Work Text:
They all had their colors growing up.
Kitana had blue.
Mileena had pink.
Skarlet had red.
And she had green.
Jade couldn't quite recall when they had all picked out their respective colors, or why they had, or if someone had picked the colors out for them. Perhaps such a decision had been made to make it easier to tell one from another, although the four of them shared very little in physical similarities, save for Kitana and Mileena - to a degree, anyways.
Either way, that was just how it was for them growing up.
And that's how it still was to this day.
Even now, even with the freedom to choose otherwise, it still felt odd to pick a color that belonged to someone else.
Jade had always been closer to Kitana growing up, which might explain why she had such an affection towards blue.
It might've been why when she first saw Kung Lao wearing blue, she instinctively felt at ease around him.
And that feeling of ease inevitably grew, inevitably building into this feeling of being at home around him.
"What do you think? Does this blue look good on me?"
Jade watched as Kung Lao dressed himself in front of the bedroom mirror, taking advantage of the ceiling-to-floor view it offered him.
She found it so amusing to watch him.
Outside of herself, and the other Edenians, Jade had yet to meet someone who was so focused on the little details when it came to personal appearance.
Until she had met him, anyways.
Kung Lao straightened his loose tunic at the shoulders and made sure that the overlapping layers fell properly over his chest, before he grabbed for one of his belts hanging off the nearby chair. With articulated skill formed from routine, he wrapped the belt around his waist and buckled it without disturbing his tunic too greatly. A hand ran over his chest, smoothing out any accidental wrinkles, before he grabbed a second belt and added it around his waist as well.
"You ask this like you don't already wear blue," Jade teased, from her watchful spot on their bed.
Pushing herself up, she moved from her prone position and worked her legs over the edge of the mattress before she got to her feet. She worked in a small stretch as she made her way over to him, before she moved up behind him and adjusted his tunic from the back.
She had always liked how his unique style dressed his body.
"Yes, but this is a different blue," Kung Lao noted.
Jade couldn't fault him for pointing out the small detail.
She knew well enough of colors and shades growing up.
And true to Kung Lao's word, the uniform he was nitpicking at was a different shade from the usual royal and bold blue he typically wore.
And that he pulled off so well, at that.
This one was light, and more of a baby blue in shade.
One that was very reminiscent of how ice looked when light hit it at a specific angle.
Which was precisely why he had picked it out.
Grandmaster Kuai Liang had made the offer to train Kung Lao in the art of the Lin Kuei, to train him with the secrets of the almost extinct clan.
Jade wasn't certain of the Grandmaster's very particular reason for such an offer, but she had her suspicions that the offer actually worked the other way around.
With the Outworld Tournament permanently gone and over with, Kung Lao had technically been crowned as Earthrealm's last Champion. His victory over Goro had been upheld by the Elder Gods, despite the chaos that had followed it. And such a victory had allowed the Shaolin to fulfill his life goal of restoring his ancestor's honor and name, as well as protecting Earthrealm from Outworld's invasion.
Even then, however, despite everything, Kung Lao admitted to her that he hadn't anticipated his victory to bring such an abrupt end to everything he had worked for.
One victory was enough to save Earthrealm.
But there had always been the shadow of another Tournament looming on the horizon.
And now that such a looming threat was no more, Kung Lao found himself disorientated with his future.
He found himself with nothing else to do, with nothing else to dedicate his life to.
Which, conveniently, left him with plenty of time on his hands.
Kung Lao spent most of his time training the new class of Shaolin students.
And it was that piece of information that Jade surmised Grandmaster Kuai Liang had honed in on.
In her mind, the Grandmaster's offer was less of Kung Lao learning from the Lin Kuei, and more of Kung Lao teaching the Lin Kuei.
And it was a theory that was given even more merit when Grandmaster Kuai Liang allowed for Kung Lao to design his own uniform, rather than stick him with wearing the same suit that the Lin Kuei students wore.
Of course, Jade kept this to herself.
It was none of her business.
Despite it taking her husband away from her for a couple of hours a day.
"It's not much different," Jade assured, as she stepped around him now and continued to straighten the bottom of his tunic out. Her fingers teased the gold embellishes Kung Lao had stitched around the edges as a trim; they were a little flashy in comparison - and had most certainly been his idea from the start. "I prefer you in darker colors, but I think lighter ones like this are still suitable."
"I just don't want Kuai Liang's students to think I look odd," Kung Lao spoke, or perhaps admitted.
As though students would think so lowly of the Earthrealm Champion.
Jade chuckled at the admittance and watched as Kung Lao, now satisfied with how he looked, reached up to pull his hair back behind him now, tying it back into its usual ponytail.
It was much longer than it had been before the Tournament.
It almost reached below his shoulder blades now.
She liked the longer look of it on him.
"Do your students say you look odd in different colors?" Jade questioned, as she stood in front of him now and partly blocked his reflection of himself.
"They are children," he replied. "They are not exactly... subtle with their remarks."
She laughed, before she moved her hands to his chest and leaned in to kiss him.
She kept it short and sweet, to keep her lipstick from coloring in his own lips.
"I think the Grandmaster's students will behave themselves around you," she assured, as she stepped back now and smoothed out the accidental wrinkles she had put on his tunic. "Now then, if you don't leave now, you are going to be late - and you don't want to set a bad example of yourself. The children will most definitely make fun of you if you can't show up on time."
"Since when have I ever arrived somewhere on time?" Kung Lao chuckled, before he leaned in and pulled her into another kiss.
One was just never enough for him.
However, one was never enough for her either.
"I'll be back before evening - with hope," he spoke. "Will you still be here?"
"I should be," Jade answered, before she curled her lips into a teasing grin, "- but I suppose you'll have to find out for yourself when you return."
"Oooh, you torture me."