Chapter 11
Found

(Jay's POV)

My…legs…are…killing …me. I think we have been traveling in some huge circle. I have tried telling Kai, but his stubborn-self will NOT listen. Curse him and his stubborn-ness.

"Kai, I'm telling you, we are walking in a circle," I pleaded.

Kai turned to look at me with dark, and furious eyes. "We. Are. Not!" he bit back.

I gulped, if looks could kill, I would have been dead already…

I put my hands out in front of me in surrender. "Ok, ok take it easy Kai, I was just saying." I put on a weak smile, and chuckled nervously.

His glare only narrowed.

"Kai, maybe you should listen to Jay, because it does appear that we are-"

"Shut your mouth Zane, I know where I am going."

The tension was building, I could really feel it. "You know what, you guys go on ahead, I'll do my own search, I'll find you, or signal you if I find anything," I said.

Kai and Cole scoffed at me, while Zane nodded in approval.

Once they left, I just sat in exhaustion on the forest floor, and breathed out in relief. "Finally…" I murmured to myself.

I heard a rustle in the bushes nearby.

"Hello?" I called out. The only response I got was another rustle.

I put on my ninja mask, and made a fighting stance. I took out my nun chucks and spun the other side, making a blue and gold blur. "Show yourself!" I called out in a serious voice.

I noticed something...furry tumble out of the bushes.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion, and put away my weapon. "A cat?"

It's ears perked up at the sound of my voice, and sat up. I stared at the cat with utter black, and shiny fur. It stared back at me with its dark lavender eyes.

"Uh, err, h-hey there, do you belong to someone?"

The cat tilted it's head to the side, then trotted over to my feet.

I bent down in front of it, and looked at its neck, searching for a collar that indicated that the cat was adopted, but only fur was seen there.

"Aw, you are alone out here." I scratched it behind its ear.

The feline purred in content as it leaned into my touch. I noticed her tail swish, but it was curled around an object.

My head tilted to the side in curiosity. "Say, whatcha' got there?" My hand reached out to her tail, but as soon as it came in contact, she jerked away from me. Her eyes narrowed at me.

I crouched down lower in front of her. "Look, its ok, I'm not gonna hurt you, I just want to see what you're holding," I said in a low, serene voice. My hand slowly, and carefully crept around her, and retrieved the mysterious object that her tail curled around.

Her eyes were glued on to me, watching my movements, alert to anything bad that I could do.

My eyes widened at the sight of the familiar Red Crescent moon shaped necklace.

"K-Kiara…?" her name trembled out of my lips. What happened to her? The black string of the necklace looked ripped, as if it was forcibly taken off.

I gripped the necklace. Nya, not Kiara. Who is out there? Where are they?

I dropped the necklace into my pouch.

(Nya's POV)

I let the little flame roll back and forth on my knuckles. I figured out how to control flames, but I can't make my own.

I stared at the flame intently, as if searching for something, but I only got the flame staring back at me. It swayed back and forth slightly.

I coughed. I breathed heavily. I swung my hand, and the flame disappeared.

I feel terrible, I think I'm starting to get ill. I laid down on the cold concrete floor. I shivered in displeasure.

I heard the heavy metal door creek open.

My facial expression darkened.

I sat up quickly, and glared darkly at him. "What the hell do you want?" I spat out.

He only smirked that familiar smirk. "Well good afternoon to you too," he replied with an evil chuckle. He walked toward me casually.

I gritted my teeth, and clenched my fist. My nails digging into my skin, enough to draw some blood. "Get the hell away from me you Monster." I emphasized on the last word, making sure he heard it perfectly.

"You should really watch what you say Nya, it could lead to-"

"Consequences," I interrupted rudely. "Screw that! All that 'consequences' crap!" I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation. "You already took everything from me! You beat me, you took away my friends, family! You took away my home! Everything!"

He only shook his head. He was now in front of me. "You. Are. Wrong"

"I am-"

I felt a sting of pain on my right cheek. My eyes widened, I looked behind me. There was a kunai embedded on the floor. The sharp tip laced with blood, my blood.

I froze suddenly. My hand shakily touched the cut on my cheek, my dirty finger tips ran through the cut. The cut was about three inches.

I brought my fingers to face me. I saw blood. I slowly closed my hand, and looked at him with terrified eyes.

He looked at me with emotionless amber eyes. He spun another kunai around his index finger. He grunted. "So, you are saying that I can't be any worse?"

In a split second, he held the kunai to my neck. I felt the sharp metal touch the flesh of my neck. I inwardly gulped.

"Heh," he went. "How easy it would be to cut your neck right now." He turned the kunai so the sharp tip was touching just below my chin.

"You poor little thing, lost both your parents, all you have is your brother," he spoke softly, but his voice carried no empathy.

"I have my friends, they are my family now," I spoke, but I sounded so…feeble.

"Ah yes...so called 'friends' you must feel good. You have someone you trust, but how does it feel when they betray you, all at once? Just throwing your trust away like scrap. They are going to leave you here, they won't look for you, they have abandoned you."

I found my voice at that moment. "Shut up! You know nothing of them, they would never, they are the most faithful, and loyal people you will ever- AH!"

He cut my neck with the kunai, but I was thankful it wasn't at all deep.

He waved a finger side-to-side at me. "Tsk, tsk, I warned you about the consequences of your attitude."

He stood up, and put the kunai in his pouch. "If your friends really did care about you, then why didn't they find you?"

Using my fist, I pushed it toward the flame of my candle, and enlarged the fire, blowing a massive amount of fire toward Blaze.

With one arm, he thrust it toward the fire, and extinguished the fire.

He raised an eyebrow. "Ah, so you are a fire elemental, just like me." He glanced at me. "Perhaps you can be of use after all."

(Jay's POV)

I better get back to Kai, I need to tell him about this.

I looked back at the tiny cat who just stared at me curiously, she was sitting straight up, with her tail swishing side-to-side.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, and sighed. "Do you want to come with me?" I had a feeling that Kai would object to this, but hey, it's a cat all alone in a forest.

The cat tilted her head to the side slightly to the side, and blinked at me in response.

"Take that as a yes I guess." I went over and picked her up. I held her up in front of me as she stared back. "I should give you a name," I stated with a smile.

I tilted my head as I looked at her. "Hmm, Mimi?"

The cat surprisingly narrowed her eyes at me, as if saying 'no way.'

I pouted. "Fine, what about…Acus?"

Both of her ears fell flat on her head, and narrowed her eyes even more at me, sending me a message that said, 'Are you serious? Is that the best you can come up with?'

I made a face at her. "Geez, I'm just coming up with ideas here…hm…uh…" I stared at her black coat. "Juuniji?" It meant midnight.

Her ears went slightly up, and she stopped glaring. It seemed she agreed with the name.

I nodded with a grin. "Juuniji it is!"

I looked down at my pouch that was strapped to my waist. "Hmm, do you think you can go in there Juuniji?"

I opened my pouch and put her in the pouch. She fit perfectly, she poked her head out, and looked up at me.

"Well I guess we better get going to meet Kai."

I ran north to Kai's direction.

In about half an hour, I finally caught up to the team.

"Kai!" I called out. I gasped for air after all that running.

The three turned to face me. "Jay?" they all said.

"Look at this." I took Juuniji from my pouch, and presented her in front of my friends.

Kai's eyes widened a bit. "Jay-"

I held a hand up to silence him. "I know, I know you are going to say 'no' we can't have a cat, but come on, she was all alone in the forest. And-"

"What's that in your pouch Jay?" Cole asked, motioning to my pouch.

I looked at it to see Kiara's necklace hanging out of it. "Uh- N-nothing!" I said, stuffing the object back into my pouch. "It is just something I found in the forest, don't worry about it!" I put on a nervous grin. I knew the ends of my lips were twitching, showing that I was lying, I can't lie to save my life.

Cole made a suspicious face. "Jay, give it to me. Now."

I gulped. "Look Cole, I said don't worry about it, it is just a-string that I found and I-"

"Now Jay," Cole demanded.

I suddenly felt smaller. "F-fine." My hands shook as I put Juuniji down. My fingers trembled as I reached for Kiara's necklace. I handed the necklace to Cole.

Cole stared at the necklace for a bit before snapping his eyes back at me.

"Where did find this?" he growled.

"I-I-uh, i-it was the cat! S-She was holding it!" I stuttered out pointing to Juuniji, who just layed on the ground, watching Cole's reaction.

Cole's charcoal eyes looked down at Juuniji. "Jay we are not keeping this cat."

"But Cole this isn't fair! She-"

"That is final!"

"But-"

"Enough," kai said. "Maybe this cat can help us, since the hideout is hidden, maybe she could find it. She's small enough to fit through holes, she has night vision, and perceptive. Maybe she can help."

I gave Kai a weird look. "Uh, I'm glad I can keep her, but Kai she isn't like a trained cat."

Kai shrugged. "It should be in her instincts."

Cole growled, and clenched the necklace.

"Why, hello Ninjas," a voice from the treetops said.

We looked up to see a man, with spiked up hair, and a smug look on his face.

We were about to get out our weapons when-

"Please, no need for that," the man stated. "I just came to offer a deal."

Before any of us could ask anything, he said, "Your golden weapons, for your friend here."

Behind him, he threw a body next to him. Messed up short, black air, and a ripped up kimono, a kimono that was all too familiar.

She looked at us with shocked eyes.

"Nya!"