At first I thought I had drifted into nothing, a dreamless sleep. But then I realized there was still muffled noise, the sound of running water somewhere above me. A small amount of dim light crept through the window, and into the room. Damn. Well, I suppose I had to fall asleep sometime. But where was I this time? It looked like a kitchen. I was sure this wouldn't turn out well. I kept my fingers crossed that the family that lived here didn't have any vicious man-eating dogs to hear me, and that there was nothing more sinister around, like a towering creature of shadows with large claws capable of ripping through a person like butter. Just a random example.

I quietly crept through the room on light feet, for once glad I was not wearing shoes, determined to find an escape route. I tried a door, but it only opened onto a well-stocked pantry. My heart beat a little faster, and I gulped as I recognized the food inside as Japanese. Yup. This was the same dream-world, alright. I tried another door and entered into a different room, but there were no exits to the outside world. It seemed I was disoriented in this unfamiliar place in the middle of the night, and I had somehow gone deeper into the house. I was about to turn around, but something on a shelf caught my eye.

This must be the family room, with its comfy couches, coffee table, and neatly organized shelves. I crept closer to the shelf that had grabbed my attention. It was filled with a row of pictures; they looked chronologically ordered. The colors were murky in the dark, although I found that my night vision was much better than it should be in terms of shape and value.

The first picture was a woman and a man, a newly married couple looking very happy together. That was the last picture featuring the man, although the woman was present in all of them. She appeared very pretty and kindly, with smiling eyes and black hair that hung past her shoulders. In the later pictures, she began to show some signs of age, although she wore it well.

The second picture featured the woman and an infant. I did a double take and looked closer at the boy. Though he was young, his eyes were intelligent, and held a certain amount of belligerence. Something about that child made my skin crawl, though there was nothing in the picture itself to make a normal person react that way.

The next picture down the row, the boy was older. He looked like he did not want to be in the picture with this woman, his eyes still held a cold contempt. He did not look much like the woman, now that his child's features were filling out. His hair was lighter than hers, as well as his eyes, by many shades, though I could not make out their colors in the dark.

A sudden change came over the boy between this picture and the next. Where before his eyes showed separation, they now seemed to look upon his mother with care and a love that was visible without words or actions. He smiled as she held her arm around him.

And that was the way the pictures went across the little row lined up on the shelf. His unwavering love and kind smile remained as he and his mother grew slowly older together. His young features were slowly replaced by more mature ones, and a strange feeling of recognition began creeping at the back of my skull.

There were a few pictures that were rather amusing. I was certain he was a boy, but his hair grew long and flowing about his shoulders. I cracked a grin.

But as my eyes fell on the last picture, the smile died on my lips and my eyes widened in shock. My heart began to race. I recognized that man, his hair now short, his eyes calm and collected, a strong arm around his smiling mother. I gulped, my throat suddenly dry.

I didn't need my eyes to see the color of his hair, or of his eyes. I knew them well enough by now. His hair was red. His eyes were a deep green. And as for me, I was in trouble. I needed to get out of here fast.

My ears strained to catch the slightest sound, but all was quiet. It struck me as being too quiet, as I crept along through the room, looking over my shoulder and into the shadowed corners. That was when I realized the sound of running water had vanished. I wished with all my might that the late night shower-taker had simply gone to bed, and that the redhead was not at home.

What looked like the front door caught my eye through an opening in the wall. I can't recall ever being so happy to see a door before, but there it was. With relief, I stepped forward hurriedly through the entryway. My heart shuddered and jerked to a stop.

He was already there waiting for me.

He looked at me coldly, calculating. His short hair was still dripping, water clinging to skin and well-developed, intimidating muscles. The man's arms were crossed over his chest, and a towel wrapped around his waist. In my adrenaline-fueled state, I took in every scrape and scar, and my eyes couldn't miss the long gash that marred his strong forearm. It looked new; he had probably picked it up from that nightmare beast.

It had not been my fault that I ended up here, but I could not stop the guilty expression that crossed my face.

His eyes turned hard as steel. His arms uncrossed and fell to hang dangerously by his sides, curled hands ready for a fight.

I lunged for the door, but he was faster. He blocked the exit, and quicker than I could comprehend had his vice-like grip around my wrist. He pinned me to the wall with the back of his arm across my shoulders, holding me up so our eyes were level. I could not escape his cold gaze. I felt the wounds on my back begin to seep blood once more as they reopened from their not-so-gentle contact with the plaster. Thankfully, he had not forcibly slammed me into the wall… although it was clear he intended to use force to keep me pinned there.

He began to speak in a harsh whisper, and I suddenly understood the reason for his strange restraint. We were not alone in this house, and he wished to keep anyone else from waking.

"What is your purpose here?" he asked, and the deadly look in his eyes made me tongue-tied and mute.

"Explain yourself," he demanded, and his arm pinned me tighter to the wall, making me gasp. I was afraid to move, afraid to further open the wounds that wrapped around my torso.

"You will speak," he stated, eyes burning with a quiet fury, hard and unreasoning.

Sure this couldn't end well, and not at all curious to see the finale, I screwed my eyes shut tight and shouted at my mind to wake up. Finally, for once in my life, I managed to force myself awake. With the knowledge that this was more than just a dream, I had finally gained some control. I made a quick escape back to the world of the waking.

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Foe.

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Dale jumped and scooted his chair further down the table from me as I slammed down into my seat, grabbing the mug of tea in front of me. I dashed a sugar cube into its murky depths, and stirred vigorously, sloshing tea over the sides. Eyebrows knit together angrily, I chugged the scalding brew, too infuriated to care that it burned as it made its way down my throat.

"Good… morning?" Kaiya said timidly.

I grunted, snatching up a piece of toast and the jar of jam. I viciously popped the tight lid off the jam jar, and dumped a glob of it on my toast. Reaching for the knife to spread my jam, I was stopped by Dale.

"Uh-uh," he said, "We don't want any accidents over breakfast."

Scowling at him, I instead smashed the two sides of the toast together, spreading the jam for me as it created a sandwich. I took great pleasure in the ripping sound that followed as my teeth cut through the bread. I imagined that the raspberry jam was a certain redhead's insides spilling out onto my plate.

The nerve of that jerk. My whole back still hurt from that little adventure. And who the hell does he think he is, anyway? I didn't ask to wake up in his house. I'm the victim here. And after I even saved his friend. Twice! The nerve.

How dare he treat me like some sort of enemy. He's the bad guy. He's the one who's violent and dangerous. What did I ever do to him, anyway? If I ever see him again, he's dead meat. I'm going back to that ridiculous dream-world just to give him a piece of my mind. See how he likes to be the one injured. Through the ripping and gnashing as I demolished my breakfast, I began to chuckle maniacally. My siblings cast nervous glances my way.

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I tossed and turned in my bed, unable to sleep... still. All last night I had been kept awake, fuming over the actions of that damned woman. What was she doing here, endangering my mother? That was a despicable maneuver, even for an enemy, to drag family into the fight. Had she been here for my mother: to harm her or hold her hostage? Probably trying to frame one of those monsters that always seemed to follow her, again. These thoughts continued to swirl through my head as they had all night, until nothing coherent was left; there was only rage.

Reason had departed from me upon finding her here in my home, and it seemed it was not returning any time soon. I turned over and slammed my fist into the pillow, trying to make it a more comfortable shape while simultaneously taking out my anger on something non-sentient. Damned woman. So she was an enemy, after all. My jaw clenched tightly as I tried to control the more destructive impulse of my fury.

Finally, I had the chance to live a life of peace and quiet, like any normal human would have done and she comes along and ruins it all. Everything that I worked for, gone. All of my decisions and careful efforts to conceal my whereabouts meant nothing. Back to being the dog of spirit world. Back to endangering my mother. To her endangering my mother. I was livid. For a moment my eyes saw only red. That damned woman was the cause of it all.

I must inform the others of this threat immediately. They must not be deceived.

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"Are you sure, Kurama? I thought we could definitely make her an ally. She's already saved me twice, after all," Botan replied uncertainly.

I repressed a sigh. The madness that had consumed me earlier had departed, but I could still feel where it had rubbed me raw. I had worried they would not believe me, mistaking her trickery for acts of kindness. They were too trusting of her intentions, but I knew better.

"I intercepted the woman just last night, where she had somehow gained access to my home. I believe it was her intention to harm my mother, perhaps use her as a hostage. Those we care for are not safe. We must keep a close eye on them, and locate her as soon as possible," I replied, trying to convince them to see reason.

"That is very interesting, Kurama. We will have to keep that possibility in mind," Koenma slowly agreed, "However, we must remember that we need this woman to talk to us. She is our only source of information so far. We may still be able to make her an ally, whatever her former intentions."

"But the woman is too dangerous," I protested. Why could they not see reason? "She can appear and disappear at will. Even a cell will mean nothing to her. We must find a way to shut down her powers and restrain her."

Koenma sighed, "It's true this woman is a wild card. But until we meet her again, we should not waste time theorizing. Let's get to the point. I called you here to discuss what we do know."

I ground my teeth together, but said no more. If they would not understand her true intentions, I at least had to prepare them as well as I could for any surprises.

"Koenma, one moment please. I discovered this combination of herbs can stop the spread of infection caused by the beasts. Those of us with deeper wounds should use it now, before the infection spreads too far," I informed them, bringing out the tub of ointment I had prepared for our meeting tonight. I passed it around, and those with more severe injuries applied it while Koenma continued to speak.

"Very good, Kurama. You've done well, as usual. That vial of blood you collected was especially helpful to our analysts. In fact, they believe they have discovered the identity of the creatures," Koenma stated and paused for dramatic effect.

"Long ago, there were beasts much like these, called Nightmares," Koenma continued.

Yusuke snorted, "Nightmares? How cheesy can you get?"

A red-faced Koenma snapped at his spirit detective, "Shut it, Yusuke! I'm trying to explain something very important. There's a reason why they're given this name, but we don't have time to go into the whole long history."

"Alright, alright. Jeez," Yusuke grumbled and settled down.

"Anyway, there was an ancient feud that lasted for millennia between the Nightmares and a group of humans with special abilities to defeat them. These humans were called Sleepers. Because of these Sleepers, the Nightmares have not caused problems in a long time," Koenma informed the team.

My eyes widened. I had heard of these Sleepers long ago. Why hadn't I realized it before? Things were all starting to come together now. My mouth pressed together into a tight line.

"So why are these Nightmare-things showing up now and causing trouble in Ningenkai?" Kuwabara asked, "And how come we've never heard of any Sleepers?"

Koenma sighed, "Glad you asked, Kuwabara. When Genkai was young we used to see them, now and again. But no one has seen any for over 50 years, and there have been no Nightmares spotted for far longer. Reikai believed the Sleepers extinct. It was thought that without the Nightmares, there was no longer a need for them. However, they had continued on for a while without their natural opponents, so it was strange that so many could vanish in such a short time. We now begin to suspect that it was no accident the Sleepers disappeared. But what happened remains a mystery."

"And… what do we do now that there are no more of these Sleeper-people? Can't we just fight these Nightmares without them? There's really no reason why we need some so-called Sleepers to fight for us. We've fought plenty of demons before," Yusuke reasoned boldly.

"No, Yusuke. These Nightmares are not demons," Koenma said and stood.

"Huh? What do you mean they're not demons?" Kuwabara asked with surprise.

Koenma began to pace, "Nightmares and Sleepers both operate on a different wavelength of energy than any others. The different types of energy… demon energy, human energy, and spirit energy, they operate on different wavelengths, but they are similar enough that if your energy is great in any one, you can fight the others. However, you are not as efficient as, say, someone with spirit energy fighting someone else with spirit energy. There is no type of energy with a wavelength similar to the one Nightmares and Sleepers use; any attempts to fight with the energy available to us is possible, yet highly inefficient.

"We must find a Sleeper," Koenma concluded.

"I believe we already have," I cut in. Their eyes turned to fix on me with varying looks of surprise. They began questioning what I meant, but I held up my hand to cut them off.

"Many centuries ago, when I was still King of Thieves in the Makai, I heard of these human Sleepers. I was particularly interested in their ability to come and go at will, regardless of any… hindrances. You see, it was a very useful talent to have, for a thief. I was determined to find a Sleeper that I could add to my band of thieves.

"I searched for many years, but eventually discovered that none had ever been able to cross to the Makai. Very rarely, a Sleeper had the ability to transport him or herself to Reikai. But to take a human from the Ningenkai or even the rare Sleeper who got across to Reikai would get me tangled in the affairs of Reikai. They would not tolerate a demon, such as myself, getting their hands on a human for whatever purpose. So I was forced to abandon my pursuit," I concluded and waited to see if they had questions.

"That's very informative," Koenma mused, "I had not known Sleepers had ever crossed to Reikai."

"Shouldn't Reikai keep a record of these things?" I asked, surprised.

"Hmm… Well, we should. Likely there was a record. But we are beginning to suspect that at least one of the things stolen in the recent attack on Reikai was the classified file of Sleepers. You see, each human's file is marked with an invisible seal of the Sleepers. If their powers awaken, the seal becomes visible, and their file is immediately added to the file of the Sleepers, past and present. It could be a very dangerous tool if it got into enemy hands," Koenma replied.

"Err… do the Nightmares even know how to read?" Kuwabara asked.

Koenma gave a short laugh, "No, Kuwabara. Let me clarify. The Nightmares are not the most dangerous of our enemies, but they make up the vast majority. There are legends that tell of those that command the Nightmares to do their bidding. Although, it has been even longer since one of them has been seen than the Nightmares. I'm afraid that may be what we are up against. This could be a coordinated effort against Ningenkai, and Reikai as well."

"Hold on a minute!" Botan interrupted, "Koenma, sir, are you saying that Friday could be one of their commanders?"

"Hmm… I suppose anything is possible," Koenma stated.

"I do not believe that woman is one of their commanders," I said.

Botan smiled brightly at me. "So you think she is an ally, after all, Kurama?" she asked hopefully.

"No," I said, and watched as her smile fell. "I mentioned earlier that we had already found a Sleeper," I reminded them, "From what I know of studying them, this woman is almost certainly a Sleeper, though I admit it has been so long I did not recognize it at first."

"Hang on. If she's a Sleeper, shouldn't she be on our side?" Yusuke protested.

"Her actions suggest otherwise. Isn't it suspicious that years after the Sleepers are thought to have been extinct, one turns up. And that same time, Reikai is infiltrated, and the classified file of Sleepers stolen? Koenma, you have not been able to locate this girl's file, have you?" I asked, though I knew the answer.

"No, we haven't," the small ruler replied, fidgeting rather embarrassedly.

"Wherever she's from, someone is trying to hide this reawakening of the Sleepers. Someone is trying very hard to hide her existence. Why should her enemy go to that trouble? There is no reasonable answer… unless she has allied herself with them," I concluded, and waited for their responses.

"Slow down, Kurama. Who says that she's even from this world? It's still possible that if she doesn't have a file, she simply isn't from somewhere under Reikai's jurisdiction. It might even be that one of our oni with rocks for brains has misplaced her file," Koenma responded, "She may not even be a Sleeper, since all of them are long gone. Or she may simply have originated from somewhere else. Another dimension we don't keep a record of, perhaps. There are many possible answers to this problem, and we cannot be hasty in eliminating all the rest."

"Other… dimension?" Kuwabara asked, stunned.

"It's complicated, but there are known to be some, though they rarely interact with this one. Did you think that all dimensions were those empty voids you can cut through with your dimension sword?" Koenma responded.

"I dunno, I think Kurama may be onto something," Yusuke said reluctantly, "His theory makes a lot more sense."

"She has always been exceedingly wary of us. If she was looking to ally herself with Reikai, she should have been willing to at least have a conversation with us by now. We have engaged her many times. And although she has, perhaps inadvertently, protected Botan, there are many other motives that could explain this. The fact remains that she has always been found at the site of a Nightmare, and recently begun to appear in homes of the Reikai Tantei. This is likely a move to infiltrate Reikai," I further fleshed out my point, "The Nightmare we fought was probably nothing more than a diversion for her escape. It is even possible that she has feigned injury to cause us to look with less suspicion on her disappearance. Her only real priorities seem to be avoiding injury and escaping safely, if we look at her past actions."

Yusuke nodded his agreement, and some of the others looked like they were beginning to be convinced.

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AN: Why oh why does this site make my chapters look so scrawny? :'( They're a good 7 pages each, give or take a page. They look a heck of a lot better on my word processor. And please forgive the knowledge dump; there's just so much new information to cover.

Side note: I love writing about Friday's family. They're just so fun.

And let's just assume there were no family pictures taken in the hospital... (Also a fun scene to write :D I never thought I'd like short-haired Kurama so much...)

Please review! Thank you for reading :)