Strangers In the Night

Raiden walked through the halls of the palace at night. He could never get used to the place, it was so red, too red. He preffered the gray of his palace, all the red made him unable to sleep for some reason. He sighed as he reached the garden. He looked up at the moon and smiled "Alone time is fun..." he said to himself. He stretched and kept walking, quickly stopping as he heard someone come down the hall.

Dianne held a glass of water as she walked, taking a sip every so often. Her light green gown brushed the top of her slippered feet as she paced along. She'd always been particular about the route she'd chosen back to her room. She wasn't tired, so she figured it was a good time to get a look at how the palace appeared during night. Ahead, she saw the dark outline of Raidan, and couldn't resist the soft flutter of her heart.

She wondered why he would be up so late, and paused a bit, unsure if she should continue. Then, she shook her head. This was Raidan! If anything she wanted to see him. Shoot, he probably already knew she was there!

"Hey," she greeted mildy, smiling through the dark. "Got a little lost?"

Raiden smiled as he saw Dianne, something seemed lighter about him as she came up to him "No I just couldn't sleep" he said "What about you? Can't sleep? Or do I have a stalker I don't know about?"

Dianne didn't falter -- her lips curled into a smile. "Maybe that," she replied. "Or maybe both." She came over and sat on one of the garden's benches near him, peering out through the sunroofs and into the night. "So ... what's caused your bout of insomnia?"

"And ... " She held up her glass. "Want a sip?"

"No thanks I'm not thirsty" he said smiling, he felt a breeze blow through and insticntly put his arm around Dianne trying to keep her warm. "I dunno...but for some reason I can't sleep" he said "It's just something about this palace...or something else...I'm not sure"

"'Something about this palace'?" Dianne echoed. She took a sip of her water, feeling the liquid moisten her throat considerably. "Please, enlighten me. It's only my third day here and I'm not having a ghost breathing down my neck."

Dianne finished the glass halfway, then turned and fed the thirsty plants in the bed behind her.

Raiden gave a small, warm laugh "Don't worry, if any ghosts are around, I'll protect you from them" he told her jokingly, though he probably would do so. "Actually..it's just the color, it's just so red...it makes it hard for me to sleep for some reason" he said "So why are you up so late?"

Dianne couldn't help but smile at his promise, then took a note of what he said about the palace. "I know how you feel! When I wake up, I think my room's on fire or something. Or I'm trapped in somebody's intestines."

Dianne pulled her hair back from her face. "Hmm, but no, that's not why I'm up. Initially, I was just curious about how this place looked at night, and it's kinda creepy.

"But, I've actually been thinking about Renn a lot lately, and I'm kinda debating on whether I should sneak down to the nursery rooms and get a peak at him sleeping. I want to move him in my room with me sometime soon, before he notices that he's all alone at night."

Raiden stopped for a second, a smile spread across his face but his shook his head "Nah" he said laughing "I was gonna say, if you were lonely I could move in with you...but you're a strong young woman, you can handle yourself." Raiden stood up and stretched "As long as we're both up...how about we go for a moonlight walk?" he asked her.

"In a sec," Dianne promised, giggling a bit. "I want you to show me to the nursery so I can check up on my Rennie-Pooh." She stood up, her body jaunty, as if she hadn't been asleep moments before.

"What do you say?" she said. "It'll only take five minutes."