Chapter 9

So, what do you want?"

Senro inquired as he closed the door of his bedroom. He noticed that Sasha, who had changed from her fighting clothes into a long, dull green dress, which cascaded down to her toes, covering every single part of her body, held onto a small transparent nylon bag, housing a chilled block of ice within it.

"I was worried that you weren't conscious yet, so I came to check up on you." Sasha replied softly.

"Ohhhh, how very considerate of you." Senro sarcastically said, with a smug grin growing on his face, but deep down, his heart felt warm and affectionate towards his sister's kind gesture.

"Hmmph!" Sasha snorted, before facing sideways. "You are my kid brother, after all."

"You are only older than me with two freaking years, Sasha. Just two measly years" Senro complained, with the smug grin escaping and annoyance settling in, on his face, while he held up two fingers with his hand to indicate a two. "So stop calling me your kid brother, like I'm some toddler. We are basically in the same age group."

Senro had complained times without number for her to quit him calling him, her kid brother, especially, when they were around other people, but she just wouldn't listen and this really got on his nerves. It had become an annoying habit of hers, in which she had cultivated over the years and it seemed she didn't have any intention of dropping it, making the whole thing even more annoying for Senro.

"Whatever." Sasha simply said, ignoring his annoyance, like she had always done. "Here, this for you." Sasha stretched the bag of ice closer to Senro.

"Huh, for me? But for what?" Senro inquired, as he eyed the bag of ice with a puzzling look.

"For your nose, dummy." Sasha replied. Irritated by how long she was still stretching her arm, holding the bag of ice, she impatiently said, while slightly shaking the bag of ice. "Collect it from me."

"For my nose?"

Senro still asked perplexedly, as he took the bag of ice off Sasha's hand. Then, he suddenly remembered that he suffered a head-butt to his nose by the opponent and his nose got broken. Normally, he shouldn't have forgotten that he suffered such a terrible blow, as he could vividly recall now that the pain he felt was akin to his nose been smashed pin-pointedly, with all its force and no ounce of mercy spared, by a mountainous boulder. But now, he wasn't feeling any pain, not even a slight discomfort. This made Senro to feel more puzzled, as he was sure that his nose wouldn't have healed all on its own in just a short period of time, unless….

'Unless, maybe I passed out longer than I thought I did.' Senro thought to himself, as his puzzlement deepened.

"When you were unconscious, we applied some pain soothing herbs to your nose, to relieve the pain and reduce the bleeding and we also made you ingest a low quality essence pill to speed up the healing process." Sasha quickly explained, after noticing the deep puzzlement on Senro's face.

"Ohhh!" Senro exclaimed softly, a few seconds after listening to Sasha explanation, as he now had clarity and was thereby relieved from his puzzlement. But then, he eyed the bag of ice in his hand with a queer look and asked "But, if that is the case, then what is this for?"

Sasha was silent for a few seconds, as she stared at Senro with a look reserved only for idiots, before sighing to let go of her irritation and reluctantly replied "The reason you aren't feeling pain right now is because the pain soothing herbs is still in effect, but it will soon wear off. So, start applying the bag of ice on your nose now, before the pain comes back in full effect."

"Ohh, okay. I see what you mean." Senro said. Senro, then, gently placed the bag of ice over his nose, causing a cooling sensation to immediately flood and cover his nose.

"Apply the bag of ice for twenty minutes, every one to two hours, while you are awake and don't remove the ice from the bag and apply it directly on your nose. I know you are capable of doing something that stupid." Sasha instructed.

"Hey! That last part was uncalled for! Come on!" Senro exclaimed, with a slightly annoyed look.

"Just don't forget to follow my instruction."

"Alright, I won't." Senro agreed, before he chuckled and jokingly said "You are such a mom."

Sasha ignored his last statement and continued "Well, since you are up and feeling dandy, Mom wants to have a word with us. Something about a new mission coming in."

"Yes! A mission!" Senro exclaimed, as he clenched his fist in elation. He had been anticipating a mission of any kind for close to three months now, as all he did to preoccupy most of the time was training, in order to sharpen his skills. He had been itching to go up against some capable targets and prove himself.

"Don't get all too excited yet. From the impression I got from Mom, this mission isn't going to be a walk in the park, unlike the previous ones. It seems Aunty Zedd might even come along with us. Mom called her as well."

Senro's elated expression morphed into one of deep seriousness. If Sasha was right, then this mission would really be a dangerous one, especially if Aunty Zedd would be coming along, as she, Aunty Zedd, majorly did her missions solo.

"In any case, let's go find out what this mission is all about." Senro said, after a short while of pondering. "Where is mom?"

"She's in the living room."

"Okay, let's go" Senro said, as he strode forward with Sasha following closely behind him.

"Umm Sasha, how long was I knocked out for." Senro inquired as they both walked.

"You were out for six hours."