PS, this was written at 1 am. This is my excuse for any glaring mistakes.

I suppose my biggest problem happened some time before I was born. I was abandoned for some reason and rescued by my Pops, the great Lord of the West, Kishou. He's a guy so great, he's famous. He's a guy so great, if you haven't heard of him, hell, I dunno where you've been.

That is my second problem...

I love my Pops! I'd be dead without him, so I owe him everything. It wasn't just savin' my life, either, he treated me great, like I was one of his own, but that's how he is. Sometimes, though... just a bit! I wish I was adopted by some nobody. 'Cause to a nobody a nobody son is... well, normal.

They would never let 'em make fun of me for it, or put me down. Good thing having so many big brothers... when one's mad at you there's always another to take your side. I didn't get called names or anythin'. But still, it didn't need be said. I wanted to prove somethin'. I guess that was my first mistake. 'Cause when I got a chance to go up to th' sennin world and make somethin' of myself-damn I took it happily. Even a king respects a sennin, and finally-'nobody' be damned, sennin bones weren't common! I couldn't imagine anything bad happening, not as the happy little kid I was then...

After I zapped the hell out of my master and escaped, the first thing that came to my mind was goin' home to Pops. He'd always fix everythin', no matter how big the trouble, with just a word. And it was a kind word, too. But of course this he couldn't fix... and I went up there to make somethin' of myself, didn't I? Comin' back like this... cryin' home to me pops like I was still a kid (although, really, I was) an' embarrassin' him... embarrassin' him double, with my failure and my freak appearence.

I wouldn't have it.

I went out and joined the real world. I had learned enough about fending for myself, I wouldn't starve. But the real world had no big brothers and no one hushed their comments. If I ever thought I could go back and live a normal life, the people out there drove it so far outta my mind I don't even remember it now.

Really, all they had were words, but that hurts a lot more than you admit when you're a kid. Pops raised me right, though; I wouldn't react unless they tried to beat on me, and then a small zap would send 'em runnin', or a gust send 'em flyin'. But I wasn't accomplishin' anything. I had to redeem myself-but I wasn't goin' back there! And how else could I do it, at my age? Pops woulda just said a word.

It was pretty easy meeting the first of the bandits. It takes outcasts to appreciate outcasts, I guess, and the first few guys came actually lookin' for me, pleased t'meet me, hands at their mouths at how strong I was. They didn't care what I looked like; they'd better not, they looked like hell themselves. So that's how I got my idea... t'work and prove myself as my Pops would-as a leader. And I took to it well, 'cause I was stronger than 'em, and better educated than 'em, and 'cause I was doing it for a reason.

It wasn't a good enough one.

When I found out my pops was sick, that fact hit me like a sack of potatoes. I didn't even flinch, but I stood with my mouth open a second. I had wasted too many years playin' around because I was afraid, and now my pops...

And so I took off for the sennin world without another thought. Hell, I wasn't a kid anymore-I could take it. I did still have that long-borne dread of goin' back there, but I couldn't even feel it with the dread of my pops dyin' windin' its way around my stomach. It wasn't as if I had a choice-pops needed me to be strong, I'd get strong.

Of course, there was another mistake... pops passed away without my even gettin' to say goodbye. Maybe it was better he didn't find out what happened to me. Or maybe he wondered and worried. It's a bit too late to think about it...

So I didn't. Ya can't dwell on your mistakes or you'll just make more 'cause you're not payin' attention. Besides, my attention was a bit thrown upon seein' my Hatsu-nii for the first time in ages. He welcomed me home, smiled, and yelled at me for bein' a dope, just like back in the day. Like nothin' had changed, and everythin' was normal...

Normal? Damn, I'd have to try harder.