Sesame's Little Ice Knight
By: The Falcon
It was dark, and stormy, and rainy and windy and scary. From his bed, the Knight of Freezing sat upright, blanket curled up around his shoulders. From where he sat, he watched the raging storm outside. Mannen's violet eyes were wide as he clutched at the blanket. It was rather worn and had been fuzzy once, but the wear was to be expected.
It was his baby blanket after all.
Of course, he would never let anyone know that he still kept it when he slept. Though, he suspected that the older Knights knew about it, but kept it quiet from the younger ones; thinking it was Mannen's quirk to tell; and Himeno had caught him with it once.
Surprisingly, she hadn't laughed at him like he had expected, only smiled warmly at him, ruffled his hair, and ran a finger across her lips knowingly. Mannen had been thankful for that.
Contrary to popular belief, the Ice Knight really wasn't as gung-ho, I'm-Gonna-Kick-Your-Ass, Don't-Treat-Me-Like-A-Little-Kid as he acted. The little one felt that he had to be brave and fearless for Hajime and Shin, because they looked to him as the oldest in their group, and if he showed fear or hesitation, they would be scared too. But when he was by himself, Mannen was
actually rather shy.
Surprise surprise.
The truth was, he was really quite a calm kid. Sure, he had his moments, but still--
"Mannen?" A quiet voice asked from the doorway. The white-haired boy looked up, startled, to see Hajime standing in the doorway, holding a sniffing Shin by his pudgy little hand. He stuffed his blanket under the covers just in time.
"Yeah? What do you want, Hajime? It's late, ya know." The Ice Knight asked, rougher than he had meant to.
"I know, but Shin's scared of the storm. He won't stop crying, and I don't wanna wake up Goh or Sasame." Hajime answered, walking over to Mannen's bed and clambering up onto it, pulling the blonde baby of the group up with him.
"Jeez Shin, would you chill?" Mannen griped softly. The Leafe Knight of Earth just looked at him, big blue eyes watery and his cute face scrunched up.
"Mannen---!" The youngest pleaded. "I'm scared." Mannen rolled his eyes.
"Look Shin, there's nothin' to be scared off. It's just a storm." The older boy looked Shin straight in the eyes, if only so he wouldn't have to look at the rage outside. Both younger boys yelped as a branch whacked against the window, making a loud noise.
"Mannen, I'm scared too!" The Knight of Water stated.
"What do you want me to do about it?" The violet-eyed boy asked in irritation.
"Can we stay with you? You're never scared." Mannen wanted to tell them that it wasn't true, that he was rather frightened himself, but didn't. With a sigh, he puffed himself up a bit and folded his arms against his blue pyjama-clad chest.
"Look, there's really nothing to be scared of. A storm's just wind, rain, noise, lightning, and hail. Hayate uses wind, are you guys scared of him?" Reluctantly, the others shook their heads. "And Rain's just water, like you Hajime. Noise is Sound, like Sasame, Lightning's like Kei, and hail's Ice, like me. Are you guys scared of us?" Shake, shake. "Then there's nothing to fear!"
Surprisingly, his own words had helped soothe Mannen's own fears, as well as the two other Knights'.
"What about meeeee?" Shin asked plaintively, and Mannen tilted his head to the side, thinking.
"You? Let's see-- I know! You're that branch gettin' smacked on the window!" However, this remark only made the youngest look like he was going to cry again.
"Mannen!!! I dun wanna get smacked!" Shin wailed.
"Chill out! Dummy, you're gonna wake up Goh, with all the noise you're making! I bet Sasame's wondering, what the hell we're all doing up here!" Mannen snapped. Shin put chubby hands over his mouth, eyes wide at the sharp tone.
"Actually boys, that's exactly what I was wondering." The remark was soft, and all three boys jolted to see a slightly amused Sasame standing in the doorway. "What's with the slumber party up here?"
"Well, I tryin' to slumber!" Mannen exclaimed huffily. "Then these guys hafta come and wake me up 'cause they're scared---"
"Hey!!" Hajime interjected loudly. "You weren't asleep! You were sitting up, lookin' out the window, and looking just as freaked out as we feel! Don't lie about it."
"I was NOT freaked out!"
"Were too!"
"Was not!"
"Were too!" Both Hajime and Shin yelled as one.
"Was not!"
"Were too!"
"Was no-"
"Enough!!!" Sasame yelled, looking thoroughly exasperated. "Just-- explain to me why you aren't asleep and in your own rooms. Okay?"
"Well, I was asleep," Hajime started, "But Shin started poking me and woke me up and wanted to sleep with me 'cause he was a'scared of the storm. But then I saw it and there was all this huge thunder and lightning and I got scared too! But we didn't want to wake you guys up, so we went to get wake up Mannen, but he was already awake." The radio personality nodded, then turned to the rather put-out looking Ice Knight.
"Yeah, and so I tried to make 'em go to sleep, but they won't stop talkin'! Sasame--" The older boy pleaded slightly, automatically reaching out and gripping the end of Sasame's shirt sleeve. The man's eyebrow rose at the unexpected contact from the normally so-not touchy-feely Knight, but said nothing about it.
"Well, you don't seem scared now, why not?" Honestly, Sasame was just curious; it was a well known fact that Shin could put out quite a cry. Hajime glanced pointedly at Mannen, who rolled his eyes skyward.
"I just told 'em that the rain was like Hajime, the wind was like Hayate, the thunder was sound like you, the lightning like Kei, the hail like me, and Shin was that branch smackin' on the window." Mannen said in a rush, face tilted downward so not to show the slight coloring on his cheeks. Sasame let a soft smile creep across his handsome features. It wasn't often that Mannen used any sort of common sense in front of them; though they knew full well he had plenty of it, and the analogies were pretty clever.
"You know, I never thought of it like that." The Sound Knight commented.
"Yeah!" Shin declared. "It's like you guys protect us!" Sasame blinked, then tilted his head.
"True. Very true." He commented. "But it's late. Time for chibi Leafe Knights to go to sleep." He waited for Mannen's customary, I'm-Not-A-Little-Kid spiel, but surprisingly, it didn't come.
Smiling, Hajime and Shin scooted under the covers next to the Ice Knight, who surprisingly didn't complain about having to share the bed, and closed their eyes, drifting off to sleep almost immediately. However, Mannen stayed awake, watching Sasame, who hadn't moved.
"Why aren't you going back to bed?" the little one asked curiously. Sasame an eyebrow at him.
"I'm waiting for you to tell me why you weren't asleep." The elder Knight said quietly, watching Mannen for his response. The boy glared at him slightly, though it lacked any venom or real meaning. "Come on, little Ice Knight." Mannen sighed.
"Okay okay. I was scared, alright? No need to get all ruffled up." He muttered. Smoothly, Sasame stood and bent down over him, reaching out a hand and stroking the soft white hair.
"Is it really such a difficult thing to admit?" He asked. "Shin and Hajime don't have any problem with saying that they're scared."
"They're different." Mannen insisted, staring into the light violet eyes.
"How are they different?"
"They can come to me if they're scared." The boy's violet-blue eyes were calm, and fixed solely on Sasame.
"As you can come to us, little one. There is no shame in it." Silence, then, "They depend on you, that's certainly true, but everyone needs someone, even tough little Ice Knights."
"You older guys don't." Mannen insisted. Sasame chuckled lightly, smiling.
"Don't we? Of course we do. When I get scared-"
"You get scared too?"
"Of course." Sasame answered. Mannen sighed.
"Well, you never show it."
"Neither do you." Sasame pointed out. "But as I was saying, when something frightens me, I usually go talk to Hayate. He doesn't say much, but he's a very good listener, and knows when I need to get something off my chest."
"Who can I talk to?" Mannen asked plaintively, actually sounding like the small, frightened child that he was. "Everyone will think I'm a wuss."
"No, they won't, I promise." Sasame said, running a lock of the soft white hair through his fingertips. "If you need to talk to someone, you talk to me. Alright?"
No response.
"Mannen." An exhale of breath. "I mean it."
"Really?"
"Really."
"You promise you won't just blow me off?"
"I promise."
"Cross your heart?"
"Cross my heart." To emphasize the action, the Sound Knight crossed his pointer finger over his heart in the familiar child's promise. A soft, seemingly uncharacteristic smile spread over the boy's features, and he nodded.
"Okay."
"Good. Now go to sleep, my little Ice Knight." Obediently, Mannen closed his eyes, and in seconds his breathing was slow and even, his young face serene in a way few ever saw. Sasame smiled and bent down lower, to brush his lips gently over the little one's forehead, then reached under the covers to pull out Mannen's precious blanket and tucked it under the violet-eyed child's arm.
On cue, Mannen curled up slightly, clutching the blanket to him as he slept. Sasame stood up and just watched him for awhile, before a voice from behind caused him to turn around.
"Everything go okay?"
"Oh, Goh. I didn't realize that you were awake." Sasame remarked quietly, so not to wake any of those sleeping contentedly. The crimson-eyed man smiled and walked forward to stand beside his fellow Knight.
"Yeah, I was already awake when I heard you go down the hall."
"How strangely perceptive of you."
"Gee thanks, now that makes me feel loved." Goh huffed, but didn't mean anything by it. "Sooo--how did it go?"
"You should know, you were listening in."
"Actually, no. I do have some form of tact."
"Riighhht."
"What is this, Bash Goh night?" The Fire Knight griped. Sasame grinned at him, then went serious.
"I do worry about him."
"I'm sure you do, and you love him just as much." Then a joking smirk appeared on Goh's features. "I bet you miss that blanket, don't you?"
"Hell yes, I do. But, I've already had it, and it appears that Mannen seems to treasure it."
"Well, it was your gift to him when he was born, I think that counts for something."
"Let's hope so." said Sasame, before turning and walking out of the room. Goh smiled lightly and stepped forward, looking upon the three forms snoozing contentedly.
"Hmm. Hope you know how much he loves you, kid." Goh's voice was low as he said the last words of the evening.
"Sasame's little Ice Knight."