49. Everything We Do Matters.

She pulls him close into her embrace and mutters. "I love you my son. Not once was I ashamed of being your mother, you know why? You are the best thing that happened to me. I loved you when you were in my womb. I loved you when I birthed you. I loved you when you were just a child, you don't know how happy you made me feel when you first called me mother. I love you now, I don't want you thinking otherwise. And I'll always love you, no one will love you more than me."

She tightened her embrace over him. The smile on her face grew wider. If she was given the chance, she would stay like this for eternity.

Held in her warm embrace, he gulps and opens his mouth to say something. Just before the words left his lips, his surroundings changed. He didn't know how his room had turned to a forest. His bed had disappeared, and he was seated on the ground under the dark night sky. She releases him from her embrace and looks at him.

"I will always love you my son, you mean everything to me. If I get the chance, I'll love you again in another life."

She stands to her feet and a sword appears in her hand. His eyes widens at her words and at her pose. "Mom, no… don't, please don't leave me. We can still make it."

"We can't, I can't protect you while running away."

"Mom, please…"

"Hey, promise me you will live," she interrupts his words.

"Mom!"

"I said promise me you will live!"

"I promise mom… ah, I promise!"

"Good. Now run… run and do not look back. That's an order my son, I promise I'll find you."

"Don't you dare break that promise!" he yelled while getting up to his feet. He turned around and with a kick, shot into the sky. His speed was frightening fast, but he didn't care. He flew through the cloudless dark sky while biting his lower lips.

"Run and do not look back," his mother's voice echoed in his head. "Hey, promise me you will live."

.

.

.

~Tanji's Place~

"You are up?" Mia asks as Hiro sits up.

"Hmm? Where am I?"

"Mine and Tanji's place…" Mia frowns at him. "Are you alright? Why are you crying?"

"Crying?" Hiro touched his left cheek, it was wet. She was right, he was crying and he didn't know why he was.

"Is something wrong?"

"I don't think so, my eyes are just leaking," Hiro replied.

"Maybe you need a hug?"

"Huh? Why do I need… Hm,"

Hiro got tongue tied as Mia embraced him. A strange feeling spreads through his body. A feeling he just couldn't understand. He could feel his eyes water even more, and tears following down his cheeks quicker than before.

"Is this okay? Do you feel better?"

"Uh…?" He didn't know what to say. To begin with he didn't understand why he was crying, and now he was crying even after getting hugged. No, it wasn't better, it definitely wasn't. He could feel a pain in his chest slowly grow stronger.

"We may still be strangers but Tanji and I are here for you."

He could hear what she said and honestly he wanted to reply but the pain he felt grew unbearable. His chest hurt even more with every beat of his heart.

"Mom…" he mutters. Ming Lu's face appears in his head and caused him to call out. So far, she was the only person who hugged his pain away and caused him to relax. Right now, she was the first person to come to his mind. More than anything, he needed her warm embrace.

"Are you alright?" Tanji's voice sounded. He had walked in and found Hiro crying in Mia's arms.

Hiro looks up. Tanji wasn't the only one who had walked in. Rue was present and so was a boy he didn't know.

"Why did you come here Hiro?" he heard his voice asks in his head. "To gain a foothold," his voice replied.

"Hiro?" Mia calls out as she disengaged and looks at him. But Hiro wasn't seeing her at all.

"Everything we do matters in building that foothold, doesn't it? The grandson of an ancestor, the son of a man they call great, the son of a woman they call ruthless and the brother of a girl they call a talent. Tell me Hiro, what will they call us?"

"Hiro?" Tanji calls out.

"I don't know, but they'll call us something special. I'll make sure of that."

"Hiro?" Tanji calls out again.

"Huh? What?"

"Are you alright?"

"Hmm? Yes I am why?"

"You were crying, and you weren't answering us," Mia replies.

"I'm okay… sorry for worrying you," Hiro says with a smile on his face.

"You sure about that?" Tanji asks.

"I am, though I am very hungry, hehe."

"Sure, we'll get you something to eat."

"Hope you don't mind me eating a lot, I can feel the hunger eating me up from within."

"No problem, you'll have to wait though, while I go whip up some dishes."

"Okay, thank you Mia…"

"So we are going to act like his speed of recovery is nothing, are we now?" Shin, the fifth person in room asks.

"Huh?" Hiro frowns.

"If elder brother doesn't bother about it, I'm not bothered," Mia declares. "Rue, come help me out."

"Alright elder sister."

Together the duo made their way out of the room, leaving Shin, Tanji and Hiro behind. Shin squints his eyes at Hiro, who moves to the edge of the bed and placed his feet on the ground. Tanji sighs and clears his throat.

"Ahem! Hiro? Let start by asking, do you remember what happened yesterday?"

"Hm? Yeah, I got burnt by the…" Hiro's words trails off while he looks at his hand. "You gave me that water again? I told you not to…"

"I didn't Hiro," Tanji interrupts.

"Then how is my body healed?"

"That's what we want to know?" Shin asks. "Who exactly are you and how did you heal so quickly?"

"Who is he by the way?"

"Hiro this is Shin, Shin this is Hiro, you both are my best of friends."

"Did you bump your head or something? Ac-quain-tance, we are acquaintances," Shin says.

"Anyways, after you slept last night, you started pulling energy towards you, like that orb does, and your body healed at a tremendous speed."

"Even your hair grew back," Shin said.

"This hasn't happened before," Hiro mutters.

"Tell us who you really are."

"Shin, relax," Tanji says.

"I'm Enji Hiro, son of Enji and Ming Lu."

"What!?" Shin's eyes widened. "Ming Lu? From the ancestor class, Lu family? The current matriarch?"

"Yeah," Hiro replies while side glancing at Tanji. "He isn't surprised," he says in his head.

"No way, I love her so much. She is my…"

~BOOM~

"What the?" Tanji frowned. He couldn't comprehend what just happened. Shin was sent flying out the room and Hiro, who should be seated was standing. His left eye glowed yellow and the pressure he released was suffocating. Tanji could barely breathe while standing.

"Tch, ah."

Hiro growled and covered his left eye with his hand while bending his back a bit. Tanji gasps as he could finally breathe. His chest heaving ever so fast.

Hiro falls to his knees, his surroundings goes dark and everything around him disappears. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, a bright light greeted his eyes. It was golden yellow, and though it was blindingly bright, his eyes were okay.

The light felt warm, so warm it reminded him of a feeling he had once felt. The warmth from the light felt like the warmth from a mother's embrace. He could swear he saw a lady's figure in the light. By all means he wanted to feel this warmth even more but all he could do was stretch his hand as the distance between him and the light increased. Farther and further away, he drifted from the light. He couldn't tell if it was the light moving away or if he was the one but…

"Why?"

If it was the light moving away then why was he left behind? If he was the one leaving then, why did he leave? Just why?

"Hey, are you alright?" Ming Lu's voice sounds as Hiro felt two arms wrap around him. There it was, the warmth from a mother's embrace. It had returned, it didn't leave him. Maybe he had left it but it found him back. "Relax, we are here for you."

Hiro opens his eyes. Before him was the tip of a spear held back by his two arms. Holding the end of the spear was Shin, who had a black left eye. He tried to pull back the spear but it just wouldn't budge from Hiro's grip.

"Why did you attack me?" Shin asks as soon as he saw Hiro's eyes open.

"It felt like the right thing to do. I'm sorry, but why would you say you love my mom?"

"Huh? That's why you attacked me? Is it wrong to adore someone? For crying out loud she is my mentor. The stories I heard about her was what inspired me to use a sword, you dumbass."

"Oh, that's… but this is a spear."

"That's a long story. Someone made me promise not to ever use a sword."