Chapter 8 : Hell

Yerrr! There may be a two chapters today. Who knows. Anyway, Esketit.

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Kenji winced at the burning irritation in his throat. Over and over. Choking to death on water. Further establishing the fear of drowning in the back of his mind. He was almost crying for mercy when the Commander finally let up. Kenji lost count at how many times he suffered. His best friend and classmates were already vetted to the nationalistic cause. When they were released from their chains and ushered into another dark room, the Commander had his way with Kenji. He couldn't hold in his laughter at this poor kid. Pitiful.

The Commander sat slanted onto a bucket leaning against the icy wall sharpening his small sword, waiting for Kenji's spell to cease. Kenji coughed excessively during the last hour. The strain in his voice and puddle of blood, mucus, and spit were enough evidence of his exhaustion.

"A......U...." Kenji's voice cracked and halted. Like the wind was knocked from his lungs, words weren't flowing. His glossy eyes struggled to stay open. His arms slumped into the chains trying to feel the greatest comfort possible.

"WHAT!" The commander snapped. He rose and kicked the bucket across the room. The middle-aged man kneeled in front of Kenji, cuffing his ear with one hand and placing it closely to Kenji's face. The young boy's face lowered in fear.

"What's your answer?"

Kenji shook his head up and down with desperation.

"WHAT'S YOUR ANSWER SON!!" He screamed directly in his ear. Kenji jumped.

His head remained coursing up and down furiously. "Yyyeeessss." Kenji heard his own voice rattle against his throat, sending burn signals to his brain. His face tensed up with creases. He quietly sobbed. His eyes started flowing like rivers. "Yyeeessss." "Yyeeessss."

Kenji dug deep and managed to whisper his answer multiple times much to the satisfaction of the Commander.

The Commander finally unlocked the restraints of Kenji. Feeling rage towards this man allowed Kenji to dart up from his embarrassing position. The satisfaction of the superior did little to satiate his lust for violence. Because he wasn't satisfied. Kenji may have given an answer, but he wasn't convinced that kid could be broken in one hour. Both of them were smarter than that.

The Commander stormed out of the room while Kenji sluggishly followed.

Both came to a small door attached to the roof of the sweat smelling room. The Commander smashed his fist into the door, opening it with ease.

"Leave." He said coldly. "Be back here tomorrow right after the academy. If you're late, your dead." He didn't spare Kenji a glance. The boy made his way through the door. The setting sun blinded him, prompting a forearm for protection against its rays. Kenji was in a back alley he'd never seen before. Twenty minutes burned by until he found out his location. The door was located in the slums of the Mist. Not everyone was prominent. Especially in war time, almost all the cash went to shinobi affairs, leaving civilians unable to be ninja to the mud. And this was one of those times.

After a thirty minute pace to his home, Kenji stopped at the water right below the hill he lived on. The watering hole connected to the river behind their house, but it was entirely secluded, which is what Kenji needed.

He looked like shit.

Staring at his image in the water made him wonder how Hansuke was coping. He didn't receive the overkill, but the experience was definitely nerve-racking. Kenji tried his best to wash the blood from the corners of his mouth, wipe the sweat from his forehead, and clean the streaks from his eyes. Shivers ran across his back. It was starting to get cold in the Mist which is probably why the Commander stripped him of his shirt. To suffer at least a little bit more at his hand. The walk home was especially cold, but no one cared enough to help Kenji. Just the same old look of disgust. Kenji was dying to get to the bottom of that expression people gave him, but he felt the need to tread carefully for the answer. And not just an answer, the REAL reason for the hate.

After regaining his composure, he stumbled to his door and silently breached. His foot paused in mid-air. Aya was locked in place with arms and legs crossed. Instead of fear, Kenji felt nothing. What was wrong with him? Did he want to feel his mother's scolding? With his experience today, he knew there was already a part of himself that was lost. And that part was irretrievable. He made eye contact with Aya, but only proceeded to weave around Aya's chair to his room. Sleep would feel great right now he thought.

Aya grabbed his wrist and whipped him around. She had many questions. Why did he look so beat up? Hansuke and her son usually got into some crazy things in their friendship, and even Aya went easy on him since he was finally living the live she wanted for him.

Kenji didn't want to lie. Especially to her. Kenji gathered his thoughts and looked at Aya. He knew the first thing would be to explain his voice.

Kenji started croaking, "I think I'm sick. Me and Hansuke got picked by Lord Mizukage for special training, but I'm not sure what it's for. We had to train in the water today. Can I just go to sleep?" His voice sounded awful. Cracking and struggles. Aya motioned for him to stop. The moment she heard his voice, her heart cried. He was always so healthy. Why did he get sick now? She thought. She was regretting the forceful grip she had on his wrist. She remembered that even when her boy does something stupid, he usually has a reason.

Aya sweetly said, " I'm sorry sweetie, I just worry about you every minute of every day." She embraced Kenji with regret and sorrow. At least while he's young, She can be a little soft, right? He's just a kid.

Kenji was satisfied. He didn't lie, he just didn't tell her the whole truth which still pained him to do. He figured that telling someone about their 'training' was a given rule.

Aya administered some medicine for Kenji which he took simply so he could sleep well. He knew he'd need it for tomorrow.

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Note : I'm really pumped to write the next ten or so chapters, so I'm going to try and pump as many as I can out this weekend. I'm not exchanging quality for quantity though.

YERRR!