AN. Uh, hello! Sorry for the long delay. It has been literally years since I've written a single word. I managed to log back into my account after a prolonged absence and found some really lovely private messages which lit a fire under my story writing bum. Life is busy and a lot has changed since the last time I updated waaaay back in 2011. Crazy times. So this is a story that I had partly written back then, but since then I've had several catastrophic laptop and hard-drive failures so this is a memory game now. I remembered the plot and here is my rewriting of the details that I don't remember :) Hope you enjoy!

Chapter One

It was the middle of a balmy summer night. The air was thick with the humidity that comes after a heavy rain, the scent of moist earth and wet grass rising softly in a thin mist that clung to the curves of the earth. The moon was full, casting a silvery glow over the small, unassuming collection of buildings in the middle of this isolated valley. It was peaceful, idyllic, a perfect night.

There were four buildings making up the four walls of a paved square, the corners left open. The northernmost building was the dormitory, and there a young boy slept.

He was in his own room, a luxury afforded to him as the top pupil of the dojo, curled up in a full size bed that was far too large for one so small. His pale head was resting on top of a hard sliver of a pillow, his eyes peacefully closed. His sleep was deep and dreamless and about to be disturbed.

The door to his room was flung open, bouncing off the opposite wall with a resounding bang that echoed in his ears. He shot up in bed immediately, his oval eyes wide and his mouth a flat line. He had not had his sleep disturbed at this time of night before, it was usually varying points of time in the morning to keep him on his toes, ready to fight at any moment. He had been trained to assume his fighting position on waking and that's what he did. Granted, it looked like he was just standing on his bed, but from this position he was covered defence-wise and would be able to take most opponents off-guard.

The silhouette in the doorway nodded its head. His hair was split like birds wings, impeccable even at this early hour, though his scalp was bald between the wings, his customary hat not in view tonight.

"Very good, Chiaotzu, stand down."

At the cold voice the small boy relaxed imperceptibly, his posture not changing in any visible way. He bowed.

"Yes, Master?" His voice was high and completely expressionless.

"I have a project for you," Master Shen said. He held up a bundle of cloth. "This was left on our doorstep sometime during the night. It woke me. I want you to take care of it."

He tossed it towards Chiaotzu, who caught it carefully. He looked at the cloth in his hands then blinked in surprise as he felt movement beneath the thick cloth. He looked up at Shen, confusion in his eyes.

"Master… May I?"

A curt nod and he lay the bundle down at his feet on the bed, carefully starting to unwrap the cloth. To his shock he revealed a baby boy, naked and pink and squirming, a shock of thick black hair on his small head. He looked back up at Shen, his surprise showing clearly on his face. This was a rarity; he was usually so good at keeping his emotion off his face. He tried to ignore the twisting fear curling up from his feet, tying his guts in knots.

"Master, w-when you say 'take care of'… w-what do you m-mean?"

He cursed himself for the stuttering that he suddenly couldn't control. He had been told to do this before and it usually meant something very specific. He was good at killing people, in the sense that he was efficient and tried to ensure minimal suffering. He was not good in the sense that he vomited every time he did, his emotions roiling to the surface in a wave he couldn't control until the last dredges of bile were out of his system.

"I mean raise it."

Relief coursed through him. His emotions suddenly came under control at those simple words. He had been so afraid that they would ask him to kill a baby. He wouldn't be able to do that, and the punishment for defying orders was…severe.

"Yes, master. Of course, master."

"Good." Shen turned and the door slammed shut behind him despite no one putting their hands on it.

At the sound of the bang the baby startled, his eyes shooting open. Immediately he started to cry, wailing and squirming as he stared almost accusingly up at Chiaotzu with his dark eyes.

"No, shh, hush." Chiaotzu's voice was soft and soothing. He reached out one hand, hesitated and then gently brushed his fingertips on the baby's cheek. It was soft, smooth and warm. Chiaotzu relaxed a little bit more. He had almost expected to be shocked. Encouraged by this, he moved his hand up and brushed the thick black hair away from the baby's forehead. A third eye opened there, red and irritated, a strand of hair visible on its surface.

"Oh Kami," Chiaotzu breathed, frozen in shock. The baby was a triclops. He had heard of them before but never of a baby one. The triclops' he had heard of were all adults who had earned their third eye after a lifetime of devoted meditation and sacrifice, a physical embodiment of their enlightenment. How on earth had this baby gained one? Was it fate or a fluke?

While he was frozen with shock the baby was still crying, his third eye slitted and watering. Chiaotzu shook himself back to earth and bent down, examining the third eye.

"This may hurt," he said softly, then gently wiped along the eyelid, attempted to free the hair caught there.

It pulled free slowly, the baby giving another agonising wail. Chiaotzu checked the make sure the hair was gone, then bundled the baby up in the cloth, holding him gently in his arms, rocking him awkwardly from side to side.

"Hush, little baby, don't say a word," he sang softly, the words to a vaguely remembered lullaby from his own childhood. "Papa's gonna buy you a mocking bird. And if that mocking bird don't sing, Papa's gonna buy you a…a…"

He faltered and then started humming along to the tune. The baby's wails lessened to sobs and then to hiccupping whimpers. Chiaotzu smiled at the baby, his humming coming to a halt though he continued the rocking movement of his arms.

"You're going to need a name," he said softly. He thought for a moment, then grinned and put one hand up as the baby smiled up at him, a tiny pink hand wrapping around his white finger. "Tienshinhan," he said quietly. "But I'm going to call you Tien, okay? At least when Shen isn't around."

The thought of his master made his heart freeze and his face fall into its usual flat, doll-like appearance. The reason he had been given this baby to raise instead of to dispose of was because Shen wanted to train him. Maybe train him to be an assassin since Chiaotzu was still such a disappointment. Oh, Kami, he had to try and protect this baby.

AN. So there it is! The first original writing I've done in 5 years. Crazy when I think about it like that. I hope you enjoyed, hopefully this will be a story I'm able to finish between my full-time job and mortgage and so on. If you enjoyed please leave a review, it's appreciated. If not please leave me some tips, I'm a little rusty!