Sweet Natsuki

Night Cries

I slowly found myself waking up to some noises. As I started to gain consciousness, I could tell that the noises were of someone sniffling, as if someone was crying.

I felt Natsuki shivering next to me. I felt a deep feeling of relief coming over me, as well as concern. I slowly patted Natsuki's back.

"Natsuki," I whispered.

"Huh," she said before her sniffling suddenly stopped.

"Are you okay? What's wrong," I asked as I sat up next to her.

She didn't say anything for a while. She just sat up and stayed silent for a couple of seconds before suddenly throwing herself onto me and bursting into tears.

She started saying some things, but I couldn't understand through her tears. I just hugged her and patted her back as I told her "it's okay."

After crying for a while, she sat up, trying to clear her face of tears. I hugged her again, which led her to cry a little more, but much less than before as she hugged me back.

"What happened," I asked her in my most gentle tone.

"I-I can't remember," she said. "I just, something happened, and I felt..."

She broke down into tears once again. I hugged her tighter as she continued to cry.

"It's okay," I said.

"It was really scary," she said as she cried. "I don't even know what happened, but I saw things..."

She let go of me and rubbed her eyes as she tried to stop crying. It hurt me to see her like this.

"What did you see?"

She seemed to be thinking about it. It looked like she wanted to cry again, but she didn't let herself.

"I saw... h-hi-"

And with that, she broke down once again. I was concerned about how she was feeling, but I was pretty sure she was just freaked out about what happened to her. Nonetheless, I comforted her anyway. I wouldn't be able to understand what she had went through.

I quickly brought her to me and hugged her.

"Him," I asked, based on what she seemed to be trying to say before. "Who's him? Who's that?"

She just cried. She couldn't really throw it out there, but she seemed really hurt by someone's actions.

I wouldn't know where to start, though. She doesn't hang around all that many people. The only other guy she's been alone with is with Robbie...

At least to my knowledge.

And well, I know Robbie wouldn't hurt her. Robbie and her seemed really good, I wouldn't expect for him to bring her any pain.

I grabbed Natsuki's shoulders and did my best to look at her in the dark.

"Natsuki, who's 'him?'"

"I... I don't wanna talk about it," she said as her voice broke before she went into tears once again.

It seemed like talking wasn't gonna cut it... I wasn't gonna get it out of her, and I didn't want to force her to talk. That just ain't right.

"Hey, it's okay," I said as I patted her back befor bringing her in for another hug. "Look, I'm not gonna make you talk if you ain't comfortable with it. But just know that I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you, okay? I don't know who you saw... but you can always call on me. No ones gonna get to you without getting through me first."

She hugged me tighter as she calmed down a little. I just held her and patted her back, waiting for her to be fully calm.

It felt like forever... I didn't really have a problem with keeping her in comfort, but I was feeling a little sleepy. Still, I just continued to hold her until she finally let me go.

She sat in front of me and wiped her eyes for a while before suddenly apologizing.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"What? No no, it's okay, you don't need to be sorry. Look, it happens. Did you have a nightmare?"

"I honestly don't know. I just felt so helpless... I felt afraid and vulnerable, and I couldn't move," she said. "And then I started seeing things..."

"Hey, it's okay," I said as I grabbed her hand. "Whatever you saw is not there anymore. It must've just been a bad dream."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"It'll be okay. It's pretty late, we should head back to bed... but if you need anything, don't be afraid to wake me up, okay?"

"Okay," she said as she lied down on the bed.

She got under the covers as I went ahead and did the same. She moved a little bit before finally adjusting into a single position, making slight movements here and there.

I still felt a little worried about what she had went through, but I tried not to think about it too much. A little part of me felt like it was more than just a nightmare... but honestly, I was probably just overthinking it.

Natsuki is an innocent girl. She's gonna be afraid of something's, whether they be known or unknown. Hell, I'm afraid of a lot of things... and I've had nightmares too. No ones safe from them, no matter how old or fearless you are.

Somethings gonna scare you.

I went ahead and tried to head to bed. I put one arm around Natsuki before slowly bringing her close to me. She sorta started scooting herself close to me on her own afterwards, so I was sure she didn't mind. Maybe she even felt comforted.

With that, I slowly fell back asleep.