God of War

Loss

Gyatsō's body would twitch slightly before he opened his eyes. His throbbing headache worsened as he moved a bit before groaning, the intense pain shooting throughout his body never wavered. As soon as he made the noise, he felt a person wrapping their arms around his neck in a tight hug. He could barely see anything due to the room's lack of light, but he knew it was his mother. The warmth of her hugs always got to him in a way, and it comforted the boy. He slowly wrapped an arm around her. It was all he could do with his damaged body.

"Gyatsō, I promise," the woman started, already in tears. "I promise everything is going to be alright. I promise." She wasn't only reassuring her son, whom she never wanted to experience this kind of tragedy, but herself, for she also feared the possibility of shinobi breaking in. Gyatsō sat up while holding the back of his head with his free hand, quickly noticing that they were the only ones in their small home.

"M-mother... where are Hideo and Ichiro?" he asked with a worried expression. Hideo Mataba was the oldest of Gyatsō's brothers, 16 years old. Ichiro is 13 years old. Gyatsō, the youngest, was only 8.

The mother gently stroked Gyatsō's white hair, placing a kiss on the boy's forehead.

"Hideo and Ichiro are fighting... the military forced them to go onto the battlefield to fight the Stone," she replied. Her crying intensified as she held her son closer.

"Gyatsō, you're too young.. far too young to experience this.. listen to me, okay? I want you to...."

Gyatsō looked up into his mother's tired eyes, tears stinging his eyes once more.

"What is it, mother?"

"Escape from this village, and quickly.. we don't have much time left," she whispered. Her grip around Gyatsō grew weaker as she looked towards the door. The doorknob began shaking as if someone was trying to open it, but it was locked. A tall man donning a Hidden Stone forehead protector stood before the door, banging against the wood now. He squinted as his dark brown hair furiously blew in the wind, already annoyed.

"Anyone in there?! Open up or I'll come in there and kill you!" he yelled.

Gyatsō started to whimper as his eyes widened, his crying also intensifying. His mother slapped her hand over his mouth before pointing to the opened window in the back of the room. She would then smile at him, placing another kiss on his forehead.

"Gyatsō, you have to leave the village for now. Your big brothers will protect mommy, I promise! Now go," she repeated, gently pushing her son towards the window. The banging on the door grew louder before it was kicked in. A moment before, Gyatsō jumped outside but knelt down to look inside.

The shinobi glared at the woman in the room with an evil smirk as he quickly pulled out a kunai. A faint light glistened on the blade as the woman lost her smile, looking down at the floor.

No! Mother!!

A moment later, the white haired mother was already laying on the ground, the kunai sticking out of her chest. Her crimson red blood soaked the carpet next to her as the shinobi left the house. Gyatsō blankly stared at her motionless body before turning around, slowly walking forward.

"Why?"

Just as before, battle cries and explosions were all that Gyatsō could hear. He managed to slip past invading ninja as he now stood at the entrance gate to the village.

"Why..?" the boy asked himself as he was now staring at two bodies. Both of them had snow-white hair, just like him. Why did the enemy purposely leave his brothers' corpses in front of the village like this? Was Gyatsō being punished?

"Ichiro... Hideo... and even mother... They're all dead..."

Gyatsō covered his eyes as he walked out of the village. After walking for about fifteen minutes, he finally collapsed.