Chapter 14: United in Adversity

Kamakura's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up. "I beg your pardon?"

Billy felt a vein throbbing on his forehead. Considering he'd just went and blurted it out as plainly as anyone possibly could, Sean not getting it was downright infuriating. He took a deep breath and locked his eye with one of his sword brother's own.

"I said I feel the same way about Sensei as you do about Wade Collins," he repeated with a slight snarl.

Kamakura swallowed. That's what he thought he'd heard, but it was still a bit difficult to process. He wasn't entirely sure it wasn't grossly inappropriate; his thoughts went to the familiar cliché of a child mistakenly calling their grade school teacher 'mom'… the usual consequence was the class laughing and the teacher hiding their embarrassment in an effort to go easy on their student. "Does he… does he know?"

Billy resisted rolling his eye; as eager as he was to get his heart back off his sleeve, it was a legitimate question. "Yes."

"And… is he… is he okay with that?"

Billy's eye widened briefly before the young man sagged in exasperation. "Man, you're dense," he sighed.

Kamakura frowned and his cheeks coloured. "What am I supposed to do, guess? You think this is all healthy and normal, do you?"

Billy visibly tensed. Unhealthy, was it? And abnormal? Like he cared? His next words came out in a snarl that was dangerously close to a hiss. "You were just saying, JUST now, that he's blind about me. Does it LOOK to you like he's not okay with it? And what do you mean, it's not healthy?"

Kamakura sighed. "I mean that a sensei is not the same as a father. Look, you're right, he does ACT like he doesn't mind. How do you know he's not just trying to go easy on you?"

"He told me the same time I told him," Billy replied in an angry tone that was edging closer and closer to the Commander's trademark hiss.

"But you still refer to Cobra Commander as your father," Sean said.

Billy broke eye contact, looking down and to the side. He took a minute to decide he couldn't really avoid answering the question, and another to figure out where to start and how much detail to get into. "I was eight when I ran away," he finally said with a sigh. "I only started realizing how bad he was shortly before that. Until then, he was just my dad. He was busy, and we moved around a lot, and his employees were weird, but… he was just my busy dad, and he was the only parent I had anyway. I blocked those memories for a while, but I remember most of it now, and I remember before he took me away and pretended mom was dead, too. And… I KNOW he's bad, and I really, really want him stopped, but… he used to be normal. It wasn't just me not knowing any better, either, Mom remembers too. He just… he lost it when his brother died, is all. And he's just been getting worse and worse, but…" he trailed off.

"But where there's life, there's hope?" Kamakura said.

"He used to be a perfectly decent person; it's not like he's some kind of demon, born to be an instrument of evil," Billy said, rolling his eye at the ridicule of the very concept. "He obviously can't be allowed to run rampant, but it's pretty obvious there's something wrong with his head, and I think it's not fair to the person he used to be to not even TRY to make him better."

Sean made a face. "So you're hoping that he's eventually going to be captured, and Cobra is going to be stopped for good, and he'll recover his long lost sanity so you can be a family again?"

Billy frowned.

Kamakura started again before his sword brother could think of an answer. "Because then, what happens to the Young Master? He gets demoted to sensei or some sort of family friend?"

"No!" Billy cried out, throwing his arms out and sounding utterly exasperated. "What kind of… HOW CAN YOU EVEN THINK THAT?"

"I told you, I can't guess!"

Billy buried his face in his hands for a second and could be heard drawing breath through his teeth.

"Fine," he groaned. "Fine, I'll just spell it out. Again. The Commander IS my biological father. The only thing I feel I owe him is to remember he wasn't always like this and acknowledge that he is sick and needs help. That's IT. If he ever does come back to his old self, I won't push him away but I won't elevate him, either. If he was ever stupid enough to demand I chose one family, I'd choose Sensei." He sighed, looking at the tip of his shoes and feeling himself blush. He really hated Jinx for forcing this conversation, now. His feelings should be his business, not Kamakura's. "And before you ask, Sensei never asked me to make that choice. In fact, he told me I didn't have to."

Kamakura took a while to chew on the new information and resisted demanding more details on Storm Shadow and Billy's understanding. His sword brother was clearly telling the truth, there really was no actual need to dig deeper on the subject.

"So, let me get this straight…" he eventually said. "You don't turn up the manners with the Young Master because you feel it'd be like saying you think he'll stop putting up with you if you don't act nice enough, and that'd be more insulting than anything else. Same as if I did the same with my father. I mean… some fathers raise their kids to be very proper and respectful of them, in fact my first dad was kind of like that, but…" he trailed off. "But yeah. Dad would just wonder what's wrong with me if I suddenly acted that way with him. And you figure that's how your sensei would feel too if you did it, and that's why you don't." He snorted disdainfully. "You know, NORMAL people like being nice back when they're grateful towards someone."

Billy, who had briefly thought that his sword brother was finally starting to see the light, clenched his fists and grunted in frustration. "You IDIOT," he growled. "What you're doing is NOT being nice! You're acting like everything they've done for you, everything they're still doing, somehow doesn't mean they care about you! Like you still need to win them over! That's not nice, that's insulting! You're not…"

"YOU ARE COMPLETELY DELUSIONAL!" Kamakura exploded, even springing up from his chair again, hands tensed into claws. He realized he was screaming, took a deep breath and started again in a very slightly calmer tone. "I'm not insulting them because unlike you, they can tell I'm neither faking nor sucking up! They know the reason I act respectful and grateful is simply that I am! I DARE you to come up with anything either of them ever said or did, ANYHTING, that even remotely suggests that they think anything else!" He barely paused; he didn't expect his younger brother to have a worthy answer anyway. "Honestly! Just because someone doesn't demand manners doesn't mean they don't deserve them! And if you owe a lot to someone, don't you think the least you can do is to not give them a reason to regret their kindness? Especially when you know they won't go back on it no matter what?"

Billy's expression went from a scowl to puzzlement, to surprise. "You're not worried they'll chuck you out," he said in a tone that made it clear the fact had just dawned on him. "You DO know Snake Eyes won't go back on his responsibility… you're just afraid he'll WISH he could. You think he may start regretting taking you in and of course, you don't want that."

Kamakura flushed and his frown deepened. "You said yourself I had to beg for training," he reminded Billy.

"Right after you told me I was wasting Sensei's time and that he was glad to get rid of me whenever I left again."

Kamakura shrugged. "The point is, even if you were just trying to rile me up, you were still right. I was pretty er… insistent when I asked Sensei to train me, and he didn't exactly jump on the chance to get a student. He had to think about it for days before he agreed to it."

"It IS a serious commitment," Jinx intervened. "It only makes sense to think about it carefully before you take on an apprentice… it doesn't mean Snake Eyes agreed reluctantly. He could have just refused."

Sean shook his head and looked down. "I found out after that he only agreed to it because I'm his godson," he muttered.

Billy's eye widened and Jinx's mouth fell open.

"You ACTUALLY believe that?" Billy asked. "You're not just wondering about it in the back of your head as a faint possibility; you think it's a fact? Are you nuts? There's no way Snake Eyes would agree to such a big, long term commitment just because of that! He'd have helped you find another teacher, maybe, but that's it! What do you think it means to take an apprentice? He's not just some teacher, he's effectively sworn to pass on as much knowledge as he possibly can to you and to protect you with his life!"

Jinx was nodding energetically at what Billy was saying. "Where did you get an idea like that?" she asked Kamakura, clearly in shock.

Kamakura frowned but kept his eyes down. "I overheard Thompson talking to another greenshirt," he said. "The other guy was teasing him because Sensei had apparently told him he didn't want any apprentice but yet here I was. Thompson never even got flustered, he told the guy that Snake Eyes had already explained to him that he had only taken me in because he couldn't very well turn down his godson. He wouldn't have been as calm as he was if he was making that up. And he did say that this was something Snake Eyes told him, not something he was guessing or deducting."

Jinx groaned. "Sean… Snake Eyes lied to him. He was avoiding an unpleasant conversation that would have ended in his telling Dave that he creeps him out."

"What, because of the werewolf thing?"

Billy snorted. "Try the fact Thompson enlisted just to try and get into the same unit as his idol. Snake Eyes feels the guy's basically been stalking him for years."

Kamakura's eyes widened. "He… what?"

"Thompson developed a fascination for him," Jinx explained, "and when he ended up convincing himself that Snake Eyes was a werewolf, he decided he needed to confront him about it and to convince him to get help before he lost control."

"And the Young Master wants to train him?" Sean asked disbelievingly. He glared at Billy, as if daring him to explain his sensei's actions.

Billy chuckled and raised his hands defensively. "I have no control over that," he said, "but he has his reasons, if it's any reassurance."

Kamakura couldn't quite keep his face neutral.

Billy chuckled. "Not really?" He cleared his throat and became serious again. "It comes down to character," he said. "Sensei likes the idea that this guy enrolled just so he could find Snake Eyes and help him out. He figures he went through a lot of trouble, you know? If you look at it as stalking, it looks really bad, but if you look at it as trying to help someone in need, it looks good."

Kamakura seemed to ponder for a moment, but suddenly frowned. "Wait. Isn't he a Ranger? Like Sensei?"

Billy nodded. "It's also no secret that he chose his specialties to increase his chances of working with Snake Eyes."

Sean raised an eyebrow. "And how, pray tell, is that not stalking and creepy as all out?"

"Depends on his motivations, don't you think? Sensei just sees it as more effort towards getting to Snake Eyes in time to stage a werewolf intervention. I mean, there's no question Thompson's a total fan boy, but…" he shrugged. "That's not really reprehensible, is it?" He cleared his throat again. "And then there's the potential. Tommy thinks Dave's got loads, because of the level he's at now without any real training. I mean, you do know he's a good commando, right? He's not here JUST to amuse the other greenshirts with his wacky theories."

"Noble motivations or not, it's still weird," Kamakura said. "Sensei is being very tolerant to not object to the Young Master leaving the offer of apprenticeship opened. But then, it's not like there's any chance Thompson will ever agree to train under Storm Shadow. EVEN with you buttering him up," he added at Billy's intention. "And don't pretend you're not, you've been schmoozing the guy ever since you've been back."

Billy shrugged. "He doesn't seem as angry with Sensei as before; I figure if I keep gently nudging him in the right direction, he might come around. Besides, WE're here because as sword brothers, we're supposed to get along, right? I might as well get a head start with Dave, just in case."

Kamakura snorted. "You're deluding yourself. Don't you know what the Young Master put those greenshirts through? And how much punishment duty they got out of it?"

"Hart's fine with him now," Billy pointed out. "Besides, Sensei got more punishment than they did," he added with a chuckle.

He had been around to witness part of Hawk's wrath, and knew for a fact that Tommy had received as much punishment duty as the four greenshirts put together. And he knew precisely what some of those duties had been, because his sensei had decreed he'd help with some of it so he could have some extra verbal lessons and also use the tasks as light training. Storm Shadow had completely missed the reference when Billy had started chanting "wax on, wax off" while scrubbing a wall, which was probably just as well.

"Yeah… I can't explain Hart," Sean said with a shrug. "But as far as the punishment duty goes, with all due respect, the Young Master actually deserved it."

"Oh, I don't know about that. It's hardly Sensei's fault that Snake Eyes needed more training, or that he brought a wolf in the Pit, or even worse, that he brought a wolf in the Pit without telling Hawk."

"You do realize Sensei didn't actually need more training, don't you?" Kamakura asked.

"Sure he did," Jinx intervened, clearly amused. "He needed to get better at not giving Tommy an excuse to worry over nothing."

Kamakura smirked in spite of himself. "A skill WE obviously still need to acquire if we are to avoid worse training measures than this camping trip."

Billy nodded enthusiastically. "Don't want that."

"Speaking of which," Kimi said, looking at each of her little brothers in turn, "do we still have a problem, here?"

The two apprentices avoided her gaze and darted looks at each other, each thinking hard on what they had been talking about. Kamakura was the first to break the silence.

"I'm sorry I doubted your loyalty," he said. "Not that I think I was wrong to, I had perfectly good reasons to wonder, but…"

Billy waved him off. "But now you don't wonder anymore. Good enough. I'm sorry I called you a suck up… actually, scratch that. I'm sorry I thought you were a suck up, not that I called you one. You're just a freakishly well mannered almost ninja."

Sean rolled his eyes but nodded to acknowledge the apology. "I challenged you earlier to think of any time at all where the masters weren't happy with how I acted."

"I can't," Billy admitted. "What about you? Did they ever do or say anything that made you think they thought I was being rude?"

Kamakura shook his head. "I was trying to think of something, but no. They never did. And I think they would let us know if they did mind either way."

Billy chuckled. "Yeah. They spent the last few weeks telling us off about twenty times a day, it's not like they're too shy to complain about us." He sighed. "Look, I get why you've been walking on eggshells so much, now. I still don't think you need to, but if that's what feels right to you and they don't mind it…" he shrugged. "As long as you don't keep trying to make me do the same."

Kamakura snorted. "I think I've wasted enough time and energy trying to teach you some manners; you're a lost cause. But, Sensei and the Young Master don't seem to mind and I can understand why you think it'd do more harm than good to change your ways in that regard. I think you're completely wrong, mind you, but at least I know why you're being stupid. I'll leave it to our senseis to correct you as they wish, but don't you EVER dare imply again that I'm putting on an act."

"Deal," Billy said. "But just one more thing. Try and keep the tent somewhat tidy, or I'm moving out."

Kamakura crossed his arms. "No you're not, I am. I'm not getting kicked by that metal leg of yours in the middle of the night again when I could just use the masters' tent."

Billy shrugged. "As long as you take all your stuff, fine."

"So then," Kamakura said with a smile, getting up and extending his hand. "Team? We do need to work together if we're going to get back at the masters for pulling this stunt."

"Brothers," Billy corrected, smiling as well as he got up and shook the offered hand.

Jinx beamed at them both, her hands joined under her chin. "Awhhh…" she cooed. "You're cute when you're being good, too!"

Loud was the first impression Storm Shadow registered as his brains started to work their way out of unconsciousness. There was a loud buzzing hum surrounding him… it was a lot like when his eardrums had been damaged by that fire alarm. He noticed the pain in his ears next. That was just like back then too.

His thoughts slowly focused on his last recollections. They'd been entering Valleytown, and they had both known something was wrong, and then… the noise. He sluggishly put together that the reason his ears were hurting and buzzing like the last time they had been injured was that they had been injured again.

He then noticed he couldn't move, and reached the conclusion that this was almost certainly not a good thing. He opened his eyes, and felt his heart skip a beat.

He was in some kind of reinforced holding room decorated with Cobra flags. His mind automatically recalled in vivid details all the times he'd waken up in custody of Cobra and incapable of moving, and how it always ended with his being turned into their obedient slave again. His heart started hammering.

He forced himself to take a deep breath, knowing panic would not help, and looked around some more, searching for something, anything, that could possibly help.

His eyes fell on the prone form of Snake Eyes and widened as the relative calm he'd just achieved evaporated; he could not hear his brother's pulse.

Author's Notes

If you're curious about the things referenced here…

The conversation where Billy and Tommy basically adopted one another and where Tommy told him he wasn't going to demand Billy disown CC altogether was right at the end of Reunion, although they were both speaking in tongues because they're macho ninja guys who aren't all that comfortable openly talking about touchy-feely stuff.

The fire alarm incident Tommy recalls here happened in one of the early chapters of Arashikage.

Thompson and Hart are OCs of mine, who first appeared in The Greenshirts and the Werewolf. That story is all about the werewolf incident I mentioned earlier in the chapter.

Finally, Kamakura cannot explain Hart's change of attitude towards Storm Shadow, but I intend to in an upcoming one-shot (eventually upcoming, anyway). For now, just know that there is a reason.

Thanks for reading!