Disclaimer: right. me...own....neva.

Turn Your Tears to Roses

"Mama…"

Yako looked up from her computer. It was late, and she was finishing up a report for work.

"Mama…." Her daughter repeated, hovering about the door with her younger brother in tow behind her. "We had nightmares….."

"Again?" Yako sighed, setting her pen and files down.

They had been having nightmares for about a month straight now. She had no idea how to fix it, partly because neither child wanted to speak about them. These nightmares terrified them, and both children refused to sleep on the top bunk in their room.

Her son even offered to sleep under the bed.

.

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She gathered her children into her lap and breathed deeply, trying to think back to what her mother did when she had bad dreams. She smiled as the child shampoo on her son and daughter reached her nose. She hushed and said soothing things to them.

Or tried to.

Her mother used to do this, and that used to calm her as a child. Her children, however, were only mildly soothed, snuggling still closer and trembling.

Trembling.

It worried her that her kids were so terrified of these nightmares.

She asked them if they could tell mummy what these dreams were about. Her daughter immediately whined and replied with a strong "no".

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So she sat, her children cuddled in her arms, for a fairly long time. About two in the morning, she decided that they were probably not going to wake up if she moved them back to their room.

…………………

"Birds…." her son murmured as she laid him in his bed.

Birds……She hated birds.

.

Especially one bird in particular. A sadistic, evil ex-employer, to be specific.

.

.

It had been almost ten years since she had last walked out of that office, with the intent to never return. She hadn't seen him, nor heard about him or a new, freakishly accurate detective in the news for ten years. This had unnerved her at first. He had not found a new human to help him get his meals……which meant he was either starving, or eating the small puzzles from cell phones and the like.

Eventually, she stopped caring. She had a real job to work, school to get through, and a wedding to plan.

He was not happy when he found out she was getting married. Not happy at all.

She had seen his demon form before. It was just a purple, horned parrot in a suit. No big deal, she could handle that.

.

.

Or so she thought.

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She still shuddered at the very unpleasant memory of the fight at the office. She saw a demonic part of Neuro that was truly terrifying.

That was part of the reason she finally quit being a detective. She didn't want to risk seeing that again, let alone have that directed at her a second time.

The other reason was that she hated his inability to just accept that she wasn't some bratty high-schooler anymore. She was a full grown woman, intent on pursuing her own life.

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Satisfied that her children were snug in bed, she turned to leave. At the door, she shot a paranoid glance at the ceiling.

No demon.

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The door to her children's room quietly closed.

A/N: WEll?