It took several hours for me to feel well. I can't explain it, I felt dizzy, even nauseous, but the physical symptoms were minor in comparison to the effect the human 'research' had had on my mind.

I couldn't think. It could barely string half a coherent thought together before it would dissolve into nothingness again, leaving me with an odd feeling that I was remembering forgetting something I couldn't remember. I had to talk myself through the events of the past couple of days to confirm their reality, and, due to the bizarreness of what had actually happened, it was very hard to do. Everything felt hazy and illusionary. Like a dream you can't quite grab hold of once you've woken up. My sieve like memory left me filled with paranoia. I couldn't trust my mind's recall of events; what was real and what wasn't. I couldn't be sure of anything. I needed someone to reassure me that I wasn't wandering dazed in the forest after a blow to the head or something.

I wanted to see Kaoru. Feel her body and know it was solidly and unquestionably real. And that I was too. The fact that a human stranger, who regarded me as a lesser life form, seemed the most likely source of comfort was painful. A lump rose in my throat, and I ordered myself to be strong, accept the situation I was in with some level of dignity and inner strength.

It's hard to feel inner strength and dignity when you're huddled under a table.

I could hear Tadao, Norio and another male voice talking downstairs. I listened for a while. The unfamiliar voice was deep, there was something unusual about the cadence of it- every phrase seemed measured, commanding. This was not a person who ever hurried his words for anyone, or struggled to be heard. Whenever he spoke Norio and Tadao would immediately fall into a respectful silence.

"Are we close to completion?" the slow voice spoke.

"Uh, well," Tadao sounded especially flustered "Look, it's coming along. We could probably test it on human subjects. I, uh, think it would…"

"It would, most likely, achieve the desired affect now." Norio was trying to inject more certainty into his words, but his nerves betrayed him nevertheless.

"The Hypno largely respond to it now. We've had one, nah, two subjects have atypical reactions. But one is, um..."

Norio broke in "The subjects he's referring to are unusual- one's a bit damaged and the other was a wild caught subject exhibiting a high level of trauma. They're not ideal test subjects is what I'm saying. I could get the reports on one of them if ya want. The other we only did today. It had a minor freak out, might respond better later."

"That won't be necessary. My backers are becoming… impatient." The slow voice paused for a long moment. "I'm not usually one to set deadlines, but I'm giving you a fortnight to ensure uniform performance."

Tadao sounded panicked "A fortnight? That's not enough time. It would be irresponsible…" He trailed off, apparently unsure of how to finish.

When the voice spoke, after a pause, it had an edge to it "I suggest you collate your data with the other research teams, and work any kinks out of the project. The deadline stands. I trust that will be motivation enough to have the project ready in time. Your research has been amply compensated, after all."

Norio laughed, trying to sound genial and utterly failing to conceal his tension. "Look, you can tell him it'll be ready. No worries. We'll even go see Shinobu's team tonight."

"Good. I'll take my leave gentlemen. I'm glad this discourse has been so productive. My backers will be pleased."

I listened for a little longer. The slow voiced man left, with Tadao and Norio following him to the door.

"Why'd you tell him that?" Tadao was irritated.

"You don't think he'll have sent someone to twist Shinobu's arm too? I'm just worried that that idiot will botch it up trying to hurry or something. We've got to go over. And subject 6's response was like what Shinobu was whining about yesterday. We've got to fix this. Now!"

Tadao groaned. "Oh fuck it, come on then. I don't know where all our fucking time goes."

They sounded like they were coming back upstairs. I hurried back and tried to look like I had been asleep the whole time. They rifled through their files. Tadao called up this Shinobu character who, judging by the half of the conversation I could hear, was in a hysterical panic.

When he had reassured the frantic Shinobu and hung up, Tadao spoke "Damn idiot wasn't going to call us, got put on the same deadline. Arsehole. Subject 6 is still out cold. Fuck it. It's always when you don't need the delay."

"I knew that trainer gypped us. Damn cowboy. Half killed the damn thing then sells him to us. It's disgusting."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go."

"You going to tell the Missus you're heading off?"

"Nah, you know how much she hates being woken up." I felt a stab of mean spirited smugness. She doesn't hate being woken up by everyone. They left. I waited until the car drove off. For once something was going slightly my way.

I listened to make sure that no-one else was likely to interrupt at some inopportune moment. The hallway leading to Kaoru's room had the same atmosphere bending effect. Her dream seemed to have seeped into the walls and floor of the hall. I crept into the room. She was once again spread languorously across the bed, her hair, this time, loosely braided. I never would have thought the alien form of a human body would seem as appealing to me as she did.

I started to consume her dream. It felt different to the usual ones, but it was just as deep. I was in forest. It had the familiarity of all forests, but viewed through a human's eyes. It was darker and quieter than in reality, humans obviously don't pay much attention to nuances of sound and light in places they don't frequent. Kaoru was there, but not in her usual form. I was watching a much younger version of her wander through these trees, tripping over their roots and running her hands over their rough bark. I could feel it through my own palms, and it felt as unfamiliar as it would to a human. There didn't seem to be any purpose to her wandering. Wherever the forest wasn't oppressively dark, beams of bright sunlight flashed through, which seemed to give Kaoru a fleeting feeling of security. I could feel fear through, just an undercurrent of it, but there all the same.

It was obviously a real dream. Not like her typical, strangely choreographed and controlled offerings. This wasn't meant for me. I felt an odd hesitance to continue. I didn't need to eat it, though, of course, it was food, and after the events of earlier I needed some sustenance. But I wasn't sure I should take this dream, or even observe it. On the other hand, a part of me wanted to, for no other reason than because I was curious about what she dreamed when she was alone with herself. And, even though this wasn't like her other dreams, it was still a powerfully engaging vision. Human dreams are usually foggy, ephemeral and confusing. This was crystal clear, it almost felt real. In the end my curiosity won out.

The forest of Kaoru was apparently endless. If I looked where she was looking I could see the individual differences between the trees, their gnarled branches, hollows, withered and young leaves, but if I really looked around I could see that the trees all began to look the same the further from her they were. It was rather uncanny to look deep into this forest and see a thousand identical trees. I realized that this must be what it was like for a human to be lost in a forest. Everything on all sides looked the same, not enough differentiation to tell where one had walked before. A part of me felt sad for lost, little Kaoru. Every so often I'd get a flash of some other image, car doors slamming, unfamiliar faces, angry voices. It made the whole dream more apprehensive. She stumbled on, until finally she arrived in a small clearing. The light here was cool, the sky above was overcast but the sun shone through. Young Kaoru stopped. I could feel the fear deepen. The trees almost seemed to recede a little. I could hear twigs cracking somewhere. Kaoru started yelling something, though I couldn't hear it. She turned around and around, trying to see what was making the noises. I felt her fear, my heart started to beat faster and faster. I wanted to leave the dream. I don't like fear. But I wanted to see what was so terrifying. There was one last sound, a twig snapping that felt deafening. Kaoru turned around and looked right at me, and right through me, and screamed piercingly. I shivered. I could see it. It was me.

No, not me. Just a Hypno. The dream world melted. I was sitting on the floor in Kaoru's room. The usual red walls and dim light. She was awake and looking right at me. Her expression unreadable. My heart rate hadn't slowed, but I felt the residual fear of her dream fading. As it dissipated I began to feel rather offended. One of my kind was enough to build a nightmare? I know humans generally don't like us. But Kaoru? She's scared of us? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Leaning on the wall was making my back hurt, and I felt slightly sick again.

"Well?" she sounded irritated "Get up."

I obeyed before I even thought about it, and then felt annoyed at myself for doing so. She watched me fixedly.