On a String

Chapter 8

"Not gonna let this day go by.
I'm gonna save this wasted life,
And nothing can stand in my way.
Not enough to say goodbye,
Burn it til there's nothing left.
I'm drowning in the mess that I have made."
-'Erase This' by Evanescence.

"Has everyone finished identifying uses for all the objects on the table?" Kai asked after the Ninja had been working for half an hour. With nothing more productive to do, the red Ninja spent the time watching his students carefully from a corner of the room.

He had refused to help them when they got stuck, though. It wasn't the actual use of each object on the table as a weapon that he was trying to teach them, but rather the ability to identify the way any object could be used as a weapon. It wasn't something he could just tell them. For this lesson to be worthwhile, they needed to figure it out for themselves.

(Like he had.)

"You got it, boss," Jay, who had been working in a pair with Nya, waved a piece of paper with rather messy writing on in it in the air and grinned. "We're ready to present this stuff to the team! Hear this and weep, you lot!"

"Why? Is it that bad?" Cole asked with a smug grin. "Aww, well, what else were we expecting from you, Jay? You're lucky you had Nya on your team. You'd be completely stuffed otherwise!"

"Yeah, she's the one carrying all the weight in the relationship," Lloyd chipped in, with a grin almost as wide as Cole's plastered across his face.

Nya glared at the Green Ninja. "Are you calling me fat?" At the suggestion of someone insulting his girlfriend, Jay shot Lloyd a cold glare as well.

"No! Not that weight! You're real skinny! I meant like you're the serious one who's all down to earth and stuff," Lloyd protested, back tracking frantically. "As in Jay's real energetic and you're calmer,"

Cole chuckled softly and ruffled Lloyd's hair. "Lloyd, carrying all the weight in the relationship doesn't mean that you're the serious one. It means you're the one doing all the work and the other person is having a free ride,"

"Oh. Well, scratch that comment from the record," Lloyd groaned. "Gosh, that's embarrassing. Sorry, Nya, sorry Jay. It just sounded so right in my head, you know?"

"Don't worry, little guy," Jay grinned. Nya just smiled kindly at the flustered boy.

"Sensei and I are both ready to present our ideas, Kai," Zane interrupted as he noticed that Kai was still waiting for everyone to get back on topic.

The Ninja in red raised an eyebrow. "Glad to hear it," he said shortly.

"Yeah, Lloyd and I are ready as well, Kai," Cole said, giving his teacher a nod.

Kai gestured to the front of the room. "Since Jay's so confidant, he and Nya can start," There wasn't any recognition in his voice. There wasn't any emotion in his voice. Not even when he said his own sister's name.

That certainly killed the mood.

Sombrely, Jay and Nya made their way to the table.

"Right, so the deodorant can be sprayed into an attacker's eyes and the keys can be used like claws if you slot them between your fingers when you make a fist..."