Disclaimer: well, more than admitting it's a fact that I don't own FY or the caracters in it, Oh and LOTR either, Or CC, Just using them kannas, please adjust kindly

CHAPTER18

NIGHTMARES…FOR TWO!

The next day college was pretty eventless as usual.
As a result of the previous night's episode Tasuki took to keeping Arwen with him all the time. This seemed strange to the gang but they hadn't even a clue as to why he was doing it.

He seemed a little more protective some how. She seemed to have taken on talking to him and consulting him for everything she did too.
As the two were walking home that evening, Tasuki and Arwen heard some one call out.

"Hey miss hit me in the face." Both of them froze.
"Doin ok there? He yer boy friend is it? I don't think so!" the speaker laughed spitefully.
"Didn't see you with no guy yesterday! Ha! Poor kid. If she is yer girl friend boy! I pity ya! Watch out she might just-" but she couldn't hear what she would do from the guy. All she heard was a loud groan.

She just turned around to tell him off when she almost fainted with shock.
She hadn't even noticed that Tasuki wasn't behind her, let alone see that he had left her and just punched the guy so hard he had crumpled on the ground a few feet away bleeding intensely.

Tasuki was panting hard and his hand was still at the point of contact of the guy's jaw and his fist, which by the way was now covered with blood as well.

"Tasuki!" she ran to him and pulled him away from the scene. "You needn't have done that! We could have reported him!"
"He's lucky ya came along! Would have been dead meat otherwise!" Tasuki growled as he let himself be led away by her.
"Oh Tasuki," she sat him down on a bench outside the campus. "You're so stupid sometimes."

"Why did he say that about you Ari? Who the hell was he?" he asked in a gentle tone trying to hide the confusion as to why he himself had gotten so enraged at the guy for no reason.

"Well, that ane was Keiko's fiancée. He blew his mouth out at her that day so I gave him a gift. This is just his way of saying thanks." She cleaned his hand with her hanky.

"How could anyone say things like that? Not only that, about you! I may not like girls but I don't do that! I don't blow my mouth at people like that."

"But you blow your mouth out at me in a lot of other ways too Tasuki, I am a girl too. Didn't you notice that?" she smiled at him with a secretive meaning.

He picked up another meaning to what she had just said. He just stared down at her as she put a band-aid on a cut he had gotten then.

"Tasuki. You're really stupid. But I couldn't have asked for a better friend!"

Unusual rains had the moods of those who liked to hang around outside in for the bad.
Tasuki and Arwen were two of these victims.
Having a sudden surge of irritation Tasuki walked out of the study room at college ignoring the fact that he had to walk in the rain one evening.

Arwen, who hadn't been expecting it to rain before she got home from the library with her books, covered them as much as she walked home cursing the sudden rain.

As she passed an alley, she heard such a spine-chilling scream she almost dropped her books out of shock. Turning to see who had just screamed like that she froze, turning white to her knuckles with horror. She felt like she had been punched out of all the air in her lungs. Her feet seemed to have turned to lead.

Keiko was standing there surrounded by at least five guys. What was horrifying was, that none but her own fiancé Jinn had stabbed her with a knife in her heart.

They had spotted her just as Keiko dropped to the floor lifeless.
Gathering every ounce of strength that she had in her, Arwen ran forward praying to the gods to help her.

Dear lord! They were after her.
With her heart in her throat, she ran aimlessly, having her eyes clouded with the rain. Dropping her books off at what seemed like Reeds she ran the fastest she could manage.

They were still hot on her trail, what was even more scary was that they had the weapon of murder at hand with them.

Thinking about this she collided face first into someone sending both of the crashing to the road as she turned around the corner.
It was when the person started to swear that she realized whom it was.
"I'm really sorry Tasuki. So sorry! Help me!" with that she took off again.

He stared surprised when he heard her voice, before he could really see that it was her she had run off before a few guys who were chasing her.

"Ari?"
Making up his mind to protect her and find out just what had been going on he started off after that gang.
"Time to use speed." Was the thought that brought him joy even in this tense situation. As easy as breathing was to him he surpassed even Arwen running ahead of the thugs at an amazingly high speed and hid in an alley she was approaching.

Sharp vision didn't fail him now either. He could see that she was exhausted already and she was already bleeding from her knees, apparently from the fall that they had.

Again as she ran on the watery road by the alley she slipped down. Gathering herself she got up and ran again only to fall a few feet ahead, right in front of the alley. This time she wasn't so lucky when it came to her strength. Her knees gave out on her completely and she fell face forward into the ground injuring her already scarred forehead.

Seeing that the thugs were still a distance away, he quickly crept to her and picked her up. Weakly, she flayed her hands trying to protect herself in vain.

"Ari-Chan! Stop it! It's me." Hearing his voice she calmed down.
"Tasuki."

"She went up ahead! Come on!" he looked up at once. Damn it!

"Ari! You've gotta trust me on this." He quickly helped her up to her feet, but she was so weak that she collapsed into his hands barely managing to hold onto his neck.

"Ari-Chan." He muttered feeling worried to the max.
Picking her up off the ground completely he went to the back of the alley where he had seen a door earlier. Finding it pitch black and empty he went right to the back of it and settled into a corner holding her close to warm her up and hiding her from view at the same time.

She was shivering. Her skin was as cold as if she were dead. She wasn't even able to hold her teeth together or stop them from chattering.

"Ari-Chan. Please. Try to stay as still as you can. Or we'll be found." He was more worried about her, than fighting.
He knew he could have taken them all with one hand tied to his back, but Arwen's state was too scary for him. She seemed to be petrified to do anything. What if he was taking those lame excuses for thugs on and one of them snuck off and did something to Arwen? No he didn't want to take that risk.

They were in the alley. He could hear voices.
Hugging her closer he huddled them into the darkness.
After what seemed an eternity, one of them spoke up. "Maybe she didn't come here. Maybe she went ahead. Come on!"
That was when he finally let out a breath.

Arwen was unconscious now. Trying to figure out what to do, he lay her down on the floor and covered her with his coat to keep her warm. He judged from the pale blue she had turned that any more of this coldness and she would probably die of hypothermia.

Once the rain outside had decreased to a drizzle he picked her up and took off the fastest he could. To his own surprise that was very fast.

"No Anya she hasn't been here, Yeah I'll let you know." Nuriko put the phone down.
"Chichiri."
He looked up from a book in his hand.
"Did Arwen tell you she was coming here tonight?"
"No."

"Well she's missing now it seems."
"Maybe she's gone to the Ito' again. She does that a lot. Or maybe she's stopped over at some place because of the rain."
"That's true… but just a few minutes ago…Hori called me asking if Tasuki were here."

"Tasuki?"

"Yeah. Have you seen him lately? He's been getting his mood up at the drop of a hat lately. Probably because of the rain,"
"Here's food for thought. Maybe they are together. Best friends eh?"

Nuriko nodded amused.

"Taka…Have you seen someone carry his girlfriend in the street here? In The Rain."
"No. Not too many nuts here for that. At least ones I know."

"Well then see a nut for your self," Miaka gestured as she peered through the window.
Taka was surprised too.
"That's odd. Hey! Wait a minute. I've seen that hair somewhere before." He peered even more trying to catch sight of the guys face as he stopped for a second to clear his eyes of the water. "There's only one person I know of who can run like that and has orange hair!"

"Tasuki?" Miaka looked shocked.
"Yup."
"But who's the girl in his arms Taka?"

"DO you think he's been seeing someone and not telling us?" he pondered.
"Well Hori's wish came true then didn't it?" she smiled happily.

"I guess so. But I still don't believe it."
"Taka… let's not say anything till he talks to us on his own… he'll be so shocked to hear that we knew! Ooh!"
Taka merely nodded amused as she talked about the other possibilities.

"I wonder if the others know about this?"
"You think they do?"
"Why not? Let's try asking Hori. He is Tasuki's roommate!"

He kicked on Arwen's apartment door. Anya was petrified to stillness when she saw the two of them on the doorstep in such a condition wet to the skin.

"Anya quick get as many blankets and towels as you can." He went in quickly and laid her down on the couch covering her with the blanket already put on the couch.

Anya rushed in with all the comforters and towels she could. They had to wait for her to stop shivering. Tasuki wouldn't even look up from Arwen to answer Anya.

Once she had stopped shivering though he found the first aid kit and tended to the cuts on her forehead, while Anya took care of Arwen's knee.

Once this had been completed, he carried her to her room so that Anya could help her change into dry clothes. He relaxed only when Anya assured him that she was fine and was just sleeping.

"Why don't you relax Mr. Tasuki? I'll bring you something to eat."
"Anya. Just that coffee please." Anya smiled and nodded.
As he sat there drying himself he puzzled over the whole incident.

"What happened there Mr. Tasuki. Why is Nadi like this?" Anya walked in with the coffee.
"I have no idea Anya. I found her like this." He lied as he knew she would be worried at finding out that, thugs for reasons unknown, were chasing her best friend. "SO I hurried up here as much as I could, I knew it wasn't too serious so I didn't take her to the hospital."

Anya just frowned, "Well thank you very much for bringing her here safely. I don't know what I would have done had she been in the road like that."

"Don't thank me Anya. Ari is as important to me as she is to you. Listen. I don't know what's going on here but I think its better I bunked here for the night-"

"I don't think you should trouble your-"
"Anya! I'm not asking you, I'm telling you this," she couldn't do anything but agree. "You'll have dinner then? It's getting late."

"No thanks. I'm not in the mood to."
"I'll just bring you some pillows and blankets." She nodded and left.

"Hello?"
"Hori hi. Watccha doin?"
"Taka? Hi. Well I was stud-" he was cut short though.
"Yeah whatever. Listen I have a question for you."

"Well that was quite polite of you sir. What might I interest you in?"
"Tasuki."
"Tasuki? What did he do now?"

"Well- uh do you know if he were doing something?"
"Doing something? What do you mean?" he was utterly confused.

"Ya know, something funny."
"Funny? Other than his utterly clown likeness and behavior?" Hori laughed.

"No Man. I mean really."
"What really is really supposed to mean?"

"Well let's just say- Uh no wait I had another question. What happened to the whole reason for bringing him here and everything?"
"Well That-"
"Has he found someone?"

"Well Uh-" he didn't know if it was wise to come to conclusions about things between Arwen and Tasuki.
"Cause, all that I have seen so far is that he's hanging around with the kid a lot."

"The kid?"

"Well Arwen. To me she still is a kid in many ways. You'd really thinks she was all that from the way she punched the guy at the seminar thingy- but she's the exact opposite when she's hanging out here with Miaka and I. Such a klutz." Taka laughed.

"Well is that so. I've heard ya'll had a good time at some try out for some model-"

"Well That- Heh- so what if all of us go crashing down in the middle of the stage? Now back to the point. Is he interested in someone at least by the look of it? He's hanging around with Arwen only cause she's helping him out with his studying and stuff right?"

You might be wrong. " Uh not that I really know of Taka. But you know compared to things in that world… he's more likely to tell you about anything first."

"You think so? Cool. Anyway I really wanted to know… Miaka had a favor to ask you about a certain modeling thing she had asked you before and-"

"Uh Taka. I really don't think this is a good time for that. I think Tasuki's calling me. Bye. Talk later!" he said hastily and put the phone down.

"You're out of luck green eyes." Taka smiled at Miaka as he put the phone down. "But I'll get the glamour doll to do it for you some how."
Over at Hori's…
"Well that thing again. Phew! Got away again…"
He looked at his watch. "Why isn't he here yet?"
Now warm dry after having a cup very delicious and soothing steaming coffee he settled down. Thinking about the incident in the warmth of the plush couch he fell asleep. He woke up only when He was shook awake.

Again his first thought was to swear, but then he felt the softness of the hand on his cheek. His eyes shot open.

"Arwen." He sat bolt up right.
"Tasuki. What're you doing here?" Arwen looked utterly confused and worried
"That's not important now. Are you okay?" he sat her on the couch and sat himself on the coffee table.

"Yes. I am Tasuki." She sat stone still as he examined the cut he had just treated.
"What happened there Arwen? Why where those guys after you?"

"I really don't remember Tasuki. Everything's blurry. I remember hearing a scream and then I remember running and then…"

"Then?"
"You. That's all I remember I swear." But he knew this to be a lie. While they were in the room in the alley she was muttering Keiko's name continuously and the word murder.

"Ok. Don't strain yourself," he smiled at her and stroked her hair.
"Tasuki you should be getting home. Hori will be very worried about you."

"Don't you worry about me! I'mmna bunk here fer the night. He'll understand. Now you! Get to bed!" he ushered her to her room. "I'll call him alright?" he replied to put an end to her protests.

Going back he glanced at his watch.
"Oh shit. Ten!" he called Hori over the phone in an instant. And he seemed to be worried enough to pick it up in a ring.

"Tasuki?"
"Yeah Hori. It's me."
"Where the hell are you you moron?"
"Listen, I don't have time to explain all that. All I can tell you now is that I'm at Arwen's place now and I'll be bunking here tonight?"

"Arwen's? Why? You're just across the street stupid! Did you forget the way home already?"
"Look I have to stay here tonight. It's really important that I do."
"Is something wrong? Do you need help with something? Are the girls alright?"

"Nothing's wrong with any of us ok. I'll explain everything to ya tomorrow, see ya. Gotta go,"
He sighed relieved that he didn't have to answer any more questions. With that he settled in to sleep.

"What was that all about?" Hori sat down completely puzzled.
"Could something be wrong?" but then after some thought he shrugged it off.
"Probably not. Maybe the girls wanted him to stay over… but then… I really hope it wasn't Tasuki whom I saw outside this evening carrying someone."
A few hours later waking up for a drink of water he walked past the study, and noticed the light on.

"Anya," he muttered and looked in. but he stopped short seeing Arwen asleep at her table using her precious book as a pillow.
"This girl is mad!" he muttered with disbelief as he walked to her.
"Ari," he tried to wake her up but that didn't seem to work. Sighing again he picked her up off the chair and made his way to her bedroom for the third time that night.

"I swear if I break my spine when I'm still in my twenties it'll be cause of carrying her all the time this way! I've really gotta stop this! Seems like we're already married! Sheesh!"

Tucking her in he sat there thinking about what could have happened and trying to piece together the pieces.

But then deciding the best of it he got up to leave. He stopped at the door though seeing her toss and turn uneasily. He knelt beside her and stroked her hair in order to calm her down but that didn't work either.

Suddenly she screamed on top of her voice and sat upright making Tasuki literally jump out of his skins. He pushed her back down into the pillow gently and held her there again.

She was panting hard and had broken into a sweat. Her eyes were watering badly with fright. He could see it in her eyes, the fear.
She got up and clung onto him as tight as she could muttering continuously all the while. The door opened and Anya was about to step in but seeing Tasuki there she stopped surprised.

"I'll take care of it." He signaled to her. "You go. She's fine. Go." Nodding she left hesitantly.
"Ssshhh…Arwen. It's just a dream. It was just a dream I have you now. It's all over. I've got you." He rocked her as gently as he could.

She soon calmed down in his hold and just lay in his arms holding onto him as if he were the only anchor from the horror.

"Ari-Chan. You remember that song you liked very much. The one that I sang. Setsunakutemo. Do you want me to sing it for you." This brought a smile onto her pale face as she nodded slowly. Smiling even more he sang in a the lightest whisper,

moetsukita you ni shizumu
yuuhi sae hitori sa
daiichi ni mo, unabara ni mo
dakareru koto naku

fukai kokoro no soko de
nemurasete iru no ni
FUI wo tsuku akane'iro no
setsunai jounetsu

KIMI no namida miru tabi
tamaranaku natte
ushiro kara omoikiri
dakishimetaku naru

kowareru hodo SUKI sa
donna kotoba mo tarinai
kesshite koe ni shinai
itoshisa mo aru n' da

By the time he had finished so much she was already sleeping peacefully.
Gently moving her to the bed he got up only to find his hand still clasped in hers tightly.
He tried his best to pry it out with out waking her up but only in vain. Settling into the light of the situation, he sat down by the bed and leant into it and dozed off.

Early next morning the whole of Arwen's apartment woke up to a loud scream.
Anya again hurried to her friend's room. Tasuki hadn't come down yet. What was wrong?
She opened the door a little but stopped seeing the situation inside.

Tasuki was sitting on the floor digging his finger into his ear with a painful expression on his face.
Arwen was flushing red, as she pulled the covers around her more.
"What the hell are you doing in my room?"

"Why the hell did you scream in my ear Damn it! I think I'm deaf."
"WHY are you in my bedroom!"

"Well hey missy you're the one who wouldn't leggo of my hand. Excuse me for being polite!" he got up still tending to his ear watching her wrap her sheet around her more as she got up.

"Get out!" she put her foot down only to trip on her spread and fall square into him taking him crashing to the floor landing them with a loud thud. He groaned even more and she turned redder than she could manage.

Anya controlled her laughter to the max as Arwen hastily got off him and pulled him up.
"Oh Tasuki! I'm so sorry! I'm really so sorry! I tripped."

"Watch it next time." He groaned even more massaging his abdomen as he sat on the bed.
"What is it with us and falling on top of each other Ari-Chan? I always seem to be there to cushion you aren't I? Like last night?"

She just grinned. "I'm sorry Tasuki. I think it's a pattern with us."

"Nadi." becoming serious all of a sudden he turned to her.
"What really happened last night? You know you can tell me anything. There's no use hiding the fact that those guys were after you."

"Well Tasuki. I told you. Everything's hazy. There was that guy though. Keiko's fiancé. And then I remember running and falling in to you then I fell twice more and then everything is a blur."

But again he knew this was a lie. In her nightmare fit she had muttered again. Murder. Keiko. And dagger saw dagger, were the words she kept repeating.

"What aren't you telling me Ari?" he turned her to face him. She stared into his eyes guiltily. Seeing things were getting a little too personal Anya shut the door and left.

Inside:
"Tell me."

"I swear Tasuki. That's all I remember before you brought me home. Till that alone was I conscious. I don't remember any more. I promise you." She looked into his eyes earnestly.

Though he knew she was lying he thought it better to leave her alone a while on this matter as it really was emotional turmoil not only for her, but for him as well.
Talks turned to the lighter side and soon enough he had her laughing merrily again.

Downstairs.
Hori had come over to see what the problem really was. Anya told him everything that she knew and he began to worry about the two of them together.

"Why the hell didn't he tell me this before? I would have helped out."
"He didn't want to worry you."
"That bloody call he made was even more worrying. Maybe I should go and talk to them?" he got up but Anya stopped him.

"Maybe later Mr. Hori. The two of them are talking now, maybe they will tell us what when they have all the fact in place. Let them talk."
"Talking? Since when have they ever done that peacefully?"
"They seem to be laughing. That's a good sign I suppose." She smiled at him as she placed his breakfast before him.

She seated her self at the table as well and helped herself to the coffee.
That was when they heard laughter in the corridor.

Not realizing Anya and Hori were right there in the kitchen, Arwen and Tasuki walked in, only she was ruffling his hair and he didn't seem to mind. Seeing the two in the room the laughter stopped at once.

She grinned and pulling her robes around tighter she went to the counter while Tasuki sat himself at the table and helped himself to the break fast.

"Have a good night?" Anya asked as she joined Arwen at the counter fixing Arwen her own breakfast.
"I've had better." She shrugged.

"It's really good that Mr. Tasuki stayed here after the whole episode. It was consoling to have some one like him here. He had Mr. Hori very worried though."

"What the idiot didn't even call?" Arwen asked surprised.
"Of course he did. But you know Mr. Hori. He's always very worried when it comes to keeping you out of trouble. And now it seems keeping his own room mate out of trouble as well."

"Well." Arwen looked at Anya. "We do manage to do a lot of stupid things don't we? Tasuki and I?" her friend could only smile her amusement.

At the table:
"Well, well. Someone seems a bit worried here."
Tasuki looked up from his drink as he took up the paper. "Oh really? Whom?"
"You! What's with all this commotion last night huh?"

"Nothing Hori. I found her hurt and I brought her with me."
"Brought her with you huh?"
"Yeah apparently she had fallen very badly cause of the rain…and I found her. She was totally shaken up last night."
"I see someone also getting very close to someone here? Are we falling for them?" Hori teased.

Tasuki smiled sarcastically. "No we're not."
But then he began choking on his coffee when he read the head lines that morning.

GIRL FOUND DEAD IN ALLEY. STABBED IN A POOL OF BLOOD.

"Some thing wrong? Are ya ok dude?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." Tasuki looked up at Arwen who was talking happily with Anya.
He understood what had happened last night. The murder.

Seeing that he was looking over at them Arwen smiled at Tasuki, but she didn't miss the worry that was in his eyes as she walked over to the table to sit by him.

"Well good morning Hori." She smiled as she picked up the paper herself, with Tasuki watching her anxiously all the while.
She almost fell out of her chair when she saw the same headlines he had. Not only that she began choking for real on her coffee.

Tasuki and Hori were up on their feet at once. Only Hori was able to stop her choking before Tasuki could reach her.
She sat down coughing and gladly took the water Anya offered her.

Tasuki knew she was in shock and it was better that she was left alone now.
He got up again hastily. "You ok now Ari?" she nodded.

"Cool. Then I'll be off. Gotta get outta these damn clothes and have a bath. See ya two later. Coming Hori?" Hori blinked confused as to why he was speaking so fast but he got up nonetheless.

"Uh Shun'u wait." Arwen got up before he could leave.
She just caught his hand without speaking a word and led him out of the kitchen into the study.

He watched her totally confused.
She stepped closer to him. "Shun'u. I have something to ask you."
He just stared down at her holding his breath, he didn't know why.

"What happened last night…I think it would be better if the matter stayed between the two of us. I don't want to worry the gang." He breathed out relieved.

"That's all. Jeez! Got all tense fer nothin." He grinned.
"And Tasuki." He tensed again as she spoke; "I never did get around to thanking you for your help last night."
He loosened up again. "Stop giving me cardiac arrests will ya?"

"Tasuki." She stepped up really close to him this time that he froze. Reaching up to his ear standing on her toes, she whispered in his ear. "Your song was beautiful. I loved it. I told you you had a good voice. Thanks it helped me a lot." With that she gave him a small kiss on his cheek and walked out of the study.

He just stood there staring at the place she had been standing in, holding his hand to the cheek he had just been kissed on. He just walked out like that confusing Hori even more.

When he caught up with Tasuki on the road he stopped shocked too.
"Hey Tasuki. Wassamatter? Why you holding yer hand to yer cheek-" he said removing Tasuki's hand from his cheek only to see a faint brown lipstick mark.

Hori's jaw dropped as he watched Tasuki cross the road, in the same trance as he was in when he walked out of her apartment.
But then he smiled. "Maybe I will turn out right I their case… I hope you hit it off guys."

Inside:

"Ari. Why did you scream?"
"Well duh. I woke up after a nightmare and I find something soft in my hand. Hell I never expected that extremely soft thing to be that goof's hair. What else would you do if you suddenly woke up and found a guy in your room, WHILE you're in yer pajamas." She shrugged as Anya laughed helplessly.

Tasuki sat down in his room and gazed out his window into Arwen's that morning.
But why aren't you telling me the truth. You know I know most of it; I have to do something…other than keeping you safe. I know those assholes will be after you. Nadi, why do you do this?

Well different things are meant to be different and same things are meant to be same and so it's basically the same difference…
There it goes with the strangeness. People, there are borrowed people and characters as you brilliant'uns would have noticed, but you will also see they go really well here… kindly adjust, but even so… hey..

Kristall, lovely to hear you liked it, but relate to it…. No one should have that torture, if it's the real meaning, but if you understand the senti, I understand too, and I relate to it too… thanks a bunch for the support… it would be nice if you could spread the word too… domo.
This goes for everyone out there… please let me know what you thinks…

Me itchings to knowings… literally..
Love to y'all , Sarayu.