Stone to Fire

CHAPTER 10: Bodyheat

    Zane followed behind the two, Lloyd soon caught up to him, standing beside the other, he was too nervous to talk to Kai so he went to the others instead. Kai stood beside Cole, the others ahead assuming they were following behind.  When he felt the pressure applied to his arm, his smile grew wider. It was nice to know that his friend wasn't leaving his side, that he was still caring. Though Kai wasn't one for physical touch, he didn't mind Cole's, it made him feel happy. He looked to the boy with a big goofy smile on his face, before Nya interrupt the two for a second time. "Are you two coming or what? It's cold out here!" Her expression grew tense looking at Kai, "And you already caught a cold. You're gonna get yourself bedridden. Hurry up!!" She yelled at her brother. Cole glanced up at Nya when she spoke again. "Oh yeah! My bad" he said quickly, turning to Kai once more. "C'mon let's go back inside okay?" He gave his arm a small squeeze again before pulling him slightly as he began to walk, truing to make Kai follow after him. The excitement grew in Kai as Cole urged him to follow his footsteps. His shoulders raised along with his smile before he exhaled deeply. 'Keep your composure, man. It ain't like that.' he thought to himself, following Cole.

   The group finally made it inside, taking off their shoes and coats and putting them in their appropriate places. Once they reached inside, Kai sat on the floor taking off his shoes. One by one, he took them off and placed them on the rack. Before getting up, he caught a glimpse of the scratches on his arm. Jay grabbed Kai's wrist gently, seeing his expression. "Come on dude, we're gonna do the surprise!" He said kindly, trying to get Kai back. Kai stood, and followed the others into the kitchen, ready to admire the work Lloyd and Nya had done. Cole had left Kai alone when he was taking his shoes off, joining those already done in heading to the kitchen. Lloyd stood at the door, making sure everyone didn't run in at random, making sure everyone was there before he stepped aside. Pulling the door open with him, a big smile on his face, Nya nudged Lloyd lightly, "you ready to hand 'em out?" She asked with a playful smile, to the boy. She walked into the kitchen, with Lloyd at her side. "Okay. Listen up. I want everyone to go into the living room, and then you can have your surprise." The girl demanded to the lot of boys. Kai raised an eyebrow, then turned around to leave the room with Jay, Zane, and Cole. Nya grabbed him by the shoulder, "where are you going? This was your idea, Kai. You wanted to make them the surprise." Kai turned to look at his sister, "but I didn't help with the surprise, so it's a surprise to me too."  She let go of his shoulder, he did have a point. "Okay then. Don't let anyone look in the boxes. That's your job." Kai nodded, leading the other two boys to the living room. Nya turned to Lloyd, making sure he was still feeling well. "You ready?" She smiled. Lloyd watched Kai leave after his orders, giving her a quick nod. "Yeah! I'm so excited to give them the surprise and watch how happy they get!" he hummed. Giving Nya a second nod, "they are going to love them and everyone is going to be happy!" he turned towards the kitchen. "I'm very much ready!"
  As the boys headed into the living room, Jay jumped onto the couch. He swung his feet up almost knocking over the boxes, "hey. Watch it. Lloyd made those." Kai warned the clumsy ninja, before walking over to a corner of the room. He leaned against the two walls, keeping a distance from the others but still watching the box. "So, what do you think it is!?" Jay jumped with excitement, asking the two. Kai stood watch if the boxes, every now and then letting out a small cough. He didn't want to be too loud, but the tickle in his throat made it hard not to cough. "You think it's like- a gift? Or a weapon? Or a game!?" He listed off. The small coughs Kai let out didn't satisfy the sensation in his throat. He tried his hardest to clear his throat, but eventually let out a loud cough, drawing Jays attention. "Uh, Kai?" The blue one began, "I think it could be best if you stay out here for tonight." He said, looking to Kai. He tilted his head in response, "what?" He didn't understand his take. "Well, you know. Being sick and all. If you sleep in the bedroom you'll get others sick, and then it's not only you stuck at the bounty. And what if you get Lloyd sick? I'm just saying. This happened last winter, and we all caught your cold. It was the worst two weeks of my life!" The ginger complained. A frown grew on Kai's face, hearing his thoughts, "it's just a small cold, dude." He snapped back. "Yeah. That's what you said last time. I'm just saying, it'd really suck for you to get us sick when you could just stay out here with it." He rambled on, Kai not being too appreciative of his concerns. "I don't think they would put a weapon in a box for a gift, nitwit" Cole teased. Glancing occasionally over at Kai whenever he coughed, trying to ignore it. 'we weren't out there that long for him to get too sick?' He tried to come up with an excuse. When he heard Jay's idea he instantly shifted in his stance. "Or if you want, you can sleep out here. I don't have an issue with his coughing." he barked quickly. "Plus. I highly doubt he'd get us sick like that again. It was a once in a blue moon kind of chance." He didn't look this time at Kai. 'I don't want him to get any ideas again' he thought, 'but I can't let him just stay out here by himself'
"Once in a- once in a blue moon!? Yeah! That describes his 'colds'!!? What kinda curse do you have anyway? What human has that kinda ritual cold every winter!?" Jay questioned Kai. He didn't have an answer to that question. "That's no normal cold you got there, buddy." He turned his head to Cole, "and I don't care about the coughing, your snoring is WAYYYY louder than that. I just don't want him getting us sick again!" He concerned. Kai immediately snapped back to Jay "you don't want me getting them sick? Or do you just not want to get sick?"
"Hey. Both are bad okay!? I couldn't eat for a week! I was so nauseous!" The two bickered back and forth. "Oh. I'm sorry. That's how you felt for a whole week? Oh no. Someone save him. How do you think I feel!?  I've had this going since I was like- five!?" Kai argued. "Oh boo hoo."
"Yeah Jay, I don't mind him staying in there. I'm not afraid of him getting us sick. Plus someone else would get sick at some point throughout the day. So, him sleeping out here doesn't do anything." Cole tried to explain. "So I don't know what you think keeping him out here will do." he started to seem like he was more and more on Kai's side in this argument, "you can sleep out here if that's the case. so YOU don't get sick." he mocked.
Just as the three were arguing, Nya slid open the door. "Okay! Who's ready!?" She asked, approaching the boxes. Kai glared at Jay across the room, before pushing off the wall to take a closer look at the cookies. Nya let Lloyd do the honors of opening the boxes, figuring he'd be the most excited. As Kai came closer, his face lit up with excitement to see all the delicious treats lining the blue and white tupperwares. Jay nudged Kai back a bit with a dirty look, and Kai returned it. The two were now silently arguing through exchanged looks. Cole pushed himself in between Jay and Kai, parting the two away from each other. "We are. I think Jay is really excited to see." he said, trying to get the two to finally stop their childish bickering. Lloyd watched them all, refusing to open the box till they had relaxed, he wanted the full attention on the hard work the two had done. Once Cole tapped between the two, they had seemed to have stopped fighting. Nya gave the child a small nudge, with a smile, giving him the go-ahead, once all eyes were on him. Personally, Kai felt like he was the most excited, maybe because he'd already known what it was but he was happy to see what his siblings had accomplished. When the attention was fully towards Lloyd, he carefully opened the lid, with a broad smile on his face as the display of cookie was now on view. Cole let a small gasp at the surprise, "Oh my god! Look how nice they turned out!" He said happily, "Can we try one? Or are we supposed to wait?" He asked the two. Nya let out a small giggle, "we made them for you guys to eat!" She picked up one of the brightly colored cookies. "Kai figured it would lighten the mood and bring some Christmas spirit, since we couldn't go shopping today!" Jay looked at the cookies, his mouth almost watering by how delicious they all smelled. "I wanna eat one!!" He jumped with joy. "They look great you guys!" Kai complimented his siblings with a wide smile on his face. "Oh I'm definitely trying one then" Cole hummed, snatching up one of the decorated cookies with a smile. Taking a bite of it, his smile grew, giving an accepting nod, "they are amazing~" he agreed, somewhat covering his mouth as he spoke. Lloyd couldn't help but smile more and slightly bounce a bit in his spot. "Really! I'm so glad you guys like them! I've been so excited to show you all!" He said. Jay swiftly picked up a cookie and bit into it as well "Mmmm!! They're so good!" He wolfed it down, grabbing a second. "Are they really that good?" Kai laugh, reaching for one in the box, before taking a bite. "Not only do they look great, they taste great!" Cole exclaimed. It seemed like a job well done, the plan had worked and everyone was happy, once again. It didn't take too long before the painted cookies were gone. "What about the blossom ones? Did ya do those?" Kai asked, eating one of the brightly decorated sweets. "Oh, yeah! They're just in a different box!" She pulled out a box from the pile, opening it to reveal a second type of cookie. "There's more!!?" Jay yelled with excitement. Cole had grabbed a few along with Zane, taking their share of the cookies to try. Zane occasionally gave compliments to the taste as well. Once more cookies were brought out, Cole nudged Jay aside, reaching to grab the first cookie out of the second box with a grin, grabbing a few before stepping aside to snack on the ones he'd taken. "There's more and they are amazing!"
Kai stopped eating them for a moment and looked at Zane, who was enjoying the treats. "Hey. You're a nindroid. So, a robot? How are you eating food? Like. Where does it go? How does that work?" He quizzed the one made of metal, taking another bite. "You don't have a stomach...or organs.... Or.... How are you doing that?" The red one seemed stumped, yet amazed by his own thoughts. Nya shook her head with a smile, it seemed as though they truly had brought the boys back to their previous mindsets. She gave Lloyd a little side hug, with a smile. "You did great, kiddo!" Zane stopped snacking on the cookie to glance over at Kai. "I was made with more advanced parts, I'm not just a simple robot" he gave the other a small smile. "Series of more complicated systems inside to allow me to enjoy food, just like a normal human." he continued. Lloyd watched the others before feeling the hug, his attention turning to Nya before shifting, hugging her back. "And you did great too! Everyone loves the cookies!"
"Okay... but where does it go? Do you like- uhm.. disintegrate it? Or- wh- how? What?" He still seemed to be confused about the idea, as he pressed on for an answer. "He's just Zane. Some things you just can't explain all too well!" Nya said, giving a smile to Lloyd. "Yeah? Well, I like logic. And this isn't adding up." Kai looked at Zane taking a bite of the cookie. His glare turned from the nindroid down to the sugary cookie in his hand, "these are really good-" Zane seemed amused by Kai's confusion, simply giving him a shrug, "when have you ever liked logic?" He teased. Jay took another one of the blossom cookies, enjoying the batch, "So, what do we do now?" He spoke while eating the treat. Kai shrugged, looking at him doing the same.