oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Last Time
Glancing at me briefly, Blake nodded, his own eyes dark with grief and anger as he glanced down and placed a hand on Hunter's back, smiling a little when he got a little grumble and shift for that.
This Time
(Blake's POV)
Yeah, it's Lothor. I thought as I kept my hand still on Hunter's back.
Before they got back to us, I was able to sense Hunter's pain and was immediately ready to kill. I thought maybe they'd been attacked, though I think I could tell it wasn't a physical pain. I was about ready to stomp into the woods, find them, and kill whoever was hurting my bro when he contacted me. His words and tone told me a lot of what I needed to know.
Flashback
I told her.
Frowning a moment, I stood by Carly at the truck, trying to ignore the heat in my face as I tore myself from a one-sided conversation she was having about Tori and how we were so cute together. I kept trying to tell her we were just friends, but she had this grin and kept insisting that I should tell Tori how I felt about her.
But I shook it off quickly, turning towards the woods and feeling the worry that was already there, grow. I was able to tell long before this something was wrong, but I left it up to Hunter, trusting him to call me if he needed help. Now, hearing his words, I realized that it wasn't something that was really wrong, but just... I don't know. I didn't like that he was in pain, but at the same time, I knew it couldn't be helped. He needed to face his pain, that's the only way to get over it.
Told her? I thought back, tearing myself out of my mixed thoughts and feelings. I'd faced my pain, and though it was still there, it wasn't as bad, I think. Told her what? Bro?
I could feel my own eyes watering at the pain I felt leaking through the link.
"Blake?"
Realizing I'd been ignoring Carly, I turned to her briefly. "Sorry, just talking to Hunter." I stated bluntly, turning back quickly. Bro??
The pain seemed old, somehow, and deep. I think I almost knew right away that it dealt with our parents, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions. Instead I waited impatiently for Hunter to explain.
I told Kendra about...the funeral. I didn't get to Lothor yet. his voice was halted, showing me he was crying and barely able to think straight. His energy also seemed low, like he was struggling to keep the link active, and it worried me that it took so much out of my bro to talk about all this. I transformed. I can't...tell her about him. Can you? There was a plea in those two words. Please, bro. I want her to know, to understand.
It was unnerving, to feel how vulnerable my bro was at the moment. Yeah, sure. I thought quickly, noting the grateful sense before the link shut off. I'll be blunt, I was scared. It had been so long, and we never really got right into details with what happened. I didn't, only because I knew it bothered him, but I could never guess just how bad it was.
End Flashback
He wants her to know. I thought vaguely to myself, as I took a deep breath. It wasn't easy on me to talk about this, but it was up to me to finish the story Hunter started. Glancing briefly at the keys in the ignition, I briefly debated with myself about starting up the vehicle and heading off, but I didn't think it would be a good idea to drive and talk about it.
Then again, sitting here, risking ending up in my dragon form as well was just as dangerous; it left the girls without a way home, unless one of them knew how to drive.
"He betrayed us." I blurted, getting to the heart of the matter. Frowning a moment, I felt my forehead crease as I tried to sort out my thoughts. "When he attacked our Academy, he had a way of… I dunno, messing with our heads. He convinced us that the Wind Sensei, who we didn't know at the time, killed our parents."
I could feel the tension rising in the truck and caught Kendra's horrified look.
"It was weird, but I think we were both so blinded by our anger, we just wanted someone to pay. We didn't even try to find fault with his words. We went out and set a plan into motion to get the Wind Sense so that we could take him to an ancient cavern where the souls of dead ninjas rested. There, we planned on him facing justice for their cold-hearted murder."
I knew Kendra wanted to question what I meant by 'justice' but I was surprised when she didn't and she merely nodded a little, looking lost in thought.
"But…it wasn't him." Carly was about as confused as Kendra.
"No, it wasn't, but we didn't know that. He, the Wind Sensei, Sensei Watanabi, insisted that fact, but we didn't want to hear it. Hunter and I both wanted someone to blame so badly, we were willing to believe anything, I think." My chest tightened when I thought back to the day I met Tori, and how I befriended her, only to betray her.
"We didn't know the others. We met them through Dustin, who we were using at the time to find the location of Ops." I couldn't hide the wince. When I'd met Tori, I was more struck at how beautiful she was than anything else. "We met the others shortly after. I befriended Tori, and set up a ruse to look like I came to her rescue in a battle and got injured. I never meant to hurt her, really." There was a pang of hurt in my chest when I recalled the betrayed and hurt look on her face.
Kendra frowned and I felt my eyes widen as this almost desperate need came over me to be believed.
"I didn't! Look, it was to get to Sensei. That's all I was thinking of. Trust me, I was kicking myself ever since it happened and I've been spending my time ever since wishing I could go back and erase the hurt I caused her."
Maybe it was something in my voice, maybe it was the desperate, sincere look on my face, I didn't know, but Kendra's eyes softened and Carly nodded with a strange look of understanding.
"Either way…" Sighing, I turned and looked out the windshield, wishing I didn't have to do this, wishing none of it had happened. "We ended up getting Sensei. We took him to the Cavern of Lost Souls, where the spirits of the dead ninjas resided, and planned to kill him in retribution."
I heard their gasps clearly, and felt as well as sensed their shock and horror. I just pretended not to, and kept going.
"Our parents stopped us."
"But…I thought you said they were…" Carly trailed off, clearly uncomfortable about talking about it.
"Dead? Yeah, they are, and they were then, too, but that didn't stop them." I couldn't help but smile when I was reminded of their images. Adopted parents or not, I loved them as much as if they were my real parents.
"Cavern of Lost Souls." Kendra was looking ahead, as if musing to herself, but jumped a little and looked down.
Feeling the warm ball that was in my lap, move, I looked down and grinned as Hunter sleepily crawled out of my lap and into Kendra's. He scrabbled over and wiggled as he went, stopping only long enough to let out a massive yawn and cat-like stretch with those tiny claws of his. I don't know if he was awake or what, but he quickly curled up into a ball again and slept against her arm, using her hand as a pillow.
"Yeah, they were there." Getting back to my story, I felt my eyes water a bit and took a deep breath to try and calm myself. "They told us it was Lothor who killed them. Then he had the nerve to come out and mock us about it, admitting they were right."
I felt the slight warmth resting briefly on my arm and became aware I was gripping the steering wheel as though I was going to rip it into pieces. Forcing myself to calm down, I took a deep breath. "He attacked me out of nowhere, but I think Hunter saw it coming. He took an old jewel that was used to communicate with the dead, the Gem of Souls, and used it to reflect the blast back at Lothor, temporarily draining him and causing him to fall back." I thought for a moment Hunter was going to be hit. I don't think I'd ever been so scared!
"So, for years you wondered what happened to your parents, only to be mislead by Lothor into thinking the Wind Sensei, killed them, and then find out he in fact killed them." Kendra was making a face. It was obvious she was beyond angry but at the same time, so full of pain and confusion. "That's just…whacked."
"For the lack of a better term, yeah." I mumbled with a raised eyebrow. "Can you understand now, why Hunter is so wary about meeting new people, and why we're not exactly forthcoming?"
She nodded quietly and removed her hand from my arm, her arm moving to encircle the little ruby dragon in her lap almost protectively. Sighing a little, she looked down at him and used her index finger to gently rub the back of his head.
I couldn't help but grin a little, though I was hardly in a good mood at the moment. "You better be glad he's asleep, or I don't think he'd like that." I warned lightly.
"So you can use this Gem of Souls to communicate with the dead." She stated quietly. "Can't you use that to get closure? To see and talk to your parents one last time?"
"Maybe." Now I was frowning again as I vividly remembered the pieces of the gem flying everywhere. "If it was still whole and had power."
"It's not?" Kendra asked at the same time as Carly asked, "It doesn't?"
"No, it was able to throw Lothor's power back at him, but shattered because of it. It's gone now, we threw the pieces we could find out into the ocean." Here, I hesitated. But… Hunter went back. He said it was to just see the place and think, but… Well, it's Hunter. Part of me knew he was probably looking for pieces of the gem. The question was, did he find any?
"I'm sorry." Kendra's voice was subdued, and I could clearly tell she really was sorry.
Shaking my head a little, I reached down and rested my hand on Hunter's back a moment. "It's ok. Now you know what happened." Trying to smile at them, I took the silence and used it to gather my thoughts, turning the key in the ignition and doing up my seatbelt as I waited to get going. "Who's going where?"
Kendra's eyes widened momentarily. "Um, Hunter wanted to ride, but as he is now…"
"He's only like that until he rests, right?" I asked. "I mean, he can turn back before we get to the city?"
She seemed to think a moment before nodding. "Yeah and the way he talked about it, riding should do just the trick to help him relax."
I couldn't help but laugh at this. "It will, trust me. We both live to ride, it's our thing. Once he gets going, you're going to be in for a long wait."
"I think I can handle it." She said quietly, her face carefully neutral.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
So school is literally out for the summer, and I am just about done totally, myself. I only have one course to go before I graduate, so I graduate in the coming Winter or next Summer.
Hope you like it.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"What happened to having the day off?!"
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
R+R please.
Thank you.
Tenshi
