小嫂子的味道

I stared at Anya for a few minutes. She was there, sleeping soundly without a care in the world. Well, it was only to be expected.

She had fought for a good while and efficiently too, it was only natural that now she was tired and wanted some sleep. There was just one thing I couldn't understand and it was why she didn't have her lower body.

But I was willing to ignore that for now; more like I didn't want to know why. After all, I could always ask her when she woke up. So it was not much of a problem anyway.

She was sleeping, yeah. And I didn't want to disturb her, thus I turned forward. There I saw my father.

He was standing in front at a distance from me and mother, though something felt weird. He was panting, had more than a few scratches on his body, and was holding his sword straight up.

He stood in a battle posture, with his back against it and it looked like he was trying to protect mother and me.

Why was he doing this? I didn't know. It didn't really make sense. But there was one thing that I was sure of, and it was whatever he was trying to do. It was dangerous, he shouldn't be there.

Perhaps some part of my brain was still asleep at that point, because then when it started working again everything came crashing down. And my heart throbbed faster.

"Father! What are you doing there?! Come back, it's dangerous there!" I screamed out of my throat.

He turned his head to the side.

"Isn't that obvious? I'm doing what I should've done a long time ago, as the head of this family," he said.

It didn't really make sense to me, what the hell was he on about?

"What are you talking about? This is no time for jokes, please come back here," I pleaded.

"It is no joke, my son. I'm just doing what I should've done from the start. As the head of this family, it is my responsibility to protect you, your mother, and your sister.

"I was a fool for not realizing that earlier… that's why I failed… but I can save you. Protecting the family is my job, not yours! I was an idiot for letting you do whatever you wanted. I should've listened to your mother's advice and scolded you a little.

"Then perhaps you wouldn't have turned out this spoiled," there was a sense of regret in the last of his words. His voice seemed deeper than it was.

"This is not right! You won't be able to fight those beasts! They are way above your league, you'll just get yourself killed! Please, let me handle this and come back!"

The tension was getting to me, and thinking about it now I know that the words I said were not right. They must have hurt him more than his wounds, but at the moment I was not aware of it.

All I wanted was my family, safe and sound.

It seemed like he wasn't going to listen to me, thus I forced my body up and tried to walk up to him. However, my body was a little too broken down.

Just when I put my foot forward I stumbled and fell back in my mother's lap.

"You've done enough, Zero," she said as she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a gentle embrace. "You should leave it all to your parents now. I know we aren't that good and sometimes act silly, but we are adults, you know?"

'It's not that I don't trust you. But this is something only I could handle. These demons cannot handle normal swordsmanship, only I can take care of them.'

Perhaps the tension of the situation was getting to their heads, all the more reason for me to end this quickly.

Therefore, since I wasn't going to win them with words here I tried to move my already broken-to-the-bone body and distanced myself from her embrace.

It was easy to do, she wasn't holding me tightly or anything; it was just the gentle embrace of a mother. I sat back on my knees, ready to go and aid father.

Though that was when I noticed something, all the color drained from my face and I felt nauseous.

"H-How?" I mumbled in a rapidly trembling voice.

There was a hole… in her stomach. Her dress was stained red with her own blood, and more was coming out when with just a little movement.

Her palms were red too, and now that I noticed it my clothes were also dyed crimson from where she held me.

This was wrong, very wrong. I didn't know what to do. This situation was something I'd never accounted for. My mind was starting to lag, I was not able to think clearly anymore.

It was getting harder to even breathe.

She looked at my panicked state, and despite the condition she was in,  she passed me a gentle smile and held my chin.

"Mother… how did this happen?" I asked, somehow finding the words.

"Don't worry about me, it was just a little accident," she replied.

Though a few seconds later her eyes gleamed as the light of the rising sun reflected on the tears that had swelled up inside. They fell, coming down the stream from her cheeks.

"You shouldn't have seen this," she whispered as she tried to hold back her tears but failed. "You shouldn't have seen this… no son should see her mother like this…"

She cried and pulled me into a tight hug. This time she was holding me tightly as if she didn't want to let me go. I, of course, performed no resistance.

I was not in a state to do that; I was still trying to get over the fact of what the hell had just happened.

Both of us stayed there together. Until I finally understood the meaning behind father's words; understood why he'd said that he could at least save me.

Both of us stayed there together. She was crying continuously, resting her head on my shoulder. I could feel her heat on my chest, though I was sure it was just blood.

Both of us stayed there together. Until that heat finally faded away and I could no longer feel her heartbeat.