To JustRandom: As always, your review made me smile, and I appreciate that you took the time to read my story. :)
I'm placing a trigger warning for this chapter for self-harm. The characters are intentionally pricking their fingers in this chapter, so while not relating to trauma or mental illness, the action is a form of self-harm. I want to make sure there is a warning in case anyone doesn't want to read that.
It's a chick-a-dee, a tiny gray bird with a black throat patch and a raspy call. From below, Zane watches it flit through bare-branched trees, head tilted back from where he rests against the trunk. The little birds are so small that Zane only sees them once autumn empties the canopy of foliage, and Zane hopes that he will see more of them before the season is up.
He and Kai sit in what is hopefully an innocuous location, an unassuming grove near the back end of a village. Zane sits, at least; Kai roams in circles through the leaves and detritus, crunching the dead matter and doing little to be discreet about it.
"I thought a ninja was meant to be unheard," Zane comments, though he finds no bother with Kai's movement.
"We're not on any dangerous mission," says Kai.
"Not at the moment," says Zane.
They were out searching for Lloyd, who so far remains in the clutches of the Serpentine, and they found better prospects in splitting up. The Serpentine are difficult to track and have a habit of showing up unexpectedly. Finding Lloyd has been a difficult task, as his location seems to change by the day.
Kai and Zane followed one lead, while Jay and Cole followed another, and they'd agreed to meet here for either the other pair to show up or for news that they'd located the Serpentine and their youngest member.
Kai and Zane hadn't any luck, and the continued silence on Jay and Cole's part doesn't provide comfort.
As such, Kai shuffles circles in the grove, picking up sticks and snapping them in vain efforts of dispelling his agitation. Zane observes, having seen Kai exhibit this behavior a lot and in increasing frequency in the time they've known each other.
"I don't think worrying is going to help you now," says Zane, "There is no sense in waiting for what might not be."
"I'm not worried," says Kai, "I'm anxious, and I have every right to be. It's my fault the kid got nabbed."
"It is not."
"I was supposed to watch him," says Kai.
"Yes," says Zane, "but the Serpentine don't seem interested in harming him."
"Only so long as he's useful for them!" says Kai.
"And he is," says Zane, "The Serpentine know that we care about him. They can use him against us, so they'll want to keep him around. They haven't done anything to him so far, right?"
Kai turns with a frown. "That's a weird way of looking at it, Zane."
Zane shrugs, looking to his lap. "It is the only comfort I can find, if I can call it that. I worry for him, too."
Kai nods, resuming his march. Zane lets him be this time, looking down instead of towards the trees. It is difficult to admire the birds when his mind is in the state it is. The birds continue buzzing overhead, a disquieted ambiance to Kai's anxious path.
Zane presses his face to his knees, wishing Jay and Cole would contact them with better news despite logical thought telling him to avoid placing expectation after expectation over a future that he doesn't know. Regardless of what happens, they'll just have to keep going.
He doesn't notice that Kai has stopped moving until Kai says, "Do you have any family, Zane?"
Zane glances up. Kai crouches now, his back to Zane as he fiddles with a few golden leaves.
"Outside of—" he almost says, you all, but he doesn't know if they've known each other long enough for that, despite what they've been through. He finishes, "—my immediate family?"
"Any family," says Kai, "Siblings, cousins, and all that."
"I don't suppose I do," says Zane, "but I'm sure you've guessed that by now."
With all the little things, certainly. Kai nods.
Without turning around, he says, "Want to become blood brothers?"
Zane cocks his head as Kai glances back.
"Blood brothers?" says Zane.
Kai explains, "It's this vow we can take to always be there for each other."
Zane doesn't know where this idea came from, but he feels a flurry of curiosity, nonetheless. "Really? In that case, yes."
"Come here, then."
Zane stands and walks to where Kai is crouched, sitting before him as Kai pulls out a pocketknife.
"What's this?" says Zane.
"Part of the ceremony," says Kai, "We'll prick our fingers and draw blood. Then we press 'em together so the blood mixes."
"And then what?" says Zane, concerned.
The act is neither safe nor sanitary.
"That's really it," says Kai, flipping open his knife.
Zane watches with wide eyes as Kai takes the blade to his finger and pricks it, dragging it across the edge. It doesn't seem wise, and Zane is tempted to express as much out loud, but he doesn't want to stop whatever Kai is about to do.
Red liquid pools across the small cut, and Kai presents Zane with the knife.
"Your turn," says he, "Doesn't need to be deep."
Zane nods, taking the knife. It feels wrong, but he brings the knife to his finger and holds the thin blade against his skin. He debates pressing further, unsure without knowing why. The cut will heal.
"Hurry up before this clots," says Kai.
"What is the purpose of this?" Zane asks.
"It's symbolic of our bond," says Kai, "Don't think too much about it. I've done it with Nya before."
Zane glances up at that. "Really?"
"When we were little," says Kai, looking away as he says, "She might not even remember."
"What about the other ninja?"
"No."
"Oh," says Zane.
Zane isn't sure what that knowledge changes, but suddenly, it is easier to increase the pressure on the knife and break through the skin without further thought. He doesn't go far, mimicking Kai's action as he drags the blade off the edge of his finger.
He waits for the cut to redden and pool. Kai sits forward, too, finger ready.
Zane keeps waiting. Nothing happens.
He presses his thumb to his index finger and runs it over the cut. Nothing.
"Huh," says Kai, "I thought that would be deep enough."
A sickening feeling pools in Zane's stomach.
"Let me try another finger," he says, switching to his other hand.
He repeats the action and waits, but no blood escapes the cuts. In fact, the color of the skin around the cut doesn't even change. Zane controls his breathing as best as he can, but his stomach is churning.
What's wrong with him?
"Strange," Kai remarks.
Zane's mouth turns down, and he tries swallowing the swell of emotion that word sparks in his chest.
Strange. He's heard that word a million times and hates it because of that.
"Hold on," he says, "I'll get it."
He goes back to his first finger and digs the knife in deep, prompting Kai to reach forward and grab his wrist, squeezing hard.
"Woah—quit that!" says Kai, "You want to cut your finger off?"
"I don't know why I can't draw blood," says Zane.
"Don't worry about it," says Kai, "Don't worry."
He wrestles the knife back from Zane's hand and flips it closed. Zane stares at his finger, which stings now from abuse, but it doesn't bleed.
"I'm sorry, Kai," says Zane, "I don't know why I'm not bleeding…"
"Don't worry," Kai repeats, then he reaches over, "We can still do it."
He presses his bleeding finger to Zane's own. This would be where their blood would mix, Zane surmises, but the significance of the event is undercut by Zane's lack of blood. He tries to get sucked into the intrigue he felt when Kai first suggested it, but he still can't shake the sickening feeling in his gut.
Why couldn't he bleed?
"There," says Kai, "We're blood brothers."
"But I didn't bleed."
"It's fine," says Kai, "It's just symbolic, anyway. It still counts."
Zane isn't satisfied with that, but he relents, "Alright."
There is no use in arguing about it now. But Zane wonders if Kai will attempt this same ritual on the rest of their friends. Will they have the same problem, or is Zane the odd one out, a role he's doomed to be in?
Kai sucks his bleeding finger, staring into the distance. Zane watches him, then sighs, sitting back.
"What brought that on, Kai?"
Kai shrugs. "Everybody needs somebody in this world. It's too nasty to go in alone."
Zane stares at the blood drying against his index finger. "And this is your way of saying that we have each other?" says Zane, "More so than before?"
"I guess," says Kai, reddening for some reason, "Look, I've just been thinking, alright?"
"About what?"
"How lucky I was," says Kai, "I had Nya. Not everyone has that. You didn't, and Lloyd's all by himself right now."
Zane looks down. "That's true."
That doesn't explain the leap between that train of thought and the completion of this ritual, but after a while, Zane decides that this is Kai's own way of putting his mind at ease.
His friend doesn't shuffle anymore but sits still upon the ground. The tension returns in time, but the fact that it abated at all gives credence to Zane's thought.
This prompts him to turn to Kai and say, "Thank you for this. I appreciate it more than you know."
Maybe Zane didn't bleed, but the action wasn't so much for Zane, anyway.
I don't know if this needs to be said, but don't mix blood.
Thank you for reading!