Disclaimers: Don't own 'em, but wish I did. They belong to BVE, and probably other people too. But I'm not one of them.

A/N: Set sometime between Scent of a Ranger and I Love Lothor. CyberCam exists, but this is before the cooking class at Storm Chargers.

Innocence Lost

Hunter sat alone at the beach, watching the waves crash against the shore. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine Tori surfing, Blake watching her, cheering. Any time that Blake could get a moment of joy, a moment of happiness, Hunter was relieved. When he felt a hand on his shoulder, he was startled from his thoughts. And he was surprised to see who was looking down at him, concerned.

"Cam?"

"Popular spot," Cam noted. "You mind?"

"'Course not."

"What are you doing?"

"Thinking."

"Or brooding."

"I was not brooding."

"Yes you were."

"So what if I was? It's a part of my charming personality."

"You think you're charming?"

"You know I am," Hunter grinned.

"Were you brooding about anything in particular? Or just getting your daily recommended allowance of brooding in?"

"Just stuff."

"Like?"

Hunter glanced from the ocean to Cam, his eyes narrowing when they settled upon Cam's dark eyes. What he saw in return was genuine curiosity mixed with concern.

"What's said here, stays here, if that's what you're worried about."

Hunter still didn't say anything, although he realized Cam was smart enough to figure out it was something deep. Although he trusted the newly minted green Samurai Ranger, Hunter wasn't quite sure what to make of the man sitting next to him. Cam, just Cam.

"It's no secret that Blake and I never had a normal life. In general, adopted children don't. There's always some underlying question about why we were adopted, our birth parents, stuff like that. But it was even more abnormal for us. Our parents were ninjas, and we knew we would be ninjas just like them. Then our parents were killed, and we moved into the Thunder Academy. Besides us and you, how many kids grow up in a secret ninja Academy?"

"Not many," Cam answered.

"Dude, rhetorical question."

"Oh," Cam whispered, blushing.

"But even as kids with ninja parents, life held some normalcy. We went to school, we played baseball during the summer and soccer in the fall…"

"You played soccer?"

"Yup, I was a forward, pretty good too. Blake kicked butt as a midfielder. He always did have a lot of extra energy."

"I cannot see either of you playing soccer."

"We have the pictures to prove it," Hunter replied, then quickly corrected himself, "Had, I mean. Those are at the Academy in Lothor's ship."

As he finished his sentence, he pointed randomly to the sky, his eyes also looking up. Cam glanced in the same direction, then back at the suddenly older, more reflective dirty blond sitting next to him.

"We'll get them, sooner or later."

"Sooner, I hope."

After a few seconds of silence, Hunter continued as his eyes drifted back to the ocean.

"As kids, we had no idea of what was to come. We celebrated Christmas like normal kids in normal families; we had our birthdays and Easter… We had no worries outside of baseball and soccer games, school, and girls having cooties."

Cam had to chuckle, which he unsuccessfully tried to keep to himself. It earned him a quick glare from Hunter. Suddenly Cam wondered if Hunter still thought that girls had cooties. He couldn't remember a time that Hunter mentioned a girl, or the others teasing him about one. He couldn't say he hadn't seen Hunter flirt with a girl since he rarely saw Hunter outside of Ninja Ops or battle.

Note to self, socialize a bit more. There's always CyberCam, Cam thought.

"Everything was as normal for Blake and me until the day our parents died. Although it was about ten years ago, I still remember it like it was yesterday. Blake and I were at home, in my room. A teacher from the Academy was staying with us while our parents were away on their mission. He answered the door, then called us downstairs. It was our Sensei."

"When he sat us down in the living room, I knew something was wrong. Sensei never came over, he never left the Academy grounds. As he kneeled in front of us, I grabbed Blake's hand. Then he told us that something happened to our parents and that they weren't coming home. I could barely think. I looked over at Blake, and he was in a state of shock. He just wasn't moving. I didn't even realize I was hyperventilating until Blake yelled my name and started shaking my shoulder. When I calmed down, I just grabbed Blake and held him close. Then he started crying and all I could do was hold on to him. I wanted to tell him everything would be all right, but I couldn't. It wouldn't be. Still isn't."

"I lost my innocence that day. That was the day I learned how to truly worry, I learned anger, hatred, sorrow, doubt. From that day on, I knew it was going to be just me and Blake. And I had to be the one that took care of him. Even at the Academy, I was protective of Blake. I knew no one there was going to hurt him, but I couldn't take any chances. He was all I had left. I couldn't lose him, there was no way I would survive it. That still holds true."

Cam just stared at Hunter, speechless. Although Hunter wasn't known for being overly outgoing or exuberant, Cam never would've guessed that he possessed this kind of depth or was capable of this kind of introspection. Cam couldn't think of one thing to say in response to all that Hunter just told him. What Cam wouldn't have given to be able to come up with something equally deep or wise like this father would have?

When Hunter finished, he looked over at Cam, who was just staring back at him. Hunter shifted his gaze back to the ocean, still feeling the weight of Cam's stare. Either Cam was going to laugh, declare that he was insane…or what?

"Whoa…" Cam breathlessly said softly.

Hunter's blue eyes fixed on Cam questioningly. But Cam didn't say any more, he just averted his eyes to the ground. Hunter got to his feet, and when Cam glanced up, he explained, "Blake's probably wondering where I am. I'm supposed to meet him for dinner."

"I should head back anyway. CyberCam's probably driving my father crazy."

Hunter extended a hand to Cam, who quickly took it. After he was on his feet, Cam dusted himself off, then walked in the direction towards Ninja Ops with Hunter right next to him.

"Did you come to the beach for any particular reason, or…?" Hunter asked.

"I was looking for you."

"For me? Can't you track my morpher on your computer?"

"Did that. Dad noticed that you had been at the same spot for quite a while. We figured you had something on your mind, so I came out."

"Can't say I expected it. I'm kinda thankful you came out. This isn't something I'd tell baby brother."

"Why not?"

"He still has some of his innocence. I won't take that from him."