A/N: Ok, so I was so excited to see all of the reviews from the last chapter! I feel like some actions need explaining, so I will do that through the next few chapters. Enjoy!
Before the Interogation
Daisuke meets the guys at the entrance of the gate. Jayden hands Mia's unconscious form off to several servants who take her down to her cell. They bow and Daisuke says, "The Tengen Gate is fully prepared to hold an enemy like this. While it has been quite some time since we have done so, we will fulfill our duty to the best of our abilities. We had our cells fortified with new technology when it was not in use. The particular cell holding our prisoner will stay in has been fortified with some new technology. We control the airflow, so that our prisoner will not be able to use that to her advantage."
"What do you mean by that?" Kevin asks.
"There is only enough oxygen in the room for her to survive," Daisuke answers, "If the prisoner attempts to use symbol power or any of her ninja abilities, she will pass out."
"Isn't that a bit much?" Antonio asks concerned.
Daisuke is about to respond, but Jayden answers for him, "You don't know how dangerous they can be. We have symbol power, which is refined and restrained. They have their abilities. Trust me, you never want to cross a ninja. Their power is strong and wild. I've seen it do disastrous things." Antonio nods. Daisuke leads them to a door and steps aside. A servant presents a lit lantern, which Jayden takes. He then faces the door, takes a deep breath, and opens it. The others follow him as he descends the stairs leading to an iron door. Through the dim light, they see the silhouette of the traitor…
Present Time
Jayden silently walks up the stairs with his three friends. He is not sure how he will explain this to Emily, but Ji probably will understand. As he reaches the top, he knocks on the door and it opens. Outside there are two men standing guard. He nods to both of them and towards Daisuke. The older man shares the serious look on all of the four samurai's faces. He sighs and says, "I think we need some tea."
"Yes, that would definitely help," Jayden agrees. They all sit down on mats as a servant places a tray of cups and a teapot in between all of them. The servant then pours a sufficient amount of tea in each cup, gives one to each of them, bows, picks up the trey with the teapot, and leaves.
"This is a sad time for all of us," Daisuke says. Then he asks, "None of you saw this coming?"
"No, none of us," Jayden replies, "She told the yellow ranger, but as you know Emily had to learn the ways of the samurai in a rush when her sister became ill. There was little time for samurai code, when she needed to learn the basic symbols and swordsmanship in half the time the rest of us had. We can't blame her for not knowing the rules."
Mike looks up from his cup and asks, "How are we going to explain this to her? I mean, she is going to flip out when she finds out…Aw man!"
"What's wrong?" Kevin asks.
Mike runs his hand through his hair and replies, "Uh…well…I think we might end up loosing two rangers instead of one."
"Can I ask something? It might sound stupid, but I need this answered," Antonio says. The others nod and he continues, "What is so bad about Mia being a ninja?"
Daisuke explains, "With all personal scores aside, which there are many, it stems from the basic principal. Samurai follow a code of honor, called the bushido, which dictates how we must conduct ourselves in battle. The ninja have nothing of the sort. They kill for pay. They are assassins. They have no honor." Antonio meekly nods. After a little more small talk, the rangers stand up and leave. All of them know in their hearts, that none of this feels right. As they continue to walk, Kevin is the first to speak.
"Did it bother anyone else that he kept on calling her the prisoner?" he asks.
"Oh, so now you have a heart?" Antonio screams, "When did that happen? After you blasted her with water? Those jet streams could have broken a rib!"
"Antonio, we are just following protocol," Jayden scolds.
"Every time she told the truth she got punished! How is that protocol? How is that fair?" he snaps.
"She admitted to treason," he counters.
"She told the truth! How do we even know she started training willingly. What if her family forced her?" he hypothesizes, "What if she was six when she started or something like that? No six year old knows right from wrong!"
"You were six when you decided to be a samurai," Jayden quips.
"No, amigo, I was eight. I'm just saying, you guys are basing everything off of your emotions. You have given no thought to what possibly lies in the grey areas!" he screams, "You yelled at her for being related to a guy! Oi, do you know how ridiculous that sounds to me!"
"Antonio, you don't understand," says Jayden.
Antonio mumbles, "You've got that right!" With that they continue to walk in silence.
As they trudge on, Jayden thinks to himself, "What if Antonio's right? She never did anything to harm us, but what if I'm right? What on earth was she planning to do? Those ninjas always have something up their sleeves. Especially the kunoichi.* I just hope I made the right call." Once they reach the Shiba house later that night, they are not surprised to find Emily in her room refusing to talk to them. Mike walks to his room and tries to game the memories of the earlier day away. Kevin meditates in the dojo, but for the first time, can not focus. Jayden goes to the punching bag. He mindlessly wails away at the bag until he feels something wet run down his arm. He looks down at his hands and sees that he forgot to tape his knuckles. As he goes into the restroom to clean up the wounds, he remembers a familiar incident.
Jayden walks into the dojo after a long day of training. He hears a steady beat going on the punching bag and goes to check it out. He sees the pink ranger going at it on the punching bag. He notices that she isn't using the traditional style that she normally uses during training. She slams her fist into the bag, sending it soaring all the way to where he is standing. He catches it and calmly says,"That's an interesting style. I've never seen you use any of those moves before." He brings the bag back down to its hanging position and continues, "Still, I'm pretty sure that no matter what style you use, you're supposed to tape your knuckles before you hit the punching bag." He watches as she looks down at her bare hands, and sees that her knuckles are raw and bleeding.
"Oh, I guess I forgot." she mumbles. He can tell that something is bothering her, but he doesn't press it. Instead he chuckles at her comment. He walks over to her and gently guides her by her elbow towards the restroom to clean up her wounds. Jayden makes sure not to touch her hands, so he does not hurt her. He starts running the water until it gets warm, and instructs her to place her hands beneath it as he fumbles around in the medicine cabinet until he finds rubbing alcohol, gauze, and medical tape.
As he opens the bottle of rubbing alcohol and warns, "Be ready, this is going to sting a little." He sees her nod her head in reply and bite her lip in preparation for the sting that is to come. As odd as it seems, he can't seem to stop thinking about how cute she is as he wraps her knuckles with gauze and then medical tape.
"Thanks," Mia sheepishly says.
"Anytime," Jayden replies. Then he remembers that earlier this morning Ji had called her inside with the cryptic words 'It's later.' He decides to ask her about it and says,"Hey, what was that about with Mentor? I didn't get what he meant by the 'It's later' thing."
She smiles up at him and shrugs, "I asked him to help me with a symbol that I was struggling with a few days ago, but he was busy, so he told me he would help me later, and today was later. We worked on it for a while, but there is only so long you can sit at a canvas getting blown across the room with a giant tornado, without getting a little frustrated."
Jayden sighs, "Let me guess, he told you to take a break and instead you hit the punching bag, while he goes out to practice with the rest of us?" She innocently nods. "You know you need to rest, especially after using that much symbol power."
"Give me a break, I got bored!" she playfully retorts.
He grins and says,"Ok, but no more punching bag for you!"
"Fine," Mia sighs as she turns to walk away.
He does not want her to go, so he grabs her shoulder and spins her around. "Hey, where are you going?" he desperately asks.
She smirks, "I'm going to rest." He couldn't help but laugh as he watches her walk off to her room, and for the first time in his entire life realizes something. He has a crush.
As he is brought back to the present, he looks down at his hands and whimpers, "I loved her."
*Kunoichi-Female ninja.
A/N: So, the guys are feeling regret, Emily is not talking, Antonio is furious, Mia is still at the bottom of the Tengen Gate, and Jayden is in LOVE!
You might recognized the italics as a part of another chapter written in a slightly different POV. It is still omniscient, but I am treating this one as Jayden's POV and the original as Mia's POV. The chapter that this piece was in is "I Should Have." It might help to go back and re-read that part. I'm also treating Mia's as what really was going on and Jayden's as his love la la land. There are just some minor differences, but it might help.
I hope you liked it! Please Review and I'll see you with the next chapter!