The Windows of Your Eyes

III

The Warrior

When asked, "What makes a man?" I always say his friends. I am then teased for sounding like Téa, but I hold true to this belief. When a man has no one, he is no one. When he has his friends at his back, and they believe in he and his cause, then who can stand against him?

I once thought life was meaningless. Being abused by the one who was supposed to love me most, seperated from my younger sister and the woman who gave me life, it was easy for me to lose focus. I didn't know why I was alive. I never tried to end it all, because I was always giving the gods another try. Looking back on it all now, I am glad that I held on.

I was brought up in a well-off part of the suburbs. Around age seven, I was seperated from the rest of my family. The house fell into disrepair; the neighbors forced us to move oer the railroad tracks into the slums. And then I became the victim.

Those nights were horrible, too horrible to want to remember. And yet I've told Yugi everything, and he still loves me as his best friend. The gods finally figured out what they were doing, I suppose.

My father took advantage of me, and so to hide my hurts I took advantage of those weaker than me. I became a bully. And while bullying a certain stranger named Yugi Moto, I was taught the lesson of my life. I was taught to love, and be loved, as one friend to another.

I still fight, but not against him. I fight alongside my friend. He may be small, but he is brave, and that makes him ten times his size.

He calls me a warrior. I ask of what, and he just smiles. We both know what he means, though. I am a warrior that never backs down. Not anymore. I used to, but I shook that habit after I saw what courage could do. Courage won battles. Courage saved lives. Courage bonded already close people even closer.

I am a warrior. This strength inside me grows with each victory. Each loss does not tear me down, but teaches me and only makes me stronger. My friends admire my drive, my motivation. They are my motivation, as is my sister, as is the general urge to win. My drive is love, is the bond of friendship, is love itself.

I am a warrior. My sword is my wit and my shield is my belief in my abilities, my faith in myself, and the support of my friends. I would be the village idiot without them.

I am a warrior. When the heat of the battle presses us closer, we fight with strength unimaginable. My sword and my shield ecompass us all, as a link in a chain so helps to bind that chain together. I will fight to the finish. I will not give up, give in, give out.

And I will win.