Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers: SUPER Samurai.
Author's Note: Well, with the new season here it's time to start a new Way of the Samurai. I hope you all enjoy!
-Super-Samurai-
Antonio held the Black Box in his hand. He couldn't understand why it was taking so long to program.
All the symbols were in; all the Zords were in; all the Stones were in … There was nothing missing. The Black Box wasn't asking for anything more.
And yet it still wouldn't work.
Antonio flipped opened his Samurai Morpher and connected it to the Black Box. He looked at the screen which read 80% to completion. With a groan, he tucked his Samurai Morpher and the Black Box away. Until it was completely, there was no need to have it out.
Suddenly there was a knock at his door. He looked up curiously when he saw it was Jayden.
"What's up?"
Jayden started to play nervously with his hands, "Can I ask you a big favour?"
"Sure, amigo."
"I don't want you to take this the wrong way…"
"Jay, just tell me."
Jayden looked up, "Mike's taking Emily out for the afternoon on a trial date. Ji and Serena are taking Terran out for a walk now that the weather's nice and Mia and Kevin are training in the dojo, then they're going to watch a movie."
"And…"
"I was wondering if we could do something… you know… couple-like…"
Antonio looked to Jayden quizzically. He didn't understand at all. For now Jayden had decided to consider himself bisexual, which meant he did have an attraction to men, but he was also attracted to women. Amanda meant a lot to Jayden and he wasn't ready to lose her, so for Jayden to be asking Antonio out came as a big surprise.
"Like a date?"
"No… well…" Jayden looked to his shoes, "A trial date. If it's too weird for you just say so. I don't want to give you the wrong idea. I just… I want to test something and… you're the only guy I trust."
"Guy?" Antonio asked and then quickly caught on, "Oh, like when I had you play house with Kevin."
"Yeah," Jayden nodded. He looked up at Antonio, "Look, if it's too weird because of, you know…"
"No, no," Antonio shook his head, "I mean, it's a little weird, but it'll be just like us hanging out," Antonio smiled brightly, "What do you want to do? Where do you want to go?"
"There's a movie playing. It's supposed to be pretty funny…"
"Just lead me to it," Antonio said as he started to grab his things. As he walked by Jayden, the red Ranger grabbed his arm.
"I'm serious, Antonio. This is just one friend helping another. I don't want to cheat on Amanda."
"Technically you two are broken up," Antonio reminded him, "but don't worry, Jay. I get it. I get what you're asking. It's cool."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Antonio nodded his head, "Besides, the guy who sells tickets is kind of cute, and I think he's gay."
Jayden chuckled, "Flirt all you want," he gave Antonio a pat on the back, "You can even pay for my ticket so you can spent a little more time with the cute ticket boy."
"Deal," Antonio smirked.
-Samurai-
Mike placed his skateboard on the ground and looked across the park at Emily. The snow was melting away little by little and the pavement was dry enough from the sun for a day of skateboarding. Mike remembered trying to teach Emily in the past, and he remembered that up until the very end, she had done a good job.
After calling off the engagement, everything about his relationship with Emily had changed. Aside from the fact that he knew her better than anyone else, even Serena at times, he felt like he was right back in the starting stages. Like they were still just learning how the relationship would work. Mike knew that if she was going to take Emily out on a date, it couldn't be anything big. Just a simple day in the park.
Serena and Mentor were walking around the park as well with Terran in his stroller. Serena trusted Mike, but she wouldn't keep her eyes off him for too long. It made the date a little more awkward than it needed to be, but Mike was willing to be patient. He would wait, no matter how long it took.
He held up the helmet for Emily to take, "I'll hold your hand the entire way," he told her with a smile.
Emily shook her head. She was already dressed with elbow pads and knee pads, "No way. You remember what happened last time."
"You rocked it, Em," Mike smiled, "Put on the helmet. I won't let you fall."
Mike held the helmet out a little closer to Emily and she sighed as she took it and strapped it on tight.
"If this stupid plan of yours knocks me into a coma, tell Terran to never ever listen to you, okay."
"I'll just confuse the poor kid if I tell him to never listen to me," Mike chuckled. He tapped on the helmet on Emily's head and made sure it was secure. He didn't want to hurt her. Her bruises were almost completely gone; he didn't want to bring them back.
A little ways off, Serena and Mentor had stopped their walk and took a seat on the park bench. They watched as Mike helped Emily get both her feet up onto the plank on wheels. Serena seemed a little nervous.
"He is trying to kill her, isn't he?" she winced when she saw Emily almost slip off, but Mike was quick to catch her. Mentor chuckled softly.
"I hope this works out for them," he said. "It's a shame to see them have to go back."
Serena nodded then looked to Ji, "You didn't take away Mike's stuff. He attacked Emily, but you didn't punish him."
"I figured he was being punished enough," Mentor shrugged his shoulders, "Love doesn't escape me. As long as he has Emily around, nothing else seems to matter to Mike. I could have taken away his video games, his movies, his furniture, everything. He would never have noticed."
"He did take the break up pretty hard," Serena nodded her head. She looked back at Mike, "He's handling this really well, but I guess he is being punished."
Ji smirked and gently nudged Serena, "A wise mother and sister once told me I needed to fit the punishment to the crime and the person."
"I told you that," Serena smirked. She nodded her head, "Okay, I get it."
"So," Ji said in a tone that indicated he wanted to change topics, "I've noticed you haven't got back to school since your argument with James."
Serena shrugged her shoulders sadly, "It's complicated, Mentor."
"Love is never easy."
"I don't want him to get hurt."
"Being separated didn't stop Amanda from getting hurt."
"You heard what he said about Terran, right?"
"I have. I've also seen all the flowers he's sent, all the cards he's left on our door. Do I have to remind you the drive up to our house is not a quick drive down the block? Every day he seems to go out of his way to try and win you back."
Serena nodded her head, "He'll probably give up soon."
"He said some pretty nasty things, but he did seem to be quite the gentleman every other time we've met."
"He was pretty great," Serena nodded, "I'll think about…"
"Guys!" Serena heard Emily scream and her attention quickly shifted to the other side of the park. She saw Mike and Emily were squatting down on the ground and were looking at something in the dirt. Panic started to bubble in Serena's stomach. She turned to Mentor. He nodded and placed his hand on the handle of the stroller.
"I will keep an eye on him. You go check it out."
"Take him home," Serena said, "And get the others."
Mentor got up and did as he was told while Serena rushed over to Mike and Emily. Her fears were confirmed when she saw a pool of red water in the dirt. She pulled Emily away.
"It's Sanzu Water."
"Here too?" Emily asked.
Mike shook his head and stood up, "If it's seeping through here and at the school…"
"It's got to be coming out in other locations as well," Serena sighed. She pulled out her Samuraizer, "We can at least cover it up so no one gets hurt by it."
She traced a symbol and the ground began to move slightly. The earth under the puddle opened up, pulling the water deeper down.
Emily traced her own symbol and covered up Serena's hole with fresh dirt and stones. Within minutes the pool was covered.
Mike looked around the park to see if anyone had noticed. Fortunately no one had. He then stepped on the new dirt to make sure it was safe to walk on.
"We should head back to the Shiba House. Maybe the map can tell us where other pools are."
The girls nodded, "Good idea."
-Samurai-
Jayden was sitting in the theater with Antonio right next to him. He was starting to regret running with this idea. He had a lot of confusing thoughts in his head about his preferences and had been hoping and afternoon out on a pretend date would help.
But he had watched Antonio flirt with the ticket salesman and he started to feel jealous. He didn't like it; none of it. He didn't like how Antonio was flirting and he didn't like that he was jealous. He had Amanda and he loved her more than he thought imaginable.
He sunk down in his seat and pouted. He wished he could get in contact with Amanda to talk to her. He wished he could ask her if it was okay for him to experiment. Antonio kept reminding him that he and Amanda were broken-up, which was technically true, but Jayden didn't feel that way.
He wanted real answers. He wanted an end. Was he straight? Definitely not. Was he gay? Not exclusively. He was bisexual and he had the ability to love both men and woman. And he did love one man and one woman. Unfortunately, he couldn't love them both. Not the way they deserved to be loved.
"So kiss me," the leading character on the screen said to her ex-husband… at least, that's what Jayden thought. He hadn't really been following the movie.
"What?"
"If we're really over kiss me. It's not like it'll mean anything, right."
Jayden glanced sideways over to Antonio. This was something he never wanted to do, but a kiss meant a lot. He hoped that, with a kiss, he could reassure himself that his heart did belong to Amanda, regardless of his sexuality. But just as he was about to do so, his Samuraizer beeped.
"Shh!" the older lady behind him whispered as Jayden grabbed his Samuraizer and tugged on Antonio's arm.
"Sorry," he whispered and led Antonio out of the theater. In the lobby, he put the Samuraizer to his ear, "This better be important."
