Chapter 4

Breakfast was, for lack of a stronger word, tense.

I shared glances with Kai. We both looked anywhere that wasn't Cole or Zane. Cole was still mad at Kai, but whatever he had against Kai was forgotten. The tension between Zane and Cole could have killed ten men.

They wouldn't talk to each other, or look at each other. They were superficially polite to me, and Cole ignored Kai entirely. I just wanted breakfast to be over.

"Pass me the cereal, please, Kai." Zane intoned loudly. Kai grabbed the box, but had to lean over Cole to hand it to Zane so he put it by Cole to pass over. Zane leaned over Cole's breakfast to pick up the box. Cole scowled and crossed his arms.

Cole reached across Zane for the orange juice. Zane didn't move, but let Cole invade his personal space.

As Cole was bringing the juice back to his seat there was a flash of white. Zane had grabbed Cole's arm and was shooting him a sideways death glare. Cole twisted his wrist in a way that made Zane let go. In a second, both ninja were standing. The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

The two stared at each other without blinking. The ground shook slightly, and ice crept over the table. Snow started to fall from the ceiling. Kai shivered and wrapped his arms around his torso.

Cole's breath became visible and his hair started to turn an icy blue. Zane took a step back, and I thought for a second that he would strike Cole. However, Zane turned and strode out of the room slamming the door shut behind him. Kai left the freezing room a few seconds later. Cole turned around and sat back down. He opened the orange juice, but the liquid had frozen solid.

He slammed the container on the table just as Kai reentered the room with the Sword of Fire. He started to heat up the room with his sword.

"I have to get off of this ship." Cole grumbled standing up. "Kai, your sister's mech still works, right?"

"Yeah, it's in the basement."

"Thanks." Cole responded.

"Cole," Kai paused. "if you need someone to talk to then I'm all ears."

"Uh," Cole sighed. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Kai."

"No problem." Kai said. "Go on; I'll clean up here. Don't forget your mask."

Cole nodded and opened the door. He stuck his head out in order to check if Zane was in the hall. The coast appeared to be clear so Cole left the room.

"What's going on between them?" I asked as soon as I assumed Cole was out of earshot.

"They're arguing about something." Kai said picking dishes off the table. "Cole's leader, but Zane is his second in command. Zane keeps Cole from letting his emotions take control."

"I thought you were second in command." I protested following him into the kitchen.

"I used to be, but I gave the position to Zane after you had been captured." Kai paused. "I became a bit, uh, unstable… so Cole deemed that I wasn't fit for leadership."

"Is that why you guys are so mad at each other?" I questioned. Kai shook his head.

"No. We're both holding grudges." Kai said wiping the table down with a wet rag. There was a loud rumble from outside and I rushed to the window.

A large machine flew past. It was humanoid but bigger and was a fire engine red. I could see guns mounted all over and two huge sword handles stuck from a pair of sheaths. Cole sat in the cockpit with a black mask pulled over his mouth.

I watched the mech disappear into the distance. Kai finished with the table and came to stand next to me.

"I was glad that Zane took my leadership spot. Cole and I don't really work well together." He paused and elbowed me in the side gently. "Well, since the table is clear now, I guess you have the afternoon off. We aren't going to be very productive without Cole or Zane."

"I don't have a lot of things to do." I protested. "I don't have much to do, you know. This week has mostly been training and stuff."

"I'll show you to the game room." Kai prompted and I nodded quickly before he could change his mind.

"You guys still have video games?" I asked in astonishment. "I thought you were too serious for that."

"It seems like that sometimes." Kai said with a faint smile. "We grew… distant after you were captured."

"Yeah, I noticed." I chanced at a joke.

"You were really our only form of comic relief." Kai responded seriously. "I'm glad you're back."

"Comic relief? Is that all I'm good for?" I mocked being insulted, but dropped the act when Kai started to laugh. "Well, i'm glad I'm back too. Maybe I can help fix whatever's going on here. It seems like we're hardly a family anymore. What happened to you guys?"

"I'm not even sure that we are, you know, a family. I haven't had a proper conversation with Cole since before you were captured." Kai paused. "Now with this thing between Zane and Cole it doesn't look like things'll get much better. Well, that's another story. Let's go play some games."

"Sure." I hesitated. I wanted more answers than that. "But we're coming back to this conversation eventually."

"Oh yeah?" Kai asked.

"Yeah." I retorted with announce in my step.

"Well, you have to make me. You're not strong enough to fight me yet." He flexed his muscles. "For now, let's stick to video games."

"Fiinnnee." I drawled. He led me through the hallway which had a trail of ice leading to a doorway farther down.

"I don't remember Zane ever being this mad." Kai whispered to me as he stepped over the ice.

"He's not being very cool with this." I intoned smiling at the pun. Kai glanced at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Just chill." Kai retorted as he opened a door to our right. Any response I had melted away as my heart soared.

"You guys got an upgrade." I said with amazement. There was a flat screen television and a high tech game system. A stack of video games fell against the far wall and the floor was littered with bean bags.

Kai picked out a game and we spent the afternoon playing game after game. Eventually, we stuck in Mario Kart.

I was winning and shot Kai a small smirk.

"Don't look at me like that." Kai protested. "There's still time for me to catch up."

"Ahem." Kai paused the game right as I was about to cross the finish line. Cole stood in the doorway. The tips of his bangs were still an icy blue.

"Hey, Cole." I said. "You're back so soon? What's up?"

"Yeah," Cole paused. "Kai, I need to talk to you."

"Sure thing." Kai said. There was a moment of silence.

"Privately please." Cole intoned. Kai stood up.

"Alright." He dropped his controller onto his chair and followed Cole outside.

I was left alone to sharpen my racing skills for an hour. Eventually, I started messing with the wiring of the controller. It was pretty simple, but tried to enhance the controls.

"Aha." I said as I connected the wires. I started another level and won easily. The room glowed a faint orange as the sun set. Kai snuck into the room with a smirk.

"Finally." I complained without missing a beat. "You were gone for so long!"

"It wasn't that long." Kai said sitting down next to me. He grabbed a controller and joined in. He had a stupid grin on his face.

"What even did you two talk about?" I asked.

"You'll see." I sighed and Kai smirked.

"It time for dinner." Cole said with a knock on the door. "Hey, I haven't played that game in months."

"I know, me either." Kai replied. "We'll be there in a second."

"Sure thing." He responded closing the door.

"Are you guys cool now?" I asked his.

"Are you kidding?" Kai snorted, but his smirk didn't fade. "You know what he did to me?"

"No, I don't." I said. "But you could tell me."

"I'm not falling for any of your tricks, Jay." Kai said without missing a beat.

"Ah, come on." I said. "You can tell me."

"If you beat me, then I'll tell you." Kai said as he crossed the finish line. "Woops, you're too late. Better luck next time."

"That was so unfair!" I said in exasperation. Kai stood up and turned off the gaming system. "I declare a rematch!"

"And I declare that we need to eat dinner." Kai said with a laugh. "We need to go make sure Zane and Cole don't fight each other."

"You're probably right." I responded getting off of the floor.

"Aren't I always?" Kai asked with a smirk. I elbowed him in the side and ran before he could retaliate.

"Not fair!" Kai said as he followed me. I had always been faster than him. I slowed my run when I reached the dining room door. I slipped inside to see Cole sitting next to Zane. He seemed relieved when the door opened.

"Smells good?" I said trying to cut the tension as I sat across from Zane.

"Yeah, thanks for cooking, Zane." Kai said coming in behind me. For dinner, we were having more of the weird fruit stuff and we ate in silence for the first part of the meal. Zane didn't want to look at Cole and stared me down for the first part of the meal. Kai sighed, but looked between the Zane and Cole.

"Will you two knock it off?" Kai asked breaking the silence.

"Knock what off?" Zane asked formally.

"You know what I mean." Kai said heatedly. "It's so awkward in here. Just talk to each other. You guys have come too far to ruin your relationship with something stupid. I don't know what you're fighting about, but put it behind you." Silence filled the room. Zane stared straight forward, but Cole shot a glance at Zane. I steeled myself to say something.

"I- I agree with Kai." I said taking a deep breath. "We need to work as a team and we can't do that if y'all not talkin' to each other. We need to be a family and family members always get on each other's nerves so you guys have that taken care of, but family also forgives one another. It's simple, just someone apologize first and throw this out the window. Besides, you're dragging down the full enjoyment of breakfast and that sucks so just make up. Please."

I only stopped talking when I ran out of breath. The others stopped and stared. They seemed to be comprehending my superfast speech.

"I'm sorry, Jay," Cole said. "but did you turn western for a second there?"

Kai burst into laughter and Zane smiled faintly. I shrugged. "That happens sometimes. Have you ever met my parents?"

"Yeah," Kai said. "they told a bunch of embarrassing stories about you."

I sighed, but looked toward the pair of still angry ninja. Zane was staring out the window. Cole was looking at Kai. Kai nodded at him and gestured to Zane. Something was going on. Cole turned a bright red, and Kai mouthed something to him. Cole nodded and turned to Zane.

"Zane." Cole said. Zane looked at him with a questioning glance. He wasn't angry anymore. "Come to the city with me tonight, will you?"

"It is the middle of dinner and there is nothing in the city that we need." Zane said. "A trip to the city would be a waste of gas. That would not be advisable."

"Uh," Cole faltered. He looked at Kai who nodded. Cole sighed. "Damn it, Tin Can. It's called a fucking date."

Sorry not sorry for the cliff hanger