Aika sat by Hank on the ledge of her tub, with her feet in the water and his on the floor. Although he'd gone through two sets of clothes while with her, he couldn't get angry at the little sea nymph as her tangled hair dripped on his arm.

She examined her pruned fingers. "People think I spend my days in bed or soaking in the tub, but they're wrong."

"So… what? You also chase men in the woods?"

"I spend my days drowning in dreams." She smiled huge, and so sudden. "You do it too. You've probably noticed at times, but it doesn't nourish you."

Hank had learned enough about Aika to know to keep quiet when she talked crazy. He also knew that what she said often made some sort of sense after a while. She held him by his dripped-on elbow and pressed her cheek to his bare shoulder, feather light and so sweet.

"It's through no fault of your own," she said after a sigh. "Your depth makes them shallow."

Hank's manhood responded as Aika melted against him. He spoke in heavenly wonder as she traced outlines with her fingernails on his damp briefs.

"I don't know why people say you're not into sex," he said. "You sure seem sexy to me."

Aika was too close, and too short, for Hank to look into her eyes, so he stared over her head at their reflection in the mirrorred wall behind the tub. Centered on it was a sculpture of a golden sunburst, and while he admired it, her fingers found their way into the waistband of his briefs.

"Let me in," she said to them.

Hank's body screamed for release. Yes!

His mind made him say something else. "Ah… not now, Aika-cho, but thanks. I just don't think it's proper."

She spoke with surprising glee. "You called me Aika-cho! I'm your butterfly!"

"I think I've called you that before."

She hugged him as hard as she could. "Then I'm right! I'm the butterfly in your dreams!"

"Well, that is what you like being called."

"Hai. But no one knows why. They tease me and say it's because of my glade, but that's not the reason at all."

Aika stood up and made Hank stand as well, touching him everywhere. She then sat back down on the ledge, holding him close by his waist. With her cheek now pressed to his side, she continued tracing lines on his body.

"Has a butterfly ever landed on you?" she asked.

Naked Aika was acting so sexy that Hank found it hard to think. "I don't know. Maybe."

"You'd never know if she did. She's delicate and just wants to rest. So quiet and undemanding, flexing her beauty to please you. I'm the butterfly in your dreams. You don't notice me, but I make them prettier by being inside you."

Boy do you ever. With big hands, he took hold of her head. She reveled in having his fingers in her hair, and he dug deep until he found her skull.

"You could never be a butterfly," she said as he worked her head in small circles, feeling her breath on his loins. "You are way too big. You'd be too big a butterfly to fit in people's dreams. You'd fill them with too much color."

"Well, what about a moth?" he offered offhandedly. "Moths can be pretty big."

In control of Aika's head, Hank could feel her think. "A moth?" she asked, distracted by his presence within her.

"Japanese moths are very big."

She dug her nails into his butt. Reflexively, he gripped her head and brought it to his body. She kissed his tummy and then spoke to his belly button.

"Himushi!" She kissed him again. "Hank-himushi desu!"

He looked down at the sea nymph, angling her head up to admire her bliss.

"Ah… what?" he asked, confused.

"I'm Aika-cho, and that's butterfly. In Japanese, moth is himushi."

"Oh. I get it. I'm a moth, and that makes me Hank-himushi."

"Himushi!" she cheered again, digging her nails deeper into his butt.

He laughed. "Okay, Aika-cho! That's enough!" He unsnarled his hands from her hair and pried hers off his fanny. "I am Hank-himushi," he said, backing away a small bit. She bobbed with playful affection on her haunches, frothing the suds in her tub.

"Oh Himushi! I love you so! I do. I love my himushi so much!"

"Yes, well I like you too, Aika-cho. An awful lot, I'm afraid."

He sat down again on the ledge. She began climbing into his lap, to curl up and purr like a kitten, but there wasn't enough room for her antics.

"Don't!" he exclaimed. "I'll fall in!"

She stopped moving but didn't retreat from her position, laying half on him and half in the tub. "Okay," she agreed, resting an ear on his rod, listening to it throb.

"Aika?" Hank said after a tender moment of petting her as she lay still.

She purred louder. "Hmmm?"

"Can we talk about Rio, please? And maybe Milton? He is missing, you know."

"Mm-hmm. But she won"t like it."

"Why?"

"She doesn't think you should be here."

"She told you that?"

"Uh-unh." Aika purred, meaning no.

Hank poked the kitty to get more information. "Well, what then?"

Aika flopped onto her back to stare up at him. "Come on. Think about it. What are the odds that I lure you into my tub, and you never leave again?"

"Pretty good," he admitted.

"Pretty damn good," Aika corrected. "I may be a virgin, but I know what that thing stabbing the back of my head is for." She flopped back on her side, to again press her ear to his rod. "And I want you to use it on me."

"Ah… you're a virgin too?"

"You're a big sexy man, my himushi. I want your dreams inside me. Cram me full, every bit, as much as you can stuff in. We'll pleasure ourselves without end."

"Wait a minute. You're a virgin?" Hank repeated.

"Hmm-mmm. We went over this with Teek and Anna. Remember?"

"Yeah, well, they said you weren't into sex, but they didn't say you were a virgin."

"It would be hard to be one while not the other."

"I guess you're right."

"And what's your reason for being chaste?" she asked.

Hank stroked the kitty in his lap to make her purr. "I still want to talk about Rio," he said, ignoring the question. "Milton left without warning, and she thinks he was forced to do it."

"You can tell her he was not. You're now her best friend. Maybe her only friend, and she needs you. She hurts very much."

"So you think he left her on purpose?"

"Hmm…" Aika purred while in thought. "Unh-uh. No. He had to go. It was the right thing to do."

She rubbed her cheek on his pecker and, coupled with the vibration of her purring, started driving Hank bananas. It hurt to be hard while under her cheekbone, so he manhandled her until he found comfort in the space beneath the nape of her neck.

She smiled up at him with her eyes closed. "So you're sure?" he asked, as she seemed to doze. "Milton's okay?"

Aika lazily opened an eye, and Hank got her hair out of the way to better see it. "Mmm-hmmm," she purred. "Quite sure. I see him all the time."

"He visits you?"

Aika tried flipping back onto her side, but Hank grabbed her head to prevent it. She laughed at his forceful insistence. "I see him in his dreams! He has such lovely dreams, so I visit them all the time. Thousands and thousands and thousands of me because everything he does is beautiful."

Hank resumed stroking her hair, laying it out on her breasts and shoulders. "And you're sure he's… ah, at least in his dreams, everything is okay?"

Aika ended the discussion. "He's fine. I'm sure."

"Can you tell me where he is?"

"No." Aika said, before remembering to purr her answer. "Unhh-uhh."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know where he is."

"Can you maybe, you know… find out where he is?"

"Mmmm…" She purred while in thought. "Ah… No. Unhh-uhh."

Hank came the realization that, although he didn't believe much in Reality Making, being with women who did was amazing. "Aika-sensai, arigatō. But I'm still concerned. He left his dog in the basement and I had to rescue him. Rio thinks maybe someone—I don't know, Milton's kidnappers I suppose—replaced his dog with an impostor."

Actually saying the words made Hank realize how ridiculous they sounded. Aika opened both her eyes.

"That's ridiculous," she said, reading the word off his face.

"Yes, but it's what she believes. And I'd like it if you told her different."

Aika purred while disagreeing. "Hmmm. Have her come see me."

"Do you think she will?"

"Unhh-uhh. I think she will run."

"Run away?"

"Mmm-hmmm."

"What about Bumbles?"

"The dog stays."

Hank stared at the sun on the wall. "What am I going to do?" he asked it.

A sigh came from the kitten in his lap. "You have to give up on your dreams."

"But… my dreams are coming true! I like things this way. I was lonely before. I was sad."

She popped up to sit beside him and offer comfort. "This will make you happy. Dreamwatchers have to give up their dreams, that is true. But we gain back more from those we love. They want to share their dreams with us. What you get in return is more precious because you've blessed them with your glory."

Hank placed an arm around AIka, bringing her body close. "Gosh, I wish I understood you better. You make it sound important."

She giggled girlish cute, and hopped to her feet with a slosh. She yanked on his hand to make him stand, then cast her eyes down to the water.

"To feed people their dreams, you first must make them yours. Listen to them, paint them brighter. Maybe fix them up. But be warned what also will happen. You'll see heartbreak. The loss of love. The discomfort of death and hurt children, and the joy of dread and sorrow."

She made him crouch by pressing down on his shoulders, peering into his eyes. "You'll get lost in there, Hank-himushi. Terrible blackened dreams. You flitter and float, hate and love burning bright, until you get too close to the flame and you die!" She shook him as anxiety welled. "Worse yet, worse than ever! Evil putrid bile, staining you forever, and ever and ever and ever!"

Aika's facial expressions worried Hank more than her words. "Okay, I get it. I'll be careful."

"No no! No you don't. You never say you just get it, and forget about it or quit. You'll never not know how to watch dreams of horror. You don't pretend you don't understand what you see, and you never, ever forget!"

She clutched at him and in her panic, misjudged her footing and slipped. Her bathwater became raging rapids, to deliver Death by drowning, splitting her head open on tiles.

She babbled. "Stop it!" Hank demanded, gripping her tight. "Just stop!"

He broke her from her conniption. She bent down steep towards the water, doubled up as if puking, dragging her hair through the bubbles.

"I remember every bad dream," she said quietly to the bubbles. "They fill me with amazing terror. I forget if it's night or day. I can't tell if darkness has fallen or if the sun will come up. I laugh and I cry and I hate and I love, all the time and all at the same time."

"It"s wondrous," she said as she looked up at him from her odd stance. "Inspiring and faceless and cruel, like the Universe has swollen, engulfing me from within."

She stood straight to gaze into his eyes, searching them for truth. "I'm the butterfly of an awesome God. Are you prepeared for the same? To be a moth who bears witness to such?"

"I don't know. You kind of scare me sometimes."

"No. You don't know now, do you? I will teach you though." She knelt before him and bowed, supplicating to him.

"Well?" Aika asked without moving. "Do it."

"Do what?"

"Use me! Fill my head!"

To his continued reluctance, she gently took hold of his hands, placing her head between them. Despite how suggestive it looked, she spoke with professional ease.

"I'll show you how good you can be. Dream, but this time I won't steal them, nor will I force myself on you. This time you will give to me freely."

She giggled more insanely than usual. "Oh God! You don't know what you do! What you do when you do this to me!"

Hank thought about holding Rio as she slept in his arms, and how she had held his head while in Milton's lunchroom, to frighten him with her dreams. He thought about the nightmare he had while being PEP tested, and about the pleasure of having new friends.

"Yes!" Aika cried. "Fill me up!"

Aika could be anyone, say anything, and Hank would have agreed. Although he was in control of her body, she took control of his mind, speaking in ways unimaginable. He struggled to keep part of himself from this witch, but she clasped her hands onto his to make him keep hold of her head.

Hank dove deeper in. He could think of doing nothing more pleasant as she offered her whole self to him.

"Don't steal me," he blurted as a whisper. "Don't make me want you so much."

Aika purred. "Nyah nyah. Too late."

The Earth fell away and seemed endless. Did an hour pass? An entire lifetime? He tried recalling the day. Failing, he tried month and year. Every time he came close to understanding, she sucked him further in. A eon slipped by, then another, and another one after that.

He contemplated mortal fate. Enfeeblement. Old age. Death. Where is hope in this?

She rose to stand. Was he standing? He figured he must be, but seemed to have no legs. She touched him, but not with her skin. Embracing? Yes, there was closeness. He crossed the threshold and entered her world, riding on warm foam. Where he led, she willingly followed. They kissed or perhaps they didn't, or perhaps they made love standing up.

All became passion—raw, universal. Everything now was a construct; their bodies, the world and its strife. He struggled to find a Reality where people had physical form. He pictured their faces and how they smiled. These images came with ease, but too fast, reeling past his mind's eye by the thousand-fold. Everyone praised his name to show how much they loved him, and somehow he loved every one.

"Hank!" they exclaimed upon entering.

"Hank!" they exalted when they left.

"Hank!"

"Hank!"

"Hank!"

Their number became six hundred million, then six hundred thousand more. "Who are they?" he asked one of them.

"Shh," one like Aika implored as she squeezed, fragrant and soft and warm.

Hank realized each had their own special scent, distinguishing them from the others. He pushed one who smelled like Aika away.

He cried out, blind without her. "What did you do to me?"

She purred as they stumbled apart, sloshing in the bathwater. "Mmmm. That was nice," she said. "Do it again."

"No. Let's not."

"Mmmm. You'll get used to it."

Hank reeled as his eyesight returned. "No I won't. At least not right now."

Finding himself standing in the tub, he sat again on its ledge. She placed her hands on his knees to balance herself on her heels.

Her eyes traveled up to his face. "Watch me feed your dreams to Anna," she said.

Yes!

"No." he countered in weakness.

"I"ll feed you to everyone."

Yes please!

"No."

"I'm your vessel, Hank-himushi. I'll store liquid for you. Hope and aspiration, blessings and benefice. I'll keep them safe and cherish them, finding comfort for you with them in me."

He fought against her and lost. "I'll feed your dreams to Rio," she said.

I'm going insane!

Hormones raged.

"No."

Aika pursed her lips. "People want you in them, big Himushi. Dreams are meant to be shared, but get stuck inside those who create them. That's not where they belong. Dreams need to be free!"

She left him and with her arms wide, fell backwards into the tub. Joy lit her face as she disappeared in the water, her waves washing over his lap. She resurfaced at the far end of the tub and stood up to gasp and sputter. She had left her mouth open upon entering, and now had to pinch suds from her lungs through her nose. Her chesty assets jiggled like two cats in gunny sacks as she was wracked by coughs.

He chided her. "Everybody's right. You're a little freak."

Aika smiled the best she could, hunched over while coughing up water. She held her hair to the back of her neck to keep it out of her face. Still crouched over with a hand on her neck, she began stalking him.

"Freaky like your fantasies," she said, crossing her realm. "Little like an atom bomb."

Hank stood up to avoid her. "Okay," he said. "Let's start over. What did you do to me?"

Aika wiped sudsy spit from her face. "You don't get it, do you? You don't want to get it."

"No, I do. I really do."

"You say you do, but you don't."

Hank spoke in calm tones, as Aika looked ready to bolt from the room. "You showed me another world in your glade, and here you showed me… what? Peoples' dreams? I felt them inside me."

Aika shook her head as her eyes darted. "You were inside me."

"I want to know how you did it."

"I won't give you a reason to love me."

"No. No, don't do that. It's just… you made me let you in for a moment."

"You were inside me," she repeated.

"And, um… I did what? Was I in your dreams?"

"You were in me with your dreams."

"Yes. Okay. I want to know how you did it."

He took a step towards her. She backed one step away.

Hank gave up. "Fine. I'm gonna find a dry towel. And I need more clothes from Sehrish." He held up the wet athletic briefs he still wore and headed out of the tub. "I'm going to be on my way," he said, sloshing noisily to gain her attention.

Aika cried out. "I'd cross the ocean for you!"

He stopped and spoke over his shoulder. "What?"

"I'll cross all the oceans, land and sea, if you give me one good reason!"

He almost laughed. "What are you saying now?" She covered her face with her hands and peered at him through her fingers. "What are you doing?" he asked kindly.

She eyeballed his crotch. "You really do need to give me those," she said of his sopped briefs.

"Fine." He whipped them off. "I can't keep them on any more anyway, they're so darn waterlogged. Now tell me what you did."

Aika came to life. Without exiting the tub, she got two dry towels from a nearby drawer and placed them on the ledge. She sat on one and patted he other, offering it to Hank.

"Let's look at some dreams," she said.