A/N: Oh look! I decided to be non-lazy for a change. Another "Oh look!" I updated! I didn't know I could do that! That was weird... Since it was my first fanfiction and my first time receiving any reviews, I couldn't help but feel very much alive! So, I decided to write down another chapter for all of you adorable readers, you...
Trust me, I enjoy positive feedback. IT'S LIKE MY LIFEBLOOD! But do take note that I don't mind constructive criticism as well...It's like my skeletal frame! Like if I have bad posture, it's very fine for someone else to correct me. I may not be fond of negative feedback, but I don't really dislike it...
Oh, right! Disclaimer!
I don't own KagePro or any of its characters. Otherwise, it won't make sense that I am writing fanfiction right now.
Tell me if anything's wrong, okay? Don't let me embarass myself.
It was 10:53 in the evening. 2 hours passed since his bedtime. He hid under his covers. The screen of his handheld console illuminated his face. If his Okaa-san and Otou-san found out he was still awake, he would be in great trouble.
He heard a creak from his door. Immediately, he turned off his game and lay flat on his mattress, pretending to sleep.
"Onii-chan?" he heard a tiny, almost inaudible voice say. "A-are you already asleep? ... Onii-chan?"
It was Ene so he assumed that it was safe to stop pretending. He sat up and pulled the covers off of his head. "Ene-chan?" He spotted his little sister standing by the doorway, hugging a pillow with her favorite blue blanket trailing behind her like a cape. "What are you doing here?"
"Onii-chan..." She hugged her pillow tighter and stepped into the room. The moonlight that peeked in between Konoha's curtains shone on the tears running down her cheeks. "I-I had a nightmare... Can I stay here with you? I'm scared."
Seeing no reason to send her away, Konoha complied. "Fine," he said as he scooted over to make room for his younger sibling. "Why'd you bring your toys here?" He gestured to Ene's stuffed animals.
"They're scared, too," she replied as if it were normal for a triceratops plush to feel fear. She climbed up the bed and crawled under the covers beside her brother. She was still trembling from fright. She figured talking would help calm herself down. "Onii-chan, why are you still awake?"
"Ah, I... I was..." Konoha couldn't say that he was playing video games. Ene would definitely tell their parents. "I had a nightmare, too," he lied. "I was only trying to fall back asleep until you came."
"Oh." Ene nodded, trying to close her eyes. "What was it about?"
This is what their teacher had taught them before. If you lie, you would have to come up with another lie to stand up for the other so it's better to just tell the truth, right? Right! But since he'd lied already, there's no going back now.
"It was about monsters," he said in spite of his teacher's advice. "They had very scary red eyes. They had long, creepy arms that came up to claw at me." Even if it wasn't true that he dreamt about them, Konoha shivered just imagining.
Ene sat up. "Onii-chan! What a coincidence! I dreamt about almost the same thing!" Her voice was loud enough to wake their parents.
"Ene-chan, lower your voice..." Konoha told her. "You're going to wake Okaa-san and Otou-san..."
Ene covered her mouth. "Right... right...' She nodded. "Anyway, those monsters tried to eat me. It was terrible..." She remembered her nightmare and barely realised that she was already scaring herself.
They exchanged a bunch of horrific tales. Soon, they were trembling and hugging each other. They wanted to sleep but they couldn't anymore from terror.
"Onii-chan, let's not tell each other scary stories anymore, okay?" Ene's eye's glistened with unshed tears.
"I-I agree," Konoha barely managed to nod with all his shaking.
They tried to peel their arms off of each other. It was a way late into the night. Growing children needed all the rest they could have. They were about to settle into the bed until they heard an ominous laughter echo through the whole room which made them collide with one another once again.
Ene squeaked when she heard Konoha's closet door open a crack. Their trembling intensified as they spotted a single yellow eye peek from within. They realised the laughter was coming from whatever monstrosity hid inside.
It continued to laugh. Their hearts raced. They were fixated in place. Their legs have forgotten to move, overwhelmed with terror.
They gasped when the creature burst out of its hiding place. Its arms swung around uncannily in front of itself as it tried to reach for the children. A maniacal grin was painted on its face. It continued to laugh as it approached them.
"Eek!" they both screeched. They backed away to the further side of the bed. "Monster!"
"Welcome to my womb!" The monster exclaimed as it almost grabbed one of the children by the collar.
That was it before the children decided to bolt up and run. Konoha, being larger and having longer legs got to the door first. He waited for his sister to be able to get out before he shut the door behind him.
"Otou-san! Okaa-san!"
Haruka had his arms wrapped around Takane as they both slept that night. It was peaceful but only until Haruka was forced to bolt awake due to the very familiar crying of his children.
"Otou-san! Okaa-san!"
"Takane..." He shook her shoulder gently, trying to wake her aswell. "Takane," he tried again but to no avail.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. He groggily walked up the door to open it. He was rubbing his eyes when he saw his children about to pound at the wood desperately.
"Otou-san!" They hugged his legs clad with triceratops-printed pyjamas. "Otou-san, save us!"
"Save?" He finished rubbing his eyes now. "From what?"
"M-monster..." Their voices shook as they pointed down the corridor.
"Monster?" Haruka leaned out the doorway to the hall. He looked the way his children came from. He straightened his back and looked down to the children that clung to his legs. "I don't see anything..."
"It was in my room, I swear!" Konoha said as he dug his nails through the fabric of his father's pyjamas, all the way to his father's skin.
Haruka swore it hurt but decided to show otherwise. He sighed. "Hmmm... let's take a look at that monster..."
"No, Otou-san!" Ene pulled him back. "It was out to eat us!" she warned.
"Don't worry, Ene-chan. Otou-san will protect us," Haruka assured his daughter although he wouldn't know what to do if there really were a monster.
"Really?" Her eyes sparkled in admiration. "Otou-san will protect me and Konoha-nii?"
"Yes." Haruka patted her head as he flashed her a smile. "So don't be afraid now, okay? Be brave like Otou-san!" he told her even if he were really more or less just as cowardly.
"Okay..." Ene took hold of her father's hand as they walked down the dark corridor while Konoha took the other.
"In there." Konoha pointed at his bedroom door. He shivered as he remembered the monster that chased him and Ene around. He swore that the room became a total mess.
Haruka turned the knob. He cautiously pushed the door open, half-expecting that there really was a monster in the room. He laughed nervously as the door was spread wide open.
"You see? No monster at all," he told his children who were peeking from behind him. "Maybe Otou-san scared it away."
"Whaaaat?" They saw the inside of the room and nothing was out of place. There were no signs of any monster coming in. The closet doors were tightly shut and the only mess was the wrinkled covers on top of the bed that came to be only through their squirming.
"Maybe you were only imagining things," Haruka mused. "It's not impossible to see things that really aren't there when it's dark." He gently pushed Konoha into his room. "Go to sleep now, Konoha. Ene, I'll walk you back to your room."
"No!" Ene shook her head. "What if the monster comes for my room next?"
"I don't want to stay here, either!" Konoha rushed back to his father. "What if the monster comes back?"
They didn't care if they imagined the monster or not. They were still too afraid to sleep by themselves. All the more, they were also still too afraid to be thinking rationally.
"Otou-san, don't leave us alone!" They buried their faces in the fabric of his clothes.
"Haruka," they all heard a familiar voice say from down the hall.
"Okaa-san!" Konoha and Ene lunged at Takane as soon as she came into view. "Okaa-san, please don't let Otou-san make us sleep in our rooms tonight! Please!"
"Takane, what are you doing here?" Haruka asked.
"I woke up and you weren't in the room," she stated. "Then I heard the noise you and the children were making."
"Whaaaat?" Haruka couldn't believe it. "You woke up in the middle of the night? Without having twelve hours of rest?"
Takane hit him in the shoulder. It ached and he massaged it as soon as she landed the blow. "Don't say it like it's impossible," she told him.
She felt the front of her shirt dampening with her children's tears. "Okaa-san..." they whimpered.
"What's wrong?" She crouched down in front of her children, maternal instincts kicking in. She had her hands on each of their shoulders.
"Otou-san..." they tried to say accusingly.
"Otou-san." Takane looked up at Haruka whose face turned into an expression of utter mortification that his children were blaming him. It's not my fault, his expression told her. "What about Otou-san?" She turned back to her children.
"Otou-san wanted us to sleep with the monster," they cried. "Okaa-san, please don't let him do it!"
"I won't let anything of the sort happen," Takane played along. "Instead, you can both sleep with me and Otou-san in our room."
"We can?" They took both her hands as she led them back to her and Haruka's bedroom.
"Yes, you can," she answered. She looked back at Haruka who was dumbstruck and motioned him with her head to follow. He shut the door to Konoha's room and trailed after.
All four of them lay on the bed with the children in the center. Konoha and Ene slept contentedly, some drool dripping from the corners of their mouths. Haruka could barely rewrap his arms around Takane now but decided to not let it bother him.
So long as his family was sleeping peacefully, he could remain at peace as well and have a good night's rest
A/N: Aaaand... Chapter end... I really hope it wasn't too short. Forgive me! I hope I can think of a way to squeeze in some of my other head-canon families in this fic.
Please review~