Modern Reaper

Naked

"Hey, listen... Is this really okay?" I asked nervously. I could feel Linc's softness all over me and I turned to face the wall. My fingers remained intertwined with her's though, and I was sure she could feel my heartbeat going wild through the tips of my fingers. She murmured her response in a tired fashion, and it was silent until she finally spoke.

"Can you tell me about Danny...?" Linc asked. I shifted uncomfortably, too distracted to come up with a sensible answer. She, a girl, was stark naked while sleeping with me, a guy.

Does she not see me as a man at all?

Embarrassed, I was facing the wall in order to avoid seeing anything I wasn't supposed to see. It was an abrupt question and I hadn't expected to hear it from her. But I complied. I opened my mouth to speak and choked as I felt Linc's tail become intertwined with my injured leg. "Does it still hurt?" She purred.

"N-no..." I stuttered. After healing herself from the bug attack, despite being very weak Linc had been kind enough to heal my injured leg. All that was left of what was once a fatal injury was a star shaped scar on both sides of my calf. "Danny was..." I began. "she was my little sister. I loved her."

Linc remained silent and her tail continued to play with my leg. At one point her tail rose a little too high for my liking, but I quieted down, and took a deep breath.

"We... well, me and Danny weren't really related. Our mom adopted us from the same orphanage when I was seven and when she was five. The kids there use to bully her because... well, she was tanned, had curly hair and had hazel eyes. I thought she was the most beautiful thing ever. Others were scared of her and resulted to bullying. So when we were both adopted I... I felt happy and sad."

"Why sad?" Linc whispered, her arms outstretched to embrace me in a hug from behind, abandoning my hand. I felt her breast cushion areas of my back and I grew more uncomfortable, but continued on nonetheless.

"I loved her." I admitted, and felt a load lift itself off my chest as I spoke. "I was sad that I wouldn't be able to love her the way I wanted to. But as we grew, I realized that I was happy just being by her side. I grew happy just by being with her. I was bitter yet happy with the title 'Brother'."

"Oh." Linc quietly responded, her tail suddenly still on my leg. I could feel her head pressed against my back as she resumed her fetal sleeping position; a curved back with her limbs folded in front of her. Her hands were almost always gripping something as she slept. This time, it was my hand, which was uncomfortable with my body turned but I didn't complain. Instead, I continued.

"As we grew up, the tables for bullying turned." I sourly reminisced. "When the newer bullies discovered that I was just an abnormally tall kid with no backbone, Danny became my hero. But then the incident happened, and I was alone."

"She died, right...?"

"Yeah." I muttered pained. I closed my eyes to keep the tears held back.

I always hated this topic. It always makes me feel so sad.

So...

Angry.

"There was a sex offender that preyed on women in our neighborhood. No one knew who he was, but we knew he was nearby by the worried neighbors' comments on the matter.

"I walking back home with mom and Danny after school. I was thirteen and they were picking me up from middle school. We went to go get groceries... by that time it had become pitch black outside. Then he attacked us. I blocked him and tried to get them to run away, but he stabbed the useless me and got to them. When I woke up in the hospital, they told me everything was fine. My sister and mom were safe." My fist balled up and her hug tightened. "But they were liars. They told me the truth when I got out. Mom was stabbed once. He caught Danny, and they found her a week later her... her limbs scattered across a dumpster. And you know what the forensics said?" I asked, my voice quivering in anger. "Do you know what they said?" I screamed. I felt Linc flinch behind me and I turned to face her, my face dark. She took one look at me before she hugging me tightly in an attempt to comfort me. Her gentle voice soothed me.

"What happened to Danny Hero?"

"She..." I cried. "She was a victim of rape and torture." I sobbed, burying my head into her neck. "Torture. That bastard he... he stole her from me... he hurt her... and he killed her! He murdered my little precious sister! What did she ever do to deserve that?" I looked into her saddened eyes and she kissed my tears away. "She was just eleven... she was too good for that." I whimpered, my voice slowly becoming softer as I felt Linc's lips on my face. "Too gentle for such a cruel death. If only I was-"

"Don't." Linc whispered as she moved closer to my ear. I smelled her in and before I realized it I had her in my arms. I had a delayed reaction, but before I could move away to cover my embarrassment, she hugged me back and I felt my cheeks grow red.

"Hero... it's not your fault."

A moment of silence passed between us. So many times I've been told the same thing. That it was not my fault. That Danny's blood was not on my hands. That there was nothing I could have done.

But there's always something you can do to save a life.

"Hey..." I quietly whispered to Linc. Her ears perked against my skin and I dipped my head into the base of her neck. "for the moment, can we... stay like this?"

Linc was there for me. The fact that she was still here after my ranting told me that she was here to stay. I took great comfort in her presence, and wiped away my tears on the pillow.

I felt her nod yes and we stayed that way, in each other's arms, for the rest of the night.

"Thank you... Linc."