Despite Kai's previous worries, Sam actually had a great time on the Bounty. He had worried that his brothers' teasing and banter would be too overbearing or overwhelming for her to handle, however, strangely enough, his brothers had been on their best behavior, and Sam had done a good job with blending into the group. Even after meeting her for the first time, they were already treating her like she was part of the family.
The small-talk at the table carried on for about forty five minutes until Sam glanced up at the clock in the kitchen, and realized it was getting late.
"I suppose I should be heading out," she said, reading the time. It was a little after 11. Of course, it was Friday night, so it wasn't like she had to be anywhere the next day, but she didn't want to outstay her welcome. Plus, she was tired.
Kai yawned as he stretched his arms behind his chair. He looked at the clock and saw it was getting late as well. The evening had passed by so quickly. He supposed all good times must come to an end at some point, no matter how much he didn't want them to.
"I'll walk you to the door," the red ninja said. He thought it was a gentlemanly thing to do, especially with his friends watching.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Sam," Nya said, smiling at the girl.
"Yeah, we hope we'll see you again soon," Jay added. He thought it was cool to have someone around that worked for Cyrus Borg. Also, he secretly hoped that maybe she'd share her experiences with him, and maybe she'd have a "bring your friend to work day" or something. That'd be cool, he thought, practically drooling at the image of seeing Cyrus's inventions up close.
"It was nice meeting you guys too," Sam said. "Thanks for having me over."
"No problem," Cole answered, finishing his third slice of cake. "We're glad to have you."
After everyone said their goodbyes, Kai led her to the door.
"Hey, I'm really glad you came, he said. He chuckled to himself knowing it wasn't the first time he had said that to her. "I hope you had a good time."
"I did," Sam replied. "I had a lot of fun." And she meant it. Hanging out at the Bounty was probably one of the most exciting things she had done in a while. Like she had said before, she only had one brother, so having several around was quite entertaining.
"Will you make it back to your dorm okay? Do you want me to walk you there?" The red ninja offered. He had never gone to college, but he knew that sometimes it could be dangerous for a young woman to walk across campus by herself. He wanted to make sure she was safe, but deep down, he also wanted to prolong their time together.
Sam shook her head, grateful for the offer, but knew that she would be okay without his assistance.
"They have campus escorts," she said. "They're people that the college hires to make sure students get back alright."
"I see." Kai nodded, mildly disappointed. He glanced down at his feet anxiously, not knowing what else to say.
His mind raced, desperately searching for words. Come on, Kai, think of something.
He didn't want to leave it on this note, especially when he had had such a great evening.
"You know I meant it when I told the guys I was planning to have you over again," he practically blurted out.
Sam's eyes widened. "Really?" It was a random thing for him to say, but nonetheless, it made her heart skip at beat.
He looked up at her. "Yeah, I'd love for you to come over again sometime," he said. "If you want to."
He did not want to seem pushy, since the others had told him he had a tendency to be possessive.
Of course, Sam didn't take his offer as being assertive or forceful, instead, she was flattered that the red ninja wanted to spend time with her. And frankly, she liked spending time with him as well.
"I'd like that," she said, causing the red ninja to blush in embarrassment.
"Hope my brothers didn't bother you too much," he said. "They usually get excited when we have guests over...as often as we have them," he added, jokingly. It was a silly thing to say, since they rarely had any visitors in the first place.
Sam smiled and shook her head again. "No, not at all. It's nice you have a family that cares about you so much."
He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess I am pretty lucky."
An awkward silence followed, neither party sure of what to do or say next, yet, there was a hesitancy, a certain reluctancy for the couple to part ways.
Kai stole a glance at Sam, admiring how pretty she looked in her civilian attire. He couldn't pinpoint what it was, but there was something about the civilian life that fascinated him. While he and other ninja were used to wearing their ninja uniforms everyday, everyone else in Ninjago wore normal clothing most of the time.
Sam caught his gaze, and the red ninja felt his cheeks start to burn, realizing that he had been staring at her. He cleared his throat nervously.
"Uh, so, will I be seeing you again anytime soon?" he asked, feeling the slightest bit bashful.
Sam thought for a moment, the stresses of reality coming back to her.
"Well, I have finals next week, so I have to study for those," she said. "And I have to look for an apartment, as well as get ready for my internship, so that's going to take up a lot of my time."
She sighed. "And on top of that, I have my usual grocery shopping on Wednesday," she added. "So basically I'm going to be very busy."
That's when she noticed the defeated look on the red ninja's face, causing her to experience a pang of remorse in her heart.
"But when I'm available," she said, taking his hand, "You'll be the first to know."
She didn't understand why, but it had seemed like the right thing to do. It felt so natural to her, which was odd since she had only been in a couple minor relationships beforehand, the last one ending pretty badly. Still, it just felt right to her.
Kai realized that he was holding her hand, and his heart fluttered. His eyes met hers, and that's when he knew that she would make time for him. Sure, they led completely different lives, but they would make it work.
"Alright," he said, gently squeezing her hand. "I'm gonna hold you to that," he teased, making her laugh.
"As long as it's not during your practice time," Sam retorted, "Wouldn't want you to miss that. Then I'd get in trouble with Sensei."
Kai chuckled. "No way, Sensei likes you. It'd be my fault for putting you before training. He'd surely kill me if I did that again."
After the laughter had died down, the couple exchanged smiles, knowing they would be seeing each other again. As much as Sam would've loved to stay at the Bounty forever, she had her own responsibilities to fulfill. But she promised that after the craziness of the week ahead was over, she would gladly spend more time with the red ninja.
"Good night, Kai," she said.
"'Night, Sam."
He softly let go of her hand, and watched her leave, an empty feeling building in his chest. After all the activity that had taken place the past few hours, even one person missing made the Bounty seem quieter.
In fact, the Bounty was too quiet. Meaning, there was no noise whatsoever coming from the kitchen. Having five young adult males in the house, it was hardly ever quiet.
He shut the door after seeing that Sam had left the ship without trouble, then turned around to find all four of his brothers standing at the end of hall, watching him.
"Ah, parting is such sweet sorrow, boys," Cole said, placing both his hands on Lloyd and Zane's shoulders, who were standing on either side of him.
"Come on, Kai, you call that a goodbye?" Jay said, making kissy-faces at the red ninja from behind the others.
"Ugh," Kai face-palmed himself at his brothers' antics. He knew it was all in good-humor, but it could exasperate him at times.
"What do ya think, guys? Is it safe to say Kai officially has found a girlfriend?" Cole teased.
"I think he has to kiss her first before it's official," Lloyd said, grinning deviously at his red-clad teammate.
"Lloyd!" Kai glared at his brother, a blush creeping across his cheeks.
"Yeah, I think the code of dating is that you do have to kiss before you are officially boyfriend and girlfriend," Jay interjected.
The red ninja rolled his eyes. "What are we, a bunch of eight year olds?"
"Actually, lip contact is usually the first indicator of being in a romantic relationship," Zane stated matter-of-factly.
"Thank you, Zane," Kai muttered sarcastically.
"Either way, we're glad for ya, buddy," Cole said.
The red ninja smiled, realizing the earth ninja was being sincere. "Thanks, Cole, I just hope everything works out."