So here's chapter 2. Enjoy, please leave a review or comment or whatever. :)

Bloodshed

Moonlight lit the stone tiles of the courtyard, painting the area in beautiful tones of silvery white. The elegance of the scene, however, was lost upon those who stood in it.

His students had trained well, they were prepared for this moment. As soon as Zed had given the command, they sprung into action. The courtyard erupted into chaos and violence. Zed just stood and watched the bloodshed, content with merely spectating. He knew his presence was not needed, the Kinkou were hopelessly outmatched and out manned.

He had no intention of joining the fight, that is, until a familiar ninjato lodged itself in his shoulder. He yanked it out immediately, wincing in pain he looked up to see Shen standing before him. The Eye of twilight kicked Zed square in the chest, sending him backwards a few paces. He then followed up with a punch to the side of Zed's head. Already off-balance, Zed was floored by the blow. Despite Zed's armor, Shen's blow had still hurt tremendously.

Shen was strong, more so than when they last fought.

But so was he.

Zed spawned a shadow behind Shen and immediately swapped places with it. Utilizing the element of surprise, he removed one of the shuriken attached to his back, and flung it at Shen. His shadow mirrored his attack perfectly, and while Shen managed to block the shadows shuriken, Zed's shuriken hit its mark in Shen's lower back. Due to Shen's thick armor, the shuriken failed to impaled itself properly in his flesh, causing only a shallow wound. It bounced and fell to the ground. The tip of it glistened with a dark crimson sheen.

Shen turned around and aimed a vicious downwards slash at Zed's midsection, who intercepted the blade with his own. The force of the blow reverberated in his bones, causing pain to shoot down the length's of his arm, but Zed ignored it. Stepping closer to Shen, he elbowed him in the face and then shouldered him as a follow up. By putting his full weight and force into it he managed to put the grey-eyed ninja off-balance.

He saw his opportunity.

His shadow was still standing behind Shen. Zed willed it to perform a low spinning-kick, sweeping Shen's legs from underneath him. As his opponent fell backwards onto the floor, Zed pulled his arm back, opening his palm as he did so, before smashing his hand into Shen's nose.

A distinct crack was heard. Zed smiled in cruel satisfaction as he watched blood gush from Shen's ruined nose. He raised his arm to repeat the motion once more, raining down drops of blood onto Shen's dark blue armor as he did so. This time, he formed a fist, and just before he could make contact with Shen's nose a second time, the blue ninja abruptly sat up and caught his wrist. Twisting it viciously, he shoved Zed away from him and stood up. Without even pausing to lift a hand to his definitely broken nose, he lunged at Zed once more.

They fought for what felt like hours, but both knew it couldn't of been more than half an hour. The fight had oscillated between the two. One moment, it seemed that Zed had gained the advantage, landing a vicious kick to Shen's abdomen and knocking the wind out of him. But, in the next, Shen clearly had the edge over him as he landed blow after blow on the side of Shen's head.

The two stood now, opposite each other, panting and gasping for air. The fighting around them had moved away from the courtyard, as Zed's students had chased the fleeing Kinkou. They were now the only two who remained in the courtyard.

Zed's mask now lay on the ground, after getting knocked off by a particularly brutal uppercut. Both were covered in bruises, cuts and the like. Neither had managed to get the better of the other, causing Zed's frustration to rise. Even now, he still could not beat Shen.

"Why," It wasn't a question, but a statement, as if he already knew the answer to the question he was about to ask. "Why did you come? Why have you betrayed us so?"

"I was the one who was betrayed!" Came Zed's spiteful reply. "I was the one who was banished. I was the one who was forced to spend so many lonely nights out in the cold. Do not talk to me of betrayal, Shen, for I have bared the worst of it."

Zed couldn't stop himself from trembling with anger as he remembered the most difficult years of his life. With nowhere to go and no money, he was forced to steal just to get by. Of course, armed with the few shadow techniques he knew at the time, this was an easy feat. But being reduced to nothing but a petty thief was shameful for a ninja, banished or not. Still, with no bed and no place to call home, he had spent far too many nights in the open, vulnerable to the merciless Ionian weather, among other things. He had struggled to get by.

"You know that wasn't my decision to make, I could do nothing to stop it." Came Shen's cool reply, his face stoic and impassive, as always.

"You didn't even try! I do not recall you speaking up in my defense."

"It matters not now, what's done is done."

Zed felt himself bristling at the callous way Shen changed the subject.

"If anything you brought this upon yourself. Nonetheless, the fact remains, you abandoned us. You abandoned her, even."

Zed's eyes blazed with unconcealed fury after hearing Shen's words. He took a threatening step forwards.

Shen sighed as he looked at him. He was tired of fighting, and he knew he should be elsewhere, helping the surviving Kinkou to escape.

"This is enough for now, I fear my fellow ninja need me. Until our paths cross again, Zed." Shen pressed his palms together, muttering something inconceivable as he was surrounded by a purple glow.

"This isn't over!" Zed yelled as he aimed a fist at the Eye of Twilight, but it was too late, the ninja was already gone.

Sighing as he did so, Zed moved to go and pick up his mask and was startled when he saw a pair of brown eyes staring back at him from the other end of the clearing. He felt his heart rate suddenly begin to quicken.

"Akali"