In Retrospect

{Companion fic to 20 Questions} There was a reason Ms. Sato partnered them together. OR, Kai and Jinora, from Asami Sato's perspective. [Kai/Jinora] Modern AU.

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The first time Asami Sato - 26 years old, a bright young woman and a newly appointed teacher at Republic City Elementary School - met Kai Fong and Jinora Windson, the two were in detention. It wasn't the most ideal place to meet them, both of them in grade seven. Mr. WanShiTong had explained the situation after herding them into the room, "A fistfight over a game of soccer. I had to pull them off each other."

Asami didn't know much about Jinora Windson, but she seemed like a respectable, smart, well-behaved child. Wasn't she the daughter of Councilman Tenzin Windson? The girl obviously took after her mother more in appearance, and she sat there placidly in detention, apparently deep in thought, her normally soft features hardening. Kai Fong, on the other hand, Asami knew a bit more about. Korra was one of her best friends, and Korra was Kai's social worker. Kai was in Foster care, a bit troubled, but he was a good kid overall, Korra said.

He was leaning back in his chair casually, but seemed to have fared worse in the fight than Jinora. He was staring profusely at the back of her head, his cheeks red. Asami couldn't tell if it was because he had been slapped, the redness not yet faded, or if he was blushing. Asami had never taught either of their grades - no, she taught grade eight - but it was pretty obvious the boy was (had?) harbouring a huge crush on the young girl.

Getting in a fistfight was not the way to improve your love life, however. And they were still young, just on the cusp of their teen years.

After an hour had passed, Asami watched as Kai and Jinora left the room, Jinora glaring daggers at him and Kai refusing to look at her. She couldn't quite explain it, but Asami felt a strong urge to smile at the sight.

(In retrospect, she realized it was because it wasa beginning of something much, much bigger.)

The second time Asami Sato - now 29 years old, an English teacher for grade eleven at Republic City High School - ran into Kai Fong and Jinora Windson, it was under very different circumstances.

Once again, she did not teach them; both were in grade nine now, their first year of high school. And Asami knew Kai was having an especially rough time of it, too. His former Foster family had been neglectful, he had been forced to steal, and had gotten arrested. Luckily Korra had a friend who was cop and managed to get the charges dropped, and Kai had been moved to a better Foster family.

Rumours had spread all over the school about Kai. The teen himself was passing by when Jinora's best friend, Lydia Burnsby had whispered loudly enough for everyone to hear, "He's pretty cute for a criminal."

Kai's expression had remained impassive, but Asami knew he was hurt.

Jinora rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, look at that evil gleam, he's a diabolical mastermind," she said sarcastically, irritable. The students around them chuckled, and just like that, the rumours stopped spreading. Even though she had meant it as an insult, to some degree, Asami wondered if Jinora would ever realize she had saved Kai from a lot of pain.

(In retrospect, she realized that Jinora had saved him in more ways than just that.)

The third time Asami Sato - 30 years old, happy and content with her career - got involved with the lives of Kai Fong and Jinora Windson, it was because of rumours this time too.

Teachers did their best not to get caught up in student gossip, but in certain cases it was inevitable, especially since she had both teenagers in her class this year for the first time. Lydia Burnsby had spread rumours about Kai, been dumped, and then had stabbed Jinora in the back by spreading more rumours that Jinora was actually "A good-for-nothing whore."

Poor Jinora had guys going up to her, asking her to "give them a whirl".

Asami suspected that it was no coincidence that when Kai got into another fistfight it was with the guy, Aaron Frank, who had been on Jinora's case the most. It also gave the school something else to talk about. The rumours about Jinora faded away, eventually, and people realized that it was pretty stupid to believe anything that came out of Lydia Burnby's mouth anyway.

(In retrospect, she realized that without even really trying, they had a habit of having each other's backs.)

The fourth time Asami Sato - 31 years old, now with Kai and Jinora in her English class - she got to watch Kai Fong and Jinora Windson fall in love. It wasn't like that from the start, oh no. It was the little things. Like how Jinora would sometimes stare a little longer at Kai than necessary, or how Kai always did his best to look anywhere but at Jinora, especially when he came late to class; he didn't want to see her disapproval. She had gotten to know them well before, and knew that they could make each other's lives a lot better rather than worse. So she partnered them together, hoping for the best.

A few weeks went by and they seemed to be okay. Then, there was a class when they didn't talk at all. The next class they talked all the way through, and Asami knew it was going to be a difficult question for Kai to answer; she worried it would cause another rift between them. But surprisingly, it only improved things.

And she started to notice more things, too. Kai's less than great dating habits vanished, he started arriving on time to everything. Jinora seemed happier in general, less stressed about school too. She caught the stolen glances they gave each other when the other wasn't looking. She caught the laughter and teasing in class. She watched them become friends, but realized pretty quickly - probably before the two did themselves - that they wanted to be more than best friends.

So right after March Break, when they were late for English and she was pretty sure she knew the reason why, she gave them an 'A' on their project. It was really well, done anyway.

(In retrospect, she realized that the seeing them reach this point was one of the best things she's ever witnessed. The only thing that beat it was years later, at their wedding, and then when they had a baby girl - Kotta Asami Fong.)