Adult-FanFiction.org : Cartoons

Inside the Circle	By : Storyseeker Category: +G through L > G.I. Joe Views: 7945 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own G.I. Joe, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Follow
- 2-Master
- 3-Silence
- 4-Spark
- 5-Heat
- 6-Mist
- 1
- 2
- 3
Chapter 2: Master

She watched him.

Even through the still and static buzz of meditation he was aware of her on the ridge, and through the insistent beat of his own body’s effort he traced her presence with his senses. She smelled like clean sweat and clover, thick and sweet like her southern summers. The molten slide of her hair, so rarely set loose, she’d let it fall free today, he’d noticed. The warmth of her skin gave it a flushed glow in the early autumn sun. Oh yeah, he was aware of her. He was always aware of her, even when he didn’t want to be.

He stretched, a low, gracefully wide stance, and his arms worked like slow pistons through martial exercises. His feet followed in deliberate placement, eyes slid closed, letting his body move through space by touch, sound, and scent. He inhaled sweat and clover, and the rhythm faltered. He frowned, pausing.

He opened his eyes, flicking them sideways towards the stone on the ridge above him, utterly distracted. He’d been ordered on R & R after the memorial for Flagg along with several other Joes who’d been on heavy rotation. When she’d offered to come with him, he’d accepted out of habit and obligation, though at the time he’d doubted his need to have her here. She was equal parts comfort and unwelcome disruption.

She wasn’t the only thing. She wasn’t even the main thing. That was Tommy. He’d been meditating all day, struggling to regain some damn sense of self, and center. But all he kept seeing was Tommy. The mission to Destro’s castle had floored him. He’d spent the last few years full of anger and grief over the circumstances of their last meeting. But to see Tommy a fortnight ago! He hadn’t known it was him at first. It had taken a few days for his waking mind to catch up with what his subconscious was trying to tell him. It was a fist in his gut when it had finally dawned on him who he’d faced on the castle wall, well and truly having cast aside all honor, all loyalties, to work for terrorists! And now, here, all he could think of as he turned it over and over in his mind was how might he, himself, have done things differently.

So, she wasn’t the only thing. But his mind’s eye still traced the curve of her ear. The faint swelling along the side of her face. The barely noticeable yellow-green of a healing bruise that still discolored her left eye. She would have put it all behind her, but he couldn’t. Not that she’d been beaten up so much, but that Stormshadow had done it. Unfinished business that he was partially responsible for. His past had almost killed her.

His eyes squeezed tightly shut and he tried to focus.

Breathe in again. Contract, turn, and exhale.

He turned and struck. Wood splintered and bark showered onto the litter. The impact thudded with satisfying bone-jarring force up his palm, and through his body, and through the length of the tree beside him. He sighed. A target helped to center him, so that his inside matched his outward demeanor. He struck again, reversing his body and sending the heel of his palm through a branch to a point 3 inches beyond. The branch shattered. Strike solid wood with a body of stone. Palm, fist, shin, foot, his body was an engine of controlled violence.

Violence and duty. Duty though violence. This was a life he hadn’t initially sought- the Draft had done that for him- but one for which he was well suited. It was an acceptable channel for the youthful anger, and giving the willful kid he’d been, a measure of self-discipline, and a focus for his determined drive.

Abandoning the broken tree, he flowed seamlessly once more into meditative Kata, though the emptiness he sought skipped just touchingly beyond his ability. He closed his eyes once more, working, as he always did, to master himself, even as his mind jumped through memory and emptiness, and now.

Striving for mastery he’d done from his earliest memories; as a small boy, struggling with a disability and for his father’s approval; as a young teen, struggling for his worth as a young man. Clinging to the support of his sister, and drawn to the calm example of an ailing neighbor, a man who showed him the true meaning of being a man more than his father had ever done. Vietnam had pushed him even further. It immersed him in the duality of loyalty and slaughter. Japan and the Arashikage Clan had brought all of his efforts to fruition. At least, until Tommy’s murder of the Master and his own part in the betrayal.

He shifted his gaze downward towards the pooling stream. His distorted reflection wavered before him; almost palatable to him in the forgiving ripple. The Arashikage Clan was broken and scattered to the winds. A stab of self-doubt, familiar as it was private; The sense that he would always fall short when it mattered. Just that simply, the inner stillness, the tentative presence, evaporated completely.
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Adult-FanFiction.Org is not in any way associated with or related to FanFiction.Net

Adult-FanFiction.org (AFF, the site), its owners, agents, and any other entities related to Adult-FanFiction.org or the AFF forum take no responsibility for the works posted to the Adult-FanFiction.org by its members.

While AFF and its agents attempt to remove all illegal works from the site as quickly and thoroughly as possible, there is always the possibility that some submissions may be overlooked or dismissed in error. The AFF system includes a rigorous and complex abuse control system in order to prevent improper use of the AFF service, and we hope that its deployment indicates a good-faith effort to eliminate any illegal material on the site in a fair and unbiased manner. This abuse control system is run in accordance with the strict guidelines specified above.

All works displayed here, whether pictorial or literary, are the property of their owners and not Adult-FanFiction.org. Opinions stated in profiles of users may not reflect the opinions or views of Adult-FanFiction.org or any of its owners, agents, or related entities.

Website Domain ©2002-2017 by Apollo. PHP scripting, CSS style sheets, Database layout & Original artwork ©2005-2017 C. Kennington. Restructured Database & Forum skins ©2007-2017 J. Salva. Images, coding, and any other potentially liftable content may not be used without express written permission from their respective creator(s). Thank you for visiting!

Powered by Fiction Portal 2.0
Modifications © Manta2g, DemonGoddess
Site Owner - Apollo

Inside the Circle