Being back in the monastery after months of living back at home with his parents felt odd to Kai; yes, he felt at home, and he had definitely missed the others - but the comfort he had gotten used to from his parents now once again not being present, and the absence of his sister, made the whole experience feel almost otherworldly. He felt out of place, at least at first. It didn't take long for him to get back into the routine of things, joining everyone for dinners, training, or even video games - the only issue was the two missing ninja. Nya, for obvious reasons, but a certain blue ninja hadn't shown his face much since Kai returned a week prior. No appearance at dinners, or even video game sessions - which felt all the more odd to the master of fire.

Of course, he understood why. He figured Jay must have still been in a rough patch after losing Nya. Kai understood far too well, so much so that he had stayed with his parents for longer than he'd originally planned. He just needed time to process and accept that he would never have his little sister back. Hard to accept your worst fear coming true, and hell - he still hadn't quite managed even that. Still, he expected Jay to be even a little more social than he had been.

Stuck in his thoughts about the whole situation, the brunette barely realised his name was being said until his hazel eyes found their way back to the tv screen in front of the mismatched group. His avatar was in the middle of a dying animation, punctuated by the little death jingle and the groans of the other Ninja next to Kai.

"Haha, whoops." He laughed softly, offering a small shrug to the others, who rolled their eyes playfully. Starting up another round of the game they were playing - Kai had already forgotten the name he barely paid attention to in the first place - a flash of blue caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.

Hazel hues turned to find the source, meeting a blue pair of eyes looking Kai's way. There he was. Jay, for the first time all week, showing his face to more than one person at a time. As Kai opened his mouth to speak, the other male was already rushing out of the room.

"FSM, he looks like a ghost. But at least he's out of his room." Kai heard Cole chime in faintly in the background, as his eyes still lingered on the doorway the lightning master had fled out of. The look on his face haunted Kai in a way he couldn't figure to put into words. He looked. . . broken? Lost? No, for a moment Kai saw something else in those eyes. Hopefulness? If it had been there, it hadn't been for very long.

"Is he okay?" Kai opted to ask, eyes finally moving away from the empty doorway and over to the first person he found when he turned back to the group.

Lloyd responded, ever the voice of reason and understanding.
"Who, Jay? He's- Well, he hasn't been himself since. . . y'know." A soft sigh, followed by Cole chirping in,
"After you left for your parents, Jay kind of. . . started shying away from the rest of us. We figured he just needed space, but it's been months. He hasn't even spoken to any of us!"

"Except for master Wu." Zane chimed in, "Perhaps he will speak with you, Kai?" The blond asked, knowingly; Kai figured he must have noticed Jay staring at him before even he himself did.

After a short moment of silence, Kai shrugged, already standing up from his seat on the shared couch.
"It's worth a shot, I guess. It's gettin' kinda late anyway so I could stop in to check on him before bed no problem." A soft murmur of agreement from the others, before Kai left the room, and began down the hallway of the monastery. A complaint about him not quitting the game echoed down the empty space, causing him to chuckle to himself faintly but before long he was standing in front of the blue ninjas bedroom, and damn. . . why did he suddenly feel so nervous? He was just checking in on his friend, for First Spinjitsu Masters sake!

Pushing the bubbling anxiety aside, Kai managed to get himself to knock gently, and after hearing a soft 'who is it?' from behind the door, he felt a new burst of motivation to make sure his friend was alright.

"It's Kai. Can i come in?"

Some rustling, but mostly silence was all he got in response. He was about to leave, taking it as a no, before the door creaked open slowly to reveal Jay; far more disheveled than Kai had originally seen him before, and up this close he could see the dark bags under the others eyes and how tired the guy seemed.

"Uh- hi." Why was he suddenly at a loss for words? He came here with intent to check on his friend but now seeing the mess that was Jay, suddenly Kai felt like no words he could say could even come close to being helpful in any way. The mess was familiar to him; he'd been in such a state when he decided to go back with his parents, and FSM; he was still like that to some extent. The sleepless nights were few and far between now, but the bags under his eyes were still present.

"What do you want?" Jay's voice caught him, halting his thoughts and bringing him back to the here and now.

"Right- um. Are you okay? You haven't said anything since i've been back, and- well, actually. Before, in the other room, was the first time i actually saw you since i've been back." He felt almost like he was rambling, which felt weird since Jay was usually the one to ramble. But Jay- didn't really seem like himself. The usual light in his eyes was very faint, if even still there at all.

Jay simply frowned, turned away from Kai and moved over to sit on the edge of his own bed with a huff.

"I-" The blue ninjas voice cracked, part from the emotions all mixed up inside of himself, and partly from having not really been used much in a while.
"Out there, I thought I saw her. I thought all of this was just a bad dream and finally i'd woken up from it- and then, and then you looked at me and i realised that it wasn't her. That she's still gone." Voice shaky, Jay explained - avoiding eye contact the whole time. His blue eyes stayed on the floor in front of him.

The soft sobs that left him prompted Kai to gently shut the bedroom door, and walk over to the other carefully. He felt so out of his depth. He wasn't good at comforting people! Why was he about to try?

Thoughts aside, Kai gently sat next to Jay, careful not to get too close just in case the other male didn't want physical comfort right now, despite his body shaking gently every few moments from the sobs leaving him.

"I know you're hurting." Was the first thing he could think of to say, hand carefully coming up to gently pat the blue male's back.
"But you're a mess. Wanna try getting cleaned up? It might help you feel a little b-"

He was interrupted by Jay suddenly getting up from beside him, borderline shouting.
"Of course i'm a mess! You should be too! Nya's gone- and there's no way we can get her back, Kai. I figured you would understand the most out of everyone."

The sudden outburst momentarily shocked the fire ninja into silence. He did understand! He was just- ahead in the grieving process. That's all. After seemingly losing both parents at such a young age, despite finding out they were alive and well later on, Kai had adjusted weirdly to accepting possibly never seeing people again. That didn't mean he wasn't hurting at all.

Hazel eyes watched as Jay paced back and forth, breath wheezing out almost as if he was hyperventilating, hands pulling at his hair every now and then. It seemed as though the boys momentary anger had turned to anxiety in a few short seconds.

"Hey, whoa. Relax, Jay- you look like you're gonna pass out from breathing too hard." Kai managed, jumping up and rushing over to the other male to try and calm him down.

Eventually he calmed Jay down enough to convince him to go shower, or at least have a bath to relax, and told him he would be waiting here when he was done. Jay obliged with little resistance this time, taking a change of clothes into the attached bathroom with him. Kai was right; a hot bath relaxed him and helped him feel a lot better, at least temporarily.

By the time Jay was done in the bathroom, Kai had already heard the others all trek off to their own seperate rooms, and had already tidied up the blue ninjas mess of a room to make it more comfortable and less stressful for the other male. He was throwing away the last bit of trash when jay stepped out of the bathroom, hair still slightly damp from the water he'd used to wash it.

"You look a lot less like a zombie now."

"Ah, really? Dangit, that's the whole look i was going for." Jay mused, albeit tiredly.

Kai couldn't help but let out a little chuckle at that; it would seem that the Jay they all knew and loved was still in there somewhere.

"Hope you don't mind, zaptrap, but i tidied up the place a little." The fire master gestured faintly to the surroundings.

A quick look around, and Jay offered a small shrug in response, moving towards his freshly made bed, now.
"Less I have to do later. Thank you."

On his way past, heading to the door, Kai ruffled the other males hair playfully.
"If ya need anything, you know where i'm at. And, for the record," He paused, in the now open doorway,
"I do understand. I miss her too. So fuckin' much. But lingering on it hurts you more than moving forward, even if it still hurts."

His eyes met Jay's momentarily, the latter - now laying in bed - simply nodding in a silent response, almost looking surprised at those words in particular coming from Kai. If he wasn't filled with overwhelming exhaustion, he probably would have made a joke about it; but alas, Jay's eyelids were already drooping so he settled for a lazy 'g'night' that probably wasn't very audible, before dozing off.