I spent most of my morning dusting away and fixing any parts of the bounty on the main. Waking up at the crack of dawn to work was tiring but I refuse to sleep in a dusty ship for the rest of my life even if I'm being held at gunpoint. It was nearing 9 am when I finished the deck, and still, no boys in sight, seriously why are they qualified to work this job if they can't wake up at a decent time?

"Good morning niece, how are you doing?" my uncle waltzed onto the deck.

"Good morning, I just finished out here, I was about to start breakfast in a moment." I smile, back, placing my cleaning supplies against the door leading to the lower deck.

"That's good to hear, the boys should be up by now, I expect them to have the entire lower deck area crystal clear when I come back."

"Where are you off to?"

"Picking out supplies for our new home, someone has to get new bed sheets." I laugh a bit at his humor, it was true the place is covered in old, dusty, raggedy things. "Nya will be accompanying me, clear out anything we don't need for sale, and you're in charge."

"I hear you loud and clear, I'll whoop those boys into shape." Uncle walked off into the desert, gone in just a few seconds. I make my way downstairs to see the boys barely waking up, all groggily from the early day.

"Get moving you guys, the lower deck isn't cleaning itself, that or no breakfast for you," I said loudly getting their attention, moving lightning fast upon hearing being denied food if they didn't start as soon as possible. I left right after hearing them run into the walls trying to get ready for the day ahead, I made my way to the kitchen to prepare anything that was in the fridge.

Zane managed to get a lot of things set in the fridge surprisingly, where did he manage to find the tie and money, and power to stock up the whole kitchen..? I shake my head in confusion, grabbing some pans out from the cabinets, turning on the stove, I set the pans on top ready to start breakfast. I cracked some eggs into a bowl whisking it with other seasonings I dropped in, chopped red bell peppers, cilantro, and some chives. throw the omelet into the pan, I start on the pancakes in a separate bowl.

"Hello y/n, I'm done cleaning up my section of the rooms downstairs, do you need assistance in cooking?" I turned around to see Zane walk in by the sliding doors.

"You can if you want, wanna take over pancakes for me?" I ask flipping the last batch of the omelets. "I'll get the table set while you're finishing up the last few batches." Zane nodded and started working on the last bowl of batter, I made my way to the cabinets pulling out 5 plates and cups to set. I grabbed the two bottles of orange and apple juice as the others began to walk into the kitchen.

"That smells good! What's for breakfast?" Jay bursted in first.

"Cinnamon pancakes, omelets, and juice, I'm going to prep lunch afterwards, any suggestions?" I respond back as the other 3 take seats as Zane dumps the last batch of pancakes onto Kai's plate.

"Is pizza an option?" Cole asked.

"Lame!! Make some chicken!!" Kai screamed in his face.

"A salad," Zane said in the middle of their argument.

I deadpan hearing the arguments ensue at breakfast, these boys will be the death of me, how did Nya live with one for so long?

Chores were done a little after lunch, surprisingly the boys managed to clean and fix everything perfectly fine. Nothing was broken or worse and looked better than the bounty did beforehand.

"I'm surprised you guys got it this clean," I say to the boys as they stood in front of me in their bedroom, the last place I had to check. They managed to scrub clean the training room, and storage rooms, fixed the main engines and even got the main cast fixed up too. "Well, you guys are free to do whatever now." the group immediately cheered and ran off to the living room where the new console Nya brought was sitting in, all except for Kai.

"Is there something wrong?" I ask turning to him.

"Nothing, nothing, I just wanted to, I don't know, ask if there's anything else you need?" He tried keeping eye contact but barely managed to keep it still.

'Well, I was going to go out for a bit, shop for more personal things to decorate my room if you want to come along."

"Sweet! I'll go change, I'll meet you outside in 10," Kai gently pushed me outside the door to change, as I giggle a bit at his goofiness, truly a wonder in his behavior. I make my way into my own room, grabbing a loose pink summer dress, with strawberries printed along the bottom frills. I pulled my hair out of its bun, beach waves fall down as I adjust my bangs, parting the middle to reveal a bit of forehead. Pinning a bit of my hair back, I get ready to leave, I open my door to walk past the living room to see the others aggressively gaming.

"Kai and I are heading out, do you guys want anything specific?" I ask thinking they may answer me.

"Can you get us some comics? I need some literature to pass some time!!" Jay yelled out, I nod in response, boys consider comic books reading? I walk out to the deck to see Kai on his phone by the railing, in a plain white tee, a red hoodie tied on his waist, and basic blue ripped jeans. I noticed a dog tag necklace hanging around his neck, must've lost someone important to him. Kai looked up from his phone to see me approach him, a smile lighting up his face.

"You look good, I mean amazing, beautiful?" he scrambled on his words.

"Such a flirt Mr. Smith." I giggle as I jump over the railing. hitting the sand. "Ninjago City?" I ask, turning around to face him.

"Ninjago City it is." He smiled back.

---

We made our way to our last store, Kai picked out many things that I assume he got for the others too. We someone ended up waltzing our way into a craft store, Kai claimed that Zane wanted some paint to decorate or something, I don't believe him.

I was in the floral section, looking at the mass of fake flowers that lined the floor. I picked out some red roses, babies breath, and smaller sized white chrysanthemums, the small bouquet would look nice in my room.

"Are you done Kai?" I ask, looking for him in the store, finding him in the mini items area.

"It's so tiny..." he whispered holding a small tea set. I place my items on the ground to hover behind him to see a small tea set between his fingers, it was cute to see him getting emotional over something tiny.

"You can get it you know."

"No. The others will laugh. I refuse to let them ridicule me over this." Kai's voice went down, I giggled at his reaction.

"Well if that's not on the menu, I'll go check these out, we can grab ice cream after." I help hm up as he grabbed my flowers from the ground.

"Like a date..?" He whispered quietly in my ear. I blush as I snap my head around to face him, what witch craft is he pulling here?

"Of course not...unless you want it to be..." i said the last part to myself quietly, looking away because I'm sure I'm re as tomato right now. "Let's just go, that ice cream wont eat itself."

"Whatever you say princess."

We found out way into the central park, a ice cream cart near the playground for kids. Kai insisted on carrying most of our bags, which was really nice of him, we waited in the short line arguing over what flavors to get.

"What do you mean you like mint chocolate? It's like eating toothpaste!!" Kai questioned me.

"It's refreshing, just say you hate brushing your teeth you big man baby." I retort back.

"I am not a man baby! Mint is just gross, it's something Zane would love. I, a cultured man, would rather have cookie dough."

"Cookie dough..?" I tilt my head as we stand in front of the stall.

"What can I get you two?"

"Ill take a mint chocolate cup, and he'll have cookie dough."

"I'm sorry were out of cookie dough, last kid took the scoop."

"NOOOOOOooooooOOOOoo!!!!" Kai fell onto his knees hitting the ground all emotional, "this is a cruel day to society..." I crouch down a bit to pat his shoulder to give him my condolences.

"Make that a cookies and cream then.." I tell the ice cream guy, he giggled a bit at Kai's little tantrum. I paid him the cash and grabbed the two cups of ice cream, from him, as Kai moped his lost ice cream. We found ourselves sitting under a tree by the lake, enjoying the melting ice cream in peace. The sun was high in the mid afternoon, as I finish my scoop, I turned around to see Kai not enjoying the scenery, but looking at me instead.

"Is there something on my face..?" I ask looking into his amber eyes, there's so man small details on his face I never even noticed. A small scar ran across his left eyebrow, branching into two little legs, faint freckles decorated his nose to under his eyes.

"Nothing, you just look, really good." I tilt my head, knowing he wanted to say more, or definitely something else. "Fine, you got me. I just wanted to apologize again for that night. Im not making excuses, but growing up, both of my parents left me and Nya to fend for ourselves at a young age. I get overprotective a lot, and I more often than not, tend to speak without thinking. I grew up treating my sister like a dainty princess because it was my job to make sure we didn't go under, I picked up this bad boy personality for our safety and sometimes it just...comes out despite my efforts to change." I stare in silence, thinking of what to say.

"Thank you for opening up about that, it must be hard to grow up in that kind of environment Kai." I gently place my hand on his shoulder to give comfort, he leaned into my touch a bit as I continued, "I don't know much about my family either, just like you both of mine left when I was young too. I don't even remember anything about my brother Lloyd either, all I have of him are just pictures my mom took from when he was only a few days old. I'm glad your sister has someone as amazing as you to look after her." Kai's eyes widen upon hearing my words.

"I didn't even stop to think about your family, I'm sorry. I promise I'll get Lloyd back for you."

"You don't have to apologize for that, its nice, to have friends to talk about things like this, and besides, Wu said we'll get Lloyd back, so for now, I just to wait patiently until that day comes." Kai tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear after I finished, I blushed a bit when I looked up to his eyes. He leaned forward, brushing m loose bangs out of the way, gently leaving a kiss on my forehead.

"Shall we head home princess?"

---

Kai and I were holding hands by the time we got back to the bounty, the others still on their gaming console for who knows how long without breaks. We managed to get to our rooms at the end of the hallway without interrupting the living room, I slid my hand out of Kai's as I turned to my door,

"Thank you, for the day I mean." Giving him a smile as he nodded back facing me, winking as he closed his door, dragging the many bags he carried in. My heart was thumping out of my chest as I got into my own room, back pressing against the door as I dropped my things and slid down. "What are you doing to me Kai..." I press my hands into my face as I feel hot all over. I sat there for who knows how long before I decided to get up, unpacking my new personal items to decorate my room, I started with hanging my new curtains to block out the sunlight for better sleep. After finishing most of my room I got a knock on my door, I slowly open it to see uncle standing there.

"Welcome back uncle." I say letting him into my room.

"My, this place is roomier than your old on." He said placing a bag of Im assuming, new bedsheets and covers.

"Thanks, I went out with Kai earlier to shop for more personal things."

"Like, on a date?" My brain immediately wanted to say no a dozen times.

"I think..?" I let out, words not wording in my head.

"Hehe, its nice to see you socialize more. My little girl is all grown up, next thing I know ill be having grandkids to deal with."

"Uncle!"

"Hehe, I'll get out of your hair, dinner starts soon, oh, and Jay's parents are here. Make sure to tease him about Nya." He walked out just as fast as he came in, I sigh in exhaustion, I can never catch a break from him teasing me. My heart was beating loudly again now that my room is silent, is this what being in love means..?

I shook my head ignoring my feelings, I have to finish getting my room done, I refuse to sleep in dusty rags again.

---

After dinner, and waving the Walker's away, the group spent a moment of silence for Jay's fallen ego.

"Perhaps now is a good time for Jay to teach us a lesson....in kissing pillows." Uncle Wu said out loud laughing as he walked away leaving the group in shambles. Jay immediately screeching for everyone to shut up.

"Forget about me! How about we talk about Kai and y/n's date instead huh?! You cant expect to just leave and think we wouldn't notice you coming back holding hands!!!" Jay yelled in Kai's face, shaking him back and fourth.

"You two went out?! Give me the deets girl!" Nya screamed too, grabbing hold of both of my hands.

"Yeah come on love birds! Spill! Spill!! SPILL THE DAMN DETAILS!!"

"Guys please not so loud..!" I tried getting my voice out as they drowned both me and Kai, pressuring for the 'date'.

"Yeah guys stop! Cant you see her in distress? stop crowding!!" Kai butted in.

"We just bought things for our rooms, and got ice cream! That's all we did!" I said trying to walk away.

"I don't believe you missy, but I shall rest. I better get the proper details on a girls night out." Nya said crossing her arms.

"Nothing happened I promise."

"We don't believe you."