It was getting late and the sun will set in a couple of hours or so. We see the thunder and storm couple walking hand in hand swinging back and forth, towards the grounds of the school. As they entered the training grounds they see Blake and Leanne doing practice training with their Thunder Blades and not far off from the sidelines was Tori and Shane. Both of them were sitting down on the grass watching the other two thunder ninjas and Cam and Dustin was nowhere in sight. Hunter and Kaze walked up to the other two wind ninjas and sat down beside them.
"Hey guys." greeted Kaze.
"Hey. Where did you two went?" asked Tori.
"Oh nowhere really."
"Where's Cam and Dustin?" Hunter asked as he glanced around.
"Well Cam went off awhile ago and not soon after Dustin was gone too. I think there is something going on with those two." stated Shane.
"Why do you say that?" the white ninja asked.
"Well earlier today when we went out for lunch, when I join up with the two at the table, they're acting weird. Its almost like they were uncomfortable with each other or something, like something embarrassing happened with those two." explained the air ninja.
"Guys!" Blake's voice cut in.
The guys stopped their conversation and turned their heads and see the navy ninja, sprinting up towards them. Blake stopped in front of them and Leanne followed not far behind him, the thunder ninja was sweaty and his hair was wet. Everyone stood up and to greet the other two, who just joined them.
"Hey Blake, you guys finished?" Hunter turned to his brother.
"I think that's enough." said Leanne.
"So how he's doing? Good enough to be the next Thunder Blade champion?" Kaze cocked his head.
"He's doing great in his skills but he not there yet." the female thunder ninja smirked.
"Hey, I'm doing just fine for your information. Anyways what were you guys talking about?" Blake asked curiously.
"We were talking about Cam and Dustin, something is going with those two." answered the water ninja.
"What's going on with Cam?" Leanne asked who was also getting curious.
"We don't know." sighed Hunter.
"Hey there they are, right now." stated Shane as he pointed to somewhere.
Everyone turned their heads and near the entrance of the Storm Ninja Academy they see Cam walking with his laptop underneath one arm. Dustin who was following the samurai, sprinted up to the other and grasped his shoulder to turn the green ninja around. The two started to talk a bit then Cam face expression changed and he shook his head and walked away from the child of earth. Dustin reached out an arm to stop him but he just dropped it and sighed and walked the other way, leaving Cam alone. The guys just saw the scene before them and wondered what was going on with those two.
"Okay, that was weird."
"Maybe we should go talk to them." suggested Tori.
"I don't think that's a good idea having all of us, talking to them."
"Fine how about two of us, each have a talk with Cam and Dustin and see what's going on with them."
"Kaze I think you should go talk to Cam since you're closer to him than any of us." suggested Leanne.
"Alright then one of you guys would have to talk to Dustin." the storm ninja pointed out.
The guys immediately turned their heads away and started to whistle, except for Tori who had her hands on her hips.
"Fine, I'll go talk to Dustin then." the ninja of water volunteered and the two went off.
We see Cam at the Japanese gazebo near the lake, he was sitting down with his laptop on the stone table in front of him. Kaze was walking on the bridge walkway, right towards the samurai and sat down on one of the other stone stools.
"Hey Cam." greeted Kaze.
"Hey." Cam answered, not taking his eyes off his computer screen.
"Well the others and I were wondering if something is going on between you and Dustin."
"There's nothing going on between us." the samurai replied in a certain tone.
"It sure didn't look like it, when we saw Dustin trying to talk to you. I know there is something going on and I want you to talk to me, so spill it." the other stated in a 'I'm not backing off until I get some answers' tone.
Cam stopped typing on his laptop's keyboard and sighed and placed his hands to the sides of his laptop and turned to his friend.
"Look, its just something that I have to deal with."
"Something to deal with? Like what? I'm worried about you and so are the others..."
"I know you are worried and I appreciate it, I look at you as a brother I never had but I'm going through something right now. It personal and I'm just not ready to tell you or the others until I go through it myself first. So until then can you leave me alone for awhile, until I get my thoughts straight."
"It has to do with Dustin, doesn't it?" said Kaze as he looked at him.
Cam just stayed quiet and slowly turned his head back towards the laptop screen and look right down at the tabletop.
"By your sudden silence, I guessed right. Look Cam, you can tell me anything no matter what. Just like the time I had to tell you that I was gay and I like guys and I was relieved that you took it so easy. I want to do the same thing for you, whatever the thing you're trying to figure out in your life that is between you and Dustin. So I'm here for you but I'm just a little curious that whatever is between you two, is it somewhere close to something like with me and Hunter?"
Cam just gave him a stern look and Kaze just sighed.
"Fine, fine I won't butt in. Whatever is going on, is between you and him okay? Is that good enough." he backed off with a grin.
"Thanks." Cam smiled back.
Over with Dustin we see the child of earth sitting at another part of the academy, more likely to be a beach shoreline of the lake that the ninja school stood next too. He was sitting on the barely damp sand with his legs up in an angle, spread out a bit. His arms were on top of his knees and he had a stick from a tree and he was drawing in the sand. Tori came walking towards him, slowly up from behind and sat down beside her friend.
"So what got you so down?" asked Tori.
"Nothing, nothing got me down." the other answered and just keeps drawing.
"So the scene with Cam just then was nothing as well right?"
Dustin turned to the water ninja and was about to open his mouth to speak but stopped himself and sighed and went back to drawing in the sand.
"Hey Tor..." Dustin started after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah Dustin."
"How do you know that if you like someone."
"Like someone? Meaning you like or like-like or like-love someone." Tori turned to him in surprise.
"Uh...I was thinking more of like-like." Dustin said in a bit of a quiet voice.
"Why do you ask that?" the ninja of water asked curiously but already had a pretty good idea where this conversation is going.
"Well I know this friend and we have always been friends with friend feelings but just now awhile ago, I think my feelings has changed into something more than a friend."
"What makes you say that?"
"I just started to realize that this person when they smile, makes them adorable and cute and I want them to smile more. I started to have a warm feeling in my chest and a feeling in the pit of my stomach, like butterflies." Dustin explained as he placed his free hand with its palm over his chest and stomach.
"If you ask me, I would say that you definitely like this person as more than a friend."
"Oh."
"You're talking about Cam, aren't you? You like him." Tori said suddenly with a smile on her face.
Dustin snapped his head up and looked at Tori with wide eyes in surprise, then soften them and looked back down again and just nodded his head.
"But I never felt like this to anyone before, especially a guy."
"Well okay. You went on dates before with girls right?" and the yellow ninja nodded his head, "What did you feel when you went out with them?"
"What did I feel? Well if you want to know, it felt like I was going out with just friends."
"And you never felt this way with any other guys except Cam right?"
Dustin nodded.
"Well I'm not sure if I'm right or not but that gives you more than enough clues, telling you that you prefer guys over girls or maybe just Cam." stated Tori.
Dustin just nodded in understanding and just stayed quiet for a minute.
"So are you going to tell him?"
"Are you nuts! I can't tell him, I don't even know if he likes me that way or not. If he doesn't like me like that, thing will be a bit uncomfortable between us." he looked at her with wide eyes.
"But what if he likes you back?"
"But what if he doesn't?" he retorted.
"But what if he does." she said again.
"I don't know, I need to think about it."
"Alright I won't force you to do anything but me and the others will be right behind you all the way, since we're already okay with Hunter and Kaze."
"I know and thanks." Dustin smiled.
Everyone met up again after Kaze and Tori's talks with Cam and Dustin and started to head back towards the school. As they did, the students of the academy were all going somewhere in the direction of the training ground area. They started to wonder where everyone's going but Hanami spotted them and called them over.
"What's going on?" asked Shane.
"Its time for the school's weapon session." answered the pink ninja.
"Weapon session?"
"You know besides teaching the art of ninjitsu, the students also learn the use of weapons for combat."
"Oh, so you mean like swords, staffs and weapons and stuff right?" stated Dustin.
"Right, so come on and you can watch some of the skills of the other students here have." and Hanami started to head towards where the other students were going and the guys followed.
"So what did you two find out?" Hunter whispered to Kaze and Tori as Cam and Dustin walked ahead of them, while the others stayed back a bit.
"The only thing that I know is that Cam is sorting through a personal problem that have something to do with Dustin and until he makes a decision, he won't talk to us about it." Kaze whispered back.
"Oh? How about you Tori?" Blake asked in whisper to his girlfriend.
"Well here something interesting you should know about, it seem that Dustin has some sort of feelings for Cam." the water ninja answered in a whisper.
As soon as she said that, everyone stopped and turned their heads and just stared at her and couldn't believe what she just said.
"No way." Shane just said in a plain voice.
"No, its true."
"Who would have thought? And I bet Cam feels the same way, that must be the problem he trying to sort out." stated Kaze amusingly.
"Do you think we should play matchmaker for those two?" Blake asked with a grin.
"No, I think we should just leave it to them to sort things out with one another, besides if we do, Dustin will know that I told you guys."
"Hey you know, if Cam and Dustin do get together, Shane will be the odd man out of the group." Hunter smirked.
"Hey, you don't have to remind me of my love life you know!" exclaimed Shane and the others just chuckled.
The guys arrive to where all the other students had ended up at, a large sandstone floor arena that was covered sand dust. The entire school of students were all there standing around the outside perimeter of the arena, along with Sensei Anido was beside him was Sensei Watanabe. When the guys got there, they stood near Kaze's father at the edge of the arena and a battle was already on. The fight was between a female ninja and a male ninja both wearing different uniforms from other schools. The girl was fighting with a pair of sensu fans and the guy was fighting with a wooden ninja sword.
The guy thrust his sword right at the girl who in turn, brought up one of her closed up fans and blocked the attack by knocking it to the side. The guy quickly countered that move by twisting his body around and swinging his sword around, right back at her. The girl quickly threw her head back along with the top half of her body, barely dodging the wooden blade. She then kick out one of her leg and knocked the guy away from her and did a back flip by putting her hands on the ground and then stood back in a fighting position.
Immediately the guy launched himself into the air spinning and brought his sword right down at her and she quickly brought up her two fans and crossed them and blocked the attack. Then immediately the girl pushed the guy back and opened up her two fans and started to twirl forward with the fans outwards. As she spun around towards the guy who in turn, backed away from the girl blocking her fan attack with his sword. Then on one final move, both of them swing their weapons at each other and ended up with the guy's blade against the girl's neck and the girl's fan, against the guy's neck.
"That's enough." called out Sensei Anido as he ended the fight.
The two students who were breathing heavily, dropped their weapons and turned to their sensei and bowed and turned to each other and bowed as well and walked out of the arena.
"Next you all will watch a battle between two of the top female ninjas there are, my daughter Hanami Anido and Leanne Omino of the Thunder Ninja Academy."
Hanami and Leanne walked out from their places and right into the arena and head to one side of the battle area where there were a whole range of wooden weapons, placed on racks. Hanami picked out a wooden naginata, at the same time Leanne picked out a wooden version of the Thunder Blade and both of them walked to the center of the arena. Both of them bowed to the two sensei and then to each other and got into a fighting stance.
"And begin!"
Immediately both ninjas thrust their staff weapons at one another clashing multiple times and started to knock each other's weapon attacks away from them. Hanami somehow got the upper hand and manages to push Leanne back and started to thrust her naginata at her very fast multiple times. The female thunder ninja started to back away and blocks the attacks with her own staff as she was attacked by lightning speed stabs. Leanne immediately during one of the attacks, brought one end of her Thunder Blade down on the bladed part of Hanami's naginata and locked it down to the ground, making it unable to be moved.
The pink ninja quickly with a twist of the handle, freed the blade lock and using the inner curve blade end of her weapon, hooked one of female thunder ninja's ankle and tripped her off her feet. Leanne quickly countered it by going right into a back flip, leaning her top part of her body back she stabbed her staff into the ground using it as a support. She flipped with her hands still on the handles of her staff and she landed on her feet once more and the girls went into a stance again with their weapons. Then immediately both of them lift their weapons above their heads and started to twirl them with both hands towards each other.
As the two of them continued their fight, Kaze noticed something from the corner of his eye and turned to where his father was standing. His father was looking at him but still facing the battle and motioned his head towards the battle and winked. The white ninja understood what his dad wanted him to do and started to walk away. Hunter noticed this and wondered where his boyfriend was going and grabbed hold of his arm. Kaze turned his head back to his love who gave him a questioning look. Kaze just smiled and gave him a quick peck on the cheek and headed over to where Terry was and Hunter let go of his arm. The storm ninja walked over to the nature ninja and whispered something in his ear. Terry just looked at him and nodded and head over to the rack of practice weapons and took a wooden katana and tossed it into the center of the arena.
Immediately Kaze took a couple of steps forward, towards the arena and jumped into the air with an aerial flip and grabbed hold of the wooden sword in midair. Then he landed a fair distance away from his sister and Leanne, right into a splits and quickly swing the sword once across the ground. Two trails of dust shot out from the ground in a V formation and rushed towards the two battling girls. The other two ninjas noticed Kaze who joined in the fight, turned their heads just in time to see the attack coming towards them. Immediately the two did a cartwheel flip away from the attack and both landed on their feet and swing their staff weapons right onto the ground. They manage to hit the two dust trails as it came right at them and rebounded it right back at Kaze.
The ground attacks came rushing back at the white ninja and he quickly tossed his sword into the air and launched himself into the air twirling as the two dust trails collide right at the spot where he was standing and the ground explode under him. As he started to fall back towards the ground, his sword came falling down at the same time as him. As Kaze nearly reached the ground, he quickly flipped himself into a back flip and kicked the wooden sword right at the handle. The sword soared through the air spinning like an upward frisbee right at the two female ninjas. Hanami and Leanne quickly with a twist, moved their bodies out of the way just in time as the spinning sword flew right pass them and stabbed itself into a trunk of a tree.
Once Kaze landed he quickly pulled off his scarf that was around his neck and bunched it up in his right hand. Then taking a couple of steps, he jumped into the air and thrust the bunched up scarf filled hand, right at the other two ninjas. His scarf came flying stretched out at Leanne where he was still holding onto the other end but the female thunder ninja manage to dodge it. Kaze then retracted his scarf back into his hand and thrust it again at his sister this time but she manages to dodge it as well. Once he landed, Kaze started to swing the scarf over his head and around, back at the other two. The two females threw their heads back along with the top part of their body and the scarf just swung over them just barely. Kaze quickly twisted his body around and swing the scarf again but this time near the ground at their feet. The other two quickly jumped and did a backward flip, landed on their feet and held their weapons in a fight stance.
Then the storm ninja rapidly started to swing the scarf back and forth in a snake like motion multiple times while the other two started to back away and knocked the scarf attacks away with their staffs. The storm ninja then swing the scarf to one side making it stretched out a bit and quickly started to twirl his arm in a circular motion. Doing that, it made the scarf twisted up and with one quick pull and smoothing it out with his other hand, the twisted up scarf stiffened and became a staff. He then grabbed hold of the middle of his scarf staff and started to twirl it above him with his two hands as well as around his body as he twirl himself forward and did a couple of short jumping twists.
Hanami and Leanne started to back away from Kaze as he continued forward with his staff twirling above and around him as he spin forward while doing some short twirling jumps. The two females then immediately started to follow and started to twirl their weapons and started to do short twisting jumps away from him. At one point Kaze stopped his advances and did a quick jump and swing his scarf staff right down at the two. The girls immediately stopped and quickly crossed their staffs and manage to block the incoming attack and with a twist and turn around with their bodies, they did a backward high kick and kicked Kaze right in the chest. The attack kicked the shogun with such force that he went sliding backwards with his feet dragging over the ground.
To stop himself, the white ninja quickly stabbed the staff into the ground and with the given force he swing himself around. At that time the other two went after him and he kicked out with his two legs right back at them. The two female ninjas quickly stopped right in time before the kicks reached them and blocked with their staff handles and pushed Kaze back away from them. Immediately the shogun started to attack his sister and Leanne with his scarf staff using staff fighting style. All three of them started to hit one another, counter and block each other attacks with swings and twirls of their weapons.
During one of the moves, Leanne jumped to the air and swings her Thunder Blade right down at Kaze who quickly brought up his staff and blocked it. Then right at that time Hanami, got right in and manages to knock her brother's weapon out of his grasp and disarmed him. The white ninja was knocked back and rolled away from the other two and stood up again. The female storm and thunder ninja was back in a fighting stance, ready for him to surrender.
Seeing he was disarmed of his weapon, Kaze decided to go for an element technique attack. The shogun quickly crossed his palms of his hands and then twists them around in a quick movement. Then he brought the palms to the side of his waist and quickly with some force he thrust both palms forward at the other two. Then a giant blast of wind shot out from his palms, rushing forward with a great force, which picked up the dust that covered the arena floor. Leanne and Hanami saw the attack coming and quickly jumped out of the way and it rushed past them and exploded. Back over still with Kaze who was still in the position he was in before, he started to cough very badly and dropped to a kneeling position and started to breath heavily and threw up some blood. Since he was injured before with the battle against Ninkana internally, he hadn't recovered yet and using an energy technique made it worst.
Sensei Anido saw this and immediately stopped the battle.
"That's enough. That's all for today, you all may leave." Sensei Anido announced and all the students turned towards him and bowed respectively and started to leave.
Immediately the guys along with the sensei and Hanami and Leanne went up to Kaze to check on him and Hunter got to him first. The crimson ninja dropped down beside his boyfriend and pulled his body back a bit and started to pat and rub the white ninja's back, trying to soothe him.
"What happened? You okay?" Hunter asked worriedly.
"Yeah, its just that I'm still a bit hurt from before and just doing that attack made it worst." Kaze breathed out with his hand over his chest, rubbing it a bit.
"What happened before?" asked his father.
"They fought against Ninkana without their ranger powers and Kaze used a thunder ninja technique to counter one of her attacks. It was powerful and he had to use his own energy to create the technique and he was injured from the collision of the attacks." stated Sensei Watanabe.
"I see." Kaze's father nodded in understanding.
"Then you should get lots of rest tonight son, so you will be ready for your journey tomorrow. Come, lets go back in, its getting late." and everyone started to head towards the school again.
As the two sensei started to head back first and the others following, Hunter who stayed back a bit with Kaze helped him to stand up. After the storm ninja was on his feet, the thunder ninja placed one arm around the other's back and one under his knees. With one quick move, Hunter sweeps Kaze up right into in arms and off the ground and started to carry him.
"What are you doing!" Kaze said with surprise and wide eyes as Hunter carried him back to the academy.
"What you think I'm doing?" the crimson ninja smirked.
"I got legs, I can walk you know."
"So? I like carrying you, so enjoy the ride." and Hunter continued carrying Kaze back ignoring him and the white ninja just stayed quiet and smiled.
That's the end of this chapter, so read and review!