"Strike!" Kai cheered again as the ball went straight through the center of the stack of pins down the alley. His score clicked up on the monitor above them and he plopped down with a satisfied smirk next to Skylor. He snatched one of her fries and she swatted at him playfully. "Hey!" He laughed and kissed her quickly to keep her from smacking him again, to which she just smiled and rolled her eyes.

"My turn!" Jay hopped up from his seat and almost spilled his icee in the process. He saved it and sighed in relief. He looked up and saw something he never expected.

The most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. Sleek black locks pulled into a high ponytail. Dark, copper-tinted skin and full, red lips. She was quickly approaching their group with an easy smile resting on her lips. "Kai!" She waved and Kai's head whipped around.

He broke into a grin and shoved himself up from the chair. "Nya!" He ran over to the smaller girl and swooped her up in a bear hug, which she returned with equal intensity. "Guys! This is Nya, my little sister. She's been abroad in Japan for what, 9 months now?" She nodded.

"Yep! I'm going with an exchange program during the school year but they let me come home for the summer. I'm so excited to meet all of you! I've heard so much!" She made eye contact with Jay and a zing ran through his whole body. "You must be Jay. Your curls are so big and bright! Like your scarf." She stepped closer and brushed his red scarf with the back of her hand.

"Oh... really? Um, thanks! D-do you like blue?" Jay cringed at his stutter. He only got it whenever he got incredibly nervous. She was so pretty, why was she getting this close? Wow, her hair smelled really good... she looked so beautiful in her leather jacket. She grinned and nodded eagerly.

"It's my favorite color!" He grinned too at her response. "And you must be Cole." Nya went around the circle and introduced herself to the rest of the team. Jay was too busy floating through a haze of "!!!" to notice anything said, though.

"So are you gonna go or will I just get Cole to toss YOU down the alley?" Kai's voice broke the trance Jay was in and he shook himself out of it.

"That's not possible, Kai," Zane added from where he and Pixal kept score on the monitor, just in case something went wrong they could fix it. They had their human disguises on right now. It was something Cyrus Bord had helped them make so they could go out without being recognized. It worked like a charm!

"I concur. Although with Cole's abilities and Jay's abnormally light weight, perhaps-" Pixal was interrupted by Jay. She pinched her lips together and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I get it! Yeah, yeah I can go now." Jay grabbed the bowling ball and tried not to think about the gorgeous, wonderful girl sitting right behind him. What if she thought he was weird for wearing a scarf indoors? It might get caught in his grip. Should he take it off? But she said she liked it. Maybe he should keep it, just in case. He shook his head again and tossed the ball.

His hand slipped at the last second and it went flying the opposite direction he wanted.

"GUTTER BALL" flashed across the screen.

What?! He never got gutter balls! He always scored! He furrowed his brows and ignored the teasing from Lloyd and Kai behind him. He'd get it this time, he was sure!

He prepped again and was about to release it when he heard from behind, "Whoo! Yeah, Jay!" He peeked over his shoulder and the ball went flying wild again. But wait--Nya was cheering for him! He grinned when he saw her smile, but it dropped when he realized she saw him miss. He groaned and let Cole take his spot at the alley. He turned back and saw Nya cheering him on, which made his self-esteem soar.

Between his turns, he struck up a conversation with Nya on what she was doing in Japan. She launched into stories of how much she'd learned, what friends she'd made, and how much she missed home sometimes. Jay even got to tell her about some of the adventures their team had gone on in the past 9 months or so since they'd met.

The rest of the afternoon flew by and soon it was almost time to go home. Near the end of their bowling game, Cole slid over next to Jay while Nya took her turn. She'd taken over for Kai once he got more into Skylor than the game. "Hey, why don't you ask Nya to go dinner after this?" Jay jumped when Cole's voice suddenly rang in his ears.

"What?! Why would you ask that? I don't- I mean- how?" Jay wasn't going to try and hide how much he liked Nya already from Cole. Cole was his best friend, so of course, he'd known right off the bat Jay liked her.

"Simple. 'Hey Nya, wanna grab something to eat later? Ooh, like maybe cake?'" Cole suggested. "Here she comes now! Ask her or I'll start telling that story of last year when you-"

"Okay! Just... give me a sec." Jay really didn't want that carnival story floating around, so he took a deep breath and smiled at Nya when she sat down again. Cole went back to his seat and winked at Jay with a sly smile. 'You got it!' He mouthed to Jay.

"So! Where were we?" Nya asked while she pulled her hair up into a higher ponytail. Her hair was so pretty, Jay thought. Long and smooth and so dark and thick... before he could stop himself, he pushed a strand behind her ear. When he felt her cheek, he realized what he did and went wide-eyed.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't think about what I was doing and some people just don't like it when I touch them and I just... yeah." Jay started to apologize but Nya started to chuckle.

"It's okay, Jay. Really. I don't mind." She smiled at him, which made him relax and blow out a breath he was holding. She didn't mind that he'd touched her hair! Progress.

"Oh, good. So... I wanted to ask you something..." Jay eyes Cole, who was standing a few feet behind Nya, mouthing encouragement. "Would you, uh... would you wanna hang out with me after this? Maybe we could do the arcade or go somewhere to eat?"

"Oh! Uh..." Nya glanced over Jay's shoulder, where Kai was watching them very non-discreetly with slightly narrowed eyes.

"I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to! I was just thinking maybe you like food and arcades because a lot of people do so..." Jay fidgeted with the end of his scarf and looked away.

"No! I mean, yes. I'd love to go grab some dinner and hang at the arcade." Nya smiled at him. Screw whatever Kai was thinking. Jay was kind of cute when he was flustered like that, she noticed. He looked back over at her and sighed in relief.

"Really? Cool! You like Master Chen's Noodle House?" She nodded yes.

She really was perfect!

~~~

After the game was over, Jay and Nya went down to get some food from Chen's and came back to the arcade to eat. It was more fun eating where games were going on everywhere instead of kitchen sounds.

They chatted comfortably now, their anxious behavior from earlier gone. Now they didn't have to struggle to talk to each other, which was a relief to them both. Jay started to contribute more to the conversations too, which Nya enjoyed hearing. She could tell he loved words, if the amount he talked was any indication.

"...so THEN this HUUUGE snake comes out of nowhere, right? And I'm like 'Fair? Fair isn't a word where I come from!' and boom! Whack! Smash! We smack a spot right on its forehead and the snake is dead within minutes!" Jay was telling her all about the Great Devourer, which she seemed to be enjoying.

"So then what?" She leaned in closer with wide eyes. She'd been in Japan when all this had gone down so she was excited to know.

"Then? Then we all went back to the Bounty and celebrated! I played video games for, like, 3 days solid! At least til Sensei decided enough was enough and made us go back to our training schedule." He scooped up the last of his noodles and his eyes got wide. "Om! Fer's om gam eh pahed ah wehk." When she just looked at him confused, he held up a finger and swallowed.

"Oh! There's one game I played all week! NinjaKart! Do you play?" She nodded eagerly.

"It's one of my favorites! I took my console over to Japan with me when I left last year. Kai bought the newest one before I left and let me take the older one. He plays a lot more than me, so I didn't mind. Do they still have the Fist 2 Face game at Litwak's Arcade down a few blocks?" Jay nodded in response. "Sweet! You wanna hit that spot before we go back?"

He grinned and nodded. "Sure! I love that arcade! It's been here forever and if they ever shut down I'm gonna have to leave the city!" He laughed, which Nya thought was pretty cute. His eyes crinkled up and his wide smile made his nose scrunch up like a bunny's would.

They fell into an easy conversation while they paid and walked over to the arcade. Inside, they split the cost like they had at the restaurant (Nya's insistence) and went to play some games with their tokens.

"Oh! A claw machine!" Jay grabbed her hand without thinking and Nya latched on while she got dragged almost halfway across the crowded room. She went wide-eyed when she realized how tightly she was gripping his hand. She smiled, despite herself, and almost stumbled into him when he stopped suddenly. Heat flared in her cheeks when he turned suddenly and they were almost nose-to-nose.

For some reason, she didn't mind. She could see all of his freckles up close. He was kind of cute, with his slightly crooked smile and bright, unruly curls. The moment passed and they both seemed to realize how close they were. They both stepped back and started to apologize, then stopped and waited for the other one to go first instead. An awkward chuckle between them broke the silence and Nya finally stepped away from him, towards the machine.

"So, Jay... you any good at these?" She challenged him with a playful smirk. An equally mischievous one grew on Jay's face as he stepped up beside her.

"Puh-lease! I've got years of experience training these lightning-fast reflexes!" He cracked his knuckles and pushed a token into the coin slot. The game lit up with bright reds, blues, and greens. "Watch me as I grace your presence with my video game genius!"

~~~

A few hours later, they came out of the arcade laughing and grinning from ear to ear. They both had a stack of stuffed animals and candy in their arms, as gifts from the other person. It started with Jay winning one for Nya and she wanted to outdo him, then he did too, and it went downhill from there.

They made their way home to the apartment the team was staying at for a few days, just until the Bounty could be repaired from the Great Devourer damage. Nya was going to stay in Kai's part of the rooms tonight so Jay was in charge of bringing her home. Jay went for his key and his face dropped when his hand came up empty from his pocket.

"Um... one sec," he told Nya with a sheepish smile and dug into his other pocket. His eyebrows scrunched together and he set his stuff down to look through it. "No...no...no! Where could it be?!" He groaned and Nya shifted her weight back and forth. It was kind of awkward but in a cute way, she thought. Yet she couldn't deny that there was a problem. They couldn't get into the room.

"It's fine, I'm sure they'll let us in." She told him, not totally convinced but trying to keep it together for him anyway. "Wait, you're telling me you're this famous ninja but you can't lock-pick into a room?" She teased him. He attempted a chuckle and gathered his items back up.

"Well... yeah. I guess," he sighed. "I sound so lame now, I know." She shrugged. She'd cheer him up, she'd make sure of it.

"If someone becomes lame from forgetting a keycard, then I've outdone myself!" She laughed and he finally grew a smile. A crooked smile with his dull eyes finally brightening again.

"Heh." A few more moments of waiting and nobody appeared at the door. "Uh... do you have your phone? I... may have left mine back at the bowling alley..." He chuckled nervously. Nya rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone.

Her dead phone.

"Dang it." She sighed. So they were stuck outside with nobody answering the door and no communication. Great.

"Hey, I know this doesn't seem like the best time, but we could head up to the roof and stargaze for a bit while we wait for the others to get back," Jay suggested, to which Nya hummed in thought. "Unless that's weird for you! I just like looking at stars. It calms me down. Unless you can find a really complex conste- I'm rambling again. Sorry." He cut himself off abruptly and finally stood again.

"No, no, it's fine! I like hearing you talk. It's just like how Kai told me you were." Her eyes crinkled up in a smile. Jay loved that smile already. He sighed in relief.

"Oh, good. C'mon, this way." He led her upstairs a few flights of stairs and they found the rooftop. "Ta da! Best view for miles around!" He pulled over some chairs abandoned long ago and they sat. "Oh! Orion and his belt!" He pointed out the formation.

"You like astronomy too?" Nya asked and her eyes lit up. She'd never met anyone else who liked astronomy at the level she did. "It's my favorite subject!"

"Me too!" Jay grinned at her. It was so nice seeing her so excited about something simple like stars! He settled back into his chair, thankful it was a warm summer night so they didn't have to worry about freezing, and relaxed. This time, he listened to Nya chatter on about stars. He offered a comment now and then but he mostly just enjoyed listening to her.

Against his will, his eyes started to droop after a while. He nodded to her words and tried to pay attention. What were they talking about? Oh, astronomy. Stars. Like the ones in her eyes. He smiled dreamily and his eyes finally slid shut.

Almost immediately, Nya noticed the soft snores coming from him. She was a little annoyed but that only lasted a second when she saw the state he was in. His arms were crossed behind his head, which was falling to the side and rested in a small smile. She bit back a smile, not unlike his. Even in his sleep, he couldn't stop talking. Before she could stop herself (once she made sure he was asleep, of course), she leaned forward and pressed a feather-light kiss to his curls.

"Goodnight, Jay." She softly rubbed one of his curls between her fingers and hummed. She already felt so close to him, yet they just met today. She couldn't figure out why, but there was already such a strong connection between them. She hoped this lasted.

"G'night Nya," Jay mumbled in his sleep. Nya froze. Was he awake? Did he feel it? When no more movement came from him, she relaxed. One of his hands fell from behind his head, landing right next to hers, open and inviting.

"Carpe diem {seize the day/moment}." She mumbled to herself and threaded her fingers with his. He softly responded to the pressure of her hands and she scooted her chair closer to his. Soon, his soft snoring returned but the grip on her hand remained firm. "Night, Jay." She whispered and leaned back in her chair to stargaze some more.

~~~

Sometime later, Jay awoke to find Nya leaning on his shoulder and his hand entertwined with his. But for some reason, he didn't feel freaked out like he thought he would. Well, yeah, there was some, but mostly just giddiness. Too tired to think on it for long, he fell back asleep and nestled into her. They could deal with that in the morning.

For now, he would simply let the stars shine on them and bring peace.