~Anna's POV~

With a loud gasp, my body jolted upright from the bed. My breathing heavy, my body covered in sweat, my heart pounding and my thoughts racing around the incomparably terrifying nightmare.

W-why? H-how-

I swung my head to the right, looking at the time piece resting on the night stand. It read 1:46 AM.

There's no way I can sleep now. Especially alone. Maybe I should go to Itachi- no no! I'm better off staying up. Not right to disturb him this late.

I made up my mind and picked my pillow and sheet and making my way to the living room. As I passed through the hallway, I noticed the lights in Itachi's room were still on.

Maybe I should- should not! But I won't be able to sleep otherwise.

I sighed and raised my hand to knock on the door but it opened itself before I could even lift a finger.

" Aaah!!" Itachi started in a low voice, moving back some steps but sighed in relief when he saw it was me.

" D-do I look tha-t scary?" I asked in a small voice. My hair must be out of place.

" No. Its just that I didn't expect you this late-"

" Speaking of late, why are you still up?" I couldn't bring myself to inch up my voice or my head. I still stared at my feet.

"Mei just went to sleep. Did you need something?"

" Can I.......sleep..with.....you.....?" Somehow getting the words out was difficult than I thought.

" Uh...." This time I raised my head so he could see my face, all scared.

" Please. I will sleep on the floor-"

" No. You can take the bed."

" But you're sick so you should-"

" Its fine-"

" Its big enough for the both of us." I suggested peeking over his shoulder.

" Um.....uh....."

" Hmm?"

" Nothing. You go sleep, I will go and change." Sure enough he was still in his day clothes.

I nodded and with small steps, made my way in Itachi's room. The moment I stepped in, my mind was overwhelmed by his scent. It was soothing my mind.

I took the right side of the bed and laid in the corner to give Itachi more and more room. Spreading the sheets over me, I rested my head on the pillow, all the time red in the face.

~Itachi's POV~

I looked at myself in the mirror, and sighed. It wasn't like I did not want to sleep with her. But sometimes it was hard to control myself around her and being so close for the whole night....

I sighed again but then something clicked in my mind that might be the cause of Anna's strangeness.

Her face.....her eyes...... Its happening again.

I cussed quietly then decided to go back in the room. Stepping one foot in my room, I noticed Anna was sleeping at very corner of the right side of the bed and if she moved a little she would fall.

Not knowing that she was still awake, I made my way towards my bed and laid down as quietly as possible. A smile traced its way across my lips.

Who knew that the feared Charger was a little shy too.

I scooted a little closer to Anna, wrapping an arm around her waist protectively so she won't fall off the bed while sleeping.

What did I ever do to deserve her?

Once I closed my eyes, they flew open because of the movement beside me. It felt like an instant, but it was hours. I propped on one elbow and observed the scene.

" I....kill........no.....d-die...." Anna kept talking in her sleep in a frightened voice. Must be a really bad dream. I decided to wake her before it got any worse. It was already bad enough that she thought she wouldn't be sleep alone.

" Anna, wake up." I shook her lightly but she didn't even seem to have been affected by it, so I shook her a little harder this time.

I kept shaking her but she didn't wake up and the look on her face was getting me a bit scared as well. Just what was she seeing. I went to touch her again but retracted my hand when suddenly her eyes opened and she just kept staring above her. She sat up shaking like a leaf and buried her head in her knees, trying to calm herself down. It wasn't enough so I brought her in an embrace.

"Its alright. You are ok."

It wasn't until half an hour that Anna calmed down enough to distinguish dream from reality. She had a hard time sleeping after that but since she was tired, her body eventually gave in to sleep.

~Anna's POV~

"-sis!" I glanced lazily at Max who was pouting. "You look soooo dead. Why not sleep?"

"I can't...."

"Whyyyyyy?"

"Because...." And I trailed off again.

When I woke up in the morning, the sleeping Uchiha should have been a cute sight for me like always but it wasn't today. I had immediately quit his room for being a constant reminder of my nightmare. I had convinced myself to an extent that it wasn't real but the fear remained.

As soon as Itachi had woken up or was in my presence, I created some distance which didn't seem intentional or anything because he had Mei to entertain. They were currently out as well.

I didn't tell a soul about what I saw. If I said it, the overly superstitious part of my being would start believing it. Instead, I called Konan and Amalie to have a hangout. It would divert my mind and also maybe lighten me up a little.

"Sis your phone is ringing." Max alerted me by handing me my vibrating cellular device.

It was Konan, telling me to meet at the station. I threw my phone aside and got up from the couch.

"Max you wanna come with?"

"Nup. I have some friends arriving soon." I shrugged. There was Eric in the house so I was assured that he wouldn't be unattended.

I dressed up in decent clothes and pulled on my jacket. Stuffing my phone in my pockets along with some money and the keys, I was on my way.

~

The hangout worked. I felt a lot better arriving home. Both the girls knew something was up and being the extremely great friends that they were, they managed to lift my spirits.

I sighed and dragged my tired self to my room. Itachi wasn't in the living room so I thought he would be in his own room. I was going to tell him that I was back and unharmed since he called me multiple times to check on me when I was out and got scolded by Konan for doubting her responsibility. When I was only two steps away from opening the door, I heard voices inside and decided on eavesdropping.

" Wow, Ita-ani its so big! I've seen other guys too but your's is different." Mei spoke to Itachi. It confused me about what they would be talking about but my mind was wayyyyyy too dirty so it went immediately in that place.

What is she talking- AAAHHH!! Corrupt minded kid! And what the hell?! Why is Itachi showing-

" Put it back please." Itachi replied back calmly. My whole face turned red.

Was it really-

" Let me play with it!"

Play with-

" Fine."

Fine my foot! What the hell is happening in there?!?!

" Oops. Something came out. Ita-ani something came out."

Just what is going on?!?

" You were jerking it around too much."

Alright! That's it! My innocent ears can't take it no more!

Without caring about anything else I stepped in front of the door and violently opened it, still burning from hearing things like that.

" Anna-" Itachi started but I didn't let him finish as I sweat dropped upon the sight of Itachi putting back the battery of his phone.

They were talking like that about the damn PHONE?!?!

Without saying anything, I closed the door on and slid down the wall, sitting on the floor, embarrassed.

Just what the hell was I thinking? She wanted to play with his phone and I thought- STUPID ANNA!

" Why's she always so mean, Ita-ani? You could have picked someone less rude." Mei whined and even though it was wrong, I stayed like that, listening on their conversation once again. What actually concerned me was how Itachi would reply to that.

" She....has been a little disturbed lately..... It isn't like she's rude, she's just a little......protective, these days. She always had it hard and when things went normal finally, something else went wrong...... Don't worry about it, Anna is really friendly with kids. I bet she's trying to get you to open up. So don't be hard on her, it will only increase her troubles."

Stupid Itachi. Don't spill my secrets so easily. I'm going to make you pay for that.

" Still, she's mean."

I will kill that girl!!

" Well no matter how she is, I couldn't have picked anyone else."

I humphed and got up from the ground and went into my room.

The rest of Mei's stay, Itachi and Sasuke were busy. I didn't mind that at all. It was actually good that I didn't have to tell Itachi about what I had seen that shook me up quite badly. The nightmare didn't stop though. It was on repeat every night.

It wasn't easy to keep it secret that the bad dream was me being a psychopath who eventually killed Itachi. At first I only saw that he died and I associated it with my fear of him not getting better but that soon was forgotten when his tests came out and Itachi was free from any and every inactive bloody bacteria. We celebrated his health. But then the nightmare kept on appearing. I was able to neglect it as some repressed fear and that it would go away but it didn't.

As the term breezed past us, Eric started developing feelings for a girl in his grade named Tsumi and invited her over sometimes. Consequently, I had to stay at my own house to keep an eye on them. And now since Eric was busy chasing and courting, Sasuke was a bit lonely so he would invite Naruto over and so, Itachi would stay there to keep an eye on them. I remembered I had laughed so much when Itachi told me he couldn't come over because Sasuke had Naruto over. It was ok. I needed some time away from him anyways, to calm my mind and assure myself that what I kept seeing was just a bad dream. Nothing else. Exams were nearing anyways so I didn't have the luxury to think about anything else.

However, thanks to exams and the bloody bad dream, my sleep got disturbed pretty bad. When anybody asked, I just said it was the exams. Nobody needed to know anything and worry themselves unnecessarily and worry me too in the process.

All I did worry about was what I would do when there would be some vacations before the start of our senior year.

~