Cars rushed up and down the opening of the side street and a small convenient store was finally opening for business as the clock struck 10 o'clock that morning.

The shop was old and rusty but over the road was a iron gate which had been opened to show the inside of the walled-in land. A single-floored factory with concrete floors and walls, a warehouse that had been darkened in by the shadows but also the memories of what happened a year earlier. Cans of paint and junk had been tipped over as they had been thrown in to keep out of the way and the floor was covered in thick dust but fire scorches were imprinted to the floor and walls on one side.

In the middle of this depressing room was 2 young fighters who had witnessed first hand the horrors of this room but this is not a story to explain what happened, its how they get on from that and how their new comrades help them though.
But that would be difficult...

These 2 people saw their own comrade risk his life for them.
"Its our fault Houji" Jasmine had said time after time.
"I know it is" he would always answer.
They may look collected and cool as usual but that thought still haunts their memories and gives them restless nights.

"Houji" the yellow ranger said, "i still think of that moment".

"So do i Jasmine".

"Why didn't he keep in contact with us, Gok-san".

"He was probably to angry with us, he did get hurt and had leave his dream for the injuries he had got"

"Just to save our usless and pathetic lives and that alien is back and is causing us turmoil for the second time" she griped her black gloved hand making the leather elongate.

"But for the last time, right" Houji was now determined to stop the menace.

"Yes" she confirmed him.

"Even if it takes our lives".

The silence loomed over the space, "do they mean it".Red had sneaked around the door unseen by them, ban was always the curious type. Some people called it being nosy but to him, it was being worried and being a worried 'friend'.

They are going to risked their lives for a life that saved theirs. 'They were just upset, I'm sure they are' he reassured himself and continued to listen.

"what do you think would have happened if we didn't get caught and he hadn't had the need to risk his well being?" jasmine asked as she walked into the dead center of the room and sat in the dust

Houji ran to her side, "hay, don't sit on the floor" but was ignored and jasmine asked again, "what do you think houji, what would it be like now"

"now seriously come on jasmine, lets go" he again insisted

"no, im serious, what would you think would of happened" she said detached and very serious, she had grabbed on houjis uniform and tugged it towards her face. He knelt by her and stared into her eyes

He saw her eyes water and also he saw himself and who he became. his skin and bone, a shell, a fake facard of his own person who couldn't except anyone new.
"i don't know, but it would probably be better then this" he said truthfully

"we are defiantly different from then, we are more scared and timid and secretive, why cant we be open with ourselves to the others" jasmine looked away now ashamed with themselves.

"its because we cant trust them like we did the previous red ranger" houji now stood up directly straight and started to pace up and down as jasmine stayed absent minded on the floor looking at the dust that lifted after houji's feet disturbed them.

"He would have been so much more helpful and direct with the orders and more professional then ban" jasmine had to admit but she didn't know that that hurt the hidden leader around the corner.

'shes probably hurting' ban tried to convince himself

"i think so too, if ban just stayed away and gok-san returned"

'even my partner thinks that' ban felt shocked and slid down the door he had been hiding behind. His head lifted backwards and leant against the door with a thump.

"also umeko and sen chan, would you want them to stay away too?" jasmine asked and this stopped houji.

"that oddball and the child" houji laughed, "i don't know really"

"Yeah how many baths can a girl have"

"And what's his deal with the hand standing seriously"

"No wonder his strange, blood rushes to you head and you could die"

"Ha lets find him another thinking pose, that's if he stays" this made the both laugh.

"But ban is the main problem"

"You telling me, his attitude, the way he always calls me partner when I don't need another one betraying me"

"All of them are idiots and they don't even know it" jasmine finally looked down and her face went shocked

"GOK SAN, come back and replace the blazing fool" houji laughed but looked at jasmine "why do we do that houji"

"thsh", a sound of bans annoyance and displeasure came from behind the door and this shocked them even more, they stood up directly and pointed their guns at the door, but ban came from behind knowing he had been found out.

"BAN!" they both exclaimed, they realized that had been also caught and lowered their guns as his eyes watered, "i understand you don't like me, i'm in the way, i'm irresponsible and annoying, i understand that" he said in a cracked voice and he started to cry, but to finish his point, he held it back, "but i don't understand why you would say that about the others"

Both jasmine and houji looked down away from bans glare as they realized they said too much.

"i understand and i will finish this quick so you can get revenge on that monster that caused you so much pain but never say anything bad about the people who have risked their lives fighting with you all this time. I won't say a word to the others of what I've heard. I know we haven't been together, me and you guys and i realize this could just be your hurt feelings talking but i cant understand why you cant talk to us, we are here for you" his tears finally shed and jasmine and houji went to say something, but ban continued, "don't worry ok, this thing wont hurt me, jasmine-san, partne.. i mean houji-san" and with a smile and a bow, he was gone with the wind.

All sound had drained, even the busy roaring of the street beyond had ran away with the retreating red ranger, and jasmine and houji looked at each other. Their secrets had been discovered, their true feelings ripped open and shown to the world and all they could do was watch and get shouted at by the one person they didn't want to hurt.

In truth, they were just angry with themselves that they cant protect anything, they cant keep their faces that they had developed with the last ranger and carry their glory to the next. They had grown to like their new partner in survival and protection and because of their big hotheadedness, they had lost another true comrade.

Jasmine shifted her feet and walked slowly to the point where ban had once stood. "houji what have we done?" she asked as she fell into despair. She fell to her knees again and unclasped the button on her glove. She placed her hand slowly over the foot prints and felt the feelings of bans recent emotions.

first worry, shock then pain, disappointment, guilt, betrayal, all felt by one's heart that was once so pure. It shook jasmine to the point of regret and her own guilt.

Houji just continued to stare at the doorway where his first real ultimate partner had run away from him. He couldn't believe that the emotions they had just exposed in front of the hidden shadowed figure who just left was how they probably would see each other with from now on. He could not deal with it if that's how it would be

"ban" they cried and ran after him...

They both made a big mistake and needed to sort it out, would they get him back