a/n: posting two chapters but we messed up and this one is really short somehow? yeah

CHAPTER FOUR: The Fight

"Hey you, pirate."

Jinora watched as Kai's shoulders tensed, on their way to the library to start their history essays. Lee and the girls were walking a little ways ahead, but still close enough to hear the taunt. For a second, she thought Kai was going to ignore the call, but also knew that Lang Pene wasn't one to be ignored. He was one of the richest and most popular boys in school, with a nasty temper and a personal grudge against her for turning him down last year, and going to their semi-formal with Lee instead.

With dark wavy hair and amber eyes, he was every inch the spoiled Fire Nation prince, burning his rich daddy's money like the coal the Pene Company had gotten wealthy mining.

"I'm talking to you, mutt. Got a few questions for you," Pene continued with a grin, as people turned their eyes to him. He loved the attention.

Kai rolled his eyes, but kept walking. "Like how much of a dickass you are? You'll have to figure that one out on your own, Pene."

Pene's sneer turned to a scowl, and he grabbed Kai's bad shoulder, forcing him to face him. Kai winced, but threw him off. "Do you really have nothing better to do with your time?" he asked tiredly.

"Listen here—"

"I would love to, but you're really not worth my time." Kai began to turn away, when Pene shoved him against the nearest wall. Kai tried not to wince as his bad shoulder pressed into the brick wall.

"Leave him alone, Lang," said Jinora furiously.

"Tell me, is she your little slut, then?" Pene continued, leering. "You pirates and your whores."

Kai had promised not to get into any more trouble, but it wasn't enough to keep his fist from flying towards Pene's face. "Don't you ever," he spat, as the other boy stumbled, "say that again."

Pene straightened and smiled. "Oh, I struck a nerve, didn't I? You treat the pretty, rich whores special or—"

What happened next was a blur. All that Kai remembered later was that Lee had punched Pene, and then one of Pene's friends had punched him, before it was an all out brawl between Lee, Kai, and half a dozen or so of Pene's blocky fisted cronies.

It wasn't until Lee was standing in the middle of a bunch of broken-nosed, black-eyed boys, and Kai had his forearm against Pene's throat as he squirmed against the wall that it was over. "You think I haven't killed men like you?" Kai hissed, and Lee's eyes, one covered in a blue and purple bruise, widened. Nobody else could hear anything. "You think I haven't taken my sword and gutted them like a fish? Felt their blood drip over my fingers as their life drained out of them? Cleaned up their bodies from my deck? I've killed countless men like you. And if we weren't in this school, you would already be half dead on the ground, you pathetic son of a bitch. You come after Jinora, and I'll come after you. It may be years from now, but I will. And I'll do the same to anyone else that threatens her."

Kai released him, and Pene let out a warbling whimper as he tried to scurry away.

"What is going on here?!" came a voice, and Kai turned to see Pene paused in front of Professor Huang.

"Just a friendly chat, professor."

Huang marched over with a wicked scowl, and slapped Kai across the face. "You insolent boy. Come with me."

Kai rolled his eyes, but followed Professor Huang anyway, giving Pene a good, intimidating glare as he passed.

It was strange, being in a classroom alone with a professor, and he stood behind the desk, awaiting his punishment. "...Sir?"

"You will do three days of detention, after your last class."

"Alright. I understand, sir."

"Extend your arm."

"...Pardon?"

"Extend. Your. Arm. The right one, first."

Kai did as he was told, and with some semblance of self satisfaction, didn't flinch when the ruler came down on it.

Once Huang had deemed it acceptable, he told him to roll down his sleeves and check himself into the school's infirmary. His skin stung, and he knew his arms would bruise in the morning, but it didn't matter much as he walked into the infirmary and was immediately seated on a soft bed next to Lee in a long hall of hospital beds, holding an ice pack to one of his eyes.

"Got my first detention today," Lee said.

"Oh. Sorry."

"At least Pene got longer." Lee almost smiled. "Never did like that guy."

"You have a decent punch. For a rich boy."

Lee snorted. "Thanks. And you're...not so bad. For a pirate. Have you ever gotten detention before?"

Kai shook his head. "Not really. I mean, punishments on the ship include taking different chores, having to stay back with the ship while everyone else is out…" he shuddered. "Or cleaning the communal bathroom everyone shares."

"You all share one bathroom?"

"We don't exactly have much room to build a single bathroom for everyone, like we have here. The captain gets his own bathroom, and I have my own little bedroom, but beyond that, everybody is always in everybody's else's business."

"And no one gets sick?"

"How weak is rich kid immunity?"

"As if you don't like it, you bathe more than most people I know."

"I've never had running water before. Sue me."

"At least you don't smell." Both boys were trying not to smile. "So...you learned to fight like that on the ship?"

"And before then. I was on the streets for awhile."

Lee was silent for awhile, and then asked, "Does Jinora know this?"

Kai nodded. "I figured she should know who was taking a chance on."

Lee was silent. "All those things you said to Pene… it was all true, wasn't it?"

He nodded again, more solemnly. "I've done some terrible things. But there's also some terrible things that I don't regret doing."

Lee gave him a nod. "You really care about Jinora, don't you?"

Kai was quiet for a moment. "Yeah," he said softly. "But I don't think I'm very good at caring about people."

Before Lee could find something to say, the patron was fussing over something at the door to the hospital wing, unable to keep Jinora from rushing inside and over to their bedsides. She ran straight to Kai, grabbing his forearms and frantically checking his face. "You were fighting down four people at once what were you thinking—" She looked at Lee, then let go of Kai, turning on Lee. "And you! You should know better, Lee—"

"We're fine, Gyatso," said Kai, drawing her eyes back to him. "Chin up. Pene's never gonna be a jackass again. Least not to us."

Us. Him and Lee and Jinora. What a funny sort of idea, but he couldn't say he particularly minded it.

"You both could've gotten seriously hurt—"

"You don't think Kai and I could've handled it?" Lee asked, and Kai almost laughed.

"You handled one," he teased. "Are you a big boy now, Sono?"

It was the first time Kai had ever heard Lee laugh. "Not all of us were conditioned on the high seas, Tashi."

"I'll teach you how to fight then. I already taught Gyatso how to throw a knife. You can't be that much more dense."

"You're both idiots," Jinora said with a frown.

Kai lifted her chin up with his finger. "Hey. I'm your idiot."

Jinora flushed. "Yeah, you are."

Lee's smile faltered for a moment, and then he said, "What did Professor Huang do to you anyway?"

Kai let go of Jinora's chin, his smile shrinking. "Just...discipline, I guess. Nothing interesting."

"Discipline?"

"A stern talking to. It was nothing."

Jinora regarded him for a moment, and then said, "Let me look at your arms."

"What? Why?"

"Let me look at your arms," she repeated, more sternly.

"What—"

"I'm not asking, Kai. Pull up your sleeves, right now." Kai hesitated, then tugged his sleeves up to his elbows, revealing some ugly red marks that would definitely bruise later. Jinora's frown deepened, as she placed her hand on his upper arm. "He shouldn't be allowed to do this to you. We should tell the headmaster."

"Tell him what? That I got in a fight and one of the teachers rebuked me for it?"

"He hit you—"

"Yeah, the troubled charity case in need of an attitude adjustment. This isn't worth stirring up more trouble for, Jin."

"Teachers aren't supposed to become physically violent, though," Lee pointed out. "I was surprised he slapped you in front of everyone."

"He wasn't violent—and it's hardly the first time I've been knocked around. I'm fine."

"Kai," Jinora said softly. "No teacher should be allowed to abuse students—"

"You think I don't know abuse?" Kai took a deep breath, lowering his voice when he saw the look on Jinora's face. "I'm sorry. I just… let this go. Please? I'm tired." His eyes grew weary. "I am… so tired."

"Okay," Jinora said softly. She brushed his hair off his brow, and kissed his forehead. "Just please, don't go picking fights because of me again."

He gave her a soft smirk, unable to fight off the blush spreading along his cheeks. "No promises, Jin."

"You're impossible," she said, but she was smiling a little as she stepped away, and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Um, Lee and I, we'll go get your homework. So you can do something productive while we're here."

"Ugh, fine."

Jinora perked up now that he was smiling again. "Come on, Lee. Let's go."

Lee's brow furrowed as they left the hospital wing, but he gave Kai a friendly wave anyway. After all, it wasn't his fault that Jinora seemed to have a favourite between them.

###

"Jinora?"

She looked up from packing an extra bookbag with Kai's homework and textbooks to find Lee in the doorway. "Yes?"

"Remember how a few years ago, you said you didn't have a best friend, but if you did I'd be closest thing to that?"

"Yeah?"

"Is Kai your best friend now?"

She paused. "I don't know. I mean, you and Shen Shen and Pfannee and Miki are all my best friends."

Lee's brow furrowed slightly. "But he's different, isn't he?"

She turned around. "Lee, I don't love him more than I love you or any of the girls—"

"No, you just like him more." He sighed. "It's okay, Jinora, I just...wanted to know."

"Lee, it's not like that, I—of course I care about him, and have to give him a little more attention. He's making a huge adjustment, and he really only trusted me until like two weeks ago, and you two are better now, but still a little rocky, and… he saved my life." She glanced down at the book bag in her hands. "I guess it's a little different. But not like that."

Lee frowned slowly. "Alright. I'm sorry for pushing."

She looked up at him. "It's okay." She set down the book bag, and leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Have a good holiday, Lee. I'll miss you."

He smiled slightly. "Thanks, Jinora. You have a good holiday, too. And...give Kai my best."

"I will." She pulled him in for one more hug, before taking the book bags and leaving the room, looking around at the newly cleaned room. "Still can't believe you got Kai to clean up."

"For the first and last time, only, I think. Once he got used to not having to constantly clean things, I don't think he was ever planning on cleaning anything ever again."

She laughed softly. "That's probably true. At least he's relaxed a little."

"Well…" Lee gave her a slight nod. "I'll see you later."

She smiled. "See you later, Lee."

Jinora went down to the courtyard where the carriage was already waiting for them, and Kai was inside, his scarf wrapped securely around his neck and mouth. She smiled at the sight, climbing in beside him and placing his book bag in his lap.

"So we both get a good head start when we come back from the holidays," Jinora said, and Kai groaned.

"Homework sucks," he grumbled, softening when she rested her head on his shoulder.

Maybe… maybe he was a little different, after all.