Sorry for the late update! I have more work than hours of sleep right now. Anyways, onto the story!

ELEMENT SWITCH AU: CHAPTER 7: Water's blue, right?

"Alright kid, let's get you back to the ninja." He looked around for any signs of where the mech had landed, when he locked eyes with someone he knew very well.

"Kai!"

~last chapter

To say that Kai 'froze' wouldn't be quite expressive enough. Try 'stopped breathing' or 'willed the ground to swallow him'. His throat closed over and his eyes widened, they were unable to rip themselves away from the ninja's disbelieved gaze. Lloyd's eyes bounced between the two, nervously wondering who was going to speak first. When neither one did, he decided to speed things up himself. He cleared his throat.

"Ahem... Nya, I found your brother!" he threw his arms up in a 'jazz hands' position, presenting Kai like a prize on a game show, while flashing an awkward smile. His sad attempt to lighten the dense atmosphere was not surprisingly unappreciated, as neither of the siblings found this particularly funny. Lloyd guessed by the by the way Kai was glaring at him from the corner of his eye that he was close to strangling him, although the teen's unresponsive body was still glued to the spot. Lloyd gave a nervous chuckle, and hid his hands behind his back, blushing slightly.

Kai's eyes snapped back over to Nya, who had donned a relieved smile and had started to walk towards him, slowly at first, but soon breaking into a run. Kai just didn't know what to do, what to think. He wanted to run, but his legs didn't move. He wanted to put his helmet on and start up his jetpack, but his hands didn't respond. He just couldn't understand why. He wanted to stay away from Nya, didn't he? ...didn't he?

Just when Kai thought he'd made up his mind (to force himself to flee), Nya's strong body slammed into his. Kai took a few steps back to steady himself. Nya wrapped her arms around her lost brother, enveloping him in her tightest hug to date, and burying her face in his chest.

"I missed you!" Nya sniffed, her emotions getting the better of her, a tear making it's way down her cheek. "We looked everywhere! We woke up to you and sensei fighting and -sniff- I went to see what was wrong but you were already gone and -sniff- we've been worried sick! I thought I'd never see you again!"

Kai stared straight ahead, still trying to process everything. He was lost for words. As much as he had started to miss platonic human contact, he continued to stand perfectly still, his shoulders tense, his breath caught in his throat, and his arms pinned to his sides, trapped in his sister's tight embrace. He peered down at Nya's weeping, shaking form.

A part of him, the 'big brother' part perhaps, felt terrible that he was the one responsible for her tears. He was the one that left her, not the other way around. The other part however, the hot-headed, self-centred part, told Kai to shove Nya away.

"It was her fault," It hissed at him. "She took everything from you. She deserves this." But Kai's inner 'big brother' wouldn't have it. It was never her fault. She probably resented herself for being the fire ninja, probably felt responsible for Kai running away.

Slowly, cautiously, Kai pried his arms from Nya's grip. She peered up, wondering if he was going to push her off. But after a few seconds of hesitation, Kai did what he thought he would never allow himself to do again. He hugged her back.

But such a pure moment can only last so long. When Nya finally released Kai from her death-grip hug, she smiled and wiped her eyes with her wrists, sniffing occasionally. Meanwhile, Lloyd had gotten bored, and was sat down cross-legged, making swirly patterns in the sand with his finger. He only looked up when Nya exclaimed "Oh, Lloyd! Are you okay?" He simply nodded, not wanting to make her worry about him. "This is perfect!" She continued excitedly. "Sensei will be so pleased when he sees you both come home!"

Lloyd tensed and quickly looked down, remembering Kai's stern words to him about no-one finding out his identity. Kai's face darkened.

"I'm not going back, Nya." He stated simply, trying to leave no room for arguing. Nya, of course, argued anyway.

"What? But you have to come back! We're worried about you!"

"I don't have to do anything. Why would I go back? To stand awkwardly in the corner? You don't need me! And I certainly don't need them babying me or stopping me from ever leaving the monastery like a six-year-old!"

"The monastery isn't even in one piece anymore! It was burnt to a crisp by the Serpentine! Something you could have helped prevent!"

Kai stayed silent after that particular blow, taken aback that the monastery was actually gone.

"And where are the golden weapons, huh?" Nya continued, her fists starting to smoke as her rage built up. She couldn't believe her brother could be this selfish. "Oh, that's right! You lost them! Now our enemies have access to the world's most powerful weaponry, and what do we have?"

The sound of a small gasp cut the heated argument short. A horrified Nya turned her head slowly towards Lloyd, who had tears beginning to streak down his cheeks. He sniffed, wiped his tears furiously with his baggy sleeve, and glared at her before getting up and storming off.

She was about to run after him saying "Lloyd wait! I'm s-" but she was cut off by Kai holding her back by the arm.

"I'll go get him." He glowered lowly. "Then you two and the ninja will take my mech back to wherever you live, and I'll call it back when you're done. You won't tell anyone who I am, and Samurai X just might help the ninja again. Got it?"

Not waiting for an answer, Kai started after Lloyd, but it was Nya's turn to hold him back. She didn't meet his eyes.

"If you don't help us retrieve the golden weapons, I'll tell." She said quietly. She stared at his boots, avoiding eye contact. "They'll believe me, because it makes sense. Samurai's fighting techniques, his sarcasm, everything fits so perfectly, I'm surprised we didn't figure it out sooner." She looked up to just below his chin. That's as close to his eyes as she dared. "Plus, Lloyd knows too. You might have to watch him personally to stop him blabbing."

Kai didn't like they way she said 'watch him personally'. From what he had seen (which, granted, wasn't a lot) Lloyd was a good kid. He was just sensitive. Kai had a feeling that he wouldn't tell. On the other hand, Nya was right. If she revealed him to the others, they would believe her. Maybe someday he would willingly return as Kai, but not just yet. He wasn't willing. But from the looks of it, he didn't have much of a choice. He groaned.

"Fine. But I come in my suit. I won't sleep, eat or wash there, as that requires me to take off my helmet. I'll stay until we get the weapons, then I leave. Deal?" He held out his hand.

Nya sighed. It wasn't ideal, but at least she would be able to keep an eye on her brother from afar. Maybe she could get a tracker on him…

"Deal." She confirmed, reaching out to shake his hand. "Now go find Lloyd."

…

It had taken some convincing, but Kai had finally gotten Lloyd to come with him to the 'bounty' where apparently the ninja now lived. Now everyone was stood in a semi-circle in the bridge of the bounty, talking over options for their next move against the serpentine without their precious golden weapons. Kai wasn't really listening though. He was watching, observing his once best friends up close for the first time in a while. It seemed like they had matured.

Sensei stood in front of them, brainstorming and taking suggestions for what to do next, while occasionally stroking his beard, deep in thought. Cole was trying his best to be helpful, spitting out ideas by the dozen, most of which were immediately shot down by Zane's logic.

Jay wasn't even on the same planet as the rest of us. Kai could tell by the way his eyes stared right though Sensei, and how his mouth sometimes quirked up in a mischievous smirk, almost as if he was remembering something really funny. Every few minutes, when Kai did have something to contribute, he could feel Jay's eyes on the side of my head, the cogs in his brain turning as he tried to figure out who was behind the helmet. He had no chance - not when he was only judging by the voice, which was heavily concealed in voice modifiers.

Nya wasn't much better. Kai could feel her attention on him and him alone, she was oblivious to Jay's obvious attempts to impress her with flattery of how well she fought against 'that blasted Samurai'. Her brows furrowed every time Kai shifted or fidgeted, like she was scared he was going to take off and run away again. He couldn't blame her. He had shown no signs of wanting to come, even though he had missed her dearly.

Wu must have noticed the lack of concentration in the room, for he sighed heavily before announcing "It's late. We should all get some rest." He turned to Kai. "Nya as informed me that you do not wish to stay with us, correct?"

"No." Kai replied bluntly. The less conversation between him and his former teacher the better.

"I assume you have somewhere else to stay?"

Kai hesitated. "Yes." Technically, it wasn't a total lie. He could stay wherever he wanted. The forests and streets of Ninjago were his home. Granted, the forests and streets of Ninjago didn't have comfy beds, or heating, or very good WiFi. Kai would've loved to sleep in an actual bed. But he couldn't sleep with his helmet on, and that meant that he ran the risk of everyone finding out who he was.

At this point, Kai hardly knew why he was keeping it a secret, but it felt right. Maybe he didn't want the pity. Maybe he wanted them to know what it felt like to be lied to. Maybe he didn't want to reveal himself for fear of the others seeing him, and only being disappointed that the great Samurai X was a nobody. "I just need to do something first."

Kai found Lloyd sitting at the bow of the airborne ship, his face buried in his knees and his arms wrapped around his head. He was shaking slightly. He was crying. Kai lowered himself down beside him, and looked out on the view of a beautiful red sunset that bled into the blue sky. They sat there in silence for a while, until Lloyd peered up, his red eyes peeking at Kai from in between his arms. Kai glanced down at him and gave him a reassuring smile, only to remember that he couldn't see it under his helmet. Instead, he voted not to prod, and looked back up at the sky's personal light show. He wanted Lloyd to speak first.

And he did. "Kai," he whimpered, "did Nya mean what she said? That I'm useless?" Kai tensed at the use of his name while in uniform, but tried to ignore it to properly answer the kid's question.

"No. I rubbed Nya up the wrong way, that was my fault. We both do pretty stupid things when we're angry. Must be genetic." Lloyd turned his tear-stained face towards me.

"Like running away?" Kai said nothing. "Kai?" He cringed again at the mention of his name.

"Okay kid, if we're gonna talk a lot, you're gonna have to keep using my real name to a minimum. Maybe we could think of a nickname together or something." While he said this mostly to get away from the subject and to get the kid's mind off Nya's words, something about having a nickname had always seemed cool to him. So...bonus.

"Hmm...well, what can you do? Can you shoot lasers? Then I could call you something cool like…like Laser-beam!" Lloyd exclaimed. Kai chuckled.

"I can do this." He held out his index finger underneath Lloyd's chin, where a teardrop was hanging. As he brought his finger up, the droplet moved upwards and off Lloyd's face, where Kai willed it to fly around Lloyd's head like a water butterfly. He laughed as the kid let out giggles, attempting to catch the drop. When he finally caught it, Kai released his mental hold on it, and the droplet splashed in Lloyd's hand.

He leaned back on his hands, absorbing the kid's praise and awe. They spent the next 20 minutes or so bouncing nicknames off each other, each suggestion getting increasingly more ridiculous. Finally, Lloyd settled on something simple: 'Blue'. Because "Water's blue, right?" Kai bit back the urge to tell him that water is clear, but just for the kid's amusement…

"Yeah, buddy. Water's blue."

Another chapter done! So, now Kai is back with the ninja, but they don't know it's him yet… also, this is the change his dream predicted - that his days of completely avoiding the ninja are over. He might have been in hiding for months, maybe a year, as he disappeared just after the pilots and the second chapter takes place in episode 1 (remember the ninja having a race to Jamanakai village? That's where Kai was stealing the food!) And I finally mentioned Kai's water powers again! yay! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I've been writing it for a few days now. This one and the first one are probably my favourites. Remember to review!