Work Text:
Let It Happen – Tame Impala
“Useless!” Kai growled and threw his sword in the mountain as he panted in anger. Closing his eyes, the brunette tried to hold back the shudder that came from the strong gust of wind. Jesus, how long has it been since he took a shower? Or ate normal food for that matter?
Sighing, Kai picked up his weapon and continued climbing the mountain, despite his hands sweating and the blood pumping in his temples.
He has been wandering around for what felt like eternity. He still had no idea what the hell happened, where were his friends and how could he get back to Ninjago. For now, he could just climb the damn mountain and hope there would be people he could ask for directions at least.
He hated to admit it, but Kai needed help. Everything was slipping through his fingers, he had no backup plan, and he also had no idea whether his friends were even alive.
The red ninja shut his eyes for a second. Of course they were alive, what other options could be there? They survived worse. His sister turned into the ocean and still came back, for Christ’s sake. With that thought, Kai continued climbing. His heart was racing, his lungs were burning, and he felt his limbs slowly giving up. His hair was also gross. He needed that freaking shower so badly right now.
After an hour or so, Red finally jumped over and felt the ground under his feet. He’s been on edge for so long now, so the first thing he did was grabbing the sword and tightening his headband from behind. He was slowly walking through the greenery, cautiously looking around as he studied his surroundings. Finding nothing suspicious, the man sighed and put the sword away as he continued to walk.
His mind went back to his friends as he listened to the scrunching of leaves under his feet. He wondered where they all were now. From what he could assume, they all were probably thrown into different parts of… whatever it all was now?
Kai sighed. In a way, he was glad he was the one to end up in the Land of Monsters. He wouldn’t want the others to go through this nightmare. If it was his way to protect them all from distance, so be it.
The cry of a bird made him gasp and grab his sword as he pointed it in the air, looking around like a madman. Seeing nothing, he shut his eyes. He wasn’t in the Land of Monsters anymore. There was no danger. Why the fuck was he so scared? Exhaling a deep breath, he stabilized his breathing and continued walking, still on guard.
In twenty minutes, he finally heard distant voices. The brunette didn’t want to give himself any sort of hope, but what if it was it? What if he finally found people and could ask for some help? Or simply stop by for some normal meal and a shower?
Kai swallowed, his Adam apple moving under his handmade scarf as he started walking more confidently, his eyes desperately trying to search for a human being. He wondered what people lived there, almost on, what felt like, outskirts of the freaking world. It was hard to imagine there was civilization at all, but maybe the merge touched only central Ninjago and some nearby realms? He wasn’t sure anymore.
But as he continued walking, his vision was becoming blurry. What if he imagined all that? The voices in the distance – what if they were just a part of his sick mind?
“Fuck!” Kai snapped, punching the tree as he panted, gritting his teeth. “I have no idea where I’m even going anymore!” His jaw clenched. Kai roughly grabbed his headband and threw it into the nearby tree as he looked around. His breathing was unsteady again as he panted, clenching and unclenching his fists to ground himself.
“Ninja never quit” Lloyd’s voice echoed in his head, mixing with the rest of the guys’. Yeah, ninja never quit. But Kai wasn't sure he had any power left to keep going.
His head was pounding when he slowly opened his eyes to check his surroundings. He wasn’t near the trees anymore, not even outside. What the hell was this place?
His guard went up again, alarm bells rang in his head. Kai’s breath hitched, and he shot up on his feet, looking around. He saw few pairs of small eyes watching him curiously and titling their heads. That’s when he saw a woman walking up to him with a smile on her face.
“You are up. How are you feeling, dear?” Her voice was so sickly sweet and motherly that Kai needed to blink few times. “I believe this also belongs to you.”
She handed over the red headband Kai threw away during the moment of panic before. Swallowing, he slowly took it, still watching the woman cautiously.
“Who are you? What is this place? Why am I here?” He frowned.
The woman only smiled in response. “My name’s Mei. And those are my children: Natsu, Ryu, and the little one is Ava. You are in Jamanakai Village.”
Kai’s eyes widened. Did he hear that right? He suddenly stepped closer to the woman in front of him. “Did.. did you just say Jamanakai Village?” When she nodded, Kai exhaled, closing his eyes for a second. That could only mean that he finally got closer to Ninjago.
“Jamanakai Village as in…” Kai swallowed. “The one that is close to Ninjago?”
The woman looked at him sympathetically. “I’m sorry, honey, but I fear Ninjago isn’t close to us anymore. I don’t know what happened, but the lands moved. We are just… Jamanakai Village now.”
Kai bit on his lip. Should’ve thought so.
“Mammy, he has a sword!” One of the boys said, his eyes widening in admiration as he looked at the weapon lying next to the couch where Kai woke up.
“Hey!” Kai frowned. “Do not touch it, kid. It’s a real sword.”
“So cool,” the boy gaped, his eyes still wide.
“Natsu, why don’t you take your brother and sister to go play while I speak to our guest,” Mei told her son, who noddded and ran into another room with his siblings. That’s when she turned to the young man and sighed. “My husband found you passed out on the outskirts of our village and brought here. He said he recognizes you but can’t remember from here.”
Kai swallowed. “My name’s Kai. I’m, ah… I’m the red ninja. You know the—”
“Those ninja?” Mei gasped. “That explains the sword. So do you know what happened?”
And there was that question. Usually, Kai would have an answer. I mean, he was Kai. He needed to have an answer for everything in order to know what to do and how to deal with the upcoming danger. For the first time ever though, he had no answer.
“I’m sorry, m’am, but I don’t have an answer for that,” he said. “I’m, ah, kind of was stuck myself. Still have no idea how I managed to escape,” Kai swallowed.
Mei let out a deep sigh and smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You seem exhausted. You can rest here for the next few days if you would like. Our village is pretty small, I don’t think anything ever happens here,” she laughed.
For the first time in weeks, Kai genuinely smiled. It was a tired, exhausted smile but a genuine one nonetheless.
“That’s kind of you, Mei. Thank you.”
After a quick shower, change of clothes and a warm meal, Kai could think. He stared at his sword and headband in front of him, trying to come up with some sort of plan, but nothing worked. Maybe he should’ve gone for a walk to come up with something.
The man stood up and walked in the kitchen. “Mei? I’m gonna go for a walk. Gotta, ah, clean my head a bit.”
Mei nodded. “Yeah, of course, dear.”
“Mommy!” One of the boys – Natsu, Kai mentally noted – ran into the kitchen. “Are we going? It’s story time with Harumi! We are gonna be late!”
“Just five more minutes, Natsu, and then we can go,” Mei responded.
But Kai stood there with wide eyes, processing the name he's just heard. Surely, it was probably someone else, right?
“What’s… story time with, uh… Harumi?” Kai turned to the woman, who smiled.
“Oh, before the whole chaos happened, there was this girl who came into our village. She’s been staying here since, and the kids grew fond of her stories. Natsu and Ava especially adore those, so we are going here every day,” Mei told, wiping her hands off her apron as she took it off.
“So this girl she’s… uh,” Kai scratched his neck. “She’s telling stories, huh?”
Mei nodded. “Something like that.”
Kai thought this through for a second before glancing at her. “Do you mind if I join you?”
They walked for a few minutes until arriving to a slightly closeted part of the village. Kai listened to what Mei was telling him while her kids walked ahead of them. He smiled to himself when he saw the oldest one giving piggy back rides to his sister while also holding his brother’s hand. Talk about being older sibling, huh.
His mind slowly went back to his own siblings. He was wondering how Nya and Lloyd were doing. He could only beg and prey they were okay. He hoped they were at least.
Shaking his head, Kai focused back on what Mei was saying until she said they were here. The master of fire glanced over, immediately recognizing the girl that was already surrounded by kids, who were excitedly waiting for her to start.
Natsu, Ava and Ryu broke into the run and quickly joined them. Kai frowned as he watched Harumi smiling at the kids who were all patiently waiting for the story.
“Are you coming back with me?” Kai snapped from his thoughts and glanced at Mei.
He hesitated before shaking his head. “I’ll stay here and walk around for a bit.”
Mei nodded and with that left.
Standing completely alone now, Kai glanced back at the girl. The last time he saw her, Lloyd said she helped fighting against the Overlord. It didn’t erase everything she has done though, even if Lloyd seemed like he was tempted to forgive her.
Kai stood there in silence, watching them all and listening as Harumi told her story. At some point, his eyebrows shot up. She looked like she was actually invested in doing this. You would never guess she was secretly crazy and the one who resurrected Lord Garmadon himself to destroy half of the city. A reminder of that made Kai clench his hands into fists but he stayed silent, still listening.
At some point, the brunette heard the words “masks” and “the chosen one”, so he had to snort before finally speaking up. “The masks were ugly actually.”
Dozens of curious eyes glanced over, including the girl who was telling the story. Kai smirked when her eyes widened in surprise. He glanced back at the kids. “Yeah, can you imagine anyone would want those?” Kai walked closer, crouching in front of the children.
“A face only a mother could love,” he responded, wiggling his fingers near his mouth as if he grew fangs. The kids giggled at that.
“Hey! This is my story!” He glanced at Harumi who was frowning. Kai only raised his eyebrow in response.
“He has a sword!” One of the girls cooed in admiration. Kai smirked again.
“He lives in my house!” Natsu declared proudly, making the red ninja chuckle.
“Looks like I’m cooler than you, short stuff. Should’ve brought your own sword. Last I heard you were good at using those,” Kai said mockingly, enjoying the way Harumi gritted her teeth.
Eventually, all of the children were taken home by their parents. The red ninja chuckled as he overheard another kid bragging about the guy with a real sword. Who knew kids needed so little to be impressed these days?
He glanced over, noticing Harumi also leaving. Kai frowned and decided to follow her before speaking loudly enough for her to hear.
“So what are you doing here, your Highness?” Harumi stopped but didn’t turn. Kai crossed his arms as he stepped closer. “Causing more troubles? Because, I gotta say, this is an unusual way for you to spend your time.”
“What’s it to you?” She turned to him with a frown.
Harumi was wearing some baggy clothes, her face was free from the red paint and her hair was up in a messy bun. She basically looked like she did back in the day when Kai thought she was a good person.
The red ninja shrugged. “It’s nothing, really. I just wanna know whether you are here to make those kids trust you too.”
He saw hesitation in her eyes as she swallowed, suddenly looking everywhere but him. Kai raised his eyebrow.
“I already apologized to Lloyd, what else do you want me to do? It’s been years. Move on, ninja,” Harumi frowned at him.
Kai looked at her silently for a second. He wasn’t sure what to think of her. He was once vowed to protect her along with everyone else before she betrayed all of them, broke Lloyd’s heart and then destroyed almost all of Ninjago. Not to mention, did it again few years later.
But Lloyd really did seem to come to terms with her after everything, and from his words Harumi really did help them defeat the Overlord. Or at least took part in it.
Kai sighed, uncrossing his arms. “How long have you been here?”
Harumi blinked before returning to her usual scowl. “Since I left the monastery and you defeated the Overlord.”
Kai’s eyebrow shot up in surprise. “And they haven’t grown tired of you yet?”
Harumi growled and threw the first stick she could find on the ground at Kai. The brunette couldn’t help but laugh, dodging it. “Damn, what is this attack?”
“The one called “I have no idea how your friends keep up with someone as annoying as you”!” She glared.
Kai laughed. “You are not exactly a ray of sunshine yourself, princess.”
“Don’t call me that,” Harumi snapped. “I’m no princess.”
Kai studied her for a second. He knew Harumi was nowhere near being a princess like he thought the first time he met her. It suddenly made him wonder if there were other reasons she hated that nickname.
“What are you staring at?” She scoffed, crossing her own arms.
Kai looked at her for a second. Then shook his head. “Just wondering how did someone like you became a local babysitter.”
She swallowed. Thought for a second. Then spoke. “People can change, okay?”
Kai raised his eyebrow.
She gritted her teeth. “What? Just because I was horrible before doesn’t mean I can’t admit that I was being wrong.”
“You call what you did wrong?” Kai snorted, making Harumi’s cheeks flush in embarrassment.
“I… What would you know about it? It was in the past. Lloyd forgave me,” she responded, swallowing the lump in her throat.
Kai sighed. “Yeah, he probably did. But don’t think everyone else did,” he responded.
They stayed in silence for some time until Kai spoke again. “Why did you choose Jamanakai?”
She swallowed again. “Because I’ve been here before. And because no one here knows who I am. I can start over.”
Kai’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Start over, huh? And how it’s been going?”
He heard her muttering “fine” under her breath. He saw it himself though. Kids loved her and elderlies seemed to be fond of her too. For a second Kai thought if it was all it took for Harumi to start her journey in life all over – someone who could guide her and show her the right way.
“Do you like it here?” The brunette asked, crossing his arms again when he flopped on the nearby bench. Harumi blinked at him. He raised his eyebrow. “What? It’s an easy question, isn’t it?”
She swallowed. “It’s fine, I guess.”
“You can sit down, you know. I won’t bite you.”
The white-haired girl hesitated, studying him. Kai’s heart ached a little. He recognized that look. She was studying him for danger.
Eventually, there was no choice for her but to sit down next to him as they looked ahead of them at the sun. It was slowly coming down, coloring the sky into different shades of red, orange and yellow.
Three days later.
“How was it back in the First Realm?”
Kai glanced at her in surprise. They were currently walking back to the village after helping Mei’s husband get some wood for their house.
Kai couldn’t help but snort in response as he kept his gaze on the road ahead of them. A small smirk formed on his lips. “Scary probably.”
She raised her eyebrow. “Scary?”
“Wouldn’t you be scared in the realm you don’t know what to expect from?”
She hesitated. “Fair enough.”
They walked in another minute of silence before the girl spoke again. “I’m sorry. For being the reason why you got sent there, that is.”
Kai grinned. “What was that?”
She clenched her jaw in response. “I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t hear it, could you repeat please?”
“Ugh! I said, I’m sorry!” She snapped, glaring at the fire elemental who laughed in response.
He spent three full days in Harumi’s company and it was something he never expected to enjoy. They trained, babysitted kids together. Talked a lot as well. Kai almost felt something paternal towards her after making Harumi comfortable enough to speak around him. A lot of stuff started to make sense in his head and some puzzles fit into a full piece he’s been missing this whole time.
He still had mixed feelings about her. He couldn’t really forget what she did easily. But he was also starting to understand another side of her he suspected she never showed anyone else.
Deep down Harumi was scared, and to be honest she was horrible at hiding it. Maybe it was because Kai went through something familiar, such as losing his parents at young age. Though in his case, he still had his sister. Kai always knew that he didn’t become fucked in the head because Nya was here to ground him. He almost lost himself when she sacrificed herself, but he still had someone around to support him.
In Harumi’s case, she had no one to show her the right way in life.
“Why are you still talking to me?” She suddenly asked when they were approaching the village. Kai raised his eyebrow at her.
“What kind of question is that?” He responded, frowning at her.
Harumi huffed, her expression still a scowl. “You said you hate me, so why are you still talking to me? You could’ve easily ignored me.”
Kai thought of the weight of her question before responding. A small smile creeped his lips. “I mean, it’s not like I personally know anyone else in this village.”
“Yeah, but you still could’ve chosen to not talk to me at all.”
The red ninja sighed, rubbing his eyes. “You are not that bad of a company for someone who hasn’t spoken to a single soul since the merge happened.”
That’s when she stopped walking, looking at Kai with a hint of curiosity. “You don’t know where the ninja are?”
“I wouldn’t exactly be stuck here if I knew where they were,” Kai frowned.
Harumi swallowed in response and resumed her walking.
“Is it hard?” She asked few minutes later.
“What is?”
“Not knowing where they are.”
“Yeah. It’s torturous.”
Harumi exhaled but the two of them continued walking.
Suddenly, Kai stopped, stepping in front of the younger girl as he looked around with a frown on his face. His hand immediately went to the sword behind his back. Harumi froze before putting on her usual scowl.
“What the hell?”
“Don’t move,” Kai instructed.
He quickly grabbed his sword in one hand while creating fireball in another hand, ready to strike. His focus was on the large bush as he was ready to defend against whatever was coming towards him. He experienced a lot of stuff in Land of Monsters and was forced to fight against so many creatures, existence of which he wasn’t even aware before the merge happened. His guard was up immediately.
But it went down just as quickly when a bunch of rabbits jumped out and then ran away.
Harumi snorted. “Yeah, I can feel myself shaking in my shoes in fear.”
Kai only glared at her and put his sword away as they resumed walking.
The brunette thought of how quickly he jumped into protection mode and how it felt to be able to protect someone besides himself. It’s been a long time since he played the role of someone other than survivor.
“Thanks, by the way,” he glanced at Harumi who wasn’t looking at him.
Nodding, Kai responded with a quiet: “You are welcome.”
Four days later.
Kai packed some of the stuff Mei gave him before grabbing his sword and finally moving through the village while studying the map the woman also gave him, so he would know where to go next. He would never be able to thank her enough for everything she and her family has done to him for the past week.
“You are leaving?”
He stopped walking and glanced over, seeing Harumi. She was looking at him, studying his attire and the bag on his shoulder.
Kai nodded, putting the map away. “It’s time for me to move forward and find the others.”
Harumi hesitated, like she wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how to put her thoughts in the words. Kai didn’t pressure her. Just patiently waited.
“Well, tell everyone hi from me.”
The red ninja raised his eyebrow, making Harumi’s cheeks flush in embarrassment. “Or… don’t. I don’t care.”
Kai smirked and slowly walked up to her. Then, to his own surprise, he raised his hand and ruffled her hair. Harumi stared at him wide eyed before swallowing. The fire elemental then unwrapped his headband and held it out to Harumi, waiting for her to accept it. The girl hesitated, staring at the piece of clothing, before slowly taking it with her trembling hand.
Kai smiled and took a step back. “So long, kid. Take care.”
She nodded. “You too. Or whatever.”
The brunette nodded back and with that turned around, finally leaving.
He made a mental note and a promise to visit Harumi again when everything settled back into normal.