*cackles* I love Tomo's cackle so much I stole it so in return I wrote this ficcie JUST for him =D I dun own Tomo, tho. Or any other characters here.

Tomo looked up at the sky from his window and sighed. It was nearing that time again. He could (to his ears torture) hear Nakago and Soi talking down the hall. Suboshi and Amiboshi were giggling like little girls in the room next to his. Ashitare's snores echoed around the palace. Miboshi…he was probably the only Seiryuu seishi fast asleep and SILENT about it. Checking to make sure his door was securely closed and locked, the only thing he had to do was wait.

~~~~~~~~

"Really Nakago-sama, I've got a terrible headache…" Soi groaned. Of all the days to have her head pounding louder than her heart did the day she first met Nakago…or Miboshi on the bathroom door after he spent too much time meditating and ignoring his bodily functions. Nakago nodded in understanding and vanished into his room. All was now quiet in the halls. Ashitare's snores had silenced, and the twins had finally fallen asleep after their giggling fit. A quiet noise broke the silence. Someone was…crying? Soi raised an eyebrow. Who of the Seiryuu seishi would be crying? At this time of night at that. Curiosity clawed at her mind. Almost as if she didn't want to, her feet carried her towards the teary sound. And it took her to…Tomo's room. The door was locked, of course. Everyone knew the painted seishi barred his door at night. Everyone figured he was creating images of Nakago for…obvious reasons.

"Please…no…I don't want to!"

It was Tomo's voice, and it sounded as if he had been crying for a long time, losing breath when he tried to speak.

"You must, you know. If you want to live."

An unfamiliar voice, devilish in its own way. Quiet, yet evil…

"You call this living? This isn't life…"

"But you get to see him, do you not? Is that not what you wanted?"

"I wanted more than this!"

"Tsk. So picky, your type are. You live each day because of me!"

"Tomo?" Even though she despised him for competing for Nakago's love, Soi couldn't help worrying about her fellow star brother. Who was this other voice, and what did he mean by all this talk about life?

"No!" Tomo's voice filled with worry, perhaps fear. "Don't come in!"

"Yeah, like I'm going to listen to you. HAKUJIN RAIHO!!" Lightning struck the objects barring the door, blowing them away. Soi thrust the door open. In the room stood Tomo, all alone, Shin on the table in front of him. And in front of her eyes, one of the two was gone.

"Tomo??" Soi felt the breath being drawn out of her, the headache totally forgotten by now. Tomo had vanished into Shin. "To…mo?"

Suddenly things in Soi's world began to spin, and she blacked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~

When Soi woke up the next morning, Tomo stood beside her. She was lying on the floor of his room.

"HAKUJIN RAIHO!!"

Lightning struck the painted Seishi before he even had a chance to respond. As his feathers crackled, Soi suddenly remembered the occurrences of the previous night.

"Uh, sorry about that." She couldn't help but smirk as Tomo glared down at her. "What…happened last night?"

"What do you mean 'what happened'? I was just getting ready for bed and you stumbled into my room drunk as hell. Then you collapsed onto the floor."

Soi blinked. Oddly enough, she couldn't remember what she had been doing before she went into Tomo's domain.

"Hm. Guess I was." Thoroughly confused, the lightning seishi picked herself up and managed to make it to her room. Tomo waited until the door shut before sighing in relief. Thankfully he'd had time to come up with an alibi. He couldn't explain it to them. They'd scorn him worse…they wouldn't understand…how could anyone understand him if they knew he didn't exist?

It had been the hardest time of his life when he discovered he didn't control Shin. Shin had created him.