Chapter 6:The Nightmare
"Now, we have some good news and some bad news. Tell me, what is the good news?"
"Signs of violence have surfaced both unexpectedly and oddly aggressively. My life was almost endangered."
"Yes, you are correct. Although we expected the signs of violence to surface at about this time, we did not want it directed towards you. You must be more discreet with your manipulations. Because if you go, the Operation goes."
"But how can I accomplish what I need to without carrying out your original instructions?"
"The boy. Manipulate him. Trick him into believing that you're his ally. If my predictions are correct, the girl should not be showing any more signs for a while from now. Also, the boy is naïve. If it weren't for that, you would have already been discovered."
"I will try my hardest."
"No. You will not try. You will succeed, Yuki."
Tohru opened her eyes. Although she had tried, she had not been able to sleep at all she had instead spent the entire night trying to satisfy her need to beat Kyo's Dance Dance Revolution score. And on top of that, she had a terrible stomachache from the night before. She rubbed her eyes and looked at her hands. Her palms were all scabbed up from her fingernails. Disgustedly, she stood up, putting her hands in her torn pajama pants' pocket. She would have scars on her hands for a long time.
She felt so strange. It was like the real her was gradually disappearing, and she was changing, changing into something horrible. She had always been such a kind person, or at least she thought that she was. But now she was acting jealous and even violent. She didn't understand how a Dance Dance Revolution (now known as DDR) machine could cause her to change so much. Her hands not only felt sore, but they felt… dirty, from what she had done the night before. But her thoughts were interrupted when she spotted something- food. More food? Even though she had just eaten last night? But yes, there was a bottle of milk, and a tiny box of cereal, just big enough for one person. She assumed it was for her, and she was still hungry, so she began to eat the cereal.
Kyo was having a dream. No, not a dream, it was a nightmare. He was back at the main house, and Akito had put him away in his "cage". The door creaked open, although he thought that it was locked. It was nighttime in his dream, and he decided to go outside and take a short walk.
It was quiet out there, deathly quiet. He walked on a stepping stone path in silence, through a little wooded area, past Akito's quarters, until he came to a small trickling stream. He looked at his reflection in the water, which was so incredibly still that it looked like glass. He was about to turn around and head back, when he felt icy cold hands around his throat.
"I'm sorry, Kyo," said a voice behind him, in an icy, menacing tone, "this is the end of you now!" And he felt his broken arm pulled behind his back, and he cried out, but was muffled as his head was pushed down into the stream. He struggled and struggled, in a desperate attempt to escape his watery grave, but the grip was too strong. His vision blurred and the small stream became a river, a lake, an ocean, an infinitely large body of water. But soon, Kyo's body relaxed, his struggling began to decrease.
He then discovered it was a dream, and opened his eyes, hoping for a gasp of air. But this was not dream- he was really suffocating! His sling was tied in such a way that it wrapped tightly around his neck, stopping him from breathing. He frantically tore the sling away from his face, gasping for air. When he caught his breath, he wondered how the sling had suffocated him. At first, he figured he had just tossed and turned in his sleep, causing it to twist in such a way, but that wouldn't account for the fact that it had been completely retied. That could only mean one thing- someone had tried to suffocate him during the night.