Why You ?

Chapter 21

"Lloyd?" called a visibly stunned voice.

"What are you doing here?" she continued. 

"I could ask you the same question Harumi," replied the blond.

"I," the young woman began, visibly searching for words, "I ran away. Garmadon had held me prisoner and the only place I found was in this prison."

"If you say so," replied Lloyd visibly suspicious of her.

The young woman had noticed that the youngest didn't really believe her but she preferred to smile at him while starting to leave. Seeing her movement, Lloyd left with her. The return journey also passed in silence and the blond put his hands back in his pockets as well as his hood due to the flying sand.

When they were already halfway to the city, our green ninja felt an arm wrap around his and he turned his head. Harumi acted as if nothing had happened and just wrapped her arm while taking the opportunity to get a little closer. He said nothing, as if it all seemed normal to him, and they returned home at dusk. When they crossed the barrier, Lloyd's mother passed nearby, seeing her son next to the young girl and especially amazed. As she watched them leave in a small building, she finally walked towards Nya trying to get some explanations.

"What happened between my son and Kai?" asked the woman.

"I don't really know," replied the brunette, "in any case it's complicated at the moment, that's all I can tell you."

"I see that yes, my son is starting to hang out with a new young girl with white hair."

"With white hair you say?" Nya questioned, visibly afraid. 

"Yes, but very young," Misako agreed. 

"I don't think it's going to last very long, anyway," she announced, "I hope."

Misako gave him one last smile and left towards another house that was more on the edges and in the center of the city to sleep, leaving Nya to do the same. The brunette closed the door behind her slowly, already noticing that Cole and Zane were sleeping on the only two couches they had and she then went upstairs. She first pushed open her brother's bedroom door, revealing Lloyd and Kai in the darkness of the night, also asleep in the same bed but at reasonable distances in view of their situation.

The brunette huffed a little before closing the door to go back down the stairs and go to her room where Jay was already. Nya tried to sleep but a question remained in her mind. If Misako had talked about a girl with white hair, then why wasn't she here? Something even surprised her, she was never seen in the village and Nya herself had never seen her. It couldn't be an illusion, Lloyd himself saw it. She preferred to put aside all the questions that were taking over her mind to then think about them the next morning and fall asleep peacefully.

At dawn, Lloyd gradually opened his eyes seeing that the first rays of sunlight were barely passing through their window. He gradually turned his gaze, noticing Kai's sleeping face. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at his position especially due to the fact that he was close to the brunette. Indeed, he had his arm around the oldest's chest and must have slept on him. A little pink tint took over his cheeks but he preferred to get up slowly not wanting to wake Kai. Once up, he put on his sweater that he had left on the floor and rummaged in his closet that he shared with the red ninja to get a pair of socks and then go downstairs. The blond ran a hand over his face feeling tired and once the table was in front of him, he slumped into the chair.

"Someone forgot to sleep here," said a voice coming from the sofa.

"Oh yes I slept Cole but I have never been so tired."

"Maybe it's because of an activity you practiced," teased the earth ninja.

"First of all, we never did it and there is nothing between us anymore," Lloyd said as if it were obvious.

"It's okay, laugh a little."

Lloyd turned his head towards the fridge as if he thought he was going to bring him food alone but he especially wanted to avoid Cole's incomprehension so as not to answer it. However, he didn't know what was the source of his sudden annoyance. Lack of sleep had never put him in this state but he found no answer. He then slowly got up while opening the fridge and began to eat an apple that was sitting there. What was even less normal was the fact that he had no appetite so he took the fruit he had bitten into but did not finish it.

Lloyd then decided to go upstairs and take a shower to try to clear his mind. He grabbed the lock and once he had finished taking off all his clothes, he noticed something. The veins in his body were more conspicuous than usual. The blond then thought that it was due to the cold even if he didn't feel the fresh air at the moment. Once he ran the water on his skin, he took care to raise the temperature so that it was a little warmer but once he got out of the shower, nothing had changed . Worrying about all that wasn't going to help him much so he preferred to ignore all his marks.

What he hadn't planned either was to take a few spare things and as a result, he had to lug his towel to his room. What bothered him a little more was the fact that Kai was there. He hadn't heard him get up so Lloyd hoped pretty hard that the brunette was still asleep. As he walked out into the hallway, he didn't notice anyone and almost trotted slowly into his room. As he opened his cupboard, the blond heard grunts. He turned his head outside the open wooden cabinet door and saw that Kai had only just woken up.

"You're awake," Lloyd began.

"Above all, hide your joy," the brunette half-laughed, still stretching.

Lloyd's heart had started to speed up on its own and the blond noticed it. He preferred to ignore Kai who was getting up while putting on a new t-shirt and redirected his attention to the things he had to take.

"Are you okay?" asked the red ninja.

"Yes why ?"

"You look tired."

"No, you think?" Lloyd asked, a little ironically.

"You say it if I snore, I will make an effort to buy you something to cover your ears," said Kai laughing.

"Tell that to Cole instead."

"It's been a long time since we had to buy him some," he laughed, bringing the youngest along with his enthusiasm. "No, I was also asking that," said the brunette, taking a few gulps of air, "because of your body. I think even from a distance we can see your veins standing out."

"Thank you, that's nice," Lloyd said ironically again.

"It's true, look," said the oldest, taking the forearm of the blond who didn't really understand while examining it.

"It must just be a cold snap," replied the youngest nonchalantly, breaking away from the hold.

Kai raised his arms in a sign of non-violence and finally decided to leave the room because his stomach was calling him to order. As Lloyd put on his things feeling his movements very slow as well as a slight headache building up inside him, he also noticed that he was shaking. A very unusual sign for him. He raised his hand so that he could see it better and it was trembling like a child who had a terrible nightmare. He almost got chills before continuing to walk.

Each of his steps were just as slow and with each one he felt like he was on a boat. He stopped and opted to wait a little outside the door before going back down. Kai and Nya, who were now downstairs talking and having a quiet lunch, then heard a loud noise. The Smiths looked at each other incomprehensibly before they both started running upstairs. In the middle of the corridor lay a body...