"Could you do a scan again? Just so I can see if her lungs truly weren't severed," Nya asked Zane as she flipped through a medical book. I was sitting next to them in my room as Lilly slept soundly in her bed, bandages wrapped around her chest and arm. Zane nodded to Nya's request and stood up, proceeding to scan my friend's body again. He shook his head when he was finished.
"None of her internal organs were severed. Though, a few veins were punctured, but they will heal," the nindroid informed us, "I did discover something odd though. Her lungs are a bit smaller than the average human's. They're the size of the average eight year old boy's."
Nya raised an eyebrow at this information. "How? Wouldn't that suffocate her in a sense?"
Zane shook his head. "It looks like she breathes just fine. Though, it looks like the size of her lungs wasn't a hereditary thing or something she was born with."
"It could have been something the crystal altered in her. She did mention to me once that the shard changed lots of things about her. Organs could be one of those," I mentioned to them, leaning forward to try and peek inside Nya's medical book. She shut it before I could even get a glimpse of what was on the page.
"It could be. Though, I wish she would have told us that the shard altered things in her. It would have been so much easier to check if she didn't get any important organs sliced," the female master of water sighed. Zane walked over and gently tapped her on the shoulder.
"Nya, you may want to loosen the bandages around her chest. It looks like they are beginning to crush her ribs," the nindroid notified her. Nya stood up immediately and checked.
"Damn it. Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" she questioned the android. Zane shrugged.
"I thought you would notice, since you did the same exact thing to your brother," he reminded her. Nya narrowed her eyes.
"Just stand outside the room and make sure no one walks in while I fix this. I'll tell you when to come back in," she told the nindroid. Zane nodded and exited the room silently as Nya began to cut some of the bandages around Lilly's chest. Once she removed the tight ones and began to wrap slightly loser ones around my friend's chest and wound, I wondered something.
"How do you tie the bandages too tightly every time? I mean, you did this to Kai, then Hunter, now you did it to Lilly. Is it a bad habit or?" I asked her as Nya began to tie them. She sighed.
"No, I'm just too used to using bandages on practice dummies. Misako never told me if they were really tight or not, so I kinda went with it. Bandages do have to be a little tight anyway," she explained as she finished tying the bandage. I nodded in understanding.
"But shouldn't Misako tell you if they're too tight? She is your teacher for this after all," I questioned. She shrugged.
"I don't know. She doesn't tell us a lot of things anyway, so...who knows," Nya sat down after tying the bandage, looking pretty tired. I decided to stop asking her questions about it, for fear that I was the one tiring her. I guess it was something I did to a lot of people anyway.
As Zane walked back in, I noticed that Kai had followed him in, his hair still deprived of the usual one hundred pounds of gel he uses to spike his hair. This is a new record for how long he's gone without hair gel.
"How is she doing?" the master of fire asked as he entered the room. Nya glanced at Lilly, then looked back over at her brother.
"She's okay. She's been asleep the whole time though," the female master of water informed her brother. He chuckled a little bit.
"Typical of her," Kai sat down next to his sister and turned to her now, "But are you alright too? You did get thrown into a tree..."
"I'm fine, Kai. I'm just going to have a little back pain. Nothing serious like what Lilly and Hunter have," Nya said as she absent-mindedly rubbed her back. Kai shrugged.
"But I don't want my little sis having her back damaged her whole life," he put an arm around his sister's shoulder and leaned against her. Nya giggled.
"I'll be fine you idiot," she smiled. Kai continued to lean on her.
"Oh, then you'll have to pile pillows under your back or maybe even have Jay become your mattress," he went on. Nya was still giggling. I had to admit, I could feel a little bit of jealousy in my heart as I watched them. This is the thing Luo and I used to do. The thing that I'll never get and yearn to do again. I could feel sadness seeping into my heart immediately.
"Alright, stop before I decide to tell Blondie here your horrid secret," she said as she pushed her brother off her. Kai raised an eyebrow.
"Which one?" he questioned. Before Nya could answer though, another voice spoke up.
"If it's that secret that he likes singing songs from musicals and Disney movies I already know that...and honestly there's nothing wrong with that," Lilly's voice caused us all to turn and look at her, while Kai's face became tomato red from the spilling of his secret. My friend sat in her bed, wide awake and stretching. The master of fire blinked.
"How did you k-"
"I heard you singing in the shower the other day. All I could hear was 'Love is an open doooor!' and several other hard to hear lyrics," she explained. Kai's face became a darker shade of red as his sister and I laughed. "But if you ever need a duet partner I'll be sure to sing along as I walk by," Lilly offered, continuing. Kai kneeled down by her bed.
"Okay...sure...at least you're awake," he smiled, his face still red. Lilly nodded and looked at the bandages inside her shirt.
"Yeah...at least I am..." her voice trailed off as if she realized something, then she shook her head. I wonder what that was.
"Is everything alright?" Zane questioned, noticing her action. She didn't respond or even acknowledge him. She just stared at her bed sheets, her eyes becoming wider. Is she remembering something?
"I'm confused..." Lilly finally answered, not looking up. Nya gave a bewildered look.
"What are you confused about?" she asked. The blonde remained silent again.
"Why aren't you all mad?" Lilly still refused to look up and she absentmindedly picked at her sheets. I raised an eyebrow. Mad? Why would I be mad? I'm more concerned than mad! In fact, the only person who I'd be angry with is Alex! Desperate shithead stole my first kiss. A kiss that was reserved for someone special! At least he's not stealing my determination and will to launch him into the freaking sun though!
"What do you mean?" Kai asked, looking a little concerned.
"Shouldn't you guys be mad!? I didn't tell you all that the Bizarro Ninja wasn't Kai once I knew! I didn't tell you all he and Alex were planning on something vile! I didn't warn you all that Alex's deal was a scam! But I didn't! I waited until the last second! I could have stopped it all if I would have just said something! I could have prevented Pixal's abduction! I could saved Hunter, Zane, and everyone from injury! I...I could have maybe even prevented Xavier's death and saved Yamikani from grief," Lilly cried, a waterfall of tears beginning to stream from her face, "I...even wished that the stab wound would have killed me so I didn't have to face you all after it all."
I began to feel worry and sympathy. No, why does she feel this way!? I don't think she meant to keep it from us on purpose, unless she was threatened! Though, I guess I don't know what happened since she hasn't told us all that she experienced. Still, why!?
"Lilly, none of it's your fault. That double did threaten your life after all. What could you have done?" Kai took her hand in his, giving a sympathetic look. Okay, she must have told him what happened already.
"I do not know what happened, but I can assure you that none of this is your fault. Alex is the one who commanded that Bizarro Ninja and told him to wreak havoc here. Bizarro Kai's actions were Alex's fault, not yours," Zane attempted to reassure her, but more tears just streamed from her eyes.
"But I could have prevented his actions! He may have threatened to kill me, but that shouldn't have wavered my will to keep you all safe! I shouldn't have cared about what would have happened to me!" Lilly argued. I stood up immediately.
"No! You should care about what happens to you too! Don't give up everything just for us! It sounds nice, but remember that you need to care about yourself too!" I argued, "What you did was normal for a person in that situation. Don't beat yourself up over it all. You did the best you could."
"But-" Lilly began to deny, but I cut her off.
"You did what you could. Besides, you're the one who delivered the killing strike on the Bizarro Ninja. You helped us, you didn't hurt us."
Kai shivered at the mention of the death of his double. "Yeah..." he said in a quiet voice. I must have reawakened those memories of him seeing someone who looked exactly like him die...at the hands of his girlfriend.
"I...suppose," Lilly said quietly as she turned to get up. I nodded.
"So, stop blaming yourself for all the stuff Bizarro Kai did, okay? None of it's your fault," Nya gave a reassuring smile as the blonde stood up. Lilly nodded, but her expression didn't change.
"Okay."
The sudden arrival of a random ship three hours later left us bewildered as to who was visiting us. Last I recall, the only vehicle Dareth owned was in an accident last month, Ronin said he was traveling to Astor City (which is in a faraway country), and really, none of our other friends owned a ship like this, so who could it be!?
We all stood outside and looked at it as Sensei neared it's doors. It looked like an old fighter jet. It had to be about forty years old, considering how faded the paint was. We must have some old guy visiting us.
The door to ship slowly opened, revealing a slightly drunk-looking Ronin with disheveled hair. Looks like I was right on it being an old man who was visiting us. Yippee.
"Long time no see...wait...what's with the new people?" Ronin squinted at the new members of our team. Sensei Wu turned towards them.
"They're my new students. I must say, Cole did a remarkable job as a teacher for them during their first year," the old man answered him, smiling. Ronin then squinted at Cole.
"You're tellin' me that ghost kid taught them to do all that karate crap? Nice," he hiccuped. He then looked at Lilly.
"Well, you look like shit. Did you get hit by a car?" he questioned. Lilly narrowed her eyes.
"No," she answered simply, crossing her arms. The drunken renegade hiccuped again.
"I'm surprised whatever it was didn't mess up your face. You know, you kinda look like your mom. Heh, I remember when I b-" Before he could finish, Sensei took him by the shoulders and started guiding him inside.
"I think you've had too much sake, Ragnvald," the old man claimed as the renegade samurai began to protest.
"Hey! Don't use that name!" he growled. Lilly glared at him as Sensei Wu lead him inside, obviously insulted but what he said. Though, before Ronin and the old man could walk in, Kai stepped in front of them, cracking his knuckles.
"Well, before you take him inside, I have some unfinished business," the master of fire glared at Ronin, who just hiccupped cluelessly. Sensei Wu sighed, as if he were exhausted.
"Kai, it would not be wise to pick fights now."
"But this freakin' pedophile was going to hit on my sister last month! You think I'm just gonna let him go!?" Steam rolled off of Kai's fists as he glared at the drunken renegade. Ronin just smiled.
"Eh, your sister isn't really that attractive though. In fact, she's kind of annoying. I could flirt with the other women here though," he chuckled. Kai smacked him across the face immediately, leaving a dark red mark on Ronin's stubble-covered cheek. He glared at Kai.
"Oho, so you wanna fight, eh? A'ight, I'll take you on, kid," he smirked. Kai continued to glare at him.
"I'm not a kid! I'm a man!" the master of fire shouted as he began to wind up a punch. Before he could hit Ronin though, Sensei stopped him.
"We will use peace to resolve issues, not fighting," the old man said calmly, looking at both of them. He then took Ronin by the shoulder and led him inside, leaving Kai fuming.
"Why the hell is Ronin here anyway!?" he shouted, stomping his foot. I shrugged.
"Probably because he was drunk and we were on his mind for some reason," I said, glancing at the ship and back to Kai.
"Or he had something to tell us but decided to down a hundred bottles of sake on his way here," Nya sighed. She could be right. He was on his way to Astor City after all. What would make him come back all this way? Did something happen? Or did he truly just come back because he's drunker than crap?
We'd most likely get our answer when he sobered up, which could take forever.
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