It was a dark and stormy night, one that seemed ominous. The thunder rolled loudly across the sky, with the occasional lightning to accompany it. The rain pelted down hard, almost sounding like hail if you didn't pay too much attention to the noise.

It was on this night that a certain someone decided to have a sleepover. Well, it wasn't supposed to be one, but with the pouring rain outside, it wasn't safe to walk home. The streets were flooding and they were under a flood watch from it. Going out could end in serious injuries or even death; definitely not something anyone would want.

"Hey, Zuramaru?" A quiet voice whispered.

"Yeah?" A louder voice answered.

"What're you doing?"

"Reading, zura."

"In this dim light?"

"It's enough. What are you doing, Yoshiko-chan?" Hanamaru looked up from her book to see Yoshiko staring at her from the edge of her bed.

"I'm bored," Yoshiko mumbled.

Hanamaru opened her mouth to reply, but stopped as a particularly loud clap of thunder rang out. It shook the house. And then the lights went out.

A loud yelp followed the clap. Hanamaru swore she could hear whimpering from somewhere in the room as well.

"Yoshiko-chan? Are you alright?" Hanamaru assumed it was her, since she was the only one in the room with her.

"Y-yeah…" Yoshiko's shaky voice replied, confirming it to indeed be her who was making the noises.

Hanamaru grabbed her bag that was resting beside her and dug through it until she pulled out her phone. After fiddling with it for a moment, she figured out how to turn on the flashlight. She shown it toward where Yoshiko should be.

Yoshiko was cowering in the corner of her bed, her back pressed against the wall and whimpering every few seconds. Hanamaru stood up and climbed in the bed. Yoshiko looked up to meet her gaze, her face full of fear.

"Do you not like thunder, zura?" Hanamaru asked.

Yoshiko slowly nodded. Hanamaru pouted, before she set her phone down and hugged Yoshiko.

"I'm sorry… it's so childish of me…" Yoshiko mumbled.

"What part of you isn't childish though?" Hanamaru replied.

"Hey!" Yoshiko defended, before she got cut off by another clap of thunder.

She yelped and buried her face into Hanamaru's shirt. Hanamaru shook her head, before trying her best to sooth Yoshiko.

"It's alright. It can't hurt you." Hanamaru reasoned.

"If lightning hits us it will!" Yoshiko replied.

"I highly doubt that'll happen." Hanamaru replied.

Yoshiko whined as she moved closer to Hanamaru. Hanamaru leaned against the wall and did her best to keep Yoshiko calm. It was a lot harder than she thought it would be.

Hanamaru had read many books in which she came across this scenario. But, it wasn't turning out like this scene in real life was. It didn't take that long to calm the other down in the books. But, every thunder clap or lightning flash, Yoshiko yelped and shook in fear despite her best efforts to calm the scared girl.

"Why're you so afraid of the thunder, zura?" Hanamaru asked as she ran a hand through Yoshiko's hair, knowing that often helped to calm her down.

"I don't know… it's just always been like this…" Yoshiko mumbled as she moved to rest her head on Hanamaru's shoulder.

"How do you survive each storm then?" Hanamaru questioned.

Yoshiko sighed, "I don't. This is how I am every time…"

Hanamaru frowned. She wasn't sure how to help. The storm wasn't going to pass until it was almost five. They had a long time left to wait. There was no way she was leaving Yoshiko to suffer for the remainder of the night alone though. Hanamaru promised herself that she would do anything she could to help, even if that meant getting no sleep at all.

"Well, is there anything that helps?" Hanamaru asked, hoping there was something she could do that was proven to work already.

Yoshiko shook her head, "No… it's all temporary fixes."

Hanamaru pulled Yoshiko into her lap. Yoshiko let out a sigh as she curled up closer. She jolted slightly as thunder rang out again. Hanamaru did her best to hug her and keep her close. She had no idea what else to do.

"I'm sorry if this is annoying… you can leave me if you want." Yoshiko whispered.

"It's fine, zura. I'd never leave you while you're suffering. I'll do my best to help." Hanamaru replied.

"Thank you…" Yoshiko mumbled as she shifted her position.

Hanamaru let out a soft sigh as she pulled a blanket over her and Yoshiko. Without power in the house they were getting cold. Hanamaru also knew her phone wouldn't last the entire night. She didn't want to mention it to Yoshiko though. That might make her worse.

"Are you afraid of the dark?" Hanamaru asked, trying to convey the message without too much information.

"A little…" Yoshiko admitted.

"Zura~" Hanamaru let out a defeated sigh. She had no clue what she was going to do to help.

Yoshiko hugged Hanamaru, "Sorry…"

"Don't be." Hanamaru replied.

The two of them sat in silence. The storm outside was growing even worse. Hanamaru assumed they were right in the middle of the bad part. This was a bad time for them.

The thunder was more frequent than ever and lighting flashed a lot. Knowing Yoshiko was afraid of both really made this harder. The girl was shaking and letting out whines constantly.

Hanamaru couldn't help her too much. Yoshiko was too afraid to even listen to her. She wasn't responding to anything Hanamaru said.

Then, she got an idea. Hanamaru moved Yoshiko off her lap and climbed off the bed. Yoshiko huddled into the blanket and watched her. Hanamaru grabbed her bag and started looking through it.

She found what she was looking for and pulled them out. Hanamaru went back to Yoshiko then.

"Why'd you pull out headphones?" Yoshiko asked as she cuddled into Hanamaru's side.

"To help. It'll lessen the noise." Hanamaru replied as she put them on Yoshiko.

Yoshiko allowed her to put them on and adjust them. She had to admit that it was helping. The thunder wasn't as loud anymore. Yoshiko felt stupid for never thinking of doing that before now.

"If it's still too much you could plug them in to your phone and play some music too." Hanamaru stated as she wrapped an arm around Yoshiko, who had stopped shaking as badly as before.

Yoshiko nodded. She would do that if the thunder was still too much. But first she would have to test it. Yoshiko prayed it would work so she could be at peace for a little.

"Can we do anything about the lighting?" Yoshiko asked quietly.

"I'll think about it." Hanamaru responded.

Yoshiko jolted slightly at the sound of thunder again. While it wasn't as bad now, it still was scaring her.

"C-could I have my phone?" Yoshiko mumbled out.

Hanamaru nodded and grabbed it off the side table. She handed it to Yoshiko, who quickly unlocked it. She plugged in the headphones and put on some music. She relaxed into Hanamaru.

Hanamaru pulled her back into her lap. Yoshiko rested her head on her chest. She wasn't shaking anymore. When thunder rang out she didn't react at all. Hanamaru smiled, happy her plan had worked.

Yoshiko was staring at the bed. Hanamaru might've solved the thunder problem, but lighting was still an issue. Every time there was a flash, Yoshiko would tense up.

Hanamaru thought about what she could do. She wasn't coming up with anything at all. It pained her to see Yoshiko so afraid. But, she was stuck. She had no idea what to do.

Hanamaru decided to just try a basic idea. She pulled Yoshiko closer to her and then covered her with the blanket. Hanamaru didn't think it would be able to help, but it was the only thing she could think of.

Hanamaru grabbed her phone and turned off the flashlight. As much as she wanted to keep it on, she didn't want it to die. Hanamaru looked down to see if Yoshiko had reacted to her, but it didn't seem like it.

Hanamaru checked the weather and was pleased to see the storm would soon lighten up. She checked the time next. It was almost three in the morning.

Hanamaru sighed. She couldn't believe it was already morning. And they had school. But, she didn't regret anything. Helping Yoshiko with her fear was enough of a reward for not getting much sleep.

Hanamaru moved the blanket and looked to see how Yoshiko was doing. She was surprised to find that Yoshiko was fast asleep, safely huddled into her body. Hanamaru smiled as she gently shifted Yoshiko and laid her on the bed. She pulled her close and prayed she wouldn't disturb her.

Hanamaru pulled the blanket off Yoshiko and put it over both of them. She then opened Yoshiko's phone and turned off her music. She took off the headphones and set them aside. She felt it wouldn't be very comfortable to sleep with them on.

Yoshiko shifted in her sleep and moved closer to Hanamaru. Hanamaru wrapped an arm around her.

"I guess even fallen angels are afraid of something, huh?" She whispered to herself as she settled into the bed to try and get some sleep.

They had school in a few hours. They'd both needed as much sleep as possible to stay awake. Hanamaru knew that practice would be a struggle. She hoped that Dia would go easy on them if they explained the issue.

"Goodnight, Yoshiko-chan. Sweet dreams." Hanamaru whispered as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Unlike with Yoshiko, thunderstorms were actually calming to Hanamaru. They helped with the eerie silence that hung over her when she was in bed. And the rain was soothing to fall asleep to as well. Her and Yoshiko were complete opposites in that regard.

…

Bonus Scene: The next morning*

The next morning Yoshiko woke up first. She was an insomniac after all. Sleep was something that was a struggle for her to begin with. Yoshiko sat up, stretching her body. She paused when she hit something with her leg. She turned and looked down. Hanamaru was still asleep beside her, curled up in the covers that Yoshiko had shed during her stretch.

Yoshiko smiled as she carefully got off the bed. She didn't want to disturb her yet. She deserved a bit more rest.

Yoshiko looked at her phone to see it was almost time to get up anyway. She went and grabbed her uniform and started changing. Once she was done, she went to wake Hanamaru. Since the power was still out her alarm wouldn't go off at all.

"Zuramaru, it's time to get up." Yoshiko called as she shook the girl awake.

Hanamaru let out a whine, before she unwillingly opened her eyes. She sat up and yawned.

"It's time to get ready for school." Yoshiko stated as she tried to busy herself with something.

Hanamaru got off the bed and went to change. She came back in dressed for school. She was still yawning a lot.

"Let's go. We're already behind schedule. Dia-san is going to kill us." Yoshiko said.

Hanamaru followed her out of the house. They walked quickly down the streets.

"Hey, Zuramaru. Uh, thank you for last night… I'm sorry if I bothered you at all." Yoshiko mumbled shyly as they approached the school.

"It's nothing, Yoshiko-chan. If you ever need help I'm here." Hanamaru replied.

"You'd really do that all over for me?" Yoshiko was in disbelief.

"Of course. I can't just let my girlfriend suffer, can I?" Hanamaru gave her a smile, before grabbing her hand and tugging her faster toward the school.

Despite the rain, nothing was closed. Everything wasn't damaged. That was a good sign.

"Zuramaru, what did I do to deserve you," Yoshiko whispered to herself as she let her girlfriend pull her along.

Hanamaru didn't hear her whisper, which Yoshiko was very happy about. She didn't want to have Hanamaru give her another pep talk about all the reasons she deserved happiness. She knew the speech by heart at this point.

"Sorry we're late!"

The End