Prompt from partner555: "Can I have a Jinora/Skoochy one where Tenzin reacts to Skoochy? I've seen many dictating how they met, but not a single one (yet) showed Tenzin's reaction."

"Aftershocks"

Jinora had finally managed to convince her dad to allow her to go into the city with just Korra. It wasn't that she didn't love her parents and siblings, but sometimes she just wanted a break, and she knew Korra was much more likely to give Jinora some of the alone time that she really craved. Korra was still rather protective though. She made Jinora promise that when she was done in the bookstore, she was to walk straight to the pro-bending arena. She was not to take any sort of detours or she would be in huge trouble. Jinora had made the mistake of rolling her eyes at Korra when she said that.

Korra, however, was dead serious. "Listen, kid. You run around this city after I've told you not to, I'll tell your dad. Think he'll ever let you come here again without proper 'adult' supervision again if that happens." Jinora simply stuck out her tongue in response. Korra returned the gesture then dropped her off at the bookstore. "I expect you to meet me at the arena in an hour, got it?"

"Okay. Have fun with the cute firebender!" Jinora ran inside before Korra could respond.

That had been 45 minutes ago. Not wanting to risk being late, Jinora was making sure she had plenty of time to walk to the arena. Also, she'd spent nearly all of her money on new books and wanted to save the little she had left. She wasn't really paying attention to where she was going. She was just walking down the street, swinging her bad of books, and singing lightly under her breath.

That's when she walked straight into someone.

The person who she ran into grabbed her arm quickly to steady her. "Hey, there, doll. You okay?"

She looked up to see a boy only a couple of years older than her, staring down at her from underneath the brim of his hat. "Oh. Um, yeah. I'm fine. I... I didn't see you. I'm sorry."

He grinned brightly at her. "Not a problem, doll. No harm done." As if to prove his point, he released her arm, and spun around, arms spread. "See? All in one piece. I, however, must run." He tipped his hat to her. "Nice running into you, doll."

He called me 'doll.' No. No, Jinora. Stop thinking that way. You're not Ikki.

Sighing at herself, Jinora resumed walking, but stopped after a few steps. Something was off. Frowning, she looked down at her bag. No, that wasn't it. All of her books were there, but where was... Her money! The little pouch that held her remaining money was missing. She knew she had it when she left the store so what... That boy.

Fuming, Jinora spun and ran back the way she'd just come from. Spotting the boy that ran into her, she hurried toward him silently. When she was close enough, she dove for his middle, tackling him.

"What the-" Jinora damned her light weight. She barely even made him stumble. His face changed from confused to a bright smirk when he saw who it was. "Doll! What are you doing? Running into me once wasn't enough? Am I that irresistible?"

Jinora glared as best she could. He just kept smiling down at her. "Where's. My. Money?"

His grin faltered, but only slightly. "What makes you think-"

"I'm not stupid. I had it with me when I left the store, then I ran into you, then it was gone. Give it back."

He looked Jinora up and down as if sizing her up. With a slight sigh, he finally said, "All right, all right. You win, doll." He dug into his pocket and pulled out her money bag. She snatched it back. "I was going to hand it to you." Jinora looked up at the tone of his voice, but found he was refusing to meet her eyes. He sounded... Upset? She wasn't quite sure and that bothered her.

"Why did you take it?"

He rubbed a hand over his face. "Kid's gotta eat somehow." With that, he walked away.

Jinora stayed frozen, staring at her bag. The little money she had left wouldn't buy much food or anything really. She looked up and realized the boy was almost out of sight. She ran to catch up. "Hey!" She grabbed his hand.

"What now, doll? Gonna make me apologize?"

"What's your name?"

"Gonna go to the cops or something?"

"No. I just wanna know. I'm Jinora."

"Skoochy."

"Wanna come over for dinner? You could probably even stay the night if you wanted. We have enough room. My little sister might try to talk you to death though." She paused and bit her lip. "And my little brother might try to chew on you, but other than that it'll be fine! My parents are really nice and stuff and we'll have plenty of food and stuff and-"

"And your sister is the one that's going to talk me to death?"

She huffed. "Well, excuse me for trying to be nice." She turned on her heel to leave, but there was a wall of earth in front of her that hadn't been there two seconds ago. She glanced over her shoulder. "You're an earthbender."

"You sound surprised."

"I guess I am."

"Not like we really know each other which brings me to my next question: why are you inviting me over? I mean, I pickpocket you, you catch me, but then you invite me to dinner. That's not exactly normal."

"Well, like you said, we don't exactly know each other. For all you know, this is normal behavior for me." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Fine. It's not normal, but... Well, a kid's gotta eat, right?"

He nodded and smiled at her. "Okay, doll. You win. Lead the way." With a ridiculous bow, he moved the wall and allowed her to walk ahead of him.

She abruptly stopped after walking a few feet though which caused Skoochy to walk into her. "Oh, no."

"Doll?"

"I'm running late. Oh, my goodness. Korra is going to be so mad. We have to hurry." Without further explanation, she grabbed his hand and took off running.

They made it to the arena in less than five minutes, but Jinora was still late. She ran up to where Korra was and tried to explain, but found she was too out of breath.

"Jinora? What's going on? Are you okay?" Korra crouched down to be level with the little airbender. Jinora held up a finger to give herself a moment.

"Sorry. Ran into a friend. Got sidetracked. Realized I was late. Ran here. Out of breath. Don't tell dad?"

Korra shook her head slightly. "I won't tell." She turned her gaze to the boy and realized with a slight shock that it was the same boy Mako had paid to give them information about where Bolin was. She blinked to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. "This is your friend?"

Jinora nodded. "Yep."

Korra tilted her head slightly. "Huh. Okay."

"He's coming to dinner."

"All right." Korra tried to hide her grin. This was going to be interesting. "We should probably try to catch the next ferry then."

"Let's go then." Without waiting for a response, Jinora began walking toward the dock. Korra noticed she still hadn't let go of the boy's hand.

Korra got to the room where Tenzin was first. "Jinora brought a friend back." Tenzin looked up from his reading. He wasn't sure he liked the look Korra had.

"Oh?" The look he was unsure of turned into a full blown smirk. Oh, yeah. He did not like that look. That look meant trouble.

"Uh-huh. She invited him over to have dinner with us."

"Him?"

"Yep. Real cute, little earthbender boy. Maybe a couple years older than her."

Tenzin realized he was about to break the pencil he was holding in half. He forced himself to release the pencil. "Is that so?"

Korra nodded. "I've met him before. Seems nice enough. Smart too. He conned Mako out of some money. Well, conned isn't the right word. He made Mako pay him for information. Same difference."

"He WHAT?" Korra stifled a laugh as Tenzin jumped up from the chair. She really shouldn't enjoy winding him up this much. "My daughter is...is friends with... My little Jinora..."

"Is friends with a street kid." Korra finished for him.

He opened his mouth to respond, but failed to come up with words so he stood there gaping at Korra.

Unfortunately, Jinora chose that moment to walk into his office with Skoochy. Stifling more laughter, Korra made her escape while she could.

"Dad, this is my friend Skoochy. Skoochy, this is my dad, Tenzin."

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Skoochy said with a slight bow of respect. Tenzin just stood there. Skoochy recoiled slightly and rubbed a hand over his face again. Jinora grabbed his hand again and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She didn't let go when she started speaking again.

"Dad, Skoochy is staying for dinner and can he maybe sleep in one of the extra bedrooms tonight too?" Tenzin remained silent. His gaze was fixed on their hands. His little girl... "Dad?"

He shook himself out of it. "Sorry. It's... It's nice to meet you, Skoochy. You're very welcome to stay with us if you wish."

"Thank you, sir."

"Thanks, dad! I'm gonna go show Skoochy around, okay?" He nodded. Jinora released Skoochy's hand and gave Tenzin a kiss on the cheek. "See you at dinner!" She turned and grabbed Skoochy's hand again and pulled him from the office.

Korra stuck her head in the door right as Tenzin all but collapsed back into his chair. "You look like you've just been through an earthquake."

Dazed, Tenzin nodded. He had survived the earthquake. Only the aftershocks were left now.

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! Reviews would be awesome and I'm still accepting prompts. Also, I just now wrote this and it's just after 5am where I am so sorry for any mistakes and such.