Tsukishiro stretched and yawned. It was nighttime, now, the time that he usually saw fit to stroll around the neighboring town and perhaps make a feast for himself. He sat up from his bed and grabbed his cane, careful with the spherical crystal held in small clasps near to where the wood began to curve.

"I suppose I should check on the dreamers." he said to himself, shrugging his cloak on and walking outside.

His house was a nice one, well-kept but fairly empty of furniture; he never used it unless he was sleeping or breeding dreams. He skipped down the few stairs until he was fully outside, and took a deep breath.

"What a lovely night," he murmured.

In the middle of what one could call his backyard, rimmed by forest, was a well-like structure, built into the ground. He walked over to it and leaned at the waist, his cane held delicately behind him and his white hair gleaming in the moonlight. Hideous moans drifted up to him from the pit, people clawing at the edges and reaching towards him.

"I'm scared," they whispered. "Please-"

"Help me-"

"-so scary-"

"I want to go home!-"

Tsukishiro waved cheekily. "Having terrible nightmares, I hope." he replied, tossing a few handfuls of food down into the pit. "Eat up. I don't want you to die just yet."

The moans intensified, and suddenly, a sound arose from a small ring of bushes nearby. Tsukishiro turned his head questioningly, and straightened. "Well." he said, frowning. "What have we here?"

In a few strides, he was beside the bushes, and became completely still, listening for the sound again. A second crept by, followed by another, when-

There.

He reached forward, ligtening fast, and grabbed ahold of something warm and soft that had been hiding in the shubbery. He yanked, hard, and the whole thing fell out. It was a young girl, probably somewhere around 17 or 18. When he's grabbed onto her arm, she'd made a peculiar sound that was in between a 'squeak' and a 'eep' that amused Tsukishiro deeply.

"I'msorryi'msorryi'msorryi'msorry!" she babbled, hiding her face with her hands. "I was curious! I'd heard the stories about a baku who lived in these woods, and I wanted to see for myself and I'm really sorry! I won't tell anyone, I swear!"

She must have been a foreigner, or at least partially. Her hair was oddly long, and a soft, blonde color that appeared almost white in the moonlight. She wore a traditional kimono, like the ladies in town, but it was more tattered than any outift Tsukishiro had ever seen. Her feet were bare, and there was a scrape that bled freely on her left arm.

Her words suddenly registered, and Tsukishiro laughed. "Tell anyone?" he repeated. "Everyone already knows. Who, exactly, are you going to tell?" He didn't let go of her arm, still pondering if he should make her a breeder, too, or perhaps just let her go.

The girl lowered her hands and peered at him through the fingers. "I-I-I don't know.." she whimpered. "But please, Baku-sama, don't eat me."

"Tsukishiro." he corrected coldly. "And bakus don't eat people, you stupid girl."

She seemed to sense that his patience was wearing out, and shuddered. "I'm really sorry, Tsukishiro-sama." she whispered. "Please just let me go."

His grip on her arm tightened, earning another 'squea-eep' from the girl, and he turned his head, holding his chin thoughtfully with his other hand. "I don't see why I should." he said finally. "I think I should just add you in with the other nightmare breeders."

As if on cue, the piteous moans from the pit increased, and the girl shuddered violently again.

"Please!" she begged desperately."Please, I'll do anything!"

Tsukishiro continued to think. Well, he reasoned,I suppose, if she was willing to do anything...She is human, after all, and they tend to value their lives alot.

"Marry me," he said finally. "Marry me and become my servant. You can clean the house when it's dirty, protect me while I sleep, and feed the breeders. In return, I won't kill you and I will protect you from any other bakus."

The girl froze. "M-Marry?" she repeated incredulously. "But...but why?"

"Simple. If you marry me first, then if you run away, I'll have more rights to you than if you just said you'd serve me. Women don't have any rights, especially when married, and being married to me would make you no less of a servant than if I just registered you as a worker. Besides," he smiled amiably, "I don't have to pay you if you're legally my wife."

The girl blinked rapidly. "But-"

Tsukishiro tutted and yanked her arm closer, crouching down beside her. "I'll make this easy for you," he said, his tone suddenly very serious. "You have two options. Marry me and become my servant, or become a breeding ground for nightmares."

The girl looked over his shoulder and swallowed hard. Then, she bowed her head and her shoulders and arms went limp. "Okay." she said finally. "I will become your servant, Tsukishiro-sama."

"And my wife," he added. "Though I'm not human, and I find human beings disgusting, so you won't be sharing my bed."

He grimaced at the thought. Humans do some disgusting things, he thought disdainfully. And if this girl ever tries anything, I'll kill her outright.