Disclaimer; I do not own Power Rangers Samurai. This story is not intended to represent the intentions of Saban or Nickelodeon in future episodes of Power Rangers Samurai.

A/N: I planned to have a few things in this chapter that I ran out of space for. I'll just put it all in the next chapter. If you look closely at Antonio/Steven Skyler, he has two holes in one ear. I'm not sure why he doesn't wear the earrings that I've noticed so I made it headcanon that he lost them.

Antonio frowned as he walked through the gates at Shiba House. He'd gotten a speeding ticket on his way back from visiting his friends after a low grade anxiety had over taken him. Now actually on the grounds of the Samurai base, he could feel it. Something was wrong. People were tense and unhappy, and as Antonio fingered the earring he had finally managed to replace, he decided not to announce his arrival.

With the familiarity of a childhood spent sneaking through Shiba House and it's ground, he slipped around to the back of the house, frowning as he found footsteps in the snow leading to the jogging path the Rangers used in good weather. None of them was likely to volunteer to run on a snowy Christmas morning, but there were the tracks, unmistakable. Antonio slipped up to the house and inside, careful to make no noise.

Ninja training guided him down the darkened back hallway to Jayden's room, and shock kept him still when he got there.

Jayden was standing by his bed, putting clothes in a backpack. On the bed were a frame, probably with a photo in it, and a small statue that Antonio recognized as something he'd given his friend when they were kids. "Jayden," Antonio finally managed as Jayden put the statue in his bag.

Jayden spun, "Antonio," he replied, "what are you doing here?"

"I just got back," Antonio replied, stepping into Jayden's room and closing the door. "Why are you packing?"

Jayden closed his eyes, and a look of intense pain and vulnerability crossed his face, only to vanish behind an emotionless mask when he opened his eyes. "Mikayla came back," he said.

"Mikayla," Antonio said, "as in your dead sister?" He still remembered Jayden showing him the picture, and telling him the story, back when they were eight.

"She wasn't dead," Jayden replied, "she's been raised in hiding. She's the true Lady of Shiba House, and the Red Ranger. This is her room now."

"What, why?" Antonio asked.

"I'm the decoy," Jayden said in a hollow voice, "the cover. To make it believable, I had to behave in all ways like Lord of Shiba. Now that Mikayla has returned, I am stepping down to take my proper place."

"You grew up in this room," Antonio protested. "We had sleepovers; she can't just take your room!"

"It's not my room," Jayden replied, a hint of desperation in his voice. "It belongs to the head of the clan, which is Mikayla Shiba, not me." He zipped his bag shut and picked it up. "If you'll excuse me, I have to get settled in my new room."

Antonio caught Jayden's arm, "I don't understand," he said. "You're the Red Ranger, you lead the Samurai team."

"No I don't," Jayden replied, stepping back. "Not any more. That's Mikayla's place now. She'll lead the Samurai Rangers and do a better job than I did."

Antonio stared at his friend, taking in the way Jayden wouldn't meet his eyes, the rote way he spoke, and felt chilled at the conclusion. Jayden was in trouble, and Antonio knew no one else would see it. Whatever Mikayla had said or done, whatever had happened, it had hurt Jayden deeply. Emily couldn't fix this, she was too young. Bringing in Dustin or Kira wouldn't help Jayden. Dustin would irritate the Samurai just because of his ninja training and Kira didn't have the connection to the team that Jayden needed.

Antonio caught Jayden's arm, "Jay," he said, and reached out, hesitantly, to get his friend to meet his eyes, "do you trust me?"

Jayden's attempted smile made Antonio's heart ache. Especially when he realized how red Jayden's eyes were. "Of course, Antonio," he said.

"If I asked you to do something, no matter how strange, would you do it?" Antonio asked. "As long as it didn't hurt you or someone else, I mean."

"I think so," Jayden replied, confusion evident in his frown.

"Come stay with me," Antonio said, "get out of Shiba House for a while. It'll go easier on Mikayla if you aren't around for the others to compare her against. We won't be far away, but you can adjust and she can adjust."

Jayden hesitated, then nodded, "Ok," he said, "I think that would work."

"Good," Antonio replied, "let's get the rest of your things and go. We'll tell Ji later."

Jayden lifted the strap of his backpack, "This is all of it. I never kept much in the way of personal items."

The heart ache deepened. "Ok," Antonio said, "My jeep's outside." They made it through Shiba House without meeting anyone, although they heard someone that had to be Mikayla talking at one point.

When they got to Antonio's place, he took Jayden's bag into the spare room, and walked out to find Jayden standing in the middle of the living room, looking utterly lost. "Jay," Antonio began.

A wordless sob came out of Jayden, half choked by his closed lips, "She wouldn't talk to me," Jayden said after a moment. "She, she wouldn't even admit I was her brother. She just…she just showed up, I gave her the morpher, and she didn't even smile. I don't understand. She's my sister, Antonio."

Antonio hissed through his teeth and moved to hug his friend. It wasn't much, probably wasn't even close to the right thing, but Jayden clung to him after a moment. Antonio waited until Jayden relaxed and he said, "You should probably go use your eye drops, Jay, and lay down. I need to make a phone call."

"Ok," Jayden said.

Antonio watched his friend head into the bedroom and headed out on the back porch, where he could stare at the ocean. He speed dialed his favorite number and waited out the rings. "Hello?" A young voice said.

"Hey brat," Antonio said, projecting a smile he didn't feel in his tone, "it's Tony. Let me speak with Mom, ok?"

"Hold please," the little boy said. There was a thud as he dropped the phone and then Antonio could hear him shouting, "Mom! Mom! Tony's on the phone!"

Moments later, the phone was picked up, "Antonio?"

Antonio smiled, "Hi," he said, "how are things down there?"

"You just left this morning, is everything ok?" The woman on the other end asked.

"I may have a speeding ticket," Antonio replied, "and I'm about six minutes away from nobilicide, but other than that, everything's fine."

"What happened?"

"So, Jay has an older sister everyone thought was dead," Antonio said, "She's not, by the way. She apparently showed up just before I got back, took Jayden's morpher, and then kicked him out of his room."

"What, why would she do that?"

"I don't really understand it all, but Jay was playing decoy so his sister could learn the symbol to defeat Xandred. The room was part of that, apparently." Antonio sat down on the porch steps, rubbing the back of his neck, "The girl, I haven't met her, but she made him cry. Jay said she didn't even acknowledge him as her brother. I don't know what to do. I got him out of the house, but, what do I do now?"

"You said he doesn't have the morpher anymore?"

"He said he gave it to her," Antonio confirmed. "I'm sorry, but I'll be damned if I follow this girl."

"Then come home, Tony. Bring Jayden and come home. We'll use Epsilon. A few days with us and Jayden will be thinking clearly."

Antonio smiled, sometimes; it was nice to have someone he could lean on. "I'll talk Jayden into it, and let Shiba House know. I have what, three hours?"

"That sounds about right."

"I'll see you then," Antonio said, and hung up the phone. He sat on the porch, thinking about how to talk Jayden into going with him. Finally, he stood up and walked inside. Jayden's door was open, so Antonio didn't hesitate to walk straight in. "Jay," he said, looking around.

Jayden stepped out of the en suite bathroom, eye drops in hand. "Yes, Antonio?"

"I have some people I want you to meet," Antonio said. "You don't have a morpher, and my first commitment is to you. We can leave in three hours, spend a few days, and come back. It'll be good for us. You've never left the city and thirty-six hours wasn't near enough time around my friends."

"I don't know," Jayden began. "I don't want to leave the team alone."

"We won't," Antonio replied. "I'll let Ji know where we're going, and we'll come back. Travel broadens the mind, Jay, come on."

Jayden looked away from Antonio, moving to put the eye drops back in his backpack. After a moment, he turned back, "All right. But you have to promise they'll know where we are."

Antonio smiled tightly, "I promise. They'll know." He gestured, "I'll go right now. A friend is flying up to give us a ride; he'll be here in three hours. You should try to sleep or eat or something. Just relax. Everything's going to be fine now."

Antonio turned away from his friend, mentally running through his plans for the inhabitants of Shiba House. He was a Samurai, a Ranger and a ninja; Shiba House was going to know exactly how he felt about the day's events.