Growing Pains

XIII

This was bad, really bad, as all Kyo could do was dodge and parry the vicious strikes made by his opponent. He knew every adult knew the killing strokes for what they were, just as he knew none could step in and save him or he would fail. He was on his own. The twelve-year-old ducked under a swipe and countered with one of his own, darting backwards, out of striking range.

“Coward!” the other boy was shouting, “Fucking coward! Fight like a man!”

Kyo was terrified. He didn’t want to fight. He was only a shinobi because Sei was, because Sasuke-sensei believed in him. He hated violence and only wanted to end this peacefully. He gasped as he was tackled down and pinned, barely managing to get his kunai up in time to stave off a strike to his jugular. He shoved the other shinobi off him and rolled away.

“I don’t wanna hurt you!” he hissed as the Konoha genin came at him again.

“Then make this easy and let me kill you!” the boy hissed back. They broke away and circled each other, kunai at the ready. Kyo fell into a roll as they boy charged, gasping out a choked cry as he realized he’d been tricked and the kunai opened up a bleeding flesh wound on his shoulder. He pressed a hand to the wound and moved away from his opponent, tears bright in his eyes.

“Oh, did I make the baby cry?” the Konoha genin snarled from behind. Kyo whirled and blocked the thrust for his heart – barely. He skipped away and glared at his opponent.

“I’m not gonna kill you quickly. Just enough so there’s nothing to save. Then I’m gonna kill your pretty blonde girlfriend and the chick with one eye.” The genin spat lowly, circling closer to Kyo. Without warning – and Kyo saw in that moment Sasuke dropped his arms – the Konoha genin charged forward and tackled him down again, pinning his wrists above his head. The Konoha genin leaned down, grinning madly.

“Why?” Kyo asked, almost breathless.

“Because you killed my parents. Because you and your traitor of a sensei destroyed Konoha. So I’m gonna kill you, and your fucking traitor sensei and you know what? I’ll be a hero.”

“No!”

“Yes! I’ll be a hero and you’ll just be the stuff of bad dreams.”

The kid raised his kunai for a killing blow and then it was as if all time slowed for Kyo.

- “Why do we become ninja?” -

Sasuke-sensei? No, Kimimaru-san. – “Why?” –

- “To protect those we love,” Kimimaru continued, speaking to a young Kyo. “To protect those who cannot defend themselves.” -

- “But I don’t want to kill.” –

- “You don’t need to. Being a shinobi isn’t about killing – it’s about protecting those we love with our very lives.” –

Kyo jerked his head out of the path of the blade and felt it nick his ear. He ignored the pain and the warm, wet sensation, twisted his right wrist out of the Konoha shinobi’s hold and crooked his index and middle fingers. Too late did the other boy see the viper’s fangs, and Kyo’s snake-teeth bit hard into the boy’s shoulder at the juncture of his neck and collarbone. He shoved the Konoha genin off him then and rolled over him, pinning him to the floor, leaning too close to his face.

“Shinobi don’t kill for revenge or joy. They kill to protect. And if you ever threaten Sei, Umi, or Sasuke-sensei again, you’ll find me waiting for you and you won’t like my idea of killing.” Kyo hissed just before the boy fell unconscious. The entire room was silent as Kyo moved back, away from his fallen opponent so the medic nin could get Orochimaru’s prepared anti-venom into the boy.

Kyo calmly made his way back to Sasuke and Sei and hugged his best friend tight. His eyes drifted then to his sensei and found approval in the crimson and ebon orbs. He’d found his calling as a shinobi and even if he did still get lost, he’d have Sei and Sasuke and Umi to find him. Those bonds he needed to protect and now he knew he had the strength to do so.