Summary: Even Saya has nightmares as she sleeps… so what happens when one wakes her up early and she finds that Haji is not by her side? Haji/Saya, set 10 years after the last episode of Blood+.

Author's Notes: This is my tribute to the series I so love, Blood+ and its two awesomest characters. So awesome that I had to write a fic devoted to them =) . Several things to note, I spell Haji with a J, just because I've always thought of it that way, and don't feel happy when I see it with the G (sorry, a bit of an OCDness there). I've tried to minimise the use of Japanese in the dialogue too (this is after all, an English fanfiction, written by an English speaking writer for an English speaking audience), leaving only 'onee-san/chan' which many of you know, means elder sister, and 'onii-san/chan', elder brother. As for 'nankurunaisa' (ohpleasepleasepleaseIhopeIspeltthatright), if you don't know, you should go rewatch the series ^_~ .

And now my blathering ends, on to the story!

Nightmare's End – Chapter 1: Awakening

As she slept she dreamt, dreams of formless creatures, of fear, of blind, pure rage, of emptiness, of regret, of fire and pain, of death. Most of all of death; death that had evaded her completely, and now seemed to be even more out of her grasp with the passing of years.

She could remember a voice, one that always said her name, one that always told her to fight, and finally, telling her of love. Love unfulfilled, for the voice was always snuffed out as she screamed one name desperately.

Even curled up within her cocoon, she thrashed wildly. In her dreams, she was tearing through the rubble, until her fingers bled and her whole body was covered with dirt, her throat filled with dust and choked down sobs, and she cried out over and over again, screaming, waiting for his answering call that never came.

It was always he who said her name, he who called her, he who was always beside her.

When had she ever sought him out? When had she ever given him anything?

She had always taken, taken him for granted, taking his unquestioning loyalty, always assumed he would be there by her side, her shadow, her Chevalier, her knight.

Even the promise she had extracted out of him, to kill her, it was all selfishness. As if she did not already know, her death would automatically be a prelude to his.

He was always giving, giving, giving, and she, the greedy consumer had only taken.

He had declared his love, she had made no reply.

He had watched over her and protected her always… and she had watched him die, or at least, allowed him to run to his death.

That night she should have died with him.

The only thing she had ever given to him, nay, forced upon him was the curse of eternal life – an unhappy one she could say, one forever in servitude of her. But he had reprieve now. He could rest.

And she was alone.

The still night air around the family tomb was pierced with a searing high scream of pain and loss. Such was the intensity of the cry that the silence that lapsed after that was deafening in the absence of sound. Animals that had been calmly carrying out their nightly business turned and fled to their shelters and homes, cowering down with fiercely beating hearts.

Not too far off, a small babe heard faint echoes of the scream and started crying incessantly, refusing to be soothed despite the clucking ministrations of its mother.

Nothing stirred around that hill, not even a breath of wind moved through the leaves where they hung on the branches of the luxuriantly foliaged trees nearby.

Then, she woke.

***

Miles and miles away, on a different hill in a different continent, facing the bright night lights of Paris, a lone figure stood abruptly, a cello bow falling out of a bandaged hand to land unnoticed onto the wet grass.

Pale blue eyes widened in shock, and a head was lifted, as if the person was listening, listening with all his might to something he only could hear.

A heartbeat later, that place was empty, as if no one had ever been there, leaving only a small indentation in the ground where the cello base had rested before the moss covered tree stump where he had sat earlier.

***

"Saya-neechan, Saya-neechan!" A lilting voice interrupted her daze and she blinked down to look into eyes that were uncannily like her own, in size and shade.

"Yes, Mic-chi?" she replied, using the pet name that everyone called her little niece by.

"Lookit this!" the child proclaimed happily, producing a rather misshapen piece of pastry for Saya's approval. "Kai and I made it!"

"It looks delicious!" Saya proclaimed, and almost regretted her words when her irrepressible niece broke off a part, offering it to her. Smiling bravely, Saya crammed the entire thing into her mouth, and her eyes opened wide with surprise. "Yummy!" she declared, to the proud gigglings of her niece. It really was good, the pastry was delicate and melt in the mouth, while the pineapple filling was slightly tart and yet sweet.

"This one'll be a grand chef someday," Kai proclaimed proudly, ruffling Miyuki's pixie cut hair. Miyuki made a moue of false anger, before dissolving into happy gurgles of mirth. Seeing the sight, Saya felt the ends of her mouth turn up into a smile almost involuntarily. There was a faint touch on her elbow, and she turned to face a luminous blue gaze that fixed on hers unblinkingly.

"Saya-neechan," was all Kiyora said, before pressing a sheet of paper into Saya's hand. She then stood there waiting as Saya examined the drawing will all the gravity she could muster. Inwardly however, she couldn't help but smile at this niece's complete seriousness, and contrast to her twin. In that, she was very like Riku in one of his pensive moods, quiet but capable of great insight beyond her years.

Saya gave the drawing as honest praise and criticism as she could, and was rewarded by one of Kiyora's rare smiles, which transformed her face entirely.

"All right that's enough, bed time for the two of you!" Kai said, putting his arms around both girls' waists and lifting them up as easily as can be. Miyuki wriggled around until she faced Saya, waving goodnight and then messing up Kai's hair, not that it made much of a difference. Kiyora on the other hand was still and submitted calmly to what she might have considered an indignity if she had the vocabulary enough to describe it. However, she leaned her head onto Kai's shoulder in a silent gesture of affection, her long hair falling in a glossy cascade down his back.

Saya smiled at the pretty tableau that they made, her fingers absently tracing over the drawing that Kiyora had handed her. It couldn't be denied, Kiyora had a budding talent, and she was sure that Kai would do what he could to make sure that it was adequately nurtured.

A small noise to her left told her that Kai had returned, and had taken a seat at the old wooden table. She smiled at him and said, "This place hasn't changed at all."

"Of course not," he replied easily. "Imagine how Pop's heart would break if I tore out all this old wooden stuff and replaced it with all those modernistic silver white things that are all the rage now."

Saya laughed. "It looks lovely the way it is." She stopped mid-smile as she noticed Kai's worried gaze upon her own. He started fidgeting a little, a sure sign that he was disturbed. "Kai? What is it? What's wrong?" She bit her lip, looking to him for an explanation.

"Hah," he said, rubbing the back of his head and leaning back in his chair. "Well, it's just that…don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that you're awake early and all, it's great that you get to see the girls before they've all grown up, and I wouldn't have thought that we'd had a reunion again so soon… Just gave David and Julia a call, and Kaori's coming by tomorrow, Lulu's been with Mao and Okamura, traveling the world, and everyone's just so eager and so happy to see you…"

"Kai, what is it?" she cut through his words. He was definitely babbling.

"Well the thing is… Why are you awake now? I can't help but wonder…"

"It is true, this is unprecedented… I've never woken up early on my own…"

"Except that time in Vietnam.." Kai started to say, and instantly stopped, seeing the cloud that came over her eyes at his words. "But that was different. You, waking up on your own… Julia's all curious about it, she's completely eager to research it up and stuff, despite being an old married woman and all."

"Last time, it was Ha –" Saya started to say, and found that she couldn't continue without choking up. She tried again. "Last time it was a transfusion of blood injected directly into me. I woke up, went berserk… But I doubt it'll happen this time, if that's what you're thinking about." Inside she thought rather ironically that it had been due to Haji again that she had woken up this time, just that it was the emptiness of life without him, rather than an infusion of his blood. Seeing Kai still looking rather flustered, she reached out her hand to cover his. "Don't –"

"Dammit Saya!" Kai said, slamming his other hand on the table, though the one she held he left limply in hers. He looked up, his gaze holding her eyes. "Don't you get it? That time, you woke up and went back to sleep almost immediately after that. Now, I'm just wondering how much of our lives can we share together before…" He stopped, breathing in deeply. "Before you leave us again." He gave her a crooked smile. "Our family isn't complete unless you're here."

"Kai…"

"Then I wonder, will it be another twenty, thirty more years before you wake up again? By then the girls will be full grown and…" Kai had pulled his hand out of hers and was ruffling his hair madly. "I don't know what I'm saying, I'm just so glad that you're awake and I wish you would be with us longer…" He buried his face in his hands.

Saya got up and knelt beside Kai, enveloping him in an awkward hug.

"No matter what, you'll always be my brave, amazing, wonderful onii-chan who had worked so hard to keep our family together." And she smiled up at him, but her smile did not reach her eyes, which were looking dangerously full, and threatening to spill over.

Seeing this, Kai came to himself, and gave her one of his widest grins.

"What am I doing? You're back with us and I sit around moaning! Nankurunaisa!" Stretching out his arms, he yawned, messing his own hair wildly about again. "It's time I get some sleep! Keeping track of those two kids is taking all the energy out of me!"

"Goodnight Kai," Saya said, forcing another smile onto her face for his sake.

"Goodnight Saya," he replied, waving idly even though his back was turned as he walked back to his room. Of course, this was so she could not see the look that had already covered his face.

Once she had heard him return to his room, his door closing softly behind him, she stood up, trudging wearily back to her room, collapsing on her bed without bothering to change, closing her eyes and surrendering once again to the nightmares.

***

Author's Note: Apologies for any OOCness. And apologies for glaring mistakes grammatically and otherwise.. I have no beta-er and am not a very good critic of meself =D . It was meant to be a Haji/Saya fic exclusively. But Kai somehow forced himself into things(like he always does =) ) and the twins came along for the ride as well. So here I am saddled with what might become a 2 or more chapter fic! Le gasp. Chapter two will be up..eventually ^^ .