Neo-Ninjetti

Chapter 10: Partial Conversations

Kim stalked past the open living room door and she could feel the eyes of the boys upon her- little did she know that they were talking about her as well. "Here's a question for you bro-" Zack began as he leaned back on the couch. "Why'd you break up with Kat? I mean I heard that you guys were so tight once you passed on the power-"

Tommy shrugged. "Maybe... but I wasn't being fair to her."

"What do you mean?" asked Billy, intrigued to get some answers as well.

"I mean that all Kat was-" Tommy began looking guilty. "-was a replacement. I mean it wasn't her fault. First she replaced Kim on the team and then I dunno, when Kim sent me that letter about the other guy well I guess Kat sorta replaced her in my heart...but it was never the same..."

Zack bit down on his lip. He knew that he should probably tell Tommy that there never was another guy and that Kim had sent the letter for his own good- or what she thought was his own good but he figured that if Kim hadn't told him then maybe there was a good reason. And so he stayed silent.

"Anyways..." Tommy continued shaking his head. "...I went off to college and Kat got into some dance school in London and we decided to end it there and then..."

"Wow..." muttered Rocky as he leaned back against the coffee table. "Must have been hard."

"Not really," Tommy assured. "I mean it was mutual...I think she must have known. Things weren't ever really the same after the Maligore incident."

"I think you should talk to Kim." Zack stated figuring that if he couldn't tell Tommy then maybe Kim would. "Get her to talk about the letter-"

"Why?" asked Tommy.

"Just do it." Zack insisted.

"I really don't need to hear all the bloody details about the perfect other guy that she found," Tommy pointed out- long held bitterness creeping into his voice. "A guy I might add that she's not with anymore..."

"What makes you say that?" asked Billy.

Tommy gestured to the room. "Do you see another guy living here?"

"He could be living somewhere else-" Adam pointed out.

Tommy shook his head. "There are no pictures. None- no guy. If Kim was really with this perfect guy then his pictures would be everywhere."

Rocky nodded. "Tommy has a point."

"Talk to her." Zack insisted again. "Just trust me and go talk to her. Make her talk about the letter. There are-"

"What?" asked Tommy as he slowly became intrigued. "What about the letter?"

"There are a couple things about the letter that you don't know about and only Kim can tell you." Zack explained. "Trust me. It'll be for the best- at the very least you'll have the answers that you've wanted for so long."

Tommy nodded and wordlessly got up and left the living room leaving Zack a little amazed. He watched Tommy go and remembered when the guy had been so shy and unsure that he couldn't even ask her to go to a simple dance. 'And now he's going to confront her on what was the most painful thing for them both...'

---

Kim sat on her back deck nursing a mug of mint tea when suddenly, "Kim-"

"Oh- hello Tommy..." Kim stated after the initial shock of seeing her ex-boyfriend standing next to her clad in nothing but boxer shorts wore off.

"Listen," Tommy began tentatively as he sat down beside her. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh?" Kim asked as she put her mug down on the wooden deck and fiddled with the edge of her long-sleave pj's.

"About Kat." Tommy answered watching Kim's facial reactions carefully.

"Oh." Kim stated as she brought her mug to her lips as a distraction.

"The way you tried to get through to her-" Tommy began seeing that she was totally uncomfortable.

"Took a page from your book-" Kim stated with a wistful smile thinking back to Maligore's lair which seemed like another lifetime ago. "though it didn't work with me so I'm not sure why I thought it would work with her."

"Didn't it work with you?" asked Tommy raising an eyebrow. "I mean you turned good so quickly afterwards and I thought that I had seen- something, just for a moment..."

Kim sighed. "I know what you thought you saw...and you were probably right. I don't remember much from my time being under that spell—but I do remember you, taking off your helmet and talking to me."

Look at me Kim- look at me. It's me...it's me Tommy.

"Yeah it was a stupid thing to do." Tommy sighed as he dropped his gaze realizing that he had had no effect and surprised that it bothered him even all these years later.

"Oh I don't know about that-" Kim began causing Tommy to look at her. "I mean it couldn't break the spell but I could hear you- I wasn't strong enough to break the spell but I could hear you. And I was screaming inside my head in the hopes that you could hear me... I guess you couldn't."

"I coudn't hear you," Tommy agreed. "But I could feel something changing..."

"Really?" Kim asked, never knowing that before.

"Really."

Kim sighed. "I wish I could have broken the spell sooner..."

"You can't blame yourself for that..." Tommy assured but when Kim met his eyes he saw that she did. "How can you blame yourself?"

Kim said nothing.

"Kim?" Tommy asked again. "How can you blame yourself?"

Kim sighed. "If I hadn't have left the rangers- if I hadn't-" she paused and didn't mention the letter. "-if I hadn't left Angel Grove. I would have still been a ranger and-"

"And we still would have been fighting against Jason." Tommy pointed out cursing internally that she didn't bring up the letter. "It was just bad timing on your part."

"A lot of the things that I did were bad timing..."

"Oh I don't know about that." Tommy disagreed trying to lighten the mood. "I mean you won the Pan-Globals and you medalled at the Worlds and you brought home two golds for us at Sydney."

"You- you knew about that?" Kim asked completely taken off guard. "H-bow?"

"It's kinda hard to miss when you watch every competition that you can."

"You- you watched every comp?" Kim asked her eyes wide. "Even when we'd-"

"Yes," Tommy interrupted. "Even when you broke up with me. I still watched."

Kim winced at the inflection in his words. "I guess that we should talk about that..."

"You think?" Tommy asked watching as Kim took another sip of her tea. "Kimberly what didn't I do??"

"You didn't hear what I said to Billy." Kim answered honestly. "And because you didn't overhear what I had said to him I don't know what to say..."

They both fell silent each waiting for the other to speak finally they turned at the same time but stopped. "What were you going to say?" asked Tommy. "What do you need to talk about?"

"I was- I was just going to ask..."

"Go on." Tommy prompted.

"I was just going to ask what you forgave." Kim stated as she bit her lower lip changing the subject almost completly. "I mean-before."

Tommy sighed. "I-"

Suddenly his communicator beeped and Tommy cursed Alpha and Dulcea's bad timing.

"Kim here." Kim replied. "What's up?"

"There's a disturbance by the lake." Alpha replied his metallic voice sounding frantic as always.

"We're on our way." Tommy assured. "Tommy out."

Then taking a quick glance at Kim he went inside to rally the troops.

---

Minutes later they were at the lake with flashlights searching. Tommy could feel the eyes of Rocky and Adam on him. Of those who were there it was them alone who knew that this is where Tommy had come after his break up with Kim and both of them were surprised the two of them talking in hushed whispers.

"You don't think that they're actually patching things up do you?" asked Adam.

"I don't know," muttered Rocky. "I mean I hope so."

---

"You really want an answer that badly?" asked Tommy as he and Kim walked one direction knowing that Rocky and Adam were walking in another and that Billy and Aisha were walking in a third. "Now?"

"Why not now?" Kim asked. "This is as good a time as any."

---

"We were always stronger when they were together," Aisha stated as both Tommy and Kim walked away from them. "So cross your fingers."

"Fingers crossed." Billy agreed crossing both his fingers and his hand.

---

"I came here you know," Tommy began as he stopped. "Right here- at this very spot. I came here after I read the letter."

"Tommy I-"

"You want to know what I forgave?" asked Tommy as he shone his flashlight in her face.

"Yes."

"I forgave-"

Suddenly there was an explosion which knocked Kim to the ground and Tommy into the water.

"Tommy!" Kim cried out involuntarily a brief memory flash of when he had been taken by Goldar flying though her mind.

"Tommy!" echoed a high-pitched accented voice. And as Kim stood up she knew that she was in trouble.

---

"Did you hear that?" Aisha asked turning to Billy. They were far away from the rest of the group and completly surrounded in darkness.

"That was Kimberly." Billy agreed and together they set off running in the sound of the voice.

---

"That was Kim." Adam stated as he stopped dead in his tracks.

"She and Tommy must be in trouble." Rocky muttered and together they went to find their friends.

---

"Kat-" Kim breathed. "-what are you doing here?"

"Making sure that you don't get back what you threw away."

Kim just starred at her in horror. "You mean-"

"What Tommy didn't tell you little Kimmie," Kat began with an evil cackle. "-is that right here is where I came to him. It was me who comforted him after you broke his heart. It was me who cheered him up. It was me who stood by his side in battle- it was me who was able to break the spell that the Machine Empire had placed on him. He recognized my face and my voice," she continued, taunting Kim who glanced behind her to see if Tommy had surfaced yet but he hadn't.

"What do you want Katherine?" asked Kim in desperation as she whirled to face her foe.

"I want one thing." Kat stated with an evil smile and before Kim could react Tommy was floating behind her- looking half dead.

"No..." Kim whispered in horror as the realization hit her. "...anything but that."

Kat smirked and stated the obvious. "I want Tommy and now I have him."