On a String

Chapter 2

Do you remember how
You became who you are now?
Do you remember how
It felt to breathe without
Gasping with all your might?
-'Live Free or Let Me Die' by Skillet.

"Way to go, bro. You're extremely dehydrated, your arms are covered in bruises and there's a huge slice mark on your face. What the heck did you think you were doing wandering around in the desert? You're lucky you survived," Nya admonished lightly as she examined the cut which ran across her brother's left cheek.

Kai's eyes narrowed and he moved away from his sister. "Finding you guys," he replied shortly.

Putting the antiseptic she had been holding down onto a bench, Kai's younger sister turned around. "What's wrong with calling us to pick you up?" She asked, noticing for the first time the hard look in Kai's eyes. Usually, Nya was good at reading her brother's expression- they had lived with each other for their entire lives after all. But today, his expression was completely unreadable. Those eyes took in much more than they gave away. Without recognizing it, Nya gave a small shudder.

The Ninja scowled. "It was... complicated getting out here. The less people involved, the better," If he had seen Nya shudder, he didn't say anything.

Nya rolled her eyes and grinned. "Nah, I think you just wanted to play the hero, and rescue yourself," she teased gently in an attempt to get Kai to lighten up.

Kai shook his head. "I'm no hero," he replied, standing up and walking out of the room.

"Hey! I'm not finished!" Nya called after her brother's retreating figure, waving a bottle of antiseptic in the air to emphasize her point.

A curt "I am," was all she got in reply.

Everything felt so wrong. He didn't feel like he belonged here. Worse still, he had forgotten how to belong here. Kai walked down a corridor, away from the sick bay and out onto the Bounty's deck. Cole and Zane were sparring while Jay and Lloyd enthusiastically cheered the two ninja on, awarding points for particularly 'awesome' moves.

Silently, Kai moved across the deck, in full view of the four ninja but never once getting seen. How could they be so happy? Unworried? How did they smile and laugh like that? He sat down in the shade of the Bounty's prow, watching everyone else grin and prance around.

("You don't belong to their world anymore, Fireboy. They're better off without you,")

Where did he belong, then?

("You're mine now," a flash of light, a scream, the smell of burning, hands clawing at empty air-)

Kai jerked backwards, rolling one shoulder as he recoiled. No. He wasn't there anymore, wasn't their prisoner. He was safe.

(Safe?)

What a foreign word.

Giving a small sigh, Kai settled back down and watched as Jay and Lloyd began to spar. The blue ninja started out with a punch before bringing his nun chucks around in an arc towards Lloyd's head.

Too slow, Kai thought critically as Lloyd stepped backwards, bringing his staff up in a blocking technique. The Green Ninja would have done better to duck and retaliate with his staff instead.

Now, his abdomen was exposed, both hands occupied with holding the staff up horizontally. Jay could easily nail him with a side kick, or another punch. However, the blue ninja did neither; instead he chose to spin around, flicking his nun chucks away from the staff and rolling backwards.

Kai raised one eyebrow at the sloppiness of the two ninjas' moves. As the fight progressed, Lloyd stumbled clumsily several times, and Jay never took advantage of the distraction. Jay really needed to work on his attacking skills, and Lloyd certainly needed to work on defense and retaliation.