"The Ship of Dreams, they called it. And it was. It really was…" Over five days, the lives of Kai Wen and Jinora Gyatso became irreversibly entwined. But their adventure was not the typical love story, for the ship they met on was the RMS Titanic. From the moment the ship set sail from the Earth Kingdom in 177 AG, it was destined for disaster. [Kai/Jinora] Titanic!AU.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra, or any of its trademarked characters. I also do not own the plot of the movie Titanic: that belongs to James Cameron and his associates. I only own the story that you see written, and hope that you enjoy my spin on things.
Those in Peril on the Sea by boasamishipper
Chapter Eleven
177 AG
"Spirits." Jinora couldn't help but be somewhat at a loss for words as she stared at the final result of Kai's labor. "This is really how you see me, Kai?"
"Well, yeah," Kai chuckled, brushing his blackened hands on his pants. He seemed to have finally relaxed. "I mean, this is how you look."
"No, it's not." The woman Kai had drawn looked like the human embodiment of Raava, more beautiful than words could describe. It wasn't her, and she convinced herself of that as she placed the necklace and drawing, along with a note she'd prepared beforehand, into the safe that housed her and her mother's remaining belongings—LingShi had his own.
Kai looked over at her, confused, and the urge to kiss him, to kiss this wonderful man, built up so suddenly that it made Jinora's breath stop halfway up her throat. Not being able to resist, she leaned in and caught his lips with hers. His lips were warm, sweet, everything and more that they had been back on deck. He did not react outwardly; instead he traced his fingers hesitantly up Jinora's neck, over her cheek and around the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her hair. Their kiss began to evolve past romantic and delved its way into pure passion.
And then there was a knock on the door.
Jinora's heart nearly thudded to a halt as the knock came once more, disproving her thoughts that the passionate kiss she'd had with Kai had made her hallucinate. "Did you hear that?" she hissed, wanting nothing more than for him to say no so they could go back and finish what they had started.
But to no avail. Kai looked as though he'd been woken up by being drenched with a bucket of cold water as he nodded fearfully. "I heard it," he whispered. "What is it?"
As if to answer his question, a man's voice that she instantly recognized as Ransik's came through the door. "Ms. Gyatso?" Upon hearing her name, Jinora wanted nothing more than to start swearing but her only hope now was to remain quiet. "Ms. Gyatso, Mr. Zhang would like to know if you are feeling any better."
"Vaatu," Kai gasped. "We're so fuc—" But he didn't get a chance to finish before Jinora, thinking quickly, grabbed him by the arm and bundled him into the adjoining room just as Ransik opened the door and stepped inside, his piggish eyes squinting as he tried to determine whether she was perhaps hiding under the blankets.
"Thank the Spirits you put your clothes back on when you did," Kai murmured, his breath tickling the back of her neck. Her heart was pounding so loud that he could probably hear it. "That would've been fun to explain."
Jinora would have laughed had the situation not been so serious. "Spirits, Kai, we need to get out of here. We need to hide." But where would they go? Korra might be able to protect them, but once word got out that they were missing all of the first class cabins would be inspected. They could hide in third class but Jinora knew that once it was revealed that she was nowhere to be found, LingShi would tear steerage apart looking for her. All she knew was that she and Kai had to stay together. "Don't leave me," she begged, trying to sound firm.
"Never," Kai instantly replied. She turned around so that they were face to face. She inched closer to him. She could see each individual eyelash. Their noses were touching as he whispered, "I will never leave you, Jinora."
Just then, the door to the room they were in was opened, and Jinora didn't even pause to think about it before she growled at Kai, "Run."
"What?" Understandably, Kai was staring, awestruck, at Ransik. The valet would have towered over Kai given the chance that they would stand next to each other—and Jinora knew for a fact that although the man held the position of a valet, he had not been hired as a valet initially.
Jinora grabbed Kai's arm and yanked him sideways just as Ransik lunged forward. "Run!"
This time, Kai needed no further prodding, and the two of them ran. By the time his brain caught up to his body, they were already two floors down and back out the stairwell, in a second class corridor. For a while, he and Jinora slumped against the wall, his arm around her shoulders protectively, and they tried to catch their breath.
"We need to get out of here," she repeated. "Ransik may be a valet, but he runs like the wind controls him. Spirits."
Before Kai could inquire as to what a man like Ransik was doing as a valet instead of, say, a sumo wrestler, the man in question ran onto the landing from the stairwell. The moment he advanced, Kai grabbed Jinora's arm and yelled, "Run!"
She didn't hesitate, and they sprinted down the hallway, Jinora holding up her skirts so she wouldn't trip over them. Just as they gained some distance, he spotted an elevator and they both dashed into it, surprising the operator with their sudden appearance.
"Take us down," she commanded him while Kai attempted to regain his breath. When the operator hesitated, she urged him on in a regal tone that would have made the Earth Queen look like a peasant, "Take us down this instant!"
Hastily stammering apologies, the operator scrambled to comply, and just as the lift began to descend Ransik approached it, slamming a hand on the gate in anger. Jinora grinned and, much to Kai's surprise, flashed her middle finger at the stunned man just before he disappeared from sight.
"Tough for a valet," Kai remarked.
"Yes," she replied, tapping her foot quickly on the floor as the elevator kept descending. "LingShi's father hired him to keep him out of trouble; to make sure he always got back to the hotel with his wallet and watch, after some crawl through the less reputable parts of town."
Upon exiting the elevator—with Ransik nowhere in sight—he and Jinora wound their way blindly through hallways until they reached a dead end, accompanied by a door marked "Crew Only".
"I don't think we can go through here," Jinora said, biting her lip. She brushed a few strands of her hair out of her face impatiently, and Kai knew it was foolish to want to kiss her then, but he couldn't help his own thoughts. Luckily he still had enough composure to not act on them. "It's crew only, we might—"
"Might what?" Kai asked, crossing his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow cockily. "Get in trouble?" The two of them locked eyes, bursting into giggles that quickly subsided to faint snorts and chuckles. "Just me bein' with you is practically cause for castration, Jin. Besides," he said, pushing the door open and holding out his hand for her to take, "it's only trouble if you get caught."
Giggling a bit and shaking her head, she took his hand and followed him into the room, pushing the door shut behind her. "Only way out is down, it seems," Kai said, pointing to the ladder. "After you, milady."
After a few panic-filled minutes of climbing down the escape ladder, they came to the engine rooms, where it was practically a vision of hell itself, with roaring furnaces and black figures moving in the smoky glow. Jinora and Kai ran the length of the boiler room, dodging amazed stokers and trimmers with their wheelbarrows of coal.
"Carry on!" she yelled while Kai called, "Don't mind us!"
They ran through the open watertight door into a room marked "Boiler Room Four". He pulled Jinora through the fiercely hot alley between two boilers and they wound up in the dark, out of sight of the working crew. Watching from the shadows, they were able to see the stokers working in the hellish glow, yelling at one another and shoveling coal into the insatiable maws of the furnaces. The whole place thundered with the roar of the fires.
Eventually they found themselves in the cargo hold. Compared to the hellish heat of the boiler room, the room was an icebox, and Kai pressed against Jinora to fight the temperature. "Only a few minutes," Kai whispered. "We need to rest, and then we need to make sure that Ransik isn't following us anymore."
"If anything, our little jog through the boilers proved that he's able to follow us anywhere," Jinora agreed, leading the way to a car. They lifted themselves up into the cab; Jinora acting like royalty, and Kai obviously enjoying the feel of the leather and wood beneath him. She grinned at her companion. "Never been in a car before then?"
"I tried hitching a ride on the back of one with Skoochy a few times. Never worked." Kai shrugged, as though never having ridden in an automobile was no big deal. After a few more seconds of examining the steering wheel and bouncing up and down in his seat, he joined Jinora in the backseat. "I'm guessing you have, then."
"Too many times to count." She tilted her head to the side to look at Kai and found him much closer than expected. She wasn't uncomfortable with his closeness, nor was he uncomfortable when Kai hesitantly approached her, kissing her mouth softly and pulling away again. A broad blush formed on her cheeks because even though this was the third time that they had kissed each other, it still felt like the first time.
Spirits, she'd never thought it possible to feel for someone like this.
They pressed their foreheads together and breathed, his inhales in perfect sync with hers. After a few moments, Kai murmured, "Are you okay?"
"I'm more than okay." For what seemed like the first time in forever, she was. She was more than content with Kai, just being with him and being close to him was enough to sustain her for the rest of her life. Her hand found Kai's and squeezed it, their fingers intertwining as she contemplated what the next few minutes could bring, should she choose. "I—I think I'd," she whispered before beginning again, "I'd like it if you were to…touch me."
"I'd like that too," was Kai's soft reply. Their fingers continued to twist over each other in an unconscious pattern. Bumbleflies pooled and fluttered in the pit of Jinora's stomach, but it was the most pleasant nervousness she'd ever had. His hands gently cupped her chin, and she felt cherished, adored. Loved. "Are you nervous?"
"On the contrary," she answered. Their noses were nearly touching. She could count every one of his eyelashes. The air around them practically hummed with electricity, sparks just waiting to happen. "I've never been less nervous in my life."
"Really?" She hadn't expected Kai to laugh, but it wasn't insulting in the slightest. "I am."
"Don't be." She'd only just met him and she had never done anything like this before, but this was Kai. Kai Wen, who'd saved her life when it hadn't been worth saving. Kai Wen, who'd talked her off that railing and brought her back to life when she hadn't realized she was dead in the first place. He saved her, and that was what connected them in a way she almost couldn't understand. But it was there, and she couldn't help but trust him.
She couldn't help but want him, then and there.
Their kiss was electric, crackling between them and it wasn't long before they broke apart, gasping for breath before bringing their lips together once more. One of his hands was on her hip while the other stroked her face. Jinora released an involuntary moan when Kai sucked hard on the pulse point of her neck because Spirits, he knew what he was doing.
Jinora's hands went to the buttons of his shirt, sliding the shirt off his shoulders, and immediately after she cast the shirt aside, he helped her unzip her dress and pulled down her underwear for her, tossing aside his trousers and boxers immediately after. As soon as their clothing was discarded she leaned back into his arms, his strong arms, and kissed him passionately—each time their lips touched it felt like fireworks.
She uttered a hoarse cry as he lowered onto her, a sound he echoed in odd harmony. He was tight wet velvet, slowly sheathing her in perfection, for that was what he was. He ran his hands over her waist to her rib cage and up to cup her full breasts and run his thumbs across her hard, puckered nipples, then back down. He grabbed her hips and pressed down at the same time he thrust up and she moaned loudly, tossing her head back, her long hair brushing the tops of his thighs.
Grasping the seat with one hand, he began to ride her and she worked to match each of his movements. Under his welcome weight, she slid down in the seat, and when his thumb jerkily found her center, she shouted her release, and just like when they had kissed for the first time, she was flying and he was there with her, soaring together to heights unknown to both of them. Places she wanted to go again.
As the stars receded and she caught her breath, she noticed that Kai had collapsed on top of her, taking long deep breaths. "You're…you're trembling," he murmured after a moment when he wasn't too winded to speak. "Are you alright?"
"I'm alright." She felt him shift and press his lips against her cheek, just a pressure there, tender and loving, but it was more than enough. "I'm more than alright now."
I wasn't the first teenage girl to ever get seduced the backseat of a car, and certainly not the last, not by several million. Spirits, I remember the touch of his hands even now: they were the hands of an artist, roughened by work and strong, but yet so gentle…
It was the most beautiful moment of my life. I was so nervous, because it had been my first time ever going that far. I was sure he could see and hear my heart pounding. I was trembling, and I think it was because I hadn't known it was possible to love someone so much. To be loved was a foreign feeling to me, but in that moment…oh, how I hope that you will all one day experience what I had felt in that car with Kai.
But as was custom, the perfection of that moment did not last.
"When we're done catching our breaths," Kai said, just barely managing to catch his own, "we should go."
Before Jinora could murmur an affirmative, the door to the cargo hold opened, and Kai had no idea that he could sit up and get dressed at the speed he had. Jinora swore under her breath and grabbed her clothing, climbed over Kai to get out the car and ran across the floor, hiding behind the crate. Kai, his shoes in hand, followed her.
"Fuck," he swore, his heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest. "How the hell did they find us?"
Jinora grabbed his shoulder. "Don't worry about that now," she whispered, pointing into the distance. "Look."
Ten yards away, there was something white dangling from the ceiling—a ladder. With no other option, they crawled toward it. Kai assisted Jinora getting up to the ladder and then pulled himself up, the two of them climbing up, up, and away until they reached D deck, where they escaped through the door leading onto the deck.
Their breath clouded around them in the now-freezing air, but Kai didn't even feel the cold. He had the thoughts of his intimate time with Jinora to keep him warm for the rest of his life.
"Kai." He glanced over at Jinora, who wore a smile brighter than the moon and stars. "When we get to Republic City, I'm going to get off with you."
Four thousand volts of electricity couldn't have shocked him more than that statement. "That—Jin, that's—"
"Crazy? I know." She stepped closer to him, still grinning. "That's how I know it's the right decision. Because it makes no sense at all."
Kai didn't know how to articulate the feelings rising up inside of him, so he just pulled Jinora close to him and kissed her, holding onto her like she was his anchor—which, in a way, she was.
And then the world shook beneath their feet.
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Yours in Fanfiction,
-Boa :)