Chapter Text
Kai yawned as he followed Jay, Cole and Zane out of the Monastery doors and into the courtyard. The cloudless sky was still dark, the sun hardly up. Not even the birds were awake to sing. Kai fought back a growl, knowing full well that Sensei Wu was still asleep. Now that he’d established a rigid training regime for the Ninja, there was no reason for him to wake up early and oversee their progress. It bothered Kai that his master wasn’t willing to sit through the training with his students. What better things did he have to do? Make tea? Stare into his weird, magic smoke?
Zane, appearing the least tired of the four, walked over to the weapons closet and began removing the padded training armor. Kai still didn’t understand what Zane’s deal was. It had been about a month since they’d ventured into the Underworld to recapture the Golden Weapons, and with all that time to get to know each other, Kai and the others still hadn’t discovered exactly why Zane was the way he was. He was just odd, and that was that.
“I’ll team with Zane,” Cole volunteered, taking some armor from Zane and strapping it on. “Jay, you’re with Kai.”
“I don’t want Jay!” Kai retorted incredulously. “I’m trying to win.”
“Insult aside,” Jay replied with an appalled expression. “I’ve gotten a lot better since last week. I put Cole on his back the other day, don’t you remember?”
“Because he tripped,” Zane chimed in methodically. “I’m afraid it had little to nothing to do with your own attempts at victory.”
Kai rolled his eyes. This Ninja thing was proving to be more challenging than he’d anticipated. The life-threatening battles were the easy part. Putting up with the annoying quirks of his new brothers was where the difficulty came from.
“Alright, how about me and Zane, then?” Jay suggested.
“How about me, versus all of you?” Kai countered, strapping on his own armor.
Cole whistled. “You sure you want to do that? A month of training and you think you’re the best Ninja?”
Kai smirked and shrugged as he applied the armor. “I haven’t seen evidence to say otherwise. I’ve been training with swords long before any of you met Wu.”
“That is a valid rationale,” Zane hummed, handing Jay the next armor and beginning to don his own. “But how proficient are you with these swords? Is your skill at wielding them superior to Cole’s prowess with a scythe, Jay’s aptitude with nunchucks, or my mastery of shurikens?”
Jay snickered as he equipped his helmet. “He can’t be that good if he got a scar.”
Kai inhaled sharply and rounded on the blue Ninja. “Want to say that again?”
Jay paled under Kai’s glare and mutely shook his head. Zane, however, spoke up. “I have, myself, wondered about the mark. Might I inquire where it came from?”
Still trying to melt Jay with his gaze, Kai shook his head. “There’s not much of a story. It was a blacksmithing accident. Some old tools were lying around and I got a bit careless with them.”
Conversation ended there, Jay too scared to say anything, Cole too smart to say anything, and Zane . . . was Zane. As Kai finished applying the armor, he made a mental note to talk to Nya whenever she woke up. He needed to tell her the story he’d just given the Ninja, that way she knew to play along with it. He didn’t want her telling the others what had really happened.
<>Five years Ago<>
Kai fidgeted with the remaining few coins in his pocket, praying that Mr. Lar wouldn’t ask for more money. The shopkeep was counting the coins already on the counter and sweeping them into his hand, a basket of sparse fresh fruit and vegetables at his side. Kai was the only one in the tiny, cramped produce store, Nya sitting on the steps just outside the empty doorway, humming to a tune he wasn’t familiar with. Kai’s stomach ached as he looked over all of the other foods he didn’t have enough to purchase. It was going to be another tight month for them. They’d have to skip breakfast every other day if they wanted to avoid another grocery outing.
“You’re short two silver, Kai,” Mr. Lar said with a grimace. Kai’s heart sank, and he began pulling more money from his pocket, but the elderly shopkeeper was already pushing the basket toward him. “Take it. It’s not that much of a difference.”
“You said that last time,” Kai retorted, though he gratefully accepted the basket. “I need to repay you in full one of these days.”
Mr. Lar smiled and shook his head. “That’s not necessary, as I’ve told you. You and Nya take care of yourselves.
Kai held the basket limply at his side, still sore and aching from a full day of smithing. “We’re trying.”
“Keep trying. You should get going before it’s too dark. And maybe cut your hair for once! Aren’t you afraid it’ll catch fire one of these days?”
Kai snorted as he made for the exit. “It’s not that long. Bye, Lar!”
Nya got to her feet as Kai left the store and fell in line behind him. Despite being only two years younger than his twelve, Nya had yet to hit a growth spurt, and only came up to his chest. Her black hair was fashioned into a jagged bob cut, and like his own, her clothes were several sizes too large, held in place by a firm sash and belt.
The road running down Ignacia had been packed when they’d arrived in town to shop, but it was getting quiet and still as the sun sank behind the horizon. Looking past the rows of shoddy, run-down storefronts and houses, Kai appreciated the sight of the setting sun casting a fiery glow over the rice farm ponds around the village. If there was one thing he could appreciate, living in such poor conditions in Ignacia, it was the view.
“Any peaches?” Nya asked eagerly, skipping around to his side and peering into the basket.
Kai bit his lip. “Not this time.” He rolled his eyes at the subsequent pout from his sister, masking the way his heart ached at the sight. “Don’t give me that look. I like peaches too. You know I’d buy them if we have enough.”
“We’d have enough if you didn’t buy celery and mushrooms,” Nya grumbled, pulling a face.
“We need those to stay healthy and strong. They’d taste a lot better if you didn’t complain.”
“They’d taste a lot better if they were in curry. Do we-?”
“No.” With a frustrated, miserable sigh, he adjusted his answer as he saw Nya’s eyes welling up with furious tears. “Maybe we can get a meal out later this week. But only if we get lots of work done.”
Nya let out a squeak of delight and went quiet for the rest of the walk, sans her humming. As hard as her bellyaching made their lives, Kai tried his best to indulge Nya’s wants when possible. He remembered a time when his mother and father could frequently take him to eat out of the house, or when they’d go on picnics to the countryside, or when they’d go see local plays or musical performances. He wanted Nya to have that to some capacity. The drastic change of their living conditions shouldn’t keep Nya from experiencing the same carefree childhood he’d gotten to have .
But Kai was learning, more and more each month, that he wasn’t going to get what he wanted. And when he didn’t get what he wanted, Nya didn’t either. And when Nya was upset, he was upset, and he was suddenly questioning why he bothered trying at all.
“Aren’t we getting bread? Or chicken?” Nya asked, eyeing the stores they were passing.
“We have enough at home already.”
“I thought we only had one loaf of bread. And isn’t it expiring?”
Kai closed his eyes, walking a stretch in silence, unable to give her an answer. What did she expect to hear? Almost a year living with him in charge of the house, surely she’d have gathered that he was never a bearer of good news. Even if she was young, she had to have some idea of the gravity of their situation. Kai was only twelve, and was acting more like an adult every day. Someone had to, since the only two adults in their house had vanished without a trace.
Kai clenched his fists as he and Nya left the marketplace, traveling along the backroad of Ignacia, where the farms and smaller homesteads were scattered around the fields and ponds. The more he thought about his parents, the angrier it made him. It wouldn’t be half as torturous if he knew what had happened. He didn’t care what it was, he just needed to know. Had they been attacked by a wild animal while away from the house, or had they gotten lost on a brief trip outside the village? Had they been kidnapped? Were they dead? Or had they left deliberately, on their own accord?
Whatever the case, Kai was furious at them. He knew that it probably wasn’t their fault for leaving, but even if it wasn’t, they’d left him. He’d spent a year raising Nya alone, during which he’d had to learn blacksmithing almost from scratch to make a poor excuse of a living, keep Nya enrolled in school and doing homework, purchase and prepare food for them both, and keep the two of them alive and happy in a house with no electricity and a faulty plumbing system.
Sometimes, Kai prayed desperately that wherever his mother and father were, they were having a better time than he and Nya were. Other times, he didn’t care. Sometimes, even, he hoped they were having a worse time. He needed someone to direct his anger at.
“Good night, children!” Called Mr. Saunders, leaning out the door of his house and waving as they passed his porch. Kai and Nya both waved back, Nya having a brief exchange with the elderly man about that morning’s lesson. He was the history teacher at the school, and a good friend of their parents’. Like Mr. Lars and most of the others in town, Saunders was kind to Kai and Nya and often let them into his house for tea. But also like everyone in town, Saunders had a small home, and he didn’t make enough money to provide for anyone but himself. That was why Kai and Nya still lived by themselves. As much as most of their friends wanted to help, there just wasn’t enough money to go around.
It made Kai angry sometimes. He understood that the people of Ignacia had their own hide to look out for, but didn’t they realize he was no different? Kai was having to cut corners, go hungry most nights and give up any real hobbies he’d once had to look after himself and Nya. If a twelve-year old could sacrifice everything to keep his sister alive and happy, surely those in town could be helping in some way.
As annoyed as it made him, Kai tried not to dwell on those feelings. The people helped in their own small ways, and he didn’t want to be ungrateful. He just didn’t have a lot of time to feel grateful when life looked so bleak.
They passed the local tavern, which was one of the last buildings on this side of town. Beyond it was only their shop, Four Weapons, situated on the other side of the hill. Kai eyed the tavern as they passed it, taking note of the rowdy noise inside and the figures lounging on the lantern-lit patio. His father and mother had always warned him to be weary when passing by the tavern. It was where out of towners tended to gravitate to when they were passing through Ignacia, and those characters weren’t to be approached.
Kai flinched as he heard more footsteps besides just his and Nya’s. His breath quickened, and he tried to glance discreetly over his shoulder while pretending to adjust the grip on his food basket. He caught a brief look at the road behind him, which confirmed his suspicions with a stab of horror. People had exited the tavern patio and were following them. Two, maybe three, maybe more. Feeling a cold sweat form, he glanced fretfully at Nya, who was skipping a few paces ahead, still humming absently. His first priority was to get her out of harm’s way. His own safety came second.
“Nya,” He whispered, keeping his voice low, not wanting the pursuers to overhear. He hissed her name again, thrusting a finger up to his lips as soon as she turned around. “I want you to run ahead to the shop. Then, I want you to go back into town through the farmland and get help.”
Nya’s brow contracted, and Kai saw her eyes flicker behind him. She did a rather poor job of hiding her surprise, her eyes lingering too long, but she seemed to understand. Kai held onto the basket and nudged her forward, and though she hesitated, she eventually broke into a run, her hair fluttering up and down as she made for the shop. Kai listened carefully to the footsteps behind him, not hearing them quicken. He’d worried they might pick up the pace and go after Nya.
Kai waited until Nya was out of sight behind the hill before acting. He didn’t want to run, especially not towards the house. He was faster than Nya, and he didn’t want to lure these guys closer to her. But he wasn’t just going to sit still and let them grab him. So he just kept walking, then after a moment of consideration, he turned and began walking off the path. There was a small grove of trees not too far off the road. His hope was that he could get behind them and then run, doubling back toward the village, where hopefully, Nya would have already alerted someone of the peril.
Kai swallowed nervously, staring ahead at the trees and keeping his pace slow but unwavering.
“You lost, kid? Road goes that way.”
Kai glanced over his shoulder, trying to appear as if he’d only just noticed the people. He saw three people, two men and a woman, all wearing city clothes, jeans and leather jackets and such. They looked to be bikers. Ignacia saw a few of them passing through on the weekends. They were usually travelers on their way to or from the nearby city of Stiix. It was too dark to see the colors of their clothes, hair or skin, but Kai could see that one of the men was clean shaven and the other had a mustache, and the woman had a nose ring.
“Are you guys new in town?” Kai asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. He didn’t stop walking. Neither did they.
“Just passing through,” The woman answered in a husky voice. She was the nearest of the three of them now. “Where are you off to? Sure you should be wandering away from town so late?”
Kai grit his teeth, debating between keeping up conversation and making a run for it. He just had to keep the three of them following him until he was sure Nya was away from the house. Sometimes, usually when he was taking out his stress while blacksmithing, he felt like there was a literal fire inside him, crackling and growing angrier and hotter. This was one of those times.
“What do you want?” He finally asked, his voice shaking with fear and fury. “I don’t have anything.”
The first voice chuckled. “We’ll see about that.”
Kai didn’t wait a second longer. He broke into a run, sprinting across the moist grass toward the trees. He could hear the thugs behind him start and run after him, getting slower starts. Using his advantage, Kai reached the trees and ducked, his shorter stature allowing him to dodge the branches easier and make it to the other side of the grove. He heard branches snap and muffled curses behind him, and as soon as he saw that all three of the thugs were in the trees, he circled around the grove and ran back toward the village.
Kai saw out of the corner of his eye that the woman was already doubling back from the trees and was just behind him. Breathless, Kai could feel a stitch in his side from the sudden acceleration but he knew he couldn’t afford to stop. Desperate, Kai dropped the basket behind him, hoping the woman tripped on it as she followed him. He kept moving, the village getting closer, the tavern about ten yards away. He just had to get back to the road and into town-
Kai heard it a second before it happened. The woman had caught up to him and grabbed him by the shoulder. She didn’t stop his run, but she did slow him down, and she was pulling him back with more strength. Kai flailed and kicked, screaming as loud as he could, but the woman got his leg and he fell face-down to the ground. Pain rocketed up his body, his vision blurred as he spat out a mouthful of grass, but a foot on his back kept him planted on the ground.
“Kid’s fast,” The woman said, panting. Kai struggled, grasping for a handhold in the ground and trying to wriggle out from under her. “What was in the bag?”
“Just some fruit,” The mustached man replied, also breathing heavily.
Kai heard the three of them surround him, and eventually, a hand seized both of his shoulders and began pulling him up. He tried to pull away, but the grip of the man holding him was too strong. He was about to scream for help again, but his throat went dry when the man in front of him held up a knife, pressing it close to his throat.
“Make a sound, and he’ll cut you,” The mustached man hissed in Kai’s ear, his breath hot and wet on the side of his face, making him want to retch. “Check his pockets.”
Kai thrashed in the man’s grip, fighting back as best he could as the woman searched him. He turned his head as far around as he could and tried to bite one of the hands holding him, but he couldn’t reach. The thugs were laughing now, and Kai felt tears of terror and frustration stinging his eyes. The man holding him increased the pressure, and Kai knew he wasn’t going to be able to get away.
The woman gave a quiet, simpering laugh as she withdrew the few coins in Kai’s pocket. “This can’t be all. Let’s go grab his sister. That’ll get him to talk.”
Kai’s heart stopped beating, and for a moment he couldn’t breathe. He struggled feebly in the grip of the man holding him, his head downcast, tears pouring down his cheeks. “Please . . .”
“Kai!”
Nya’s voice called to him from the town, and Kai’s head snapped up. His sister was running up the road, surrounded by at least seven of their neighbors. He couldn’t clearly see them all in the dark, but he recognized Mr. Saunders among them, as well as Chang, Ignacia’s mayor. Most of them were armed with swords or daggers, which had probably been forged by Kai’s own hands at the smithy. Kai felt the grip on his shoulders falter, but when he strained against it, it increased painfully.
“Release him!” Chang called, thrusting the sword he carried toward them, leading the progression, Nya trailing behind him. “Get out of our town!”
“Not a step closer!” The man in front of Kai warned, pressing the knife against Kai’s face. Kai held his breath and went still, feeling the cold, sharp edge of the on his cheek. “Just back off, we’ll take what we want and we’ll leave.”
“Let the boy go, before this gets ugly!” Chang snapped. “You can’t take us all.”
“If you don’t all back away, we’ll take his eye!” The woman countered.
“ I said let him go !”
Kai saw what was happening a moment before it happened and jerked backward. The man raised his blade in a swift arc, slashing Kai from the cheek up, and Kai felt pain unlike anything he’d ever felt flare across his face. He shrieked and spasmed in the grip of the man holding him, losing vision in his left eye, which felt like it was on fire. It felt like his entire face had been torn in two, and he could feel warm blood on his face. Before he knew what was happening, he was dropped on his side in the grass, where he lay trembling and sobbing, holding his face.
“Kai!” He heard Nya’s voice, closer and on the verge of tears, and he felt and heard her kneel down beside him. “Someone help! He’s bleeding!”
Kai hardly understood what was happening around him. All he could think about was the searing pain on his face. He heard people talking around him, and he eventually allowed them to help him to his feet and walk into town, but he barely registered it. He wouldn’t know that Chang and the townsfolk had chased down the thugs and forced them out of town until Nya retold the story the next day. He wouldn’t know that the wound over his face would take days to stitch and treat. He had no idea that over time, the wound would scar and remain there the rest of his life.