An Avatar: the last airbender crossover. Even though this set in the Avatar world, the period takes place before the series, during the time Kyoshi was Avatar. Considering I am a Kurofai fan, expect that couple.
Warnings: AU, bending the laws of physics, and flashbacks.
This, Kurogane reflected, was the longest time he had spent away from home. He put miles between himself and his culture. What for? So he could search for a feather sent adrift in the vast skies of the world. Of course, the feather was an analogy for the inane subject of his search.
Everything he had from home he carried on his back, even his heavy fur coat, which was becoming a liability within the warmer climate of the Earth Kingdom. Was the subject of his search even worth the heartache? Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the vast icy walls of his homeland, his people traveling the channels with narrow boats, the pull of the waves as they passed, the perfect harmony between people and ocean. He was a severed limb, cut from the main body of his family, of everything familiar.
He traveled along the river. The timid note of the water rushing through the small cut of land, paled in comparison to the ocean orchestra of his homeland. The water was nowhere near the color of blue in his memories. Dark stones and dirt dyed the river the same color as the earth, and green moss clung to rocks, reflecting in the surface of the water. These rivers of the Earth Kingdom were more cluttered than his home waterways. He even saw a bit of orange and yellow debris float in the currents. The debris looked a lot like clothes, and it looked a lot like someone was still wearing them!
He planted his feet on the soft earth and pulled the waves toward him. Carefully, letting the chi flow naturally from his arms, to the waves, and back again, he pulled the body to the shore. His heart beat as he recognized the garb of the airbenders. From experience, he knew that the free-spirited airbenders did not think things all the way through. He met his last airbender under similar circumstances, pulling his dumbass out of peril. This certainly brought back painful memories.
His heart thumped faster when he rushed to the body's side and noticed the blond hair. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Idiot." He voiced the insult softly, as if speaking to a loved one.
He felt the pulse under the skin and breathed, but something was blocking his chi. He laid his hand on the chest. The body's center of fire was drowning. Caressing the sternum, he pulled the liquid from the lungs and out the mouth. Without the water blocking his breath, the man coughed and spluttered, a sound Kurogane was grateful to hear.
The crackle of the fire accompanied him that night along with the muffled noises of his unconscious guest. The airbender was icy to the touch, so the best thing he thought of was to remove his soaked garments and wrap him in his fur-lined sleeping bag. He did not know if he should have wrapped him less tightly. He looked years younger, swaddled like a newborn, just like when he first saw him.
Fai. He did not think he would meet the nomad again, let alone under the same conditions. He dreamed about it, though. After all the airbender put him through, he fantasized about knocking him upside the head. Those fantasies soothed him to sleep every night as he lay on the hard earth.
Fai changed little in the past few months. His hair was the only marker of time; it now grew long enough to tie in a loose ponytail. Even when he slept, he still looked otherworldly, as if he was a mischievous spirit that just manifested in his orderly life. He stared at the master airbender tattoo, a blue arrow, now hidden behind long bangs. He knew that the arrow ran along his back, branching and curving snake-like around his limbs. An arrow marked each hand and foot. He used to see the mark often, a long time ago.
How would he react to the waterbender? Six months ago, Kurogane almost believed that Fai would be a permanent fixture in his life. He should have known better of an airbender. He just blew into his life, and just as quickly blew out.
oOo
All the waterbenders that day were called upon to fix the damage from the storm that swept the Northern Water Tribe. During his numbing task of sweeping the ocean to build the ice-wall, he noticed an unusual lump in the snow. Despite his first impression of it being nothing more than a seal-turtle carcass, he flicked the snow off using waterbending to find a human, alive but battered.
This strange fair man was not from his tribe. The most alien feature, and most noticeable, was the blue tattoo on his shaved head. However, he had no time to admire the markings, as the tattoo was not the only thing blue on this frozen man. What idiot traveled the icy terrain wearing nothing more than a robe and shawl? Without aid and shelter, this unknown man would meet the spirits before nightfall. He had no choice but to deliver him to the healers.
Wrapping him in his own fur-lined coat, Kurogane hauled him into his boat and sped to the center of the city. He hoped that they were not too busy with their own injured. The storm struck their walls hard, but the spirits were lenient; the walls weathered most of the damage.
It was several days after he dropped the airbender at the healers until he saw him again. The stranger had almost left the mortal plane, but his tribe's healers were talented enough to keep him in this world. Kurogane tried not to concern himself with the stranger. His task was done, and since he was not a healer, he would only be a hindrance. Besides, he was not the type to stick his head into other people's huts. He resolved not to care about the man, as he was certain that he would leave before the moon waned. Shocked he was when the airbender hunted him down instead.
"I hear the man who saved my life is here," he said one day, after invading the training grounds and ruining Kurogane's perfect form. "You were a hard one to find, but everyone kept telling me that my savior was a tall fella who trained a lot and looked as if he ate a bowl of sour sea prunes."
"Who told you that?" He had the notion that a little princess dropped by the healer's tent.
"Quite a few people really." The stranger was dressed in the garb of his people, yet he did not carry himself like Kurogane. His posture was relaxed, hands pulled together, sleeve over sleeve, body leaning slightly to the direction of the wind as if he was prepared to let it sweep him away.
"All I did was pulled you out of the snow," Kurogane said. "The healers saved you."
He smiled even with his face still scarred, a practiced expression meant to appease others. However, the smile was lost on Kurogane, who did not appreciate deception. What was there to say? The airbender did not offer gratitude, nor did he appear grateful, despite his ridiculously wide smile.
At last, he spoke, "Is 'rescue' the more appropriate term then? When a person rescues another person, that person accepts the responsibility of that life. I owe you at least a little favor for accepting the responsibility for my life." An ungracious debt was what he proposed? Perplexity was this man.
"I just pulled you out of the snow, nothing more," he said with a mumble, convincing himself that the heat rushing to his face was because of the sudden chill in the air. Where did this guy come from to say such things?
Perhaps ignoring him would make him go away. Perhaps not…. "My name is Fai. Can I call you by anything, or do I have to make up a name, Master Sea Prune?"
"It's Kurogane!"
oOo
In retrospect, Fai was obviously trying to instigate him. For a waterbender, he boiled over quickly. He smiled at the memory of himself. He changed since then; he could only remember his past self, fondly and with a little embarrassment. Kurogane was a different man now.
"Master Kuro-rin?" Fai said weakly upon opening his eyes.
"It's Kurogane."
"If I am dead, then are you dead too?" he said, pushing himself up. "Ah… no, not dead." The airbender breathed harshly and winced. Finally, giving up, he collapsed. Forgetting his vendetta, Kurogane kneeled over him. Pulling the water from his basin and into his hand, he asked, "Where does it hurt?" "Lower back." He applied the water like a salve and focused his energy on the battered body. Fai's body and blood pulsed in synch with his, and he felt torn muscles and the bruised skin. From the looks of him, he had fallen out of every tree in the Earth Kingdom. Fai lay before him, exposed, yet he only felt compassion for the broken form before him. Even his rage was engulfed by a great tide of relief and concern. He found him; despite great odds, he found him. Someone or something out there deposited this gift on his lap just when he had lost hope of ever seeing the air nomad alive.
The airbender's body shook, but whether it was with laughter or sobs, Kurogane could not tell. A person could cry and laugh at the same time. Between laughing and crying, Fai said, "I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out whether or not I'm lucky."
"You're a lucky idiot."
"How did you find me, Master Kuro? Did you follow a little red string?" he asked. His derisive remark was dressed in a wistful tone.
"I just walked."
Fai groaned as the muscle in his body mended. "You're really rough. When did you learn how to heal?"
"Shortly after you left. I felt my training was lacking in this area."
"Did you leave just for me?"
The waterbender paused with his ministrations, the orb of water clinging to his hand like a second skin. For six months, he had locked away the answer to that question. Everything he cared for he had left behind; he told himself that. His love for his people was as rooted into his being as his need for air. Yet, for Fai, he had, in a sense, stopped breathing, stopped living for his people. For the stray airbender, he accepted that loss. Love was too simple of an answer, but little else made sense. "Did you already forget?" he said, with words like frostbite, "Your life is my responsibility."
"Kurogane…"
oOo
"Master Kuro-tan?"
"It's Kurogane. Isn't three weeks enough time to remember my damn name?" he yelled up at the airbender who leaned precariously over the ledge. His heart stopped beating weeks ago at Fai's natural defiance of gravity. The man could leap upon high cliffs with ease, gliding himself through the air like a snowflake.
"So what are you doing so far out on the tundra? You can't be tired of civilization so early in the morning, can you?" His grin widened, satisfied with his own light joke.
"I would be ice-fishing, except you won't pipe down."
His heart still flipped when Fai leaped of the ledge. However, like all those times before that, the air caught him before his toe touched ground. The only indicator of his airbending was the snow that picked up and scattered around him.
Fai intruded into his space, as if it was the most natural thing to do, and peeked into the small hole in the ice. "I saw other men using waterbending to fish. Why don't you, Kuro-tan?" he asked with a child-like curiosity.
"I followed the current to this spot. I am able to feel the pull of the sea around me. I am in perfect harmony with water, as a waterbender should be," he said, gruffly. Something about the implication that other waterbenders were capable of doing something he was not, triggered a defense mechanism. Odd, he never cared before what people thought of him, but he did not want to look like a novice in front of Fai.
"But aren't you lonely spending your days by yourself? I have heard stories of the Water Tribe. You have a strong bond with the ocean, with the moon, and with family. I know Kuro-mu is not the most popular guy in the tribe, but doesn't the distance hurt?" Fai sat across from him in a near meditative pose. The answer to that question was buried deep within the waterbender, as deep as the ice flow they rested on, and Kurogane doubted that Fai had the will to dig for the answer.
"What about you?" he said, watching the other's eyes pop briefly in surprise, "I understand that airbenders are nomads, free spirits not bound to one place. Why have you stayed here, even after your wounds healed?"
If possible, the nomad's smile widened, and he said, "That is a good question. I wish I had an answer that could satisfy a guy like you."
He gazed at the sun, as if he wanted to fly. His expression changed to one of solemn contemplation. "I suppose..., people are bound by more than the physical world." Fai's cryptic message left Kurogane colder on the inside than on the outside. For the past few weeks, nothing but hot air and nonsense spewed from the man. That lonesome sentence stood in stark contrast to what Kurogane had come to expect from him. The airbender did not reveal any information, but he felt the raw truth behind his words and their meaning to Fai. The question remained, "What was Fai bound by?"
Kurogane felt the tug of his line and ignored it. Now was not the time to fish. "Even when I am alone, I feel the bonds of the Water Tribe, like you said, bound by something other than the physical world," he said, though he was confused about the nature of bonds as well.
oOo
Now, Kurogane knew more about the nature of bonds. Bonds connected all life together, the good, the bad, and the neutral. People formed bonds with other people; the bonds affect other lives, and in turn affect the lives of more people. When Fai happened upon the Northern Water Tribe, he unintentionally formed a network of bonds, not the least of which was with Kurogane. Fai was a nomad, so he should have been more careful with the bonds he created. He should have been careful with who he left behind.
"Why did you leave?"
"It's complicated," said Fai.
They both stared at the dancing flames, sitting across from each other, as they did on the ice flow months ago. When he looked at Fai, he thought the fire casted more shadows on the man than light. Amazing, the airbender could even hide from light.
"Why did you search for me?"
"It's complicated." Kurogane first tried to answer himself one question, "What did Fai mean to him?" That, he did not know. Their relationship was a tangled web of memories, emotions, and unanswered questions.
"How did you really find me?"
"I just followed the trail, asking travelers about a blond monk with a idiotic looking grin on his face," he said. He leaned back and soaked in the glory of being able to tease the airbender for once, and the best part was that it was true. "Master Kuro is so clever," said Fai.
"…Were you running from something?" he asked, chiseling for an answer little by little.
"Who would I be running from, Kuro-min? You? I never thought you would give chase."
"You tell me," he said, ignoring the hollow tone of Fai's voice. Fai avoided the real question behind the question, for Kurogane knew the airbender was running long before they met.
"How about we get some sleep," Kurogane said. Easing the tension in the air was as easy as paddling a canoe up a waterfall. He was destined to fail, and the tension remained even after Fai tucked himself in Kurogane's sleeping bag. With a last lamenting stare at the nomad, he settled into his own fur coat.
That night, he dreamt of flying home.
To be continued,
Originally, this story was planned as a single chapter. 3000 words later, I realized that I should split the chapters up. All together, the story should take 3-4 chapters to complete. It's still a short story, though.