Me again. Another chapter.
Figured I'd get the second one up so that you all are aware that I'm a girl of my word.

If you haven't noticed by now, dreams are my thing. I write about them a lot. Why? Because Sakura's dreams sort of remind me of my own. My dreams have a way of predicting things. Not always the best thing to happen to you. Considering I called my great-aunt's death by three hours. And that infomercial guy, Billy Mays - well I mentioned him being dead the day that it happened. Scary, yeah? Beyond scary. I still cry whenever I see a Kaboom commercial. Not fun.

Off topic much? Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enter Touya, Sakura's really hott older brother ;D

Sakura laid on her bed, confused. She hadn't had time to reflect on what Touya had said until after she'd made dinner and done her homework though now that she was able to, the conversation they had had seemed to mock her more than anything. She'd gone over it a hundred times in her head, remembering the expression he'd had when she'd told him about her premonition. In that instant he'd seemed protective of her, almost to the point of being possessive as he held tight to her small hand that was lost in his own.

- Flashback to the university, 4 hours before -

She'd found her brother in the library, the third place on her father's list of places to search for him. At seeing him, all of the turmoil she'd felt in the cafeteria had returned. This is a mistake. I shouldn't bother him with this. The thought had come to her swiftly, and she responded to it just as quick. She'd been walking back to the door when he noticed her.

"Sakura? What are you-" his voice cut off at the sight of her face. He shook his head and began again, this time concerned. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" He led her over to a secluded table and held her hand, trying to calm her.

In response, the tiny girl nodded feebly. "I'm okay it's just ..." she broke off, not sure of where to start. "Today when I was in lunch I got this feeling. You know, like the ones I got when I was little?"

Her brother grunted in affirmation. "Like the time you stopped me from going to school that day of the fire."

That day had been one that Sakura wished she could forget. She had been just a little girl, not even old enough to go to school yet. All that morning the auburn-haired child had begged and screamed for her brother not to go to school; she'd even gone so far as sitting on his foot and holding tight to his leg, repeating over and over that something bad was going to happen. She'd been hysterical. Finally, their father had agreed to let Touya stay home with her and she'd quieted a bit. Though they'd been shocked to find out that the tiny girl had been right.

Their father had gotten a phone call while at the university that day, telling him that there had been a fire in his son's classroom. While none of the students had been severely burned, many were hospitalized for smoke inhalation and a few cuts and scrapes they received when evacuating the second story room out the window. When asked about how she knew, the little girl would merely shrug her shoulders and say "The nightmare I had," or "I got a bad tummy ache." Events like that had been happening ever since then and over the years Touya and their father had come to trust the girl's warning signs.

Sakura nodded again. "Yeah, like that. Only it was worse today. The worst I've ever felt. It made me feel li-like, I don't even know. It's too awful a feeling to describe."

At the sound of her voice shaking, Touya gripped her hands tighter; truly worried for his little sister. He couldn't stand seeing her like this, she seemed to vulnerable and defenseless against some unknown evil.

"You see, I can't get it out of my head that something really bad is going to happen. And I don't know what to do." tears welled up in her eyes as she finished and she was forced to wipe at her wet cheeks mere moments later.

"Have you had any clues about it in your dreams?" Touya asked quietly, his voice gentle.

The girl shrugged. "I-I don't know. I haven't been able to remember my dreams lately. That's why I came to you. Have you gotten any weird feelings lately? Or seen something that's not normal for even you?"

Her brother winced as she referred to his extra 'sight', his ability to see ghosts and other things of that nature. "Not really. But I haven't been paying much attention lately." He took a deep breath before adding softly, "And by the sound of it, neither have you." He sat up then, meeting her green-eyed gaze that seemed lost and helpless in that moment and continued. "From now on, I want you to pay extra attention to your dreams and even the simplest of things. If you've had a bad experience with something and suddenly it begins to appear more frequently I want you to take note of that."

He'd walked her to the door after that and waited with her while she got her rollerblades on again. She'd been just about to skate off when he'd tugged her arm. "And Sakura, I want you to be careful. Okay?" She nodded and smiled in reply, though it hadn't touched her eyes. "I'll be home in a few hours. Make sure to make something good for dinner."

- End of flashback -

Honestly, is that all he ever cares about? His stomach?

He had told her to pay more attention to her dreams and things she'd consider bad omens. And he'd also told her to be careful. But that was about all she'd gotten out of him. She grumbled to herself about how 'helpful' her brother had been, though she had to admit that he actually had helped in making her feel safer. In the end, after she'd showered and gotten into her comfiest pair of sweat pants and tank top, she dozed off.

When Touya finally made it home from his job, he kicked off his shoes and slipped on a pair of slippers before making his way to the refrigerator. Sakura had listened to him, having made one of his favorite meals. It had been one of the few things their mother had ever been able to make without it turning out to be non-edible and, although their father had continued making it over the years, Sakura's version of it tasted even more delicious. The young man smiled to himself as he recalled how long it had taken her to actually catch on to cooking, though after that it had been all uphill. She'd turned out to be quite a good cook - better than him and their father - and was even more skilled when it came to desserts, not that he'd ever admit something like that to her.

While waiting for his dinner to warm up in the microwave, he climbed the stairs and peeked through the crack between her door and its frame. She'd passed out on top of her covers, her auburn hair fanned out beneath her head.

Touya smiled to himself as he crossed the bedroom and pulled the blanket over her, making sure not to disturb her. Just as he was shutting the door behind him, he muttered "I mean it, Monster. Be careful. The world would be too harsh a place without you here in our lives."

Sakura was at the old park across the street from the house she'd vowed to own. She sat neatly in a swing, allowing the gentle breeze to push her forward and back. It was so quiet, though she'd always enjoyed the uninterrupted silence of nature, it relaxed her and allowed her to think. Closing her emerald orbs, she reveled in the serenity that surrounded her and attempted to recall what had been bothering her in the first place.

But she only came up empty handed. She couldn't remember it, whatever had upset her, though she certainly wasn't going to get herself all worked up over something she didn't know of. Instead she pressed the side of her head against the metal of the swing and continued to enjoy herself.

Time passed. She felt the wind pick up and become degrees cooler, heard less frequent chirping from the birds that had been singing since she'd sat down. The suns rays were more distant, not as warm and balmy as they'd been before. She shivered when another gust of wind hit her bare arms, noting that the thin material of the over-sized tunic she was currently wearing as a dress was no where near as warm as the comfy sweatpants she'd been wearing ... how long ago? She'd been in her room at that time and it had been dark. Now it seemed as if she'd spent an entire afternoon on this swing, basking in the sun's warmth up until the first few stars freckled the evening sky.

She opened her eyes, confirming that very thought and hopped down from her post. She was stiff from sitting in the awkward position for so long and was cold and slightly on edge. All at once, she felt the hair on her nape and arms stand on end. A shiver ran down her spine. And then she was doubled over in pain, her stomach contracting violently. Her knees came out from under her and she heard herself screech into the night.

What's happening? What's wrong with me?She became dizzy, her sight focusing and then blurring - it was too much. Her slight frame was withering from the intensity of it all, threatening to break. She'd once read that when a person's body is put under extreme circumstances, they did just that. They broke. Their own muscles would cause their bones to fracture and snap.

A cool hand pressed against her cheek, then to her forehead. The pain subsided slightly as her eyes rolled back into her head. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision long enough so that she could make out the person that was now shaking her.

"Sakura?" An unfamiliar voice. It was rough with concern, though sounded like someone she ought to know. An attractive voice. Her heart pounded against her ribs at the sound of it, furthering her torture. Warm, dark eyes met her own. Then the blackness enveloped her.

Sakura awoke to being shaken, a muffled voice repeating her name over and over in concern. She peeked a sage eye open to see a young man kneeling at the foot of her bed, hand pushing against her just rough enough to wake her.

"Touya?" her voice was thick with sleep, she could only make out the outline of the person's body in the darkened room.

"Yeah, it's me." Even blinded by the dark, she knew he was scowling. "You started screaming in your sleep. You okay?"

She blinked, taken aback by what he'd said. "I was screaming?"

"You sure were. I'm surprised Dad didn't get to you before I did. Or that you didn't wake up the entire neighborhood with a set of lungs like those." she smiled at his teasing, though his worry was still prominent in his voice. "Did you have a bad dream or something?"

"I don't know." she blinked again, sleepy once more. "I can't remember."

"Didn't I tell you to pay extra attention to your dreams?" he scorned her halfheartedly, unable to keep a straight face when she yawned loudly.

"Yeah, yeah. I told you I will." she rolled over so that she was facing the wall and hugged her thick blanket to her, snuggling into her pillow. "Let me go back to sleep. Maybe I'll get back to where I left off. 'Kay?"

"Sakura, I-" she interrupted him by pushing her arm out in the direction of his face and groaning.

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Touya. It's time to sleep." With that, she curled up into a ball and was out in a matter of seconds.

Touya smiled down to his sister's small form wrapped up in a blanketed blob. Her innocence was so tangible in that moment. Her high-pitched shrieking had woken him up almost instantly and he'd prepared himself for the worst after the conversation they'd had earlier. He'd bolted for her room without any hesitation, only stopping long enough to grab a baseball bat to swing at anyone who dared lay a finger on her. Now that he was sure she was out of harm's way, he felt exhausted, though the need to protect her was still there.

He brushed her hair from her face and gave her shoulder a squeeze before standing up and crossing her room. Staggering back to his own bedroom, he grumbled to himself and scowled at the image that flashed through his mind. Before his sister's wails had woken him, he'd been suffering from the effects of a nightmare as well. A young man about his sister's age had come and told him that he was taking Sakura away from him. Touya's eyes narrowed at the memory while he sunk back into his bed, limbs heavy. Minutes later he was unconcious once more.

"You really don't remember anything from last night?" Touya scoffed, slightly irritated with his little sister.

"Nope. None of it" Sakura shrugged, unashamed. They were currently seated at the kitchen table, eating bowls of cerial.

"Honestly, Monster, what am I going to do with you? You wake me up in the middle of the night with your screeching, and yet you don't remember any of it?" The young man stabbed at a cheerio, frustrated with the situation.

"Hey, it isn't my fault that you decided to go all burgalur alert at two in the morning. What would you have actually done if there was a prowler in my room?"

"I would have beat the crap out of him with the bat that I grabbed before charging into your bedroom. And for the record, it was after three."

Fujitaka Kinomoto laughed at his children's bickering as he changed the daily picture of his late wife, smiling sadly after he'd wiped the frame clean of fingerprints. She, too, was laughing in a polaroid taken back when she was still in school, about their daughter's age now.

"Daddy, did you hear me screaming at all last night?" His daughter's green eyes beamed at him, questioningly though amused at the same time.

The professor shook his head, grinning. "Nope, not a sound. But then again, I was really tired from all that preparation I had to do for my upcoming lecture."

Sakura shot her brother a playful look. "Touya, are you sure you weren't the one who was dreaming?"

"I'm sure." he growled, visibly irritated. A car horn beeped outside the house and then the sound of a door shutting followed it. "Damn, that's Yuki." Touya swore under his breath as he spooned the rest of his cheerios into his mouth before chugging his milk, rising to rinse out his bowl. "Get the door, will ya squirt?" He asked as he dashed up the stairs to retrieve his books.

The tawney-haired girl rolled her eyes, though still met her brother's friend at the door, smiling. When she was younger, Sakura had had an enormous crush on the young man who called himself her brother's best friend. She'd never quite understood how someone as kind hearted and loving as Yukito would want anything to do with someone so blunt and harsh as her brother, though it had just turned out that way. Sakura had eventually gotten over the crush and she'd begun to consider the grey-eyed boy to be more of a family member than anything else.

"Hey Sakura, what's up?"

"Apparently you missed out on quite a night." the girl giggled to herself as her brother reappeared, adding "Touya's declared himself to be our new security system."

I have to admit, at times Touya reminds me of Kuno from Ranma 1/2. Why? I have no idea. Maybe it has something to do with the hair . . . ? I know Touya doesn't break out the poetry ever other line he has, which is nice and all, and he's more developed than Kuno ever was. Still, the episode where Touya was dressed up as a princess did not help his case. Pretty sure that brought him back like five steps. I sort of wanted him to break out into song, though. The episode was already awkward enough. I mean, he did tower over the female prince. And his earings? Pretty sure he would have looked feminine enough without them.

I always thought he out shown Yukito. Teenager that can eat more than a Hungry Hungry Hippo, or hard-worker that plans to pay himself through college? I want to know how Yuki never gained any weight, I mean all he ever did was sleep and eat. And he has an alter-ego that looks like freaking Yue? My seven year-old sister even said he was hott! How is that right?Maybe I'm just infatuated with Touya because I only have younger siblings =/

Reviews would be lovely :3

I'm off for now, have to go get ready to go see Charlie St. Cloud.

Till next time,
- jo