Even though Natomi told the other young men to stop leaving Satuya out of the drills they were still very mean towards him. Since Satuya hadn't had a lot of time learning to fight, he was usually the person used as bait or the villain, anything where the others could beat him up. Although Natomi was there, watching them, he wasn't seeing the underlying problem that lay before him.

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

Satuya was knocked to the ground again as the usual instigator of the fights, Ikki, laughed at him along with the other ninjas in class.
"Face it, Satuya, you should just go back to cleaning the dojo and sharpening the weapons. You'll never be as stealthy or good as us."
"I saved your asses when the emperor's army came and tried to take everyone! If not for me, you'd be dead." He snarled.
"Yeah, thanks for your freakish body." Ikki laughed, looking down on Satuya with a haughty look. "Because you glowed, that guy got scared. I remember it clearly too, dumbass. I was there."
"Then you well know that I also drove everyone out of the village."
"That wasn't even you though. There was no skill. It was that weird sword that used to be in here. So you didn't do anything. You're an abomination to everyone. A freak of nature. And so was your father."
"You know nothing about him." Satuya said with a low glare.
Ikki laughed. "All of our parents know exactly who he is. They were there when he revealed himself as an abomination. Like father, like son."
Satuya was still angry about Takuma telling him about Tsume and even though he hated Tsume for leaving him, if not for his father's denial of getting rid of him and his sister, he wouldn't be alive. If nothing else, he would defend the person who would rather be exiled from his own clan than to save face. Satuya felt his skin get hot as he got brighter, his anger flaring. He also felt as if his fingernails were growing rapidly but he ignored the feeling and got up, staring Ikki in the face.
"I don't appreciate you talking about my father like that. You didn't even know him."
"I don't have to know him. He's just an ab-"
Ikki suddenly went flying through the air and into the side of the building. He shook his head in confusion when he saw Satuya standing over him, his fist balled up and his skin bright as could be.
"Say it again, Ikki, and I'll give you more than that."
Ikki growled, slamming into Satuya's body and taking him down to the floor.
"You don't know who you're dealing with! I'm the best ninja in training! I'm so good that Master Natomi said that I could go with them on the next mission! Don't think that you can defeat me!"
Satuya got his arm from Ikki's and punched him in the ribs, making Ikki fall to the side as Satuya got up. Ikki, though in pain, jumped up and grabbed a dagger off of the wall, pointing it at him.
"You want to play, freak?"
"I'm not afraid of a pointy stick."
"This is a knife you dumbass."
"In your hands, it's a pointy stick." Satuya coaxed with a maniacal grin. "I'm not afraid of you or that knife."
Ikki ran at him angrily, swiping the knife this way and that, but missing Satuya every time. Ikki was confused at his speed. He's been stunted in progress because he hasn't been able to attend the training but he's as fast as ever! Ikki thought. Suddenly, Ikki felt something slice his face and he fell back, holding his face in shock. He pulled his hand back and saw blood on his hand. He looked up at Satuya, who looked just as surprised as he was.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to scratch you in the face." Satuya said formally.
Ikki could tell the scratch was intentional, the location of it was not. The fact that he had gotten him in the face made Ikki even angrily and he bum rush Satuya, lifting him as they both crashed into the wall, putting a hole into it. Ikki still had his knife and he held it to Satuya's throat.
"You'll pay for what you did to my face, you piece of shit."
Satuya gulped, not knowing what to do. He tried to get his arms and shoulders out of the wall but Ikki was on top of him and was making it quite difficult.
"I don't know where I should start... Should I slice your neck? Give you some scratches like me? Slice the side of your mouth? So many options..." he said, his eyes showing Satuya that he was not playing around.
Satuya still struggled with his arms when he felt something and grabbed it. He ran his hand up the object and gripped it tight as he punched his arm through the rest of the paneling and kicked Ikki off of him. Once he was able to stand up, he looked to see what he grabbed and saw it was something long wrapped in cloth. A pang of familiarity hit him and he looked at Ikki, who was ready to strike again. Satuya knew this was a bad idea but he had no choice.
He unwrapped the object and saw exactly what he thought it was: Jaakuna. It was risky but...
"Come on, Satuya, are you a fraidy cat? Don't know how to use a sword?"
Satuya grabbed the hilt and felt power flow into him but unlike last time, he didn't feel like he was going crazy or that it was taking over him. He felt like he was one with the sword, like they understood each other. Satuya turned to Ikki and Ikki stopped smiling, recognizing the sword in Satuya's hand.
"How did... You can't use that."
"Why not?" Satuya asked, calm as could be. "You got to threaten how you would kill me, so why can I not find a weapon of choice and threaten you in the same manner?"
"Because at least I can control my weapon. That weapon controls you."
"On the contrary... We have a mutual understanding." Satuya said with a grin. "Would you like to see how well we work together?"
Ikki backed into the other ninjas as Satuya walked over, his skin brighter than ever before and his eyes red as blood.
"I think you'll like the way we complement each other. My anger mixed with the smooth way the sword slices through the air... Ah, it's a wonderful combination of skill and finesse."
Just then the door opened and Takuma walked in. He blinked at the bright light and then looked at the students all plastered against the wall.
"What's going on... here..."
Satuya turned to him and smiled.
"Great of you to come. I was just about to show them how pissed off I can really be. Would you like to watch?"
"He- he's got the sword!" Ikki yelled, pointing.
Takuma looked at it and Satuya watched him with a small smile on his lips. Takuma walked over and put his hand on Satuya's shoulder.
"Put the sword down, Satuya. You don't need it. Come on..."
"I beg to differ." He said, staring at Takuma with his red eyes.
Takuma stared at him as well and then grabbed the blade, his hands beginning to bleed from the sharpness.
"Give me back my sword you little thief! It was mine way before you!" he snarled.
"It was mine to begin with! I was made for this sword! You can't handle the power of the sword!"
"I held it first! It's mine!" Takuma yelled, his own eyes as red as Satuya's.
Satuya seemed to slightly change before Takuma's eyes. He looked larger and stronger and if he hadn't been trying to get the sword from Satuya, he would have thought he was seeing things when Satuya's teeth seemed to sharpen exponentially.
"This sword is mine!" he said in a voice that seemed otherworldly.
"I wielded it first!"
As both of them gripped the blade as hard as they could, the sharp edges digging deeper and deeper into their hands, the blade suddenly burst in their hands as if it had been made of glass. The other students had hidden gotten to a safer place so the only two people effected were Satuya and Takuma. There was silence after the blade had burst into pieces and Ikki stepped out from the crowd to see what had happened when the hilt of Jaakuna shook and all the pieces of the blade came back together. He gulped and walked toward the two men when one of his friends grabbed his shoulder.
"Are you going to grab it too?"
"Hell no. I just need to see if those two lunatics are alright..."
He walked closer and saw that their hands were bloodiest things on them. There was blood stains on their clothes where the shards of the blade had shot into them but other than the small stains on their clothes, their skin under it was just fine.
"Takuma? Satuya?"
Satuya sat up first, coughing and then grabbing his eye in pain, yelling. Ikki looked at Takuma, who was still limp. He kicked his foot a little and Takuma sat up slowly, holding his chest. He coughed and blood came out of his mouth and onto the floor. He looked up slowly, barely able to see Ikki standing there.
"Get... doctor..." he whispered and fell back onto the floor.
Satuya was writhing in pain and Ikki turned to the others.
"You heard him. Someone get the doctor."
Someone came out of their shock and ran while Ikki kicked Jaakuna away from the two of them and went to help his once rival calm down.

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

Natomi walked into the doctor's place and met the doctor at the door.
"Where have you been?"
"I was speaking with Yukorite about some developments that have come up. I heard from Mayori about the fight that happened. What exactly did happen?"
"I don't know. Takuma's unconscious of the time being and Satuya is in the corner but won't let anyone touch him. This is different than before when the blade was held. You will most likely have to get the story from Satuya, if you can get him to look at you."
Natomi nodded and walked over to the poor kid, who was holding his hand over his face and shivering in the corner. Hearing Natomi coming up, Satuya turned a little and he squatted down in front of the boy.
"It's just me, Satuya. Let me see your face."
"No..."
"Then can you at least tell me what happened?" Natomi asked, motioning for Inoue to bring him a rag and some ointments.
"I just wanted to join the drills before Takuma got there. Ikki got mad and started insulting my father. Even though I don't like him, I can't hate him for keeping my sister and I when he could have killed us. He started saying horrible things and we started fighting. I accidentally scratched him and then he slammed me into a wall. I felt something behind the paneling so I pulled it out and unwrapped it. I knew I shouldn't have but..." Satuya finally looked at Natomi, his hand over his eye. "I swear, Natomi, Ikki was going to kill me. I could see it in his eyes. I just wanted to defend myself... When I took hold of the sword though, it wasn't like last time. This time it was as if it were helping me, a companion, not trying to dominate me. Then Takuma came in and we fought over the sword when it exploded and... that's all I remember."
Natomi nodded and reached up slowly to take Satuya's hand from his eye. With a little force, he moved the hand and saw that Satuya's eye was bleeding and half of the iris was red, but not from blood. He began to care for it but Satuya kept his gaze away from Natomi.
"I'll be talking with Ikki's parents about his anger and violent behavior. He's always had that side of him but I never knew he would take it out on a fellow student."
"He wasn't taking it out on a student, Natomi, he was taking it out on me. I'm not normal... I said something to Takuma that really disturbed me."
"What did you say?" he asked, tipping Satuya's head back and widening his eye to look into it.
"When we were fighting, Takuma and I were fighting for rights over the sword. Takuma said he held it first, so it was his but I said something different. I said 'I was made for this sword. It was mine to begin with.' Natomi, I'm not human."
"Nonsense." He said softly. He stopped messing with Takuma's eye. "Cover your uninjured eye for me." Satuya did. "Now, how many fingers am I holding up?"
Satuya squinted but could barely make out his hand.
"I don't know... it's very blurry. I can see the arm is there but nothing else."
"Hmm. I'll tell the doctor."
He got up and went to tell the doctor as Satuya looked at his hands. He didn't feel right.

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

After everyone was taken care of and a full examination provided that Takuma was not in any danger, Satuya was sent home with Natomi. He hadn't been feeling the same since after the fight with Takuma and it had nothing to do with Jaakuna. It was something deep inside of him that seemed to be trying to pry its way out, pulling at his insides and climbing through to the surface.
"Are you not hungry?" Inoue asked him as she served more rice to Natomi.
Satuya looked at his fish and felt as if he would vomit. He swallowed the saliva that was already building in preparation for a purge and he stood up.
"I'm not feeling well."
He went outside and headed toward the entrance of the village. The sick feeling he had finally caught up to him and he vomited bile. As he wiped his hand over his mouth, he noticed it felt strange and pulled back to look. He saw that his fingernails had grown long and sharp and were black as the night. He stared at his hand in fright when he felt a strange buzz seem to go all over his body. He felt his blood drop almost instantly and had to get on his hands and knees to keep the wave of nausea and dizziness from making him crash to the ground.
"Satuya?"
Satuya turned quickly to see Inoue looking at him in concern.
He slowly got up and backed away from her.
"Stay away."
"Are you alright?"
"I don't know... I don't feel myself. I... I have to leave."
Even though he was dizzy and sick, he took off into the forest. Inoue ran back to Natomi and told him what happened. They both went after him, Natomi tracking him down.
After some time, Natomi looked at Inoue.
"I can't track him anymore. I don't know where he's gone."
Suddenly a loud yell pierced the night and the two ran towards it. They finally found Satuya on the banks of the river, on his knees and gripping the ground as if he would float away if he didn't.
"Satuya-"
"No! Stay away from me! I don't know what's happening..."
Natomi and Inoue stayed back as he asked when it looked like Satuya's back stretched about a foot and Satuya screamed. Then in quick succession, he stretched and changed and grew until before the two's eyes, where Satuya once had been was a very large and very scared dragon.