Authors Notes: You might need a tissue for this one. Just saying.


Before They Were Ninja

One Shot 2

Cole

Whispers. People would always whisper behind his back, after a little while said whispers stopped being whispers. Some people would just say it out loud hoping he'd hear. Specially the cheer squad and their lousy and rude chants. At least it got a little easier when Kai started school with him. At least he had one friend. But he didn't have all his classes with Kai. Only two. And that was mostly at the end of the day.

Lloyd would walk around the school with his hood up hoping to block out at least a few of those horrible words. His free period was just him sitting in the library with a book in front of him, or homework that still hadn't been done. He didn't to much like to read, but his reading teacher demanded it of him. He noticed he gave him far more homework then the other kids.

On this particular day he sat in the library as always. A book in front of him, pencil in hand, and his paper had barely been touched. He looked around the room again, just for a change of what he was looking at. Once again incredibly bored. He could of course just do this at home and go walk on the track. But he didn't have anyone to walk with. At least this was something that needed to get done...right?

He heard a piano off in the distance. That was unusual. The music teacher wasn't at school for at least two more weeks he guessed. He slowly packed his bag and looked around the room to make sure the librarian wasn't paying attention. She was over near the audio lab helping a few of the younger students. He slowly walked out of the room and braised the door so it didn't slam shut.

Lloyd walked down the hallway and looked into a few classrooms. The music room was also empty, but he still heard the piano. He looked in the gym seeing a bunch of kids running around doing some free play. No piano, he finally ran by a room the was the dance studio. He peeked in to see a boy sitting on a piano stool. His tiny fingers raced over the keys. He knew this boy from a few of his other classes. This was the boy named Cole. Although he was quiet and kept to himself mostly. Always had a pair of headphones on while he worked so if anyone needed to talk to him they had to tap his shoulder. He never seemed bothered by anything. Yet here he was tears in his eyes, and playing his heart out on the piano. Lloyd opened the door and walked inside and closed the door behind him so no one else bothered them. He for some reason felt this boy just wanted to play forever.

Lloyd looked at the boy playing, their was no sheet music, not headphones. They were broken on the floor near his discarded book bag. He wondered if thats what bothered him. Maybe he broke his headphones?

"Cole?" He called out trying to get his attention. Cole continued to play, perhaps he didn't hear him. Lloyd walked over to the boy whose tears just kept coming. His eyes were closed, and he kept tapping at the keys. He wondered how long he had been playing. His fingers were red and it looked as if they might have been bleeding at some point. Lloyd reached over and tapped his elbow. Cole yelped out of fright and fell back in his seat. He was panting now, his eyes locked on Lloyds. They were so afraid, and still the tears fell. When he realized who it was his face screwed up again and he started to cry. He reached over and put his arm over his eyes trying to hide the fact that he was crying. Lloyd sat down on the floor and reached over taking his hand. He wasn't altogether sure why he did this. All he knew was there was a kid laying on his back, hiding behind his arm, and he wasn't to sure why he was crying. He just let him, because he looked like he needed to.

Lloyd wasn't to sure how long they were sitting there in the room, but he was sure he missed the beginning of one of his classes. He didn't care, and he was sure that the teacher was happy about it too. Cole finally sat up and ran his arm over his eyes once more. Lloyd just sat there waiting patiently. His hand still in Coles. Cole just seemed to cling to it. Lloyd was sure Cole knew who he was, yet he still held his hand.

"Are you okay Cole?" Lloyd asked him. Cole just turned and smiled sniffling still.

"I'm okay now." Cole said his large brown eyes looking into his green ones.

"Did you break your headphones? Is that why?" Lloyd asked. Oh the innocents of a six year old. Cole looked down at the hand in his and wiggled it a little to show he appreciated it. He stood up and let go.

"No." Cole said picking up his book bag and pulled a picture out. He held it out to Lloyd. "Today is the day I lost my mom last year." Oh yeah thats right. He was called to the office, everyone heard him scream from the classroom. Lloyd remembered seeing him on his knees holding his head in his hands crying as his father stood over him. She apparently died in a car accident going to work.

"I remember that day." Lloyd said handing the picture back.

"That was her favorite song. She made it herself, and she taught me. I tried to play it at home, but the piano there needs to be tuned. Dad won't touch it because its moms. He wants it to stay the way she left it. I understand. But he...pretends it never happened in the first place. He just keeps up with his singing with his quartet and...doesn't do anything else. He wants me to follow in his footsteps. Why do I want to be like that?" Cole said looking up at Lloyd who nodded his head understanding perfectly what he meant.

"I yeah...I don't want to be like my dad either." Lloyd said. "Everyone else just assumes I'm going to though." He said and shrugged his shoulders.

Cole nodded his head and picked up his broken headphones.

"I broke them...against Ms. Perrys white board." He said looking down at them pitifully.

"But you never lose your temper. You've always seemed so calm to me."

"Everyone has their breaking point dude." Cole said shoving them into the trash can. He looked around at Lloyd and smiled at him. "Thanks for being here. I came in here to be alone, and didn't realize I needed a friend." Cole said and jumped hearing the bell ring. It was the last period of the day.

"Come on. I'll introduce you to Kai."

"Kai? That boy thats always yelling 'fight me' to the cheer squad? I think one peed themselves yesterday because he got to close." Cole said looking a little iffy about this meeting.

"Yeah he's a little over zealous on occasions but he means well." Lloyd said letting out an iffy chuckle.

"You need someone like him. People are to mean to you." Cole said walking into the last class with Lloyd. Kai was in the back, he spotted Lloyd and waved his arms.

"Lloyd! I snagged us a seat." This was a seat yourself class mostly because the teacher couldn't see very far so never could tell if the students were sitting in the right spot.

"Get a third one. We got a new friend." Lloyd yelled and pointed to Cole. Kai gave him a thumbs up.

"Friend?" Cole asked. Lloyd smiled at him.

"Well yeah. Everyone needs a friend right?" Lloyd asked. Cole found his whole music listening world, even though it was incredibly rocky upon going into the dance class...on the day of his mothers death anniversary. He felt his life change for the better. He felt the silence in his head begin to blossom into the most beautiful noises.