The Crazy Art Called Love

26 | Girl Talk

~~Harumi's POV~~

I hated clichés. But now that I was sobbing into my pillow, not to mention I was a princess, I never cared about it anymore. I told Lloyd I liked him. Oh my goodness, I told Lloyd I liked him! How could I be so stupid?!

The truth is, I didn't care that he yelled at me or that we got into our first argument. I cared about how I told him to get out of my room and that I didn't want to see him when all I wanted for him to give me one those hugs that made every part of me melt at the feeling.

But now that I finally told him about my feelings, I practically destroyed our friendship. I wanted to be with him the moment he took me cliff jumping. I knew the sensation and feelings developing inside me were not meant to be felt around friends.

He was just so caring, so cute, and the best friend I could ever ask for. He gave me the freedom I never knew I was allowed to have. But now, I don't think I could ever bring myself to face him again. Maybe telling the Emperor and Empress we broke up would make them cancel their wedding plans.

It's not that I didn't want to marry him. I do! But not when we're both forced to do it.

"Princess?" I heard a knock on my door which made me quickly dry my face and act like I wasn't doing anything. I've mastered this technique since I was 12, nothing I couldn't handle.

"Yes?" I called out before walking in front of my doors. Please don't let it be Lloyd.

"It's me, Nya. Are you okay?"

I opened the doors to reveal the water ninja with raven black hair in a grey and blue suit.

"Yes, I'm fine. What's up?" I placed a smile on my face. Nya was one of the girls who made me feel as if I belonged in some place and I was definitely not going to embarrass myself in front of her.

"Well Lloyd seemed pretty out of it during patrol and I just wanted to check in on you." She was never afraid to come to people and talk. One of the many reasons I found her approachable.

"I said I'm fine, Nya! You didn't have to bother her." I could hear Lloyd talk from their communicators which made Nya give me a smile before pressing something on her wrist.

"Sorry about that. Would you like to go for a stroll?"

"That would be nice. I could use some fresh air." I nodded before stepping out of my room and walking by her side.

We walked in silence through the first few minutes in the halls. It was then I realized that I never really had a one on one with her before. We were usually accompanied by the other girls.

"What's the craziest rule you had to follow as a princess?" She asked and I turned my head to show I was paying attention. I guess Nya didn't like walking in silence.

"Probably the fact I was not allowed to play any board games." I shrugged which made her laugh.

"Are you serious?! So like, no card games? Chess? Checkers?"

"Nope! They told me I shouldn't waste such time when I could be focusing on 'the important matters of Ninjago City'." I did an impression on the Emperor which would probably get me in trouble if anyone heard it.

"Oh my goodness, that sucks!" Nya commented and I smiled.

"What about you? The craziest plan an enemy created that you had to deal with?"

"Oh boy, do I have stories for you!"

As we made our way to the garden, Nya and I exchanged laughs and simply answered each other's questions. It was a good distraction and I definitely felt a little better. I never had plenty of girl-friends to talk to so this was definitely a new adjustment.

"You were samurai X?!" I gasped and placed a hand over my mouth.

"I thought everyone knew." She looked at me with the same shock.

"Not me obviously!" I raised my hands.

"Well I had to give it up to be the water ninja. But Pixal gladly took over that duty."

"It's nice to see girls in action and not just sitting still and expected to act pretty."

"Is that based on experience?" She nudged my shoulder with a smirk on her face.

"Definitely!"

The cold breeze of the night hit my face and that was when I realized we were already outside. I could see the rest of the ninja walk through the rooftops or talk with the guards. Every time they noticed us, they would wave before doing a few flips and disappear.

"That looks like fun." I commented as Kai and Cole flipped through the rooftops of the palace.

"It really is. Nothing beats kicking butt and saving Ninjago City." Nya demonstrated some moves as she spoke which made me giggle. "I could teach you."

"I'd like to see you try." I challenged which got her excited.

"First things, first. You need to know how to spar." She handed me a sword before taking a few steps back.

"Oh like, right now?" I stated with wide eyes before gripping the sword. Maybe her plan was to distract me from my thoughts. If it was, it's working.

Our swords clashed and I held my ground. Those self-defense lessons from Hutchins were obviously paid off. I dodged her attacks with a quick movement of my feet and brought it back to her.

"Wow, you're good!" She commented as walked towards me.

"Hutchins taught me the basics." I smiled as she placed an arm around my shoulders. Maybe Nya could help me with this.

~~Lloyd's POV~~

I looked down from the rooftop I was on. Harumi had spent the whole night with Nya and I knew I had to do something. I didn't mean to yell at her but I didn't expect she would confess her feelings. Did she really feel that way towards me? Was this really happening right now?

"Ninjago to Lloyd!" I heard a voice yelled from my right and I could see Kai waving his hand in front of my face.

"Sorry. Just thinking about something." I quickly dismissed it and hopped towards another roof. I did not want any of them to find out about this.

"Having girl problems?" Kai had managed to follow me. I forgot he was also a ninja.

"What does it matter?" I sighed and sat on the edge of the roof.

"It obviously matters to you, buddy." Kai sat down right beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's normal for people in relationships to fight about certain things. What matters is how you get past them."

Relationship. I don't think Rumi and I are in one anyways but he didn't know that so I have to continue this charade.

"You think Skylor and I don't fight?"

"Do you?"

"Well, not in front of you guys but we've had our days."

"What happened?"

If I could get Kai to continue talking about himself and his problems, it would be the perfect excuse to avoid talking about mine.

"We have our disagreements about certain things. In the end, we remind each other that it was just a fight and the reason we had it was because we cared."

"What did you do to show her that?"

"If it was my fault that the fight started I would apologize and bring her flowers. Take her out on a date and make it up to her." Kai shrugged and I thought about it for a moment.

"And that works?"

"Most of the time, yes."

Kai was pretty good at giving relationship advice and if he says it works then it's worth a try. I had to make it up to Rumi.