A/N - Yes, another update... review, fools >O

"Hatori, tell me something."

Hatori looked at Shigure, pausing in his daily checkup. "What?"

"When you found me… was there anyone… with me?" said Shigure, hesitantly.

"No," said Hatori, surprised. "You were alone. Lying in the middle of the road. No idea how you got there."

"Then she was a dream," said Shigure quietly, almost to himself.

"What was that?" Hatori responded, surprised.

"I don't even remember her name… but silly of me," said Shigure, laughing quietly. "She wasn't real. She can't have been. I just remember… when I woke up… all I remembered was that I had seen her face… in my dreams, I suppose." He smiled slightly. "Just her face. And those eyes, her golden eyes… such sorrow she must have known…"

Hatori smiled sadly. "You say she's a dream, but I don't think you quite believe that yourself."

Shigure stared out the window, his eyes gazing far away. "No."

Hatori left and the dog slept, thrown into whirling dreams of sorceresses, scarlet birds and a girl with golden eyes.

"I'm home!" sang Shigure happily, throwing open the door and standing straight despite his crutches and the cast on his right leg.

"Shigure!" shouted Tohru, and followed closely by Yuki and Kyo, she ran at him and hugged him joyfully. "Oh, no," she moaned moments later, as he transformed into a large black dog with one lame leg. Hatori chuckled.

"I'm glad you're back," said Yuki, smiling slightly. "Thank you, Hatori."

They seated around the table, after Shigure had transformed and changed appropriately, treated immediately to an incredible feast cooked personally by Tohru. Dishes flew out of the kitchen at lightning speed, consumed almost equally fast by Shigure. Yuki felt like laughing for the first time in days, and soon was unable to resist the urge, retreating chuckling into the kitchen. It was as if Tohru was unable to stop moving. Life was good; Shigure was alive again.

"Shigure! I have returned!" Ayame threw open the door dramatically, followed closely by a girl.

She beamed, then gasped. "Shigure! …KYO! Oh, my love!"

Kagura darted up to Kyo, taking his hand and pushing him farther and farther back in her excitement. "See? I knew it! I knew you couldn't have murdered him! Oh, Kyo, my darling, everything's going to be okay now! I always believed you!" The girl chattered incessantly, rendering Kyo speechless.

The two in the kitchen paused momentarily as they saw Kyo and Kagura pass the kitchen door. Moments later they returned, Kagura hitting Kyo vengefully with both of Shigure's crutches. Ayame and Shigure's helpless laughter could be heard back in the other room, and Tohru and Yuki could not help but join in.

"Shigure?" A short-haired woman stuck her head into the house at that moment. Her mouth dropped open. "So it's true! You really are here!"

"Ah, Mii," said Shigure, grinning happily. "They were just throwing a party in my honor. Care to join in? I really am enjoying myself."

"I thought you were dead!" she cried, at first in a tone of pleasant surprise. "I thought you were dead!" she repeated, louder, in a voice that did not bode well for Shigure. Clearly she was suspecting another anti-deadline ploy.

"SHIGURE!" she shrieked.

"Hari, hold me," the dog whimpered, hiding behind his friend. The dragon gave an exasperated sigh.

Tohru had suggested a bonfire in the back yard, and there they all sat. Momiji and Haru had also arrived from Sohma House and there was a good deal of chatter going on. Then Ayame noticed that Shigure was not joining in, and was remaining unusually silent and serious.

"Shigure?" he murmured cautiously.

"I just can't stop thinking of her," muttered Shigure, half to himself.

"Her?" Ayame raised his eyebrows. "My dear Shigure, are you in love?"

"Love?" Shigure gave a slightly bitter laugh. "I suppose I may be… in love with a dream…" With a deep sigh he leaned back, staring at a particularly bright star that shone above them. "I don't understand it," he said. "She was not, she could not have been real… and yet… no dream can be that vivid."

"Miracles do happen," said Ayame quietly. "Hari told me that when he found you, you were dead. There's no way you simply woke up, unharmed, just like that."

"I know," said Shigure. "I thought… I thought I would die. But here I am…"

The two friends stared at the sky, both lost in thought.