Cursed Saint

3 - Determination

"How 'bout I take a little peek at your mind, huh?" Shiro said, smirking.

"No!" Ryu yelled, struggling harder. He flinched as he felt something strange. It was like something was reaching into his head, tickling his brain. The next second the tickling turned to pure pain, feeling similar to how it had felt when Shiro had used the main pain jutsu on him.

"Show me what you know," Shiro murmured, the pain growing more intense.

"No," Ryu growled between his grounded teeth. "I..... refuse!" Ryu threw up mental shields as Shiro tried to delve into his mind.

"You keep on struggling and I may just end up destroying your mind," Shiro warned, but Ryu knew his threat was false. He knew how Shiro's abilities worked.

Once again the weak voice from his memories asked him to promise to protect the ones he cared about. Well, he cared about all the leave villagers, and if Shiro got what he wanted, all of them would be in danger.

"Stubborn little brat," he muttered, pushing harder into Ryu's mind. "Just give up. There's no way a kid like you can take what even a jonin can't stand."

"Get out of my head," Ryu murmured, the pain weakening him beyond what he could ever have thought. He was on the verge of fainting from the pain the jutsu caused. "Please." He knew he shouldn't have added the last part. It just proofed he was desperate, but he wanted the pain to stop.

Shiro smirked, pushing against his mental shield harder.

Ryu could feel the cracks in his mental wall, so he struggled to fix them. He clenched his fist as he concentrated, which compelled Shiro to shove ten times harder. His back arched of the wall as pain shot through him. Ryu started to wonder just how long he could keep up his shield.

An image passed through his mind. It was of him, sitting on the ground with his legs crossed Indian-style, laughing hard. Ryu wore a grey shirt with a yin-yang shirt on the shoulders, black pants, and ninja shoes. Two other boys were around him, laughing as well. One was a boy about two years older than Ryu. He had snow white hair, pale eyes like his own, and fair skin. He wore a light blue shirt, black pants, and blue ninja shoes. The other boy was six years older than them, laughing a little more lightly than the others. He had black hair, pale skin, and black eyes. He wore a black vest over a white shirt, blue pants, and black ninja shoes.

"No!" Ryu shouted, his voice so loud he couldn't believe he'd been able to get his voice so loud. Shiro shouted, falling back. Ryu fell to his knees, unable to stay on his feet. He shook, pain coursing through his body from the sudden shock at Shiro's mentally being yanked out of him. Ryu shook his head, his voice a mere whisper as he said, "No. Not those memories."

Shiro remained on the ground a few feet from Ryu for a moment before finally getting back to his feet. The look he gave Ryu was different. There was still curiosity in his gaze, but there was always fear. Without another word, Shiro left the two Academy students.

° ◊ ° ◊ ° ◊

"What was all that about?" Daichi asked as the Yamanaka strolled out of the hostage's cage. "You entered the kids mind, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Shiro replied, walking passed his fellow escapee to one of the small beds they'd set up for themselves. "I only saw an image of him when he was younger and two other boys, though."

Daichi's eyes narrowed. "Was he seriously that strong willed to block you out?" Daichi inquired.

Shiro stared at the ceiling above him, feeling his head shake. "I'm not sure. One second I'm seeing the image of him and those other boys, then I hear him yell no. After that, well...." He hesitated, unsure if he wanted to tell Daichi the rest.