Over the dojo the storm raged on. Rain lashed the leaves on the trees, lightning followed Thunder.

An unnatural silence was brought upon the room. Akira had stopped crying so suddenly it scared her. Looking back into the room Kaoru noticed that the lantern at the bedside was out. “Akira?” She called out into the room.

“Akira? Are you all right? Why aren’t you crying?” Voice reeking with panic she tried again. Nothing.

Kaoru nervously walked into the room. Light shone dully from a small window, casting unfamiliar shadows onto the nearby walls. In the lull between two thunderclaps, she thought she heard a distant humming. Kaoru could detect no movement at all from were Akira lay, and that frightened her.

“Akira,” She tried again in a whisper, as she walked towards his bed, breath drawn. Shakily she reached out to pull the sheets back.

She snapped her hands back when she saw the sheets convulsing. Weird shapes began thrusting and bulging about beneath the sheets. She could have even sworn that that she saw things poke out from the edges of the sheets, things that didn’t look like they belonged to Akira. “Oh no! My cooking must have mutated the baby!” Kaoru thought to herself. Mentally slapping herself, for even thinking such a thing, recalling the situation of just a few minutes ago she put her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming.

Suddenly the sheets stilled, sinking slowly down, over the mattress, then all was still again.

Kaoru knew that she couldn’t just turn around and runaway without knowing for sure. She just had to know, whatever the horror of it, she had to know. Cautiously she reached out her hand and pulled the sheet back.

It was empty.

Kaoru’s mind had clearly been wiped out. She wasn’t even frightened. She stood looking down in a daze. For a moment or an hour, she would never know just how long she stared at the empty crib.

Now she was frightened, by a soft, rapid thumping on the windowpane. She clenched her hands so tightly, that her fingernails scored her skin.

Outside she could see a white owl was flapping his wings against the glass insistently. The light from the moon reflected into its round, dark eyes, watching her. Behind her a goblin briefly raised its head, again followed by another. Kaoru paid them no heed, for her eyes were on the white owls.

Lighting flashed once again, this time distracting her from the window by shining on a clock, which stood on a shelf to her right. She noticed that instead of there being 12 hours on the clock there were 13. Kaoru glanced down when she felt something nudge the back of her legs. Glancing down she noticed the crib was moving across the floor on tiny lizard like feet.

Behind her she could hear something snicker, but when she spun around it ducked down behind a chest of draws. Shadows were racing across the walls, as her heart beat faster with every passing moment. Goblins were prancing about behind her. Kaoru was watching the chest of draws. Like the crib it had a scaly-clawed foot at each corner.

Once again she wheeled around, mouth hanging open, hands clenched, and saw the goblins cavorting. Kaoru looked around for something to use as a weapon when she spotted a broom, grabbing it and snapping the brush part off, she smiled at her makeshift bokken. as she advanced upon the goblins. "Go away, Go away!" Trying to pop them on the head, but getting angry because they were to fast. The handle twisted in her hand and slithered out of her grasp.

Lightning made daylight in the room, and frightened faces suddenly began to vanish, into the draws, and even the cracks in between the floorboards. Thunder boomed, and a strong gust of wind blew the windows open, letting the white owl enter.

Kaoru wrapped her arms around her face and screamed.

She felt the wind blowing her hair around but the owls flapping had ceased. She screamed one last time, then nervously peered out of her fingers to see were he had perched. Perhaps it had flown out again.

A prolonged crackling of lightning, threw a giant shadow on the wall facing the window. The shadow was not of an owl, but of a human…covering his ears?

Kaoru spun around. Silhouetted against the stormy sky was a man, with his hands covering his ears? He wore a dark almost black cloak, witch swirled in the wind. From what she could see, his hair was a white color and spiked up. More then that she could not see in the dim light.

"Could you possibly scream any louder?" He spoke up removing his hands from his now ringing ears.

Sweat-dropping kaoru looked up at him. "Uh…" Clearing her throat she continued. "Who are you?"

“Don’t you know?” The man said a sweat-drop now formed on his head, but his voice was still calm, almost kindly.

Lightning traced the veins of the sky and lit up his face. He was not smiling, as one might expect on greeting a stranger, nor was his face fierce. His eyes were upon Kaoru. When he took a step towards her, into the light shinning from the doorway, she didn’t retreat. If his eyes from behind a pair of small dark glasses didn’t hypnotize her, the golden chain around his neck might have. A tiger-shaped ornament hung from it, upon his chest. His shirt was a dark blue color. He wore loose Orange pants with a blue stripe going down each side, and on his hands were black/blue gloves. (Sorry I just couldn’t picture poor Enishi in tights. Don’t have the heart to torment him like that.)

“I…” Kaoru answered. “I…” The humming that she thought she heard was now quite distant, and musical. The stranger smiled at her hesitancy. He was certainly handsome. She had not expected that. When she spoke her voice was a whisper.

“You’re…him, aren’t you? You’re the King of the Goblins.”

He bowed. “Enishi.”

Kaoru resisted the ridiculous impulse to actually return a curtsy.

“I have saved you,” he started. “I have freed you from those bonds that distressed you and frightened you. You’re free now, Kaoru.”

“Oh, no. I don’t want to be free,” She answered. “ I do, but—I want Akira Back. Please.” Kaoru gave him a tiny smile. “If its all the same to you.”

Enishi folded his hands behind his head. “What’s said is said.”

“But I didn’t mean it!” Kaoru quickly replied.

“Didn’t you, now?”

“Oh, please. Where is he?”

Enishi chuckled. “You know very well where he is.”

“Please bring him, back, please.” Kaoru could hear herself speaking in a small pleading voice. “Please!”

“Kaoru…” Enishi frowned, and shook his head. His expression was of concern for her. “Go back to your room. Read your books. Put on your costumes. That is your real life. Forget about the baby.