A fire's shadow

The truth is revealed

The days went by slower than ever in Shadow's opinion. He knew he needed to do something about Matt but he just couldn't bring himself to do it, almost like there was a part of him that was afraid of his former friend. Which he should have no reason to, but he did.

He was on the upper deck, wearing a black tank top, light grey sweat pants, and a pair of black running shoes. His knuckles were bruised from all the training he had been doing the last couple of days, but he didn't care, he had just wrapped some bandages around his hands and then continued training all day long, only pausing every now and then to take a quick meal.

Landing another punch filled with anger at the training dummy, he could hear Matt's mocking tone in his head.

"There's nothing you can do to stop me, Shadow. And you know that, don't you?"

He punched the dummy again, his breathing becoming fierce, showing the anger rising.

"You are helpless and weak. How can you even call yourself a hero? You have done nothing for anyone but put them in danger."

His eyes flashed to blazing red and he continued punching the dummy that was starting to look very beaten up.

"You can't help anyone, not me."

Another punch, every punch gaining more force than the last.

"Not your family."

He stopped with the punches for a moment to catch his breath.

"No one. Not even Amy. And you know that, don't you? That's why you tried to stay away from her. Because you knew that you were a danger to her. But you ended up being with her anyway. Maybe you actually hate her. If that's the case then...."

His panting grew quicker, and tiny sparks flickered in the palms of his hands as they grew warmer.

"Maybe I can get her off your shoulders." The smirk Matt had been wearing after uttering that sentence flashed before Shadow's eyes and then, for a moment, he only saw red.

His hands caught fire and the bandages burned to ash in an instant. With a flaming punch of full force, he punched through the dummy's head, creating a fist-sized hole through the dummy, with burn marks all around it. He hadn't even realized that his powers had activated.

He just stood there with his fist through the head of the dummy, panting through his clenched teeth, his eyes still blazing red.

Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him, but he didn't have to turn around to know who it was. He pulled back his hand and then calmed down a little, making his eyes return to the vibrant crimson they usually were. "What do you want, Kai?" He asked, his voice sounding rather annoyed with his brother being there.

There was a sigh from behind him followed by the voice of his brother, "Shadow what is going on?"

The black-haired male remained quiet and kept his eyes on the floor.

"There's something you haven't been telling us, isn't there?" Kai asked, his voice quiet and worried.

Shadow turned his head to the left, meeting Kai's eyes with his own left eye, before once more lowering his gaze. "Yeah, there is a lot of things I didn't tell you about. But.....one of those things I probably should have told you immediately....." He walked over to the railing and rested his elbows on it, still keeping his gaze lowered.

The red ninja walked towards his brother just as he lifted his head and looked towards the horizon and stopped next to him, getting into the same stance as Shadow, keeping his gaze on his twin, "And what is that?"

"Remember a few days ago, when I came back to the bounty, all shaken up?" Shadow asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Well, something really bad happened that night.....Something I've been trying to think of how I can fix ever since it happened, and yet I'm without any clue on what to do....." Letting out a sad sigh he continued, "...I was betrayed by a friend that I have been hanging out lately.....He knocked me out and.....did some experiments on me.....I managed to escape but not before he did something really bad....."

"And what is that?" Kai asked, seeming a little worried as well as angry.

The black-haired male fell quiet and didn't respond for a few seconds before whispering, "He copied my powers, Kai.....and I haven't been able to properly use my powers since I got back to the bounty......that's why I fell onto the deck that night because my Airjitzu disappeared..... "

"H-How? That shouldn't be possible! Wait.....Chronosteel....." Shadow nodded, confirming the brunette's suspicion. "But, do you still have your powers?"

The edgy ninja stared at his hands, "I-I think so.....I'm pretty sure I still have them.....I mean.....I can feel them in my body......but.......I haven't been able to use them properly......They sometimes activate when I'm mad, but other than that I can't use them or control them....."

"Wait, you said he copied your powers. Was it just the fire powers or......"

"I don't know if he got the shadow abilities too......but I don't think so......"

Feeling anger boiling up inside of him, the red ninja clenched his fists, digging his nails into the palms of his hands, "AND YOU WAITED UNTIL NOW WITH TELLING ANYONE THIS!?" At that moment he forgot shouting wouldn't exactly ease the guilt that was probably eating at Shadow right now.

Which it didn't, the black-haired ninja was feeling a huge amount of guilt, and it only grew worse with Kai shouting at him. "I'm sorry......" his own voice failed him and the words only came out as a whisper, which his brother barely heard.

Sighing, the brunette held back the anger, "I'm sorry for shouting at you, but I just wish you would have told me and the others this immediately instead of waiting until now."

"I know, I shouldn't have kept that from you."

"No, you shouldn't have, but at least you told me now. But we need to tell the others about this, maybe Wu or Zane knows something. Maybe they can help you."

"No, I don't want them to know about this, none of it."

"We can't keep this from them, Shadow. They need to know."

"NO! They don't need to know anything about this! This stays between the two of us, got it!?"

Holding up his hands in defense, Kai took a step back, "Okay, okay, calm down. I won't tell them. But you will have to tell them eventually."

Shadow shook his head, "No. If things go the way I want then they will never have to know."

The brunette didn't respond, and he didn't have to. Shadow already knew what he wanted to say. "You can't fix everything yourself."

And Shadow's response was just as obvious, "I know, but I have no other choice if I want to keep you all safe."

The silence that filled the air was unbearable for the red ninja, he wanted nothing more than for it to go away, but he knew that breaking it right now could have bad effects on his brother's mood. So Kai instead stood up straight and then walked inside without saying a word.

Shadow glanced in the brunette's direction as he left, thinking about how everything had changed. He had a hard time believing his relationship with Kai had changed so much, from enemies to friends, from friends to best friends, then from best friends to brothers. Both of them had grown so much, but Shadow knew that no matter how much he grew or learned, he would always truly be........

Kai's dark side.