A/N: Please note this happens a couple weeks later (:
It was nearly six o'clock. A pile of clothes on the floor indicated the direction the evening had turned. Her balled up yellow sundress was tangled together with her beige pullover. His dark, nearly black jeans were tossed to the side and forgotten along with his black t-shirt. A bra was hanging by its straps on the handle of the door to the small kitchen.
The bed was messy, and the sheets thrown across the couple haphazardly. They laid in bed together, the sheets stopping at his nave and her shoulders.
Jinora's head rested cozily in the indented space between the collarbone and the arm pit. Kai had an arm wrapped around her shoulders. They breathed in tandem and rested peacefully, though awake.
"You're so warm," Jinora noted snuggling in closer to him.
"You're just saying that because you're ice-cold. Seriously, did you just step out of a freezer?"
Jinora giggled into his chest. Her hand rested on his right peck, the fingers lazily outlining his detailed lotus tattoo. Though inked in black, it was so perceptive; it might blossom off his chest. Jinora loved it.
And Kai knew it. "You like that one," he noted casually.
Kai felt her nod against his shoulders.
"Did I ever tell you the story of why I have it?" he thought aloud.
"No," Jinora said, sounding awed. "Tell me, please."
"I told you how I used to run away a lot when I was little?" She nodded. "Well once when I was nine years old I got a little lost. I couldn't find my bearings, and it was new part of the city that this family lived in and I couldn't figure out how to get to a familiar place. When it got dark, I got scared. And then—like it was from a dream—I found this small inland pool that I'd never seen before. It was still and dark, but it was lit with a couple dozen bright pink lotus flowers along the edges. And I realized how remarkable this discovery I made was because I'd never seen it before. And then, when I followed this small pool, I saw it was actually connected to the Yue Bay. And from there, I was able to find my way around," he finished with the smallest of smiles. "Ever since, I feel like I owe something to lotus flowers. They're beautiful, so I got it inked on."
" 'May we exist, like the lotus, at ease in muddy water,' " Jinora spoke strangely.
"What?"
"It's a Zen proverb. The lotus is content and in fact only happy in muddy waters; it's the only place it can grow. The proverb is saying that's analogical: humans should be content and happy in not always pleasurable situations," Jinora explained.
"Wow, that's amazing. How do you know that?"
"I think it was the epigraph of a novel I read," Jinora shrugged.
Kai broke a brilliant smile. "I think you just made me like it even more," he said with a thankful tone. Jinora smiled, flattered.
"I like this one, too," she replied, and moved her hand into the covers to gently thumb his thigh ink. It was a black-inked bird, its wings outstretched in flight. She needn't lift the covers for them both to know what she was talking about. "Does it have a story?"
Kai laughed to himself, "You can't expect everything I have to be deep. A guy's gotta have his ridiculous tattoos."
"Tell me," she pushed anyways. She lifted her head off his chest to look him in the eyes.
"I got this on my eighteenth birthday. I woke up before everyone else, left the house, got this tattooed, and never looked back."
"Why this? Why a bird?"
"I guess I kind of always liked birds. You know, the way they can just get up and leave when they don't like a place. When it gets too cold they migrate to the tropics. They're so free and detached from worldly matters. I walked into the shop, told the artist to tattoo a bird on me, and left."
"I think it's beautiful," Jinora said, laying her head back down on his chest. A silence set down between them, though not uncomfortable or embarrassing. More deep-in-thought than anything.
"I've never done this before," Kai said suddenly. He moved his arm to wrap around her shoulders and squeezed. She didn't need to ask him what he meant. She knew, and she told him, "Me neither."
An odd thing when two soles, depraved of human contact, find each other, isn't it?
"I'm glad that we are," Kai told her. She picked her head up and moved up his body. To look him in the eyes at his level, her breasts pressed very lightly against his chest. Her eyes flicked to his lips for a split second then back to his eyes.
"Me, too," she said and then gave him a short and chaste kiss. Her eyes returned to his. He cracked a lopsided grin, and she smiled back. Then her stomach made the most god-awful noise in the world. But Kai's grin only grew at the sound, and he laughed deeply.
"Hungry?" he joked with her.
"So hungry," Jinora laughed. "Where's my phone? I wonder what time it is."
Jinora reached across Kai, and snatched her phone off the floor. When she unlocked it, she saw she had two missed calls and and a text from Korra. The text was from 9 minutes ago, the calls sooner, but her phone had been on "Do Not Disturb." She opened up the text first.
"Korra wants to get dinner," she remarked, her tone impossible to read.
Kai questioned it, "You don't sound very excited. Didn't she just get back from her honeymoon?"
"Yes and I want to see her. It's hard to go to dinner with her, though. She brings Asami, and I'm stuck being the odd one out. And I love Asami, I do, but it's weird going to dinner alone with a married couple.
"You should come!" she added suddenly.
Kai hesitated. "Er," he sounded. "I don't know if I'm invited. They probably want to catch up with you since they've been away."
"Please come?" Jinora nuzzled her face into his chest and laid there until he spoke again.
"Fine," he complied with a wicked grin. "Whatever makes you happy, Jin."
Her heart fluttered, but she ignored it. "I'll give her a call, hang on."
Kai was able to hear Korra's voice from the other end. Hey girl!
…
The group of four was seated in the back of Noodles on Noodles, at a booth the perfect size. Kai wore his dark jeans and black t-shirt. He'd thrown on his black real-leather jacket ("C'mon I stole it from Macy's. They're so corporate, they won't even notice it's gone.") because the wind outside had a bit of a bite. Jinora had pulled on the dress that she wore before arriving to Kai's apartment. Asami wore a simple beige dress with long sleeves since it was chilly outside, and Korra wore a black, feminine blazer over a white v-neck tucked into her loose boyfriend jeans. Asami had just told Kai about the time Korra tried to steal Mako from her.
"Stop that. That's so not true," Korra laughed into Asami's arm, hiding the redness of her cheeks from view.
"Oh my god, look at how you're blushing," Asami teased back. "So embarrassed."
Korra covered her hands with her face, and Jinora and Kai were trying very hard (for Korra's sake) not to start laughing.
"I don't think you've been this red since—" Asami stopped short. Her hand flew to stop the words coming out of her mouth. She realized that whatever she was about to say wasn't table appropriate.
Korra, thoroughly embarrassed by Asami retelling the story of when Korra kissed Mako, lied about it, then demanded to know why he'd chosen Asami, decided it time to shift the conversation. "So moving on," she began. "What's happened here while we've been gone?"
Jinora and Kai looked sideways at each other. For the two of them, a lot had happened. But that conversation was certainly not going to be held over dinner. Jinora spoke to fill the silence.
"Ikki's back from the Southern Air Temple. You should talk to her about it. She said it was absolutely beautiful."
"Okay but what about your lives? I'm just trying to see what we've missed," Korra specified. "You're graduating in three months, Jinora. Are you excited?"
Jinora looked away. "I mean, yes, but…"
"What's up?" Asami asked her with a genuine expression of concern.
"I'm still living at home," Jinora huffed, obviously frustrated. "I need to find a place of my own, but the idea is so overwhelming."
"I can help," Kai brought up. "I remember how difficult it can be. I looked at 10 different listings. It's tricky to find what you're looking for. I'll help you sort through the bad ones, if you want."
"Yeah and Asami can help you get an idea for how it would look with your stuff in it," Korra added.
"Wow, thanks guys," Jinora said with a heartfelt smile.
"Do you have any jobs lined up?" Asami asked thoughtfully.
"I have an interview in a few weeks with the Museum Association of the United Republic. They're opening up a 100 Years War branch, and want me to curate and research the information for it," Jinora answered proudly.
"Oh my god, Jinora," Kai smiled from ear to ear. "Why didn't you tell me about that? That's so amazing."
"I'm trying not to think about it. It's so overwhelming. And what if I don't get it? That would be heart-breaking."
"You'll do fine. You're smart, personable, and hard-working. What else could they want?"
"What do you do Kai?" Korra shifted.
"Nothing exciting," Kai dodged. Jinora realized she, too, never asked what Kai did to put food on the table.
They all blinked at him in confusion. So he continued.
"I work in the service industry. This funny little health-foods shop that doesn't get a whole lot of business. It's temporary, I hope."
"Then what do you want to do?" Asami asked.
"I want to be a tattoo artist. It's a hard field to get into, though."
"I have a tattoo," Korra stated. She shrugged off her blazer to show him. On her upper forearm, she had three black bands in successive thickness. Kai smiled, and told her he liked them.
Kai noticed that Jinora was silent. She did not voice the fact that she had beautiful ink traveling down her spine.
"Do you?" Kai addressed Asami.
Asami shook her head silently. Korra interjected, "Asami's too professional."
Asami laughed with Korra. "I own a company! I can't be flaunting tattoos."
"You own a company? How old are you, like 26?"
"I turned 27 in January," she said.
"And you own a company?" Kai asked again. His tone wasn't disbelieving so much as it was genuine amazement. He was truly impressed with the young business woman.
"It's a family business, but my dad, er, stepped down. So I took it over," Asami answered with a falter in her speech. She didn't want to digress to a story about her father's incarceration.
"And what do you do? Sell retail, manufacture clothes? What sort of company is it?"
"We're Future Industries. We manufacture cars."
"I know of Future Industries! Everyone does; I can't believe you run it. You are incredible," Kai complimented with a sincere smile. He was so genuinely impressed by all that Asami had accomplished.
"Well anyways," Jinora steered the conversation back to where it started. "I think that is really cool profession." Kai smiled his genuine appreciation. "Thanks, Jin," he whispered so only she could hear. His hand reached under the table to squeeze hers for support. She matched his sweet smile.
At that moment, the server had returned to pick up all their food plates ("Are we all finished here"). He turned to no one in particular and asked, "I hope everything was excellent. Are we ready for the bill? Excellent. Do we want to do separate checks?"
Asami answered, "No, all together please." The waiter walked away to print the bill, and Korra and Asami smiled at the two younger people.
"Our treat," Korra smiled.
"That's so nice of you guys," Jinora thanked. Her hand clutched her heart.
"It's so thoughtful," Kai agreed. "But honestly, we could have split it. I feel bad leaving you with the bill."
"Don't feel bad, Sweetie," Asami grinned. "We invited you, so it's on us. Our treat."
"My sweater!" Jinora suddenly exclaimed. "I must've left it at your place," she told Kai.
"We'll go grab it after we finish," Kai offered with a shrug. "It's probably just on the floor."
The entire table had become very silent. Kai and Jinora watched as Asami and Korra's faces slowly turned to realization. The two wives looked at each other and were clearly thinking the same thing. They turned back to Jinora and Kai.
They couldn't believe how stupid that little conversation had been. Damn. Jinora could kick herself. Trying to keep the heat out of her face, Jinora locked eyes with the two women.
"What's that face for?" she asked innocently.
Neither Asami nor Korra answered. Out of her peripheral, Jinora watched Kai scratch the back of his neck. If she looked at him, she bet he would be beet-red.
"That's so not what we meant," Kai answered.
Jinora decided to play dumb. "Wait a minute, did you mean…" she jaw-dropped convincingly. "Get your heads out of the gutter!"
"I think our heads are in the exact right place," Korra smirked.
"My head's comfortable," Asami backed up.
"You guys are crazy!" Jinora laughed. Laughing would make it seem like she was less stressed, right?
"Yeah, we're not…" Kai attempted. "Jinora and I aren't like that."
"No, of course not," Asami agreed unconvincingly. Jinora concentrated all her strength into keeping her cheeks colorless, but she knew they were burning up.
"Look, I took off my sweater because his house was warm. Then I forgot to put it back on. That's it, stop this nonsense," Jinora stated. Korra and Asami giggled. Kai reddened.
"Fine, fine. We believe you," Korra tried to say with a straight face. Jinora rolled her eyes, thoroughly embarrassed, and gave up.
After the waiter returned with the check and Asami left a few notes on the bill, they all four got up out of the booth. Kai offered his hand to Asami as gratitude, and she shook it with a smile. When he did the same to Korra, however, she threw her arms around him in a hug. Jinora just about nearly missed what happened next: while Korra's arms were wrapped around his shoulders and Asami stood giggling at her wife's forwardness, Kai reached his hand away from Korra and stuck something inside Asami's bag. He didn't mention anything about it when he pulled away from the embrace either. Jinora reminded herself to ask him about it later.
For now, she gave her thanks, too, and hugged the two women. As she hugged Korra, the older woman breathed into her ear: "Have fun, girlie."
Without drawing attention to it, Jinora whacked the back of Korra's knee with her heel. She buckled a little bit, but regained her footing before anyone noticed it.
Finally Jinora and Kai were walking out of the restaurant alone. It had been fun, but also a slightly stressful evening. And they were both thinking the same thing.
"That was awkward," Kai started by stating the obvious.
Jinora brushed her hair out of her face. "Oh my god, I'm so embarrassed. I don't know why I said that! I'm sorry."
"It's my bad, too. I said you're sweater was probably on the floor," Kai took the blame, too. "Which come to think of it," he added. "It probably is." He gently nudged her side in a teasing matter.
Jinora laughed and smiled. "I guess this does bring up a question," she said, her smile suddenly erasing. This was now serious talk.
"Which is?" Kai prompted.
"We're doing this. Do we want to tell people about it?"
Kai hesitated. Jinora jumped in in his silence.
"I like the idea of…"
"Figuring out what this is?"
"Yes! Without the prying eyes of my friends," she joked with herself. "We'll never be able to figure out what we want to do if they're constantly giving their input."
"Its a lot of lying," Kai reminded. "You okay with that?"
Jinora thought back to how she felt at dinner. "I am. It's for the greater good. If we want to tell them, we'll do it together. Eventually."
"I like it," Kai agreed. "It lets us keep our personal life—"
"Personal," Jinora finished for him. He nodded.
Jinora wrapped her cold arm around his leathered one. "But since no one is around,"she reminded and snuggled against him.
Kai smiled into her touch. The conversation took a silent turn, so Jinora decided to bring up what she'd witnessed at dinner.
"I saw what you put that cash into Asami's bag," Jinora started.
Kai's widened. He immediately jumped to defense. "What? What are you talking about?"
"Stop that," Jinora instructed calmly. "Don't be ashamed. I thought it was really honorable."
Kai was silent for a while. Jinora let him be. She didn't mind the silence with Kai.
"Thanks," he finally said quietly.
"You're a really good person, Kai," she told him.
He laughed in spite of himself. "Am I?" he asked rhetorically.
"Yes," Jinora answered anyways.
After a while, he broke the silence by asking her a question, "What did Asami mean? Her dad just decided to quit Future Industries or something?"
Jinora didn't say anything. Her mind was quickly buzzing. That story was so messed up that she didn't even know where to start. She took a deep breath, and began at the beginning:
"Asami's mom died when she was little. That kind of trauma can either tear a family apart or bring it closer together. For the Satos, Asami and her dad grew really close. They were each other's best friends. But I'm not so sure Asami ever knew how much her mom's death changed her dad. It wasn't until I think 7 years ago that they had a… falling out," Jinora seemed to struggle for a way to define what happened between Asami and her dad.
"What happened?" Kai asked with concern.
"Mr. Sato had become consumed by his desire for revenge. Asami's mom didn't die naturally; she was murdered; a mugging that went south. Her dad had been stealing millions of dollars from the company and essentially holding auditions for hit-men. He would interview them and give them a random target to see how well they performed. He never managed to find the mugger, though. But in his desire to find the perfect killer, his body count was nearly thirty people. He's in prison for life."
"How did he get caught?" Kai asked.
"Korra, actually. She overheard a phone interview, and told Mako about it. This was back when Asami and Mako were dating, though, so they dismissed her for being jealous. You heard how that all happened tonight," Jinora reminded. "They laugh about it now, but…that's not how it used to be. Korra got the police involved and everything; they pinned all twenty-seven murders on him and now he's away."
"So Asami had to take over the company at… what, 20?"
"Nearly. She was still 19. She never finished school because she had to step-up. Not that she needed to finish it, though. She's a genius, Asami is. She was studying to be a mechanical engineer so that she could contribute to car manufacturing, but she already knew everything they were teaching her. She's inspirational."
"Yeah, seriously."
Jinora lightly nudged Kai in the ribs. "Don't go falling in love with her," she joked with a bright smile. "She is a married woman."
"You have nothing to worry about, peaches. She's not my type," Kai said with a wicked grin. Jinora felt the redness in her cheeks return.
"Then what is your type?" she breathed out through nearly motionless lips.
Kai didn't answer, but instead locked eyes with her. Jinora noticed his cheeks increased in redness, too. This only made her more embarrassed. She immediately looked away, feeling as if she'd taken the playful conversation too far.
They had approached Kai's apartment anyways. They went up the five flights of stairs, in silence mostly. When they got out onto the fifth floor landing, Jinora stepped out first. Kai fumbled with his apartment key. He unlocked the door, but instead of pushing it open, looked back at Jinora and said, almost inaudibly:
"I'm not sure, yet," and Jinora knew exactly what he was referring to. She smiled her gratitude at his honesty, and just like that the short bit of tension between them had evaporated.
He held the door open to let her enter. One look around the room, and she realized he'd been right: her sweater lay crumpled on the floor, forgotten in her re-dressing. She walked over to it, and immediately tugged it over her head. Warmth rushed through it. It had been chilly outside.
"Thank god," she joked, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth.
"I'm glad it was here," Kai said, meeting her across his room in three strides. "I know how cold you get." Jinora wrinkled her nose. He was making fun of her, and she thought it was funny.
Suddenly getting more serious, she said, "You had fun tonight, right? It wasn't too weird."
Without responding, he closed the small gap between them and wrapped his long, tan arms around her waist. "I did. But I have to admit," he said, pausing briefly to lean forward and rest his forehead against hers. Jinora smiled at the motion and tried not to think about the way her heart quickened its beating. "I like it better like this," he finished and lean forward to press his lips against hers. She greedily opened her mouth to him and laced her fingers behind his neck, pulling him closer. Their bodies moved in a rhythm and their tongues danced to the beat.
Things were escalating when Kai reached his hands to play with the hem of her sweater. She smiled into his kiss, and pulled away. "I can't right now," she said, breathless.
Kai laughed. He rested his tired head on her shoulder and groaned somewhat playfully. "You could've said that before we started." She could hear the smile in his voice.
She laughed with him, and said, "I have to go home. I don't want my dad to be suspicious about something."
He pulled away from her shoulder and looked her in her big, brown eyes. "Jin, you are twenty-two years old."
Jinora let out a short chuckle, "But I still live at home for now. When I find my own place," she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, "There'll be no more of this."
Kai smiled brightly, "All the more reason to start apartment shopping! I'll help you; don't worry about a a thing."
Jinora smiled appreciatively, "You've got it."
Kai finally pulled away, and walked over to the door. "C'mon," he motioned. "I'll walk you home."
Jinora felt herself blush. Damn, why was he still able to do that. "You don't have to," she told him. "You're already home. Go to bed."
"I won't be going to bed anytime soon," he smirked and Jinora reddened even more. She knew he was referring to the fact that she'd gotten him all excited.
"And," he added as an afterthought. "I get to spend more time with you. C'mon," he motioned once again.
Still furiously red, Jinora nodded thankfully and walked out the door first.
Jinora didn't remember living so close to him, but somehow the walk was over before it even started.
A/N: So I didn't die. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I was confronted with the worst writer's block I've experienced (that's an exaggeration it's been worse.)
Anyways, I did mange to come up with the next step in the story, and am happy to present it to you. Please review!
