Fan Fiction ❯ We Met in a Dream ❯ Thursday, September 14th - The Dream World /part 2 ( Chapter 7 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Darialan 
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.11.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 144 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.11.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 144 | Status: Completed
(Changing into a girl, pig or any other animal with water as well as a few characters Akito talks about are from Ranma 1/2. Ranma 1/2 is owned by Rumiko Takahashi.)
Chapter 7: Thursday, September 14th - The Dream World /part 2
Darien walked towards the 3 at the table.
Otaru noticed Dar out of the corner of his eye. ‘Saved! Thank God,’ he thought knowing that this would give him a chance out of the argument. He turned around and called out to Dar, “Good morning, Dar.”
Melissa and Megumi turned their heads towards Dar. He waved. “Or good evening,” he said in a quiet and low voice, knowing full well this is the dream world.
Otaru laughed. “Yeah, I guess a couple of us got caught up here,” he said with a laugh, placing his hand behind his head. Otaru lowered his eyes and noted Darien’s clothes. “I see you’re ready to train,” he said.
Darien looked down. “Uh, well, I guess so,” he replied.
“Don’t worry I’ll go easy on you….at first,” Otaru said trailing off with an evil sounding tone like he had some things planned. “To the dojo!” Otaru exclaimed.
Otaru rushed by Darien, grabbing him by the arm running to the dojo. Darien’s eyes grew as his arm was jerked in the opposite direction.
Megumi sat at the table along with Melissa. Melissa was furious. This may be a dream world, but he wasn’t going to get away with perversion. The thought of it made her grit her teeth. She slammed her fists on the table. “Just who does he think he is? Just because dreams have no rules, he thinks he can do anything his perverted mind can come up with?” she spouted out, not giving a thought to Megumi.
Megumi stared at Melissa as she sipped some hot tea. She raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t quite comfortable around people that yell or show any hostility. She was often the first to report a fight in the school hallways just to make it stop.
Melissa started to growl under her breath, but she started to get a hold of herself. It was a little ridiculous to be angry over this little incident, but she remembered how she’d been taken advantage of, before she met Otaru online. She sighed. Then she looked up to see Megumi. Megumi was about to stand up to leave Melissa alone. Melissa noted the expression on her face. “Oh, I’m sorry Megumi. Did I scare you?” she said in a calmer voice.
Megumi paused and sat back down. “I uh, well…”
“I made you uncomfortable?” Melissa said with her chin against the table.
Megumi nodded.
“I’m sorry. You have no idea what I’ve been through,” Melissa groaned.
Megumi continued to sit and sip her tea.
“Umm, Megumi? Do you even talk?” Melissa asked as she noted that she hadn’t even said a word to her.
“Uh, hai. I’m sorry, I just…” she started to say nervously. “I’m just not much of a talker.”
The two were quiet for a moment. Megumi took her time to think of something to say or ask. It was kinda awkward for noone to say anything. Finally Megumi spoke up asking, “May I ask what you meant?”
“Huh?”
“I mean when you were talking about what you’ve been through,” she added.
“Oh Megumi,” Melissa sighed.
Megumi waved her hands in front of her own face furiously. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ask about that. I’m so sorry. I can change the subject, really,” she said, her voice fast and rather nervous.
“No, no. Really, it’s ok. I mean, it helps to talk about it and somehow I can tell that you do care,” Melissa said reassuring her that it was ok.
Megumi stopped and nodded. “Ok, if it’d make you feel better. Sure,” she said smiling.
“Well, back when I was younger, like around 5 or six my mom used to read these fairy tail stories to me about princes on white horses and knights saving young princesses. A lot of stories that involved a romantic rescue. Well, when I got older, guys…they started to seem really nasty to me. I mean I still dreamed of this ideal guy sweeping me off my feet, but…” Melissa sorta trailed off as her head sunk back to the table.
Megumi nodded. “Sometimes I feel like that. Feel like being wanted by someone, but they’re only fantasies to me. All I have is school and my parents. I’m too busy with all of that. I never have the time to be with people,” she said with a sigh. “Besides I’m…” Megumi stopped and looked out window, her head resting on the palm of her hand.
“Hmmm? Go on. Finish,” Melissa said.
Megumi sighed. “Never mind.”
Darien and Otaru were facing off in the dojo. Otaru’s legs were bent and his arms out, in a stance. Darien, on the other end of the dojo was just standing there. He wasn’t quite sure what to do. He watched Otaru carefully and tried to copy his stance.
“Are you ready?” Otaru asked, confidence in his voice as he glared at Dar.
Darien shook his head nervously.
“Hey, I’ve shown you some basic moves. You’re as ready as you’ll ever be. Just say yes,” Otaru responded.
Darien slightly nodded.
“Ok. This will be a power blow. If you don’t block properly, this will send you through the wall. Normally, an enemy wouldn’t tell you these things, but for now you should know to be prepared,” Otaru continued. Not more than a second later Otaru rushed towards Dar.
Darien shut his eyes and held his arms against his chest, bracing himself. He was very unsure of himself. He failed to keep his leg properly bent and his body was not properly balanced to absorb the blow.
Upon Otaru’s reach of Darien, Otaru’s clenched hands opened up and he gave Darien a hard push.
Darien went through the back wall, out to the back yard. Darien screamed in pain and continued to tumble till he reached the edge of the pond. He balanced on its edge fore only a second and fell in.
Otaru wasn’t far behind. He followed Dar out back as he fell into the pond. “Dar! Come on out and we can try this again,” Otaru called as he looked into the pond. He watched as Darien’s body turned into that of a small pig. “Uh, pig?” he said to himself. “This dream is beginning to sound a little familiar to me.”
Darien, the pig, crawled slowly out of the pond.
Melissa and Megumi noticing the commotion from out back ran out. “What’s going on?” Megumi asked in a quiet voice.
“Me and Darien were just training…” Otaru answered, but was cut off but a high-pitched growl coming from Darien, who was looking straight at Otaru with an angered expression.
Melissa looked down to see the little white pig she saw earlier.
Otaru walked closer to Darien. Darien backed off keeping eye contact.
Melissa looked at Otaru. She didn’t like the look of things. First she finds that Otaru may be a pervert and now it looks like he picks on small animals. Melissa quickly picked up Darien from behind. He let out a surprised whine. She then looked at Otaru, her eye brows pointing down. “Don’t you dare pick on him,” she said sternly.
“It’s not what you think, Melissa. That’s Darien and…” Otaru tried to quickly explain. But it wasn’t going to work, so he stopped there.
It was the expression on her face. When he told her it was Dar, she raised an eyebrow, still maintaining that angry scowl.
“I think I’ll go back inside,” Megumi said sheepishly as she returned to the house.
Darien sighed and actually started to relax in Melissa’s arms. She had no idea it was him, but how could he tell her anyway.
Otaru looked down at the pig, who looked a little bit content. This made Otaru very mad. “What do you think you’re doing Darien?” he said in a cold low voice as he continued to stare into Melissa’s arms.
“It’s not Darien. It’s P-kun,” she said back to Otaru coldly just after deciding on a name for him. “And if I catch you picking on him again, there’s going to be trouble. Got that?” she continued.
Otaru knew he couldn’t convince her. At least not right now. He went back to the dojo to train by himself. The situation still seemed kind of familiar to him.
Megumi was walking down a short hallway, investigating the new dream world, when suddenly the door to a young woman's room flew open. A little old man ran out with a small bundle on his back. He was laughing and carrying on and hopped aevery few steps. Megumi's eyes widened. She clenched her chin, gritting her teeth. 'Who was that?' she thought. 'Just great. A dream of perverts,' she continued to think as she sighed.
She decided to follow him to make sure he wasn't going to get into any trouble.
Melissa started to walk back into the house, Darien huddle in her arms. Out of the corner of the room jump an old man with her underwear on his back. He jumped and clenched to her chest. Melissa screamed and dropped P-kun on the floor. Darien, the pig, ran off, shaken by the excitement.
"Get it off!" she screamed.
Megumi was not far behind the old man. She quickly picked the old man off of her head by the collar of his shirt. "And what do you think you're doing, old man?" Megumi asked, her eyebrows folded.
The old man poofed in a puff of smoke and a young man fell to the floor.
"A...Akito?" Megumi stuttered.
"You know this guy, Megumi?" Melissa asked.
Just then, Otaru came running from the dojo. "What happened? Are you alright?" he called out as he ran up to the two. Otaru looked down to see the kid from this afternoon. He didn't recognize him right off. "And who is this?" he added.
"I'm fine," Melissa said in an annoyed voice, still indignant about what had happened. "And this is a menacing little pervert!" she said as she looked down at Akito, her face red with anger.
Akito was sitting on the floor. He started to slide away slowly hoping to get away. He started to pick up speed as Melissa turned her head to the other side of the room to see Darien standing there.
"Oh there you are, Darien. Where were you?" Megumi asked as she too saw Darien.
He could have told them about being the pig earlier, but seeing as how angry she was about the old lecher, it seemed not the safest thing to talk about. "Uh, I uh...got lost?" was all he could think to say.
"Huh?" was Melissa's response. "That's ok, Darien. We should probably all get together and explore this dream world."
"That's a great idea, Missy-chan," Megumi said smiling.
Otaru stomped in front of Akito as he started to stand up and run the other way. "Just what did you do to my girlfriend just a minute ago?" he asked as he grabbed Akito by the collar.
Akito just grinned nervously.
Darien came closer to the group. He gasped. "That's the guy from earlier today," Darien said pointing at Akito.
"Huh?" the rest of the group said looking at Darien.
"Uh well, we sorta ran into each other today. Twice, actually," he said quietly.
"Oh, hey is that the guy that dropped his mangas in the hall?" Otaru asked, still holding Akito by the collar.
Darien nodded. "I think he's another one?"
"Huh?" Otaru and Akito responded together.
"What are you talking about?" Otaru asked.
"Another dreamer, like us," Darien explained.
"Ohhh," Otaru said. "You really are good at that, Darien."
"Excuse me. Can you let me go, now?" Akito asked nervously.
Otaru dropped him and he fell to the floor hard.
"Ow."
"A dreamer?" asked Megumi confused. "Everyone dreams."
"Well, yeah, but what Dar means is that he's one of us. That is we share a dream world," Otaru replied.
"WHAT?!" Akito shouted as he got back up off the floor. "You mean to tell me that i'm not dreaming about you? That you are actually with me in this dream?"
Mellisa blinks. "So this is your world?"
Akito grins and nods.
Otaru butted in and said, "Well we better get started exploring. I mean we'll be needing to know this world very well, if we're going to help Darien's girlfriend."
Darien blushed. "She's not my girlfriend," he said sheepishly.
"Haha. Don't worry. She will be," he said smiling and elbowing Darien.
"Well, since this is your world, Akito, then you know all about it, right?" Megumi asked.
Akito paused a momment and replied, "Well, what is it that you want to know about it?"
"Oh, things like, 'What can you do here,' 'Are there any monsters or bad people that you dream of,' 'Secret places,' etc," Otaru quickly spit out, trying to get this over with.
"I don't understand why you need to know all this," Akito asked.
Akito gave him a disspleasing look, sighed and told Akito about his ideas on dream sharing.
Akito shuddered. "You mean to tell me that Kuno could capture me and take me to a dark universe of some kind?!" Akito shouted wide eyed.
"It would seem so. These three helped me out last night," Megumi said.
"And who's this Kuno, you speak of?" asked Mellissa.
"I, uh, well this dream is based on a manga I like to read..." Akito started to say.
"Read? heh," Megumi scoffed, being that she's such a bookworm and well rounded student that wouldn't have anything to do with comic books.
"Go on," Otaru encourages.
Akito tells the bunch about the managa and anime series, Ranma 1/2.
When Akito gets to the part about the cursed springs, Otaru jumped in. "Ha, Mellissa! I told you! That Pig is Darien!"
Darien froze and hoped that Mellissa wouldn't beleive him this time. After hearing what Akito had said he was almos certain, his secret was out.
Mellissa's eyebrows folded. "Otaru! That pig is not Darien! If it was, wouldn't he say something?!" she shouted back at Otaru.
Otaru growled. "Tell her, Darien!" he shouted looking at him.
Darien just stood silent for a momment and then ran out of the house.
"Now, look what you did! You scared him!" Mellissa scolded.
Akito and Megumi started to feel a little uncomfortable being around the two at the moment and they backed off.
Otaru and Mellissa continued to argue as Akito and Megumi walked outside. They didn't see Darien anywhere.
"Where'd that other guy go?" Akito asked.
"I don't know, but we better go find him. I don't think Darien can survive out there," Megumi said with a look of concern.
The two walked to the sidewalk and down the street, still seeing no sign of him.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Yuki, opened her eyes. It was still dark. As she moved her head about, she could see some stained glass windows. 'Am I still dreaming?' she thought. A moment went by and she remembered the voice eachoing her worst fears. 'Did I faint?' she continued to think.
Charlie walked over to Yuki and looked down into her eyes. Yuki's eyes widened and she let out a short scream. "Wha?...Neko?" she said nervously.
"I told you, my name is Charlie. I also told you too follow me, did i not?" he said with a sigh.
"Oh, that's right," she sighed. 'I'm still here,' she thought, still not liking this one bit.
"Yes, you're still in the dream world, Yuki and I have alot to share with you," Charlie went on.
Yuki nodded. She was ready to listen.
"First off, you are here, because of your own fear. If you had chosen to be brave, you wouldn't be here," The cat started.
"I'm here, because I was caught by a dark shadow, wasn't I?" Yuki questioned, not understanding what Charlie was getting at.
"Literally, perhaps, but that is not the point, Yuki," Charlie added. "The point is, if you were to stand up to the darkness, I wouldn't have had to save you. Even willing it away, would have worked."
"But I..."
"Yuki, of course you can. You see, you can do anything you want in a dream. You are so consumed, both literally and figuratively, by your own fear."
Yuki sulked a little and sighed.
"Tell me Yuki, what is it you're afraid of?"
"I...I'm afraid..." Yuki started to say, not finishing.
"What? The unknown?" Chalie asked. "Then you are afraid of nothing. It is all in your mind. And as many times as it's been said by numerous people I must say it anyway. 'You have nothing to fear, but fear itself.' That is what is holding you back, Yuki."
"But..."
"What? Do you not trust your faithful Neko? Does he not speak the truth?"
"No, of course not, but..." Yuki continued with much uncertainty in her voice.
"Then trust me, Yuki." Charlie said as he started to turn away. "Now, follow me. We must venture out of this spot if we are to ontact your friends."
Yuki stood up and gathered as much courage as she could. She hung on Charlie's words and followed him out of the sactuary. She still felt much fear, but she started to think that maybe his words were true.
Converting /tmp/phpoIZebS to /dev/stdout
Chapter 7: Thursday, September 14th - The Dream World /part 2
Darien walked towards the 3 at the table.
Otaru noticed Dar out of the corner of his eye. ‘Saved! Thank God,’ he thought knowing that this would give him a chance out of the argument. He turned around and called out to Dar, “Good morning, Dar.”
Melissa and Megumi turned their heads towards Dar. He waved. “Or good evening,” he said in a quiet and low voice, knowing full well this is the dream world.
Otaru laughed. “Yeah, I guess a couple of us got caught up here,” he said with a laugh, placing his hand behind his head. Otaru lowered his eyes and noted Darien’s clothes. “I see you’re ready to train,” he said.
Darien looked down. “Uh, well, I guess so,” he replied.
“Don’t worry I’ll go easy on you….at first,” Otaru said trailing off with an evil sounding tone like he had some things planned. “To the dojo!” Otaru exclaimed.
Otaru rushed by Darien, grabbing him by the arm running to the dojo. Darien’s eyes grew as his arm was jerked in the opposite direction.
Megumi sat at the table along with Melissa. Melissa was furious. This may be a dream world, but he wasn’t going to get away with perversion. The thought of it made her grit her teeth. She slammed her fists on the table. “Just who does he think he is? Just because dreams have no rules, he thinks he can do anything his perverted mind can come up with?” she spouted out, not giving a thought to Megumi.
Megumi stared at Melissa as she sipped some hot tea. She raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t quite comfortable around people that yell or show any hostility. She was often the first to report a fight in the school hallways just to make it stop.
Melissa started to growl under her breath, but she started to get a hold of herself. It was a little ridiculous to be angry over this little incident, but she remembered how she’d been taken advantage of, before she met Otaru online. She sighed. Then she looked up to see Megumi. Megumi was about to stand up to leave Melissa alone. Melissa noted the expression on her face. “Oh, I’m sorry Megumi. Did I scare you?” she said in a calmer voice.
Megumi paused and sat back down. “I uh, well…”
“I made you uncomfortable?” Melissa said with her chin against the table.
Megumi nodded.
“I’m sorry. You have no idea what I’ve been through,” Melissa groaned.
Megumi continued to sit and sip her tea.
“Umm, Megumi? Do you even talk?” Melissa asked as she noted that she hadn’t even said a word to her.
“Uh, hai. I’m sorry, I just…” she started to say nervously. “I’m just not much of a talker.”
The two were quiet for a moment. Megumi took her time to think of something to say or ask. It was kinda awkward for noone to say anything. Finally Megumi spoke up asking, “May I ask what you meant?”
“Huh?”
“I mean when you were talking about what you’ve been through,” she added.
“Oh Megumi,” Melissa sighed.
Megumi waved her hands in front of her own face furiously. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ask about that. I’m so sorry. I can change the subject, really,” she said, her voice fast and rather nervous.
“No, no. Really, it’s ok. I mean, it helps to talk about it and somehow I can tell that you do care,” Melissa said reassuring her that it was ok.
Megumi stopped and nodded. “Ok, if it’d make you feel better. Sure,” she said smiling.
“Well, back when I was younger, like around 5 or six my mom used to read these fairy tail stories to me about princes on white horses and knights saving young princesses. A lot of stories that involved a romantic rescue. Well, when I got older, guys…they started to seem really nasty to me. I mean I still dreamed of this ideal guy sweeping me off my feet, but…” Melissa sorta trailed off as her head sunk back to the table.
Megumi nodded. “Sometimes I feel like that. Feel like being wanted by someone, but they’re only fantasies to me. All I have is school and my parents. I’m too busy with all of that. I never have the time to be with people,” she said with a sigh. “Besides I’m…” Megumi stopped and looked out window, her head resting on the palm of her hand.
“Hmmm? Go on. Finish,” Melissa said.
Megumi sighed. “Never mind.”
Darien and Otaru were facing off in the dojo. Otaru’s legs were bent and his arms out, in a stance. Darien, on the other end of the dojo was just standing there. He wasn’t quite sure what to do. He watched Otaru carefully and tried to copy his stance.
“Are you ready?” Otaru asked, confidence in his voice as he glared at Dar.
Darien shook his head nervously.
“Hey, I’ve shown you some basic moves. You’re as ready as you’ll ever be. Just say yes,” Otaru responded.
Darien slightly nodded.
“Ok. This will be a power blow. If you don’t block properly, this will send you through the wall. Normally, an enemy wouldn’t tell you these things, but for now you should know to be prepared,” Otaru continued. Not more than a second later Otaru rushed towards Dar.
Darien shut his eyes and held his arms against his chest, bracing himself. He was very unsure of himself. He failed to keep his leg properly bent and his body was not properly balanced to absorb the blow.
Upon Otaru’s reach of Darien, Otaru’s clenched hands opened up and he gave Darien a hard push.
Darien went through the back wall, out to the back yard. Darien screamed in pain and continued to tumble till he reached the edge of the pond. He balanced on its edge fore only a second and fell in.
Otaru wasn’t far behind. He followed Dar out back as he fell into the pond. “Dar! Come on out and we can try this again,” Otaru called as he looked into the pond. He watched as Darien’s body turned into that of a small pig. “Uh, pig?” he said to himself. “This dream is beginning to sound a little familiar to me.”
Darien, the pig, crawled slowly out of the pond.
Melissa and Megumi noticing the commotion from out back ran out. “What’s going on?” Megumi asked in a quiet voice.
“Me and Darien were just training…” Otaru answered, but was cut off but a high-pitched growl coming from Darien, who was looking straight at Otaru with an angered expression.
Melissa looked down to see the little white pig she saw earlier.
Otaru walked closer to Darien. Darien backed off keeping eye contact.
Melissa looked at Otaru. She didn’t like the look of things. First she finds that Otaru may be a pervert and now it looks like he picks on small animals. Melissa quickly picked up Darien from behind. He let out a surprised whine. She then looked at Otaru, her eye brows pointing down. “Don’t you dare pick on him,” she said sternly.
“It’s not what you think, Melissa. That’s Darien and…” Otaru tried to quickly explain. But it wasn’t going to work, so he stopped there.
It was the expression on her face. When he told her it was Dar, she raised an eyebrow, still maintaining that angry scowl.
“I think I’ll go back inside,” Megumi said sheepishly as she returned to the house.
Darien sighed and actually started to relax in Melissa’s arms. She had no idea it was him, but how could he tell her anyway.
Otaru looked down at the pig, who looked a little bit content. This made Otaru very mad. “What do you think you’re doing Darien?” he said in a cold low voice as he continued to stare into Melissa’s arms.
“It’s not Darien. It’s P-kun,” she said back to Otaru coldly just after deciding on a name for him. “And if I catch you picking on him again, there’s going to be trouble. Got that?” she continued.
Otaru knew he couldn’t convince her. At least not right now. He went back to the dojo to train by himself. The situation still seemed kind of familiar to him.
Megumi was walking down a short hallway, investigating the new dream world, when suddenly the door to a young woman's room flew open. A little old man ran out with a small bundle on his back. He was laughing and carrying on and hopped aevery few steps. Megumi's eyes widened. She clenched her chin, gritting her teeth. 'Who was that?' she thought. 'Just great. A dream of perverts,' she continued to think as she sighed.
She decided to follow him to make sure he wasn't going to get into any trouble.
Melissa started to walk back into the house, Darien huddle in her arms. Out of the corner of the room jump an old man with her underwear on his back. He jumped and clenched to her chest. Melissa screamed and dropped P-kun on the floor. Darien, the pig, ran off, shaken by the excitement.
"Get it off!" she screamed.
Megumi was not far behind the old man. She quickly picked the old man off of her head by the collar of his shirt. "And what do you think you're doing, old man?" Megumi asked, her eyebrows folded.
The old man poofed in a puff of smoke and a young man fell to the floor.
"A...Akito?" Megumi stuttered.
"You know this guy, Megumi?" Melissa asked.
Just then, Otaru came running from the dojo. "What happened? Are you alright?" he called out as he ran up to the two. Otaru looked down to see the kid from this afternoon. He didn't recognize him right off. "And who is this?" he added.
"I'm fine," Melissa said in an annoyed voice, still indignant about what had happened. "And this is a menacing little pervert!" she said as she looked down at Akito, her face red with anger.
Akito was sitting on the floor. He started to slide away slowly hoping to get away. He started to pick up speed as Melissa turned her head to the other side of the room to see Darien standing there.
"Oh there you are, Darien. Where were you?" Megumi asked as she too saw Darien.
He could have told them about being the pig earlier, but seeing as how angry she was about the old lecher, it seemed not the safest thing to talk about. "Uh, I uh...got lost?" was all he could think to say.
"Huh?" was Melissa's response. "That's ok, Darien. We should probably all get together and explore this dream world."
"That's a great idea, Missy-chan," Megumi said smiling.
Otaru stomped in front of Akito as he started to stand up and run the other way. "Just what did you do to my girlfriend just a minute ago?" he asked as he grabbed Akito by the collar.
Akito just grinned nervously.
Darien came closer to the group. He gasped. "That's the guy from earlier today," Darien said pointing at Akito.
"Huh?" the rest of the group said looking at Darien.
"Uh well, we sorta ran into each other today. Twice, actually," he said quietly.
"Oh, hey is that the guy that dropped his mangas in the hall?" Otaru asked, still holding Akito by the collar.
Darien nodded. "I think he's another one?"
"Huh?" Otaru and Akito responded together.
"What are you talking about?" Otaru asked.
"Another dreamer, like us," Darien explained.
"Ohhh," Otaru said. "You really are good at that, Darien."
"Excuse me. Can you let me go, now?" Akito asked nervously.
Otaru dropped him and he fell to the floor hard.
"Ow."
"A dreamer?" asked Megumi confused. "Everyone dreams."
"Well, yeah, but what Dar means is that he's one of us. That is we share a dream world," Otaru replied.
"WHAT?!" Akito shouted as he got back up off the floor. "You mean to tell me that i'm not dreaming about you? That you are actually with me in this dream?"
Mellisa blinks. "So this is your world?"
Akito grins and nods.
Otaru butted in and said, "Well we better get started exploring. I mean we'll be needing to know this world very well, if we're going to help Darien's girlfriend."
Darien blushed. "She's not my girlfriend," he said sheepishly.
"Haha. Don't worry. She will be," he said smiling and elbowing Darien.
"Well, since this is your world, Akito, then you know all about it, right?" Megumi asked.
Akito paused a momment and replied, "Well, what is it that you want to know about it?"
"Oh, things like, 'What can you do here,' 'Are there any monsters or bad people that you dream of,' 'Secret places,' etc," Otaru quickly spit out, trying to get this over with.
"I don't understand why you need to know all this," Akito asked.
Akito gave him a disspleasing look, sighed and told Akito about his ideas on dream sharing.
Akito shuddered. "You mean to tell me that Kuno could capture me and take me to a dark universe of some kind?!" Akito shouted wide eyed.
"It would seem so. These three helped me out last night," Megumi said.
"And who's this Kuno, you speak of?" asked Mellissa.
"I, uh, well this dream is based on a manga I like to read..." Akito started to say.
"Read? heh," Megumi scoffed, being that she's such a bookworm and well rounded student that wouldn't have anything to do with comic books.
"Go on," Otaru encourages.
Akito tells the bunch about the managa and anime series, Ranma 1/2.
When Akito gets to the part about the cursed springs, Otaru jumped in. "Ha, Mellissa! I told you! That Pig is Darien!"
Darien froze and hoped that Mellissa wouldn't beleive him this time. After hearing what Akito had said he was almos certain, his secret was out.
Mellissa's eyebrows folded. "Otaru! That pig is not Darien! If it was, wouldn't he say something?!" she shouted back at Otaru.
Otaru growled. "Tell her, Darien!" he shouted looking at him.
Darien just stood silent for a momment and then ran out of the house.
"Now, look what you did! You scared him!" Mellissa scolded.
Akito and Megumi started to feel a little uncomfortable being around the two at the moment and they backed off.
Otaru and Mellissa continued to argue as Akito and Megumi walked outside. They didn't see Darien anywhere.
"Where'd that other guy go?" Akito asked.
"I don't know, but we better go find him. I don't think Darien can survive out there," Megumi said with a look of concern.
The two walked to the sidewalk and down the street, still seeing no sign of him.
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Yuki, opened her eyes. It was still dark. As she moved her head about, she could see some stained glass windows. 'Am I still dreaming?' she thought. A moment went by and she remembered the voice eachoing her worst fears. 'Did I faint?' she continued to think.
Charlie walked over to Yuki and looked down into her eyes. Yuki's eyes widened and she let out a short scream. "Wha?...Neko?" she said nervously.
"I told you, my name is Charlie. I also told you too follow me, did i not?" he said with a sigh.
"Oh, that's right," she sighed. 'I'm still here,' she thought, still not liking this one bit.
"Yes, you're still in the dream world, Yuki and I have alot to share with you," Charlie went on.
Yuki nodded. She was ready to listen.
"First off, you are here, because of your own fear. If you had chosen to be brave, you wouldn't be here," The cat started.
"I'm here, because I was caught by a dark shadow, wasn't I?" Yuki questioned, not understanding what Charlie was getting at.
"Literally, perhaps, but that is not the point, Yuki," Charlie added. "The point is, if you were to stand up to the darkness, I wouldn't have had to save you. Even willing it away, would have worked."
"But I..."
"Yuki, of course you can. You see, you can do anything you want in a dream. You are so consumed, both literally and figuratively, by your own fear."
Yuki sulked a little and sighed.
"Tell me Yuki, what is it you're afraid of?"
"I...I'm afraid..." Yuki started to say, not finishing.
"What? The unknown?" Chalie asked. "Then you are afraid of nothing. It is all in your mind. And as many times as it's been said by numerous people I must say it anyway. 'You have nothing to fear, but fear itself.' That is what is holding you back, Yuki."
"But..."
"What? Do you not trust your faithful Neko? Does he not speak the truth?"
"No, of course not, but..." Yuki continued with much uncertainty in her voice.
"Then trust me, Yuki." Charlie said as he started to turn away. "Now, follow me. We must venture out of this spot if we are to ontact your friends."
Yuki stood up and gathered as much courage as she could. She hung on Charlie's words and followed him out of the sactuary. She still felt much fear, but she started to think that maybe his words were true.
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