Title: Safe from the Storm

Prompt: Haven

Characters/pairings: Chibi-Usa+Kunzite

Notes: Chibi-Usa is going by Usagi here since that's what she's called before going back to the past, and she's about three or four here. Crystal Tokyo is only a few years old as well. This is manga-based, but the Kings' color schemes come from the lining on their uniforms of the anime (red for Jadeite, green for Zoisite, yellow for Nephrite, and blue for Kunzite), their symbols from the four sacred animals who rule the four directional houses of the stars from eastern astronomy (Suzaku, Byakko, Seiryuu, and Genbu).

In the beginning of Crystal Tokyo, Usagi often spent most of her time by herself or with Diana since everyone was always so busy. Mama and Papa were constantly meeting people, signing papers, or leaving for a few days in a row. And wherever Mama went, the Sailor Soldiers were sure to follow, or at least most of them. Mercury tended to remain in the castle, keeping a close eye on the constant flow of new data and information. Usagi rarely met any of the Outer Soldiers besides Pluto, and she didn't get to visit too often either. Luna was always with her mother and Artemis was more of a distant acquaintance, the father of her friend and little more.

It made for a very lonely life when her parents disappeared to faraway places—Diana and Pluto would try to keep her distracted, and when Mercury became her tutor she kept her busy with homework, but it wasn't the same.

There were other people around, though she really didn't know them well—the Kings were her father's protectors, but they remained shadowy figures mostly. They kept to themselves and the royal family, protecting and serving from the shadows while the Sailors were the more public security. Zoisite was a confusing but charming man in Usagi's opinion—he was the friendliest to her, always stopping to wish her a good day or chat for a bit. He was interesting—he would impress her with displays of leaping fire, dancing ice crystals, or hurricanes of blossoms that left her breathless and giddy. But he helped Mercury to gather new information, so he vanished constantly.

Nephrite had a temper, but he had never snapped at her like the way she'd seen him do with others. To her, he would nod and smile, but otherwise let her be. Once he'd shown her his great telescope the endless sea of stars, pointing out the planets and moons. She liked him well enough, but he could be so intimidating and he was constantly with Papa, hiding literally in the shadows, constantly watching.

Usagi knew and saw Jadeite the least—he was always gone, usually on diplomatic assignments or sometimes more covert missions that she wasn't supposed to hear about. All she knew of him that he was a sad figure, constantly alone when not with Papa or his fellow Kings. Sometimes she spied him drawing in a big sketch book, but she was too afraid to approach him.

Kunzite, however, was her favorite of the four. He was also the one gone the most, but on the rare days he was there, she delighted in escaping to his quarters and talking with him until someone finally drew them both out.

The first time she actually got to visit him had been on a night where both her parents were gone, when she awoke from a nightmare only to find a storm raging against her window panes. Frightened, she tried to find Diana, but the kitten was gone, probably spending the night with her own parents again.

"Traitor," Usagi sniffed, wishing she could be between her own parents for once. A spectacular crash of thunder rattled her windows, making her squeak and dash out of the room in search of someone to visit. She didn't care who, just as long as she wasn't by herself.

The Sailor Soldiers were gone except for Mercury, and she was probably in bed at that time. Her first thought had been Pluto, but the Soldier of Time had her own duties and Mama had told her to not be a constant bother to Puu. She thought next of just joining Diana and her parents, but then she knew that could only be awkward and Diana loved having her parents to herself nearly as much as Usagi did. She pondered visiting Zoisite or even Nephrite, but then she remembered that they and Jadeite too had gone with Papa on his trip.

The only one left she could think of was the Leader of the Kings himself, Kunzite. She hesitated at the thought of bothering him, not just because he was such an important person both as a protector but as a friend to her father but because she never had a real chance to talk to the man before. Another blast of thunder decided it for her, however, and she took of running down the halls, trying to remember where exactly the Kings' rooms were.

She slowed down as she neared entered the more unfamiliar halls where the Kings stayed. She recognized Zoisite and Nephrite's rooms, with their green and golden doors respectively and their heraldry symbols embossed upon them. If she wasn't in such a hurry, Usagi would have stopped to admire the way Zoisite's scarlet bird stood out from the green, or the way Nephrite's white tiger curled into a shining arch. The doors were exquisite and worth their weight in gold, but she failed to pay them the attention to do the delicate detail work that had been put in. She paused at the red door—Jadeite's door, with the spiralling blue dragon on it—before creeping on, trying to look for Kunzite's door.

Finally she found it—the door was pale blue, nearly silver, with a large black turtle on it. Usagi would have pondered over the choice of the turtle—why a turtle when the other creatures seemed more powerful and interesting? Had Kunzite himself chosen it, and for what purpose?—but she flinched at as thunder rumbled again, barely muted by the thick crystalline walls. Timidly, she knocked at the great door, wondering if she should have gotten a servant to announce her or to at least ask if the King was even awake.

Luck was with her for once though. There was a muffled "Enter" from the other side of the door—trembling on wobbly legs, Usagi pulled the heavy door open and peeked inside.

All the Kings' rooms were set up the same, Zoisite had told her once. The all had an antechamber for receiving guests, an office to one side to work and meet with her parents and perhaps the Sailor Soldiers, a bath on the opposite side of the antechamber, and their own bedrooms behind the antechamber. She hadn't had the chance to see if he was telling the truth before, but as Usagi peeked in, she saw that—at least for once—Zoisite had been honest. The door to the office was open and Kunzite stood looking out at her from it. She worried for a moment that she caught him at a bad time—he looked like he was getting read to go to bed soon. The first button of his uniform was undone, and his cape was lying across the back of one of the comfortable looking chairs near the large fireplace.

"Princess?" he asked, startling her. "Do you need something?"

"I…" she tried, stammering. There was a great crash of thunder, making her jump and yelp. "I-I'm sorry…I, uh…"

She knew in the next instant he must have known some children her age before—he immediately smiled in a warm comforting way she saw on her own Papa's face, and her heart stopped pounding so hard. "Would you like to join me, my princess? It's much more comfortable in here than out there."

Shyly, she stepped in and quietly shut the door behind her but remained next to the door, head ducked a little, and her wringing her hands behind her back.

He sat down on the overstuffed chair before her and motioned her over. "You picked a good time to visit, Small Lady—I just called for some hot chocolate to be brought up. Would you like to join me?"

She perked up at that. "I like hot chocolate," she admitted before finally shuffling forward to perch on the couch opposite from his chair.

"Good then—nothing's better than a good cup of hot chocolate than on a blustery, stormy night," he replied, leaning back into his chair, looking quite comfortable.

"Why's that?" she asked, trying to think of something to say.

"Because that's what my mother always did for me whenever a storm kept me up when I was your age," he told her, propping his elbow up on the arm of the chair, and resting his cheek in the palm of his hand.

Usagi blinked and tried to imagine the tall, calming man in front of her as a boy her age, perhaps just as spooked of a storm as herself. She failed abysmally though, and screwed up her face as she tried again to picture it.

He laughed at the look on her face. "Alright, it might be hard to imagine, but I swear it's true," he chuckled. "Nearly everyone's afraid of thunderstorms at that age."

"I'm not," she tried to say loftily, but perhaps something heard her because there was a particularly loud crash of thunder that shook the room. "We-well, maybe a little," she amended.

"Then you're still a very brave girl, princess," he said.

She stared. "Brave? Me?"

He nodded solemnly. "If I was your age and there was a storm over head, the only reason I would get out from under the covers is if one of my parents was there with me. I never would have walked the length of your rooms to mine by myself," he paused then added. "My sisters were the same way too."

Usagi sat up taller, interested. "You had sisters?"

He smiled, but instead of getting that distant look in his eyes like most people did when she saw them remembering something, his gaze was clear and focused, startling her a little. "Three of them, actually."

"Really?"

"Mm hmm—their names are Suma, Yume, and Yuki. Yume and Yuki are twins and the youngest. Suma's just started going to a university not that long ago," he answered. "They're younger than Nephrite's siblings at least."

Usagi propped elbows on her knees, and rested her chin in her hands. "I know Zoisite's got a brother, but I didn't know Nephrite had brothers and sisters!"

"Well, a sister—Marie if I remember right—and four brothers," he corrected. "And they have children too. He has a large family."

"Does Lord Jadeite have a family too?" Usagi asked excitedly.

This time Kunzite paused, like he was mulling something over. "Jadeite doesn't have blood relatives, per se. He doesn't like his family talked about though."

She frowned. "Why's that?"

"He has his reasons," he answered in that infuriating way grownups do when they know something they didn't want to tell children her age. She started to ask what reasons they could be, but just as she started to speak, there was a knock at the door. "Enter," Kunzite called before she could try and ask again.

A servant walked in, carrying a tray with two cups on it. "Your drinks, sir," the servant murmured, putting a cup before her and then him. Taking a step back, the servant bowed respectfully to both of them. "Will you need anything else, my lord?"

"No, this will be all. I'll take the cups down myself in the morning," he replied. The servant nodded and bowed again before slipping out of the room. "Drink up, your highness; I guarantee it's quite good."

It was good, she found, not instant but real homemade cocoa and she was willing to bet who ever made it used a similar recipe to Jupiter's, although she found it just a little lacking, but then so did everything not made by Jupiter. Usagi took a sip before pausing to stare at the two cups. "How did you know to have two cups brought up, Lord Kunzite?"

He paused then chuckled before taking another sip. "I had another guest earlier, but they left before we could drink together. That's why it was lucky for you to show up when you did—I thought I was going to have to drink both cups then."

She giggled. "Why'd your guest leave so soon then?"

For a second, Usagi was surprised to see something flash in his green gray eyes. It disappeared before she could recognize it, however, and Kunzite returned his eyes to his drink before taking another sip. "Oh, something came up is all," he answered, again using that tone that said he wasn't saying everything, like all adults did. "But now, I'm afraid I have a question for you."

Usagi paused, cup half way to her mouth. "Um, okay—I'll try to answer," she added quickly, not wanting him to think she was being rude or childish—for some reason, she found herself wanting this man to treat her like a grownup—to not think he had to use that hiding tone adults used, and also she liked that he called her brave. She wanted to keep thinking that and to keep thinking better things too.

"May I ask why you sought me out—or rather, why were you awake at all?" he asked, before smiling. "Storm keeping you up as well?"

She deflated a little—just when she realized she wanted her to try and treat her like a grownup he asks a question where the answer would make her look like a little kid. Looking for someone to comfort from a nightmare and a storm didn't sound very grownup. So, she decided to go with his reasoning. "It is really loud," she mumbled, not meeting his eyes as she lied.

He hummed under his breath for a moment, a tuneless, but in her opinion, thoughtful sound as he took another sip. "I see," he murmured.

"And…" she began, feeling a pang of guilt—lying wasn't very grownup either. Was it? But then she stopped and scrambled to think of something else to say as he looked up at her expectantly. "And I came because…I…didn't think anyone else would talk with me."

"Well," he began before his eyes and smile softened, warming her as much as the drink. "I am glad you came to visit. It's always nice to have good company to talk to."

She beamed, feeling for once like an adult, like she was helpful to him just by being there. "Can—can I come by again then? To keep you company?"

He grinned. "It would be an honor and a privilege, my princess." After a moment, he glanced upward, like he heard something. Usagi quickly did the same. "Ah, I do believe the storm has stopped," he announced before looking back to her. "I believe that we can both sleep easy now." She wilted a little, but before she could excuse herself hesitantly, he stood and walked to her side. "May I have the honor to escort you to your room, Small Lady?"

He's like a prince, she thought excitedly while blushing. "Oka—I mean! Yes, yes, you may," she corrected herself. He smiled warmly and offered his hand. He helped her down and led her back to her room. She stopped in front of her door, suddenly wishing it could be like his and the other Kings with a special color and her own sign on it. Maybe pink with a big white bunny on it, that could be cute!

"Good night, princess, and sweet dreams," he said affectionately, kneeling down and even kissing the back of her hand, making her blush again.

"Th-thank you for the escort, Lord Kunzite!" she answered. "Good night."

After that, Usagi took great joy in sneaking away to talk to the Head King whenever he returned form his frequent trips, which was still far and few between. She would admit years later, after she got married, he was probably the reason she was attracted to men with pale or white hair. At least she thought it was amusing when Helios gave the confused King jealous looks after she told him that.