Disclaimer: Weee… You don't want to know what I've been doing to Sasuke-kun…

Sasuke: Please don't leave me alone with her!


"You pray it all away and it continues to grow… Or maybe this is danger and you just don't know…"

Unari sat at her computer, trying to type up a poem she'd written months ago. She wasn't used to copying for written to typed poetry, and found it to be quite irritating. Every time she typed something, she had to check to make sure it was what she had written. Absolutely infuriating. To ease her stress, she decided to assign each rhyme to someone she knew. Verse one is definitely Katsuko. She seems to be caught in an interesting love… shape…

"You try to hide the truth away and it still haunts you… Perhaps to hide was something you weren't meant to do…"

That sounds like me… wait, huh? I need a break…

She pushed away from her desk irritably and stalked into the kitchen to get a soda. Her mother and father were out on a "Re-Igniting" date, something they did every month to "keep their relationship young," as they put it. Unari had been left alone with her older siblings, twin brother and sister, who enjoyed poking fun at Unari. They were in the attic, their "game room", playing their newest videogame. She decided no to prolong the time she spent outside of the safety of her room; when she returned to her seat, she found a line she hadn't typed on the screen:

"A bleeding rose is a bleeding heart…"

Baffled, she typed the rest of the verse, remembering that it was her favorite verse.

"A bleeding rose is a bleeding heart aching painfully… But love can heal the heart and sew it up fully…"

But who started the verse?

§§§§§§

Katsuko was laying on her stomach with her face buried deep into her fluffy pillows. Her Linkin Park CD was turned up to 11, masking the noise of her screaming into her pillows. Midnight was balled up next to her, yowling with the music.

"Why the hell are Aries and Sasuke acting so weird?!" She screamed, though it sounded more like, "Wmm tmm hmm mmm ammm an mmmmm ammn mo mmm?!" Midnight was playing with her hair now, tucking playfully on her now-tangled red mane.

With an irritated moan, she flipped onto her back and glared fiercely at the ceiling. It was angled, because her room (as well as the rest of the second floor of her house) had originally been the left end of the attic. They had recently added a basement, to replace the attic's use as a storage room/hangout. The ceiling started out eight feet up, and was six feet up by the time it reached the opposite wall. Posters of Linkin Park, Within Temptation, Weird Al, Rihanna, and Barlow Girl littered her walls and ceiling where they fit between her various paintings. It was lucky her room took up a third of the second floor; the five posters and eleven paintings took up so much space that on one wall it was difficult to tell if the walls were deep red wine-colored or black. She liked deep red and creamy white colors; her ceiling was a pretty cream color, mottled with her Within Temptation poster.

"Mew?" Midoru-kun looked her in the eyes as if trying to ask her something. He'd been fed earlier; he couldn't be hungry now.

She sat up and sat him in her lap, stroking his fur as she started to confide in him.

"Sasuke's acting strange, Midoru-kun. He acts like he's suddenly got a thing for me. He used to despise me. And Aries… I don't know what his deal is. Oi, it's confusing, ya know? I mean, I like Neji, not Sasuke, and definitely not Aries. Why don't they get that? Midnight?" "Meow." "Yah, I probably should start worrying less. Do you think I'll get Christine?" "Mew." "Yah, right. Better to be optimistic, right?" "Meew." "Oh, yah. Christine's got the most songs to sing. Well, what do you think I'll get?" "Meow." "Meg? Madame Giry's kid? Ew. I don't think I like that idea too much." "Mrow." "Did you just roll your eyes?"

"Well, maybe Unari'll get Christine. And Gaara's sure to get Raoul. Right?" "Mew."

§§§§§§

At Neji's house…

"A-CHOOO!!" "Neji, did you just sneeze?" "Yes. Why?" "Oh. My. God. You're HUMAN!!!" "Hanabi, shut up."

§§§§§§

Sasuke's house…

"Chooo!" "Bless you, little brother." "Thanks."

§§§§§§

Aries's house…

"Chffff!" "Goodness! Aries, do you have a cold?" "No, I think someone's badmouthing me or something." "Now who would do that?" "…Gram, not everyone's a saint, you know…" "Oh, everyone has somegood inside." "…Right…"

§§§§§§

"Achoo." "Wow, you're so emo, even you're sneezes are emotionless." "Shut it, Ryo." "Touchy, touchy."

§§§§§§

"ha-gsfgbt!" "Gaara, you actually know how to sneeze?" Death glare. "Sorry, bro, just asking." "Kankuro, you're a wimp." "Temari, how could you?" "Shut up."

§§§§§§

When she finally went to sleep, Katsuko's dreams were filled with many terrifying things. In every dream, the colors red, black, and blue were always present (one dream was nothing but those three colors swirling together). In one dream, she was surrounded by growling wolves. When she tried to run, she was held in place by Sasuke, who roughly grabbed her arm and threw her down, saying she wasn't going anywhere.

In another dream she was sitting at the edge of a cliff, but the place where she was sitting crumbled and she fell into a deep river below.

Another dream showed Aries and Sasuke beating her up, Aries holding her arms while Sasuke aimed a punch at her stomach.

A fourth was quick, showing flashes of people she knew well accusing her of being an idiot or a coward, depending on the person.

A fifth showed a raven-black adder twisting around her neck.

Another showed her as a warrior in a battle, but she was quickly killed.

The most frightful showed her a number of things. She was writing something when a giant white wolf attacked her; she killed it, then fell to her knees in grief. Someone came and helped her to her feet; she thought she knew the person, but their entire being was engulfed in shadow. When they turned away, she called for them to come back, but they ignored her. Her dream ended with another swirl of black, deep blue, and red.

She sat up with a scream, startling Midnight out of his sleep. She looked at her clock; 5:45 in the morning. She had two hours before she would need to get ready for school.

She rushed to her computer and went on the internet, typing "what do my dreams mean" in the search bar. She licked on the first one; it was alphabetized, but she found most of the elements in her dreams.

Abandonment- Signifies that your need to let a past attitude or characteristic go. A more literal look may suggest you are afraid of being deserted, abandoned, or even betrayed.

Abuse- If you are being abused either verbally or physically forewarns that you will fall into the hands of an enemy.

Abyss- To dream that you are falling into an abyss, symbolizes the depths of your unconscious. The abyss may also represent your primal fears and feelings of "falling into the pit of despair" or fear of "taking the plunge".

Accuse- Signifies that you may be feeling guilty or that you are doubting your decisions.

Adder- Signifies a sly or cunning person who should not be trusted.

Black- Signifies fear, hatred, depression, or anxiety. May signal that something in your is disturbing you greatly.

Blue- Signifies attitude to life itself. If mixed with black (dark blue), it signals you have a negative view on a certain aspect or person in your life.

Battle- Signifies you are trying to repress an instinct or feeling towards someone or something.

Cliff- Signifies you have a higher awareness of those around you, and may fear losing control.

Coward- Signifies you are afraid to reveal a part of yourself. May also mean your fears are hindering your own self-growth.

Red- Shade and companion colors are very important. Maroon signals frigidity. Red and black signals anger or hatred.

Warrior-Signifies your ability to handle an upcoming trial.

Wolves- Signifies mystery, solitude, and danger. Killing a wolf may signify betrayal or abandonment. Grief at the death of a wolf may signify a low point in you life following a betrayal.

Writing-Signifies a conscious communication with someone you may not like. May also denote a mistake you have or will make.

She copied the results she found on saved them on a word document under "Dreams to Monitor". She'd spent fifteen minutes finding out what the things she remembered meant; she was only slightly less confused. She sent an email to Hinata, confiding in her friend about the worries her dreams had caused. After hitting "send", she went over to her stereo and put her Barlow Girl CD on, trying to calm herself down as she started working on a new painting.

§§§§§§

Neji was the first one awake at his mansion. According to the deal he'd made with his two cousins, the first one awake had to look through any and all emails they'd received the day before. Joy.

There were three adds (meaningless junk; he deleted those) and a message for Hinata, from silverdemonspirit. The title was "I swear to Kami I'll murder anyone who reads this and isn't Hinata". Three guesses who thatwas from. Even though he wasn't supposed to read the emails they'd been sent, he opened the email anyway, expecting some stupid little good morning note or something. What he found was surprising:

Hinata-

I'm kinda confused. I had these really… weird dreams last night and don't know what they mean. I looked up the stuff I remembered, but it only confused me more.

Abandonment- Signifies that your need to let a past attitude or characteristic go. A more literal look may suggest you are afraid of being deserted, abandoned, or even betrayed.

Abuse- If you are being abused either verbally or physically forewarns that you will fall into the hands of an enemy.

Abyss- To dream that you are falling into an abyss, symbolizes the depths of your unconscious. The abyss may also represent your primal fears and feelings of "falling into the pit of despair" or fear of "taking the plunge".

Accuse- Signifies that you may be feeling guilty or that you are doubting your decisions.

Adder- Signifies a sly or cunning person who should not be trusted.

Black- Signifies fear, hatred, depression, or anxiety. May signal that something in your is disturbing you greatly.

Blue- Signifies attitude to life itself. If mixed with black (dark blue), it signals you have a negative view on a certain aspect or person in your life.

Battle- Signifies you are trying to repress an instinct or feeling towards someone or something.

Cliff- Signifies you have a higher awareness of those around you, and may fear losing control.

Coward- Signifies you are afraid to reveal a part of yourself. May also mean your fears are hindering your own self-growth.

Red- Shade and companion colors are very important. Maroon signals frigidity. Red and black signals anger or hatred.

Warrior- Signifies your ability to handle an upcoming trial.

Wolves- Signifies mystery, solitude, and danger. Killing a wolf may signify betrayal or abandonment. Grief at the death of a wolf may signify a low point in you life following a betrayal.

Writing- Signifies a conscious communication with someone you may not like. May also denote a mistake you have or will make.

Like I said, I don't know what this means. Please talk to me about it at school, or else send me an email sometime. Just try to make it SOON.

-Katsuko

P.S. Midoru-chan says "mew".

Neji raised an eyebrow and closed the email, sighing as he got up from the computer desk.Katsuko's just plain weird, he decided, though now he couldn't stop mulling over why Katsuko would act so jittery about a bunch of tricks her mind was playing.


A/N: W00t! Chapter 8 is out! Awesome!

I wanted to show readers the kind of imagination Katsuko had, as well as add some humor to the story. I really like how this chapter came out, even if it IS obscenely long (2034 words).

Trivia: Katsuko actually has little control over her emotions, and is easily angered, saddened, or excited. She also has a heart of marshmallow despite the fact that she's a tomboy.