4School's in session, and I'm in over my head, but chapter 4 of Fight or Flight is nearly done, and Chapter 4 of Spinjitzu Master(?) is like 90% there. I've also gotten back into minecraft, so expect some interesting things in the coming months. Enjoy!~
A lanky young boy was skipping down the creek, hair overgrown and tossed wildly as he used his toes to send up droplets glittering like jewels. His legs were streaked with mud, a red scrape still pulsed on his arm, but tan, barefoot and shirtless he was happy as could be.
It was as he harassed turtles sunning on the rocks, scooping minnows in the cups of his hands and trying to get one to bite, that he heard the odd, not quite stream-like burbling through the trees.
Forgetting the turtle feeding and fish torture, the brazen youth immeditaely set off to investigate the sound, stepping carefully as he'd left his shoes on the bank a mile back. Through thickets and briars, ducking under low branches and dodging fat spiders hanging mid-air, he realized the sound wasn't burbling, but crying.
It sounded like a baby crying, just how his sister would whine and hiccup. It couldn't be his sister though-she was at home with Mom.
Still, there was a baby alone in the woods, and the savvy child didn't need to know everything about foxes and raccoons to know the woods were no place for a baby. Ignoring the occasional stab in his feet and the rough, pointed branches running scratches into his calves, he bolted toward the noise.
He found the clothing first, long robes meant for an adult man, and an abandoned straw hat lying caught in a thicket. He looked desperately for the baby, but it took him a moment to realize the bump in the belly of the robe was squalling.
The youth quickly peeled back the layers and found a completely naked infant, red in the face and thrashing its little arms and legs. Whether it was upset for lack of air or the rough ground, he didn't know. Mom would, though. He had to get it to mom.
At first he tried to bundle it up in the robes, but found the massive wad half as big as he was and too cumbersome to carry. He tried the straw hat, but the child put up even more of a fuss when its skin touched the rough stalks.
Finally, with no other option, the boy gathered the little baby in his arms and, after a moment picking the best route, bolted for home.
The boy was bounding in leaps and strides up the grassy hill toward his family's blacksmith shop. The usually deafening sound of the forge was silent, an intimidating figure standing outside the open entrance.
"KAI!" The voice boomed. "You're late, son! What do you-"
"DAD!" Kai cried. "Come help!" The moment the bawling registered in the father's ears, and he realized it wasn't his son who was crying, he dropped his brusque speech and came running to take both children in his arms.
"Kai, my boy!" He gasped, looking at the pitiful little thing cradled against young Kai's bare-skinned chest. "How did this-nevermind, stay here!" He scooped the infant from his son and ran into the house, roaring "MAYA! Quickly!"
As soon as the door closed the world went silent. Cut off from the baby's wail and his Dad's roar, Kai suddenly grew light-headed as the sound disappeared and the adrenaline left. He plopped into the soft grass, breathing heavily. He lay on his back like that, watching the feathered clouds, until his breathing returned to normal and his chest no longer burned.
The house was still silent. Kai couldn't tell what was happening, and it bothered him to no end. Skipping frantically up to the door to their residence, he opened it just the slightest crack, peeking in.
The sounds inside were hushed, and stillness had fallen in the house. Kai poked his head in the door just as his father came in from the other room.
"Kai!" He said, sounding relieved and looking even more so. "Everything's all right. Come in." Cautiously, Kai entered, and hovered at the door to the small family space where his mom was sitting with her arms under a nursing cloth. His baby sister, Nya, was on the floor on her belly, scrabbling contentedly at the blanket she lay on as she tried to crawl.
"There you are, sweetie." His mom said, smiling tiredly. "You did such a wonderful, brave thing! Come sit next to me." Kai obeyed, snuggling against her warm side and listening to the small pop-squeee! of the baby suckling.
Over the next few days Kai received no end of praise for saving the baby's life, and was permitted a big part in helping care for it while his parents asked around. Unfortunately, they seemed unable to find any family in the surrounding area missing a child. Even the neighboring towns didn't have any mothers missing children that age.
His dad said something about asking "the twins," whatever that meant, and disappeared for several days. He came back with three very scary men in tow.
Two of them were big and burly, with mustaches and shiny armor. Their heavy boots clomped on the creaky wooden floor, and their red cloaks made great swishing movements around their feet. They took the baby from mom. Kai jumped off the couch to interfere, but his dad held him back.
The two burly men, nearly identical in face, passed the infant between them with hands glowing four different colors. It set Kai's teeth on edge, though he didn't dare defy his father. When the third man, a skinny, narrow-faced person dressed all dark, held the infant he grew very still.
After what seemed like an eternity, the visit ended, and the three went out to talk with his father. Normally Kai would take opportunities like this to listen in and discover all the awesome secrets he knew the adults kept from him, but this time he simply took the child and curled around it on the couch.
Every now and then words would filter through the doorway, things like "temporal energy" that he didn't understand. Finally they left, promising to come back prepared, and his father returned to the forge like everything was normal.
It wasn't normal, Kai now had two younger siblings to take care of, both of whom he grew quite attached to. When the men returned with a supply wagon and a kind-looking woman, he wasn't ready to give up his new brother.
"It's okay, Kai," his dad was trying to calm him as he sat clutching his brother in near-tears. "We found his home, we're just going to take him there. He'll be alright."
"But you told me da take care of 'im!" Kai blubbered, his eyes were watery but he was not crying! "I can' take care of 'im if he's far away!"
"You have taken care of him, Kai!" His dad comforted. "Such good care! But he has his own family, who miss him-"
"I'll miss him!" Kai cried. "I love him!"
It took some persuasion, reassurance that his brother would be okay, that his family would miss the baby just as much if he couldn't come back. Kai didn't understand that last bit. What did it matter they would miss him!? Kai would miss his brother, that's what was important!
After some persuading from his mom, Kai's family left the room to give him a moment to regain himself. Sniffling in the dim light offered by their single, weak lamp, Kai looked down at his brother.
The baby stuck his hand out from the folds of his bundle, and Kai pressed his finger against the soft palm. Stubby little fingers curled around his, not quite reaching but gripping with force Kai didn't think was possible.
"See-oo soon, Mas'r uh Fuyr," the infant babbled as Kai looked into his face. Dumbstruck, Kai remained silent for a long minute, but even though he didn't understand he held his baby brother closer as a fresh wave of tears broke.
Eventually they managed to convince Kai to let his brother go, and though it took a while Kai eventually became preoccupied with his quickly growing sister, who he learned to love even more fiercely than before.
Even so, as Kai wandered the woods one day he splashed down the creek, with what intent he wasn't sure, and wove his thin body through the thickets until he found the old straw hat. It was still intact, weather-worn but holding together.
Kai still couldn't carry the bundle of clothing very well, but he took the hat and placed it on a special shelf by his bed. His parents never realized the significance of the hat, just chalked it up to a young boy excited about his treasure from the woods.
The old straw hat remained there for well over a decade, collecting dust, until a young man in red climbed the ladder to the abandoned attic, sneezing in the perpetually misty sunlight. A scar had appeared long ago over his right eye, and with hands worn and calloused from long nights in the forge, and longer years in combat, he took the hat gingerly from its perch. When it didn't immediately crumble, he brushed off the cobwebs that still clung, floating.
"Heh." He smiled softly, turning it in the dusky light. "I swear, that old man's stuff is as immortal as he is."
With that he left the long-empty blacksmith shop, and the hill overgrown so the grass was knee-deep. He stowed the hat carefully, mounted his motorbike, and revved down the long road to the slowly rebuilding city, where he parked in the lower deck of a cheap apartment complex.
The apartment was dingy, and reminded him somewhat of that first time they'd lost their home as the city crumbled, but it wasn't so bad with good company. He knocked politely on a closed bedroom door.
"Come in," a creaky old voice said. Looking up from meditation, an old man's long white beard twitched as he smiled from under the brim of his straw hat. "Why hello Kai, what can I help you with?"
"Not a whole lot," the Master of Fire said, holding the hat behind his back. "I didn't get a chance in the First Realm, but I wanted to tell you..."
His mouth went dry. What was he going to say? How could he ever properly explain? How could his old Sensei Wu even understand the significance of the old object behind his back? Did he remember all those years ago? There was a long pause, too long, and finally Kai realized he could not find words flowery enough. He would have to simply say what he felt, rough and unpolished as it was.
"It's good to have you back, Sensei." He finished, feeling somewhat lame as he pulled the hat out and presented it.
"Oh," Wu's eyes lightened. "It's been a long time since I've seen that old thing. I thought it was gone for good." He stretched out his arm, and Kai handed over the old hat. Reverently, his Sensei removed the straw hat atop his head, and replaced it with one exactly like it, save a little worse for wear.
"Thank you, Kai." Wu beamed. "It's good to be back."