"Korra… it's time to wake up." Aang whispered, shaking Korra's shoulder gently. The little waterbender was sleeping against Appa's side, cuddling her new staff.

"Shh!" She groaned, rolling over so her face was pressed against Appa's fur. Aang shook his head, as an airbender he'd never really been one to sleep in.

"Come on. Don't you want to unlock your second chakra?" When Korra didn't answer him, Aang took a deep breath summoning the air around him, he let it out in one big gust, blowing Korra's blankets off.

"Aang!" Korra whined. "I'm tired!" Aang chuckled under his breath, slightly amused with himself.

"Don't make me waterbend you." He warned, knowing he wouldn't actually do it. Korra, taking the threat seriously, sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Aang offered her some of banana and onion flavored liquid they'd been drinking for the past few days.

"What are you so awake for?" Korra grumbled, grabbing the bowl out of Aang's hand.

"I've been up for hours." Aang shrugged, starting to clean up their little camp as he had yesterday. "I like to wake up early to meditate."

"Early? Aang, the morning is evil!" Korra crossed her arms and leaned against Appa again. She was not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination.

"You know, I've heard Avatar Kyoshi wasn't a morning person either." Aang chuckled, plopping down beside Korra. "Maybe this will get you motivated… We're going to open your Water chakra today." Korra perked up a bit when she heard that she'd be dealing with her native element.

"Water! Really?" Korra jumped up, pulling at her brother's hand. "Come on! Come on! Come on!" She shouted, still trying to get the older Avatar to move.

"Gee, I dunno Korra. I kinda want to go back to sleep for a little while." Aang fought to keep a straight face, but eventually his smile broke through and he started laughing.

"Aang!" Korra playfully punched at his shoulder until he got up. "Where are we going?" She asked as Aang walked right past her, she scurried after him, excited to unlock her next chakra. "And don't say 'you'll see'!"

"You'll find out when we get there." Aang chuckled, knowing Korra wouldn't like that response either. Korra rolled her eyes.

"You're soooo annoying sometimes! I just want to know where we're going… I like knowing stuff! Stuff is cool!"

"We're going to go meditate near a waterfall. You'll like it." Aang smiled when Korra twirled around all excited.

"This is going to be awesome!" She gushed, any fears opening the Earth chakra brought up about this process were long forgotten due to the great time she'd had with Aang yesterday. Korra thought she knew what to expect and was ready to tackle this chakra. As soon as she and Aang arrived at the waterfall, Korra plopped down into lotus position and waited for Aang to begin the lesson.

"The Water chakra is the second chakra. It deals with pleasure and is ruled by guilt." Aang told Korra, taking on the persona of a guru once again. "You need to lay all your guilt out before you and realize what you blame yourself for."

"And then let it go?" The little Avatar asked, her joyful tone deflated a bit when Aang nodded, Korra felt guilty about a lot of things.

"You need to accept that the moments happened, but forgive yourself so you do not become weighed down and heavy." Aang explained. Korra pursed her lips and looked at the waterfall, studying the gallons of water that were being dumped over the mountainside to a giant body of water below. The young Avatar became one with the water, as she closed her eyes she pictured her guilt as the water, she needed to let it drop from her chakra the same way the water was falling over the side of the mountain.

…

"Thanks again for not telling my parents about this Mako." Korra saw a memory from when she'd first started training with her friends playing out in her mind.

"Your secret is safe with me Korra." Mako grinned. "Besides, helping you learn to bend is fun!" He laughed a little. Korra was about to say something to him just as Senna poked her head out the back door.

"There you are Korra! I've been looking for you all afternoon." Senna said as she stepped out onto the back porch, drying her hands on a dishrag. When she noticed the little firebender standing beside her daughter, she smiled. "Hi Mako."

"Hi, Korra's mom." The firebender raised his hand in a tiny wave as he addressed the woman. Korra rolled her eyes, she'd told him a million times that he didn't need to do that.

"What have you two been up too all day?" Senna asked innocently enough. Korra cringed at the younger version of herself as she watched the first of many lies to her parents slip past her lips.

"Mako was just telling me about some new trick Bolin taught Pabu last night. Right Mako?" As if it wasn't bad enough that she'd lied to her parents herself, she was even more guilty that she'd made Mako a liar too… she'd done the same to all her friends.

"Oh… umm, yeah!" Mako stammered, not well acquainted with lying to Korra's mother.

"Okay." Senna chalked it up to kids just being kids. "Not too much longer, it's almost time for dinner Korra." Senna seemed to be satisfied when Korra nodded, agreeing not to be late to supper, and walked back into the house.

...

"Why didn't I just tell Mom and Dad? Why did I drag Mako and the rest of my friends into this mess?" Korra whispered under her breath as the memory started to replay itself. Korra took a deep breath, reminding herself to breath.

"Let go of your guilt, Korra." Aang coached. Korra squeezed her eyes tighter, nodding at Aang's words. 'Mom and Dad know now. I can explain everything when I get home. I can even apologize to my friends for making them lie. I know they'll forgive me.' Korra kept thinking that same thought over and over again until eventually the loop her bad memory was running on stopped. A sense of relief washed over Korra, but it was short lived as another memory started up in her head. This one was much more recent.

…

"Korra, what are you doing out here all alone?" Mako had walked out to the cliff to talk to her, the others were waiting about a hundred feet back, staying a safe distance from the ledge they weren't even supposed to be playing near.

"I'm not alone." Korra gestured to Naga, scratching her puppy behind the ears. Mako frowned.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about. You've been acting strange ever since the other day when you were trying to meditate. Did something happen?" Korra tensed at the accusation. So the awkward avoidance hadn't gone unnoticed by her little group afterall. She sighed.

"Umm…" The mini-Avatar frowned, looking at each of her friends concerned faces, the guilt was eating her alive. "No... What would make you say that?" Korra pressed into Naga's side as her friends walked over to her, tired of waiting.

"Korra what's going on with you?" Bolin asked, looking over to his brother and two friends for support.

"Was it Avatar stuff?" Opal pressed. Asami added another little dig right after her.

"You know you can tell us Korra. There aren't any secrets between members of The Krew." Asami crossed her arms. "There are no secrets right Korra?"

"I… I don't want to talk about it!" Korra hopped onto Naga's back. "Go Naga!" She yelled, staying low so they would get away from there faster. Her friends watched her go wearing a collective look of confusion.

…

All her friends had been trying to do was help her and she'd repaid them by running away. She hadn't even had the decency to tell them that there was another Avatar coming to see her. Korra sighed, feeling a few tears slip down her cheeks.

"Korra?" Aang placed his hand on her knee, trying to give her support. The airbender didn't know what Korra was seeing in her head right now, but he sensed that her mood seemed to be deflating more than with the first guilt she'd let go. "You need to forgive yourself in order to move on." He prompted gently.

"I know!" She snapped, trying to gather all her concentration. Korra willed herself to think back to that day. What had happened after she'd run off? The mini-Avatar sighed, remembering that her friends had found them and she'd still given them a hard time about things. She also remembered that when she'd stepped out to meet Aang, they'd stepped out too. The Krew had her back through the whole thing. 'They forgave me.' Korra told herself. 'I need to forgive myself too.' The little waterbender took a deep breath and thought of the water rushing down the side of the mountain, she let the bad memory go with it.

…

Once again another guilt clouded Korra's mind, only this time she saw only black and the voices she heard sounded muffled. Her voices of her friends mixed with those of Aang's friends. They were fighting over her and Aang. Korra's friends shouted that Aang was to blame for the events that had taken place at the beach, and Aang's friends countered that it was Korra's fault entirely. Korra sighed, straining to find anything solid to grab hold of, she'd been out of it for the entire fight and was recalling the entire thing from her subconscious and from the little bits and pieces Aang had told her.

"How was any of this our fault?" Korra thought out loud.

"If you fail to see how you play into a situation, how can you be at fault?" Aang asked, trying to guide the little girl to her own conclusion of letting the matter go.

"I'm not…" Korra frowned, the voices of the Krew and the Gaang were still buzzing around in her head. "I'm not!" Korra repeated, a little more firmly this time. She was no more in control of having half the Avatar Spirit in her than Aang was, they were equals in this. The problem was not because she'd done something wrong, it was that her friends and Aang's needed someone to blame. Korra laughed a little, shaking her head as she made sense of what had happened and came to terms with it. The white noise that came from an argument she'd never even heard happening slowly slipped away and Korra sighed, opening her eyes.

"You did it." Aang smiled. Korra nodded, accepting that she'd opened her Water chakra.

"This one was easier than the last. Most of my guilt all stems from the fact that I lied about who I am for so long." Korra explained, standing up so she could stretch a little bit. "I'm not going to do that anymore." She decided.

"You can't deny who you are. That's what this whole process is about." Aang told her, happy that she was starting to understand that on her own. "Once you accept that, unlocking the next five chakras will go more smoothly. It's not going to be easy, but you're going to get through this."

"Hey, I'm already doing better. I didn't run off crying this time." Korra joked.

"It still took you the better part of the day though." Aang laughed, gesturing up to the sky that was now starting to turn pink with the setting sun. Korra sighed, disheartened.

"I just want this to be over." She sighed, starting the long trek back down the mountain to where Appa was waiting for them to return.

AN: Sooo, these chakra chapters are pretty hard to navigate, I'm not going to lie. I appreciate any reviews you might leave for me on what you'd like to see pertaining to the next chakras.