Chapter 5

In Comforting Arms

Kotori looks around the dark hallway, clutching her bird plushy in her arms. She has to make sure nothing jumps at her once she gets to her parents' bedroom since her nightmare really woke her up. She is only halfway there and already she's feeling scared. Every time she takes a step, creaky noises kick in, making her even more frightened than when she came out of the room. She hopes Umi wouldn't notice she's gone since she doesn't want to be alone, especially when it's this late at night. She takes a few more baby steps, but she knows this isn't enough to get to both of her mother's room. All this creaking is making her very scared right now and she wants to get this over with.

She gulps and takes more baby steps, this time more than the previous ones. She clutches her bird plushy tighter, hoping it will make her feel better, however, she knows that this isn't enough either. Just a little more until she gets to her parent's room….

"Hyah!" Kotori squeaks at the feeling of both hands grabbing her shoulders, instantly dropping her stuffed animal and dropping to her knees. She looks up to see Umi next to her, shaking in fear. "U-Umi-chan? What are you doing here!?" she whispers loudly.

"I….I noticed…y-you weren't there…" Umi replies. "S-so I, ummmm…decided to follow you…"

"Shhh…okay, okay. Let's go together and tell Mama Zomi and Mama Honoka."

Umi nods and the two hold hands as they continue walking down the long hallway. Every little step they take creates more creaking sounds, making them whimper in fear, but they still gather up the courage to go further to Nozomi and Honoka's room. They keep going until they reach their destination and give a soft sigh of relief. The door is slightly open, fortunately, so slowly, but cautiously, they open the door, but the creaking noise scares Umi and practically jumps on Kotori, making her squeak loudly.

However, the noise makes Nozomi jolt her head up and turn towards the two.

"Kotori-chan? Umi-chan?" she says. "What are you two doing here this late at night?"

Kotori shyly walks toward her purple haired mother. "I…I had a nightmare…"

"You did?" Nozomi questions.

Umi runs over towards Honoka and shakes her awake. "I'm scared, too! I can't sleep alone in the dark!"

The ginger moans and opens her baby blue eyes to see her blue haired daughter in tears. "Umi-chan?" As she sits up, the shy girl plunges herself against her mother's chest, crying. "Ah, Umi-chan…"

"I'm so scared, Mama!" the shy girl whimpers. "Please let me sleep with you!"

Honoka looks over towards her wife for approval. Nozomi smiles and nods.

"I don't see why not," she says. "They're scared cause of bad dreams, so let's let them sleep with us for the night."

Umi brightens as she immediately snuggles next to Honoka with her bunny plushy next to her. She scoots closer until she closes gaps with the ginger and hugs her tightly, burying her head in her mother's chest.

"Hehe! Umi-chan, that's close enough, don't you think?"

Umi shakes her head, her face still buried in the ginger's chest, whining. Nozomi giggles softly as she tucks in Kotori next to her in between her and Honoka. Once everyone is tucked in, both Kotori and Umi snuggle close to their mothers, though Umi is already THAT close to the ginger. Honoka smiles as she strokes her daughter's hair gently to soothe her. Nozomi does the same with Kotori and the small ash-brunette sighs happily as she hugs her mother and falls fast asleep shortly after. The violet haired girl looks up at her wife with a gentle smile.

"Looks like they fell asleep," she whispers.

"Yeah," Honoka says as she looks down at her blue haired daughter. "They looks so adorable when they are asleep."

Nozomi giggles again. "Now, now, Honoka. I don't want your head to explode, ya hear~? You need to sleep, too instead of gushing of their cuteness every five minutes."

"Right, right, sorry~" Honoka laughs nervously. She looks down at her sleeping daughter and kisses her on the forehead. "Good night, Umi-chan."

"You too, Kotori-chan," Nozomi whispers to her daughter after kissing her on the forehead.

And so, the four of them fall asleep and dream good dreams.