Disclaimer: I disclaim this disclaimer. The characters do not belong to me. :3

Please read author's note at the end if you do not understand this chappie!

And… Found?

Kanata jolted awake just as the sky was growing light outside. The house was strangely quiet, and for a moment, his heart clenched in fear. No… Where was the usual chaos of school day mornings? A cold dread began seeping into his chest, as he lay under his warm blanket, unable to move—

There was a loud shriek, and a thunderous pattering of feet, before the rice-paper door to his room slid open and Ruu zoomed in, happily clutching Miyu's school uniform in his hands and shrieking in laughter. "Papa, daa, daa, daaaaaaa!"

Trouncing like an elephant, Miyu skidded into the room behind the flying baby, whining at the top of her lungs, "Ruuuuu-kuuuun! Please give me back my unifoooorm!" She lunged for the giggling bundle of trouble and snagged him in her arms, completely forgetting where she was and ending up in the middle of the only futon in room, smack-dab on top of Kanata.

"Owww…" Miyu whimpered, as the delicate tip of her nose smashed into the prone brunet's chin. She struggled to raise herself without the support of her arms – which were holding the squirming baby – and froze, as she found herself staring right into a pair of auburn eyes! "Eeek! Kanata," she gasped, turning all shades of red, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"Miyu…" And Kanata felt a great weight lift from his chest. She was safe. Ruu was safe. And from the frantic blabbering he could hear outside, Wanya was safe too. They were safe, they were here, and he had never been more thankful in his life.

Miyu scrambled off him, trying very hard to hide her blushing face. "S-sorry about that," she stuttered, wanting very much to twiddle her fingers, but they were busy holding an escapist Ruu.

Kanata sat up slowly, never taking his eyes off the girl and the baby, unable to define the emotions that were bubbling up within him – relief foremost, of course, but also happiness, and something he couldn't put a name to, yet…

"Miyu-san, Kanata-san, you'll be late if you don't hurry up!" Wanya burst into the room, shaking his ladle at the two teens.

Miyu looked startled, before her eyes widened and she scampered off, screaming all the way. "We'll be late! We'll be late!"

"You too, Kanata-san!" Wanya said, turning to the brunet, who still sat on his futon.

Kanata looked at the white-brown cat-dog sitter pet, and he thought that he had never truly appreciated this oddity, who had taken to caring for them, like a surrogate mom. 'Mom…' He shook his head, pushing the memories from – when? Was it a dream last night? – to the back of his head. It was over now. He was here, he was home. "Thanks, Wanya," he said, feeling a wealth of appreciation for the sitter-pet who so barely received his due.

Wanya was already turning around, no doubt to go and begin packing their bento, and called back, "Don't worry, Kanata-san! After all, I AM the best sitter-pet in the entire planet of Otto!"

Well, he did receive his due, even if it was from his own self…

"Miyu… Ruu… Wanya…" he breathed softly to himself, "I'm home." And yes, he felt he was.

'Just a dream,' he could finally tell himself, 'it was just a dream. It's okay.'

"Kanata?" He heard Miyu calling him, "Are you ready yet? We'll be late!"

"Crap!"

"KANATA!"

"Coming!"

Yes, it was just a dream.

...

Hitomi Saionji watched her son, lying so pale and motionless, swathed in a myriad bandages. Every possible medical instrument was hooked up to him, some beeping softly, some spewing out meaningless lines and spikes. None of it mattered. Kanata's eyes were closed.

Outside in the hallway, she could faintly hear the doctor trying to explain to her husband that their son was gone. No, not gone, the doctor said 'only in coma.' The accident with the car had caused a concussion in his head. They didn't know when he would wake up, maybe in a few days, maybe a few months, or maybe…

Absently, she tuned out the doctors sympathetic voice, her eyes, her ears, all her senses on her comatose son. His face was blank, expressionless. What was he thinking in there? What did he see beneath those closed eyelids? She didn't know. Was it dark in there? Was it lonely? Was he lost? Was he looking for her?

For a moment, it appeared to her as if he was smiling. Was he dreaming? A good dream?

Hitomi shook her head. It was impossible. He couldn't have smiled. He couldn't even breathe on his own anymore; a machine was doing it for him. She watched as his chest faintly rose up and down, as the life support system fed him precious oxygen, and she clung to a shred of hope. 'I know you will come back to me, Kanata. I will wait for you. Hurry up, my son.'

Author's note: So, the inspiration came to me one day when I was thinking that aliens and ghosts and stuff would only happen in a dream. And then I thought, what if it all IS a dream? What if Miyu dreamed the whole thing up? Or Kanata did? And the other people don't even exist? It was easier to imagine what Kanata would do when he woke up, since we do have an idea of Kanata's life before Miyu came. Since I have no clue of what Miyu's life was like before, where she lived, who were her friends and so on, it would have been difficult to write. So, I decided to let Kanata suffer... :D

So, basically the main idea of the story is what if a fourteen year old Kanata went to sleep one night and dreamed up the entire Daa! Daa! Daa! universe in his sleep? (It's possible! People can conjure a dream spanning years in their sleep and remember every vivid detail of it!) And what if he even dreamed up an entire alternate past, where his mother died when he was three and where he was friends with Miyu in their toddler-hood? And it was so very realistic, that during the course of the dream, he believed it was real? More so, because his real life friends appear in the dream too? (Cos we all know that reality does influence dreams sometimes.) And when he woke up in the morning, he is stunned to see that the world is different than what he remembers!

Ah! At least he got to resume his dream once he fell into a coma... (Hey! Dreams can be resumed, don't you know? Like Megaupload downloads! :D)

But now, I have decided to stop right there, because proceeding any further will only lead to real tragedy. The only way this can continue is that Kanata wakes up and realizes that Miyu exists only in his dreams - she is fictitious, a figment of his imagination - and from there onwards it will all be angsty as he tries to accept that. So, I feel it's better to leave it as it is. It's easier to assume that he doesn't wake up, and dies one day finally dreaming of a happy life with Miyu.