a/n: this fic has been brought to you by an author obsessed with old western movies and too much time on her hands. if it isn't clear, i own nothing.
As Jinora writes miniscule corrections on the children's spelling papers, the clock on her desks ticks in nearly perfect time with the scratching of her pen as she gently corrects Yung's spelling of ostrich-horse and Daw's spelling of vegetable. The other teachers have gone home long ago, but she'd stayed after longer to finish grading the last of the homework before the long weekend.
She glances once more at the clock before bringing the papers into a neat pile and setting them down. Then, with the chair creaking, she gets up and goes to the door, her skirts swishing as she walks. She turns off the inside light and moves into the dark night, quickly closing and locking the door behind her. Not wasting another second, she hurries around the corner of the schoolhouse to her house, a small one-story affair built by the town to accommodate the schoolmistress. Her father had offered to buy her more grandiose living quarters, but she'd refused—she enjoys living quaint.
Jinora enters her home, kicks off her high-heeled shoes (lowering her height a few inches as she does so). Closing the front door, she moves across her tiny living room—more papers scattered across her coffee table, perfect, just perfect—undressing as she goes. Her cream-colored blouse has already been pulled off and tossed aside by the time she enters the bedroom. Oh Spirits, what a day. Why had she decided to give the kids two tests back to back? Today grading had been a worse experience than having to deal with Meelo during his "I know you are but what am I?" phase. She starts taking off her skirt and is almost done with her buttons when the hairs on the back of her neck begin to tingle.
Not one to ignore her gut instincts—they'd proven her right many times before—Jinora whirls around and freezes in her tracks, her blood coagulating in her veins and she damn near screams because seated comfortably in the corner of the room is a tan-skinned, messy-haired cowboy with a gun in his lap, watching her with happy green eyes.
"Don't mind me," he says, gesturing absentmindedly with his gun like he's forgotten it's there. Her eyes follow it like a moth to flame, and her skirt slides to the floor with a slight thump as the fabric hits the floorboards. "S'alright. Pretend I ain't here if it makes you feel better. Just keep right on going."
She stares at him a moment, wondering what exactly he's playing at, then decides she may as well go along with this and starts to take off her slip. As she does so, he comments, "You're not so bad, lil' lady. With all them layers on you're a prim stiff, but underneath 'em, y'ain't bad at all."
Jinora, at his next request, reaches behind her head and with steady fingers undoes her bun, causing her long brown hair to tumble down over her shoulders. With an appreciative grin, he rises from the chair and comes closer to her, so close that her inhales are filled with the minty scent of his breath.
All of a sudden, she becomes very aware of the proximity of the bed beside them.
"Do you know what I wish?" she whispers, tilting her head to the side.
He shakes his head, the distance between them growing smaller and smaller with every heartbeat. "What's that?"
Jinora drops the act. "That for once," she says, "you'd get here on time." And with that, her arms go around him and his mouth covers hers in a passionate kiss. She's not surprised by his quick pace and giggles as his lips trail down her now bare chest and her legs wrap around his torso. Soon, the sounds of the night are drowned out by their mutual groans of pleasure, and everything is perfect.
Kai watches Jinora sleep next to him, her breathing slow and deep; her sun-tanned skin contrasting heavily against the snow white sheets they're both wrapped in. His fingers play with her hair and he can't help but think of what Skoochy is doing at the moment. Probably tangled up between two pretty barmaids at Pabu's Saloon. They've gotta be careful with their aliases around here—too much alcohol loosens lips, and loose lips could wind up being their downfall.
What was his alias supposed to be again? Skoochy'd gone by Shun the last few times, his given name ("Tell anyone that, Wen, and you'll be swimming with the fishes."), and Kai had gone by either Lee or Chang. Or had it been Jun? Or Koryu—he'd gone by Koryu in Fort Bosco.
Don't matter none right now, he reminds himself. While I'm here, I don't hafta be the Yu Dao Kid, I can just be Kai Wen.
Their relationship (strange as it is) means more to him than the cash from every bank he and Skoochy rob—although he'd never say it out loud, even at gunpoint. For her, he'd learn how to read proper instead of just random letters, buy her pretty hats and gowns, make a fool of himself trying to be romantic, even give up robbing and thieving, Skoochy's feelings on the subject be damned. It wouldn't be that easy though: he'd be sentenced to jail or hanging the second he'd even show his face to law enforcement. He'd been behind bars once in Yu Dao (it'd been how he'd earned his nickname) and doesn't ever want to repeat that experience. He and Skoochy—or rather "Skoochy Nakamura and the Yu Dao Kid"—are wanted men across all Four Nations, and Kai thinks that Jinora's father, the oh-so-esteemed Governor Tenzin Gyatso, would keel over on the spot if he found out exactly what kind of relations his straight and narrow daughter has with one of the most notorious outlaws in the country.
Jinora never says it. She's never said it and she never will, but he can see that she wants a proper relationship, courting and all, and it drives him absolutely crazy because he can't give it to her. She deserves far better than the likes of him. She deserves to settle down with a nice young boy from town, buy some land and have a couple of babies, and they'll all bow their heads and say their prayers over dinner on the weekends. Despite his inability to care for her the way he should and his long periods of absences, she never turns him away when he comes back. She darns his socks and feeds him and sews up his wounds—angels could take lessons from Jinora Gyatso.
And he repays her by leaving for weeks on end. Some man he is.
He gets out of bed, careful not to dislodge his sleeping girlfriend/friend-with-benefits, and he puts his clothes back on as quietly and quickly as he can. He glances at the sheets of paper beside the bed and wishes for the umpteenth time that he could get up the nerve to ask Jinora how to write—life would certainly be simpler. But he opts for leaving his hat and gun belt on the bed: after all, she knows by now that he'd never leave without them. It's the best message he can give her, and with a parting glance he goes out the window without another sound.
Jinora wakes up the next morning to find her bed empty save for a hat and a gun belt, immediately causing her to relax because she knows that Kai would never leave without his two most vital possessions. He'd probably gone down to the saloon last night, presumably to talk business with Skoochy.
She thinks that Kai's partner in crime is quite the character—and she doesn't think of him romantically, but rather as a charismatic younger brother who flirts with anyone that moves. Skoochy Nakamura has a reputation for being the fastest gunslinger in the Four Nations and rumors are always flying regarding his soon-to-be position as the leader of the Triple Threat Triads, the gang he and Kai run with.
The first time she'd met them they'd saved her hide from some unsavory characters down at the bar who had kept on crooning about wanting to teach the schoolmarm a thing or two. Skoochy had tipped his hat at her with a charming grin; Kai had merely grunted and told her what to do the next time something like that happened. She'd known then and there that that cowboy had heartbreak written all over him but it hadn't stopped her from getting into bed with him.
She'd be damned if she knew why every time he blew into town she ended up naked before he ended up gone. Kai Wen always ended up gone.
Jinora makes her way out of her bedroom wearing her nightgown and slippers and sees Kai and Skoochy sitting around the kitchen table with coffee in china cups, discussing things she couldn't hear. "Good morning," she greets them, flying to the kettle. Her Gran-Gran had gotten her hooked on tea from an early age and as such she begins every morning with a steaming cup. "Skoochy, do you have anything you need me to sew up?"
"Nah." He flashes Jinora his patented shit-eating grin that had lesser women eating out of the palm of his hand. "I was a good boy this time; Sheriff Beifong and her deputies didn't catch me or Kai." Jinora shudders at the thought of what had happened last time Sheriff Beifong had caught up with her boys. "And how are ya, Jinora? Students treating you well?"
"Better than Kai, even," she quips before noticing the saddle bags stuffed to bursting on her kitchen floor and speech abandons her, even her cursory remark about scuff marks floats away. "You're leaving already?"
"Yep," Skoochy replies cheerfully. "I haven't been to Gaoling in a while. Everything's been redone over there. New banks, from what I hear. Figured it was high time to see what all the fuss's about."
Neither "he" nor "we" are mentioned but Jinora knows it goes without saying that Kai will be leaving with Skoochy. She just wishes she could quench her disappointment better.
"If they're looking for you here, I'll hang the lace curtains in the window by the front door." She turns her back and pours the tea into her cup. She quickly blinks away her tears that have risen and turns back around. "Will you be back up here soon?"
"As soon as the job's finished," says Kai, and she takes a minute to study him, his green eyes, earnest smile (too earnest for what the wanted posters call a hardened criminal), messy hair, tan skin, and in that moment her love for him almost overwhelms her completely and she nearly dissolves into tears again. "Our red string'll never break, Jin."
Her tiny smile grows wider and more genuine at the mention of their mutual favorite story. She'd told Kai that story when they'd waited for Skoochy to wake up from his makeshift surgery—about how strings of red fate connect soul mates to each other—and he'd used it ever since as a way of expressing his feelings for her. "If you say so," she answers, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
Skoochy rolls his eyes. "Lovebirds," he says with a fake gag. "C'mon, Kai. Tone it down."
The two men set off ten minutes later, and she waves from the window long after they become pinpoints in the distance. Then she sighs, says a prayer for them, and heads back to her bedroom. She has class in an hour and needs to get dressed.
Dinners at the Gyatso townhouse have been awkward lately. Ever since Ikki had gotten pregnant with Huan Beifong's child (and had subsequently gotten married to him the following month), her parents have been obviously dropping hints that Jinora needs to settle down too—but not in the same way that Ikki had. Meelo doesn't care about girls yet and Rohan is still young, so all the pressure has fallen on Jinora.
"You need to find a nice boy to settle down with, dear," her father says, waving his chopsticks as he speaks. Gathered at the table that night are her parents and siblings, along with Sheriff Beifong, Korra, Mako, Bolin, and Opal. Asami Sato had also been invited but had had prior obligations. "What about Akash Ling, from town? He's a charming young man."
She grimaces. She can't stand Akash—of all the self-centered bigots, he's chief in all areas of repulsion. In terms of looks he isn't too dreadful, but she'd prefer to date someone with a personality (Kai) rather than a horrid man that always smelt heavily of tobacco and vinegar. "He's not at all what I would consider an attractive creature, Father."
Tenzin flushes. "Then find someone who you do consider attractive, Jinora, and do it soon."
"Yes, Father," she mumbles, swallowing a bite of rice and beans.
The conversation then meanders to Ikki's pregnancy to baby names to town gossip, and then to outlaws—more specifically the Triple Threat Triad gang, and more specifically than that, Kai and Skoochy. It's "the Yu Dao Kid" this and "Skoochy Nakamura" that, and she's doing a fine job of ignoring them when Mako makes a comment that really sets her on edge. "Y'know," he says, "I've been hearing rumors that they like to come here. For some reason this town really interests them."
"Where'd you hear that, the National Inquirer?"
Jinora actually laughs at Sheriff Beifong's caustic comment but Mako looks anything but amused. "No, ma'am, I've been hearing it from some of the confidential informants we have in their gang. Two-Toed Ping's been a real asset." Jinora makes a mental note to tell the boys that Two-Toed Ping has got to go. "He told us that the Yu Dao Kid's got a lover here."
Jinora, who'd been taking a sip of water, spits it out, and Korra whacks her on the back a few times. "An actual lover or just a regular hooker?" the blue-eyed woman asks, raising an eyebrow like it's a perfectly normal topic of conversation. Despite the vulgarity of it all, her mother hasn't asked anyone to change the subject.
"Actual lover," Mako says, sounding pleased that he's gotten everyone's attention. "No one knows her name, though."
Jinora takes another sip of water, trying to calm down. They don't suspect, they don't know anything, it's okay.
"I don't know anything about secret lovers of Skoochy Nakamura and the Yu Dao Kid," says the Sheriff, "but I don't think it'll be that bad of an idea to set up a patrol, just in case they come into town again. We aren't about to let them out of our sight."
The normally composed schoolteacher nearly swears aloud as the other people in the room congratulate the sheriff on her idea. Perfect, she thinks. Just perfect.
And she hangs her lace curtains in the window.
Jinora sits up in bed quickly, a noise having acted as her alarm. What can it be at this hour? Had it been—no, there it is again, a sharp rapping. Someone's knocking on her door. Ugh. She lies back down and closes her eyes, ignoring the knocks. Whoever it is really wants her attention, it's like they're knocking in a pattern…
Her eyes fly open and she leaps out of bed, having recognized the pattern. Three knocks, four knocks, three knocks—their emergency signal. Oh no oh no oh no, her thoughts are crashing into each other like two trains on the same stretch of track as she flings the front door open.
Skoochy bursts into her living room with a bloody Kai half over his shoulders in a makeshift fireman's carry. She rushes forward and hauls him over to the rickety couch with all of her strength, trying to make him comfortable, and then she rounds back to the other man, nearly shouting, "What happened? Damn it, Skoochy, tell me w—"
"We were heading here to see you when we got ambushed by a posse," he whispers in a voice so weak and terrified that Jinora can barely understand him. "K-Kai got the worst of it. They shot him like an animal."
"Who?" she begs, desperately wanting more information even though every instinct in her body is clamoring to go and check on Kai. "Who was aiming for him? The sheriff?"
"It wasn't the sheriff; it was some stiff with eyes like whiskey and an expression twice as sour. Sweet Spirits." Skoochy sighs, taking off his hat and running a hand through his greasy hair, looking like he's trying to pull himself together. "We burgled a bulletproof vest from the last bank we robbed. Took turns wearing it on the way back. It was my turn tonight, and we was—we were riding when this posse came out of nowhere. Guess they recognized me from the wanted posters. The head stiff shot me in the chest. I fell off my horse." Jinora feels horrified at the very thought, but she knows her feelings pale in comparison to what Kai had probably felt seeing his best friend get shot. "He just—he pounced on the guys and they shot him like an animal. I shot the horses that the stiff and his guys were ridin' and I got me and Kai the fuck—sorry—the hell outta there."
Jinora feels nothing but rage at the man who had dared to injure her friend and boyfriend. Good grief, why does everything around here always have to be settled with violence? Despite the "eye for an eye" mantra she's always had, she's glad that Skoochy hadn't killed the man. "We have to help him." Spirits, she wishes that she was a healer like Korra, but she's read some medical textbooks before—they should help her out.
Skoochy nods fervently. She walks quickly into the kitchen and gets a pair of tweezers from one of her drawers. "Okay," she says, her voice shaking. She prays that her hands will remain steady for this—they've remained steady before when she'd pulled bullets out of Skoochy's skin. "Find something for him to bite down on. If he wakes when we're…operating…he may bite through his tongue."
They use Skoochy's belt and wrestle it into Kai's mouth, along with pouring nearly a fifth of whiskey down his throat as a crude anesthesia. Skoochy has to hold him down while Jinora pulls out bullets from Kai's shoulders and legs and back—they've all thankfully missed the chest and haven't hit anything too vital, thank the Spirits—but then they run out of thread for stitches and Jinora sends Skoochy to unravel one of her quilts. Kai had passed out somewhere along the third bullet being pulled out, so at least she doesn't have to listen to his agonized, muffled yells anymore.
"Is," Skoochy sounds impossibly young and he nervously glances over at his friend, "is he gonna be okay?"
She sighs, wiping her bloody hands on her nightgown and not caring that it will most definitely stain. "I don't know," she admits, not liking her confession any more than Skoochy appears to. "We…we'll just have to sit and wait."
And they do. Jinora only leaves once to hang a note on the schoolhouse door, saying that she is sick and classes will not continue for a short period of time—she bets the children are happy about that—but Skoochy stays at Kai's side for the entire period of time, not even leaving to use the bathroom. She has to force him to drink sips of tea and eat pieces of bread, not wanting him to pass out from hunger or dehydration. It won't do Kai any good for them to fall to pieces.
"You have to wake up, Kai," she murmurs after the second day. "Please, Kai. For me. For Skoochy." She doesn't want to say it aloud, because any insinuation that Skoochy Nakamura actually has feelings is an insult to his manhood, but she knows that Skoochy feels guilty for this. She knows that he wishes he'd given Kai the bulletproof vest that night.
Our red string'll never break, Jin.
If you say so.
Her face twists and she buries it into the couch cushions. "Don't leave me, Kai, please." Quiet sobs shake her shoulders like an avalanche. "Please, please, please don't leave me. Don't let our string break. Please don't leave me."
An indeterminable amount of time passes, then Skoochy grips her shoulder tightly. "Jinora," he says grimly, and for a second her heart nearly stops because she thinks that all of her pleading had been in vain, but then she takes a closer look at Kai and gasps because his eyes are open.
"Be careful," she warns, placing a gentle hand on Kai's chest as he tries to haul himself into a sitting position. "Don't do that or you're going to rip out your stitches."
"Jinora?" Kai's voice is slurry like a drunk's, but she's never been happier to hear someone speak. "H'long've I been—"
"Two days," she whispers. He'd come so close to dying. "D'you—do you remember what happened?"
"We was—we was riding and—Skoochy." His eyes widen and Jinora winces as his face crumples. "Spirits, Jin, they killed him, they—"
"M'right here, brother," Skoochy speaks up, barely managing to keep his tone light, like Kai hadn't almost died on her couch then and there. Kai visibly relaxes and Skoochy raises an eyebrow. "Y'know, cowboy, if I didn't know any better I'd almost think you cared."
"An' if I didn't k-know any better, cowboy," Kai retorts, although there's no anger in his words, "I'd think y'cared too."
Neither of them deny the other's allegations, and Jinora's so relieved that Kai is okay that she gives him a kiss on the cheek and doesn't bother teasing them. They're out of the woods now and that's all that matters.
While Kai is recovering, she leaves to go and get some more alcohol—to disinfect his wounds and for Skoochy to drink—but the store is closed, so she has to go to Pabu's Saloon. Not that she minds, of course, because Bolin, one of her good friends, works there, and he always gives her a discount.
As she steps through the doors, she immediately sees her target—the long standup bar and a shelved wall behind it that is adorned with an impossible number of bottles, the contents of which she can't even guess. Above those is a long horizontal painting of the fire ferret that the saloon is named for.
Between her and the bar various games of cards, dice and billiards are being played, and as she walks by them all of the men tip their hats at her, all of them probably wondering why the schoolmarm is here and not teaching their children. Her attention isn't on them, though, it's on the large crowd of men by the bar that are toasting Mako.
Brows furrowed in curiosity, she walks over there, saying hello to Bolin and placing her order along with a question as to why they're celebrating.
Mako turns around, his eyes bloodshot from the alcohol. "H-hey, Jinora!" he hiccups. "We're celebrating!"
"I can see that," she says evenly as Bolin comes back with her whiskey bottles. "Can I ask why?"
Bolin answers her while polishing a glass. "Couple days ago Skoochy Nakamura and the Yu Dao Kid tried to come into town, and Mako and his posse shot 'em up." Jinora's breath catches in her lungs and in that moment a tornado could've ripped the town apart and she wouldn't've noticed. Mako had been the one to shoot Skoochy and Kai. Oh sweet Spirits, that bastard. "Nakamura shot Mako's horse while Mako was still ridin' it, though, and in the confusion they got away."
"They're dead now, though," Mako insists, swaying a bit on his barstool. Bolin makes to take his brother's drink away, but doesn't succeed. "I killed 'em, boys! I killed Yu Nakamura and the Skoochy Kid!"
Jinora can't take it anymore. "How dare you?" she hisses, taking everyone aback. The ditty playing from the piano in the corner thuds to a halt. "How dare you just—just sit here and brag about killing people? It doesn't matter if they're outlaws, murdering someone in cold blood is a mortal sin!" She doesn't usually bring up religion but feels that she needs to strike hard. "I hope you burn for what you've done."
She whirls around and stalks out of the bar without another word.
"You're leaving again?" she says to Kai in bed that evening. They haven't been able to do anything too strenuous because of his injuries, but lying with each other trumps sex sometimes. "You're barely on your feet."
"We've been here too long," Kai replies. "Can't put you at risk, Jin."
And she knows that it's dangerous for them to stay in one place for too long because they're wanted men, but her disappointment nearly chokes her. She's gotten so used to having them stay with her that living alone again will take some time getting used to. The words fly out of her mouth before she can stop them, "Why do you do it? Rob and thieve?"
Kai doesn't appear offended but a muscle in his jaw twitches. "Because," he starts, then stops and sighs. "Because I don't have a choice anymore." He doesn't elaborate, but she understands. She doesn't like his explanation, but she understands.
When they leave at first light, she finishes the last of the whiskey and tries to fall asleep alone.
"I don't think Jinora likes me."
They're sitting side by side with their backs to the fire, looking out into the darkness so they don't lose night vision. Kai's back is warm, and so's the side that's next to Skoochy, his right side. He keeps his gun hand free all the time now, and they've both picked up bulletproof vests now.
Skoochy gives him a look that should be branded with all capital letters and a few exclamation marks. "She loves you, Kai."
"No, Skooch, y'don't get it." He gestures to himself while the fire crackles. "You—she likes Kai Wen, not the Yu Dao Kid, and I dunno if I can be Kai Wen for her all the time. Y'know?" The thing is, it's always been Skoochy Nakamura and the Yu Dao Kid. Kai can maybe imagine settling down with Jinora but it'll never happen in real life. This is how it has to be—Skoochy and Kai, on the run, Skoochy with his big ideas and Kai with his gun and Jinora out of the picture.
"She loves you, Kai," he repeats. "The outlaw in you she can ignore." A mischievous smirk blossoms on his face. "'Sides, y'all's red string will never break."
Kai scratches his balls with one hand and flips his friend off with the other. Amidst Skoochy's laughter, he makes a pact to himself that he'll confess his love to Jinora the next time they're together.
Life goes on. Papers are graded, the children are taught. Ikki's baby is born (it's a girl). Mako and Korra get engaged. Asami's father strikes gold and suddenly they're richer than everyone in town put together. Bolin starts courting Opal Beifong. Sheriff Beifong and Miss Su clash daily with one another. Meelo starts liking girls.
Her days pass in a stern monotony, like a series of identical soap bubbles. She starts to wonder if Kai and Skoochy will ever come back, if they've been injured, etcetera.
And then Kai tumbles through her bedroom window one rainy afternoon, getting mud all over her paperwork, but he kisses her passionately. "Jinora Gyatso," he says. "I'm an outlaw and we ain't ever gonna settle down together, I can't court you, I can't provide for you in a sensible way, but I love ya and I want you to be mine."
It's not an especially romantic proposal, she thinks, but she accepts it.
'Skoochy Nakamura and the Yu Dao Kid,' the papers proclaim in big bold letters later that month, and Jinora doesn't bother reading any further.
She doesn't cry. She'd known that she and Kai were never going to have a proper relationship, a proper marriage, because Kai was (had been) an outlaw and she was a schoolmarm and Kai Wen always ended up gone.
Her red string and her composure break all at once.