Vita’s first week at Kubo’s almost drained her energy. She was assigned to an old woman, who, thankfully, was kind and charming. They said she has dementia while other patients insisted she was just plain crazy.
She still helped Hannah in her small diner every Saturday, not wanting to be a pest who would plague her friend’s kindness.
“Here,” she said handing the capsules to the old woman.
“I forgot your name,” her hoarse voice said. “I’m Rosabella.”
It was the sixth time she introduced herself to Vita. She smiled kindly at her. “My name’s Vita.”
“A beautiful name!” she replied with enthusiasm. “What does it mean?”
“Life,” she answered and watched Rosabella take her medicine. “How about your name? Do you know what it means?”
“A beautiful rose,” she said proudly. “I remember my father used to tell me I’m his beautiful rose.”
“You are,” Vita said. “You’re beautiful.”
“You are too.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Where are your children, if you don’t mind me asking?” Vita settled to the chair beside her bed and brushed her hair gently.
“I don’t know if I have any children, dear,” she replied. The wrinkles around Rosabella’s eyes were visible and at an old age her beauty seemed not to fade, though. “I know I have a father and he’s calling me in. I think he wanted us to meet again.”
“Where is he?”
“In heaven.”
“Oh,” Vita composed herself. “Do you want to do something today?” she asked, stirring the conversation to a lighter mood.
“How about you read to me?” She requested, smile sweet and kind.
“Sure.” Vita replied with the same enthusiasm as Rosabella’s.
****
“I’ll kill you!”
Morte cocked his head on the side, flashing his smirk. “I’d love to see you try.”
Niko grabbed his arm but he didn’t budge, his posture looked bored yet every muscle prepared for an incoming battle, just in case.
Three boys threw a calculated glare at them before fleeing, some sort of fear hammered in their heads. Niko let out a heavy sigh as his classmates finally turned away, a bruise on his eyes started to get more visible than it was a few minutes ago.
Morte turned to him, his eyes penetrating the boy, as if the stare alone was hypnotizing enough. “Care to tell me what the fuck just happened?”
The boy stammered and avoided Morte’s eyes, shame swarmed at the top of his lungs. He was a junior in high school, lanky and gentle, making him the target of bullies.
“Let’s just go home.” he started to walk but Morte hauled his arm and tilted the boy to face him again.
“You don’t want me repeating my question, boy, so better answer now.” He had no idea how it happened, but a genuine care for Niko suddenly grew inside of him.
He found it funny how hate could easily build in a matter of first meetings and how fast it could melt by trying to look inside the goodness of one person. Humans were unpredictable, Morte had realized. They were the kind of creatures that could alter themselves, intelligent enough to think over things and somehow make it right the next time.
“They want my money and I refuse to give it to them- that’s what happened,” Niko answered. “Happy?”
Both of them started to walk down the street, Niko clutching the strap of his bag, head on a bow.
“You have to grow some balls and fight them.”
“They’re not worth it,” he said. “Besides, Hannah didn’t want me fighting in school.”
Morte didn’t respond, his hands shoved inside his pocket. Lucky for the boy he was once a devil for he decided to take a move once those bullies give Niko a black eye again. He got no sister like Hannah to order him not to fight, rather, he got shitty brothers in hell who would probably encouraged him to do bad.
“It’s bad, you know,” Niko muttered. “Fighting.”
“Angels fight demons yet you’re not gonna call that bad, are you?” Morte argued, his eyebrow on a raise. “Soldiers fight the goddamn war in order to maintain their territory yet I don’t hear you complaining about that. Even Jesus fought hard against the temptations of Satan. Victims fight criminals, prosecution against defendants, holy shit- even dogs and cats always fight yet I don’t see anything bad about it.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Then what do you mean?” Morte emphasized the last word. “Fighting is not always bad, Niko. We fight for something we know is right, we fight for someone we love, and we fight because we have enough reason to just fight. Sometimes we fight to lose, the other times, we lose to fight. That just sounded one hell of nonsense, but someday you’ll realize that just because you fight doesn’t mean you’re bad. Fucking grasp that, kid, for both our sakes.”
If Morte could, he would have vanished right then. Instead, he walked in silence, Niko trailing behind him as they headed home.
****
Niko sneaked inside the house, not wanting his sister to see the bruise on his eyes. But he guessed he needed some practice being ninja quiet because Hannah made her way to him, eyebrows drawn together.
“What happened to your face?” she asked as she grasped his chin, making him face her direction.
“Accident,” Morte interjected from behind. “I was trying to teach him some kinda self-defense and, ya know, I accidentally hit him in the eye.”
Niko froze at his lies, half-thanking him for covering him up. His sister looked at him expectantly, waiting for his confirmation.
He nodded his head. “Uh- yeah. It was an accident.”
Hannah raised her eyebrow, as if not believing him but chose to just let him go and went back to her seat beside Vita.
“Thanks,” the boy said as they reached the second floor.
Morte nodded his head once. “I’m not gonna be always around to back you up, kid. Better learn to fight your own battles.”
Vita approached and waited for Niko to close his bed room door before facing him.
“What?” Morte asked as he took in her suspicious reaction.
Vita silently led him to her room and gently closed the door.
“Oh, shit,” he stated and planted himself on her bed. “I never have pegged you to be the aggressive one, baby.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, reminding herself that he was just being Morte. And being Morte involved a lot of naughty stuff.
“What happened to him?” she asked, face serious.
He let out a sigh. “You heard what I said to Hannah.”
“Yeah, but I want the truth.”
Morte looked at her beautiful face and noted her tired eyes because of her work at Kubo’s. “You think I’m lying?”
Vita blinked and bit her lip, obviously torn on what to answer.
She started to respond but he cut her off, placing his pointer finger on her lips. “Yeah, I lied, Vita. And I’m sorry I lied but...”
“But?” she repeated when he trailed off.
“But nothing. It’s just between me and Niko.”
She held his arms, like a kid forcing her way to get what she’d wanted. “His sister is worried. She suspects he’s getting bullied.”
Morte leaned down at her and silenced her with a kiss on the forehead. Not really satisfied, he planted another kiss on the tip of her nose.
“Don’t distract me,” she leaned back. “Please, tell me.”
Please. That fucking ‘please’ word was her last resort. “Fine,” he replied, a bit irritated that she would use that word to him. “He got bullied. And I bully them back. End of story.”
Vita opened her mouth to speak. No words came out because the devil reached again and put a soft kiss on her lips. “You always say ‘please’ when you wanted so bad to get an answer from me. I suggest you don’t use it often or it might not work the next time. And yes, I’ve noticed,” he added when she shot him a how-did-you-know look.
