Lightbreeze is a Lie

Chapter 2

"Hey, watch it!" Jay cried as a piece of sushi "accidentally" hit his head for the third time during dinner. He glared at Kai, overtly annoyed. "You're getting more food on my head than in your mouth!"

"Whoops," Kai exclaimed, although the look on his face showed that it clearly had not happened inadvertently.

Cole rolled his eyes. Kai and Jay had spent the entire day biting each other's heads off. The reason was obvious- Jay and Nya were planning to go out on a date. They had been for a while now, actually. But Kai obviously hadn't known until Jay had unintentionally blabbed it to him, and now that he knew, Kai was not a supporter of the idea.

Nya sighed, and behind her patient expression, Cole could tell she was deeply annoyed at being fought over. "Cut it out, both of you," she ordered Kai and Jay. Then, she suddenly starting smirking as she looked in Cole's direction. She added, "If you're going to have a food fight, do it when Cole cooks."

"Hey!" Cole cried in mock outrage. He stood up and looked at everyone in turn. "My food isn't that bad!"

No one responded. "Seriously?!" he cried, slumping back down into his chair melodramatically. Everyone laughed. Cole knew his food wasn't the best, and he didn't exactly like being called out on it too often, but if it helped cause peace among his brothers, it was fine by him.

"Hey!" Jay cried again after a minute as another piece of sushi went flying his way. Cole sighed. Or not.

Cole felt bad for both Jay and Nya. Of course, he understood Kai's overprotection completely, and he knew that Kai cared for his younger sister deeply, but Jay and Nya loved each other. A lot. They probably both found it unfair that they couldn't strengthen their relationship without Kai poking his nose into the situation.

He found his eyes wandering to the person who sat at the edge of the table. Lydia. At once, he felt a surge of love and appreciation. Cole was immensely glad that he could openly share his feelings with Lydia and have everyone's support.

Lydia's wind aura sensed more than Cole had expected it to. She turned and looked directly into Cole's eyes and smiled. Cole could have sworn he saw her blushing slightly.

She quickly averted his gaze before anyone at the table could catch their silent moment. Even Lloyd, who sat next to her, didn't seem to notice, but then again, he could take in multiple things without alerting anyone that he'd seen them. No one knew what the Green Ninja saw and didn't see- well, Lydia did, sometimes. She was also observant, especially when it came to Lloyd. Mysteriously finding out knowledge of other people's feelings, especially when they were trying to conceal them, was something Lydia not only seemed to love doing but was extremely good at.

Her observant factor came into perspective when she commented, "Thank you to whoever hung up the red paper lanterns in here. They really do brighten up the room."

Cole stiffened. He looked up and sure enough, there were glowing paper lanterns strung across the ceiling that he hadn't noticed before. Out of all the things to notice, you had to notice those? he wondered.

"Who put those up?" Nya asked. "I don't remember seeing them yesterday."

"I did," Lloyd replied. "They arrived at the Bounty in the mail this morning. One of us must have ordered them."

Almost at once, everyone began looking around the table. Finally, Jay inquired, "So, who ordered them then?" His words met silence. Everyone continued looking around awkwardly.