Sinikka tosses and turns in bed as the same recurring dream takes over. Blue flames depriving her of oxygen and burning her skin with a freezing burn. She continues to scream out, hearing nothing but the flickering and crackling of the fire around her. It only lasts a moment before she is shaken from her nightmare and greeted by the red light of her father's aura. He looks tired, as though he hasn't been sleeping for the sake of Sinikka.

"You're okay." His deep voice soothes her instantly, sitting up and holding onto him tightly, and feeling the warmth of the aura around him. "Same dream?"

She didn't have to answer, he knew she was having that dream over and over again without any explanation. If it continues to keep up, the two would have to find a way to get sleep without the nightmares and the up all night before they get sick from sleep deprivation. And if there is anything his clan hated more than a pissed-off Mikoto: a sleep-deprived pissed-off Mikoto.

"Let's get you something to drink." He says, seeing her reply with a nod before following him down to the bar.

Making it down to the bar, Mikoto warms up some milk for the girl and pours himself some coffee. It was already 2 in the morning, so he had no idea if he would be able to go to bed or not. Mikoto wants to keep an eye on the girl for the rest of the night in case she has another nightmare but if she doesn't, he would have wasted another night to stay up on watch.

Mikoto and Sinikka sat next to each other at the bar, each with a drink in front of them in complete silence with only his aura giving them some light. Mikoto was in deep thought before Sinikka's hushed voice pulled him back into reality.

"Daddy," Mikoto looks over at Sinikka, finding her staring at the untouched milk and clenching the large t-shirt she usually wears to bed. "What's wrong with me?"

Mikoto couldn't help but stare at her in surprise.

"Sinikka,"

"I want it to stop!" At this point, Mikoto could see a light glow of some tears falling down her face. Sinikka trembled in her seat as anxiety overwhelmed her, her tears burning her cheeks as they fell uncontrollably.

Mikoto couldn't say anything. He simply watches the girl for a long moment before pulling her into him and enveloping her with his arms.

He wasn't great with feelings, especially crying, little girls. But he could only rock her back and forth in his lap and allowed her to cry before she grew silent and fell into a deep sleep in his embrace.

Mikoto brings his lips to the top of her head and kisses her dark blue hair, stroking it as he continues to rock her in her sleep.

"I don't know what's wrong with you." He whispers to himself, a tightening in his chest arising as he continues to try to find a way to help her in any way possible.

~*~ Lite A Flame ~*~

Yata lets out a yawn as he follows the little girl around the bookstore. Bookstores weren't his favorite places to spend his free time, but he was assigned to watch Sinikka today. He really liked her so she wasn't the worst company to be around, it's just that she wants to spend most of her days and money at bookstores.

"Are ya done yet?!" Yata groans as Sinikka ignores the redhead as she scans the spines on the books. "You have five books already! Isn't that enough?"

"I was trying to find the third book from a series that I like. I thought they would have it." Sinikka sighs and drops her head. "Maybe I'll find it at another one."

"Great. We can go. I'm starting to get hungry." Yata voices as he follows to the checkout.

"Do you know what you want to eat?" Sinikka asks.

"Heard there is a new ramen place around here. You want to go check it out?"

Sinikka smiles brightly. "Okay!"

Yata blushes and looks away from the cute child. Even though he was comfortable around her, anytime Sinikka showed any cuteness and innocence towards him, he would suddenly get butterflies in his stomach.

"Misaki, you're red." Sinikka points out as she grabs the bag with books inside.

"What did I say about calling me that?!" Yata shouts, blushing even harder. "Ugh! Whatever. Let's just go grab some food."

Yata strode out of the bookstore and barely even waits for the girl to follow as he stomps down the street.

"Yata! Wait!" Sinikka attempts to run after him, lugging the heavy bag of books behind her as she tries to catch up.

"This is why you shouldn't buy so many books!" Even though Yata shouts at the girl, he grabs the bag and carries it with ease, and shortens his stride to allow Sinikka to keep up.

"Thank you."

"Whatever."

The two continue to walk in silence as they navigate the city. Yata checks his phone for the address of the shop before he finds a shortcut through a back street.

"I'm hungry…" Sinikka complains.

"Yeah, me too. This road cuts our trip in half so we could get there in 5 minutes instead of 10."

"Well well well, isn't this a surprise," Yata and Sinikka look forward and find a familiar figure in front of them. "Misaki."

Saruhiko stood in the middle of the road with a toothy smirk on his face. He looked almost excited to see his old friend. He wore casual clothing, indicating that he was off duty but Yata was able to notice the pouch he wore on his jeans that carried his throwing knives. But he didn't know if this meeting was intentional or coincidental, but he didn't feel right about it.

"Sinikka, you can run along. This is between us adults." Saruhiko states, pulling out three of his throwing knives and lighting them with his blue aura.

"No! Himi! Please don't fight!" Sinikka shouts, standing in front of Yata in defense.

"You're not fun to play it. So move." Saruhiko grins before throwing two of the knives towards the two.

"Get out of the way!" Yata pushes Sinikka out of the way, using the books to deflect the knives.

"Let's dance, Misaki."

Saruhiko throws more knives as he closes the distance between him and Yata, his blue aura surrounding him.

Yata didn't have a weapon in him. All he could use were the books and his skateboard, which were both useless weapons for the offense so all he could do was play defense.

As the knives missed him, a sudden glance towards Sinikka made him hesitate. He couldn't tell clearly but he thought he saw tears falling.

"Pay attention." Saruhiko kicks Yata on his side and tosses him onto the wall.

Yata crumpled and groaned in pain as his rib felt broken. He could barely get on his knees before falling again as dizziness took over and his breathing became labored.

"Stop hurting him!" Sinikka ran in front of Yata, holding her arms out to defend the injured clansman.

"You're going to get hurt if you stand between us like this, Sin," Saruhiko states with a frown while spinning a throwing knife in his hand.

"Sin-" Yata groans in pain as he tries to call out for the girl.

"Oh well."

Tossing the knife, Sinikka felt the world around her slow down for a moment before adrenaline kicked in and her red eyes suddenly glowed a bright icy blue. The air around her freezes and a shield of ice appear in front of her and Yata.

The ice stops the knife before it even gets near the girl before dropping on the ground loudly. Then the shield disappears just as fast as it appeared, leaving a stunned look on both Yata and Saruhiko.

"Hey, you might actually be fun to fight." Saruhiko's expression quickly changes to excitement as he goes to pick up six more knives, another spike of adrenaline running through Sinikka.

"Enough!" Her eyes glowed a bright red over her crimson iris before she felt a force of heat left her body and a ring of red fire appeared around her before being thrown towards the blue clansman.

Saruhiko was barely able to move a muscle before the attack hit him and he was thrown hard against the building behind him. He was able to get a groan out before passing out of the asphalt, his knives scattered around him and his blue aura disappearing.

"Sinikka, how," Yata was barely able to get anything out before he let out another cry in pain.

"Yata! We need to go home! You're hurt!" Sinikka completely pushes back the scene that just happened a few moments ago, turning all her attention on the clansman.

"Hold on, hold on. Let me get on my skateboard and you'll have to push me back." Yata hisses as he sits on his skateboard, the pain becoming almost unbearable.

While Yata tried to keep his mind off the pain, he couldn't help but reminisce about the entire episode. Did she really just show some of her potential?