Discliamer: Buena Vista owns Ninja Storm. I don't. This story is set in Another Time and Place continuity about a year before the story begins.

Aftershocks

by Smittysgirl

Dear Tori, Today's race was good. I missed you.

Tori read Blake's postcard with a frown. When she complained before that he didn't write or call, it was nothing compared to how little she heard from him now that she was an Academy teacher and he was out racing.

Intellectually she knew this sort of thing happened all the time in relationships, teenage relationships in particular. They were both too busy gaining valuable life experience to find time for one another. In a few years the people they were would have drifted quite a ways from each other, and while she'd never entertained fantasies of their settling down to raise a family, it still chafed to think she'd lost him before they'd even gone on a date.

She put the postcard back in an inside pocket of her robe and got up. Maybe she and Blake weren't meant to be. After all, Hunter heard more from Blake than she did. She was out of the loop. "And this is why long-distance relationships never work," she muttered.

"You're just now realizing that?" came a flat voice from behind her.

Cam, she sighed. She'd half expected one of her students to have barged in on her after hours again. Turning around, she couldn't help but notice her old friend and fellow instructor greeting her with an underfstanding smile. "I think it's important to restate the obvious sometimes. It keeps you humble. Snow is cold, in case you were wondering."

"Thanks for keeping me in the loop." His eyes darted around the room for a moment. "If this is uncomfortable, just let me know. I was coming to let you know Shane and Dustin were planning to take disgusting advantage of happy hour appetizer specials at that Godforsaken pub. Knowing you, I figured it was a safe bet you wanted in."

"Thanks," she said, smiling. Maybe she'd get rip-roaring drunk. She'd never done that before.... of course, that probably wasn't a good idea for an Academy teacher. Especially one who had to show up to teach class the next day.

"Do you want to talk about it, or should I just stumble out of here mumbling some forced words of comfort?"

She'd forgotten he was there, for a moment. Just for a moment. No wonder Shane and Dustin had forgotten all about him half the time. "Sorry. It's Blake."

"I gathered. I know exactly what you're going through. I lost my first two girlfriends to time and distance. I inadvertanly introduced one to her husband."

"And I lose one to the racetrack, because I wanted to teach at the Academy."

Cam chewed his lip for a moment. "What small comfort this is, it could have been a lot worse. You're losing him to something outside of you both. There won't be any words exchanged, you won't end up doing something you'll regret later."

Tori nodded. "At least I have teaching to keep me busy."

He looked up at her from his own thoughts, his eyes shining. "Just don't let your work be an excuse to avoid what you're feeling. Don't let it become your life. Once you start down that road you can't go back."

"That's why you were... the way you were when we met you, right?" Tori asked.

Cam slumped against the doorframe, looking simutaneously older and younger than his 27 years of age. "That's why I am who I am."

"Cam... I'm sorry," Tori said. "I didn't mean to...."

He shook his head. "Not your fault. I mean that. I certainly didn't mean to minimize how you're feeling right now."

"I'm not...." Tori paused. "Blake's wanted to race for such a long time. At least he knew what he wanted to do when he graduated the Academy. I thought I had two more years left. I hadn't thought what I was going to do, and I somehow thought I had more time with hiim."

Cam smiled thinly. "You always think there's going to be enough time, don't you? To tell someone what they mean to you, to get around to doing everything you promsed yourself you'd do before you died. To not be a slave to the workaday world."

"Or caught up in Academy life, or racing...." Tori said, the corners of her mouth twitching up. "He was the only one of us who left the Academies. I envied him."

Cam struggled with something, finally exhaling for nearly twenty seconds. "You know, of our little band of thieves I think seeing you choose this life hurt me the most. You're so much better than the rest of us."

"Mom and Dad wanted me to go to college. Instead, I came here to teach. I promised myself I'd earn the money, and then take college classes."

"And now?"

"I'm having trouble figuring out what being a ninja means for the rest of my life. The rest of the world seems so mundane after you've saved it. And it's not like I can discuss it out there."

"Once you're in, it just starts taking over everything in your life. There are times I wish more than anything that I'd never come back here after college. That's why I lost Helena, back when I was seventeen - I'd just finished my third year at MIT. That was when Lothor and Vexicus first came to Earth, and Dad realized we'd need the Storm Zords online after who knows how many centuries of dormency."

Tori forced herself to smile. "I'm starting to feel like it is - taking over everything, that is. Maybe you're right. Maybe I should leave the Academy. Most graduates do."

"No one as young and beautiful as you should be wasted in a place like this."

In an instant she could see the regret flicker across his eyes. "I should, ah -" he stuttered.

She reached out. "No," she said. "Thanks, Cam."

His gaze refused to meet hers. "Um, thank you."

"Cam?" Tori asked. "Why do you stay here?"

"There's nowhere left for me out there. I've been here for so much of my life now this is all I know. What would I have to talk about with a normal person?" He fidgeted. "It's like some kind of superhuman Stockhome Syndrome. We need to be with people who can understand what we've made all these concessions to."

Tori grinned. "Like finding a Ranger relocation program. Maybe you should use those connections you have and get out and find someone...."

"I tried a few months ago. That leave of absence I took to see my cousin? I was trying to meet some people Tommy knew. It went... let's just say this, I stood a better chance with Leann than any of them."

Tori resisted the urge to chuckle. She had herself resented what she thought were the advances of Sensei Omino's daughter towards Blake before learning she was a dyed in the wool lesbian.

"So, it didn't go well?" Tori asked.

"They were mind-numbingly dull. They did their duty for the required time and left the life behind. They didn't live every moment of their lives in this world... it's not just being a Ranger, it's being what we are, you know?"

"Ninjas," Tori supplied. "We never stopped being ninjas. And now we don't know how to do anything but save the world."

"Exactly." He slumped even further. She worried for his spine. "Blake... Blake got out, Tori. Rejoice for him. He's free, and after his childhood, he's earned it in spades."

"Were this a psychological paper on the effect of being a Ranger on post-Ranger lives, it would be fascinating," Tori said. "Right now I want to get drunk."

"I'll leave you three to it, then." The ghost of a smile he'd initially greeted her with returned. "I'm sorry to keep you from your friends."

She shook her head, her better judgment returning. "I better not. I don't want my first real job to end by your father firing me for drunkenness."

"I'll cover for you. Just be prepared to lie creatively on Thursday."