The next morning Cam met his now five students for sunrise meditation at the training plaza. They met there every morning and then usually went somewhere on the grounds for their morning lesson. His four existing students were standing together and Kami was standing off to one side, looking calm but slightly hesitant. It was understandable really; this was a new school and new situation for her. He cleared his throat slightly as he walked towards them, pleased to see their instant reactions to his presence. He introduced Kami to her classmates, and then the small group moved off to one of the smaller training areas and settled down for their meditation exercises, followed by several hours of katana practice and hand-to-hand combat training. By the time lunch came around, Cam had to admit to himself that he was impressed with the level of Kami's skills. Her student transcripts reflected as much but he was impressed anyway. She had been taught well at the Sun Academy; her sword technique was already at the level of the advanced Samurai class he was teaching, she was quick and agile and had a good strategic eye. A few times she had detected small flaws in his defense and charged at him with the correct attack combination. In short, she definitely had potential, and Cam found himself looking forward to the next lessons. She was going to be one student that he felt would be keeping him on his toes. Cam was eager to see how his teaching skills would be put to the test with her.
The following few days passed and they all fell into the same routines of meditation, Samurai history lessons and practice. Kami's eyes were focused on Cam as he demonstrated the last kata exercise for the morning with fluid, graceful movements. She knew she should be watching the rises and falls of his hands and the corresponding movements of his body, but she found it hard to tear her gaze away from his face. His eyes had an almost hypnotizing effect on her and when he smiled she found herself drawn to the soft, gentle gaze. She willed herself to re-focus on his movements. Cam was demonstrating a fast-moving kata that would take both concentration and skill. He pivoted to face them as he finished and her eyes were drawn to the green object that suddenly emerged from under the collar of his uniform. Her breath quickened. The amulet! The very object of her mission, the one thing she had been sent here to find. She had come from a very long way to find The Key. That amulet held the key to the trapped generals' freedoms. And it was in the last place she expected it to be, around Sensei Watanabe's neck!
The image was as familiar to her as her own face, for in the past few weeks she had spent hours staring at the computer printout of just that pendant. She swallowed against the lump in her throat as the excitement within her rose, but kept her face carefully composed. Now that she knew where the amulet was, the next question was how to acquire it. Kami allowed herself the briefest of smiles before it was spotted. Her emperor would be pleased to hear of such quick progress. And the fact that the amulet was around the neck of the man who for some reason made her heart skip a beat every time he smiled at her lent an intriguing twist to her mission. Cam finished his kata demonstration, and Kami moved in synchrony with the rest of the class as they practiced his movements a few times. Then Cam dismissed the class for lunch and approached her with a gentle smile on his face. She had been carefully cultivating the beginnings of a friendship with him and the last day or so he had been speaking to her more and more, getting to know her and she had been using that to gain his trust.
"That was a good replication of the kata," he said approvingly. "You have a good centre, and good balance. You're really doing well with your training in such a short time."
"Thank you, Sensei, but I still have a long way to go and so much to learn," Kami answered modestly and lowered her gaze only to look up at him from under long, dark lashes. "Maybe, if you have the time at the moment, we can discuss a few different meditation techniques…" She kept her gaze on him, her eyes showing gentleness and warmth. Ask me, she thought longingly, Please ask me!
"Well," Cam began slowly, wondering where her sudden intense interest in him had come from; sure, she was attractive and an excellent student but she was a student and there were certain proprieties involved. Her eyes were beautiful though, and he certainly felt comfortable around her. "Maybe during lunch we could…"
"Hey,"
The soft greeting came from off to the side and both Kami and Cam's heads whipped around at the sound. A tall, young man with a mop of dirty-blond hair and intense blue eyes was walking towards them from a few feet away. He was unfamiliar to her, but Cam obviously knew him for his face lit up with a gentle grin, his eyes also lighting up with joy. The blond kept his eyes on Cam, returning the smile as he came to a halt in front of them.
"Hey," Cam echoed the tall man's greeting, not looking particularly surprised at his sudden appearance. "You're just in time. I want you to meet my new Samurai student, Miss Kami Amigosa." Kami bowed politely at the introduction. She didn't know who this Ninja was, but his timing was the worst possible that she could imagine. She was sure that Cam had been about to agree to private lessons. It would have been the most perfect opportunity to try and get the amulet, and perhaps something more, from the good looking instructor.
"Kami, this is Sensei Bradley, head teacher of the Thunder Academy," Cam introduced them. Hunter nodded his head in greeting to her.
"Yeah, but I hang around here occasionally." Cam snorted, a slightly lopsided grin on his face.
"Since when does three to four times a week become occasionally?"
Hunter gave him a mock-indignant look. "What? You're complaining?"
"No, Sensei Bradley, I wouldn't dare," Cam grinned openly and Kami was stunned to see such a carefree expression on his face. "Plus, it wouldn't make a difference anyway." Hunter returned the grin with his own, lopsided version.
"Damn right about that." Kami followed the light hearted bantering with a polite smile, but inside she cursed the Thunder teacher's bad timing. A minute later and she would have been off to lunch with Cam. Now it didn't look like this was still going to happen. Cam confirmed this notion when he turned to her.
"Kami, let's do lunch some other time. I'll see you tomorrow morning, all right?" Kami bowed, not letting her frustration at his dismissal show.
"Yes, Sensei."
After lunch finished, Kami went looking for Sensei Cam. She wanted to try and pin him down for those extra lessons. There was something about Sensei Cam that intrigued her about him but she didn't know what it was. She rounded a corner and then stopped suddenly, stepping back behind a tree before she was spotted. She watched the scene before her, curious. Sensei Cam and the Thunder Ninja were sparring on the open grass. She watched, entranced by their movements back and forth. They were almost evenly matched. The Thunder Ninja had size, muscle and build on Sensei Cam, but Cam was holding his own, using his slighter build and speed to his advantage. It was like watching two intricate dancers performing a complex, yet deadly, ballet. Suddenly a soft voice startled her out of her reverie.
"Graceful, aren't they?" Kami turned sharply to find Sensei Tori Hanson standing next to her, a warm smile on her face, her arms crossed. Kami got control of herself quickly, cursing the fact that she had been snuck up on. She had been that engrossed in watching Sensei Cam that her enhanced senses hadn't noticed the Water Sensei coming up on her.
"Yes they are, Sensei." Kami decided that a few gentle probing questions wouldn't go astray. After all, it was common knowledge around the Academy that Sensei Tori was friends with them all. She was also the most approachable of the Senseis around the Academy. She wanted to know all she could about this Thunder Ninja. From Sensei Cam's reaction when he arrived there was something about this Thunder Ninja. Sensei Tori grinned at Kami.
"Watching these two spar you could be forgiven for thinking that they want to kill each other." Now Kami was really confused. It did indeed look like they were going all out to kill each other.
"I thought they were friends, Sensei?" Tori nodded as she watched them with Kami.
"Oh they are Kami, and more than that. But just watching them like this you wouldn't think so." Now she was even more confused and some of that must have shown on her face and Sensei Tori smiled at her and continued speaking. "Sensei Watanabe and Sensei Bradley have been friends for a few years now. As they are both Head Teachers of each Academy they work closely together so they have a deep friendship." Tori didn't notice the flash of disappointment in Kami's eyes. Tori looked over at her and Kami controlled herself quickly. Tori patted her on the back and nodded to the other side of the campus. "Anyway, time to get to meditation class, Kami."
"Yes. Sensei Hanson." Her mask of polite samurai student firmly back in place, she bowed. Sensei Tori moved away and Kami took one last look at how Cam and Hunter were interacting together. They looked too comfortable for her liking. She would have to find out exactly what was happening between those two. But first things first; the acquisition of the amulet had to be her first priority. Hopefully during meditation class she would have enough time to come up with a plan…
The murky darkness in the hallway of the teacher's dorm didn't bother Kami one bit as she made her way down the corridor towards Cam's door. It was close to eight o'clock in the evening and she had not seen a hair of Cam since she had observed his earlier sparring session with the Thunder Ninja; chances were good her handsome teacher had not returned yet from wherever he had disappeared to with his mysterious friend. So she had decided to make her move now, for she might not get another chance like this one.
In front of his door she paused, looking back over her shoulder to make sure the hallway was still deserted, then pressed her ear to the wood of Cam's door. Not a sound could be heard from inside. Nevertheless, she knocked softly; if the unexpected happened and Cam were to open the door, she would feed him some cock and bull story about needing his advice on achieving the ultimate inner peace for meditation practice.
The precaution proved to be unnecessary, for there was no answer to her knock. She waited another few moments before she pulled a slim tube out of her pocket and inserted it into the keyhole. With one click of a button, the device came to life, whirring softly and a moment later, the door latch disengaged. Kami smirked; there was no known lock in existence that a Zakaarian laser-pick couldn't crack. Quickly she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
Cam's room was indeed deserted. For a brief moment, Kami debated whether to turn on the light, but that might draw the wrong attention. No, this had to be done without the benefit of illumination.
Should she search his room the old-fashioned human way? But that would take quite some time and expose her to the risk of being surprised by Cam should he return any time soon. And even if he didn't walk in on her, there was always the danger that Cam would notice that something was out of place in his room; an object on his desk that she hadn't placed back in the exact same position or a drawer left ajar half an inch – endless possibilities there. No, it would better to conduct the search her way, the Zakaarian way. Kami closed her eyes, producing the image of the amulet until it was crystal clear in her mind. When she opened her eyes again, they glowed a golden yellow and her view of the room was now drastically different. She still saw the outlines of the furniture and all other objects, yet their resolutions were more that of a thermal imaging device. The reason for this was simple; anything worn on Cam's skin for an extended period of time was now being reflected back to her with a deep green tint, thus eliminating the need for light while at the same time making it quite a bit easier and faster for her to find the amulet, no matter where in the room it was located. The deep green of his essence permeated everything in this room that had come in contact with him. Kami slowly scanned her surroundings. There were a lot of green reflections, mainly clothing, but she eliminated most of them by nature of their shapes. Once she thought she had detected the amulet, but when she opened his desk drawer, it turned out to be just a regular, gold chain necklace.
No amulet. Cam must be wearing it right now, wherever he was right now. The thought of him still sparring with the Thunder Ninja and doing what ever made her mood even worse. Kami sighed and was about to re-establish her normal sight when she caught a peculiar reflection from Cam's bed. Curious, she stepped closer and squinted her eyes; it was the normal, green hue of Cam's presence, but there was something else there…Kami wasn't surprised that Cam shared his bed with someone – he was a healthy, good-looking human male, after all – but it was the tinge of the second shade that puzzled her. Normally, the psychic imprints of all human bodies appeared to her Zakaarian eyes in one solid colour, namely the colour of their essence – green in Cam's case for some reason. But this one was tinged with a darker colour within. Her curiosity increased and she concentrated on the colour intonation on the mattress before her until the tint slowly changed and became clearer. Crimson.
Kami's brows shot up in a mixture of surprise and anger as the pieces suddenly fell into place in her mind. Before her mental eye she suddenly saw the tall, lanky Thunder Ninja again - and especially the crimson shirt he wore. Her head whipped around towards the small sofa next to her and out of its own accord her hand reached out towards the top draped over its back. Long-sleeved, with the number 21 printed in black across a dark red background. Kami clutched the shirt in her hand, squeezing it so hard that the whites of her knuckles showed. Him! He was Cam's lover. Not unbelievable, but nevertheless highly inconvenient. Not to mention a huge blow to her ego. She suddenly understood Cam's reaction to her repeated overtures these past few days; it wasn't because he had thought it inappropriate for a teacher to get involved with his student – it was that he simply wasn't interested in her, would never be. At least not as long as there was a certain blond Thunder Ninja around. Kami carefully re-draped the shirt back over the sofa, then straightened up and stuck out her chin, a cruel smile forming at the corners of her mouth; Hunter Bradley had just sealed his own fate.
He was there again the next day. Halfway into hand-to-hand combat training, Kami spotted him sitting under a tree a few yards away, silently waiting. Cam must have spotted him, too, for he suddenly seemed eager to wrap up the practice session. Kami couldn't suppress a scowl as she watched the blond, lanky form from out of the corner of her eye. A surge of anger ran through her; his presence meant that Cam would once again disappear right after practice and another shot at lunch with him and getting closer to him would be disappearing right along with him. He would more than likely do what he did yesterday; tell them to meditate for the rest of the day. If she meditated much more she would go insane; she was here to do a job.
Mouthing a silent curse, Kami turned her attention back to her sparring partner. She doubled her efforts of tackling him and throwing him to the ground, irrational anger now spurring her on. The samurai student had no chance; Kami grasped his wrist, smirking at the look of surprise and pain on the young man's face at her crushing grip. She pulled on the wrist at the same time as she turned and angled into him, flipping him effortlessly over her shoulder. The young man was more agile than she had anticipated, however; he promptly rolled over his shoulder and bounced back to his feet in one fluent motion. His hand went to his wrist, rubbing, but before he could make any retorts, Kami was on him again.
A barely discernible golden hue shimmered around her fist as she slammed it into her sparring partner's chest. The young man was flung backwards a good six feet as if pulled by invisible strings. Stunned, he lay on the ground, wheezing, and then made the sign of surrender. Kami gave him a condescending glance before her eyes flickered to the blond man sitting under the tree. To her alarm, the Thunder ninja was looking at her with a quizzical expression. How much had he seen? Kami silently cursed her slip-up; in times of anger, her Zakaarian powers tended to rise to the surface. Normally, she frequently used the aura of power that would surround her as a convenient means of intimidation in battle, but this was a stealth mission; being inconspicuous was of utmost importance. Kami quickly put on her 'humble student' mask again and moved to help her partner back to his feet. Hopefully, Cam's bothersome boyfriend hadn't seen too much.
A little while later after Cam had dismissed his class, Cam and Hunter were about halfway towards the Wind Academy's communal dining hall when the Thunder ninja decided to bring up the subject of Cam's latest apprentice. There was just something not right with her and he wanted to get his concerns aired. Turning his head so that Cam could see his smirk, Hunter said,
"Your new student was totally cruising you yesterday, you know that, right?" Cam's pace slowed slightly as he returned the gaze with a roll of his eyes.
"Oh please. She was not cruising me, Hunter. She was just being friendly, that's all." Hunter kept his voice purposely light.
"Cam, I've done my fair share of cruising in my life. I recognize it when I see it."
"It's not like you have to worry about anything," the samurai replied, his eyes studying Hunter carefully, seemingly for signs of tension.
"I don't, huh? Well, I hope not. How about showing me later just how little I need to worry? Your room or mine?" Hunter teased, leaning close enough for Cam to cast him a warning look. Hunter chuckled, but backed off; knowing that public display of affection was not something Cam liked to engage in. Instead, he settled for lightly fingering the green pendant around Cam's neck. He was glad to see the samurai wear it more often nowadays. After the team-up with the Dino Rangers for the final battle with Lothor, Cam hadn't worn the amulet for quite a while, until a lengthy conversation with Hunter had finally convinced him that wearing the amulet around him did not bring back any painful memories of losing the Thunder Ranger powers. Not really expecting Cam to answer his rather rhetorical question of their meeting location, Hunter instead addressed the next question on his mind. Turning his gaze from the pendant once again to Cam's face, he asked,
"Is your new student taking any elemental powers classes?" Cam blinked at the unexpected turn of topics.
"No, you know samurai don't learn elemental powers; only ninjas do. Why?" Cam was puzzled by Hunter's question, he knew Cam was the only samurai taking an element class, only because he needed to get the affiliation as part of his role as Head Teacher.
"Well, then I don't know where she got hers from, because I saw her using them on her sparring partner today."
"Impossible," Cam replied almost immediately, but then cocked his head at Hunter, obviously giving him the benefit of the doubt. "What did you see?"
"Not much," Hunter had to admit, "but when she threw a punch at her training partner earlier on, I noticed a faint glow around her fist." Cam's brows drew together in puzzlement, not sure where Hunter's observations were heading.
"Could it have been a play of the light? Maybe the sun reflecting off her bracers?" Hunter pointedly looked at his own fingerless leather gloves.
"There's nothing there to reflect from our bracers, Cam. Besides, the poor guy was knocked backwards at least a good six feet. There's no way this slender girl has so much power in her punch without at least a little…help." He drawled out the last word in emphasis, but Cam's face remained stubbornly unconvinced. Hunter sighed; he really didn't want this conversation to go there, but he felt he didn't have much of a choice. Something about her just screamed wrong to him. He took a calming breath and plunged ahead.
"Cam, how much do you know about Kami?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, who she is?" he elaborated. "Where's she from? What's her background?" Cam was beginning to look irritated.
"She transferred from the Sun Academy."
Hunter nodded as if he had just received confirmation of a hunch. "That's only one of the most secretive ninja academies in existence. So it's not like we can just call over there and verify her story."
"And why would I even want to do that?" Cam asked stiffly and Hunter could sense his partner's rising annoyance even more.
"Hey, don't get mad at me. I'm just saying, maybe she learned some stuff over there. Do you know any of the teachers there?"
"No, I don't."
"Do you think Kami would reveal their names to you if you asked her?" Hunter pressed. Cam gave him an exasperated look.
"She was one of their students, Hunter, so you know as well as me that she is bound to the academy's code of secrecy." Hunter knew that but he still felt he had to press.
"Hm. Pretty convenient for her, don't you think?" Now Cam's eyes narrowed as he scowled. "Hunter, what are you trying to say?" The Thunder ninja scratched at the back of his neck before he replied in an attempt to word his next sentence carefully.
"What I'm trying to say is - don't let her fool you. I think she's hiding something. For all I know she could be a spy." Seeing Cam's lips parting to speak, Hunter quickly continued. "Just think about it: There have always been female ninjas; it's just that that fact has never been as well known. Matter of fact, women spies and assassins are ancient traditions in many cultures..."
"Hunter, are you listening to yourself?" Cam's sharp retort stopped Hunter in mid-sentence and the blond man was alarmed to see his boyfriend looking at him with eyes that suddenly weren't quite as warm as they used to be. "You've just called her basically everything in the 'Evil Villain Dictionary' when all she is a first-year samurai student!"
"So you think I'm paranoid?"
"You tell me. Are you?"
Their eyes were locked, and Hunter took a deep breath in an attempt to calm the anger that was flaring up inside him.
"Look, I don't want her to be the cause of an argument between us, Cam..."
"She is not the one causing the argument, Hunter." Cam's icy tone was like a slap in the face.
"All I'm saying is that if you watched her a little closer…"
"I am watching her. I watch all my students," Cam snapped, now clearly on the defensive.
"Apparently not close enough."
"That's enough, Hunter!" At that, Hunter's mouth snapped shut and Cam saw the blue eyes flashing with hurt before the former Crimson Ranger nodded stiffly. A mask of neutrality settled over his face, but the damage had been done. Cam felt his partner drawing away until he was emotionally as far away as Alaska. Then Hunter straightened his shoulders and abruptly turned towards the direction of the Wind Academy's entrance portal, his chilly gaze only grazing Cam's for a moment.
"All right, fine. If you think you have everything under control, then I guess there's no need for me to hang around here any longer. I need to get back to the Thunder Academy anyways," he said, his tone now completely void of emotion. Resigned to the fact that lunch was not going to happen anymore, Cam just nodded curtly at him. He hadn't intended for his last words to come out so sharp, but Hunter's last claims were downright accusing Cam of incompetence in keeping his students in check and that hurt. He couldn't bring himself to call out to Hunter as he walked away, so he merely watched the Thunder ninja stalk down the path towards the holographic entrance until the blond man's tall form disappeared between the trees. Hunter never looked back.
Neither man saw the slim, shadowy figure slinking back behind a tree trunk, an evil grin on her lovely face.
Thank you all for your positive reviews so far on the first chapter. Hope we didn't disappoint with chapter two...