Part 1

TW: Depictions of injuries, (mention of) sexual assault, swearing (including f*g), kidnapping

"Is that... Kai?" Jay whispered to the others. Crouched low, hugging the metal beams, the others all peered over the edge for the rail. They were climbing in the rafters of a suspicious-looking warehouse where a trail they had found had led. They hadn't expected to see Kai as it had only been a trail but they weren't going to complain.

A gang had taken over the inside of the warehouse. The walls seemed as though they were growing vengestone, chairs and desks were scattered in corners with humming computers, and the floors were marked with tape and paint, or was it blood?

Having found Kai lifted their spirits, only for a second, before they realized what was going on down below. In the middle of the open room below them, was Kai. His wrists were chained up with thick cuffs of vengestone, and the chains connected to opposite sides of the warehouse, stretching his arms apart, forcing Kai to kneel.

The more the ninja stared, the more shock drew on their expressions. Kai was shirtless, his whole top half was in bruises and what looked like whip marks. His calves and thighs were covered in cuts, some of them fresh and others dry. Across his right forearm were more bloody scars, it almost seemed as though they spelled a word, but from up in the rafters, it all looked the same: horrifying.

Kai looked obviously exhausted, not even bothering to struggle while--

2 guys were on either side of Kai, front and back, and it sounded as if Kai was whimpering.

"I hope you enjoyed that, you fag," The man in front of Kai spoke lowly, lifting Kai's chin, forcing him to look into his eyes. Now the ninja could see the gag around Kai's mouth, as well as a black eye and the scar across his right eye, open. The guy shoved Kai to the floor and shouted some commands at some men working on the computers to the side.

The ninja were gaping, mortified at what they just witnessed.

"Did-- Did they just..."

"Holy shit, they did."

They looked between each other, sharing looks of disgust and outrage.

A slamming door brought them all back to the room. They looked down and realized Kai was left alone.

Kai sniffled and let his tears fall. God he felt like such a failure, he couldn't fight back some low-level gang guys, what kind of ninja was he?

The others were right. I am weak. Uselessly fucking weak. Holy shit I'm helpless.

He squeezed his eyes shut. No. He wasn't going to cry. But it was hard to suck it up when with the gag in his mouth, he couldn't even suck.

All of a sudden, he heard whispers. Familiar voices.

He frantically looked around, but it was so dark, and he was so tired, he could barely lift his head enough to see the doors. Finally, he decided that he was hallucinating, before-- his friends dropped down in front of him.

Kai caught his breath. There was a moment of disbelief in both parties. For the ninja, it was hard to believe that someone like Kai could look so hurt and tormented, and for Kai, well shit, he'd given up hope, seeing his friends was only a daydream to him now.

Nya shook her head, tears welling in her eyes, it was so hard to look at Kai in such a state.

"We're getting you out of here." Cole said reassuringly, trying to seem as though he wasn't about to cry too.

Kai didn't let himself relax, if they were caught as well then there'd be no hope for any of them, and they could not go through what Kai had just gone through. The others made their way around Kai and the room, looking in corners, and checking the computers.

"Screw vengestone, ugh," Jay said, flinging the chains holding Kai up.

"Lloyd, do you think you would be able to break these chains?" Zane suggested as Nya untied Kai's gag.

"I sure do have enough anger for it..." Lloyd gritted his teeth, although giving a dejected look at Kai's beaten self as he walked up to the chain. He picked it up and closed his eyes, letting his angry thoughts consume his mind.

How could they DO that to Kai!? Are they insane!? Who the HELL do they THINK THEY ARE!?!? I'LL FUCKING SHOW THEM, TOUCHING MY BOYFRIEND--

Lloyd's eyes shot open, they shone bright purple, and his hands radiated oni power. He pulled apart the first chain like it wasn't made of vengestone, then he walked over to the other side of Kai and snapped the second chain like a twig.

His breath was heavy, attempting to calm himself back down. Eventually, his hands returned to normal, and his eyes no longer gleamed with anger. The others all looked at him with shock and a little bit of fear.

Sure they'd seen him angry like that before, but there was a lot more fuel this time and I guess that had made it more real.

Kai was free. No gag, no chains, and yet he barely moved, glancing at the doors while Nya fussed over him in tears.

"Oh Kai, are you ok? We're so sorry we didn't get to you sooner," Nya cried quietly, hugging Kai, taking his thoughts away from the door. He didn't want to be touched. Not right now. Even by Nya.

His chest grew tight and he lightly pushed her away and gave her a weak smile. A look of terror grew on Nya's face.

"I-- Sorry, I-- I didn't want to..." Nya trailed off and moved away from Kai as her eyes filled with more tears. Jay came over to comfort her but gave a worried look at Kai.

Kai attempted to stand with Nya, but it turns out that sitting on your knees for hours straight has side effects. Kai stumbled but Lloyd caught him.

Lloyd... Kai had almost forgotten the whole reason he was here. Lloyd gave him a reassuring smile, but Kai looked away, ashamed. God, he was so ashamed. Ashamed that his friends had to see him like this, exactly like what they had said he was; weak and helpless.

The ninja made their way out undetected and then went to the rooftop of a nearby building to contact the police, while also making sure that Kai wasn't seriously hurt, not that scars and assault wasn't serious.

Kai took a deep shuddering breath and sat down against the raised edge of the roof. Lloyd took off his gi and knelt down in front of Kai, wrapping it around his back. Kai hesitated but accepted it, only because he felt humiliated at the entire situation and having something to cover up with would help.

"You haven't said a word, Kai... Can you not speak? Or do you just have nothing to say?" Lloyd asked worriedly. Kai smiled meekly and looked away again, he wished on everything that he could have escaped on his own. Not having to deal with their questions and being able to recover on his own terms would've helped. Besides, they were only going to make a big deal out of everything, if Kai told them even one thing that they had done to him they'd act as if they'd murdered him.

Lloyd glanced down at Kai's wrist, finally seeing what was written, because they were right, it was a word. Tears welled in his eyes, and he moved his eyes away, although the other parts of Kai didn't look better.

"Do you need a drink? Jay, you have your drink bottle on you right?" Nya asked, sitting down beside Lloyd.

"Always," Jay said enthusiastically, reaching inside a bag on his side, and passing Nya a decorated bottle. Nya unscrewed the lid and passed it to Kai.

Kai definitely didn't oppose this, for the 4 days he was there, they'd fed him twice and barely given him a glass of water a day. Kai drank as much as he could take in one go and sighed, knowing that now they'd be expecting him to talk, as if having a drink helped his shame. Kai didn't even know what to say.

"I love you." Lloyd spoke before Kai. Taken aback, having not expected to hear that, Kai looked up at Lloyd and their eyes met. Lloyd blinked his tears away, looking down. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but hesitated. He let out a breath and shook his head. "Sorry-- I-- I just..." He looked up again. "Please don't let what they said and did to you get to you, ok?" Lloyd picked up Kai's arm and gently slid his finger beside the cuts. Kai followed his gaze and cringed at the scars.

Lloyd squeezed Kai's hand and they looked into each other's eyes. The anxiety in Lloyd's eyes broke Kai's mind, all of his efforts at masking his emotions were forgotten.

Kai sobbed, and jumped onto Lloyd, crying into his shoulder. Lloyd caught his breath but quickly hugged back, letting his own tears fall. Nya and the others watched with concern but also with relief. At least it was some distinct emotion, rather than his small plastered smiles.