Author's Note: I wrote this just as a little emphasis on the friendship between these two. It's kind of a pointless plot, but it gets the idea across and everything. :D;;

Reviews appreciated!

Night had settled comfortably over Japan. Although it was nearly summer time, it was pleasantly warm outside, and a drowsy warm wind was passing through the city. Kiyo Takamine had left his bedroom window wide open to permit the wind to pass through his room. It helped him to sleep. Now, with the moon high in the darkened sky, the whole city slept. Well, most of it, anyway.

Zatch Bell awoke with a start.

He lay silently in the dark for several minutes, staring at Kiyo's white ceiling above him, trying to overcome the shock of the bad dream. In it, he'd been chased by a threatening figure. He ran and ran as hard as he could, but although he tired out, the foe did not. Eventually, he'd found himself unable to run any longer, and had fallen to his hands and knees, panting and unable to escape the enemy that was gaining on him. Just as the shadowy figure leaned over him, it emitted an ominous laugh and swallowed him in darkness.

So now, he lay quivering slightly, staring at the ceiling and completely awake. He tried several times to go back to sleep, but eventually found himself unable to and was forced to give up. Zatch got off his futon carefully, as not to make a sound, and looked around cautiously. That dark shadow couldn't be in this room, could it..? Not far away, Kiyo sighed in his sleep and turned over. Zatch crept cautiously over to him, jumping at the sound of the wooden floor as it creaked ever so slightly under him. Reaching the side of the bed, he crawled up onto the edge and gave his bookkeeper a soft prod in the shoulder.

Kiyo mumbled incoherently in his sleep and buried his face in his pillow.

"Kiyo," Zatch whimpered, giving him a soft shove. "Kiyo, wake up..!"

The dark haired boy's face turned just enough that one eye was visible. He looked at Zatch for less than a second before falling back asleep. Zatch was desperate. Kiyo was his only means of protection from the scary figure looming in his dreams. He shook him awake.

"Kiyo, please," he whimpered more pleadingly.

The older boy gave something that could best be described as an inhaley grunt, obviously displeased at having been woken up. He shifted slightly under the layers of blanket. "What is it, Zatch?" The glowing face of the digital clock caught his eye. "Ergh, it's 2:36am… go back to sleep."

"But- but I had a bad dream!"

Kiyo sighed in defeat. "Fine. Tell me about your dream and let me go back to sleep."

"Well…" Zatch's shoulders hunched apprehensively at the thought of it. "I was being chased by a scary shadow monster and then I fell and it got me…"

This, to Kiyo, didn't sound frightening in the least. He had long since passed the stage where thoughts of "shadow monsters" made him unable to sleep. Now, there were bigger and worse things to have nightmares about. The thought of mamodo looming and waiting to strike often kept him on edge. The mamodo were much more real a threat than some shadow monster. (What the heck was a shadow monster anyway?) The thought of being blown to smithereens had become an actual possibility with the introduction of Zatch into his life. That dream was what was scaring the kid? Huh.

"Oh. Okay. Good night." His dark brown eyes fell shut.

Zatch practically wailed at him. "Kiyo, please..!" He felt like at any given moment something else could come swooping down out of the sky after him-- a monster, a mamodo, anything. Every noise was possible trouble. Tears spilled from his golden eyes. "I can't sleep…" He knelt next to Kiyo, his hands balled into fists, trying to fight more tears from coming. Why did he have to be such a wimp sometimes..? He fought other mamodo worse than that dream, didn't he? But this just seemed different… Finally, Kiyo's eyes blinked open again. He watched several more tears run down Zatch's face before giving in entirely.

"Okay, okay…" he sighed, moving over a little and holding the covers open. "You can sleep with me tonight."

Zatch hurriedly wiped the tears away with his forearm. "I can? You mean it?"

"Just for tonight, crybaby," Kiyo teased fondly as Zatch scrambled into bed next to him. "Just go to sleep, okay? I have to go to school in the morning." He felt a small hand take a fistful of his t-shirt and a cheek rest itself against his chest. He softly tousled the blond hair. "Sleep well. Next time, tell Vulcan to blow up the bad dreams or something."

"I will."

His mamodo fell asleep feeling safe.

"You may be a crybaby sometimes, Zatch," Kiyo thought as he too drifted off, "but you're still just a little kid…"