I Don't Own Avatar the Last Airbender
I was laughing softly to myself as I looked down at the two spiraled out on the floor kids, as they panted to themselves, trying to get their breath back. They were good, but I had years more experience, a more mature body, and knew how they fought inside and out. A spar between the three of us just wasn't meant to be fair. Still, they were pretty good, but not good enough for me to start bending. It was just easier to ware them out by dodging and poking them on the foreheads when I got close enough to.
Which were far and in between admittedly as they knew much better than to allow me to get too close but it was still very one sided in my favor. Still, it was kind of fun, in that weird nostalgic way you get when you do something you use to do in your childhood. A bit different sure as I was on the opposite side of things this time around, being the teacher, not the student but the principle of the matter was basically the same so there was that.
"N-no fair, you're to strong Dad!" Bahi was whining a bit which finally let me stop laughing as I walked over to the two kids before sitting down next to them, just so I was nearby. Buo had his eyes closed and had a arm over his forehead while he panted while Bahi was already sitting up, also out of breath but trying to not let it slow her down any, it wasn't working out for her though.
"I'm too fast you mean. You two need to get better at predicting movement patterns, but that can be addressed at a later time" The two sighed in relief at the break I was giving them as I reached over and ruffled up Bahi hair, who just gave me a very tired glare, much to exhausted to try and stop my teasing while Buo just continued to rest on the ground.
"I'm going to see if Inaru would be up for some sparring practice soon, you know she's actually better than me when it comes to martial arts which don't involve bending" The two groaned at the very idea as I smiled at there reaction before looking over at Inaru with a raised eyebrow and a questioning tilt of the head. She looked at me, then at the two kids for a moment before saying in a deceptively sweet voice.
"Well, I guess if it's to teach them" My smile grew a bit as I noticed as the two shifted to look at each other, both the same look on their faces of dread. It was adorable to be honest with you, but we won't have this become a constant thing. Maybe every few weeks or so. I don't want them to start getting competitive, well more competitive. If we started to just win over and over again then they'll start either becoming annoyed or overwork themselves even more to try and catch up. I would know, I did that more times than I can count during my own training with my instructors.
"That was so cool!" I moved my amusement filled eyes over a bit to look at Ran as he, well, ran, up to then past me over to the other two kids. Instantly starting to chat away with them, not bothering with the fact that they both looked to tired to respond and instead just didn't give them the chance to by just continuing to talk on and on. The little guy was fun, though I couldn't help but be a bit worried about how plainly innocent he was. The naive don't have a great place in this world. It worried me, but as long as I'm around, I'll do my best to protect him from it all.
But I won't be around forever, and I especially won't always hover over him, that seems more like something Rina would do. Still, he can't bend so I can't really teach him anything there, but perhaps I could convince Rina to have Inaru give him some self defense lessons. Just because someone can't bend doesn't mean they can't fight. I didn't need to bend to show my kids a thing or to but I will admit it was a bit more tough than I made it look.
It was mostly just ignoring my instincts to attack back with fire and having to use a more unfamiliar form while fighting but it still was enough to some what throw me off. That wasn't really important though, just a side observation if anything, still I wonder what I should do now. It's a bit late into the afternoon, I didn't want to tire out my kids in the morning as that would just hurt their sleep schedules, so that means that there really isn't a lot of time left to do anything. Inaru was already finishing up the food, and I had unexpectedly found myself with some free time.
I've gotten a bit use to the kids just hanging off me that now that there is another kid to distract my own, and another adult to pass some of the labor off to, and an paranoid teen to look over said kids, my free time is a lot more open then it use to be only a few months ago. Honestly I still wasn't use to this, it just felt a tad bit weird to have so much time on my hands.
My life has always been a pretty rushed one, always bouncing from one thing to another, so the fact that I, for right now, had time to spare was just such a foreign concept I wasn't sure what to do with it. Not like I'e never had some peace and quiet, the kids knew to give me some space for a few hours every now and again but usually by that point I was either a tad bit stressed or worked up about something that it only made sense to relax or just nap for a while.
But I wasn't stressed right now nor was I tired myself, besides being very lightly out of breath a few minutes ago, so I wasn't sure what I should be doing. Though I wasn't complaining, not in the slightest. This was such a unique and frankly nice problem to have. To much free time can't be a problem, especially when I still don't have that much of it, just more than I'm use to.
I'm sure I'll figure out something, maybe I'll pick up a hobby or two. It's been forever since I've had time to sit down and read a proper book or something along those lines... To bad I didn't have any of those on me at the moment, well not ones that I would read myself. We had a number of books, but they were easy children books that didn't really have anything engaging in terms of plot, which I had used to teach the kids to read with.
I'll really have to work a lot soon won't I? Looking up at the sky for a moment as I laid my back against a nearby trees as the rays of light poked through the leafs. For food, some heavier clothing for the winter, most of which my kids have out grown, and Rina and Ran just don't have, probably for rent for wherever we end up staying while we finally reach Omashu in the next few days. And of course to get a few more things so I have something more to do in these down times.
"You've adopted two more it was seem" I blinked as I turned my eyes away from the sleeping forms of Ran and Rina, to look over at Inaru. I had been making sure they had been alright, the ground isn't usually the nicest place to sleep on. Still, these two weren't my kids... though since blood clearly doesn't mean anything, I wouldn't mind being an uncle I suppose. Still...
"Nah, not yet it would seems. Rina doesn't trust me yet, which I think is completely fair. I can tell just by looking in her eyes that something terrible must have happened to her and her brother for them to be out here in the first place. And well, let's just say our nation is responsible for a lot of orphans" Inaru sighed as that as she looked to the sleeping teen and kid for a moment before saying.
"It isn't our nation anymore Sho. You would be killed on sight if you went back and they recognized you and I can no longer condone what they've done, not after seeing so much of the after effects of our actions" She was right, the Fire nation wasn't my place to call home anymore, honestly it hardly ever truly was. Still, it was such a vacant feeling to think that you don't belong to something, anything... Expect that wasn't true, I was apart of something, this little found I've somehow put together... It was a comforting thought.
"You're right. All I can do is hope she starts to trust me over time. I'm hoping that she and her brother will stick around. I don't like the idea of them being out there by themselves, alone from the world... I was thinking about it, do you think you could teach Ran a thing or two about fighting? Everyone here can defend themselves besides him, and I don't like the idea of something happening when one of us isn't around" Inaru seemed to think on it for a moment before saying.
"I'll have to see what Rina says but I think it would be for the best if he learned at least something" I nodded at that as I looked up into the night sky at the half full moon shining down on me from above before saying.
"Of course, I was planning on seeing if Rina would like some waterbending lessons as well. I don't know much about the element, even when compared to earthbending but I figured I could at least help her on her way somewhat... From my studies, lightningbending is quite like waterbending, it's all about the movement of the body in correlation with one's chi" Inaru looked over at me at that before asking much more softly.
"Can you still use it? I remember all the times you blew yourself up trying to master that" I let a soft ironic smile tug on my face as I thought about all the burns and explosions I've caused and hurt myself with trying to master the highest peek of firebending... I wish I never learned it. Unlike fire which can have many uses, lightning can only do one thing, kill and destroy. Something I've used it to do more times than I liked to remember, even when their faces haunted my dreams.
"It's all about the chi not the muscle or even the breathing. I'm sure I could relearn it in a night even if I do have problems with it at the start from being so rusty. Though I wouldn't think about using it anytime soon, I know what it's like to manipulate one's chi in certain ways, and I'm going to hope it's enough to give Rina some tips" Inaru gave me a sympathetic smile at that, more than likely knowing what I had just been thinking about, before saying again, in a light tone.
"I'm sure she'll do great"
I have absolutely no idea what to put here, these chapters are literally just me verbal barfing on the screen with whatever comes to mind while I'm typing. Most of the bending lore stuff is just things I've thought about or thought up completely on the fly as well which just shows how much thought I'm putting into this, but that's besides the point in my opinion. Anyway, See ya.