It was just another day of school, no big, nothing had really changed. That sounded good but wasn't true, it was just another day of school, no big, nothing significant had really changed. That was better and should be true but he was having trouble telling himself that he believed it. Okay, let's be honest, it was just another day of school, no big, and while something major had changed for him, he had gone through worse. He nodded to himself, scooped up his books and stalked out the door, satisfied that he finally had the proper perspective on things.

His first day of school at Eastside had been without any close friends and he was running away from his lifelong friend, who had turned her back on him. Today, most of his teammates were at least casual friends while Rick had become a real buddy, almost as close as Felix. Kim and Wade were back in the 'friends' column, while Eric was at least in the 'okay guy' column. He was far from alone.

His first day at Eastside had found him convinced that he was going to be alone for the rest of his life...at least in the romantic sense. Today, he was heading to school regretting a one-night stand that plenty of guys would have jumped through hoops to have; as well as having turned his back on a friends-with-benefits situation that plenty of guys would tell him he was an idiot for walking away from.

His first day at Eastside, he had been a seventeen year old only child. Since then, he had wound up with an adoptive sister, who he since found out was his biological daughter...but hadn't told his parents yet, so he was still acting like she was his sister.

"Never be Normal," was a much more enjoyable motto when you were willingly embracing it.

In the end, he decided that the world went on. He was still a young man with his life in front of him and that life required a high school education so it was off to school. That life would be enhanced by a college education and that education would come easier with a scholarship, so it would be off to practice after school. There really wasn't anything to be done about the Yamanouchi/Yori/girlfriend situation, so it was best to not dwell on it...as best he could.

As was his usual routine, he met up with Rick on the way in the door, and that's where the problems started.

"I'm seeing dark circles under your eyes," the mascot (currently, at least) noted. "Something tells me you were on a mission and since you're both tired and I didn't hear from you since Friday night's game, that mission must have been out of town."

"Right on both accounts," Ron answered. He really didn't want to talk about what he went through but denying everything would only generate more curiosity.

"I didn't see anything in the news or on line," Rick continued. "So it must have been a fairly secret sort of thing."

"That it was." Ron felt a little better about this question. Maybe it would stop the guesses.

Friends were great; but they had drawbacks. Case-in-point, a friend learned your behavior and learned how you usually acted. As much as Ron tried to act normal, he was more than a little miffed about the Yori/Yamanouchi/Hana sitch and he was tired from a mission that took up most of the weekend. Not only could Rick see, pretty quickly, that he was tired but being tired cut two ways; it meant that a friend could see you were tired and would thus ask you about it, and being tired made it harder to draw that line at which you told that friend enough to satiate his curiosity but not enough to let slip something you'd rather keep to yourself.

"You sure that it was a mission and not an excuse to go see that girlfriend from out of town of yours?"

That should have been just a tame, teenage joke; the sort of thing that made fun of the stereotype that a teenage boy is willing to go to great lengths to get with a pretty girl...but for some reason, it hit home.

"I'm not with her anymore," Ron admitted, dropping his voice and looking around, hoping that nobody had overheard him.

"Oh man, I'm sorry," Rick offered a quick apology. "Was it something harsh, or just a typical teenage breakup?"

"It went well beyond a typical, teenage breakup," Ron told him.

"Far enough that it's not something to be discussed in a crowded school hallway?" Rick prompted.

"Exactly," Ron offered him a grateful smile. "Or even anywhere, for that mater."

"Got it," Rick nodded. "Does that mean no discussing the facts of the matter, or not discussing details?"

"Details," Ron answered.

"Well, she was your first girlfriend, wasn't she?" The current mascot asked.

"Yep," Ron sighed. He didn't see the need to opine that no other girl had ever looked at him, seriously, before Yori."

"Well, you always fall hard for your first girl," Rick told him, with all the wisdom in his voice that an eighteen year old could muster. "But at least you have football, the upcoming mascot tryouts, and your missions to keep you busy. You should get through this okay."

"How did it go with you?" Ron decided to test his friend's experience. "Your first breakup?"

"Haven't had it yet," Rick grinned back. "Never had a girlfriend, but that seemed the thing to say. I know that if probability works out, I'm eventually going to wind up with a girlfriend and she'll break up with me. Heartbreak is a rite of passage that I'm not really looking forward to, but I guess I'll deal with it when it comes up."

The mascot had a decidedly cheeky grin when he walked off to his desk, leaving Ron shaking his head. Yes, the whole Yori thing hurt him and in a strange way, Rick's casual attitude towards it was infuriating...yet still amusing. He was far from the first guy to feel down over a breakup, even though this particular breakup had to be worse than most. Of course, wasn't it the same way with every first love breakup? He was sure that every guy who broke up with a girl was sure that his breakup was special...even though he knew that his was more complicated than most. Maybe that was just part of being a sidekick.

The school day was both worse than he thought it would be and easier than he thought it would be. It was worse in that he no longer had one of his favorite rewards to look forward to after school and practice; the exchange of emails in which he and Yori would say how much they missed each other and how much they were looking forward to seeing each other again. On the other hand, it was better because he no longer had to worry about how he was going to arrange to meet her, and where. Now, all he had to worry about was passing trigonometry, physics and civics, as well as surviving Coach Roughman's practice so he would be ready for the game on Friday. He didn't even have to worry about trying out for the cheer squad after football; like Wade had suggested in the Museum of Ancient Artifacts and Antiquities, he was going to deal with one thing at a time.

The practice that night was neither the hardest that Coach Roughman had inflicted upon his team, nor was it the easiest. Yet, for Ron, it was both brutal because he didn't have his usual distraction to look forward to and it didn't last long enough; because he didn't have his usual distraction to look forward to. As all things, both good and bad must, it eventually came to an end, leaving him to shower and set his course for home. Since the evenings had gotten a great deal colder, the cheer squad was practicing in the gym, so Rick wouldn't be waiting around to exchange some banter with before heading home. That was fine, he'd talk to the mascot in the morning and Felix was always good for a short gaming session on line, once he got home and took care of his homework. Throwing his gym bag over his shoulder, he walked out of the field house and found himself toe to toe with Michelle.

"Excuse me," he told her, before making an exaggerated step to one side in an effort to walk around her. However, she stepped in his path.

"I've been waiting for you," she told him. "And I think that you owe me an apology."

"For what?" He asked, noting that some of his fellow players, also leaving the field house, were giving the two of them some odd looks.

"Back during homecoming," she reminded him. "I was having a word with you when were were interrupted by that weird ghost-ninja thing."

"That wasn't my fault," he protested.

"No," she agreed. "But before it interrupted us, you accused me of being a homophobe, a racist and an anti-Semite."

"I'm not apologizing for that," Ron told her. "You were implying that I was..."

"I was implying that you were gay," Michelle interrupted him. "But did I ever say that there was anything wrong with it? You added the racist and anti-Jewish stuff all by yourself. Well, it's not true. I'm a bitch to everyone." She paused, and her lip quivered a little. "Just ask anyone, they'll tell you."

"Okay, I took it a little too far," Ron admitted, then thought for a moment. "Okay, I completely ran away with it, but you really started it."

"What was wrong with what I was asking?" She demanded, her face was back to being stern. Then, her composure fell and a tear trickled from one eye. "I just wanted to know if you could be interested..."

She looked like she was stifling a sob.

"Oh fine," she finally growled. "I was lonely for a boyfriend and you always seemed to be nice to everyone and you were the new guy who didn't know about my reputation as a bitch. I've been trying to turn over a new leaf and be nice to people so I was hoping that maybe you wouldn't have a girlfriend and maybe you'd be interested in me. If you weren't into girls, I'd have just left you alone. You didn't have to get all defensive about everything."

Ron didn't have anything to say.

"I know what you think of me," she met his eyes. "You think I'm stuck up and think I'm better than anyone else."

"I have to wonder if you would have been interested in me if I wasn't the starting running back," he pointed out.

"I'll admit that I've dated the jocks in school," she answered. "But tell me this; that girlfriend of yours from Asia, would you have dated her if she wasn't pretty?"

Almost against his will, Ron's memory went back to the first time he had seen Yori, how his chin nearly hit the floor in the airport.

"I think I made my point," Michelle said. Ron noted that she was studying him intently, most likely picking up on his memory. "That girl caught your attention, just like you caught mine, there's no harm in it."

"Okay, I get it," he admitted. "So what's the point of this conversation?"

"My point is what I said at first," she sniffed. "I think you owe me an apology for accusing me of all that crap. I never said anything about race or religion and the only reason I questioned your orientation was to find out if there was any point in looking into the matter."

"Okay, you got me," he threw up his hands and paced back and forth. "I owe you an apology. I made the mistake of being offended when you questioned my preference and I jumped way out of line when I accused you of being a racist and anti-Semite. My apologies for doing this and if anyone has given you grief about it, I will be more than happy to speak to them about it. Good enough?"

"Maybe," she nodded. "That offer to talk to people was a good one. Now, let's talk about something else."

"Okay," he agreed. "What's on your mind?"

"The same thing that was on my mind after homecoming," she told him. "I'm not putting down this girlfriend from out of town of yours, but you don't seem all that serious about her. You aren't regularly vanishing from the face of the Earth, so I don't think you're off to see her very much. I'm not asking us to be going steady or anything like that. I'm just saying let's go out, have some fun and see if we like each other."

Ron was caught off guard; he had just officially broken up with Yori and now Michelle was honestly asking him out. This wasn't right, she was mean...although he couldn't recall actually seeing her being mean to people, everyone who knew her said that she was.

"It's the least you can do after those accusations," she told him, when he hesitated.

"Okay, but you need to know a few things," he told her. "First thing, I've never had a normal dating life and I've never had a normal date. I don't really know how to be normal on a date."

"But I thought you had a girlfriend," she protested.

"Unless being sucked into an online role playing game against your will, or playing dodge the boulder next to a volcano is normal, I've never been on a normal date."

"Are you serious? Wait, don't answer that," she told him.

"In addition, I don't have a car," he pointed out. "I have a scooter, but unless I use the rocket boosters, you can walk faster than it goes. With the rocket boosters, I need about six blocks to stop."

"You're serious about that too, aren't you?"

"Note serious face," he told her. "I also have a little sister I like to spend time with, and a save-the-world hobby that can demand my attention at any time."

"Okay, I'm willing to bet you have some good stories to tell," she actually gave him a pleasant smile. "I tell you what, let's try for this Friday night. After the game, I pick you up, we do a light meal, then come up with something else to do. That's all there is to it, just spending some time with each other and getting to know each other better. If you don't like me or I don't like you, we never have to speak to each other again."

"That...actually sounds kind of nice," he admitted.

"Casual clothes," she told him. "I know that you're going to be limited to what you can fit in your gym bag, just like me. No trying to impress each other, no trying to make that great first impression. Just honesty to see if we click."

"Okay, that makes sense," he said.

"So, it's a date," she told him. "See you tomorrow in school."

Was it this easy? Ron shook his head, thinking about the sitch on the way home. All of the false starts and stumbling, trying to work up his nerve to ask Zita out...why hadn't he just done something like Michelle had just done for him? There hadn't been any arrogance in her manner, just wanting to get to know each other. Maybe Michelle was a nice person who was misunderstood. Of course, she must think that he was still dating someone, so trying to poach a boyfriend wasn't very nice. But maybe, maybe he didn't mind the idea of being faux-poached.

He actually stopped in his tracks when another thought popped into his mind. Of course, he wasn't alone and it was time to make use of some of his friends. He keyed his communicator.

"What's up, Ron?" Wade answered.

"Got a favor to ask," Ron told him.

"Ask away."

"Can you get me a location on Camille?" He requested.

"No problem," Ron could hear Wades fingers clicking away at his keyboard. "Currently in jail, awaiting a sentencing trial. I'm guessing that she's going to be getting between six month and a year in prison, followed by a whole lot of probation."

"Thanks," Ron offered his appreciation.

"Ron," the boy seemed hesitant to bring this up, but determined to deal with it. "I try to give you as much privacy as I can, while still monitoring your whereabouts. I don't know the details about the interactions you've had with her, but I can guess the generalities. I can say the same thing about you and Yori. The way I see it, there's one reason you're wondering where Camille is right now."

"It may not be as involved as you think it is," Ron answered. "I'm just being...what's the word...proactive on this."

"Okay, that makes sense," Wade told him. "But I have to wonder, is this a smart move on your part?"

"Probably not," Ron admitted. "But it's something I want to do for me."

"Okay, I know that I'm going to be getting certain urges in the next few years, but I don't think that's going to make sense to me, even then. Isn't a rebound time a good idea?"

"Okay, I'll try to explain," Ron told him, then realized he was trying to explain it to himself as much as to his young friend. "The deal with Camille was just her doing a job. Then with Yori, it was her taking what enjoyment she could, when she could. With this, it might be someone who really likes me and that's important to me."

"Okay, but if it's important to you, should you be moving so soon?" Wade asked him. "I might not understand romantic relationships very much, but it seems that you're a little vulnerable right now. Maybe this isn't a good time to be looking into one."

"Not every date is a marriage interview," he told his young friend. "I'm just seeing if she likes me and if I like her."

"That...makes more sense than you usually make," Wade admitted, with a sly grin.

"I'm trying to figure out if that comes out as a compliment or an insult," Ron told him.

"It doesn't have to be either one," Wade answered. "But since I have you on the line, I'd like to bring something up."

"Bring it."

"Okay, I don't think there's anyone around you at this time," the genius told him. "But this is private. Do you see anyone?"

"Nope," Ron told him, after a quick look around. "Nobody here but me."

"Okay, at some point I think you're going to have to let your folks know about Hana," Wade told him. "There's no rush, but I'd like to suggest a contingency plan. You live a dangerous life so, with your approval, I'll set up a file explaining everything. If you're...well..."

"Killed?" Ron supplied for him.

"Or incapacitated, this file will be released to your parents," Wade nodded his appreciation at not having to say the worst. "I just think that you'd want them to know; if something happened to you before you had a chance to tell them on your own terms."

"That's a pretty good idea," Ron had to admit.

"I can have you leave a recorded message," Wade suggested. "I'll keep it and release it if I have to, and I'll set up an automated system to release it in case something takes out both of us."

"Uh, Wade, you really don't live that dangerous of a life," Ron informed him.

"You never know," Wade shrugged from his remote location. "Anyway, I'll put together a rough draft and send it to you to review. In the meantime, do what you think is best on the girlfriend front."

"Appreciate it Wade," Ron told him as way of saying goodbye. Then, he picked up his pace a little, getting home quickly in the chilling air.

Once there, it was the usual routine of homework and playing with Hana. However, he had a little more motivation; he had a date after the game this Friday! He made a not to let Felix know that he wouldn't be playing on-line but he was sure that his friend would understand, even insist that he go on the date. Maybe Michelle wasn't all that nice, but maybe she was misunderstood. If nothing else, she was pretty and what harm could come from one date? Like she had said, they were just trying to figure out if they liked each other or not.

However, Wade's last offer had his mind running a little too active for him to settle down to sleep. Taking advantage that his new room was well away from his folks' room, he decided to rehearse what his last message would be, if it came to that.

"Mom, dad," he said, looking at himself in the mirror while narrating. "If you're watching this, it's because something's happened to me and I can't tell you this in person. I don't know if you're going to consider this good news or bad news, so I'm just going to tell you what's happening as best I can. It's a long story, going back centuries, but my part in it started when me and Kim took a mission to help Lord Montgomery Fiske recover a statue from a long-lost temple..."

"Forgive me that I do not understand," Yori apologized to her master. "But I do not know why someone as young as myself will be teaching this class."

"There is nothing to forgive, young one," Master Sensei's voice was as serene as it always was. "You do not understand why this responsibility has fallen upon you and you seek to know why, so that you may fulfill this responsibility. There is no need to apologize." He paused, then allowed a smile to show through his mustache. "No need, other than good manners."

Yori did not answer; she merely followed him across the Yamanouchi grounds. Usually, there would be a flood of activity as students hastened between duties and training. Now, it was even more active as many Yamanouchi graduates had been recalled to the school to assist in its repair. The pounding of hammers and the din of saws also made it highly unlikely that anyone, even a ninja, would be able to overhear a conversation from more than a couple of feet away. Of course, the old man's facial hair also made it almost impossible to read his lips when he spoke.

"I have run this school, and the organization behind it, to the best of my ability over the years," he told her. "As my predecessors before me, I understood the need to allow my subordinates a certain amount of leisure time to address their tensions and regain their motivation...even if such activities are those that I do not fully smile upon. As long as no harm comes to Yamanouchi, having motivated students is more important than an old man's approval."

Yori could feel a slight blush touch her face.

"Yet, perhaps I did not express the necessity for my students to avail themselves of this time," he continued. "You have always been one of my most promising students, yet I saw your conviction waver."

Yori dropped her gaze in shame

"There is no need for embarrassment," Sensei told her. "There is only a need to learn. Should one such as you waver in her faith, any can be affected. Tell me, what bothered you the most?"

"The way we treated Stoppable-San," Yori answered, without hesitation. "First we mutated him without his knowledge, then my mission to take his seed for the Han. He will never have more children and should it become known that he is mutated, he may lose any chance for an athletic scholarship and even become ostracized; all because he assisted Yamanouchi to the best of his ability."

"Do you still desire him?" Sensei asked.

"Yes," she admitted, color again raising in her face.

"I will make you an offer," Sensei told her. "One that you do not need to accept or decline at this moment. If you wish, I will relocate you to Middleton. Your excellent English skills and your academics will allow you to enroll in any high school you wish and you will be accepted by almost any college you seek to attend. All you will owe Yamanouchi is simple observation from your place of work, domicile or education. There will be no under cover work or infiltration. You will be free to pursue a continued relationship with young Stoppable, should you wish it."

"Stoppable-San has made it clear that he no longer wishes to pursue a relationship," Yori informed her master. "There were too many betrayals, too many lies. I cannot blame him."

"It was not that many years ago that I was a young man," Sensei began to explain, but upon her piercing look, amended his opening statement. "It was not that many decades ago that I was a young man," he corrected. "The betrayals inflicted upon young Stoppable were mine and where you were involved, they were done at my command. He will be willing to see this reason and take up your previous relationship...in whatever role you wish."

"Even so, I am a daughter of Yamanouchi," Yori told him. "I may not approve of what Yamanouchi does to its allies, but I have seen what we oppose. I will continue to be a ninja, if you will have me in that regard." To her, saying this to Sensei felt more like saying farewell to Ron than when she saw her lover the last time.

"That is what I wanted to hear," the old man's smile could be seen through his mustache. "The reluctance, the questioning of my actions. As a ninja, your decisions at any time could have major consequences for your mission, for your school, and for our allies. I want you to teach that reluctance to those younger than you."

Wade was surprised by the late night call, but he wasn't particularly shocked by it. Bad guys weren't known for their consideration, so a lot of their deeds either took place, or became known, in the middle of the night. Also, the world had a sometimes annoying habit of being round, which meant that on the rare occasions that a bad guy did have some manners and conduct his nefarious deeds during the day, if he was on the opposite side of the globe it meant that the call still came to him in the middle of the night.

It wasn't just the bad guys, either. Lost cats, lost kids, leaky roofs and other emergencies...some of which challenged the term, tended to pop up at inconvenient times. To this, add the fact that Kim and Ron were teenagers; and sometimes needed some support for their own lives at odd hours, meant that Wade cherished those nights he could get eight hours of uninterrupted slumber. It was the curse of being a super-genius who sought to do good things.

It was also the curse of being a super-genius that he could consider all of this in the few seconds it took to grab his communicator and key the answer button.

"What's up, Kim?" He automatically asked. Of course he knew that it was her; he had set up his communications to sound differently for calls from each of this two, close friends, so he didn't even have to look to know who was calling.

"Wade, I had a harsh thought about Ron," the redhead told him. "One that won't wait until morning."

"Yeah, what's wrong?" He asked, noting that her unkempt hair and pajamas confirmed that she had either been asleep or trying to get that way just before calling him.

"I was thinking about the last conversation I had with Yori," Kim explained. "Wait...you didn't know about it."

"You're still half asleep Kim," he pointed out. "Coherent thought isn't possible for everyone in that condition."

"Anyway, Yamanouchi has had Yori do some pretty nasty things," Kim explained, her sharp gaze letting him know that she had caught the implications in his last remark. "And I'm scared about Hana. It was a Yamanouchi girl who was Hana's mother."

"Not connecting the dots," Wade admitted.

"Okay, I don't want Hana to go through what Yori's going through," Kim told him. "What if Yamanouchi were to come up with a long lost cousin, aunt, or other relative? Could they overturn Hana's adoption and get her sent back to Japan...where they could turn her into whatever they wanted her to be?"

"I'm no expert on international law," scratched at his chin. "And I'm not an expert on adoption law; so I'm really out of my depth when it comes to international, adoption law. But I do know that courts try to keep kids with their biological families and if push comes to shove, we have the proof that Ron's her father."

"That's what I was thinking," Kim nodded. "But what if something happens to him? What if he doesn't come back from a mission?"

"It's a chance the two of you have been taking for years," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but the stakes were never this high before," she told him. "If...the worst...were to happen to us, the families would be crushed but they could go on. If the worst were to happen to Ron, could Yamanouchi swing things to get Hana back, legally?"

"I really don't know," he admitted. "I can consult some experts, but it's going to take a bit to do so in a way that keeps your anonyminity intact."

"Please do," Kim told him. "And, in the meantime, let's try to exclude him from the dangerous missions."

A/N: My apologies for the long delay between chapters. Reality stepped in and kept my attention elsewhere. However, with it getting seriously COLD where I am, I'm going to be spending more time inside. As such, I should be able to finish this one off not long after the New Year begins.

As always, thanks to my Beta Reader, Joe Stoppinghem.

Best wishes to all in this, the holiday season;

daccu65