Chitose, Eric and I were headed home the bar. The freezing air hitting our faces, making me pull my coat tighter around my body. I was even using my aura to warm myself. I look up at the night sky. The stars twinkling and airplanes flying by with their flashing lights. I sigh and look in front of me again.
"It's so cold out." whined Eric. I roll my eyes and look off to the right.
"Why didn't you bring a coat?" asks Chitose.
"I didn't think it'd be this cold." Says Eric. I tune out their conversation since I didn't want to hear Eric's complaining anymore. That's when I saw the door to one of the shops open and a young child, about six or seven, falls to the ground with great force. The shopkeeper standing in the doorway.
"Get out you useless brat! Don't come back!" he yells and slams the door shut. The young girl brings her knees to her chest and starts crying. Once the three of us are close enough I kneel down beside her.
"Dewa, what are you doing?" asks Chitose.
"Hey. What happened in there?" I ask her softly as to not frighten her. She looks at from overtop of her knees, sniffling.
"I was doing my daily chores for Mr. I accidently bumped a table and broke a vase. And Mr. got mad and threw me out." she says sadly.
"Where's your parents?" Her tears streamed more.
"I-I don't know. They left me alone. That's why I was working for Mr. He fed me and gave me clothes and I worked for him. Now I don't have anywhere to go." she says crying more. Something pulled in my chest when she cried. I didn't like seeing her cry and hearing about this guy throwing her out over a vase made me angry.
"You can come home with me then." I say making her look up at me in shock.
"Really?" she asks. I nod my head. She hugs me crying tears of happiness now. "Thank you!"
"So what's your name?" I ask as I pick her up.
"(Y/N)." she says.
"Pretty name for a pretty girl." I say. She blushes and pulls a strand of hair up to her face.
"Are you serious Dewa? Do you even know how to take care of a child?" asks Eric.
"Of course I do. I use to watch my cousins all the time." I say.
"Eh, that's not what I meant." he said. I head towards a clothing store first to buy (Y/N) some clothes. I let her pick them out, and since neither Chitose or Eric wanted anything to do with this they left and went home. Soon enough though (Y/N) and I arrived at my apartment. I set up the vacant room for her, since Chitose got his own apartment, there was no use for the extra room. Until now.
"Thank you for taking care of me Mr." says (Y/N).
"You can call me Dewa." I tell her while tucking her into bed.
"Okay. Thank you... Dewa." she says. I smile and ruffle her hair.
"Get some sleep. I'll introduce you to my friends tomorrow." I say leaving the room. I close the door and get ready for bed myself. I get into bed and lay down. I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
Light fills the room waking me up, I squint my eyes and look at the doorway. Since everything was blurry I grabbed my glasses and put them on. I saw (Y/N) standing in the doorway sniffling, rubbing her right eye with the sleeve of her pajamas and tears streaming down her face.
"(Y/N)? What's the matter?" I ask sleepily.
"I... I had a b-bad dream." she sniffles in between words. I throw the covers back and get out of bed. I walk over and pick her up. She immediately wraps her arms around my neck and hides her face in the crook of my neck. I rub her back and close the door. I walk back over to the bed and put my glasses back on the table. I lay (Y/N) down and lay beside her. She cuddles up to me and grabs onto my shirt. "Sorry for waking you."
"It's okay. It was just a dream. As long as you stay here, nothing bad will happen to you. I'll protect you."
"Really?"
"Of course. I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you. You'll always be safe with me. Everything is gonna be alright."
"Thank you." she says snuggling closer and wrapping her arms around me. I held her close. I don't know what it was that drove me to take this girl in, but I knew that it was the right thing to do. I felt responsible for her wellbeing. I wanted to protect her. I look down at her.
She had already fallen back to sleep. I watch her for a bit. A small smile appeared on her face. Good. Not another bad dream. I feel the fatigue wash over me again as my eyes slowly close. I will protect this child with all my power.
