Chapter 3: Love Me



Step back...parry right...low parry...go for the midsection....again...again...AGAIN!  

Zato was on his back, jaw clenched in pain. But it wasn't over. Yu thought he'd won. Instead of victory, he found himself even with his master. Though his own blade was at the throat of Zato, Yu found several white blade-like forms at his own throat, emanating from Zato's fingertips.

"Wa--ah!" Yu exclaimed, retracting his blade some from its target. Zato sighed before sinking into the mass of pooling white about him, and reformed himself behind the pupil, shaking his head.

"You were doing well, Yu, until you let fear judge for you." he said. Yu bit his tongue at hearing that. He was so stupid for doing that!

"I apologize, master Zato."

"No!" Zato scorned him. "You do not apologize for your lacking! You work harder, instead! Now, do not return to me until you have done so." Zato ordered. Yu bowed obediently.

"Yes, master Zato! The next meeting, I will be victorious." he said. Zato nodded.

"That is what I want to hear. You are dismissed."

-

            Lei stared blankly at the plate set before him. He had been staring at it for some time now...thinking. He lost to Venom....he could not face Zato in battle. He...wanted to, so badly. And Yu....Yu gained what he could not. Yu was honored with the very presence of Master Zato. Yu could spar with him…and experience the majesty of his power and grace. Yu could experience it all…and it was at…Lei's expense. It could have been him that bested Venom. Him that made it on to face Zato. But then…what would he do differently than Yu? All he could do was spar. He couldn't….couldn't…

"What's the matter, Lei?" Terra asked as she sat across from the dazed Lei, her head cupped within her hands. Lei snapped out of his daydream and forced a smile upon his features.

"Huh? Oh—nothing!" he lied. Terra blinked at him a few times.

"Are you sure? You haven't touched your lunch." she said, pointing at his plate.  Lei didn't want to eat. His food had already gotten cold, he presumed, but also, he just didn't have much of an appetite today.

"…I'm not hungry, I guess." He said, voicing his thoughts. Terra tilted her head slightly.

"Does it have anything to do with what happened yesterday between you and Yu?"

Lei's eyes widened slightly, but he shook his head instantly, so that his expression of surprise wouldn't be so obvious.

"…Naahh. I'm fine, Terr."

"You sure?" she asked. "Yu told me that you got mad at him when you found out that he beat Venom."

"I was kinda mad…I guess 'cause I knew that it meant that he would get a higher ranking status than me if he beat the master."

"Well, you shouldn't be jealous," Terra said with a smile. "Besides, Yu lost to Zato anyway."

"What?" Lei asked.

"I said that the master beat Yu."

"Oh.." Lei said, retaining his glee.

"Aren't you happy? That means that you get another shot at that ranking position that Yu could have gotten."

"I know," Lei said. "And I'm glad it's still open, but…it would seem wrong to be happy when Yu lost that same position."

"Well, from what Yu told me…it seems that you were more angry about him facing Zato than anything. Do you have something against him or the master or anything like that, Lei?" Terra asked. Lei could feel warmth underneath his collar at hearing that, and tugged on it a little before he could respond.

"Well…of course not. I was just caught up in the whole competition thing, I guess. You know how that goes."

"Oh! Well, everybody knows that. For a minute, me and Yu thought that you had some weird infatuation with master Zato or something." Terra said bluntly, smiling in the process. Lei thought that his heart was going to explode when she said that. How could they both know—no, guess so accurately?!

"No, it's nothing like that, Terra!" he said, chuckling, hiding behind a fragile smile that was bound to crack any second.

"Good, because if it was, I was gonna tell you to back off. There're rumors going around the manor that master Zato has a favorite already."

Lei could feel his heart snapping in half. What?!  Was he hearing correctly? Could it be that the master could do such a thing to him? Wait…what was he thinking? The master never knew anything about how he felt…about what he wanted to say all those times that he saw him. He never knew about any of those things. So how could Lei believe that master Zato truly meant to break his heart? He felt like he was going to vomit…but he couldn't. He felt so…sick inside.

-

            Zato curled his fingers toward himself as he glided along the earth beneath him, summoning from within the parasite that now helped sustain him, rather than aid in his destruction. The white glowing threads rose around him like slowly growing vines, each bright and swirling around his arms and body as he reached heavenward, his eyes closed in the process. Suddenly, the majestic poise he maintained shattered as he gave an intimidating shriek, and threw his arms downward until they touched the ground. In response, howls and shrieks of the dead sounded while the parasite shot out in rays along the ground, traveling toward Venom, who was at the moment, standing perfectly still, his pool stick held upright.  He waited until the rays began to raise the earth underneath them before he took flight into the air with a jump, and, raising a gloved hand heavenward, collected energy into his fingertips, and expelled a massive ball of violet energy that floated swiftly toward Zato. Instead of avoiding the impending attack, Zato instead dug his fingers into the earth, and growled inhumanely as he forced the purified entity inside him to soar toward Venom. The rays did as told, and slowly melded together as they wrapped around Venom, encasing him in white, and then pulled downward harshly until it collapsed into the earth, leaving a decent indentation. The trainees that speculated were in awe, their jaws slack as they beheld a battered Venom rising from the debris, smirking from behind a sheet of white. Though they thought that the match would continue, the two masters only gave one another a gracious bow, and turned toward their speculators. The entire body of viewers paused a moment before they gave a raucous cheer for their masters, loving the gift that they had been given.

"I can't wait until I become as good as they are!" Yu exclaimed alongside Terra, who was bouncing about with joy.

"Me too!" she exclaimed. Lei said nothing. It was so…entrancing to see that which he had. To see the master Zato in his form as he had been, dancing about the earth like a possessed angel, battered but still breathing. Controlling the parasite within that once plagued him like it was an instrument of his majestic yet destructive dance. All the while, Yu and Terra were laughing and clapping, but he…he was watching, silent. He just wanted to see it all over again.

"Dude, you look like a zombie! Did that space you out that much from watching them spar?" Yu asked as he nudged Lei's side. Lei blinked a few times, and shook his head.

"Hu---unh? Oh—y-yeah, I'm fine…it's just kinda awesome watching them go at it like that."

"You looked like a statue," Terra said, blinking at Lei. "I thought that you were staring into space or something."

"No, no, I was watching." Lei said. But I was watching Zato, he thought smiling faintly to himself.

"I hope you enjoyed the demonstration. This is what the superior officers will have to endure when it is time for their duration trials." Zato announced with a smile as he rose from his bow. The superiors among the spectators gave sounds of discontent at hearing that, causing Zato to smirk.

"They dread it now…but they will thank both of us, when the time comes." Venom added. Lei and Yu glanced in one another's direction at hearing that.

"How many ranks do you have to have in order to be a superior?" Terra asked suddenly. Yu chuckled nervously.

"I only have one rank to go after I defeat Master Zato in the sparring match." He said.

"What will you be after you defeat master Zato?" Terra asked.

"…Well, I have a few more things to go through after that, but eventually, I'll be an elite."

"WHOA! From a trainee to an elite that fast?!" Terra exclaimed.

"With extreme skill there comes extreme progression." One of the higher-ranking officers nearby stated. Lei shook his head some at hearing that. Extreme? It was simply luck that got Yu through! He would show them extreme. And he would show everyone.

"Uh….does the master favor anyone in particular right now?" he forced himself to ask the superior, who gave him an arched brow.

"…Favor? As in favorite? No, of course not!" he laughed. "That would never happen in the Assassin's Guild!"

"…Has it happened before?" Lei asked. The superior blinked a few times.

"Well…yes, in the past, when master Zato was more corrupt with the shadows of evil, and could not see."

Lei forced himself to ask, and it hurt as it came out, for he did not want to hear the answer.

"….Who was it?"

"Actually," the superior began, rubbing his chin as he thought. "Now that I think about it, master Zato did have the new master spared from death…and from then on Venom was his number one henchman. So I guess that would make master Venom his favorite."

Lei fell silent at hearing that. His world was crashing down on him. Everything shattered. Venom. Master…Venom.

"Are you okay?" the superior asked.

"…I….he…but I'm…I…master Zato, I thought…" Lei stammered, tears welling within his eyes. He could see it all clearly now. Venom using his former rank to lure the master Zato when he was blind—teasing his senses and using him to gain higher status! The bastard, how dare he! And…now that Zato could see again, he was blinded by the attractiveness of Venom…and was compelled to keep him by his side! This was all some twisted game!

"What's the matter? You thought what?" Terra and Yu asked. Lei clutched his hair as he sighed, his jaws tense as he held in a scream.

"….I thought he could love me….no…no, no, no master Zato, you don't understand!...YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE TREATED LIKE AN ANIMAL!"

-End Ch 3-