There's No Place Like Home [P/L]

Never had Kaseki ever left Shini's home in such a fast manner. With the boy's interest and his sister's mention, he had to see the Lionturtle again. He knew from the last encounter where he was, but now he knew why he was led to him. He stood there, the boy in front of him. The both of them stared at the large beast, the gaze of the creature away from them. Kaseki's eyes were fixated on the ruined city on the Lionturtle's back. He wasn't sure how to feel, yet it pained his heart to see the destruction of a city he knew nothing about... or at least that's what he thought.

"Ishi. . . ." He mulled over the name. He knew nothing about him, yet he understood every bit of him. Within his chest was something he could never understand. It was an emotion he never had room, or time for until now.

Kaseki could only do one thing to ease the pain. His hand reached out in front and simply rested on the shoulder of the boy. That was all he could do.

"Yoshi. . . " The words slowly escaped the locked lips. They fell upon silence as the two of them looked up at the large beast. Kaseki could feel it, he understood it now.

"You knew this whole time." Kaseki spoke, his voice shaken, his knees weak. Before him, was a creature who watched over him in the darkest of times. Before him the being that gave him his power. Before him, his home. Before him, his true home.

"So this is where my story began . . . " he spoke quietly to himself, the pain of his heart growing. He had lost the father he all but knew. He watched his own self fall into chaos. But now, he saw the world he was born into, through eyes he could not remember. Before him, was where he was from. His home. . . it was in ruins now.

His mind raced and was flooded with emotions and memories he couldn't remember. He saw a mother that loved him. He saw his father, showing him the ways of his people. He saw people, smiling, kind to each other. In he was in his own bliss, but even his state of serenity would be cut short with the painful truth. .  .

He was choked up to say the least. He had waited his whole life to know who he was. He lost everything only to build himself back up. At that moment, he smiled, a first smile in eons, and tears rolled down his face.

"Xiaowei." he thought to himself, ". . . This must have been where we had met for the first time." He felt like he knew that woman his whole life. If it was true, just as some of her tales were, this was the city she mentioned. Though, in his mind, it never captured the beauty. But after all, Kaseki was the better story teller.

"I don't imagine you have a crazy murderous sister in there too, do you?" Kaseki said lightheartedly. He knew the toll on the child. If it was a fraction of what he was feeling, he knew the boy's pain.

He didn't know it then, but it was the feeling he had been searching for.

It was his answer to a three million year old question.

"This is where I came from."

He saw the ruins, the destruction, the mayhem of a life he never had. It begun to cut into his very soul. He wanted nothing more than to leave. But there was something he needed to know. Something only he could see.

He begun to walk past the boy, almost rushing forward. He could see was used to be silver stones now turned ashen gray like soot. He looked up and around, but could not find what he was searching for.

"The castle." he thought to himself, "It's not here... was the story of my father a lie? How much of the truth do I really know?"

His mind begun to fill with thoughts and wonder of the life he could have lived. He could have been a young boy, so fresh and innocent. He could have been spared the lost of life and the corruption of Fiore and Konoha. But no... his brother. Xiaowei, Shini, Kusatta, his children . . . Pandora. Everyone

The world was different because of his suffering. It was the spirit and demon that saved his frail dying body. But now, Kaseki is the spirit that protects the child.

Now, was his second chance at life.