Notes: I've totally stolen some ideas from e-mail conversations with TheSecondBatgirl, my first reader and the only person willing to listen to me rant about my new fandom any time of day or night.

This story takes place about a week after "Unexpected Arrival" (depending on how you count Ranger time, I suppose).

Trudging through the woods at dawn, trying not to show how exhausted he was to the rest of his team, all Jayden wanted was some tea and a nap. They'd been called out of bed for a Nighlok attack so early that even iKevin/i had looked tired.

Which was obviously why the masked man appeared in front of them...seemingly manifesting from the trees. "Where is the Gold Ranger?" the man growled, dropping into a fighting stance.

As Jayden pulled out his samuraizer, he could feel the rest of the team do the same behind him, which still a new enough feeling to give him a warm glow. "What do you want?"

The man didn't make any move to attack, but his stance showed he was ready to move at any moment. "I told you, I want the Gold Ranger."

"He's not here," Mike said. "But hey, leave a message and we'll tell him you called."

"If anything's happened to him..." The threat hung in the air and Jayden stared, feeling like he was missing something important.

"Mierda!" Antonio's voice was clear and clearly annoyed. "Stop it, Cam." Unmorphed, the Gold Ranger stalked through the trees to stand in front of the team and face down their assailant.

"Antonio?" Jayden asked.

"He's...well, not harmless," Antonio growled, "but he's not going to hurt you."

"That depends," the man said.

"On what?" Jayden couldn't help but ask.

"On whether you've hurt Antonio."

"Antonio is standing right here."

Jayden decided it was time to put the samuraizer away as he stepped forward to stand next to his teammate. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Antonio continue glaring at the man.

"What are you doing?" Antonio asked, hands on his hips.

"I got your last e-mail and I haven't heard from you since. What was I supposed to think?" The man-Cam?-finally relaxed his stance.

"Not that they'd somehow...done away with me! I've been busy. You know how it is."

A slight movement and Jayden thought he could read a little bit of embarrassment in Cam's body language. "I do." He reached up, pulling off his mask, revealing a perfectly ordinary Asian man who looked to be in his 30s. "I'm, uh, sorry. I overreacted. I guess I should have just called."

Antonio shook his head but walked forward and threw his arms around him. "You idiot."

Cam closed his eyes and hugged Antonio back, looking relieved. Jayden was absolutely positively not jealous. That would be ridiculous. He cleared his throat.

"Oh!" Antonio whirled. "Everybody, this is Cam. He, uh, well he helped me become a samurai."

"He trained you?" Kevin asked.

"I didn't train him so much as I handed him the tools and got out of the way." Cam's look was amused.

"It's very nice to meet you," Emily said.

"Yes, it is!" Mia said with enthusiasm. "Please come back to Shiba House with us so we can be more comfortable."

"Yes, please do." Jayden had a feeling his voice was less enthusiastic, based on the odd looks he got from Mia, Emily, and Antonio, but he couldn't find the energy to care.

Jayden decided he needed a shower before he faced...whatever was going on. By the time he entered the kitchen, Ji and Cam were apparently engaged in a staring contest over the oatmeal and eggs.

Jayden hovered between them, trying to decide if he needed to do something about this or just eat his breakfast and ignore it.

Antonio stepped into the room a few moments later and gave a long-suffering sigh. "Enough." Both men turned and scowled at him and he threw his hands in the air. "Dios mio, mira los idiotas testarudos."

"Who are you calling a stubborn idiot?" Cam asked.

"If the shoe fits, babe..."

"Don't call me babe."

"Then don't act like one."

Jayden felt his teeth grinding together hard enough that he was worried a tooth might crack. "If we could get back on topic..."

Antonio turned to him, smiling, but it was the slightly fake one he usually used for everyone else. "Jayden Shiba, Red Samurai Ranger, this is Cameron Watanabe, a teacher at the Wind Ninja Academy and the former Green Samurai Ranger."

Mike's head shot up from his bowl of sugary cereal. "What?"

Faintly, Kevin could be heard muttering, "He was trained by a samurai?"

Cam smirked at both of them. "I was a samurai on a team of ninjas when you were still learning how to block."

Antonio ignored the jibe with the obvious ease of long practice. "Cam has been training me for the last four years. He also helped me make my samuraizer."

"I have some experience making morphers and teaching young samurai." Cam wasn't even trying to hide his amusement.

Jayden couldn't decide if wanted to thank the guy or punch him in the smug nose.

"Watanabe?" Emily asked. "Are you-"

"Related to me?" Mia finished. "I don't remember a Cameron."

"No relation. I checked when Antonio got here. It's just a weird coincidence." Cam shrugged.

Jayden glanced at Ji, who was scowling so hard, it looked like his head was going to explode. "You!" Ji finally said. "Why didn't you contact me? Let me know what was going on?"

Cam raised his eyebrows. "Antonio was just fine where he was. And so was the Octozord. Given your treatment of him when he arrived here, my concerns were completely justified."

"My caution in the face of an untrained b-"

"You took away his morpher." Cam's voice was suddenly a great deal more dangerous and everyone except for Antonio automatically started to reach for a weapon. "Do you have any idea what that meant to him?"

"I needed to be sure he was committed to this."

"He'd trained for years-"

"Yes, that's what he said, but I needed to be sure!" Ji's voice was raised and everyone was staring at him. "The mission is too important to take chances. And the entire team had to choose him without pressure from Jayden."

Cam opened his mouth, closed it, and studied Jayden for a long moment. "Hmm. You might have a point there."

Kevin had been bouncing in his seat for a while now. Finally seeing his chance, he almost wailed at Antonio. "Why didn't you just itell us/i you had training from an actual samurai?"

Antonio stuck his hands in his pockets. "I didn't want you to accept me because of my formal training. I just, I wanted to help."

"But-"

"Kevin," Jayden said sharply. "Enough. Antonio, you were trying to explain what happened?"

"Long story short, my dad and I ended up in, uh, the town that's closest to the ninja academy. I'd just figured out how to talk to Octozord using technology and I was testing some things out on the beach."

Cam picked up the story. "I was getting strange readings, so one of the other teachers and I went to check it out."

"Which was when I met Cam and Tori. Tori used to be the Blue Wind Ranger and now she's a water ninja teacher at the academy. Anyway, they fought for a while over what to do with me-"

"Tori and Antonio won me over once he got the Octozord to spit ink all over my second best uniform." Cam shook his head. "Ruined it, in fact. But I agreed that it wasn't a good idea to leave this kid to figure things out on his own. He was determined to be a samurai rather than a ninja, for some reason."

Antonio went on hastily. "So Cam helped me to take it to a higher level and get my samuraizer working properly."

"And sent him off to join his new team." Cam crossed his arms, raised an eyebrow, and looked around the room.

Jayden felt his hackles rise. What right did this guy have to question them? Other than being Antonio's mentor and a former Power Ranger. Right. "Whatever Antonio told you, he's one of us now. We made some...mistakes, but that's been rectified."

"Cam, it's okay. I swear." Antonio looked like he wanted to wring his hands.

"If you say so."

"I do."

"So do I," Emily said calmly, spooning up a bite of oatmeal.

"And me," Mia added. "Antonio's a part of the team."

"He's okay by me," Mike said with a shrug. "I never had a problem with him joining up."

Everyone looked at Kevin. "I didn't-fine, I had a problem, but we're over it. He's the Gold Ranger, okay?" He stabbed his fork into a bite of eggs and ate it ferociously.

"Now that we've settled that," Ji said, a bit of acid left in his tone, "maybe we can get back to our day."

"Cam, you can stay, right?" Antonio asked. "I mean for a little while."

Cam looked at Jayden, who resolutely met his eyes. "As Antonio's mentor," Jayden said with care, "you're welcome at Shiba House, of course."

"Of course," Cam said. "I can spend the day, but I really do need to get back to the academy tonight. You know how much havoc Tori, Shane, and Dustin cause whenever I'm gone."

Antonio grinned. "At least they probably won't repeat the goat incident."

"Goat?" Mia asked. "What was a goat doing at a ninja academy?"

Mike grinned. "And how many uniforms did it chew before it was gone?"

Cam pointed at Mike. "You would fit right in, I'll bet."

Everyone laughed and Jayden decided he didn't really feel like eating breakfast anymore. Maybe if he went back to bed for a while, this would all go away.

Jayden did feel better after some sleep, so he got up, grabbed a book at random, and headed back to the kitchen to eat.

He heard voices in the main room and it sounded remarkably like Mia and Emily were...squealing? He'd never heard a sound like that out of them and he almost broke into a jog before peering around the corner.

Mia and Emily were bent over something Cam held. It looked like a smartphone, but given his supposed technical abilities, it could be anything. What were they doing?

"Oh, he's so iadorable/i!" Emily said, pointing at the phone thing. "Look at that gap-toothed smile."

Jayden blinked.

"I've got some older ones that I borrowed from his dad and scanned," Cam said. "I usually save the catfish one for blackmail material."

Mia giggled. "This one's the best. I've never seen a boy so proud of a fish...except for Antonio now!"

Swallowing the lump that had appeared in his throat, Jayden started to back away from the corner.

"Whoa!" a voice said from behind him.

Jayden whirled, hands automatically in a defensive position, then dropping when he realized it was Antonio standing there with a tea tray. "Um, sorry, I was just leaving," Jayden said, trying to maneuver around him.

Antonio's called out to him as he passed. "If you want to see the embarrassing pictures, you can join us, you know."

"I know. I...have to go."

Jayden didn't look back, but he was certain he knew the dejected expression on Antonio's face. He felt his shoulders tighten but he kept going.

Late breakfast complete, Jayden was heading toward the training room, not paying complete attention to his surroundings. Which was why he did an actual double take as he passed Mike in the hallway...covered in what looked like shaving cream.

"Um..."

"Don't ask," Mike said.

"Right." Jayden shook his head and kept going. Sometimes this whole 'team' thing was just too confusing.

He couldn't help detouring toward the guest room, where someone had apparently sent Cam and Antonio, because he could hear their voices.

"You're really okay? Because you know we'd take you back at the academy. You could still graduate with your class."

"I'm really okay. Better than okay. I swear."

Take that, Jayden thought.

"You'll always have a team with us."

"Thanks, Cam, that's good to know."

Jayden scowled and continued on to training. Hitting things or people with practice swords sounded like a great idea.

Lunch was...excruciating. Antonio and Cam told a series of training anecdotes, which had Mia, Emily, and Mike laughing too hard to eat. Even Ji seemed to have become part of the crowd, telling a story of his own early training.

Jayden stayed on the outside of the group, trying to focus most of his attention on his food. He couldn't miss the way everyone kept looking at him, though, which was driving him crazy.

Nobody was staring at Kevin, who was absorbed in a volume of samurai Ranger history! So why did everyone expect Jayden to be enthralled by some stranger?

Antonio walked by to get a drink, elbowing Jayden in the ribs on the way. "Something wrong?"

"No." Jayden forced a smile. "Still tired, that's all."

Antonio looked unconvinced as he went back to his seat.

Jayden was studying a new symbol Ji had suggested, head propped against a seat in the main room, enjoying the late afternoon sun while Kevin read on the couch across from him. It was the most relaxed he'd felt all day as he considered what his intentions for the symbol were. (He'd found that before he practiced tracing it, it was best to know exactly where to keep his thoughts.)

Distantly, he heard Kevin turn a page and write something on his ever-present pad.

"Singlemindedness isn't all-powerful," an amused voice said suddenly into the silence. "It's usually bloody idiotic."

Jayden and Kevin both jumped and Jayden's heart raced as he stared at Cam, peering over Kevin's shoulder at the book.

Kevin scowled at him, twisting around in his seat. "Hagakure is a classic of-"

"Samurai literature, I know." Cam shook his head. "I've got just as many generations of samurai behind me as you do. Tsunetomo had some good ideas, but he was a lot too sure of himself. And most of his ideas don't transfer to the modern day. Things were even changing as he wrote The Way of the Samurai."

"You're not understanding the universality of bushido." Kevin's voice rose with excitement at having someone to debate his favorite topic with.

"Antonio!" Cam called, coming around the couch to sit down. "I've got a live one."

"Oh no," Antonio called from down the hall. "No, please tell me you're not going to debate with Kevin whether Tsunetomo should have been allowed to commit junshi."

"Well, if he had, I wouldn't have had to suffer through this entire book."

Kevin sat up straight. "But then you wouldn't have been able to read his thoughts on-"

Jayden realized he was grinding his teeth again, so he picked up his book and went to his room.

Unfortunately, he could only hide in his room for so long, so Jayden decided to head out to work with the staff for a while. He reached the door without running into anyone and let out his breath.

Halfway out the back door, Jayden paused at a strange sound from behind him, followed by the sound of Antonio's laughter. Turning, he froze in his tracks when he saw Mike coming out of the guest room, dripping with water.

"Uh..."

Mike shook his head, grudging admiration on his face. "I have to admit he's good."

Curious, Jayden leaned into the room and saw Cam and Antonio, dry and looking amused. Cam shrugged. "After years of running a ninja academy, along with dealing with a team of adolescent Power Rangers...nobody can prank me."

Jayden shook his head and went out the back door. It wasn't the team thing...it was people that were confusing.

Jayden sensed Cam coming out of the house and into the training yard, but he finished the staff practice anyway, forcing himself to squint into the early evening sun without flinching.

When he was done, he turned to face Cam, who'd seated himself on the bench and was waiting. Jayden couldn't resist and bowed low to his opponent.

Cam didn't take the bait. "Another time. Today I'm here to talk."

"About...?"

"Antonio. He's getting fish for dinner, so we have time."

"What do you have to say?" Jayden crossed his arms.

"You don't have to look so defensive; I'm not here to yell at you. Sit down, damn it."

Jayden sat on the bench and tried to relax.

Cam scowled at him. "We're both important to Antonio, so if we're fighting, it's going to hurt him."

"I am? I mean, it is?"

"Yes, it is. And you are. He didn't come back here because of the Nighlok. He came back because you're here."

"Me?"

"Good grief. Red Rangers. They never have any idea how important they are to everyone else." Cam held up a finger. "And don't give me the sealing symbol crap either. I mean how personally important you are to the others."

"Was your Red important to you?" Jayden asked in his most innocent tone.

Cam scowled. "Yes, but if you ever tell him that, I'll deny it."

"Of course."

"My point, though-which you successfully distracted me from, congratulations-was that we need to get along."

"I can be polite."

"And do you think Antonio can tell the difference between polite and friendly?"

Jayden sighed. "Yeah, he can."

"So...I was angry when I thought you'd kicked Antonio out. I'm over that. What's your problem?"

Jayden opened his mouth to argue that he didn't have a problem with Cam, then closed it, realizing how much of a lie it would be. He took a few careful breaths and made himself try to verbalize everything that had been boiling in his brain throughout the day. "I think I'm jealous," he said eventually. "Of the time you've had with Antonio. The memories and photos and...time."

Cam waited patiently.

"You got to train with him." It felt like he was dragging the words out by force. "I'd give almost anything to have that time back."

"And I'd love to have back the year my dad spent as a guinea pig, but that's life." Cam waved a hand at Jayden's expression. "I'll explain another time. What I'm trying to say is that there's no point in worrying about the time that's behind you. You're kids. Once you defeat the Nighlok, you'll have your whole lives ahead of you."

"Once we defeat the Nighlok."

"It feels impossible, I know." Cam paused, obviously lost in memory. "But it's not, I promise."

"Even if that's true...once we're done, everyone will leave Shiba House and go back to their lives."

"If he leaves for a break, I can guarantee Antonio will come back." Cam's voice held absolute certainty.

"How do you know?"

"There's nothing and nobody more important to him. Not me, not his father, not the academy...not himself. In case you hadn't noticed, everything he's done since he left Shiba House has been to help iyou/i."

"Oh." Jayden had been so happy to see Antonio, he hadn't really thought about it. He'd dedicated his life to the cause of defending from the Nighlok, of course, but it was a family thing for him and the others. But Antonio dedicated his life to... "Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

Jayden took some time to think about that. "Thank you," he said eventually.

"Hmm?" Cam raised an eyebrow.

"For helping him. And for explaining things to me, even though I, um, I've been kinda rude."

"You're welcome." Cam shrugged. "Let's say you've been blunt. I don't mind, but Antonio does."

Jayden wasn't sure how much leeway he had, but... "Why did you help him? Why didn't you send him away?" 'Like Ji did' was unspoken, but hung in the air nonetheless.

Cam did him the courtesy of thinking about his answer. "I understood how it felt..." he said after a while, "to want to be a part of the team, to want to be a Power Ranger. To want that more than anything in the world and be willing to defy everyone to do it." He glanced over at Jayden. "Another story for another day. Or maybe Antonio will tell you, if you ask him."

Jayden nodded his understanding.

"Once I realized the depth of his conviction, I had to help him or be a hypocrite."

"I'm glad you did," Jayden said quietly. "I didn't realize how much I missed him."

"Well..." Cam paused, scratching the back of his head. "I kind of missed him too. When I got his e-mail, it brought up some bad memories of the early days of my team."

It was Jayden's turn to wait patiently.

"I felt unappreciated by my team, even though I built the zords and the morphers. I was angry at the thought of Antonio feeling the same way. I'm sorry I came on so strong."

"I'm kind of glad. It's good to know that someone else is watching out for Antonio."

Cam grinned at him. "Especially because he doesn't look out for himself?"

"Yeah," Jayden said. "So he's always like that?"

"Absolutely. Let me tell you about the time he got Blake to take him out on the motocross track for the first time and..."

Sun finally down, the others had said their goodbyes to Cam. Jayden and Antonio trailed him out onto the porch. "It was really good to see you," Antonio said.

"But maybe next time you could just call?" Jayden asked with a grin.

"I'll do that."

Antonio shook his head. "By the way, you do know Ela's going to kick your butt for this stunt, right?"

"I know she will. But it was worth it to know that you're in good hands." He looked at Jayden for a moment and then one side of his mouth tilted up. "Or at least you *will* be in good hands soon."

Jayden's brain tried to process that and utterly failed.

"Cam!" Antonio wailed, putting a hand over his eyes. "Go away before you ruin everything."

Chuckling, Cam smacked Antonio on the shoulder. "Goodbye, kid. Remember to write."

"I will." Antonio threw his arms around Cam again and they hugged for a long moment. "Tell everybody I miss them. Don't let Dustin redecorate my room. I don't care what he says, yellow is not the same as gold."

"You got it," Cam said and then he was a streak in the night.

Antonio watched the darkness for a long moment while Jayden's brain still failed to restart. "So..." Jayden finally said.

"Hmm?" Antonio said, turning.

"Ela?"

"Cam's fiancée? What about her?"

"Oh. It's just that I kind of wondered..."

Antonio frowned, then his eyes widened and he waved his hands furiously. "No no no no! Me and Cam? Absolutely not! There's the age difference and he's like a cross between a big brother and an uncle, so ick. Besides, he knew that I was hung up on...uh, I mean, besides he's totally straight."

Jayden felt a grin starting to break out and subdued it mercilessly. "You'll be in good hands, hmm?"

Watching him like a hawk, Antonio thought about that for a long moment. "Cam's never been what you'd call subtle."

"But maybe that's what some people need."

"Maybe." Antonio swallowed sharply.

"You were saying something about being hung up on someone?" Jayden leaned against the doorway, arms crossed in a show of unconcern.

"Yeah." Off-guard, Antonio clearly wasn't sure what to do. "Um. About that-"

"Well, it could be that you'd need to talk to that person. Y'know, so they understand."

"And...what would happen then?"

"I think you'd get a favorable answer."

"Oh." Antonio looked stunned.

"So, should I go get Mia?"

Antonio's jaw dropped and he did an amazing fish impression.

Jayden gave up and let the grin out, along with a full-throated laugh. It felt good. Really good, truth be told.

Antonio shut his mouth. "You! You...hombre complicado."

"Sorry, I couldn't help it." Jayden pushed off the doorway. "I...think I'm kind of hung up on someone too."

"Jay, I'm tellin' you, man, it had better be me, 'cause I don't think my heart can take it otherwise."

"It's you." Stepping forward, he gave in to the urge he'd recognized his amazing, astounding, golden Antonio walking toward him. Putting his hands on Antonio's shoulders, Jayden pulled him forward into a kiss and found Antonio's arms fit around him perfectly.

"You sure about this?" Antonio asked when they eventually separated. "I think Ji's gonna take it worse than the zord."

"I can handle it."

"You mean we can handle it."

Jayden's smile felt like it would split his face in two. "Yeah, we can handle it. We can handle anything, right?"

"You know it."

-end-