Welcome back to Double Ninja, Double Life!

Just wanted to thank everyone for reviewing!

This will be a short chapter, so around 800-900 words.

Believe in yourself, believe in unicorns, and keep writing!

Chapter 7: Blood and Fatigue

Flame's POV

I hopped out of bed, never having changed out of my ninja gi.

As my feet hit the wooden floorboards, my nose fills with the sweet scent of crispy bacon and scrambled eggs.

My midnight blue eyes widened and I licked my lips hungrily.

Leaping out my skylight, I raced towards the monastery dining hall on the rooftops.

When I had run to the center of the monastery's roof, I jumped down into the courtyard and turned to the hall. I walked through the door to the dining hall with my black hood off and my hair shadowing my face. My left eye was almost completely covered by my dark brown hair, my frown partly hidden in a wave of shadow. All the ninja turned and looked as I walked in.

"Good morning, Flame!" Cole said cheerily. I grunted in reply and plopped myself down at the far end of the table, away from my teammates.

Realizing all the food was at the other end of the red table; I grabbed Kai's plate from out under his descending knife and fork, which hit the wooden surface.

"Hey!" he protested as I began eating the bacon and eggs off his plate.

I glanced in his direction and gave him a look that said, "Get used to it."

He looked annoyed, amber eyes flashing, as I continued to stare him down, still chewing.

Before I could finish eating, there was a knock at the monastery door.

Everyone rushed out, including me, surprised to have visitors.

But it was only the mailman and his tan-colored backpack. His chest heaved as he panted from climbing the rock stairs.

Jay, who had opened the intricately decorated monastery door, grinned from ear to ear as the man began passing out mail.

"A letter from Cole's father, a letter for Kai from a villager named Adelenia in Ignacia, an envelope from Ed and Edna, and a small package from Dr. Julien for Zane."

"Thank you, kind sir." Zane replied with a small bow.

The mailman tried to give a grateful smile, but ended up just walking away back down the many stone steps.

Jay's grin began to fade as he closed the monastery door, worried for the tired old man.

Kai flipped on the training course so we could all sit on one of the large, circular training posts.

I sat separately from the ninja as they opened their mail.

Jay's envelope contained a small amount of coins to help him along, Zane's package held some spare parts for him, and Cole's letter was just a greeting and a 'how's it going?' from his dad.

Kai, however, received a very interesting letter from this 'Adelenia' girl, whom he had assumed was just a fan.

"Hey guys; read this letter." Kai beckoned the others over to read his letter, and I decided I might as well. The letter read:

Dear Kai,

Congrats on becoming a ninja. This should have arrived earlier, but I got stuck on figuring out what to write without sounding greedy.

Even after you left, Ignacia has thrived and kept safe from any harm.

The Four Weapons shop has been closed to the public, but not touched in any way.

I may only be an ample farmer, but I have some important information. Our crops are growing dry as we experience a drought. By the time you receive this letter; all the crops will be gone.

I don't exactly know much about you and your teammates, just that you have elements. If any of you have the element of water, or maybe even some wind, we would be in your debt.

Please help ninja. We will be forever grateful.

Yours truly,

Adelenia Armentress

After her signature, there were names of others who needed our help in the small town of Ignacia. I also noticed that the last signature on the list was splotched out by a teardrop.

What could this mean for the town of Ignacia and for Kai?

"Guys we have to do something!" Kai exclaimed, jumping up.

"But we don't have either of those elements, Kai. And I don't think lightning will help grow crops." Jay answered.

"And neither will ice. My ice cannot be melted by any fire other than that of the Sword of Fire." Zane added.

"Earth could help, I guess." Cole suggested.

I shot a sizzling, bright purple fireball in between them as a response to the note.

"Let us think about this later and focus on other tasks at the moment." The ninja jumped at the sound of Sensei Wu's old voice.

"Like what, Sensei?" Cole asked after calming himself.

"Like getting to know your new teammate here, Flame." He replied, and then walked off, most likely to go meditate.

"Well, Flame, I was wondering why you didn't receive any letters, envelopes, or packages from your family." Kai said suspiciously.

"Oh…well...you see…" I was hesitant to tell Kai and the others about my sister.

She might be able to help with the drought, but I don't want to bring her up yet.

They looked at me expectantly, "I don't really have parents." I said, telling the truth.

"They're dead!?" Jay recoiled, the look on his face shocked, eyebrows raised.

"No, Jay. I just don't have biological parents." I replied.

They all looked confused, not just Jay for once.

I sighed; this might take some time to explain.

"Well, the thing is, I wasn't 'born'" I said. "It's more like I was created."

They all continued to look at me in confusion.

I sighed, "If you really want to consider someone my 'parent' then my father would be Garmadon." I said flatly.

"WHAT!" They shouted in unison.

Kai started holding his head in his hands and pacing the length of the monastery.

Jay was frozen with his jaw hanging down.

Cole began running his hands through his thick, black hair and looked deep in thought.

Zane walked to one of the other circular training structures and sat down.

I smirked and stood up, walking over to Jay and heating up the air underneath his chin, purple flames dancing in my hand.

His jaw snapped shut, and he began rubbing his chin after letting out a shriek.

I moved on to Cole who looked up at me, his movements pausing and his thoughts bursting.

I frowned as he took his hand down from his hair and stood straight again.

"Ummm….well…" He tried to say something, but failed. I got tired of his delay, my fingers beginning to smolder.

Cole's eyes widened at the flickering, purple cinders on my fingertips and he hurriedly tried to calm me down; without success.

I held the flames right by his face, the edges of his dark hair curling even more than they already were.

My smirk returned as he cried out and grabbed my hand to push it away, but ended up burning his fingers.

I yanked my hand away, not exactly comfortable with the physical contact, and went over to Kai next…

Kai's POV

When I heard Flame say her 'father' was Garmadon, I freaked out.

There were so many thoughts running through my head, but the main one was a mantra of one word;

Why.

Why. Why. Why. Why. Why.

I fell in love with a daughter of evil. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the dark one herself coming my way, her arms by her side, fingers sparking and flickering like a lighter preparing to light.

On the outside I loved her, but deep down…I feared her.

The things she could do to us. And I think….she likes it. She enjoys pain; given to her or dealt by her.

As she drew near, I began to panic.

What will she do to me? What will she think of my reaction?

I'm trembling and frozen at the same time as she approaches.

"I heard there was something you saw in me." She says slowly, bringing her arm upward in sync with the flames rising from her hand.

I was facing the monastery wall, and so I only saw Flame out of the corner of my right eye, which widened along with my left eye.

Slowly, I reached for my hood with a trembling hand, hoping for some protection after seeing what happened to Cole.

Flame shook her head, her eyes shining with the evil I first saw in them. My hand froze.

"And here it is." She finished, the flames moving gradually toward my shaking face.

I shifted my vision to the stone earth, only moving my eyes and nothing else.

You know what? Why am I letting her do this to me? She's a girl….I'm a ninja. Even if she is a creation of Garmadon.

My hand stopped trembling and I grabbed my hood, pulling it forward and leaping away just as Flame's crackling fire reached the spot where I just was.

A growl emanated from her throat and she leaped after me.

The others watched; their heads turned to the rooftop on which I had jumped, Flame hot in pursuit. (No pun intended)

I bounded across the monastery's red tile roof, acting completely on impulse.

Not exactly knowing what to do next, I jumped off the roof, looking back over my shoulder to see where Flame was. As I turned my head, I came about three feet away from being face-to-face with a snarl covered by a hood, but showing in the eyes of the angered girl.

My eyes widened and I faced forward again, only to slam face-first into the center training post.

The dragon looked down at me, mockingly.

I frowned as I slid down the post, landing on my back.

As I stared at the midday sky through the slit of my hood, I sighed, knowing I had lost.

The clouds were covered by a black hood and gleaming silver katanas.

The evil radiated from Flame, her eyes burning with bloodlust.

One of her katanas came down on my arm, slicing the fabric.

I could feel the warm blood trickling down my arm…

My eyes began tearing up, but I forced them to stop.

Before she could slice anymore, Zane came over and stopped her, the evil leaking from her midnight blue eyes.

Flame's POV

I was annoyed that Kai liked me, but I was even more annoyed with him and his teammates' reactions to my 'father' being Lord Garmadon.

I was planning on doing something much worse to the red ninja, but Zane came over and calmed me down.

"Flame, we do not wish to offend you. It was our natural reaction to our….our…our…."

"Enemy." I said for Zane what he couldn't say himself. My father was their enemy. I frowned.

"Y-yes." He replied, looking down.

I stared blankly at him, then pivoted on my heel and walked to the monastery door.

No one stopped me.

I unbolted one, turned to look back at the ninja, whose faces were blank as paper.

I walked out, closing the door behind me.

Zane's POV

I felt horrible about what we did to Flame.

Kai, stood up, holding his arm and looking glad she was gone.

I searched his face and found some sliver of sadness and sympathy for our new teammate.

Cole, Jay and I traveled to the door Flame had left from.

They looked at me expectantly. I reopened the gate-like door and spread my lips to apologize to Flame, nevertheless the Dark Fire ninja was gone.

I searched the stone entryway to our home, but it was empty.

In the distance I saw a dark shape disappearing over the horizon. The echo of wing beats fading.

Our only evidence of the dark kunoichi ever being with us was the dark red blood dripping down Kai's left arm.

Done, done, and DONE!

Finally…

Well! That's chapter 7.

This chapter does also help explain chapter 4 of A Ninja's Secret, so if you read that one too….thanks for reading!

Love you all!

See you next time!

Flame and Kindling