A fire's shadow

How things changed

He was panting. Leaves crunched under his feet as he ran. The sound of his own breaths echoed through the dark forest. Wind smashed across his face and brown hair as he ran. His eyes bolting from side to side, trying to find a way away from the thing that was chasing him. But no such luck came to him as he ran for his life. He would have cursed if it wasn't for the fact that he was almost out of breath. But he couldn't stop, he wouldn't stop. At least not if he wanted to keep his life and sanity. He knew what would happen if it- or he caught him. And no matter how much he needed to stop and catch his breath, he didn't have the time to do that. After what felt like hours of constant running, he saw a rock and even mentally screaming to himself to keep running, he stopped and hid behind the rock in hope that the person chasing him would either run past or think he lost him. The sound of the other teen's footsteps slowed until it sounded like walking. The panting brunette that was hiding behind the rock held his breath, hoping that the other teen would leave. After what felt like forever, the teen finally started to walk away, much to the scared brunette's relief. He let out a breath of relief. But he hadn't even breathed out before something suddenly wrapped around his wrist and chained him the rock. He gasped and started to struggle, trying to get out of the chains. But he froze when a sadistic chuckle echoed from the dark in front of him. He felt his heartbeat quickened and his breaths became fast and short. "No. No no no."  He thought as he started to struggle again. But that's when he saw the eyes. The blood red eyes that haunted his thought's. The blood red eyes that had pierced through his soul more times than he could count. Then he heard the voice. The same voice that had made him go against his friends, the same voice that had twisted his thoughts. "There's no use. Even if you escape again-" Shadow stepped out from the shadows and gave the brunette a sadistic smirk, "I will find you."

Kai rushed awake, panting and sweating. His eyes darted around the room to make sure he wasn't still in the forest with Shadow, or at least, dark Shadow, the one with blood red eyes. It only took the smoke smell in the air and the red cover he was lying under for him to realize that he was safe, in his room. But was he really safe anywhere? Kai honestly didn't know. After seeing what Shadow was capable of, he doubted that he was ever safe. But he tried to keep up the hope that Shadow wouldn't try to hurt him again. Kai took a deep breath and then removed the cover from his body as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed. It was then that he realized that he was in his ninja gi. He frowned and got up to change. No point in wearing the ninja gi if he wasn't going anywhere. He was officially grounded from leaving the bounty without someone watching him. And he was not allowed to go on missions either, at least not until he had rested enough in Nya, Lloyd and Wu's opinion, which was not until about a week or two. Kai had tried to protest, but they wouldn't change their minds. Kai had mentally growled, not only did he have to deal with a protective little sister and sensei, now he had a protective boyfriend as well. The brunette smiled when he thought about the way Lloyd had pouted when he teased him as they were telling Wu about them being together. But getting back to his current task. Kai opened the drawer and changed. When he left his room he was wearing a red tank top with a black jacket over it. His pants were black jeans and his shoes, red sneakers. Around his neck hung a golden chain with a dragon holding a red jewel on it. He had gotten the necklace as a gift from Lloyd and even though it was similar to the one that Shadow had, Kai still wore it. Kai had never worn the jacket before, he bought it a few days ago, but one thing he made sure of, was that it had a hood. Kai never understood why, but he had always liked clothes with hoods. So hoddies were one of his favorite clothes. As Kai came closer to the kitchen the smell of pancakes made his stomach growl. He hoped there was any left to him. He came to the dining room/kitchen and saw the others were busy with eating Zane's price worthy pancakes. Jay just stuffed his mouth full of pancakes before noticing Kai in the doorway. He didn't even bother swallowing before speaking, "Hey Kai! You want some pancakes?" Kai held back a laugh when Nya smacked the back of Jay's head and telling him to swallow before talking. "Yeah. I would like some pancakes." Kai walked over to the table and sat down next to Lloyd who was just finished with his pancake. Kai grabbed a plate with about three pancakes and started eating. Without noticing, he became lost into the thoughts going around in his head. Was Shadow going to come back? Would Kai be able to help him? Or would he, in a way, fail to help himself? "Kai?" Was he going to fail to protect the others again? Was Shadow going to come after them? How could Kai help him? "Kai!" What did Shadow mean when he said he couldn't control himself? "KAI!" Kai jumped in surprise and ended up almost pushing his plate off the table. "Wha- What?" The others gave Kai a questioning look. "You just spaced out, bro." Jay said as he munched on a pancake earning another smack in the head from Nya. Kai rubbed the back of his head nervously, "I-I did? I never even noticed." The nervous tone in Kai's voice was hard to miss even though he tried to hide it. Kai felt like wanting to disappear into his room and hide from everyone for the rest of the day when he saw the looks on his family members' faces. Faces that were showing how much they didn't believe him. Kai had by this point only finished one out of the three pancakes that he had originally placed on his plate. But that didn't stop the brunette to push away the plate and excusing himself from the table. No response came from the others, at least not until Kai was by the door leading outside. It was then that the sweet voice belonging to the green ninja broke the silence, "Where are you going, Kai?" Kai had by now grabbed the door handle and was about to turn it when Lloyd's question had retched his ears, and upon hearing the question, Kai knew he had to answer, "I'm going for a walk. Need some fresh air." The green ninja pushed himself to his feet and started walking away from the table, "In that case, I'm coming with you." Kai was about to protest but his boyfriend stopped him, "No buts. I'm coming and that's final. I just have to change first." Kai knew there was no arguing with Lloyd since he was almost as stubborn as Kai himself, but he still had the urge to leave while Lloyd was changing. The green ninja came back wearing more casual clothes. He was now wearing a green T-shirt with the text "candy for life" written in white on the front. His pants were a pair of black jeans and his shoes, green sneakers. Kai held back a chuckle when he saw the text on the T-shirt, especially since he was the one who had given it to Lloyd in the first place. Lloyd walked up to the brunette wearing a smile on his face, "So, are we leaving or what?" Kai didn't need to be asked twice, he opened the door and left, Lloyd not far behind. After the door closed Jay was about to say something cheesy that would have ticked Kai off if he'd been there, but the master of lightning stopped when he saw the smirk resting on the black ninja's face. By now learned his lesson, Jay swallowed before asking, "Why are you smirking, Cole?" Cole didn't remove his gaze from the door when he answered, "I think they're cute together."

A/N Season two of this book if here! I hope you're all ready for it! And let me know if you would like me to write in paragraphs. I want you all to get the best reading experience and if that's mean writing in paragraphs, then so be it. But if most of you don't really care or most of you like it this way, then I will continue writing like I'm doing. Anyway, have a nice day.