Well I'm treating you all with an update already!

Jaell, you are amazing. Thank you so much for your words, you've literally brought tears to my eyes. I hope you love this next chapter as much!

RPM Shadow, I hope so too, but I guess you never can tell...I may have put the poor guy through a lot in this story! Oops!

RandomDragon 2.0 thank you, as always. You've supported me so much through all of this story and the previous ones! Thank you.

Denial with a Smattering of…

After a brief discussion with Cole, Zane and PIXAL over the places he could think of to check for Skylor which they had not already written down, Nya decided that it was definitely time to pack her brother off to bed despite his protests. It was only after Cole had promised several times to completely fill the red ninja in on their plans in the morning that she managed to get her stubborn sibling to agree to retire to his room along with his meds, an ice pack fresh from Zane and a hot cup of a slightly foul-smelling tea which Wu had made. She could tell from Kai's wrinkled face as he accepted the cup as their sensei cornered them on their way to the stairs that he had no intention of drinking it, despite Wu's reassurances that it would do the Master of Fire the world of good and Kai's nodding that yes, of course he would drink every last drop…

Kai had refused any help getting up to his room, but the way he paused at his door before entering made her glad she had thought ahead to go in and remove any obvious signs of his missing girlfriend. Having been confined to the bed in the downstairs medical room so they could monitor him easier for the first few days and nights since they had found him, this was the first time Kai had come back up to his room since before the wedding. Nya had removed the discarded hair ties scattered about and the deep red gloves which had been tossed on top of the mirror in the corner. Skylor's training spear, which had been discarded alongside one of Kai's bokken at the end of his bed, had been placed back in its rightful place in the weaponry downstairs. The photo which was on top of the drawer unit had caused her and Jay some struggles and contemplation over whether to leave it or not, eventually opting to leave it. She gazed at the photo of the orange and red clad pair lying down on the bed, Kai obviously holding up his phone above them at arm's length to capture the moment, his cheeks blushing lightly whilst he smiled directly at the camera as Skylor leant over and kissed his cheek, thick lashed eyes half closed and long, glowing hair cascading behind her. Nya held her breath as present-day Kai threw the ice pack on his bed and shuffled painfully over to the photo, picking it up and shoving it straight into his top drawer without looking at it or missing a beat. Sighing she placed the hot mug on his bedside table and walked over to stand behind him, lightly placing her hands on the backs of his arms as he leant on his drawers, taking a shallow, slightly laboured breath. After a minute or two he straightened, turning himself back around and facing her. Nya could feel her face crumple as she looked into his sad eyes, but he backed away as she tried to comfort him, his hands gently but firmly catching hers before she could throw her arms around his neck.

"Erm, I'm going to get some sleep, Nya." She bit her lip and frowned, then half smiled, pulling up one of his hands which still held hers and kissing the back of it before letting go.

"Need any help with your pyjamas? I can shout Jay up…"

"No, no. I'll work it out." He cocked his head slightly, smiling weakly. She looked so worried, and that just would not do. He reached over and grabbed her, pulling her into that hug she had wanted moments earlier. She gratefully reciprocated, and he felt her relax against him, sighing gently.

"I was so worried about you."

"I'm here. I'm fine."

She pulled back, brushing a stray lock of her dark hair back from her face as she raised an eyebrow.

"Kai. You are not fine." She put her hands on her hips, eyes narrowing.

"Nya, I've survived worse. I'm fine." The two siblings looked at each other, locked in a Smith stubbornness standoff. Nya heaved an exasperated groan, rolled her eyes and reached into her pocket, pulling out two shiny capsules and slamming them down next to the still steaming mug of suspiciousness which Wu called healing tea.

"You keep on telling yourself that, Kai. You need to take these before you go to sleep." She walked back over to her brother, eyes blazing as she leant over and kissed him on the cheek, left hand clutching at his shirt. "But don't you forget that we all love you and are here for you. Whether you like it or not." She turned and walked out, sliding the door shut behind her quietly. Kai slowly blew his cheeks out, sinking onto his bed and eyeing the painkillers, quickly tossing them into his mouth and nearly spitting out the mouthful of tea he had swigged with them. FSM, that truly was foul, somehow tasting worse than it smelt. No more of that, thank you… he rose and went back to his drawers, pulling them open and grabbing his pyjamas. With some fairly alarming contorting and a little light cussing he managed to pull off his shirt. As he tossed it over the corner of his standing mirror he caught a glimpse of his reflection, stopping him in his tracks. Kai turned, standing stock still and taking it all in. His chest, usually a tanned, olive tone inherited from his father, was a mottled mis-mash of yellows, greens, blacks and blues as the bruising from his snapped ribs bloomed and came out. The usual definition from his muscles was lost amongst the ugly swelling. His eyes travelled up and he took in the larger than normal dressing covering his wound above his eyebrow. With an abnormally steady hand he peeled it back and threw it to the floor, grimacing at the jagged, raised red scar snaking across his forehead, prickly from the black stitches holding the wound in place. He pulled the shirt to cover the mirror then carefully lowered himself into his bed as he was, not bothering to try and change out of his sweatpants or put his pyjama top on. Kai closed his eyes, pulling the covers up over himself as he whispered out loud,

"I'm fine. I'm absolutely fine."

It was late morning when he awoke, the sunlight filtering through his window onto his face, making him smile in the warm glow. He went to turn over on his side and was quickly and rudely reminded with a sharp hiss of pain that A) that really hurt and he should not attempt to lie directly on broken bones… And B) She was not there to gaze at. Even if he could just about still smell her faint but distinctive combination of her shampoo and cherry lip balm. I'm fine.

He groaned, rubbing his eyes and lying back against his mountain of pillows which were propping him up, listening to the sounds of the others outside training. He could almost feel the electricity in the air as he heard the snap of Jay's powers against his foe, Cole he was guessing from the grunt and thud on the earth not long after and then the shrill yelp and thump as Jay must have hit the ground. The dull aching and incessant stabbing growing urgently in his chest told Kai he should really get out of bed and go get his meds and some coffee to try and bring him fully into the world, but he really couldn't be bothered to move right now, so he reached over for his BorgPad. His phone was long gone, crushed and discarded by Skylor before they had even reached the warehouse, so he had not been in contact with the virtual world for quite some time. He tapped the little Chirp icon and watched and waited as it loaded, trying to remember when he had last updated or chirped for his followers. A quick selfie before heading down to meet Jay and the others before the wedding ceremony, that was it. He took a small breath. The wedding. They had barely spoken about it, and he had not seen any pictures from it, although that wasn't really a surprise… What the…?

Kai nearly dropped the tablet as his account finished loading up, showing a stupid amount of unread notifications. He pushed himself more upright, scanning through the likes and comments from his wedding selfie then stopped as he found himself tagged in a series of photos published by the social media arm of "Ninjago Tonight", under the album title "Ninja Wedding of the Year." He chuckled softly, thinking this was the only ninja wedding of the year then paused as a picture of Nya entering the Airjitzu Temple grounds on the arm of their dad loaded. His eyes softened as he took her in, she looked stunning in her simply cut, traditional ivory silk dress with a very light, soft grey lace flowing down from her sleeves, nipping in her waist and cascading down to form a trail behind her. You could just make out the subtle flash of the blue underskirt, which was only really visible as she walked. Kai swiped, loading the next picture Ninjago Tonight had managed to get a hold of, smiling at the couple's first official kiss, then chuckling at the next image of the whole team lined up outside the temple gates together around the newlyweds. It was rare to get a picture where they were all looking half decent, and this was no exception. Jay and Nya were gazing adoringly at each other whilst Cole appeared to be smirking next to Lloyd who looked like he had just yelped. Zane and Pix were smiling intently at the camera, whilst himself and Sky…

Kai quickly swiped on, watching the page load the next photo. An image of the cake, a picture of Dareth dancing (if that was indeed what he was doing), more pictures of guests he barely recognised, and then…

He held the tablet tightly, closing his eyes and willing his heart to Just. Slow. Down. His head started to spin as he reopened his eyes, taking in the close up of the smiling couple, both wearing their white ninja Wu Cru robes, his detailed with red stitching, hers with her burnt orange. They were holding each other close, obviously mid embrace and oblivious to everything around them. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'll be fine…

Curiosity got the better of him as Kai clicked on the comments, taking in the thousands of shares and likes and then noticing the photo caption, Ninjago Tonight : Is this Ninjago's newest power couple?

Kai threw the tablet down, closing his eyes and leaning back. He could feel the familiar burning, stoking and welling inside him. He clenched his jaw tight, gritting his teeth as he hissed I am fine! He threw his bedcovers off and cumbersomely exited his room, making his way down the stairs awkwardly to the kitchen, needing to get a drink for his suddenly dry mouth and some painkillers, only realising once he was gulping the water he had poured from the fridge dispenser that he still only had on his sweatpants from the night before. He slammed the glass down and took as deep a breath as he could manage, holding a hand to his head and closing his eyes, trying to re-centre himself.

"Kai!" Lloyd's voice shocked him back to reality, both jumping as they caught sight of each other, the blonde standing in the open doorway, obviously coming in to grab a drink himself mid-training.

"Are you not a bit cold? I didn't realise you were up… wait…what's happened?" Lloyd started walking over, dropping his katana onto the sofa as he made his way round to the kitchen area. They both jumped as the BorgPad chirped and lit up from where it had been abandoned on the kitchen island, Kai not even realising that he had brought it down with him. He reached over, picking it up and tapping the screen to see the newest notification flash up then dropped it, breathless and eyes wide. Lloyd frowned, puzzlement taking over his features as he reached the island and glanced down at the tablet, picking it up as the red ninja barged past him, walking straight outside and seemingly straight through the training yard from the abrupt sounds of hastily halted sparring and surprised cries of "Kai!" echoing from his teammates.

"Oh, no no no!" Lloyd hissed and spun as he read the notification, running out to the training yard in time to see the Master of Fire engulf himself in the flames of a very shaky and unstable spinjitzu tornado, the others jumping back out of the way as he leapt out of it, spinning and roundhouse kicking the nearest training dummy with such ferocity and force he still had flames surrounding him. Zane was the only one who dared to approach the literally fired up ninja, deftly dodging the kicks and punches aimed at the dummy and calmly calling his brother's name repeatedly as the fire elemental took out of all his rage on the inanimate training aid. With a final roar and burst of flame Kai fell to the floor as Zane knelt next to him, quickly extinguishing the still spinning training dummy with his ice from one hand whilst holding the ninja up carefully with his other. Kai lifted his face and watched as the dummy slowly stopped spinning, charred and steaming still, his jaw clenched, fists curled and his eyes burning a pure, brilliant amber.

"How could she?" It was hissed through his teeth, not directed at anyone, the words just needing to be spoken out loud. Nya looked over to Lloyd who simply held out the tablet. She grabbed it, tapping the screen then recoiling at the notification which sprung up next to the photo of her brother and Skylor at the wedding.

Skylor Chen: ❤️