"My mother was born in the Western Air Temple."
By the time she started speaking to him, walking slowly along the outside corridors of the school, On Ji's tears had dried up onto her flushed cheeks. Her voice still quivered, perhaps adjusting to the shock from seeing that boy appear in her most personal space, but as the girl looked back at it, she was glad that he did show up after all. It showed how truly strong he was about their culture... and On Ji couldn't help but smile, finally speaking to him so openly.
"She wanted to become a dancer and devote her life to the Temple. But my father... he was the son of a Fire Nation diplomat to the Western Air Temple... when he turned fourteen, my grandfather invited him to come along."
"That's how they met, wasn't it?" Aang felt that spark of romance coming within On Ji's story, and the girl made an involuntary giggle in response.
"Most of the girls loved him, since they were not used to meeting boys outside of their own Nation," On Ji explained this simply, while Aang nodded in understanding. "My dad said they liked his hair... and he started showing off his firebending skills to them. He liked the attention, I guess, but I think he mostly did it to try and impress my mom... and it worked."
On Ji blushed, noticing how Aang's bashful face seemed to concur at that idea. Attention always seemed to grab Aang by the ankles no matter what the situation entailed.
"For years, my dad returned to the Temple during his summer break just to be with her." On Ji paused for a second, feeling that an upcoming turning point in her story was still very raw to her. "When she turned sixteen, my mom knew that she had to make a choice... and decided to give up her life at the Temple in order to stay close to my dad. They married soon after that in the Fire Nation. That's where I was born."
"Wow, so your whole life's been in the Fire Nation... and you still learned airbending?" Aang's eyes beamed at the thought, smiling at his fellow classmate. "Your mom must've been a great teacher."
"Thanks," On Ji looked elsewhere, embarrassingly, "but that's not exactly what happened."
His eyebrows rose in curiosity and questioning, and On Ji playfully made a tiny spinning discus of air with two fingers, tossing it towards Aang's eyes to make him blink and yelp. Her laugh was genuine - like a childish giggle – and the boy was pleased to see girl feel somewhat better.
"When I was born, I was as light as a feather--"
"The first sign!" Aang exclaimed with a smile, immediately mimicking On Ji's mini discus by throwing another one her way. The girl immediately moved her head to dodge it with a giggle.
"Yeah, and my mom was so excited for me, too." On Ji took in a deep breath, brushing away some of her disheveled hair from the mini discus. "She felt that it was my birthright to learn airbending, so when I turned four, she took me to become a ward in the Western Air Temple."
"At least you got to know your family a little bit before you left," Aang said, leaping over the corridor's rail with an artistic landing on his toes to see On Ji more face to face. "I can't even remember what my parents looked like. I do remember sounds... like my mom's voice when she sang me to sleep."
On Ji looked over the rail, seeing Aang trying to cheer a shy little girl like her up with his natural playfulness. The boy studied her sad expression, wondering what the young girl was thinking about as she gazed down at him. It was strange, bringing up his own parents like that... realizing it had been such a long time since he even thought about them.
The girl then jumped onto the cement top of the corridor rail, swinging her legs over to dangle as Aang still stood below.
"So... how is it that you came to Praying Mantis?" He was wondering about that since the beginning, actually, and Aang wanted to ask her why she was so nervous to reveal this gift of airbending to the rest of the school... but the boy knew he had to take it one step at a time..
On Ji just made a small, shy little grin at the boy below her, and took another deep breath.
"It's hard to explain... like part of me was trying to be a devoted airbender, while my other part was supposed to be a loyal Fire Nation citizen, like my dad. I tried to fit in – I was one of the best air dancers of my age, actually – but I also missed my parents. It wasn't fair... how I knew them so much and got letters from them regularly... while the other girls didn't even know their own parents yet."
Aang's shoulders hung limply, remembering how utterly different it all felt after Avatar Roku told him the news of his Apprenticeship. Not one kid in the Southern Air Temple seemed to look at him the same way, after that.
The boy's mind was fighting the urge to mention his own secret... that he was the Avatar-in-Training... but he remembered the bigger picture.
"So... is that why you left? Because you couldn't fit in?"
"Yeah, last summer," On Ji said in a somewhat defeated, yet matter-of-fact way. "Avatar Roku heard about me being an Airbender of the Fire Nation, and he told my parents that instead of matriculating me into a regular Fire Nation school... I should try going to a school with kids from every nation."
"Ah, Praying Mantis High. But...were you excited about it?" Aang didn't see that gleeful smile in On Ji when she mentioned the school's name.
"At first, I was..." On Ji then twirled her fingers around, forming a series of tiny discuses balanced on her fingers, like mini plates. "...but when I showed up with my airbender uniform, Vice Principal Zhao told me I should wear Fire Nation colors from then on, in order to blend in."
"That's exactly what he did to me!" Aang exclaimed in sudden frustration, surprising On Ji out of her discus balancing, and they faded back into thin air. "Well... actually all he did was give me this funny look at my clothing colors and just let me go, but he made me wear this stupid red bandana over my head... telling me I couldn't show my tattoos in school."
On Ji sighed down to her friend.
"I'm sorry... I know those tattoos mean a lot to airbending masters." She then moved a hand to uncover part of the bandana that was hiding the boy's iconic tattoo, but Aang instantly covered it back on his head, scared that Zhao might show up from any corner. The girl smiled amusingly, but then spoke again. "He scared me into not showing my airbending skills at all, saying that the kids here didn't really appreciate our culture."
"But that's ridiculous..." Aang thought it over, looking out into the school courtyard. "That's not what Praying Mantis is about. It's supposed to be diverse--"
"You can't blame other people for how they feel," On Ji replied, in a somewhat tired way. "I was proud of being an airbender, on the inside, but kids would stare at me... during my mid-day meditations... how I was reluctant to kill insects... they looked at the things I ate... I felt like they were making fun of me. Don't you feel that way, too?"
Aang frowned, not from disagreement, but from a simple plea to let those past few weeks at the school just fall out existence, wishing that he could've started out differently. The boy didn't say anything... because he knew that deep down, On Ji was right. Even though he believed it was wrong, he couldn't blame kids for they saw airbenders... vegetarians, communing with the spirit world, not being affected by gravity. How could he forcefully change people's thoughts?
On Ji spoke then, after a short pause. "Well, at least for me... my feelings about the school changed when I met Hide..."
"The guy from the play?" Aang remembered that name well, and stuck out his tongue in disgust.
"Yeah," On Ji mentioned with a hint of shame. "Back then, he was a really nice guy. I remember showing some of my traditional air moves after school for him... he was always so fascinated by it."
"Hide liked airbending?" the boy couldn't believe it, imagining that rough-ridden, easily-distracted boy from the back of the theater. "I definitely wouldn't see that coming."
On Ji gulped, pushing herself to say more truthful thoughts to her trustworthy friend. The sadness in her eyes didn't seem to leave her, but gradually, Aang could note a distinctive feeling of hatred behind them.
"I don't think he was interested, really... more like he wanted to find excuses to tease me."
Aang's eyes blinked, furrowing his eyebrows so much that the tip of his blue arrow peeked out from under his bandana..
"Every time I told him something about my life in the Temple, I remember him smiling, nodding his head... like he was pretending to listen to me. I'll never forget that odd laugh he gave me when he took me out to dinner, and I told him I was a vegetarian..."
"On Ji..." the boy was leaning against the rail, looking up at the girl as her eyes stared out to the courtyard. He wasn't sure why he said her name, then. Perhaps because he knew she was struggling to continue with her story, seeing her eyes almost burrow with disappointment.
The girl sighed and made herself jump off the rail, landing harshly onto the ground next to where Aang was standing, keeping her focus to the outside courtyard. Her pretty brown eyes were now turning from sadness into something more rigid... upsetting...
"But in spite of all of that, he was really nice to me, Aang. I liked him so much. We were together for most of last year... but he knew about my culture. He knew everything about my beliefs, and how I thought about... serious relationships... and... and one day, he..."
Aang noticed the trembling look in her eyes, how she was trying so hard to keep her gaze on him, but her voice trailed off into emptiness. Suddenly, this story was beginning to take a turn for the worse.
Yes, the boy was also very aware of the airbenders' beliefs about love. It was what Gyatso had said to him, if he ever chose to leave the confinements of the Southern Air Temple when he became of age.
Gyatso cherished the airbenders' ideals of love, how they were all supposed to love the people around them equally... spiritually... without any sense of pride. It was something that Aang wondered about, now and then, if this was what he always felt when he saw Katara - because for some reason, he believed there was something else there.
Something that Gyatso had also warned him about.
"Desire, Aang, is a natural human condition that we Airbenders learn to balance within our devotion to the spirit world. We see other relationships as a gift, and it is not sinful to feel a genuine romantic love for someone in your life – but you should never let that desire... that certain want... cloud your other beliefs. Learn to love unconditionally, first... and if you decide to love romantically... learn to face a responsibility beyond what is already expected of you."
Aang knew that his life's devotion was primarily to the sky... to the spirits that he could not see. As an airbender, he couldn't hold himself dependable on worldly possessions or human attachment... and that was exactly the kind of battle he saw in On Ji's eyes as he saw her slowly break down into new tears. The boy saw her damaged self unfold against the cement wall, and Aang could see how the girl's spirit had somehow been threatened.
"On Ji,... what did he do to you?"
And the girl sniffled, looking away from Aang to avoid that inner, almost foolish embarrassment she was feeling. Her sniffling then became rougher, tighter as she tried to keep herself from sobbing uncontrollably in front of the boy, and she held a hand over her mouth... whether it was from sickness or from shame, Aang could not tell. The boy watched her lean against the rail for support, and he could not help but shift his eyes to study her as those sobs kept coming.
"I... told him I wasn't ready to be that– that close to him– " On Ji said in bits and pieces through the sobs that came from her throat. Tears began to stream down her delicate face. "That I was still trying to understand my beliefs, that this wasn't right... I didn't want to do it. It... it was not pure..."
The girl's hand moved slightly away from her mouth to breathe, and Aang almost felt the same trembling that came from her fingers. It frightened him, and his own eyes began to shimmer from her words, but he refused to interrupt. He waited patiently, empathetically, wrapping his arms around a young girl he had barely known up until a few minutes ago. Her voice eventually picked up again, shaking.
"I told him that– that I cared about him... a lot... but I just... I couldn't..."
On Ji let her bangs hover over her tearful eyes, covering her face with both of her trembling hands, accepting Aang's warm arms as they blanketed her shoulders. The boy did not need further explanation to know how much this girl must have been hurt... spiritually... terribly.
She sniffled, looking down at the ground as if defeated, but feeling the warmth of her friend's arms give her a vast amount of comfort. Surprisingly, she looked over at Aang after a few moments, giving a faint-hearted grin. It was like she was forcing herself to get back into the present.
"After that day... he didn't say anything..." her voice became soft again, "but then I caught him kissing Ty Lee, and I knew it was over. He wasn't going to wait for me."
"On Ji, I..." the boy was lost for words, but he closed his eyes and brought his head to rest comfortingly on his fellow airbender companion. "I'm so sorry. That guy's a real jerk."
Aang bit his lip with rage.
Even if he was the future Avatar... even if he was supposed to love all people equally... the boy would've easily given up his destiny right there, if it meant that he could air-punch a certain guy in the face. Aang no longer found it hard to imagine Katara throwing a tidal wave at Azula, not after realizing what that girl had done to her friend, Yue... and those thoughts killed him.
How could someone hurt an innocent girl so badly, without feeling any remorse to it?
But strangely, Aang heard the girl make a small laugh within her sniffles, and she then spoke with a bit more ease. It was like everything she had just said was far behind her.
"The worst part is, he made he feel so ashamed about my culture." She said this to the boy's eyeswith such intensity. "Haru practically begged me to use air dancing movements for the play... and I... well I've been keeping myself busy to not show my airbending, at least in public. I don't know why, but it's like Hide still has this sort of power over me."
"He doesn't deserve you, On Ji." Aang proclaimed, lifting his head from her shoulder to look at her straight in the eye. "You're much better than that. You are an airbender, and you should feel proud... telling him off the way you did."
The girl wiped the tears that streamed down the sides of her nose, and she looked at Aang with admiration, giving herself the strength to the smile again wholeheartedly.
"That's why I was so happy, when I saw you sitting in Vice Principal Zhao's office... with your blue tattoo on your head."
"You remember that?" Aang widened his eyes, immediately recalling the first time he'd seen On Ji blush. Suddenly, the fact that he was still holding her steady seemed to a little bit awkward, and his eyes just shifted elsewhere.
"Yeah..." On Ji smiled weakly, letting her sobs faint slowly away. "I felt proud about my heritage again... knowing how in spite of all the Fire Nation propaganda, another airbender was coming in to Praying Mantis."
The boy gazed at her again, this time with a smile, enveloping the idea that he'd meant so much to her. It was certainly a feeling he would someday have to acknowledge tenfold when he would take Roku's place as the Avatar.
Slowly, the awkwardness seemed to fade out into the sunny courtyard in front of them, and Aang proposed a new question for her. "Listen, do you think there are other airbenders in this school we don't know about?"
On Ji blinked out of her admirable gaze, and took a moment to ponder that question.
"I don't know them, personally, but Zhao's always muttering complaints about the airbenders here." The girl brought herself back into a straight stance, no longer needing the support of the wall, but still welcoming Aang's comforting arms. "We could talk to Mr. Mechanist... I know that he's fascinated about airbending. I interviewed him for the school newspaper, and he's been trying to design authentic air gliders for a while now..."
"Gliders? Really?" Aang was entertained about the idea... seeing non-airbenders travel the sky.
"Yeah," On Ji answered sweetly, letting Aang's arms casually leave her as she felt much better. "I even requested that he make me one, so I can learn how to glide."
"Whoa whoa whoa-- wait a second." The young boy's eyes narrowed, his head moving back to study the girl's entire face. "You say you're an airbender, but you don't know how to GLIDE? On Ji...?"
Her round eyes widened in dismay, seeing the boy slam a palm to his forehead in disappointment. Somehow she knew that Aang was teasing, and the girl couldn't hold another blush in.
"It's not that I don't know how to glide; I just... didn't pursue it passionately!" On Ji confessed, giving her tranquil voice a bit more of a strong-willed edge. "Dancing was always my first love at the Temple, and I ... I'm sure it wouldn't take that long to master a silly glider."
"Oh...oh..." Aang laughed, but teasingly, looking at On Ji's wry little smile as her torn spirit seemed to suddenly rise from its ashes. "Well, it just so happens..."
In a flash, without even giving the girl time to gasp or blink twice, the young airbender ran feverishly across the courtyard to one of the nearby trees... ran up to one the branches... ran back down, and practically skidded along the grass back towards On Ji, holding his authentic glider staff in one hand.
"...that I have a genuine Southern Air Temple clam-shell glider right here, ready to take you up on those smug words."
She still managed to breathe easily after that rush of a surprise, and On Ji looked at Aang inquisitively, taking hold of the staff with one of her own hands and examining it with an occasional twirl. Her sarcastic looks were priceless to Aang, seeing her swish the open air and twirl the staff as if she were rating its quality. Then, in one quick gesture, the girl twirled the staff and promptly let it mark the ground with her grip, and she stood proudly in front of Aang like a determined leader.
And the boy fought really hard not to laugh, as he noticed one little mistake. "Um, On Ji... you're supposed to hold it the other way? This side up."
It didn't take long for On Ji's wry stance to suddenly melt away, as she took one look at the glider and at Aang's meticulous silver eyes. Her shoulders slumped, and her eyes shifted to the staff as she felt the pressure of it all envelope her body.
Nervously, she moved a bit of her loose hair behind her ears, and corrected her mistake.
"Oh, right. I knew that..."
Aang chuckled involuntarily, already counting down the seconds before On Ji would willingly admit to the obvious.
The boy's heart was still leaping from the joy of finding another airbender at Praying Mantis High, and as the two friends headed towards the rooftops to try out the glider, Aang could not help but smile... seeing that gracefully-driven girl beside him as nothing less than a gift.
"Okay, so we still need three tarps for the little ones, a new first aid kit... ten extra watch candles... and insect repellant. Lots and lots of insect repellant."
Sokka narrowed his blue eyes as he went down the huge scroll in his hand, marking off the things on the list, trying to walk down the market street without bumping so often into Suki.
"Don't you think you're going a little overboard with the repellant thing?" Toph called out from a few feet behind, with Teo rolling his wheelchair with a huge carrying basket attached at the back of it. "I mean... if this is because your boomerang hit that lizard wasps' nest on our last camping trip, then I completely understand. But they're just bugs!"
Suki giggled as she noticed Sokka turning red in the face, frowning to look back at Toph. "They chased me over a cliff!"
"You mean that little bunny hill down to the creek?" Toph smirked under her breath. "Wow. How traumatizing."
"I'm not taking any chances this time..." the young water tribesman turned his head back to the list. "If we'regoing to the Kalmian swamps next weekend with the boy scouts, we have to be ready for a bajillion mosquito nests... we're doubling our insect repellant."
"Suit yourself," Teo laughed in response, rolling his chair while he looked at the variation of artisans' work that passed them by. He noticed how Toph's eyes would linger foolishly whenever she heard someone shout out a sale on glass-blown jewelry... as much as she pretended to hide her interest with an occasional punch on the boy's wheelchair.
"Ugh, jewelry's for spoiled princesses...what a waste of money," the girl muttered as they continued to walk, but Teo could definitely see through that annoyed little glance of hers.
He softly grabbed a hold of Toph's hand, taking the girl's blindness by surprise (but with a smile) and said "My dad really needs a paperweight for his study, and I kinda like the glass ones they have over there. Wanna come check it out?"
The young girl, with all of her rough-ridden stamina, did not hesitate to blush right then. "Sure," she smiled, and she let her boyfriend lead the way.
"We'll catch up with you guys!" Teo shouted over to Sokka and Suki. "I'll try and find some good carving knives, too."
"Great, thanks Teo," Sokka replied over his shoulder, as the young couple left for the glass jewelry commodities. As he continued to walk alongside Suki, the young Kyoshi dancer casually slipped her hand under the boy's arm to hold. Sokka smiled, keeping her close and comfortable as they walked down the market place together.
"They're so cute together, aren't they?" Suki said, keeping an eye out for a sale on insect repellant as she caressed the boy's arm.
Unfortunately, right as he was about to respond with a 'yeah, they're adorable,' he looked up from his list and noticed another pair of familiar people walking into another alleyway of the market, their voices disappearing into the street. Sokka's eyes widened dangerously, turning his head to Suki with his skin ultimately turning a shade lighter.
"Please tell me you didn't mean Katara... and– and Hotman!"
Suki blinked through her Kyoshi makeup, looking around to see what caused him that misunderstanding. "No! No... I was talking about Teo and– and... wait a second. Why does that matter to you?" Her eyes narrowed skeptically over to her boyfriend as they stopped walking.
"Because..." Sokka stared at the girl as her disappointed stance seemed to overwhelm him out of words. "Because... she's my sister, and... I dunno. I just don't trust that guy."
"Can't you just leave them alone, and stop obsessing over the idea that they're together?" Suki placed her free hand onto her hips, pursing her lips upsettingly. "He's actually a nice guy, and Katara told me herself... they're friends."
"Hold on... you two talk about Hotman together?" Sokka's eyes were almost on the verge of popping veins, and Suki grunted in annoyance.
"Sokka, that's not the point!" the girl shifted her eyes, caressing her boyfriend's tense arm to keep him from going off like a bomb. "She's probably helping him shop for Ms. Ursa's birthday party next weekend. That's all"
As much as he wanted to chase that Fire Nation troublemaker down the alleyway and give him a piece of his mind, Sokka sighed..
"Give her a break, Sokka. I think she really needs a good friend right now, and you don't even know it." Suki placed her other arm around her stubborn boyfriend's frame, resting her head on his shoulder to give him comfort.
The young tribesman moved his eyes back to his lovely girlfriend's gaze, and Suki did not hesitate to plant him a small kiss on the lips. That rush of warmth that spread along his cheeks suddenly seemed to make all of his worried thoughts fade momentarily, and Sokka sighed again.
He sweetly kissed one of her temples as a 'thank you,' then looking briefly over at the corridor where his sister had disappeared through.
"Wait here for a sec..." The boy gently parted his arms away from Suki, and stepped out into a particular direction. "I'm just gonna go see what they're talking about..."
Suki's short red hair almost flared up in surprise. "What? No. Sokka--"
"Just a second, I promise!" Sokka pointed an index finger to the girl in reassurance, scampering off sloppily into the adjacent street in the market place.
And the girl didn't even bother to stop him; it was hopeless getting this boy to do otherwise with that one-track mind of his. Suki crossed her arms in the middle of the street angrily, waiting for that young, stubborn water tribesman to return with satisfaction.
Why? She thought, looking up at the sky. Why did I have to fall for THIS ONE?
A/N: that's right, people! The first kiss goes to Sukka! And I adore Teoph like whoa. For those who miss MaiJet, more stuff'll come along, and definitely more Kataang that will totally be worth it. --MM
