"Naomi?" He asked quietly, his pulse quickening as a natural reaction.

"Hmm?" It was definitely her voice, sounding tired. Was she sleep walking?

"Uh…why did you just get in my bed?" He expected to get an embarrassed reaction from her, that she didn't know what she'd just done and quickly jump back up. Instead he just got…silence. After a full minute of it, he rolled over under the blanket, putting a little distance between them.

Even in the darkness, it wasn't hard to see Naomi. She was lying on the covers on her side, head supported by her left arm. Her face was only inches from Satoshi's, making him blush a little deeper. Her eyes were closed, her chest gently rising and falling. Despite the cold, she seemed to be contently asleep.

She looked so beautiful and peaceful too… Satoshi really didn't want to disturb her. But at the same time, he had too. Their parents would throw a fit at this, he just knew. Besides, Naomi might get a cold sleeping like that.

"Naomi?" He whispered, sitting up and slipping an arm out from under the covers to lightly shake her shoulder. "Naomi." She must've been a light sleeper, because that light movement was enough to make her eyes open.

"Hmm?" Her response was the same as the first time, staring up at him a little unfocused.

"What are you doing?" He asked again.

"Trying to sleep." She answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and her eyes slid closed again.

"Uhh…"

"Shut up." Naomi reached up to grab the front of his pajama shirt and pull him back down before scooting closer, resting her head on his pillow. Satoshi laid there stiffly for a moment in shock, his heart beating so loud in his chest that he wouldn't be surprised in Naomi could hear it. Naomi, who was lying right beside him, arm draped over him, hair and breath brushing again the side of the neck, her whole body pressed against him tightly enough that even through the covers he could feel her curves. "Idiot." She added.

"N-Naomi!" If he was surprised before, he was bewildered now, not to mention extremely flustered. It was the closest they'd ever been. Or the closest they'd ever been under normal circumstances, anyway. "What are you doing?!" Bewilderment and being flustered led to panic in the boy's mind, and that led to a bit of flailing movement as he tried to get up. Almost immediately the arm Naomi had draped over him tried to keep him down.

"Stop!" Satoshi froze, not only from the panic in Naomi's voice but the volume she'd shouted. Had anyone heard? Since he didn't hear any noise from Yuka's room, he guessed not; his sister was a light sleeper. "Just…let me have this." Her voice was more composed and hinted with a bit of embarrassment.

"Have what?" Satoshi asked, embarrassment swept from his mind and seriously looking at her now. There'd been clear distress in her voice then, which could only mean it was somehow connected to 'that place'. And there were no limits when it came to helping her get past that. "What do you want?"

"Just…" For her brashness earlier, she was clearly embarrassed now, a blush visible in darkness. Even if she had a reason, she was genuinely ashamed of the way she acted since what happened. "When you all slept over at my house on my birthday…That was the first time I've had a good night's sleep since we came back."

"…Nightmares, huh?" Satoshi realized. He did sometimes feel guilt for the fact he'd gotten off easier than some of his friends. Sure, he'd had some night terrors, but now they were only an occasional occurrence. Yuka still got them at least thrice a week, and Naomi…he couldn't imagine how bad it was for her.

"Mhmm." She admitted. "No matter how much better things are getting," She reached out and grabbed Satoshi's hand that had come out from under the blanket during his brief flailing. "It's still hard during the night…except for that one time."

"I guess that's why you suggested this sleepover…" It suddenly made complete sense.

"Yeah." She confirmed. "You said you'd be there if I needed you."

"I-I did." Satoshi admitted, although a situation like this had been far from his mind when he said it. "But uh…did you have to climb in my bed for that?" The situation cleared, he was coming back around to that fact. If it helped her, of course he'd agree to a sleepover.

But this… Well, they really had only been together for just over a week. Should they doing stuff like this so early? Obviously they weren't going to do anything they shouldn't and it was completely for a good reason, but that doubt persisted in his mind.

"…No." She admitted. "But I want to."

"Oh." That was the only response Satoshi could come up with. He never would've expected something like this from her. "Well…Uh…." He was aware Naomi was watching him. What did he say now? "Ah…Umm…"

Well, so long as sleep was ALL she wanted to do… What was the harm? Actually, it for the better anyway. Their parents might fret…but they'd given them a pretty loose leash so far. Taking advantage of it once wouldn't be the end of the world. Besides, and Satoshi felt kind of ashamed to admit it, the idea did sound pleasant.

"O…kay." Just saying it made his face flush with heat. "But..uh…you might…be warmer under t-the covers." If he'd looked in a mirror, he wouldn't be able to comprehend how red saying that had made his face.

Naomi smiled in the darkness and squeezed his hand. "Thanks..." Then, unexpectedly, she leaned forward and kissed him. Just a small peck on the lips before pulling back and getting up. Satoshi recovered after a moment and held up the covers so she could slide in next to him.

Without the cover between them, Naomi slid as close in as close as possible. Satoshi scooted a little close to the wall to give her a little extra space. She more or less went right back to where she'd been before: pressed against him with her head resting on the pillow and her right arm laid across him. The lack of a cover let their feet become entwined at the end of the bed. It also probably accounted for the sudden increase in temperature in Satoshi's face. Naomi was beautiful, after all.

Naomi noticed and actually smirked when Satoshi consciously moved his waist back, something he didn't fail to notice from how close their faces were now. The fact she knew threatened to make his mind shut down. But she didn't comment on it, instead just closing her eyes and sighing in contentment.

"This is so nice."

"Yeah…but you know you can just ask next time." Satoshi commented, trying to regain some of his dignity.

"Hmm." She laughed a little. "I know. I just wanted to see how much of an idiot you'd act like." Satoshi just groaned in response, which got another little laugh. A couple of moments of pleasant silent warmth passed by and Satoshi felt like he would start drifting off before Naomi started speaking again.

"Seiko and me had our first sleepover the night before the Festival." She informed him. "We'd planned it for weeks."

"You two did?" Satoshi asked, opening his eyes to watch her.

"Yeah…" Naomi sighed remorsefully, opening her eyes but seemingly staring beyond Satoshi. "That was the last night we ever spent together. We laid in bed together…talked about how we'd always be friends and there for each other…"

"…" Satoshi didn't know what to say to that, so he just reached around and after a moment of hesitation gently rubbed her back.

"I guess another reason I wanted to do this was remind me how it felt spending time with someone I cared about. Everything that happened recently is blurred together, but I don't want to ever forget those memories."

"Hmm." Satoshi acknowledged.

"Do you think I'm wrong for that?" Her eyes came back into focus to lock onto his. "For doing this to remind me of Seiko?"

"No." Satoshi took his hand off her back so he could use it to brush her cheek. "It doesn't matter how we remember them as long as we never forget. "I bet Shinohara wouldn't mind this."

"If she knew about this, she'd never let me live it down." Though her lips were curved upwards at the remark, there was still sadness in her eyes. "But she'd be happy for me…that's what matters."

"Yeah." Satoshi agreed. Naomi closed her eyes for a few moments while Satoshi continued brushing her cheek, taking comfort in the gesture for a few moments before clearing something up.

"You're not a replacement. You know that, right? I fell for you first. I did this because I wanted to spend more time with you too."

"I know." Satoshi assured her. The thought had never crossed his mind. Naomi had admitted she'd probably had feelings for Seiko, and Satoshi didn't mind that. Shinohara had been a nice and important person to Naomi. And there were just ways the two were connected that could never be replaced.

But she liked him too for her own reasons. And even if Satoshi couldn't replace Shinohara, he'd do everything he could for Naomi. He cared for her enough to do that. She deserved that much. "You want to remember better times. I understand completely."

Naomi smiled at him and opened her eyes again so she could lean forward to give him another quick peck on the lips. "I'm so glad that I didn't lose you in that place. I don't know what I would've done."

"Me too." After realizing he loved her, knowing she was distant from them was painful enough. Satoshi had no idea how he would've coped if he only realized it after she was gone. But she wasn't. "We got to hold on to what we do have left."

"And we're not going to lose anyone else, right?" She asked him seriously, referring to the dangers ahead. "You're going to make sure we don't lose anyone again?" He smiled and brushed her cheek again.

"I promise. We not losing anyone else, especially our friends. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure of that." The beautiful smile she made when he said that was contagious, and for a moment to two just lay there under the blankets, smiling at each other and enjoying the warmth, comfort, security, and understanding.

A few moments later the two were snuggled closer together under the cover, arms wrapped around each other and foreheads resting against each other. "And you know what else?" Satoshi murmured as the warmth did its best to drag them into sleep. "I'll do whatever makes you happy too."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

XX A/N XX

Well, this is as risqué as I've ever gotten. But let's not insult the game by pretending it's family friendly. I think though I'll save all the heavy ammo for the actual sequel, which should come after my other fic 'A Different Tale' finishes. This was just a bit of disconnected fluff. It'll happen people, of that I swear.

…Expect another two shot between this and that, though. It'll be something…different, comparative to most of the rest of the category.