This idea came to me in programming class. Let me know if you like it or not!

...

Chapter 1: Kai

Kai walked into the empty noodle house, ready for his date with Skylor. He noticed his girlfriend sitting at the counter, her back to him. He smiled, and walked up to her. "Hey, babe." he whispered, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She smiled. "Hey."

There was a pile of papers in front of her, boring things like taxes and shipping costs and blah blah blah...

"You almost done?" Kai asked, pressing a kiss to her temple. She smiled. "About five minutes." Skylor removed her reading glasses. "Go ahead and get a cab."

Kai smiled. "Will do." He walked back towards the door, but unfortunately, he didn't see a pair of chopsticks sitting on the floor. He stepped right on them, and slid forward. While he managed to regain his balance, he accidentally hit a nearby tray. It fell forward, and it launched a teapot up into the air. It hit him straight on, splattering him with tea and giving him a small cut.

"Ow!" he yelped. Kai clutched the left side of his face.

Skylor sprung up and ran over to him. "Are you okay?" she asked. Kai moved his hand to her shoulder. "I'm fine." he reassured. His hair had fallen flat, hiding the cut, but Skylor still saw through the lie. "Let me see." she ordered.

Kai blushed. "No."

She scowled at him. "Kai, let me see." she repeated.

Kai sent her a equally scary scowl. "No." When it looked like Skylor was about to tackle him, Kai quickly ran away, not wanting to be on the recieving end of her wrath. She chased after him. They ran in circles around her restaraunt, knocking over tables and chairs, and making a huge mess.

Skylor suddenly stomped her foot, and vines grew out of floor, restraining Kai. He stared, flabbergasted. "When did you get your powers back?"

"When I had to use a little ice to put out a grease fire." she said, marching over to him. She pushed his wet bangs out of his face, and eyed the cut. "Idiot." she muttered. Skylor walked behind the counter, and reached for something Kai couldn't see. She returned with a small first-aid kit.

"Good thing it's not too bad. This thing only has Starfarer band-aids." she said. She pulled out one of the band-aids, and stuck it over the cut. "There we are. Isn't that better?"

Kai just glared at her. "I hate you."

"No you don't." she whispered, leaning in. Kai blushed. "No I don't." he agreed. "But you're still annoying."

Skylor released him from the vines hold. "Could say the same about you." she shot back.

Kai laughed, and leaned down to give her a kiss. But she stopped him. Instead, she cupped his cheek. "What's this?" she asked, running her thumb across a long, thin scar. It stretched from his brow across his cheek, and looked really old.

"It's nothing." Kai said, quickly, using his right hand to cover the scar.

"Kai." she warned.

He wanted to protest, but ended up caving. "It's just an old scar. I've had it since I was twelve."

"And you've been hiding it under cheap makeup this whole time?" there wasn't any venom to her voice, just concern.

"What do you mean 'cheap?'" he asked.

Skylor wiped the rest of the of the makeup off with a dishtowel. "It's not even water-resistant." she observed.

Kai shook his head. "Yes it is, it's just not tea-resistant." Skylor let out a laugh. "Neither is your hair gel."

Kai glanced up, and realized what she was talking about. "Crap!"

Skylor laughed again. "Calm down, I can fix it."

The fire master glared at her. "No way! You'll mess it up!"

Skylor just rolled her eyes. "Either you let me fix it, or we go out with your hair like that." Kai thought over his options. "Fine." he sighed.

The master of Amber pulled him over to the counter, and grabbed her purse. She pulled out a small tube of hair gel and a comb. She began to brush his hair, hoping to tame the mess.

A silence, not really awkward but not really comfortable, decsended on the pair. Skylor attempted to break it. "How'd you get the scar?"

Kai just shrugged. "I was working in my family's forge-"

"You worked in a forge when you were twelve?" Skylor asked, a bit surprised. Kai nodded. "Had to support me and my sister somehow."

Skylor winced, remebering that Kai had raised his sister from the time he was just ten years old.

"And these jerks showed up. Tried to steal some weapons and wouldn't stop harassing Nya." He stop for a second to yelp, feeling his girlfriend tug on his hair. "And I told them to get lost, or I'd call the police. One of them hit me, and he was wearing a ring." Skylor winced. That would've hurt.

"They left after that, but the scar never went away." he finished.

Skylor finished brushing his hair and squirted some gel into her hands. She began to apply it, trying to mimick his spikes. "So why'd you try to hide it?"

Kai shrugged again. "Guess I just thought it looked bad."

Skylor finished up, and looked him dead in the eye. A bright, loving smile broke across her face. "I think it makes you look sexy." she whisped, kissing the scar.

Kai's face turned as red as his gi. He watched as she pulled a compact out of her purse. "What do you think?" she asked, holding it out. Kai peered at his reflection. His hair was parted the opposite way than it usually was and the spikes were thicker and curlier.

It was different, but Kai liked it. He was going to wear it like this more often. "You did a good job, Sky. Thanks."

Skylor grabbed his hand. "No problem. Are you ready to go?" she asked.

Kai nodded, and the two left for a night at the movies.

...

I love both the old looks and the new looks, and I laughed at the joke they made about it. I was perfectly fine with the justification for the changes being "some minor change in the past could alter our appearance without us realizing", but because they look like their old forms in flashbacks, that reasoning doesn't make any sense.

So I decided to write about what could have actually happened to change their looks.