A/N: This is my second PR story and I hope you guys like it. Read and enjoy =)
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. I wrote this strictly for entertainment, not for payment
Nighlok swarmed the city square, frightening the citizens, and causing chaos. The past few weeks, the Nighlok had been attacking more and more frequently, becoming stronger and stronger as the Sanzu River rose higher and higher.
Jayden was battling more than his share of moogers. They seemed almost never ending; when he slashed one down, two more were ready to replace them. He was especially glad that he insisted that his team up their practices. If not for that, none of them would have been able to handle these stronger Nighlok.
Inside his helmet, sweat was beaded on his forehead, dripping into his eyes. He blinked, trying to calm the burning, and became distracted just long enough for a mooger to slip through and send him flying.
As he lay there, trying to catch his bearings, he managed to catch sight of Emily, fighting and holding her own against her own fair share of moogers. She had improved even more since their nightly trainings while everyone was asleep. Although sometimes training was put on the back burner.
Out the corner of his eye, he noticed a mooger sneaking up behind Emily. Before he could shout out a warning, the mooger was already bringing its sword down on Emily's shoulder.
As she screamed out in pain, falling to the ground and unmorphing, Jayden roared in anger. Kicking his legs up, he jumped to his feet and started slicing he way through the moogers, trying to make it to Emily before they hurt her worse in her vulnerable condition.
When he finally made it to her side, he crouched next to her, the other rangers forming a barrier between him and Emily and the remaining moogers. He powered down, and then placed his arm under her head to lift her up, trying to be gentle so as not to injure her further. But when she moaned in pain, clearly unconscious, he felt new rage build up in him at the Nighlok.
He watched as his friends dispatched the remaining moogers, afraid to leave Emily's side. So he cradled her in his arms and ran his thumb over her cheek soothingly. He was extremely proud of his teammates.
"Is Emily ok?" Mia asked as they ran back up to Jayden and Emily.
"I think she's ok, just unconscious. We need to get her back to the dojo to make sure," Jayden replied.
"I'll carry her for you," Mike offered.
"No." Jayden shot his offer down without a thought. "I've got her."
Emily woke sometime later. She slowly opened her eyes, not understanding why she was in such pain. She looked around, taking a few moments to realize that she was in the recovery room. Suddenly it all came back to her: fighting the unusually strong moogers, feeling proud of herself for her improvements she had made since she had started her night time training, when suddenly she was struck across the shoulder and knocked unconscious.
She turned her head and noticed Jayden sitting in a chair next to the bed, his head hanging in his hands. "Jayden," she whispered, her voice hoarse from sleeping. "What's wrong?"
His head jerked up. "Emily, oh God, are you ok?"
"I'm fine," she reassured him. She moved her shoulder slightly and winced in pain. "My shoulder is still a little sore though."
"This is what I was afraid would happen." Jayden reached forward and cupped her hand between his.
"Jayden," She reached out her other hand and caressed his cheek. "This isn't your fault. It's mine for not paying attention. I got too confident out in the field and lost concentration. Don't blame yourself for this."
"Em, you don't understand. I can't bear the thought of something happening to you." He laid his forehead to hers, shaken to the core.
"Nothing is going to happen to me, Jayden." She lifted her head up slightly, touching her lips to his.
Their kiss was gentle and loving, both trying to reassure themselves that the other was ok. They were so wrapped up in each other , neither noticed Mia softly open the door, intent on checking on Emily.
Mia slapped her hand over her mouth to muffle her gasp and quickly, but quietly, closed the door back. She was in shock at what she had seen. She stood there for a moment, trying to convince herself that what she'd seen was only a figment of her imagination. She slowly slid the door back open. Her eyes grew even bigger at the sight before her.
Jayden was now lying beside Emily, Emily curled up at his side, asleep while he played with her hair. Along with thinking how cute Emily and Jayden looked together, all Mia could think was: When did this happen?
The next day, Emily was all healed up, thanks to the amazing healing powers that came with being a Power Ranger, and was outside with her team, training. She stood with Jayden as they watched Mike and Kevin duel, laughing at some of Mike's crazy antics against stone cold serious Kevin.
Mia, meanwhile, stood off to the side, trying not to be obvious in her staring at Emily and Jayden. Now that Mia knew, she couldn't understand how she and the rest of the team didn't see what was right in from of their faces. She observed how close together they stood, how intently he stared at her, how Emily found ways to touch him: leaning her shoulder against him, touching his arm when he made her laugh.
Her attention was averted for a second, after hearing Master Ji scold Mike for his playfulness during training, but when she glanced back over, Emily and Jayden were gone.
"Jayden, where are you taking me?" Emily giggled.
"Someplace where we can be alone for a minute," he replied. He led her around the outside buildings, the sounds of training faint now. He turned around to face her, and cupped her face in his hands.
"Why did you want to be alone?" she teased.
"For this," he answered. He leaned down, and placed his lips on hers. Jayden felt the intensity of his feelings for her rear up suddenly and unexpectedly. He had to fight to keep the kiss gentle, but he couldn't stop himself from pulling her flush with his body, holding her tightly.
He tore his lips from hers, and buried his face in her neck, breathing in her scent, a blend of vanilla and citrus. Her hands were around his neck, clenching tightly in his hair, telling him that he wasn't the only one affected. "We better get back before we're missed," he whispered reluctantly.
They held hands until they reached everyone, and slipped quietly back into the group. Master Ji was still scolding Mike for his foolishness, when suddenly he changed the subject of the conversation.
"-But I do recognize how hard everyone has been working lately, so I've decided to give you guys the rest of the day off. You can do whatever you like, just as long as it's away from here." With that he turned around and went inside.
"Awesome!" Mike called.
"We can't just stop training," Kevin interrupted Mike's victory call. "A samurai's job never ends. Five minutes that we take away from training is five minutes we could be taking to become stronger, faster, better samurai!"
"But good samurai also need time to rest," Mia said. "You can't fight the good fight if you're falling asleep on your feet from training so much."
"But-" Kevin started.
"Mia's right," Jayden interrupted him. "If I've learned anything in my years of being a samurai, it's exactly what she said. I've lost more battles because I was too tired to fight than not having enough training."
Everyone looked a Jayden, stunned. He was usually the last one to try to take any time off. He spent more time training than the rest of them.
"Can't argue with that logic," Mike broke the silence after Jayden's speech. "I've got the best idea. Let's go to the beach. It's a beautiful day and we need to enjoy it outside."
Mia, Emily, and even Kevin agreed to the idea. Emily looked to Jayden. "What do you think?"
Jayden paused for a minute, a smile slowly spreading across his face. "I think that sounds like a great idea."
An hour later, all six Samurai were playing on the beach, Antonio having met them right as they were leaving the Shiba House.
Mike, Mia, Kevin, and Antonio were all playing in the waves, splashing each other, squeals of delight coming from Mia. Emily and Jayden had opted to walk along the shoreline and try to find seashells.
"So," Emily started, "it was kind of surprising that you wanted to take the day off like the rest of us."
Jayden glanced behind them to check and see if they were out of eyesight of their other teammates before he laced his fingers with hers. "I had ulterior motives, you know." He brought her hand to his lips, kissing the back of it. "Spending the day alone with you sounded ten times better than training."
Emily stared up at Jayden, smiling brightly. She stood on her tippy-toes, pressing her lips to his. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his as close as she could. She hesitantly ran her tongue over his lips, teasing her way in.
They quickly got lost in each other, holding each other tightly, neither paying attention to their surroundings. They were shocked when suddenly, a wave crashed onto the beach, spraying both with salt water.
Emily glanced up at Jayden and immediately started giggling. Jayden was dripping with water, and somehow seaweed had sprayed onto his head and was falling into his face.
Jayden slowly reached up and plucked the seaweed off his face, struggling not to laugh along with Emily. "So you think this is funny do you?" he demanded. Emily was unable to answer due to her giggles. "Well, let's see how you like this."
Jayden snatched Emily up and started running deeper into the surf. When he was deep enough, he tossed her into the waves. He laughed when she came up spluttering and glaring. "Oh you're going to get it, Jayden." Emily splashed him as hard as she could, and then pushed him into an oncoming wave as he was wiping the water out of his eyes.
"Oh, it's on now," Jayden warned, before they started splashing each other, both laughing.
Down the beach, Mia watched them with great interest. They were far enough away that they were mostly just black blobs, but close enough that she could tell they were walking extremely close, closer than just two friends would walk.
Her eyes widened when she watched Jayden throw Emily into the waves, and she could barely contain her laughter at their splash fight. She glanced at Kevin, Mike, and Antonio and was amazed at their total unawareness of what was happening down the beach.
At that moment, Mia decided that she needed to have a talk with Emily that night.
The rangers were each in their own room, resting from their frolicking at the beach. Emily was sitting on her bed, painting her toenails a bright red. She smiled because there was only one reason why she wanted bright red, instead of her usual pastel pinks and oranges: Jayden.
Their time at the beach had been wonderful. They had eventually rejoined their friends to romp in the waves, but Jayden had still found ways to touch her, even when they'd all decided to lie on their beach towels in the sand and relax in the sun.
She looked up at the knock on her door and smiled when Mia poked her head in. "Can I come in and talk to you for a minute?" Mia asked.
"Sure." Emily smiled in welcome.
Mia sat down on the edge of the bed. "Mia, what's wrong?"
"I just don't know how to start." She thought for a second, then decided to come outright with it. "Emily, I saw you and Jayden the day you were injured in battle. I was coming to check on you, and when I walked in, I saw Jayden kissing you."
Emily watched her for a minute, worriedly chewing on her bottom lip. "I don't know what to say, Mia. Are you upset?"
"No, I don't want you to think that." Mia placed her hand on Emily's reassuringly. "I just wanted you to know that I know, and if you needed a friend to talk to, I'm here for you."
Emily sighed in relief. "I'm glad."
"Can I ask why you and Jayden are keeping it a secret?"
Emily thought for a moment. "I don't know," she finally admitted. "Neither one of us talked about telling you guys or keeping it a secret. I think we both wanted to enjoy being together without the added pressure of everyone knowing. Do you know what I mean?"
"I think I do. But don't worry, if you don't want the rest of the team to know yet, I won't say anything. Your secret is safe with me."
Mia and Emily talked for a few more minutes before Mia excused herself to get ready for bed. Emily stood up and headed outside, late for the night time training with Jayden.
She walked outside and watched Jayden quietly for a moment. She sometimes couldn't believe that he'd chosen her. He was so strong and amazing, and so handsome that she spent most of her time dazzled by him.
Jayden stopped when he noticed Emily out of the corner of his eyes. "Hey," he smiled, walking up to her. "I was starting to worry that you had changed your mind about tonight." He bent down and kissed her softly.
"I'm sorry. I got sidetracked by Mia." Emily shyly glanced at her feet, then looked back up at Jayden. "She knows about us, Jayden."
"OK?" He said, confused.
"I know we never discussed exactly what we're doing and what we are to each other. But Mia promised she wouldn't say anything to anybody until we're ready."
"Em, it's ok. It doesn't bother me that she knows, or if anybody else knows for that matter. The only reason why I haven't said anything is because I just want it to be me and you, get used to us being us without everyone else. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
"I understand perfectly, Jayden." Emily smiled beautifully up at him. "That's exactly what I told Mia, I'm just glad we're both on the same page."
"Me too." He leaned down again and kissed her again, letting the kiss draw out a little longer this time. "How about we forgo the training tonight and just be together?"
"That sounds perfect."
They spent the rest of the night, sitting curled up together under the stars, enjoying being together, just the two of them, not knowing how long it would last.
A/N: Pleeeeeeese tell me what you think. Constructive critism is always welcome. I'm already working on an idea for a sequel so hopefully I'll have it done pretty quick.
I'm also working around in my head and idea for a mature fanfic.. also tell me what you think of that idea =) Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it.