Me: LOL. Hey guys!

Kashino: What are you doing? Isn't it summative and exam time?

Me: I know, I know but-

Kashino: THEN WHY AREN'T YOU STUDYING?!

Me: Mou, you meanie! Let me explain, summatives are in class assignments. It's actually against school rules for me to do them at home. So I really have no homework, since all my work is in class. Believe me, it stresses me out because I think I should be doing something because I'm so busy, but I can only do it in school.

Kashino: ...

Me: So, for now, I'll try to destress by writing fanfictions. I think this one is hilarious, but you can be the judge of that. What I think is really funny is there's only one word of dialogue in this whole thing. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! As always I do not own Yumeiro Patissiere! :)

Insomniac

Kashino was a tough guy; that much was obvious. Constantly, he scolded, argued, and bit back with passion, because that was just the kind of person he was. It didn't even bother him. What did bother him however was the reputation he had to uphold.

The top of class, who never got a grade below perfect; the blunt, never-one-to-back down, chocolate master; basically, the perfect individual. And maybe it was because of that fact that he had his prickly, unsociable character, because he wanted to remain perfect in the sights of others.

There was one problem though. And the longer it went on, the harder it was to hide it.

Kashino Makoto, the most intimidating of all boys, the sadistic devil, was having insomnia. Nightmares, to the point where he couldn't sleep at night. Now, he didn't tell anyone this; not his roommate Hanabusa Satsuki, his childhood friend Andou Sennosuke, and certainly not the cake obsessed glutton Amano Ichigo.

The first nightmare came upon a winter night. It was early December, when the sun began to set early and rise late. The blond was actually unaware as to what had happened. The room was silent, the world outside dark, with only the hazy glow of the moon shining slightly through the curtains. He woke with no memories of what he had just dreamt of, but one thing was for certain, whatever it was must have scared him half to death.

First of all, the blankets were tossed around everywhere, as if he had been rolling and kicking around. He was freezing, noticing that he had broken out into a cold sweat. His heart hammered loudly in his chest, blood flow pulsing in his ears. He sat up, inhaling deeply.

What was that all about? He wondered to himself. His mind was still foggy with sleep, trying to process his thoughts. The clock read 3 am. He had only been asleep for 3 hours. 12 am was his usual sleeping time, because he spent the evening practising, along with the early morning at 6:30. Ruffling his hair a little, he stretched before lying back down in bed, staring up at the blank ceiling.

He could hear all the others in the room sleeping peacefully, Hanabusa's even breaths from the other side of the curtain, the sleepy mumbling of the sweets spirits in their own little beds. He shut his eyes tight, begging for sleep to take over him once again; but it didn't.

His body felt all tense. He couldn't relax enough. After half an hour of tossing and turning, he finally gave up on the idea of getting any more sleep. Slipping out of bed, he pulled on a jacket and did up his shoes. If he couldn't sleep, he might as well do something productive.

That night, he had practised tempering from 4 to 7. He was very much tired by the time school started, and quite frankly he was very irritable because of it. Kashino was aware that 3 hours of sleep was in no way healthy, and it definitely did make sense. His head felt foggy all day, his eyelids heavy and his reaction time slowed. Many times he had to pause because he felt so dizzy. It probably wasn't a very good thing that he hadn't eaten anything. He had felt nauseous to the point where he couldn't eat.

Though, he did his best to hide it from everyone. He was Kashino Makoto, to whom many looked up to; or at least held a reputation over his head. He certainly wasn't going to let one sleepless night ruin it. He would get good 8 or so hours of sleep that night and everything would return back to normal.

However, he woke again, no less even earlier than previously. It was only 2:30 am, his eyes snapped open and he shot up like a bolt of lightning. His head seemed to spin and he closed his eyes to soften the whirling of his vision. Again, he couldn't remember what he was dreaming about that got him so riled up. Certainly it had to be something bad, because every single time he woke so tensely, it was impossible for him to fall asleep again.

Thankfully enough, no one seemed to notice his dilemma; as he did his best to keep the secret away from prying eyes. For the next days, the boy survived on seldom 2 to 3 hours of sleep every night. No doubt, his chocolate making skills vastly improved, but no doubt because he spent the time in which he couldn't sleep at night to work on it.

However, his sociability took a great blow with his lack of sleep. He was very snappy with anybody, coming off as more sadistic than usual. In particular, Ichigo was often targeted, for what reason he didn't even know. Countless times he snapped at her to do better or even just to stop bothering him, even when she wasn't doing anything at all.

It wasn't like he didn't feel bad about it either. In fact, he had come to like her more. Well, certainly more than he had when he first met her. Up until that point, he was actually almost nervous to see her. Just the thought of her made him nervous. For reasons he didn't even understand.

His insomnia stuck to him almost like the obsessive fangirls of his childhood. He couldn't shake it off, and it was becoming extremely frustrating because he didn't know what on Earth he was dreaming of that shook him so badly.

After a while, his lack of sleep started to become more and more obvious; to the point where he began to doze off in class, to which he received many shoves from Ichigo of all people to wake up. Dark circles formed under his eyes, shaped like crescent moons, shadowing his eyes to look almost hallow. Indeed, it sure felt like it. His mind was constantly exhausted; after being unable to rest for so long. His appetite decreased, to the point where he hardly ate anything at all.

His friends were becoming very concerned for his health; he was losing weight due to his loss of appetite, likewise, always feeling faint from exhaustion and starvation. He was starting to lose his grip on his focus. It became a difficult task even to practise when he couldn't sleep, he couldn't remember what he had done, and what he needed to do. It was hard for him to work with heat, because very often, he was too slow and burned whatever he was doing.

Worst of all, due to all of this, his grades were starting to slip. That was something he swore would not happen. He just wished it would all go away. He just wanted the peaceful sleep he used to have and basically begged for every night. But it wouldn't come.

Many times, Ichigo nagged him, asking him if something was wrong, and he constantly pushed her away. This upset her and he knew it. She wouldn't talk to him for a very long time after he had continually shunned her; which left the chocolatier in even more distress.

When he finally worked up the courage to apologize, she finally began to be friendly again. For that, he was very pleased. He noticed instead of asking him what was wrong all the time, she began to do little things for him that made his sleepless life so much easier. She didn't question him anymore, rather, finally picked it out herself. She didn't address it with him directly, but she certainly was quite diligent in helping him.

She copied the notes in class for him, while he was either completely zoned out or even half asleep. She gave him coffee every morning, just the shot of caffeine he needed to make it through the day alive. She made sure he ate at least something, trying to ensure he wouldn't pass out.

And he was greatful of all these things. He really was. But the thing was, for some reason all her actions were making his insomnia worst. Kashino woke up even earlier, to the point where he was lucky to sleep at all. When he was, it was constantly on and off, tossing and turning, his mind jumbled in a series of blurred dreams he could never pick out.

It was a horrible cycle, because of Ichigo's actions, he couldn't sleep. Because he couldn't sleep, Ichigo tended to him even more to help him, which in turn made his insomnia worst than before. It was like he was stuck in a dreary, sleepless vortex.

It was until days later he finally collapsed. Despite Ichigo's great efforts, there was only so much a 14-year-old boy's body could stand; especially when it was running on 2 or so hours of sleep. He had passed out in baking class, to which Ichigo, Hanabusa, and Andou rushed him to the nurse's office.

For the first time in a while, he slept for hours. It didn't even matter what he was dreaming about, his body was just so drained to the point where he was just out cold.

Apparently, he slept for 36 hours straight; because when he woke up, it was 1 and a half days from the time he last remembered. Regardless of the amount of sleep he had just gotten, his head felt very light and his body was aching all over.

"Kashino!" Her voice rung through his mind, almost scraping the inside of his head, causing him to wince.

Ichigo, Hanabusa, and Andou had all come to check on him and were happy to see he was awake. Ichigo hurried over him to give him a hug, because in all honesty, she admitted; she was very worried about him, and had been ever since she had noticed his insomnia.

Kashino promptly pushed her away, his fierce a dark shade of red, mistaken as blood rushing up to his head. The nurse was quick to tell Kashino he was bedridden for the next few days, in order for him to rest. Finally, Kashino admitted to his problem of being unable to sleep, to which the nurse replied she had medication for him.

He asked the nurse if he was sick. To which he reply was that he wasn't, though his health was definitely not as strong as she would see fit. Ichigo bubbly said that she would be happy to help nurse the exhausted chocolatier back to health.

He declined her however and soon the nurse asked Ichigo, Hanabusa, and Andou to leave their friend in peace to rest some more. She left a bottle of sleep pills at his bedside, along with a glass of water in case he was unable to sleep again.

When everyone was gone, it was quite apparent that Kashino was distraught. His face was still flushed, his eyes wide. He thought he was going crazy.

After sleeping for 36 hours, he had finally held onto one of his dreams. He finally figured out what he was dreaming about that rendered him sleepless, and there was no doubt in his mind that he was absolutely frustrated.

What had he been dreaming about?

Why, the poor chocolatier had been dreaming of none other than the darling Amano Ichigo. In the particular dream he remembered, they were all alone, in the kitchen room. It wasn't like it was an uncommon occurrence. Many times, he and Ichigo were the first to meet up for a group meeting and it had never bothered him. However, in his dreams, Ichigo was much much sweeter to him than she was in real life.

She got so close to him, to the point where he could simply lean forward and kiss her. And very many times, that's what he was about to do right before he was jarred awake. She was the reason he couldn't sleep, because he was so disarmed having dreamt of her in that way.

Wearily, the boy reached over and downed some of the sleep pills from the bottle. He was going to need them. As the medications began to take effect, he thought one thing only. He really was sick.

Love sick.

And the problem was he didn't want that love to go away.

Oh, the things the boy went through because of his feelings for her; and certainly, it was just the beginning.

Me: And that is it! Now time for the review reply! Thank you for the follows/favourites! :)

~*Review Reply*~

1) Moon-Raven15 - Aw really? That sounds like it really sucks! I save everything on my USB now that that's happened. As you said, better safe than sorry! I would cry to lose all my fanfictions, both completed and uncompleted. They are all very special to me!

2) RedNeko22 - You're soooooo sweet! I'm glad you like them. I'm trying to update lots, really! :)

3) Deathly Jester - I get what you mean. It's like at that point where Kashigo isn't really Kashigo yet, but it's like what triggers it. I'm a sucker for them in general, so I love them to bits and pieces at any stage ^_^

4) Neko-chan2604 - Aw really? I hope you feel better! Stomach aches are super sucky. I hate 'em Dx

5) 14AmyChan - Yeah! That's the lullaby I based it off of! I'm glad you caught the reference! ^_^

6) MissLovelyPrincess - Kashino's so much fun to torture! (Sorry Kashino~~ ;3) It's just his tsundere like character just makes it all the more cute when he does! Man, I wish I was Ichigo too. All. The. Time. I'll find my Kashino some day! You will too! :D

7) Kuroi Neko Kagamine - Right? Kashino is always perceived as a tough guy, because of the way he acts. But at the center of it all, everyone is equally fragile, you know? I thought I would just dip into Kashino's inner emotions a little.

8) Aoi Kobayashi - OMG. You read my MIND. Did you know I was actually writing that? (THAT'S SO WEIRD!) I started writing it when she first released it as a preview to her album. Unfortunately, it's been stuck for a while. I'll finish it soon, just for you. Promise! :)

9) Rei Star - Aw, it's okay! Girl, sometimes you just have to rant, I've done it a lot too, so don't worry about it! I hope all your tests went/will go well. I know I've got exams coming up T.T I'll be sure to read your story when I get the chance, I like it a lot! P.S I love Andou and Kashino's friendship, because it's just so comfortable. LOL.

10) Ryuuojin - Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! :)

11) Thank you! I try ;) LOL. I'm kidding. Thanks anyway, though! ^_^

Wow you guys. I'm almost at 400 reviews! Can you believe it?! And now that I look at it, this story is almost 2 years old! I'm super pumped. June 30th is the anniversary for ILYF guys! And thankfully, that's after exams! Score! As always, please review and I'll catch you all later. Cya!

xoxo

~Mikashi-chan :)