Do you remember? (A Ninjago Jaya fan fiction)

Chapter 3 - We've all been hurt before

Song: REM - Everybody hurts
Title from the song : the Corrs - Hurt Before

A/N: hello nice readers 👋🏻 !
This is the third chapter of my story and it has proved incredibly hard to write and edit (very little « me time », I essentially write at work at lunch time).

For each chapter I spend quite some time looking for a song and a title.

The titles are lyrics from the Corrs and the songs are setting the mood of the chapters. I hope you enjoy listening to them too.
Kai lovers , don't be upset please! ;)

I hope you enjoy reading my blabber :) please vote if you like it!
Thanks to @lightning-Pays and @ferikapro for their votes and encouragements.
Have a nice day!

***

"Dang ! that mountain really is of incredible height!", I complained as I climbed laboriously what seemed to my aching thighs like millions of steps up to the monastery. Despite the intense physical work at the junkyard – hauling around heavy machine parts, clambering about the huge piles of discarded chunks of metal, beating, welding and mending them  – which had kept me quite in shape, I sensed I might need to take training up a notch to be on top of my game as I was really straining to get up there.

Just like in the old days, I shuddered at the recollection of those dreaded morning sessions ! Master Wu sure loved to torture us.

The sun was at its peak and the heat was now excruciating; beads of sweat were rolling down my forehead while I internally cursed myself for bringing so many things back with me, personal items, tools and a few – heavy - devices I was working on and that needing tuning, with the help of Zane or P.I.X.A.L, who had taken over this task in the team now.

When Master Wu had first recruited us all, he had assigned both Nya and me to deal with all the mechanical duties around the monastery and on the Bounty, our amazing flying headquarters. As a consequence, countless hours were spent alone together, devising and building incredible mechs and equipment for our vehicles.

As days passed by, we naturally learnt and shared a lot about one another – our past, our families and friends, our passions – and though I was helplessly awkward around her, we quickly formed a really good team. And my feelings for her were getting stronger by the minute.

Not only had I been lovestruck since our first encounter (how fierce and confident did she look standing on that gigantic dragon? She had left me literally speechless! I couldn't have uttered a coherent sentence even if Cole had not hit me in the throat in battle before!) but I soon came to admire her smart mind and unique personality.

Amazingly, Nya even laughed at my lame jokes – she was actually the only one who didn't laugh at me – and the cutest smile adorned her stunning face each time I got carried away by my nervous blabbering. Which didn't help to stop my mouth from uttering the most ridiculous things crossing my mind.

However, one day, Nya asked me to check measurements on the blueprint of a new fighting jet and, as I stood behind her to take a peek at it over her shoulder, I got helplessly attracted by the floral scent of her hair.

This hopeless intoxication made me lean closer to her face than I intended to, high on her smell, holding my breath, and my hand slightly brushed her hip as I was losing my footing. She shivered and gasped at the touch and I quickly took a mortified step back. We stood there for a few minutes in an embarrassed silence, her back still turned, and I imagined her cheeks couldn't be more flushed than mine at that moment.

A few days later, I gathered the courage to ask her out on our first date and, although it turned out to be quite a disaster – literally turning into a snake and near-death experience being the climax of our day out – it cemented our relationship. Because the outcome for us was so uncertain, we opened up to one another. Nya trusted me with her deepest secret and she also persuaded me that I was worthy.