AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Howdy! This is The Mayor of Ninjago City with a new story called The Fire Within: The Beach Day Incident.
This two-chapter tale takes place two summers after The Fire Within, a popular Ninjago fanfic authored by measuremesky, a family member of mine. In fact, measuremesky contributed to the writing of this story as well.
This story was actually written nearly two years ago, but I had been waiting to post it until I finished some of my other stories in the The Fire Within series. But this week (which by the way marks the third anniversary of my cowboy tale The Fire Within a Ninjago Soldier), I thought, "Oh, what the heck, I'll put it up anyway!"
The story you are about to read focuses on our favorite earth ninja Cole, who by this time is engaged to be married to his lovely college girlfriend Brooke.
Hope you enjoy this first chapter of The Fire Within: The Beach Day Incident!
Chapter 1 -
The afternoon on this first Saturday in June was a hot one, hot enough to spend on a beach. And that's precisely where Cole Hence, the earth ninja, and his fiancee Brooke Dawson were heading. As usual, Saturday was the ninja's day off from training, and he was looking forward to spending the afternoon on the shore of Lake Ninjago with his girl.
Not only was Brooke his fiancee, and had been so since last Christmas when he presented her with an engagement ring, but for the next few weeks, they would be shipmates as well. This week Brooke had finished her final exams to conclude her third year at Ninjago University, and yesterday Cole had helped her move her belongings from her dormitory onto the Bounty, where she would live until their marital cottage was built. It was currently under construction, just a few dozen yards away from the ship, on the parcel of land purchased by Sensei Wu last year. Once the cottage was finished, Brooke would move in, and Cole would join her in living there after their August 2nd wedding ceremony.
Though the couple already knew what a ninja wedding ceremony was like, having been members of Kai and Sam's wedding party last summer, they still found the preparations to be stressful, and so today they decided to take it easy and simply spend the day relaxing. They had never gone to the beach together before, for Brooke had spent last summer in her home village, aside from the few days in Ninjago City for the celebration of their friends' nuptials.
The other ninja who lived on the Bounty had already left to go on their afternoon outings. Lloyd was seeing a movie with Alison. Zane was browsing at a bookstore. Sensei never said where he was going. And Jay and Nya were picnicking at the park. They were in the early stages of preparing for their own wedding next spring, since Jay had proposed to Nya just a few weeks ago.
Kai and Sam did not live on the Bounty any more. The couple, who was expecting their first child in the fall, lived in their own marital cottage, about a hundred yards away.
"You almost ready, sweetie?" Brooke called out to Cole as she stood next to the kitchen island countertop, packing the beach bag with snacks. She already had put on her swimsuit and was wearing her white beach coverup over it. If they had been planning to take public transportation, she would have put on street clothes over her swimsuit, but since they were going to ride Cole's dragon to the lake, she had decided that the coverup would suffice.
"Almost," Cole called back from the bunkroom. "I'm just looking for my sunscreen. I'm beginning to think Jay took it to the park."
"Don't worry - you can just use my tube," Brooke replied as she put the last bag of snacks into the orange tote. "I'll share with you. After all, you'll be sharing your last name with me pretty soon!" she teased.
Cole emerged from the bunkroom wearing a T-shirt and his swim trunks. He momentarily paused on his way to the kitchen at the sight of his pretty fiancee. The last time he had seen her, twenty minutes ago, she was wearing her long hair the way she usually wore it - cascading down her back. But since then, she had put up her brunette tresses into a bun, a style he had never seen her in before but which he thought looked beautiful. And he also didn't recall ever seeing her in that lacy white coverup. It was attractive - and so was what he could see through the lace.
He walked over to stand behind her as she fished the sunscreen tube out of the beach bag. Sliding his arms around her waist and pressing his abdomen against her back, he nuzzled her bare neck with his lips, mumbling, "So are you wearing something new? I haven't seen your outfit before."
She giggled at her neck being tickled. "Y-yes," she stammered. "I bought this beach coverup on clearance last fall and today is the first time I've gotten to wear it. Same with my bikini."
"Bikini, hmm? Can't wait to see it," he murmured, his lips still exploring her neck. He was also enjoying her vanilla scent - it never failed to tantalize him.
Brooke chuckled. "Well, then, stop tickling me and let's get going!" She held up the found tube of sunscreen. "Want me to put some on your back now, or do it when we get to the lake?"
"Now, I guess," the earth ninja answered. Letting go of her reluctantly, he straightened up. As she turned around to face him, he peeled off his T-shirt and placed it on the kitchen table.
Brooke's eyes widened in admiration of his toned chest. "I, um, don't think I've ever seen you without a shirt," she said, swallowing.
"You like what you see?" Cole smirked.
Brooke grinned at his teasing and rolled her eyes. "Just turn around," she commanded him, lightly punching him in the arm.
He obeyed her command, and soon he felt the sunscreen being applied to his back with gentle strokes from her soft hands. Brooke had massaged his back countless times before, but this was the first time she had done it while he was shirtless. Needless to say, he enjoyed the sensation.
"Done," she declared after two or three minutes.
Cole was disappointed to hear that she was finished so soon. But as he turned to face her once again, a thought struck him.
"Do you want me to put some on YOUR back now?" he smirked.
"Sure," she replied, chuckling. She handed him the tube of sunscreen. Then she took a hold of the zipper of her lacy coverup and drew it down the front of her, unzipping the garment. Once she slipped it off her shoulders and placed it on the kitchen table, the orange tropical print bikini she wore was now clearly visible - and so was a whole lot of her smooth, lightly tanned skin that he had never seen before.
"You like what you see?" she asked, asking him the same question he had asked her a few minutes earlier. She posed seductively.
Cole looked her up and down. Brooke was gorgeous. But he thought he'd tease her. "I'll have to think about it," he answered nonchalantly.
Brooke rolled her eyes as she turned her back to him so he could apply the cream. He started at her lower back and worked his way up, making sure to get under the tie strings of her bikini top that stretched across her back and also across the nape of her neck. She sure had silky smooth skin.
"I'm done," he announced, tossing the sunscreen tube in the beach bag. "So if we're ready, I guess we should go so we can be sure to get a good spot on the beach."
Brooke turned in his direction once again and reached for his T-shirt which rested on the kitchen island countertop. She held it out for him to grab, but just before he did, she yanked it back.
"Hey!" he protested.
She laughed. "Just getting you back for saying that you have to think about whether or not you like what you see!" She held the T-shirt toward him once more but again yanked it away when he reached for it.
Cole put his hands on his hips. "Do you really think you can keep that T-shirt out of the reach of a NINJA indefinitely?"
"I can try!" Brooke claimed, and with that, she bolted out of the kitchen, laughing while clutching the item of clothing.
He chased her into the living room, where they went once around the sofa until he decided to wait at one end for her to see where she would head next so he could cut off her escape route.
All of a sudden, she screeched and threw the shirt at him while making a beeline for the hallway.
He batted the cloth out of his way, for at this point his main goal was to catch her and tickle her. He caught up with her at the doorway to the bedroom she shared with Nya.
"No!" she squealed, still laughing as she backed up into the room, trying to slap away his attempts to tickle her as he advanced toward her.
Unfortunately, she was not looking in the direction she was backing up into, so she hit the footboard of her twin bed, tumbling backward onto the mattress.
He leaped on top of her. "Gotcha!" he declared, tickling her in earnest.
"I surrender! Just let me breathe!" she laughed, wiggling to escape his clutches.
He decided he would show some mercy. "Give me a kiss and I'll stop," he offered.
"Stop first, and then you get your kiss," she counteroffered.
"OK," he agreed. He stopped tickling her.
She lifted her head off the bed and pecked him on the lips before dropping back down.
"Hey, you can do better than that, future Mrs. Hence!"
Brooke smirked. "Yes, I can!"
Smiling into his dark brown eyes, she wrapped her arms around his neck. Lifting her head off the bed once more, her eyelids fluttered closed as her lips sought to touch his lips in a softer, gentler manner.
Cole's eyes closed, too, as he guided her head to rest on the bed again. As he sampled her kisses, he became aware of a sensation new to him - the pleasure of her barely-clad warm body against his bare chest.
His breathing quickened as his hands seemed to take on a life of their own, roaming over her soft curves. As he did so, the small moans she uttered only fueled his desire to explore her.
The inner voice that was telling him to stop immediately was quickly fading away.