A/N:
Hails: I think I'm rather excited for this one. With that in mind, here is the newest monthly one-shot, officially dubbed Four Leaf Clovers for the sake of it being March and St. Patrick's Day themed. Tell me I'm not the only one who still at least attempts to celebrate that for the sake of holding onto my childhood a bit longer.

Also, I know this isn't March. But I posted this on DeviantArt in March, and now I'm all: "Oh look... I never posted this on . Should probably do that, right?"

So here it is. My April One-shot will be up later tonight or tomorrow.

Title: Four Leaf Clovers
Month: March
Rating: T
Summary: She stared at the boy, wondering how on earth a dork like Jay Walker could skip out on school every other day and still maintain passing grades. Above all, how he could skip out of school in general. What exactly was it that he did when he was never in Chemistry? Godforsaken Chemistry, maybe a day of ditching school is what she needed to understand.
Warnings: None
Genre: Friendship, Humor, and a tad of romance. Not much though.
Notes: Jay isn't much of a bad boy, as he is more of a dork who doesn't care much for school. This is a High School AU, yes. I can't think of much music that goes with this. But I do think Taylor Swift's Wildest Dreams might work. It would be nice to have a suggestion.

Nya's dead coffee brown eyes had a distant look as she stared off into space. She was barely listening to the teacher drone on about chemical bonding and dimensional analysis. She didn't care much for doing the same repetitive activity over and over again. Especially when it consisted of reviewing Lewis structures for water and remembering vocabulary such as capillary action and cohesion. She sighed, leaning her cheek into the palm of her hand.

What am I doing? Nya wondered, hardly paying attention to the intricate diagrams drawn onto the old fashioned chalk board. She glanced at the clock, then at the empty seat next to her where her supposed 'lab partner' should've been sitting. She scowled a bit, wondering where on earth he was. Actually, what is Jay Walker doing? Nya let her thoughts wander for a moment, continuing to think about the seventeen year old boy that ditched school more often than not.

RRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNGGG!

Nya gratefully, yet still silently, scooped up her books and carelessly tossed them into her book bag. She was the first one out of the room, and much to her expectations, there was one slacking Jay Walker having a figurative party with her brother and three others. She only recognized two of them. One was her adopted brother Lloyd Garmadon, and the other was Cole Mitsuko. He had been, how should she put it, a romantic interest? She wasn't even sure what happened there. Only that whatever had occured should never have happened.

Jay Walker laughed rambunctiously as Cole threw his arm around his best friend into a headlock, and gave him a well deserved noogie. The smaller, scrawny boy struggled to shove the buff teenager clad in black off of him. Though in the end, he still had that same dumb smile on his face he always had.

Nya grit her teeth in frustration, grinding them together. She stared at the boy, wondering how on earth a dork like Jay Walker could skip out on school every other day and still maintain passing grades. Above all, how he could skip out of school in general. What exactly was it that he did when he was never in chemistry? Nya understood that Jay hated the class. Many teenagers despised chemistry due to the fact that teacher only taught the same material every unit. But did Jay loathe it enough to ditch? Nya would probably struggle to learn the answer.

When the teenage girl got over her initial frustration, she stalked over to the boy. The other boys had cleared out, which Nya was grateful for. She tugged on Walker's jacket, a deep glower on her face. The taller boy turned, his exotic blue eyes dancing with mischief. The smile faded from his face as he noted Nya's angry look.

"Oh, hey Nya." Jay said sheepishly, placing his hands on hips in a feminine posture. "What's up?"

"What's up?" Nya repeated, a mocking tone to her voice. "'What's up?' he asks." Nya chuckled bitterly. "How about, you were gone again! Today was a partner exercise and I had to do it alone!"

"Jeez, calm down." Jay said, raising his hands defensively. "I've been gone before, what's the big deal now, princess?"

"Do not, call me 'princess.'" Nya snarled, poking him in the chest. "And the big deal is that it's beginning to irritate me."

Jay snorted, pocketing his hands as he stared at her disbelievingly. His lips quirked up into a temporary smile, finding her angry stare rather amusing. His smile disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and he gave Nya an equally penetrating gaze as her own. She didn't even move. Didn't falter; didn't waver. It almost made Jay squirm uncomfortably, but he refrained from showing his drawback.

"Okay, and so what?" Jay sneered. "You've dealt with things like this before on your own. Besides, I don't expect you to understand."

Jay turned and walked away, refusing to even appear slightly miffed. He stopped when he heard Nya mumble something behind his back. He spun back around, staring at her curiously as she bowed her head in shame and squeezed her hands. "What was that?" Jay asked, listening intently as she repeated the sentence.

"No." Nya answered, barely making eye contact. "I don't understand. I would like to, though." Nya breathed a deep sigh, rolling her head back with a groan. "Godforsaken chemistry. Is this class really annoying enough that you have to skip?"

Jay remained silent, unsure of how to react to such an answer. He pursed his lips, then finally answered Nya's question.

"It has nothing to do with the class. It just happens to be the class that's going on when I leave."

"Where do you even go?"

"Would you like to find out?"

Nya's head snapped up. She concentrated on Jay's figure as he held a hand out to her. Nya bit her lip, then took Jay's hand. She felt it's warmth, and before long, Jay Walker was dragging one bemused Nya Haruki through the school corridors. Jay lead the teenage girl out into broad daylight, and they walked side by side for about a good fifteen minutes.

During that time, they walked near the local Shinto Shrine. It held an eloquent, holy aura about it, and the design consisted of the main shrine with seven surrounding pillars. On the middle pillar an intricately winding dragon was woven around it, its white-blue scales appeared to glow in the sunlight. Nya peered curiously at it, having never been allowed near the shrine, and read the name of a god she'd never heard before.

Kuraokami. Dragon God of the Rain and Snow. What a strange name. Though it makes sense why this is the local god. Our mountainous region is known as 雨の谷(Ame no Tani), or the Valley of Rain. Nya let her mind wander for a moment, slightly ignorant to the fact that Jay was still holding her hand. She struggled to notice a faint blush had formed on her face or the heat on her cheeks. She became gracious enough to be thankful that Jay hadn't seen her flushed face either.

The Haruki family, as far as Nya knew, never worshipped any gods. They simply went about their days as one who didn't believe in such trivial, omniscient forces. Perhaps many generations ago they worshipped gods until the religious practices tapered off. But Nya had never quite caught onto why their family hadn't, or why she'd never heard of her family's ancestors in the first place. Most of the time Nya shrugged it off as personal matters she wasn't to stick her nose into. Like the tale of Serpentine entailed, and she shut her ears. Now wasn't any different.

For a while longer, Nya followed Jay along until they were on the outskirts of town. They followed a loam hiking trail for a couple minutes, before Jay veered off into a restricted area. Nya thought about protesting, but decided against it. Eventually they wandered into a clearing where the sun seemed to shine brighter.

Nya didn't understand at all, not one bit. Not even when Jay sauntered over to the middle of the field, and simply laid down in a patch of clovers. The dark-haired female strode forward towards her lab partner and leaned over the seventeen-year-old boy, blocking out the sun that bathed Jay's normally pale skin a golden brown. He squinted up at her, then raised an eyebrow before promptly proceeding to ignore her.

"What are you doing?" Nya asked icily, now royally dissatisfied.

"Laying down." Jay explained in two simple words, then pat his hand on grassy the spot next to him. "You should do it too."

Nya huffed vexedly, then reluctantly complied so that her body was on the opposite end of the field, but she could still make eye contact with the annoying student that constantly went AWOL on her. In her field of vision, Jay's face appeared upside down. He stared at her curiously; his lips tugged up into a smirk, but Nya didn't respond in any way that may have given him gratification. As if to answer her galled behavior, Jay kept the smug look to himself, and closed his eyes. His body drank in the afternoon sunlight.

For a few moments, everything had fallen into a state of tranquility. There were no birds singing, no wind blowing, nor any of the normal chatter and business that passed as a normal lifestyle in Ame no Tani. Just pure, unadulterated peace and quiet. The beautiful feeling of absolute , the silence could not cater to Nya's unanswered questions, and she began to question the teenage boy not two feet from her. She cleared her throat, and Jay opened his eyes again.

"You know, this doesn't answer my question." Nya pointed out. Jay stared at her inquisitively. "I was wondering what made you want to skip Chemistry. Sitting out in a clover patch in the middle of a restricted area in a forest doesn't really seem worth it. What's your ulterior motive?"

Jay didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then he opened his mouth.

"It's a reminder." He answered. He let's Nya's mind register the answer, then continued on before she could query anymore. "A reminder that just sitting, cooped up in a classroom, learning the same repetitive lessons repeatedly is killing off the sense of adventure we're born with. The point of being given life, was to live. Being trapped in that prison they call an education center where you go without sunlight or breathing in the fresh air a spring breeze gives for about seven hours a day is draining."

Jay bit his lip, as if deciphering a jumbled mess of thoughts in his head to decide what to say next.

"It's a reminder to what my parents said." He continued. "My father always told me: 'Son, there's more to life than doing the same thing over and over again. If you live your life with the same mediocre routine until it's conditioned into you, well... that's not living. That's just not dying. How can you expect to make a difference in the world when you do nothing but the same thing all day, everyday, for the rest of your life?'" Jay smiled wistfully. "And he's right. The one thing expected of students is to wake up, go to school, learn new drab skills, come home, apply those skills, go to bed, do it all over again. Skipping out on Chemistry is my way of reminding myself that once I have all the necessary resources, I'm out of here."

"You'll leave?" Nya asked. Jay nodded.

"Once I have enough money, supplies, whatever else is needed to survive and then some, I'm gone." Jay explained. "I don't want to stay in school the rest of my life, it's just not my style. I want to go out there, I want to create, and discover, and invent. I want to take risks and travel the world. I want to make something. I want..." Jay paused for a moment. "to make a change."

Nya stared at him, touched by his words.

"Well, when that happens..." Nya trailed off, then yawned tiredly. A wave of exhaustion flooded over her for a reason she couldn't place. She didn't even bother to peer at her watch to see the time. "take me with you, won't you?"

Nya's eyes fluttered shut as she drifted off.

The sun had set, morphing a once azure atmosphere into gorgeous shades of orange; honey, apricot, marigold, cider. A light breeze blew through the forest, rustling the mixed forest trees and shrubbery. A deer pranced out of the vicinity of the clover-filled clearing.

Jay absentmindedly combed his fingers through Nya's hair. It felt natural to him. Her silky, ebony locks gliding against his fingers. Her hair had mostly been sprawled out around Nya's head. Jay's original thought process had just been to observe her and wake her up in a couple hours. Then he noticed that her bangs were in her eyes, and he thought about simply brushing them out of her face. One thing lead to another and here he was doing something to an almost-stranger he'd hardly ever gotten to know. She'd probably have a fit if she woke up to this.

He retracted his hand when Nya stirred, and went back to watching her. He read the time on the watch strapped to her wrist, which displayed the digits and letters 6:21 PM. He bit the inside of his cheek as he remembered the response Nya relayed to his explanation on why he planned on skipping a certain class.

Well, when that happens, take me with you, won't you?

Jay smiled as he felt a sudden, brief surge of happiness flood him. His eyes scanned the patch of clovers he and Nya's bodies lied upon before his eyes caught the sight of something in particular. Normally the clovers Jay had seen only three petals clinging to the stem, but this time-

One... two... three... four?

Jay stared at the four-leaf clover in a mix of awe and shame. How had he not seen it earlier. But all the more, it was a sign from the Gods to Jay. In old Irish legends and myths four-leaf clovers were symbols of luck and prosperity, and whoever contained one in their possession was said to be brought good fortune. Though Jay's logic and reasoning pointed out that four-leaf clovers were caused by a genetic mutation when the numerous-as-weeds shrub reproduced, and that supernatural good luck and leprechauns were nothing but fantasy, a part of his mind, albeit the childish part, liked to believe such tall tales.

And anyway, if four-leaf clovers really were a sign of luck then...

With a pretty girl laying a few feet away from himself, someone to share his thoughts and feelings with, not to mention a a brand a new friend to join him on his future journey; feelings of happiness running through him, and nothing but peace and quiet for the past few hours in his favorite spot in the world, and to top it off a beautiful day ending with an even more so sun set.

Oh, yes.

Jay Walker was one of the luckiest men alive.