iv.

It's not an accident, is the thing.

Randy pretends like it is. He fools himself so well he really does jump when he sees it. He tells himself he's going for a walk, tells himself that he never meant to pass the old high school.

But that just doesn't happen.

All of Norrisville knows about the monsters and the robots, and while they can appear anywhere, at anytime, the chances of seeing one increases tenfold around the high school. It's a monster hot-spot. It's hella dangerous.

The only reason people still go there is because of the Ninja; everyone knows that the Ninja will protect them. He doesn't seem to manage to protect the school building itself, but still.

The point is, no one who can help it goes anywhere near the high school.

That's why, despite how successfully Randy can lie to himself, despite how casually he can stroll down the sidewalk, he's never going to pull off this 'I was just passing by this is an accident' thing.

No one just passes by. No one.

Except Randy, today. And today, accident or not, Randy isn't disappointed.

Mid-stride, Randy catches sight of the Ninja soaring over the school. Ninja breaks his fall with some chained weapon (chain-sickle), landing in front of the school with a pout. Apparently, he's having a little trouble with his fight.

Randy can't tell what the Ninja is fighting – the creature/robot is still inside the building – but he can hear faint shrieks of terror and he can feel the ground tremble with a great stomping weight.

This is what he wanted, though. The Ninja is thinking, hand on chin, mere feet in front of him, totally unaware of his audience.

Randy feels like a kid again. Excited. Nervous. Terrified.

"Hi, Ninja." He says. Abruptly the Ninja leaps backwards, hand on his chest. He stares at Randy for a long moment, perfectly still.

Ohmygosh , Randy thinks. I just scared the Ninja.

"Sorry." He says, not sorry at all. "Didn't mean to sneak up on you there, Ninja."

"No, no," The Ninja says, his voice higher than Randy had imagined. "I was just...thinking. About – ninja...stuff."

Yeah, sure.

Randy squints, taking in the only feature visible through the Ninja's suit – his eyes. They look like the night sky, dark and sparkling.

Mostly, they just look young. It just about takes Randy's breath away.

This is an 800 year old ninja? He wonders. But...how?

"Hey." Ninja suddenly says, "Aren't youuuuu..."

Does the Ninja recognize him too?

"Aren't I what?" Randy asks, curious and scared.

The Ninja pauses, long enough for the screams of kids to fill the space between them. Neither of them pays it any attention.

Randy feels on the verge of something. He feels like this is what Danny didn't say.

"...aren't you not a high school student? Yeah, that's what I was going to say." The Ninja laughs, like it wasn't clear enough he's just making crap up. "What are you doing here? You don't go to Norrisville anymo...anyway."

Damn. Danny won't say it, the Ninja won't say it...what even is 'it'?

Randy tries for a smile.

"I was just passing by. You know, out walking."

Wow, he realizes just how stupid that really sounds when he says it out loud. How in the heck did he fool himself with this?

The Ninja gazes at him, those sparkly, too young eyes disbelieving.

"Out walking...near the high school?"

"Okay, not really." Randy admits. "I kinda..I just wanted to meet you, you know?"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure why. What's weird is that I went here," Randy gestures to the school. "So I should've already met you, at least once, in my years of going here. Shouldn't I have?"

"Umm.."

"But I don't remember it. Howard, my friend, said we've met, but I don't remember that at all and I'm pretty sure he was lying. We didn't meet before, did we...?" Randy trails off, eyes suddenly caught on a square object peeking out of the Ninja's sash.

"Nope, nuh-uh. We've definitely never met before."

But Randy isn't listening. He can't pull himself away from the book.

"Nomicon.." He whispers, having no idea why he says that. He's mesmerized.

It makes Ninja flinch.

"Oh, this?" He holds the book up, and whatever Randy is feeling intensifies. "This isn't, isn't a Nomicon. This is just a normal ninja book...wait, no! It's – um – just my ninja diary."

The emotion swamping Randy's senses is old, possessive and familiar and old. It's like seeing his hand-me-downs on his younger cousins – like seeing something that belonged to him, years after it doesn't, anymore.

It's not his but it feels like it used to be.

It feels like an aching, like a hunger for something he's outgrown.

Randy blinks himself back to reality. It takes strength not to try and reach out, not to try and just brush his fingers across the familiar black and red tome.

But it doesn't belong to him. He can feel that clearly.

"I should really..." The Ninja doesn't seem to know how to deal with this awkwardness. There should be a simple solution (smokebomb), but...somehow he's not doing it?

Randy should – should help. He should look away from the book.

"It..." Randy swallows. "It was nice meeting you, Ninja."

He means it, he really does, so why does his chest feel like it's ripping itself apart?

"Um...back at you –" Ninja cuts himself off.

He knows my name too, Randy thinks, hand unconsciously rubbing at the painful spot over his heart.

Ninja isn't going to say it, though.

So Randy does.

"Randy. Randy Cunningham."

"Yeah...er."

"You should probably go stop that monster, now." Randy reminds him, gently. He still feels a heavy weight dragging him down. He still feels like he needs to grab that book.

He doesn't.

"Oh, shoot!" The Ninja jumps. "I totally forgot about him! Gotta go!"

"Yeah." Randy shakes his head. He smiles as the Ninja rushes back into the school, rushes back to save the day.

"Don't waste a moment." He whispers to himself. Again, he doesn't know why.

This wasn't an accident, but the way it went wrong and the way it messes him up inside, it makes this afternoon feel like one. A bad accident.

He leaves the school in quiet contemplation, heading back to the dorms. He's not sure what he wanted to accomplish by coming here.

He's not sure that he shouldn't have stolen that book that belonged to the Ninja.

He's not sure what that makes him.

He is sure, though, suddenly, that he won't be digging for truth again anytime soon.

It hurts.

Holding a hand over his heart, he grips his phone in his other.

"...Hey, Howard." He says quietly. "Yeah. Can we – can we go get burritos, or something?"

It hurts more than he ever thought it would.

A/N: I don't want to shove a new ninja in anyone's face. I left him sorta blank so you could think of him as whatever you wanted.

Randy's got reaal close to why he doesn't remember high school in this one. He also got real close to stealing from the current Ninja, which would be pretty dang bad. I think Randy with his memories of being the Ninja is a slightly different (better) person than Randy pre-Ninja (or sans memories of being the Ninja), but at heart he's still a good, selfless person who is going to do what's right. Most of the time.

Thanks for reading! Leave me a review, tell me what you think!