Chapter 5
"Mom! Watch this!" The nine-year-old called to her mother. Ty Lee stopped preparing the evening meal she had just started on, to watch her daughter. The child proceeded to bend over backwards, then started walking towards her mother.
"Excellent Rinni!" Ty Lee shouted, jumping about a bit. Rinni bent back up. She looked up to her mother smiling, her emerald eyes laughing. "Rinni, go let your father know that dinner will be ready shortly." Ty Lee advised, still smiling. Rinni nodded, cartwheeling out of the kitchen.
Ty Lee watched as her daughter left the room, in a similar fashion as she usually did. Rinni reminded her of herself. At 26, she hadn't changed much at all. Sure, her outfit was a bit different, but she had adopted some of the customs of her husband's Earth Kingdom heritage.
Rinni ended her cartwheel in the living room, in front of her father. "Daddy! Mom says that dinner will be ready soon!" Rinni said, bouncing to a stop in front of her father. Haru looked down at his daughter. Her brown hair resting in two high braids, falling gracefully across her shoulders. Her emerald green eyes reflected her father's, almost identically.
"Thanks, Rin." Haru cooed, pulling his daughter into a quick embrace. Once he let go, Rinni ran outside to play with her siblings.
Haru watched as Rinni left. When she had disappeared behind the double door entrance, he gazed about his house. It was a fairly average size, large enough to support a family of five. It was located in a small town, right on the coast that overlooked the body of water separating them from the Fire Nation. It was the perfect place for Ty Lee and Haru to raise their kids, allowing them to be exposed to both their Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation heritage.
"Mom!" A small boy cried, running into the kitchen. Ty Lee whirled around, slightly startled by the spontaneous outburst. "Tyro, what's wrong?" She asked her seven-year-old son. "Kei blocked my chi, again!" He said, emphazing the last part.
As if on cue, a young girl walked into the kitchen, a triumphant grin on her face. "Keiko, did you block your brother's chi?" Ty Lee asked, placing a hand on her hip. Keiko looked from her mother, to her brother. Her gold eyes meeting his green ones, locked in an appearant mocking attitude.
"Yes...but he almost burnt my hair!" Keiko said, pointing her finger up at her older brother. Ty Lee looked from her son to her daughter. Tyro was a firebender, a recessive gene from her own father. Keiko, who was five, was an earthbender like her father.
"I was only joking, Kei!" Tyro defended, crossing his arms over his chest. Keiko followed suit, putting a pout on her face for extra points. "Okay, Tyro, practice your firebending away from your sister. And Keiko, don't practice your chi blocking on your brother." Ty Lee watched as her kids shot each other dirty looks, then rushed back outside to enjoy the summer day.
Ty Lee smiled to herself. She wasn't a very good diplomat, but that was Haru's area. She was happy to see everyone get along and have fun, which most of the time they did. But when a small fight did arise, Haru would usually handle it. Ty Lee felt out of place handling disputes.
However, every now and then, Ty Lee found she had to handle them, because Haru was busy. During this dispute, she didn't know exactly where he was, but he wasn't at work. He was probably outside with Rinni, or teaching Keiko, which was perfectly fine with her. She was happy that her kids had an "involved" father. Her own father had sent her to the academy, just to get her out of his hair. That's why she had joined the circus, it had been fillment for a particular void in her life that a father should have been in.
Suddenly, the burning smell of opossum chicken caught her nose. She quickly turned her attention back to the meal that was nearly overdone.
"You need to keep your concentration." Haru instructed gently, inspecting his daughter's form. Keiko stood absolutely still as her father made minor adjustments to her posture. "Perfect, now move that rock away from you." Keiko shot her father a quick glance before turning her attention on the medium sized boulder in front of her.
She drew in a deep breath, then focused her hazel eyes on the rock. She thrusted her right fist foreward, expecting the rock to move, but getting the opposite effect. She flew three feet backwards, landing on her butt.
Tyro, who had been practicing with a small flame in his palm, had seen the whole thing. He pointed and started to laugh, ignoring the growing flame in his hand, feeding off his emotions. Before he knew it, the flame had burst into a small explosion, earning a high-pitched shriek from the master. Now it was Keiko's turn to point and laugh.
Keiko had gotten herself back on her feet, barely remaining there after Tyro's stunt. Rinni, who was hanging upside down from a nearby tree, also saw the mishap. She too, was laughing. Tyro took the back of his hand and wiped the soot from his face, his lower lip in a pout. Haru left Keiko's side, walking over to his only son to make sure he was in fact okay.
Tyro had just finished wiping the rest of his face on his sleeve when his father was by his side. Tyro muttered something about 'stupid girls', then looked to see what his father wanted. Haru smiled, trying not to laugh and sound like he had taken his daughters side. He licked his thumb and wiped away a bit of soot from Tyro's brow, the child squirming away from the gesture.
Just as Haru finished, Ty Lee appeared in the doorway, her sanguine smile plastered on her face. "Dinner's done!" She announced. Keiko ran into the house, still in a fit of giggles. Rinni followed her, snickering as she shot glances over her shoulder at her brother, who followed her in. Ty Lee watched as Tyro stalked into the dining room and plopped himself into his seat, moody.
"What happened to him?" She asked Haru as he came in. Haru snickered, then put his tanned hand on Ty Lee's shoulder. "Sisters." Was all he said, following the scent of the meat into the dining room. Ty Lee pondered what he meant before following his direction.
Dinner was oddly quiet for once. Tyro consistently shot heated gazes at Keiko, who took them in stride. He would also look from his plate to both of his sisters, who kept themselves busy by whispering secrets to one another. As his gaze drifted their way again, he thought about bestowing his food on them. But a look from his father changed his mind.
Ty Lee looked around the table at her family. Sitting at the other end of the table, across from her, was Haru. He hadn't changed much in the last twelve years. If anything, he had gotten more muscular. He still wore his hair the same way he had the day she met him. As she gazed at him, she got a fluttering feeling in her stomach, like a teenager. Twelve years, and three kids later, he could still sweep her off her feet.
Tyro sat to her left, the only one on that side. As Ty Lee looked at him, he reminded her a lot of Haru. His brown hair was the exact same shade as his father's. He was one of only five firebenders in the small village, so he tried to blend his cultures more than his sisters did. As the first born son, he wore his hair like Haru's, a small top knot on the top of his head. His bangs were held back like Haru's, but with a red headband.
His outfit was that of a typical Fire Nation child, red. It was a lot more comfortable to train in when you lived near the shore. It's short sleeves and pant legs that went to the calf were perfect for the hot summers.
Tyro was named after his grandfather, who died two months after his birth, in a Fire Rebel raid just to the north of their town. Just days earlier they had found out that Tyro was a firebender, having accidently lit his two-year-old sister's hair on fire in a coughing fit.
When Haru's father found out his namesake was a firebender, he was slightly displeased. Firebenders had brought so much devastation to his family. It was hard enough to accept Ty Lee twelve years ago, now he had to make room for another firebender? But, when he looked at his grandson's emerald eyes, he saw no evil. He only saw the pure love and curiosity he had seen in his own son's eyes. At that moment, Little Tyro melted his grandfather's heart.
Keiko was to her right, messing with her brother with her trademark mischievious look. Her amber eyes danced as she looked at her brother, bouncing with, no doubt, the devious ways she could at the moment, annoy Tyro. Keiko was Ty Lee's baby, although she was five, and self-proclaimed herself a 'big girl'. Her green and white earthbending outfit hung loosley to her frame, the back of it dirtied from training. Her brown hair hung loosely as well, only fancied with a top-knot at the back of her head.
Her chopsticks in her right hand, Ty Lee could see Keiko's left hand move in a series of quick gestures, then she heard Tyro shriek. Keiko had, once again, played the old rock to the toe trick.
"Kei. Finish your dinner." Ty Lee warned, Tyro glaring from across the table. Keiko's sly grin disappeared as she returned her attention to her forgotten dinner.
Keiko really amazed Ty Lee. She was such a devious child, curious and an instigator. It seemed like her favorite past-time is to pick on her brother, her only brother. Ty Lee's mother assured her daughter that it was a classic case of, what she liked to call, 'youngest child syndrome'. Supposedly, Keiko would grow out of it in time. But still, the way Keiko had a tendancy to interact with her brother reminded her of how Azula interacted with Zuko when they were young...
'No!' Ty Lee mentally scolded herself. 'Don't think of Azula. Don't ever compare Keiko to her again!' Yes, Keiko had a devious side, but she also had a sweet and caring side. She loved her brother and sister to no end, and would do anything to protect them. She would never end up like Azula. Her soul was pure.
Ty Lee drifted her attention to her eldest, Rinni. Everyone said that Rinni was the spitting image of her mother. She had her two braids tied up with a red ribbon on each end, showing of her Fire Nation heritage. Her jade eyes seemed to always be laughing, just like her father's. Like her mother though, she was not a bender. But, what she lacked in the elemental field, she made up for in acrobatics. Her body could twist and bend in abstract directions, one has to wonder whether it hurt or not.
Unlike her younger siblings who either prefered one side of their heritage or the other, Rinni blended her culture together. Her favorite outfit was a pale green accented by a pale pink. She was one of the most likable people you would run into; hardly ever wearing a frown on her lightly tanned skin. Her bubbly personality could light up anyone's day.
"Mom? Mom!" Her son's voice stole Ty Lee away from her reverie. "Yes, Tyro?" She answered, flipping her bangs back with her hand. "I said that I was done. May I be excused?" Tyro repeated politely. Ty Lee smiled gently. "Sure, honey. Just be sure to put your plate in the sink."
Tyro smiled, probably more for the fact that he could finally get away from his sisters. He stood up graciously, pushing the chair back in as he left. When your paternal grandfather had been the mayor, and your other grandparents high ranking Fire officials, you learned quite a bit in the 'Royal Manners department'.
Moments after Tyro had left, Keiko and rinni were whispering to each other again. "Mommy, can we be excused?" Keiko asked softly. Ty Lee nodded. "Of course, baby." Seconds later, she could hear Tyro sigh in exasperation from the kitchen.
Rinni and Keiko took their plates to the kitchen, then chased their brother out the back door. Ty Lee chuckled to herself when she heard Tyro yell, "Eww! Girls have kooties!" Though you would never get him to admit it, he enjoyed most of the games he played with his sisters.
"I'm going to go burn off this wonderful dinner with some relaxing time on the couch." Haru said, kissing his wife gently on the forehead. Ty Lee smiled, taking the rest of the dishes into the kitchen.
As she stared at the pile of dishes in the sink, she knew she should do the dishes, but she didn't feel like it. Still feeling that wonderful feeling of 'young love' in her gut, Ty Lee back flipped herself into the living room.
"Feeling hyper, are we?" Haru asked, raising an eyebrow. Ty Lee giggled. She flipped again, coming to a rest beside Haru, snuggling into his arm. "No, I think I'm just a little lovestruck." She defended herself. Haru chortled to himself, then nuzzled Ty Lee's brow.
"Eww!" The couple looked up to see their three kids standing at the entrance to the living room, grossed out expressions on their faces. "At least wait until we get outside!" Rinni exclaimed, grabbing Keiko's hand, who in turn grabbed Tyro's. Rinni then yanked her siblings out the front door, once again to burn off their energy before bed.
"Kids." Haru stated, pulling Ty Lee closer. They were silent for a moment. "You want to know what's scary?" Haru finally inquired. Ty Lee's head perked up. "What?" She asked curiously. "In a matter of a few years, the kids will be beginning their own lives." Haru continued. Another moment of silence enveloped the couple.
"I remember when they were tiny babies, so small they fit into the crook of your arm." Ty Lee contemplated. The pair sighed, drifting to the past to reclaim their precious memories.
A/N: OMG! Please don't kill me! I know that I haven't updated this story in about two months, but I have good reasons!
1) I had a serious case of writer's block. I hate those things!
2) My mom had to have emergency surgery, so I've been busy with that.
3) I wanted to put as much character with this couple as I had with the others, but that is hard when both of theses characters are, in my opinion, underdeveloped. I wanted to make up a background for them that at least sounded plausible. That's what gave me the damn writer's block!
On a lighter note, I am so anxious about the season 3 premiere! Seriuosly, 9 months, 2 weeks, 5 days, and 30 minutes is really to long of a cliffhanger! (I think I did the math right!)
Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but I wanted to get it up for you guys ASAP. I should have the second part up in a few days. I am writing a oneshot, kind of as something to tide the readers over as I work on the second part, which is hard when there is another Avatar future fic idea playing in the back of your head! But, I give you guys a debrief on that in the A/N of the oneshot, seeing how this one note is extremely long already!