I'm Home

Shui came out of the Primordial Library with just his satchel visible since there was no need for him to flaunt his storage ring in a place that was overflowing with spies and traitors.

Even for Shui, he would feel tired after staying awake for 300 hours even if he was doing his favourite pasttime. When he finally came out of the Library, he released a drawn-out yawn and looked down at his feet. There was a ball of fur with a horn sticking out of it that was peacefully at rest.

"Oi, wake up."

"Huh? What what, where am I?"

Cin jolted to his feet when Shui called out to him. He had briefly considered leaving him to sleep, but he wanted to sort things out quickly.

"We're out of the ancestral lands. This is a place near my clan."

"Oh, we made it out huh?"

Cin also yawned before staring at Shui. From the look on its face, which Shui could now grasp somehow, he knew that Cin could see the damage left on his body. Though Shui tried not to show how painful it was to keep standing, even if that did work he couldn't hide the fall in his cultivation.

"Don't look at me like that. This is just a temporary. I'll be back to full power and even better before you know it."

Shui tried to make it seem as if he didn't mind, but the look on Cin's face didn't change. As he thought about what he should say next, Cin jumped up on Shui's shoulder and licked his cheek. It was discomforting to have him slobber on his face, but Shui could feel the kind intent behind it so he smiled.

"I'm sorry. I'm your big bro but I let you get hurt like this."

"Then should I become the big brother now?"

"No, I'll just work harder."

After saying that, Cin jumped off his shoulder and looked at him with a cheeky grin.

"We'll see about that. I know a place where you should feel more comfortable but I got to get some things taken care of first, so you'll have to wait here, okay?"

"Kay. There's food in this place right?"

"There should be some boars and such if you go down the hill, but don't get spotted."

"Don't worry. Check this out."

Under Shui's eyes, Cin's aura faded until only his image and smell proved his presence. Since it was torn off in battle, the 'Hide' talisman that was once on Cin's back wasn't there. That meant Cin had perfectly retracted his aura without any external help.

"Wha, how did you-?"

"Hahaha! I'm your big brother after all. Obviously anything you can do I can do better. Just give me some ink and a brush and I could make one of those talismans things too."

Shui wasn't sure if he could write without opposable thumbs or mental control, but he was indeed impressed by how easily Cin grasped the aura restraining art.

'I guess I can continue calling him big bro for now.'

Seeing that Cin could handle himself, Shui left an 'Alarm' talisman, just in case, and sneakily returned to his room in Aunt Lilia's house. The smell of trees and leaves stuck to his clothes, but it wasn't that too noticeable. As he went back into bed, his eyelids quickly got heavy.

'Time for a na-'

"Bu-crock, bu-crock! Bu-crock, bu-crock!"

The sound of the neighbour's rooster, forced Shui's tired mind to wakefulness. He noticed the glimpse of dawn coming through his window and reluctantly sat up.

"Damn it..."

Shui was about to get out of bed once more, when he realised something.

'Wait a second. I'm injured aren't I? So why should I get up at the crack of dawn? Don't I deserve to sleep in late?'

The more he thought about it, the more lazy he felt. He convinced himself to roll back into the sheets and tried to get some sleep. Right when he felt like he was in the perfect position, the door opened and he turned towards it.

"Shu, Shui, you're awake?"

It was Aunt Lilia with a pale of water and bandages. The moment she saw him turn, her trembling hands quickly dropped what she had and she ran to him. At this point, Shui knew he wasn't getting that shut-eye he wanted anytime soon.

"I'm back Aunt Lilia."

After he showed that he was awake and sat up, Aunt Lilia's cry awoke the entire house and soon Bartos and Kate came in to see the sight of her bawling while hugging Shui. Bartos and Kate also revealed relieved smiles, and Kate even had tears ready to pour out but when Shui turned to her she swiftly turned away.

'Uh-oh.'

From just that Shui knew that Kate was stuck in another strange mental state that he would probably have to trick her out of.

'I can't catch a break huh?'

It took almost an hour before Lilia seemed to run out of her stock of tears. Since they understood why she was like this, no one tried to stop her until she stopped herself. Shui was the child that Suiri left to them so Bartos knew that Lilia would blame herself no matter what happened to him.

"I was so worried! With everything happening in the clan, I wondered if you would be okay and then Nalos brought you home with those injuries, I, I-"

"It's okay, Aunt Lilia. I'm still here, aren't I?"

Lilia looked at Shui, she couldn't see his eyes but the smile provided comfort for her heart. She wiped her eyes and tried to show a smile as well.

"That's right. You're back. Welcome home."

When Aunt Lilia calmed down, Shui turned to Bartos.

"Something happened here?"

"Yeah. It was like this..."

Bartos then went on to explain about the assassinations of the talented children that were left in the clan and what happened after Corin returned and the assassinations stopped.

"So that happened huh?"

'Damn it. Things are even worse than I thought.'

Shui was well aware of the existence of traitors in the Heaven clan, as well as who was likely behind them. However, he didn't expect that Kalos would be so thorough. After the 'cleaning' he had done, there were now only three children in the Heaven clan who were promising. Shui, Kate and Nathan. And of them, Nathan definitely had a link to the traitors since he had a working escape charm in the ancestral lands while the other two were targeted. The Patriarch also realised how suspicious that was, but anyone around Nathan who could be a traitor was too influential to accuse hastily.

In Shui's mind, there were three likely candidates: Nate, Iris and Kran. Of the three, Shui had met two and Kran was a more likely suspect than Nate. He couldn't figure out why these people would betray the clan, so he could only make hypotheses based off of their personalities.

While Shui pensively thought about the situation, Lilia, Bartos and Kate stared at him. The boy before them had almost lost his life and was basically crippled, but none of them could see any despair or grief in him. It was as if those injuries were but mere illusions.

To confirm what he was really feeling, Bartos asked him, "Are you okay?"

Bartos' question interrupted Shui's thoughts so he turned to him. He could tell that not only Bartos, all of them were worried about him.

'Oh yeah. I'm supposed to be more pitiful right now. But I've already gotten over most of it and with all the returns I got from the trip, my mood isn't too bad. Hmm,... I suppose I should put on a little act so they don't think I'm forcing myself.'

In response to Bartos, Shui purposefully showed them a weak smile.

"I'm fine. I'm still alive aren't I? I'll get better. Definitely."

It looked like he was trying to fool himself into believing his heartbreaking injuries could be fixed, that was how it seemed to the three. Just as Shui planned.

'I'll let some time pass before I reveal that I really can be healed. I might be over it, but they'll need time to accept it. Now that I'm sure that there are traitors in the clan, I can't rashly expose myself. For now, it would be best if they think I'm crippled. For all of our sakes'

Looking at Shui's face as he tried to be strong, Bartos patted his head.

"That's right. You'll get better."

Shui acted as if he was comforted by this gesture and watched with a smile as Bartos and Lilia left the room to get breakfast ready. When Kate realised she was the only one in the room, she tried to get out but Shui called her.

"Kate, you doing okay?"

Though the degree couldn't be compared, Kate had also been targeted and nearly lost her life, so Shui was geniunely worried for her. When she heard his worry from the tone of his voice, Kate wanted to blurt out all of the nightmares she had and how scared she was, but she didn't, she couldn't. She knew her troubles couldn't be compared to what Shui had gone through. She couldn't say that it would have been better if she went with him. She knew that she would just have been a burden, and maybe he wouldn't even be alive now. Looking back, she couldn't remember a single time he ever needed her help, he could always take care of himself.

But now, he needed help. So could she allow herself to show weakness to him? Even if she knew that she couldn't compare to him, she wouldn't back down when it was time for her to be the big sis that protected him.

"I'm fine." That was all she said before leaving.