CHAPTER 9 – PART 14

Leon heard a moan of distress nearby and drew a deep breath to ready himself for sudden action. His body felt leaden, and he couldn't see anything in front of him. After a moment, he was able to think clearly enough to try moving his eyelids. He froze in mid-breath at the sight of a silhouette sitting on the edge of the bed beside him.

It was a relief that the light in the bedroom was turned off, for Leon felt his face flush with heat when he recognized the familiar outline of his host. "Maybe I should just go back to my own place." Leon offered quietly after letting out a disheartened sigh. "No sense in us both losing more sleep tonight."

Shadows seemed to assist the form of a smirk on the familiar mouth hovering above Leon. "Nonsense." Was the reasuring voice in Leon's ears. The detective felt a light tingling travel down his arms in response to the soothing voice.

The sound and the reply sent relief throughout Leon's tired body. Not having the strength to put up an argument, Leon let his eyes close again. "Y'should at least close the door, so I don't keep waking you up."

For a moment there was no reply, but Leon could have sworn that he heard his host's hair brush a silk-covered shoulder from the tipping of his head. It was a suprise when he felt a hand rest carefully on his chest, but he felt himself relaxing even more.

"What were you dreaming, Detective?" There was intense curiosity in the voice that he was use to...and yet, something in it was slightly off to Leon's ears.

"...didn't know I was dreamin'." Leon made a point to sound as though he was already drifting off to sleep again. It wasn't exactly a lie. He had thought what he'd been seeing and hearing was completely real.

"Right before you awakened..." The reply almost sounded as if Leon should remember more clearly with the moment pointed out.

Again, Leon had a nagging feeling that there was something different about the voice he was hearing. Maybe it was just because he was nearly forcing himself to stay awake now. He glanced over where he felt T-Chan still parked against his arm. The teddy-goat was looking up at him as if this was a perfectly normal situation. Pon-chan was curled up against T-Chan's side between them, still asleep. Glancing over to the opposite side of him, the space where Q-Chan had been before he'd gone to sleep was empty, and he guessed that the little bunny-bat had gone to D's room for the rest of the night.

Leon substitued a brief twitch of his shoulders for a shrug. "...too quiet in here for me, I guess." He was too tired to assess his thought before speaking it out loud, and felt like he'd just given something vital away.

The shadowy smirk seemed to soften to a rather kind smile. "I was wondering if, perhaps, that might be part of the problem." There was no smugness in the statement. If anything, Leon felt as though he could sense an understanding in it that he wasn't use to.

With almost no sound, the familiar form rose and walked out of the room.

A new sound brought Leon out of dozing after his host had dissappeared out the corridor. A light trilling came into the room along with the return of D's familiar outline.

Leon's eyes followed the shadow as it placed a cage on top of the dresser near the bed.

The sound of tiny frogs singing softly in the darkness from where the cage sat soon lulled Leon into closing his eyes again and drifting back to sleep.

T-Chan returned his head to it's resting place on Leon's upper arm and closed his eyes as well.

Q-Chan was once again nestled against the side of Leon's head, and the detective was once again the only human form in the room.