Dreamcatcher

"A dreamcatcher?" Irie Shouichi looked at the item in his hand then back at the person who just gave the item to him.

"Well, you've been having nightmares lately, so I thought it might help." Replied his sister nonchalantly, "I got it for you from America, hope you like it."

The redheaded boy just rolled his eyes. 'This is stupid.' He thought, but didn't say it out loud. It just didn't make any sense that his nightmares would just disappear after placing a dreamcatcher by his bed. It was superstitious, and Shouichi hated superstitions. "Uh…thanks sis." He thanked his sister for the gift though reluctantly. Faking a smile he said, "I'll be sure to cherish it."

The dreamcatcher was in place soon after; but it sure as hell didn't stop the recurring nightmares which Shouichi was having night after night. It was a chaotic dream of total destruction of cities…massacre…bloodshed. The poor boy usually ended up wide awake in the middle of the night with cold sweat drenching his pajamas.

There was a knock on his door. "Shou-chan, are you alright?" The worried voice of his mother reached Shouichi's ears.

"I'm fine, mum." Replied the redhead.

The door opened as Mrs. Irie helped herself in. "Having nightmares again?"

"Uh-huh…" The redhead nodded, "Guess the dreamcatcher is not working, huh?" He mustered a smile. His mother winced before hugging him and comforting him that everything will be alright. Mrs. Irie left the room soon after, leaving the boy alone.

He closed his eyes and the images of his nightmare appeared in his mind. It shook him to the core but…the thing that disturbed him the most was the face of a stranger, an achromatic-haired man with violet eyes. Shouichi remembered vividly the tattoo under the man's left eye. It was too much of a coincidence to be dreaming of the same stranger over and over again.

The nightmares continued…deteriorating Shouichi's mental health and it had worsened to the point that his parents had to send him to the psychiatrist. It was a futile effort. It came to a point where the redhead begun to hurt himself just as a means to escape the nightmares. He was sent to the asylum in the end, and they put him on medication; only then the nightmares lessened.

The poor boy was in constant daze all day long, as he stared out of his cell window. The dreamcatcher was still at his bed – his sister had insisted that he bring it with him. He did not know how long time had passed when the news of his family's fatal accident reached his ears.

It appeared that his parents and sister was killed in a fire that struck his apartment. The boy broke down upon hearing the news despite the medication to keep him 'stable'. The nightmares flashed before his eyes, fire…destruction…and the man with the purple tattoo. He struggled when the nurses held him down and sedated him.

His sleep was once again plagued with nightmares. The doctors were not able to do anything about it.

"Irie-kun." The fat nurse who was in charge of the faculty called out to him one day when he was staring off into space as usual. The tray of food which was left for him about an hour ago was left untouched as usual. The boy turned, his eyes empty as an equally empty smile graced his lips.

"Yes?"

"You have a visitor."

He was escorted to the visiting room, his limbs were bound – a precaution just in case he went berserk and they were right to have him bound because when he set his eyes on his visitor – he screamed.

He struggled against his confines but to no avail. "You!" He screamed at the man who merely smiled at him.

"Hello, Shou-chan."

The pain in his head felt so painful that it was unbearable. His stomach felt sick and he puked out bile and some liquids. "Go away!" He coughed as he shut his eyes, the image of the massacre flashed before his eyes and he shivered.

"Ara…Shou-chan. Do you not want to see me?"

Shouichi bit against his own lips as tears rolled down his cheeks as the nightmares continued flashing before his eyes. He repeatedly yelled for the stranger to leave but the man merely stood there. The nurses who escorted him there tried to hold him down as he struggled.

"It's alright~" Said the visitor. "Shou-chan is not an animal. No need to treat him as one." He smiled and turned to one of the nurses, "Ne, care to leave us alone?".

"But sir…"

"I said, leave us alone." His eyes were not smiling.

It frightened the nurses as they nodded meekly and scrambled out of the room. Shouichi had stopped struggling as his mind totally blanked out – a safety mechanism to shut himself out when things get too bad.

"Mou, Shou-chan. Stop ignoring me!" The stranger said with a sing-song tone. He chuckled, "Have you forgotten me?" A hand caressed the boy's face and he was made to stare into purple orbs. But Shouichi was not able to see anything anymore; his eyes were nothing more than empty orbs.

"The name's Byakuran." The stranger announced his name in a singsong tune and he continued talking even though the other party was not listening. "…it breaks my heart to see how they treat my Shou-chan." A chaste kiss was placed on the boy's lips but he was not able to feel it. "But it's alright now. Everything will be fine now. We will be together, soon…" Byakuran let out the brightest smile, "So, just wait for me~" He chirped, "After all, we are fated to be together, in this world and all the parallel worlds…"

The visitation session was over and Shouichi was escorted back to his cell. His brain had conveniently deleted every memory of Byakuran's visit but the words – 'Parallel world' were caught in his mind. That night, Shouichi's nightmare became more vivid – it started to make sense…the words 'parallel world' seemed to have triggered something.

The boy woke up the next morning and muttered an "Of course…parallel worlds." The lines made sense only to the boy as he nodded to himself as if he realized something. He turned towards the dreamcatcher at his bed and suddenly the web-like shaped caught his attention.

"It connects…" He said particularly to no one and for the first time in years, he smiled. He finally figured out what his nightmares were about – they were visions from parallel worlds and the man was connected to all of it.

"Bya…ku…ran…" He mumbled as he traced the kanji of the name on his palm.

True to his words – Byakuran returned days later. Shouichi was more composed this time; though they still bound his limbs. His mind was filled with questions and he knew the man had the answers.

"Maa…Shou-chan looks better today." Byakuran chirped as he caressed the boy's head.

"…parallel worlds…" Shouichi muttered as he lowered his gaze.

"Eh?"

"I said 'parallel worlds'! Did it mean something?!" The boy snapped, green eyes bored into purple ones.

It caught Byakuran off guard as his eyes widened. A few moments later, his lips curled into a smile. "It seems you are lively today."

"Tell me!"

"Mou, Shou-chan is so impatient as always."

This annoyed the boy as he tried again, this time he yelled even louder. "Tell me what you know!" Anxiety was building inside of him, he had to know, he had to know, he had to know, he had to know if his theory was correct – that his nightmares were actually connected to the parallel worlds. He was an explorer at heart – a scientist – someone who would chase down answers relentlessly and vied for hard proof – that was the person Shouichi was. Given if he wasn't locked up in the asylum – he would have become someone brilliant.

"Tsk. Tsk." Byakuran shook his head. Deep inside, he was pleased, very much so that his Shou-chan had finally regained his…sanity? Oh, no. No one is truly sane to begin with. Byakuran knew that very well; even he was not…sane in the cultural context. If he wasn't all-so-powerful that the world fear yet respected him, then he might end up in the asylum too.

His thirst for power and bloodshed was not…normal but he somehow managed to wiggle through the tiny holes in the judiciary system and ended up the CEO of a multinational company which deal with everything from food to weapons. He was what you would call the one at the top of the capitalist pyramid; and in this world run by capitalism – you could say that he was the ruler of it.

"I'll tell you, when the time is right." He forced a kiss on the boy in which the boy struggled as a deep blush taint the innocent boy's cheeks. They pulled away and Shouichi lowered his gaze refusing to look at the man.

"We'll be together soon, Shou-chan~" He assured the boy. "Once I get this meddlesome paperwork done." He patted the boy's head. "Ne, so be a good boy and wait for me~"

The man then exited the room and soon came back with the doctor and two nurses. The boy blinked as he watched the man converse with the doctor about his release and some other stuff in which the boy did not understand.

Hours later, the boy finally got to see the sky outside of the asylum. His mind was not able to comprehend the situation at hand as he stared dumbfounded at his own two feet and hands.

"Watcha staring at~?" The singsong tone reached the boy's ears. The boy turned his attention towards the source. Byakuran stood smiling, the color his tattoo seemed more beautiful underneath the sun. Shouichi did not say anything even when his hand was held and he was guided into the car by the achromatic man.

"Now, I'm going to tell you everything."

Shouichi's ears picked up that little piece of information as he stared wide-eyed at the man next to him. The man stared back, he winced and said something totally irrelevant, "Mou, I think Shou-chan is more suited with glasses on."

"Please refrain from going off-topic." The boy blurted out all-too-seriously. He was surprised after sprouting those lines. What was with this familiarity? He quickly shifted his gaze. Byakuran chuckled.

"Now, now. Where was I? Oh yes, we've met before…you and I in another world. In fact…in all the parallel worlds…"

Shouichi listened eagerly, nodding at times when Byakuran described their encounters and of the knowledge Byakuran had gained to conquer the worlds. Shouichi winced when hearing about the massacres going on about in order for Byakuran to create his 'perfect world'. It made the boy sick to his stomach but he did not voice it out.

Then Byakuran came to the part about their relationship. "You like to call me your 'best friend'." He sighed, one brow raised as he continued, "even though we had done…" He got close to the boy all of a sudden and whispered something into the boy's ears which totally made the boy blushed till his ears turned red.

The achromatic man chuckled at the boy's reaction. "So, I would like to call us lovers… even though the you out there may deny the fact." He tilted the boy's chins so that their eyes meet, "You are mine. Remember that."

A/N: Uh...so um this is one of the many one-shots that I might be updating soon. Hope you enjoyed it. Gaah! I need a BETA reader!