Chapter 4
External Glimpses

.:Nya:.

As a young child, Nya hated the dark. She hated what would be lurking in there, what could jump out and what could kill her. As a child, night was always so eerie. To her, night was a pitch-black curtain that draped over the outside world, suffocating those in the dark. Now, Nya found herself hating it even more. The night had always been the time when the demons residing within her wanting to come out to play; to invade her mind of gut-wrenching memories.

But… Nya had learned to appreciate it more. Although the night and the dark hide things, it hid her bruises from people who were out and about.

Nya quickened her pace as she walked towards the edge of Ignacia where her little home and family blacksmith were. Her footsteps echoed sharply around the deserted square, sounding loud in her own ears, like the booming heart-beat of a condemned prisoner.

As she got closer to home, she could hear yelling. It was Kai and her uncle. Who else could it be? Nya immediately broke into a run. Instead of the sharp footsteps she had made before, her feet now pounded the stone path with all the grace of a sack of wet concrete. Nya mentally winched as the uneven paving stones made her ankles bend at slightly weird angles as her foot contacted the ground.

It didn't take long for her to throw open the doors to the store and quickly run up the creaky wooden stairs. Once she entered her home, her nose was assaulted with the strong stench of alcohol; however, her eyes took in the sight in front of her. In front of the lamp that casted a dim light across the room, her brother and her uncle were face to face – both wearing expression full of anger and rage. Nya felt worry slither into her stomach as she spotted a whiskey bottle clenched tightly in her uncle's hand, the amber liquid 'swishing' within the glass with every angry hand gestured her uncle made.

"I'm the adult here, you're not!" Her uncle yelled, jabbing a finger into Kai's chest who only stood his ground. "So don't you tell me what to do, boy!"

"You're not acting like the adult here!" Kai yelled back. "You need to stop all of this!"

"I can do whatever I want!" Aidan shouted, saliva flying out of his mouth.

"If that's the case, leave Nya completely out of it!" Her brother thundered, voice louder than Nya had ever heard it before. "Don't think I don't see what you do to her! Or the fact that you're probably making her keep quiet about this from me!"

Nya felt panic begin like a cluster of sparks in her lower stomach. Tension rapidly grew in her face and her limbs as she watched the scene unfolded in front of her. In her mind, Nya was trying to search through her memories of how Kai could have possibly known. She made sure to cover the bruises. She never wanted him to know for this particular reason!

"How long?" Kai suddenly growled, taking another step towards Aidan to the point their chests were nearly touching. "How long have you been hurting my sister?"

"I don't have to answer to you."

"You do!"

"I am the adult here!"

"No, you're just a selfish, alcoholic bastard-"

Nya gasped as her uncle smashed the bottle of whiskey against Kai's face.

'No, no, no, this didn't happen! He only hit Kai!' She frantically thought; however, Nya watched in horror as blood profusely poured from the cuts the glass made as it penetrated Kai's skin.

"No!"

"Kai, wake up! Come on, you're starting to freak me out."

Once Nya heard Jay's voice, the whole memory and nightmare vanished within a second. Her eyes no longer saw the blood and broken glass but the roof of her dorm with her roommate's worried face to the side. The girl immediately ignored him as she sat up, blankets falling from her shoulders but she placed her face into her hands.

"Just breathe, Nya," she could hear Kai's voice say in her head, his voice tender and soothing. "Count five things you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can touch, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste."

Nya immediately started. Through her fingers, she could see the woollen blanket and her black socks sticking out from the end of the blanket. Obviously her fingers would count but she could also see the mahogany bedframe and the desk that was at the end of her bed. She then could hear the harsh sounds of her breath coming from her lips, the resonating sound of her pounding heart, the annoying tick of Jay's clock and the birds from outside. She then could feel her fingers on her face, the warmth the blankets provided for her lower body and the ache in her shoulders from the muscle suit. She could smell oil from her tinkering last night and the fresh smell of new sheets. Finally, she could barely taste the toothpaste she brushed her teeth with from last night.

With that, Nya felt a lot calmer. Her chest was no longer running a hundred metre sprint and her gasps of airs were finally soft breaths.

"So… Err… You okay?"

Nya mentally groaned, forgetting that her roommate was the very one who had woken her up from that nightmare… Meaning he probably witnessed her thrashing or whatever she does in her sleep whenever she had a nightmare.

"Fine," Nya answered curtly before looking over to the window to see it was sunrise.

She then looked back to her roommate who still hadn't shaken off his concerned look. But, she took notice of how he was dressed up in his training uniform. Why? It's the weekend. We have no classes…

"Well… If you're okay, it's time to get up."

"For what?"

"Training."

"It's Saturday."

"When else did you expect Lloyd and I to train you and Brad?"

"When it isn't bloody the break of dawn."

"Hmmm… No can do. Come on, get up. We're already making Lloyd and Brad wait."

.::.

"C-Can we take a break?" Nya panted as she was finding herself struggling to keep up with the fast pace Brad, Lloyd and Jay were running at.

Instead of going straight into sparring or even learning how to spar -like Nya thought they were going to do- Jay and Lloyd wanted the group to go for a morning run. So, Nya immediately thought it would be a 'ten-minute run' sort of warmup… Nope. They had been running for thirty minutes straight at a speed that was a bit too fast for comfort.

Lloyd and Jay introduced her to Brad, apparently their newbie from last year who would also still be a part of the team. He was two years younger than them but Nya found herself liking the boy. He was the same height as her, black hair that was combed nicely. Now, it had kind of risen in a bit of a frizz. Apparently, Brad had used to be quite bad -or so he claimed- but Lloyd and Jay apparently really helped him out… like they will to her.

But this… This felt like torture.

"Trust me, we're nearly done this lap. It's just another five minutes!" Jay called from the front, apparently being the fastest.

Nya nodded in acknowledgement, keeping her lips shut from the complaint that wanted to spill out about this gruelling pace because if she forced herself to keep up, it would be five minutes. Any slower, it would take longer.

But the humidity of the jungle surrounding the academy made her feel sticky and suffocated. Her clothes and muscle suit were already drenched in sweat from the hard run. Her hair was no longer in spikes but completely floppy with perspiration. Lloyd and Jay already made a few comments on that. Her shoulders felt like they were roasting. Since the muscle suit was drenched with sweat, it weighed a little heavier and since it was so hot (despite the sun only rising half an hour ago), she could just feel herself overheating. All she hoped now was that she doesn't collapse.

As soon as they through the walls that surrounded the academy, Nya willingly let herself fall to the ground, panting hard. Her throat was so dry, so uncomfortably dry. Her limbs already felt numb and painfully sore.

"I think we broke him already." She heard Lloyd snicker from the side, drawing laughter from both Jay and Brad. It just made Nya groan as she fought to gather her breath.

"We didn't work you too hard already, did we?" Jay teased as he crouched down by her, making her glare at him.

"Of course not. The ground was just inviting me to lie on it," Nya muttered sarcastically.

"Well, you can't be too tired just yet. The thirty minute jog was just a warm up-"

"What?!" Nya gasped as she bolted upwards. "Warm up?!"

"Obviously we get a bit of a break now," Brad laughed but Nya ignored him as she glared at Jay.

"Don't worry, we'll tone it down for you," Jay reassured her. "But give it a couple of weeks and thirty minutes at this speed will be easy."

"Yeah, it only took Brad about three weeks," Lloyd quipped. "I'll go and set up the dojo. Come over when you're ready to train."

"Never…" Nya grumbled, erupting laughter from the guys.

"You go ahead, I'll stay back so Kai actually does come," Jay told Brad and Nya watched as the other two boys left… leaving her and Jay alone. Great.

Silence hung in the air. It was a gaping void, just waiting to be filled with a sound, a word… just anything. Nya reflected upon the past week. Although she decided to join Jay's and Lloyd's team on Monday, they didn't really actually do any sort of training during the week. What they did do was question her – which made Nya very nervous. But they asked what her strengths and weaknesses would be. How smart was she, what was she scared of, was she stealthy and other questions like that.

As Nya continued to regain her breath, she looked up to the baby blue sky. There were only a few clouds, acting like white ribbons upon the velvet sky, making a half-spiral as if fluttering in lofty breezes.

"So… Ummm… Fluffy clouds."

Nya looked over to Jay who was awkwardly looking at the sky before his eyes flickered over to her.

"Fluffy clouds? That's the best you can come up with?"

"I mean we could talk about this morning but…" her roommate slowly trailed off before shaking his head and looking to her with that stupid concern look. "… Do you have nightmares often?"

"Why'd you ask?"

"I noticed you have them a few times over the last two weeks you have been here," Jay commented but Nya just sighed.

"It's nothing," Nya dismissively stated as she stood up. "Let's go."

.:Jay:.

Jay leaned against the wall of the dojo, blue eyes carefully observing as Lloyd sparred lightly with Kai while Brad was off to the side with a punching bag and practicing his kicks.

Truth be told, Brad was actually pretty horrible last year. Cole ended up taking the better newbie onto his team so it left Brad for Lloyd and Jay. After they had trained him, he was much better; and now that it had been seven months since they had won last year's tournament, Brad was actually doing a lot better. Still, his skills could use with some improvements. He's not a strong martial artist, nor was he very fast or agile; but he wasn't weak, slow or rigid. In fact, he was above average for his strength, speed and agility. He was a fast learner and his memory was outstanding but the one thing that was Brad's biggest weakness was his fears.

Every year of the tournament, there was always at least one round that got to do with fears. Last year, they had to navigate through a maze with absolutely no lights. There were only five teams left in the competition so they had to find the exit while also trying not to get attacked by another team- but oh, here comes the best part: the maze was absolutely crawling with spiders, insects and mice. Brad was absolutely petrified of spiders and freaked out, so Jay and Ash ended up carrying him through the maze.

However, observing Kai, Jay knew the boy was quickly adjusting to all the feedback Lloyd was giving him during their spar. One thing Jay did notice was that Kai was very heavy on his feet. He was even a bit stiff in the shoulders. He was a bit slow to react to certain attacks but if Lloyd was pushing down on him, Kai would strengthen his stance through his legs to get the right balance not to fall over but to still be able to hold up Lloyd's strength.

Jay also noticed that after a while, Kai would get very red in the face and beads of sweat would roll down his skin. The crazy thing was that he wasn't even showing signs that he was getting exhausted. No, he was still able to train. That meant that he was overheating but he didn't even bother to roll up his sleeves on his uniform. Lloyd's sleeves were already rolled up while Brad's shirt was already discarded carelessly to the ground.

"Let's take a break," Jay called out, leaning off the wall.

Jay saw how Kai immediately sat on the ground, legs spread out and leaning back on his arms with his head tilted all the way back to gulp in air. Lloyd, however, just simply shrugged and walked over to his bottle of water, Brad doing the same.

"You look dead," Jay mused as he approached Kai, taking a mental note that Kai's weakness must be endurance. "Tired already?"

"A little… Just a bit hot. That's all," Kai muttered through deep breaths.

"Have some water then. Cool off. Probably take off the shirt too. That's why you're overheating."

"No thanks," Kai immediately said, surprising Jay.

"No need to be shy!" Brad called out from the drinking station, voice full of tease. "We not like Dareth; we won't take advantage of you."

"Yeah, we're all straight here," Lloyd laughed next, making Jay chuckle from the ridiculousness of their conversation but Kai did not crack a smile.

That was another thing Jay noticed about the new boy: he didn't smile much. Heck, Jay hadn't even heard the boy laugh! Actually, that was a lie. Earlier in the weak, Kai did release a bitter and sarcastic laugh. Sometimes, Jay couldn't figure out his roommate. Kai was more confusing than the girls from Misako's Academy for Young Independent Women (renamed from 'Misako's Academy for Girls' two years ago). Jay just wanted to know everything about his stoic and somewhat bitter roommate.

The only thing Jay knew about Kai from the last two weeks was that Kai was smart. He was really good when it came to robotics and the science classes. Jay also knew that Kai was bitter, not much of a talker, extremely quiet in everything he does, he got a hot younger sister, and he also had trouble sleeping at night. Other than that, Jay knew nothing about Kai. He didn't know which school Kai had transferred from, what part of Ninjago did he live in, what his parents were like or any hobbies. Just… Just nothing.

"I think after this break, we should move on from sparring and maybe start Kai on weapons," Jay suggested as he looked to his blonde friend.

Although he had previously stated that sometimes Lloyd could be childish and an idiot, he still had a lot of wisdom. Then again, his uncle was the headmaster, his father was really wise and his mother was the headmistress of their sister school. Wisdom must run in the family…

Even though wisdom isn't exactly a genetic thing that can be passed down.

"Finally…" Kai muttered, attracting Jay's attention.

"Er… Finally?"

"I know swordsmanship."

Wait… WHAT?!

"You know swordsmanship?!" Jay exclaimed. "Why didn't you say anything before hand?!"

"You didn't ask about swordsmanship."

"But we were talking about weaknesses and strengths!"

"Of fighting with hand to hand combat," Kai muttered, rolling his eyes.

"So… When you say swordsmanship, which one? Kendo? Fencing? Or is it more specifically ninja swordsmanship?"

"No. More like samurai kenjutsu swordsmanship," Kai revealed, making Jay feel a little… deflated.

Why? The martial arts taught at Wu's Academy for Boys took more of a ninjutsu approach. So, they had been taught to be light on their feet, strike openings that the opponent leave open in their defence and to be incredibly agile. Samurais? They had been taught to remain strong in their stance, they utilise weapons instead of hand to hand combat and they fight 'honourably'. In other words, if they were to engage in a sword fight, samurai will fight until one is disarmed and the opponent is at the mercy. Ninjas? Historically, they just strike openings and sneak in attacks and then kill. In modern era, or at least what Master Wu and Garmadon taught them, they fight to disarm and knock out.

"So… You've been taught to fight like a samurai," Lloyd sighed, also picking up the new complication.

"Yeah."

"That's cool. That means Kai is pretty well trained in swordsmanship and kenjutsu," Brad enthusiastically stated while Jay shook his head.

"No. It means we have to reteach Kai. Kenjutsu and the martials art we are learning are too different. We've been taught that we have to remain light on our fight, look for openings and strike them. Samurais don't do that. They have a strong stance – hence why Kai doesn't move his feet much- and they fight to disarm and leave it at that."

"But to disarm, they have to strike openings… Right?" Brad asked, confusion entering his face.

"No… The way I've been taught is to carefully manoeuver the katana around the opponent's own sword and disarm them that way. It's the swordsmanship technique and being able to withstand each other's strength," Kai explained.

"While our swordsmanship is to exchange quick sword parries, theirs is more strength orientated… Crap," Lloyd groaned.

"Well… Look on the brighter side of things, if we can teach Kai how to be quicker, he'll be an even better competitor in sword duals. I mean he'll be able to apply more strength and can apply some of his samurai techniques to win. I mean kenjutsu and martial arts are two great assets to have," Brad said with a huge grin.

"… He has a point," Lloyd mused. "I mean Kai has something that no other team would have."

"Yet, he's also sneaky like a ninja," Jay next said, a grin creeping onto his face.

"You guys are expecting a lot out of me," Kai suddenly reminded, making the three of them look down to him. "For me to learn all these new things and then to be able to apply both martial arts- well, ninjutsu and kenjustu, it's just too insane especially when they have polar opposite techniques."

"Unless you integrate them," Jay stated. "Be light on your feet but once someone, like Cole, uses strength, the stance you would have learnt would be able to adapt into that situation. You get me?"

"I guess…"

"I'm so glad we got you," Lloyd beamed and Jay couldn't agree anymore.

Okay, rushed and crappy ending but I have a perfectly good reason as to why! I have finally, FINALLY, watched season 7 and 8 and guess what? The first episode of season 9 had just aired in Australia 5 hours ago AND IT IS AMAZING! Once again, massive thanks to: CatGirl.02, Guest, Natalie Singe, Just Someone Not Important, unknown, AuroraRain18, Guest, RandomDragon2.0, MasterofCupcakes and all my silent readers!

Natalie Singe: Will we get to see Nya as Nya? At this point of time, I am planning to do so but I may scrap the idea if it would cause complications later on. I haven't exactly got my whole plot figured out just yet (which I should very soon). And thank you so being so sweet :)

Just Someone Not Important: I got to be honest with you, I miss your old username. It was so short and quick to type out XD. Anyway, about Kai's actual status, I intend to keep you all in the dark and to keep guessing. Is he alive? Is he dead? Is he the actual one in hiding and Nya is trying to protect him? You won't find out til later in the story ;)

AuroraRain18: Awwwww, thanks! I tried to keep the season 1 and 2 feel since I hadn't seen the new ones but hopefully, in the future chapters, I can in-cooperate their slightly newer personalities in this story's character development.

MasterofCupcakes: At this point in time, I'm planning to let the guys see Nya as Nya but I may scrap the idea if it could cause complications later on. I haven't exactly got my whole plot figured out just yet (which I should very soon).

Once again, thank you all for your support and lovely comments! I'll see you all next week with a new chapter! Xoxo – ZaneLoverFan88