An Unlikely Encounter (Canon,Closed)

Hands balled into fists, dark eyes downcast and his lips drawn into a thin line. The Kinkou ninja in trained moved along the road, brooding silently while the late afternoon sun basked the area around him in it's golden warmth. With the forest nearby Zed had snuck out from the Kinkou Temple grounds, the frustrations clawed at him as he struggled for his adoptive father's affection. His brother, Shen, always seemed to match everything Zed done, if not surpass it altogether. Anything Zed done never seemed to be good enough for their Master and father.

Their father's voice echoed in his mind, "You cannot allow emotion to cloud your judgement, remove all emotional attachment to you from your mind. Only when you are completely unbiased, that is when you can see true balance."

He tried, but it was always there, the feeling he was not good enough. Just some praise! Defeating an opponent in a sparring match was always met with that same cold emotionless look, judging him gauging everything he did. It was a look the young ninja would never forget. What would it take to feel some kind of affection from the man who was now his father? It left him feeling worthless, not good enough.

The young ninja glanced up to see a pair of boys around his own age hanging around the outskirts of the village he was walking toward, he hadn't had much interaction with the outside world since being taken in by the Kinkou, only leaving when he had the opportunity to sneak out or was escorted on a trip with his father and brother. He by no means looked like a fighter, his limbs were thin but toned, though no one could see that under his loose black shirt he wore. His long midnight black hair hung around his shoulders neatly, his dark eyes always seemed to hold a kind of sadness about them that often made people believe he was weak or a coward.

The boys nudged one another as they looked upon the scrawny newcomer to their village, he seemed too young to be traveling alone, yet no one seemed to be near him. Deciding to have some fun they moved in a pack toward what they assumed to be a lonely traveler.

What now? The young ninja looked up to see the pair of boys, possibly two years older than himself moving toward him, they were laughing, clearly amused by something. But instead of moving past him as he had hoped, the two stopped, blocking the path into the village causing himself to stop to. He gazed upon them curiously at first, his dark eyes studying each one, there were four of them, all older than himself. Clearly good friends by how they had been laughing and joking around a few moments earlier. "Please, move aside." he said aloud, clear and polite not wishing to rub them the wrong way. But it seemed as though they were intent on tormenting him. One snatched the satchel the young ninja carried, tossing it off the path and into the long grass nearby causing him to glare angrily, he was already frustrated at a great many things, but managed to hold his temper.

Without a word he moved to go collect his belongings only to be shoved from behind causing him to almost lose his footing, when he turned back the two boys were laughing at him, "Why?" He growled angrily, only to be met with amused looks, "I think we annoyed him?" a voice piped up followed by laughter. He felt the frustration boiling within him, but gritted his teeth determined to keep his cool as he had been taught many times before, "What's he gona do? Run to his parents or something? He's all alone, no one with him."

At once the ninja snapped, unable to contain the pent up frustration and anger that he had held with him for some time now. Moving with lightning fast reflexes, he moved in low to smash one boy in the gut with his elbow and delivering a near jaw shattering uppercut knocking the first boy to the ground with a bloodied nose. It seemed though, the other boy, who had short brown hair and a rather bulky physic wasn't going to be caught off guard so easily. He growled in response to the newcomer flooring his friend so easily and quickly took a fighting stance that showed he had some form of training.

The Ninja didn't care, he attacked, recklessly, at first the boy seemed to be capable of holding his own against the unrefined, rage filled assault, but only barely as he was desperately defending, it gave no chance to counter attack, no way to remove himself from the skirmish his own foolishness had landed him in. "We were only messing around!" he tried to reason while the traveler's onslaught began to take its toll.

The pent up rage continued to flow from him, carried upon his fists to be parried and deflected by the boy, but the movements of his target were becoming slower, and he winced each time he stopped a blow. In a desperate move, the boy tried to attack, throwing his fist toward the stranger's head in hopes of getting lucky and striking him out cold. He looked on in horror as his fist was caught and saw the face of the boy who had caught it. Pure rage seemed to almost seep from his very being, his face contorted in one of anger, tears streamed down the ninja's face. "Why?!" he cried out loud at the boy who had tried to tease him. A sickening crunch sounded loudly, the older boy screamed in agony as his wrist was snapped back so his knuckles were now touching his forearm.

Blind rage enveloped the frustrated ninja, delivering a swift and rather brutal punch to the side of the other boy's head dropping him to the ground in an instant, the ninja didn't relent, his fists smashed into the older boy's body. Using him as a punching bag to release his rage. In his blind rage, he didn't notice the girl who had come into view, nor the fact that the other boy had run to to get help.

The young ninja's fists were a flurry of rage, as though a dam had broken and a torrent of rage rushed forth, by now the boy was barely conscious, blood smeared the ninja's fists yet he continued to crush the boy beneath him. Until he felt a force pull around him and throw him away from the broken boy. The surprise in itself seemed to be enough to stem the rage, confusion cross his pale features as he landed upon his rear in the grass. His dark brown eyes moved to the visage of Syndra, the ninja's brow knitted together in a perplexed frown, the realization slowly dawning on him about what he had just done, the soft pathetic whimpers of the broken boy could be heard in the near silence.

In the distance he heard the faint sound of someone yelling for help, unsure what to do, he looked to Syndra, his eyes wide like a stag caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck.

The ninja blinked, his mind snapping back into reality once she barked at him to move. He was horrified at what he had done, used the power he had to unleash his rage upon someone who had no real chance at defending himself. He could feel every inch of the blood that now stained his hands as they throbbed in pain. He blinked and stood, his arm in the strong girls grasp before taking off with her toward where ever she lead him. He knew that if he were caught, the consequences would be worse than the usual punishment. But he didn't know what or how far that punishment be, he had to move.

Easily he kept up with the strange girl, not quiet sure if it were her or not that had thrown him from the boy. If it was in fact her, he would be grateful, there was no way the boy would have survived should he been able to continue the brutal beating. Finally finding his voice as he ran, he looked to her with his dark brown eyes, any emotion now masked by the teachings he had learned at the Kinkou, "Where are we going?"

As they slowed to a walk, the young ninja finally noticed something; his bloodied hands were quivering and sharp stabbing pain flooded them as the adrenalin left his body. No matter how hard he tried, he was unable to keep them stable, his emotionless mask was beginning to show cracks already. His mouth, instead of being close in a straight line, was slightly open, his shaky breaths were sharp and rapid.

He moved his gaze up to the temple as the girl beside him spoke, sudden curiosity flooded his mind, who was this girl? She had a master who lived in a temple, was her master a monk? Upon entering his eyes quickly shifted around the room as he follow where ever Syndra lead him almost like a lost puppy. To say the least, he was impressed by the decor, the ornate design made him doubt it was a place for monks.

The ninja waited patiently in the spare room, suddenly paranoid about someone entering and catching a stranger intruding with bloodied hands. Best hide until the girl returned...

Zed had kicked off the wall, propelling himself a few inches upward in order to hide closer to the ceiling by clamoring up onto a beam and laying flat as possible. He remained here, hands still shaking while the rest of himself completely still balanced with near perfection to stop himself from doing anything else. He waited for what seemed like forever until he heard the voices outside, his breath caught in his throat as if trying to silence even the slightest sound he could make. Paranoia flowing in his mind, what if they walked in? Had he left a trace he had been there? What if the girl gave him away? What if, what if, what if...

His eyes locked upon the door as it slowly slid open, he waited a good ten seconds before making a quiet sound so he didn't frighten Syndra once he dropped down from the ceiling beam in front of her.

"Thank you..." he murmured quietly in thanks for keeping him from being discovered and stopping him from going any further and possibly killing the boy.

"Akito." He said quietly as he sat. He watched her curiously and wondered why she would help him, he had nearly beat a boy to death and she so calmly took him in and aided him, even going as far to hide him from what he assumed was her master. What would push her to help him? He looked down to the bowl and gazed at the blood on his hands with a sense of regret that showed in his eyes. It was no doubt things like this, his inability to control his anger, his inability to control himself that lead his own master to show no love for him. He wasn't what the master wanted in a son, that much was clear. His parents abandoned, him, they too were incapable of loving him it seemed. He was an orphan, taken in by the Kinkou, out of pity? Or did they see him as nothing more than clay, to be molded into something they could use.

The young ninja snapped back to reality and closed his eyes briefly as he sunk his hands into the bowl of water. Crimson clouds appeared around his hands as the water stripped the loose pieces of dried blood from his hands, "Anything?" He mused in a tone barely above a whisper, "Why would you help me, Syndra?" As he said the name aloud he continued to scrub the blood off his hands, Syndra... He decided he liked that name.

She helped him because he was powerful? He gave her a puzzled look and shifted his gaze back to his bloodied hands. This was power then? The ability to take life if he wanted? The powerful should protect their own... Then those that can kill, should protect those who also could? Was that really power then? His master, his father, would more than likely disagree. Power came from balance, there was always darkness and light. There should always be en equal dose in the world. Was balance a power then? Something that could kill both dark and light, to cut away anything that was out of order.

He smirked to himself, no, the ability to kill wasn't what gave someone power. Then, what was power? He look to Syndra, "Reprimand me?" he questioned, "I don't believe the elders have any power over those of the Kinkou order." That much was true, the Kinkou were detached from any and all political parties, they had to be. How else could they act on what balance dictated? The elders were currently seen as the 'light' in many civilian eyes. If that was the case, that meant there was a darkness elsewhere. The Kinkou had to keep both in check, if one, such as the elders, gave into a darker influence and them the Kinkou were to remove that darkness as to keep the balance... For what reason would the Kinkou need to be part of the Ionian political powers.

The young ninja studied the girl before him, she seemed interesting to say the least. Silently he wondered if she would be a dark force or a light force in the world, it didn't seem right to him, to label things so black and white.

"... What defines one as powerful?" her words echoed in his mind, the powerful should protect their own. Was he powerful? Was she powerful?