The Warmth

Entering the room, Kazuto saw a woman laying on the bed asleep while there was a little girl sitting beside her but was staring into space in a daze with a pale complexion on her face.

The girl had a thin hair tied into small ribnons by the sides of her face, with the back cut short. She has dark hair, a pale skin, black eyes. She look very cute and added with her pitiful appearance right now, Kazuto suddenly had the urge to hug her in his arms.

"Shino-chan what happened?" Kazuto asked after he finally suppressed the thought of hugging her.

Shino then turned to look at him as she finally realized that he was in front of her. And then, without any warning, she jumped into Kazuto's embrace and cried really hard.

Kazuto understands her pain, he also pity her situation but also respected her for being strong. Just imagine, for a girl like her to be already independemt at such a young age is quite amazing.

From she had told him, when she was only two years old, she and her family got into an accident and was only found out after three hours. During that time, his father died because of the blood loss amd her mother watched her father as he died which left a trauma to her and made her really fragile.

That was the reason why she developed the feeling of protecting her mother from anything that might harm her. This is also the reason why she had matured relatively earlier than the girl's of her age.

Kazuto just let her hug him as he patted her back with one hand while the other one caressed her head.

<●>

After almost an hour of crying, Shino had finally calmed down and started to tell him what had actually happened.

As it turns out, she and her mother just got involve in a robbery incident in the bank. They were only there to withdraw some money but who would have thought that something like that would happen.

It would have been alright but the robber attempted to take her mother as a hostage and as her mother is mentally fragile, she intercepted the robber and got a hold of his gum which was then dropped on the ground.

She managed to picked it up and then pointed it at the robber. But the robber thought thag she wouldn't pull the trigger amd attempted to snatch it from her.

Shino didn't have the guts to really pull the trigger as she was really nervous just holding a real gun. But when she thought of her mother that might get involve in the accident again, she triggered it with a pull of her finger.

After that, the robber was still alive and wanted tp snatch it agaim from her as she then pulled it again and shot the robber a second time which finally ended the robber's life.

What happen next is already known. Shino was traumatized by that experience and she had no one to share her fear. Her mother was a no no so she turned to the only person she could trust and that is Kazuto.

"It's okay.... I'm here." Kazuto softly said to her as he gently patted her back. They were still in an embrace and Shino had no idea how ambiguous their position are.

"Am I a bad person?" Shino asked weakly into Kazuto's ear.

Hearing this voice, Kazuto's heart was like pricked by a needle and was pained to see a girl like her experiencing something like this at such a young age.

"No your not. You're a good girl, the goodest girl I've ever meet."

"But I just killed someone..." Shino quickly said.

Then Kazuto told her seriously, "Because you had to, to protect your mother, right?"

"...yes." Shino answered in a low voice as she then burried her face on his chest again sobbing ad she remembered what had happened earlier.

Kazuto made a mental note, never to mention this topic ever again. He then stayed with her the whole afternoon just to help her lessen her fear and help her with her trauma.

Her mother woke up already and she knew Kazuto as he sometimes visit Shino when he decides to play or when she calls him. They then talked about what he jad been doing recently.

They talked and completely forgot about the incident earlier. When it finally turned dark, he decided to finally go home as he knew that Suguha might be worried sick about him.

<●>

When he arrived at their house, he can see that the lights in the living room sre still open. It was already 9 in the evening which means Suguha was supposed to be asleep at this time.

But seeing that the light was still on, he can tell that she might have been waiting for him.

"I'm homee!!" He said loudly as he enters the house. He then closed the doors amd locked it, changing from his shoes to his sleepers he then went to the living room only to see the TV on amd Suguha sleeping on the sofa.

Kazuto shook his head as he saw this. Suguha was already wearing her red pajamas and her sleeping position was quite revealing. It was still really hard to imagine that she's still 11 years old with that amazingly developed body.

"Silly little girl, you'll catch a cold if you sleep in the sofa." He then picked her up and carried her princess style towards her room. Suguha unconsciously or consciously wrapped her hands around his neck.

Kazuto didn't think much about it, but when he finally had put her on the bed and was just about to leave. Suguha's hands around his neck which made it really difficult for him to move without waking her up.

He tried several ways but it was futile as Suguha didn't let go of his neck so with no other choice, he decided to sleep, still wearing his black out fit.

Kazuto then hugged Suguha then kissed her forehead before saying, "Goodnight Sugu-chan."

A smile appeared on Suguha's face but Kazuto didn't notice it as he had his eyes already close. The night which was meant to be cold was really warm for both Kazuto and Suguha sleep together once again.