The years went by and no one mentioned Jaakuna again even though it was on display and wrapped up in the weapons room again. This time it was wrapped not only with ten rounds of cloth but also chained to the bottom of the display box and was encased in not only glass, but bars that had a key that only Yukorite had and it was on his person at all times. It was doing its duty as a reminder to the up and coming ninjas about the fault that the Kayoshi Clan had done in retrieving the sword.

********************

Satuya woke up in a sweat and looked around. It was that dream again... the one where something was calling to him and he didn't know what it was. He put his hand to his head and saw he was glowing again. He sighed and grabbed onto the pendant that hung from his necklace. He breathed in slowly and the glowing went away. He hated it, whatever made him glow like that. Because of it, he had no friends and most everyone was afraid of him except Takuma and Chekome. The glowing had been going on for a while now and not just when he had high fits of emotion. Sometimes it would just happen. Yukorite had had many fights with Natomi in regards to him being able to go on missions due to the fact that if he began to glow during a mission, he could compromise everyone.
Natomi wasn't necessarily afraid of him it was just that since he was usually gone to get more research in regards to his people, he would forget that Satuya glowed until he got back and he would have to get used to it all over again. Most of the time he wasn't there to comfort him about it or fight for his right to do something because of it. It was mostly Takuma that was there and Satuya was grateful for it. The past months had been like this though, with him waking up at odd hours of the night in a cold sweat and breathing as if he had run a marathon. He got up and went to the kitchen area to get some water and try to calm down. The glowing had stopped being so radiant but he was still dim.
"Satuya?" He turned as Takuma walked out of his room. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing... just... had that dream again."
"The one where someone is calling you but you don't know who?"
"Yeah."
"It must be frightening since you're glowing."
"It's not as shiny as before... Takuma?"
"Yeah?"
"Am I... Am I even human?"
Takuma looked at the young man and sighed, not knowing what to say. Now that Satuya was in his teens, he was getting more and more curious about who he was and how he came about. Natomi didn't want Takuma to tell him about Tsume only because he had wanted to tell him himself but Natomi was never around and Inoue didn't know the full story. It was time Satuya learn about his past.
"Walk with me for a moment. I'll try and answer that question as best as I can."
That answer was odd but Satuya nodded and finished drinking his water.

*******************

The two walked out of the clan gates and down the pathway.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see when we get there... Will you lift your hair up for me?"
Satuya made a face and shook his head.
"I don't want to."
"I know you think you can hide it, but I've known it was there for a while. Plus, I've seen you rubbing sumi ink into your hair."
Satuya didn't want to but they stopped for a second and he undid his ponytail, lifting his hair up. Underneath the black was stark white hair like moonlight that had been coming in since Satuya turned three and ten. He'd been trying to hide it for a long time, not needing something else to be made fun of. Takuma had seen it the first time and thinking it was gray hair, teased Satuya about it but then he saw him furiously grinding up a sumi block and dipping his hair in it once and realized that it was something else.
"I see. So I was right."
"What is it? Why is it like that?" Satuya turned back to him. "Do you know what's wrong with me?"
"There's nothing wrong with you. You're just not like everyone else. Being different isn't being inhuman. Cut into there." He pointed into the woods.
Satuya followed his direction as they traversed between the trees. They finally came upon a hut that was overgrown now but still able to be seen.
"Who lived here?"
"Your father."
"Natomi?"
"No, you're real father."
Satuya frowned. "Natomi is my father..."
"No, he isn't." Takuma opened the door and smiled at the chunks of wood missing from when Tsume used to throw throwing stars at the door. "Good times..."
"What's going on?"
"Your father's name is Tsume Benitone, the only child of the chief. That's why they are your grandmother and grandfather. Natomi has no relation to them whatsoever."
Satuya made a face. "I... I thought I was calling them that out of respect."
"You would be calling them Obaa-sama and Ojii-sama if that were the case. Why do you think they never corrected you? You have the right to call them Obaa-san and Ojii-san because you're their grandchild."
"Then... where is this Tsume? Is he still alive?"
"Yes, he is. Remember when I told you about that pendant around your neck?"
"Yes..."
"It was the pendant that Tsume had given to me when we were little. It is true that we were very good friends, like brothers, until... until things happened. Unexplainable things."
"What do you mean?"
Tsume motioned for Satuya to follow him as he jumped onto the roof of the hut, careful not to fall through. He brushed some leaves away and was happy to find that some of it was still there. Natomi had showed him when Tsume was getting care by the doctor after this time.
"This here is not dirt, but dried blood. You see... Your father was... well... It's really hard to say."
"Just say it."
"Your father was pregnant with you."
Satuya looked at him in shock and then narrowed his eyes.
"You're trying to make fun of me."
"I swear on the gods of the land that I am not. We went on a mission at the emperor's castle and we had three units coming from different places. We had a bottom, middle, and top unit. Tsume was to come in through the bottom part of the palace meet with the middle and then we would meet at the top. When he went in through the bottom window, he inadvertently went into the apothecary. There, the enchantress that the emperor had hired was there. She threw a powder on Tsume but he thought nothing of it. Sometime later he was having issues and it was revealed to all of the shinobi clan that he was, in fact, pregnant. Whatever that enchantress threw on him caused it; how, we don't know. She's an enchantress.
"He was banished because he would not give you up. He would rather be out here, living by himself than to kill you. He knew it was no one's fault but the enchantress and timing. Any one of us could have been the victim of that powder... He stayed with you here and I, against orders, came out here with food for him. He was... very weak. Then some things happened... There... there was another as well."
"Another what?"
"Baby. You have a sister named Kisola."
Satuya clenched his fists. "So he abandoned me and kept my sister? Why? Why did he abandon me?"
"He didn't abandon you." Takuma said, putting his hand on Satuya's shoulder. "He gave you a chance."
"At what?"
"Shinobi life. After some issues were resolved, Natomi convinced Master Yukorite to let Tsume be sent to Natomi's home-clan, the Laota Clan. It was a refugee clan that allowed others to be a part of it but there was one thing that could not be done for a refugee: they could not become a ninja there. The Laota had their own, but refugees could not be ninjas. Tsume had a feeling that you would be like him, wanting to fight and be strong for those you loved. You wouldn't be able to do that in Laota. He left you here with Natomi was both a peace offering for the things he had caused as well as because he wanted you to live."
Satuya still had his hands clenched angrily. Takuma pointed at the blood stain.
"I came here to show you how much you meant to him. This hut was built for you and your sister, so he could take care of you. If he hadn't had complications, he would have raised you both here, probably. He fought for you and would die for you, Satuya. Do you know that you helped your father get you out of him?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your glowing. You've been doing it ever since you were in the womb. From what Natomi told me, it was time for you to come out but since men don't usually have children, Tsume knew he would have to cut himself open and get you out. He was afraid because he didn't want to hurt you even then, and then you glowed. When you glowed, you illuminated the inside of his stomach and he was able to cut into himself without hurting you or Kisola. You saved him, Satuya. This blood stain is where he was trying to save you. Natomi said that he had heard him coming and jumped onto the roof even after cutting his own stomach open and had a child in one hand and a knife in the other, ready to protect his children."
Satuya looked at the blood stain and then at Takuma.
"What does all this have to do with me glowing?"
"Since you were created in a man with whatever powder that enchantress threw on Tsume, then it might have something to do with that. You are probably human but that powder has left you with the side effect of glowing."
Satuya closed his eyes and then sighed, looking up at Takuma.
"I'm not normal, Taku... Enchantress or not... I'm not human. I'm going home now..."
"Satuya-"
"Thanks for telling me about my father. He seems like a good man... I just... I need to think."
He jumped down from the roof of the hut and began to walk away. Takuma sighed and got down as well, wondering if it would have been different if Tsume had been there.

********************

A couple days later, Natomi came back from getting some more information about his clan when Mayori met him at the gate.
"Takuma told that kid about his real father."
"What?"
"The chief is getting a little impatient with you and your unannounced travels. Plus, you're practically leaving that kid to be raised by Takuma. He's not normal."
"Of course he's not normal. His father harbored him."
"Yeah well, the other ninjas don't like him and won't participate if he's involved. He's causing problems."
"The other ninjas won't participate because he glows?" Natomi asked.
"If he's participating in a drill then no. No one wants to be the chance of having him as a partner. So, they usually put him on cleaning duty."
"Well as the teacher, don't you think you should rectify that issue?" Natomi growled.
"I'm not the official trainer and I don't like being near that kid either. He gives me the creeps."
Natomi growled and went to his hut to put his traveling pack away. He went to the doctor's home and found Inoue with Satuya. He said nothing since Satuya's back was to him and he put his finger over his mouth to make sure Inoue said nothing. She didn't say anything but went back to what she was saying to Satuya.
"Are you still mad at Takuma about taking you to the hut?"
"I didn't want to know that I was abandoned by my father. He took my sister and left me. He was afraid of me too just like everyone else is."
"I'm assuming that's how you got this lovely black eye." She said with a small smile.
"I asked if I could just... I just wanted to do a drill. I'm supposedly a Shinobi but I get treated like the cleaning boy. I always have to polish the weapons, sharpen the blades, feather the arrows, nock the bows, wipe the floor, dust, whatever is not training. I'm tired of it!" he yelled.
"Satuya, your skin-"
"I don't care! I just want to be a good ninja! Why can't anyone give me that chance?! I'm not contagious... It's not like I'll give it to someone... I know it could be dangerous on a mission but I need someone to help me! No one wants to try. Takuma, maybe, but I'm really pissed off at him for telling me about my father."
"Well it's not Takuma's fault, sweetheart." She put a bandage over his nose. "There."
"Again, I didn't need to know that my own father abandoned me. If he took my sister and not me then... then why? What was so great about her?"
"He left you here to be taught the Shinobi way, Satuya, not to be abandoned."
"Well it damn well doesn't feel like it!" he yelled and got up, turning. He gasped when he saw Natomi and looked away. "You're back."
"I am... I think we need to talk."
"I don't want to talk to you." He growled, leaving.
Natomi looked at Inoue as she smiled sadly at him.
"He's been very upset since Takuma tried to explain the glowing."
"What did the hut have to do with that?"
"The only way he thought to explain it was to explain his existence. I agree that whatever the enchantress threw at Tsume may have something to do with it but in order to say that, Takuma had to tell the whole story. Now Satuya is mad at Takuma for telling him his father abandoned him, no matter the reason, and also mad at Tsume for doing it. Then he got beat up today..."
"Mayori told me about that. I'm going to have a chat with them in a moment."
"He's also mad at you for lying to him about being his father."
"I understand that. I can live with it."
"Did you find anything out while you were gone?"
"This time, yes, I did and... it's the end of the trail. I found out from some other clans that the emperor is trying to invade Shinobi clans and make them slaves to him. Those who are already ninjas are brainwashed and put into his army and then the rest are treated as slaves."
"Oh my god... and do you think Tsume is there?"
"I know he's there. It's where that's the issue. Was he put into the army or is he a slave?"
"And his little girl..."
"Knowing Tsume, he should be fine but this is the last of the puzzle pieces. I won't be leaving anymore."
"Well, I'm glad of that. I've missed you and so has Satuya."
"I'm going to go give the training ninjas a good tongue lashing."