For God's sake.
Kai looked out the corner of his eye, irritation quickly building up inside of him.
He'd only been a part of this ninja team thing for a couple months, and still he had yet to get on his Leader's good side. Jay and Zane were fine – a little weird, but toleratable.
Cole on the other hand was whole different issue.
Every since day one the Earth Master had been on Kai's case. Always staring at him, resorting to violence when the brunet would slip up, and just being so damn annoying. The only time he'd get some space was either when he was asleep or splitting up in battles. Even in training he'd know he was being watched.
It was unsettling, to say the least.
Any normal person would've confronted him by now; but no. Kai mentally decided to see how long it would go on for, how long it would take for either of them to crack.
The brunet everted he stare back down to his phone as a distraction. Maybe he could ask the others if they had caught on to their teammate's odd behaviour. Asking Jay would be a waste of time – it was clear that he already had badblood with Cole. Zane… Zane probably wouldn't even realise he was being spoken to. Sensei would most likely laugh and tell him to "leave him be".
On second thoughts… maybe he should just tackle Cole on his own.
But how could he confront someone who he barely knew?
Cole wasn't one to speak about his life, clearly preferring to keep his thoughts to himself and himself only. All Kai knew is that Sensei had found him on a mountain and that he was older than him by a month or so.
And that his instant reaction is to be forceful – with both words and actions.
The most striking thing about the boy was that his hair colour was dangerously similar to the colour of Maya's - his late mother's - which scared him slightly, not to mention that he was barely taller than Nya, who is about the average height for a girl of her age.
It was quite amusing as to how small Cole was in comparison to the rest of the team. Especially when he was the Leader. But hey, he made up for the lack of height in a surprising amount of hidden strength.
"Take a picture," Kai looked up from his phone to find the elder still watching him, locking eyes. "It'll last longer."
Cole narrowed his brows. "What's that s'posed to mean?"
"You keep staring at me." He answered bluntly, leaning back on the grass. Cole straightened his posture against the tree he was leaning against, arms now folded over his chest.
He rolled his eyes. "It's called observing. I'm your Leader. It's my job."
"You don't do it to Jay, or Zane." His brows raised cockily. "D'you have a problem with me, or something?"
"You're new, Kai. If you bothered to interact with Jay and Zane, you'd realised that I had to do this with them as well."
Kai scoffed. "You're not Sensei. You don't need to do any of this."
"I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, but you can't just tell me to stop." He glanced in the direction of the Bounty, chewing his lip. "Right. I'm going in–"
"You're a shit Leader, you know that right?"
Cole exhaled frustratedly. "Excuse me?"
"You're a shit Leader." The brunet repeated himself smugly. "You get sea sick–"
"Wow. I never realised that getting sea sick doesn't make me fit to be a Leader." He pursued his lips, disinterested.
"You're so damn antisocial. Zane's more talkative than you and he barely talks to us."
"I talk when I need to. I can't be wasting breaths on spouting out my personal issues–"
"So you have personal issues?"
Cole looked up, sighing. "Oh my God… You can't be serious." He sternly met his gaze. "Everyone has issues, Kai. I just choose to keep them to myself."
"You really shouldn't do that, ya know." Kai smirked as he got to his feet, walking over to the raven. "Messes up ya head. It's not healthy."
"It's safe." The shorter male stepped back slightly, avoiding his stare. "As soon as you let all your problems be known, then everything goes downhill. It's basic logic."
"Offfff coursssssse it isssss." He chimed, leaning against the tree and practically towering over him. "God you're short."
The Earth Master growled, a blush dusting his cheeks. "Shut up. I'll beat your ass."
"Yeah, you keep thinking tha—" His words were cut short as a sudden pain exploded from his gut, causing him to stumble backwards, barely keeping his balance. "Ugh, you little bitch…!"
He slowly opened his eyes, prepared to throw a punch, but to his dismay that wouldn't be necessary. Cole's small figure was sauntering back to the Bounty's anchor, casually yet confidently.
He knew Kai would be wanting a fight. He wouldn't give him the satisfaction of a petty battle.
Kai knew this and he hated it.
And for the first time, he missed glaring into those teasing emerald eyes.
Should I make this into a proper multi-chapter fic? Reviews are greatly appreciated!