A dream?

[cool_kickin_dude]

Prologue

Where am I?

Am I really dreaming? I shouldn't be. I should be dead, but I'm not. I really don't know what I'm doing here.

I was supposed to keep a promise to someone very important to me, but why?

I look out to the distance and saw the girl, but I can't see her face. I'm not sure if it is the same girl that I have been seeing.

I walk over to the girl and see her begin to disappear. It isn't long before she disappears completely. I began to realize that she was right. I should have said something to her before she left..before it all ended.

"Where are you?" I scream out into the distance. "I need you here now, more than ever."

I may have lost her forever. The only person that actually understood me or the one that I could understand her. I wish I could have told her that she was right all along. She was the only person that knew me and loved me for who I was. But still, why do I deserve to exist?

It was all for her..someone that I never thought would come for me.

"Are you all right?" someone asked from the other side.

I look up and saw someone who I couldn't make out. Was it really her to save me?

I stretch my hand out to her and saw that it connected with hers.

Meanwhile, on the other side, I could say nothing else but to apologize to her.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I wish you were here."

[lil_hamz]

Yay first to reply

Wow this is really intense and tugs at the heart strings. I wonder who are our protagonists. Please update soon!

[redux]

Argh, I can never leave out the names of the main characters in thef irst post like that, I feel to sorry for people waiting for the next part! Hurry up and get some more down!

By the way, congrats on 1000 posts!

[cool_kickin_dude]

Chapter 1:

Risako Sugaya woke up to her alarm clock playing the latest Berryz Koubou song. She had just woke up from the weirdest dream she had experienced in her young life. She didn't know the person in her dream, nor if she saw her before. The only people she had grown to known was her fellow members and the people she worked with since she started a couple of years ago.

She wanted to go back to sleep, but she had to get ready for rehearsals in less than an hour. She was in her own house, which was slightly cluttered with schoolwork. She got out of bed, got dressed, and went outside to wait for the taxi to take her to rehearsals. She couldn't help but wonder about the dream she had just had. She hadn't experienced a dream like it before. Should she tell her friends about it? They wouldn't believe her anyway.

The dream was tragic, yet bittersweet. It hit every emotion that she had felt, and more. It was like the unknown person knew her all along, even though she never could identify the person. She closed her eyes, hoping she can go back to her dream just before the taxi pulled up to her house. She brought herself back to the place in her dream, hoping to find the person that was calling her.

* * * * * * * *

"Where are you?" Risako called out into the distance.

She looked around into the distance, which formed into an empty room, almost similar to her room. She walked over to her door, hoping someone was behind it. She opened it, to see no one there. She then saw the person walking away. Risako ran as fast as she could to catch up to the person before it disappeared into the distance. Risako began to cry wondering why the person left her. She went back to the empty room and closed the door, only to see someone standing in the room...

* * * * * * * *

"HONK!" the taxi horn shouted.

"Huh?" Risako woke up to see the taxi driver getting impatient for her. She went inside the taxi as it pulled away from her house. She felt a tear stroll down her cheek as she watched the city passed by. She sighed, wishing she could talk to the person in her dream before she was interrupted. To her, it was the only peace she had for the past month. She wished she didn't have to go to rehearsals, but she had no other choice. She wondered if the person was someone from her past or someone she really cared about.

"No," Risako said, "it couldn't be anything like that."

As the taxi pulled up to the rehearsal building, Risako was hesistant to get out at first. She got out of the taxi and went inside. As she walked down the hall, she was surrounded by voices, telling her all sorts of jibberish. Suddenly, she began to hear a voice that calmed her down. Was it a voice from her dream, even though Risako never heard a voice from the person?

Unfortunately, it was her bandmate Momoko, talking to her. "Risako, are you okay?" she asked.

"Huh?" Risako asked.

"Come on," Momo said, taking Risako by the hand, "we gotta do rehearsals now."

"Um...okay," Risako answered.

-----

"Risako!" the choreographer shouted. "That's the wrong move again!"

"Sorry.." Risako replied.

"That's enough everybody!" the choreographer said. "Let's call it off for today. I expect everybody to get the dance done right, understand?" She left as the group looked in awe. Risako went to her dressing room and shut the door, hoping not to be disturbed. she closed her eyes, hoping to go back to her dream from this morning.

Unfortunately, someone was at the door knocking. "Risako, can I come in?"

[redux]

Let the girl sleep dammit!

[mode107]

dang, little clifhanger

[cool_kickin_dude]

Chapter 2:

Risako wished that the person went away, but she already knew who it was. It was one of her bandmates, who opened the door. It was her bandmate, Miyabi Natsuyaki, walking toward her friend. Miyabi looked at Risako, who had a blank expression on her face. "What's wrong?" Miyabi asked. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Risako said.

"What's been going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've haven't said anything to us all day. We're all worried about you."

"Don't worry about me." Risako went over to her locker and got out her bag. She didn't even realize that she was taking the bag with her as she was leaving. Miyabi grabbed her arm, shaking Risako out of her daze. "Risako!" Miyabi yelled. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me!" Risako shouted. She ran out of her dressing room, down the hall, toward the doors to the outside world. She was out of breath as she began to cry. She wished she was back in her dream again and she can try to find the person that had eluded her hours earlier. She carried her bag with her as she went inside a cafe. She went inside a restroom and got everything out of her bag. She changed out of her clothes and stepped out of the bathroom.

She had a hat on, which covered her eyes, so that the press or her fans wouldn't recognize her easily. She got herself something to drink and sat down. She hoped Miyabi wouldn't follow her into the cafe, or her bandmates. Suddenly, her cellphone began to ring. She flipped the top of her cellphone, which contained a message from Momoko to call her. She flipped the top again and sighed.

After a few minutes, she walked out of the cafe and hailed a taxi back to her house. She looked around to see if anybody would stop her, but she climbed into the taxi as it drove away from the city. She heard her cellphone ring again as she slipped back to sleep, hoping she would be able to continue her dream.

* * * * * * * *

Instead of being in her room, she was in a different room of someone else's. She could feel a presence from somewhere, but she couldn't figure out why. "Why did you run away?" the voice asked.

"Who said that?" Risako asked.

"The Risako I know never runs away," the voice said.

"Where are you?" Risako asked. "Who are you?"

Unfortunately, that was when she was woke up...

* * * * * * * *

"Ma'am?" the taxi person said. "We're at your house."

"Oh, sorry." Risako paid the taxi driver and got out of the cab. She walked into her house and went straight to her room. All of a sudden, all of her emotions finally got to her and she started crying uncontrollably. There was so much she wanted to say, but there was only one person she wanted to say it to. The only problem was, she didn't even know who the person from her dreams were, or if she could help her.

Twenty minutes passed by as she went back in the kitchen to see a note on the table. It was from her mother, telling her that she would be out for the day. She went to the refrigerator and got something to drink, when suddenly, her phone rang again. She flipped the top of her phone and there was another message, teling her to call the person.

The Risako I know never runs away,the voice echoed in Risako's head said.

"I hope you're right," Risako said to the empty room.

She called the number and waited for the other line to click. "Hello?" the person on the other line said.

"It's me," Risako said.

"Can I come over?"

"I guess so."

"I'll be over in a few minutes." The line clicked off as Risako turned off her phone. She laid her head down, hoping she could continue her dream in peace for the few minutes she had to herself before someone would show up.

[cool_kickin_dude]

Chapter 3:

A few minutes later...

"Risako?" someone asked from outside. "Can I come in?"

Risako woke up and went toward the door. She couldn't go back to her dream like she could the previous times. She opened the door to see her friend/bandmate Yurina at the door. She watched as Yurina walk inside and sit down at the kitchen table. Risako joined her bandmate at the table, hoping that her friend would not bring up what had happened earlier this morning.

"Are you okay?" Yurina asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Risako answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Everybody's worried about you."

"They shouldn't be. I'm just stressed out, that's all."

"I understand being stressed out, probably because of the past few weeks with rehearsals and dance lessons. As soon as the tour as over, we'll be able to relax."

"I don't think that's it, though."

"What do you mean?"

"I.." RIsako wanted to tell Kumai-chan about her dream. She didn't know if it was the person in her dream that told her that she never runs away from anything. Risako didn't even know how the dream would play out in the end. "It's nothing," she finally said to Yurina. "I'll be fine."

"You'll feel better if you talk about it,," Yurina said, taking Risako's hand.

"Look, I'll be fine." Risako moved her hand away from Yurina's and got up from her chair.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to get some air."

"All right, fine." Yurina got up from her chair and started to head for the door. "You can't hide it from everyone forever."

Risako watched her leave as she went back to her bedroom and wondered what had happened to her. Usually, she would be able to tell anyone her problems, but now she didn't know what to do anymore. She began o cry again before her cell phone began to rang. She answered it, hoping another member wasn't on the other end. However, she didn't have any choice but to talk to her. Like Yurina told her, she couldn't hide the truth about her dream forever.

"Hello?" Risako answered.

"Hi Risako! Wanna hang out tonight?"

"I guess...what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Wanna catch a movie?"

"Sure, I'll meet you in a few minutes."

Risako clicked off her phone and went to get changed for the evening. For a split second, she thought she had saw the same person in her dream. She blinked her eyes and there was no one there in her room, but her. "I wish I knew who that person was haunting me," she said.

Sooner or later, she would have to tell everyone.

[~Dan~]

I'm usually not a big fan of fanfics but I clicked into this thread the other day and I'm liking this.
It's mysterious, I like it.

[cool_kickin_dude]

Chapter 4:

Risako began to walk toward the city, since it wasn't far from her house. She would have used a taxi to go to the movie theater, but decided not to. Besides, she needed to get some air anyway. She walked slowly, feeling the wind blow through her long hair.

As she walked, she thought she had saw someone in front of her. She began to ran toward the figure until it was gone, just like in her dream. She began to become out of breath when she realized that she was imagining the person. "Am I going crazy?" she asked herself. "Am I the only person who sees things?"

She began to walk again before seeing the bright lights of the city. She hadn't had much time to enjoy the sights and sounds because of the tour and PV shootings. She decided to have as much time to herself as she could before the next day arose. Unfortunately, she promised to meet someone tonight. She wished the person in her dream would meet her instead of one of her friends.

She went to the front of the theater and walked back and forth before someone came up from behind her. "Hi Risako!" her friend said. "I've been waiting for you."

"Captain!" Risako shouted. "You scared me."

"Sorry, but the movie's about to start." She took Risako's hand and led her inside the theater. Before Risako could say anything, she was plopped into her seat by her Captain of Berryz. She didn't have time to get out of her seat before the movie began to play. She wanted to say something, but kept it to herself. She wanted to tell Saki-chan about her dream, maybe she could understand her. That was when she felt something on her shoulder, it was Saki-chan laying her head on Risako's shoulder.

Risako looked over at Saki and saw that her hand was placed on Risako's knee. She had neither experienced love nor romance in her young life, but she knew she liked Saki as her friend. What is she doing? she asked herself. She's never done this before.

After the movie was over, both Risako and Saki were walking out of the theater. Both of the girls were mum about what had transpired inside the theater. As Risako began to leave, Saki grabbed her hand and nearly pulled her close. "What are you doing?" Risako asked.

"Nothing," Saki said. "I just wanted to thank you for coming with me tonight."

"What about what happened inside?"

"What do you mean?"

"You had your head on my shoulder and your hand on my knee."

"Is that a problem?"

"Well..not really."

"What's wrong, Risako? You've been quiet all day."

"Not again..."

"Please tell me."

"I just had a bad dream this morning, that's all."

"Tell me what happened."

"I...I can't." Risako began to run away from her Captain as tears began to fall from her face. She ran as fast as she could until she was out of breath. She wished she wasn't tortured like she was right now. She began to walk toward her house, which wasn't far. She went inside, went to her room and closed the door.

She cried herself to sleep before her phone rang again. She looked at it and saw that Saki left a message on her phone. Let's talk sometime tomorrow, just you and me. Captain

"I'm sorry, Saki-chan," Risako said between tears before falling asleep again. "If you only knew."

[mode107]

oh dear, what dream is troubling  poor risako?

[cool_kickin_dude]

Chapter 5:

"Where am I?" Risako asked.

She wasn't back in her room, she was in a room that almost looked familiar to her. Had she been in it before? "This can't be.." Risako said.

She heard footsteps from behind. She turned around and didn't see anyone. She looked out to the room again and saw the same operson that had haunted her since last night. "Who are you?" Risako asked.

"I can't believe you don't know me," the person said. "I thought we were friends."

"What are you talking about?"

"Why are you leaving your friends?"

"No one needs to know about this."

"They have to. They even need to know about your pain."

"How do you know about that?" Risako's voice lowered to a whisper. It was something that not Berryz, her parents, or even the people in H!P needed to know. "You don't know anything about me."

"Of course I do." the person said. "We're supposed to tell each other everything."

"How come I can only see you?"

"This is your dream. This is my dream as well."

"Then why are you bothering me?"

"I'm trying to help you." She reached out her hand to Risako, who almost could recognize the person. Risako began to run away before she could hear the footsteps of the person following her at every turn. She turned around and screamed. "Why are you following me?"

"I want to help you," the person said. "Sooner or later, you got to let me in."

The person disappeared in front of Risako as she began to cry. "Why?" she asked. "Why are you doing this to me?"

It was the last thing she said before she woke up.

Risako woke up and went to her dresser drawer and got something out of the drawer before closing it. She went to her bathroom and pulled up her pants leg. There was a scar above her knee that was recent. She took the blade that came out of the dresser and slashed her leg. It hurt, for only a minute, but it felt better for Risako to release her anger and pain.

It was the only thing that would make her feel better. But, it was only part of the secret that had hurt her to this day.

The one secret she could not tell anyone, not Captain, nor the person in her dream.

[cool_kickin_dude]

Chapter 6

Nothing much was said during rehearsals as everything went off without a hitch. After they were over, Risako went to her dressing room and began to change out of her work clothes. She hoped that she wouldn't run into her friends as she began to leave for outside.

She opened her dressing room door and peered around and saw nobody around. She began to ran down the hallway to the fire escape. She opened the door and ran outside. She began to laugh a little as she began to walk away. Suddenly she heard someone's voice that she did not want to hear.

"Hi Socko!" someone called.

"Who said that?" Risako asked. She turned around and saw Saki standing behind her. Risako knew that she didn't run behind her as she ran toward the fire escape door. She wanted to run away from Saki, but she felt trapped.

"Did you get my message yesterday?" Saki asked.

"Yes," Risako said as she had her head down.

"What's wrong?"

"Well.."

"Tell me everything."

The saying was almost the same one being said by the person in Risako's dream. She looked up at Captain and took a deep breath before she could feel tears beginning to fall from her face. Saki looked at her friend and beagn to hug her. "It's all right," she said. "I know you're feeling burned out. It'll be over soon."

"That's not it!" Risako shouted. "You don't know me at all."

"Then tell me," Saki pleaded.

"Well.." Risako stopped crying as she began to tell what was happening to her, leaving some of the parts out for the present time. "I've been having this dream."

"What is it?" Saki asked.

"It's this person that keeps haunting me, saying that she knows me."

"Do you know who it is?"

"No, not at all."

"What else?"

"That's all I know."

"Come on, you can tell me more."

"I'm telling you, that's all I know."

"Can we go to your place?"

"Why?"

"Don't worry, it'll be just us."

"Please don't tell anybody about this."

"I promise."

The two walked for quite awhile before Risako heard Captain's cell phone ring. The two stopped as Saki put in a message before they walked again. "Who was it?" Risako asked.

"Just my mother," Saki answered. "She was telling me not to stay out late."

[cool_kickin_dude]

Chapter 7

The two girls walked toward Risako's house before Risako stopped. She began to run toward the front door at such a frantic pace that Saki couldn't understand. She knew that Risako haven't been herself the past couple of days. She saw that Risako was about to run toward the front door head first.

That was when she heard the thud..

"Risako!" Saki cried out as she rushed toward her fallen friend. She saw that Risako's head was bleeding a little bit as she carried her into the house. She laid her on the couch as she tried to get something from the bathroom. Little did she know was that she was oblivious to what was happening to Risako. Something told Saki in the back of her mind to go to her room. That was when she saw something which shocked her.

* * * * * * * *

"Where am I?" Risako asked.

"Why did you do that?" the person asked.

"I thought I saw you."

"You did, but you wasn't supposed to do that."

"Why not?"

"I would have told you sooner."

"Just who are you?"

"You know who I am. I'm your friend."

"No you're not. You're just some stupid dream."

"No, I'm here to help you."

"How are you supposed to help me? I don't even know who you are."

That was when the person was about to reveal itself to Risako. Risako looked in shock as she shook her head. "No, it couldn't be you," she said. "It can't be you."

* * * * * * * *

"Risako?" Saki asked, trying to wake Risako up. "Risako!"

"No, not you," Risako said in her dreamlike state between sleep and awake. "Not you."

"What are you talking about?" Saki asked.

"Not you..it can't be you..."

"Risako, snap out of it!" Saki shook Risako so hard, she almost fell on top of her. "You're scaring me."

"Huh?" Risako looked at Saki, surprised. "What happened?"

"You hit your head running at the door. Thank goodness you're okay." She hugged Risako for awhile as Risako had no emotion. Whether it was Saki hugging her or the person revealing itself in the dream, she was still in a state of shock. "I'm so sorry," Risako said. "I don't know what to say."

"Don't worry about it," Saki said. "I do need to talk to you about something."

"What is it?"

"I found this," Saki said. She was holding a knife, which could have been Risako's. "Is this yours?"