A/N: () surrounding a name means that is who is speaking…

Chapter Three: A Ninja Must Rise Early…

Cole flexed his arms as he watched the rockslide tumble down towards the village he was standing in front of. Lifting his left arm up, he swung it down and slammed it into the rockslide, disintegrating it immediately. A smirk crossed his face as he waved his arms in the air. The villagers standing behind him cheered his name loudly…

"Cole!"

"Cole!"

"Cole!"

"Cole!" Startled about the panic in that familiar voice, he spun around to see a giant boulder crashing down on top of him.

Cole screamed as he sat bolt right up, sweat beading on his forehead. Zane was leaning over him, shaking him awake. "Cole, we have a problem."

"What?" Cole rubbed sleep from his eyes as he twisted around to look at the only alarm clock in the entire bedroom. Groaning, he flopped backwards onto his pillow. "Zane…it's like four A.M….way too early to get up."

"Tell that to Kai. He's gone." Zane pointed to the suspiciously empty bed in the room. "That and I have been trying to wake you for the last twenty minutes."

"You've got to be kidding me." Cole muttered under his breath as he flung his blanket off and scrambled out of bed. Jay, get up. The new guy flew the coop. (Cole)

There was an audible thud as a duster fell out of the top bunk above Cole, followed by his best friend. Jay blinked rapidly, stifling a rather large yawn. "Does he even know what time it is? Wait. Didn't the Grand Sensei send him in here so that Zane could keep an eye on him being such a light sleeper as he is? Thus why Samuel was moved into a different room?"

"Yes." Zane snagged up a pair of sneakers, shoving them on. "Which truthfully is why I am surprised that he didn't wake me when he left the room."

"What are the chances that he is just in the bathroom?" Cole fumbled around his trunk, knowing he had a clean pair of socks somewhere in there.

"Already checked. He's not there." Zane yanked the bedroom door open, anxiety flooding him. He was voted employee of the month for the past seven months in a row for a reason; he was the most efficient employee at the school, no matter the job.

Jay mumbled something under his breath, yanking his worn out blue tennis shoes onto his feet. Cole waited for a second before, hurrying after Zane, Jay right behind him. Zane bit his bottom lip, not too sure where to look for the way ward teen. Kai technically didn't know the school too well, so chances of him knowing about the secret passages that crisscrossed the ancient building was highly unlikely. Besides that, when the Grand Sensei was debriefing him, he was alerted to the fact that Kai never left without his sister. Which means that they would need a place to meet up…and the only place both of been at besides the Grand Sensei's office would be the kitchen.

We need to go to the kitchen. Kai is most likely meeting up with Nya there. If we're lucky, she hasn't arrived yet. (Zane)

Jay shifted slightly; worry creasing his brow as he glanced back at Cole. Why do I get the funny feeling you want us to come with and try to keep it down so that we won't wake the others? (Jay)

Zane nodded in confirmation, while Cole quietly groaned. There was no way they could convince teir coworkers that they weren't the three amigos if they did everything together and knew everything about each other. Well, they don't know everything about me. (Cole)

What do we not know about you? (Jay and Zane) Jay and Zane paused as they glanced back at him.

Cole could feel his face turn red with embarrassment, but quickly squashed it. Nothing. Kitchen did you say Zane? (Cole)

Yes. We better hurry though. (Zane) He hurried down the hall, leaving his friends having to run to catch up.

Several minutes later, they slipped mainly unnoticed into the surprisingly brightly lit kitchen. Kai and Nya were stretching their legs, surprise flickering in their eyes as they glanced up at them. Kai slowly inched his left eyebrow upwards. "Hey…didn't realize that you guys were early risers. I thought that was something that sis and I did."

Nya rolled her eyes, before running her fingers through her hair, as if to check that it wasn't too messy. "We typically get up this early to do a morning run or something. Depends on our mood. We haven't left yet, if you want to join us."

"Or not. We typically go by ourselves." Kai shot a glare at his sister. What was that about?! We don't need slow moes slowing us down. (Kai)

Nya rolled her eyes at her brother good-naturedly, before firing back her response. Yeah…but we're not even planning on leaving here ever, which means that we might as well try and make friends for once. Trust me on this big bro. (Nya)

Zane coughed, even as Jay nervously laughed, drawing their attention back to their surprise visitors. Jay nervously smiled at her, before nodding his head to Kai. "Soo, I take it that he doesn't scare you very easily…I mean! Um, of course he doesn't scare you…he's your brother…and um…"

Nya groaned loudly, before reaching over and hitting Kai hard in the shoulder. Kai yelped, rubbing his shoulder while shooting a glare at her. Don't you dare give away my secret! (Kai) Nya crossed her arms, tilting her head towards her currently grumpy brother. "Ok whatever Kai did to make you terrified of him…ignore it. He's all bark and no bite."

Nya! I just said don't give it away! (Kai) Kai scowled at her, displeased that she actually told them that little detail. Nya shot him a look, clearly displeased with his actions. We're not leaving here. Remember? We made that pact. Now knock it off before I give you an unplanned shower. (Nya)

Kai shook his head at her, but didn't say anything, knowing that she did have a bite to her bark. "We were going to go for a run around the garden while we wait for six o'clock to roll around. Don't bug me and I guess you can accompany us…as long as you don't slow us down."

"We won't. Just the school grounds right?" Cole wondered if he should stretch first, even as Jay started doing so.

"Yes. figured it would be a good way to figure out the lay of the land." Nya didn't bat an eye at what she said.

A way to figure out the lay of the land so that you know where the best places to slip away from us are at you mean. (Cole) Zane reached over and gently whacked his friend on the arm. Give them a chance. By the looks of things the girl is nice. (Zane)

The group of five silently slipped out of the kitchen's backdoors into the school grounds, ready to start the early morning run. Kai nibbled his bottom lip as the familiar but at the same time unfamiliar voice filled his mind. A ninja must rise early.

A/N: Done! Ok, so internet is down so I'll post this as soon as I can. Now not only is Jay hiding something from his friends, but Cole is too. Also, apparently Kai and Nya have no intentions on running away from the school and Nya ruined Kai's reputation of the tough guy already. But, hey. She's trying to be nice and make friends.

Also, who agrees with Cole that it's too early to start the day?

Review!

SkyTalon