-two years later-

Hoshiko felt something jab into her cheek, not enough to be forceful, but enough to begin dragging her back to consciousness. She mumbled unintelligibly and rolled over, burying her face in the pillow. She had been having such a lovely dream...

With a 'THWACK!' the Something smacked her over the head smartly, jolting her awake. Her room was bright, now, the sun shining into it, despite the curtains.

"It's morning," a dry, familiar voice said, "Get. Up."

Hoshiko rolled back around and peered drowsily at the figure before her, standing in the only bit of shade that existed in her room. He hadn't changed, she thought with a hint of humor. Never, in the two years she'd been with him, had he even gotten a hairstyle change.

His eyes were slanted, so it appeared that he always had his eyes closed. His hair was white, and long, pulled back into a small ponytail at the base of his neck by a black ribbon. Two bangs rose in front of his forehead and brushed his face gently.

He wore a chinese-style shirt under a strange cloak-outfit that was white and rimmed with designs, coupled with a pair of odd shoes. In his hand, as always, was his cane; dark wood and a spherical crystal about 4/5s of the way up.

At the moment, he was holding it above his head menacingly, with a grim look on his face that declared he meant buisness.

"Mmm...morning?" Hoshiko repeated slowly. "Already?"

"Yes. Morning." Tsukishiro made a face and dropped his cane, holding it behind him and bending at the waist over the girl. "And the dreamers need feeding."

Hoshiko sighed and nodded, slowly pulling herself out of bed. She began sifting through her belongings, looking for something to tie her abundance of pale blonde hair back. Tsukishiro kept his cane behind him and straightened, a disdainful look on his face.

"You could help," she offered, as was their custom.

The edge of his mouth tugged up into a grin.

"I could." was the reply.

When she'd finally located a ribbon, she pulled her hair into a semblance of order and walked up beside him, offering her arm. He took it, hanging his cane alongside his own arm, and they promptly strolled down the hall to his room.

Hoshiko opened the door for him and held it as he walked inside.

"I made the bed," she commented. "And cleaned a bit. It was really gloomy in here."

It was always musty in his room. The thick curtains blocked out the sunlight and kept any slivers of light from penetrating, and the room itself was empty, save for a bed near the walk-in closet.

Tsukishiro leaned his cane against the wall and flopped onto the bed comically. "Pooh." he mused, pouting. "I like the gloom."

Hoshiko chuckled softly. "Good morning." she said, closing the door.

"Good morning." he mumbled, already drifting off on top of the sheets.

As she shut the door behind her, Hoshiko sighed. He was so strange. It wasn't just his habits or the fact that he was a dream-eating baku, it was his attitude. He could be deadly serious one minute, then childish the next, always playing the part of the stereotypical bad guy.

She didn't mind it, though, she pondered as she set about her daily chores. Tsukishiro didn't really care about the state of the house, but she cleaned it anyway, for lack of anything better to do. Mostly, he wanted her to feed and talk to what he called 'Nightmare Breeders' or just 'dreamers'.

"If you don't feed them and talk to them," she recited from endless lessons, "they rot."

She shuddered. After all this time, they still gave her the creeps. They were just people, she reasoned, but it did nothing to soothe her nerves. Doomed souls, is what she thought of them. Something she would have been, too, if Tsukishiro had decided that he didn't like her after all.