Author's Note:

Hello! It's been awhile since I wrote for this part of FanFiction and I'm sorry that I haven't updated on ANYTHING in a long time. I'm hoping this challenge I set up for myself will help me regain my ability to write and keep a deadline. I shall post one story every day for the next one hundred days. So, here is my first of one hundred one-shots.

Tears

Crying had never come easy to him.

It wasn't like he didn't want to cry. There were many times in the past that he had wanted to bawl but the salty tears refused to run down his face. For example, he wanted to cry when his parents died but the stubborn droplets of water refused to fall. Maybe he didn't want to cry the last time he would ever see his parents. Maybe he wanted to keep their memories happy instead of sad. If you asked him then he wouldn't be able to tell you and he probably still can't tell you now.

He didn't cry when he learned that his grandma had cancer two years after his parents died. He didn't cry on his eleventh birthday another two years later when she lost the battle with it. He didn't cry on his Christmas later that year when she wasn't there to wake him in the morning. He also didn't cry when his grandpa committed suicide two months afterwards. He had dubbed himself the Boy Who Couldn't Cry. He had learned early on that crying got you nowhere.

When he was kicked out the orphanage soon after he turned thirteen he didn't let a single tear fall. He didn't cry when he was locked in the strange robot in the abandoned section of the city either. Not a single drop of the salty liquid fell when he pulled the switch inside and was electrocuted with a strange green energy.

He screamed when he awoke surrounded by five robot monkeys but didn't break into hysterical tears when they told him he was to be their new leader. After they had come to know them they too realized that their newest teammate never cried.

He didn't cry until the Night of Fear. He stayed strong for his team during the crisis even though he was terrified out of his mind when he turned back to a seven-year-old again. No, his team needed their leader, not a sniffling brat. He had felt pride and happiness take over once they defeated Mandarin, but he didn't cry. No, he didn't cry until he reached his bedroom and collapsed on the bed. Then the water works burst.

Every single one of the monkeys assumed that he had a fear of being young and powerless again. But that wasn't the case. It was never his fear and the real reason he become young again was even more terrifying to him.

Chiro's greatest fear was having no use to the monkey team. He was terrified that they would leave him like so many people had before them, like his parents, like his grandmother, and like his grandfather.

Being alone was the only thing that could bring true tears to his eyes. And his team would spend the next five years to make sure his true fears would never come to light.