Crying Night

Thirteen: Sleep?

I laid down in Taiyou's bed and tried to sleep as soon as I could. However, the minutes turned into hours as I thought about my life until now.

There was too much to ponder: about how I was so hellbent on revenge, and the fact that the person I wanted to take revenge on was the person who saved my life. Sure, there was a lot of pieces missing to the puzzle of why Taiyou had killed my parents, but I should have noticed something was off that night. After all, Otou-sama was covered in dirt when he came back, and Okaa-sama wouldn't let me sleep. Taiyou wouldn't have been so distraught over me if he only wanted to kill my parents.

I wasted an entire ten years of my life hating my only love. I wonder how many of the previous incarnations of the First Holders felt this way. I wonder how Taiyou and I will turn out. Will we fight? Will we end the cycle? Or will something else happen? The questions resounded in my heart as well as my mind.

I heard loud snoring. I sat up and noticed Taiyou was fast asleep.

"So, he snores?" I giggled and laid back down.

"No, don't... leave..." Taiyou suddenly groaned.

I sat back up, starting to get worried.

What kind of dream is he having? I asked myself.

"Don't go, Tsuki! No, don't leave me!" He yelled.

I stood up and ran to his side. His eyes were still closed, so he was talking in his sleep. I grabbed his hand and said words I thought I would never say again.

"I'm never leaving you." I coaxed him and stroked his head.

His face, which was previously laden with fear, softened as he started snoring again.

I decided then, looking at his face, that I would no longer be his lover while viewing him as an enemy. I would be his lover in the truest sense, and stay by his side, even beyond the end of time.

There were some issues, however. Like, how would I sleep now that I said I wouldn't leave him? If I went back to his bed, would I be betraying that?

I'll just bring him to the bed. I thought, it'll be weird, but we'll be doing this eventually, right?

With that, I lifted up Taiyou.

He was light. Way too light. I wouldn't have even needed the extra strength that comes from being an assassin. This wasn't from starving himself. But, it was strange that a 16-year-old male was this light.

It suddenly hit me: Has Taiyou been having these nightmares since a long time ago? Was that why he wanted me to sleep in his bed?

I felt somewhat cheated. My lover was using me as a guinea pig to get a better sleep. But it didn't seem to work, since he was still having nightmares.

I sighed as I tucked Taiyou into his own bed, and then went around to the other side to lay down, too. I wasn't sure if he would have dreams instead of nightmares, but I knew I had to get to bed. It was already 4:00 in the morning.

The next thing I knew, it was bright outside. Taiyou was still asleep, even though he got a lot more sleep than I did. However, Taiyou had a smile on his face as he snored.

I sat up. I still had my clothes on, which means Taiyou didn't do "the thing lovers do" while I was asleep.

"Yumiya-sama! It's true! I saw a girl in his bed with him! They're still asleep, but I just know he's having an affair!" I heard an unknown voice come closer to Taiyou's door.

"Huh? You must be joking! How could Taiyou have a girl in his room when he's not in lo—" The door forcefully opened to Taiyou's mother and a maid standing in right in front of it.

They saw me and Taiyou in the bed. His mother screamed bloody murder, and Taiyou woke up.

"Kaa-san, what's..." Taiyou started, rubbing his eyes until he looked around and over at me, "OH MY GOD! WHEN DID I GET HERE?!"

Both mother and son were screaming at this point. I covered my ears because of the volume, but realized I had to do something to stop them. So, I got up, took a deep breath, and,

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

They both stopped screaming with that. At this point, the entire household was there, speculating who I was and whispering about Taiyou's "affair."

After a lot of whispering by the maids and butlers, Taiyou got up and asked me, "Tsukki, I thought you were sleeping in my bed alone? Why am I here too?"

"You were having a nightmare, so I brought you to your bed, and laid down next to you. That's all." I explained what transpired in as few words as possible.

"Did I miss my first time?" Taiyou suddenly asked

"NO, YOU DIMWIT!" I screamed and blushed.

"Who do you think you are, calling my son a dimwit?" Taiyou's mother, Sora Yumiya, invaded our conversation.

I sighed, "You don't remember me? I'm Chikara Tsuki."

"Huh? But I thought you died a long time ago!" She said.

"As you can see, I'm still alive. Why did you say that I was—" I covered my mouth at this.

I realized that I messed up. Was she also plotting to take my life, along with my mother and father?

Yumiya sighed, "I see. You were hiding Tsuki from her parents, weren't you, Taiyou?"

"You got it. Chikara Mizuo has already found her, though." Taiyou admitted.

"What? Tsuki-chan needs protection, immediately!" Yumiya's expression turned from grim to flustered.

"Huh? What are you talking about? I'm still an assassin! I can protect myself!" I puffed out my cheek in protest.

"But you can't win! Not against Mizuo!" She looked straight at me and dismissed my protest.

"I know who I'm fighting, but I feel like I can take him on with Taiyou by my side."

"Huh? You want me to be by your side?" Taiyou asked.

"Of course. Why else would I be sleeping in the same bed as you were? I knew we would be doing this eventually." I commented then turned red.

"I still say you need an extra guard." Yumiya crossed her arms.

"She has me, nyaa!" Prul interrupted.

"Prul, when did you come?" I asked with little emotion.

"Since around 'Oh my god, when did I get here?'-nyaa." Prul said nonchalantly.

"So, since close to the beginning...?" I sighed.

"I don't mean a cat. I mean a person." Yumiya seemed to mock Prul.

"I do have a person I can think of." I spoke.

"Who?" She squinted.

"Kusari Hoshi. She's been protecting me from her own family since I was adopted by them." I inputted my Onee-sama into this conversation.

"Nope. I'll send a guard." Yumiya dismissed my recommendation.

"Why?!" I whined like a child.

"Hoshi-san is really dangerous, even more dangerous than her father. She has a power from the original Moon Power Holder." Yumiya explained.

"What power is it?"

"It's the power to change one's appearance and age: Concealment." She told me this power that Hoshi-onee-sama had without hesitation.

We all were silent.

If Hoshi-onee-sama is so dangerous, why did she work so hard for me? Why did she tell me she loves me? Was it all an act? It would've been too much to bear if that were the case. I had to find out if Hoshi-onee-sama was a fake or a true older-sister figure.

These revelations were too much.