"We're closed." I grumbled as I worked the broom over the hardwood floors. A pile of sand sat in the corner and Salem pawed at the broom's bristles as I went. "Salem, stop." I grumbled and nudged him away with my foot. In an instant, he scurried back over and continued as if I hadn't just pushed him away. I glared at the little black cat as two boys walked in the shop. I sighed, willing my patience to cooperate with me.

"Oh, hey guys." I gave an apologetic smile to Kai and Jay, the latter racing over to the corner to rub and love Mavis. I still was amazed that that cranky old cat let Jay, who had to be the most annoying person in the world, rub him.

Kai's gaze followed mine and he shrugged. "He was having withdrawals." I winced, knowing that couldn't be good. From the little glimpse I had gotten into the ninja's life, Jay was the baby and had to be treated as such. I guess today Kai was the babysitter. I gave a gentle smile and returned to sweeping the tiny beach that had accumulated on the floor.

Living at the beach was wonderful beyond words. You were constantly tan, always were fit, met amazing people, and had amazing food. The only downside to living next to the ocean was the sand. It was everywhere. In your sheets, stuck in your hair, in your food, and always, always on the floor. Honestly, it was really a miracle that the beach even had sand left. I had most of it here piled up in the shop. I guess it was something you learned to get used to. It was a small sacrifice to be made in trade for the wonderful views and smell of the sea.

Kai made himself at home, hopping up to sit on the counter, his legs swinging wildly and heels kicking up against the counter side. His actions made a repeated thump thump every few seconds, which made me bite my lip so I wouldn't yell to get him to stop. With my hip, I pushed the back door open and swept the mini beach out into the back alleyway. I slammed the door closed and turned to Kai with raised brows.

"What makes you think you can just barge into our shop whenever, huh?" I asked, hand on my hip.

Kai shrugged, heels still thumping against the counter. My eye twitched. "You know Zane and Zane knows us. You trust Zane and Zane trusts us. Therefore..."

"That doesn't give you permission to just show up."

He shrugged again, as if he wasn't bothered. I sighed.

"Well then, if you're here, I'm going to put you to work while Jay gets his Mavis fix."

I dragged him off the counter and over to a pile of boxes back in our store room. He fumbled behind me, as if he wasn't a ninja who could do like a million different martial arts moves. I pushed him down to sit in front of a box of knick-knacks ordering him to work organizing them so I could run to shelf them. He was quick to grumble about "forced ninja labor" and "ninja abuse" to which I just offered to let him take something small home. Key word being small. I wasn't about to let this kid just take home another one of our surf boards. Much less without paying for it.

"So you've worked here all your life, practically, right?"

"Since I was legally allowed to, yep." I said popping the p. He slid a few glass dolphins over to me and I went to set them on the shelf. "It's not all that bad." I commented, raising my voice so he could hear me. "It's for my dad, and I actually like it. I just wish I got paid." A shrug and I found myself back in the store room with the master of fire.

"You don't get paid?" He asked, not looking up from his work and I shook my head.

"It'd be like an allowance. It's my dads shop, so..." I trailed off and shrugged, taking the next few dolphins and repeating the process.

Now, this was all true. I really did enjoy working at the shop. It gave me something to do in my summers, especially considering I had zip friends. My dad was doing me a big favor really, giving me something to do so I didn't get into drugs or something awful like that. Plus, I did it out of love for my dad. He's a single parent and tries his best to provide for us. It's the most I can do for him, give him free labor. In exchange for a surfboard or a new bathing suit every now and again.

Kai looked up from his work, his amber eyes narrowed at me. "What does you mom do, sweetheart?"

"Drop the pet names, please." I growled, glaring at him as my face flushed red. He noticed and smirked. "My mom walked out on us when my sister and I were..." I tilted my head to the side in thought. "4. And a half. I think." I shrugged. "From what I heard about her, she wasn't the most amazing person so I guess she did us a favor."

Kai nearly dropped the snowglobe he held and ran a quick hand through his hair. "Woah woah, kid. Rewind, go back. You've got a sister?" He asked, incredulous and wide eyed. I laughed at his reaction and walked out to shelf things.

"Uh, yeah. Twin sister actually. I swear she's the spawn of satan." I hissed and fumbled with the snow globes.

"What's her name?"

"Dani. Want her number too?" I asked with a smirk. "Trust me, she's always been the one to get in trouble. Hangs out with the worst kind of kids at school." I leaned to the side, peeking my head around the corner to see Jay cooing at Mavis. "Hey, Jay, we're in the back if you wanna bring sir grumpy pants back with you."

"Don't do it!" Kai shouted, leaning his head of spiky hair out the doorway. "She'll put you to work and without pay!"

"Oh zip it, you're fine." I grumbled as Jay scooped up Mavis and the two came over to join us. The ginger set Mavis down, who meowed and pranced over to rub his face against the piles of boxes. "Jay could you help me shelf things, please?"

Jay gave me a wide toothy smile and jumped over to my side. He quickly began to help, pulling things from Kai's hand and following me as I showed him where they went. Mavis followed at his heels. It's like they were attached at the hip. I found myself staring at the cat, who had never seemed to have a soul before now. "Who are you and what have you done with Mavis?" I whispered to him, gently poking his little pink nose.

On the other hand, Salem was sprawled on the floor in the sun, taking up as much room as possible. Each time Jay and I went to put things on the shelves, we would have to give a big step to get over the black cat. Rude, I'd say.

"So how long have you guys known Julien?" I asked, breaking the gentle silence that hung between the three of us.

Kai's hands slowed as he looked up to me, frown written across his face. "We've known Zane since we were 15." He commented, the smallest hint of a sour tone in his voice. I picked up on it, but decided not to comment as Jay jumped in.

"Well, Kai was 15. Cole was 16 and Nya was 13 and I was-"

"Shut up, Jay. You talk so much." Kai rebuked and Jay huffed, poking his bottom lip out like a child and crossing his arms in a pout. I gave the ginger a soft smile before handing him a pile of postcards to put on the display.

"He really goes by Zane? That's so bizarre to me. He absolutely hated his name when we were kids, so it was Julien. Even to his parents."

I didn't pay much attention to it, nor did I really notice but the two boys shared a knowing look that went right over my head.

So, I continued. "Teachers, strangers. He once told the turtles at Tortuga to call him Julien." I snickered at the memory. "We were so young and stupid." I muttered crouching before Kai to help him put bathing suits on hangers.

"Uh, no. He was and always has been Zane to us." Kai said with a shrug. "I see you still have that necklace."

My fingers found the necklace round my neck and I narrowed my eyes. "I assume he told you about that, huh?" He nodded. "I do. Never took it off, really. He still wears his too! What a sap." I scoffed and my shoulders shook with soft laughter.

Kai fell silent, hangers clanking together as he worked. "He's not a very sentimental person, so that's saying something." He met my gaze and his brows raised in challenge and I flushed. "You two sounded like good friends, once upon a time."

I flopped down in a sit and held a small pile of surf shirts up to Jay. "The hangers have the sizes on them and the rack is labeled with sizes. Just throw them on accordingly." I offered and he took them to prance into the main shop area.

I turned to Kai and smiled, eyes down on the hangers and bathing suits as I worked. "Yeah, we were. I mean, sure, we had our arguments but we pulled a lot of crap as kids. Pranks and all that." I set down the bathing suit and my eyes found Kai's. "He seems like a little bit of a wet blanket now."

"How did you know?" Kai said with a mock scoff. "He's a killjoy. Always gotta be responsible and honorable and it's totally lame."

"Party pooper!" Jay called from the other room and I doubled over laughing.

"Are we talking about the same guy? He was never a party pooper when we were friends." I wiped at my eyes, tears from laughing falling. "You guys quit joshing me." I grumbled and shook my head only to look up and see Kai with a straight face.

"No, seriously. He's a wet blanket. He's all honor and responsibility now. Loyalty and being righteous and all that." Kai said as if he was directly quoting Julien.

"Wait, really? That doesn't sound like Julie at all." I looked off to my right as Jay came in and shrugged. "You guys are serious? He was always dragging me to do crazy things! I was the hesitant one." My gaze fell on my hands in my lap. Could someone really change so much in that amount of time? "I guess he really has changed..." I let my voice trail off.

Jay flopped down next to me, Mavis running over to sit in his lap. "I guess sometimes that happens. People change."

Kai shot him a look which I couldn't decipher before chiming in. "He's still the same at heart, I think. He still enjoys doing really stupid things on occasion. Jay, remember that time he totally thought he could just run off after that bird? And then he came back with a boat?"

Jay chuckled at the memory. "I do! I'm still mad at him for deleting all my high scores on that game though." He huffed and turned to me. "Zane isn't really all that you remember him to be." Kai waved wildly and gave a pointed look to Jay, who didn't pay attention. "He's like really different. He's not hu-"

He was cut off as the door to the shop burst open and Julien himself rushed in, face flushed red and panting hard. He looked weary and heartbroken and I stood to my feet, running to meet him.

"Y/n, you have to come quick. It's your father."