The room was cast in a dim light. A wooden desk and chair tucked off into the corner, covered heavily in books, scrolls, various (mostly) neat stacks of paper, and a desk lamp which was currently off. Nearby was a plush chair and two floor to ceiling bookshelves stuffed full of books of various subjects – some related to bettering ones skills as a fighter, others to increase knowledge, and some just for the pleasure of reading. A dresser was on the opposite wall, covered in an assortment of perfumes, weapons, her village headband, and various boxes, with a mirror hanging off of the wall over top of it. Nearby this was a twin sized bed whose sheets and comforter (which was halfway on the floor, having been kicked there some time ago by the individual currently sleeping in the bed) matched the deep purple of the walls and the circular rug in the middle of the hardwood floor. It was a typical room for a teenage girl, really – at least one who cared more about fighting than whatever normal females cared about – and the only thing currently out of place was the body on the bed – not because she was sleeping, but because of the sheer look of terror on her slumbering face.


Back in the safety of her room Jayr darted upright in bed, her lips pealed apart just as they had been in her dreams and a loud piercing scream filling the air: at least, until she clamped her hands shut on her mouth to silence herself: realizing all too quickly that her dream had been just that. Her shoulders rose and fell rapidly as she breathed through her nose fast and hard, her heart pumping hard and strong and filling her ears with the same drumming sound that she had heard in her nightmare – a nightmare that a few short years ago had been a real and actual event.

’Oh dear gods, I need coffee...’ It was the first thought that crossed the young females mind each and every single morning, and this one was no different; though morning was certainly a ‘loose’ term considering it was nearing noon – and she had more than one reason now weighing heavily on her mind as to why she didn’t want to risk falling back to sleep. Of course, she hadn’t gone to bed until nearly three o’clock in the morning, so that was a thing – long and very late hours of sitting at her desk and studying until her forehead smacking into the book and missing the wooden surface of the desk by mere inches had been cause enough to have her climbing, most of the way at least, into bed.

”Ugh.”, a single word, or rather a noise really, would escape the blonde female as she fell backwards onto the bed – having sat up during her screaming - while blinking into the mild darkness and staring at her ceiling – a dim lamp nearby the only source of light. The lamp was next to her bed on a small table along with her alarm clock, and its purpose was served well: it provided enough light for her to see by while being dark enough to allow her to sleep in for the simple fact of the horrific nightmares that still sometimes plagued her – nightmares like tonight (today’s?).

It was just as she was bringing her hand up to rub at her face that the short haired female glanced over toward her door, wondering if anyone was going to break the thing down coming to check on her – though, it was actually unlocked: and it made her quite glad she was dressed in a simple black tank top and gym shorts. While these episodes from the nightmares certainly weren’t unheard of, it had definitely been a while since her last one. Still, at least she hadn’t woken up attacking anything in sight – she had done that on at least one or two occasions – thankfully objects, and not actual people. But it had still taken a while to talk her down, and back to a relatively calm state.

Word Count: 935

Sleep was a wonderful thing. It was a comfort that many people took for granted, often forgoing sleep in favor of staying up late to partying, drinking and doing illegal drugs just so they could escape their problems in life. It was not something that Shishi would choose for himself. He was not a fan of getting drunk or experiencing an altered mind state due to some illegal drug; he would much rather enjoy his life to the fullest that he could each day, and when night came, get the sleep that he felt he needed.

Too bad that at the moment, his mind and body were completely at odds with each other over the issue of sleep at the current time. While his body was physically exhausted, Jai's mind refused to wind down and allow him to drift off into the sweet embrace of slumber. As a result, the male was currently sitting in his room, staring intently at his computer and reading an article on a skill that the ninja of villages used to great effect for a variety of tasks; something called 'Genjutsu', or Illusionary Techniques. From what Jai could gather, these techniques are employed in the same fashion as ninjutsu, requiring chakra and hand seals. However, the primary difference between the two is that the effects of genjutsu are illusory; instead of attacking the victim's body, like taijutsu or ninjutsu, genjutsu techniques manipulated the flow of chakra in the victim's brain, thus causing a disruption in their senses. Apparently, this was frequently used to create false images or to cause pain from trauma (because the body is led to believe it is in pain); however, there were plenty of other uses for this skill, depending on the situation.

Pushing his chair back from his desk and rubbing his eyes, the male groan slightly as he stretched out his limbs, all the while he contemplated attempting to try and get some once again when the sound of a scream pierced through the air. Almost immediately, the young male was on his feet, adrenaline pumping into his body as his tired mind kicked itself into overdrive. He knew his parents were not home; they were off in Kumogakure no Sato, attempting to broker a deal that would see thier business expanding into the Land of Lightning. If there were not here, then the screaming had to be coming from his sister. In a flash, the male was on his feet and through his open doorway, bounding down the hallway to the sound of thunder coming from the floor. Though his sister's room was only three doors down, it would feel like a lifetime until he reached it, crashing into the wood with a resounding thud.

Fingers grasped at the knob, turning it roughly and almost pushing the poor thing off its hinges as the male forced his way into the room, a wild look in his grey eyes. Those same grey eyes would survey the scene, attempting to find something out of place that would cause his sister to scream like that; so far, he could spot nothing.

"Oi! Jayr!? You alright!?"

---

528 wc

Just as she had thought would happen her bedroom door was wrenched open by an all too familiar male figure with a look in his eyes that Jayr interpreted to mean he was willing to harm, or kill, anything that would be out of the ordinary in her bedroom. Of course what had caused her to scream in the first place was locked up tight inside of her head so there was little he could actually do, but the fact that she wasn’t alone in the house brought a type of comfort she hadn’t known she needed up until that point.

Sitting up in her bed she dropped her hands from her face – having seen her brother through her fingertips when he had come in – and just shook her head as her legs dangled over the edge of the bed: bare feet brushing against the plush carpet beneath them. She hated her nightmares, hated even more the fact that she normally woke up screaming from them which meant she tended to send her brother and anyone else in the house into panic mode. Those blood curdling screams of hers were a hard thing to ignore after all, and a hard thing to get out of your head once you had heard them. ”Ugh. Yeah, I’m alright. Sorry… I had another nightmare is all.” A simple explanation really, without delving into the details of her being chased after during one of her numerous escape attempts she had made from those who had held her captive and tortured her in any way imaginable. She tended to like to avoid the details if she could as it meant she could forget about the nightmare all that much faster: of course, it wasn’t always that easy. Just like now when the images and the feeling of her chest burning were all to present in her mind: let alone the massive dose of fear that came with it.

Deciding it was probably best to focus on something else she got up with a groan, and picked up her comforter which she tossed haphazardly on the bed for now – she’d make the thing sometime later, she always did, but for now she needed something other than the very place her nightmares had occurred to think about. ”Do you know if there’s coffee made… I don’t think I’m going back to sleep anytime soon.” Or rather, she didn’t want to even attempt it. Because of her nightmare she would likely go about her usual way of dealing with it, that is to say she would likely spend the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours without sleeping until she either took enough sleep medication to knock her into a dreamless slumber or sleep just ended up claiming her regardless of her own intentions over the situation. Either worked for her, provided she didn’t need to dream.

With a quick stretch that would have her standing on the tips of her toes, fingertips reaching toward the ceiling, she would head over to her bedroom door and out – regardless of her brother’s answer on if there was coffee or not she intended on getting or making some. As her stomach roared to life – she always had a healthy appetite – she made a mental note to add making some food onto her list of things. ”You hungry? I’ll make breakfast – or lunch, if that’s preferred instead.” Cooking was one of those random around-the-house type things that she was actually good at: she made food often and she made it well. It was also something she didn’t actually mind doing even though she had just woken up. It would provide enough of a distraction as well as she attempted to figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her day. She hadn’t planned on doing a lot of training, or filling it with more studying, but considering it was only about noon and she had the whole day ahead of her? Well, she might as well do something at least semi productive with the time that she had.

Word Count: 680 | 1,615