Message From Heaven

*Panting*

I was running as fast as I could to tell Kaede about Mom. I don't know if she will believe me or not but I'll say what mom wanted me to say to her to fulfil my promise

As soon as I reached my house, I put the groceries in front of the door and quickly searched my pockets for the keys. I hastily took them out and unlocked the door

When I opened it, I could hear sounds coming from the TV and Kaede's laughter

The moment I knew she was still awake, I quicky rushed down to the hall and saw her sitting on the sofa watching TV. Hearing my loud footsteps, she saw me and got a scared and shouted

"WOAH! WHO THE HELL ARE Y-...Onii-Chan?"

She noticed it was me and not anyone else and gave a look of relief and said

"Phew…..Don't suddenly show up like that, you scared me! I thought someone had broken into the house and was just about to throw the tv remote at you"

Kisaragi-san threw biscuits at me in the morning, Rena threw fruits at me in the face and now Kaede wants to throw a remote at me? Does my body look like a target for them?

"Geez, don't do that again! Even though I'm your sister, I can't deny the fact that your eyes are scary. My heart almost skipped a beat when i saw you coming in like a mad man" Said Kaede while having a slightly annoyed face

This is not something you want to hear from your own sister...

"And you didn't even say 'I'm back' like usual. Did anything happen which made you-..."

She glanced at my clothes and gave a concerned look

"Onii-chan, what's wrong?! Your shirt is torn and your face is a mess. You look like you just ran a marathon through a jungle. What happened?"

She got up from the sofa, stood in front of me and placed her hand on my cheeks as if she was rubbing something off it and told

"There's dirt all over you and your face looks a little bruised. What happened?.....Hmm!"

She looked like she realized something and said

"Onii-Chan, don't tell me…"

She had a anxious look on her face

"…you got into a fight"

"A fight?"

She sighed and gave me a look as if the older sister is scolding her younger brother for doing something wrong and said

"Come on Onii-chan don't you know any better, to not get involved in useless fights...I know you never do rash things without a reason but fighting with others is still wrong"

"So your worried about your big brother! How nice~"

She narrowed her eyes and exclaimed

"Huh?! Why would I be worried about you? I'm worried about the guy you fought. I feel sorry for him..."

NANI!? I'VE BEEN BETRAYED BY MY OWN SISTER!!! NOOOOOOO.....

When she said those words it felt like as if a knife was slowly going through my heart....No I've literally been stabbed in the heart multiple times before and it never hurt this much. This is just an unbearable emotional pain

I never expected her to say something like that but I guess she's finally going through her rebellious stage *sigh* I was expecting it to come and I thought I was ready for it but it seems like my heart is not strong enough for this

It all starts of with her simply ignoring me like this but before I know it, she'll completely stop talking to me and get a boyfriend of her own and will completely leave me behind. Dammit! It hurts to even think about it! So this how all the fathers having a daughter in highschool or middle school feel like....

Why can't she just remain the cute little sister I had, who would always follow me around in the past and would say she wanted to marry me when she grows up. Where did that adorable Kaede go?

Just why do they grow up so fast!? Just why!? Kaede continued saying

"I mean if any one had tried to fight you, they would definetly end up in the hospital with some big injuries. And I'm not even joking when I say that became you've already done it many times. I just feel bad for the guy who challenged you, without knowing anything about you. I wonder how bruised his face is now or how many of his bones are broken..."

Oh! It's not that she doesn't care about me, it's just that she's so confident in her brother that she doesn't have to worry! Haha...So it was just a misunderstanding, I never should have doubted my cute little sister!

But how kind of her to actually worry about others, even if they are her brothers enemies. Well it's more like she pitied them knowing that they went against me. Well she has seen what I've done to others before but that doesn't really matter. This just means I've raised her correctly

Hehe, I kinda feel a bit proud parent now

She suddenly looked like she realised something important and said

"Wait! That doesn't make sense! Even if you got into a fight with others, you never would have gotten injured! I've never seen you get injured or lose a fight before. You could defeat anyone with your eyes closed without even receiving a single scratch. But now you look all roughed up. There's no way someone else can do something like this to you, it's just impossible! If it's not a fight, then what happened?"

She was worried that something had happened to me and was looking at me with a distraught face. She looked like she was joking around before but was now seriously starting to worry about me. I didn't want to see her to look at me with those worrying eyes, so I quickly put my hands around her and hugged her tightly

"Onii-chan!? What are you doing?!"

She tried to push me away but couldn't since I was holding her tightly and told

"I know you're a sis-con but suddenly hugging me like this is a little too much. You reek of sweat and it's getting on me. If you want a hug so badly, you could have just asked me. I would have-"

I gently told

"Kaede listen to me…"

Kaede stopped struggling and relaxed. She raised her head and looked at me with an anxious face. She must have felt the seriousness in my voice. I looked at her and said

"Listen carefully, this is a message from mom"

"M-Mom?"

Her voice trembled and her eyes widened when I mentioned our mother. Well of course she would react like that, Kaede loved mom more than anything in the world and suddenly mentioning her is just…....

*sigh* Well here goes nothing

I then told the whole story of how I was about to be in a accident and how our mother came from above and saved me. I replaced the part where I was almost killed by a truck with a minor accident, as I didn't want her to worry

I then went on telling about how I talked to her and that she seemed to be doing well in heaven. Finally I told her mom's final message to her

I told everything she said without missing a word

During the whole time I was telling her what had happened, she was looking at me with a blank expression and didn't utter a single word from start to finish

I couldn't tell if she believed me or not

Although it's hard to believe, it's the truth. Even if she doesn't believe me now, I have to find a way to make her understand it was real. I can't really say I fulfilled my mother's wish if Kaede doesn't believe me. So I said

"Kaede, I know it's hard to believe what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is the tru-"

!

All of a sudden Kaede clenched the top of my shirt tightly, as if she was using it to support herself with it and buried her face into my chest. I asked

"Kaede? What's wron-"

She interrupted me and said in a very soft voice

"Onii-chan…"

Her hands were shaking and there was nervousness in her voice

"Yes Kaede"

"H-How was mom?"

So she believes me.....Phew! Thank god it went smoothly. But I guess this should have been obvious since I don't joke around when it comes to matters like these. I know how much mom means to her and I will never joke around when it comes to that. I don't want to repeat what happend to Kaede 10 years ago when our mother passed away

That was a horrible time in our family's life and Kaede was the one who 'suffered' the most. The last thing I want to see is, Kaede going back to the 'state' she was in back then. I'll do anything to stop it

But that's all over and she's doing fine now. I just hope it remains that way. Kaede asked

"Is she doing okay in heaven?"

First time I've heard about someone worrying about someone in heaven, a place where there are no worries

I wanted to make her feel assured that our mom was doing well so I smiled and told

"What are you talking about!? She's doing better than ever before! She looked like she was enjoying heaven to the fullest! And the best part is she hasn't changed one bit. I mean she looked like she hadn't aged even a day and even looked younger. She even shouted at me with her scary voice like back in the day. And when she did, I instinctively reacted and obeyed her like before....Haha, looks like my fear for her is still running deep inside of me. With her feisty personality, she might have even made god kneel before her...But listen to this injustice, even in heaven she stills favors you and even called you the favorite child in front of my eyes. How horrible is that!?"

While she was still buried in my chest she told

"Hehe! I'm the favorite child, sucks to be you Onii-chan"

She sounded cheerful and delighted but being with her ever since the moment she was born, I knew she was hiding what she really wanted to say

She was trying to keep all her true feelings inside for my sake as she didn't want me to worry. But that was no good since feelings are meant to be expressed. Be it happiness or sadness, it's always best to express yourself. If you do, others can either share your joy or help you through your grief. So I told

"It's just like mom said, you've become a strong girl who can rely on herself. You don't always cry like you did back then and I'm proud of that"

I put my hand on Kaede's head and gently patted her and told

"But Kaede, there are moments like this when you don't have to keep it all to yourself"

She flinched and said in a quivering voice

"B-But I'm not keeping anything to myself. I'm just happy you got to see mom. That's all there is to it"

I smiled and told

"I don't really think you're making it believable when you're talking to my chest"

She digged deeper into my chest with her face and said

"I-I just feel like doing it, there's nothing else I want to-"

I interrupted her since she wasn't going to budge that easily and said

"Kaede....You may put on a smiley face when you're with your friends or acquaintances, so that you can make everyone around you happier and that's normal. Giving the best impression to others is human nature and there's nothing wrong in it. But understand this Kaede, when you're in front of your family you don't need to hold it in anymore"

She reacted a bit and loosened her grip on my shirt. I continued saying

"We will accept you no matter what face you show us, no matter how hideous and revolting it may be. We will accept the true you or anything you decide to show us as long as you're happy. Even if the world doesn't give you a place to be, your family will always be waiting for you. No matter how selfish and arrogant you may become, family will never abandon you and will stay by your side"

I gentely stroked her head and told

"So Kaede.…What do you really want to say?"

She pulled my shirt tighter and buried her face more into my chest and asked in a timid voice

"I don't have to hold back anymore?"

"Yep"

"I can say anything I want to?"

"Yes Kaede, let it all out"

She paused for a second and said

"Th-Then, it's not fair..."