title: Blue Lines
characters: Minako, Usagi, Luna, Artemis.
rating: PG
summary: the tattoos of an Airbender are a sign of growth.
a/n: written for sm_monthly at livejournal; idea comes from an AU (kinda crossover) I want to write where the senshi and shitennou are supplanted in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
She remembers the day she was told she was to get her tattoos. Minako remembers it because it was her birthday. Her fifteenth, not that it really matters anymore. It was a privilege and one she was very proud to get. All her life she had worked hard to pass the thirty-six levels of Airbending, and when she finally pass her last test the previous month, she could not deny it had been a hope her tattoos were soon to announced.
It had been a happy day and Usagi had thrown her a wonderful party with all their friends. Minako remembers how Master Luna came and presented her with a plain brown box. Minako had exchanged a look with Usagi, both of them used to Master Luna's sometimes odd gifts (Usagi had received a set of calligraphy pens the year before, which they only realised would come in handy months later when she was, surprisingly, accepted into Master Artemis' class) wondering what she was receiving, but when Minako opened the box there were no more questions.
The tattoo set was simple and old, very old, by the marks on the bone needles, and the blue ink was clear in it's rectangular bottle.
Minako still remembers the tears that stung her eyes, Usagi, next to her, not even bothering to hide her proud tears, hugging Minako for all she's worth.
That night, with the tattoo set resting by her bedroll, the tattoos to be done later in the week by Master Luna, Usagi had whispered that it was only a matter of time before the rest of the monks named Minako the Avatar. It was the biggest gossip of the Air Temples, drifting through the corridors of their majestic home, light like the wind. Everyone knew the next Avatar was to be an Airbender and Minako was the favourite. That night, in the dark of the night, Minako had confided to Usagi that sometimes she wished it too. She felt guilty for doing so—-for one should not want more than one already has.
Usagi had merely giggled and told her that she was only thinking the same thing that everyone else was.
Minako, of course, then brushed it off and declared that Usagi had a good a chance to be the next Avatar as she did and the next hours were spent in giggles as they took turns pretending.
Two weeks later, with Minako's tattoos finally done and gently flowing down her arms and legs like thick rivers against the pale expanse of her body, the truth came out.
Trouble was brewing in the Fire Nation, looking to expand, and the monks decided it was finally time to reveal the next Avatar.
Minako remembers being summoned to the great hall of Avatars, thinking that the gossip for once was correct. She remembers how her heart had been pounding like a rabbiroo, when she entered to find Usagi already there. In that moment Minako understood what it meant to know a truth yet untold, and over Usagi's head she locked eyes with Master Artemis. In that one look, she understood, her sweet, gentle friend was the Avatar instead of her.
All the pain she thought she would have felt, didn't come. Minako walked up, standing at Usagi's right, and all the jealous and envy she had briefly thought would overcome her just a few seconds ago did not even appear.
"Minako?" Usagi had questioned in her tinny voice. Minako remembers smiling, shaking her head gently.
Then Masters Artemis and Luna had stepped forward and told Usagi the truth no one had expected. That she was the Avatar. Usagi had turned wide, frightened eyes towards Minako and whispered, tearfully, "But I'm not as good as you!"
Minako remembers laughing. Not in malice, but genuine affection for her petite friend, "Only because you don't work as hard as I do." And it was true, Usagi was a talented as Minako, everyone said so, and even Minako thought it. Usagi was just unfocused. Preferring to play airball, and race on her Air Scooter with some of the younger students, but the talent was there.
"You'll learn to be, and I'll help you." Usagi's following tears had not been for herself, but for Minako. Minako remembers that too. Minako had then hugged her friend, looking over to Master Luna for her conformation. Master Luna had nodded, and Minako had understood something else.
She was to be Usagi's guardian. It made sense. Tensions around the world were increasing in a way that made all the monks nervous and the Avatar looked to be called upon soon. Usagi would need someone to help her, be there for guidance, be a friend to lean on, and a trusted ally. Minako would be them all.
Looking over Usagi's shoulder to her two loved Mentors, Minako remembers nodding and all at once becoming the first ever guardian to an Avatar. She also remembers that for the first time in her life, Minako didn't have to be the best.
It had been a liberating sensation.
One she still clung too, even so many years later, as she watched Usagi struggle with what being the Avatar entailed. Her dear friend, sister in spirit, struggled with the weight of the world. A weight Minako once thought would have been her own. It didn't end up being her weight, but regardless, she would help Usagi carry it.
Standing on an ice cliff, Minako, one of the last Airbenders in existence, watched as her friend play with the toddlers of the water tribe. Unlike her, Usagi never received her tattoos. Her friend had been only three levels shy when they had left. It was irony, Minako assumed, that in their upcoming travels, she instead of Usagi would probably be mistaken for the Avatar, like they had joked years, and years before. Smiling to herself, Minako welcomed the challenge, because she had always taken her duties seriously, and that day in the Hall of Avatars, hers became to protect the Avatar.
What better way to protect Usagi than to be mistaken for the Avatar herself.
Closing her eyes, she swore to Master Luna, Master Artemis, and all the other monks that she would protect and help Usagi as she learned the three other elements and brought peace to the world once more.