Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Games of Body and Soul

Past the Broken Bonds

Mana pushed a greasy dumpling around the wooden board with her chopsticks. Her cheek was feeling numb to the point where the magician wondered if the imprint of her fist could actually stay engraved in her flesh after such long period of time she spent resting her face on it. Mana was not quite a believer in the old spinster tales but... She switched her hand from a fist to a palm, just in case.

"That's odd, you usually love dumplings, is the filling bland?" Mother raised an eyebrow, she had long finished eating and had only briefly entered the kitchen to pick up a coat she left resting on the chair.

"I still love dumplings, it's just... I'm thinking that's all", Mana wanted to jump up, acting like she did not hear her mother coming ever since she ran upstairs to get dressed and was now occupied with minor blitz-chores to occupy the five minutes she had until she planned to leave the home for work.

Mother clacked to the guest room with elegance, before placing her coat in the wardrobe and returning to the kitchen. She fixed her skirt and her blazer before settling down and pressing her cold hand to Mana's forehead.

"I'm not sick, mom", Mana growled. She had to admit though, feeling her mother close after spending so much time away from her and in the big and mysterious world, or in the caves of total darkness and scorching heat did feel cushy and intimate.

"Oh, yeah, big ninja girl... You know, your father actually got sick more than other people. Sickness is an immunity reaction, you know, a supercharged immunity means monstrous flu", she teased Mana while glancing at the clock with just the side of her eyes.

Mana quickly stuffed her face with the final dumpling, not because she wanted to, as evidenced by how cold and unacceptable the little piece of her meal tasted and how difficult it was to keep down. The magician just barely fought off the instinct to sip some of the soy sauce down just to wet her palette a little and help it down.

"Don't worry, you were amazing out there, you'll get promoted. Or do you not want that anymore? It's tough to tell with you..." mother teased. The lack of time remaining for family matters made her approach the matter in a much blunter manner than she'd have usually done it.

"I was not the last one to complain about me resuming my training..." Mana snapped back at her mother. Almost right after the sparrow had left the nest, she felt a bit rude for the manner it came out and wanted to apologize but... Somehow, the timing for apologies seemed wrong. What was wrong with her? Why did she keep offending people she loved like that recently? Or was it longer than just recently? What if she spent more time being blunt like this than she did how she wanted to behave?

Did that mean Mana was blunt like that, no longer what she was raised and taught to be?

"I just wanted you to be happy like all parents do. If being a chuunin, like your father, will make you happy, so be it. Granted, I have trouble imagining you playing a role in snuffing people out and spying for the village. This is where things get serious, you know..." mother jumped up and fixed her clothes again.

Mana did not reply, after one final look at the clock, mother began slowly collecting her immediate possessions, like her handbag and the like, and leave. Somehow this felt... Wrong.

"Mom", Mana raised her voice up, mother's scarcely blushed face appeared in an odd angle from a side of the kitchen doorframe. "How is the café doing?"

"Just great, with the influx of foreigners we really made a huge profit. Maybe one day you can just actually retire and I can keep you two safe and strictly under my supervision, a girl can dream..." mother's eyes eased to a degree of devotion and a spice of affection before the woman ran off.