Back again! And oh so tired... but hey, exhaustion never stopped a fanfiction from being posted so long as it was already typed up.

Lets hear it for Dream Sequences! People can act as out of character and crazy and still be the same person without ruining a fic. Bah! I could be wrong, but seriously, the dream is needed. Especially because Fred isn't involved. Maybe I said too much...NAH!

Things happen in this chapter. No really, they do and some of them aren't as obviously important as others. That doesn't mean they're not important. Or does it?

don't worry, I'm not any nicer to my borrowed characters than I am to you. In fact, you should be glad you aren't subjected to the whims of me!

A Fluffy Dream

The subconscious mind is a complex bit of our being. Every one has one yet there's not really a lot we know about them. Some say dreams are meaningful in a purely symbolic way. Others claim that dreams are purely random images and have no meaning at all. And then one guy related everything to sex for reasons we may never really know. All we know is that strange stuff happens in our brain when we sleep and no two dreams are exactly alike.

Or are they?…

Sesshoumaru was dreaming. He could always tell when he was dreaming, the rareness of the occurrence made it easy to identify when it happened.

In this dream he was small, young, which was strange because he had never dreamed about being other than he was while awake. This dream was different.

In his dream he could see a bunch of other children playing in a field under a bright blue sky. They were running around and the air was saturated with their youthful laughter.

Chibi Sesshoumaru sneered at their game. It was a habit he'd developed when he first noticed that he was never asked to play. Nobody wanted to play with the heir of such a powerful youkai as his father. What if he got hurt? Would his father kill whomever he perceived as responsible?

They were afraid; he could understand that. That still didn't stop him from feeling left out. The pressure to live up to his father was already such a big part of his life that he had to do something to disguise the feeling. It wouldn't do to appear weak even at such a young age.

Eventually he'd managed to convince even himself that he didn't want to participate and that's why he'd never played the games or joined in with the other kids. If you tell yourself something long enough and often enough you start to believe it; isn't that how the saying goes? It helped that his training and education had started so young to help distract him.

But here, in this dream, it was obvious he' d never quite believed the lie. He had wanted to play; he had wanted to join in the carefree activities of the others. It was absolute proof that Sesshoumaru had very little imagination if the other kids still ignored him in his own dream.

He suddenly found himself knocked to the ground by a strange mass coming from behind him. Sesshoumaru rolled over quickly in surprise to find himself staring up at a little girl with green eyes and a puzzled look on her face.

"I'm sorry," she laughed gaily as she picked herself up. The girl was shorter than he was and she appeared a bit younger as well. "What are you doing up here all by yourself anyway? You can't have any fun up here by yourself." She grabbed his hand and tugged him down the hill from under the strange tree he hadn't noticed before.

He followed that sweet little girl into the circle of children and finally got to play his first game of tag…

Sesshoumaru smiled in his sleep and tightened his arm around Aki's waist. Some time after the inu youkai had settled to rest beside her, Aki had fully uncurled from her fetal position and stretched out to relax along the length of her guardian. Now the two lay snug against each other, sharing warmth and other things. My, but things would be interesting should one of them wake.

The little girl caught him with a triumphant laugh. "I got you!"

Sesshoumaru scoffed playfully at the girl as the game continued around him. He'd learned that half-hearted denial of capture was as much a part of the game as all the rest. And all the rest of the children chased after him as often as they chased after anyone else. He truly was part of the game and he couldn't help but notice that not a one of them was scared of him. Especially not this little girl who first invited him to the game.

Her cheerful face was healthily flushed and her bright eyes sparked with her humor and the thrill of the chase. He noted her short breath and her heaving shoulders and decided to drag her off to rest and watch the others for a while.

She almost protested their withdrawal from the game. Tugging on his hand firmly at first before she sighed and allowed him to draw her up the hill they had started from.

Sesshoumaru pulled her along behind him, his heart light and full. This strange little girl had gifted him with this feeling. She had drawn him to the others and somehow he was certain they'd included him just because she had brought him.

Sesshoumaru paused halfway up the hill when he noticed the strange tree at the summit. He hadn't noticed it before and he would've remembered seeing such a strange tree if he had.

The little girl didn't stop with him; she kept walking until it was her leading him to rest under the branches. As he watched she appeared to grow older the closer to the summit they went. When she appeared to be the age of a human teenager he pulled her to a stop and turned to look back at the field where the other children still played. He smiled gently to himself as their laughter tickled through his ears and turned back to her.

She was still shorter than him, his body having aged as hers had. She squeezed his hand as she studied him.

"Thank you," he whispered. She blinked in confusion and he just shook his head. Sesshoumaru couldn't bring himself to explain why he was thankful. It was strange for him to come across someone like her, someone who did things so precious without even realizing that such things could mean so very much.

The youkai lowered himself to lounge in the grass and pulled her down to sit next to him overcoming her slight resistance. He cuddled her close and settled in to quietly watch the rambunctious pack of children dash about in their play.

"They're so beautiful," She murmured gently. "I prefer to remember them like this. Children are never so carefree or happy as when they are at play."

Sesshoumaru frowned in confusion. "This is a memory?" he asked her gently.

She chuckled and the sound flooded through his senses. "Not exactly," She replied. "Not all of them were children together, but I knew them as children once." She pointed to one boy with unruly hair and a warm smile. "He was only a year younger than I, whereas she," and she pointed to a little girl with pink ribbons in her hair "was seven years younger than me."

He understood then. She meant that she chose to remember them as carefree children and at play. And her desire to keep anyone from feeling left out or alone had made her put them all in the same game together.

She was remarkable and he had to commend himself for dreaming her up, though it was strange for him to have done so.

Something was tickling her ear. It was damned annoying but she felt so wonderfully warm and comfortable that she hated to allow anything to wake her. Best to just brush it away before she awoke completely. Aki attempted to do just that and came instantly awake when she found her movement restricted.

Aki's eyes opened and couldn't make sense of what was right in front of her. There was a lot of white and some gray. She couldn't seem to make her eyes focus properly. At least, not for a moment before she realized that what she was looking at was a lot closer than anything should've been upon her waking.

Slowly she became more aware of herself and the position she was in. The white was the color of the silk clothing the body pressed close to her. The gray was left by the shadows the sunlight streaming in the cave mouth had painted on the fabric. The body so close to her was Sesshoumaru's, and it was his arm that held her captive against him. This was bad.

She needed to get out of this predicament, preferably without rousing the sleeping youkai. She needed to regain some personal space before her brain suffered a melt down under the urgings of that Damn witch's spell. Apparently the spell was especially fond of the demon that set it off.

Aki began the slow process of wiggling free. It wasn't so hard…Well, excepting every five minutes Sesshoumaru would reflexively tighten his arm around her. Then her mind would desert her for a few seconds in sensual bliss before she could move again.

Seriously, if this false heat didn't kill her she would still go quite happily crazy from the side effects.

Finally she stood free of Sesshoumaru and straightened the garments she wore, still trying to convince her wayward body that it really didn't want to crawl back into his grasp and let the sensual torture continue. Aki took a deep breath and turned to check her clothes. Laundry certainly wasn't stimulating, nope. She packed the dry garments up and stood carefully. Apparently her increasing temperature was starting to screw with her inner ear, the action took more care than it should.

She wanted a bath. It always felt better to be clean when one was ill, and while the hot spring sounded very appealing right now, she was better off with the stream that was both closer and cooler. Perhaps it would help with her "fever".

Aki glanced at the sleeping youkai with a sigh. He would come look for her once he found her missing; Sesshoumaru was taking his job very seriously. She would expect no different from such an incredibly serious guy. She shook her head and dug one of her newly dried flannel shirts from her bag and draped it over him. Basically she was telling him she'd be back, but she doubted he'd interpret it that way. Turning around she left the cave and headed towards the sound of moving water.

Sesshoumaru's dream began to change. He was comfortably lying in the grass watching the game and suddenly she was no longer next to him. He'd looked around for her and gradually become aware that the sound of the children was fading as well. He glanced beck to where they had been playing just before they faded completely from the dream as well.

Frantic now, he glanced up the hill somehow sensing the tree held importance. The tree was there, but half of it was gone and the rest was slowly fading. What was gong on?

Sesshoumaru came awake all at once, unsure of what had awakened him and uneasy about the dream's end. Was it some strange sort of prophetic dream? The youkai shook himself away from such an absurd thought. He'd never had the gift of seeing, and for all that the dream was different it felt the same as a regular dream.

The inu youkai pulled himself up off the ground with a discreet, yet satisfying, stretch of muscles and glanced around the cave. Something appeared to be missing.

"I see she's already playing hooky this morning," a cheerful voice interrupted Sesshoumaru's perusal of the cave's shadows. He glanced in the direction of the voice to reveal that it was Fred who had spoken and he suddenly knew what was missing. "Aki slipped her leash for a bit."

Sesshoumaru mentally ran the ghost through with his claws as he stalked to the mouth of the cave and the bright sunshine.

"Hey wait a minute," Fred floated directly in front of the demon, "let her have a few minutes to herself why don't you? She's actually trying to help herself, which is a rare occurrence I might add."

Sesshoumaru drew up short at the first contact with the spirit's substance. It was a terribly uncomfortable sensation. Besides, it sounded like the ghost knew where his charge was. He gave Fred his best glare, "Where is she?" he demanded with a fierce growl.

The dead have no reason to feel intimidated by threats of violence. You certainly can't die twice, at least not without some very serious help in the resurrection department. So Fred tapped his chin pretending to think about where Aki might be and shrugged his shoulders in a way that let the youkai know he was unimpressed by the threats being thrown at him. "You know if you threaten me like that, I kind of don't want to tell you."

Sesshoumaru growled with frustration. "How am I supposed to guard her when I'm not where she is?"

"There is that," theghost nodded in agreement. "I assure you she's fine. Aki's not too far away and she is trying to bring her temperature down a little."

Sesshoumaru just growled, "Where?" He didn't care what she thought she was doing or even why she was doing it. It only mattered where she was to him.

"My but you have a one-track mind," Fred muttered snidely. "She's a bit that way," he indicated with a finger. And she was probably thoroughly undressed, he thought to himself as he made a point of getting in the determined youkai's way.

"Remove yourself from my path," Sesshoumaru snarled. The ghost was proving to be quite adept at constantly being in his way. The taiyoukai was gaining ground very, very slowly and it infuriated him to no end.

"I will not," Fred replied smugly. "I told you to leave her be for a little bit. She'll come back on her own."

"I don't know that," Sesshoumaru almost ground out but his jaw was so firmly clenched that the words would have been no more than an inarticulate growl. He most certainly did not like being thwarted by anything.

"Look, Aki left behind one of her favorite shirts so she absolutely will be back," Fred reasoned. "Can't you just wait here for her?"

It was a stupid question and even Fred knew that. Sesshoumaru took protecting Aki very seriously for some reason and the only reason the youkai hadn't already retrieved her was because of the unpleasant sensation coming in contact with a ghost caused. Fred was thankful that Aki had been right about that sort of thing.

Sesshoumaru gave an especially violent growl right before he forced himself to step through the damned spirit and get it over with.

"What the-" Fred gaped in surprise before hollering at the charging youkai. "Hey! Get back here!" It was futile now. Sesshoumaru was far faster than Fred could ever be unless he could zap himself in front of the inu youkai before he reached his friend. The chances of that working were very slim. Fred sighed; Aki wasn't going to like this.

Sesshoumaru had greatly disliked the sensation of stepping through Fred. If he were the praying sort he might actually send up a vehement prayer to whatever god that he never have to do that again. Now he just had to find the female he was supposed to be watching over and all would be back to how it should be.

Slowly he managed to pick up the sound of a gentle humming over the faint sound of running water. Apparently all he'd ever have to do to find her was to find the nearest body of water large enough for her to submerge in. He shook his head, was a cold bath really good for someone suffering from a fever? He'd never had to worry about it. His kind seldom took ill long enough for any actual treatment to be needed.

Sesshoumaru mentally sighed, Fred seemed to think so and he had been a member of a species that would know.

Sesshoumaru stepped out into the clear space by the stream so suddenly he startled Aki who had apparently been getting out. She jumped and slipped on a slick rock in the streambed. She fell back in the water and slipped under the surface for a moment. She came up coughing and cursing in pain.

Sesshoumaru was too stunned by the expanse of wet flesh he hadn't glimpsed before that he didn't really notice that her fall had scraped her elbow. He didn't notice her extremely colorful and diverse vocabulary. Nor did he notice that her bandages had been removed and some of the stitches had been as well.

In fact, he didn't even notice when Aki stopped swearing to cross her arms and glare at him. This was altogether rather bad of him. Partially because Aki huffed and turned around cutting off his wonderful view with her incredibly long hair, but mostly because it's terribly rude to stare.

Fred was terribly eager to point this out when he appeared right in front of Sesshoumaru still further blocking the youkai's view of Aki. "It's rude to stare," Fred's voice was perfectly cool. He didn't like the way this inu looked at his good friend. Aki didn't need an emotional cripple in her life and Mr. Stick-up-his-ass gave every symptom of being one.

The smallest amount of color flooded Sesshoumaru's face as he sharply turned around. He couldn't believe his own behavior. Why was he acting like some green adolescent first discovering the difference between males and females?

"You know, some people might apologize for interrupting someone else's bath," Aki grumbled quietly. She knew he could still hear her. She also knew he wouldn't apologize. She certainly didn't really expect it of him, the only reason she said anything was because it was better than staring at Sesshoumaru's back and trying to dress in record time with her balance being all screwed up. "One of these days I'll learn that really frigid, indifferent pride thing." She muttered under her breath.

"You'd never be able to pull it off," Fred declared from a bit closer than she expected. "Your face is too expressive most of the time."

"Maybe," Aki shrugged into her shirt. She glanced over at the ghost where he hovered between her and Sesshoumaru facing the other way. She folded up the silk kimono and stashed it carefully in her bag with the rest of her spare clothing. "So you just couldn't wait for me to get back to the cave," she teased.

Sesshoumaru balled up his fist in annoyance, unfamiliar with being teased by anyone. "I am supposed to watch over you until you are well," he growled as he turned to glare at her. His eyes narrowed upon glimpsing her apparel. He refused to voice his displeasure about her not wearing the silk he'd given her. He had no real right to say anything. Besides, he was supposed to be angry about something else at the moment. "I cannot watch over you when you are not present."

"I only need you to watch over me while I am being forced to sleep," Aki corrected him pointedly. "I don't appear to be unconscious anymore."

"I do not remember anybody stipulating you needed to be unconscious to need me to protect you," Sesshoumaru stated coldly.

Aki smiled at him, "It was implied."

"Aki stop instigating the youkai," Fred demanded. "Only dead people who can't get hurt get to do that."

"Like that ever stopped you when you were alive," Aki scoffed. "It's not like you can do anything to stop me now anyways."

"Oh yeah? I can sing," the ghost threatened.

"Oh god somebody drug me back to sleep," Aki shuddered.

Sesshoumaru raised a questioning eyebrow at her demanding Aki explain.

"There's no greater torture in the world for someone who can carry a tune than somebody who can't singing their heart out," she declared.

"Hee hee!" Fred laughed evilly.

"So you can sing?" Sesshoumaru asked his charge.

"What?" She asked in confusion. "Why would you ask that?"

"Yes, she can sing," Fred grinned. "She's actually very good at it."

"Well maybe I used to sing, but I don't anymore," Aki shrugged. "There's just not been much reason to recently."

"Why not?" Sesshoumaru inquired.

"Yes, why not?" a now somewhat familiar voice demanded from the opposite bank of the stream.

Sesshoumaru and Aki turned to face the newcomer only to freeze in surprise.

"This has got to be some kind of joke," Fred declared staring at the figure across the water wrapped in a baboon pelt and flower garlands. "When did Naraku start smoking crack?"

"I'm not sure if he realized that it was wearing a circlet of flowers on its head when he sent it out," Aki managed to get out around the laughter she was having trouble suppressing. "Evil shouldn't be allowed to dress up in pink and yellow flowers."

"Yeah, they should whither and blacken on contact," Fred agreed.

"Naraku must've messed up when he made this one," Aki decided.

"It's rude to say things like that, whomever you're talking about," the Naraku puppet smiled sunnily.

"Ah, too bright. Aki, are you sure it's evil?" Fred asked her playfully.

"I'm afraid so," Aki replied.

"Oh come now," the puppet laughed cheerfully. "You don't really mean that. Won't you come play with me?"

Fred burst out laughing. The puppets earnest request and indestructible good mood were too much for him.

"I'm terribly sorry," Aki replied carefully. "I'm not allowed to play today. I was hurt yesterday and my keepers wouldn't like it. Maybe some other time."

The puppet pouted but let it go. "Alright then. Bye-bye."

Sesshoumaru glanced at the female as she waved farewell to the silly demented puppet. Surely that couldn't be all that would come from the encounter. It was an instrument of Naraku wasn't it? Then again, he couldn't remember the last time he saw the mysterious bastard dressed like that.

Once the puppet was out of sight, Aki sighed and sank to the ground. "Damn puppet and damn Naraku," she muttered.

Alarmed at her strange behavior, Sesshoumaru gracefully sank to the ground also to get a closer look at her.

"What was that all about?" Fred asked, confusion thickly coating his tone.

"Naraku attempted to establish a way to watch me," Aki informed him. "I'm the only one he can't catch in Kanna's mirror so he has to find some other way to spy on me."

"And he thought that would work?" The ghost couldn't sound more incredulous.

"That could've been a very dangerous encounter," Aki returned.

"How so?" Sesshoumaru asked while studying her face.

"That puppet was made with the mentality of a child, a spoiled child at that, but at the same time it carries the same powers of destruction all of Naraku's puppets are infused with. If his request had been turned down in the wrong way…" Aki left her sentence hanging.

"So since you claimed to be too damaged to play and phrased it so that you would've played anyway if not for the people watching over you he accepted your refusal without offering violence in the way of a tantrum in return," Sesshoumaru observed.

"We should just be glad he wasn't a tired toddler child on top of being rather spoiled," Aki declared with mild humor. "He might've wound up being too much like Fred for me to handle."

"Hey!" The ghost protested the comparison.

"Or the puppet might have been like Aki," Sesshoumaru declared digging out the bag of herbs Kikyou had left with him.

Aki groaned as he produced the pouch of medicine. "Haven't I slept enough already?" she whined. Just because she'd managed to skate by one night without extensive nightmares didn't mean she would manage it again.

Sesshoumaru gave her a flat look to which she offered up a growl of frustration. She was getting tired of people interfering with her life. She didn't care that they were trying to help; she just wanted her solitude back (with only Fred as a constant interruption).

Lucky for Sesshoumaru, Aki didn't make him force it down her throat. It would've been terribly difficult to do with one arm, but he would've managed it even so. But he didn't have too. Instead, Aki dug out a cup of her own and he poured both the powder and some water into it. She choked down the disgustingly gritty drink with a grimace. "Bleh! That's worse than applesauce!" she declared with feeling.

He poured her more water for her to drink down before rising to his feet. A few drops of fresh moisture dropped on Sesshoumaru's head and he turned to glare at Aki as he pulled her to her feet. "Why do you insist on being caught in the rain?" he demanded rhetorically.

She glared back at him, "I certainly wasn't planning to still be outside right now, you jerk. If you had waited back in the cave I would be there right now and not in danger of being soaked to the skin for the second time in as many days."

"You should have stayed in the cave to begin with," Sesshoumaru growled as he tugged her in the direction of the cave.

"If I had stayed in the cave I wouldn't have been able to lower my temperature any now would I?" Aki returned cuttingly.

"You two fight like an old married couple," Fred declared, refusing to be forgotten.

"Shut up Fred!" Aki ordered the ghost sharply.

The rain picked up speed and followed through with the threat to soak them to the skin.