A nice little one-shot to tide all you over. You see Gungreg saved your lives. He showed me some fucking respect, which many of you don't do.

There are a few others, namely Sasskitten, Byakuhana, SoraElric, Taboo662-- and even StreetBounce44 reviewed once. But other than them, I've got quite a lot of viewers whom I never hear.

So far the poll is Hidden: 1...nothing else. This does not mean that anyone else is completely off the hook. I still stress voting as being of the utmost importance. But to show that I appreciate those who've made my life a bit easier, I'm writing something to tide you over.

The Night Forbids You!

Ulrich sat up in his bed. He couldn't sleep that night--that cloudless night whose vastness was only controlled by the moon. The moon was a crescent, a tilted sickle, as if it would fall and cleave the sky in two.

The night sky was supposed to be black. People were supposed to sleep contentedly during the night; fear absent from their weary minds. Sadly, neither of these was true for Ulrich. Ulrich gripped his head in agony again as the sky began to tinge purple and then red. In the recesses of his consciousness he could see what he so desired. More...More than anything.

He let go of his head as the world tilted in and out of his perception, plaguing his fatigued mind with illusions of both horror and grandeur. Ulrich saw his friends alive, then dead. He saw Sissy alone, and then with him. He saw Yumi dancing on the chilled green grass as the sickle slammed down with the force of a guillotine. He stifled a sob and a moan.

He lie back down and let his head hit the pillow, mindlessly gazing at his ceiling as if the answers were kept within it somewhere. These dreams started about a month ago. One long, hard, perilous, godforsaken month ago. ONE STUPID MOTHER-FUCKING MONTH OF MOTHER-FUCKING SHIT! Angry, Ulrich jumped out of bed and hit his ceiling as hard as he could; red liquid began to flow freely from his hand.

He winced with pain as it began to swell; Stern realized he had broken it. He licked it off—"tasteless, always tasteless; have I no soul?"—and pressed on it to cease the bleeding. Odd, who slept like a log just like his dog, hadn't heard a thing. The ceiling was fairly thick; so there wasn't any echo...he was safe.

It had all started one painful month ago. Ulrich had been playing soccer when the ball glanced off of his cleat and hit someone in the bleachers. It was Yumi. He had hurt Yumi; it had only been minor but the red liquid so much like his—but must taste much sweeter of that he was sure—twisted him into a shape of agony.

Stern had beaten himself up over the incident so much that he had driven Yumi away.

"Why?" he thought. "Why?"

"She couldn't see that I was mulling over her injury that I inflicted her with?! She couldn't see that I was so depressed because of her?! Did I have some sort of bestial quality? Am I a monster to Yumi now? I MUST BE! THAT IS WHY I FELT SUCH A STING OF BLISS WHEN I SAW THE DROPS DRIP FROM HER HAND! Why? Why couldn't I have just been some stupid masochist? Or even a fucking emo? I don't deserve anything in life? But dying wouldn't improve my situation...RAAUGHHRHRRWRH!!!!!"

It was when Yumi had begun to ostracize him that Sissy had come into the picture. Ulrich was extremely depressed and mind-numbingly confused. His thoughts were twisted into yins and yangs as he pondered over his life daily now, never getting any sleep. Sissy had woken him up one day in Science class after he had gone under through pure exhaustion.

When Sissy had woken him up, she offered a date in exchange for not reporting his behavior, which was even worse nowadays. Reluctantly, he accepted the offer. Upon Ulrich's unyielding insistence on them just walking throughout the grounds one evening, they had wandered to the factory. Seeing his blunder, Ulrich quickly ushered them back off into the forest.

Dazed, confused, and hormonally driven, they were both lost and desperate. Normally they could have found their way, but they couldn't see the ground within the shade of the myriad of trees. After tripping countless times they both decided to wait until morning graced their faces. Their clothes were grimy and torn as they clambered up a tree in order to have more protective sleeping quarters.

During the night, Ulrich had another nightmare and fell out of the tree. This action frightened Sissy, who proceeded to fall on top of him. Ulrich literally couldn't see straight. He doubted everything and trusted nothing but instinct. His instinct told him to enjoy this position—to enjoy it thoroughly.

Ulrich rolled over so that he was above Sissy and hit her across the face. Startled, she frantically and helplessly attempted to flee the ensuing situation. But she could do nothing as she watched Ulrich rip off her clothes, article by article. To keep her silent, Ulrich placed one hand over Sissy's throat and pressed down—hard. Sissy's face began to change color as Ulrich began thrusting in and out of her. Both inexperienced, they came quickly and Sissy was allowed to breath. Sissy was too spent to move, much less run away. However, Ulrich was ready and willing.

The incident had happened two weeks ago. The following morning Ulrich had put her clothes back on so that he could convince her that it had been merely a teenager's dream. To destroy the evidence Ulrich ate breakfast with Sissy that morning. Nothing like it had happened afterwards; Ulrich was far too ashamed of his behavior. Still, he wants to feel--and hopefully share--those same feelings with Yumi.

This was the night. If he was to ever get any sleep again, he decided that he could wait no longer. Ulrich opened the window and dropped down the eleven feet. He hurts his leg, but doesn't slow his pace a second. Ulrich began to sprint towards Yumi's house, images of sex running throughout his mind. He saw himself bringing her more pain, her enjoying this pain, and wonderful, wonderful feelings of happiness being shared. His hand began to sting and he believed it was its reaction to Yumi's soft skin. He sees his hand swell and bleed and imagines it is from her veins. He tastes the blood; it is pure ecstasy.

He is a mere twenty yards from her house when his leg fails him. He lands in a crumpled heap on the corner of the street. "I'm almost there!" He drags himself up by the stop sign and starts to limp towards his destination.

"There's the tree I always pass. There's the fence that's always broken," Ulrich said to himself, stating the landmarks he passes on his once daily trips to Yumi's house. The night is dark and cold and prevents him from continuing past this fence. He hugs himself, trying to stop now constant shivers—shivers of the tension in Yumi's skin. The world dims and lights up again. Ulrich's head nods. Enraged, Ulrich begins a full charge straight for Yumi's house, forgetting about his leg's condition. He trips once more as the sickle in the sky falls and consumes him, taking him to the edge of the Earth.

He crawls up to Yumi's driveway as the sun blinds his eyes. His hand and leg, now numb, are now overwhelming hindrances. "Dammit! I gotta get to Yumi's. I gotta help her. I gotta make her know I care. I gotta make me whole. I gotta..."

He stumbles up and walks straight into a bike, falling for the third time that morning. The van drove hurriedly to its destination as the mist in the purple sky lifted until it was only a haze amidst a blue sky—a blue terrible, horrible, blinding sky; a sky of freedom.