Kai shook his head slowly at the sound of sickly coughing that was emitting from Cole's room. They had been going on for since the day before when Cole first woke up with a cold and a fever. Once Kai and the others had promised him the team would be fine without him for a few days, Cole had agreed to stay in bed and rest.
Kai was a little surprised on how easily Cole was convinced. Kai himself never would give in to an illness that quickly. For one he didn't like the idea of staying in bed while someone possibly needed his help. For two staying in bed was boring.
Kai's thoughts were interrupted by more coughs followed by a violent sneeze.
Kai frowned and headed to the kitchen. Right now it was Cole who needed the help. He quickly got a cup and made some tea making sure not to use any from Sensei Wu's private stash. Once the tea was hot he put the teapot and the cup on a tray and took it heading to Cole's room.
Quietly he came in, checking to make sure Cole was awake before saying, "Hey, I brought you some tea."
"Thanks," Cole smiled sitting up.
"You feeling any better?" Kai asked.
"Not really, but I don't think I'm any worse either," Cole answered drinking some tea.
"That's good at least." Kai smiled.
Cole was tough. Kai was sure he'd be fine. Still being sick wasn't fun and it was good to know Cole wasn't getting worse.
"Is…AH-TCHOO!...excuse me. Is the team doing okay?"
"We're doing fine. Nothing's even come up," Kai assured him.
Famous last words.
At that moment Zane came running in out of breath.
"Kai," he panted, "It's Nya…I don't know what…But I sense something…concerning her is wrong…We need to go now!"
Kai's eyes widened and he turned to follow Zane. Then he paused and looked back to make sure Cole was okay with only Sensei Wu to look after him.
"I'll be fine," Cole told him, "Go help your sister."
Kai nodded and ran following Zane and Jay to the dragons.
"Oh man what could have happened. What if Nya's hurt? She could be bleeding, or have a broken leg, or maybe she hurt her head, or maybe she's unconscious, or…" Jay babbled.
"Jay stop!" Kai was practically pleading, "I don't want to think about what could have happened."
The dragons landed just outside the village. The three ninjas ran to the store Nya owned. Kai immediately saw the problem. One of the windows was broken and inside everything was a mess.
Kai and Jay ran in calling Nya's name and looking under large pieces of armor she might be trapped under. But there was no sign of her.
"Oh gosh…please tell me she wasn't kidnapped." Jay said sounding panicked.
"I sense her still being in the village. She may have simply gone out shopping and was away during the break in," Zane suggested.
"Let's split up and look for her. Meet up back here in an hour." said Kai.
Kai searched through the crowds of the shopping district calling Nya's name. No one seemed to have seen her. Kai wasn't sure how anyone could have seen anybody in this crowd anyway. There had to be some special sales going on or something.
Finally just as Kai was about to give up and return the blacksmith shop he spotted her buying some tools.
"NYA!" Kai called out running to her.
"Kai?" Nya turned obviously surprised to see him.
"Thank the seven gods you're okay." Kai breathed feeling relieved.
"Kai what's wrong? What happened?" Nya asked.
"It's the shop. It's been broken into," said Kai, "We need to meet up with the others now."
The two ran back to the shop to find Zane and Jay waiting.
"You found her!" Zane said smiling.
"Nya, are you hurt?" Jay asked.
"I'm fine," Nya assured, "But, I need to get this place cleaned up and figure out what was stolen."
"I'll give you a hand!" Jay said eagerly.
"We all will," said Kai.
Zane nodded in agreement.
The job took several hours but at last the helmets were stacked neatly, the swords were shining on display, and all the armor was upright.
"Find what was stolen?" Jay asked wiping sweat from his brow.
"No, all the armor seems to be…wait…" Nya frowned.
She checked a drawer and her eyes went wide.
"My bracelet!" she exclaimed.
"Your what?" Zane asked.
"The bracelet my mom left for me when she died. It's gone!" Nya looked ready to cry.
"Don't worry, Nya. We'll find it!" Jay said.
Kai looked outside. The sun was already low in the sky.
"Much as I hate to say this, we can't start now," he said, "Let's head back to the dojo. Nya, you should come with. It's not safe here."
30 minutes later they were back at the dojo.
"I'll talk to Cole and see what he suggests," said Jay.
"Good idea," Kai agreed, "Cole always has a plan."
"Where was he today anyway?" Nya asked.
As if on cue, 3 violent sneezes were heard from Cole's room.
"In there…doing that mostly," Jay answered.
"He has a cold," Zane explained.
"Oh, poor guy," Nya said sympathetically.
"He's doing alright," said Sensei Wu walking up to the group, "He told me the three of you went to help you, Nya. I'm glad to find you safe."
"Thanks, Sensei," Nya replied.
"We're going to finish cleaning up this mess tomorrow," said Kai determinedly, "We have to find Nya's bracelet."
"I'm not sure I understand its importance," said Zane.
Kai looked to Nya, but she withdrew. He sighed knowing he'd have to explain.
"Listen guys, haven't you found it weird that Nya has to run the shop until the can get enough money to hire someone to help her sell it," Kai asked.
"Come to think of it, yeah, that is weird. Why don't you just leave the shop to your parents?" Jay asked.
"Nya and I don't have any," Kai explained, "Our dad died a few years ago in an accident while making a weapon. Our mom got sick right after Nya was born and didn't get better. But, she wanted Nya to feel like she was still part of her life, even though they never really met. So she had our dad specially make that bracelet for her."
"I understand," Zane said kindly.
Jay had broken into tears.
Kai sighed. He couldn't remember his mother well, but he knew she must have been kind to give Nya such a gift. They had to get it back for her.
