It seemed to never glow outside the desolate, windy nature of Antartica. Snow and hail whipped about beyond a cave certain people resided within, it's bitter air stale and biting into any flesh it could possibly find and devour. Within a cave lit by only a single lantern resided Garu, sitting cross legged across from an elder man known to be over two thousand years old. His eyes hardly ever opened, and when they did, one would inwardly wish they hadn't. His irises were a faded color of pale blue, his pupils a milky white, he almost seemed to be blind. Garu had never asked, though he felt deep down that perhaps this was to be the case, even as the man regarded him so precisely.

Master Chang was among the two, he had accompanied his star student up to complete his final exam, a hope in which Garu had longed for ever since he was twelve. The giddy rush of excitement caused his vocal chords to tingle with anticipation, he longed only to speak again even after so many years of resisting the temptation. The elder man, Master Ca-Ling, was humming quietly in a warm up of meditation. Garu politely joined him in this exercise, this was going to be his last test after all, before his honor was finally regained. Master Chang was not to take any part in this particular test, the silent ninja was to take part in this completely alone. He was ready. He could feel it in the harsh, fiery pump of his veins.

"Now Garu," Master Ca-Ling summoned and the young lad opened his eyes to address him with his most deepest respects. "You have excelled past every test I've given you, truly magnificent job might say." The praise, from someone of this man's stature, felt overwhelming and real. He bowed his head in quiet thanks for the generous words. "However," went on Ca-Ling. "This test will be very unlike the others, it will be one purely of mentality. You will venture into your mind, confront the worst horrors of your past, and rise from it a reborn soldier. This will be a journey you take alone, and it shall not be easy. Are you ready, my child?" His eyes spread apart to reveal themselves and Garu, desperate to prove himself worthy, met them head on.

With a nod of confirmation, Ca-Ling returned to his meditation, Garu swiftly followed in suit. "Listen to my voice, Garu." The elder man spoke through the peaceful buzz of his brain, the quiet sanctity of all the control he had worked so hard to have. "Think of nothing but shadows, feel only the sturdy beat of your heart. Disappear from the present, find your past."

Garu was floating within a dark atmosphere, Ca-Ling's voice faded from existence on an eerie echo. He searched through the blackness, searching for only his past, the one he had locked away from himself for years in which to come. He floated along through nothing for what seemed to be a long while, his searching became horribly futile and he considered falling into the pit of frustration bubbling up within. He had come too far for this, he would not be defeated by the bounds of his own mind like this.

He reached out with his crimson gloves and grasped the ebony walls of his surrounding. They were strong, tough and guarding from even himself. However, Garu was in control of his own thoughts, meaning he could manipulate them into whatever he pleased and not have to fight himself. He closed his eyes and imagined the walls to be as delicate as paper, weak and easily torn under command. His eyes opened and he pulled apart the atmosphere until it fell to shredded pieces, unable to shut him out any longer. What lied beyond the shadows erupted terror to the fullest extent.

Suddenly, Garu was looking through his eyes from eight years ago, when he was nothing but a child bent on learning marshal arts like his big brother Gura, whom he worshipped to the very depths of his heart. Garu was standing beside his sibling, watching in terror as their home was destroyed by the licking and growing flames from within, the shrill cry of his parents' shrieks caused a spiral of horrific confusion to dwell from within. After all, Gura had simply stated that he would make their lives several times better. That this was undoubtedly the cost and how their mother and father would feel absolutely nothing.

Gura smiled down upon his young brother with dagger sharp blue eyes, he didn't seem to appear very traumatized over the fact that everything he knew was being obliterated to only scorched ashes. "They can't hurt us anymore, Gare." He whispered, Garu felt much too petrified of the taller boy to so much as speak. All he could do was squeak out in protest, disagreeing with the awful decisions made on this very night. Their mother was addicted to the bottle, she only ever sobbed repeatedly in her bedroom and screamed at her children for being so useless. Their father spit verbal abuses their way as well and punished them for any single mistake they practically tripped in making.

But Garu would never wish this upon anyone.

The little boy wondered what had happened to Gura, why he had turned to such harsh extremes when it was him that swore up and down how strong this would make them in the end, how things would only get better because they had long since paid their dues. But this boy, this person standing beside him and smirking at the unjustified death of two people that had, nonetheless, raised him, he was not Gura. And Garu knew, deep from within, that his mentality was no longer in tact, he would kill a second time. And a third. And a fourth-

Garu stepped away from Gura and unsheathed the sword he was gifted with, but by his brother. Not this stranger in front of him. Gura gazed down at his battle stance, surprised by the sudden turn of someone who had, for years, loved him so. The anger was terribly evident in those shimmering aqua pools of his, he took a daring step towards the shivering child. "You want to face me, Garu?" Asked the sibling, much more experienced with Ninjitstu than his flimsy little brother. "You think those bastards deserved to live after how they treated us?!"

Still, Garu couldn't find his own voice, his heart beat so fast he feared it may explode from the shell of his chest. At this moment, the child found himself to be incredibly talented at only silence, no words could portray how sorry he was that he had to do this. Gura watched the blade waver from nerves, a curling smirk lifted up his lips and he reached over his shoulder to retrieve his own sword, pointing it in acceptance to the challenge straight at Garu. "Okay Gare," he said in a deadly soft tone. "If this is how you want it to end? So be it."

Garu's eyes flew open suddenly and he fell back onto the hard rocky surface of the floor, gasping and choking on his own source of oxygen. Although the memory had long since faded, his nostrils were still filled with the suffocating stench of smoke and fire, his ears still rung with the piercing cries of his parents. He couldn't relive that moment, not while he worked so hard just to forget, force it to the back of his skull and never be bothered with it again. It had been too many years since he thought of Gura, too long for him to simply jump back into his past the way he had.

Master Chang was kneeling beside him, rubbing his spine and murmuring quietly for him to come back and calm himself down. Cha-Ling was gazing upon him from across the way, his aging eyes filled with spiking disappointment and Garu felt himselfdeflate with horror. Had he just failed his final exam? Master Cha-Ling rose from his seated position, the withered material of his bone structure cracked loudly as he did. "Garu," he sighed, shaking his head in the form of such terrible disappointment. Garu swallowed heavily and sat up, away from the coaxing nature of his teacher. "It takes skill to be at the impressive level you've reached, at such a young age as well. However, it takes a true ninja to be able to face who he is and grow on from that. Once you've learned to let go of everything you brushed aside and stop being so fearful of your own emotions, then you finally will have regained your honor."

It was dismissal, Garu thought, and he stiffened all over. There wasn't a single nemesis on this planet he couldn't face, whether he lived or died would always be strongly irrelevant. It seemed, however, that when it came to himself, he was pitifully weak. All that work, all those years spent working up to this moment, it was all for absolutely nothing. His days of careless youth had been utterly wasted because he couldn't stand up to a foe that no longer so much as existed. He wanted to protest, to beg for another chance at his test, but his vow of silence still remained until he had reached his very goal. No...

The devastation of the situation was suddenly elated by adrenaline when a blurring figure of red and blue came rushing inside the cave and centered within the circle of people. Ring-Ring was in full on Siren mode, her sharp eyes flicked about the setting as she shouted in a high pitched tone "Where is Garu?!"

The summoned ninja rose up from the ground and waved his arms wildly for her attention, she addressed him at once and slowly sank down towards the floor, where she shifted from her deadly form and returned to the beautiful exterior she wore in calmness. Relieved that she hadn't caused a horrible ruckus, he swiftly approached her with a burning inferno of outrage in his eyes. Ring-Ring was naturally insensitive to all things that didn't have to do with herself, but to interrupt a sanctuary such as this?! He demanded to know what she wanted through a scowl of dangerous fury and she waved him off as though irritated by his bemused stature.

"Relax Garu," she said in her signature accent, flipping the long tendrils of blue hair she allowed to drape and curl underneath her heart-shaped bun over her shoulder. "I came for a serious reason, it's not like I'm ecstatic to see you or anything." She crossed her arms over her heavy bust, Garu was swiftly losing patience with her prissy nature and wondered how intelligent it would be to explode upon her.

Master Ca-Ling took note of the uninvited guest, his gaze swept over her figure in an observatory manner and he came approaching on hobbled legs. "Oh my," he said as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. "It's been a century since I've been greeted by a Siren. The last one I met had attempted to swallow me whole, but you seem relatively harmless, my dear."

Ring-Ring took natural offense to this, the red streaks of warning crossed along her face and she glared at the man heavily with unhappiness. "Don't under estimate me, old man!" She snarled and Garu placed a gripping hand on her shoulder, knowing very well how terrible it would be if someone he knew wrongfully attacked the most ancient of ninja masters.

Ca-Ling chuckled at her sharpness and looked on towards Garu, who had become terribly nervous over whatever the bluenette had come for at a time such as this. "She's a friend of yours?"

Garu was about to reject the idea of him and Ring-Ring ever being friends, but she slapped away his hand first and made a loud sound of disgust. "No we're not friends. He may wish I'd give him the time of day, but that will never ever happen ever in a million years to come. Just look at him! Look at this stupid outfit, and his face is so stony." She reached out and gripped his cheek to example her meaning and Garu, feeling his temper rise, grabbed her wrist between his fingers and pried away her hand with iron tolerance. It was unlike Garu to show demonstration of a riled up temper, but the truth of its existence would certainly become known by someone as utterly intoxicating as the "ever esteemed" Ring-Ring. He looked upon her darkly, a shadow fell over his dark eyes as he asked the silent question with a burning gaze, why was she here?

Ring-Ring snatched away her wrist and massaged it with her pink gloved fingers as though he had harmed her, something Garu possessed too much chivalry to actually ever do to a young woman. "Alright, calm down!" She barked at him and sent him a poisonous look that dared him to attempt any contact with her a second time. "Look, it's Tobe. You decided to be dumb and leave Sooga Village unattended. He and some bad guys are planning to disrupt it." She rested weight upon her left hip and returned to crossing her arms, her posture remained perfectly snooty despite the severity of her message. Garu's features instantly fell into an expression of horror at the idea of his beloved village being set aflame under the torturous rule following Tobe.

The fact that Ring-Ring was here lead him to believe his dearest friends had become unavailable to defend their land, which made Garu turn outraged with his childhood opponent for being so rotten inside and out. He looked to Master Chang in desperation, knowing he couldn't simply leave without first receiving permission from his instructor. The father nodded in response to his gaze and clapped him on the shoulder with a tight hand. "Go save everyone," he ordered in a tone that held no room for failure, as was key to his teachings. "Make sure my daughter's alright. I'llreturn to the village after I've finished my journey, but you need to get there right away."

"Agreed," Ca-Ling bowed solemnly. "And remember, my young student. It will grant you your desired honor to face your burdened past. Do not push it aside any longer, for it will open new pathways in which you will need to take."

Garu bowed deeply in his most greatest respect, silently vowing that he would regain his honor once he struck this conflict directly into the heart. A long scarlet sleeve made of soft fabric coiled around him, keeping him perfectly restrained save for his head. It caused him to remember that, even as a child, he had greatly underestimated Ring-Ring's strength. He glowered at her with a deadly vendetta from so many years of putting up with her stereotypical personality, but she cackled with amusement and flew off, straight from the cave entrance.

Chang instantaneously spun to meet the eyes of Master Ca-Ling, proceeding to splutter redundant apologies over Ring-Ring's shrewd behavior. The elder man waved away his bursting sentences and, with a modest smile, looked after the pair of youth on their way to fight for the greater good. "I believe," he began with a sigh, "that she is meant to play a wonderfully important role in his life. One neither of them would've possibly expected."