Chapter 8

"What's up, jailbird?"

Rocky rolled his eyes when Jason fell in step with him toward the end of the day, large grin plastered on his face. Suddenly, Rocky wanted to punch Jason, wondering how he managed to go through life, through everything with nothing but a bright smile. Almost s if nothing ever fazed him. Jason would still be smiling and prancing around like a sideshow attraction even if he lost everything.

Or else, Rocky knew to be truer, it would be the façade he'd put out as long as he wanted to avoid feeling anything. And Jason wasn't going to pass up the chance to push attention off him when he didn't feel he deserved it. Just as he always did and always would do.

"The principal's office isn't jail," Rocky pointed out.

"Oh, I know." Jason gripped the strap of his backpack, turning to walk backwards, keeping his eye on his best friend. "I've been there enough times to know that for sure. But you're the only person I know who can go into the principal's office and come out with a light sentence." He raised a hand to run through his hair. "Do the words 'zero tolerance' mean anything to you?"

"You're still mad about the time Brett merely bumped you when we were sparring, and you got in trouble."

"Yeah, but that's not my point."

"Then what's your point?"

"That you're the only person I know who can come out of the principal's office with nothing on you. No mark on your permanent record—"

"—That doesn't actually exist—"

"—Nothing that would make the teachers bat an eye at you. You get into an actual fight—"

"—I didn't touch him—"

"—And the only thing you get is—"

"—They're going to call mom and dad," Rocky interrupted. Jason's smile slowly started to fade. "Do you really think my parents are going to be happy knowing we get back to school after everything that happened last time and before I even got into school I got into a fight?" Jason pursed his lips, his eyes shifting back and forth in thought. "Yeah, that's not going to go over well."

"Well…do they expect you to just take everything Darren's doing to you?" Jason asked instead, his smile finally fading. "It's like you said, he's had it out for you for years. And, no offense to Daddy Douglas, but I don't think he realizes that taking the high road doesn't always work."

Rocky didn't bother to respond. There was no point.

Strength was restrained and everything. He was the one who consistently told Colt to stop trying to use his newfound ninja abilities when they were younger. He had to continue to tell his brothers when it came up as the years went on. He had the opportunity stare him in the face and, still, he couldn't do it.

Strength was restrained.

Sometimes that really sucked.

Especially when, as Jason pointed out, there was a zero-tolerance policy put in place.

"Tell me about it," Rocky agreed.

They turned the corner and he looked down the hallway to see Emily at her locker, carefully packing her laptop into her backpack before transferring out her other books. All at once, Rocky's mouth twisted to the side at the same time as his stomach. Butterflies and everything.

And yet, he wasn't quite sure that's what he was feeling. Butterflies and nerves were a foreign concept to him. Especially when he got more years of ninja under his belt. Though he did remember, and his brothers cruelly reminded him, how bashful he was after seeing Emily again after changing his name and starting with his "new identity" of Rocky.

It had seemed silly then, that he was no longer going to be "Sam", but she took it in stride. As she did with everything else, calling him out when he needed to be called out and listened when he needed to be listened to. How did one dance manage to change so much? Especially when it wasn't even different form other dances. They always went together as a group and she always spent more time with Laurie and Jo and the other girls than she did with him and Jason anyway.

But…something was different that time around.

Jason's eyes narrowed a fraction when he noticed the stutter in Rocky's step, then he turned around and seemed to notice what it was. He shook his head. "One dance and you act like your entire world has changed. You didn't do anything different; you just went as dates." He shrugged. "Which, yeah, Em looked amazing, but still, it's just a high school dance."

Rocky then gave Jason a funny look. "Since when do you give Em compliments?"

"I give them when they're deserved," Jason said. "You looked amazing, too, by the way. But I don't hear you freaking out about me mentioning that." He spread his hands when Rocky rolled his eyes. "I'm just saying, finally being able to relax for once is a good look for you. An amazing change from that stick you almost always have up your butt."

"I think we already had that conversation, Jase."

"Then what's the problem?"

"…I don't know." Rocky shrugged.

"Well, you better figure it out. I already feel like a third wheel when I'm around you two. I got used to that. I don't want to have to feel like things are like my house if you do something stupid or don't do anything at all; freezing cold." With that, he swept to the side down a conjoining hallway while Rocky continued forward. He went up behind Emily and cleared his throat softly. "Hey, Em."

"Oh!" Emily jumped and whirled around to face Rocky. She rolled her eyes, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Don't do that. I hate when you do that ninja thing."

"What ninja thing?" Rocky smiled a little. He reached out and grabbed the last textbook she was trying to balance in her hands while closing her bag at the same time. "Walking?"

"Yeah, that." She smiled gratefully to him and closed her locker with a bump of her hip. Then took the book to put it away. "You walk so quietly; I can never tell when you're there. It's like, you always watching over me or something and I never know."

"Well, habits die hard." Rocky shrugged. "From getting your bike stolen—"

"—That was your fault," Emily interrupted him, reaching out to poke him on the shoulder. There was hardly any force behind it, he barely had to move from her push but he took a step back anyway. "That wouldn't have happened if you weren't showing off."

"It wouldn't have happened if you were able to keep up."

Emily made a feigned sound of shock and smacked Rocky on the arm. Again, it didn't hurt. He'd gone through much worse. But he brought up his other hand to grab at his arm anyway. Watched as Emily laughed. He'd done it many times before and yet…Rocky shook his head, compartmentalizing his thoughts, pushing some away, moving others to the forefront.

"So, I'm surprised you weren't suspended," Emily remarked. She pushed away from her locker and started toward the last class they shared for the day. "What with the whole zero tolerance thing."

"That's what Jason was saying."

"You didn't even touch him."

"That's what I was saying." Rocky shrugged. "They want me to go to the guidance counselor's office anyway." Emily looked at him as if he were crazy. "Apparently it's out of character for people like me to react to things like this and they want to make sure my head's screwed on straight."

"I can already tell you it's not."

"Thanks."

She's laughed. "I've known you for years, Rocky. If you were normal in any way, I wouldn't like you so much. You're different…" She trailed off for a minute. "Different than a lot of the other guys we're constantly around. You're different from your brothers. You're just…different." She bumped his shoulder with hers. "And I like that."

A light flush came to her cheeks at the same time it came to Rocky's. It wasn't the first time she'd said something like that to him, probably wouldn't be the last, but it still was nice to her. Nice. Very nice. Very…something.

"What are you going to do about your mom and dad, though?"

And that's why she was his best friend. She knew exactly what he was thinking without him even having to say it. Sometimes before he even knew he was thinking it. But, she'd also been around the Douglases enough to know his trepidation over things like that when they became aware of the goings on t their school. Usually, though, Colt was the one they were being called for, not Rocky.

"I don't know," Rocky said slowly. "I don't think they'll be happy."

"I don't think any parent would be happy considering you just got back to school."

"Thanks for pointing that out, Em."

"What sort of friend would I be if I didn't?" Emily turned at the entrance to their classroom and grabbed onto Rocky's hand, squeezing it tightly within her own. "Everything will be fine; they'll understand once they hear what happened. It's good that you were suspended, they'll be happy about that." She gave a half smile. "Happy that it's not the worst you could have done…" she trailed off once more, dropping her hand from his.

Rocky's eyebrows pinched together. He hesitated a moment before following her into the classroom. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Emily kept her eyes averted as she slid into her seat. Busied herself with unpacking her laptop. "Just that…things could've been a lot worse; you know? There's more to life than the…idyllic suburbs that we grew up in." She scratched at her forehead. "Or the "nice" version of LA that our parents tried to make us see so they wouldn't scare us. It means you could've gotten into a lot of trouble today, but you didn't. Darren probably is. And your parents may be upset, yeah, but…it could be worse."

Rocky sighed. Knew what she meant. Knew his mere mention of her bike being stolen by Darren had mentally put her back to the night she'd been kidnapped. Something she still didn't really talk about but alluded to every now and again. Not that he blamed her. That abject fear of seeing her with Fester's arm around her throat and a gun pointed to her head wasn't something he'd forget quickly.

Shaking out his hands, flexed his fingers, Rocky worked to keep the pins and needles from striking his digits and going up his arms. "Why do you have the ability to be comforting and worrying at the same time?"

Emily smiled at him. "Because I'm your friend and it's fun."

Rocky smiled back, continued to shake his hands.

Some fun.

"I can see you're not very focused today." Mori tipped his head to the side, nodding toward the youngest of the three brothers later that day after school.

There would've been baseball practice, but Sam had passed along the message that it was cancelled for the day. When Rocky had told Mori of it, their grandfather had quietly asked if they'd like a ninja lesson and the boys jumped on it. They weren't able to go back into their school sanctioned sports for another week and ninja would be better than Colt angrily slamming a soccer ball at the side of the house all afternoon.

"Other than Tum-Tum, I mean."

Tum-Tum practically preened as a peacock as he looked toward Rocky and Colt, who exchanged eye rolls. Nevertheless, directly after showing their displeasure at the comment from their grandfather, they lowered their gaze, seeing Mori turn their way. His pleased expression at his youngest grandson turned to one of quiet disappointment as he looked at the older two.

"I understand there was a lot going on today," Mori commented, strolling toward Rocky and Colt. Rocky took in a deep breath through his nose, hands pressed to the sides of his legs as he and his brothers stood in front of their grandfather. He kept his gaze as leveled as he could, made sure not to look at Colt out the corner of his eye, made sure not to look at Tum-Tum.

When they stood in front of their grandfather—their sensei—he needed their rapt attention. There was an expectance of respect and responsibility that was always needed to be shown. And Rocky was doing his best not to let it show he knew, somehow knew Mori was disappointed in him…for something.

And had a good idea what it was.

"First day back at school, what do you expect?" Colt asked with a half-smile and a shrug. "It's always been interesting for us."

"Mom and Dad are going to kill you when they hear you got into a fight," Tum-Tum said, practically bursting to spill the beans. Rocky glared at him. He, clearly, was riding on the high of having their grandfather's individual praise.

Mori sighed heavily, glancing over his three grandsons. He tightened his grasp along the head of the cane he used to propel himself back and forth across the backyard. "Yes, that is what I was referring to before, but your parents are not going to find out about that incident." All at once, the three brothers' eyes snapped toward their grandfather, watching him carefully. Mori's eyebrows twitched upwards; the side of his mouth moved in amusement. "Does that surprise you? I don't tell your parents everything. If I had, I'm sure they would love to know about the time I had you install the satellite TV at my cabin."

"And how you nearly knocked me off the roof," Colt grumbled. He smiled when Mori lifted his cane and pushed it into Colt's stomach.

"Yet you're still alive. And I will be too, so long as your mother doesn't find out about that little incident. As such, I'm not going to tell her that I received the phone call from our school about what happened today." Mori turned his gaze toward Rocky. "You know how I feel about using your ninja skills in a fight for personal gain."

"But I didn't, grandpa," Rocky defended himself. He shook his head. "You know I would never do that. I didn't even touch him."

"Yeah, he'd be in a body bag if Rocky were to have actually laid a finger on him," Tum-Tum said. He folded his arms over his chest. "I wish I had been there. I would've used some of my wrestling moves to pinch a nerve, I wouldn't have really needed to do anything to him, either."

"Be quiet you dork!" Colt hissed to him.

Rocky ignored his brothers and kept his gaze leveled on his grandfather's. Mori looked back at him, calmly blinking. Waiting. Waiting for the truth Rocky wasn't admitting. Realizing it, Rocky lowered his gaze to his feet, lowered his chin in guilt.

"I enjoyed it a little," he admitted. "Being able to finally make Darren shut up. I wanted to hit him, but I knew the teachings we had and knew it wouldn't be the ninja way…it wouldn't be my way. But I was a little proud of what I managed to do."

"A little?" Tum-Tum echoed. "'I heard it was great!"

Again, Colt shushed him. This time with a sharp elbow to the ribs.

"Yes, Little One, the feeling of triumph can outweigh other feelings in a given scenario," Mori said, nodding sagely. He lifted his cane and, using the bottom, tipped up Rocky's chin so that he looked his eldest grandson in the eye. "The feeling…of wanting to be powerful…of wanting to be in control…it can be as harmful as any drug. I know the feeling well."

Rocky kept his gaze on his grandfather's letting his words sink in. Lowered his gaze, watching as he noticed the cane starting to shake. Something that wouldn't usually take so much out of his grandfather was slowly sapping away at his energy, his strength. Rocky swallowed hard, understanding. As the days went on, his grandfather was growing weaker.

Something even the grand master in ninja couldn't control. But he'd learned how to control things in his life in another way, another fashion. Through his ninja teachings that he wanted Rocky to pass on. Just in case.

Rocky was starting to get the feeling that his grandfather knew something was coming. He just wished he knew what it was.

A/N: Well, another long time before I was able to come back to this. But I'm still as excited as I was before for this story. There are plot threads from the last story that weren't finished there that are going to be completed within this one as well as some new ones starting. Like I said preciously, I had planned on this story and Crossroads being the only ones in this series, but I do have an idea for a third if it ever needs to come in.

Nevertheless, I hope this chapter wasn't too boring for you all to come back to. I always loved every scene that had to do with Mori and the boys and I really knew I needed a scene like that for this one. It's a bittersweet one, for sure. Action does pick up with the next chapter so be on the lookout!

Cheers,

-Riles