There were a lot of good things about training at the Thunder Academy. First among them, of course, was the fact that they were training there at all. They had come within half an hour of being expelled from ninja school and Shane didn't have any doubt that Sensei would have made good on his threat. Only the most unlikely coincidence had saved their butts, and they didn't have to be told to take advantage of it.

He was sorry that things were being blown up, of course. And he was sorry that people at their new school were bagging on the samurai. But there were things he could change and things he couldn't, and part of being a ninja was figuring out which was which. The other part of being a ninja was finding someone who could change the things he couldn't, but he figured he wasn't advanced enough to be responsible for that part yet.

Shane stuffed his long-sleeved shirt into his backpack and swung it over his shoulder, stepping onto his skateboard as he headed out of the park. Someone shouted at him from the halfpipe, and he waved over his shoulder absently. "Later, man!" He had a class to get to.

Not one of his own classes, for once. Another major bonus that came with attending the Thunder Academy was the total rearrangement of training schedules and the sudden inclusion of guest students in the beginner samurai classes. He would never have been allowed in a samurai class at the Wind Academy--not because they were exclusive, but because students had to prove that they could handle that kind of workload.

Samurai didn't trade one set of classes for another. They simply accepted samurai training on top of their elemental education. Under normal circumstances, Shane wouldn't have even been considered for that kind of added burden. He was only allowed in the advanced classes because he had placed there... attitude and tardiness notwithstanding.

He glanced over his shoulder, leaned back to lift the front wheels up, and turned to coast down off the curb. He rolled through the crosswalk and jumped up onto the sidewalk on the other side, pushing into the downhill to pick up speed. The "guest student" clause had given him the chance he wanted, and he was going to make the most of it. They couldn't turn away a Wind student after making such an obvious effort to include any Thunder ninja who showed an interest.

He was just lucky that the samurai classes had been scheduled opposite the advanced air classes. Sensei Cameron was the only samurai at the Wind Academy with an earth element, so samurai and earth classes often overlapped in order to work around the schedules of air and water affinities. The spontaneous seminar yesterday should have been a conflict for every samurai currently training at the Thunder Academy, but they had been temporarily excused from element training for the sake of school harmony.

Shane, unfortunately, had no such special dispensation.

The house was deserted when he skidded up the walk. He snapped the back of his board down and leapt nimbly off, grabbing the front end in his hand and jogging up the steps. He pulled his key out of his pocket, let himself in, and dropped his skateboard by the door. His backpack went into his room, the power bar in the cupboard went into his pocket, and he stopped only to grab a drink before the front door banged shut behind him again and he was off.

The next best thing about training at the Thunder Academy was the fact that they were now allowed to streak to class. It was too far away for local students to drive daily in any reasonable amount of time, so Sensei had given them all permission to employ their ninja abilities off-site for this purpose and this purpose alone. It had improved Shane's punctuality significantly.

He didn't change into his ninja uniform until he was right outside the academy's holographic entrance--which, he had to admit, was more dramatic than their own. The Thunder Academy itself was perched on a rock outcropping just off the coast, accessible via cliffs that appeared to drop off sharply toward the water below. It was a convincing illusion, and he thought it might have taken some getting used to if he wasn't an air affinity. Dustin sure hadn't been crazy about it.

Stepping onto the invisible ledge between cliff and... well, cliff, was an act of faith that Shane sort of enjoyed. He looked down as he made his way across, wondering how high it was and exactly what the ledge looked like. The cliff on the far side was higher than the one he'd come from, and the apparently solid rock face flashed open for him at the last second. He was transported from the hidden bridge straight onto a well-camouflaged island, and the view made him grin.

The Wind Academy it wasn't. The nearest trees were stunted by wind and salt spray, growing to full height only in the most protected areas of the island. There was a constant seabreeze, an abundance of stone, and a dampness that got into everything. It was humid here in a way that was foreign to most California-born students. It was always chilly, the wind countering the effects of the sun and season.

And it was amazing. The view alone was worth any inconvenience: he had yet to get tired of staring out at the ocean, or the coast, or in any direction where he could see the place where land met sky. Maybe it was an air thing, but he liked to have the horizon as far away as possible. He liked that feeling of being able to see forever.

"Hey... Shane, right?" The vaguely familiar voice didn't sound at all uncertain, like it knew him but was polite enough not to presume on their acquaintance. "You here for class, man?"

He had no trouble remembering Blake's name, given that Tori hadn't been able to go five minutes the day before without mentioning it. "Hey, Blake," he greeted the other ninja. Blake couldn't be much older than he was, but he wore an elemental badge that denoted his status as a teacher. "Kinda. I came in for the samurai class, actually."

He wasn't sure that was something a Thunder ninja wanted to hear, but he wasn't about to hide behind an excuse. They were all weird about samurai around here. It was strange to come from his own school, where those who trained with the samurai were typically some of the best students on campus, to this place, where samurai seemed to be in general disfavor. He didn't get it.

"Yeah?" Blake gave him a second look. "Hey, that's right--my bro said he saw you in that first class. You study with them at your school?"

"Nah, man," Shane said ruefully. "I'm not that good. But I figure this is my chance to check it out, you know? See what it's all about."

"Not that good?" Blake repeated. "What, only the good students get to be samurai?" He looked like he couldn't quite get his mind around that idea.

"Well, anyone who wants to train with the samurai has to fit it in around all their other classes." Shane shrugged a little. "I have enough trouble getting to element training on time. Swordwork and politics are kind of beyond me right now, you know?"

When Blake folded his arms, looking puzzled, Shane added, "Sensei can't tell me not to come here, now that he's opened up the class to guests. As long as I don't miss any other classes, I mean. But I'd have had a heck of a time trying to talk him into it at the Wind Academy."

"Yeah?" Blake asked, studying him quizzically. "So it's sort of like a privilege to train with the samurai?"

"Yeah," Shane admitted. "Yeah, I guess it is."

Blake considered that for a moment, glancing over his shoulder. "Well, you better get to class, then. Wouldn't want to say you were late 'cause of a Thunder ninja."

Shane was about to bail on him anyway when a thought occurred to him. "Hey, where are you headed? No classes this afternoon?"

"Nah." Blake's grin was almost Cheshire. "Gonna hook up with Tori before basics this evening, show her some of the town. Catch you later, man."

Blake was gone before Shane could get out a word of warning. Or multiple words, like, "Mess with her and die." It wasn't overreacting if you meant it, right?

He shook his head, deciding to get Dustin in on the whole "watch out for Tori" thing later. It was just what they did, after all. Not because they were guys and she wasn't--she'd kick their butts for even suggesting it--but because they were friends. He and Tori kept a similar eye on Marah.

For the third day in a row, Shane managed to arrive at a class before it even lined up. He flexed his left wrist self-consciously, despite the fact that there was nothing there now but a bracer displaying the symbol of the Wind Academy. He wondered if Tori was going to use this string of punctual arrivals to make him and Dustin keep wearing the watches she had fastened to their arms herself at the beginning of the week.

"Hey, Cale," he said, picking the least intimidating of the samurai students to greet first. Cale mumbled what could have been a reply. He was one of the youngest students at the Wind Academy, and that was saying something on a campus where ninja parents occasionally chose to raise and train their own children.

The kid wasn't alone, so Shane added, "Hi Sensei Nena."

She looked a little surprised to seem him, but not unhappy about it. "Hi, Shane," she said with a smile. "Come back for more training in the samurai way?"

"You got it," he agreed good-naturedly. "I figure I better take advantage of the schedule while I can."

She gave him a speculative look. "If you're interested in samurai training, I'm sure we could work something out at the Wind Academy."

"Nah, try telling that to Sensei." Shane was careful to keep his voice quiet and unconcerned, so that even if he was overheard no one would read anything into it. "I'm not exactly at the top of my class. He won't let me anywhere near samurai training until I 'prove my commitment.'"

She considered that for a moment. "Then I guess you've been given an opportunity," she said at last. With a wink, she added, "Don't waste it. Even Sensei can change his mind."

He nodded, wondering what she meant by that. Could he expect help from her? Did he want help from her? He wanted to know everything that was taught at his school, but could he really handle samurai classes on top of his regular training? Dustin would laugh at the whole idea.

But he wasn't Dustin.

"Hunter," Nena was saying. "Sensei Cam was looking for you earlier. Are you going to join our class today?"

He hadn't even seen Blake's brother arrive, but now that he was looking he saw two other Thunder uniforms among the samurai students. Neither of the Wind ninjas that had been in Cam's first class was here today, but there was a girl from his advanced air class and an older woman that he didn't recognize wearing an earth element. It was double the number of students Cam usually had.

"Yeah, I'm here for the party," Hunter answered, barely making eye contact as he scanned the other ninjas assembled there. "You helping out today?"

Hunter was a teacher too, Shane reminded himself. Apparently that earned him some degree of informality, because Nena just nodded. "We're going to work on bunkai," she told him. There was what Shane would have considered a dangerous glint in her eye when she added, "I'm going to help Sensei Cam attack all of you."

Hunter only snorted. "You'll enjoy that a little too much, I'm sure."

They acted almost like they knew each other, Shane thought. Sometimes he wondered what he missed by not being a residential student. He would have eavesdropped on their conversation until training started, if the girl from his air class hadn't sidled up to him and chosen that moment to gossip.

"So did you hear about Marah?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

He frowned, and not just because he couldn't remember her name for anything. "What about Marah?" he muttered. An internal Dustin alarm went off, and he got ready to add to the list of Things Local Students Missed.

"She turned her sister in for poisoning Sensei Cameron," the girl murmured. "They just told us last night. Her sister took off yesterday afternoon and hasn't been seen since."

***

The class could have been more interesting. He didn't particularly enjoy bunkai, no matter what style it was in. He preferred free-form competition, jousting, anything that gave his opponent room and creativity to maneuver in their attack. Traditional bunkai was very structured, designed to illustrate the purpose of the kata for the student and nothing more.

As far as Hunter was concerned, it was boring.

Less boring had been the way the class was divided, with Sensei Nena spending most of her time with the Wind students and Sensei Cameron working with the Thunders. The samurai had taken care of themselves, perfectly able to spar through bunkai exercises on their own. It hadn't been lost on Hunter that Cameron--rapidly becoming the poster boy for samurai sympathizers--had been the one pulling his strikes for the Thunder students. Butterfly stitches and all.

When it came right down to it, though, who was gonna hurt a guy with a head wound? Geez. Even Hunter had felt sorry for him, but Cameron gave no indication that he either needed or wanted special treatment. So they had been forced to "spar" with him, at least to whatever extent people with no samurai experience whatsoever could spar with a trained swordsman.

Looking back on it, he couldn't help being suspicious that perhaps their reaction had been exactly what the samurai instructor intended. He had to know that what had happened to him was slowly polarizing the campus. The announcement last night about Kapri Jennings only seemed to make things worse. Now the Thunder ninjas felt just as justified in being upset as the Wind ninjas had, so what else could Cameron do but put himself out there and tell people to bring it on?

He had a disturbing amount of courage, Hunter would give him that. Courage that could still get him hurt if he wasn't a little more careful about whom he invited to hit him. Sure, Hunter had felt sorry for him. And sure, his classmates had been just as cautious in their attacks. But all it would take was one mis-step, one dizziness-induced falter and one person who didn't bother to pull their punches to send him right back to the medical ward.

The sound of a vehicle in the driveway brought his gaze back from an unseen distance, and he pushed himself to his feet. Glancing out the window, he saw his mom's car coming to a halt in front of the garage. Time to head for the kitchen. He knew as well as anyone what was on the dinner list for tonight, and he probably could have spent his brooding time a little more productively.

He had the vegetables out by the time his mom came in the front door, and he returned her greeting with a quick glance over his shoulder. She looked tired. He heard her rescue gear hit the floor with a thud as he turned back to cutting the peppers, and he asked, "Tough day?"

"Augh," she agreed, the digust evident in her tone. "We have almost an entire pod stranded down on Long Beach, and we only got a third of them out before we lost the tide. I'm going to have to go back right after dinner to help keep them hydrated until it comes back in."

Hunter considered his own plans for the evening, which mostly involved working on his bike and torturing Blake when he came home. "I'll help," he offered, after only the briefest hesitation. "I'm not doing anything else tonight."

Her voice was muffled as she pulled off her long sleeve sun-shirt, but the gratitude came through clearly. "That would be wonderful, Hunter, thank you." Then, more clearly, she added, "Where's Blake this evening?"

"Out with Tori." Hunter pulled a bowl out of the cupboard and scooped the pepper slices into it, then turned his attention to the onion. "He was gonna show her around some, and I think they're going out to dinner afterward. He said not to expect him till later."

"Okay." He wasn't fooled by her apparently calm acceptance of this information, but he didn't say anything. "Thanks for starting dinner, sweetie. I'll go wash some of the sand off and then I'll be down to help."

"Sure," he agreed, adding peeled onion pieces to the vegetable bowl. He was probably going to spend all of dinner answering questions about Tori.

"Oh, Evan's home." Her footsteps had stopped by the front door, but they resumed again a moment later, heading up the stairs. Apparently Dad didn't win out over a shower today, Hunter thought with a smirk. Maybe next time.

He drained a jar of mushrooms, dumped them into the bowl, and started on a tomato before his dad made it through the door. "Hey, Dad," he called, dropping tomato pieces into the bowl before they could drip.

His father answered, clomping into the kitchen in academy-issue boots and khaki shorts, complete with a white t-shirt and fishing hat. He looked like he'd gotten lost on a safari, and he grinned at Hunter's pointed look. "What?"

"Nice fashion statement," Hunter said dryly. "You want an elephant to go with that outfit?"

"Can't grill an elephant," his dad answered cheerfully. "You start it up yet?"

Hunter shook his head, and his father traipsed straight on through to the deck to light the grill. He was still wearing his boots when he came back inside, and Hunter remarked, "Didn't quite lose the ninja uniform at the holographic entryway?"

"Kept the boots on purpose," Evan corrected. "There was a lot of wandering around in the dark and stepping on sharp objects." He pulled the skewers out of the silverware drawer and set them on the counter on his way to the refrigerator.

"How are the tunnels?" Hunter asked, making room for him next to the cutting board. His dad dropped the plastic bag of still-marinating meat beside the sink and stuck his hands under the faucet, nodding as he reached for the soap.

"They're in good shape. There were a couple of lights out, but all the signs are still good and we didn't have any trouble with the maps. We did have to do some work at one of the off-site entrances. That took most of the afternoon, but it's clear now."

"Oh, the one up by Cedar Point?" Hunter's mouth quirked. "Yeah, I thought there were some trees down up there that shouldn't have been."

Evan dropped the hand towel back on the rack by the sink and smacked him gently upside the head. "We have a tunnel crew," he reminded him. "You're as bad as Blake."

Hunter grinned, picking up one of the skewers. Blake had once found a rockfall in one of the tunnels that ran underneath the Thunder Academy and neglected to mention it to anyone until after it was discovered a second time. "He's not coming home for dinner, by the way."

"More for us," his father replied, grabbing another skewer and stabbing it through a piece of meat. "What's he doing tonight?"

"Showing Tori around."

"Really," his dad mused. "Two dinner dates already, huh?" He considered that information, adding tomato and onion to his skewer before going back for more meat. "Did you say she's a water affinity?"

Hunter nodded.

"How long has she been with the Wind Academy?" his dad wanted to know.

"Dunno," Hunter said with a shrug. "I think this is her first year. Not more than second, unless she's really slow. She doesn't have an element yet."

"Residential student, or local?"

"Local." That one he knew, since they were meeting before basics so that Tori could use the class excuse to streak instead of drive. Southern California was a serious commute from here.

"You've met her, then?" his dad asked. "Do you like her?"

Hunter shrugged. "She's all right. Nice enough. Cute. Not a total flake."

"Coming from you, that's a compliment," Evan teased.

"I haven't talked to her that much." He wasn't going to endorse someone he didn't really know, but Blake usually had good taste. He liked to leer at the pretty girls, but somehow he drew the smart ones. A second date with Tori was a pretty good vote of confidence right there.

"I hear you've been pretty busy yourself," his dad was saying. His tone was so casual that it barely even registered until he added, "Sensei Omino says you've been taking some extra classes with the Wind ninjas?"

Damn. He'd known the information would get back to his parents eventually, but he'd hoped it might stay under the radar for a few more days. Blake hadn't said anything, he knew. With his mom off-site so much lately and his dad supervising the cloaking crews, Hunter had hoped they might be out of the ninja gossip loop.

"Sort of," Hunter agreed without looking up. He set aside a full skewer and picked up another one, devoting as much attention as possible to the process of ordering vegetables and meat. "Their samurai classes are open to everyone, so I've been checking them out."

"Any particular reason?"

Hunter set one of the thicker pieces of onion on the cutting board to hold it in place while he speared it. "I want to know what it's about."

"There are other ways to learn about the samurai," his dad pointed out. "People write whole books on them. Is it really necessary to put yourself in that environment?"

"I'm not going to turn into a samurai, Dad. I just want to see what they're like."

"I just don't see why you need to keep going to their classes," Evan insisted. "You went to the first one. What are you trying to get out of them by continuing to attend?"

"I'm trying to see who they are," Hunter said firmly. "You don't get to know anyone in a couple of hours. Why doesn't anyone like them? They're ninjas, just like us. Until I figure out what people have against them, I'm gonna keep going to their class."

"They aren't just like us. The samurai were hereditary agents of the ruling class, warriors that oppressed an entire country for almost a thousand years. It's difficult to imagine studying their philosophy without absorbing some of it yourself."

Hunter picked up the last empty skewer, giving his dad a sideways look. "Dad, ninjas were secret assassins. You killed anyone lately?"

"Ninja were ordinary citizens who trained to do whatever needed doing, taking care of themselves when the people in power ignored their concerns," his dad countered. "That's what we still do today. It doesn't make any of us criminals."

"I guess that depends who's writing the laws," Hunter said bluntly. "Look, we're not the same people who became ninjas a thousand years ago. Maybe the samurai aren't the same either."

He heard his mom coming downstairs again, and he sighed silently. Great. Dinner suddenly had the potential to turn into a "Hunter can't take care of himself" session. What did they think the samurai were going to do to him, anyway?

"I'm just saying that you might want to be careful what you get involved with," his dad was telling him. "You want to help me out, grilling this stuff?"

"Nah, you're on your own." Hunter grabbed a platter and helped pile the skewers on it, but he didn't follow his dad when he headed for the back door. "I'm gonna stay in here and set the table."

He might as well hear it from his mom, too. Get them both out of the way at once. His mom tended to be a little more adamant about the samurai, and if he was going to spend most of the night with her he'd better know what he was in for.

***

He flexed his ankles, bent his knees, twisted to either side, and stretched his arms above his head with a yawn. He rolled over on his side, sat up, and slid out of bed in one fluid motion. Yup. It was gonna be a good day. Blake figured any day was a good one if just opening his eyes made him grin.

He'd kissed Tori last night. He'd chickened out on their first date, but their first date had also been the first day they met. He thought it was only polite to wait until you'd known a girl for a couple of days before kissing her. Plus it gave him time to work up the courage.

He stretched, worked his way through a greet-the-sun pattern, and pulled a t-shirt on over his boxers before padding toward the door. He was still grinning when he came back from the bathroom. He glanced out the window, saw Hunter's motorcycle in the driveway, and headed for the kitchen. It was early, but he'd known his brother to sneak out to the track earlier than this.

Blake wouldn't be able to go until later, of course. He had a class to teach this morning, and he was privately glad to see that Hunter hadn't gone without him. If he wasn't up already, he'd probably sleep for a few more hours. They'd all been at the beach until the early morning hours--Blake had left just after midnight, since he was the only who had to be at the academy this weekend. He didn't know how long the rest of his family had stayed.

It didn't surprise him to see his mom at the kitchen table. She looked up at the sound of his bare feet on the tile floor, and the tired cast to her face was lessened by her smile. "Good morning, sweetie."

"Hi Mom," he answered, and the act of speaking made him yawn again. He gave her a sheepish grin in return. "How'd it go after I left? Did you get them all back in the water?"

She nodded, wrapping her fingers around her cup and leaning back in her chair. "Everyone's happy and out to sea again. Including the Coast Guard, who still swears that increased traffic along migratory routes has nothing to do with animals getting disoriented. They did volunteer their help, though, so that's something."

"Even though they had nothing to do with it," Blake surmised.

His mom just shook her head. "They blame the Navy's locator beacons, the Navy blames fishing activity, the fisherpeople blame cruise ships. Everybody's willing to point fingers as long as they don't have to change anything."

Blake rummaged around in the food drawer until he found muffins, only then realizing that he didn't have a plate. He collected a plate, cereal, and two hard-boiled eggs from the refrigerator. The muffin joined the eggs on the plate, and he poured dry cereal around them. Now all he needed was something to drink.

His mom was staring at the paper again when he sat down at the table across from her, but she didn't look like she was really reading it. She was still sitting back in her chair, steam drifting up from the cup in her hands, gazing distantly at the Op Eds page. Her attention shifted to him as soon as he sat down, though, and he saw her smile at his plate.

"Just think," she mused aloud, "in China, all anyone wants are boy babies. The country would run out of food in a year."

Blake rolled his eyes at her but didn't comment.

It didn't take him long to get through his breakfast. He was almost done when she asked, "Has Hunter been taking a lot of samurai classes?"

Blake hesitated, reaching for his juice. "I don't know," he said after a moment. "Guess you'd have to ask him."

"I did," she said with a sigh. "He says he's just been going to their introductory classes, but I don't know how many there are. Or why they're offering introductory classes at a school that never wanted anything to do with them in the first place."

Blake popped the last bit of egg into his mouth and idly pushed the eggshells into a pile in the middle of his plate. "He's not the only one, you know. A lot of people go to watch."

"Then why can't he watch?" his mom wanted to know. "Why does he have to participate?"

Blake shrugged. "You know Hunter. Has to prove he can be good at anything. One of the Wind ninjas told me that only the best students are allowed to train with the samurai at their school. Hunter probably just wants to show that he's that good."

That made her smile a little, and he felt better about getting up and putting his dishes in the dishwasher. "Don't worry about it, Mom," he said over his shoulder. "He likes to try new stuff. By the time they go back to their own school, he'll probably be over it anyway."

He saw her nod out of the corner of his eye. "I just worry," she said lightly. Getting to her feet, she brought her tea cup over to the sink and rinsed it out. "And what about you? Are you teaching all day today?"

"Nah, just the morning." He grabbed a water bottle with the Thunder Academy logo on it out of the cupboard and filled it up when she stepped out of the way. He gathered snacks as he added, "Gonna see if Hunter wants to hit the track this afternoon."

"Well, it looks like the weather will be good," she said, leaning back against the counter. "Ride safely out there."

He grinned, backing out of the kitchen with his hands full. "There's no other way," he promised.

It was her turn to roll her eyes.

He dumped his snacks into the bag with his moto gear, stuck the water bottle in the outside pocket, and changed into street clothes for the drive to the academy. He checked to make sure he had his wallet and phone before heading back through the house. The kitchen was empty this time, his mom presumably having gone back upstairs or out into the yard.

All their vehicles were still in the driveway. Hunter had adopted the space above the garage as a pseudo-apartment, which lead to the rest of them using the garage less than they might have otherwise. He swore he didn't care about the noise, but by the time both their parents' cars were parked outside, there was no way for Blake to get his truck to the garage, let alone inside. Hunter's bike was probably in there more than the rest of the vehicles combined.

Blake had an annual permit for the lot at Cassini Cove. He flipped it over as he drove in, making sure the brightly colored seal was clearly visible on his rearview mirror. It wasn't one of the more popular stretches of the coast, but it was only a few miles from the Thunder Academy. Ninjas probably accounted for a fairly regular percentage of the town's seaside parking revenue.

He flipped his cell phone open before he got out of the truck and dialed his own voice mail. No reason to wake Hunter up, especially when he'd forgotten to ask how long they'd been out this morning. But he wouldn't be able to call once he got to the academy, and he'd probably be there until at least lunch.

He keyed in his password and told the phone, "Hey bro. Mom was asking questions about you and the samurai classes this morning... might not want to mention it around her today. You gonna hit the track this afternoon? Let me know."

He ended the recording, punched in Hunter's number, and let the phone deliver it directly to Hunter's voice mail. Tossing the phone back in his knapsack, he swung it over his shoulder and climbed out of the truck. He locked the door behind him, climbed over the seawall, and headed down the beach.

The tide was on its way out again. He had plenty of room to walk most of the way, although he had to resort to the street when he hit the conservation area. Some nights, he could just walk out on the water, but it was too light for that now. Too bad, too. They had wave-running competitions at the academy sometimes and he could have used the practice.

He didn't bother winding his way around the cliffs when he reached them, just headed straight for the base and ducked into an apparently dead-end cave formation. It had been hollowed out by water over the millennia, and it still flooded at high tide. There was a hole in the ceiling at the back, though, and someone who knew how to leap straight up could clear the narrow opening with ease.

As long as they didn't mind jumping into total darkness, of course. It gave the illusion of being nothing more than a recess, a shadowed part of cave ceiling, and it took some kind of courage to aim your head at what might as well be solid stone. Blake's dad joked that most of the tunnel entrances had been designed by earth ninjas.

Standing on the lip above the entrance, Blake put out both hands: one on the rough stone wall beside him, and the other just above his head. He had never bumped into anything in the blackness, but he wasn't about to start now either. He followed the wall to his right, his eyes wide against the impenetrable darkness until he turned the first corner. Then he took his right hand away from the wall, stared down at where his palm should be, and waited for the glow to form.

Ethereal blue light gathered above his skin, and he smiled to himself. The hand over his head reached out to touch the symbol of the Thunder Academy, now clearly visible on the wall beside him, and a muted luminescence sprang up from the other end of the stone tunnel. He let the light above his palm vanish and changed into his ninja uniform.

He followed the academy lights down, out under the water, and up through the system of caves under the island itself. The lighting got better as he went, more frequent, and the climb was more of a challenge than the distance. He emerged into the bright sunlight of a morning already well underway.

Blake made his way to the main building, checked in to the teachers' wing, and dropped his bag while he scanned the notice board. There were a couple of new lost and found cards thumbtacked to the frame, nothing he recognized. There was the usual invitation to the Sunday smorgasbord, and a daily quote from someone's inspirational calendar. The class schedule for the next two days took up the right side of the board, along with the deadline for declaring conflicts with next week's schedule.

There was also a reminder to all teachers that they were to accept qualified Wind students into their classes upon request, samurai or not. There was a two-days-old message about Kapri Jennings. And there was a warning about student showdowns: not permissible. Period. Anyone caught challenging a ninja or samurai would be suspended for the duration of the Wind ninjas' residence.

Blake had to wonder if something in particular had happened to prompt that notice. If it had, there was no news about it on the teachers' bulletin board. He would have to ask around, see who knew what.

After class. It was worth getting to class early, he'd found, because any number of people could have concerns that would distract them the entire time if they went unanswered. He abbreviated his conversations with fellow teachers on his way out, hurrying as best he could on what was arguably the busiest day of the week on campus. He had almost made it to the practice arena when a familiar face stopped him in his tracks.

"Tori?" He saw her look up, clearly not spotting him, and he waved. "Hey, Tor! Thought you had class this afternoon!" She had been planning to attend a Wind-taught class this afternoon. When he'd mentioned in passing that she would be welcome in his class, she'd declined on the basis that she didn't want to spend the entire day at the academy.

Her eyes finally found him, and her face lit up with a smile. "Hey!" she called. "I changed my mind!" As he joined her, she added, "I figure if I can make it through your class, I can take it in place of the one I was supposed to be in. And if not, well," she shrugged, "I can still make it up this afternoon."

"You'll be fine," Blake told her with a grin. "I hear you're quick when you concentrate."

"Oh, you hear that, do you?" Her expression was indignant, but her eyes were laughing. "Since when do you go around gossiping about Wind students?"

It was almost too easy. "Since I started dating one!"

She did laugh at that. "I guess I'd better start catching some gossip on Thunder teachers, then! Who should I talk to about that? Any suggestions?"

"Let's see..." Blake pretended to think about it. "Who owes me right now?"

"Maybe you could give me a list of people you don't want me to talk to and I'll start there," Tori suggested impishly.

He shook his head, pretending to be rueful. "That would be the longer list..."

***

"You have a motorcycle?" The tone was one of incredulous disapproval.

Hunter managed to keep a straight face, but he felt sure that that particular mixture of disbelief and disdain was utterly unique to Cameron. "Yeah. You want a ride?"

"On a deathtrap?" Cameron must not feel that his tone was conveying his feelings on the subject effectively. "I don't think so."

Hunter couldn't keep from grinning, so he looked out at the water to hide his expression. "You afraid of a little motorcycle?"

Cameron's retort was laced with amusement. "I have trouble believing that you own anything little."

Hunter laughed aloud at that. "I'll take that as the compliment it is," he remarked. "It's not a small bike, no. But I figured you'd be offended if I asked if you were afraid of a big, bad-ass motorcycle."

"Whereas suggesting that I'm afraid of a little motorcycle wasn't supposed to be in any way derogatory," Cameron countered dryly. "Thanks for trying to spare my ego."

"Whatever I can do," Hunter assured him. "You a car person, then? Truck? What do you drive?"

"Why would I need to drive?" Cameron inquired. "I live on-site. My family lives on-site. Everyone I know is either at the Wind Academy or in Japan, and I can't exactly drive there."

"You're telling me you don't have a car."

"No car," Cameron agreed.

Hunter considered that information for a minute. "Don't you ever leave the Wind Academy? How do you get around?"

"It's called public transportation, Hunter. You must have heard of it."

"Are there any moments in your life when you're not sarcastic?" Hunter wanted to know.

"I teach," Cameron said simply.

That was true. His sarcasm was noticeably sharper when he wasn't instructing students. Hunter had thought maybe it was just him, since it seemed that every time they spoke the samurai teacher became less sincere. "Do you think sarcastically?" he wondered.

He could hear the wry smile in Cameron's voice. "For every sarcastic remark I make, there are ten more I don't say. I try to tone it down around people I don't know."

Interesting. So what he had assumed was annoyance on Cameron's part was actually an indicator of comfort level. "What are you thinking right now?" Hunter wanted to know.

"I'm wondering how far down the beach you're going to walk in ninja gear."

"Hey." He didn't know why he smiled, but there was just something about the conversation that amused him. "I'm not the only one in uniform, here."

"But I'm on my way to the Wind Academy," Cameron reminded him.

"Which is, I think--" Hunter held up one finger, paused, then turned and started walking backwards as he pointed back the way they'd come. "That way."

"Do you want someone to brag to about your motorcycle or not?" Cameron inquired.

"You're not the most appreciative audience," Hunter pointed out, turning around again. "But since you mention it, we're almost to the parking lot. You might as well stick around and see what I'm talking about."

"My day wouldn't be complete otherwise," Cameron agreed wryly.

He paused just long enough for Hunter to come up with a reply, then spoke again before he could voice it. "Doesn't the town think it's odd that there's a parking lot full of cars and no one in the water?"

Cassini Cove was in sight now, the seawall hiding the road from view. "Maybe we're beachcombers," Hunter said with a shrug. "Or joggers. Or people with dune buggies."

"Ah." Cameron glanced around at the unmarred sand. "Yes, that would explain all these dune buggy tracks I've been seeing."

"Where do your people park?" Hunter wanted to know. "Where is the Wind Academy, anyway? I've never been there."

"It's up in the mountains." Cameron's reply was vague at best. "People park at the trailheads, or sometimes on the logging roads. It's not so conspicuous in the middle of the woods," he added.

The flash of black out of the corner of his eye would barely have caught his attention on academy grounds. Here in the middle of a deserted beach, though, it interrupted anything he might have said and made him tense. His head whipped around, trying to follow a blur that wouldn't settle out at a reasonable distance.

He was on the ground before he realized what had just happened. A streaker had hit him! He leapt to his feet, guard up, angry with anybody who couldn't avoid the only obstacle on the beach. He wasn't even upright when instinct made him lunge out of the way--

He heard the bang before he saw the flash of light that must have caused it. He spit sand out of his mouth as he rolled aside and scrambled to his feet. Another bang followed the light and he threw his arm up in front of him automatically. The invisible wall of focus diverted nothing more threatening than another spray of sand as he swung around.

Cameron had both hands up against a shield that sizzled under repeated assault. A blond-haired woman in a Wind ninja uniform flung one energy blast after another at his shield, throwing reckless amounts of power around in full view of anyone who happened to be in the vicinity. The glower on her face was almost comical, and for a long moment Hunter could only stare at the two of them in disbelief.

It was a test. That was his first thought. A challenge that Cameron had issued to one of his students, maybe, or an open invitation for them to try to catch him off guard.

She slammed his legs out from under him, the physical strike penetrating his shield where none of her energy blasts could. Cameron's knees buckled, he hit the ground hard, and suddenly Hunter knew: this was no test. He swung into action, launching himself at the attacking ninja with no plan except to take her down.

He found himself flat on his back, crumpled against the sand as though he had bounced off of something harsh and unforgiving. He flung an arm at the ninja's back angrily, whipping wind around her face so hard she should have been gasping for breath. It got her attention, at least, and she turned on him with the darkest eyes he'd ever seen.

Not just dark, he realized a moment later. Black. Her eyes were black. Even as he stared, the air itself started to darken, the light fading from the beach as he tore his eyes away to search for Cameron.

The samurai slammed into their attacker from behind and she stumbled, but incredibly, she remained on her feet. The ground shook, sand erupting from under her feet, and for the first time the woman cried out in surprise. Earth ninja, Hunter's mind noted distantly. They were really gonna tear up the beach together.

The sand sprang into a maelstrom around them, barely noticeable to him and probably only a minor annoyance to Cameron. Shadows emanated from the blond-haired woman, pushing the elements away from her, forcing them back incrementally. Hunter lunged forward to grab her before she could gain any ground--

He got no further than he had before. This time those black eyes locked on to him and she laughed as he crashed into some invisible protection that seemed to surround her. "Stay out of this!" she shrieked, the words barely audible over the howl of the wind. "I only want him!"

Surprise flared in her expression as a blow to her shoulders forced her into the ground. Literally, straight down into the ground, burying her halfway to her waist. As the sand crawled around her Cameron shouted, "Women are always telling me that!"

Hunter smirked, but the darkness was already radiating out from her, melting the sand into a fluid force that flowed away from her body until she was standing on top of it again. She continued to rise when he wrapped gusts around her body and lifted her into he air, but something burned across his temple and he flinched hard. By the time he realized the ground had slammed into his side, he'd already heard Cameron's voice yell, "Ninja shadow battle!"

"No!" He tried to lunge to his feet, but the ground just wouldn't let him go. It came looking for him the minute he moved, disorientation skewing all sense of balance as he struggled against the pull of gravity. The darkness and moving sand were gone as though they'd never been, the wind that was his own creation whistling off into this distance.

Hunter was alone on the beach.

He hated ninja shadow battles. He fumbled for his phone, hands shaking with reaction as he pulled it from his pocket. He hit 2-call and thought violent thoughts about women in general and blond-haired ninja women in particular. "Bro," he said, not even waiting for Blake's greeting. "I need ninja help now. Kapri Jennings is at Cassini Cove."

He'd barely finished the sentence when he heard, "I'm there," followed by a beep that indicated the call had been terminated.

Okay, maybe not all blond-haired ninja women. Blake had picked up, after all. He hadn't consciously realized it was Kapri until he'd said it, but it was the only thing that made sense. If anything about this situation could be said to make sense.

Hunter managed to get to his feet without another accidental encounter with the sand, and he thought the dizziness must be abating if he could handle that much. He glanced around, confirmed that the beach was still empty, and held out his right hand. A red-tinged light gathered above his palm, then began to spill out between his fingertips as he clenched his fist. The light flashed into a blinding luminescence, turning everything around him faded and white.

He turned slowly, staring hard at everything the light touched. Finally he saw it: the slightest hint of a shadow in the air as it flickered back and forth. He tossed the light up above his head and charged forward, intent on catapulting himself into the middle of their fight. "Ninja shadow battle!"

He had been one of the only students to immediately grasp the concept of interrupting someone else's shadow battle. There were teachers who still couldn't do it--after all, the point was to remove the participants from contact with their immediate surroundings. It kept them from hurting onlookers, it kept outsiders from interfering... and it drove Hunter to distraction, knowing there was something occurring that he wasn't a part of. It was an obstacle he had quickly learned to overcome.

And a foot in his ribs was the only reward. He caught the offending ankle and twisted automatically, sending Kapri to the ground with a very satisfying yelp, but her damn shadows were solid and they tangled around his wrists before he could follow through. She pushed him out of her way like he didn't even matter.

"I told you to get lost, human," she sneered, shadows creeping around his ankles as she shoved him again, this time tripping him up and sending him into a sprawl. Yeah, he was getting to know the ground really well.

"And I told you," Cameron's voice retorted, "to go back where you came from!"

The ground exploded underneath them. By the time he could see again, Kapri was standing over Cameron with a really nasty looking energy surge building between her fingers. Cameron didn't look like he was going to be moving any time soon, and Hunter had to wonder just how the hell the two of them were losing. He struggled against the shadows that were seriously creepy all on their own, noticed distractedly that Kapri's light was starting to look a little green, and then froze as he realized where the light was coming from.

Cameron was glowing. Or his chest was glowing. Or something on his chest--

The light burst outward. The shadows vanished. Kapri screamed, head sinking and arms wrapping around her as she seemed to fold inward. Then she was replaced by a black blur that streaked away, the shadow battle dissolving completely in her absence.

Blue sky overheard, sand underneath, someone shouting his name as he scrambled to Cameron's side. The guy had lifted himself up on one elbow, turning to the side like he might throw up, clutching his chest as his bangs brushed against the ground. His head was bleeding again.

"Bro!" Blake skidded to a stop beside them, dropping immediately to check Cameron while he studied Hunter with his eyes. "Are you guys all right?"

"Yeah," Hunter growled, gaze flicking to Tori behind Blake for just a moment. "Great. We just got our butts kicked by a student."

***

"Don't they teach you how to sit still at the Wind Academy?"

Cam shifted uncomfortably, frowning when Hunter shot him another glare. To be honest, he had more important things to worry about right now than whether he had a little blood on his face. He would have preferred to clean up the recently reopened cut himself, but he had no mirror and Hunter had the first aid kit.

He would, Cam thought grimly. The air ninja was annoyingly responsible for someone who projected such a careless attitude. He was starting to think that there was very little about Hunter that was what one expected. At least what he expected--and he had thought he was pretty open-minded about the Thunder Academy.

Gentle fingers pushed his hair away from his face and he flinched instinctively. Hunter pressed another antiseptic wipe against his skin and gave him a skeptical look. "What, you can take being pounded into the ground but rubbing alcohol makes you wince?"

It wasn't the stinging that bothered him. It was the fact that he really did have more urgent things to think about, and Hunter was making it difficult. He couldn't seem to concentrate on anything right now. He'd like to attribute his difficulty to the effect of Kapri's attack--embarrassing as it would be to admit that the incident had shaken him that way--but the possibility that his distraction had nothing to do with her was irritatingly insistent.

"I don't think I've ever seen Sensei Cameron this quiet," Tori remarked, studying him with her hands on her hips and an impish look in her eyes. "Maybe Kapri hit him harder than you thought?"

Smart alec. Normally he found her impertinence charming... he was secretly delighted by the way she stood up for herself in the hierarchical environment of the academy. She was confident and clever enough to get almost anything she wanted, and he had to admit that he enjoyed her wit. Most of the time.

"Don't you have a class to attend this afternoon?" he asked, frowning in her direction.

"I went this morning," she told him. "Sensei Blake invited me to join his class."

"I see." He transferred his frown to Blake, then winced at pressure on the side of his head. "Ow!"

Unexpectedly, Hunter apologized. "Sorry," he said, reaching backward for something in his traveling first aid kit. "Hold this, will you?"

Cam put a hand to the side of his head, fingers fumbling with Hunter's as he found the gauze that was still absorbing blood around the stitches. That was a bad sign. If he was still bleeding, he probably wasn't going to get out of this with any less than a minor bandage, which would alarm his parents to no end. Assuming he ever made it back to the Wind Academy. Why had he let himself get drawn into conversation with Hunter in the first place?

He hadn't, of course. He had seen Hunter leaving and had followed him deliberately, curious about the pensive air ninja and his reasons for lingering in a group that his academy traditionally shunned. And in all fairness, Kapri probably would have caught up with him eventually, delay or no. It might have been on more familiar territory... but it might also have been alone.

It probably would have been alone. He didn't like the idea that Kapri had come this close to taking him down, and he didn't like the idea that she might have succeeded were it not for Hunter. But it was possible. He didn't know what his mother's amulet had done--though he was pretty sure it had done something--but he knew what defeat felt like, and that had been it.

If he had been alone, he might not need antiseptic and gauze right now.

"Thanks," Cam said abruptly. It wouldn't get any easier to say.

"Don't thank me until someone in a medical ward checks this out," Hunter warned. "Those stitches don't look too good."

"Yeah, bro," Blake put in. "You shouldn't mess around with head wounds. You want that we should take you back to the Thunder Academy?"

"I meant, thanks for helping me against Kapri," Cam said impatiently. "And I'm not going back to the Thunder Academy. I'm going home; I'll get someone to look at it there."

"Whoa," Hunter interrupted. "You're gonna streak back to the Wind Academy now? After that?"

"I'm fine." He wanted to snap, but the words were necessarily muted by Hunter's proximity. The air ninja had stained a fresh gauze pad with antibiotic and was replacing the old one, nodding to Cam to put his hand over it again to hold it in place. "I was going back anyway, and someone there owes me some answers."

"Answers?" Tori repeated, looking puzzled. "What kind of answers?"

"I think my parents know something about Kapri," he muttered, for lack of any better explanation. He shouldn't have said anything. Hunter was cutting adhesive tape, and he resigned himself to the bandaged look after all.

"Things Sensei hasn't told us?" Tori pressed. "It kind of looks like she's after you specifically, but I can't figure out why."

"You and me both." He twitched his fingers aside as Hunter started to tape the gauze to his skin, and he tried to find a safe place for his eyes. There were things he really didn't want to think about, because they were ridiculous and it was just some stress-induced reaction to the fighting anyway.

"Well, maybe your dad will be more likely to tell you if you show up with your head bandaged," Tori said, with a feigned graveness that didn't fool him in the slightest. He shot her an exasperated look, and he was hard-pressed to hide his amusement when she winked back at him.

"Your dad know the sensei well?" Hunter asked, pressing tape along the bottom of the gauze and freeing Cam's fingers at last.

"My dad is the sensei." He checked his fingers for blood or antibiotic, he wasn't sure which, and found them clean. "That's why I trained at the Fire Academy."

He looked up as Hunter stepped back, and he was just in time to catch the odd look Hunter exchanged with Blake. He wasn't sure what passed between them, but Blake's expression made him wary. "What?"

Hunter shook his head, and the moment was gone. "Nothing. Didn't know that, that's all. You sure you don't want a lift back to the Wind Academy or something?"

Cam frowned, trying to reconstruct whatever had just happened. His concentration was marginally improved but unfortunately still inadequate to the task. "No," he said at last, too distracted to bother pointing out the obvious flaws in the offer. "I'm fine. I'll have Dad alert the Thunder Academy when I get there."

That uninterpretable look was back, but he didn't wait to find out what it meant. There was nothing about this situation that he wanted to prolong. And there was more than one person at the Wind Academy that he wanted answers from right now.

The trip left him with a headache that he should have expected, all things considered, and he almost stopped by the medical ward before heading for his parents' temporary living quarters. But no, there were more important things than pain right now. And maybe it would give him a credible irritability that actually got him somewhere.

He knocked, but he didn't wait for someone to answer. His parents were probably working anyway, and he figured he could track down their schedules from whatever computer terminal they had in their new place. So he was surprised to get no further than closing the door behind him when his mother hurried out into the living room.

"Mom," he began.

"Cam, what happened?" She glanced over her shoulder as though she wanted to get him something but wasn't sure quite what. "Are you all right?"

"No, I'm not. Is Dad around?" He really preferred to be angry with his father rather than his mom, and he didn't want to have to ask the same questions all over again if he could confront them both at once.

"He went into town," she told him. "What happened to your head? Is it worse?"

"Yeah, it's worse." He tried to keep his tone even. "Kapri Jennings attacked me on the beach outside the Thunder Academy, and she said some pretty wild stuff."

"She attacked you?" She looked appropriately horrified, but her expression was tempered by a wariness that set off every warning bell in his mind. "What did she say?"

She knew. He couldn't believe half of what Kapri had said--or at least implied, apparently believing he was already in on the secret--but it looked like he was the only one. "Mom," he said with a sigh, lifting his hand to his head. He aborted the gesture at the last second, pressing the fingers of his other hand to his uninjured temple. "What do you know about Kapri?"

For a long moment, there was no answer. Finally, she looked over her shoulder again. This time she said quietly, "Malai."

He opened his mouth, then closed it again firmly as a shadow appeared in the kitchen doorway. A man stepped out, one that looked disturbingly familiar. Cam narrowed his eyes, gaze flicking from one to the other. He couldn't think of any way for this scenario to be good.

The man inclined his head, a ninja-style bow that Cam deliberately didn't return. "Cameron," the man greeted him solemnly. "It's good to finally meet you."

Cam just raised his eyebrows.

The man held his gaze. "I'm Kaprikethsen's father," he said. He did glance briefly at Miko then, but his eyes returned to Cam immediately. "I'm also Kanoi's younger brother. Your uncle."

Cam looked at him for a moment, then turned to his mother. "Is there any more family you want to tell me about while we're at it? How many brothers does Dad have, exactly?"

"One," his mother said quietly. "Malai. Lothor is no kin of ours, not anymore."

"Any sisters?" Cam inquired, in what he thought was a very polite tone. "Step-siblings? Other children I should know about?"

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you." His mother was clearly troubled, but he wasn't really in the mood to feel sorry for anyone else right now. "I thought it would be better to let you grow up here, away from all of that."

"Away from all of what?" Cam demanded. He turned on "Malai" when she hesitated. "Are you trying to tell me that Kapri and I are related? Does she try to kill all of her cousins, or am I just special? And where have you been all this time--up in space with Dad's evil twin?"

Malai turned a steady gaze on Cam's mother, who lifted her chin with a familiar determination in her eyes. "Tell him," she said, folding her arms. "It was my decision to keep it from him. It's his decision to ask."

Malai inclined his head tolerantly. Cam thought he could get really tired of that.

"Kapri and Marah are your cousins," Malai said. His voice was oddly toneless. "As Kanoi's only son, you are indeed special, and I am afraid it has made you a target. As for my whereabouts, I do not believe there is any way that the description 'with Dad's evil twin' is accurate."

"But 'up in space' is?" Cam said dryly. The answer was the last thing he expected.

"Yes," Malai replied. "Insofar as there is any 'up' or 'down' in space."

Cam glanced at his mother uncertainly. She had some strange friends, there was no doubt about that. But he had never been able to prove that any of them were delusional.

"Thirty-two years ago," Miko said quietly, "two brothers were sent to infiltrate the ninja academies. They succeeded. I married one of them, and the other was exposed as a practitioner of the dark ninja powers. He was ultimately sent back to where they came from..." She was studying him intently as she added, "Outer space."

Cam rolled his eyes. "Dad and his brother came from outer space," he repeated. "That would explain a few things."

"You'd be surprised," his mother said with a sigh.

Cam just stared at her for a long moment. This was easily the craziest thing he'd ever heard. Especially from his mother, who really wasn't prone to flights of fancy. Or practical jokes. And yet... Kapri had alluded to the same story his mother was telling now. During the shadow battle, before Hunter had joined them--

He turned on Malai. "I suppose you're from space too?" he challenged.

Malai only nodded. "As you say. I apologize, on behalf of my daughter, for any and all wrongs she has inflicted on you."

Cam closed his eyes, counted to three, and opened them slowly.

They were both still there, watching him.

He shook his head. "This is ridiculous," he announced to the room at large. He turned around and walked toward the door. Neither of them made any move to stop him. He closed the door carefully behind him, made his way across campus without any interference, and exited through the holographic entryway. The waterfall flashed into view behind him as it had countless times before, but he didn't see it.

He headed for the road without a backward glance.

***

He'd felt better. Hunter couldn't tell how much of his generally sour mood was due to his physical condition--which wasn't really that bad but was enough to make sitting on the couch sound like fun--and how much was due to the fact that it was a perfect day for riding. There were no couches at the track, unfortunately.

"You want that I should hang out?" Blake asked, demonstrating his willingness by collapsing onto the couch beside him. "There's some movies we gotta catch up on, sometime."

"Yeah, 'cause someone keeps spending their evenings with a girl," Hunter muttered. He was glaring at his ankle, which probably wasn't even sprained but seem to have twisted at some point during his numerous encounters with the ground. He could walk on it, and it had been fine to drive with, but it was just as happy to be propped up with an ice pack now. Its moto-readiness was questionable enough that he wouldn't push it.

"We've gotta hook you up, bro," Blake was telling him. "Half the women at the academy would go out with you in a second, and the other half are committed anyway. Just pick someone and we'll double date."

He shifted, lifting one hand to his head to touch the angry burn that reddened the skin just beneath his hair. Blake slapped his hand away before it could get there, and Hunter frowned at him. "You didn't just pick someone before you met Tori."

"So?" Blake shrugged, apparently unconcerned. "Quit spending all your time with the samurai students and get to know some Wind ninjas. Where there's one..."

"Yeah, I know, whatever." Hunter poked the cushion beside him, uncomfortable with the entire conversation. "Who says there aren't any hot samurai students, anyway?"

Blake snorted. "Dude, are you trying to tick Mom off? You know she'd totally wig if you brought home a samurai girl."

"Yeah, well." Hunter frowned at the cushion, then slumped down and fixed his gaze on the opposite wall. "They're not so bad, y'know. Just--different."

"Yeah." Blake's agreement was unexpected and somewhat gratifying. "One of Tori's friends is training with them. Shane? You said you saw him in the first class?"

He rolled his head to one side, catching Blake's eye. "Yeah. He was there yesterday too. I didn't think he'd ever had samurai training before, though."

"Don't think he has." Blake settled back against the couch cushions too, and they stared companionably across the room. "I ran into him on his way to class yesterday, and he said he'd just started training when they came to our school."

Hunter only nodded. The concession that samurai weren't the personification of the devil was enough for one afternoon, and he was perfectly willing to quit while he was ahead. It hadn't immediately occurred to him that, if he decided the samurai weren't everything the Thunder Academy thought they were, he'd be totally alone in that belief. He hadn't expected to want or need familial support.

He hadn't expected to like any of the samurai, either.

"You don't have to hang," he said at last. "You should go to the track, get some laps in."

"Yeah?" Blake looked sideways at him. "I don't want to ditch you or anything."

"Nah, you should go." Hunter glanced around, spotting the remote over by the door. "Pass me the remote on your way out, would you? I'm gonna catch up on Farscape or something."

Blake pushed himself off the couch and made his way toward the door. "Sure thing, bro. You sure you're feeling okay? You want anything else?"

"I'm good." Hunter held up his hand for Blake to toss the remote to him. He waved when Blake hesitated, dropping the remote on the couch next to him and making a shooing motion. "Go. I'll be fine to ride tomorrow, so enjoy not getting your butt kicked for one afternoon."

"Funny," Blake smirked. "I was going to tell you the same thing."

Hunter rolled his eyes. "Get outta here."

"Later, bro," Blake said with a grin.

He stepped out of Hunter's "front" door, and Hunter heard his footsteps on the stairs. He waited idly, listening for the sound of Blake's truck. He didn't really feel like watching TV right now... there was too much to think about. From creepy stuff, like Kapri's eyes and her shadows and her strange choice of insults, to disturbing stuff like Cameron's green glow and his family ties and his insistence that someone at the Wind Academy knew more than they were telling.

Not to mention Cameron himself. Hunter folded his arms, slumping further down on the couch as he tried not to smile. Yeah. Nothing to smile about there. The guy was arrogant, irritating, and sarcastic as hell. He might be handy in a fight, but he was a complete mystery when it came to any other kind of interaction. Was he friendly or just polite? Curious or tactical? Cutting or, as he had implied to Hunter, comfortable?

His mouth quirked involuntarily. What was a comfortable samurai like? What did Cameron do for fun? Who did he hang out with? And maybe most importantly, why had he followed Hunter from the Thunder Academy this afternoon?

"Hey, Hunter!" Blake's voice, yelling from the driveway, brought him out of his absent musings.

"Yeah!" he shouted back, not about to get up if it wasn't important.

"Company!"

He frowned, tipping the ice pack off of his ankle and setting his foot down on the floor. He really couldn't think of anyone who would be stopping by the house for him. He pushed himself to his feet and made his way over to the window, wide open to the cool afternoon breeze.

Speak of the devil. He almost didn't recognize Cameron, standing next to Blake in the driveway, staring up at his window and not looking much happier than he felt. He was dressed in normal clothes for the first time since Hunter had known him... it had never occurred to him that the guy might wear something other than black.

"Hey," he said at last, when he realized no one was going to say anything. "There's stairs around back, if you want to come up."

Cameron glanced at Blake, nodded once, and started around the side of the garage without answering. Blake watched him for a moment, then looked back up at Hunter. "You okay, bro?" He made no effort to keep his voice quiet.

"Yeah, fine." He didn't know what Cameron wanted, but ninja showdowns had been banned and he was pretty sure that someone who wanted one wouldn't come to his house. "See you tonight."

Blake unfolded his arms and gave a token wave, but he was still frowning. "Sure thing."

Hunter knew as well as Blake did that he couldn't count on his parents' civility if they found Cameron in their house. Hopefully he wouldn't have to explain that to the samurai instructor. He turned away from the window and made his way toward the door, opening it just as Cameron reached the top of the steps. "Hey."

"Hey," Cameron said with a sigh. "Can I take you up on that ride sometime?"

He really didn't mean to smile, especially when the request was clearly grudging and Cameron looked... well, tired was probably the best word for it. He just couldn't resist. "What, you changed your mind about risking your life?"

The samurai teacher lifted his hand to his face and pressed his fingers against his temple. Strange habit, Hunter thought, watching him. He felt like he had seen that gesture somewhere before, but he couldn't place it before his gaze flicked to the cut on the other side of Cameron's face.

"Wow." The word was out before he had time to think about it. The bandage was gone and the stitches had been replaced... but underneath, the cut was closed and the edges were visibly smoother. "You heal fast."

For some reason that made Cameron look away, dropping his hand. "Sorry if I'm interrupting."

"No, it's cool," Hunter said quickly, backing up. "Come in. I'll get my keys."

Cameron stepped inside, moving out of the way of the door as he glanced around. Hunter followed his gaze, wishing he had picked up some of the junk he usually left lying around. He did stop to toss the ice pack into the freezer box of his cube refrigerator, and Cameron didn't miss the action.

"Did you get hurt?" he asked, surprise evident in his voice.

"Nah." Hunter sat down on the couch to pull his workboots on again, sneaking a glance at Cameron's footwear as he did so. "You want some heavier shoes? What size do you wear? I've got some old hiking boots."

He saw Cameron look down at his sneakers uncertainly. "Do I need them?"

Hunter shrugged. "Better ankle protection. If you're not worried, then no, you don't. Just, y'know." He gestured in the direction of Cameron's feet. "Double knot your laces and tuck them in. So they don't catch on anything."

Without a word, Cameron went down on one knee to retie his sneakers. Watching out of the corner of his eye, Hunter saw him tuck the laces inside when he was finished. He stared at the floor for a moment before straightening up.

"You all right?" Hunter wanted to know. "You look sort of... I dunno. Spacey."

Cameron's gaze snapped toward him, alarm quickly fading from his face. He opened his mouth, hesitated, then tried again. "I'm having kind of a bad day," he said at last. "That's all."

Hunter paused, studying him. "You wanna talk about it?"

Cameron shook his head wordlessly.

Okay. There was nothing un-weird about this. On the other hand, he had offered. He wasn't going to change his mind just because he hadn't expected the Fire ninja to take him up on it. In fact, he kind of wanted to get going in case Cameron suddenly backed out.

"Ready?" he asked, grabbing his keys. "You got a destination in mind?"

The samurai instructor shook his head again. "Wherever you want."

Hunter hid a smirk by turning back to close the door behind them. Cameron had a lot to learn about him. Including what not to say.

Blake's leather jacket hung beside his in the garage, but he wouldn't loan it out without asking and it probably wouldn't fit Cameron anyway. Instead he handed over his old bomber jacket, then swiped his bro's gloves and waited while Cameron pulled them on. Holding Blake's helmet, he watched the samurai's growing nervousness with what he hoped was undetectable humor. "Having second thoughts?"

Cameron's gaze, which had been drifting toward his bike, shifted quickly back to his. "No." But he frowned when Hunter handed over the helmet. "Blake's?"

"Yeah." Hunter helped him settle it on his head, tugged the chin strap free and showed him how to loosen it. "Grab here, okay?" He put his hand on the back of the helmet, at the bottom, and waited until Cameron's fingers found his.

"Push it forward and try to pull it off," Hunter told him, giving it a tug to demonstrate. Cameron imitated him, and Hunter let go. "No, really try," he added, watching. "It should fit you okay, but I don't want to find out later that it didn't."

When Cameron couldn't get it off, Hunter nodded once. "Good. Okay... you've really never ridden on a motorcycle before?"

He could see the look Cameron gave him from behind the faceplate. "Sorry," he said, trying not to smile. "Stupid question. Get on from this side, okay? One leg over the seat and just slide on. Wait 'till I'm on first, and don't get on or off without warning me."

He leaned over his bike and snapped the passenger footrest into place, then crouched down on the near side and unfolded the other one. "Keep your feet on the pegs--all the time, whether we're moving or not. Don't touch the exhaust--" he pointed out the pipes, "it gets hot, and it'll melt the bottom of your shoes if you're not careful."

He glanced back to assess Cameron's expression. It was hard to read under his helmet, but the Fire ninja nodded when Hunter looked at him. He wasn't backing out.

"Okay," Hunter said, shrugging into his own jacket. He clipped his helmet in place, pulled on his gloves, and swung one leg over his bike. He snapped the kickstand up and braced his feet to either side. "You're good. Ready?"

Cameron didn't answer, but he slid into place behind Hunter with a careful ease that obviously said more about ninja flexibility than experience. He held himself stiffly, barely touching Hunter, and Hunter turned his head a little to make it easier to hear. "You're gonna want both hands around my waist while we ride. Blake keeps bugging me about a grab rail, but..."

He trailed off with a shrug, and Cameron eased forward. "Don't be shy," Hunter advised. "I'm used to passengers, and I know what it takes to stay on a bike. Hang on."

He cranked the ignition, kicked the bike into gear, and Cameron did hang on as the bike accelerated out of the garage. Hunter was careful to shift smoothly and corner slowly, and he was pleased when Cameron instinctively leaned with him as they turned out of the driveway. There was hope for this guy yet.

***

Her foot slid in the sand and she abandoned any effort at balance as she lunged for the ball. It impacted off of her outstretched fists with a very satisfying thwack, and she scrambled up off the ground quickly. Shane had already slammed the volleyball over the net, taking advantage of her save to score the final point.

"Hey yeah!" he shouted, hands thrust above his head as the rest of the team cheered. Everyone on the other side of the net closed in, former opponents mingling, making fun, and Tori found herself the subject of some good-natured abuse.

She gave as good as she got--after all, her encounters with the ground at least produced results--until a gentle tug at her hair made her spin. Blake stood there, lifting his hands apologetically. "You had some, uh, sand," he said with a rueful grin. "In your hair."

"I have sand everywhere," she corrected with a laugh. "This place is amazing! I never would have guessed you had your own million dollar beachfront property here!"

"Yeah, it's pretty impressive, huh?" Blake shoved his hands in his pockets and glanced around at the sandy beach at the foot of the cliffs. "I hear the earth ninjas had a hand in it, way back when."

"How far out does the cloak go?" Tori wondered, stepping away from the volleyball net to stare out at the water. "Do you ever swim here?"

"Sure." Blake peered over her shoulder, leveling his head with hers as he pointed. "See the warning buoys out there? The orange ones, nearest us?"

When she nodded he continued, "Those are ours, inside the cloak. They mark the boundary. There's some white ones farther out--those are ours too, but they're outside. They warn people about rocks and shallow water."

"Are there rocks?" Tori asked, looking sideways at him.

"Nah," Blake said with a grin. "But the current's pretty strong out there. There are some water ninjas on the cloaking crew that make sure no one ignores the buoys. You want to go see?"

"Hey, Tori!" Shane's voice interrupted, and she turned back to see teams reforming around the volleyball net. "You guys gonna play again?"

"No thanks!" she called back. "My arms are black and blue!"

"Just like your ninja uniform," he returned. "Blake, what about you?"

"Nah, I'm good!" Blake answered. Folding his arms, he gave her a speculative look. "So, what do you say? Wanna go out on the water?"

She hesitated. "I've never walked on anything but the lake," she admitted at last. "And if I fall, I'm going to get soaked."

"You won't fall," he said confidently. "The hardest part is getting past the waves. After that it's just like any other water. I do it all the time."

Tori shook her head, but she couldn't resist a challenge like that. Walking on ocean... she had always been tempted, out there with her board, but ultimately it wasn't worth the risk. The risk of someone seeing her, the risk of trying and failing, the risk of turning her most beloved hobby into something she associated with school. But here, on this invisible beach, surrounded by ninjas? Now it seemed almost natural.

"All right," she agreed, smiling as she kicked off her sandals. "But if I fall in, you're so going with me!"

"You'll have to catch me first," he said with a wink. And he took off, bare feet slapping against the wet sand as he turned to run backwards, egging her on. She lifted her shoulders and gave determined chase.

Blake darted out into the surf--onto the surf, without the slightest hesitation. It was impossible to tell what he was doing at first, since he didn't bother to keep from splashing. But the first ripple of froth that was high enough for him to jump made it obvious: he leapt over it, landing higher on the opposite side, and rode the high side of the wave back toward the shore.

Tori stopped where she was, water washing around her ankles as she stared in surprise. She had imagined it more than a few times... but actually seeing it was something totally different. Blake laughed at her expression, clearly delighted by the chance to show off something she'd never tried before.

"Come on," he said, running forward again as the wave petered out and started to roll back out to sea. His progress was hindered by the attempt to move over a surface going in the opposite direction. Yet he made it look natural, like it didn't even occur to him to sink the few inches to the sandy bottom and get a more solid footing.

She was not that good. "Blake, I don't think--"

"Come on," he repeated, grabbing her hand. "It's not dangerous. Water's your element, it's not gonna hurt you."

She almost lost her balance as she stepped up on top of the retreating water. It slid across the sand and she slid with it, Blake steadying her as they let it carry them toward the next wave. "Step up," he directed, lifting her hand to encourage her.

She wasn't quite fast enough, and the bubbles splashed across her foot as she half-skipped to the other side. "You got it," Blake told her, already pulling her forward again. Now the water was rolling in the opposite direction, trying to carry them backward, and she had to jog to gain any ground beside him.

It was a strange sensation, but even as she noticed it the water was slowing, turning back to sea. "Next wave," Blake warned, and she managed to jump this one before it caught her bare feet. And they had to hurry again to not be drawn after it--

It was a constant cycle of ever larger wave crests, faster water on either side pushing her toward them and then pulling her back once she made it over. She didn't have time to think about what was coming until a wave arched up in front of them, unbroken but clearly about to topple, and she cringed instinctively. The abrupt stop yanked Blake back hard, but far from shouting he just laughed as the wave broke over top of them.

Blake lowered his arm and tugged her forward again, both of them completely dry except for their feet. "Come on!" he shouted over the roar of the wave crashing behind them. "We can get out past them if we keep going!"

"How did you do that!" she shouted back, following him as best she could. The water was choppier here, less smooth without the constant ebb and flow of waves, and it rose under her feet unexpectedly. She grabbed Blake's arm and he stopped where he was, catching her other arm and holding her up.

The wave rolled away underneath them, leaving them bobbing in its wake. Her eyes widened as she realized they had made it past the break line... into the lineup, if she'd had her board. The water was deep enough here that the waves could cycle on through without catching on the bottom--no crests, no whitewater, just the up and down motion of the water. They didn't even have to move to stay in place.

Blake was grinning at her surprise, turning back to follow her gaze toward the beach. "Pretty sick, huh? We have races sometimes, to see who can get out the fastest. And I bet you could do some sweet surfing moves here."

"No doubt," she breathed, looking down at the ocean under her feet. There wasn't anything like this at the Wind Academy. She wondered suddenly how the water ninjas there could be content with the calm water of the lake.

She didn't forget Blake's trick with the wave, either, and he spent the rest of the walk out to the buoys trying to teach it to her. She never quite grasped it, although she did eventually figure out what he was trying to say. It was something she wouldn't mind trying again later. In a wetsuit. With no one watching.

By the time they made it back to shore Tori was more than hungry, and Blake was willing enough to join her. He had told her that the weekly smorgasbord was more a social event than anything else, a chance for ninajs from different disciplines to spend time with each other outside of classes and duties. But social or not, it lived up to its official name and there was no shortage of food.

"Dustin, you're supposed to put it on your plate before you eat it," she teased, sneaking up behind her friend at one of the serving tables.

He turned in surprise, mouth full, and just managed to swallow before answering good-naturedly, "Says you! Hey, I saw you out on the water--how cool was that!"

"It's totally cool," she agreed, glancing back at the water. "I want to come surfing here some time!"

"You can," Blake put in from her other side. "Academy grounds are open to all ninjas. You can come up any time you want."

"Yeah, if we ever leave." Dustin reached across the table for another drumstick and a handful of chips. Tori couldn't imagine how the barbecue was keeping up. "I heard the rest of the teachers cleared out of the Wind Academy."

"What?" Tori exclaimed. "Why?"

Dustin shrugged. "I dunno. It's just for a few days, I guess, something about security. Hey, you guys want to join me and Marah? We're eating over there." He gestured vaguely, and Tori was about to agree when Blake interrupted.

"Marah as in, Marah Jennings?" he wanted to know. "Kapri's sister?"

"Yeah." Dustin wore a look that could have been a puzzled frown, but Tori knew him well enough to hear the "you want to make something of it?" tone in his voice. "She didn't do anything to you, dude."

"Yeah, and my bro didn't do anything to her sister," Blake retorted. "That didn't stop her from pounding on him when she had the chance."

"So you want to be like her?" Tori countered. "Taking it out on people you don't know just because they're there?"

He hesitated, just for a moment. "You're good," he admitted grudgingly.

She smiled down at the table, spooning the fruit mix into a transparent cup. "Thanks," she said, turning toward Dustin as she moved away from the table. She winked at him when Blake couldn't see. "Where are you guys, again?"

"Hey, Tor..." Blake was staring off into the distance when she glanced at him, and he nodded as if to indicate someone without pointing. "My parents are here. I'm just gonna go say hi."

She gave him a stern look, and he held up his hands as if in self-defense. "I'll be right back. Really. Come meet them yourself if you want, they've been asking about you all week."

She couldn't really pass that up, and Dustin put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her gently away when she gave him an apologetic look. "Go ahead, go," he said, waving her on. "We'll still be here. Over by the, uh... behind the dessert table from here. See Marah?"

Marah's brightly colored sundress was hard to miss, so Tori nodded. "I'll be over in a few minutes," she promised. She wasn't sure she could speak for Blake.

She didn't get more than a few steps away before she realized Blake had stopped, and he seemed to be trying to look in two directions at once. "What's up?" Tori asked, craning her neck to follow his gaze. She still wasn't sure which ones were his parents, and the only thing she saw in the other direction was an impromptu kickball game.

"They probably won't ask," she heard him mutter under his breath. It was hard to tell if he was talking to her or not. "But if they do, I don't think Hunter's here yet. Okay?"

She frowned at him, puzzled, then glanced back at the kickball players. It took her a minute, but she caught sight of Hunter chatting with Sensei Nena in the lineup. "What are you talking about?" Tori asked at last.

"If they haven't seen him, I haven't seen him." Blake shook his head, now focused solely in the parent direction. "Cause they've already seen me, so I can't go warn him. I dunno what he's thinking; he knew they were coming."

"Warn him about what?" Tori hissed, trying to keep her voice down as she followed him. "What, you don't want your parents to see Hunter playing kickball?"

"Tor, there's like three samurai in that game." Blake made it sound like the most obvious thing in the world. "Do you know how many lectures he's already gotten? It's bad enough he's going to their classes. I don't know what Mom's gonna do if she finds out he's spending his free time with them too."

***

"Go, go, go!"

He abandoned second and sprinted for third on the strength of Nena's kick, which he was sure was about to be intercepted by Ethan. The air ninja had rocketed after the ball with serious purpose, but the point of the game wasn't to stand around. Hunter rounded third base and turned to look, surprised he had made it--

"Keep going!" Cameron gave him a shove, the third baseman clearly working against his own team as he urged Hunter on. He couldn't figure out where the ball had gone so he took Cameron's word for it and raced for home.

He bowled through the rest of his team as he shot across the circle in the sand designating "home." He turned just in time to see Nena coming around third and following in his tracks--similarly pushed by Cameron, it seemed, judging by the samurai's laughter as she shouted back at him.

The team erupted into cheers as Nena slid home with a dramatic flourish, her bare feet spraying sand as the ball was dropped out of the sky to the pitcher. Ethan had definitely missed, Hunter thought smugly. He high-fived Nena, looking around as everyone in the "field" started to gravitate toward them.

There were no kickouts in this game, or maximum number of outs in the field. They pitched until everyone had had a turn and then the teams switched places. Hunter had a tendency to keep score in his head--Nena's bases-clearing home run had just bumped their team up six to five--but he was probably the only one.

"Nice catch," he told Ethan with a smirk, as they passed each other at the plate. "You been practicing that?"

"Tell the samurai to figure out which team they're on," came the good-natured reply. Or at least, his tone was cheerful... the words could have been taken either way.

Hunter raised an eyebrow but decided not to answer. Everyone here had managed to get along for a good ten minutes or so, and if they were mostly Wind students there were still enough Thunders to make the peace significant. He heard Cameron's voice behind him, and he turned in time to see the samurai duck a gentle blow from one of his teammates.

"You're supposed to stop them," Chitzu was telling him. "Not encourage them!"

"We're not even keeping score," Cameron retorted, and to Hunter's surprise he shoved his fellow Fire ninja in return. Cameron hadn't struck him as the rough-housing type. "Who cares?"

"Yeah, thanks for the coaching," Hunter put in. His interruption got their attention immediately, and Chitzu gave him an appraising look. He was more interested in Cameron's reaction, though, and the smile he got from the samurai instructor made him grin. "What'd you tell Nena that made her yell at you?"

Cameron shrugged innocently. "That she kicks like a girl."

That made Chitzu laugh, and he gave the "field" a searching look. "Where is she, anyway? I'll be aiming for her. She can kick, but she can't catch for anything."

"Not like you," Cameron said dryly.

"No, not like me at all," Chitzu agreed. "I can't do either."

Those were his parents over there. He hadn't realized it was so late--he'd come to help set up, and had been distracted as more and more ninjas trickled in. Or rather, he'd been distracted by the arrival of both samurai instructors, and he had ended up watching them socialize more than he had helped. They stuck mostly with other Wind ninjas, but they were friendly enough to him when he finally gave up and went over to talk to them.

Now it was at least an hour later, if his parents were finally here. He wondered whether they had seen him already or not. It didn't take a decoder ring to figure out that the people in green street clothes were samurai, but he wasn't going to avoid them just because Mom and Dad had showed up.

"Yo, Hunter." Ethan smacked him on the shoulder to wake him up. "You switching teams, or what?"

He glanced around, suddenly realizing he was still standing behind the plate with everyone else who was lining up to kick. It didn't really matter, he could kick again if he wanted to, and his team was already pitching. He'd just sort of zoned out there for a minute. He glanced over at Cameron, who was watching him curiously.

"I'm gonna sit this round out," he said abruptly. "Catch up with the folks or something. I'll see you guys later."

"Your parents are here?" Cameron asked, before he could turn away. "Which ones are they?"

Hunter pointed them out, surprised by his interest, and Cameron wandered away from the lineup to look. "Oh, the ones with Tori and Blake?" He smiled a little, and the sound of that expression in his voice made Hunter glanced sideways at him. "He's not wasting any time with the 'meet the parents' routine, is he."

Cameron was surprisingly relaxed this evening, seemingly recovered from his anger and resignation of the day before. He looked harmless in his street clothes, and the small smile on his face only made him look more approachable. All of a sudden Hunter wanted to drag him over to his parents, point to him and say, See? He's just a guy, Mom. What's so bad about that?

"No," he said instead, still watching Cameron. He should leave now, before he had to answer any awkward questions. Yet somehow it seemed rude to just walk away. "He's fast, I'll give him that."

Cameron caught his eye, a curious look behind his smile. "So how do your parents feel about samurai?"

Damn. Just when he was getting used to seeing the guy smile, too. Cameron probably expected a different answer when it came to people who had a son in the samurai class and another dating a Wind ninja. There was no easy way to disillusion him.

Cameron's expression didn't change, but he looked away and Hunter was sure the smile faded as soon as his face was averted. "That good, huh?"

Hunter folded his arms, following his gaze. "I think one of my mom's teachers was banished by a samurai or something." He felt like he owed some kind of explanation, but he didn't really have one.

"Banished?" Cameron didn't move. "I didn't think they did that any more."

"It was a long time ago, I guess." He shrugged apologetically. "I don't know much about it, but... y'know. It probably has something to do with her attitude."

"Yeah." Cameron gave the game a pointed look, still avoiding Hunter's gaze. "Well, see you in class. If you plan to keep coming."

"Dude, I can't change how my parents think," he told Cameron's back. "I came to your class because I wanted to make up my own mind, and I have." He barely hesitated. "Samurai are fine by me."

It was strange to say it, and he didn't care anymore. He couldn't shake the feeling that it would be stranger not to. "But just because I think so doesn't mean my parents are cool with it. It's not my fault that my mom has some weird grudge and my dad's a ninja elitist, okay?"

Cameron sighed, turning just enough that he could survey the area around them before he spoke. "Look," he said, his voice quieter than it had been before. "I understand. No, it's not your fault, and yes, I appreciate you giving class a try. I really do. It's just..."

He shifted, and Hunter could see his jaw clench. "Last weekend, the samurai practice arena at the Wind Academy blew up. My academy was blamed. Two days later, the tech wing blew up. My academy was blamed again. The two places where I spend all my time were shut down and I was asked to come here, where instead of being blamed for my academy I could be blamed for my training style.

"The first night I was here, my parents' apartment blew up. The second night I was here, I was poisoned." He caught Hunter's eye, an incredulous indignation lurking in his expression. "And that was the good half of the week. It was all downhill from there. So to be honest, having to attend this smorgasbord? It's just the perfect ending to the week from hell."

The anger wasn't so far beneath the surface, after all. Hunter felt strangely guilty for having brought it out again, especially when Cameron had been enjoying himself despite the mixed company. "You hungry?" he asked suddenly, just as Cameron seemed about to walk away.

The samurai instructor stopped, staring straight ahead for a moment before glancing back at Hunter with a puzzled frown. "Excuse me?"

Hunter shrugged, uncomfortable with the thought that Cameron's anger could turn on him just as quickly. "I just figured... I dunno. My parents are busy. And I'm starving. I figured you might be too."

Cameron seemed to consider that. "I tell you I'd rather be anywhere but here and you ask if I want to stay?"

"Were you going to leave?"

Cameron frowned. "No," he admitted.

"So," Hunter pressed, not ready to give up. "Maybe I can--I dunno. Make up for some of the freaky samurai prejudice around here."

Cameron's frown vanished, but instead of smiling he sighed. "That's not your job," he muttered.

"You know, you don't have to be the one who understands all the time," Hunter informed him. "You're allowed to do stuff 'cause you want to, and just forget about everyone else for a while."

Cameron's intent look was turned on him now, studying him as though he'd never seen him before. "That's not something I would have expected you to say," he said at last.

Hunter shrugged, but he couldn't hide his smile. "I'm full of surprises."

The corner of Cameron's mouth quirked upward, and Hunter jerked his head toward the food. Cameron fell into step beside him without another word. Hunter scanned ahead, locating his parents off to one side now, within easy view but at least not close enough that they would trip over each other. They could politely ignore each other if it came to that.

It didn't. Blake called his name before they even made it to the tables, and Hunter changed course. Better to see the family first, so that the excuse of food could be their way out of awkwardness later. He saw Cameron brace himself, and no matter what he had said before he couldn't help feeling responsible.

It could have been worse. His parents were civil, if not friendly, and their aloofness might have been less obvious if they didn't have Tori there to fawn over. Tori had clearly become his parents' darling in a matter of minutes... and she was the only one who didn't seem to notice the tension between Cameron and the Thunder ninjas. It was almost worth the stilted conversation to see his parents trying to adore her and ignore Cameron simultaneously.

Almost. "We're gonna go get something to eat," he announced, when he got tired of waiting for Cameron to wince so he could call someone on it. "Stay out of trouble, bro. See you around, Tori," he added, almost as an afterthought.

"See you," she echoed, but her smile was for Cameron. "See you tomorrow, Sensei Cam."

"Later, bro," Blake was saying, distracting him from the nickname. Cam? Since when did Tori call him Cam? He'd thought only the other samurai got away with that.

He waited until they had actually made it to the food to ask. "Cam?" he repeated, secretly amused when the samurai teacher looked up immediately. "She call you that often?"

Cameron shrugged. "My friends call me Cam," he said, turning back to his plate. "I think some of the students pick it up from the other instructors."

"Yeah?" It wasn't a direct answer, but it was more of an implied "no" than "yes." He debated asking just long enough to realize that if he didn't do it now, it wouldn't still be topical in a few seconds. "Can I call you Cam?"

The samurai didn't even look up. "Sure."

He smiled to himself, pleased with the answer. "Can I call you Cam in class?" he drawled, hoping the teasing note came through.

The response sounded suspiciously like a chuckle. "In class, that's Sensei Cam to you."

It wasn't exactly a "no," Hunter decided.