somewhere only we know
They have a spot. / [Kai/Jinora] Book 4 finale spoilers.
i.
Jinora shows it to him shortly after the airbenders arrive on Air Temple Island. It's one of the many trees on the island, secluded away from the others, near a small cove. The sun filters through the leaves just right so it offers the perfect reading light. At night, the stars are brilliant as the winter solstice draws nearer and the days darken. Most importantly, it's a spot that nobody else goes to. It's her spot.
And now, it's their spot.
Kai's face lights up. "Jinora, this is amazing!"
She laughs lightly, as bright and clear as the shimmering pond under the midday sun. "I'm glad you like it. I come here all the time."
"I - and I can come here too?" he asks uncertainly. Jinora nods, smiling. He grins back at her. "Cool. Thanks."
ii.
"So, Master Jinora, looks like you finally got some time to visit lil' ol' me, hmm?" he half-teases when she drops into their spot, her gliding snapping shut. He's missed laughing with her, learning from her, hanging out with her. He's missed her.
Jinora smiles, her eyes tired. Being a Master was a lot of hard work, helping her father plan lessons, guiding new airbenders - and new airbenders were coming in from every day, flocking in from places in the Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and even a few from the Northern Water Tribe. "Sorry I've been so busy." It doesn't take a genius to realize Kai's been feeling neglected, she can tell in the way his smiles don't always reach his eyes when he tells her, after her having to take a rain-check (again) on their plans, that "it's fine."
She made sure that when she got the time, she'd go straight to him. "I've missed you," she admits, and his smile reaches his eyes.
"I've missed you too," he says. "But let's stop moping around. There's gotta be fun stuff to do. Maybe we could pick moon-peaches? Or go play with the lemurs?"
"Whatever you want," Jinora replies, crossing over to him. After only two months, she marvels at how different he looks than the scruffy, far too thin boy from the streets. He's cleaner, fuller, happier. She likes to think she's had a hand in the last one.
Kai shrugs. "Moon-peaches and lemurs it is then."
They take off, racing each other, Jinora pulling ahead, the wind whipping up her hair, when she looks back at his face and sees a content, quiet sort of joy in his face, and somehow she knows that he feels like he finally belongs somewhere.
iii.
They pick moon-peaches and play with lemurs and Lefty. They go swimming when it's hot and let themselves dry out in the brittle yellow grass. They sit side by side under shady trees and Jinora reads to him until her voice is hoarse. They sneak out at night and stargaze and Kai tells her about how to read stars and how he learned to when he was on the streets. They make leaf piles and jump in them to mess it all up and repeat, and enjoy the crunch of leaves under their feet. They practice airbending and celebrate her birthday and Kai gives her a lopsided but lovingly baked cupcake and she kisses him on the cheek. They build snowmen and have snowball fights and Jinora has to talk him out of skating on the frozen pond because the ice is probably too thin. They accidentally get into a mud and slush fight and they have to race back to the Temple when it rains, but they're already soaked with rain and mud, and laughing so hard they can barely breathe.
It's their spot, and they wouldn't trade it for the world.
iv.
It's an ordinary summer day a full two years later that Kai realizes he's in love with her. They've come here to their spot a lot of times, during different periods of the day. In autumn, the leaves turned a brilliant crimson and gold and orange and everything made Jinora's eyes look more beautiful. In winter, they made snow angels, and he thought that she looked like a real angel. In spring, flowers bloomed and blossomed and she kept making his cheeks turn the exact same shade of pink as the bright flowers growing around them, especially when she placed a crown of carefully woven flowers on his head.
And in summer, as her height catches up to his, leaving him just a little bit taller, he realizes just how easy it would be to lean down and kiss her, and how much he wants to.
It's scary, because this is Jinora and she's his best friend, and sure he's always had feelings for her, but it was just a crush. Not strong, not crippling, not intense. Not love. Until now.
"Kai?" He breaks out of his stupor to look over at her, the two of them lying side by side in the thick grass. He tries to ignore how her knuckles are just brushing his, how easy it would be to reach out and slip his hand into hers. "Are you alright?"
"I - I'm fine," he says, and curses in his head, because it's been years since he's had to lie and longer since he's stuttered while lying.
"I know something's bothering you," Jinora continues, undeterred. "You know you can talk to me about anything."
Not for the first time, Kai appreciates her kind nature, her gentle prodding, and his resolve is gone faster than he can blink. "It's just... I'm really glad you're my friend." He knows that catches her off guard, her brow furrows and her nose wrinkles adorably, her beautiful eyes attentive. He can practically see the gears turning in her head. "But a part of me... a part of me wants to be..."
He can't say it. He doesn't want to ruin what they have, because it's the best thing he's ever had.
"More," Jinora finishes, and it's not a question. He looks at her in surprise, her smile growing. She reaches down and takes his hand, and her fingers fit perfectly in between his own, like pieces of a puzzle finally completed.
Emboldened, Kai turns over and brushes his lips against hers for a few seconds, and when he pulls away, she's beaming as bright as the sun above their heads, and he's grinning so widely his cheeks hurt and he's just so happy.
v.
Jinora knows her father would freak out if he knew she and Kai were sleeping over in their spot that night, but seeing as it's Kai's last night before he departs for the Earth Kingdom, she decides what her father doesn't know won't hurt him.
She lays one sleeping bag down and fluffs her pillow, only to feel eyes resting on her. She looks at Kai, smiling softly. "What?"
Kai grins at her. "I can't appreciate my beautiful girlfriend while I still can?" he half-teases, already curled up in his own sleeping bag, using his elbow to support himself.
Jinora blushes slightly and rolls her eyes, climbing into her own sleeping bag. Her hand reaches over and cups his cheek, and he leans into the touch, placing his hand over hers. "I'm going to miss you so much," she whispers. He offers her a bright smile, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes.
"I'll send you so many letters you'll get sick of them," he promised.
Jinora gazed at him fondly. "Not possible." She leans in and buries her face in his neck, and he wraps his arms around her. Warmth washes over her, his arms solid and warm and strong, comforting. "Besides," she mumbles, pulling away slightly, "maybe my spiritual projection will be able to reach you? We have a connection, after all." Suddenly, it feels like she's eleven again, and facing the startling realization that her connection with Kai was already so strong.
Kai grins at her, and this time it does reach his eyes. He kisses her forehead, right on her blue arrow. "I love you Jinora," he says gently, and her breathing hitches. They had never said it before, even if Jinora had wished and waited to hear it, for her to say it. She can't think of a better moment than this.
"I love you too Kai," she says, and not even a second after the last word has left her mouth does Kai cut her up with a tender, deep kiss that makes her heart pound.
When he leaves that morning, only a few tears are shed, and she returns to their spot, and relives the memories. She'll wait for him, and in the meantime, remember.
vi.
So much as happened over the past few weeks Kai doesn't find it surprising that this is where he finds her. She's sitting on the ground against a boulder, clearly deep in thought, but she looks up at him as he drops down into their spot. "Hey," she greets, giving him the smile he loves so much, a smile just for him.
"Hey," he echoes. He plops down beside her and wraps an around her, and she rests her head on his shoulder. "It's been crazy."
"You can say that again," she agrees. "How's your shoulder?" He had been close to the first blast of Kuvira's cannon, far too close for her liking. What if something worse had happened, other than a small burn on his shoulder? She doesn't even want to consider it, the awfulness of that possibility threatening to engulf her, but luckily Kai pulls her back to reality by pulling her closer to him.
"It's okay," he tells her. "I'm okay," he adds, almost unnecessarily, but he knows she needs to hear it. "Don't you know it takes more than a super weapon to keep me from coming back to you?"
Jinora half-smiles, pressing a kiss to his jaw. "I'm just glad you're alright."
"You'll just have to accept it Jinora, I'm gonna be around to annoy you for a long time," Kai said, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze, leaning in to kiss her.
"I'm going to hold you to that," Jinora murmurs against his lips.
"You better," Kai replies before she deepens the kiss.
vii.
Jinora pauses on her way out the door, looking back at her boyfriend, who's only just beginning to eat his breakfast. "See you there?" she asks.
Kai smiles and it still makes her heart flutter. "Always."
It's their spot, after all.
A merry Christmas/happy holidays present to all of the lovely Kainora shippers out there. Thanks guys! :)