Senea: Hello again! Another one out for you with different characters! Thanks again for reading this and for faving and reviewing and everything, all of you are awesome! Here you are, enjoy~

Prompt: Thunderstorms - Eric gets to act a bit like a big brother now

Thunderstorms

"Aaah, it's really coming down, huh?" Kamamoto said, looking outside the window.

Kusanagi nodded absentmindedly, wiping down the counter. He gazed up to look at the storm that had just started. It was raining so hard it was practically dark outside even though it was early afternoon. The only lights showing up were flashes of lightning. Thunder soon following it.

It had already been a quiet day at the bar, the only ones around were Kamamoto, himself, Anna and Eric. Even the mighty king had gone out and wasn't going to be back any time soon. If anything, he was too lazy to move in the rain and was sleeping in it…

After a rather large crack of lightning followed by an extremely loud thunder, the bartender noticed the young blond almost jumping halfway in the air from his seat on the couch. After calming down enough to sit back down he hid his face in his hood, trying to act as if nothing was wrong. Even going so far as to plant his feet squarely on the ground to show he's not affected. Considering he rarely did that was a sure fact he wasn't doing well. Not two minutes later, he winced as another round of thunder made its way through the sky. His hands gripped the edge of the couch Kusanagi could see them turning white from his position.

The man vaguely wondered just how many problems this kid had. He was debating if he should call Totsuka or Fujishima to come and take care of him, they seemed to do quite well in calming the other. As he looked over to the other child he realized he wasn't the only one to notice the scared behaviour in the blond.

Anna sat quietly on her chair, her eyes no longer on her marbles or drink but staring thoughtfully at Eric. Though her face didn't move her eyes showed much more, and when Eric shuddered her eyes widened and almost look concerned. It didn't take long for the girl to decide on something. She knew what she had to do.

Kusanagi watched as Anna lightly and gracefully got off of her chair, quietly walk to the back of the bar and took Totsuka's blanket, the one that he used to sleep on the couch. He saw her unfold it and drape it over her, almost looking like a ghost. As she walked away she didn't return to her seat, instead, she walked right over to the couch where Eric was and since his legs were down, climbed up and sat on his lap. The bartender could only blink in surprise and disbelief, this was new.

Eric was thinking the same thing as he almost jumped out of his seat. Not from the thunder rolling outside but from the little girl covered in a blanket decided to sit on his lap. "U-Uhm…w-w-why…?" He managed to choke out, his eyes wide staring at the white haired girl.

She merely turned, red eyes meeting blue. "The lightning." She quietly said. On cue, a flash lit up the sky and bar and she turned the other way and hid more inside the sheet. He felt her shiver slightly and he blinked in confusion.

She was scared of thunderstorms…too?

Eric frowned slightly, staring at the white bundle in his lap. He had never seen Anna afraid before or really, anything that wasn't a blank stare. Though when she looked at him there was a bit of a chill he would feel, he never went out of his way to talk or interact with her since he joined. He had no idea how to deal with little children, or girls so ignoring was what he tended to do. Even so, her being scared didn't sit well with him, though for the life of him he couldn't figure out why.

"It's…uhm…" Eric started, his voice dying a bit when she turned her head back to look at him. "It's…not something to be scared of…"

She tilted her head, ignoring the nervousness in his voice. "It's not?"

He nodded, trying to look anywhere but where she was. "Y-yeah. The storm…won't hurt you."

"Why?"

"Huh?" He blinked, finally looking at the white haired girl, he was not expecting more questions.

"Won't it hurt?" She clarified, continuing to stare at him.

He didn't know!

"Ah…well…" Eric opened and closed his mouth, trying his best to figure out a response. "We're inside, so…"

She continued to stare at him, not convinced.

Eric tugged a bit on his hair, thinking. What would a kid listen to? "Do you, know why there are thunderstorms?" He asked.

She shook her head.

"Uhm…you see…It's because of ..." He trailed off, his words slow as he tried to come up with something. "Mother Nature. She's fighting."

She tilted her head, he almost thought her eyes started to glow from curiousity. "Fighting?" She repeated.

He nodded. "It's her time to reset the world." He explained, the words somehow coming easily to him now. "The rain is to clear away all the bad things that are in the air and to feed the plants and trees. Lightning is to slice through the thick air, so we can breathe better and keep us cool. The thunder wakes up all the good things like the plants so the rain can energize them." He tilted his own head as he continued, the words familiar to him but he couldn't place it. "And it's dark out so people understand not to bother her, that way she can get more work done."

As soon as the story was done, Eric relaxed a bit himself, his mind wandering. He had forgotten about that story his mother told him when he was young, until now. She would always tell him that about thunderstorms and it had always made him feel better, knowing there was good coming from the scary noises, and that made it not scary. He had gotten over his fear until Hikawa thought it would be fun to place him on a roof in a middle of a thunderstorm. And by then, he had blocked out so many things his parents had told him or done with him his fear came back.

He got knocked out of his thoughts as he felt Anna leave his lap. But instead of leaving like he thought she would, she managed to sit beside him and he felt a light fabric fall onto his shoulders and head. She covered him with a part of the blanket. He stiffened a bit in surprise and looked at her, wondering what she was up to now.

"It's warmer." She said simply, leaning against the older one. She was no longer shivering, and for that Eric felt a little glow of happiness rise in his chest, knowing he helped her out.

Thunder roared, causing the blond to widen his eyes, but, with Anna and the blanket around him, and the story remembered, he relaxed. There wasn't anything to be scared of. Not now.

Kusanagi leaned his head on his hand that was on the counter, smiling slightly as he enjoyed the view of the little girl and young man helping each other out. Soon they didn't seem to be bothered by the storm that was still raging on outside. In fact he was pretty sure they were napping, side by side.

Kamamoto watched as well, though a look of confusion was on his face. He turned to look at the bartender. "I didn't know Anna was afraid of thunderstorms." He exclaimed, baffled by the new information.

Kusanagi smile grew, going back to wiping some dishes. "She's not."

Senea: Cute huh? Tell me what you think please leave a review if you can, see you next time!