This is my first Akito/Ren fanfic in a long time, so be nice with the reviews.

Thank you Three Days Grace for keeping me going.

Never before has Akito felt so lonely without her mother; Shigure was away for a while, and she wasn't sleeping. She was thinking non-stop about her mother, and the nightmares about her father were making it worse. She laid there in bed trying to sleep, but it was difficult, very difficult. The nightmares were getting worse and worse by the minute and they got so bad she couldn't take it anymore. She got out of bed and ran right outside.

It was cold and damp from the early morning dew, lord knew what time it was, but it was very early in the morning and everyone was still sleeping. Akito hadn't felt like this since Tohru fell off the cliff a few weeks back, and thinking of the nightmares were making her tear up a little. She continued to run until she fell on the path in front of a house she had never seen on the estate before; she never came this direction because her mother lived somewhere in that area. But it was dark, so she couldn't see where she was going. The door opened, and a man stood there looking down at her, she didn't know who it was.

"Ren come here!" he called. Akito hiccoughed when she heard that name; she soon realized she must be at her mother's place. She started to cry when she heard footsteps, when she saw Ren appear from the hallway, she curled up in a ball crying harder as the man called Jazuko spoke again. "Ren, tell me straight out and true, is that Akito?"

"Yes it is," Ren answered, "but what is she doing here? What does she want?"

"I'll ask her," said Jazuko as he knelt down close enough to hear what Akito had to say. "Akito, what is it that you want?"

"I want my mom," she said through her tears as she reached out to grab Ren's hand. Ren was shocked as Akito let out one little word in a whisper. "Mommy."

Ren looked at her daughter; with the way she was curled up, she knew she was suffering most likely from something to do with her father. Ren turned to Jazuko. "Let's get the spare bedroom ready for her," she said. Jazuko nodded and turned to the boy standing behind them.

"Look after her until we get back," he said to the boy who appeared to be his son.

Jazuko followed Ren into the spare bedroom and helped her prepare the bed.

"What do you think is up with her?" he asked.

"Well, from what I've heard from a few servants at the Main House, Akito has lately been having nightmares about her father," Ren answered. "In fact I've been such a bitch to Akito for all her life and I feel she needs the arms of her mother; I don't know why I didn't think of it around the time of Akira's death. She needs me, and I know what I must do."

Back at the front door, the boy was watching over Akito in case she ran off again, but she stayed put.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Akito," she answered.

"I'm Riko. Apparently your dad and my dad were best friends."

"Riko, do not mention her dad, because at this point it's what caused her to run out into the cold night," said Ren as she and Jazuko came out from the hall and Jazuko picked Akito up and carried her to the bedroom. A girl came out of her bedroom at that moment and was shocked to see a stranger in her father's arms.

"Uh, Dad, who is that?" she asked as Jazuko went into the spare room.

"That Reina, is your older stepsister," Ren answered. "She's going through a hard time and her fiancé is away, so she's staying with us for a while. But since she's having nightmares about her father, so I don't know what tomorrow will bring. But we need to make her feel welcome to this place; I'll tell you more tomorrow when everybody is awake a listening so they can be aware of what's going on. Now, go on back to bed."

The girl went back into her room and Ren walked over to the bed where Akito was already trying to sleep, and then she bent over and kissed her on her forehead. Nearly an hour later, Akito had another nightmare, and she woke up screaming. Ren came running in to calm her down; it worked, Akito was asleep once again for another hour before she woke up from yet another nightmare, but this time she leapt out bed and ran into the master bedroom where Ren and Jazuko were sleeping, and she climbed onto the bed in between them. Ren's eyes shot open when she felt the extra weight on her, even if Akito didn't weigh that much. Akito cried more as she held her mother tight; Ren knew Akito was experiencing something she had never experienced before.

"Baby, what is it?" Ren asked. Akito didn't answer. "Are you dreaming of your dad?"

Akito nodded.

"I keep having nightmares of him dying in many different ways," she finally said. "They're scaring me."

Akito starting crying harder; and Ren knew from that moment it was going to take more than comfort to heal her, because by morning, Akito was starting to lose body fluid from all the crying. It got so bad to the point where by another two days later which was the day before her birthday, she was extremely ill. Hatori had to put an I.V. right by the pullout couch in the living room where Akito was laying, and she had to have a needle stuck in the top of her left hand. But it wasn't just dehydration that was making Akito ill, she was also sleep deprived because of all the nightmares that have been keeping her awake. She was lucky to have her new family by her side; especially her mother.

She had also become very close to Riko, they were the same age only two months apart. Her two younger stepsisters Reina and Niki were very supportive, and they were never mean to her because they were told Akito was the head of the Sohma family. Jazuko's youngest son Kesuke always went out of his way to annoy people, so Riko was always beating him up; and Akito met her five year old biological sister Kora who she thought was adorable, and it was always implied that Kora was very worried about her big sister. Ren had spoken to the head maid to get information on what Akito likes to eat, so it gave her an idea of what to do for her birthday today. It was almost as if Akito and Ren had forgotten the years that they never spoke to each other.

Shigure arrived home that morning only to find his beloved fiancée not there. He got worried, but he got even more worried when Hatori told him Akito was over at Ren's house. He became enraged and ran right out the door in the direction of Ren's house; Hatori called Ren to inform her of Shigure's arrival, and Jazuko left the room and went to the front door to meet Shigure. He opened the door and there he stood.

"Jazuko, tell me straight out, where is she?" said Shigure.

"Shigure, is that you?" Akito called out from the other room.

"She's here?"

"She's been here for three days," Jazuko answered. Shigure followed him into the sitting room where everybody was and he looked around. He saw Ren with Kora at her side, two teenage girls sitting on a chair by the wall, and Riko standing in front someone lying on the couch who Shigure knew to be Akito.

"Hi Shigure," she said weakly. Shigure took a couple of steps towards Akito, but was stopped by Riko who looked utterly mad.

"Close enough," he growled.

"What do you think I would do to her?" asked Shigure. Riko just glared at him.

"It's okay Riko," Akito reassured. Riko stepped aside, and there Shigure saw the face of his beloved Akito who looked paler than usual and looked as if she was about to vomit. Shigure sat down on the bed and took Akito's hand; she gave him a very weak smile.

"I don't wanna be mean, but you look terrible," he said.

"I feel terrible," Akito replied.

Shigure saw the I.V. needle in her hand, and then he looked up at Ren. He suddenly got angry; he stood up and walked towards her.

"You did this to her," he said through his teeth. Riko fiercely grabbed his shoulder to keep him from attacking Ren.

"Leave her alone," he said, "she didn't do anything. How dare you blame her when you are clueless."

"Riko! Don't talk to him like that!" Ren raised her voice. "Shigure, I need to talk to you alone in the kitchen."

Shigure followed Ren into the kitchen and was cautious in case something was going to happen.

"What's the matter with her," he asked.

"A few nights ago she arrived on our doorstep crying non-stop," Ren answered. "As you might have heard, Akito has been having horrible nightmares about her father dying in many different ways, and they've been waking her up countless times at night. Since then she hasn't slept, and she's lost a lot of her body fluid from all the crying. She's become ill due to dehydration and sleep deprivation. It pains me just as much as it does you to see her like that, but we need to do what we can to make her feel better.

"If you want to, you can stay here as well; Akito will feel more at ease if you were with her. Were you planning on doing something for her birthday?"

"I wanted to take her somewhere nice, but I guess that'll have to wait," Shigure replied.

"Yeah," Ren agreed, "she's way too ill to go anywhere, and the only time we move her is when she needs to go to the bathroom. But we're still going to celebrate her birthday; I already made her a cake, and I'm going to make her a special dinner. And, are you hungry?"

"Very hungry, I was in a hurry to get home that I forgot to grab something."

"Okay, well I'll make some breakfast. The phone distracted me," Ren laughed.

"Thank you," Shigure smiled as he went back into the sitting room to be with Akito. Riko gave him the look of a hungry predator.

"I'll be fine Riko, he's my fiancé," said Akito. Riko nodded and went into the kitchen, and Shigure sat on the bed next to Akito and held her close. All she could do was smile.

"So you and your mom are finally getting along?" asked Shigure.

"Yeah," Akito answered.

"Why didn't you tell me about the nightmares before?" Shigure asked again.

"I didn't know how to tell you without worrying you," said Akito looking like she was going to cry. Shigure hugged Akito and kissed her forehead.

"It's alright," he said. "But I think it's good you came here, because now you're getting the love from your mother that you never got. And I think she approves of us getting married, don't you think?"

Akito looked at the silver diamond ring on her finger and smiled. Those words were enough to make her happy; for the first time in three days, she slept. Her dreams were the most precious dreams she ever had, because her father was watching over her no matter what. Not only that, she got what she always wanted…

…her mother.