Disclaimer: I don't own them, Saban does

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Chapter Seventy-Six: The Dance

A/N: Hello wonderful readers! Well, this it. We've reached the lasts chapter. This was the first story I ever published, and I really want to thank everyone who reviewd; favorited; and followed this story! I'm sure you're all looking forward to the uh...*cough*sequel*cough*. Anyways, please enjoy!

"The difference between school and life? In school you're taught a lesson then given a test, in life you're given a test that teaches a lesson. -Tom Bodett

Antonio laughed when he saw Jayden stumbling to tie his tie. "You need help?"

"No," the red ranger said stubbornly. "I can do it myself."

Antonio rolled his eyes and stepped closer, smacking Jayden's fumbling fingers away. He smiled as he tied the necktie and nodded in satisfaction. "There you go."

"I thought I could do it," Jayden mumbled, embarrassed he'd need the gold ranger's help to get dressed.

"No need to be embarrassed Jay, I can't for the life of me tie a bow tie." They looked over at Mike and Kevin and Jayden suddenly felt better when he saw that the Kevin was having to help Mike with his tie as well.

"Seriously," Kevin said. "how did you two make it this far in life without knowing this?"

"I never needed to," Jayden argued. "If I needed to wear a tie, Ji could tie it for me."

"My dad always told me to just wear a clip-on," Mike argued.

Kevin scoffed and rolled his eyes. "He sounds a lot like you. My dad taught me to tie one when I was little."

"My dad didn't believe ties," Antonio said, slinging his arm around Jayden.

"How do you not believe in them?" Mike asked as Kevin finished. He nodded his thanks.

"Fishermen didn't usually have a reason to dress-up," the gold ranger answered expertly. "When we did, a simple nice shirt that wasn't cover in fish guts was acceptable."

Jayden laughed. "At least we're ready before the girls."

Mike rolled his eyes. "That's not a surprise. Girls take forever to get ready. We could be ready before them if we took an hour."

The boys were all wearing black slacks, nice shoes, and white shirts. Kevin was wearing a blue tie; Mike was wearing a green one with white stripes; Antonio had a tie that was complete covered in gold sparkles; and Jayden had one with alternating dark and light red stripes.

"Hey!" They looked and saw Mia standing in the entrance to the living room. "It takes time to look this good boys."

The pink ranger was wearing a pink dress that was loose around the chest, but tight at the waist, with a skirt that was longer on the left than the right. The area around her waist was black, and she had a small pink bag hanging off her wrist.

"And look good you do," Kevin said.

Mia smiled. "Antonio, stop staring or Lauren will stab your eyes out."

"Do the other girls look as nice as you?" Antonio asked.

"Yes."

He nodded and closed his eyes. Emily stood next to Mia and Mike nodded. She was wearing a simple yellow dress that was low cut neckline, lined with green gems and cinched in the middle. Mike took her outstretched hand and kissed it. "You're beautiful, sweetie."

Lauren and Tiara showed themselves together and Jayden nudged Antonio. He opened his eyes, smiling. Lauren was wearing red dress with shiny, gold swirls that seemed to exploded over the whole thing. Jayden smiled, then looked at Antonio and frowned. "Close your mouth."

Antonio closed his mouth, then took Lauren's hand and kissed it, then kissed her wrist. "You are an angel, mì amor." Lauren smiled as he pulled her close and kissed her gently.

"Antonio, stop making the rest of us feel really single," Kevin said.

"Speak for yourself," Tiara said. She was wearing a red dress that looked Asian inspired with small designs of dragons, tress, and flowers.

"You look nice," Kevin said, not wanting her to be left out of the compliments.

"Thank you Kevin. So do you."

"You rock that dress," Emily said. "I'm a disaster trying to talk in mine."

"Practice. I've been to more formal dinners and occasions than I can count."

Ji came in and looked at them all. "Don't you look nice."

"But I look the best," Antonio said, smoothing out his tie.

Ji rolled his eyes. "Behave yourselves, and I mean it."

"We'll be fine," Mike said. "Don't worry, we won't leave anyone dancing alone."

"Come on!" Mia said excitedly. "We should go."

"Bye!" Jayden called as he was dragged out of the house.

Ji smiled after them. He hoped this would be a nice experience for Jayden and Lauren to enjoy.

-Samurai Ranger High-

Jayden felt that he was possibly going deaf when they got to the school and the music was loud. Really loud. "Are dances usually this loud?" he asked Antonio.

"You act like I've been to one of these before!" the gold ranger responded. They stood on the edge of the gym watching everyone else. Jayden was starting to feel overwhelmed upon seeing all the kids in the school in one place like this. He saw Lorrie and left the safety of his friends to see her.

"Come on!" Antonio said excitedly pulling Lauren on to the dance floor. She looked uncertainly at him as he tired to get her to dance. "Lauren, the purpose of a dance, is to actually dance!"

"I don't really know how!"

"Just move with the music. Here like this." He put his hands in her waist and tried to show her how to move with the beat. They looked over and saw Mike and Emily dancing like a couple of pros.

Tiara sighed and grabbed Kevin's hand once Mia had ditched them. "Come on, if we're going to be here, then we're dancing."

"Well, ok." They found a place and started dancing.

Tiara laughed. "You're not as bad as I thought you'd be."

"Well that's a relief."

Mia found Seth and he wrapped his arms around her. "You look stunning."

"So do you," she replied.

He held her hand as they started to dance. "I love this song!"

"It's ok."

Lorrie smiled to Jayden when the song chnaged. "It's out song!" she said excitedly, jumping up and down. "Come on!" He laughed as she pulled him onto the dance floor and started dancing. It amazed Jayden that a song could mean so much to him, and he didn't even know the name of it, or who sang it. But, guessing by the girls' reactions, it's some really famous guy.

She lifted his hand up so she could spin under his arm. He grabbed her other hand and moved back and forth like Antonio had shown him earlier so he didn't make a fool of himself. He twirled her again and they danced a little after, with more energy. He crossed his arms and pulled her close, then uncrossed them and moved her away from him.

Tiara and Kevin were having a good time, being the only two in to he group without a date. Andre snuck up next to them. "I thought I could have a dance?"

"The dance just started Ande!" Tiara laughed.

"Fine," he said. "But, I'll be back."

"So he says," Kevin smiled.

Andre was going to find Lily and Diego when he bumped into Brooke. "Oh, hey, sorry."

"It's fine," she said dismissively. She wove her way through the mass of kids as she looked for Kevin. A slow song came on as she searched and she thought briefly of how nice it'd be to have someone to dance with. She finally found Kevin and stopped in her tracks. Why is he dancing with Tiara? His hands were around her waist, and her arms were around his neck.

Brooke sighed and slipped away before ether Kevin or Tiara could see her. She turned and saw a boy whose name she didn't know. "Hey," he smiled. "Wanna dance?"

"Sure," Brooke said taking his hand. "I'd love too."

Lauren was happy that she and Antonio were close in height, making it easier to dance. She simply followed his lead as they moved. "This is fun," she decided.

"Yes! I got you to enjoy something normal."

"What, do you have some kind of mission?"

"Yes. To get you and Jayden into normal activities."

"Martial arts is a normal activity."

"Not the way we do it."

"That's probably true."

Mike and Emily twirled around a little bit, Emily tripping on her dress. "Oops!" She fell into Mike, who fell backwards.

"At least you're light," he joked.

"I'm sorry-"

"Don't worry about it. You're cute when you're clumsy." He kissed her then sighed. "We'd better stand up before people think things are got in on down here." He helped Emily to her feet, catching her as she fell again. He put his hands aloud her worst again, discreetly pulling some of her dress up so she'd be less likely to trip.

Mia was content to just dance with Seth the entire night. She wrapped her arm around his body as they moved slowly back and forth. "You're a really good dancer."

"Not really. I'm just an incredibly talented at faking things."

"I don't believe that for a second."

"How do you think I make it though cooking?"

"With your god given talent."

"Well if you want to call to that," he shrugged.

She laughed and smacked his arm lightly. "You know, you're very humble about your cooking skills."

"Thanks. I just found out I got accepted to culinary school."

"Really?! That's fantastic!" She hugged him and swung her around a little, the two of them not looking out of place. "I'm so happy for you. Where is it?"

"New York."

"New York? Like on the other side of the country, New York?"

"In the middle of the city! Hey," the stopped dancing as he took Mia's hands. "Don't worry. I promise, I'll come back for you as son as I can. And we could, I dunno, write of something."

"Maybe."

"I promise. This isn't the end," he said rocking her back and forth, even thought the song was a fast one. "I promise."

-Samurai Ranger High-

Jayden danced and danced with Lorrie through the night. For once in his life he didn't care if he got strange looks, or really what anyone thought of him. He was just happy to be with her. When they announced the last song, he began to feel sad. "Looks like this is it," he said, putting his hands at her waist.

She put her arms around his neck and nodded. The two of them moved in time with the song, pulling each other close. It's for her own safety, Jayden had to remind himself. This is for the best. It was still hard though, especially since he could smell her shampoo.

"Looks like it," she whispered.

"I won't give up on us. Even if the skies get rough-"

As the final song came on, Tiara went to look for Andre. "You know," she said to Kevin quickly. "Brooke didn't come with a date ether. There's still time to part on good terms."

Kevin sighed and watched her disappear into the crowd of people. "Maybe she's right." He struggled as fast as he could through the kids dancing. He stopped when he saw Brooke, opening his mouth to say hi. But when he got a good look at her he saw that she was dancing with another boy. The boy leaned down kissing her, making Kevin feel like he'd just be punched in the gut. He turned and walked away, finding a spot on the wall and sitting down, watching everyone else dancing.

Tiara, meanwhile had found Andre, who was leaning against the wall, since Lily and Diego were dancing together. "Hey," she said getting his attention. "I did promise you a dance."

He smiled and took her hand, leading her onto the dance floor. The two of him danced slowly, Andre enjoying every minute of it. "Tiara," he said. "This other guy. What's his name?"

She smiled. "Akito," she said. "His dad was the prime minister when my dad and I first arrived in Japan."

"Oh." He didn't say anything for a couple seconds. "Well, I-"

"Andre?"

"Yeah."

"You think for tonight we can just dance?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah." He pulled her closer and gave her a gentle hug. "We can do that."

Antonio was holding tight to Lauren as they danced. "So," he said. "What did I tell you? Hm? This whole thing would be ok."

Lauren glanced over at her brother who was surprisingly dancing with a girl, and appeared to be having a good time doing it. She looked the other way and could see Mike and Emily, with Mia and some boy near by. She couldn't see Kevin, or Tiara, but figure they were having a good time like everyone else. "I guess so."

"School isn't that scary after all, is it?"

"Oh no it is." She smiled and kissed him before saying, But it helps when you've got amazing friends to see you through it."

Antonio nodded in agreement and they continued their dance in silence. All of the samurai rangers wanted this song to carry on forever. They knew it would end soon, and they could go back to being rangers full time again. But for now, just being regular teenagers was good enough for them.