Author's Note: So this story was just a brilliant idea that popped into my head, totally no inspiration from anything else... (just kidding!) I was reading this AMAZING avatar fanfic (you should totally check it out, it's called Slush-Savage, Rubble-Brain, Ember-Eater, Air-Head) and, kinda obvious now, I was inspired to write a little story about how Kai would react to these racial slurs. Full credits go to A.D.Curtis for the slurs like airhead, and I hope you enjoy!
P.S. If anyone has some prompts for me to write that would be great! I'm kinda running out of writing ideas but I want to continue writing some short Kainora scenes, so comment anything you want me to write and I'll try my best to do it.
P.P.S. Anyone else agree with me when I say that Bolin would definitely be the first Kainora shipper? Him and Pema, of course.
DISCLAIMER: I feel like everyone knows the drill at this point, but I don't own LOK or any of the characters.
There was a sharp whistle that pierced the air. "Hey, air-heads! Where're you going this late?"
Kai was walking back to camp with Jinora and Opal. The trio had spent their day in a small Earth Kingdom town, helping out the residents with daily problems like properly irrigating the fields and installing a thing Bolin said were called 'solar panels'; one of Varrick's newest inventions. Even though it had been nearly two and a half years since the Earth Empire had come to an end, there was still a lot of work that had to be done across the land.
So naturally, they were all very tired after a long day. And when Kai heard the discriminatory phrase thrown at them like it was nothing, he could feel anger rising in his chest.
Another wolf whistle sounded, this one even longer than the last. "Look at them blow hards, struttin' around like they own the place," one drunk in the alley called.
Kai's fist clenched. How dare they say that to Jinora and Opal? All they had done was help these people, and this is how they were repaid?
He felt a gentle touch atop his almost shaking fist. Jinora took his hand and shot him a look that told him to let it go. It made him furious that stuff like this was a regular occurance. That Jinora had gotten used to dealing with this. But he listened to her. He took a measured breath and continued walking, moving closer to both his friend and girlfriend.
"Well well, look at those two girlies," another hooted. Two of the men swayed out of the dark and flanked the very uncomfortable girls.
"Is this guy bothering you, sweethearts?" the drunk jeered, pointing a finger at Kai as he began to walk closer to Jinora and Opal. "We could help you out…"
Opal gulped, shuffling closer to Kai, and Jinora squeezed her eyes shut, as if it would block out the vile implications.
"I've never tried airbender ass before, and I've been lookin' for some foreign beauties like these two," the second said, just loud enough for all three friends to hear.
That's when Kai lost it.
He wrenched his hand out of Jinora's, striding towards the drunks with an unnerving calm. They began to stumble backwards, laughing about how they must have struck a nerve. He heard a voice call out to him, telling him to wait. Probably Jinora. But it didn't matter. He wasn't going to let these horrible people put down two of the most kind-hearted people he knew, he wasn't going to let them catcall either Jinora or Opal.
As he stepped up to the disgusting men, he squared up. Looked them right in the eye. And landed a solid punch to the first's jaw.
The man reeled back, cursing as his hand flew to his face. "You're gonna regret that, bison jockey," he spat.
"Oh yeah," Kai sardonically asked. "And who's gonna make me?" He quickly propelled the second backwards, and there was a loud grunt as back met brick. The intoxicated man slumped against the wall, seemingly unconscious. The tippler who Kai had punched reached into his boot, fumbling for something he couldn't see.
"Kai!" He turned his head slightly, to see Jinora's worried expression. "Let's just go back to camp, they're not worth the time." Even though he was frustrated he wouldn't be able to finish putting the drunkards in their place, Kai thought that he should just listen to Jinora. He sighed, lowering his raised fists and making his way over to Opal and Jinora.
That was until Opal gave a surprised yelp, eyes wide at something just behind him.
Kai whipped his head around, leaving him with just enough time to avoid the knife hurtling straight towards his back. There was a twang as the blade stuck deep into the door of the shop in front of him.
His eyes widened when he was faced with the glinting tip of another knife. There was no time to react; he was too unbalanced from jumping out of the path of the first blade thrown at him.
Kai threw his hands up to cover his face, but before the stiletto could reach its target, a gust of wind blasted it from the air.
He looked to the girls a little ways over. Jinora had her hands thrust forward, the form for an air punch. She was breathing heavily, brows knit in concern. Before she could say anything to stop him from doing anything stupid, Kai shot her a quick, thankful smile and stood up.
Tipsy, the man cast a wicked grin at Kai, pulling an array of knives out and twirling them between his fingers. More prepared, Kai gracefully dodged each blade whizzing past, slowly inching his way closer to the drunk. And as the man saw that his strategy wasn't working anymore, he unsheathed a small dagger, rushing right at the airbenders.
"Now, why don't we keep this fight between just the two of us," Kai said, trying to direct the crazy drunk away from his friends. "Are you really going to attack a bunch of helpless girls?" Obviously, Kai wasn't stupid. He knew that Jinora and Opal were both perfectly capable of taking this guy down. But that was enough to draw attention from the girls and back onto him.
However, the insulted look on their faces reminded him he would need to apologize later.
"Why don't you just leave me and them beautiful girlies there alone," the man slurred, pulling Kai out of his thoughts. "I'm not gonna hurt them, gust-queer, just have a little fun."
Rage bubbled up in his stomach, and he felt sick thinking about what 'fun' the man wanted to have with Jinora. So he sent a series of sharp air slices at the guy, not even bothering to see where it hit. Kai could hear the pained grunts coming from the direction of the man. He must have been on aim.
The drinker began to slash wildly as Kai approached him, but to no avail. The skilled airbender nimbly dodged each stab before jumping up and performing a disarming move Korra had taught him. The hilt clattered to the alleyway ground as Kai grabbed the man's collar, slamming him against wall.
"Don't you ever talk about them like that," he hissed, eyes ablaze. "You will never come anywhere near Jinora or Opal, you hear me?" A bit more pressure to the neck had the drunkard whimpering, and he furiously nodded. "I will personally hunt you down if I see you lay one finger on them." He let the shaking sot drop to the dirty bricks below. "And next time," Kai seethed, bending down so that the groaning man could hear him. "Think twice before insulting my friends. And don't ever think about catcalling my girlfriend." He sent him off with a swift kick to the ribs, leaving the drunk howling on the ground.
His head was pounding with fury as he stalked back to his friends. He shot anyone who was still lazing around on the corner behind them a deadly stare, and the street was quickly void of people.
Except for the two women standing there with deadly stares of their own.
He gave a tired sigh, running a hand through his messy hair. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I just-"
"Just what," Jinora said, arms crossed. "Kai, what were you thinking? He had a knife!"
"Well, it was more like six or seven knives," he muttered.
"That's even worse!"
"But that's not the point! They were being racist! And he kept...kept calling you names and stuff and he was gonna…" Kai trailed off, Adam's apple bobbing.
Jinora threw her hands up, exasperated. "I know what he was going to do! Of course we know it! You think that type of stuff doesn't happen to us on a regular basis?" He was speechless as the revelation settled in, frozen to the spot. Jinora frowned, stepping forward and taking his hand. "All I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't be throwing yourself into situations where there's a possibility you come out hurt. Especially stupid ones like those." She gently ruffled his locks, pecking him on the cheek. "Opal and I can handle ourselves. And trust me, the best way to get rid of creepy guys is to just ignore them."
Opal nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we've had our fair share of men coming over and trying to convince us they were such a catch," she bitterly laughed. "Never ends well for them." Jinora snickered, looking at Kai to see if he would crack a smile at Opal's joke. He didn't.
"Let's just go back to camp before anyone else shows up," he said, stoney-faced.
Suddenly, Jinora gripped his wrist tighter. "Kai, you're bleeding." She gently touched his side, brushing over the deep gash. He winced, pulling her fingers away from the wound.
"Must've gotten a little too close to those knives," he jested. Though he hadn't noticed it before, the deep cut was now stinging in the brisk night air.
"We should get that cleaned up," Opal said. "It doesn't look so good."
"C'mon," Jinora murmured. "I'll help you when we get back to our room."
When they walked back into camp, Tenzin rushed over.
"Where have you been? I've been worried sick!"
"Dad," Jinora said, her tone warning. "We're all really tired. Can we just go to bed?"
"But you were supposed to be back an hour ago!"
"We stayed a little later to help some of the townsfolk implant their solar panels," Opal clarified.
"And then we had a run-in with some guys who'd been drinking," Kai said. "But everything's fine-"
"Kai got cut by one of the men who had some knives," Jinora sternly interrupted. "I'm gonna put some bandages on and then we're going to sleep. Okay?"
Tenzin shook his head with a loud sigh. "Alright. Kai, why don't you stay out here with me while Jinora prepares the first aid. Opal, you should go get some rest." Opal nodded, making her way back to her shared tent with Bolin.
All of a sudden, it was just master and student, standing in the middle of the temporary settlement. Tenzin eased himself onto a nearby log, patting the spot beside him. Kai sat down as he was asked, holding the gash to try and stop some of the blood.
"What did you want to talk about?" he asked, looking to the older man with curiosity.
Tenzin habitually stroked his slender beard. "Why did you pick a fight with a bunch of intoxicated men?" The question caught Kai off guard. "I know you well enough to know that you probably wouldn't get yourself into a position like that...unless there was a bigger reason as to why you got involved. So what is that reason?"
Kai bit his lip. He didn't want to lie to Tenzin, but if the elder airbender found out what had happened, he would confine them to their little tents, or worse. "They-um-they were calling all of us...some racist names." He hung his head. "I know, we're supposed to be peaceful and it was a stupid reason to get into a fight-"
"No it's not." Kai looked up at Tenzin, surprised.
"It's not?"
"You were standing up for yourself, for all of us." Tenzin placed an appreciative hand on the younger airbender's back. "That's an admirable act."
Kai shrugged. "I couldn't just stand there while they harassed us. Discrimination is wrong, no matter who it's directed at."
Tenzin softly smiled at his response, pride gleaming in his eyes as Jinora poked her head out under the tent flap and called Kai over.
Tenzin knew that, indeed, Kai was turning out to be a fine young man; dare he say, one fit for his little girl.
"Here. Sit." Jinora directed him to the bed, brushing off some invisible dust on the sheets. He reluctantly followed her command, plopping down onto the mattress. He pulled his hand away to see crimson stains across his skin.
"Okay," Jinora said, eyeing the bottles in each of her hands. "I've got some water here to rise out the cut and some saline solution for cleaning after." Kai watched as she set the containers on the bedside table and moved over next to him. She fingered the hem of his shirt, expertly pulling it over and off his head. "Just lay down so I can see how deep it is."
Once again, Kai did as he was told. He spread out over the blanket, trying his best to keep the blood from dripping on it. Jinora's touch was light, almost ticklish, and she gently prodded around the visible area of the split. However, he cringed when she pulled a little too hard on a section of the gash, and she quickly pulled away.
"Sorry," she said. "I'll go get the water."
A few minutes later and Jinora had cleaned the wound as well as she could. There were some parts of the laceration where blood kept trickling out, but the trails were quickly wiped up.
"How does that feel?"
"Fine," Kai replied, gritting his teeth as he sat up. Jinora raised a brow and he frowned. "Okay, maybe it kind of hurts. But I'll be fine, it's nothing bad."
"Well it's deeper than your average cut," Jinora said, getting the gauze and bandages laid out and ready to use. "You should just take a few days off to rest. We'll be leaving the village soon anyways."
"But we didn't finish the work on the well-"
Jinora cut him off, pressing a finger to his lips. "Don't worry about that," she breathed. "There are plenty of people here who can help. I'll stay here with you for the next couple of days and make sure you relax."
Kai groaned as she wrapped the bandages around his torso, kneeling behind his back for a better angle. "Relaxing is boring," he complained.
Jinora tilted his head back and captured his whining mouth upside down. "Boring?" she questioned, breath dancing across his lips.
"Relaxing sounds fun," he quickly amended. Jinora grinned, brightly giggling. Kai breathlessly smiled back, and then Jinora's expression grew wistful.
"Please try to be more careful," she murmured, pressing a soft kiss to his temple. "I don't like seeing you hurt."
"And I hate seeing you just pretend like nothing happened."
"Kai," she exhaled. "I already told you, it's not a big deal-"
"Oh yeah, because all they wanted was to 'have a little fun' with you," Kai said, balling up his fists. "Of course it's a big deal!"
Jinora pursed her lips when she saw his eyes, swimming with tears. "I just don't get how you can just let people try to take advantage of you," he mumbled. "It isn't fair. You shouldn't-no one should have to deal with that."
Jinora sadly smiled, touched by his concern. She wrapped her legs around her boyfriend's waist and hugged his chest, pressing up against his back. Resting her head on his shoulder, she said, "I'm sorry if I made it seem like I didn't mind that type of stuff. I hate it too. It's just...after a while you get used to it...and it doesn't seem like it's going to make a difference to knock some sense into every gross guy that makes a move. Why risk getting injured by one when there's plenty of other douchebags out there who'll do the same things, y'know?"
"I get what you're saying," Kai said as he rubbed his eyes. "But I still hate it. And I'm still gonna fight every single one of those creeps."
She laughed, kissing his neck affectionately. "Of course you are. That's what I like about you, you big dummy."
Kai gently twisted out of her grasp turning around and cupping her cheek with a goofy grin. "You like me," he said, more as a brag than a confirmation.
She nodded, casually slinging her arms around his neck. "A lot." She smiled as he leaned in and kissed her sweetly. They toppled over into their bed, Kai falling on top of her. Jinora laughed, the melodious sound filling the small space as Kai peppered her face with loving kisses. "S-stop it," she gasped, not really meaning it. "That t-tickles!"
Kai chortled, reluctantly pulling back and flopping onto the mattress right beside her. He tenderly brushed back her chestnut hair with a gaze of adoration that made the spirit bunnies in her stomach bound around joyously.
"Love you, Jin."
Her heart fluttered, like it did every time he said those words. "Forever and always," she whispered. It was a response they had come up with over the years, and it meant the world to the both of them.
Kai hooked her by the waist, pulling her in and wrapping her into a giant bear hug. She snuggled into his chest, comforted by the warmth radiating from his body. The candles lighting the room were easily snuffed out with a precise draft of air, and the surrounding area was dimmed. Soft moonlight shone through the tent flap, and it created a soothing atmosphere.
"You're amazing," Kai mumbled into her hair, each breath becoming more steady than the last.
Jinora could feel her eyelids becoming heavier, and she gave a content sigh. "Says you." She didn't remember anything after that, only the feeling of safety and love.
The sun had barely risen in the sky, and Bolin was practically bouncing off the walls of his brother's tent. He was accompanied by his girlfriend, who was shaking her head with a sweet smile.
"Bolin," she laughed. "You don't need to keep saying his name. We can show him later."
"I know," Bolin exaggeratedly sighed. "But it's so cute and, oh I can't wait any longer!"
"What the-" Mako awoke to the sight of his younger brother, squinting right at him as he held his eyes wide open.
"Mako! Are you awake?"
"Now I am" the firebender grumbled, swatting Bolin's hand away from his face. "What are you doing? And what time is it?"
Bolin excitedly pulled him up and out of bed, dragging him out of his nice and comfy tent and into the open. "C'mon, there's no time to waste! I have something to show you!" Mako groaned, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes as he padded along behind Bolin.
By the time they reached their destination, the first rays of sunlight had peeked over the horizon, brightening the glow of early morning. Bolin stopped, rubbing his hands. "Okay, we're here." He grabbed the rough fabric of a tent flap. "Now, I present to you," he announced, pausing for dramatic effect, "the most adorable thing you have ever laid eyes on!" With a swoop of his arm, Bolin ripped open the entrance to the tent, revealing two figures.
The scene was serene. Kai and Jinora were cuddled together, entangled in each other's arms. Small smiles graced their lips, and the new dawn light bathed the couple in a golden warmth.
"Isn't that just the cutest?!" Bolin gushed.
Mako held the bridge of his nose, beginning to slowly walk away. "Explain to me why we're spying on two seventeen year olds while they're asleep."
"It's not spying," Bolin said, catching up to his brother and waving around his hands. "It's just...looking at them while they're being all snuggly."
"That sounds an awful lot like spying."
"Oh, don't be such a stick-in-the-mud, Mako. Can't I just appreciate young love?"
"Leave them alone, Bolin," he sighed. "I'm sure Kai would either kill you or die of mortification if he ever woke up and saw you peeking your big head in like that."
Bolin stopped to think about that before calling out to Mako. "But it's our responsibility as his big brothers to embarrass him!"
Mako waved him off. "I'm going back to bed."
"Fine!" Bolin pouted. "I'll just go admire all the Kainora fluff myself!"
"I told you, we aren't ever using a 'ship name' you came up with in actual sentences!"
"Well too bad! I think it's cute!"
"Oh spirits," Mako muttered. If it wasn't clear before, it was now; Bolin was way too invested in Kai's relationship for him to handle.
Though he would admit, the older teens were pretty adorable together...