Shifting Sands (Ninjago AU)

Chapter 10- Painful and Pronounced Realizations

Fourteen year old Kai skirted the thick crowd. He glanced up at the sky. The sun hung low along the western horizon. His heart rate accelerated and he picked up his pace. Nya expected him home now and he still hadn't left the docks. She was going to kill him. Hopefully the apple and hard cheese in his pockets would decrease her fury.

Shaking his head Kai looked at the swarm of people before him. It would take over an hour to get home if he kept to his usual route. His gaze darted to the broken cobblestone paths leading between buildings. There was a reason most people avoided those. Kai ran a hand through his hair. Get home a half hour sooner, or possibly not get home at all?

'Oh what the heck.' Kai darted down the side street, keeping a clipped pace. Probably not his smartest choice, but what Nya didn't know wouldn't hurt her. 'Unless it gets you killed.' The small, occasionally rational, part of his brain hissed. With practiced ease Kai ignored the words.

The alleyway felt unnaturally quiet, especially since the crowded street was only a block behind him. Something felt so off about this place that Kai started to backtrack toward the main road when a muffled whimper came nearby. The crack of skin on skin abruptly cut off the sound. Kai cringed, expecting a scream to follow, but the heavy silence returned. If anything that was more disconcerting than a scream would have been. The person on the receiving end didn't expect any help.

Kai half turned, ready to dart back to the relative safety of the crowd, but his foot caught on a loose stone. Unable to catch himself in time Kai fell to his hands and knees. During his mad scramble to get up, he found himself near a building with a small window at his current eye level. Before he could move, a man's voice burst through the window from the room below.

"-no good, two timing brat!" Another crack resounded and this time the whimper came again. "You should be grateful for what you get! Pull another scheme like that and I have half a mind to sell you to the Fangpyre the next time they ask. At least then I'd get my month's worth from you."

A blow that might as well have been physical hit Kai's gut. The Fangpyre gang specialized in passing goods on the black-market. "Goods" that included selling humans as chattel to a fate worse than death. Kai shook violently. He had to get out of there before anyone noticed him-

His plan died as soon as his frantic gaze caught a glimpse of the occupants of the basement.

A giant bear of a man stood in the middle of what barely could be called a room, the space dark and dirty brown. His fist was raised above his head, the sleeve of his shirt falling to reveal a blue snake tattoo on his forearm. Seeing the man's affiliation with the Hypnobrai sent a jolt of adrenaline through Kai again, but what really stayed his planned escape was the figure huddled beneath the irate man.

A boy.

A tiny little thing, looking no older than three. Even through the flimsy piece of cloth and the dirt that clung to the boy, Kai could see bruises and cuts littered about his body. He was covering his head with his arms in a feeble attempt to ward off the much larger man's blows. All at once the boy's eyes cracked open and he looked toward the window, his emerald eyes so full of pain freezing Kai to the spot.

Something inside Kai snapped. Whatever the boy had done he didn't deserve this fate- no one did- but especially not someone so young. And, though Kai and Nya were barely scraping by, Kai resolved right then that he was going to rescue the kid. Somehow.

The man stepped forward, blocking Kai's view of the child. The trance holding Kai in place broke. Gritting his teeth Kai knew he had to leave for now. He couldn't do anything with the man present- that would only be signing his own death warrant- but when night came, he was going to rescue that boy.