Three and a half weeks.
"Three and a half weeks you have been living on the Destiny's Bounty," Sensei was saying, "and I am afraid the time has come for me to ask a favor of you."
His voice sounded… reprimanding? Guilty? Cautious? The only appropriate phrase I could think of was "treading lightly." Yet I couldn't think of a single reason why he should seem so. I hadn't done anything wrong, and if Wu had spotted me talking to Zane outside he certainly wouldn't have waited a week and a half to talk to me about it. Would he? I desperately hoped not— all the other ninja were with us.
"While I do always try to open my home to those who need it," Wu started again, "I must request that everyone here does their fair share." He turned slightly towards Lloyd. "Even Lloyd had to aid the others when he first came to live with us, and he was not even a ninja at the time."
Oh! So he just wanted me to help with chores. I felt a wave of relief wash over me— I had no qualms about helping the others with their work. In fact, part of my circuitry had been itching for something to do rather than just stand around all day. After all, I was built to assist.
"Of course," I said, bowing my head.
Sensei Wu looked slightly surprised that I hadn't even hesitated. "Very well. Then today, you shall be helping Kai and Lloyd repair the training machines on the deck."
"Wait, he's coming with us?" Kai said, sounding a bit upset. He quickly composed himself. "I mean, uh, why didn't you tell us about this earlier?"
Not really answering the question, Wu motioned toward the other ninja. "Nya, Jay, and Cole are all already working together on the chores inside the ship. It is only fair that you two receive the extra help on your job." Then he turned and walked away, not needing to say anything else before everyone started heading toward their respective chores.
It occurred to me that Kai did not want me interfering with the scarce amount of time he was allotted to be alone with Lloyd, and I did feel a tiny bit guilty. I knew that he treasured his younger brother figure greatly, and I valued that in him. However, I could not feel the same sympathy for Lloyd himself— I had heard through snippets of conversations how the green ninja had acted when Zane died, and I was not easily able to forgive him for his lack of empathy.
"So…" Kai said once we had dragged out the machines to be repaired. I guessed that since I was there, he was trying to make the best of it by getting more intel on me, which was a guess soon validated.
"I was wondering what you thought of my sister's suit," he asked, trying to keep his tone as casual as possible. Lloyd worked silently beside him opening the panel of one of the broken totems. Lloyd, as far as I could figure, was the only person legitimately uninterested in my hidden identity. For that, I didn't blame him— he had other things on his mind. Still, I kept my eyes open for any quick glances my way, as I often received from Kai, Jay, Nya, and Cole.
I suddenly realized I hadn't answered Kai's question.
"Clearly I find it suitable enough to fight and walk around in," I responded.
"Yea, but do you just find it 'suitable?' Or would you say 'extraordinary?' My sister's a pretty good blacksmith, you know," he said. I thought it was sweet he stood up for her.
"She's a decent blacksmith," I replied, handing Lloyd a screwdriver he was motioning for, "but she's rather inadequate in her knowledge of technology." I wasn't being too overt by drawing attention to that, was I? Nah. Kai hadn't even figured out the identity of the first Samurai X after living with her his entire life. He wasn't going to figure out mine.
Kai himself looked a bit offended at my evaluation on his sister's abilities. "I'll have you know that my sister built all of her mech by herself, and most of ours. All those vehicles we ride around in? That's all her handiwork," he said. He looked at me, daring me to disagree.
"She is still unaware of many of the newer technological advances and their workings," I said, keeping my voice deadpan. "She has much to learn if she wishes to advance her skills."
"Well, I think—" Kai started, but Lloyd cut him off.
"Nya is good at what she does," he said, "but everyone can improve. You can't deny that, Kai."
The red ninja went silent and the next few minutes of repair went by without any further conversation. I appreciated Lloyd standing up for me, but I honestly wanted Kai to keep talking. There was something illogically satisfying about watching others try to guess your secret. Especially when said others had spent well over a year ignoring your existence and were now obsessed with it. So I was almost relieved when he said—
"So how do you like the Destiny's Bounty?"
"It's a well-repaired ship," I responded. I swear I heard Kai mumble "yea, at this point it's doing better than Jaya," but that wouldn't have made any sense. I'd known Kai for a long time— well, known him second-hand, anyhow— and he'd never mentioned a "Jaya" in my presence. The only ships I knew of being in the ninjas' care were the Destiny's Bounty (which truthfully had taken a very long time to repair and still had many broken pieces, such as the training machines we were working on) and the smaller Destiny's Shadow, which was only used for small group missions.
The rest of the hours passed mostly in the same way, with Kai asking me semi-personal questions (but not really any that would help him discover my identity), and me answering them in the same monotone voice. I considered switching the voice mod at one point just to mess with him, but then I realized Nya had likely already told him about my ability to mimic anyone's vocal range.
Speaking of Nya, almost all of his questions ended up involving her at one point or another, which ticked me off. I knew that he was her brother, but didn't she get enough attention already?
When the day was done, I stopped by Sensei Wu's chamber before retiring to my quarters to ask if I could switch who I worked with. And I never could have guessed what would happen five days later when my request was granted.