Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
Hunter and Kira pulled into the driveway of Tori's small house. Hunter shut off the engine and the lights and turned to Kira taking one of her hands in his, "Have I offered you a room at the Thunder Academy?" he asked softly.
Kira smiled, "Yes, and you have enumerated the benefits of me staying there a couple of times tonight."
Hunter played with her hand until his fingers entwined with hers, "And you won't come up and stay there because?"
"I like staying with Tori," she said as she watched him idly play with her fingers, caressing her hand. "I'm going to see more of you this week. I'm heading to the Wind Academy to train tomorrow and if you clear your schedule, you promised to take me riding."
Hunter leaned in and Kira thought he was going to kiss her, but he shifted his face at the last moment. She could feel him bury his face in her hair and felt his breath tickle her ear. "Hunter," she said with a lazy smile.
"Hmm, your hair smells good," he murmured.
"Hunter, we have an audience."
"What?"
"Hey, bro, looks like the date went well," Hunter jumped at the sound of his brother's voice and spun to see Blake leaning against the car watching Hunter and Kira with an amused smile on his face, "Tori wants to know if you guys want to come in for coffee or if I should just get my stuff so we can head home?"
Hunter growled and glared at his brother before looking towards the house to see Tori wave at him happily from her living room window. He closed his eyes and dropped his head back on the headrest with a groan. From beside him, he heard Kira stifle a giggle. "Blake, go on ahead and tell Tori that I would really like a cup of coffee and to strangle the both of you at the moment."
Blake just winked at Kira. "It's made and everything. Do you want some, Kira?"
"Just some of the apple juice in the fridge. Why don't you head on in and give us a moment."
Blake turned and faced them as he walked backwards towards the house, "So, Hunter, are you the kind of guy that kisses on the first date?" With that parting shot he turned and sprinted for the front door of the house closing it behind him. The porch light, then, came on.
"Is he gone?" Hunter asked in a defeated voice.
"Yeah," Kira replied with a huge grin on her face as she watched Hunter, who had been amazingly charming all night wallow in a miasma of embarrassed anguish.
"I'm so sorry."
"Hunter," Kira paused until Hunter turned to her and opened his eyes, "That's what teammates are for. I can't tell you how horrible Conner and Ethan acted when Trent and I were dating, or the crazy things we did to Ethan when he was trying to hook up with some girl. Conner is our favorite to annoy, though, because he's such a goofball when it comes to girls, but he tries to play it cool, you know?"
"Why would I know?"
"Cause I think you're pretty cool," Kira said. She glanced at the house, "I think our audience is back."
Hunter turned to the front of the house to see both Tori and Blake's faces pressed up against the window watching them. He felt Kira move and her lips brushed against his cheek before she moved to get out of the car, "Pop the trunk, would you, please? I have to get my stuff."
Automatically, Hunter pulled the lever to open the trunk and was scrambling out of the car as Kira closed her car door and moved to pull her guitar and tote bag out of the trunk. Hunter took her bag automatically, but left her carrying the guitar as he closed the trunk. He followed her to the door and before she could open it, he halted her by taking her hand. Kira paused and looked up at Hunter.
"So are you?" Hunter asked.
"Am I what?"
Hunter smiled and tugged on her hand pulling her a bit closer to him, "The kind of girl who kisses on the first date?"
Kira smiled back and after peeking around Hunter's shoulder at the window, she slipped her free hand around Hunter's neck pulling gently and went up on her tip toes. She felt him lower his head towards her and tilted her head slightly to the right, her eyes fluttering closed right before her lips met his for a soft, sweet second, before she pulled back with a small smile and a light blush tinting her cheeks. She turned, opened the door, took her bag from him and slipped inside, leaving the door open.
Hunter watched her slip through the living room, and heard her say "hi" to Tori and Blake, and that she was putting her stuff in the guest room. When she disappeared from sight, Hunter strolled though the door closing it behind him. He tried to glare at Tori and Blake who stood leaning against each other watching him with huge grins plastered on their faces, but he could not stop the grin that stretched across his face.
"Looks like Hunter is the kind of guy that kisses on a first date," Tori commented to Blake who just chuckled.
"Knock it off, you two. And I don't want to hear that you've been bugging Kira for details or girl talk or whatever Marah and Kapri go on about after a date," Hunter said attempting to glare at the two blue ninjas.
"Blake, why don't you take the drinks on the deck," Tori said with a smile as she opened the door to the patio and turned on the light.
When Blake obliged, Tori walked up to Hunter and he automatically slipped his arms loosely around her shoulders as she looped her arms around his waist, "Did you have a good time?"
"What are you, my mother?" Hunter asked.
"No," Tori said shaking her head, "I'm just hoping you had a nice time."
"I did. Did you?"
Tori shrugged and gave him a hug before letting him go, "We picked up Chinese and he taught me to play some crazy card game that I can't remember the name of."
Hunter just raised an eyebrow at Tori, but was prevented from saying anything further when Kira came back into the room in a long sleeved sweater and jeans. She had washed the make up from her face and Hunter couldn't help but think about how tiny and delicate she looked in her oversized sweater with her hair in pigtails. Hunter extended a hand to Kira and she took it and let him lead her out to the deck and Tori followed.
"I love it out here on the beach," Kira said settling in one of the comfortable deck chairs, smiling as Blake handed her a glass of juice. Hunter took up a mug of coffee and blew on the top before taking a sip.
Blake and Tori had settled next to each other on a double wide chair and he had an arm slipped around her and she leaned on him comfortably. "Looks like they had a nice evening," Kira murmured softly to Hunter as she watched Blake whisper something to Tori's ear.
Hunter smiled as he watched Tori smile and snuggle deeper into Blake's side. "I don't know. I hope so. Blake and Tori have always had something special. I'm glad that Blake is going after what he wants. I don't think Tori has a chance." Kira smiled at Hunter's belief in Blake's ability to woo Tori. "And what about you, miss singing star? How come you are free to go out with a lowly ninja teacher like me?"
Kira shrugged, "Trent and me broke up a couple of years ago. We're still close. Tommy says it's pretty much the same with any ranger couple that breaks up. And I believe it after seeing him and Kim and Kat together. It's like they are best friends. I guess in a way Trent and I are still best friends, but more like I am with both Connor and Ethan. They just always tease Trent and I because we're closer, used to each others likes and dislikes and habits. Connor and Ethan don't know, but Trent has the hots for this comic book artist that he met at Comic-con last year. They are really cute together."
"Are you avoiding the question?" Hunter asked slipping a hand down her arm until he held her hand in his.
"No, just giving you some background," Kira retorted with a smile, "After Trent, I kind of played the scene a little. It was hard though, with all the guys checking up on me. Between Tommy and Trent and Connor and Ethan, it was rough trying to find someone that wouldn't be intimidated by their macho crap, or that would tolerate having three over-protective guys and one ex-boyfriend hanging around. It's hard enough having a relationship and then having to keep secrets. And no one gets the dinosaur jokes."
Hunter chuckled, "Yeah, I guess that's another thing that keeps you close, besides the daily life endangering save the world stuff, it's the secrets."
"Something that you and your closest friends know that no one else knows. There's an automatic connection. Since we have Tommy as our mentor, over the years, we've met a whole bunch of other rangers, not only your team, although you guys are the most fun."
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Anyway, there's this instant understanding that what we went through in our lives, these people also went through. It's comforting and strengthening to know that they made it out o.k. and are successful and living their own lives with families and children and that we can have that, too."
"Is that what you want? A husband and children?" Hunter asked with a smile.
"And a recording deal and a few platinum albums hanging on the wall, a mansion on a bluff with my own recording studio and a line of clothing." She looked over to see Hunter smirking at her, "Hey, if I'm dreaming, I might as well dream big."
Hunter laughed warmly. "Sometimes I think we haven't moved on. We've grown and matured, and there really hasn't been any real threat lately, but," Hunter shrugged, "We six are still charged with keeping the world safe in some way."
"Teaching."
"The next generation of guardians of the planet," Hunter agreed. "Sometimes I think one of these days; I'm going to be like Watanabe Sensei mentoring a team of our successors against an earth-shattering evil. It scares me to death, but when I think that the alternative might be Dustin leading a team. . ." Hunter shuddered and Kira laughed.
"You wouldn't be alone, there are so many of us, with or without powers, who would come to your aid in any way we could. And you shouldn't bag on Dustin. We hear stories all the time from the older rangers about how scatterbrained Tommy was. I think Kim once said, 'I wanted to surgically implant a watch on his wrist so that he would be on time for something and wouldn't loose it.'"
Hunter smiled. They sat in silence a few moments, watching the waves and listening as the waves crashed against the beach.
"Uh, guys?" a soft voice broke into their quiet and Kira and Hunter turned to look at Blake who was smiling like an idiot. Tori, snuggled up against him, had fallen asleep. "Sorry to cut short the evening, although it is almost one o'clock, but I think we had better head home, Hunter."
"You need help with her, bro?" Hunter asked.
"Nah, I got her if you help with the doors."
Hunter stood and started gathering up the cups, while Kira opened the patio door and walked ahead of Blake as he carried a sleeping Tori through the small house. Kira led him to Tori's bedroom, pulled back the covers on the bed, then discreetly moved back to the kitchen where she heard Hunter rinsing the cups and placing them in the dishwasher.
Blake whispered a thank you as she slipped by him. He carefully laid Tori on her bed, slipping off her flats and taking the hair clip out of her hair. He tucked her in, watching her shift around for a moment as she got comfortable. When she stilled, he bent over and placed a soft kiss on her lips, "Goodnight, Tor," he said before slipping out the room and closing the door.
Hunter and Kira were just finishing with the dishes and Blake gathered up the deck of cards and slipped them into his backpack. "We better head out, Hunter."
"In a sec, Blake," Hunter said looking at Kira, "So, I'll see you Monday at the Wind Academy? I'll let you know when we can go for a ride."
Kira smiled, "That would be great," she looked over into the living room where Blake was turning off lights. "Kiss me goodnight?"
Hunter obliged, but it was a quick soft kiss and he was backing up towards the door when Kira's eyes fluttered open. "Lock up after us." Kira nodded and after latching the door, watched from the window as Blake and Hunter drove away. With a giddy smile on her face, she waltzed through Tori's apartment to her room.
