Notes: Written for Amet. ^^ Dream by Kittyling "My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed--my dearest pleasure when free." --Mary Shelley *** "What do you dream about, Tsume?" It was a simple, stupid question, asked in the dead of night at a time when sleep should have enveloped them both, exhausted and warm and content as they were. And Tsume didn't want to talk right now, annoyed that the pup had stopped him from drifting off. He was awake again, his senses sharpened and keen as they always were when he wasn't sleeping; he could feel the warm body of the young wolf next to him, curled up close as possible, as though he was made to fit in that spot. It was an intrusion of privacy that Tsume had allowed more and more often of late. He was getting too soft, and he knew that if the damn alpha and beta of their pack knew about that, he'd receive quite the smug expression from the former and undoubtedly something similar from the latter. Toboe nuzzled against Tsume's arm, shifting slightly and craning up to give a tentative lick to the older wolf's cheek. "Tsume?" Tsume flinched slightly, rolling onto his side so that Toboe was now curled against his back. "Go to sleep, kid." Pout. Tsume couldn't see it, but oh, could he feel it. Thank god he couldn't see it, or he'd probably have to do something about it. "I want to know what you dream about, Tsume." Tsume was getting annoyed. "That's none of your business. Now go to sleep." The warmth behind him shifted slightly. He could feel that Toboe was lying on his side as he was, pressed against the length of his body, as close as he could get without actually embracing the older wolf. A soft sigh tickled the hairs on the back of Tsume's neck, the warm breath coasting over his skin and making him shiver despite himself. Tsume was almost convinced that the pup had drifted off, until a sleepy mumble near his ear told him otherwise. "I dream about Paradise." Tsume stayed silent, telling himself he didn't really care, but some part of him waited for Toboe to continue. A pair of arms wrapped around him. Another soft sigh, an inescapable feeling of warmth shooting through his body... "I dream...about staying with you, and Hige, and Kiba, forever. I think that's part of what Paradise is...so it's what I dream about." A content yawn. Then silence. Slender arms relaxing around his body, the tickle of breath on his skin slowing and becoming rhythmic. The pup was asleep. "I dream...about staying with you...forever." The silver-haired wolf stared at the wall of the cave, deep in thought; finally, long after Toboe had stopped talking, Tsume drifted off himself. And he dreamt. return to splash page