Work Text
There's a very, very big chance that Kira might be lost. The trees around these parts of the woods all look the same -- which is
probably
the point, considering there's a portal somewhere that leads to a
secret
ninja academy -- but it's not benefitting her because she can be directionally challenged sometimes. And, overall, the outdoors haven't always been her best friend. It's, like, her thing. Sometimes, she'll go outside and sit on the grass or climb into a tree if she's feeling really adventurous and play some tunes, but that's the extent of it. Touching anything else is just asking for weird shit to happen. Like last time. She still has yet to let Conner live down dumbly touching Dr. O's gatekeeping T-rex fossil head. That's what gets people killed in horror movies first.
Even if she could or did get jumped out here, though, it's a good thing she still has her powers. Maybe. Fighting Tori had been one thing, and she'd gotten lucky that time -- something her girlfriend never let her forget, unfortunately. Fighting other, probably more experienced ninjas? No thanks.
The roar of rushing water draws her in, and Kira listens, following it to its source. It
has
to be this one, right? There's no other waterfalls around here… she thinks. The landmark itself is gigantic, and as Kira cranes her neck up to gaze at it, she decides that she definitely would not want to scale up anything that tall.
She squints. Is it possible to hide an entire academy behind that? Maybe with one of those invisiportals, but those were only in Reefside… and gone now.
In her fascination with the waterfall, Kira doesn't hear the movement behind her over the sound of running water, but she feels a breeze on the back of her neck. It's not a really breezy day at all. She braces herself, but a bright flash of light coming from the waterfall grabs her attention. Covering her eyes, Kira stares as none other than her girlfriend walks through
a
portal, dressed in the same fitted, black, sensei uniform that she's seen Tori wear underneath her clothes so often.
"You're… walking on water," Kira states, dumbly, gaping a little bit.
Tori shrugs and walks across the lake the waterfall feeds into and stops just a step shy of the shore where Kira's standing. Her hair and clothes seem to be completely dry, despite the fact that she just walked
out
of a waterfall. "Yeah, that's a thing I can do."
"Well,
okay,
nice to know."
Tori chuckles, "What're you doing here? How'd you even
find
here?"
"I used my detective skills," Kira answers.
"You asked Dustin?"
"I… asked Dustin."
"It's a good thing I wasn't in the middle of teaching a class," Tori says, "Because the guards were a little worried that you were some stranger or, you know, worst case scenario, some bad guy in disguise trying to get in."
Kira furrows her brow, "What… guards?"
"You can't see them," Tori says, casually, like that's reassuring.
"I…" she glances around, worriedly, "Are they
here?
"
"Mhm," Tori nods, but her eyes never leave Kira's, so she can't tell if they're, like,
close.
Too worrisome. "They're harmless."
"You… you said they're guards, Tori. Guards aren't
harmless,
" Kira sputters, raising her eyebrows.
Her girlfriend waves a flippant hand. "You're with me. It's fine. What're you doing here, anyway? You never gave me an answer."
"I, um, wanted to see you," Kira says, quietly, like she's afraid of being heard then glances over her shoulder as if there's going to be a ninja just perched on the branches of that three. There isn't, but she bets there's, like, ten of them surrounding the lake. It's unnerving. "Can we go somewhere more private? I feel like I'm being watched."
Tori laughs a little and shakes her head, amused, then snaps her fingers. The sound is barely audible over the waterfall, but it must be heard by
someone
because something that Kira doesn't see happens, and Tori looks back at her and smiles. "They're gone now."
"Uh, gone… where?"
"Just further away from here for a couple of minutes."
There's so many things she wants to say in response to that, but Kira doesn't know where to start. Ninjas are truly something different. Good different, bad different, she hasn't decided yet. Weird different, for sure, though.
"Okay," she says, slowly, instead, "Um… yeah, I just came here 'cause I wanted to see you."
Tori gives her a confused look, "You could've called. You didn't have to come all the way out here."
"I mean… I just wanted to see you in person," Kira says, shrugging slightly.
That gets Tori's attention, and she raises her eyebrows, putting a hand on Kira's shoulder in concern, "Babe? Is everything okay?"
Kira shrugs again, "Yeah, like I said. I just wanted to see you. Classes are just... a lot."
Tori smiles a little, "C'mere." She opens her arms for a hug, but Kira warily looks down at the space between them, more specifically at the land dropping off into the lake. Somehow, Tori has been standing on the water the entire time, and now that Kira's started thinking about it, she finds it
super
weird. And distracting.
"Uh."
Her girlfriend follows her eyes and rolls her, "Don't worry. I won't let you fall."
"Why don't you just step back on the ground where everything's
not
a liquid?" Kira asks.
"Because I should be getting back soon," Tori answers, "But, come on, trust me." She holds her hands out to Kira, palms facing up.
Kira can't say no to that, but she takes Tori's hands slowly, hesitating a lot as she takes her first step onto the lake. The moment her shoe touches the water, some sort of invisible pressure pushes up against it, keeping her foot from falling through. "Whoa--"
She wavers, and Tori firmly grips her hands. "I gotcha."
"Oh, this is
so
weird," Kira mutters as she slowly puts her other foot onto the lake, still expecting to just fall into the water at any moment.
"Wasn't so bad, was it?" Tori asks, grinning.
"I'm
so
anxious right now," Kira says, huffing, and pulls Tori into a close hug, resting her head on her girlfriend's chest. "I missed you," she murmurs into the leather of Tori's uniform.
"I missed you, too," Tori replies, pressing a kiss to the top of Kira's head, "Do you wanna come inside and lay down? I'm here for a few more hours, but we can head home after that."
"Lay down… where?" she asks, pulling back from the hug and fixing Tori with an incredulous look.
"On a… bed?" Tori chuckles, "You don't think we sleep on the floor, do you?"
"I… might have."
Tori sighs, "I guess I have to give you the grand tour, then. Come on." She grabs Kira's hand and gently and slowly guides her along across the lake, patiently steadying her every time Kira feels like she's about to fall over.
They reach where the waterfall comes roaring down, but none of the water even touches or splashes on their clothes or skin. Kira glances at Tori, silently raising her eyebrows. Somehow, this is her doing.
"I know you can keep a secret because, you know, we're Rangers," Tori says, smiling eagerly, "Are you ready to see something truly amazing?"
It's so stupidly corny, and she'd kick Conner into a ditch if it ever got back to him that she was going around saying these
things,
but Kira answers with a shy grin, "I'm already looking at her."
The pressure disappears from underneath her feet. Kira falls into the lake with a shout, finding it shallower than she thought it'd be, but she's still
soaking,
nevertheless.
"Tori!" she exclaims.
Her girlfriend clamps a hand over her mouth, trying to suppress amused laughter. "I'm so sorry--" Tori says between breaths, "I just-- You just caught me off-guard!"
"I trusted you!" Kira pouts and tries to flick some water at Tori, but she feels like not a single drop landed.
"I'm
sorry,
" Tori repeats then holds out a hand for Kira to take.
She begrudgingly does, the pressure returning underneath her shoes once Tori has helped her up. "I hope you have dry clothes inside," Kira says, scowling.
Tori smirks a little and waves her hand over Kira, instantly drying her clothes.
"H…
how?
" Kira gapes.
"Ninja," Tori answers, simply, then waves her hand at the waterfall, too. The same portal she'd walked out of earlier appears. She slips her hand into Kira's, "Ready?"
"Sure. You're gonna teach me how to do that, right?"
"Absolutely not."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Pulling the blanket up closer to her chin, Tori rests her head against the windowpane, breathing out a soft sigh. It's only for a brief moment, but her breath mists against the glass. She reaches out and rubs it away with her thumb. Faintly, she can hear Kira clattering around in the kitchen and the soft whir of their electric kettle as her girlfriend turns it on. Then, soft footsteps, and Kira is standing a few feet away at the doorframe of their bedroom, arms crossed, watching her.
"Hey," Kira murmurs.
"SoCal doesn't deserve to have a winter," she says back in greeting.
Kira chuckles a little bit, "Yeah, sure. Do you wanna move to the bed?"
"No," Tori answers, slightly childishly, drawing her knees up closer to her chest to better not ache later when she gets up. Kira fits on this little window alcove better than she does, but Tori's determined, no matter what season it is.
"
Can
you move to the bed?" Kira asks, hopefully.
"Why?" Tori mumbles into her blanket.
"Lunch in bed and… we can watch a movie?"
"What movie?"
"Uh…" Tori looks over as Kira glances through the DVDs stacked in the cabinet underneath their TV stand. "Well, we have… the usuals. I could go see what's at Blockbuster?"
Tori groans and half-rolls off of the window seat then flops down on the bed, dragging her blanket with her. "Don't leave," she says, muffled by her face pressing into a pillow.
"So,
Bring It On?
"
"Mm, sure."
Tori almost dozes off in the minutes after that, even though it's only noon, but Kira returns with two plates -- one of pancakes, one of waffles -- expertly balanced on one arm and two mugs in her opposite hand, setting them down on her bedside table. Tori hardly feels hungry since she just barely exists during the winter, but she drags herself into a sitting position and grabs a mug and the plate of pancakes.
Kira winks at her then goes to pop
Bring It On
into the DVD player, "Sure you don't want the waffles?"
"Oh, I'm sure," Tori says, faking a scowl, and grabs the remote, turning the TV on.
Kira climbs into bed next to her and starts cutting up her waffles, "We should take a vacation."
"You mean
after
finals, right?" Tori asks, not moving to dodge when Kira teasingly tries to wave a piece of waffle near her mouth. After a moment of disgruntled silence, she bites the piece off of Kira's fork and chews.
"We could go tomorrow," Kira jokes, shrugging, but Tori knows she cares way too much about school to actually just bail like that, "Somewhere nice and warm. Plenty of sun for you."
"We don't have the money for that." Tori snorts and takes a sip of her hot cocoa. It's not the same as being in actual warmer weather, but the heat gives her a few seconds of a pick-me-up, just a small taste of how much better she feels when winter doesn't have its cold hands over everything. She's just glad that it doesn't ever really snow in Blue Bay otherwise she and every other water elemental around would be royally screwed.
Kira grins, "We don't, but you know who does?
Kimberly.
"
"Uh-huh, and how do you think you'll go about asking her?"
"Well, uh, we're in love and you need some sun otherwise you're gonna be totally miserable," Kira suggests, smiling.
Tori gives her a side glance, taken aback for a moment, then looks back at the TV and takes a bite of her pancakes. She chews and swallows before speaking. "Sounds like a plan, then. I love you, too."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tori does this thing when she reads that drives Kira up the damn wall. Kira is pretty good with not making unnecessary noise when she writes. She doesn't keep still, of course, but she doesn't crinkle the goddamn page corners of her notebook. It doesn't help that their apartment is only two rooms large, and they're both lounging in the living room. Extra and external noise is just hard for her to deal with. Kimberly has thrown around the word ADHD, but Kira's not sure if she has it or not. Either way, her attention span is definitely messed whenever there's not complete silence or she doesn't have some semblance of control over the noise."Can you, like, not do that?" she asks after Tori crinkles the twenty-millionth page for some God forsaken time in three hours.Tori glances up from her book and raises her eyebrows, "What, this?" She fidgets with the corner of the page she's on, and Kira flings her pen at her girlfriend."Screw you."Laughing, Tori easily and adeptly catches the pen before it hits her in the face. Kira's long given up on trying to ever scare Tori or even be able to throw anything at her. It's a useless and hopeless cause. However, Tori's smile is brighter today, so Kira doesn't really mind."Writer's block?" Tori asks, curiously, tossing the pen back at Kira.The notebook in Kira's lap is tilted toward her, but she hasn't written anything down in hours, and it doesn't take a ninja to notice that. "Yeah," she sighs, running a hand through her hair, "I want something, like, I don't even care if it's the words that come first or the melody, you know? I still don't have enough to go to the cutting board for album number two.""Take a break?" her girlfriend suggests, "Relax your mind."Kira teases, "Is that ninja advice?"Tori snorts and dog-ears her page, to which Kira frowns, then sets her book down on the coffee table, "You want ninja advice?""I don't think ninja advice would help me, actually, but I'm open to it," Kira says, chuckling."Okay, I'll take this…" Tori pries Kira's notebook and pen out of her hands and puts them on the coffee table as well then gently places a hand over Kira's eyes, "Alright, close your eyes and take a deep breath."Kira does so."Make sure you take that breath in all the way until you feel like it can't go any further and then let it go. Slowly."Her eyes are still closed, but she can feel Tori's hand still over her eyes as she gradually exhales, not feeling anything click but her chest feeling slightly clearer. If only for some fake psychological effect or whatever. When the last of her breath is gone, Kira feels Tori's hand leave her eyes, and then a weight presses down on her as Tori climbs over to her end of the couch, straightens her legs out, and straddles her in one fluid movement.Kira opens her eyes and gazes into Tori's blue ones. Her girlfriend smiles innocently. "I feel… like I've been tricked," Kira comments."Maybe."She raises her eyebrows, "So, this ninja exercise?""It's tried and approved," Tori quips."Oh, yeah? By who?""Whom.""Who's the songwriter here? You're about to ruin the mood. That you started." Kira rolls her eyes and leans up, pulling Tori into a slow, soft kiss. "What's this you said about me relaxing my mind?" she murmurs."Oh, um," Tori licks her lips as she draws back and slides her hands down to the hem of Kira's shorts, "Just you laying back and enjoying yourself."Kira clears her throat and squirms a little bit at the sound of that, her breath catching. "Well, uh, that'd be… nice," she says at a loss for coherent thoughts and words already with the way Tori's looking at her.Tori smiles. "That's the point." She scoots back on the couch and pulls Kira's shorts just a bit down, dipping her head to kiss along the curve of Kira's waist."Oh, it's gonna be like that, huh?" Kira groans, already arching her back off of the couch.Tori tsk's and pins her hips down with her free hand. "Patience is a virtue," she says in a falsely chiding tone.Kira complains, a whine almost leaving her throat too early when Tori kisses the curve of her hip and lightly grazes her teeth against the skin there, "When have we ever -- mmm -- cared about those? ""I'm taking care of you," Tori reminds her, "Just lean your head back and relax. "Relaxing isn't a problem for Kira. Usually. But special circumstances call for different things, which is why Tori of all people is telling her to relax. Kira sighs and closes her eyes, forcing herself to just chill out or do so as best as she can while Tori casually riles her up beyond all hell. With her eyes closed, Kira can feel every gentle touch against her skin. Tori's lips, the tickling but faint brush of her hair, Tori's fingers softly tapping out some random pattern on her thigh as she kisses along Kira's hip.Between Tori finally pulling her shorts off and nudging her knees apart and her tongue, Kira loses track of pretty much everything else, not even really paying attention to what she says except she knows that a lot of it is Tori's name over and over and strings of cusses. However, after she comes down and Tori is helping her clean up, her fingers tap out a random pattern on the couch's armrest. It's not polished, and it doesn't have a sound yet, but it's an idea.Tori looks at her and grins, a little bit too knowingly for Kira's taste, "So, did relaxing help?""Shut up," Kira mutters.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Curled up on their bed with her open laptop and her math textbook pushed onto the floor is where Tori finds Kira when she comes home Tuesday night from her shift at Wave Riders. Kira only slightly lifts her head off of her pillow when Tori comes in through the front door calling for her to mumble: “In here.”
Tori pokes her head into the bedroom, “Hey, what’s up?”
“School sucks,” Kira mutters into her pillow.
“Aw, anything in particular? Or just general suckiness?” Tori asks as she sets Kira’s laptop on the bedside table and climbs into bed next to her, mirroring her curled up state. They hold hands, and Kira feels a little better. But only a little.
“Midterms,” Kira says, “And I already cried once today when I got back from class.
And
Rachel called and asked about how my work on the second album is going and if I’m gonna be ready to hit the studio soon and I told her it was going but the truth is that it’s
not
and--”
“Kira,” Tori cuts in, “You’re about to have another meltdown.”
“You bet I am,” she pouts and buries her face in her pillow, “Everything is
so
much. I should just…” She sighs but doesn’t finish the thought.
“You should just drop out?” Tori completes for her.
Kira has considered it. Technically, she could with what she’s made off of her first album, but, also, technically, they could be living in a slightly nicer apartment. Like one that doesn’t have a creaky shower rod that almost fell on Tori’s head once or with nicer neighbors that don’t play loud music at three in the morning. But, to Kira, it’s a principle thing.
“I--” She sits up and runs her free hand through her hair, messing it up, “I don’t want to, you know? I’m first gen. What’s the point of being proud of that when I just drop out and don’t try to finish college? Like, I
want
to be here. Even if the future Bridge came from comes true where I’m some famous pop star or whatever, I don’t want my Wikipedia page to say that I gave up on school and used my fame and fortune to live out the rest of my days. I wanna do this for me.”
Tori sits up, too, and brushes a strand of hair out of Kira’s face, “And you will. You’ve come so far already. Didn’t you say that kids used to tease you in high school about never making it to college?”
“Yeah,” Kira frowns, “I taught myself the guitar, but I wasn’t in band or orchestra for, like, seven years or whatever, so I got a couple of talks from other kids and teachers about how my ‘rebellious attitude’ wasn’t gonna get me anywhere in life.” She sticks out her tongue when she makes the air quotes around “rebellious attitude” and rolls her eyes.
“And look where you are now,” Tori says, encouragingly, giving Kira a gentle nudge with her hand, “You’re gonna make it. I promise. You wanna know why?”
“Because you believe in me?” Kira asks, expectantly, raising her eyebrows.
“No,” Tori answers, leaning over and kissing her, softly, smiling when she pulls away, “Because
you
believe in yourself. And you’ll have my support the entire way.”
Kira blushes and scrunches up her nose, “That’s so dumb and gross.” She puts her hand on the back of Tori’s neck and pulls her in for another kiss, “Thank you.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The funeral of Mrs. Oliver is the first Tori has been to where she sees Tommy cry. She still doesn't know him quite as well as Kira does because he tends to keep to himself and, since Kira moved in with her in Blue Bay, they're not in Reefside as often as they'd like to be. But, they're here, now, and she can't help but feel extremely awkward, despite the occasion itself. The original Rangers are there, too, and some others who were close to Tommy are spread around in the crowd, too. There are two men next to Tommy who Tori doesn't recognize -- the older man looks nothing like him, so Tori assumes he's Tommy's father, and the other looks strikingly similar, so he must be the twin brother Kira mentioned once.
Tori glances at Kira, who isn't quite looking at Tommy, either, but rather at the ground.
"He's known for a long time," Kira whispers under her breath, "The diagnosis came right after our first reunion -- you know, my first reunion with him."
"Yeah," Tori says back because she has nothing else to say.
There's a public reception at Tommy's house after the funeral, and, then, after that, a private one where only the Rangers stay behind and only they know about that one.
Tommy disappears into his bedroom, and Kira, Conner, Ethan, and Trent just sit outside of his bedroom door as if they're there to keep people out or keep Tommy in. Tori doesn't quite know, but she checks on them from time to time. Kira takes to sitting against the door the fastest, pressing her ear to it to make sure, maybe, that Tommy's still breathing in there. Trent has his sketchpad out, but he hasn't drawn a single line on it for hours.
Tori brushes past other Rangers, joining Kimberly and Kat in the kitchen as they sort through the food brought in kindness. Tommy is one man living alone with, occasionally, Hayley swinging by to spend the night every now and then. It's not all for him, presumably, but for the people who will be checking up on him in the weeks after the funeral, which Tori has now just added herself to the list without prompting.
The conversation Kimberly and Kat are having doesn't stop when Tori walks into the kitchen, which she appreciates a bit.
"I don't wanna open up any old wounds," Kimberly is saying, shaking her head, hands gripping the countertop edge a little tensely.
"He
needs
you--" Kat protests, and Tori gets what's going on.
"He needs to lean on people who're stable right now," Kimberly argues, firmly, "And I can't be that."
"He needs his team."
The words hang in the air with no response from Kimberly. Tori quickly grabs the glass of water that she'd come in for and leaves, not wanting the grit of the conversation to stick to her skin and follow her out of the room.
When she rejoins Kira and the other Dino Rangers in front of Tommy's bedroom door, Trent has somehow gotten his hands on an orange prescription bottle. Tori raises her eyebrows in question, and he tosses it to her. She catches it with her free hand without really trying and shakes it. Empty. Zoloft made out to one
Oliver, Thomas
to be taken once daily from Walgreens.
"I can go get it refilled," Tori offers, instinctively.
Kira stands, almost as if she's about to invite herself along, but then, the door behind her opens, and Tommy emerges, unbuttoning his sleeves and rolling them up. He's still in his funeral clothes sans the jacket and tie, collar wrinkled and eyes tired.
"I'll go with you," he says, quietly, stopping in the door frame.
Kira looks at Trent who looks at Conner who looks at Ethan who looks at Tori. They're afraid of him, not in the way that students are respectfully afraid of their teacher, but in the way that people are afraid of grieving people, treating them like fragile porcelain.
Tori ignores Ethan's silent question of what to do next and nods at Tommy, "If you're good to go, sure." Kira shoots Tori a look that's something short of betrayal, but Tori doesn't pay her any attention right now, either.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Tommy replies. He probably doesn't mean it in the other way.
"Alright. We'll take my van," Tori says and goes to find her purse in the living room.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
When Tori unlocks Tommy's front door with her spare key, she doesn't expect to walk into the house hearing the sound of running water. Tommy is at work, so he's not due at home for another couple of hours. Tensing, Tori gently closes the door, making sure that she doesn't make too much noise, even though the sound of the kitchen sink would probably drown it out. She glances around as she tiptoes to the kitchen, noting that nothing seems out of place. The door hadn't been unlocked when she got here, so that was a good sign. Presumably.
Coming to the entryway where the living room leads into the kitchen, Tori presses herself against the wall and peeks around the corner, but she can't get a good angle to see who Tommy's unexpected visitor is. Frowning, she concentrates and thinks about the stream of water flowing from the kitchen faucet then clenches her hand into a fist.
From inside the kitchen, a man's voice shouts out in surprise, the sound of running water stops, and Tori rushes in, fists up and ready for a fight.
Billy Cranston, hair soaked and dripping onto his clothes and the floor, turns around and blinks at her.
"
Billy?
" she asks, dropping her stance.
"Tori?" He pats the wet collar of his shirt, "What are you doing here?"
"Kira and I have been checking up on Tommy from time to time, you know, after the funeral," Tori says, "What are
you
doing here?"
"I know. Don't you think some of the others have been doing the same?"
Billy takes off his glasses and wipes them on his shirt. Sighing, Tori waves her hand and evaporates the moisture from his hair and clothes. "Sorry about that. We just had a schedule with Adam and Kat, so… I just wasn't expecting you to be here."
"Oh, no," Billy puts his now dry glasses back on, "My visit was definitely unannounced. I knew Tommy wouldn't be home at this time, so I assumed that him coming home to a clean house and an old friend would be a nice, hopefully welcome surprise."
Tori raises her eyebrows. Tommy has been interacting with the rest of them at a bare minimum, so she doesn't necessarily think that Billy would be any different, given Billy's special situation. "How long do you plan on being here?"
Billy shrugs, "Until tomorrow evening, most likely."
"Well, he's been quiet," Tori comments and leaves it for Billy to make his own opinions.
"It's certainly worth a try," Billy says, optimistically, "Did you come for the same reason?"
Tori nods, slightly, "Kinda. I'll drop by, see if there's anything his fridge needs or just some light tidying up, stuff like that. I usually come by when he's at work. Makes it less awkward."
"Yeah, Tommy doesn't like feeling as if he's being coddled," Billy says with a sigh like he knows all too well what Tommy's like, which he probably does.
Feeling rather awkward, especially since they're talking about her girlfriend's teacher and mentor, Tori goes over to the sink, grabs a clean towel from the counter, begins drying the dishes Billy had been washing, and changes the topic while she's at it. "So, I scared you, huh?" she teases, lightly.
Billy turns the sink back on, chuckling, "Yeah, you certainly did catch me by surprise."
"I was under the impression that it's hard to scare a ninja," Tori says in a smug tone.
"
Former
ninja," Billy corrects, "And I wasn't expecting anyone to come over."
"Uh-huh."
"I'll tell Kira that I want to be the first person to know when she gets you one day," Billy shakes his head.
Tori scoffs, "
Kira
scare
me?
Yeah, right, dream on."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
With the pace her life has been going, Kira hardly has many moments to sit back and appreciate that she's officially a college graduate.
This moment isn't one of them.
Kira huffs as she lugs her guitar case into the trunk of Tori's van, making sure it sits snug on top of the rest of the band's luggage. Beside her, Tori just leans against the van, arms crossed, and watches her.
"Some help would be nice," Kira suggests, jokingly. Tori's been helping all morning, and, well, she
is
going to be the one driving.
"I'm here for moral support," Tori replies, smiling.
"Mhm, sure," Kira runs a hand through her hair and mentally goes through her packing checklist but gives up halfway through. Too many things to keep track of and she trusts that Tori would've actually had a physical checklist that she already went through last night. If they're missing something, they can pick it up on the road. "Last chance to stay at home," she offers.
"And miss the glory of being on tour?" Tori shakes her head, "Anywhere you go, I go."
Kira ducks her head and smiles at that, "Let's just hope that Cam doesn't burn down Wave Riders while you're gone, then."
"He'll be fine," Tori waves her hand, "If anything goes wrong, he's got the boys around to help out, too…" She trails off, "You know what? I think I'm gonna give Kelly a call, make sure that she's got eyes on the shop."
Kira laughs as Tori pulls her phone out of her pocket and walks away. She closes the trunk and leans against it, staring at the sky. In a couple of hours, she and Tori would go pick up Lewis and Davey, and then they'd set off on the first leg of her tour. "
My
tour," Kira sounds out to herself. Nothing special, really. The venues are all fairly small in comparison to, well, the ones that Tanya plays at for her world tours. Kira's nowhere near that giant stadium level yet, and, honestly, she's a little nervous to potentially get there. Even just the thought of playing in front of a couple hundred or a thousand people sends a shiver up her spine.
Straightening up as Tori returns, Kira kisses her on the cheek and smiles, "Everything's all good?"
"Yep, Everything's sorted out." She tilts her head, looking at Kira so fondly that Kira clears her throat and glances away, blushing. "You made it," she murmurs.
Kira can't help but smiles, but she shakes her head a little bit, "Not yet, not really. Haven't even hit the road yet."
Tori raises her eyebrows and reaches for Kira's hand. "
Yes,
this is it," she says, softly, holding Kira's hand up and pressing a light kiss to the back of her hand, "You made it."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The third city on Kira's tour is Panorama City. Tori's never been before, but she's excited to see what she can discover with Kira and the band. The routine goes that they arrive in a new city and get the night to rest and the next day to prepare and the next night is the concert. The day after that, they're back on the road. Tori finds it understandably tiring, especially since, sometimes, Kira doesn't get that first night to rest and sleeps through the entire trip from city to city just because that's the only time she gets to sleep. Driving is wearing down on her, too; Tori has no idea how people do this for a
living.
She can tell that Kira is tired, but Kira must know how restless she can get, so all four of them hit the streets and grab a bite to eat before crashing at the hotel.
"Mm," Tori flops down on the bed, pressing her face into the pillow, and sighs, "Wake me up in five years."
The bed shifts as Kira lays down next to her, and Tori smiles when Kira gently threads her fingers through her hair. "You keep doing that," Tori says, "And I'm gonna be out like a light."
Kira chuckles. "I know this is really hectic, but thanks for coming along and sticking around."
"Yeah, 'course," Tori mumbles into the pillow, her eyes drooping.
"I mean it, Tor, you didn't have to come along and drive us. I mean, you're not even getting paid for this."
"Should I be?" Tori lifts her head slightly. "Have I been missing out?"
Kira shrugs then shakes her head, "I just mean… you're doing a lot just to be here for me, and I know this is all, you know, different from Blue Bay, so I'm glad you're here. It shows you care."'
Tori reaches up and grabs Kira's hand, linking their fingers together. "I wouldn't have missed this for the world," she says, softly, "I don't need to be in Blue Bay to be home."
Blushing, Kira leans down and presses a kiss to her lips. "Me neither."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
They're not due back on the road until tomorrow morning, so Tori follows willingly when Kira asks her to explore downtown San Angeles with her. Of course, they've been here before, but that was for Ranger duties and there hadn't really been any time to hang around since they had their lives to go back to. They find a Starbucks to chill outside of, and Kira pulls her guitar out and plays around, strumming the opening chords of
Freak You Out.
Maybe it's something in the air that makes the particular thought occur to her.
"Marry me," Tori says, not thinking but feeling, and the streetlamps lining the sidewalk shine off of Kira's guitar and her hair in just the right way and her eyeliner from earlier is starting to smudge, and that is why Tori loves her.
Kira doesn't falter, surprisingly, or maybe that should be the unsurprising part, and keeps playing through the chorus, humming to herself. "Okay," she answer after a moment, nodding.
Tori's heart skips a beat, and she blinks. "Just like that?" she asks, a little taken aback.
"I mean, you're asking." Kira looks up and raises her eyebrows, "Aren't you?"
"I--" Tori fumbles, "Um… hold out your hand." She grabs Kira's unopened water bottle and undoes the cap with a satisfying
crack.
Kira watches her in interest as she glances around, making sure that nobody's paying too close attention to them, and waves her hand, summoning a gentle stream of water that wraps itself around Kira's left ring finger. Tori furrows her brow in concentration, pushing against the heat of the air around them and forcing the water to drop in temperature. It takes her closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, but when she opens them, a ring of ice glints off of Kira's hand. "Yeah," she breathes, "I'm asking."
Kira smiles and leans over, pressing a soft kiss to Tori's lips, "Then I'm saying yes."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The door to their hotel room slams shut, loudly, as Kira is carried further into their room then-- Tori presses her against the mattress, body hovering over her, pinning her against the sheets with her weight. All of her senses are completely on fire, overdrive, burning up on the inside-- God, that could be a song.
She huffs out a sigh, loudly and exasperatedly enough that Tori stops kissing along her neck and pulls back, raising her eyebrows.
“Lyrics?” her girlfriend-- her fiancée asks.
Which is the reason why they’re rushing in here because Tori hadn’t let her start early on the drive back from the little shopping strip they’d just had a whole impromptu proposal in. Something about driving safety and how Tori doesn’t trust herself to not crash them into a tree if Kira’s hands were wandering.
Her placeholder ring has long since melted and Kira misses the weight of it on her finger, but it’s fine. She much prefers another weight on her, anyway.
“They just always come at the worst times,” Kira mutters.
“Good thing you don’t,” Tori teases, and heat coils in Kira’s gut. Then, to Kira’s surprise, Tori gets off of her and stands, straightening her clothes out.
“Wha-- I thought we were--” Kira sputters, propping herself up on her elbows.
“Hold on,” Tori sighs, rolling her eyes, “You’re so impatient.”
Kira gasps, offended. “Me? You ninja streaked across the country to sleep with me!”
“I never said I wasn’t.” Tori shrugs. “I’ll be right back.”
Kira blinks. “Where… where are you going? Because, if you don’t plan coming back with an actual ring, then you better not leave.” She says it seriously, but the teasing smirk on her face lets Tori know that she’s joking. “Seriously, though…” Kira gestures to herself. “Where are you going?”
Tori grabs the ice bucket from the kitchen counter and waves it. “To get ice.”
“With what cocktails?” Kira snorts.
“Not for drinking,” Tori replies, winking as she leaves the room.
Kira’s left to ponder what the hell that means while her girlfriend-- fiancée is gone. She knows Tori won’t be gone long because the ice dispenser is just down the hallway, so Kira briefly considers the thought of getting a head start, and it’s very tempting, but she doesn’t. Mostly because the hotel notepad sitting on the bedside table catches her eye and she lunges for it, grabbing a pen to quickly scribble down those lyrics she had in her head just now.
Tori comes back in just as Kira is finished writing another few lines that pop into her head. “Anything good?”
“I don’t know yet.” Kira sets the notepad and pen back down on the bedside table. Now that Tori’s back, she’s tuned back into how her body is positively buzzing with anticipation and excitement. Maybe she’s a little impatient. She nods at the ice bucket which Tori sets down on the bedside table, lid off. “Got what you needed?”
“Got what I wanted,” Tori replies then leans over and pulls her into a kiss, putting a hand on the back of her neck in just the way that lets Kira know what the tone is going to be for tonight. She hums into the kiss and lightly bites Tori’s lower lip, testing the waters.
Tori pulls back, eyes lighting up mischievously. “You’re wearing too many clothes,” she murmurs, straddling Kira and pushing her back down on the bed.
“Sounds like a personal problem,” Kira drawls.
“How do you feel?” Tori asks as she leans over, her hair falling in waves and tickling Kira’s cheek. Her fingers work way too slowly at the buttons on Kira’s flannel shirt, and she can tell it’s on purpose because she’s seen Tori rip off more layers of her clothes faster than this.
Kira groans a little, unable to keep the impatience out of her voice. “Excited,” she answers, quietly, “Eager.”
Tori unbuttons Kira’s shirt but doesn’t move to help her out of it, instead just opening it so that she can gaze at Kira’s torso. Her eyes wandering, she lightly scratches her fingers down Kira’s abs.
Kira’s breath hitches, and she shrinks back into the mattress, instinctively shying away from how sensitive she gets when Tori does that. “Tori,” she mutters, exasperatedly, in a hurry the hell up tone, but Tori doesn’t quicken her pace any bit.
“What about here?” Tori asks, her hand drifting down to rest just above the hem of Kira’s jeans, “How do you feel here?”
Like she’s going to implode. “Warm,” she manages to get out, swallowing dryly.
Tori flattens her palm on Kira’s stomach, her fingertips just barely slipping underneath the denim of Kira’s jeans.
“Hot,” Kira gasps, cursing herself for sounding so desperate already, “Tori, please.”
She holds back a shudder as Tori leans over and brushes her lips against her ear. “Safeword?”
“Linen.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Always,” Kira breathes but can’t help the needy whine that leaves her throat when Tori straightens up. Thankfully, though, Tori doesn’t get up, but she does hold her hand out toward the ice bucket. Kira watches, intrigued, as an ice cube slowly floats from the bucket and into Tori’s waiting hand. “Neat trick,” she comments, and Tori rolls her eyes.
Tori brings the ice cube near Kira’s lips. “Can you open your mouth for me?”
Kira raises her eyebrows but does so, slightly shivering when the ice cube first touches her lips then her tongue.
“Don’t swallow it, and don’t bite it.”
“You--” Kira has a little bit of a hard time speaking around the ice cube, so she rolls it to the side of her mouth. “You put ice in my mouth and tell me not to chew it?”
“It’s bad for your teeth,” Tori says, her tone slightly exasperated like she’s talking to Dustin. Kira hates that. She’s not a scatterbrained, wild child Yellow.
Sometimes.
“Says who? It’s just water.”
“Don’t chew it,” Tori repeats.
“Fine,” Kira huffs.
Then, Tori drops another condition on her. “And you can’t talk until it melts entirely. Or unless you need to tap out.”
“Wha--” Kira tries to sit up, but Tori’s weight on her hips doesn’t let her get very far.
Tori raises her eyebrows, expectantly.
The ice cube is freezing in her mouth, and Kira dryly swallows a few drops of water that it’s melted back into. She doesn’t say anything.
Gently, Tori pushes Kira back onto her back, holding her other hand out blindly to summon another ice cube. Kira’s starting to get a feeling that she isn’t going to enjoy this initially. Call it her Ranger intuition. Nervously in anticipation, she presses her tongue against the ice cube in her mouth, trying to make it melt faster.
“Stop that,” Tori murmurs.
Kira clears her throat and tries her best to not move.
Tori holds a second ice cube in her hand, now, and tilts her head at Kira. “You said you were hot, so…” And that’s when Kira starts to suspect that maybe Tori’s been planning this since the drive back from the shopping strip.
The ice cube touches her skin, right beneath her bra, and Kira clenches her left hand into a fist, her nails digging into her palm, and punches the mattress, hissing through her teeth. It’s freezing, trailing sharp bites like the tip of a knife along her skin as Tori slowly drags it down Kira’s stomach, tracing the outline of her abs. She reaches the hem of Kira’s jeans then abruptly removes the ice cube and closes her fist around it. When she opens her palm, it’s gone, presumably evaporated back into the air thanks to her powers.
Kira is burning, her insides on fire with the most impatient desire. Hearing another lyric, she sighs, loudly.
Tori chuckles. “Another one? It’s like I’m your muse.”
Pouting, Kira crushes the ice cube between her teeth in one bite, swallows, then mutters, “Fuck you.”
“I said no chewing.” Tori shakes her head. “Besides, you should thank me. It seems like you get really inspired in bed.”
Kira playfully glares at her.
Tori just smugly smiles and summons another ice cube, slipping it in Kira’s mouth. Her fingertips linger, though, brushing against Kira’s lips.
Softly moaning, Kira gently bites down on the tip of Tori’s index finger until Tori pulls her hand away. Then, just out of pettiness, she chews up the second ice cube in her mouth.
Tori tsks at her. “That’s okay,” she murmurs, sighing a little faux disappointedly, scratching her fingertips along Kira’s stomach again, “I’ve still got a whole bucket of others.”
Oh, she definitely planned this, alright.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
After Kira’s tour ends, Tori doesn’t have much time to rest and relax since she has to get back to teaching her classes at the academy. There’s only so much Shane and Dustin can do to cover what she normally does -- and, of course, they can’t teach her water ninjas any elemental practice. That she has senior students for, but a sensei’s touch is usually always the best teacher.
That being said, she knows Kira’s been going stir crazy at home already, even when she’s supposed to be taking a huge break after all the touring she’s done. Kira’s such a unique mix of all-around personality that Tori finds it a little hard to keep up with. Sometimes.
Other times, they’re both on the same wavelength about things.
This is not one of those times.
Or, at least, that’s what Tori tells herself as Kira presses up against her and slips a hand down her pants, rubbing Tori right where her uniform is inexplicably too tight now. She tries to bite back a moan, but it comes out, anyway, as Kira kisses along her jawline and smirks against her skin.
“You think this counts as a teacher fantasy?” Kira murmurs, and Tori wishes her hands were free so she could smack her on the arm. As they are, her wrists are tied over her head, secured by climber’s rope and attached to a hook that Tori feels is supposed to be meant for coats yet is now being used to keep her tied down while Kira fucks her in the backroom of Ninja Ops.
Tori tries not to think about how many moral principles she’s defiling as Kira slips another finger inside of her. “Fuck,” she breathes, instead, not answering Kira’s question.
“That’s the idea,” Kira hums, chuckling.
Her mind going back to the question, Tori grumbles, “We’re not roleplaying.”
“We could,” Kira says, grinning.
“Even if I wanted to right now, we don’t have enough time,” she stresses, “Because the boys could come back from getting lunch any minute, Kira. In-n-Out isn’t that far from here.”
Kira shrugs, curls her fingers and makes Tori jerk her hips and bang her head loudly against the wall behind her. “Maybe they’ll run into lunch traffic.”
“Oh, fuck!” she gasps, gritting her teeth together, “I hate you.”
“I think it’s only fair,” Kira continues, teasingly, “Cam took your van to get lunch, now we’re using the backroom to, ah, freshen up.”
“This is the exact oppo-- ohhh, God.”
“Hm? What was that?”
Tori glares at her. She’s about to say something about how Kira’s got such a mouth and she should put it to good use, but then Tori hears the familiar sliding of Ninja Ops’ cavern door and she tenses. “Kira!” she hisses.
Nonchalantly, Kira reaches out with her free hand and slaps the light switch, plunging the backroom into darkness. Faintly, Tori hears the boys’ muffled voices, and she smells the takeout they’ve brought back. Hopefully, it’s not cold since it doesn’t seem like they ran into traffic at all -- she had known, of course, that she and Kira wouldn’t have enough time whatsoever, but Kira’s stubborn. Or, maybe, she just wants to get caught. Tori wouldn’t put it past her fiancée at all.
“Shhh,” Kira whispers against Tori’s neck as she gently grazes her teeth across the skin there.
“Easy enough for you to say,” Tori bites back, restraining herself from moaning at how pleasant Kira’s lips feel. Not to mention how Kira’s fingers have considerably sped up as if she’s desperate for Tori to make a loud noise. There’s a contradiction somewhere here, and Tori loathes it.
“Hey, yo, where are the girls?” Tori hears Shane ask, and she makes a quiet grumbling noise in her throat, but it’s cut off by Kira clamping her free hand over Tori’s mouth then fucking her through.
Tori comes with heavy, muffled breathing against Kira’s palm, and, God, the adrenaline rush through her body leaves her tingling, the idea of being shoved to the edge right when their friends are on the other side of this wall. Is this how Kira feels all the time? Because Tori decides she hates that she loves it.
Kira removes her hand from Tori’s mouth then slips her other hand out of Tori’s pants and smirks at her in the darkness, licking her fingers clean.
She’d be so turned on if it weren’t for the fact that, immediately after, she hears Dustin laugh and joke, “Ha, maybe they’re doing it in the backroom.”
Tori’s eyes widen, and she makes a face at Kira. “Untie me!” she hisses, but Kira just stands there, grinning and straightening out her clothes.
“Gross,” Shane is saying, “They probably just got impatient and went on a walk, dude.”
“Where? We didn’t see them when we came in. Bro, I bet you ten bucks they’re doing it.”
“I’m not betting you on that!” Shane exclaims, “Tori would kill me.”
That’s definitely right.
“Come on! Cam?”
Tori hears Cam sigh and something like maybe his hand slapping the tabletop. “Tori wouldn’t do that to me. Here, I’ll prove they’re not back there.”
Oh. Oh, no.
Oh, Cam, sweetie.
Kira’s grin only grows wider. “You look like you’re panicking,” she comments.
“Untie me or I’ll never sleep with you again!” Tori hisses for the final time. It’s an empty threat, and Kira knows it. She is, after all the one out of both of them who used her ninja powers to cross the country and, well, do exactly what they were just doing, roles reversed and all.
Kira doesn’t get a chance to, not that she was making a move to budge, though, because the door swings open, Cam flips on the light switch then shouts in surprise.
“Oh, shit!” He quickly covers his eyes, and Tori feels the weight of a thousand years of shame descending upon her soul. This is not how this was supposed to go. Not even close.
“We’re decent,” Kira remarks, holding her hands up in surrender, “Promise.”
Cam peeks out from behind his fingers then glares at Tori.
To her credit, Tori has the decency to hang her head in shame, seeing as she’s still damn tied up.
“Were you guys getting started or…?” Cam asks, his tone telling Tori that there’s a right answer and a wrong answer.
She knows which one they have, however, and it’s not the one he wants to hear.
“Oh, we’re done,” Kira says, smugly, winking at Tori.
Tori tugs her wrists against the triple knot Kira had tied her in and uselessly kicks her foot out at Kira, who steps back to avoid getting hit. “I will soak your socks for the rest of your life,” she warns, “And you will never know peace ever again.”
“Neither of you will never know peace again,” Cam admonishes then glances out the doorway to where Tori guesses Shane and Dustin are waiting in anticipation of him finishing shaming the hell out of her and Kira. Not that she thinks Kira can feel shame. “Go ahead.”
“Wh--” Tori falters then thumps her head against the wall hard, hoping it’ll knock her out, because Shane and Dustin poke their heads in, absolutely exhilarated to see her.
“Man, Tor, I had a feeling you were freaky,” Dustin says, taking out his phone, “I’m gonna drop this in the Ranger Skype chat.”
“I will kill you!” she yells, struggling, “Kira, untie me!”