chapter 21

Jinora narrowed her eyes as Kai walked in with Rizza hanging off his arm, but focussed on staring at her food, glimpsing the sympathetic and pitying looks Yung and Daw threw her way. "Men, you all remember Rizza right?"

"Unfortunately," Yung muttered and Jinora almost smiled. She just hoped they wouldn't be docked at this port long, and Rizza would leave sooner rather than later.

Whatever trace of a smile she had vanished as Kai sat down in his chair, and after doing a quick sweep of the room, Rizza realized there were no other chairs, and promptly sat down in his lap. Jinora felt sick to her stomach, her appetite readily gone, but she forced herself to eat anyway. When she glanced up, Rizza was feeding Kai pieces of food. She shovelled down her own meal and abruptly stood up from the table, her chair scraping loudly against the floor.

Kai watched her leave the hall, pulling away from Rizza slightly even as she leaned in to kiss him. Yung rolled his eyes, finishing his meal and quickly following her as Rizza distracted Kai with a long kiss. Stupid, oblivious boy, honestly.

Jinora didn't look back at him as Yung joined her in the hallway. "Go away Yung. I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine," he said quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Well I am," she snapped. "I'm just..." her anger evaporated as she curled in on herself. "Why should I care, who he's with? Why should I care that Rizza's sitting in his lap and kissing him and...Just go away Yung. Please. I don't want to be around anyone right now."

Yung deflated. "Okay. I know you can't talk to Kai about this, for obvious reasons, but if you want to talk to me, or Daw, or any of the crew - 'cept Momo, he can't keep a secret to save his life and he's a terrible liar - we're here. You know that, right?" She nodded. "That's my girl... If Kai asks, I'll just say you're not feeling great, okay?"

She nodded again, smiling just the tiniest bit. "Thanks Yung."

It was a relief when she reached her room and curled up on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest. She readjusted her necklace, hooking her fingers around the pendant and making sure it hung over her knees. It had a habit of always hanging to the left, closer to her heart, no matter how many times she tried to make it stay in the middle. It was a good metaphor for her crappy love life, she thought bitterly, resting her knees on her chin.

She really shouldn't have cared who Kai kissed, or who he chose to be with. She shouldn't be jealous - he wasn't even hers! But she was jealous, and her heart hurt, and some part of her hated him, and hated herself for loving him.

Jinora tried to remember the way Kai's arms felt around her, and cursed herself for it, but she couldn't help it; she wanted to feel comforted, safe and secure, and it was the first thing that had popped up in her head. God, she really was hopeless, even if Kai was holding another girl in his arms right now.

She had just managed to dry her eyes properly when there was a knock at her door. Sighing, she dragged herself out of bed and was reaching for the doorknob when she heard Kai's voice say, "It's me."

Jinora bit down her lip before opening the door, forcing a smile onto her face. "Hey." It took an alarming amount of effort to appear casual. "What's up?"

Kai frowned at her a little. "Oh, I - you left dinner pretty quickly, and then earlier...is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's okay. Why wouldn't it be?" She wondered if he knew it had only been two hours and pieces of her heart were already dying.

"No real reason, I was just wanted to make sure that everything was okay," he shrugged. He stared at her. "Have you...have you been crying?"

"No," she mentally cursed herself. "I just got something in my eye, so they're a little watery."

"Okay," Kai said slowly, but she was grateful when he let it drop. "Well, I'm er, going out with Rizza, so I guess I'll see you later."

Jinora's smile faltered for a moment. "Yeah. See you tomorrow."

After trying not to cry herself to sleep, Jinora slept in later than she usually did, so breakfast was well underway when she came into the dining hall, and narrowed her eyes: Rizza was sitting in her chair. Jinora stiffened, looking to Kai in alarm, who seemed perfectly at ease, leaning towards Rizza with a grin on his face. This was worse than seeing Rizza in his lap, this was so much worse, because that was her chair, to Kai's right, and she had always sat there. Sometimes crew members moved around or sat in different spots, but Kai always sat at the head of the table, and she always, always, sat directly to his right.

Not anymore, apparently.

She tried to force down the bitterness? Anger? She wasn't sure what it was, exactly, as she approached the table, clearing her throat. Kai looked up at her. "Oh, morning Gyatso." He glanced at Rizza and his eyes widened. "Oh, er, your chair, we weren't sure when you'd be down-"

"Oh, I'm sure Gyatso doesn't mind," Rizza smiled, giving Jinora a smug look. The table was eerily silent.

Jinora only just managed not to glare at her and gave her a strained smile. "Then it's obvious you don't know me at all."

Rizza frowned and looked at Kai, who shrugged. "It is her chair and we're almost done anyway."

Rizza scowled but got up from Jinora's chair and sat down on Kai's lap. She made a big show of wrapping her arms around his neck and gave him a long kiss. Jinora rolled her eyes and sat down in her chair, and as Daw brought over her food he gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. She tried to focus on her food and not the way that Kai was kissing Rizza back.

Jinora let out a long, low exhale when they finally left and her shoulders slumped forwards while she tightly shut her eyes. She felt people's eyes on her and cracked one eye open to find the whole crew staring at her. "What?" she snapped, shooting them a pointed glare.

Most of them quickly looked away, except for Yung and Otaku, who gave her sympathetic looks. "We just feel bad, that's all," Otaku shrugged. "This can't be easy for you."

Jinora rolled her eyes again. "That doesn't mean I want or need your pity, so stop looking at me like that. I'm fine. Really." She wished she wasn't lying.

Rizza and Kai were off the ship for most of the day doing who knows what (although Jinora, heart sinking, thought she had a very good idea) and Jinora did her best to distract herself with reading. It was a struggle to concentrate on the words, so she moved often from her room to her chair in the dining hall, not wanting to be around the rest of the crew who couldn't stop shooting her with pitying glances, and spent a good deal of time just staring at Kai's door.

Would he bring Rizza home with him tonight?

Her throat burned.

By the time the crew had turned in for the night, Kai still wasn't back, not that any of them seemed worried. Jinora was the last to head to bed, forcing herself to finish the chapter she had been dragging herself through all day in the dining hall, curled up in her chair and her usual pajamas of her black leggings and Kai's old shirt, when she heard footsteps on the staircase.

She looked up, frowning slightly when she saw it was Kai and Rizza, finally back from their day out. They had big grins on their faces, but Rizza's vanished at the sight of her. "I'm just gonna go grab something," Kai told her, letting go of Rizza's hand. Kai glanced at Jinora. "You still up Gyatso?"

She held up her book. "Reading." Certainly not waiting up for you.

His smile softened and her heart fluttered. "Well don't stay up too late." He headed out of the dining hall towards the sleeping quarters, and Jinora was about to turn back to her book when she felt Rizza's eyes on her.

"What?"

"I just find it interesting that you're wearing Kai's shirt," Rizza said testily, narrowing her eyes.

Jinora smiled uneasily. "Oh, yeah, I stole it from him a while ago and just never gave it back." She went to turn back to her book, her smile fading when Rizza didn't look away. "Um, something wrong Rizza?"

Rizza rolled her eyes. "Wrong? Oh come on Gyatso. Don't play dumb. There couldn't be anything more wrong than your pathetic little feelings for Kai."

Jinora sighed, setting down her book and gripping the cover so tightly her knuckles turned white. This could not be happening. Getting this from the crew was one thing, but from Kai's gorgeous girlfriend? "You too? Rizza, there is nothing going on between Captain and I. We're friends, but-"

"But nothing," Rizza sneered. "I'm not stupid, I could see it on your face when I walked in the other day. You were going to tell him something, weren't you? What was it?"

"That's my business," Jinora bristled. "It's not even Kai's, and certainly not yours, now would you just leave me alone, or do you want to continue to bombard me with pointless questions?"

"Think you're so smart, huh? Well you're not." Rizza smirked. "I know you like him," she said it like it was a dirty little secret, and Jinora's heart sank. She really was that obvious, then. "But he's mine."

Jinora glared at her. "I don't need the reminder, and if anyone's pathetic it's you; I'm his friend and you're his girlfriend, so why the hell are you attacking me when I'm obviously not a threat?"

Rizza rolled her eyes again. "Gyatso, you-"

"Don't call me that," she snapped and Rizza smirked.

"Kai calls you that." Jinora scowled and her smirk grew. "Aww, so you do like him, it's written all over your face. Gee, I wonder how he would react if I told him-"

Jinora's eyes widened. "Don't you dare-"

"I won't," Rizza said lightly. "As long as you stay out of my way." At Jinora's defeated look, Rizza tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Sounds like we have a deal then..." She turned around to face Kai as he walked back to the dining hall and pulled him in for a kiss. Jinora was sure Rizza would have continued for as long as possible, just to rub it in her face, but Kai pulled away after only a moment or two, although the way his hands rested on Rizza's hips were two painful stabs to her heart.

"What were you two talking about?" he asked curiously, catching the frown on Jinora's face. She tried to twist it into a smile.

"Oh, nothing," she replied, trying to sound much happier than she felt.

Rizza gave her a sharp-toothed smile, her eyes flashing a warning, and Jinora hated herself for doing what Rizza wanted, but she knew Rizza held all the power. "Just you know," Rizza did a girly little giggle, "just girl things." She looked back at Jinora. "If we're not back in the morning, don't worry. We'll probably be very busy."

Jinora had no misconceptions about what they would be busy doing and her stomach churned. She forced herself to look at Kai, who seemed a little uncomfortable about how forward Rizza was being, and when their eyes met, she couldn't discern what he was feeling, and if anything it frustrated her more. "Should we save something for you for breakfast then?"

Kai looked as if he had tried to smile but failed, which struck her as odd. "Nah, we'll probably only be back closer to lunch, but thanks anyway." He stepped away from Rizza and placed a hand on Jinora's shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze. "Sleep tight Gyatso."

Jinora smiled a little - dammit even when she was furious with him he could still make her smile. She wanted to say 'you too' but the words got stuck in her throat as she thought about the fact that Kai would likely be getting very little sleep tonight, and she simply settled on struggling to make her smile reach her eyes as he and Rizza started to walk away.

Once they were gone Jinora stared at the table, blinking back tears. Everything hurt, but her heart positively ached. Why did love have to leave her so vulnerable if all it was going to do was hurt her?

Kai was sporadic on the ship over the next day or so. He never ate breakfast with the crew, always eating, Jinora assumed, back at Rizza's place, whatever that was. When he was on the ship, it usually wasn't for long. Yung had confided in her that this was the reason none of them liked Rizza very much; most of Kai's flings never lasted this long, or took up this much of his time, but Rizza had always, for some reason, been an exception. Yung must have realized he was only making Jinora feel worse because he quickly shut up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Cap'll come around," Yung said gently. "You'll see."

But Jinora had a sinking feeling she wouldn't. With only 11 days left on the ship, she doubted Kai would let go of Rizza quickly enough for her to even have time to try to build the courage to tell him how she felt. And it also made her realize just how much she missed him. Their fights had been horrible periods of cold shoulders and silence, but Jinora had always known deep down the only reason they weren't talking was because they had hurt each other, and the only reason they had been able to hurt each other was because they cared. Now, Kai really was choosing Rizza over her (even if she was leaving so, so soon it terrified her), just like Rizza had said.

It stung.

The only good thing about Kai's absence was that Rizza was hardly around. The woman seemed to have it out for her, and could never resist rubbing it in Jinora's face that she was with Kai and Jinora was not. Rizza couldn't seem to stop touching him in some way, always sending smug smirks over in Jinora's direction. It was infuriating, and it wasn't like Jinora needed the reminder that Kai wasn't hers to have anyway.

It was also humiliating, and scary, that she had become so dependent on him too. Hadn't that been her very fear after their incident with LingShi, and Jinora had tried to shut him out? But then she had gone ahead and admitted that she needed him, and it was true, she did, whether she liked it or not.

It didn't seem like he needed her however.

And she tried to be okay with that - okay with him kissing Rizza back, with Rizza's smug looks - God did she try, only to fail anyway.

The usual distraction of reading just wasn't it for her, so mid-morning of the fourth day of the "Rizza-Incident" (or as she and the crew referred to it) Jinora asked, "Anyone want to spar?" She hadn't sparred with anyone since her last one with Kai (she could still remember the shock that had come at beating him, if he had thoroughly thrashed her the next few times).

Yung elbowed Ryu in the ribs and sighing, the bored looking man raised his hand. "Sure," he said, his voice monotone. "Why not?"

It turned out maybe sparring hadn't been the best idea, as Jinora could barely concentrate on the fight, her blood boiling as she tried to clear her mind. Stupid Rizza, sitting in her chair, and Kai, being the oblivious idiot that he was and not putting it together - how could he not put it together if it was obvious enough that the rest of the crew knew?! Why was he such an ass-

"Jinora, watch it!"

Jinora, breathing heavily, lowered her sword, realizing it had come dangerously close to cutting Ryu across the chest. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry I just got distracted-"

Ryu sheathed his own sword, frowning. "You got a lot of pent up rage for someone so small," he said sourly.

Jinora scowled at him. "I said I was sorry!"

Yung walked over, his brow furrowing. "Jinora-"

"It's just so frustrating!" she vented, turning to Yung and feeling tears build her eyes. "She's - she's terrible and how can he not notice how can he not - I just - I don't understand why - why did I have to fall in love with someone so stupid?" It was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop and Jinora clamped her hand over her mouth, horrified. The whole crew had heard. Oh god, everyone had heard. She sank to the floor, wrapping her arms around herself. She couldn't believe she had just said that.

Yung placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, Jinora-" he threw a look around at the crew, frowning. They were only two days in but this had gone on for more than long enough. They needed to do something. And fast.

That evening, Yung called a meeting. Kai and Rizza were out, and Jinora had holed up in her room, not wanting to be around anyway, so it was the perfect time to bring the whole crew together in the dining hall to discuss a very serious manner.

Yung sighed. "Despite sparring, dancing, and sharing a room and bed, she and Captain still haven't done anything. We all love Kai, and Jinora's one of us now, and she only has 10 days left on this ship, so we need to do something, and fast. Rizza has got to go."

Yung pointed at the salt and pepper. "This one's Kai," he held up the pepper, "and this one's Jinora." He pointed at the salt-shaker. "Now we just need something for Rizza." Ryu dug his finger inside his nose and pulled out a large, green booger and held it aloft on the tip of his finger. "Perfect."

"Momo, Pabu, you two are going to go stall Rizza first," Yung prodded the booger away from the salt and pepper shakers. "For as long as possible, so don't get distracted with each other, ya hear?"

Both boys flushed, looking anywhere but at each other, while Appa raised his eyebrows, everyone else chuckling lightly. "What do you mean 'distracted'?"

Nobody answered him.

"Of course Yung," Pabu said quickly. He stole a look at Momo who caught his eye and they both grinned nervously, cheeks still a bright pink.

"Meanwhile, the rest of us are going to shove Kai and Jinora into our mop closet, and well, wait until they work things out. And then we're going to go annoy the hell out of Rizza," Yung said. "It's a simple plan, really, we should have done it ages ago." He grinned at his fellow crewmates. "There's no way this can go wrong."

It went wrong.

Well, maybe wrong wasn't the right word for it. Maybe the best way to put it was delayed, because Kai and Rizza only came back for the last 20 minutes of dinner, and there never seemed to be an opportunity to tear them away from each other. Jinora was especially quiet at dinner, and Yung wondered if Kai had noticed. He must have, because even if Rizza was a big distraction, Jinora was still his best friend, and Yung knew that Kai loved her.

Yung pulled Jinora away from the table well Kai and Rizza were finished eating - he didn't think the poor girl could handle seeing Rizza all cozied up in Kai's lap for another second - and made her sit down on her bed. "How you holding up?" Yung asked.

"Okay I guess," Jinora mumbled. She looked up at him miserably as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I just thought, before, that Kai didn't know how I felt but now I'm starting to think that he does, and that he's trying to spare my feelings by ignoring them because he doesn't feel the same way, and-"

Yung shushed her. "Jinora, trust me, Kai doesn't know that you have feelings for him. I love him but the boy can be as dense as a brick wall sometimes. If he knew you were an option he wouldn't even be looking at Rizza."

Jinora's lips tugged upwards. "Thanks Yung." He patted her back.

"Anytime," he grinned. "Honestly, helping you is about the only thing that's keeping me from smacking him."

Jinora laughed a little. "Maybe you should do that anyway."

Yung's eyes gleamed with amusement. "Maybe."

It was late at night when Jinora woke up, her throat tight and dry. A glass of water would help, so she pulled a pair of socks over her freezing feet and left her room to go to the dining hall (which led to the kitchen) to go get a glass. She rounded the corner, the door to the dining hall half-open, and went to push it all the way when she caught a glimpse of Kai and Rizza kissing in his chair with Rizza straddling his hips, their hands everywhere. But they were fully clothed, thank God.

Jinora immediately took a step back, tucking herself behind the door and in between the wall, her heart hammering. She had just gotten over her shock and was about to leave when she heard Rizza's voice. "Should we go back to your cabin?" she purred.

Jinora felt sick, a tight weight pressing on her chest.

"Nah, we should go back to your place."

She heard the scraping of the chair and figured Rizza had gotten off of him. "Why? We haven't spent any time in your cabin, it'll be fun."

"I dunno Rizza," was Kai's slow and reluctant reply.

"Why not?" Rizza's tone was growing impatient. "You never had a problem before when it was just the crew. Is it because Gyatso's here?" Jinora strained her ears, but when Kai didn't say anything, Rizza pushed out. "I can't believe you... You know she likes you, right?"

Jinora inhaled sharply. How dare she? She had said she wouldn't tell if Jinora stayed out of her way and-

Kai laughed, even if it sounded a little strained. "Gyatso, like me? C'mon Rizza, be serious, I don't know what your problem is, but there's no way she'd ever like me."

Jinora let out a sigh of relief, even as she felt a pang of disappointment. Obviously, Kai was still oblivious, but it was still clear that he thought of the idea of her liking him, the idea of them being a couple, laughable. She didn't think she could stand to hear much more, so taking extra caution to keep her footsteps light, she tiptoed away from the hall.

"You really don't think she likes you? It's so obvious-"

"Why would Gyatso ever like me?" Kai stared at Rizza, who was glaring at him. "She has the world waiting for her back home," abusive fiancees not withstanding,"and wealth and status and her family. Look at me. I've got almost no money, I'm a pirate, I'm... no good for her."

Rizza's glower faded slightly into shock, before hardening again. "Oh my God, you like her don't you?"

Kai shook his head. "What, no!" I love her. He swallowed hard. "Rizza, you're being ridiculous. Look, are we going to go back to your place or not?"

Rizza crossed her arms over her chest, sighing. "Fine, whatever." Her annoyance faded as she walked up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, and it took longer than usual for him to return the gesture.

Rizza didn't say anything, but it certainly wasn't missed by her. That little skank had to pay.

"Well, what do we have here?"

Jinora frowned as she looked up from her the pot of tea she was making Why Rizza had sought her out while Kai was up on deck with the rest of the crew, Jinora wasn't sure, but she knew it couldn't be good, especially with the way things had gone the previous night.

"What do you want Rizza?" she sighed, standing up and placing her hands on her hips. Every time she had looked at Kai's chair all she had been able to see was he and Rizza's passionate kiss and embrace, and it became a little bit harder to breathe. She started fidgeting with her necklace.

Rizza eyed it, frowning. "Who got you that stupid thing anyway?"

Jinora hooked her fingers around the anchor pendant, the stone cool to the touch. "Captain." Judging by Rizza's infuriated expression, Kai had never gotten her anything of the sort, and it gave Jinora a rush of satisfaction to know that for once, she had the upper hand.

"I told you to stay out of my way," Rizza said testily.

Jinora's frown deepened. "I did. I am."

"Oh really? Then why are you trying to steal Kai from me?" Rizza demanded.

Jinora rolled her eyes. "He's not a possession or some sort of prize to be won, Rizza. And for the record, I haven't been trying to do anything, God you're paranoid-"

"At least I'm not unfaithful."

"W-what?"

"Aren't you engaged to LingShi Chow?"

Jinora flinched. "How did you hear that?" Her hands started shaking, panic rising like bile in her throat. Where was Kai? Shouldn't he have come down to see where Rizza had gone by now? She tried to step past Rizza but the woman blocked her path. "He - my father's going to break the engagement." Never mind the fact she still hadn't received a letter saying so; there was no way her father would make her marry him if he knew what LingShi was actually like.

Rizza seemed to realize she had struck a nerve and smiled broadly, her eyes flashing. "Hmm? You don't want to marry him?"

Jinora's hands curled into fists and she could feel tears build in her eyes. "Shut up." How had Rizza found out? There was no way, no way in hell Kai had told her, but...the papers. There must have been something in the newspapers. That happened sometimes, with high-society couples, the engagement being announced in the papers, and with her being the blasted governor's daughter...

"I suppose you want to marry Kai instead," Rizza ploughed on remorselessly, her smile twisting into a satisfied smirk. "Since you're a thieving little bitch."

"Shut up," Jinora's voice trembled.

"It's pathetic really, although I don't think either of them would want to marry a slut like you-"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

Jinora drew back her fist and drew back all her frustration and heartbreak and humiliation and then let go as her first hurled into Rizza's smirking face. She lunged, driving Rizza back towards the table as they crashed into Jinora's chair; they grappled on the floor, Jinora grabbing Rizza's dark hair and pulling it as tightly as she could while Rizza tried and failed to successfully hit her back. Rizza yanked at the necklace around her neck and Jinora watched, horrified, as the anchor pendant smashed against the floor. The kettle was shrieking on the stove once the girls struggled to their feet and Jinora shoved Rizza against the wall, nursing a cut lip and black eye when the door burst open.

Jinora didn't even look back, getting ready to slap Rizza again when she heard Kai ask, "What the hell is going on?!"

"Hey, no fighting on my ship!" Jinora felt Kai's arms wrap around her as he pulled her off of Rizza, not particularly caring when her elbow knocked harshly against his jaw as she struggled against him. Kai dragged her out of the dining hall and into the hallway, closing the door behind him and rounding on her with a glare. "What the hell is your problem Gyatso?" he snapped. Jinora couldn't help but be reminded of all their old arguments in those first few days of knowing each other, but God this was so much worse because now they knew how to cut each other. She stayed silent as Kai's eyes softened slightly, taking in the scrapes on her face; Rizza had faired much worse. "You're not hurt are you?"

Jinora almost smiled. "She got me pretty good in the jaw, but other than that no."

"Good, I hope she did," Kai's eyes hardened. "I don't know what's going on with you, but I know that something's been bothering you and I've been trying to give you space in case you wanted to work it out on your own, but-"

"You seriously don't know? You haven't put it together? Goddammit Kai!" she cried. "I know you can be stupid and oblivious but everybody freaking knows, the crew knows, Rizza knows, but you-" she threw up her hands in frustration. "Besides, she had it coming! She broke my necklace, the one you gave me-"

"I'm sure it was an accident-"

"She yanked it off my neck and smashed it, believe me, it was no accident! And she wouldn't stop asking about LingShi and when you're not around she'll say the most horrible things to me, she calls me a thieving bitch even though if anything she's the one who stole -" she stared at him, pursing her lips. "Forget it."

Jinora went to walk away when Kai grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards him. "Stole what?" he demanded, tightening his hold on her hand. "What, Jinora?"

"Let me go Kai-"

"No, not until you tell me-"

Angry tears sparked in her eyes. "It's YOU, YOU IDIOT!"

Shock spread over Kai's face as she wrenched her hand out of his. "M-me? Jinora - what?" He stared at her as she furiously wiped at her eyes. "I know you're leaving soon and I've been spending a lot of time with Rizza lately and I've been kinda neglecting you, but-"

"If you think that's all this is about then you're a bigger idiot than I thought," she snapped.

Kai's eyes hardened. "You know what I think, I think that-"

"Oh, I know which body part you've been thinking with!"

Kai's fists clenched as he tried to ignore the jab. "I think you're jealous!" he shouted. Jinora opened and closed her mouth a couple times and Kai was glad to see he had probably scored a point.

"Why the hell would I be jealous of Rizza?" Her words caught her in throat slightly and she mentally cursed.

"Because you like me!"

"As if - I knew you could be arrogant, but honestly, get over yourself - why would you -" she spluttered, glaring up at him. She poked him in the chest, startled when he grabbed her hand and stepped closer to her.

"Then why don't I believe you?" He demanded with a low growl and Jinora swallowed hard. She put up her other hand to try to give herself more space but her hand simply rested on his chest instead. It took everything in her to push him away.

"I can't help it if you don't believe me," she snapped. "Besides, even if I did like you in that way, it wouldn't change anything." This time when she stepped away from him he didn't stop her. "I'm going to my room, leave me alone. You're the last person I want to see right now."

Kai threw up his hands. "Dammit Jinora don't-" she stormed away from him even as he followed and she slammed her door in his face. Kai pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing heavily. He glared at her door, letting go of his nose and running a hand through his hair, wanting to kick something. He swore loudly.

He walked back to the dining hall, sulking. By now the rest of the crew had gathered around, and all seemed to be giving Rizza looks with varying levels of disgust, except for Longshot who was treating her black eye. "Can you believe what that little bitch did to me?" Rizza shrieked, and Kai threw her a sharp look.

"Don't call her that." He gave the crew a pointed glare, and they practically ran to the door, shoving and stumbling over each other. Kai sighed heavily, turning to Longshot once he was the only one who had hung back. "The black eye?"

"Will heal within a day as long as she uses this salve," Longshot replied. Kai nodded.

"Okay. You can go."

Longshot shut the door behind him and Kai turned back to Rizza. "She hit me first!" Rizza whined. "Honestly she-"

"Did you break Jinora's necklace?" he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Kai-"

He spotted some stone shards on the floor underneath the table and scooped up the broken pieces of the pendant in his hands. His gift, ruined. And a pretty good metaphor for his and Jinora's relationship right now. God he was an idiot. Being with Rizza hadn't helped at all; if anything, it had only made him think about Jinora more, and it had driven another rift in between them, with so little time left for them to work through it. He pocketed the broken pieces and would deal with it later.

He would break up with Rizza right now, if he thought he could handle another argument, but the fight had left him. Just like the necklace, he'd deal with Rizza tomorrow.

Kai looked at Rizza coldly. "Did you bring up LingShi Chow?" he demanded.

"Kai I-"

His eyes hardened, his voice growing deadly quiet. "Did you mention LingShi Chow?"

"Well, yes." Rizza pouted at him. "I didn't know she'd get so upset, honestly, the frigid bitch can't take a joke-"

"Don't call her that." Kai glared at her. "Don't you ever call her that again, do you understand me?" He turned around from her and swore loudly. "You'd be upset too, if you were engaged to a man like that."

Rizza rolled her eyes. "And you said you didn't like her, as if. Look, even if you're jealous just because he's going to marry Jinora you don't have to bite my head off-"

"It's not jealousy," Kai snapped. Or at least not most of it. "He hit her, Rizza."

"She just hit me," Rizza whined.

Kai's eyes flashed as he whirled around and Rizza shrank back. "He's abusive. He cornered her in an alleyway and I know exactly what he was trying to do before I got there so don't give me this bullshit because you don't understand anything about abuse! I don't give a damn about what you have to say! And I know Jinora, I know that if she thought punching you was justified than it probably was."

His hands shook as he unclenched his fists. "I don't know why, but I know you have it out for her and if you think I'm going to choose you over my best friend than you've got another thing coming. I..." A lump formed in his throat. "I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

Rizza knew that was her cue to leave - possibly for forever - and was unusually quiet as she walked towards the exit, pausing by the door. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, and then she was gone.