A fire's shadow

A broken flame gets a helping hand

"Don't even think about it." Kai couldn't see who it was, and even though he had heard what the person said, the thoughts in his head prevented him from hearing who it was. So he instead tried to figure out who it was from their grip around his wrist. The grip was too firm to be Nya, Lloyd, or Jay. It was clearly covered in skin, which ruled out Zane. And judging by the shaky and angry breaths coming from the person, it wasn't Cole or Wu. That only left one person. Kai blinked multiple times to get the tears out of his eyes, he ended up wiping them away with his left hand -the one that wasn't held back by the person- and then blinked a few times again until his vision was back to normal. He looked up at the person that held his wrist and felt a wave of mixed emotions when he saw who it was. Fear, anger, sadness, embarrassment, regret, were the emotions that filled Kai body at the moment as he was eye to eye with..."Sha.....Shadow?....." Kai's voice sounded so fragile and broken that the dark side almost didn't recognize it. "Not what you expected, huh?" Kai shook his head slightly. Shadow was now wearing different clothes. He was wearing black pants, black sneakers, and a black jacket just like the one Kai had. Under the jacket, he had a dark grey tank top with the text "Everyone has a dark side" written in dark red on the front. His skin was also now the same color as Kai's, only a bit paler. Shadow let out a sigh and let go of Kai's wrist and then sat down next to the red ninja who lowered his head. Shadow placed his hand on the hand Kai was holding the knife with and gently folded it back together, careful with not hurting Kai in the process. Kai didn't protest as Shadow folded the knife, neither did he protest when the dark side took the knife out of his hands and took it away from Kai by holding in his right hand -which was the hand furthest away from the red ninja-. Kai still felt the urge to cry, but he stopped himself -not wanting to cry in front of Shadow-. Kai brought his knees to his chest, hugging them, and resting his head on them. After that, there was a long while of silence between the two. And in the end, it was Kai who broke it, "Wh..Why...Why did you stop me?...." A sigh came from the dark persona, "I couldn't just sit by and watch as you cut yourself. It would have hurt me too, you know." Kai glanced his eyes at Shadow, without moving his head, "You...You mean emotionally?...." Shadow tried to hide the sad and guilty expression on his face, "No... We're connected...We share the same pain..." He was lying. They had shared the same pain when they shared the same body, but ever since Shadow got his own, they hadn't shared pain at all. Shadow would have been hurt if Kai had cut, but not by sharing physical pain, but by guilt. Ever since Kai had defeated him, he had started to feel things. Emotions and feelings. Before, he had only felt anger and sometimes, fear. But now, he felt emotions and feelings he had never experienced before. Guilt. He didn't like the feeling, not at all. But he had somehow, instantly known what it was when he first felt it. It was like his brain knew it even though it was new to Shadow himself. He had also felt a small bit of concern. Concern for Kai. And that made no sense in Shadow's head. How could he feel concerned for the person who caused him most pain out of everyone in Ninjago? "Shadow...?" The dark persona was brought back to reality by the broken and fragile voice of the red ninja. Shadow turned his head to Kai, "Yeah?" "Why do you care about me?...." The dark persona was taken back at the question and tried to pretend as if he had no idea what Kai was talking about, "Tsk, what do you mean? I don't care about you. What made you think I did that?" "Because you stopped me from cutting." Shadow faked a frown, "As I said it was because-" "I know you were lying. We haven't shared each other's pain ever since you got your own body. If that had been the case then you would have felt the pain when you strangled me yesterday. But you didn't even flinch. Plus, if you really didn't care, then you wouldn't sit here right now. If you really didn't care then you would have come here stopped me from cutting to make sure you didn't get hurt, violently taken the knife from me, thrown it over the edge or taken it yourself and then left. But you didn't, you gently took the knife and made sure I wasn't hurt by it, and now your holding it in your hand and are still here." Shadow was at a loss of words. Kai then lifted his head and met Shadow's eyes with a pair of tear-filled auburn eyes, "So why? Why do you care about me?" Shadow had never felt such an emotional pain as he did right at that moment. The painful look in Kai's eyes, the tears that escaped his eyes, and his broken voice, it all made Shadow's heart hurt. "I...I-" "SHADOW!" The dark persona was cut off by a sudden shout. The two fire masters turned their head to where the shout came from and saw Lloyd standing there, rage burning in his eyes as he glared daggers at Shadow. Kai secretly wiped away his tears and stopped himself from crying. He then looked back at Lloyd and stood up, "Lloyd, please, I can-" But he was stopped by Shadow who now stood next to him. Shadow secretly put the pocket knife in Kai's pocket, he then whispered, "I trust you to not try anything with it again." Kai gave a small nod and whispered back, "Yeah, but how are we going to get out of this one?" Shadow smirked, "I have an idea, but it won't really help my reputation with greenie over there." "I think I get what you mean, but that could backfire on us real bad." "Yeah, you're right. It might be better if I just leave." "HEY! WHAT'S WITH THE WHISPERING OVER THERE!?" Shadow turned back to Lloyd and smirked wider, "Oh nothing. Anyway, I have somewhere to be." Shadow winked at Kai then turned back to Lloyd and made a gesture as if he tipped his hat -even though he didn't have a hat- and then disappeared. "COME BACK HERE AND FIGHT YOU COWARD!" Lloyd shouted into the night, completely forgetting that Kai was there. The red ninja held back a chuckle at the way Shadow had left. The other ninjas ran out to see why Lloyd was shouting his lungs out. "What is it, Lloyd?" Cole asked as they came to the green ninja. "Shadow was here! He was talking to Kai and- Kai!" Lloyd turned back to the red ninja who quickly hid his smile and changed into a blank expression, "Yeah?" The green ninja ran to Kai and hugged him tightly, "Are you okay!? He didn't hurt you did he!?" "No." He stopped me from hurting myself, Kai wanted to say but decided to remain from telling Lloyd about the knife and what he almost did with it. "Are you sure!? What did he say to you!? I swear when I find that monster I'm going to-" "I said I'm fine, Lloyd! So drop it!" The green ninja was taken back by the anger in Kai's tone, but Kai couldn't help it. When Lloyd started talking about hurting Shadow Kai just reacted. Lloyd let go of the brunette and stared at him, somehow completely missing the red shade caused by crying in Kai's eyes. "But he-" "I said, drop it!" Kai pushed Lloyd aside and made his way towards the door leading inside. "What's up with you, Kai? I don't understand why you keep protecting him! He hurt you but you still keep protecting him!" Kai stopped dead in his tracks. He clenched his fists and turned around "I said drop it! So stop talking about it, okay?! I am not in the mood to hear you going on about why I shouldn't want to help him! I'm tired of hearing it over and over again! Not only do you continue to try and change my mind about it! But you also make it sound like I've lost my mind to Shade, Skylor, and the other elemental masters! And yes! I heard every fucking word that you said to them! And I get it! None of you believe me! Shadow is just a monster in your eyes! But in my eyes! The only monster here! Is me! So stop talking about how bad he is!" When Kai was done shouting, he panted as he almost lost his voice at the end. The others stared at him with wide eyes. "Kai, I-" Lloyd started but Kai cut him off by holding up his hand, he stopped panting, "Stop, just....stop. I don't want to hear it. Just...leave me alone." Kai then turned around and went inside. Everyone just stared after him, all at a loss of words. There was a long silence before anyone spoke again, and this time, it was Jay, "Did...he just..." "Yeah, he did..." Cole answered. Lloyd walked up to the others and clenched his fists. "Lloyd, you okay?" Cole asked. "No. Shadow is going to pay for what he's done." "Lloyd, please, think about this. You saw how Kai got, wouldn't it be better if we gave Shadow a chance. Maybe Kai's is right." Lloyd gave Jay a death glare, "Are you really that dumb Jay? Shadow is a monster and he needs to be destroyed." Jay straightened up, usually insults like that didn't get to him, but seeing as Lloyd was serious at this moment, he knew the green ninja wasn't joking, he really thought Jay was an idiot, "In that case, yes. I am dumb enough to believe that we should give Shadow a chance. If what Kai says really is true, then he deserves a second chance. Plus, Kai called himself a monster, so if every monster should be destroyed then shouldn't he be too?" Jay was rarely angry, but when he was, he could be just as scary as the others. "Kai isn't thinking straight-" "Lloyd, Kai's ability to think clearly isn't the problem here. Your own ability to give out second chances is." "Zane, not you too." "I must agree with Zane and Jay on this one, Lloyd. Kai may be right about Shadow, and if that's the case then we should listen." "Cole..." Lloyd turned to Nya, "Nya you're with me, right?" "Lloyd, I'm not sure what to think, I am mad at Shadow for what he did to Kai. But if Kai really saw something, then..." Lloyd clenched his fists harder, "Fine! If you guys don't believe me then I'll show you." He then went inside.