It was nighttime already but Harumi couldn’t sleep, she couldn’t stop thinking about Lloyd, he was still coughing too. She got so worried and decided to check up on him. But knowing that his mother would be with him, she stopped herself from getting out of bed. But the thought of Lloyd kept her awake and kept pushing her to get out of bed and see how Lloyd was doing. But she was still scared.

“Why am I so scared?!” She kept questioning herself the same thing over and over again.

~~~~~~ FLASHBACK ~~~~~~

In the bounty, Harumi was doing her hair in the cabinet. There was no mirror so she had to wing it. She was borrowing Nya’s hairbrush and it got stuck to her hair.

“Oh my goodness!” Harumi said and tried to get the brush loose, but it wouldn’t get loose, it just got more stuck.

“Ugh!!Get off my hair,silly brush!!” Harumi shouted as she tried so hard to get the hairbrush loose, too hard.

“Rumi.” A voice called.

Harumi looked and saw that it was Lloyd.

“You ok?” Lloyd asked.

“I’m fine.Just trying to get this hairbrush out of my hair.It got stuck.” Harumi sighed.

Lloyd chuckled and walked closer and gently tried to get the hairbrush out of Harumi’s hair. Soon enough, the hairbrush was out of Harumi’s hair.

“Forgive me,but I think you need to control your anger more.” Lloyd said.

“What are you talk-” Harumi asked but stopped when she saw the hairbrush in Lloyd’s hand.

She touched her hair and looked, she saw that the hairbrush was out of her hair.

“Wait,how?!It was so stuck!” Harumi asked in disbelief and shock.

“Like I said,you need to control your anger more.If you just keep on being angry,you won’t be able to solve anything.Even getting a stuck hairbrush out of your hair.” Lloyd answered.

Harumi blushed and looked down in embarrassment. Lloyd only chuckled and sat behind Harumi.

“May I?” Lloyd asked.

“Sure.” Harumi answered, not really knowing what Lloyd meant.

But knowing that he wouldn’t do anything stupid, she decided to trust him.

Lloyd gently grab Harumi’s hair and started brushing it, slowly and softly. After he finished, he started braiding her hair. The style was pretty similar to Misako’s braid but he let a few stands of hair loose on the sides.

“There.It’s all done.” Lloyd said.

“How..am I suppose to see?” Harumi asked and Lloyd took out his phone and opened the camera.

He put the phone in front of Harumi so that she could see the hair style, and Harumi absolutely loved it.

“Oh wow.I..I love it!” Harumi admired.

“I’m glad you like it.” Lloyd said.

“Thanks,Lloyd.” Harumi thanked and hugged Lloyd tight.

Lloyd blushed and hugged back.

“Glad I could help.” Lloyd replied.

They hugged for a long time, but it broke when…

Harumi suddenly looked down and sad. Lloyd noticed and stopped hugging her.

“What’s wrong,Rumi?Are..you ok?” Lloyd asked.

“I’m….C-Can I..ask you…s-something?” Harumi asked nervously.

“You can ask me anything.” Lloyd answered and Harumi took a deep breath.

“If someone you knew turned out to be…not who you expected,…will you..hate them?” Harumi asked nervously.

Lloyd was confused and surprise on why Harumi suddenly asked such a question. But he just decided to answer.

“Well,..it..depends.If…their past really turned them against themselves,then..I won’t hate them.But if they went too far then…I don’t know what I would do.” Lloyd answered.

“O-Oh..” Harumi replied.

“Why do you suddenly ask?” Lloyd asked.

“Oh,n-nothing.It’s just..out of curiousity.” Harumi answered with a convincing smile.

“Alright then.” Lloyd replied with a smile.

Lloyd moved forward to sit next to Harumi and placed his hands on Harumi’s.

“I’m here for you,Rumi.” Lloyd said lovingly and kissed her cheek.

Then he left the room and Harumi looked down again. Then she looked at the desk and saw the photo of her and Lloyd on their night together.

“I wish I could tell you,Lloyd..” Harumi said as she started crying.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

As she remembered that moment, she started crying and kept blaming herself for everything.

“Why did I do that?!Why did I lie?!How could I?!” Harumi asked herself and kept crying.

“How could I have wasted his trust?!He was always there for me!But what did I do to him in return?!I only wasted his trust and all the times we had!!” Harumi cried to herself.

Meanwhile with Lloyd, he still couldn’t stop thinking about Harumi, which made him pretty confused. But he decided to just stay quiet about it, he didn’t want to worry anyone. Hiding from other people had always been easy for him, but not hiding from his mother.

“Lloyd,what’s wrong?Are you ok?” Misako asked as she saw the expression Lloyd had on his face.

“I’m ok,mom.I’m just tired.” Lloyd answered.

“Ok.I’ll go get your medicine and we’ll go to sleep soon.” Misako said.

“Ok,mom.” Lloyd replied and Misako walked out of the room.

Lloyd sighed and leaned even lazily against his pillow. All that was in his mind is just Harumi, he did not have a clue why he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He decided to go to her and check up on her. He had to do it quickly before his mother comes back. He got out of bed and quietly walked down the hallway. He made his way to Harumi’s room and quietly opened the door. Once he opened the door, he saw that Wu was already with Harumi trying to calm her down.

“I regret everything,Wu!!I wish I have never done any of those things!!To ninjago,to you,to the ninja,to Garmadon,..and to Lloyd!I really miss him,I wish I could just change everything!Change everything and have every good things with Lloyd!!He was always there for me whenever I needed,but I was never there for him!!” Harumi cried.

“Everything will be fine,Harumi.Just give him time,he will see through you eventually.” Wu said but Harumi kept crying.

“Rumi.” Lloyd called calmly.

Wu and Harumi turned their attention to Lloyd and they stood up.

“Are..you ok?” LLloyd asked as Harumi wiped her tears.

“Yeah,I’m…I’m ok.” Harumi answered.

“I’ll leave you two alone.” Wu said and walked out of the room, then he closed the door.

“You sure you’re ok?I heard you crying.” Lloyd asked once again.

“I’m fine,Lloyd.Just…feeling a little….lonely.” Harumi answered as other tears started rolling down her cheeks.

Lloyd walked closer and gently wiped Harumi’s tears. Then he gently sat her down on the bed.

“When you’re ready to talk,I’ll be right here.” Lloyd said and Harumi was confused.

“Why…Why are you so calm towards me all of sudden?” Harumi asked in confusion.

“I’m just in a mood to talk right now.” Lloyd answered.

“Ok..” Harumi replied.

There was an awkward silent and Harumi decided to finally speak up.

“I need to tell you-” Harumi started talking but was interrupted by Lloyd coughing.

“Are you ok?!” Harumi asked, feeling worried.

“I’m fi- *coughs* I’m fine.” Lloyd answered but he suddenly felt dizzy.

“You sure?You don’t look fi-” Harumi asked again but stopped once Lloyd fainted and fell… to her.

She caught him with her arms around him. She was worried and laid Lloyd down on her bed. She could hear Misako’s voice, looking for her son. Harumi panicked for a minute, but decided that she would take care of Lloyd herself, at least until he wakes up. She sat next to him and pulled the blanket to cover Lloyd’s body(up to his shoulders) and took out one of her new tank tops and went to the bathroom. She soaked it in clean and warm water and went back to Lloyd. She pressed it gently on Lloyd’s forehead. She could still hear Misako’s voice outside of the room and was confused once again whether she should tell her that Lloyd had been with her or not.

“Should I tell her?” Harumi asked herself and looked at Lloyd again.

“She is Lloyd’s mother,so…but I can’t tell her now,it will ruin everything!” Harumi said to herself.

Harumi felt herself stuck in the tightest position. She stood up and quietly opened the door a little bit and saw that Misako was still trying to find Lloyd and was getting worried. She felt bad and looked at Lloyd again. She walked back to Lloyd and sat next to him again while holding his hand. She was silent for a moment, until she noticed that Lloyd started moving, he was burning up even more. She held Lloyd’s hands even tighter and started crying. She knew what she had to do.

“I wish I could stay next to you longer.But..I can’t.I’ve already drift you and your father apart,I don’t want you to be drift away from your mother too.I’m really sorry for everything,Lloyd.I wish I could do more.But now,you need to go back to your mother,she’s looking for you.” Harumi said and gently picked Lloyd up bridal style and took him to his room.

After she entered Lloyd’s room, she immediately went back into her room without anyone noticing. In her room, she started crying. But deep inside, she knew she did the right thing. Or at least..she thought she had done the right thing. What she really wanted from the beginning was someone who would care for her and be there for her no matter what. And so far, Lloyd was the only one who made her feel like at home. Whenever she was with Lloyd, she felt her parents’ presence. It was as if..they were with her while she was with Lloyd. As if they had helped her find someone who deeply care about her. But she had lost him once. And then she was back with him, even though not as smoothly as before, but now….she felt like she had to let him go. She cried thinking about it and kept asking herself if what she was doing was really the right thing to do. She didn’t want to believe that it was, but remembering that she wanted to make up for what she had done, especially to Lloyd, she decided to ignore the feeling and move on. She started packing her things while crying.

Meanwhile, Misako was still trying to find Lloyd. She got so worried and went inside her son’s room to check again. Once she went inside, she was surprised to see her son, laying down on the bed. She was relieved and ran to him and immediately sat next to him. She held him close and could feel his forehead was wet, she figured someone must have taken him and put a wet cloth over his forehead. She decided to ask Wu.

“Wu!!” Misako called.

Wu came in and saw that Lloyd was asleep in Misako’s arms.

“What’s wrong,Misako?” Wu asked.

“Do you know anything about Lloyd disappearing a few minutes ago?” Misako asked.

“No,I don’t.” Wu lied.

Misako looked back at Lloyd and thought she had a clue of who had something to do with it.

“Harumi didn’t escape,did she?!” Misako asked in worries and a bit of anger.

“No,she didn’t.You don’t have to worry about her.” Wu lied again.

“Then who..?” Misako started asking once again and looked at Lloyd once again.

“Is everything ok,Misako?” Wu asked.

“Lloyd disappeared a few minutes ago,I went to look for him.But when I came back in here,he was here,but his forehead is wet.Put your hand on his forehead and you’ll feel how warm the wetness is.” Misako said and Wu walked closer and placed his hand on Lloyd’s forehead.

“Warm water?” Wu asked.

“Exactly.So I figured..someone must have taken him somewhere and placed a wet warm cloth over his forehead.But who could it be?The ninja are asleep.” Misako said.

“Let’s not worry about that now.At least he is back in your arms now and we knew that someone who took him out of his room…must have cared so much about him.” Wu said.

“I suppose you’re right.I guess I’ll just go to sleep now.” Misako said.

“Ok.I’ll be in my room to meditate.” Wu said and left the room and gently closed the door.

Misako placed Lloyd’s head on the pillow and pulled the blanket to cover his body. She couldn’t stop thinking about who could have taken Lloyd out of his room.

“Who could have taken him?” Misako wondered as she kept her hand on Lloyd’s forehead.

When she couldn’t make out who could have done it, she decided to just shrug it off and go to sleep. It was getting pretty late. She kissed Lloyd’s forehead and laid down next to him, then she tucked herself in and went to sleep. While she was sleeping, she placed her hand on Lloyd’s forehead, trying to make sure that no one would take him from her again. Not long after she went to sleep, Harumi came in the room quietly. Once she saw that Lloyd and Misako were asleep, she quietly approached Lloyd and placed her hand on Lloyd’s cheek. She was on his right side and she placed her right hand on Lloyd’s left cheek. She tried so hard to hold her tears back, but it was too hard for her.

“I’m really sorry,Lloyd.I wish I could stay,but I can’t.I don’t want you to be away from your mother too…..I tried to make this work.I’ve been trying to make things right with you,but I feel like I just made it worse.” Harumi cried and she stopped talking for a few seconds.

She looked at Lloyd again and slowly pulled her hand away from Lloyd’s cheek.

“I don’t know if…letting you go is really the wisest choice.The only thing I have been wanting was…a second chance with you.A real one.But I guess…that will never happen.So…I decided to just leave.I’ll get out of your sight like you asked,I’ll never bother you again.I’ll leave for good and never come back.” Harumi said and cried a little harder, not being able to hold it.

She crouched a little closer to Lloyd and sighed.

“I hope you’ll be reunited with your father soon.I won’t get in your way anymore.” Harumi whispered and gently kissed Lloyd’s cheek.

She felt like saying the words but she hesitated. She thought of whether to tell him or not, but then…she decided to let it out while Lloyd was still next to her.

“I love you..” Harumi whispered and slowly stood up.

She walked out of the room in tears and went out of the monastery. She tried to run away but….

“Harumi?Where are you going?”