The truth always hurts. [COMPLETE]

[Michael Cline]

He'd found him. It'd taken a few months, but he'd finally found Kyashi. After Naalol he'd lost him, he'd disappeared threw the streets after the funeral and just vanished. It felt like he'd searched the planet twice over before finally finding him. He stood quietly overlooking the small cabin before him. Good place to go to remove yourself from society he supposed - deep forest, surrounded by mountains.

Now he was going to come face to face with friend, and maybe find out why he'd left. He treked down the slope of the hill and walked up to the wood door, Deep breath Mikey..., and gave it a hard knock.

[Sudoku]

A moment passed, before the door opened. A young woman peered out at him from the darkness of the cabin. She quickly retreated inside, leaving Michael to enter the small room.

The furnishings were sparse, with only a pair of wooden chairs, a table and a single cot occuping the space. The girl has sat down on the floor, kneeling beside the seated Darth Sudoku. A smirked crossed his lips as he nodded to their visitor.

"Michael."

[Michael Cline]

"Sudoku... Ky." he smiled a bit, "I found you. I've been trying to find you for so long, after you vanished..." He frowned a bit. "Why'd you just leave like that?" He shook his head - that didn't matter right now, "Things are bad Ky. The crew has all but dissolved - the Sith incorporated a few of them into themselves, and ... I don't even know what happened to the rest."

He walked towards him "But it'll be okay now, right?" he looked towards the girl, still frowning a bit. Something seemed off, the room had a bad feel to it, something was definately wrong here. "...Right?" he repeated.

[Sudoku]

The girl cast a quick glance at Michael - he could see now that she wasn't human, but a twilek. Her eyes returned to the floor as Sudoku sighed. It was exaggerated, extremely so, and the boy sunk lower in his seat.

"No." He gestured for Mikey to sit down at the table. "No, I don't think things have been right from the beginning. I am trying my best to change that, but the Force is no longer showing me my path..."

[Michael Cline]

He sat down next to Kyashi, a voice in his head telling him he should leave.... but he couldn't do that. He wouldn't, after all Ky was the only family he had left now.

"What are we going to do Ky?" He said curiously, wondering what plans the other boy may have, he always had a plan.

[Sudoku]

"No, not "we". There isn't a "we" anymore. At least not a "you and I" version of it."

He leaned across the table, towards the red-haired boy, and shook his head.

"You, and the rest of the "crew", are no longer my concern. I've found another more worthy apprentice to follow me."

[Michael Cline]

He frowned sharply, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. They were brothers, weren't they? After all they'd been through he was just going to walk out on them... on him? He shook his head.

'I don't really care about the others Ky...' It was a bit of a lie, as he did enjoy Wil's company at the very least. "You and I... and... er her..." he figured she was probably the 'apprentice' he was talking about. "You're supposed to help me find out what happened to my family!"

[Sudoku]

"And I will."

The old Kyashi returned, a reassuring smile on his face as he stood, mussing up Michaels' hair as he walked by. He paused in the doorway, addressing the twilek before leaving the pair alone.

"But not now. Gaebel, feed our guest and make him feel at home. I'll be back soon."

[Michael Cline]

He just sighed and watched him walk out. Something still didn't feel right about all of this.

He looked at Gaebel and smiled a bit "That's really not neccesary, I'm not that hungry."

[Sudoku]

"Oh."

She was still kneeling on the floor, her mouth making a near-perfect "o" as she spoke. She allowed a hint of a smile to show as she stood. Her demeanor seemed to change, growing more relaxed since Sudoku had left.

"So, you're one of Hatakes' friends from off-world?"

[Michael Cline]

"... You could say that. I was his apprentice. Was seeming to be a big word there..." He grumbled. "And I thought we were family." He shook his head a bit. "Something's different about him, different than what I remember. It's unnerving really..." He looked at her.

"Sorry, I'm just rambling, ignore what I said. So what's your story?"

[Sudoku]

"I've known Hatake since I was younger. I worked for his family as a servant untill his father was killed. I guess you could say I'm also an apprentice; I think he's only kept me around because of my force sensitivity."

She shrugged, getting up from the floor and moving into the tiny kitchen area of the room. Reaching into a cupboard, she pulled out a few boxes and set them on the counter.

"I have a few years of training, but since he's been home, it's been non-stop. He's always trying to force his will on me - I don't know how much longer I can stand it."

[Michael Cline]

"Force his will on you?" He walked over slowly and stood a few feet away, cocking his head a bit. "I know he can be a bit overbearing, but would you really put it that way? It seems a bit harsh."

He glanced back towards the door and thought for a few moments, all the things they've been through together... his hand wandered to his blaster - herj blaster, he'd taken it from that girl when Ky had tried to kidnap her. When THEY'D tried to kidnap her.

Without a doubt, Kyashi could be rather single minded, maybe he just hadn't been seeing it all this time. Maybe he wasn't willing to, or maybe he wasn't being allowed to. He shook his head a bit, no - that couldn't be. Ky was the only family he had left now - he just couldn't accept that as true.

[Sudoku]

"You haven't noticed? How he always seems to convince everyone that his way is the right way? How he preaches about the Force and supposedly following it? I'm not being harsh, I'm telling you the truth."

[Michael Cline]

"Well... we'll see. Maybe you're right, but I just don't know if I can believe it." He shook his head and sighed. "When I lost my family Kyashi took me in, he's like a brother to me." He sighed and nodded, he couldn't deny that things seemed wrong, off.

[Sudoku]

"Yes, we will see."

The conversation ended aburptly, as Gaebel started to work on preparing dinner.

[Michael Cline]

He nodded once more, more in agreement with himself than anything she'd said and left her to do her work. He was tired, anyways - it'd been a long trip to get here, it'd been at least 30 hours since he'd had a chance to sleep last. A nap would do him good.

Settling himself on the cot - after all he doubted either Ky or Gaebel would mind - he found himself quickly asleep.

[Sudoku]

Michael awoke to the smell of home cooking - Ky was seated at the table, a steaming bowl of stew in front of him. Gaebel was seated next to him, and she smiled a bit as the other boy shifted on the cot.

"We saved you some dinner, if you're hungry."

[Michael Cline]

He rubbed his eyes and stretched, feeling much better now.

"Oh, thank you."

With another stretch and a yawn he got out of the cot and made his way over to the table, to enjoy a nice meal.

[Sudoku]

Kyashi pushed his bowl aside and watched his former disciple make his way to the table. He watched the boy eat, and waited untill Gaebel had begun to clean up to say anything.

"Michael, I have something to tell you. About how I found you, and what happened to your family."

[Michael Cline]

He looked up a bit surprised, finishing the last of his meal. He nodded and smiled at his friend, pleasantly.

"Oh? You've found something out? Please, tell me Ky."

[Sudoku]

"I didn't find it out. I knew what had happened to your family because I did it. I followed you, sensed your abilities, and I knew you wouldn't leave your parents to come with me. I had to make you vunerable."

His face and tone remained indifferent as he continued. "I killed them, and I let you wander the streets untill the time was right to collect you."

[Michael Cline]

He was joking. He had to be... There was no way... it just wasn't... wasn't...

and yet it all made perfect sense really. Sickeningly so. He blinked once, staring down at his bowl in quiet thought.

"... Why are you telling me this, Sudoku?" He managed to say quietly. His anger was growing moment by moment as the words slowly sunk into his mind. HE did it. HE killed them. He'd been searching for the person who took his family for so long, and the entire time he'd been travelling with him. Being used for his own sick enjoyment, and purposes.

He slammed his fist against the table as the anger grew to a furious speed. Now he sat across from his family's murderer, a man he'd come to call brother. A man he'd let become everything in his life. He hadn't seen it... didn't want to. He focused his eyes on Ky and narrowed his eyes.

"Why..." he growled again, repeating his earlier question "Why are you telling me this?"

[Sudoku]

"Because, it will help you. I told you I would help you, and your anger is going to make you more powerful then you could imagine."

Michaels' chair suddenly yanked backwards, skittering across the floor and sending the boy to the ground. Kyashi smirked down at him.

"Stop being the whining little boy I pulled out of the gutter, and be what the Force compells you to be."

[Michael Cline]

He growled loudly, in anger - he wanted to kill him, wrap his hands around his neck and break it like a twig. That's precisely what he'd do to! He started to get up, when he stopped - and he managed to think about the situation. He'd been here before, with Baralai.

Nothing had come from that but Baralai laughing at him and shoving him around, trying to make him do what he say by using his own anger against him. This was his, HIS anger, HIS rage - he wouldn't let someone else use it! Stop and think. What can you do?

He smiled for but a moment, before getting up slowly, and his eyes began to water.

"Ky... Ky why? Why..." he shook his head slowly, sobbing softly as he made his way to the boy, all but collapsing on his shoulder with one arm around his neck, and one against his waist.

[Sudoku]

His arms fell around the sobbing boy, one hand reaching up to stroke Michaels' hair. "You know why."

[Michael Cline]

"Yeah... yeah I do." he said quietly, pulling himself a bit closer to Ky. The moment was quiet, until that silence was torn away by the deafening sound of a blaster bolt.

His crying stopped sharply. "I just want you to know, Ky. I forgive you, and I think I understand what you kept trying to teach me." He leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "But I made a promise, to myself, and to you when you met me Ky... to kill whoever took my family from me. Today, that promise is fulfilled." With that he released him from his grip, pulling the still smoldering blaster away from the stomache of the other boy.

[Sudoku]

Kyashis' body slumped, then fell to the floor with a soft thud. Gaebel stood at the sink, glancing over her shoulder at Michael, completely silent.

[Michael Cline]

Without even a look backwards at the fallen form he headed for the door, grabbing his jacket as he went. Reaching the door he opened it and started out, stopping short and glancing back to the stunned girl in the kitchen.

"So are you coming, or what?" his question was short and direct.

[Sudoku]

She nodded, stopping to pick up a duffle bag that laid underneath the bed before she took his hand and followed him outside.

[Michael Cline]

Stepping out of the cabin he locked the door behind them. No one would probably be out here again for years. Congratulations Ky, you get your own private tomb. Rest well.

Nodding his head once - at least partly in respect to the man who had been his friend, or he had at least thought was, he gave him a moment of silence, then left with Gaebel in tow. Destination: Unknown.