"Thanks see you on Friday." Jay replied, quickly disconnecting the call and slipping it back into his hoodie. Unlocking the bathroom door, he checked the coast was clear. Not that he was expecting anyone to be listening in to his private conversations. Wiping the smug grin of his face, Jay walked straight faced out of the small wooden bathroom and down the narrow darkened galley toward the kitchen,where the smell of freshly baked goodness was calling to him.
The smell he was hit with upon his departure from the bathroom had battered Jay's olfactory senses, in a nice way, so much so that his mouth was watering in anticipation of what he would see. He was certain that he could smell sugar in the air as well as the all too familiar scent of cooking batter. The closer he got to finding out who was cooking the more he struggled to stop himself from drooling.
'Please don't be Cole, please don't be Cole, please don't be Cole….'
Fingers crossed behind his back, Jay hoped it wasn't his black haired EMO brother, because Cole's overall cooking skills were shit. Sometimes, his food wasn't even edible and if it was, it would be doubtful that anyone would dare eat it.
But then, the closer Jay got to the breakfast area, the more he knew it couldn't possibly be Cole's cooking; the food smelled too good. Hell, if it was Cole, maybe his technique had improved, and if it had, Jay would be eating his words.
He rounded the corner, breathing a huge sigh of relief when he saw Zane in a chef's apron, a thick blue flame retardant one with thin white stripes.
'No pink frilly apron today?" Jay smirked teasingly, remembering that vision too fondly. Then he mentally slapped himself at his improper greeting. "Sorry Zane, good morning?"
"Ah, good morning Jay, you are well rested?"
In response, Jay shrugged his shoulders. "I guess. It must be the change of air quality." He replied, looking dolefully out of the window.
"Something troubling you brother, I sense unease, verging on uncertainty."
How does he do that, is he like, scanning me or something?
"N-no I-I'm fine." Jay lied. He sure as hell didn't want to tell everyone this secret he was keeping or it'd end up being spread faster than wild fire. He already felt like he'd told Kai way too much as it was.
Where is fire-boy anyway?
Kai had positively lit up when Jay had mentioned the proposal, once his hair had stopped smouldering anyway. He was almost as excited as Jay it would seem, even if he wasn't showing it with the same emotions. However Jay was now walking on eggshells around the master of fire, especially after last night.
To Jay it had looked like she wanted Kai to flip just so she could berate him for treating her like a child again. But then Kai as usual had over reacted even though all they were doing was kissing, it didn't help that Jay was only clothed in a towel...well two and Nya couldn't keep her hands of him. But it wasn't his fault that Nya was a minx, at least he didn't think it was.
And now because of last night, Jay was purposefully avoiding Nya for fear that he might not be able to control himself in front of her.
So the predicament left him with no choice, he would avoid the both of them for the day. Instead he would keep himself busy with various other things that needed his attention; namely the daily list which was typically pinned to the cork board.
Everyday new tasks, even as menial as shopping for food or clothes, cleaning products personal hygiene and so on. There was always something to do on board a flying ship. And if the day's tasks had been done then the day or part of it could be spent training or resting depending on Sensei Wu's mood.
Jay would look at the task list after his breakfast because he wanted food first, heck even he remembered that no one could work properly on an empty stomach, so eating first and then taking a look at the list afterwards would be the best option. This was all in an effort to keep himself busy until nightfall.
"Jay, what troubles you brother?" Zane repeated, having not received an adequate reply beforehand.
"Nothing really." He frowned slightly ."Something dark and unsure, but…" Jay stared at the sky, pausing again with the cup nearing his mouth.
Zane looked out of the window seeing nothing but pure blue skies, he could even tell the temperature inside and out and the humidity levels for the day. "Jay?"
He shook his head as if it was a daydream. "I-I can't explain it, just it feels like something pulling…" Jay mumbled, taking a sip.
"Are you hungry perchance? Maybe you have neglected your body?" Zane replied.
"M-maybe you're right Zane, just hungry at a guess." Jay replied. There was so much going on inside his head, Nya, Kai, this ship and their training regime. He stood abruptly, peeling his troubled gaze from the sky before walking out of the room and onto the empty deck of the Destiny's Bounty.
To Zane it looked like he was in his own little world, maybe sleepwalking at a guess. "Are you finished with your drink?"
"I shall take that as a yes, then." Zane grumbled, face neutral, he took the cup and emptied it.
Once outside Jay took a deep invigorating breath in, he was glad to smell something other than city dust, diesel or fast food joints.
Something just feels wrong, out of place, can't describe it other than the fact it aches.
The sun was beating down on him but it only provided him with warmth, not the security he truly wanted at that moment.
Am I pushing myself too hard? Maybe I should slow down a bit, I mean I have been holding down the equivalent of three jobs for the past four months on minimal sleep.
He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath through his nose. All he could smell was food from the kitchen, heather and clover from his immediate surroundings and the comforting smell of damp rain soaked soil, petrichor.
Come on think positive, she'll say yes of course she will.
Jay smirked to himself and laughed softly, feeling more positive already. His anxieties were hidden for the moment, giving him the confidence boost to see it through; it was after all just another whole day to get through. The blue ninja quickly walked back into the ship feeling rather embarrassed that he hadn't offered to help Zane in preparation but upon sitting on the breakfast bar stool, Zane had reiterated that it was his pleasure to serve breakfast today. Tonight it would possibly be Cole or Kai, either could be dangerous food choices.
Cole favoured concoctions, some were edible contrary to what others had said where-as Kai's food choices left everyone gagging for milk because he simply loved heat and in particular he seemed to love ghost and naga chillies even in his pudding.
Jay was watching from his bar stool as Zane poured pancake batter onto the griddle and waited the required amount of time before flipping each drop scone pancake over. His other metal hand was flipping the freshly grated potatoes into a neat pile of golden hash browns.
"Sorry Zane for earlier. Don't know what came over me. Uhm, was it a fairly straightforward journey?" Jay asked with a yawn.
"It was as was expected." Zane replied without emotion, his robotic voice didn't have any playful intonation at all, not since he had become titanium, unless you included the whole pirate voice.
"We experienced what could be described as mild weather with slight head winds. The added effect lengthened our journey somewhat."
"But we are here now, fresh breath of air as they say." Zane finished.
"Yep they sure do." Jay replied and took in a deep breath of cooked food, licking his lips in anticipation of actually being able to taste some of it as well as having first dibs before Cole could come in.
"Although home cooked food smells better than petrichor any day." Jay said in preference to which smell he was desiring more.
"Actually Jay, some people enjoy the smell of petrichor; Cole particularly, yet he will not tell me why he favours the smell that a rain storm brings to the dry soil."
Jay blushed at Zane's admission of what Cole had partially admitted to him. The master of lightning grabbed the carafe of freshly boiled water and poured it into his blue earthenware mug before adding a tea bag, milk and a sugar cube. Stirring it anti clockwise until the sugar had dissolved enough; he took a sip and placed it down again.
"So plans for today, other than you getting some much needed rest!"
"Our plans have not been decided but we have some minor repairs to make, namely the jet propulsion, the control panel and the tracking proximity alert function. You can do one if you prefer."
"I'll just do them all, if I've got the time, I mean Nya will be helping too right?"
"Hopefully once she wakes. Sensei has stated that he does not want us to stay here for more than two weeks, so the sooner the repairs are done the more time we will have to recuperate from the pollution of the city."
"Ergo we will have more spare time to relax and unwind." Zane added switching the gas rings off before pouring the stack of miniature hot pancakes onto a platter with the crispy bacon, hash browns and waffles.
Jay Jumped up and walked into the kitchen, he quickly opened the fridge and grabbed two cartons of fruit juice and a jug of milk before hollering down the galley.
"Breakfast is served guys, Sensei and uhm Nya."
Jay had grabbed his breakfast quickly and had literally left the ship to eat it. He found solitude under a rather large expansive willow tree that was situated a short walk from the Bounty. He had found a raised and exposed dry root to sit on with his steaming freshly cooked breakfast. The canopy of the tree gave him a shower curtain of privacy as he ate his hot breakfast in peace.
"Hey Nya….no that'll never work come on Jay think." He mumbled to himself.
"Nya, I guess by now you realise this is a surprise, well it was until I told Kai and then uhm…..not that." Jay groaned and bit into his cream covered waffle trying to think of something to say both at the restaurant and on the way there.
He knew she would ask not just because he was aiming to be secretive but also because he would be dressed to the nines as would she. And Nya would most likely be demanding answers from both Kai and Jay. Which is why he needed solitude, he needed to think.
"Nya, I-I, well I wanted to show you something, two things actually, well maybe three. Uhm Nya do you trust me?" Jay mumbled quietly to himself glad that no one was listening in to his slightly awkward lone conversation.
After a few hours had passed all the Ninja had been given various tasks by Sensei Wu. No time limit was given because each task would be measured by the amount of effort and care it would take for each ninja. The only time constraints would be dinner time or nightfall whichever came first.
Jay had taken one look at the task list and had chosen his two for the day; he was going to weld some gauze onto each engine to act as an effective filter which would provide some more protection to the highly explosive jets.
But before he could do that, he had to make sure each one was working and for that he had to rely on Zane and his calibration scans. Jay looked like a younger blue version of Santa after he had been down a chimney, his face, arms and hands were blackened and sooted. His gi was ruined, he only hoped that is would wash out.
"Gahh damn those filters, how often are these things changed?" Jay said lying on his back under the final jet engine. He placed his eye protection back on and slowly disconnected the cover coughing and spluttering as a pile of black burnt soot spilled onto his suit.
"Damnit, I hope this stuff washes out."
"Be thankful you are not the white ninja." Zane said "Black would be quite horrendous to remove from white, it would smudge and make grey."
"Haa haa grey ninja *cough*" Jay hacked and cleared his mouth and nose of the offending black substance.
Zane as usual was his typical shiny self, not even a speck of dust had settled on him, he was exceptionally smart to stand where he had.
"Jay what are your plans for tomorrow day? We are planning a team building sparring event. A competition of sorts."
"Is that right?" Jay asked, not paying complete attention. "What sort of time were ya thinking, like afternoon or later?"
"Just before lunch possibly, we can build up an appetite, get our training done and improve on our weaknesses."
"Haa, well I uhm, I'll get back to you on that." Jay replied and got up to pat himself, shaking his clothes free of the soot, clapping his hands and leaving a cloud of grey to hover momentarily, until it floated away on the breeze.
"In the mean-time, I'm having a shower because I look and feel like a freaking chimney sweep, heck I even taste like one." Jay replied, hacking.
"Next time I offer to do this, tell me to wear an oxygen mask or something."
"Oxygen in its purest form is still a gas and a flammable one at that." Zane countered, unhelpfully.
Jay rolled his eyes. "Dude, Zane, you gotta stop taking everything I say as literal, you should know me by now."
The sun had gone down, leaving the sky covered in a velvety black with diamond sparkle backdrop. Jay was out on the deck of the Bounty with Nya wrapped tightly in his arms. Her back was leaning against his warm chest, her hair swaying gently in the breeze.
Jay had changed yet again into his civvy clothes consisting of a zip up hoodie and torn joggers from the knees down.
They both looked up at the night sky and watched as a shooting star passed across the cosmos.
"Shooting star, Nya…" Jay whispered into her ear before placing a kiss on her neck.
To the blue ninja it felt like she was melting into his arms as he held her closely, he too looked up at the sky to watch the trajectory. What confused Jay the most was the fact that most meteorites flew across the sky, they would inadvertently burn up on entry into the atmosphere and would leave a fiery trail of destruction which could be seen spring from one side to another.
Night time did a good job of hiding the smoky trail, covering it up as if there had never been a rock falling out of the sky. This trail just went from top to bottom like it had been dropped carelessly by a petulant child who had grown bored. The strangest thing happened to the master of lightning, no sooner had he seen the phenomena he made a wish on what looked like a fragment of burning space rock.
'I wish I was better than this, more confident, someone strong that they can all look up to.' Jay looked at the star in a sense of desperation to prove he was worthy of her and capable of supporting her.
"Wait! what?" Jay mumbled incoherently as he watched it, his eyes trailed the rock until it disappeared completely; it had simply fallen from the sky which in itself was odd. The gravitation pull alone should have slowed the meteorite from descending as quickly as it had but yet it hadn't!
Nya was blissfully unaware having closed her eyes, leaning back into the crook of Jay's neck taking in his scent of lemony citrus freshness combined with a hint of his gentle musk aftershave.
Nya turned round with a sweet smile on her face and placed her lips onto his, her arms wrapped around his neck and shoulders allowing his to fall to her waist where they stayed.
"I don't need a star to make a wish Jay, nor do I need a Djinn. I made my wish Jay, I chose you and I always will."
One thing he had always learned in his younger years was to never verbalise your wishes, he always kept his wishes to himself for fear that if he did mention them they would never come true.
Jay knew from personal experience that magic did in fact exist but it had soured him, well actually Nadakhan the Djinn had done that. But his experience with the granter of wishes had taught him more than one thing other than to never trust a Djinn who held the ninja personally responsible for the fall of Djingajo.
He had learned a very valuable lesson, the fact that magic did exist and was in fact live and well, still thriving and working hand in hand with science. Realm crystals and fate , magic that could turn back time, ghosts and portals. They were all real, which meant that potentially other things would be too.
Thanks for the reviews people, especially Moc, Emmett, Toothless, GKB and anyone else I've missed x
Yeah it is kinda sad for our blue ninja because you know where this story leads.