Disclaimer- Not mine, don't own, and never will. Nor do I own the song Just Want You to Know which is by the Backstreet Boys.

AN- This chapter was supposed to be originally a Sky/Syd chapter, but I've got horrible writer's block on that. So sorry for the seven month delay!

Timeline- Shortly before Thunder Storm, a month give or take.

Shoutouts-

Missy- Yes, I do realize it is a bit unusual but it's also fun to write about parings you never thought of before. Glad you liked the Kim/Tommy and Kira/Conner!

Sky's girl forever- Thanks!

Destiny45- Thanks! Glad you liked it! Yeah, I just had to put them in there.

Hunter- Thanks! Yes, I know it's strange, but oh well.

NightMistCrystal- (Grins) I never thought of them either until garnetred suggested it to me. Glad you like it! I don't exactly know when I'll be writing the Sky/Z one I've got a few in mind in front of them, but I will get it written.

Garnetred- (Grins) Glad you loved it! I aim to please! If you've got anymore, let me know! Here's more!

Dany- Thanks! (Blushes) As soon as I finish at least the first five chapters done I'll begin to post it

8437372- No not at all! I saw it too.

Gear's Girl- Thanks!

Yellowwolf- Yeah, it was being a bit of a pain, wasn't it? Glad you love them!

Natalia Clark- Thank you. Thanks for the parings!

a16m26- Thanks!

Quote: "I just want you to know, I'll never stop loving you."

Chapter Eleven: Just Want You to Know

Looking at your picture from when we first met.
You gave me a smile that I could never forget.
And nothing I could do could protect me from you that night.

I sigh to myself as I gaze yet again at the picture on my desk. The one that I look at least once a day, of her, Tori Hanson. It was the day we met. Blake and I had been talking to her, Shane and Dustin and Kelly had snuck up and took our picture without any of us noticing. Some Ninjas we were then, huh? She gave all of us copies of it and I knew exactly where to put it. God, listen to me ramble on like some love sick dude. But I do love her.

I've loved her from the beginning, so did my bro, or so I thought. After we met her through Dustin all he could go on was how fine she was and that he wanted to ask her out. It was nauseating, really. While we were attacking the Winds, we were both feeling somewhat guilty, since it really wasn't their fault. Later as we'd come to realize, neither Sensei Watanabe's fault for our parents' deaths. We were reluctant to join the Winds for our on reasons. Guilt was one, even though they'd already forgiven us, another was that if Blake didn't ask Tori out, I would've, probably not, but she didn't deserve to wait around like that for him.

It seems like we're so wrong for each other, yet at the same time so right. We are complete and total opposites. She's a surfer and I spent ninety percent of my time at the track. She and my bro seem more right for each other than she and I do. But he doesn't notice the way she'll crinkle her nose if she's happy or irritated.

Wrapped around your finger, always on my mind.
The days would blend 'cause we stayed up all night.
Yeah, you and I were everything, everything to me.

She's so in sync with her element. I don't think Blake even realizes how close to the water she is. She loves to surf, when she's not teaching at the Wind Academy or at school part-time, she's out on the waves.

Blake has no idea how lucky he is to have her as a girlfriend. She… He…. aw, hell, I don't know how exactly to put it. I know he's my bro and all, and I love him, but Tor deserves better than a every-other-weekend boyfriend. And I know if I tried to even admit my feelings to her, she might reject me, or worse, laugh at me. Yeah, I know, big, bad Hunter Bradley afraid of being rejected by girl, a taken girl at that. I can't help it though. I'm crazy about her.

I'm not the type to say when exactly when I realized I loved her. I do though. But I also felt something for her the first day we met. Blake had been right when he said Tori was fine. But she's more than fire, she's beautiful. Beauty that doesn't put itself up on display.

It was her 18th birthday; we went to the beach to celebrate. So far it had been perfect. No Marah or Kapri or kelzacks showing up. I'd managed to get her mind off Shane bailing by getting her to chase me. "Last one in the water's a little girl."

"Uh-oh," Blake teased.

She turned to me. Her eyes dancing with mirth, sparkling with life. "You are so gonna get it."

I took off, with her hot on my heels. She easily caught up with me. She jumped on my back in an attempt to being me down. I just grinned, picking up speed then jumped into the crashing waves. She half screamed, half laughed as she went down with me. She kicked away from me as we surfaced. She splashed a wave of water at me. "Cute Bradley," she grinned at me, all sadness washed away.

I gave her a crooked grin. "I know, aren't?"

She splashed me again, this time using her powers to create a wall of water to crash into me. I mock-growled at her and tackled her, tickling her sensitive sides. A flurry of giggles escaped her, sounding melodically. A wave crashed into us, pushing us into shore, away a ways from the others, out of hearing and seeing distance. I somehow ended halfway on top of her, but I couldn't bring myself to move just yet. I stared into her aquamarine eyes and she stared into my icy blues with such… tenderness, caring.

And God help me, then and there, I fell head over heels in love with Tori Hanson.

It was as a gravitational pull was bringing us closer together, 'cause I couldn't even make myself pull away. "Tori…" My voice was no higher than a whisper.

"Hunter…" I saw a brief spark of, love perhaps? Whatever it was, it just drew me closer. "We can't do this."

"I know."

"Yo, Bro!"

I jerked up, rolling away from her. She quickly stood, as if nothing had happened. (It's never been mentioned again.) The only clue that would've said anything was out of the ordinary was the blush that was spreading across her cheeks. I stood more slowly than she, disappointment filling me. I knew nothing more could be between us, no matter how much I wanted it. I would have to move on.

Yeah, right.

I just want you to know that I've been fighting to let you go.
Some days I make it through and then there's nights that never end.
I wish that I could believe that there's a day you'll come back to me.
But still I have to say I would do it all again.
Just want you to know.

I've tried, but I can't. Dustin and Shane have set me up many a time, but the women they set me up with are just… Barbie dolls. Plastic, fake, no inner beauty, just superficial outer beauty, that's all they are. After the Tiffani disaster, I swore off blind dates and dating for awhile. Apparently my ex-partners in crime fighting didn't get the memo. If they did, it was ignored. Surprise, surprise.

I want to move on, but how can you move on from someone that you love? Harder than it sounds, believe me. It's really hard to watch her and your own brother together; even harder to watch her pain from his less than frequent contacts to her. I try to comfort her, offer a shoulder to cry on if needed. But I would never, ever make a move unless I knew it would be okay. I may love Tori, but I wouldn't betray Blake like that.

Why Tori? Believe me, I've asked myself many times and I always come up with the same answer. We just seem to click, perfect chemistry. And the fact that probably no one would ever picture us together makes it even more special. Man, listen to me; I seriously need to be smacked.

All the doors are closing; I'm tryin' to move ahead.
And deep inside I wish it's me instead.
My dreams are empty from the day, the day you slipped away.

The beeping of my cell suddenly catches me off guard. I glance at the ID, grinning when I see Tori's name flash on the screen. Flipping the phone open quickly, I answer. "Hey Tor."

"Hey Hunter," I can hear the smile in her voice. "Me, Shane and Dustin are heading for the beach, you up to coming?"

"Sure, anytime. No Cam though? What's he up to?"

"Something about some tech details in Reefside, he wasn't very vague and I didn't get a chance to ask."

"Probably meeting a girl."

"Very funny."

"Aren't I?"

"No."

"Ouch, she hurteth me with her harsh words."

"I'm not even going to dignify that response with an answer. Meet us at the beach in a half hour?"

"I'll be there."

"Good, bring you're board too, I told Shane and Dustin you'd taken up surfing. Obviously they didn't believe me."

"But…"

"'Bye Hunter."

"What a sec."

Click.

"…Aw great." I grumble.

I just want you to know that I've been fighting to let you go.
Some days I make it through and then there's nights that never end.
I wish that I could believe that there's a day you'll come back to me.
But still I have to say I would do it all again.
Just want you to know.

"Come on Hunter, you can do it."

I toss her a skeptical look as I see Dustin and Shane snicker at me in the corner of my eye. I shoot them a glare. They ignore it of course, all too used to my glaring at them. Turning my attention away from the duo, I looked on at the wild ocean. Seriously, what was I thinking? I mean I knew the basics of surfing: Ride the wave and try not to fall.

Okay, I kinda can surf; I mean I took lessons so that I wouldn't look like a total ass when I tried to surf in front of Tori. She'd been attempting to teach me. But whenever we got really close together, my thoughts would, ahem, wander elsewhere other than surfing. So I asked this guy, Dil, to help me. Apparently he and Tori had gone out a few times before we showed up. Much better, my thoughts stayed where they should.

Anyway, back at the beach and reality, I gave Tori a smirk and a quick wink. She blinked, surprised. As I walked past her, board under my arm, I could see a blush spreading across her face. I grinned as I made my way out on the water. When the water was up to my knees I got on and began to paddle out. When another wave began to approach, instead of paddling over like I usually do, I used all my strength to push myself and the board under the wave as it passed. Okay, I admit, I was showing off a bit. Maybe now Dustin and Shane will stop giving me a hard time. I surfaced, grinning. I looked back briefly and saw three faces with looks of disbelief.

Tori recovered first. "You show off!" She grabbed her own board to follow me. I paddled out farther, the next wave still pretty far out. About a minute later Tori was paddling up beside me. "Hey Tor."

"Hey yourself." She sat up and swatted at me. "Why didn't you tell me you were improving? No, better yet who taught you how to do that? I know that didn't come from me."

I grin and splash water at her. "Surfing beginner's luck."

She gave me a "yeah, right" look. "Try again."

"Okay, your friend Dil gave me lessons."

She gave me a mock-wounded look. "Oh, so I wasn't good enough teacher. Her lower lip stuck out. "I see how you are."

I roll my eyes and grin at her before tapping her lip lightly. "Put that away."

She flashes me a bright grin, then turned her attention to the open ocean. "Looks like you're up."

I turn my own gaze toward the ocean, seeing a fast approaching wave coming up. "Aw, crap." I mutter, while trying to egg beat. Tori turned around with ease. I glare at her. "And you call me a show off!"

That since I lost you, I lost myself.
No I can't fake it, there's no one else.

She smiled sweetly at me. "Go get 'em tiger."

I grin as I lie out on the board and begin to paddle back into the wave. It wasn't very high, about four or five feet high. I stood, quickly gaining balance. Man, what a rush! I even managed to pull off a wave slap. I saw Dustin and Shane cheering me on from the beach, Tori cheering behind me. With a cheer of my own I threw my arms into the air as I coasted onto shore.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Dustin grinned at me as they jogged over to me. I clasped hands with him, then Shane.

The former Red Ranger nodded. "Yeah, nice moves man." He shot me a wicked grin. "Looks like Tori's got some competition." His grin turned to a smirk. "Think you can keep up with her?"

I shrug, wondering where he's going with this. "Yeah, I think so."

"Hope so man, 'cause you are so gone."

I pause in the act of picking up my board. I quickly grab it and fully face Shane. "What are you talking about?"

Dustin was looking at Shane with the same confusion. "Yeah, dude, what are you talking about?"

Shane waved the question off, his eyes never leaving me. Not exactly comforting. "Tori, you have feelings for her don't you?" My stunned silence was his answer. "You need to tell her."

"Tell me what?"

I actually jump, since I thought she was still out on the waves. "Nothing, it's not that important."

She looked as if she didn't believe me, can't blame her. I wasn't that convincing. "Okay then… I'm gonna go grab a drink."

"Uh, no, me and Dustin will. C'mon Dustin." Shane said as he grabbed the Earth Sensei's arm, dragging him to where we left our stuff.

Tori turned to look at me, her brow furrowed. "What was that all about?"

I just want you to know.
That I've been fighting to let you go.
Some days I make it through and then there's nights that never end.
I wish that I could believe that there's a day you'll come back to me.
But still I have to say I would do it all again.
Just want you to know.

I sigh; guess there's no easy way to say this now. "They left because I want to tell you something without an audience."

Her puzzled look increases. "What is it?" When I remain silent she gives me a look. "You can tell me anything. It's not like I'm gonna get mad"

"I'll hold you to that." I mumble. I inhale deeply. It's now or never. "I'm in love with you Tori. I have been for a long time now."

She gaps at me, unable to speak. This had been the reaction I'd been expecting. "Look, Tor, I know if I say I don't want things to change it won't help, it already has. It changed for us since your 18th birthday, we both know this."

She nods the tiniest bit, but it's enough for me to go on. "I know you care for Blake, and vice versa, that's why I never said anything before. I wanted you to be happy." I run a hand through my hair. "No matter what I hope we can still be friends."

"Hunter, I… I don't know what to say. I've got so many things running through me I don't know where to begin."

I nod. "I know; I felt that way too…" I sigh, knowing this is the hardest thing I'll have to do. "I want you to be happy Tori, and Blake makes you happy. I won't stand in the way of that." I go over to her and gently kiss her cheek. "I will always love you Tori Hanson," I murmur. With a heavy heart I turn to walk away.

"Hunter, wait!"

I stop and turn. She drops her board and walks over to me. "I feel something for you, more than friendship. Just please let me think this over?"

I nod. "I just want you to know, I'll never stop loving you."

She nods, a small smile on her face and tears brimming in her eyes. "I know."

That I've been fighting to let you go.
Some days I make it through and then there's nights that never end.
I wish that I could believe that there's a day you'll come back to me.
But still I have to say I would do it all again.
Just want you to know.

End Chapter

AN2- Yes, I have finally updated. I know, I know took me long enough right? I apologize deeply for the delay. Having spent half the night writing should satisfy you people. If not, then what will? Tori's response to this perhaps? I think that can be arranged. Excuse my rambling, it is very early. 5:11 AM to be exact. Please leave a review, no flames. I'm too cranky to deal with them. Thanks!

AN3- Please leave me some Mystic Force parings, I haven't got a single request for this or Sparring.

CamFan4Ever