In Their Story, There was a Girl

Chapter 19: Sleepless Nights

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This place again…

Yotsuba thought to herself as she awakes in her dream. The scene in front of her was a dark forest; she could barely make out her fingers when she puts her hands in front of her eyes. Recently, Yotsuba has been seeing this place in her dream almost every night when she sleeps. The first time that she had this dream, she didn't know what to do. But now that this place is familiar, Yotsuba started to walk deeper into the forest.

What is this familiar feeling?

Yotsuba walked restlessly, even though she is in her sleep. This dream was bothering her so much that she couldn't get any rest even as she sleeps.

Wait! Yotsuba almost stumbles as she recognized a ray of light in front of her. Eager to find out more, she darted toward the light's direction. After what seemed like an hour, Yotsuba arrived at a clearing. She was shocked; she could not believe what she was seeing: the clover field. She had seen the clover field before.

"Mukuro?" Yotsuba murmured. She looks up suddenly and jerked her body around and around, looking for the said person. However, it was useless. Furrowing up her eyebrows, Yotsuba chose to walk deeper into the clover field. She quickly finds something new in the middle of the clover field.

A lotus flower, floating there solitarily.

With her mouth slightly opened, Yotsuba seemed to realize something when she saw the lotus. Her brows furrowed even more, and there was a look of confusion on her face.

"Mukuro…" she murmured again, "…what have they done to you?"

The lotus flower glowed.

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"Yocchan, are you all right?" Dino asked carefully, sitting across from the girl at a local café. Yotsuba clearly doesn't seem too happy, with her dark circles under her eyes and puckered lips.

Yotsuba glared at Dino with one eye. "I'm okay. Why did you take me out so early in the morning?"

"It's 2 o'clock in the afternoon," Dino sighed. "Anyway, I'm taking Tsuna to the mountains for a training. I was going to ask you to come along, but seeing that you're quite tired right now, you probably should stay home and rest."

"I see," Yotsuba said. "I'd actually love to tag along, but I'm preoccupied today."

"What's going on?"

"I gotta go visit someone at the hospital today. My leader at the Disciplinary Committee, to be exact, I heard that he's got a little cold."

"That guy?" Dino's expression suddenly turned serious. "Don't tell me that he's been working you so hard that you can't handle it?"

"No!" Yotsuba exclaimed, "It has nothing to do with him! I just happen to sleep late recently, that's all!"

Dino frowned, but he could not retaliate. Half believing what Yotsuba said, Dino paid for both of their coffees and got ready to leave. They part ways in front of Yotsuba's apartment building.

After all these years, I still can't help worrying about her. Dino thought as he watched Yotsuba disappear behind her apartment door.

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After another few minutes of trying to take a nap and failing, Yotsuba decided to give up. Putting on some casual clothes and grabbing some money, Yotsuba headed out the door. She thought about getting some flowers for Hibari when she goes to visit. Even though Hibari isn't the gentlest man in the world, Yotsuba still felt quite thankful since he fought with her everyday after school. In her mind, Yotsuba liked to think that Hibari was trying to train her, even if he wasn't.

It didn't take long for Yotsuba to arrive at the florist. The owner greeted her warmly, and Yotsuba's mood was soon lifted at the sight of all the pretty flowers. She smiled softly as she walked around the room to choose the flowers. However, she stops abruptly in front of the small tubs lotus flowers, as she remembers her dream earlier today. She still could not figure out why she was getting all those dreams, but she was sure that Mukuro was behind all of them. She had no idea why, though.

"Ah!" Yotsuba gasped softly as a lotus bud suddenly bloomed. Yotsuba was enticed with the beauty of the flower, until a loud screeching sound from the outside got her attention.

She, along with many other people nearby, ran to where the big sound came from. When she got there, there was already a crowd of people surrounding the spot, and many ambulance cars also came. Yotsuba tiptoed to see what happened. It seemed like there had been a traffic accident, and for a split second, Yotsuba could see that the victim had been a young girl.

Feeling horrible after seeing the accident, Yotsuba quickly went back to the flower shop and left right after getting some tulips.

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As Yotsuba arrived at the hospital, her heart was still lingering on the strange lotus flower. However, her attention was soon diverted as she heard a loud voice.

"No way! Why is Hibari-san in the hospital?!"

Yotsuba raised an eyebrow. Thinking that the voice was familiar, she rushed into Hibari's room.

"Tsuna?" Yotsuba exclaimed when she opened the door and saw a very wary Tsuna. ("Yotsuba-chan?" Tsuna also exclaimed.) Her eyes scanned the floor, which had several other patients beaten up lying around. Instantly, she understood the wary face Tsuna was putting on. "Kyouya, the hospital is for people to get better, not worse."

Hibari looked indifferent. "I was trying to get rid of my boredom, but they were too weak."

"Wh…what?" Tsuna stuttered.

"The game is easy," Hibari smirked. "If anyone makes a sound while I sleep, I'll bite them to death!"

"HOW ONESIDED!" Tsuna exclaimed, looking hysterical. "Um, I'm already feeling better now! I don't need to be hospitalized!"

"Hm?" Yotsuba looked at Tsuna curiously. "That reminds me. Why are you here anyway?"

Tsuna was on the verge of tears. "It's a long story. Dino-san was trying to train me today with his old whip, but a little accident happened with Enzio…"

"Oh! Maybe you should stay in the hospital, after all…"

The two of them talked on; neither of them noticed the changing expression on Hibari's face. A little frown climbed between Hibari's eyebrows as he watched the two of them talk. With a dangerously low voice, Hibari warned, "Shut up."

Tsuna and Yotsuba stopped talking instantly, turning their heads toward Hibari carefully. Hibari glared at them with cold eyes before lying down onto his bed.

"Well, I'll be taking a nap," Hibari said with a yawn. "By the way, even the sound of a falling leaf will wake me up."

"Wha--!?" Tsuna yelped. Looking around to find help, but he couldn't find any doctors or nurses in sight.

Yotsuba-chan! What are we going to do?! Tsuna thought as he turned to look at Yotsuba for help. He panicked even more as he found the girl asleep on the chair next to Hibari's bed. That's how you're gonna play the game?!

As soon as the game started, Lambo and I-Pin also came into the room. No matter how hard Tsuna tried to stop their explosions, Hibari still worke up. In the end, Tsuna got even more injured than before and was moved to the room where the hospital keeps their inexplicable organs.

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"Hm……AHHHH!!!!" Yotsuba screamed at the first thing she saw when she awoke from her sleep: an enlarged face of Hibari Kyouya.

Raising an eyebrow at the girl's exaggerated reaction, Kyouya leaned back from her face and sat back down on his bed. "I couldn't hear you breathing, so I thought you were dead."

"Well, if I breathed any louder, you might bite me to death," Yotsuba said tiredly. "Kyouya, are you sure you have a cold? You seem fine to me."

"…………" Hibari stared at Yotsuba's tired and sleepless face for a while. As a devious thought came into his head, he relaxed his shoulders. "Button up my shirt. I don't have the energy."

"Ha??" Yotsuba was astonished. Clearly, she could not believe what he said, but what place is she in to disobey his order? Letting out a sigh, Yotsuba stood from her chair and approached him by the bed.

Oh, but he does have a good body…NO! What am I thinking?! Yotsuba shook her head as she worked on Hibari's buttons. Not knowing why, her cheeks were getting a bit rosy. And she wasn't sure if Hibari was getting a bit closer and closer to her, because it seemed like they were that close to begin with. As Yotsuba's heartbeat got louder, Hibari smirked at the sound and let out a little chuckle.

The metallic dark voice and breath brushed right past Yotsuba's ear.

"Ah!" Yotsuba gasped with a deep red color on her cheeks. Just as she tried to back away, Hibari got her right arm. With a swift push and pull, Yotsuba was on the bed where Hibari was, and Hibari was standing next to the bed. "What??"

"Sleep right there." Hibari said with a commanding tone.

Yotsuba was confused.

"Those dark circles make you really ugly." Hibari spitted out before he left the hospital room, healthy and energetic, leaving Yotsuba gawking once again.

Even after Hibari closed the door, Yotsuba still could not tear her eyes away. A few minutes passed, and the redness on her face died down a bit. Pushing her head hard against the fluffy pillow, all thoughts disappeared in the air.

She softly murmured, "Thanks."

There was no dream. Only a peaceful sleep.

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TBC.

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A/N: Whoa, that was an incredibly fast update! Well, summer break has started and I'm going to have more time to write now. Another thing, THANK YOU REVIEWERS!!! I've passed 100 reviews! I'm so happy, and I'm going to work harder on this story so I won't disappoint you guys! And I've done a little calculation yesterday, and I figured that I'm going to have about 10 more chapters until the start of the Varia Arc, mostly consisting of the filler chapters that I never got to write in the beginning. I'll use these 10 chapters to develop the relationship between Yotsuba and our two main male roles!

Anyway, too much blabbering. Please review!