Disclaimer: Guntz and Klonoa does not belong to me. Never has. Never will.

Author's Note: Something to get my muses flowing again. It did not require a lot of thought, as you might have guessed... I got inspired by a label on a bottle of bleach and wrote this. Don't ask. You're better off not knowing. x.x

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Sometimes I sit on the Red Clan and wonder about how I'll be greeting you when you come back. Sometimes I sit by the window when it rains, watching the drops trickling down the glass, thinking about what our next battle holds.

And sometimes I look at you and become so frustrated at how you remain unaware.

Haven't I given you enough hints, Guntz? Isn't the way I glance at you during the day, the way I hold onto tightly when riding the Red Clan enough for you? It's been weeks since we've been out here on the battlefield, camping and killing Moos that wander in and attack us. I admire you, Guntz. I watch you, I look out for you, but you can never see me there. I'm like a little brother to you, one you take care of. But always nothing more than that.

True. I'm three years younger than you, with you being sixteen and me being thirteen. But that's still not much. Three years is hardly enough to put a barrier between us. I know you care for me, I know you consider me your best friend, rival and brother. I know because I feel the same towards you. You're like a brother to me, a good friend, and occasionally a rival. We can spar with our weapons when we're bored, and after we're done sparring, we can fall onto the ground, laughing to ourselves and lie close together, enjoying the sun.

And yet... are those three things all I am to you? To me, you're much more than merely that.

It's late night. There are stars shining above our tent. I wish you could see it, Guntz; it's a clear night, without any clouds. The full moon's shining, and if I lean out a little further, I can see the other tents in the distance, stopped there for the night. Tomorrow I know the battle will commence again, but for a few hours there is peace, and that's enough for me. But you're tired and asleep. I wish I could talk to you one of those nights. But you're never awake that long.

I look at you, and sigh, tucking the covers around your body tightly. You're very disoriented at nights; strange, because you're a wolf, and wolves are mainly nocturnal. I'm guessing that it's been so long since you abandoned that habit, and being tired only adds on to it. Sometimes you just literally fall flat down on the bedding and go to sleep without bothering to eat something or change. Today was one of those times. I can understand how tired you must be, looking after me and fighting each battle every time. Why won't you let me battle more than three times in one day? There are a lot more battles than just three in one day nowadays, and when you do let me fight it's always against Moos or something simillar. I don't want to see you getting hurt, scratched, poisoned and goodness knows what else besides. Whenever those Moos come near I tense, ready to backup if you need me.

Sometimes I almost wish you'd fall over so that I could rescue you.

No, no, that's such a wicked thing to say! I shake my head and turn to you, still asleep under the blanket. You're shivering from the cold. It's a rather chilly night, I know that. It's cold enough, that even with your dense fur you're still feeling it. I love the way your fur feels, soft, silky and warm to the touch. I'd like to groom it for you some day. You look so sweet just lying there - at day you look intimidating, with your blue eyes glaring straight at the opponents, but at night I'm the only one who knows that mask is gone. You're still wearing your jacket. I would like to remove it for you, as it seems a little uncomfortable, but then again letting you freeze is even worse. All I can do is to tuck the blankets around you.

I really, really do wish you were awake now.

There are so many things I want to ask you. I know so little of your past, despite me being your battle partner for a few months now. Why, for instance, did you take up bounty hunting? Why were you orphaned? I wonder what happened to you when you were a child. You go silent and cold whenever the subject comes up, and you seemed uncomfortable seeing Pango and Boris making things together when we visited them a few weeks back. I've never asked you about that, because...

Because what?

I was worried, I guess. I don't want to hurt you. Something traumatic happened to you when you were young, I can see that, and I don't want to deepen the scars. That would be the last thing I want to do to you.

But was there really no one in your life who cared? Was there nobody who really looked at you, saw your blank, cold eyes, and thought that there was something wrong? Did no one care about you at all? Was there no one to tuck you in at night, kiss your forehead, and tell you that they loved you?

If there wasn't anyone to do all that, I would like to be one.

I could kiss you, embrace you, and tell you that I love you. I could compliment your appearence. I don't know that much, Guntz, but there are so many things I'm willing to do for you. It's strange. I've never felt like this before. I've never felt that I could give my life to save someone. But I would die, many times over, if I were to save you. I can just imagine myself, smiling in death, telling you that I love you, always have and always will. I can imagine dying, telling you that you are beautiful.

It's true. You are very, very beautiful, Guntz - surely you must take after your mother. If you were not so well known in this world, one could look at you from afar and admire your beauty. They would not believe they were looking at a male teenager. If only...

I would wake you up and confess my feelings to you, if only you knew a little about the extent I care for you.

Just how far into your psyche, your state of mind am I prepared to travel?

I don't know myself. It's me, I'm the one who loves you, I'm the one prepared to die for you. But as for the question of how far into your mind I'm willing to go... I don't know. I have no idea whatsoever if you love me back, or if you don't, or worse, if you even like me at all inside. It frightens me, Guntz; as much as it shouldn't, it frightens me. I know I'm being paranoid. But I'm frightened by what you really feel for me. You're a male, just like me, and to you I'm just one more being. You just happen to care for me a lot more.

I dream of you every night, when I drift off into uneasy sleep. The dreams themselves are sweet, but they depress me greatly; because dreams, as wonderful as they can be, are merely fantasies, and they can never come true. I'm a Dream Traveller, but I can only travel if someone summons me. Dreams, to me, only hold meaning if I'm sent to somewhere because of them. Which no one has for a very, very long time. I know I'm deluding myself, I'm having wild fantasies about things that cannot be, but I simply can't help it.

Even yet, if you said you loved me, I'd be lost. I'd be scared. I wouldn't want to know, and I would turn away from you and run as fast as I could.

And I can't understand why.

It's a cold night.

I snuggle next to you, leaning against your chest, feeling your silky neck fur pressing onto my cheek. It's soft and warm. You've stopped shivering. Whether because of the blankets or my body heat I have no way of knowing, but you're not cold, so that's the only thing that matters. I'd hate for you to get so cold - I've heard that frosty nights will get more commonplace as the days go by. Unless we finish all this soon, we'll be battling well into winter.

I wonder what will happen to us then.

I'm thinking of Felicia, Ki, Valkyrie and the others. What will happen to them? Will we be fighting all through winter? Is there a way for us to get out of this before it becomes worse? It's a dire situation out there, Guntz, and I'm worried. It's the end of September, and in this world the frost sets in November. We have about a month before winter. And I don't think we can finish all battles and end this once and for all in that kind of time.

I'm scared, Guntz.

Are we all going to die?

The enemy presses in still closer every day. What are we going to do?

I'm crying. I don't know if it's out of fear and weariness, or fear of losing you. As much as I hate to admit it, there are tears rolling down my cheeks, dampening your fur, and I can't stop them coming. I feel my shoulders shaking, and I'm making sobbing sounds, hand clapped over my mouth to try to mask the sound. But it's unmistakable, I can't kid myself, and I'm crying. I can't stop it. I'm just so tired, Guntz; tired of fighting, tired of keeping my love for you hidden inside me, and tired of living out here. I want to go back to Breezegale, safe with you, tucked away in a corner of Lunatea where no one will find us. That's the only true safe place I know of. Goddess Claire knows where else is as safe. Even La-Lakoosha is not as secure as Breezegale; in fact, it's more of a target, because it's so well known.

In fact, I bet Breezegale is the last safe place.

I would love to go back, yes; but if we desert the others, what effect would that have? That would be disgraceful indeed, selfish and incredibly foolish. There will be others who pursue us, and we would only lead them to Breezegale. No, as much I wish to go back to my hometown, Breezegale is best left alone for now. That's the only good thing we can do.

Midnight. There's no sound. Even the sounds of Moos shuffling about in the grass has ceased. One hops by our tent, looking curiously at me with its violet eyes, but I have no intention of harming it. It's only a little Moo, hardly more than a month old, and it hasn't even got a stone sword. It's one of those Moos, Guntz, we come across in Breezegale. The ones with content lazy expressions. It looks at me, its fur ruffling lightly in the breeze, and with a soft chirp it hops away into the darkness again. They're quite sweet, I guess, when they're young and little.

I wish you were awake. I could say so much to you. Even though I just ramble incoherently all the time, I wish for you to be awake.

But I know how the scenario will turn out in the end.

The light will shine upon us. We'll wake up, with me waking first and watching you stir slowly. You'll blink a few times, sit up, and smile dazedly at me.

"Guntz, I've got something to tell you-" I'll start.

"Food rations down again, Klonoa? We might have to go out and nick some of Valkyrie's. I'll go out and check if there're any footprints - we can't have anyone snooping around." You'll go out quickly, and then come back. "We're safe. Come on." You'll wrap your arm around my shoulders, and smile again. "We might actually finish something nicely today."

I'll stare at you. I'll swallow my pride and the words I wanted to say, deep inside my mind, ready for the next day. A smile will make its way to my face, not entirely forced but not entirely genuine either.

"I know," I'll reply gently, looking up into your beautiful blue eyes.

"Isn't it grand?"

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Guntz sounds like an idiot in this one... x.x I did not intend for that to happen. Klonoa is supposed to be innocent yet angsty in this one, and he turned out tangential instead. Well, sometimes that happens with my characters.

This is set in Namco x Capcom. I see the universe of NxC as a universe intergrated with a dozen different worlds, all linked together. This takes place in the Lunatean section, I should say. Felicia and others are mentioned, but use them too much and it becomes a crossover. So... yeah.

-This story was completed 22nd of September, in the year 2007.-