I woke up to the sounds of quiet sobbing. At first I thought it was Rosa or maybe even Jackie. But when I looked around, I discovered that the source was both much closer and someone entirely different.
"Y-Yada..."
Ichirou kicked and turned in his restless sleep, grief written on his sleeping face. Whatever dream he was having seemed to pain him.
"Hey, runt." I said, shaking him gently. But it wasn't enough to wake him.
"Ichirou." I said more firmly, but still, he wouldn't wake from his nightmare.
"Go...sai...Gome...."
His shoulders shook as he sobbed. Whatever he was having was now getting worse.
"Damnit, what do I do?"
As I said that to myself, an old memory bubbled up. The feeling of warmth and safety around me as I woke from my own nightmares drove me to act to try and provide that to Ichirou.
I wrapped my arms around him as best I could and pulled him close. As he struggled with me, I began to rock him gently while humming an old tune whose words I had long forgotten.
My quick action proved to be useful, as Ichirou's body began to relax, his sobbing dissipating until the typical look of serenity returned to his sleeping face.
While it seemed safe enough to let him go, I knew that trying to get over a bad nightmare would take much longer. So after making myself more comfortable, I dozed off with him in my arms as I hummed the tune my father had sung when I was scared...