Chapter I: Getting Settled
"Is that the last box?" Cole asked, leaning casually against the backboard of his new bed, his hand in a box of bite-sized cheesy crackers.
"Uh, I think so," Jay huffed as he dropped the last box onto a stack of three others. He stood upright, cracking his back before wiping his brow.
"I think you overpacked." Black said to blue with a smirk. Jay snorted in reply.
"You can never overpack when you're uprooting your entire life," The brunette insisted matter-of-factly, turning to face his new roommate. "You'll appreciate everything I brought with me once it's all unpacked."
"Uh huh," Cole hummed as he lifted the box and poured the remaining crumbs into his mouth.
"You guys almost done?" Kai asked, leaning into their doorway as he cast his amber eyes around the room, his gaze narrowing on the tower of boxes on Jay's side. "Why'd you pack so much?"
"Thank you." The black-haired ninja laughed, tossing the empty box into a bin at the far corner of the room.
"I didn't pack a lot," Jay whirled around and jabbed a finger in Kai's direction. "You guys only pack a pair of underwear and a toothbrush or something? These boxes contain my life."
"He packed two pairs," Nya said as she joined her brother in the doorway and in similar fashion looked around Earth and Lightning's new abode. "Can't say I'm jealous of you all sharing rooms." She beamed. "There's enough extra space in my room for a good setup."
Kai stood upright and puffed his chest. "Having a roommate builds character."
"Sure, whatever you say," Water waved off as she turned and walked down the hallway towards her own bedroom, "I need to finish unpacking."
"You done packing already?" Cole asked Kai as he opened a box of his own belongings and began to pull out bedding.
"Nah," The brunette shook his head and returned to leaning against the doorframe. "But Master Wu's in there right now talking to Lloyd, so I figured I'd see what everyone else is up to."
"You could help Jay," Black suggested as he unfurled a bedsheet and threw it over his naked mattress. "He's got a ton to unpack…" Jay's head shot up quick and his brows knit into an unamused glare.
"It's not that much!" Lightning insisted, but it sounded quite a bit more like a whine. Kai sauntered into the room and over to Jay's tower.
"What did you pack?" Fire inquired, his head tilting slightly as he examined the carboard containers.
"Normal things!" Jay huffed. "Clothes, bedding, my consoles, games, my computer…normal things that normal people pack when they make a perfectly normal move!" Behind the trio, footsteps could be heard as more people approached the quickly filling room.
"Oh my, look at this room Ed," Edna, Jay's greying mother, clasped her hands together and smiled happily. "Our little Jay has such a nice space!" She turned to Cole, who stiffened under the gaze and offered an awkward lopsided smile. "And his best friend's his roommate." The older woman scampered across the room and caught Cole's face between her hands, tugging the tall young man down to her shorter level. "Cole, sweetie, Jay is so happy you're his roommate!"
Kai, now standing off to the side and wanting to watch the scene unfold, snickered to himself. This made Jay flush and quickly throw his hands up as he rushed to his gushing mother. "Ma! Don't!" The brunette whined pathetically.
"Oh, come now Jay," Ed, Jay's father, entered the room as he patted his hands on his dirtied overalls. "Your mother's just happy to know you're rooming with Cole." The older man walked to Cole with a wide grin. "Jay's always talkin' about how excited he is to share the room with you!"
"Uh, yeah?" Cole stifled an amused laugh, looking between the older couple, and then to their beet red son. Jay held his face in his hands and groaned miserably in deep embarrassment.
"Oh yes," Ed laughed heartily. "He darn near talked our ears off about it. Y'know how he gets."
Jay rubbed his face into his palms and continued to groan. "Ma, Pa…" He breathed out as Kai held his sides and did his absolute best to not burst out into a fit or roaring laughter.
"Jay, dear," Edna turned and smiled lovingly to her son, "we just know you're happy, and that makes us happy."
Kai snickered. "Yeah, Jay," The Master of Fire grinned, "your parents love you and they're happy you're happy about bunking with Cole." Jay's head shot up instantly and he narrowed his blue eyes on the red ninja.
"Oh, ha-ha," The freckled boy feigned a laugh, "very funny."
"I'm sure Cole's happy too," Edna turned her attention back to the black ninja and patted his cheek gently, "aren't you?"
Cole simply nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"Such a good boy." Edna smiled warmly as she released the Master of Earth, allowing him to stand upright again.
"Come on, Edna," Ed put an arm around his wife and lead her towards the door. "They boys need to finish getting unpacked and we gotta get back before it's dark." Edna turned her head and stole one last quick glance at her son.
"Call me later tonight, honey!"
"Yes, ma," Jay sighed and looked over at Kai, then to Cole, and quickly turned away to get to work unpacking his boxes. Kai stepped forward and opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly cut short by Jay. "Don't…say…a thing."
Down the hall, Nya was in her room, crouched down and opening one of the boxes at her beside.
"Nya?" Came Maya's voice, the former Master of Water stepping into her daughter's new bedroom, smiling fondly.
Nya swiftly perked up. "Mom?" She was quick to jump to her feet and walk to her mother, throwing her arms around the older woman and squeezing her in a tight hug. "What's up?" The elder female shook her head.
"Nothing, I just wanted to come say goodbye before your father and I head out."
"Oh," Nya frowned a bit, her happy demeanour wavering, "you two have to leave already?"
Maya nodded, cupping her daughter's cheek with one hand and stroking the swell with her thumb. "Unfortunately. We need to be back before it's dark. But we will come visit again soon, and you can always come home and visit us." Nya nodded slowly.
"Okay, mom," She leaned into her mother's comforting touch.
"You're heading out?" Kai asked, stepping into Nya's bedroom and eyeing his mother.
"We are," Maya stepped away from Nya and smiled to her eldest. "we're going to miss you two so much. Has been wonderful being together again." Kai nodded curtly.
"Yeah," He said evenly, crossing his arms over his chest. Nya frowned at her brother and placed a hand on her mother's back.
"C'mon, mom, I'll see you out."
"Thank you." Maya said sweetly, quickly turning sad eyes to her son. "I will…tell your father you said goodbye." Without looking up to meet his mother's eyes, Kai nodded his head, keeping his gaze trained on the floorboards of Nya's new bedroom.
"Kai's…tired...," The Master of Fire heard his sister say as she walked past him with their mother, waiting until their voices were muffled by distance and he could no longer make out the excuses of his sibling.
"Screw it," The brunette jammed his hands into his jean pockets and walked out of his sister's room, heading down the hall towards his own, stomping in and past Lloyd. He flopped down onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling. The green ninja turned to look at his friend, arching an eyebrow.
"What's up?" He asked.
"Don't worry about it," Kai huffed, rolling onto his side and facing his back to the blonde. Lloyd shrugged his shoulders and returned to placing various knickknacks onto his shelf. Silence overcame them, which made Kai twitched irritably, glancing over his shoulder to watch his quiet friend sorting his belongings neatly on their new perch. Turning back to the wall, amber eyes narrowed and burrowed a hole into a particular spot, while his fingers flexed.
"You seem like you're in a good mood," Lloyd said suddenly, not bothering to turn his attention towards the pouting male, and instead looked over one of his figurines before shelving it.
"I'm peachy." Kai quipped.
"Golden." Lloyd hummed. Kai couldn't help but snort.
"Was that some sort of attempt at a joke?"
Lloyd smiled to himself. "Maybe."
"It sucked." Kai said flatly and Lloyd shrugged again.
"Ah, well," The green ninja folded up the now empty carboard box, "I'll try harder next time." He walked across the room and tossed the flattened material onto a stack of similarly empty and folded boxes.
"You do that." Kai muttered. Lloyd walked over to Kai's bed, reaching out to poke the taller boy's shoulder blade. Reflexively, the Master of Fire curved his spine and inched away from the intrusive jab, muttering something incoherent under his breath. The blonde grinned toothily and followed after his friend, prodding him mercilessly with his index finger. The more Kai tried to evade Lloyd's jabs, the closer he found himself getting to the wall, until he was pressed flush against it and unable to move.
"I think I've won," Lloyd placed his hands on his hips and laughed boisterously, "I have bested the Master of Fire!"
"You learn that laugh from your dad?" Kai whirled around and smirked up at his friend.
"I've been practicing." Green coolly shrugged. Kai sat upright and looked across the room at Lloyd's neatly sorted shelf.
"Hmm…guess I should start putting things away too."
"If you want," Lloyd walked across the room and flopped onto his own bed, which he'd already dressed, adorning it with green sheets and pillow cases. "No rush, I guess."
Kai smirked, amused. "Green sheets?"
Lloyd stared back. "It's my colour, and it's an awesome colour," The blonde insisted. "Besides, there's no way anyone's going to confuse my sheets for theirs."
"True," Kai yielded, dropping his head back into his caseless pillows, and sighed, "it'll be kind of cool living together more permanently, y'know?"
Lloyd pulled his phone out of his sweater pocket, swiped his thumb across the screen and unlocked it. "Yeah," He cast his emerald eyes sideways in Kai's direction, "and I think you'll be a pretty cool roommate."
"Oh I'm going to be a nightmare, I assure you." Kai said, waving his hand around theatrically.
"Sure," Lloyd smiled as he turned his attention back to his phone screen. "Your parents already left?" Kai nodded his head.
"They're leaving now."
Lloyd cast his eyes towards the brunette again. "Not going to see them off?" Kai shrugged his shoulders lazily and trained his eyes up on the ceiling. Lloyd could sense the tension and quickly dropped the subject. He knew the parent topic was somewhat of a touchy subject for the red clad teen…and something the two of them bonded over more than once.
"Your parents sticking around?" Kai asked. Lloyd hummed in reply.
"Mom's leaving…something about another archeological dig somewhere past Jamanakai Village."
"And your dad?"
"Maybe he'll stay, depends on him, I guess." Lloyd said as he swiped his thumb across his phone screen.
"Least we've got Wu," Kai said, folding his arms behind his head.
"Yeah." The green ninja replied coolly, his focus clearly elsewhere.
"Kai, Lloyd," Both boys turned their eyes to their open doorway, Zane standing there with a smile on his face and a piece of paper in hand.
"What's up?" Kai asked, propping himself up on his elbows. The nindroid walked into the room and up between the beds, where he stood for a moment and glanced down at the paper in his hand.
"This is a chore list," he answered, "I'm here to assign chores. I've already been to Nya, Cole and Jay…I need only to give you two the remaining duties."
"Why're we last?" The Master of Fire inquired incredulously, sitting up as he half glared to his robotic friend.
"Because Nya caught me in the hall and asked me to go to Cole and Jay before coming to you two." The metallic teen replied, blue eyes blinking at the duo.
"Of course she did…" Kai grumbled. Zane eyed him curiously and the brunette sighed exasperatedly. "Let me see the list, Zane."
"Here you are," The Master of Ice smiled and extended his arm out, handing off the slip of paper. Kai snatched it and made quick work scanning the available options. Lloyd hopped off his bed and inched closer, green eyes wide and curious.
"Can I see what's left too?" He asked, hopeful. Kai looked at him and then snorted.
"No way, you get last pick, Green Ninja." The brunette teased as he waved the paper in his hand. Lloyd pursed his lips and quickly turned his eyes to Zane. The nindroid looked back at him and smiled apologetically, knowing the remaining chores were out of his control.
After some squabbling, Zane left satisfied, carrying the paper back towards Master Wu's chambers. He knocked on his teacher's door and awaited a reply.
"Come in." Wu said softly, seated on his knees in the middle of the room, taking another sip of his tea. Zane entered quietly and smiled.
"I have the list," He said sweetly as he held the paper out to Wu. "Here you are, sensei."
"Thank you, Zane," The bearded man replied, nodding his head towards his desk. "Please leave it there."
"Of course," The nindroid said, walking to the desk and setting the paper down atop it.
"Have you settled in?" Wu inquired, clutching his steaming cup between his hands, while he glanced towards Zane.
"I will," Zane replied quickly, "the others are still unpacking. I will help them."
Wu smiled. "I'm sure they can do that for themselves," He said in a sagely way. "You should focus on yourself. Allow them the opportunity to orient themselves."
Zane eyed him, but quickly nodded, bowing his head a bit. "Yes, sensei."
"Go on, go relax," Wu hummed, "we will have dinner in an hour and we can discuss more then."
