AN: Sorry for the long wait, enjoy!
Kamkaura and Fire Storm sparred in a corner of the training room. It had been two days since Snake Eyes had grouped them together and Fire Storm was amazed, as he knew Kamakura was, that they had not killed each other yet.
While the two were among the other ninjas, Kamakura and Fire Storm did their best to remain civil to one another but in the former's quarters they barely spoke more than a syllable to each other, preferring to communicate by hand gestures and facial expressions.
The only good thing Fire Storm could see coming out of this plan of his brother's was that he was learning the martial arts and he was learning sign language.
Fire Storm ducked and brought up his sword to attack but Kamakura's recovery was quick and Fire Storm was forced to give ground before the better trained ninja. They traded blows back and forth and Fire Storm knew he was only able to keep pace because Kamakura slowed his movements enough for his younger sparring partner to be able to learn them.
After their match, Kamakura stepped beside him and showed him the defense moves they would use in their match the next day. Fire Storm followed Kamakura exactly for the next hour until they broke for lunch.
During lunch Fire Storm could not help but notice how Kamakura's eyes strayed to his tattooed cheeks again and again. The young man sighed mentally; Kamakura still thought he was a cobra agent.
As soon as they were done eating, Kamakura got out the sign language book and they set to work on the signs. Fire Storm had started to grasp American Sign Language a lot faster than stage two in martial arts.
Kamakura reached across the table quickly to correct Fire Storm's hand position and noted with narrowed eyes how the younger man froze. Kamakura slowed his hand slightly as he repositioned Fire Storm's thumb and then withdrew his hand. Fire Storm stared at his hand for a few seconds before looking up Kamakura. He had been doing fine around the blue clad ninja for the past two days, why did his body have to betray him now?
Kamakura examined Fire Storm before moving on to the next signs and Fire Storm hoped the topic would not come up when they were alone in the ninja's room.
"What now?" he asked Kamakura but the young man said nothing for a long minute.
"Go run a few laps," Kamkaura said and Fire Storm obeyed without even a look of frustration.
Snake Eyes watched the parting, almost thinking Kamakura was going against his instructions but then he saw the deep thoughtful look on the blue ninja's face and he turned away. Kamakura was working things out in his mind and he was not going to interfere with that.
The day passed but it was not until after dinner that Fire Storm became suspicious of Kamakura, the blue ninja having ordered him to his suite as soon as they were done eating.
"What happened to us agreeing to work together with this forced arrangement?" Fire Storm asked hoarsely, his hand clutching Kamakura's grip on his shoulder.
"Move." Kamakura's one syllable word left no room for argument; it was final, said with all intent that the order would be obeyed. But Kamakura had failed to calculate all the variables in the steps he took to issue his order. There was the tone of his voice; very commanding and just right to push someone who had been ordered around a little too much over the edge. Then there was his grip on Fire Storm's shoulder. Kamakura had often been told that he had a grip of steel, something he had come by through a rigorous, intense training, but not everyone can know their own strength; no matter how much training they've had. He was now gripping Fire Storm's shoulder hard, employing his strength to get his point across to the younger man, and for someone who has been beaten for the majority of their life it only takes a strong-hurtful grip and a commanding tone to make that person see red.
Fire Storm had one objective: to get out of Kamakura's bruising grip and that was what he set out to do.
He moved quickly, bringing his fist down in an arc to hit Kamakura in the chest and then twist away. Kamakura took the blow to his sternum, the air whooshing out of him as he released Fire Storm and stumbled back. Finding himself free, Fire Storm turned to run but, as the move he had used was from an advanced level he had only watched being used but had never learned, he did not know to the full extent how dangerous the move was and so he was halfway down the hall before he heard the grunt of pain; coming from someone who had had more than just the wind knocked out of him.
Fighting his instinct to flee, Fire Storm turned to see Kamakura crumbled on the floor, the sound of the blue ninja's lungs working hard to bring in air filling the younger man's ears.
Against the philosophy that had been driven into him over the past ten years, Fire Storm ran back to Kamakura; the first stages of panic flittering through his body. "Snake Eyes!" He heard a voice shout and realized, as he fell to his knees beside Kamakura, that it was his own. He did not know what to do. Kamakura struggled to breathe, his efforts hampered by something a simple blow to the stomach would not have caused. "Kamakura?" The older of the two looked up with glassy eyes, tears of pain escaping from the edges of his eyelids. He moved his mouth, trying to say something but while he could not breathe he could not speak either. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Fire Storm found himself being pushed to the side as Snake Eyes bent over Kamakura, his hands moving to gently prod the chest area.
"What did you do?" Jinx grabbed Fire Storm and pulled him up, slamming him against the wall. "What did you do?"
"I don't know!" He shouted, seeing Tiger Claw appear out of his peripheral vision but paying him no mind at the moment. "I just hit him."
"Where?" Jinx shook him hard. "Where did you hit him? What move did you use?"
On the floor Kamakura still struggled to breathe but now they could hear the young man's cries of pain, coming out in strangled gasps along with his fight for air.
"I don't know," Fire Storm whispered, the full reality of what he had done settling in. "I don't know what I did."
"Show me," Jinx ordered and Fire Storm drew his hand up, his limb shaking slightly as he watched Jinx' eyes narrowed as he brought his hand down in an arc over his own sternum. Jinx looked up at him with widened eyes, "You didn't?" She grabbed Fire Storm again and threw him against the wall; hard. "You little idiot! How could you?" She went to slap him and Fire Storm would not have stopped her but Tiger Claw did, pointing to Snake Eyes.
Snake Eyes had looked back at Fire Storm when he demonstrated the move he had used, to say he was okay with what his brother had done would have been a lie, using unlearned moves in martial arts was one of the dangerous things a person could do after all, but he was keeping calm for the moment and reserving judgment. Now, with Jinx threatening to tear Fire Storm apart and Tiger Claw holding her back, Snake Eyes took in the situation and risked moving his hands from Kamakura's chest to sign for all of them to calm down before he turned back to his injured apprentice.
The three standing ninjas watched in silence as Snake Eyes moved his fingers to push in on certain spots on Kamakura's chest. Then he lifted Kamakura high enough to slide a hand under his back while his other hand pushed in on Kamakura's chest quickly: one, two, three.
Kamakura continued to fight for air during all of this, his face turning white and his eyes staring widely at all of them with a plea for help.