, why they were enough to jolt him out of a deep slumber. They were real. They had come true once before. They were history. They could repeat themselves if ever given the chance.

He splashed the water onto his face, grabbed another handful, took it greedily into his mouth, and turned off the faucet. He didn't want to think about that right now. He didn't want to think about anything like that ever again. If he could just push it to the back of his mind, like he had done so many times before, he could pretend like nothing was wrong. He could pretend that those things didn't bother him. He could pretend that he had no regrets in his life. He could pretend that he was always as happy as people thought he was.

"Daddy?"

Syaoran's head twisted to the left, towards the doorway of the bathroom. A sleepy six year old brunette stood beside it, one hand holding onto a blanket while the other rubbed at tired eyes.

Syaoran smiled sheepishly. He had forgotten that the bathroom he was currently standing in was right next to his son's bedroom. "I'm sorry Daisuke, did I wake you?"

Daisuke shook his head. Amber eyes looked up to Syaoran while their owner's bottom lip began to quiver. "I had a bad dream."

Syaoran kneeled before the child, making sure to give him a gentle smile. "Did you now?"

The boy nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Daisuke held out his arms to his father, a sign that he wanted to be picked up. Syaoran chuckled and pulled the boy into his arms before standing up and making the short journey back to Daisuke's room. The child's bedroom was as dark as the night sky with a trail of blankets leading from the bed all the way to the door. Syaoran guessed that his son must have run straight to him after having that bad dream of his.

It was funny. Daisuke never went to his mother when he had a nightmare, even when the nightmare was about her, as most children tended to do. He preferred to go to his father. When he had been younger, about two or three years old, he used to have nightmares daily. He used to be terrified of them. There were tears in his eyes and screams filling his bedroom every night. No one knew exactly what the bad dreams were about, he never told anyone, but it was a well known fact that the only way to soothe the panicked child was a hug and kiss from daddy dearest. Even then, the only way to get him back to sleep again was to have Syaoran stay with him until he was fast asleep.

It was torture for everyone when Syaoran went out of the country for a long period of time. Daisuke would let no one else partake in the ritual he shared with his father. He would cry, scream, and beg until someone finally had to go and drag Syaoran back to the castle so that everyone in the building could get some sleep. In the end, the young father found it easier to take Daisuke with him wherever he traveled. It was a bit inconvenient, but it allowed both father and son to spend a lot of valuable quality time together. The nightmares had stopped coming so frequently when little Daisuke turned four, but they occasionally returned to haunt their soft hearted host. Syaoran remained the only one able to comfort his son in those times of need.

Just as he had done many times before, Syaoran carefully placed his son in bed and pulled up the covers to his chest. He planted a soft kiss on the boys' brow before scooting in next to his son, who had already moved over to make room for his father. "Now what was this bad dream about?"

Daisuke hesitated.

"You'll feel better if you talk about it."

The young child draped an arm over his father's waist. "There was this really dark room, darker than anything I've ever seen before. There was a man there, a dark shadowy figure with cruel eyes. He was standing in front of a glass tube. I was in there."

Syaoran had to force his breath to remain steady. The place his son was describing sounded a lot like the prison he had been stuck in when he had made that deadly wish many years ago. A part of him was still terrified of what he had escaped, and to hear that his son was in one just like his, even in a dream, was something to terrible to imagine.

"There were two others in there with me," His son carried on, unaware of his father's deep discomfort. "A boy name Isamu and another name Yukio. They looked like they were around my age. We were crying out for help. You were on the other side of the tube with two other men. A man dressed in black with dark hair and red eyes. The other wore white and blue and had blonde hair and blue eyes. You were banging on the glass, trying to get us out, but the glass was too strong."

"What happened next?" His voice was gentle, soothing, but it hurt to think about what came next.

"The cruel man started laughing. He said we were stuck with him until we died, and that if you were going to interfere, you'd have to die." Throwing dignity to the wind, the boy threw his arms over his father, his safety blanket, and began to cry.

Syaoran held onto his son as tightly as he could manage without hurting the child. The explanation he had been given had been paraphrased, he just knew it. His son never was comfortable with telling anyone the entire truth about his nightmares, not even his father. Syaoran didn't know if they were too painful to recall, or too meaningless to remember, but there was always something Daisuke refused to talk about. That something was always the thing that worried his father the most. Keeping things locked up inside was not something that helped you in life. In fact, it more often than not made you miserable.

"I had a bad dream too."

Daisuke's tears stopped for a moment. "Really? You did daddy?"

He nodded.

"I didn't think grownups had bad dreams."

Syaoran ruffled his son's hair affectionately. "Everybody gets bad dreams Dai. Even grownups."

Daisuke's embrace became a little gentler, but he still clung on to the fabric of his father's shirt. "What happened in your dream? Was it anything like mine?"

"Not really, I saw my parents."

"Your mommy and daddy?"

He nodded.

"How come I've never met them?" Daisuke asked innocently. "I've met mommy's parents."

'Mommy's parents live in this world.' "My mother and father live very far away. I haven't seen them in a long time."

"What happened to them?"

Syaoran blinked. "What do you mean?"

"In the dream, what happened to them in the dream?"

"Oh right." He let himself smile, just for a second. "They stood in front of me in the beginning. We were talking and laughing like we used to do when I was little. Then, everything shattered, like an image made of glass. I was alone. I searched for them for a little while, but in the end I knew it was pointless. I couldn't see them anymore."

He too, knew how to paraphrase his dreams. He left out certain events and details from the nightmare he had woken up from, just so that he could spare his son any unwanted tears. It was a bad habit he never grew out of, and maybe, now that he thought about it, that was where Daisuke got it from.

"Do you miss them?"

"I do."

"Why don't we go see them?" Daisuke said enthusiastically. "Then they can meet me and see how much I look like you."

Syaoran chuckled. "But Dai, this place is very, very, far away and it's a very dangerous trip. In order to get there you have to walk hundreds of miles, travel to many perilous lands, and fight thousands of hungry monsters." While none of that was anywhere close to the truth, it did manage to put a smile on his son's face.

"Sounds like fun!"

"Fun?" His father raised an eyebrow. "That's your idea of fun? You're not afraid?" He teased.

"Of course not! I can do anything. I've traveled to far off places with you before, I can take the walking. Besides, I've been practicing those kicks you taught me and I'm really good at them." He boasted. "Pretty soon, I'll be strong enough to beat you at your own game."

"Oh really?"

"Really."

Syaoran was silent for a second, allowed a smirk to crawl onto his face, before reaching out his arms. Before Daisuke could blink, he found himself laughing beyond the possibility of control. His father was tickling him.

"Daddy!" The boy said through a fit of giggles. "Stop! That tickles!"

"What?" Syaoran pretended he hadn't heard. "I can't hear you."

"It tickles!"

"Say uncle."

"Never!"

The tickling continued for a moment, until both father and son were too out of breath to continue.

"I won." Daisuke whispered with a smile on his face. "I never said uncle."

His father rolled his eyes and smiled. "I let you win. Remember that."

Daisuke yawned, too tired to say much else.

"Feeling better?"

"Uh-huh."

"Tired?"

The child snuggled closer to his father's side while nodding sleepily.

"Go to sleep then."

"Promise you'll stay with me?"

"I always do."

Daisuke was content with that answer, and in the end, so was Syaoran. Both batches of bad dreams seemed to disappear, just like that. So after a good night kiss and a warm loving embrace, father and son ventured off into the world of sweet dreams.

MistressOfTime1218: This just sort of popped into my head a couple of nights ago. It might not b very good, I'm dealing with a large case of writers block, but it was the first decent thing I've thought up in a while, so I thought I'd post it up. I'm thinking of doing one with Fai and Kurogane as well. We'll see how it goes. Please R&R