Taken by Surprise (Sugawara x Daichi)

First Meeting

(Age 5)

"Papa, there's something outside my window," Ichika whined desperately to Sugawara, who was working on an assignment for his students. He sighed and turned to her.

"I'm pretty sure no one is going to be in the middle of the woods right now." He waited for her to walk away, but she stood there until he sighed again. "I'll go tuck you in okay?"

Ichika smiled brightly and skipped off to her small bedroom. She waited for her father patiently as he walked in. He smiled and picked her up to bring her to her pale yellow bed.

"Now you need to go to sleep, Noya is very energetic and will want to play with you all day tomorrow so you need plenty rest," Sugawara said softly. The small girl nodded and let her father slip the bed sheets over her before kissing her forehead. "I'll see you in the morning, goodnight."

"Goodnight papa," she yawned, watching Sugawara walk out of the room. Right when she started closing her eyes to fall asleep, a soft glow came from her window. The same glow she saw a little bit ago, and the day before. She sat up slowly, rubbing one of her eyes with a small fist before crawling to her window slowly.

When she looked out, there was nothing. Just the trees that surrounded the cabin and the night sky that glittered with stars. Ichika was about to just ignore the glow and go back to bed when something flashed, causing her to scream and shuffle backwards, falling off her bed. She grabbed her blanket and pulled it over her body to hide herself the best she could.

The light turned on suddenly and someone ran towards her, lifting up the blanket.

"Ichika, are you okay?" Daichi asked, looking around her arms and legs to see if she had gotten hurt. Ichika crawled behind him and pointed at the window.

"Something is out there!" she cried. Daichi stood up and walked to her window to look outside.

"I don't see anything. What did you see?" Ichika started up at him. She didn't exactly know what it was, it came and then it disappeared. The girl looked down and sniffled. "Oh, Ichika, it's okay. How about you sleep with me and papa tonight, okay?"

Ichika nodded and went with her father to his room, looking back at the window one more time before her door was closed.
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(Age 12)

"Can I go to the market, dad?" Ichika asked, leaning over the couch. Sugawara chuckled and looked at her.

"At what will you be doing at the market today?" he asked, sipping at his cup of tea. Ichika laughed and stood up straight.

"I'm meeting up with some friends from school. We're going to the pond that you met father at after getting some ice cream from the market," she explained. Sugawara thought about it for a moment and sighed.

"Just be back before it's dark. The woods gets really dark at night and it's hard to find your way back," he warned looking at her with a soft smile. Ichika nodded and skipped to the door to put on her shoes to leave.

The market place was super busy, as expected by everyone. It took her a while to find her friends in the huge crowd. Ichika was only able to find them because Chotan fell in the fountain that was in the middle of the village.

"Wow, you cant go a day without tripping over yourself," she laughed, looking down at the boy. Chotan huffed and stood up, picking up his hat and wringing it out the best he could.