AN: This is set after s5 but before s6. I took some liberties with where DoD is placed and set it before this story. I know that Nadakhan is a part of DoD, but I since this story flows into s6 it didn't work out with my timeline and wanting Cole to be human again. I appreciate reviews, even guest ones that have a simple "Liked this!". Hope you enjoy :)
BANG! The door slammed behind Nya as she flopped onto her bed, letting her scream be muffled by a pillow. She hated being the only girl. It was only getting worse as she got older, and she was 16 now. Basically a grown-up. And now she was a water ninja. It was so uncomfortable, being in a body she didn't recognize anymore. Everyone expected so much from her now. Jay was no help. There was only so much a teenage boy could do to comfort the woes of a teenage girl. Especially when he's the cause of the frustration.
Nya had been practicing her water elemental power in the courtyard of the tea house, which wasn't going as well as she had liked. Even though she had reached her true potential just a few months earlier, it wasn't like her training was going that well. She was moody, even snappy with Wu and the other ninja. It seemed like every day there was a new fight, and today it was with Jay. He was watching her practice, wanting to spend time with her, but Nya was getting frustrated and a little embarrassed to have her boyfriend watching her fail over and over. He was trying to be encouraging, and saw that she was getting worked up.
"Nya, why don't you stop and take a break?" he suggested kindly.
"Why don't you stay out of it?" she snapped back, escalating quickly while still trying to balance the water in a bucket on her head, only controlling the water sloshing as she moved to keep it upright. She had splashed herself multiple times already, and her clothes showed large wet patches where the sun hadn't fully dried them yet.
"I was just trying to help!" Jay retorted, upset with the way she had been acting lately. "You're such a brat lately Nya, I forget that you really are just Kai's little sister. Attitude and all." he jumped up to walk away, sending Nya into a rage.
"Are you kidding me?" She shrieked, dropping the water bucket in distraction. The water flung everywhere, but mostly soaked Nya. "Just Kai's little sister? What do you mean by that? I've saved your sorry ass more time than I can count." she had launched herself at him and stuck her finger in his chest. They were about the same height, and her intense brown eyes stared right into his electric blue ones. Jay immediately regretted what he had said, but he was still hurt and didn't know how to let go of his pride.
"I mean you just keep bringing an awful attitude to the table. Nothing I say or do helps anything anymore. You're like a completely different person. I don't even think you love me half the time if I'm being honest. In fact, now is one of those times." He turned to walk away, glaring, but Nya grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back.
"You don't think I love you?" Nya's rage instantly melted, her eyes welling with tears. All she did was show him, and everyone else, love. All the time. She was constantly there for everyone. She helped Zane cook almost every night, manned operations from wherever they were based out of, hell even as a child she was there loving them as Samurai X, desperately wanting to be someone who people could rely on. She didn't always say it, but she did love Jay.
"Oh… no not really Nya. I was upset. You didn't deserve that. I know you love me." Jay responded softly, pulling her into a hug. Nya's shoulders heaved as a sob racked her body, and the tears were really flowing now.
"Why would you say that then?" She cried.
"I don't know, I just did. I'm so sorry." Jay murmured into her hair. Nya pushed away from him, tears running down her face.
"What a jerk thing to say!" She responded, upset, "I hope you feel better about yourself." She pushed away fully and ran off back towards the tea house, back to her room.
Now she was laying on her bed, sobbing into her pillow. Why did she even try? At some point the sobs turned into hiccups, then into deep sleeping breaths as she fell asleep sprawled across her bed.
A knock at her door caused Nya to groggily awaken, and she rolled over, her quilt falling off of her bed making a soft thump on the hardwood as it landed.
"Who is it?" she asked a hoarsely. Damn. Her voice was gone from crying.
"It's Kai. Can I come in?" her older brother asked, although it was more of a "let me in" than a question. Nya didn't even respond, just mopily got out of bed and opened the door. She stood in the doorway in her now wrinkly gi, which was loosely tied and rumbled.
"Wow your hair looks kinda like mine." Kai said as he looked at his sister.
"God, go away!" She snapped raspily, shutting the door but failing as Kai held it open. The last thing she needed was for her brother to be ragging on her about her looks. She did that to herself enough. She glanced quickly at the mirror next to her bed, groaning. It was sticking up a bit, but that's what happened with short hair.
"No, let me in. Also what's up with the voice?" Kai rolled his eyes, pushing into her room and helping himself to her bed, laying across it with his feet touching the floor.
"That's none of your business. What do you want?" Nya glared at him while she grabbed a hairbrush and smoothed out her hair, bringing the ends nearer to her shoulders than the ceiling.
"Oh, I don't know really. I was just coming to check on you. Jay's pretty upset still. Also Zane wanted to know if you were helping with dinner." Kai stared at the ceiling and tossed a little flame ball up and down. Of course. Of course that was all her responsibility.
"I don't want dinner, I don't know why I have to help." she responded, ignoring the Jay bit.
"I didn't say you had to help. God. I just asked if you were going to. Also you should eat, ninja need their strength." he said, a little annoyed, "What is with you lately?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" she snapped back a little angrily. Everyone was on her case all the time, it was so exhausting.
"That's kind of why I asked."
"'I'm just tired and I don't want to eat dinner. And Jay was a dick earlier for your information. He can comfort himself. Though honestly, if he does it like he "comforted" me he might still feel like shit afterwards, which would be deserved." Nya laid down on the bed next to Kai, who sat up on the edge of the bed.
"C'mon Nya. Seriously." Kai brushed a face-framing wisp of hair out of her eyes as she looked up at him, her lip quivering now. The lump in her throat warned of another round of crying, but she didn't want to deal with it.
"I'm just tired, Kai." Nya whispered, trying to keep her emotions in.
"Do you want me to bring you anything? You don't have to go out there right now if you don't want to. But you should eat. I'll bring you some tea at least." he said, brushing his sisters hair with his fingers, messing up her smoothing job she had done just a few minutes earlier.
"Only if you want to. I'm okay, really." the tears formed at the corner of her eyes. It was rare for Kai to notice her like this, and she wondered what had set it off. He was usually an aloof older brother, hanging out with the other ninja before spending time with her. Sometimes she wondered if he even really knew anything about her. He wiped a stray tear running down her face with his thumb inside of his sleeve, the soft fabric feeling nice on her cheek.
"I'll be back in a bit." He stood and without even looking back, he shut the door and left, leaving Nya to her freshly flowing tears.
.・。.・・.・・・。.
When Kai came back later with a bowl of soup, a cup of tea, and some cough drops, Nya was asleep again, although this time curled into the corner where her bed was pushed into the corner of the room. She was surrounded by pillows and covered in her quilt that was made of old t-shirts of hers and the ninja from their adventures and different places.
Kai set down his peace-offerings on her bedside table and sat next to her on the edge of the bed. He gently rubbed her shoulder, causing her to start, which scared the both of them.
"I brought food." He said simply, "You should eat it. Zane made tomato soup. I also brought you some lemon tea, and cough drops for your throat."
"Thanks," Nya tried to say, but after her second crying session her voice was really gone, almost not even a whisper.
"If you want to come out here later we're going to watch a movie. They just put the new movie based on Jay's and my's game, Fist to Face, on streaming." Kai offered, feeling awkward.
Nya shrugged, sitting up groggily. She rubbed her eyes gingerly, they were puffy and a little sore from crying.
Kai took this as his sign to leave, letting Nya to sit and watch the steam of the soup rise in the dim evening light.
.・。.・・.・・・。.
After Nya had eaten her soup, which was actually pretty good, she sat and sipped her tea. She was feeling a little better, and her voice wasn't completely gone, but she was still in her wrinkly clothes from earlier in the day. So she stood and pushed through her hastily shoved-in-the-drawer clothes. After a moment, she pulled a pair of pajama pants out. They were actually Jay's but she had taken them at some point and never given them back. Blue with gold and navy plaid stripes, they were soft and cozy and helped her feel even better. She also pulled on one of her Chen's Noodle House sweatshirts. It didn't really match her pants since it was a royal purple, but it did have gold trim to sort of coordinate.
She thought about going to watch the movie with the rest of the household, since they weren't that far into it, and decided to suck it up and not be lonely for the rest of the evening.
She stepped out into the hallway and heard laughter and banter from the main living area. They sure had a lot of fun without her, she thought.
As she walked into the living room, she half-smiled seeing the scene. Cole was sprawled across the couch, his head on Jay's lap and his feet resting across Kai's lap. Lloyd was on the floor, leaning against his mother Misako's, who was sitting in an armchair reading a book, knee. Zane sat in a rocking chair, knitting a sweater. Wu was nowhere to be found.
"Is there room for me?" she asked softly, moving to squish next to Kai. She saw Jay's flash of disappointment, but she just couldn't get past what he had said to her earlier.
"Oh great, now I'm squished on all sides." Kai said, wanting to sound annoyed but it was all good-natured, "And you're gonna have to smell Cole's smelly feet. They're rank!" Kai laughed.
"They are not." Cole retorted, "You're just mad I ate the last bowl of soup."
"And the the last sandwich, and the last piece of cake, and–"
"Okay shut up, some of us actually have a figure to maintain." Cole flexed from his laying down position, showing off his well-scuplted frame.
"Gross. You're so obsessed with yourself." Kai laughed again.
"Yeah Cole, so obsessed with yourself." Jay wanted to get in as well, and he tugged Cole's hair affectionately.
"Do you guys ever let a man know any peace?" Cole whined.
"Do you guys ever be quiet when watching a movie?" Lloyd piped up.
"Statistically, no." Zane said simply, raising his eyebrows and smirking a bit.
"I'm not the one talking!" Cole whined again. The other ninja shushed him teasingly, but it quieted the room and they went back to watching. The peace didn't last long, however, when Cole, who had no idea about the Nya's day, asked her to get popcorn. She was on the end, he rationed, and it made the most sense to ask her.
"Hey Nya, can you make us some popcorn? I'm hungry."
"Again?" Nya asked, annoyed. Lloyd was right there, or he could get up himself and make his own food.
"Damn, not you too." Cole grumbled, raising his eyebrows.
"Make it yourself." Nya mumbled, going back to watching the movie.
"You don't have to be rude, Nya." Misako reminded her.
"Well you didn't have to abandon your child or cheat on your fiancé but here you are." Nya retorted. Everyone gasped, and suddenly all eyes were on Nya. Everyone was sitting up now, even Cole, and waited for someone to make a move. Lloyd was the one to do it.
"Hey, don't talk to my mom like that." Lloyd said sharply. Misako lowered her eyes and put her hand on Lloyd's shoulder.
"Just leave me alone." Nya got up and started to walk away, but Cole grabbed her wrist and held her back.
"What is wrong with you? We're all a family, so I'm sorry that I assumed you'd be willing to get me food. You don't have to be such a bitch to everyone." Everyone gasped again, but Cole's eyes were hard as he stared sternly at Nya. He was the oldest and unofficial leader or big brother of the group, and he took it upon himself to keep everyone in somewhat of a functional relationship dynamic. Nya had been so snappy lately, to everyone, and he had had enough.
"Cole. Let her go." Kai warned. Everyone watched the scene tensely, the movie sounds of fighting and crashing filling the air. Nya glared right back at Cole. Their relationship was complicated. On one hand, they had a sibling relationship. He was an older brother to her, he was fairly protective, and she looked up to him. She hated it, but she craved male validation. She wanted to be good enough for the boys. She wanted to live up to them. She didn't have a father to fulfill those needs, just a bunch of stupid teenage boys. And an old guy who was always onto the next challenge. Cole gave her that validation. He was impressed with her. Her accomplishments. Especially with her newfound water powers, but even before that with her Samurai X ventures.
However, on the other hand, there was a romantic tension that was never fully resolved. He and Jay had even fought about it. Secretly, Nya enjoyed it. She enjoyed being wanted. She loved that this older boy, and now man, had wanted her. He thought she was pretty, smart, worthy of his attention.
But he let her go back then. He let Jay continue his advances and he backed off. It kind of hurt Nya, knowing he could let her go like that. At least outwardly. Every now and again there would be a brushing of hands that felt a little too electric, or a glance that lingered just a little too long. But Cole wouldn't give her that anymore. And it was frustrating. Even though she was dating Jay, and loved him a lot, she felt like it was lackluster sometimes. It was convenient.
"Nya, what do you have to say for yourself? You can't treat everyone in this family the way you have been." Cole did not relent, and Kai tensed, trying to figure out whether to defend his sister or let her handle herself. He knew she was almost an adult, and she could defend herself, but the older brother in him wanted to tell Cole to back up. Jay was silent, almost loudly so. He didn't feel like it was his place to step in, but he knew Nya would be upset about it later.
"Let me go, Cole." She stared into his dark hazel eyes, trying to keep her composure. She was angry, but also embarrassed now.
"You should think about how you treat us affects everyone." He snapped, letting her go roughly.
"And you should do the same." She responded angrily, looking up at him. He towered over her, almost menacingly. Her knees felt weak, and she couldn't figure out why. She wished Cole would forgive her, take her into one of his sweeping bear hugs. She missed when they were younger and he would take her on "dates", or when he would tease her about silly things. Lately, it seemed like he was just so serious. The whole thing with Morro and the Preeminent had shaken him. He had turned into a ghost for Christ's sake.
"I think you and I need to talk." He said, a little gentler, but still stony-faced.
"Cole, really just leave her alone." Kai butted in, tired of watching his sister try to stand up to the older ninja. Nya glanced over to get Jay's help, but he had snuck off along with Zane, Lloyd, and Misako.
"Kai stay out of it. You're not the leader of the group. I am. Stop being her brother and start being a member." Kai started a bit, but he knew fighting with Cole wasn't going to help. He glared at him and left the room, stomping a little for effect.
Now it was just Cole and Nya. It had been a while since they had been alone in a room together. Nya felt her heart jump a little. She hadn't realized how much Cole had grown even in the last few months. Or maybe she had just stopped getting taller.
She and Cole glared at each other a moment more, before Nya's lip trembled in a moment of weakness. He saw, and almost broke as well. She seemed so small lately. So angry. Like a bird with a broken wing. But he was the leader. He couldn't show weakness.
"What do you want me to say?" Nya asked angrily, her voice cracking.
"What the hell is wrong with you lately?"
"Nothing is wrong except I live with a bunch of stupid gross guys and nobody cares about me!"
Cole laughed sharply, "Nobody cares about you? Nya, I'm sorry but, what the fuck? We all care about you. Deeply. You're our sister."
Nya's face burned with embarrassment. She should have known Cole wouldn't understand. Wouldn't understand that she needed someone to care about her in a way she couldn't articulate. She wanted to be able to rest, to not worry about having to take care of things, to feel like she was loved for who she was, not for what she did.
"You don't get it." She whimpered.
"I sure as hell don't. Just go to bed." Cole sighed. This was going nowhere. He didn't know how to talk to girls, especially not hormonal teenaged ones.
And just like that, Nya was sent to bed. She realized she had never really experienced that as a young girl. Her parents were gone. Kai was responsible, but he didn't really boss her around. The only time she had been sent to bed as a punishment was when she was being babysat by Mrs. Grumbmiller. She felt like a child, and in a way it was sad, but it also felt good. She was just told what to do, and she did it. It was nice to not have to make the decision.
She laid in bed, and vowed she wouldn't cry again, although she did think about it. She wished someone would come check on her. But no-one ever came.