A/N

It's so SHORT! It's so shoooort. But it's been so long, and it drove me crazy! I decided an update is better than no update, so here is half the full chapter.

Something fishy was going on — something between Sparx and Gibson. Just what, she had no idea, but she was going to find out, even if it lit her tail on fire. Then again, peering over her book and across the room at the pair playing video games, she decided caution was the best route to take. Even without enlisting the help of the Power Primate, she could feel the negative vibes emanating from her leader. Now didn't seem like the time to play games, not with the lack of information. She needed to find out what the problem was and help Chiro through it — whatever it was.

With that thought in mind, Nova put down her book, crossed through the golden beams of evening sunlight drifting through the windows, and stopped behind Chiro and Otto, who were vigorously thumbing the controllers.

Click, click, cl-nick, nick, click —

"Hey guys, don't you think you ought to turn it off now?" she asked, hoping to seamlessly side into a heartfelt conversation. She didn't want to push anyone into saying something they really didn't want to say.

"We haven't been playing that long," Chiro answered back, never taking his eyes off the screen, not even blinking. An orange-clad ninja jumped from a large crate, then crouched to the ground before a green ninja could strike him with his katana.

Click, nlick, nick, click, cl-lick —

"You've been playing for five hours," she persisted.

"There's nothing else to do."

Irked, Nova folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. Although she did her fair share of playing video games during the week, there were plenty other things to do. For instance, teach Chiro their skill sets.

"You missed meditation with Antauri," she said, pointedly.

"Antauri is out of it. Has been since yesterday," said Chiro. Nova didn't miss the undertone of disappointment. "Said we'd pick it up tomorrow."

Her mind went fuzzy for moment as it burst with a thousand questions, until only one stood out among the rest.

"…Why?"

"I don't know, he wouldn't say. I also asked him about what happened yesterday with the Power Primate, he said that he'd 'look into it.' "

"He doesn't know?"

"Nope."

"YAAAAY!" Otto cheered, throwing his arms up in victory, controller in one hand, purple soda can in the other. He turned to look at them with an enormous grin, like a four-year-old in a Halloween costume.

"Otto! How's this a good thing?" Nova demanded, then noticed a green ninja striking a badass pose beside a dead ninja. WINNER flashed on Otto's half of the screen. LOSER flashed over Chiro's. "Oh."

She turned back to Chiro. He was frowning and his eyes were drooping, as if losing the game was his biggest failure of the year. He slumped backward onto the floor, legs still crossed.

"It's just a game," Nova consoled Chiro stiffly, feeling a little ridiculous that he was acting this way because of a game. Chiro grumbled as he curled over to get on his feet. Nova checked the clock. "We still haven't sparred today, Chiro. And it's almost seven. Go get dressed and meet me in the training room."

"No, wait! Not until I've beaten Otto —"

The green monkey smiled apologetically. "Actually, I've got to go finish repairing the robot."

"Look on the bright side, Chiro, you're a much better fighter in real life," commented Nova, watching as Chiro clenched his fists and nodded silently as he left the room. The golden rays of sunlight slowly disappeared as the sun sunk below the horizon, leaving the room in relative darkness.

Nova needed to find an opening. No, not a moment to strike and take down Chiro, but a way to slip into a proper heart-to-heart conversation with him. The thing was, Chiro was fighting so poorly and he was near bursting with frustration, she didn't know if it was the right time to ask him anything potentially, uh, sensitive.

She blocked a kick with her forearm, then went on the offensive with a punch to Chiro's sternum.

He missed an opportunity to strike her side, then failed at dodging her round-house kick. Finally, with uncertainty, Nova struck him by his legs, taking them both down to the mat and knocking the breath out of him, ending the round. Chiro got up more slowly than he usually did. He had an angry, contemplative expression.

"Is something the matter, Chiro?" she blurted before she could hold it back.

"It's nothing, Nova," said Chiro dismissively. "Just wondering about stuff."

"Yeah, uh, your 'wondering' got you taken down in less than a minute. And our rounds typically take longer than that. Much longer," she approached him carefully and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "And the number of mistakes — What's got you so distracted?"

He tried to shrug and smile himself out of the question, but Nova pushed forward anyway.

"Does it have to do with Antauri?"

He sighed through his nose and looked away.

"Kinda," he conceded. "Antauri is acting…strange. It makes me feel a little bit…"

Nova waited, but Chiro didn't elaborate.

"...What's the other part of it?" asked Nova.

"Gibson and Sparx are…I just don't know what's up with them. They're keeping me out of the loop about something. Maybe… I dunno, Antauri told them not to say anything, but they wouldn't hide something from me, right? It's probably nothing…"

So, Nova hadn't been hallucinating. Chiro had also noticed the strange behavior too. She tried to catch his eye and assure him with a smile.

"Do you want me to look into it?"

"What?"

"Have you asked them about it? Any of them?"

"Not really…"

In short, no. Nova couldn't understand why Chiro, after all this time, still didn't feel as though he could talk to the team about much of anything personal.

"Are you afraid of what their answer might be?"

"Maybe."

"Should I ask them for you?"

"No!"

Nova was taken aback. Chiro looked at her, then bit his lip sheepishly.

"Why not?" asked Nova. "It'll get you nowhere to just keep wondering and not act on it."

He didn't reply.

"What do you say, Chiro? Can I ask them what's going on?"

Somehow, by some miracle, it seemed she'd managed to word her question just the right way. Chiro exhaled sharply, deflating a bit.

"Okay."

A/N December 12, 2015

I'm not sure if I got their personalities quite right in this chapter.

I keep thinking back to chapter 5. I want to edit it down a bit. It was cryptic, which I had been going for. But it being so long and cryptic? No. Oh! I just found out recently that you guys get email alerts when I replace chapters. I'm so sorry! I have replaced chapters many times. Sorry if I bothered you with all those emails!