A fire's shadow

Auburn eyes and tears

It had been three days. Lloyd had been mad at everyone on the bounty. Nya was worrying about her brother and tried to talk to him multiple times. Cole and Jay had been keeping an eye on Lloyd to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. Zane had been doing his own thing, not wanting to get involved with the drama going on. Wu had left on a personal mission and was going to be gone for a few days. Kai had somehow managed to not have another breakdown ever since he talked to Shadow. He had not talked to the others almost at all either. He also hadn't left his room for anything else than to eat. But tonight he decided it was enough. He got dressed in his black jeans, red sneakers, and his black jacket, under it, he had a red tank top with the text "Like a phoenix, I'll rise" written in black on it. He also had his black fingerless gloves on his hands. He was still wearing the necklace even though he was angry at Lloyd. He then left the bounty, avoiding any kind of conversation with the others. When he got to the city he had just automatically walked to the park and sat down on a bench. He stared at the dark, empty park and got lost in his own thoughts  -which he's been doing a lot lately-. He thought back on that night with Shadow. The way he had talked wasn't like him. He had clearly been trying to make it look like he didn't care about Kai but failed. Kai placed his hands in his pockets and then felt something. He took it out and saw that it was his pocket knife. He didn't remember bringing it. Had he somehow taken it with him without knowing? "Out on a midnight walk, huh? Why am I not surprised?" Kai jumped in surprise even though he'd recognize that sarcastic tone anywhere. He turned his head to his right and met eyes with Shadow, it was now that Kai saw that Shadow's eyes were half auburn and the other half, blood red. Kai smiled at the dark persona, "Yeah, I felt like getting out." Shadow chuckled and sat down next to Kai, "I get that, your friends can be a bit tiring sometimes." Kai held back a laugh, "Yeah, or at least they used to before....." "Before I came into the picture." Shadow finished, looking a little guilty. "Yeah. But I don't blame you though. I mean, it would have happened eventually anyway." Shadow gave Kai a smile, in which Kai returned. Kai then remembered the other thing he had felt in his pocket. He took it out and handed the necklace to Shadow, "Here, I forgot to give you this when we talked last time." Shadow took the necklace and put it around his neck, "Thank you." Kai faked a gasp, which made Shadow turn to him, "What?" "You said thank you. To me!" Kai said with fake amazement. Shadow chuckled, "haha, very funny, Kai." They both laughed. Shadow then noticed the knife in Kai's hand, "You haven't done anything bad, right?" Kai's smile fell, "No, I haven't, but I've been close a few times." Shadow placed a hand on Kai's shoulder, "Well, I'm happy that you at least didn't do it." Kai smiled sadly and Shadow returned the smile. "You never answered my question." "Which question?" "The one you didn't get to answer because Lloyd showed up." Shadow lowered his head, "Oh.....that one..." Kai looked at Shadow, waiting for an answer. A sigh escaped the dark side's mouth and he closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them again, they shimmered for a millisecond and then returned to normal, only now, they were slightly more auburn. "Ever since you defeated me, and I lost the elemental powers, I've been feeling emotions and feelings that I've never felt before. Before you defeated me, the only emotions and feelings I had ever felt was anger in different levels which includes rage, and fear. But ever since then, I've started to feel new ones that I've never felt before, I somehow knew what they were instantly upon feeling them for the first time, even though I had never felt them before. One of them being guilt. Another being concern. Both were always connected to you in some way. I felt guilty for what I had done to you. And I was concerned about your well being. I never understood why seeing as I still have a strong desire to kill you, but for every passing day, that desire becomes smaller and smaller, while my concern and guilt only grow." Shadow was starting to tear up, a few tears even escaped his eyes, but neither he or Kai bothered acknowledging them. "You were right. I was lying when I said we still shared pain. Because we don't anymore. I just didn't want you to see me as weak. Back then I still wanted to kill you. But now....." Shadow stared at his hands as he clenched them into fists, trying to look angry, but he then gave up and relaxed in his body, "Now I don't really know anymore..... My head just feels so complicated....." Kai started laughing. Shadow gave him a surprised look, "What's so funny?" "It's just. That's exactly what I've been thinking ever since you were defeated. 'My head is just so complicated'. It's my exact words." Kai said in between his laughs. Shadow smiled and soon joined Kai in laughing at the irony. "I guess we really are similar." "Yeah, it's almost like if we're twins." Suddenly Shadow stopped laughing and stared at Kai with wide eyes, "Wh...What did you just say?" Kai's laughter faded and he smiled at Shadow, "I said, it almost like we're twins." Shadow shook his head, "No. don't say that. We're not twins. I'm nothing compared to y-...I-I mean-" Shadow stood up and started to panic. His breaths became faster and he started shaking. Kai stood up and ran to his side but Shadow pushed him away, "Shadow. Please, let me help." "N-No. I- you- we...I gotta go." Shadow then ran away. Kai quickly followed, "Shadow wait!"

It didn't take long for Shadow to lose Kai. The red ninja had cursed when he realized that he had lost him, but he kept looking for two hours before giving up. He then heard his phone ding and took it out only to see that he had 26 missed calls and 5 text messages. The messages were all from Nya. Apparently, the others had gone on a mission when Kai was out. But as Kai kept reading he became worried.

<Going on a mission. Just so you know when you get back.

<Might come home later than expected.

<Kai, be careful.

<Kai, we might need back up.

<KAI HELP!

Kai tried to call his sister's phone but it came to voice mail. He tried all the others with the same result. He then tried Nya again, but this time it picked up. "NYA! I saw your texts! Are you and the others okay!? I-" "Don't worry, your teammates are fine, for now." An unknown voice said from the other end of the line. "Who are you!? What have you done with my friends!?" There was a chuckle from the other end, "Judging by your temper, I'm guessing this is Kai, the red ninja of fire. But seeing as you are the only one that's not here, I already knew that. If you ever want to see them again, then come to the abandoned warehouse by the edge of the docks. Alone." The line then went dead. Kai didn't waste a second. He quickly summoned his dragon and flew to the bounty. He quickly got the stuff he needed -like smoke bombs, some shurikens, throwing daggers, and his katanas- and put it all in his red shoulder bag. He didn't have time to change so he went in what he was currently wearing. He kept the pocket knife and his phone in his pockets. But he put the phone on silent just in case. He also took a multitool from Jay's room and placed it in his pockets as well. The red ninja then went outside and summoned his dragon and flew off towards the docks.

He had landed his dragon a few blocks from the docks and made it disappear. Kai wasn't usually the ninja that went with the element of surprise, but he had changed under the past one and a half month, plus, his friend's lives were on the line so he couldn't risk going in unprepared. It would most likely end up with at least one of his friends or himself getting killed, and that was not an option. He came to the warehouse and observed the surroundings. This was the most remote part of the docks which made it a perfect hideout. There were a few guards on the outside, but nothing Kai couldn't handle by himself. But he knew he had to check inside somehow. With his ninja training in mind, he got onto the roof and looked through the skylight window. As he had predicted, there were a lot more bad guys on the inside than on the outside. His friends were tied back to back in a circle in the middle of the warehouse, guard guarding them. Kai cursed under his breath when he realized there was no way he would be able to get his friends out of there on his own. He could manage to get inside, and maybe even free the others. But Kai being the one who, for some unknown reason, knew how villains often thought, he figured there would be a lot more bad guys standing by in case they were needed. Shadow. Kai then remembered what Shadow had said the other night. "We're connected." Kai thought about an idea, he had no clue to whether it would work or not, but he knew he had to try. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to concentrate. "Shadow, if you can hear me. I need your help. The others are captured and I don't think I can rescue them on my own, and I don't have time to get back up. You're the only one who can help me. I know you don't have the best terms with the others, but please. Do it for me." Kai thought, hoping it would somehow get to Shadow. After a few seconds of waiting for an answer, Kai gave up and opened his eyes again. "Guess I'm on my own then."