Kenji jolted upright, gasping for air.
He gripped at his damp shirt, then he checked the side of his head for any injury.
He was breathing too fast, tears clung to the corners of his eyes. He was sparred a few seconds of mercy, before the memory clawed back.
No. No. No. No. No. He repeated the word in his mind like chant.
Shutting his eyes tightly and dropping back in bed, dragging the blanket over his head as if it could smother the past.
His breathing grew ragged again as it all came like great wave crushing.
His memory was cruelly vivid and clear, he pressed a hand over his mouth, forcing down the scream trying to tear out of him.
Tears slid silently down his cheeks, beneath the covers.
He lay there for a long time, eventually. Exhaustion dragged him under.
But sleep offered no mercy.
Jaxon's body.
The arrow.
The blood soaking into the ground.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, Jaxon...
If i hadn't dodged... if maybe i pulled you with me...
You would still be alive.
The strong, determined crimson hair boy was gone.
In his place hiding beneath the covers, hiding from the world and drowning in guilt was a child.
Trembling, and afraid.
--------
"Kenji."
"Kenji"
A voice pulled him upward.
His eyes snapped open, wild and terrified.
Takahiro and Yume hovered over him, startled by the raw fear in his face.
Kenji blinked, recognition returning.
Yume hesitated before asking "....Kenji are you crying?"
"Wh-What are you talking about?" He muttered, he quickly wiped his face and hardened his expression.
"What are you doing here?" He asked giving both his sibling's a glare, before glancing around.
For the first time, he noticed he was back in his room.
hey explained what had happened while he was unconscious.
Kenji listened silently.
Then he stood and walked outside.
At the edge of the village, bodies were being burned.
Smoke curled into the sky.
The smell of death lingered.
He didn't react.
Kenji scowled a bit, then headed down to the village to look around. After walking a bit, he made his way to the village center were Anna stood beside Selena.
Selena was crying, telling Anna something.
The older woman's expression was tight, anger barely restrained. She was wiping her hands with a cloth, that had been stained crimson by them.
Not only that but there was blood on her self as well, but those were splashes.
As Kenji got closer, he heard it.
"Ro left the village. He went after them."
Kenji froze mid step.
Putting words together and deciphering what she said while his mind started to slowly turn chaotic.
He turned around, walking his body was on auto pilot. Of course he knew who 'them' were but it was dangerous going after 'them' the invaders they killed Jaxon, they could kill Ro too.
The memory of Jaxon's lifeless body came to mind, the blood, the eyes. Kenji felt like he was losing his mind, he gripped his crimson hair hard enough to hurt.
Villagers spoke to him as he passed, he didn't hear them.
The world felt distant... muted compared to the intensity and deafening noise of his own mind.
A dark, reckless and dangerous idea came to his mind. Kenji doubted it, thinking about it when. Suddenly, someone grabbed his shoulder and spun him.
The world snapped back into focus.
"Kenji, are you okay?"
"...Selena?" he muttered, staring blankly for a second.
Then something shifted behind his eyes, calm.
Too calm.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "I'm fine."
Selena had a concern expression as she watched him, carefully.
Kenji then asked innocently, "Where's Ro?"
Selena hesitated, before saying with a fake smile "He went to help Ray. To get the other kids."
A lie, Kenji knew this was a lie. She was trembling, and she did that thing were she would blink more than necessary, when she lies.
Kenji nodded, a small polite smile formed.
"Okay, I'm tired. I'm going back to sleep."
She watched him leave, but she could felt it something was wrong.
-------------
Inside the house, Takahiro and Yume were half-asleep embracing each other. When the door opened again.
Kenji head into his room first changing into more practical clothing. As Takahiro got up to see what he was up to, Kenji then walked straight to Ray and Anna's room.
He got their room, knelt and reached under the bed, pulling out a wrapped bundle.
Takahiro followed him, and watched him rubbing his eyes. "Kenji... what are you doing?"
Kenji unwrapped the bundle.
A white scabbard.
Bronze circular guard.
White hilt with clean bronze detailing.
A simple, elegant, katana.
Kenji lifted it and slung it across his back, without speaking.
When he turned back to him, his eyes were different.
They were cold, and dark despite not having changed color.
He then said calmly and resolved "I'm going to kill, the bastards."