Chapter 1

A Secret

Zane twitches uncomfortably in his sleep, beads of sweat rolling off his forehead. The tranquil silence in the living quarters in Sensei Wu's Academy is disrupted when he suddenly sits up and knocks his head on his bunk bed. He opens his eyes in time to see Cole fall off the top bunk and land on his back, groaning. Zane pulls the covers off and slips out of bed, grabbing his brother's arm asking. "Are you alright? I'm sorry about that."

"Yeah, I'm okay," Cole shies Zane's hand off him and climbs back to his bed without another word. Apparently, Jay, Kai, and Lloyd hadn't heard anything and are fast asleep.

Zane slumps down in front of his bed, putting his face in his hands. I don't think there's much time left for-no; don't think about it. You'll be fine, for now. Zane gets back in bed and finds very little respite for the rest of the evening and early hours of the morning. Eventually, he gets up and glances at the clock. 4:58 A. M., well, I might as well take a walk since I can't get any rest.

"Hey, Zane, where have you been?" Jay asks Zane as he plops in his chair at the dining table.

"Are you okay? Your face is quite pale," Lloyd notes as Zane drags his foot on the floor, staring down.

He glances up and feigns a smile, merely responding, "I'm fine. You're reading into it too much. Who's cooking today? Judging by the scent wafting in here from the kitchen, and his attendance, Cole is not cooking."

Cole frowns, clearly ticked off and retorts, "Kai is "trying" to cook, genius." He makes quotation marks with his fingers as Kai enters the room, carrying a pot.

He sets it in the middle of the table and says, "Here is my first try Cole. It's beef soup." He stares at the earth ninja in defiance. Zane takes a bowl from the stack near him and a spoon.

He gets some of the soup, while Jay complains, "For breakfast, really?"

"Come on, Jay. You need nutrition for teaching your students," Kai responds, dishing out some soup in his bowl and sitting down in his chair.

He begins slurping the hot liquid and Nya cringes, "How many times have I told you I hate it when you do that?"

Kai gulps it down and says, "Sorry sis." He smiles sheepishly while Zane spins his spoon in his soup, not having much of an appetite this morning. He supposes he ought to try it at least, just to be polite and puts a bit in his mouth. The flavor has a hint of starch in it, but otherwise is quite tasty. He swallows.

"Hey Zane, how is it?" Dareth asks, leaning close. Zane nods and his deep, blue eyes widen all of a sudden. He pushes his chair back and rushes out of the room, gaining stares from everyone at the table. "Okay, was it that bad?" Dareth speaks as he puts his spoon down that had nearly been in his mouth.

Kai glances at everyone in the room, chuckling nervously, "Um, I think it tastes fine. Let me go check on Zane." He exits the dining area and searches around the rooms. Zane is not there. Perhaps he is in the bathroom. Kai heads to the men's room just as Zane exits, nearly knocking into the fire ninja and Kai exclaims, "There you are! I have been looking everywhere for you! Are you alright?" Zane nods and heads back to the dining room without a word. Kai scratches his neck, perplexed at his brother's strange behavior. Okay, that was….odd.


"Hey! If you hit me, you know our teachers are ninja, right?" Sally folds her arms, staring at Brad and Jean defiantly. She pushes her finger against her nose at them.

"Oh really, Sally? They can't hurt us because we aren't their kids, girl, so what are you going to do?!"

Sally grabs a fistful of Brad's black hair, yanking it as hard as she can. Brad screams and pulls her hand away as she slaps him twice. Jean just laughs at them as they both tumble in the dirt, punching each other like little girls. Zane hurries outside, having seen them from the window in his class, and grabs both of them, pulling both kids away from each other, asking Jean, "What's going on?"

"Sally started it! She yanked Brad's hair," Jean points at her as she spits at Zane, who flinches in surprise, but holds her firmly.

"Sally, Brad, come with me to the headmaster," Zane responds and drags them both to Sensei Wu's office. They receive a two-day outdoor suspension and as they head outside again, Zane believes he sees them high-five each other, though he isn't quite positive. He sighs. Perhaps a suspension indoors would benefit them. He goes to his math class, thankful those two won't cause more issues during the day.