LOG, Tomoka, Jiroh

[singing-sparkle.livejournal.com]

Date: Between the Tomo/Taka mindfuck and Tomo's posterior talk with Yamato.
Rating: PG-13 for some violence.
Summary: Tomoka falls asleep in the rec room, drained after her last talk with Taka. But she's not alone. Sort of. Cue to sap, some violence, light angst, weirdness, idol singer auditions, beaches, and pirates with someone else's face!



Hmmm... It was fuzzy. Everything about the last minutes was fuzzy. Tomoka could remember Taka-kun's fingers practically clawig on her shoulder until he almost made her scream in pain, then her whole body glowed as she sang to calm him down, and later he was acting odd... or not?

And she had slapped him because of the fear it inspired in her. Old habits never die; she used to slap or yell at her male friends when they went stupid.

So, she had sat down on the couch of the rec room, hoping it'd help her to calm down. But just minutes after that...

"Oh, gosh, I'm so excited!"

"Yukie Nakama herself will be here in some minutes! She'll be choosing the kids who'll play her siblings in the movie!".

"Yay! I wonder if my audition will be good enough!".

"You're kidding! Mine will be better!".

... Just some minutes after that, she was here, in a pink and purple gown, a mike in her hand, and rodeated by lots of boys and girls around her same age. All in cute outfits and chatting about how they wanted to be in the next Yukie Nakama movie.

"Tomoka, this is a dream", the girl murmured, grabbing the mike tighter. "You can't go into these things anymore. You lost your dream already...".

Her hand shook a little. "You can't get it back until you have complete control of your powers. Not until...".

She then heard a voice. "Oi... Tomoka-chan? You're Tomoka-chan?"

Jiroh looked around carefully, taking in the new dreamwaves. This girl's patterns were very light and different from what he was used to. Already he could tell this kind of dream was something she wanted to have in reality. Sometimes he wished that too, but only 'cause he really really wanted to be a pirate.
He'd entered her dream only because he'd spotted her on the couch in the rec room.

He'd made his way over to her and flopped down beside the girl, snuggling up into his hooded sweatshirt. Napping was more fun when you could snuggle near other people! He'd entered his sleeping state in a snap--practice, he knew. Just as quickly he'd been aware of himself floating up and out of his body, and had zipped right into her mind. Now that he was inside, Jiroh wondered what kind of adventures would come...

He spotted her, ahead of him, in a bright outfit. There were other kids her ages wandering aorund, chatting with one another. He tapped her on the shoulder. Yay Tomoka! ...Unless it wasn't her?

The voices around her sounded light and happy, just like hers used to be. But this boy's... when he talked, it was different. And it sounded familiar.

She wiped away two or three tears that had come to her eyes when she remembered her cherished old dream, and turned to face him. Blond hair, a kinda cute face, gleaming eyes... Wasn't he...?

"Jiroh-kun?", she gasped. "You... how come you're here?"

Had it taken her so few to fall asleep? Oh, dear. She then smiled at Jiroh, realizing that he had asked first. "Yeah, it's me. Seems I fell asleep... And how could you come inside of my dreams?".

He giggled and bounced up and down, glad that it really was her. "I can go into poeple's dreams, 'cause I'm special like you! Yay, Tomoka-chan, you look so pretty in your dress! How come you're all shiny? Am I supposed to wear a dress too?" He looked around, but found he was still wearing his regular clothing. He concentrated, knitting his eyebrows together, and suddenly he was wearing a dress--

One that looked exactly like Tomoka's.

.."Yay! I did it! So what's our adventure?"

Jiroh-kun. Jiroh-kun in a dress. Jiroh-kun in a dress that looked exactly like hers. She blushed, and were this an anime series, she would've sweatdropped.

"Jiroh-kun, you look cute, but you should wear something like this...".

She pointed out to a boy in a blue tuxedo standing next to them.

"Ah, and that's your power, Jiroh-kun? How... special, ne".

Tomoka smiled at him, suddenly remembered it was her dream, so she could do as she pleased to. She giggled and wished he was wearing a suit like that boy's... and so it happened.

"You look cuter this way", the girl said. And some girls who were around agreed with her, looking at Jiroh with dreamy eyes.

He looked at the boy for a second, and then looked down at himself. "...Hee, I guess boys aren't supposed to wear dresses. But Don't you think I look pretty, Tomoka-chan?"

He laughed again and concentrated once more, willing himself to change again. He opened one eye tentatively and noticed Tomoka's clothes had changed, too.

"Hey! TOMOKA'CHAN!" He launched himself on her and knocked her to the ground. "you did it! Yay!"

He was pleased. Not many people figured out that their dreams were their own--that they could do hwat they liked inside them. Jiroh was happy that Tomoka's lucid dream was such a success...but he couldn't hlep feling awkward with the way those girls were looking at him. Why were they batting their eyelashes?

Tomoka managed to pull herself and Jiroh to a sitting position, blushing when the girls started laughing and cooing about them looking so cute together. She guessed why he was so shocked, and laughed.

"They think you look good, Jiroh-kun", she giggled. "Girls at times look at guys like that".

The girls around giggled louder. The boys were laughing their asses off.

"Wahahaha! such a couple they are!"

"But he's so cute! I wish he was *my* audition partner!"

"You kidding? The girl's cuter!"

* heartshape eyes* "Yay!"

Jiroh was starting to get visibly nervous, so she stood up and offered her hand to him.

"Okay, Jiroh-kun. Let's go outside and talk a little, ne?".

Everything else faded away. Giggling, boys, girls, lights...

They were on a beach, still dressed with their audition clothes. Tomoka produced several sparklies that enveloped them like a spell, and she was in a blue swimsuit and he was waring board shots and a loose shirt.

"Now we'll be able to talk calmly. Tell me, who are you exactly, Jiroh-kun?".

Jiroh looked around and wondered if any pirates were going to show up. They usually did that on beaches and stuff. Mostly to recover hidden treasures and things like that. Jiroh was starting to dislike this dream...not just because he hadn't been able to do anything remotely action-packed, but because, for some reason, the kids had been laughing at him back there...wherever it was.

He also didn't like that Tomoka's dream was all shiny and bubbly and magical--sure, he loooved shiny things, but tomoka was far too sparkly for his liking. He frowned and felt himself go red, feeling frsutrated. "I'm Jiroh," He said huffily. "duh~!"

Oh, damn. She had forgotten that this was Jiroh-kun. He had the mind of a little child, after all, from what she could see. And he seemed to like more adventures than magical things. But this was her dream... right? If she could take them both out of that audition and bring them to the calm beach... hmmm... maybe...

It started raining around them. They could also hear voices... adult voices. From evil adults.

"Those pesky kids!", someone in the background yelled. "They may discover the secret treasure before we do! To Hell with them!".

She gasped. "Jiroh-kun! What...?"

Tomoka grabbed Jiroh by the hand and pulled him out of the beach - towards a sort of cave nearby. She was giving Jiroh what he wanted in the dream, but she wasn't sure if *she* wanted it too. She didn't want to play the Damsel in Distress role or anything...

Jiroh could hardly ocntained his excitement. Yes! Finally! Action! Adventure! Booty!!

"Tomoka-chan, we gotta find it before they do. Otherwise they'll get away with it! And they might try to EAT US!" He said, jumping up and down.

He was startled to find they'd changed once again with the dream, into swashbuckling outfits that made the pair look like they'd been left at sea for a while.

"But I don't want tem to kill us or eat us, Jiroh-kun!", she said in a whiny tone, and some sparklies bounced around. She blinked, and they disappeared.

She thought of it a little more. "Uhm... but I am curious to know about their treasures and adventures...".

The girl saw a big table covered with a big cloth, placed in a corner of the cave, and they hid under it. Soon, the kids could hear voices again...

Jiroh took a moment to get his bearings. Chased down by pirates? What had happened to the singing compettion? He grinned happily. He loves it when dreams made no sense. It just served to make them more interesting!

He glanced around the cave from underneath the tablecloth. It was filled to the brim with old-looking furtniture and boxes, with crates overflowing with was was unmistakable as treasure. He nearly jumped up and cheered, but caught Tomoka's wary look. The scary men were inside the cave now, and they were angry.

"We don't know what they'll do with us, Jiroh-kun", she murmured, her hand grabbing Jiroh's. "Hush... be silent".

The men entered the room. They looked surprisingly young for supposedly evil pirates, too. Neither Tomoka nor Jiroh could see their faces clearly, since they were prancing around and looking for any signs of outsiders, so the kids were stuck. They couldn't run away, nor could they change their hiding place.

"There's sand here", one of them claimed (why did his voice sound familiar?). "They came in, I can't be wrong!"

"judging from their footprints, they must be those pesky kids we saw", another replied (fuck, his voice also sounded familiar).

"Who cares?!", the third guy (whose voice also sounded similar to the others') cut them off. "We do NOT want them to steal the treasure. Two children can't outsmart us, brothers!"

Jiro felt the pressure on his hand slightly tightening. Tomoka was obviously very scared, but she was trying to find a way to get the hell out of there unnoticed.

He knew he should be panicking, but Jiroh was far too busy grinning. Pirates and treasure and danger! So much better than anything he'd been involved in recently. Jiroh yanked his hand away, alarmed, as one of the men's boots passed dangerously close to where they were hiding.

"...is anything missing?" One of them said. Jiroh turned his head to the side. He sounded very familiar..

"Just the brats," Another replied, sounding the same. Jiroh looked at Tomoka, who also lookedl iek she was thinking the same thing. He made wild gestures to her, trying to tell her he was going to run for it. But he didn't need to; the pirates were leaving the cave.

"Let's just keep looking for more of the loot. They'll show up." The other two agreed, and their footsteps echoed out of the cave loudly.

Jiroh inhaled deeply, and pulled Tomoka out from under the table with him. The rolled to their feet, ready to make a run for it, but were frozen immediately by the sight of someone barely feet away.

"Thought you could get away?"

"...Takashi-sempai?" Jiroh couldn't believe it.

Tomoka felt the blood freezing in her veins, even despite this whole deal being a dream. Wait, weren't they supposed to be okay after the music room deal? Why did *he* emerge as a villain here?

Her eyes very open, she took a defensive stance by instinct, and took a step forward to stand between the pirate and her companion.

"You...", she murmured. "What are you doing here?".

"Wait... do you know me, Missy?", the man asked her mockingly. He approached to the girl. "Do you think you know me?".

The pirate extended his hand, and his blood-covered fingers lightly touched the young girl's cheek. "You think wrong, milady. You really do".

Tomoka felt Jiroh's body pressed lightly against hers, and his fingers touching her shoulder. She had to think of something quick, but her confusion was draining any ideas out of her that weren't related to beating the man to a pulp.

With a cruel smile, the man's hand cupped her cheek. "Such a pretty face, too bad I'll have to scar it if you don't think quickly".

Tomoka blushed out of embarrasment and humiliation. Who the hell was this bastard, and why did her subconscious refuse to change his face -- even when she wished it with all of her strength? She didn't want to see the man she loved saying such cruel things, even in her dreams. She would've so fought back, but there was Jiroh-kun, and she didn't want to hurt him since his powers were dream-based and she didn't knwo how it'd affect him if he got injured...

Jiroh stared in amazement. He'd seen poeple from the dreamer's life pop up before, but wasn't Takashi-sempai gonig out with Tomoka-chan? how come she dreamed of him as a bad guy? Jiroh frowned. Tomoka-chan was weird.

And not only that. Jiroh realized that Tomoka knew she was dreaming--he hadn't registered this before, but he did now. THat was rare. It hadn't worked this way with Ryoma.

Jiroh glared at Takashi-sempai-pirate-guy when he touched Tomoka. Bravely, he drew out his wooden sword (where'd that come from?) and pushed tomoka away. With a long thrust he managed to poke Takashi-piarate-guy in the stomach effectively, causing him to hunch over in pain.

"No touchy~!" He yelled, and looked at Tomoka-chan, expecting to see her smile. She shook all over, her face pale.

She could barely feel Jiroh turning to her to ask if she was okay. Oh, no, Jiroh, NO! The pirate's taking the chance!

The pirate was back on his feet unexpectedly quickly, and whipped out his own sword.

"I would've thought of giving you and your little boyfriend a chance, milady, but you blew it!"

Tomoka managed to push Jiroh out of the way, barely evading the man's attacks while trying to shield jiroh from them. She wished that pirate asshole was away from her. She could carely stand the sight of him stealing the face of her boyfriend. Why on Earth, she briefly wondered again, she couldn't change the dream?

He raised his sword for a final attack, that would kill Tomoka and maybe seriously injure Jiroh if this was the Real World. She raised her hand to attack him with a flash light closed her eyes... and suddenly felt everything disappear and fade...

Tomoka opened her eyes, and both she and Jiroh were back to the beach.

Jiroh glanced around wildly. Where'd his sword go? where'd the pirates go?

"tomoka-chan! You changed it again." He said, pouting. Well, that wasn't any fun. "How come Takashi-sempai tried to get you? You always say he's so nice. Unless--"

He stopped, and blushed. He couldn't say it...could he? Was it really something important, what he'd seen in Takashi-sempai's dreams? Maybe he was overreacting.

It *could* have just been a dream. Didn't have to mean anything... Jiroh blushed and tried to change the subject, but Tomoka was giving him the evil eye.

Tomoka calmed down. At least in the beach there weren't any pirates with the face of her boyfriend, and Jiroh seemed to be okay. Unless...

She remembered now. Jiroh had been meaning to say something very important to her, or not? Maybe this was the moment, since whenever he was awake Jiroh seemed to be afraid of telling her.

Her expression softened. "Jiroh-kun... I don't exactly know why he sorta came up here as an evil pirate. But... maybe you *do* know something? Is Taka-kun okay?".

She touched Jiroh's face with her still-shaking hand, and was surprised when the blush on his cheeks deepened. With her gentlest voice (the same one her mother and aunt said she used when she spoke to the twins), she continued. "If it's really importnat, Jiroh-kun, you shoudl try telling me..."

Jiroh gasped. Ohhh, he had a very big mouth...too big for his own good. "Nuh-uh, can't. Not important anyway~! Hee, you're so silly tomoka-chan. Besides you're DREAMING, remember? Won't remember this when you wake up."

He paused, hoping his cue would make her wake up. It had woken up ryoma from.....from that other dream. But Tomoka was still standing there. She was talking nicely, too, so Jiroh knew she wasn't angry. But he still felt awkward. He didn't REALLY want to say anything.

"I see...", she murmured. "However, can *you* remember this, even if you're awake? Because...".

For some seconds, Tomoka felt that even in her dreams, she kinda wanted to cry. But she held back the (dream-like) tears; even if this was a dream, she did NOT want or need to be a Drama Queen. And anwyay, she couldn't do anything in a dream; she'd rather do it in Real Life, where the effects would be tangible and definitive.

"Jiroh-kun", she giggled, and some sparklies bounced around them, "if you catch me when we're awake, THEN you'll tell me, huh?".

She held out her pinky finger at him. "Pinky promise, Jiroh-kun?"

Jiroh stared at her hand. Of course he'd remember it when he left here--he always remembered everything he did in dream travels. Jiroh eyeballed the sparkles that Tomoka had emitted, wondering why she always did that, and why didn't he have sparklies?

"O..okay Tomoka-chan," he said, and grabbed her pinky. His face broke out into an infectious grin. "Yay pinkies!"

Something zipped across his brain.

Vaguely, Jiroh felt the dream start to disconnect. It seemed Tomoka was getting ready to wake up.

Ouch, ouch. Her eyes were pretty much burning with pain behind her eyelids. And her neck was cramping. No, she was NOT in her bed...

Hazel eyes blinked against the light, as Tomoka started to come back to the Real World. She rubbed her eyes sleepily, trying to remember where she was. Ah, the rec room. But why wasn't Taka-kun with her? He was until some minutes ago.

Realizing that he wasn't there and that she had fallen asleep in the rec room's large couch, the girl tried to get up, but something was pressed against her lap. Something heavy... and with blonde hair?

She looked down and saw Jiroh. Jiroh, sleeping in the same large couch, and with his head comfprtably placed on her lap.

Tomoka couldn't get for the life of hers why was he there. Then, her fuzzy mind brought her some vague images of both of them in auditions, in a cave, on a beach, fighting pirates. But all of them were confusing. The girl remembered that Jiroh had told her through journals that he could fall asleep somewhere and wake up at another place, so it most likely was a part of his powers...

Something told her, though, that this wasn't the only thing he had been doing for her.

Tomoka carefully got up from the couch, slowly allowing Jiroh to lean on the cushions. She then saw some more cushions an a bed pillow lying on the floor, and she used them to make Jiroh as comfortable as she could.

Finally, she covered him with a mantle, and giggled as she saw him shift and move in his slumber.

"I don't exactly know what you did for me, Jiroh-kun...", and she caressed his hair, "but thanks anyway".

Jiroh was back to reality and on the ceiling, having exited Tomoka's dreamscape fairly quickly. He hovered above her, close to the ceiling. Somehow his body had fallen over and was now snuggled into her lap. He frowned at this. He kinda thought it looked comfortable..

Tomoka woke up and looked down at him. He watched intently, staying silent. She had no idea he was staring at her from the ceiling.

Jiroh felt all gooshy inside as Tomoka covered his body with a blanket and left. He wished Tomoka was his real sister, ad not the one he had now. SHe was okay and all, but icky. Tomoka wasn't nearly so icky. He sighed and tried to decided whether to go back to his body and wake up or to keep on adventuring... though in the end his adventurous streak won him over and he disappeared through the ceiling, figuring he'd go and bug Niou-san again.

PD: We need a Jiroh tag. Pleeeez?