Two Kabuki's rush around me, putting makeup on my face and curling my hair. I stare at myself in the mirror, admiring the dress Chen picked out for me to wear. It was a backless, dark purple halter top dress with a long flowing skirt. I'd never worn anything so beautiful in my entire life, I never thought I could look so good.
"Done," the Kabuki doing my hair said, stepping away. She had curled it neatly and pinned a half bun behind my head.
"And finished," said the Kabuki doing my makeup. She had dusted my lids with a dark purple shadow, winged my eyes with black liner, and put on a red lipstick.
"It's amazing, thank you," I said.
Just then, the intercom springs the life. "The ball will start in ten minutes time."
The two Kabuki's bow to me and leave my room. I stare at the clock, waiting impatiently for the ball to start. When the ten minutes are up, there is a knock at my door and Clouse opens it.
"It is time for the ball," he says.
I take one last glance in the mirror and follow him out.
The arena has been redone. Gold and red lanterns hang from the sealing, illuminating the dimmed room with its iridescent glow. Tables have been placed against the walls, a buffet of Master Chen's Noodles spread across them. Chen's thrown has been replaced by a dj, who is currently blasting Ninjago's greatest hits. I quickly find the boys, taking note of how well they all clean up.
"Isn't this awesome!" Jay marvels.
"You look very nice, Tasha," Cole says.
I smile. "Thanks."
"Don't you think, Kai?" Cole continues, elbowing Kai in the side. "Doesn't she look nice?"
"Uh, yeah, sure," Kai says. But he doesn't even glance at me. He's staring across the room at the red haired girl. Tonight she wears a golden orange dress that hugs her curves tightly, and her hair is tied into a neat bun.
"Kai," Lloyd says, irritated.
"Yes?" he says, finally looking at us.
"Doesn't my sister look nice?"
Kai looks me up and down carefully. My cheeks heat up, but it can't be seen under the copious layers of makeup. Finally, Kai smiles.
"Yeah, she looks very pretty," he says softly
I blink at him, sort of surprised by his answer. Maybe tonight would be a good night to talk to him. We haven't talked, just the two of us, since he left. There are so many things I want to say, so many things I want to ask, but before I can work up the courage, he turns away and heads towards the red-headed girl.
I sigh and make for the food table.
"Tasha, darling, you look wonderful," says Master Chen, coming up beside me.
"Thank you," I say curtly.
"I must say, it really is an honor to have you and your brother participating in my tournament," Chen continues. "And having your father tag along as well, such a pleasure."
"Thanks for the invite," I say, glancing quickly around the room for an escape. Fortunately, my father see's my look of distress and comes over.
"Chen," he says tensely.
"Ah, Lord Garmadon. So good to finally speak with you," says Chen, smiling cruelly.
"Yes, but I wondered if I could barrow my daughter," Dad says, turning his gaze to me. "I'd like to have a dance with her."
"Why, of course," says Chen. "Be my guest."
Dad takes my hand and leads me out to the dance floor.
"Thanks," I say and he hums in response.
For a while, we dance together as a father and daughter should. It's funny, actually: when I was younger I dreamed of attending some sort of Daddy-Daughter Dance, and now here I am at a ball, dancing with my Dad.
"Dad," I say suddenly.
"Yes, Tasha?"
"I did something earlier during the fight for the Jadeblades."
He raises his eyebrows. "Oh?"
I then recount what happened between Karlof and I, how I was able to freeze him when he reached for the Jadeblade, and then force him out of the way with a simple flick of my wrist. I told him about the purple aura floating about him and how it disappeared after I put my hands down.
"Ah," Dad says, smiling in an amused sort of way. "You're right, you did figure another way to manipulate energy. You see, Energy, by definition, is the ability to do work. You, as the master of Dark Energy, have the power to determine weather or not someone or something can use their energy to do that work."
"What does that mean?"
"What it means is: you can manipulate anyone and anything to do whatever you want them to do by controlling the energy they use to do it.
"The purple aura that you said was floating around Karlof, that was the energy he was using to reach for the blade. What you did was take that energy out of him, virtually rendering him useless, and then you used that very energy to force him away.
"But you must be careful with this ability. It is a power that will make you many ememies."
I stay silent for a moment, absorbing all this new information.
"Can Lloyd do it?" I finally ask.
Dad takes a deep breath. "I do not believe so. Not as easily as you can, at least. You're power is obviously the darker side to the force. This means you are more inclined to commit cruel acts such as this. Lloyd simply does not have the heart to commit an act such as rendering somebody useless."
"Does that make me a bad person?"
"No," he says firmly. "It simply makes you more dangerous."
A small smile makes its way across my face when he says that. I'd like to think I smiled because of my ambition, but I know deep down that it's because a part of me still likes to be mean.
"Hey, Dad, mind if I cut in?" Lloyd asks, coming up behind us.
Dad smiles. "Of course. I was just thinking about heading to bed now, anyway. You kids have fun."
"Goodnight, Dad," Lloyd and I call together.
Lloyd takes my hand and spins me, making me laugh lightly. And then the song changes it's tempo from mellow to upbeat, a song that I vaguely recognize from when I was just a girl, a song from before I was taken to the underworld.
"What is this," Lloyd asks, glancing around at the other Elementals, who are excited for this song.
"A song from before you were born," I say, grinning. "Makes sense though. All these people are at least ten years older than us."
Lloyd scrunches up his nose. "Are we really the youngest here?"
"I wouldn't doubt it." I step away from him and start bouncing to the beat of the music.
"What are you doing?"
"Dancing!"
"That is not dancing."
"What, would you prefer some ballet?" I retort, doing a graceful little plie before continuing to bounce.
"No, thank you," Lloyd says, chuckling lightly.
"Then come on! Have some fun! Let loose!"
I spin around in a circle, throwing my hands into the air. Lloyd laughs, shakes his head, then starts to mimic me. I do the sprinkler and so does he; I do the lawnmower and so does he; I do the scuba diver and so does he; I do the disco and so does he. We laugh and joke and tease each other for our horrible dancing, and for a while I forget about everything that's been stressing me out.
"Tasha! Lloyd!" Jay calls from the food table. Lloyd and I run over to them, still laughing about Lloyd's failed attempt at a body roll.
"What's up?" I ask, out of breath.
"Here, you need to try this," Jay says, shoving this cookie thing into my hands.
I take a bite and my eyes widen. I'd never tasted anything so pleasantly sweet in my life.
"What is it?"
"Dunno," Cole says through a mouthful of the cookie, "it's not on Chen's menu."
"Maybe it's poisonous," says Kai. I nearly jump out of my skin, I hadn't seen him come over.
"You really think they would try to poison us just when the tournament is getting started?" Lloyd asks, raising his eyebrows skeptically.
Kai shrugs.
"No, they wouldn't," I say, shoving the rest of the cookie into my mouth. "Whatever Chen's trying to do, I don't think it involves killing us."
"Why are we talking about killing people?" Jay exclaims. "We're at a ball, guys!"
"Yeah we are!" I say, voice rising in pitch. "Someone come dance with me!"
Lloyd chuckles. "How are your feet not hurting?"
I shrug, shimmying to the beat of the music.
"I'll dance with you," says Kai.
My eyes go wide and I stop dancing. I hadn't expected him to volunteer. I glance over at Lloyd and he nods furiously at me. Then I look back at Kai, his green eyes shine sincerely.
"Okay," I say.
Kai takes my hand and leads me out onto the dance floor. The song that plays is very upbeat, so we don't have to worry about actually dancing together. I shimmy and sway to the beat of the music, though not as enthusiastically as when I was dancing with my brother.
"How have you been?" Kai asks, yelling over the music.
"I've been good," I lie. "How about you?"
"Well," he says, "it was difficult for a while, dealing with my grief for Zane, but then I discovered that fighting really helped me to cope. So I joined an underground fight club, became the Red Shogun."
I smile fakely. "That's good. You know you'll still never be able to beat me, though."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Kai replies. "I've picked up a few new moves."
"Don't forget," I say, "I was once on the side of evil. I know techniques that'll have you quaking."
Kai laughs. The sound of him laughing brings me to smile for real. Maybe now I should tell him how much I've missed him, ask him if he missed me, ask him if he still loves me. But before I can open my mouth to ask these questions--
"Kai!"
My smile falls when I turn to see the red haired girl approaching.
"Skylar," Kai says. "Skylar, this is Tasha."
Skylar smiles kindly and holds out her hand. "It's nice to officially meet you."
I plaster a fake smile back on my face and shake her hand. "Nice to meet you too."
"So, you're Lloyd's sidekick?" she asks.
My forced smile immediately falls away, replaced by a very real scowl. "I'm not his side kick."
She laughs. "I know, I know. I'm just teasing ya."
My laugh is so fake that it's almost cruel.
"You're the master of Dark energy," Skylar says.
I nod. "That I am."
"It's pretty cool, but not as cool as mine, I bet.".
I scowl again. "What is your power?"
She grins. "That's a secret."
I narrow my eyes, staring angrily at her pretty face. What does Kai see in her? She's a bitch! Then again, so am I . . . he must have a thing for bitches.
"Anyway," Kai says, changing the subject. "Skylar was saying earlier about how she doesn't trust this Chen guy. It was actually her who suggested that the food could be poisoned."
"Well, it's not," I say in the bitchiest voice I can muster. "If it was, I'd be dead, because I ate it."
"You never know, it could kick in later tonight while your asleep," Skylar says.
My eyes twitches. "You know what, I think I'm going to go get some water. All this dancing has made me awfully thirsty."
"Careful, that could be poisoned too," Skylar says with a wink.
I roll my eyes and walk quickly away. I couldn't stand to be in her presence anymore, especially while Kai was staring at her like she was some sort of prize.
I end up in the corner of the room, away from the food, away from the drinks, away from the music, and away from the people. But I watch them. I watch them all dancing and having fun, thinking about how Skylar ruined that for me. The more I think, the angrier I get. I don't even notice the dark balls of energy that swirl around my hands until Cole says something.
"Tasha, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I say, glaring across the room at Kai and Skylar dancing.
"You sure about that?"
I glance over at him and he points at my hands. I let out an aggravated sigh and make the balls disappear.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Cole asks.
"No," I say, glaring furiously at Kai.
"Okay, well, do you want to dance?"
I turn my cold glare towards Cole and he flinches. I blink, my gaze softening before I exhale deeply and say, "Okay."
Cole smiles and takes my hand, leading me back out onto the dance floor. The music changes to something less intense, sort of like what Dad and I danced to. Cole wraps his other hand around my middle and I put my hand on his shoulder. Together, we start to sway to the music. But it wasn't just swaying in the usual way, it was bouncy and fun and it made me laugh. Soon, I forgot all about Kai and Skylar. I enjoyed dancing with Cole; We danced the night away.
~
Daaaance the niiight awaaayyyy!
It's a song by Van Halen. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Tension between Kai and Tasha is thick. She's also reallllly salty. And it only gets worse from here! :D
Until next time, Wacky AWAY!
Word Count: 2313
Song: