A.N.- Hello again! Sorry it took me almost a month to update this but a lot of stuff has been going on with my personal life.
While I do love this pairing, I also got into Love Lab (which I swear is a shipping trap) and Kagerou Daze (which gave me Kido) so I haven't been really feeling like writing about it.
But after my girlfriend got back from a convention, she gave me Romi Park's (Naoto's voice actress) autograph and a Naoto button! So yeah, I remembered how much of a sucker I am for this pairing.
Regardless, I wanted to get back into it and give you all quality!
Thank you Seraphim Fantasies and Ryou for the support!
May Fortune Smile Upon You All!- CrookedMouse
Window
The moon was full and the stars were shining in the night sky. A small breeze came through the window, making the curtains flutter.
Rise sighed as she took another tired gaze at the clock. It was late at night, but she just could not sleep. She tried almost everything to help, but tossing, turning, and warm milk could only do so much.
The girl groaned, remembering that she had school tomorrow. She had never had this problem before so why now? For some reason, for the past few weeks she just could not sleep! Everything was full of rude awakenings and nightmares.
All she could do was sink into her bed and hope that sleep could come to her…
But then, a strange voice called out,
"What seems to be ailing you?"
Rise jumped and frantically turned to where the voice was coming from.
Much to her shock, a teen was sitting near her window, perching on the sill.
He had dark dress pants, shoes, jacket, and a neat tie along with a crisp white shirt and gloves. His slightly-ruffled (yet somehow fitting) dark blue hair had a cap nestled on top. His steel eyes practically glowed in the darkened room.
"Who are you?" Rise was grasping for answers. Yes, a boy was in her room at night but… Her room was at the second floor. She backed away, noticing his ears were pointed. "What are you?"
He didn't exactly smile at Rise's reaction, but instead kept his cool, mysterious air around him. With his gaze never faltering, he stood up from his sitting position, took off his hat, and bowed.
"Good evening, young miss. I am here to fulfill wishes you might have." He stood straight again, allowing Rise to notice that he was only a small bit shorter than her. "You seemed to have some trouble, may I help with that?"
Rise gulped and kept her distance.
"You didn't answer either of my questions! What are you, how did you get in here, and why do you want to 'grant wishes'?" Rise kept persistently asking while keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. This however, did not seem to faze the teen.
"Very well, I understand your plight." He cleared his throat. "I am a creature of the night, I climbed up here, and it is my job." He smiled a bit, a fang slightly showing. "Also, my name is Naoto. Use it if you wish."
Rise staggered back, unsure of how to deal with the information and this even in general. She grabbed something nearby and held it tightly as she walked towards him.
"Don't try anything, or I'll pummel you!" Naoto stayed silent but raised an eyebrow at the girl holding a stuffed animal threateningly.
When she got close enough, Rise reached out and pulled the pointed ear. The teen gave a pained yelp and was dragged down with his ear.
"C-can you please stop that?! I know this is a lot to take in, but it's real and it hurts!" Rise let go and allowed the boy to rub down the pain. His cold aura was gone now and he just looked like a weird, yet non-hostile person. "I hate it whenever you all do that," he sighed and his calm stance came back.
"You said it was your job to 'grant wishes', how and why?" Rise wanted some answers and if the boy didn't comply, she would pull on his ear again.
"I am a creature who deals with the realm of dreams. I said 'grant wishes' because it looked like you were having problems. I can help by eating nightmares and creating good dreams." With a flick of his wrist, Naoto held a faint glowing star that looked to be made of paper and crayon. "Why, I can create whatever dream you like and give it to you." Rise looked skeptical and reached over to the star before Naoto made it disappear and held out his hand. "Do we have a deal?"
Rise glanced at the offered hand and looked back into the steel eyes.
"What's the catch?" Naoto chuckled and closed his hand, only leaving out his pinky.
"How about this? I can give you a free pass tonight and if you're satisfied: I will return. And if you're not: you will never see me again." Naoto smiled as Rise took the pinky promise.
"Deal, but if you do anything wrong; I'll find and end you." This made Naoto chuckle again.
"Fair enough," he said before pushing Rise back onto her bed.
The girl let out a yelp, but fell asleep quickly under Naoto's gaze. He walked over and gently put the girl under the covers. With a wave of his hand and a few muttered words, a dark star came from Rise and he bit down into it.
"Your nightmares are delectable. I wonder though… What do your dreams taste of?" Naoto hummed in thought as he finished the star. He brushed off his clothes and walked back to the open window. "But I am patient, so I will wait." He looked back to the sleeping Rise and smiled.
"Until then, sweet dreams…"
(Time Skip)
The next morning, Rise's alarm came to life, right on time.
The girl jumped and hit the off button with a satisfying 'smack'.
"When did I fall asleep?" The memory of last night rushed to Rise's head and she looked around for any proof of what happened. "Was that a dream?"
She stood up and stretched, realizing how she felt.
"Finally, a good night's sleep…" Rise looked at the clock and began to get ready for school.
As she walked over to her dresser, she saw a weird looking paper folded up near the window.
She quickly strode over and read the note.
"Dear Young Miss,
I hope you enjoyed the preview.
Signed, Naoto the Dream Eater"
Rise looked over to the window.
"…A dream eater, huh?"
She shook her head and safely put the note away in her bag.
The rest of the day she couldn't get rid of the weird boy out of her mind.
When she began to accidently doodle him (poorly) in her notes, she decided to find out more.
(Time Skip)
The night-time breeze made the curtains flutter as the strange teen appeared again with a smile.
"It seems that you were satisfied," Naoto casted his gaze over towards Rise.
"You're a Baku?" Rise firmly questioned. She had gone to the library to hopefully dig up more on the boy.
"If you wish to call me that, then yes." He chuckled seeming to be amused by the girl's attempt at research.
"But, if that is true… Why do you not look like…?" Naoto shook his head, stopping Rise.
"I can change my appearance to look like something more… believable to clients." He tilted his head with an (almost mocking) smile, "What do you want me to look like?"
Rise frowned, a bit uncomfortable imagining Naoto as anything else. "Um… It's just that I've heard that Baku look like tapir…"
"Is that what you would like to see?" Rise thought for a moment then nodded. "Very well," Naoto stretched his arms for a moment and snapped his fingers.
A large cloud of strange black smoke appeared, covering Rise's view of Naoto. When the smoke disappeared, in his place was a small black and white striped tapir looking calmly up at her.
Rise gasped and picked up Naoto, making him yelp and fail about uselessly.
"You're so cute!" She hugged the small tapir and swung him around. "How are you so small?"
"Put me down!" Naoto squeaked out, "And I am not small!"
Rise just giggled at the Baku's embarrassment. He may act all calm and mysterious, but whenever he acted otherwise, he was really cute.
She stopped playing with him and sat down on her bed. She didn't let go of him just yet and patted his head.
"I'm just messing with you," Rise placed him back down onto the ground. "You can turn back now, I was just curious."
Naoto bolted away, looking back at her as if daring her to pick him up again. The Baku huffed and a cloud of smoke entered and left to reveal a blushing Naoto.
He coughed nervously before suggesting, "Shall I help you sleep now?"
Rise smiled and lay down on her bed. "Okay, but you're still cute." And short, but she felt that would wound him too much.
Naoto's blush continued as he waved his spell over Rise's mind and ate her oncoming nightmare.
"Humans…" Naoto rolled his eyes. "The things I must endure for good food…" With a sigh, he vanished into the night.
(Time skip)
Rise practically glared at the clock, waiting for the right time to appear.
It had been a while since Naoto began showing up and, like she promised (Rise found that out), began helping Rise sleep. But now her problem was more of the waking visions as she couldn't seem to stop thinking to Naoto and what they would talk about tonight.
As much as Rise needed her sleep, she loved it whenever they would have enough time to chat and learn more about each other ("I need to know which dreams you'd like… Th-this is the easiest way!" Naoto had said and blushed as she asked if Rise was in a relationship).
Rise waited until the breeze blew into her room, making her jump up and tackle Naoto into a hug.
"Oof! W-well hello there, Rise…" Naoto chuckled as she tried to keep them from going out the window.
"So, what do you wanna do tonight?" Rise giggled and pulled her along, Naoto sighing but smiling as she tried to keep up.
"Well, you need to go to bed; you have school tomorrow after all."
"If you're trying to play Romeo, you're not doing a good job." Rise teased while poking Naoto's side.
"Good. His relationship doesn't end that well," she smiled and kissed the girl's forehead.
Intriguing
At first, it was nothing.
Naoto was more focused on the case that had absorbed most of her time. The police trying to actively pull it from underneath her and the suspicious group of individuals that knew more than they would admit were nothing but setbacks that she had to overcome.
Then she truly was halted and pulled from the case but it did not stop her. Even though the teenagers could be seen as an obstacle, their use was known to Naoto, to which she would constantly try to confront them about.
She knew about the idol in their ranks, of course. Rise Kujikawa was one of the various subjects she had to tune out while she was working. Well, Risette more than Rise.
The idol was a victim of the kidnappings as well, even when the police tried to protect her. Meaning Naoto had to try to gather more information about her.
Whenever they talked, it was when the idol was a part of the group. They rarely met in school and even if they did, it was no concern to Naoto as she went home to work even harder on getting information.
Until the idol snapped at her.
It wasn't too harsh, but it had hit a spot that Naoto had been questioning herself about. So, she just admitted that Rise was right before bidding them farewell.
As she awaited her bait to be taken, she couldn't help but think back to the next time she saw the idol. She felt the concerned gaze at her back, but she had to keep moving. She had to prove it wasn't just a game to her.
But then she was strapped to a table with saws and drills above her pounding head and a crying doppelganger to her right and she wondered what was true anymore.
Like her plan, the group rescued her. Some of them looking at her with pity and worry as she could barely walk and the idol had to support her.
The walk back to her home was quiet, though it could have been because of Naoto's focus on trying to stay awake and nothing much else.
When she was finally able to get her wits about her, she questioned the idol who had apparently been checking up on her about what happened.
They talked for a while, though on Naoto's end she was more silent and nodded as Rise tried to talk about happier things.
She was able to get back on her feet quickly though and joined the "Investigation Team". Naoto wished she could deny that though when exams came up and the idol dragged her to a group study session.
She also wished she could deny the feelings she had begun to feel for Rise when the other team members pointed out their closeness and Naoto's blushing. But she couldn't. Even when Rise laughed it off and said they were just best friends and teased at Naoto's shyness.
It was the detective's own fault for being caught by her infuriating senpai as she quickly bought a CD.
Naoto vaguely wondered about the ethics of the modeling agency and the demographic reach they had before hurrying out of the store while trying to hide her blush and purchase. Unfortunately, Yosuke was working and quickly relayed the information to their friends.
It was truly embarrassing that when the group had gathered again, Teddie had dragged Rise off somewhere and everyone at the table had focused their eyes on Naoto. Though she was thankful for the encouragement.
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