-BAD DAYS-
Snake Eyes sighed, slumping down on the workout bench. It was uncomfortably hot in the packed gym, adding the the stress. He let out a noiseless grunt as he strained to lift a weight bar, his arm muscles bunching together to elevate it.
He sat up when he was done, cracking his neck. He HAD to let off steam on SOMETHING. Well, that was better than SOMEONE, right? Ah! There was his chance. Clutch had just left one of the bunching bags, and it bobbed back and forth, with no one there to take a hit at it. The black-clad ninja master stood, looking around to see if anyone was heading to claim it. Taking his chance, he walked over, steadying the bag from its rocking movement.
POW!
He whacked it hard.
Oh man...that felt good. He thought to himself as he drew his arm back for another strike.
Whack!
He smiled beneath the mask.
I've got to keep doing this...
It had been a rough day. He had woken up in a bad mood anyway, but finding out that the shower wasn't working....oh boy....that made him REALLY mad. If he didn't have a shower and coffee in the morning...watch. Out. And, speaking of coffee, his stupid coffee maker had died.
WHOP!
He kicked the bag with a round-house sweep. Boy, did it feel good to hit something! He had stubbed his foot earlier in the day while walking outside. You'd think the world's best ninja would see a three foot log in front of him. Scarlett had gotten mad at him and they had gotten in a fight...which he failed at...not being able to speak. The beautiful redhead was still so pretty when she was mad...but the bruise on the back of Snake Eyes' leg was NOT. He winced as rubbed the spot tenderly, remembering her boot slamming down hard behind his knee. And then remembered the slap he had gotten when he didn't flinch after she had kicked him. On top of all that, Tunnel Rat was on laundry duty, and accidentally took his mask. He had called Scarlett, who was still mad at him, to see if she could go look for it. She finally complied after almost 15 minutes of begging on his knees, and an hour later she came back with it sopping wet. NOW it had to be dried for almost 30 minutes. By that time, he was half an hour late for training practice with his newly recruited apprentices for hand-to-hand combat. When he finally got down there to train, Kamakura had twisted his ankle and couldn't help him, so he had to train 12 students ALONE. Do you even have an IDEA how hard that can be? Oh, with the worry that one of them will cut anothers head off by accident and it will be your fault. When he had gotten back to his quarters, Timber had gotten hold of his favorite book and torn it to SHREDS. What a day. Yeah, I thought so.
SLAM!
He gave the bag a good punch at the latter thoughts, and immediately jumped back in shock at the loud "OW!" that came from behind it. He stared for a moment, and then heard a muffled giggle among the chatter of the packed gym. The redheaded beauty of the G.I. Joe Team came walking out from behind it, hands on hips and fiery red locks curling around her shoulders. She couldn't help but smile as she looked the bag up and down.
"Well, Snakes...you sure beat that thing up!"
Snake Eyes took a step back...out of kicking range.
[Uh...hi, Shana.] He signed.
Scarlett nudged him, laughing as he flinched.
"No need to back away, Ian. I'm not mad anymore. Seeing you whack that bag like that really made me laugh."
Only Snake Eyes knew that he blushed.
[Oh...um...yeah. That. Wait—you're not mad anymore?]
She smiled, touching the side of his face.
"Nope. I'm not."
Snake Eyes let out a barely audible sigh of relief.
[Hey, um...I'm sorry about the fight. It was my fault.]
She took his arm, pressing the "I Love You" sign into his hand.
"No, it was mine. C'mon, big guy, let's go somewhere less quiet. Heavy Duty's fixing something good for lunch; we can grab something and go outside. What do you say?"
Snake Eyes couldn't help but smile.
[Sure, sounds fine to me, Shana.]
As he turned to walk away, he glanced back at the bag, laughing silently.
Whenever life's got you down...go punch a bag—it helps!
~fin~