I was woken up by the feeling of pins and needles in my arm as it fell asleep. The small girl's weight against my shoulder had pinched the nerve, but she was fast asleep, her face a smooth mask of dreams when I looked at her. A strand of her snow white hair had fallen over her cheek. It shimmered a silvery blue in the flickering light of the infomercial now airing on the television as I pushed it from her face and over her shoulder. My hand covered the entire side of her tiny face as I laid it against her cheek. A small sigh escaped her lips as my hand slid over her small head. She tightened her grip on my neck. I had never imagined that someone so small could be so strong. Her death grip nearly choked me as I worked to free my arm from beneath her small sleeping form. She slipped further between me and the back of the couch where we had passed out watching a documentary. She should not have been up with me, but she had wandered into the room, crying that she had had a nightmare and I had not had the heart to send her to back to bed alone. I had told myself that I would put her to bed again after just a few cuddles. After all, her mother had fought hard to get her to sleep once already. And it had been an especially difficult fight since I had not gotten home early enough to spend our usual playtime together.
I had heard the crying and her mother's frustrated voice the moment I had walked through the door. The guilt at being late ate at me as I tried to wind down for the day. Once the crying and yelling had stopped, I peeked in on her. She was sleeping peacefully then, her small hand stretched out to her mother's arm. I could not help but smile as I watched the two most precious women in my life sleeping. Despite everything they put each other through, I thought they were both beautiful. I slid the tiny hand from my lover's arm and tucked it beneath the blanket. Her mother stirred and looked up at me with her big loving eyes. I kissed the top of her head before telling her that she should get to bed. She laid her dark head against my chest for a moment, her arms snaking around my waist and squeezing me close to her. I nodded as she whispered to me to not stay up too late before she sauntered off to bed herself. I stood there for a moment, as I often found myself doing, watching the four year old sleep peacefully. Everything she did amazed me. Her existence amazed me. It blew my mind to think that I had a hand in her creation. After watching for a long moment, I pulled the door closed behind me.
It was unlike her to wake in the middle of the night, but on the rare instances that she did, she always managed to find me. It was no surprise that she sought me out tonight with tears streaming down her cheeks as she complained about a monster in her room. She always looked for me when she was scared or felt bad, or when she wanted something. She tried to wipe the tears from her eyes as she walked up to me and crawled into my lap. These times hit me the hardest. She was usually so tough and strong—like the little dragon she was, but when she cried, I melted. For the longest time, Mokuba had been my weakness, but now even he admitted that it was her. Her little tears were like acid on my heart. She slowly stopped crying as I held her and before long, she had fallen back to sleep. I followed quickly, or I must have as I do not remember much after she crawled into my lap.
She sprawled on the couch as much as her small form could as I stood and stretched. I bent over and scooped her up, propping her on my hip as I had when she was much smaller. Her blue eyes fluttered open briefly before she settled her head on my shoulder and fell back to sleep.
"You are getting heavy, baby girl." I muttered to her, shifting her weight on my hip as I carried her upstairs and to the small bed in her room. She curled into a small ball as I laid her down and pulled the blanket over her once more. She had thankfully stated asleep through the entire move, but she turned over once more and her hair fell over her face again.
"You have always been there to protect me." I said, brushing the silvery strands from her face. "Across time, across space. You've even saved me from myself, Kisara." I kissed her temple as she slept. "Now it's my turn to protect you, my little dragon."
A/N: This is entirely stream of consciousness style writing with very little editing, so please forgive any grammatical errors. I really want a happy ending for Seto, and I think he would make an excellent father once he got his own head on straight.