Tormented Rescue (Ninjago Fanfiction)

Part 8

"Hello ninja," Wu and Kai walked through the metal doors and up the stairs to the centre table.

"Hey sensei," Jay answered first, not looking away from a staring contest he was having with Lloyd. Nya was the first to look around the table and see Kai beside Wu.

"Kai!" Nya exclaimed with a small smile. Lloyd instantly forgot all about Jay and quickly looked around at Kai.

"Oh come on Lloyd, that's the THIRD TIME you've gotten distracted!!" Jay complained, but also looked over Nya's shoulder and smiled at Kai.

"Good morning, Kai, how do you feel?" Zane asked as he, Jay, and Lloyd walked up beside Nya. Kai sighed and shook his head.

"For future reference, don't greet me by asking how I'm feeling, because it's going to get annoying," Kai spoke in a joking manner. "But I'm fine, kinda tired is all,"

"Oh, Kai! I'm sorry I wasn't here when the others brought you home yesterday, what happened to you is awful..." Pixal had been connected to the computer, and she had only now managed to reconnect to her body to greet Kai.

"It's whatever, Pix, don't worry about me, that goes for all of you actually," Kai rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"When pigs fly," Nya muttered, giving him a stern look. She hated seeing Kai play off such a terrible thing as nothing more than just another event in his life. "Well Kai, we're only talking about... the-- the mission from... before, so, really you should go get something to eat," Nya awkwardly said. Kai cringed at the thought of food. He honestly didn't think he would be able to stomach a meal after all that happened.

"Nah, it's-- it's ok, I can wait till lunch, but yeah, I'll-- I'll go, I just-- uhm, I wanted to talk... talk to Lloyd," Kai said, rubbing the back of his neck. Lloyd smiled.

"Sure, let's go back upstairs, I want some fresh air anyway," Lloyd walked up to Kai and took his hand, leading them back down the stairs.

"Oh yeah, by the way, how much fun did you have last night--"

"SHUT UP JAY!!" Lloyd and Kai called back together. They went into the elevator and started to giggle.

"Oh man, will there ever be a day when Jay stops teasing us?"

"Doubt it," Lloyd laughed.

The doors opened just as Cole walked into the living room.

"Oh hey, I was just about to go down,"

"Yeah, go ahead, Kai and I are just going for some fresh air, I'll see you down there," Lloyd replied as he and Kai walked past him.

"Mkay, see you," The doors closed behind Cole, and Lloyd and Kai made their way outside onto the deck.

"So..." Lloyd prompted as they sat down on the edge of the planks. "What'd you wanna talk about?"

Kai looked down away from Lloyd. He was so ashamed about it.

"Uhm... it's-- uh... about... before..." Kai played with his sleeves and glanced at Lloyd, who had a plain expression. "About..." Kai didn't know how to mention it, so instead he opened his palm and lit a small ball of flames, before squeezing it dead.

Lloyd understood but didn't know what to say. Tension grew between them.

"Y'know, it's fine, right? It-- It wasn't a bad burn, I've had worse haha..." Lloyd attempted to lighten the mood, but from Kai's lowered head he could tell he felt really bad about it.

Lloyd sighed, and shuffled closer to Kai, placing his hand on top of Kai's fist.

"Please don't feel bad about it... I know you didn't mean to, and I can tell you're really sorry, there's no hard feelings, from me or the others," Lloyd explained, trying to catch Kai's eyes but he seemed deep in thought.

Finally, he took a deep breath and sat up straighter.

"I just-- need to apologize, I-- I can't not, y'know? Let me make it up to you," Kai placed his other hand on top of Lloyd's, holding his hand with both of his. Lloyd sighed

"You're going to do it regardless of whether I accept or not," Lloyd shook his head with a light chuckle. "If it'll help you feel better about it, then fine." Kai smiled, and Lloyd seized the opportunity. "And, I mean, if you really want to make it up to me..." Lloyd pretended to trail off, teasing Kai, who he could tell was all ears. "You could talk to me more..." Lloyd continued.

Kai's expression fell a little, and he took his hands away from Lloyd's and crossed his arms instead. Lloyd began to worry he had upset Kai.

"I-- I meant that it would help you make sense of things if you just talked them out, and it'd make me feel less stressed about you hiding important things..." Lloyd placed his hand on Kai's shoulder. "And, well, I'm not specifically talking about what happened... I-- I noticed--"

"Sensei told me. That-- that you could see something else was bothering me at the time of the argument." Kai interrupted. Lloyd hesitated but answered.

"So, there-- there was something else bothering you...?" Lloyd wrapped his arm around Kai. Kai closed his eyes.

"It's... not something I want to talk about... at least not now... and... I'm sorry but-- I-- I don't think... I'll talk to you about it..." Kai strained, he really didn't want to hurt Lloyd's feelings, but he at least wanted to be honest with him if he wouldn't be able to tell him everything.

Lloyd thought for a moment but gave Kai a smile.

"Uh-- ok, that's fine, but you-- you will talk about it with someone else then, right? I don't want you to bottle things up," Lloyd said quietly.

"Yeah... eventually..."

They sat in silence for a while, enjoying the light breeze. Kai leaned against Lloyd and turned his head to kiss Lloyd's ear which made him giggle.

"Hey!" Lloyd playfully pushed Kai away and Kai laughed, grabbing hold of Lloyd's waist and leaning into him, making him giggle more. "Stop it!" Lloyd turned away, pouting. Kai pushed him against a beam and kissed him on the lips.

Lloyd wriggled out from under Kai, the both of them laughing, and he was about to retaliate when a phone started to ring.

"Oh, that's mine," Kai said, clearing his throat and taking his phone out of his pocket.

The screen said 111. Kai froze. Lloyd took the phone from his hands and answered the call, putting it on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Kai Smith?"

"Yes he's here, you're on speaker,"

"Ok, I am calling to inform you that the police invite Kai Smith to the station to give his statement on the event of his 4-day capture."