A/N: "Yume" is "dream" in Japanese.

"Yume"

Ah, Sano, you want to know why I look so tired? I was dreaming again. I don't sleep well when I dream. The paintings in my mind are all too real.

I have two kinds of dreams, you know. The first are the worst ones, and they involve snow. Drops of blood. The flash of a sword. Her strangled cry as I kill her. They have haunted me for all these years. They are the reason for this rurouni to live - the atonement, the punishment, the horrifying red memory of death.

The others are just as disturbing. They involve bottomless eyes. Beads of sweat. The glint of a smile. Your strangled cry as we roll on the floor. I wonder what you would say, Sano, if I told you that I dream of you, of making love with you, of fucking you senseless. Sometimes I am above you, your hands clenching my hair as you moan into my mouth. Sometimes you are inside me, and I am clinging to you with everything I have. But always, always, your lean limbs are tangled around me, and your soft lips are always, always mine. There are times when we thrash wildly on the floor, two desperate animals biting and scratching in need of release, and there are times when we are languid, tender, when your fighter's hands caress me so gently as we rock together. But always, always, your eyes are sensually glazed, dull with desire and sex and need, and your strong, lanky body is always, always mine.

Sometimes I wake up, sweating, with her name on my lips as I relive that horror. And sometimes - sometimes I wake up, sweating and tangled in my blankets, and your name is on my lips as I wish I could live that bliss. I wonder what you would say if you knew that you are my lover in my dreams, if you knew that it is the thought of such a dream that helps me sleep when I remember her. . . if you knew that you are the dream that makes this unworthy one smile in his sleep.

:::do you have nightmares?:::