Chapter Text
~~~Three days later~~~
"Kai! Where are we going? Can't you tell me?" Lloyd pleaded. He was currently flying in the back of Kai's dragon. He was blind folded, holding tight to Kai as not to fall off.
Kai chuckled as Lloyd's constant asking. "Sorry love, it's a surprise." He was excited to show Lloyd what it was.
Lloyd pouted. "Fine. I'm just too excited."
"That's okay. But I promise you, that you'll love it." Kai said.
They flew for a while longer to Ninjago City. The last three days after Cole had been turned back to an adult had been quiet.
Nya had been acting resentful and ignored the four that were still at the temple. And Jay had been ignoring and avoiding them. He would often come home late at night, or early the next morning, only to leave again as soon as he could.
Kai, Lloyd, and Cole mostly just trained, or hung out doing their own thing. Often just playing video games or going to Ninjago City.
While Kai and Lloyd were out, Cole was training, and decided to clean. He felt he should after not doing anything for a month.
"Here we are love." Kai said. He helped Lloyd off the dragon safely and the fire dragon disappeared.
"Are we just in the city, or at the surprise?" Lloyd asked.
Kai chuckled. "We're close to the surprise, but I brought us into the city. Trust me while I bring you." He was excited to show Lloyd the surprise. He'd already talked to Wu about it, and the elder had been okay with it.
"Okay..." Lloyd said. Kai carefully led his boyfriend through the city as they reached their destination. Soon, Kai halted Lloyd.
"You ready?" Kai asked.
Lloyd nodded. "Yeah! What is it?"
Kai undid the blindfold, allowing Lloyd to see for the first time in about half an hour.
They were standing in front of the Ninjago City orphanage. Lloyd's eyes widened. "You didn't!" He squealed.
Kai laughed and nodded. "Yep. I talked to the director, and he said we could help out with working and watching the kids, foster, or maybe just adopt. We have a pretty clean record."
Lloyd tossed himself at Kai. "Thank you! I love this surprise! Is Wu okay with it?"
"I checked with him and he doesn't mind. We'll have to get actual jobs if we choose to take kids. But, let's go inside. The man in charge is waiting." Kai said. He took Lloyd's hand, but instead of taking the green ninja inside, he dragged Kai in.
Walking inside, there were children roaming everywhere. There were also a few caretakers going about business. "Where do we go?" Lloyd asked, looking at Kai.
"Follow me." Kai chuckled. He took the excited ninja to the dean's office and knocked.
"Come in!" A voice called. They opened the door, and an older man with brown hair was sitting at the desk inside. "Ah! The ninja! Welcome welcome!"
"Hello. I hope we aren't bugging you." Kai said
"Not at all! Please, don't think you are. Now, I just have one question. Adopt, foster, or just helping out?" The director asked.
Kai looked at Lloyd. "It's your choice love."
Lloyd thought for a moment. "I think for now, we'll just foster, but also come and help occasionally."
The man behind the desk nodded. "Sounds good. I just need you to fill out two forms each for that." He pulled four pieces of paper out with writing on them.
Taking the pages, Kai reviewed them. "Sounds and looks good to me." He handed one of each to Lloyd. "Sign these. One is terms agreement for helping, another for fostering."
Lloyd smiled and signed where he should on the line, handing them back. "Here you go."
The dean looked at both of their signed papers. "Looks good. I'm going to guess you'd like to start fostering now? So let me get the list and see who's up."
The dean turned around and opened a filing cabinet. Flipping through papers and files he pulled out a name. "Here we go. Tori. She's a hyper ten year old. Brown hair, green eyes. She likes going outside and to the park. Does that sound good?"
Lloyd beamed. "She sounds perfect! Where and when cam we meet her?"
The dean and Kai chuckled. The eagerness of Lloyd was cute and admirable. "I can call her down here. You can meet her and have her get ready."
Kai nodded. "That works for us."
The dean turned around and grabbed the phone connected to the speakers. "Tori. Will you please come down to the office please? Tori? Thanks!"
Lloyd and Kai waited for five minutes before the door opened. "Dean Dennis?" The girl of the description came in to the room. She wore a pink shirt and jeans.
The dean laughed. "Please. Just Dennis. How many times do I need to tell you children? Anyways. Tori, you have new foster parents!"
Lloyd smiled widely while waving. Kai did the same, but not as intense. "Feel free to talk for a minute." The dean said. He went back to his work.
Lloyd jumped to the chance to introduce himself. "Hi Tori! I'm Lloyd and this is my boyfriend Kai!'
Tori smiled. "Hello! It's nice to meet you. Aren't you a little too young though?"
Kai chuckled. "We're both eighteen. So maybe a bit young. But we are capable enough."
"I hope you don't mind though!" Lloyd said. "But I'm sure you'll love hanging with us!"
Tori nodded. "You're the ninja right? That's amazing!"
"You bet we are. But, do you wanna go grab your stuff and say bye to your friends?" Kai asked. "We can leave when you're completely ready."
Tori smiled. "Alright. Give me a bit."
"Don't feel rushed. We have a while." Lloyd said.
Tori turned and left the room. Kai and Lloyd went and sat on the bench outside to wait.
~~~
It was late when he got home. About eleven at night. He had been working all afternoon and had showered at the hideout since he had to drop off Jen anyways. And if the others were awake at some miracle, Jay didn't want to be yelled at.
It was dark, and he was hungry. He doubted there was any food leftover in the fridge. Even if there was, he couldn't eat it, cause that belonged to the others. He'd have to make his own food.
Making his way up to the kitchen, he pondered on wheather he made something, or waited for breakfast in the morning.
Jay listened, and heard running water from the sink in the kitchen. He sighed, somebody left the water running. He turned the corner to the kitchen and was brought to look at a brown haired girl drinking from a cup. She looked back at Jay.
"Uhh. Hello? Who are you?" Jay asked.
The girl out the cup down. "I'm Tori. Who are you?"
"I'm Jay. I live here." Jay said, confused. Where had she come from.
"Well, for the next while, I live here too. I'm being fostered by Kai and Lloyd. Where have you been? And why didn't anybody mention you?" Tori said. She sounded sassy. Great. Another person to treat him like crap.
Jay just sighed. "I'm not surprised. Look kid. I can barely stand being in this house, full of people who hate me. So I work myself to death, or stay at my actual friend's house all day. Or I sleep over and come back in the morning for a bit.
"So, it's nice to meet you, I've lost my appetite, good night." Jay turned and left. He went up the stairs to his room. Closing the door, he got in his pajamas.
He was more surprised at the fact that Kai and Lloyd were fostering this soon after getting Cole back to normal. Jay flopped on the bed and crashed.
~~~
Tori woke up in the green room. Lloyd's. The green ninja had given her his room, while he slept in Kai's. The two had said that they could go shopping tomorrow, and choose some stuff out to redecorate room.
She had been surprised to run into another dude late at night, that had never been mentioned. Jay seemed standoffish, but mostly just tired and dejected. Like he didn't want to be rude, but was tired of being verbally attacked.
But the fact that he'd never been mentioned once, was weird. But he said he wasn't surprised about that. So he clearly did belong here.
"Tori! Breakfast!" Kai's voice called. She sat up and looked in the mirror on the wall. She put her hair up in a ponytail and left for downstairs.
She walked into the kitchen. Lloyd, Kai, and Cole were all standing around and talking. "Morning! Do you always make breakfast? Or just today?"
Cole looked at her, smiling. She had an instant liking of the earth ninja's personality. He had been really nice. "Well, our best cook is out right now. So sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on if Kai is up to it. He is the second best cook."
"Yum! What is it?" She wondered.
"French toast, eggs, and sausage." Lloyd said, licking his lips. Tori smiled. She figured she'd love it here.
She wondered where Nya was. Tori had met the water ninja yesterday, and she had been nice. But she didn't seem to like her brother's or Lloyd's presences.
"Come dish up Tori. Take what you want." Kai insisted.
Tori walked over and grabbed food. Two pieces of French toast, three sausage,, and a small plate of eggs. The three boys grabbed their own food and sat at the table with her.
They sat and talked, asking each other questions. "So Tori, what's your favorite junk food or sweet treat?" Cole asked.
Kai stiffled a laugh, waiting for Tori to answer first. "Hmm. I'd have to say ice cream. I'm a big fan of strawberry."
"Of course that would be your first question Cole." Kai said with a playful eye roll.
Lloyd smiled. "Well, he does love treats! And he deserves plenty, after I accidentally starved him of it all last month." Lloyd turned to Tori. "If you want candy, ask Cole, and he'll either take you for some candy, or just toss you a box."
Tori smiled. She liked watching the three joke around. But why weren't the others a part of it? Nya and Jay?
"Can I ask a question?" Tori asked.
"Of course. Go on and ask anything." Kai said.
"How come nobody mentioned Jay? I ran into him last night as he came home. And I was surprised to see another person in the house." Tori asked.
Lloyd looked at the ceiling, while Cole and Kai stared at each other. "Well Tori, nobody here is really on good terms with Jay. It's not like he's ever really home anymore."
"There was a bit of a problem and a big squabble a long while ago." Lloyd said.
"Is this about the news reports of Jay being a criminal? Didn't you guys make up? And why does he seem separated?" Tori pushed.
"Well, okay. We did. But there was a huge fight about how Jay just couldn't help out around here. Or pull his own weight. One thing led to another, and we told him to stop taking our stuff, get his own. Stuff like that." Kai explained.
Tori nodded slowly. "So this all happened after you got him back? Got it. Also, why does Nya also seem off?"
"We're a little on bad terms until she admits she's in the wrong. See, I was a baby for a while due to a weird tea incident, and while we had an agreement, she got with Jay while I was a kid, instead of waiting for me to get big again." Cole explained.
"Alright. Fair enough." Tori agreed.
They heard footsteps coming towards the dining room, as well as a pair walking downstairs. Coming in was Jay. Kai, Cole, and Lloyd ignored him, and Jay did likewise.
Jay touched none of the food on the counter. "Are you not going to get food?" Tori asked him.
Lloyd glared at Jay. "Don't touch anything."
Jay rolled his eyes, then looked at Tori. "I'm fine thank you." Looking like he no longer wanted anything, he went around and to the stairs, disappearing down them.
"Why can't he have any? That seems rude." Tori asked.
"That was some of the stuff we told him to stop taking from us." Kai defended.
Tori was now surprised. The ninja team was less put together than they looked from the outside. "Why? Shouldn't you be the bigger people? Keeping him from having food seems like half the problem as to why you're all on bad terms."
The boys looked at each other. "And wasn't this the reason he went bad anyway? You were being rude to him? That's what I heard in the news. I'm surprised he hasn't gone back."
They suddenly looked guilty. "Maybe you're right kiddo. I suppose we've kina been unfair." Lloyd agreed.
Tori smiled. "Good. And I understand the Nya situation. So I'll stay out of that."
Cole yawned. "We should go out or something. I kinda don't want to be here all day."
Kai looked to Tori. "You up for going out?"
Tori nodded. "Sounds good to me."