"A Kaosu warrior is not allowed to deprive himself of his/her own life… Because, in this chaotic world, even the most miserable among lives deserves a chance to be lived… Through the one's strength and determination."
-From "Kaosu Jutsu" (the Kaosu warrior's Code)
6.
Void
If Suicide is the shortcut of the vile… Then so be it.
I am a coward… And a hypocrite. The only reason of why I'm still here, is because I can't kill myself… Not just because of what the Kaosu Jutsu states (which has been my Bible so far) but also because of my own condition…
My unique condition…
It has been said that even the most miserable among lives deserves a chance… As long as it would have had the strength to go on… A goal to fulfill.
That is what a Kaosu warrior is all about… Strength and determination over his own chosen paths.
Death… Shall be my path…
To fight until my body and emptied soul shall no longer answer… To die in battle, to die with honor…
Honor… Once again, I'm just a vile hypocrite.
I am not a Kaosu. I'm just a Lethal Weapon… Who couldn't kill itself.
Signed: A void soul.
Ancient Ruins Zone. 100 years ago (?)
Burn.
All he could hear and feel… Was burn.
Burned was his home.
Burned was his family… His wife and daughter.
Carbonized, they're bodies were.
He tried to save them… He failed… It was far too late.
And now, he was alone… Dead they were.
Dead.
Dead for good.
Forever.
He was on his knees. He cried and yelled. Crimson tears of blood descended from his orbits as he impotently watched the demise of his beloved ones… And he screamed, consumed with despair, sadness and hatred… He hated his own idiocy, his own feebleness. He wasn't with them when that happened… He wasn't with them when They found them.
Those demons… Those monsters…
Those Bakeneko.
He shook in fury and rage… All of his emotions and feelings burned him from the inside. He cried and yelled until nothing was left to be released… Until his own soul became hollow. His once azure eyes were of a dull colorless black, a reflection of his internal void… Because this was what he became… A void shell of a living being, deprived of a reason to live any further…
A void soul who would pretend to be alive… Until Death would have said otherwise.
Or until it would have once again been… Filled.
Present time.
"We shall leave this city by tomorrow. We need to reach Knothole as soon as possible." The blue Kaosu leader proclaimed. Everyone nodded in response.
His eyes stayed a little longer than necessary on the form of his black and red counterpart, who stared at him as well.
An imaginary duel could be seen going on in their respective gazes during those few awkward seconds.
Ruju za Batto silently sighed while crossing her arms. If she had known these two would have been behaving like that, she wouldn't have brought Shado here… She didn't know the reason behind their obvious tension nor she would have asked about… She only knew that their group wouldn't have probably lasted very long if its own members would have threatened each other like that. She scratched the back of her head, trying to hint her awkwardness… A gesture that made almost all the present males to drip saliva from their mouths. She rolled her gorgeous eyes, she usually liked to receive that kind of attention but this was definitely NOT the right moment, she could tell.
Teirusu felt it as well… The tension between the most important person in his life and his newest sensei. He could easily tell those two didn't like each other… Or better, judging by their expressions, it almost seemed as Sonikku had a visceral hate over Shado while the ebony hedgehog seemed just utterly saddened by it. The vulpine started to wonder if the cause was himself… Were they silently battling over his ownership? The sole thought made his own blood run cold. He dismissed it for his mental and physical health. Then his azure gaze diverted towards the beautiful emerald ones of Emi Rozu.
There she stood, kneeled on the ground like a polite geisha… Not voluntarily provocative as Ruju used to be… To the kit's point of view, Emi appeared so pure and untainted… So perfect. He found himself blushing and quickly diverted his gaze away. She noticed him, though. She looked at him with confused emotions as well… She was still afraid of him, or better, she was afraid of the beast that lay within his being, then again, he saved her life acting by instinct… Even feral animals protects the ones they care about, don't they? The mystery of Life and Nature has always been a fascinating topic and it will probably always be for years to come.
She suddenly felt bad for him… She couldn't even imagine what his life has been like… She would make things right with him, that was for sure.
Maiti and Biggu were sitting close to her and noticed the new determination her features were showing… The simpleton armadillo silently wondered what was that all about while the namesake cat… Was just being his oblivious self.
Teirusu's attention was currently focused on the latest acquirement of their party… Void.
He was an experienced fighter and swordsman, no doubt about it… And yet, he looked so young and juvenile… Even his vocal tone suggested that. And what kind of Mobian was he? A new species perhaps? A hybrid? Or maybe some kind of an alien? The vulpine's curiosity towards that person was growing by the minute, one could tell. He admired his attitude and style, that was for sure. One of these days he was going to have a chat with him and, hopefully, getting some answers about his background… Or maybe not.
Void, unlike the others, wasn't sitting. His back was on a far wall, observing the Mobians from a safe distance in order to get a general impression of them. They were all hiding something, he could tell… Just like him, they all had a past that poisoned their own being. Some of them was trying to escape from it… Others had embraced it and modeled their lives after it… And then, there was that echidna. He hadn't been introduced to him, therefore he was not a member of the party and yet… There was definitely more of that rodent that met the eye but Void couldn't quite understand it. Was he bothered by his past or was he just born that way? A good question, indeed.
Nakkuruzu za Echiduna was smirking in unjustified amusement. His cerulean eyes fixed themselves over Sonikku's sitting form. His humongous spiked fists clenched. Then, he started walking in the direction of the cobalt hedgehog and stopped right in front of him…
Sonikku noticed him and calmly stood up from his seat.
"Can I do something for you?" He asked.
The echidna didn't answer, instead, he kept observing him in silent curiosity and hinted eagerness. That behavior slightly unnerved the hedgehog, not understanding the other's intentions… One thing was sure, since he met this, let's say, peculiar individual, he's been feeling utterly bothered… A thing that he did not experience very often.
Noticing his friend's uneasiness, Teirusu immediately darted to his side. Harsh blue eyes were pointed over the red harasser's face. He wasn't going to let this jerk to threaten a person he cared about.
"Why don't you just leave?" He said with a low and menacingly voice.
Nakkuruzu's expression seemed even more amused and his eyes didn't leave the hedgehog's form for an instant… Then, he just walked out of the building without muttering a single word… Or curse.
"What a weirdo…" Ruju said in a joking tone, obtaining the general approval and some genuine chuckle from the others.
She's always been good in lightening people's mood up. That used to be the main reason of why she's been accepted in their group… Besides her undeniably useful abilities as a thief, of course.
After the tension subsided, Sonikku sighed in relief.
"As I was saying… We're leaving tomorrow morning, any objections?" He said while eyeing everybody dead in their eyes… Especially Shado.
No one objected.
Satisfied with such silent answer, the blue hedgehog relaxed… Only to notice someone was missing.
"Wait a minute… Where's Bureizo?" He asked in a reasonably irritated tone.
"Sorry if I'm late, guys!" A certain lilac feline answered while entering the pub. "Ehi, what's up with that echidna I just met outside…" Bureizo abruptly interrupted her speech once her golden cat-like gaze posed itself over the new comer who quietly stood not so far from where she was.
As a matter of fact, it would be more appropriate to say that her words abruptly froze in her throat as soon as her openly widened eyes saw the bewildering nose-less form of the black eyed Kaosu. She was… Surprised, to say the very least.
She unintentionally began to stare at him, fighting the urge of dropping her jaw in a cartoon-like fashion. Void stared back at her… His reaction was the exact antithesis of her baffled (and baffling) one… At least, exteriorly.
He looked emotionless and yet, extremely perceptive at the same time… As if his profound glare had the ability to see within her own soul… Judging her every move and feeling her every feeling.
For the first time since eons… Void felt a real emotion… An emotion of his own, not someone else's. It was odd and refreshing at the same time, to feel such uncalled sentiment…
Sadness… With just a hint of Hatred.
The un-mistakable voice of Sonikku managed to interrupt such awkward moment and capture both Void and Bureizo's attention. The hedgehog repeated to her what he'd already said to the others. She, however wasn't really listening… Her mind was still on the curious leaf-like haired boy and his ominous, lifeless eyes… And, for an instance, she felt an emotion she grew so accustomed to in her early years of life…
Rage… With just a hint of Fear.
And for the rest of the night, Void's gaze never left the feline's form… Still judging her every move.
In an unspecified part of the city, a certain red echidna was pondering about the latest events and possible future ones… Then he abruptly made his decision.
He was going to become their seventh Kaosu whether they liked it or not…
And that was FUCKING final!