Midorikawa yawned and rubbed his eyes. The day was finally ending, and after a full day of practice and a huge dinner, he was exhausted. Several others looked pretty tired, too. At his table, Hiroto had his head propped up with his hand, and Tachimukai had pretty much fallen asleep on his tray.

"I'm probably going to go up to bed soon," Midorikawa said.

Hiroto nodded and yawned himself. "Yeah... same here." he shook Tachimukai's shoulder, trying to wake him up.

"Huh? What?" Tachimukai opened his eyes and looked around. He seemed pretty confused, and Midorikawa probably would have laughed if he wasn't so tired.

"Hey man, let's head upstairs." Hiroto said. He tapped him on the back and helped him up. "Do you mind getting my tray for me?"

Midorikawa nodded. "Sure. Good night, you two." he said. Hiroto nodded and Tachimukai gave a weak wave, and together they headed for their rooms, with Tachimukai leaning heavily on Hiroto's shoulder. Midorikawa stood up, collected the trays, and took them over to the kitchen counter. Haruna was standing behind it, waiting to take the trays off his hands.

"You look tired," Haruna said.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious," Midorikawa teased. "I'm gonna go up to bed."

Haruna handed the stack of trays off to Aki, then she leaned against the counter. "This early?"

"Hey, you'd be tired too if you were playing soccer all day." Midorikawa said. Haruna shrugged.

"Fair enough. Well, good night, and don't let the bedbugs bite!" she said.

Midorikawa nodded and left the dining hall. Most of the team had already left as well. He made his way up the stairs to his room. Once he was there, he opened the door, threw off his sweatsuit and crawled into his bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

-.-.-

Scratch.

Scratch.

Scraaaaatch...

"Mph..." Midorikawa pulled his blanket further over his head to block out the noise. It had been going on for a while, and it was really starting to bug him now.

Scraaaaaatch...

"What is that?" Midorikawa groaned and sat up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the dark, but soon he was able to see. A tiny ray of moonlight shone through his window, and he didn't notice anything odd. Maybe it was just the wind that was making the noise. Yeah, the wind...

Scraaaaaatch... THUNK.

"What is that?" Midorikawa yelped. He jumped up and hit his head against the wall. The scratching was odd enough, but now it seemed like something was trying to... get in. Midorikawa rubbed the back of his head. "Um... okay Ryuuji... it's... just the wind. And that was a branch hitting the window... and... and... aw man, I'm so scared..."

He pulled his blanket over his head and curled into a little ball. As a kid, he was always afraid of strange noises in the night. His siblings had always been there with him, though, so he felt safe. And as he got older, he found that they scared him less and less... but this one was especially creepy. Midorikawa peeked out from under his blanket and looked at his window.

Scraaaaatch... thunk thunk THUNK.

"Eee..." Midorikawa squealed. He started to rock back and forth and closed his eyes tight. The noise was getting louder... and closer. "If I stay in here I'm gonna dieeee..." he found the courage to open his eyes, looked over the edge of his bed, and frowned. What if it was hiding under his bed? It could get him, and he'd never make it out alive.

Midorikawa took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Okay, on the count of three. One... THREE!" he jumped out of his bed and tried to get as far away as possible. He landed a few feet away with a loud thud, and he was lucky he still had his blanket with him to break his fall. Midorikawa scrambled for his door and threw it open. Once in the halls, he ran to the closest place he could find.

Kidou's room.

It probably wasn't the best place to hide, but Midorikawa was desperate. He opened the door without knocking and stuck his head in.

"Kidou?" he said, his voice just above a whisper. "Kidou..." Midorikawa opened the door wider and walked in on his tip-toes, trying not to make a sound. He inched closer and closer to Kidou until he was right next to his bed. He hovered over him, looking down at the sleeping boy.

"Wake up, please..." Midorikawa said. He gently shook his shoulder, and Kidou stirred in his sleep.

"Haruna leave me alone." he mumbled. Midorikawa shook him again, this time a bit harder. Kidou rolled over to face him. "What?" he snapped.

"Hi Kidou," Midorikawa said. Kidou opened his eyes, and once he realized who was standing there, hovering over him, he jolted up and gasped.

"You're not Haruna!" he yelled. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "What are you even doing here, Midorikawa? It must be two in the morning."

"I uh..." Midorikawa started. What was he going to say? That he got scared because of a noise? Kidou would think that he was stupid or something. But he needed a reason as to why he was there... "I was curious. I wanted to know if you slept with your goggles on. And uh... I can see that you don't." he smiled and pointed over at a desk. "Because they're, you know, over there..."

Kidou stared at him with a blank expression on his face. "Um. Okay then. Is that all you wanted?"

Midorikawa nodded. "Oh yeah. That's all. I also wondered about your cape." He picked up some red material off the floor. "But that's here. So... I'll just be... going, then." he started to slowly back away towards the door, and Kidou shook his head and covered himself back up.

"Whatever. Go to sleep now, okay?" he said. Midorikawa nodded and gave him a thumbs up.

"Sure, sure. That's where I'm going right now! You know, to uh... sleep." he hurried out the door and slammed it behind him. That didn't go exactly as he had hoped it would. But maybe he had bought some time for it to leave his room alone. Of course it sounded ridiculous, but fear was starting to get the best of him. Midorikawa carefully made his way back to his room and crawled back onto his bed. He wrapped his blanket around his shoulders and brought his knees to his chest. "Okay Ryuuji. Go to sleep. It's all fine..."

And it was all fine. The scratching noise had stopped, and Midorikawa was starting to calm down. He spread his blanket smoothly on his bed, and he was just getting ready to fall back asleep. His eyes were closed, he was comfortable... until he heard a creaking noise. Midorikawa shot up in bed – again – and faced his door. It was coming...

The door slowly opened, and a small figure entered. "Midorikawa-san..."

Midorikawa relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, Tachimukai. It's just you."

Tachimukai walked into his room. He had his blanket in one hand and his pillow in the other. "I uh... I heard strange noises... and I was getting scared. So I was wondering if I could... you know, sleep in here. On the floor, of course..."

"Oh, yeah, that's fine." Midorikawa said. He was actually really happy that he had come in. At least he wasn't alone anymore.

Tachimukai smiled and bowed. "Thank you, Midorikawa-san!" he got a little closer to his bed and set his things down. As stretched, he was about to settle in when Midorikawa reached down and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You know... I actually heard things too. And I... I'm scared too." he looked down at the floor, by the area where Tachimukai was sitting. "And under the bed is obviously where it would be hiding. So I don't suggest sleeping there."

What a great idea it was to say that.

Now, instead of having a friend sleeping on his floor, Midorikawa had a friend sleeping at the other end of his bed. His extremely tiny bed that he could barely fit in to.

"Is this... necessary?" Midorikawa asked.

Tachimukai sat up and nodded. "I'm sorry, Midorikawa-san, but... I don't want it to get me." he tried to lay back down, but he couldn't find any room for his head. So he propped his pillow up on Midorikawa's legs and settled in. "Oh... I hope you don't mind this."

Midorikawa just grumbled "good night" and tried to find a comfortable position for himself. Tachimukai sure looked small... but he did take up a lot of room. On the bright side, though, that if it did show up, Tachimukai would make some good bait. Midorikawa laughed to himself before getting kicked in the face.

"Oops... Sorry!"

-.-.-

The next morning, Midorikawa woke up to a pleasant surprise. Tachimukai wasn't in his bed anymore, so he had more room for himself. Wait...

Tachimukai was gone.

Midorikawa jumped out of bed and threw the blankets off the bed. He wasn't under there... He checked under the bed, in the closet, out the window... and Tachimukai was nowhere to be seen. Midorikawa started to panic.

"I was joking about that bait thing last night!" he said to no one in particular. He ran his hands through his hair. "Oh man... poor kid..."

Midorikawa slipped on his slippers and ran out into the hallway. Most people would be in the kitchen right about now, so he headed there. On his way there, Midorikawa prayed that Tachimukai was alright.

"Guys, I can't find-" Midorikawa called as he neared the kitchen. He ran inside and to his surprise, he saw Tachimukai sitting down with Hiroto, laughing and eating his breakfast. Midorikawa rubbed his eyes. How...

"Good morning, Midorikawa-san!" Tachimukai smiled. Midorikawa marched up to him with his arms crossed. A huge scowl was on his face, and Tachimukai seemed to shrink in his seat. "Um... is something wrong?"

"Why weren't you in my bed this morning?" Midorikawa demanded. He probably said it a bit louder than he needed too, for Tachimukai – and the rest of the members in the kitchen – stared at him in shock. The fact that he didn't get dressed that morning seemed to contribute, too, because he was standing there only in his boxers and slippers.

"Um... what?" Hiroto asked. Several other people glanced at each other, and some started whispering.

"Gosh, Tachimukai, what will Endou say?" Fudou laughed. Endou glared at him and Kidou smacked him in the back of his head.

"I mean... where were you? I thought it might have gotten you!" Midorikawa said.

Tachimukai sighed. "Oh yeah... Well, I usually wake up early, and I didn't want to disturb you, so I just headed down here by myself. I'm sorry if you thought something bad happened..."

"Eh, it's okay." Midorikawa said. He sat down next to Hiroto and grabbed a piece of toast off his tray. "I just got a little worried."

"What's this 'it' you're talking about, boxer-boy?" Hiroto asked.

Midorikawa rolled his eyes. "I heard a weird noise last night. So did Tachimukai, so he came over and stayed with me. And it was starting to sound really creepy, so I thought that maybe it – whatever it is- might have gotten him."

Hiroto nodded. "Okay... Well, you know, I heard noises last night, too. It sounded like scratching."

Endou, who happened to be sitting close to those three, nodded in agreement. "I heard stuff too. I thought it was a ghost."

"I thought it was rats." Hiroto said, and he shrugged. "Maybe mice."

"It sounded like a murderous creature to me," Midorikawa said.

"Maybe we should all find out what it is," Tachimukai suggested. "Then maybe we can get some peace of mind."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Endou said. "We should totally do that tonight."

"Yeah... let's get a bunch of us together, and we'll set up a trap in my room!" Midorikawa said. He liked the sound of it... catching it before it could catch them. Brilliant.

"Oh man... this is going to be so cool!" Endou said. He laughed and turned back to his breakfast.

Hiroto rolled his eyes. "You guys, you're all making a big deal out of nothing. And besides, how old are you again?"

Midorikawa waved a hand at him and stole some more toast. "You'll be thanking me later once we rid the place of the murderous beast." he took a bite and nodded. "Yep. All that's left to do is the plan... and the setup... and wait."

"Whatever you say. Just please put some pants on first." Hiroto said.

Midorikawa shook his head. "I'm not promising anything." he could hardly wait for that night... finally, the mystery behind it would be solved.

-.-.-

AN

Here's the start to a new little fic I had an idea for. It's probably not going to be very long, because it's mostly for silly final test related stress relief. XD Hm, I wonder what it is.

Reviews make me happy :D

Icee Suicune