Written by: dxganronpa

"Oh, these are so cool," Scarlett held up the scarlet gi in her hands, Mia doing the same.

"Yeah, they are! Maybe we were wrong in running after all." The redhead smiled, staring at the purple gi she held. Staring at all the accents and designs, she really couldn't believe this outfit was hers to keep.

The silver accents went from the left shoulder to the right hip, and there was a sash a darker shade of purple wrapped around the waist. There was armor on the knees and shoulders, which she found a bit strange, but it was quickly covered up with awe when she noticed the symbol on the back. It had the face of a Phoenix.

What she found kind of cute was the crown on the purple mask that covered her entire face, minus the eyes of course. It was silver, and she found it to match her perfectly.

"Scarlett, do you like yours as much as I like mine?" Mia asked.

Scarlett didn't turn her head, only continued to stare at her gi. "Depends on how much you like it."

"I really, really like it. I think I love it!"

"Then yes, yes I do like it as much as you like yours."

Both girls giggled, and Scarlett took in all of her new outfit's features once more. The gi was scarlet with a brown sash over the chest and a red belt tying it like a robe. There was one gold armor pad on her left shoulder, the other one just bare.

"Hmm. Where have I seen this symbol before?" she asked herself, looking at the Japanese symbol on the top of the sash.

Mia looked over her shoulder and shrugged. "I think it means dragon? That or chameleon. One of those two, I know it."

"I'm gonna assume it's dragon because it sounds so much cooler, and because dragons are the best things ever." Scarlett hugged the gi to her chest, accidentally lifting the mask. "Ooh, and this thing pulls up to my nose? Cool! I don't have to worry about tying up my hair."

"You wouldn't tie your hair up if you were fighting?" Mia asked her with a confused look. "That sounds hard... and annoying!"

Scarlett shrugged. "It's really not."

The two girls then heard voices from the other room and glancing at each other for a quick second, then ventured out into the hall and stood by the door, listening to the boys speaking.

An angry voice shouted, "You guys recorded us?!"

"Okay, we couldn't resist! But come on, your face was all red and you totally looked like you were enjoying it—"

"Shut the hell up, Jay!"

"Oooh..." Mia cooed, gently shoving Scarlett with a smirk. "You should go in there."

"Why?" Scarlett giggled, keeping her back against the wall and listening in on their conversation. "He seems to be holding up just fine on his own."

"This happened way too quick." Mia chuckled, putting her hands behind her back. "What brought this on?"

"Oh, he was a total perv during the climb because he touched me, and then on deck he said that he really liked me and he isn't that bad of a guy, and—" Scarlett was cut off of her run-on sentences as he heard what sounded like Cole.

"So, you like her that much, huh?"

"Okay, I do not. I was just, uh..."

"Just what?" Jay questioned. "You seemed pretty into her back there."

"As strange as it all is to me... I have to agree."

"Zane, you are not helping! Look, I'm not into her like that. What happened back there was just a... thing, okay? She caught me off guard, is all."

"Look at Kai, getting caught off guard. You sure that's all it was?" Lloyd mocked.

"I swear!"

"Huh." Mia crossed her arms, stepping closer to Scarlett as she listened in on the conversation. "On second thought... maybe he isn't as different as he says."

"You're telling me." Scarlett bit the inside of her cheek, looking to the redhead. "Should I go in there?"

Mia began cracking her knuckles as she took a step forward. "Oh yeah, definitely—"

But Scarlett was quick to put a hand in front of her, smiling. "I don't fight with fists, M. All I need is a few words." And with that, she stepped into the room with a chirpy tone. "Hey, guys!"

"Hey, Scarlett." Lloyd saluted her, trying to hide his smirk. "We were just talking about you, especially Kai."

"Oh, I heard everything." Within two seconds, her smile dropped and her tone became serious as she looked to the fire ninja. "Everything."

"Good luck," Jay whispered to Kai, him and the others taking a few steps back.

"Uh..." Kai looked at Scarlett, who had now crossed her arms and an unamused look. "Hey?"

"Hey." She stepped closer to him, sighing. "Look—"

"Before you say anything..." Kai began, but was cut off.

"No, how about before you say anything?" Scarlett stopped him from explaining. "Look, Kai, you gotta be honest. Is that alright with you?"

"Um... yeah...?"

Scarlett shook her head at him. "Make up your mind. Don't act like you do like me when you're in denial, then come talk to me." She said nothing more as she uncrossed her arms, going to the door.

"Wait!" Kai jumped forward and grabbed her wrist. "I'm sorry."

"Like I said, come talk to me when you know what you want." With that, she released herself from his grip and left the room.

"Son of a bitch." Kai ran a hand through his hair, turning to see his entire team looking at him with disappointment. "Don't look at me like that!"

In the hallway, Mia looked at her friend. "What... happened?" There was no need asking, she heard the whole conversation.

"Nothing in particular." Scarlett shrugged, soon walking away from her and back to her room. "I just don't feel like being played, you get me?"

"Yeah..." Mia watched as she calmly strut to her room as she herself was unable to move. "I get it..."

* * *

Mia slept soundlessly, twisting and turning every now and then. Scarlett sighed, staring up at the ceiling.

Her eyes found the clock, seeing that it read 12:07. Shit, she thought to herself. I can't sleeeeeeeeeeeep...

She sat up, swinging her feet over the edge of the bed and stood. She looked down at her pajama shirt, shaking her head to herself. Well, it makes sense they wouldn't get the right size.

Scarlett then giggled quietly, remembering that Mia had complained about her pajamas being a size too big. Hers, however, was one size too small, which tightened on her just a bit. She shrugged, walking over to the door and opening it, making sure to close it silently on the way out.

Only being there for a few hours, she didn't exactly know the place by heart. But through all the walking, she found the kitchen and stepped in without hesitation. After flipping on the light switch, she stepped toward the fridge and opened it.

"Huh... fruits, water... soda... lots of junk... milk." As Scarlett named off the items in the fridge, she pulled out the gallon of milk with a smile. "Milk."

But as soon as she opened the carton, a voice made her jump. "Scarlett?"

Scarlett sighed, not turning around as she went through the cabinets to find a glass. "Hi, Kai."

She didn't notice him stepping up next to her, opening the cabinet she was just about to open and pulled out a small glass. "The cups are in here, if that's what you're looking for."

"Thanks." She took the cup from his hand, pouring the milk inside and sitting down at the table. "So, what brings you here on this fine evening?"

"I can ask you the same thing," Kai answered, crossing his arms. "Although I wouldn't say this evening is fine."

"Oh? Then let me ask an easier question. What kept you up at night to be here at almost 12:15 in the morning?"

"I can ask you the same thing."

"I asked first."

"Okay, fine." Scarlett puffed out her cheeks, taking a sip of her milk. "I couldn't sleep."

"I thought you'd have something juicer than that." Kai rested his elbow on the table, his chin on his palm.

"Sorry to disappoint. Tell me your story."

"I'm a late sleeper. Finished brushing my teeth, saw the light go on in the kitchen so I went to go check it out, and—"

She was quick to cut him off. "If you were in a horror movie, you'd die."

"Dumb mistake. Anyway, I walk in and instead of seeing a scary killer, I see a pretty girl drinking milk like her life depended on it."

"Not true." Scarlett then began to sip her milk more frequently and before she knew it, the cup was empty. "You're still flirting, and I'm sure you haven't decided."

"You're still on that?"

"Of course I'm still on that. I'm not trying to get into those toxic relationships."

Kai raised his eyebrow at her just slightly and he leaned in, interested in the conversation. "I wouldn't give you a toxic relationship."

"Oh yeah?" Scarlett stood up, grabbed the milk carton and poured another full glass and went back to sit down in front of the fire ninja. "I met you like, a few days ago. You get all touchy with me, then tell me you like me, and then deny it. I don't know anything about you either, except you're the Red Ninja of...Earth."

"Fire, but close enough," Kai corrected. "And you're right, you don't know anything about me, and I don't know anything about you."

"Thank you—"

"But let's change that."

His words caught her off guard. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, let's get to know each other." After seeing her look away, he asked, "What better way than to get to know about a person than in the early, early morning?"

"Hiss," Scarlett spoke the literal word hiss and then looked him dead in the eyes, which scared him a little. "Might as well, since we're here."

"Ask me anything you want to know."

"Okay... you don't look older than twenty. How old are you?" she asked.

"Eighteen going on nineteen in a couple of weeks," he answered bluntly. "And from what I remember, you're seventeen."

"And not going on eighteen anytime soon," she finished. "So, I don't think I got more than Kai. Last name?"

"Smith," he told her. "Kai Smith. Care to share yours?"

"Dragonfire."

"What the hell? That's super cool."

"Thanks. Um..." Scarlett began having a bit trouble of thinking of more questions. "Favorite color?"

"Lame." Kai picked up a napkin and ripped a small piece off, making it into a ball and throwing it at her.

It hit her in the forehead and she flinched. "Rude. Okay... where are you from? Give me background details."

"Ever heard of Jamanakai?" When she nodded, Kai continued. "Well, my sister and I grew up there."

"Jamanakai's a really calm place. I realized that when I came to Ninjago a few years ago." Scarlett took another sip from her glass.

"A few years ago? So you weren't born here in Ninjago?" he asked.

"Oh, no." Scarlett shook her head. "I'm German. Do you know how hard it was to get here to Ninjago from Europe?"

"I'm sure your parents didn't have much of a hard time. I thought Europe was one of the richer places," Kai said.

"Parent," Scarlett corrected. "Parent. My mother died not too long after I was born. And, well, I haven't seen my dad since he left for Ninjago first. And that was like, I dunno, eight or nine years ago?"

Kai paused for a few seconds, taking in what she just said. "You... were all alone?"

"I mean, I had my older brother. By four years, so he couldn't do much either. But we made it here, eventually, in pursuit of my vater. But of course, since my life never goes right, I was alone not long after we got here. So, yeah." She finished her glass of milk and placed her cup on table, saying nothing more.

Kai didn't ask what had happened to her brother and only took in a sharp breath. He was sort of out of words. "I'm sorry."

"I thought we were talking about you. I wonder how you got that out of me." Scarlett leaned forward, her cup in her hands. Her eyes held a teasing look in them, but he knew he had struck a nerve.

"I'm sorry," he said again.

"Why are you sorry?" she asked, noticing how he spoke twice.

Instead of answering her question, Kai said something else. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't have parents either. Wait, that was worded wrong."

But Scarlett didn't seem to mind. "Oh? Do tell."

Definitely struck a nerve, he told himself. "When Nya and I were younger, we lived with our parents. Then, one day, they disappeared and we never saw them again. I was around eight at the time and she was six. I had to learn how to be more responsible, because, well, what kind of brother would I be if I left her to fend for herself?"

Scarlett listened to his story intently, frowning softly. "What did you do to keep yourselves alive?"

"I took over my father's blacksmith shop, after I learned how to fight and actually make weapons." Kai even shrugged a bit, but he didn't like talking about the topic of his parents. "It was okay. She grew up to be a good woman."

"She seems like one to me." Scarlett nodded as if confirming his statement. She then opened her mouth to say something else, but no words came out.

"Go on?" Kai raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm sorry," she spoke, her voice a whisper. After hearing him talk about him losing both of his parents and looking after his sister alone, she felt like her life was better. She had a father, after all.

"You don't have to act like your story doesn't matter," he told her as if reading her mind and catching her hesitation. "If you don't want to tell me what happened to your brother, that's fine. We're trying to get to know each other, not about our relations."

Scarlett smiled a bit, leaning back into her chair again. "Yeah, you're right."

"On a side note, you might be pretty pleased to know that while she was with us, our mom taught us German."

Almost dropping her glass, she looked at him with slightly wide eyes. "You lie."

"I told you, I'm an honest man." Kai took her glass from her hand, putting it in the sink for it to be washed in the morning. "But I'm not fluent, so don't hit me with—"

"Wie fließend ist dein Schwester?" And she said it so fast that Kai thought for a minute that he finally found someone who spoke faster than Jay.

Kai almost slipped upon hearing her words. "What the fuck did you just say? I told you, I'm not fluent."

"Oh... whoops." She smiled a bit. "Sorry."

Kai went back to sitting in front of her, resting his elbow on the table. "So how was that?"

"If you're referring to our getting-to-know-each-other session, then I'll say it went okay. Better than it should've, even," Scarlett told him. "It's not like we had to get all deep, you know?"

"Maybe," Kai said with a small smirk. "But hey, I guess now we have deeper connections, yeah?"

"That was bad." Scarlett giggled at his bad joke and leaned toward him.

"What are you getting at?" he asked her, his grin only growing. "If you want to be close to me, you should just say so."

"Very funny." She rolled her eyes at him but had a playful smile on her face. "I'm seventeen, so let me settle out my emotions first, then I'll see how I feel about dating."

"What have you got to lose? I mean, you won't learn from your mistakes if you don't make them."

Although he did have a point, Scarlett shook her head. "So I guess I'm supposed to make a mistake, huh?"

"No, that's not what I—" Kai began, but she put a finger to his lips. "Hm?"

"Relax, I only tease." She smiled at him and rose to her feet.

"Is it that late already?" he asked, holding her wrist out in front of him.

"Probably. And as fun as this was, it did wear me out. Maybe I'll be able to sleep now." Scarlett put a hand on his chest. "But I guess we're good now."

"Is that so?" Kai questioned with a sly grin. "Then I guess this was a success. So, think I can give the pretty girl a goodnight kiss?" Without warning, he gently yanked her wrist forward, her face now inches from his.

Scarlett squeaked, her cheeks heating up. "W- Well... looks like you didn't learn much from tonight, did you?"

"I'm a flirt, I'll admit. Good luck getting that out of me." He gave her a wink.

"Well, well. What do we have here?"

The voice made the two in the kitchen jump and they turned to see Cole and Jay at the door. The blue ninja snickered, stepping into the room. "Wow, I didn't think they'd be up this late to flirt."

Kai stepped back from her, shrugging at the two. "Maybe we were flirting a little..."

Better than flat-out denying it, I guess, Scarlett told herself. "Well... I'm going to bed. Goodnight, guys..." And with that, she zipped out of the room before anyone could say anything.

Kai looked at her before facing the two ninja at the door. "What?"

"Dude, the lights are on," Jay told him. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Yeah, whatever." Kai rolled his eyes, although he held a smile. "I'm off to bed, too."

"Sweet dreams about Scarlett..." Cole called, grinning.

"Yeah, yeah."

Once arriving back in her room, Scarlett opened the door and silently shut it as to not wake Mia. She walked over to her bed, climbing under the covers and finding herself wide awake again. "Shit."

But what Kai said stuck in her mind, and she couldn't help but think of it. You won't learn from your mistakes if you don't make them.

After a good minute of overthinking it, she closed her eyes.