DREAMS

Sunako's dreams were usually her hanging out with Freddy, Jason, Hiroshi-kun, Akira-kun, and Josephine. Or her in the biology lab with the jarred remains. But this was different. None of her usual friends or fantasies were there.

Instead, she was in a rose garden similar to the one in the back yard. It was grey and misty. Dew clung to the petals. There was usually a table and chairs in the garden. Those were missing. Not even a bird chirped.

It was just her and a shadowy figure in the mists.

"Who are you?" she asked. The figure turned to her.

"Do you even have to ask, Ugly?"

A stab went through Sunako's heart.

"That's not true," another shadow shouted at him, coming up from behind her and wrapping an arm around Sunako. "I've never seen anyone as beautiful as Sunako-chan."

"Oh-ho! Really now? Are you willing to get cursed?"

"I'm willing to face whatever it takes to be with her. I love her."

"Really. How can you love someone so ugly?"

"Only an ugly person could call this wonderful woman ugly. She's smart, gorgeous, and can kick butt. What is there not to love?"

"I can't believe this. You actually think she deserves to be loved as ugly as she is?"

"She's not ugly, so yes. She deserves to be loved."

"You're not serious?!"

"I'm dead serious. I love her."

Sunako woke and looked around. Ryouga was still there, sitting in her chair and staring at her. The sky was pink and purple. Getting out of bed, Sunako waved her hand in front of him. He blinked in surprise. "What time is it?"

"I don't know."

He looked outside then at his watch. "It's five in the morning, Sunako-chan. Why are you up?"

She shrugged and sat on her bed. "Couldn't sleep." She answered. Ryouga had a strange way of sitting, she noticed. His legs were pulled up to his chest, feet bare as they rested on the seat. He was leaning forward, his hands resting on his knees. She wondered how he could sit like that without getting stuck in that position.

"Do you like horror movies?" she asked.

"I never watch movies. My job is time consuming."

Sunako smirked and ran over to her collection before pulling out Friday XIII. "This is my all time favorite movie."

"Sounds funny."

"Don't make fun of Jason!"

Ryouga laughed and readjusted the chair so that he could see the movie…

After the movie, he was smiling broadly. "I knew it. It was funny. I've never seen anything so fake."

"What did I tell you about making fun of Jason?" Sunako asked, glaring at him.

"Not to. But there are very few things I care about. I almost never sleep for one because of my job, so I'm usually eating sugar to keep me going. Whether this is your favorite movie or not, I still think it's funny. That's my opinion."

"But if a horror movie's funny, then it's cheesy," Sunako stated. "You're implying that Friday XIII is cheesy."

"Whether it is or not, I'm not changing my mind."

"Fine," Sunako sniffed, rummaging through her collection again. "Now this one, there's nothing you'll find cheesy about it," she said, holding up Nightmare on Elm's Street.

Ryouga smiled, his thumb pressed to his lip as if laughing. "That's just as funny."

Sunako frowned and dug through her entire collection. Each one, he shot down as either "funny," "bad plotline," or "excessively cheesy."

"Is there any horror movie you like?"

"Like I said, I don't watch horror movies. I don't watch any sort of movie or show except unless it's a well done mystery or something similar. But then again, the only good cases are the cases in which you don't know what's going to happen next. Like the Kira case."

"I didn't think that they were airing anything concerning the case," Sunako said, her face concentrating.

"There isn't. Maybe you've heard of the detective set on capturing Kira."

"Right!" Sunako said. "L. I heard my friends and housemates talking about it. There are several people taking sides. L vs. Kira. They made it into an online game. Kyouhei and I like to battle each other on it."

"What do you think?"

"I don't condone murder," Sunako explained. "But Kyouhei's a Kira-supporter. For several reasons, I'm anti-Kira. Some of them you might find a bit dumb."

"I'm all ears."

"Well," she started. "As you noticed, I can stand horror movies; hence I prefer brutality in a killer than passive killing. Guns are too quick for my case. And Kira uses natural causes to kill. Heart attacks are painful, but too soft; too natural."

"You're a very frightening woman, Sunako."

"Other than that, I don't like real killers."

"That seems more logical."

Sunako smiled meekly. "Well, I try."

"Are you sure about that?"

"What do you mean?"

Ryouga stood, tucking his hands in his pockets. "I mean that you haven't tried much of anything since that day, am I right?"

"You could tell, huh."

"If you tried to do better in math, maybe you'd make an even better detective than L."

Sunako shrugged. "Nothing's going to change my opinion about math. I've never been able to understand it. And I doubt I could even if I do try. I work better at memorizing things than solving equations."

"Not even if you tried?"

"My brain fries during math really easily."

"You're brain fries?" Ryouga said with a smile. Now Sunako knew he was laughing at her.

"You should have seen my housemates when they found out how bad my math grade was. They tried to have Takenaga tutor me and the next thing we know, my head explodes and he runs away crying like a baby."

"That's not something to be proud of Sunako."

"No, but it's funny."

Ryouga nodded his agreement. "I have to admit, it is. You're a very funny girl, Sunako. And brilliant. But you could be so much more if you just tried a little harder at math. I'll tutor you if you want."

"I thought you said you're job was time consuming."

"I can make time."

Sunako grumbled.

"What?"

"I'd rather not spend it working on math."

"I know, but you might learn to enjoy it."

"I hate adding."

"Sunako-chan," Ryouga groaned.

"And subtracting."

"How difficult can you be?"

"And multiplying."

"Isn't that because you don't understand how to?"

"And dividing."

"And you're not listening," he said, rubbing his forehead. "You're so stubborn," he looked at her and a dubious look crossed his face. "Alright, but I'm just as stubborn."

Sunako glared at him. "And what does that mean, exactly?"

"It means you're getting that math tutoring whether you like it or not," he said.

Sunako glared at him, her eyes flashing. "You wouldn't dare," she threatened.

Ryouga's smile widened and he stared at her with wide unblinking eyes, causing Sunako to back down a little. "I would."