Shuichi Minamino sat at his desk in front of the window, a small lamp on to provide illumination in the wan light of a winter evening. He led an ordinary human life, and was quite content with it, having forsaken his demon identity a few years past. Just a normal human, whom nothing eventful ever happened to.

His hair was short now, Shuichi having cut it when he decided not to do battle again. Having a place to store his weapons would prove nothing more than a temptation, after all, and anyway such a thing was useless in his new life. No, he was an ordinary human male now. He derived great pleasure from the thought. And he had vowed to have nothing to do with the supernatural again…

A girl ran by on the street just under his window, with pounding feet, startling him out of his reverie. A towering creature straight from out of a nightmare followed.

Shuichi blinked. Absolutely nothing to do with the supernatural again…

What he had seen must have been a trick of his imagination. Yes, that was it. Just a passing shadow, or perhaps a cat scampering by. A very large, scruffy, alley cat. If there was anything serious, Yusuke and Kuwabara were perfectly capable of handling it by themselves. He would not get involved. Not this time… Ah, screw it. (In the words of Yusuke himself).

Shuichi stood abruptly. With a glance to ensure his door was indeed locked, he yanked the window open and jumped though, landing with surprising grace on the street below his second story room. Well, at least it seemed his brief time of respite had not dulled his physical abilities too much. He should certainly still be able to take on a lowly D class apparition.

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As I ran, I noticed subtle signs that seemed to hint I was somewhere in Japan. Like the fact that I couldn't read any of the street signs. And 100% of the handful of people I passed were Asian.

I screeched to a halt at the end of a dead-end street. Just my luck. Though I guess with the way my body was protesting, it wouldn't have been long anyway. It felt like I had been running for hours. And who knows? Maybe I had. Maybe this dead-end was for the best. It meant I could wake up soon, right? Then I could have another shot at a different, quieter dream.

I still hesitated when turning around. I wasn't too keen on facing my pursuer. As the huge creature came bounding up behind me, I winced. Yup. Just as horrible and ugly as I had imagined. I braced myself for the impact I wouldn't feel. There was no point in screaming, so I just kept my mouth shut. My hands clenched at my sides as I strained to keep myself from any pitiful attempts at running that would only make me look foolish, in the end.

The creature leaped. I couldn't help it; my eyes squeezed shut. Ah. There, that wasn't so bad. See? No impact. When I opened my eyes again, I was positive I'd see the familiar sight of the neon blue digital clock face staring at me from my bedside table.

A splatter of something wet hit my cheek. I frowned. The last time I'd checked, we didn't have a dog. (Despite all my convincing speeches, charm, and charisma. Alas.) My eyes slowly fluttered open. A man stood with his back to me. I couldn't be sure, but he looked young, perhaps only a little older than myself. His short hair was a shocking red, so I was fairly certain he wasn't Asian. His posture said wordlessly that he was shielding me from something.

A superhero dream? Well, this was a new one, I'll admit. (Though he could've gotten here a little sooner, in my opinion. You know, before I had to run around the whole dang city for hours.) I touched my fingertips to my cheek, suddenly remembering. They came away stained with a dark liquid. Blood…?

It was then that I noticed the remains of whatever creature that had been. My eyes widened. I must have gasped, because the man turned around, fixing a startling green gaze on me.

"Are you alright, Miss? I'm terribly sorry about that," the man said, reaching out with a sleeve to wipe off the remaining liquid. I barely restrained the flinch that threatened to break the surface. He had helped me, after all. It was silly to be afraid of him. But… turning such a horrifying monster into that… My eyes strayed to the mangled body parts. The stranger stepped in front of me, as if trying to block my view. A frown tugged at the corner of my mouth. My eyebrows crinkled together. I took a breath and opened my mouth to say… what? What could I possibly say about this? Changing my mind, I shut my mouth, chewing on my lower lip.

The strange man—who I had decided was definitely Asian, despite his deceiving first impression—suddenly gripped my shoulders. It wasn't painful, but it left no room for argument. "Now, how about you allow me to escort you home? I would hate to let you go wandering around by yourself at night with something so dangerous around." His voice was smooth, persuading.

I became dimly aware that he was speaking in Japanese. I had never known Japanese. Oh, I had always wanted to speak it. I had tried to learn it, but never got very far. Perhaps my subconscious understood it better than I ever would. It was the only explanation I could think of to explain why I suddenly knew Japanese. At least, I thought it was Japanese. Maybe it was just my brain's mangled interpretation of the language. Speaking of mangled… My eyes couldn't help being pulled like little magnets back to the grotesque sight I could just make out if I tilted my head to look over his shoulder. I gulped.

"You're dangerous!" I wanted to scream, but the words would not leave my throat, a good thing because I soon thought better of them. A thin line of blood marred his cheek. The instant my eyes touched it, they settled and refused to budge. I was suddenly overcome with guilt. A strange sensation to feel so strongly within a dream, but I felt it nonetheless. This man had saved me. He had gotten injured protecting me. And here I was, my mind running frantically about, thinking how dangerous and scary he was. I should have trusted the man who saved my life a little bit more. I felt very petty and small, just then.

"Your cheek," I said, reaching out to wipe the blood away with my fingertips, "Gomenasai…" Huh. That was strange. Apparently my subconscious was deciding I should be speaking Japanese as well. When in Rome… I guess.

His reaction wasn't what I expected. He grimaced and pulled away. Can you believe it? Honestly, I felt just a little bit insulted. I had humbled myself and stepped away from my pride, deeming him a decent person, and actually bothered to feel concerned for his condition. Well, I take it back. Let him be a jerk, for all I care. A conceited, redheaded, stuck up, eye-meltingly handsome jerk. I resisted the childish urge to stick my tongue out at his turned back. Apparently he couldn't even be bothered to face me now. Hmph! I crossed my arms over my chest. About to tap my foot, I suddenly remembered my shoeless condition. Thwarted. Drat! There were few things that felt worse than a thwarted foot-tap. Alright, perhaps I was overreacting to the situation a little bit. He had saved me, after all. I should be able to overlook his grimace… and the fact that he still wasn't even bothering to look at me.

I blinked. Wait a second. What had happened to that monster/creature/thing? All traces of it had mysteriously vanished. Something vine-like slithered back to the man, who crouched down and stretched out a hand to pick it up as it seemingly vanished. Something wasn't right here. And I was convinced that something was him. This was all just too strange. Something prickled in the back of my mind, as if to warn me, but I had already reached that conclusion, for once way ahead of my "cat-senses", as I fondly called them. They were usually quite reliable, too.

I needed to get out of here, and fast. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than I sat up with a jolt. With a relieved sigh, my body slumped back into the mass of pillows. 3:30 am. What an ungodly time. Had I really only been asleep for two hours? I yawned, feeling much more tired than I should have, and slipped back into sleep. But this time, no dreams followed. Only darkness.

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Shuichi's mind raced as he thought up an excuse that could distract the poor girl. Though, perhaps it wasn't fair to call her a girl. She seemed to be almost as old as his human body. He had sensed her fear, not only of the monster, but of himself as well. He needed to walk her home, to buy some time to think up a way to erase her memories. He currently had no seeds on him that would do the trick; he was unarmed, except for the plants that grew naturally around him. He nearly cursed himself for his carelessness.

He shouldn't have been so careless to come here unarmed. Scratched by a mere D class apparition, of all things! Oh, the demon was pitifully easy to take down, but to let it even touch him in the process… It was practically unthinkable how much his powers had dulled. He supposed he should thank his luck that he had not been attacked and forced into a serious fight during these past few years. But now the futility of his hope to live a normal human existence was brought to light. The fact was, demons existed, the supernatural existed, and he was once a part of it. He still was, despite however much he tried to deny it. One could not change one's own nature. And his was a nature that brought the supernatural to him, seeking him out.

Shuichi reined in a sigh that threatened to escape his lips as he collected the last "janitor plant" from the scene. He fixed what he hoped to be a convincingly pleasant smile on his face and turned around to face the girl. She was nowhere in sight. His smile faltered, falling from his face altogether.

It was a dead end street. He was standing in front of the only exit. The walls were 6 feet tall with no openings. No normal human could vanish into thin air. If she had tried to escape, he was certain he would have at least heard her move. His eyes narrowed. Something about that woman was not right.

AN: Just to clarify a couple things without breaking the flow of the story: (1) These creatures are indeed huge (like school bus status) though some vary (2) The reason why Friday alternates between a dreamless sleep and ending up in the YYH world in her dreams is because her powers are just now awakening. It's not an author slip-up.

Please review! Thank you for reading :)