Title: Don't Stay Away
Author: Hieiko a.k.a. hieispike
Fandom: Power Rangers Ninja Storm
Pairing/Characters: Blake/Tori, Hunter, Dustin, Cam, Shane
Disclaimer: I don't own PRNS, or any of the characters.
Notes: Written after watching "Thunder Storm" for the Nth time, because it annoyed me that Tori and Blake didn't stick to each other like glue during those eps.
Summary: Set after "Storm Before the Calm". Tori and Blake are just friends, but their teammates know better.

i.
"Blake and I decided that we'd be better off as friends," Tori explains after she is cornered and questioned by the former Crimson Thunder Ranger.

"Really?" Hunter glowers down at her. "Then why'd my brother look like a kicked puppy before he left for his tour?"

ii.
Dustin sighs as he gives in to his best friend's request. "Tor, come on, you gotta talk to someone. This is what, the seventh time you've borrowed my bike? And Blake hasn't even been gone a month."

"I know," Tori says softly. She smiles at him, and Dustin is surprised to find that the smile is actually a real one. "Thanks for understanding," she adds.

He keeps staring at the door until after she's gone. "Why doesn't she just call him?"

iii.
"One of you has to make the first move," Cam says, coming to stand beside Tori on the porch of Dr. Oliver's house. "And if you're expecting Blake to do it, we'd be standing here forever."

The accompanying eyeroll makes her grin.

"Besides," he continues in a lighter tone, "It's making me sick watching the two of you pretend to be 'just friends'".

"We're not pretending," Tori protests.

Cam shakes his head. "That's what Blake told me, and I didn't believe him either."

iv.
The tears unnerve him.

In all the years Shane has known her, Tori had rarely cried. And definitely never in public.

Now they're sitting on the couch at Storm Chargers, and she's belatedly trying to wipe away the tear tracks on her face. He wraps an arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Tor," he says quietly. "Man, if I'd known you'd react like this, you know I wouldn't have told--"

His words are cut off when the door slams open, and Blake appears. The former Navy Ranger looks at them uncertainly. "Tori?"

When his best friend launches herself at Blake and nearly bowls him over, Shane slips away, assured that he'd done the right thing.