A/N: Ta-da! Another KoKo fanfic! Though, this one takes place mostly in the airbending temple...anyway, this first chapter doesn't have that much action; that's in the next part. This was inspired by the "He's cute!" and "Does he drive you crazy in a bad way, or like you like him?" lines.
This story's disclaimed, and I apologize for any typos! Please, enjoy! :D
P.S.: This'll be in both AtlA and LoK fandoms...I'm not sure which one to use, so I'll do both. :P
Monkeyfeathers!
or
The First Time Korra Regretted Acting Without Thinking
A Legend of Korra FF
-oOo-
summary: "You're right, Pema," Tenzin conceded with melancholy. "Besides, she probably couldn't handle the baby-sitting. If she isn't a 'natural' at something, she's not very good at it. Just look at her airbending." A single sentence, uttered by her merciless mentor, and Korra's fate is sealed.
Mainly with the kids, but Mako makes a very important appearance, hence why his character is the one chosen in the category.
prompts: baby-sit, telephone, train
-oOo-
Chapter One: Just a Phone Call Away
5:30 pm; outside the air temple; Korra's PoV
"You want me to what?" Korra asked in a dry, completely unamused voice, an eyebrow cocked and her arms crossed across her chest.
"Baby-sit, Korra. Surely you've heard of it?" Tenzin asked, the image of polite to those that didn't know him. But Korra did know him, and she knew that he was mocking her, albeit in a very 'I'm-going-to-make-it-impossible-for-anyone-to-tell-I'm-insulting-you' manner.
Bloody diplomats.
"But I don't know anything about kids! Anything! I'd probably kill them by feeding them something wrong! Do you want to come back to find your kids dead, Tenzin? You don't, do you?" she countered, her arms flailing around wildly as she made her points, and she ended with an accusing finger pointed into Tenzin's chest.
Pema sighed. "It's all right, Tenzin. We'll just have to cancel. And we were going out after such a long time, too…" she said with dismay and sadness in her voice, but Korra refused to feel too bad. This was for the best.
"You're right, Pema," Tenzin conceded with melancholy. "Besides, she probably couldn't handle the baby-sitting. If she isn't a 'natural' at something, she's not very good at it. Just look at her airbending."
Korra bristled. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What did you say?"
Tenzin gave her an innocent look. "That we'd have to cancel?"
"The other thing! About me not being able to handle it! That is so not true!"
"Well, it's sort of obvious, isn't it?" Tenzin started in his 'I-am-your-mentor-thus-I-know-better' voice. "I mean, if you could, wouldn't you be jumping at the chance? You'd finally be able to help us relax and repay us back a little since, humbly speaking, we are housing you, feeding you, clothing you, and teaching you. Not only that, we also have to deal with the aftershocks and trouble you bring because of your 'act first, think later' attitude which gets you into so much trouble," he finished, and then added as an afterthought, "no offense."
With every word he spoke, Korra felt herself grow smaller. He was right. Oh, he was right. She hated it when he was right. She'd imposed on their home, forced them to deal with her troublesome attitude, and accused Tenzin of being a bad teacher because she couldn't airbend!
Also, he'd said that she couldn't do something unless she was a natural at it. That had gotten her blood boiling.
"I'll do it!" she announced flamboyantly. "And I'll prove you wrong!"
Tenzin and Pema's eyes were twinkling with hidden mirth, but Korra was feeling too guilty and angry to notice.
"Are you sure?" he questioned with an eyebrow cocked. "Like you said, I don't want my children to be dead when I get back."
"You should've thought of that before you asked me to baby-sit, then! Shoo! Go relax, or whatever else old people do."
"Well…if you're sure…" Pema said hesitantly.
"I am."
"All right!" Pema said, her manner changing from sad and sorrowful to business-like in a minute. "Emergency numbers are on the kitchen counter in case something happens—I'm sure Tenzin's taught you how to use the telephone—and kids should be in bed by 9:00. Don't let Meelo and Ikki near sugar and you have to make sure that Jinora doesn't sneak a book to bed," Pema prattled off to Korra growing horror. "Dinner's in the oven, you just have to heat it by 6:30, not before, and for the love of air, don't let the kids know you haven't baby-sat and know next to nothing about it. There's a reason that no baby-sitter comes here anymore," she finished off in one breath. "Bye, sweetie! Take care!"
Tenzin nodded in her direction, Pema gave her a quick hug, and then both of them were lifted into the air via airbending and onto the sky bison awaiting them. Without a single glance toward her, they sped off into the night, leaving a gaping, horror-struck Korra in their wake.
Oh, spirits. What had she gotten herself into?
-oOo-
5:35 pm; on the sky bison; Tenzin and Pema's PoV
"Well done, dear," Tenzin chuckled. "That heart-broken look was breaking my heart, and I knew you were faking it!"
Pema waved her hand in the air, as if dismissing something. "Oh, it was nothing. It was your speech that really wore her down."
"It was all your idea, though!"
They looked at each other, both with mirroring expressions of smug satisfaction, and laughed at the same time.
"We still got it," they said in unison, and Tenzin put his arm around Pema, who was humming a soft, cheery tune.
The night swallowed them up, the small sound of Pema's humming the only mark that they were ever there.
-oOo-
5:50 pm; in the living room of the air temple; Korra's PoV
War.
That's what this was.
It was quieter, less violent, not as flashy, not as gruesome, but it was still just as deadly.
Korra sat on the couch, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion, staring at her three adversaries.
They were tough to crack; she'd give them that.
Meelo was gnawing on his toy car, saliva dripping all over his hand and car. Korra faintly made an expression of disgust. His eyes, though, were trained expertly on her, like a predator would watch his prey.
Ikki seemed harmless enough, but Korra knew that looks could be deceiving. She was swinging her legs to and fro innocently, humming a nonsensical tune with a large smile on her face, but Korra thought that there was something sinister about that smile, and her eyes were stuck on Korra as well.
Jinora had her right leg crossed over her left, a book in front of her face. However, Korra could see that Jinora's eyes were on her, not the book's pages.
They had been like this for the past five minutes. After the parents had gone out, Korra had stayed agape for a few minutes before finding all three airbending children and gathering them in the living room. It was an easier way to keep an eye on all three.
Right now, though, Korra didn't know what to expect, and she didn't like not knowing her opponents' next moves. Usually, she was fine with the 'live and let live' philosophy, not having the need to meddle in others' lives and have people meddle in hers (which was why she wasn't on good terms with the pompous White Lotus), even if that was hard to do when you were the Avatar.
At this moment, she really wanted to know what the little…children were thinking.
Jinora made a sharp movement, pushing out her arm, and Korra snapped her gaze toward herm expecting an attack.
Jinora raised an eyebrow. "I am getting…a glass of water."
Sure enough, Jinora was reaching for the glass of water sitting on the table that was acting as a barrier between the two parties. Korra briefly wondered where the glass had come from, and then relaxed, though she was still tense and ready to jump into action any moment. This was still uncharted territory and any unknown danger could pop up.
Another few moments of silence passed.
"I'm hungry! Ko~rra, give me something to eat." Meelo finally broke the silence wit his whine, his once-cool car now completely unrecognizable under the tons of saliva and onslaught of chew marks.
"Not yet, Meelo. It's only around 5:40. You're mom told me not to give you guys anything to eat until 6:30," Korra explained, and then continued dryly, "Besides, it seems that you've made a…er…rather tasty meal out of your car."
"But I'm hungry," he whined persistently.
"Meelo, your mother said no. You dad did as well," she invented, hoping that'd placate him for a while.
"But you don't listen to dad," Meelo insisted, as stubborn as a rock.
Korra gritted her teeth in frustration. Spirits, kids were so annoying.
"You're not me, you're Meelo."
"So? It's not fair that you don't have to listen to daddy and I do!" he countered. "I. Am. Hungry."
Her patience quota was gone for today—Korra's temper sparked, and she was just about to snap at him that no, he could not eat, didn't he understand that? when there was a shrill ringing in the air.
Korra jumped and was about to raid the kitchen—that's where the noise was coming from—when Jinora said, "The phone? I wonder who'd be calling us right now…"
If she wasn't in front of the kids and it wouldn't have affected her pride, she would have introduced her palm to her face. Of course. It was the telephone For the umpteenth time, Korra cursed the White Lotus for her sheltered upbringing—that was the only reason that she didn't know of these everyday-use contraptions. The White Lotus was so invested in 'tradition' and 'spiritual connections', they hadn't informed her about how modern the real world was.
"I'll get it!" Ikki sung, and she tried to execute a huge leap over the couch Korra was sitting on. Before she could complete her jump, however, Korra quickly stood up, put an arm around Ikki's waist, and pulled her down onto the couch.
"Stay," she commanded in her most threatening voice. Ikki pouted, but stayed where she was. "I'll go get it," Korra said while turning toward the kitchen, "and you guys behave."
The phone rang a third time, and Korra quickly ran to it. Hastily running toward it, she picked up the receiver—she was so glad that Tenzin had taught her how to use one of these—and slowly said, "Hello?"
"Hello?" the voice on the other side answered, sounding oddly familiar.
"Who is this?"
"Hello?" Huh. Odd. The voice resonating from the receiver sounded softer than usual.
"Yeah, I thought we went over that. Hi. Who is this?"
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
She was just about to snap at the voice to stop fooling around—she was baby-sitting three little demons; her patience quota was used up for the day—when she realized that she was holding the receiver upside-down. She quickly made it right-side up and said in her sweetest voice, "Hello? Who is this?"
"Hi. I'm Mako, Korra's teammate. I was wondering whether I could speak to her…?"
Korra blinked. Why had Mako called her? Wait, how'd he gether number?
"Yeah, this is Korra speaking. What's up, Mako? Why'd you call? How'd you call?"
"I used a telephone." She could imagine the emotionless mask and unamused stare he was probably using right now. "Anyway, where are you? Just because you're the Avatar doesn't mean that you can skip out on practice, Korra." His tone was accusing, irate, and pissed.
Korra was surprised that he hadn't fainted from so much use of emotion at once.
"I know I can't skip practice because I'm the Avatar, which is why I don't, Mako," she replied in the same tone. "And how did you get my number?"
"You gave it to me," was his curt answer. "Oh, and you're missing practice right now. You were supposed to be at the gym half an hour ago!"
Shit. "I am?"
"Yeah, you are."
"Oh, monkeyfeathers!" she blurted out without thinking, and then blushed. Curse Katara's habit to replace curse words with innocent ones! Actually, curse Aang for teaching that to Katara, who taught it to her!
"Monkeyfeathers…?"
"Forget that!" she quickly snapped. "I'm so sorry, Mako. I can't come right now, though! I'm kinda…baby-sitting…"
"…Baby-sitting?"
"Yeah."
She heard a deep breath being inhaled. "Korra, why in the name of Agni are you baby-sitting?" he asked in a dangerously controlled voice.
"…Tenzin made me. I can't refuse my mentor, you know? I mean, he's housing me, feeding me, teaching me…I just couldn't refuse him." It wasn't that far from the truth.
"And you conveniently forgot the fact that the championship was coming up and we needed to train?"
"…Well, not conveniently."
"Korra, don't. Just don't."
"I said I'm sorry! Why can't you just accept the fact that I may not be able to make it to practice every time? I'm the Avatar, you know. Winning a tournament kinda has to take second place to keeping peace and balance and stuff in the world."
"But you don't even try!"
Korra spluttered. "Excuse me? What the hell do you mean I don't try? I try my hardest to make it on time! Whenever I'm late, I have a reason!"
"A reason? More like an excuse!"
Korra was getting angrier by the minute. "What do mean, an excuse?"
"Don't tell me you've forgotten how to speak common English, Korra."
"Obviously, I haven't. If I had, I wouldn't be wasting my time talking to you right now!"
"You're not wasting your time, you're wasting my time! You refuse to listen to anything I have to say, and you never come to practice! You're so selfish, Korra!"
Korra's mouth fell open in outrage, though she couldn't deny the fact that she was hurt. "Oh, really? Well, then. Why don't you just go and find yourself another waterbender, huh? I'm sure you'll be able to find someone who's worth your oh-so-precious time!" Korra yelled.
"Wait, that's not what I—" Before Mako could finish, Korra slammed the receiver down.
How dare he!
A/N: Dun dun dun...what will happen now? Will Korra and Mako make up? Will Korra be able to handle the job? Will Meelo ever get his dinner?
Stay tuned to find out. ;)
Anyway, tell me how it was! Whether you loved it or hated it, whether everyone was OOC or IC, or whether it was good or bad. Until next time!
~SCYS