𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐓 | ❏ 𝘒𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘪 𝘹 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳

✘𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐏𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓✘

-CHANGES-

FOUR YEARS HAD PASSED, one more to go.

Everyone changes overtime. Be it your mother, as she slowly creeps closer to death, or your youngest brother, as he grows into his youth. Change happens all over the world, even in you. And yet, not all changes are good. Some ruin people, and in this case, makes you view them in a different light.

"Kawaki...did this?" You stared at the patient below you, their battered, torn-up body leaking onto the operation table. There were so many cuts and bruises, most of them originating from places where bones were broken. Legs, arms, not a limb on their body was spared from some sort of abuse. It was a horrendous sight, but nothing could beat the look on their mangled face. It was distorted, their nose bent in an angle which could only be achieved through smashing their face repeatedly onto the floor. It made you wonder if this was truly done by a fourteen year old, no less the malnourished boy you met all those years ago.

'Kawaki...did he really do this?' The metallic smell of blood began to dance in the air. Surely this wasn't true, just how strong has he become?

"Amado, are you sure Kawaki did this?" You turned to face the man who was rested on his desk. He stopped typing on his computer and gave you a look "Why the hell would I lie? Don't ask me such stupid questions, kid" With a huff, Amado returned to his work, probably a hint that you should do so too.

'So this is the power of karma...' You thought to yourself. Years ago, when he was a frightened child like you, the karma seal looked to be more of a burden than a root of immense power. But now, it looked like a curse.

Deep in thought, an uneasy feeling swirled in your gut. That boy who you felt sympathy for- compassion even- is able to do this to a person? Hell, you didn't know if you could even call them a person anymore. Barely clinging onto their life through heavy doses of painkillers and an oxygen pump, they were sure to be crippled for the rest of their days. It made you wonder what could have cause this outcome, and if keeping them alive was even humane.

But you went to work either way. Hovering a hand over their body, you decided to start with their legs. Their most violent wounds were there, and you couldn't run the risk of them bleeding to death. And yet, your hands didn't obey your orders no matter how hard you tried. You were distracted- you couldn't concentrate on anything but Kawaki.

What training, no, torture did that boy have to go through to be able to disfigure someone so mercilessly? Was he subjected to worse abuse than you? You weren't sure. To be honest, it was probably best that you didn't know.

That didn't stop the unease that grew in your heart however. Kawaki...he's possibly the only person in the world who understood what being in the Kara is like, and in a year you're planning on leaving him behind. It didn't sit well with you, and the more you thought about it, the more your heart ached.

If there was one thing you learnt in all your years in the organisation, is that friends are a stupid fantasy. And like you said before, for stupid children. Nobody actually cares about you, and nobody ever will. Kawaki, as much as he interested you, would probably leave you behind. So what's the point caring about him? You doubted he even thought about you...

Your hands finally began to glow a vibrant green. Chakra poured from the pores in your hand and seeped it's way into the mans wounds. Your mind was absolved of any distractions now, so finally, you began to make progress on him.

It took a good few minutes to get it right, but eventually you got the first layer of bone sealed back up. Next was the flesh wound which looked to be made from a blade. Perhaps Kawaki had a knife with him when fighting, but the uneven shattering of bone dismissed that claim. These injuries weren't able to be made by sheer brute force alone unless Kawaki had the strength of a fully grown bodybuilder. He was only fourteen from what you could remember (a year older than you) so it was highly unlikely.

"Amado, can I ask you something?" You said

"If it's about Kawaki, then no. I'm sick of you being so fixated on him." Amado shut you down as quick as you came. Your lips sealed into a straight line, lost for words. Ah, well there goes your question. Embarrassed that he called you out like that, you tried to create another question to mask your own.

"Why are we keeping this patient alive? He's better off dead..." You didn't lie when you asked that, you did genuinely want to know. Granted not as much as you wanted to know about Kawaki, but it will suffice.

Amado wasn't as bothered by this question, knowing well enough that you being distracted by unanswered questions could hinder your work flow. It was a thing he hated about you- that you needed the answers to everything, but at this point, with a cigarette in hand, he truly didn't care. "We need him to be in a stable enough condition for the chakra transplant, as pathetic as he looks now, he's a very amiable ninja with quite the chakra supply. It'd be a waste to discard him so easily"

You almost scoffed at that but refrained yourself. Wooow, so for once he actually saw value in a person? Oh wait, no never mind, he just wanted their chakra supply for another crazy experiment of his. You couldn't remember the amount of times you cussed him out internally, simply because the number would go into infinity. Heck, maybe beyond.

But that didn't matter, next year you were set to escape this hell hole. As bitter as this whole experience had made you become, the desire to leave made you forget about the hatred that birthed that want in the first place.

You were going to be free.