Avatar: The Warring Earth
Book Three—Water
By Twins of the Pen
Disclaimer: Avatar in itself belongs to Nickelodeon and Bryan Konietzko/Michael DiMartino. The only things that belong to Twins of the Pen are the original characters.
"Oh, good morning," chirped the Northern Water Tribe Princess as Shun, ZanYi, Jin, and Nyla entered the dining room. The giant waterbender might have imagined it, but he thought he saw something white disappear up Ai's sleeve as they took their places around the table. Shun frowned a bit at this, but decided not to comment, though Ai seemed to be hiding something. Unlike the princess, Shun knew when to mind his own business. Besides, he had a more pressing matter on his mind, as ZanYi had reminded him before they had come down for breakfast…
"Ai, do you have a training room anywhere inside of the palace? Or an empty room suitable for rough-housing?"
Ai quirked a brow at him. "Why do you need a rough-housing room?" she asked.
At this question, Shun shot ZanYi a look, replying, "Because the Lieutenant wants to fight." The young woman at his side only snorted in reply. All she'd wanted was for Shun to be willing to spar with her. And now that it was happening, he was going to be as reluctant as possible along the way.
However, Ai had to give them a peculiar glance of her own. Was that how they solved their relationship problems? She almost didn't want to ask. Instead, Ai answered, "I think there's a room you could use. If you want, I'll lead you to it after breakfast."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
While Ai returned to her chocolate chip pancakes topped with whipped cream, Jin gave his brother a funny look across the table. "Why wouldn't you want to fight near the lake?" he had to ask, "Endless supply of water, you know?" Shun did not answer. But the way his eyes slid to ZanYi made Jin think Shun had purposefully put himself at a disadvantage to make sure ZanYi would be warm during their sparring match.
Which she did not miss. When his eyes went to her, her gaze met his sharply. "The lake is fine, so you don't have to show us, Ai," ZanYi asserted firmly. She was not about to let Shun put himself at that disadvantage. If anything, it would just make her work harder during the fight to be outside.
"What is she not showing us?" came a familiar yawn as Syaoran trundled into the room, looking weary and almost half-asleep, Tiki behind him in tow. ZanYi appraised him for a moment, finding it still a bit earlier for the Avatar to be awake—or at least willingly so.
"Where an empty room is for sparring," the lieutenant answered him, turning back to her breakfast. "But it's not necessary. Shun and I will be fine outside by the lake."
Syaoran had just reached his chair when he froze to look at the two older members of Team Avatar, green eyes going back and forth between them. "Sparring? You two?" he questioned, almost confused. Eventually those eyes landed on Shun and stayed there, widened. "What did you do?"
Shun was almost amused by Syaoran's confusion. "This will not be the first time we've sparred," he informed the Avatar, deciding to ignore his question, because what he had done was refuse to spar ZanYi, which made her more determined to get him to spar against her. Yes, he saw her logic of being able to perfect each other's techniques and predict each other's moves… but it still did not mean he wanted to do it.
"Are you gonna go easy on her like you did with me?" Tiki asked, teasing just a bit as she took the seat on the other side of Syaoran. Shun had been reluctant to go all-out against the tiny airbender, so if he was going to be sparring ZanYi, Tiki was willing to bet that the giant waterbender would not be willing to lift a finger against the lieutenant.
Shun chose not to answer that question—he promised nothing.
And Syaoran could see that the answer of omission only served to irk ZanYi. Well, if Shun hadn't done anything, he was doing something now to bring the fire and brimstone down upon him. "Shun," ZanYi said quietly between bites, "if you go easy on me, I will revoke my rules and use lightning."
The Avatar grimaced. Shun had Syaoran's deepest apologies—though he did not envy him one bit. "You're doomed, man," he warned.
Shun heaved a heavy sigh. "You're going to have to be patient with me," he reminded her with a frown, "This is going to be… difficult for me."
"ZanYi, please don't kill Shun," Tiki requested calmly, piling fruit onto her plate. "He's the only healer we have."
"And he's your boyfriend," Ai chimed in, "That's just mean."
"Ix-nay on the oyfriend-bay," Shun muttered to the princess. She gave him a confused look.
"What? You guys are boyfriend and girlfriend, aren't you?"
Shun sighed, covering his face briefly with a hand. "Something like that… just find a different way to say it."
"Bed buddies?"
"No. Just… no."
"Boyfriend and girlfriend it is."
Shun huffed again. There was just no winning with Ai.
ZanYi was thoroughly getting more annoyed by the minute. "I'm not going to kill him," the lieutenant deadpanned to Tiki, though she was thinking that Ai could be next on her list if she kept on this way. Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Such labels felt unnecessary and pubescent, as well as another reason she didn't like people trying to put in their input on the relationship. "He's mine. That's all there is to it." And while ZanYi seemed perfectly able to return to her breakfast after such a statement, Syaoran could only gawk a little. After all, she never talked about her relationship with Shun; the latter said enough, but ZanYi? Aside from saying that the two were together, she never said anything else, or implied anything else. This was just unheard of.
The statement did not go unnoticed by the rest of the table—Ai quirked her eyebrows, Jin outright gaped, Tiki smothered her giggles, and Shun flushed a deep red while smiling. ZanYi's possessiveness pleased him, for some odd reason.
"…You know what? I might just have to see this sparring match," Ai decided, her deep blue eyes sparkling. "It sounds like it's going to be fun."
"I want to watch too!" Jin announced.
Tiki turned to Syaoran and smirked, "I suppose we'll have to go watch too, won't we?" There was no way Tiki was going to miss this. A spar between Shun and ZanYi? Shun was very much a talented fighter, but even Tiki knew he was going to struggle fighting ZanYi. This was either going to turn out very interesting, or very, very badly.
"I hope that was a rhetorical question," he answered Tiki, getting a bit excited as well and nodding vigorously. For one thing, ZanYi wasn't going to be firing at him for once—and when it came down to firebending, she still seemed unparalleled. And then there's Shun, was clearly a beast when he actually let himself go at it. "My bet's on ZanYi," Syaoran leaned over and muttered to Tiki so that said lieutenant wouldn't overhear. "Shun may be reluctant, but she looks ready to rumble." Across the table, he could see the lieutenant's subtle eagerness, like she could feel the flames rearing up inside, itching for the fight. It was sparking at her fingertips, but while she was able to squash that, she couldn't erase it from her eyes.
"Don't count Shun out just yet," Tiki whispered back, her gray eyes knowing, "even if he doesn't exactly want to do this, ZanYi's really good at pushing his buttons." And all the lieutenant would have to do was jab just the right one for Shun to become serious. The question was: would she do it?
Shun took notice of ZanYi's antsy state—it made him sigh. Well, might as well get this over with. "I'm done," he announced, placing his his fork down and standing up. "I'm going upstairs to grab my jacket, and I'll meet you outside, ZanYi." If anything, Shun was mostly worried about the outcome of this spar—if ZanYi won, she might think it was because he was taking it easy on her. But if he won… how would she take that?
Shun gulped. Any way he sliced it, this was going to be troublesome. Oh boy.
It was cold outside again, to no surprise. Syaoran would have been hesitant to go outside before training, but considering he didn't necessarily have to do anything but sit on the sidelines, he supposed it would be okay this time. Besides, the Avatar was not about to miss this opportunity: this was a rough match-up and he had no way to know whether it would ever happen again. In the middle of the garden, ZanYi was in her coat and military garb, warming up wordlessly with flame-less forms. Frankly, Syaoran wasn't sure how to take that she seemed so… eager. It had been a long while since the last time he'd seen the lieutenant so spirited; in its own way, he hoped it would be a good thing for her.
"What's taking Shun so long?" he asked aloud, shivering a little. "You guys don't think he's backing out, do you?"
"He's not backing out," ZanYi answered, never ceasing her movements. There was confidence and conviction in her words. He'd promised her. And between them, promises always meant something.
"Relax, Avatar—I'm here," Shun spoke, emerging from the palace to enter the garden, determined strides moving him to stand across from ZanYi. Tiki noticed that the giant waterbender's expression had shifted; he looked as somber as one would be besides someone's death bed. "Same rules as before?" he asked, piquing Tiki's curiosity, but before she could ask, the princess beat her to the punch.
"Who won the last time you sparred?" Ai wanted to know, though she thought she already knew the answer. Sure enough…
"ZanYi did," Shun replied, his eyes not leaving the lieutenant's face.
Jin snorted, "You got beat by a girl? That's sad, little brother."
"You should know better, Jin," Tiki scolded, stung by his insinuation. "ZanYi's tough. She'll floor you in an instant."
"I can only wish."
Since Nyla was not there, Ai took the liberty to slap Jin upside the head. "All right, let's go, let's see some action, people!"
Since the debate was finally over, ZanYi nodded, her gaze never leaving Shun's. "Same rules," she verbally agreed.
"Which are…?" Syaoran cut in, wanting the rules in black and white for him.
"First down to the ground. No boundaries. No tap-outs. I don't use lightning, Shun stays on land," the lieutenant recited, and apparently now she was to avoid the blows if she could help it. That was the new condition and it did dampen her mood a bit, but ZanYi would have to work around it. Shrugging out of her coat and military jacket, she tossed them over to the side. The cold northern air chilled her at first, much of her upper body vulnerable to it. But ZanYi preferred to be able to feel the heat, feel what was going on. Through layers, that wouldn't happen. That's why she'd warmed up at first, just to keep her body temperature up. She was not going to start off stiff if they were going to be outside. "Ready when you are," she smirked, rolling her shoulders a bit to keep them moving.
Shun frowned a bit—going without a jacket was going to hurt ZanYi in the long run, especially when she started sweating. He was almost tempted to tell her that the sparring match would not start until she put her jacket back on. Then again, it was ZanYi: since when did she listen to anything Shun had to say without a long, drawn-out debate about it? Shrugging it off, the giant waterbender funneled water from the lake to surround his hands, freezing it to create fists of ice. "Ready," he announced. Without bothering with any other kind of warning, Shun lunged at the lieutenant, throwing a punch that was a second slower than his normal punches to her midriff—he hoped ZanYi wouldn't be able to tell the difference in the speed.
"Game on."
ZanYi dodged the blow, only to reach out with fiery hands and grab his icy fist, melting the ice as she gripped the hand and used his momentum to fling him farther than he'd lunged. His back to her, she launched a fiery kick at him. Shun was already starting to keep his word to her; he hadn't waited for her to start, and he hadn't started on the defensive. The waterbender had started this thing, and ZanYi was going to make sure that she was the one who was going to be ending it.
Shun huffed, lurching forward with ZanYi's kick. She wasn't playing around at all. Getting to his feet, Shun tossed off his jacket as well—the last thing he wanted was his leather jacket scorched by ZanYi. Cracking his neck, the giant waterbender summoned his water whip, aiming right at ZanYi's feet. He just had to make her drop to the ground for the match to be over—that would be easy enough, if she was too busy dodging his whip for her feet to touch the ground.
"Things are heating up," Tiki said to Syaoran, the pun unintentional. It was like watching a train wreck—she just could not look away. This… was going to be fascinating. Tiki was almost upset that she had missed the first sparring match between the giant waterbender and the lieutenant.
"You can say that again," Syaoran muttered right back, unable to tear his eyes away. How had they not known they'd sparred before? If it was anything like this, there would've been some kind of sign, right? Some burns or injuries or something.
In front of the commenters, ZanYi avoided his water whip, flipping back and landing easily on her toes. If Shun was aiming to get her down, then she was just going to have to get out of range of the whip. Taking care to avoid the movements of his water whip, the lieutenant rushed forward with fists of fire. And then she got up close and personal to Shun to land a punch straight to his abdomen. Shun grunted, having no choice but to absorb the blow. However, this opened him up to grasp ZanYi's arm and fling her away from him, her back now to him. With more water from the lake, Shun wrapped ZanYi's upper body in water, freezing it to make an icy strait jacket of sorts for the lieutenant. Her wrists were free, which meant she would probably be able to melt herself out of that, but Shun did not wait to give her a chance. Rushing up behind the lieutenant, Shun swept his leg low, kicking her legs out from under her.
This match was already as good as his—there was no way ZanYi would be able to break free in time to catch herself before she hit the ground.
But she didn't have to.
Using one of her airborne feet, ZanYi applied a rush of fire to jet propel it higher, giving her the momentum she need to flip back and onto her feet. Once there she was able to melt away the ice and break free. "Nice try," she congratulated him before rushing up to give him a solid kick to the solar plexus to knock the wind out of him and hopefully set him off-balance.
Syaoran, however, was still reeling from her narrow escape. That was unbelievable, and yet, he'd seen it before—or similarly. "Master Fei taught her that," he told Tiki in hushed tones, still unable to look away. "That day I joined her for training? He made us practice firebending without usage of our hands while he attacked us. That's all I had to try and do, but he'd had ZanYi bind herself to ensure she wouldn't try."
Tiki let out a low whistle. "Dang. That was really impressive."
"Placing all bets, ladies and gents, placing all bets!" Jin called in a mock teller's voice. "Personally, my money's on the lady lieutenant."
"I'm betting on Shun," Ai contradicted, her eyes never leaving her childhood friend. "Though they're both equally skilled, I think Shun has just a little something extra."
"That, or you're being biased."
"So what? It's my palace—I'll be biased if I want to."
Tiki shushed them before returning her eyes to the fight, eager to see what trick Shun would pull off next.
Currently, however, the giant waterbender was on the ropes—ZanYi's kick had him stumbling back, desperate to regain his footing. It would not end like this, not like last time. Instead of flailing around and possibly falling to his own demise, Shun let his momentum spin him around, using the movement to channel more water from the lake. He soaked the ground in between him and ZanYi, freezing it. Then, the giant waterbender brought what was left of the water behind ZanYi, pulling it forward like a wave, so the lieutenant was shoved onto the treacherous ice between them. If she made any sudden movements, she would fall—ZanYi would have to tread carefully if she wanted to get out of this one.
ZanYi only took a second to analyze the ice at her feet before she acted. Anticipating her own slip, the lieutenant let her foot slide out so that she was crouched down. With one hand pressed down to the ice to melt the parts right around her, she used her other hand to start and send a low fiery wave towards Shun's knees. Hopefully that would distract him until she could get herself on firm ground.
Unfortunately for ZanYi, Shun had anticipated her to aim low, as she always did. He had another wave ready, and he doused her wave of flames, morphing what was left of that watery attack into his water whip, closing the whip around ZanYi's ankles. Shun gave a hearty tug, pulling ZanYi's only footing out from under her. She wanted no mercy, so she got it. ZanYi cursed under her breath, but had to think fast. She was not going to be bested by ice. No way. Not by something she could beat. So in order to keep herself in the fight, she kicked it up a notch or two. Her flames grew hotter, the controlled, warm colors turning to cool blues.
It was with that fire that she caught herself on her hands—barely—and melted the ice beneath her in seconds. Once she had that patch of dry ground, she pushed off it to somersault back onto dry ground, to get away from the ice.
And when she looked at Shun then, there was more than just a spark in her eyes, more than a smirk on her face. This is what she'd wanted. She was getting it. And ZanYi was enjoying every moment of it.
"Bring it, Big Guy."
But dang it, why couldn't she just stay down? Then again, if it were that easy to beat ZanYi, Shun had to admit that he would have been disappointed. And she was pleased that he was taking this seriously, he could tell. It almost made him smirk.
"You asked for it," he reminded her before deciding to revive the trick he had used on Ai yesterday—the octopus form. The water was freezing, but Shun tried not to shiver—if ZanYi sense weakness, she would be at his throat in an instant. He sent all eight arms after her in an instant, latching onto her arms and legs and throwing jabs at her vulnerable body. Shun tried not to think of the bruises he would leave and pushed himself to keep going. ZanYi wanted this, and he could not refuse her. He was going to give her everything that he had.
Tiki had sucked in a breath when she thought ZanYi was done for, only to have ZanYi force herself back up again at the last minute in a truly awesome move. The tiny airbender was left awestruck as the lieutenant taunted Shun, begging him for more. "I change my mind," she mumbled, though Shun currently appeared to have the upper hand, "I think ZanYi will probably win this one."
Syaoran could only watch, mesmerized. Both of them were starting to pull out the stops. Shun was bringing out the octopus he'd brought out in anger against Ai. ZanYi was ceasing to control the heat of her flames. "I'm not voting right now…" he said. It was not that he had lost hope in ZanYi, but rather he was uncertain just how fierce Shun could get. That unknown variable was enough to make him unable to decide.
ZanYi grit her teeth as the blows kept coming at her. A brief struggle with the watery arms that shackled her had proven that she would not be able to simply fight out of this grip. Fine by her. Time for things to get steamy.
She allowed her azure flames to erupt from her hands and feet, hot enough to evaporate even in this cold weather. When she was dropped to the ground, ZanYi immediately lunged towards the body of the octopus, where Shun was, and burst in as a whirligig of dragon fire.
This caught him by surprise, Shun had to admit. The flames were hot, and they evaporated most of his water, but Shun was able to channel what little he still had in his possession and douse the flames that were attempting to attack his skin. That resulted in a whole lot of steam that almost immediately turned to powdered snow in the cold weather. ZanYi's momentum had thrown her and Shun backwards—he could feel himself falling back. Cursing under his breath, the giant waterbender wound his arms around ZanYi and let himself fall with a loud crunch.
Tiki sucked in a breath, jumping to her feet on the sidelines. The rule had been that they would fight until one of them hit the ground… but though Shun had his back on the ground, ZanYi had slipped sideways off of him, so half of her body was touching the ground as well.
"…Is this… a tie?" she asked, awestruck. Jin and Ai seemed too stunned to even reply, so Tiki turned instead to the Avatar for his opinion. "What do you think? Did Shun hit the ground first, or was it a tie?"
Syaoran could only shake his head. "I couldn't see..." the Avatar admitted. It had gotten so steamy and foggy out there, that it had been impossible to see which one of them had hit the ground first. "Do we call this a tie then...?"
Shun's back was hurting, as well as the back of his head. Nothing seemed like it was broken or bleeding though, so that was okay. His only regret was that his grip on ZanYi had slipped when he hit the ground, and she had slipped lopsided out of his grasp as a result. Shun reached up, cupping one of ZanYi's cheeks. "You okay?" he asked, wanting to make sure she wasn't hurt anywhere. The match had ended unexpectedly, but Shun did not care whether he won or lost. He just wanted to know that ZanYi was all right.
ZanYi looked up to Shun's anxious gaze with certainty in her own. "I'm fine, Shun," she assured him, "More than okay." Even if it had ended and they weren't sure who had won or lost, the lieutenant got what she wanted. Shun sparred her seriously and didn't hold back from her, and as a result, she was able to push herself harder than she'd had the opportunity in a long while.
"Do you guys know who won?" she heard Syaoran call out to them from the edge of the courtyard. ZanYi's chest was heaving, her breath short in the cold air. It was getting colder by the second now that she wasn't moving or consumed by her flames. But a grateful smile spread across her lips.
"Thank you," she mouthed to Shun. Taking his hand away from her face, the lieutenant sat up and draped an arm across her upright knee. "We're calling it a tie," she called back to the Avatar.
"Really?" Tiki and Jin chorused together, shocked. Neither of them thought that ZanYi would actually acknowledge such an uncertain ending as a tie. She was more of a definite person—she either won or she lost. Shun, however, did not care whether or not ZanYi considered it a tie. He wouldn't have cared if she declared him the loser, or even the winner. All that mattered to the giant waterbender was that ZanYi was happy. And she was.
He pushed to sit himself up, but, unexpectedly, a jolt of pain went through his spine. "Shun? Are you okay?" Ai called, watching as he groaned and lay back down on the snow, his face contorted. He glanced over in her direction, attempting a weak chuckle.
"Frozen ground plus impact with my back equals pain," he said, joking about it. But Ai did not laugh. In fact, she looked more concerned than Shun seemed to be.
"We need to get you inside," she decided.
"On it," Jin said, getting up and striding over to his younger brother. "Up on three, little brother. Ready? Three." Jin tugged up on Shun's arm, getting it around his shoulders in one swift and powerful moment. Still, Shun's back screamed in protest, and he squeezed his mouth shut to keep from crying out. "Let's get you inside then, little bro. You need bed rest."
Shun sighed. He was being treated like a sick patient, something he did not enjoy. "I'm fine. It's not that bad—OW!" When he tried to straighten up, his back heartily protested, causing the giant waterbender to slump down, leaning heavily onto his brother. "Okay… maybe I underestimated just how hard I hit the ground."
And so did ZanYi. She felt a bit sore from the ground, but Shun had clearly taken the brunt of the impact for them. It couldn't have helped to have her on him either. So, frowning, the lieutenant pushed herself to her feet, forcing down her own mild aches and pains. Quickly, she was under Shun's other arm, supporting him as well. "Let's get you inside, Shun," she told him, then looking across to Jin to give the brother a nod. There was no way ZanYi was not helping out, not after Shun had finally caved to her requests.
Syaoran stood up, wanting to help in some way as well. It was clear that Shun was in pain and as a friend, the Avatar didn't want to just stand on the sidelines. "What can I do?" he called out, and immediately ZanYi's eyes were on him.
"Grab our jackets and bring them up, and go into my room and grab my bag to bring into Shun's room."
Shun needed to rest, and flat on his back. He was not going to be waterbending while he did that, so that meant ZanYi was going to clean up the burn she'd left on his abdomen so it was clean until he could get to it.
The stairs were a struggle. Shun tried to put his weight more on Jin than on ZanYi, but he found such a feat difficult when trying to climb the stairs—the lower muscles in his back screamed in protest. Shun grit his teeth and pressed forward. It was only until they reached his room… surely he could last that long…
Maybe.
Before Shun knew it, he was back in his room, on his large, comfy bed. The only problem with that was that he didn't quite remember getting there. "He's awake," he heard Jin announce, and suddenly he came into focus in Shun's vision. "All right there, little brother? You didn't respond for a while. Is the pain so bad that you passed out from it?"
"…I don't know," Shun replied, confused. "The last thing I remember is us being on the stairs… How long have I been out?"
"Not too long—about ten minutes."
Ten minutes? Now Shun was starting to get worried—would he have to see a doctor to make sure he hadn't broken anything? "I'm going to go get you some painkillers, Shun," Ai announced from somewhere near him. He heard her trot over to the door and exit the room.
"Guys," Shun called, sensing that Jin was not the only one in the room, "I'm fine, really. I just need to lie down for a while. There's no need to fuss, I promise. Whatever injuries I have will be okay as long as I don't move for a while." Of course, Shun was not a very good sick patient—he could not promise that he would not attempt to move around after he got tired of laying around in bed all day. People who were used to taking care of other people did not like to be taken care of.
ZanYi of all people knew that, especially after she'd had to take care of him when he was sick. Therefore she didn't plan on leaving his side at all the rest of the day, ensuring he would not do anything stupid while he should be resting. "Well, you will have plenty of time to make sure you're okay, because you are not going to be moving for a long while," the lieutenant ordered sternly, standing next to Jin. Syaoran came into the room a second later, holding in his grasp her bag.
"Got your bag, ZanYi," he announced, walking around to the side of the bed to give it to her. She took it from him with a nod of appreciation. The Avatar looked around, mildly confused. "Where did Ai go?"
"She went to go get Shun some painkillers," ZanYi answered, then looking back to Shun with her hands on her sides and a pointed look, "which he is going to take without complaint." She knew from last time that he hated medicine; whether that transferred over to painkillers, she didn't know, but ZanYi wasn't giving him an option.
Tiki, who had entered the room after Syaoran, caught a frowning look on Shun's face. Despite the situation, she could not help but be amused. "Shun, you look like a kid pouting about having to take medicine. You're a healer; isn't it natural for you to want to make the pain go away?"
"Medicine's different. It's man-made," Shun grumbled, staring up at the ceiling in dejection. "I've had enough needles shoved into me to know that man-made medicine isn't always the answer."
Jin's face paled. "I forgot—they did really bad things to you in that institution, didn't they?"
"What institution?"
Ai had returned with the promised painkillers in her grasp. Silence fell, and when no one answered her, she began to frown. "Hello?" she repeated, glancing from face to face, "I asked a question. Why's everyone so quiet all of a sudden?"
"Don't worry about it, Ai," Jin said evasively, taking the painkillers from her. "Shun, are you sure you don't want any of these?"
"I'm positive. Pain is only a message—if I just ignore the message, I should be fine." But then, pain was a very powerful message. It would not always be easy to ignore. Still, Shun would rather try that than be forced to swallow pills.
ZanYi frowned at Shun and his stubbornness. Even if she knew the extent of why Shun didn't like medicine, that didn't mean that avoiding it was always going to be the answer. She took the bottle of painkillers from Jin and inspected it closely. It was the same stuff she would take sometimes if she had to; it was safe. Pocketing the bottle in her cargo pants, the lieutenant let the topic drop for the time being. Once everyone left, they would certainly be revisiting the conversation—only there would be little conversation and more action.
Syaoran looked at Shun and winced for the waterbender. "Is there anything else we can do to help you, Shun?" the Avatar asked, unable to think of anything but wanting to be useful all the same. He could understand not wanting to take the painkillers, but all the same, it was clear the large man was in pain. Not being able to stomach taking anything to help it would be horrible for Syaoran in his place. Shun had hurt his back hard enough to make it hard for him to walk, even black out. That was some major pain.
Shun turned his head to give Syaoran a strained smile. "Don't worry, Avatar—I'll be fine, I promise. We might have to cancel tonight's practice though, depending on how I'm feeling later. Sorry."
That was not smart of Shun, to get himself injured when he had a responsibility to teach the Avatar waterbending. Of course, he had been injured trying to save ZanYi from a painful fall, so the giant waterbender could not bring himself to regret his actions too much. He would rather be lying injured in his bed than have ZanYi lying injured in hers.
"Well, we'll clear out for now, then," Jin decided, herding Ai, Syaoran and Tiki out of the room. "I'm sure the lady lieutenant will let us know if you need anything, so we'll leave you in her capable hands."
A look of horror flashed across Shun's face, and he called out, "Ah… Jin, wait!"
But it was too late—his brother had closed the door behind him, leaving Shun alone with ZanYi. Normally this would not be a problem; Shun would be pleased to have this time alone with the lieutenant. But, since he was in considerable pain and he had seen the painkillers change hands so that they were in ZanYi's possession, Shun had a very good guess as to what was going to happen next. "You're not force-feeding me those pills," he told ZanYi, though his argument was weak from the start, since he couldn't move. Theoretically, ZanYi could do whatever she wanted to him—the giant waterbender was just reluctant to admit that fact.
She quirked a defiant brow at Shun, inferring to him just how wrong he was. "So you plan on taking them willingly on your own?" ZanYi suggested otherwise, moving closer to his side now that Jin was no longer standing there. "Because that's your only other option." Gently, so as to not jostle him, she sat down on the edge of the bed to unlace and take her boots off, making herself quite at home in his room. "Shun, I know you don't like medicine, but you should take something for your back and this stuff is safe. I recognize it as the stuff Zaron would make me take on occasion." Take very reluctantly sometimes, albeit, but there was no need to encourage Shun's behavior. Rid of her shoes, ZanYi turned more onto the bed towards Shun, pulling the painkillers from her pocket. "So, are you going to take them of your own free will, or do I have to make you take them?"
Shun gave ZanYi an exasperated look. What kind of options were those? Where was his 'don't take them at all' option? But Shun knew ZanYi. She would not let this matter drop. And the more he refused, the more she would insist. Last time, she even went so far as to use a kiss to force-feed him the medicine. It was not an… unpleasant experience altogether, but still, Shun did not want something like that to happen again. He was allowed to kiss her now, but he did not want a kiss from her if it was to force-feed him medicine.
With a short growl, Shun closed his eyes and opened his mouth obediently, awaiting the accursed pills to enter his mouth. There was just no point in arguing with ZanYi. Shun just hoped that the pills would be as effective as she claimed them to be.
ZanYi smirked a bit, suppressing a short snort. He'd learned since last time. Good. Popping the child-proof cap, she slid out two painkillers—she considered a third, since Shun was not the average size man, but decided two would suffice. He could fight off the rest of the pain, since he was already adamant about not taking any. Grabbing a cup of water one of the maids had brought in for them, the lieutenant dropped the two painkillers into the waterbender's mouth. To help them down, she lifted the cup gently to his mouth to give him a drink to swallow it down. After that, she put the water back on the nightstand, along with the bottle of painkillers. "Good job. Told you it wouldn't be that bad," she chastised the man as she reached down for her bag. It was time to take a look at his burn.
"Speak for yourself," Shun said, making a face after he swallowed. "It feels like two rocks are making their way down my esophagus right now." A second later, the giant waterbender sighed to himself. He was being childish. ZanYi only had his best interests at heart, after all. He couldn't fault her for wanting to help him. "…Thanks," he replied after a minute, his eyes on the ceiling again. There was still a dull aching in his back, but he could feel the drugs at work in his system already. They would sort out the trouble in his back, hopefully soon. For now, he would just lay there, trying not to go out of his mind with boredom. At least he had ZanYi to keep him company.
ZanYi merely grunted to acknowledge she'd heard him, sifting through her bag until she found what she was looking for. Eventually she found the roll of gauze in her bag and the lieutenant set it on the nightstand before looking back over at him. With soft hands, she lifted up his shirt a bit, revealing the burn that she'd landed that had gone through his clothes.
"I'm going to clean that up so that it doesn't get infected before you can get to it," she told Shun. She didn't want to have to try and slid his shirt completely off—movements like that would only aggravate his back. As slowly and softly as she could, ZanYi slide Shun's shirt up to bare his lower torso. Then she got up. After a moment of going through the wardrobe and disappearing into the bathroom, the lieutenant came back with a warm, soapy washcloth. "You know the drill: you've just got to grin and bear it," ZanYi told him as she perched next to him, sitting on one of her legs. Then the firebender set to work on the burn, carefully and gently working on cleaning the burned skin.
Shun bore it—but he refused to grin. Between having to push past his reluctance in sparring ZanYi to hurting his back, the burn on his stomach was the least of his problems. He hadn't even been fully aware of its presence until ZanYi pulled his shirt up—for one frantic moment, he thought she was stripping him while he lay there defenseless. "I can heal that later, you know," he pointed out. This burn was not like the burn he had received on his back when he had rescued ZanYi from Whale Tail Island—he could actually reach this one. In fact, if ZanYi grabbed his canteen for him, he could take care of it right now. He wouldn't be able to see what he was doing—lifting his head would hurt him—but he could feel around for the damaged skin and just go from there. While Shun appreciated that ZanYi was trying to take care of him, he did not want her putting herself out over something that wasn't that big of a deal.
ZanYi ignored his statement. It was stupid of him to think that she was going to let him do that when he could hardly move on his own at the present time. So instead, she kept on working. Shun wasn't going to be doing any waterbending until ZanYi knew he was fine to move on his own again—painlessly. So until then, she was going to make sure the wound was protected from germs and bacteria.
Once the lieutenant was satisfied, she took the gauze from the night stand and ripped it off in strands. There was no way she was going to try and wrap it around his stomach—that would require moving his back. But she did use strips to cover the burn so it wouldn't stick to his shirt. After ZanYi finished, she slipped Shun's shirt back down. "You can heal it once I know you're completely fine. Until then, you're resting. Do you have any other burns?" she asked.
Shun frowned, running over their sparring match in his mind. "I don't think so," he answered, though his tone implied that he was not sure. He hadn't even realized that he had been burned on his stomach. He would have tried to look down at himself and make sure that he was not burnt anywhere else, but considering he could not move his neck without aggravating his back…
"If you don't see any holes or anything in my shirt, it might be safe to assume that I'm okay."
ZanYi then took the opportunity to search him over, finding no other burns. It was a good thing Shun had been enveloped in that water for the octopus-form. It had spared him from getting terrible third-degree burns. The bluer the flames, the hotter the fire, the worse the burns. This was a fact.
"You seem fine, but if you end up feeling any, let me know," the lieutenant put firmly. Then she just quietly looked at him, mulling things over. "You shouldn't have tried to cushion my fall. You could've caught yourself," ZanYi admonished him, frowning. If he hadn't been so concerned about her during the last few moments of the sparring match, Shun would've been able to use his hands and catch himself. Then he wouldn't be bed-ridden.
A corner of Shun's mouth lifted. "Too late to feel bad about it—the damage has been done." Shun reached out, wanting to touch ZanYi's face. But when he realized he could not reach it, he took one of her hands instead. "Besides, what do I keep telling you?"
He would rather himself be hurt than her be hurt. He told her this so many times that he often felt like a broken record player, repeating the same sentiments over and over again. Still, he would remind her as often as it took. He could not help but want to protect the woman he loved, after all.
"It was just a sparring match. You didn't need to do that. I could've caught myself and then could you have," she pushed. With Shun's hand on hers, ZanYi could feel that gentle touch that would've been on her cheek if the waterbender could. So this time she decided to indulge him, considering he'd gotten hurt doing something she'd wanted.
Pulling away from Shun, the lieutenant walked around to the other side so she could climb on top of the bed comfortably. ZanYi moved close to her waterbender, laying down beside him with her head propped up by her fist.
"Next time we spar, don't do that," she told him seriously, warning him. "You've got a commitment to Syaoran too. So if I'm going to fall, it's on me next time. I can afford some bumps and bruises. You can't."
Shun sighed. Here ZanYi was again, telling him to deny his instincts when it came to her. Could he help it that he wanted to protect her? "I'm not made of glass, ZanYi," Shun asserted. He was, however, pleased that ZanYi had moved closer to him—he could touch her face now. "Today was a fluke, and I swear I'm fine. I can't even feel the pain in my back anymore. I'll probably be as good as new by tomorrow."
Shun kind of wanted to attempt to heal his back on his own, but that would require him to be in the tub. It would also take a lot out of him, trying to heal a part of him he could not physically reach, and therefore had to reach through the water. He wasn't about to tell ZanYi that he was considering it, though—no doubt she would confine him to the bed to keep him from doing more harm to himself. The only solace Shun took from her strictness was that she cared enough to be strict with him.
ZanYi rolled her eyes. "Unlike you towards me, I know you're not made of glass," she reminded him with a terse gaze. Seriously, when it was just them alone, he was completely fine being aggressive with her, but as soon as there was any actual fighting, it seemed from time to time he would forget. "But you need to be able to bend on a regular basis, not be restricted to bed. Since I'm not his teacher, I can afford that consequence." The lieutenant huffed a little, irked by Shun's behavior, but finding it unsurprising. If this happened again, she would get on him, but for the time being, this wasn't anything too serious, and it seemed like the painkillers were starting to work.
So ZanYi leaned over to kiss his lips. "But thanks for sparring me seriously, Shun," she thanked him aloud this time, pulling back. If he was going to be stuck in bed resting all day because of it, the least ZanYi could do was thank him.
A corner of Shun's mouth quirked up.
"I didn't think I'd be able to do it, honestly," he confessed, looking wry. "I thought you were going to have to bully me into it. But if I did all right by your standards, I'm happy." Sliding a hand behind the lieutenant's neck, Shun guided her back down to meet his lips once more. "And since you're happy, that makes me happy too," he added, smiling serenely. Okay, so he had hurt his back. Big deal. Sparring with ZanYi had still made the giant waterbender sharper, such as being able to anticipate her aiming low with him. But she still managed to surprise him, like with her blue dragon—that had almost been a bad situation for Shun. If he hadn't been surrounded by water at the moment, he could have turned out a whole lot worse.
"Let's make a deal, though—if we're going to be doing this sparring thing a lot, let's agree to not go all out against each other. We may be safe now, but if we always throw everything we have at each other, it could come back to bite us one day." The last thing they needed was to exhaust each other so thoroughly that should they come under attack, they would both be useless. That would be just downright irresponsible of both of them.
ZanYi nodded in agreement. They were fine today, but exhausting both of them by going all out was not a smart plan if this were to continue on—and the lieutenant was going to make sure it did. Sparring wasn't supposed to be an all-out dogfight. It was supposed to be a training tool, a practice mechanism. It shouldn't be hindering them like this or worse. "Only if you continue to spar me seriously," the lieutenant set forth her condition. "After today, I know that you can. We don't need to go all-out against each other, but I do want a serious effort from you, Shun."
Thinking about the spar, it made the corner of her lips quirk up. That was probably one of the hardest sparring matches she'd had in a long while—too long, by her standards. It made her keep thinking, kept her moving. It wasn't predictable. This was what she'd wanted: a challenge. Now she had it.
"If you can at least keep that up, I'll be satisfied," ZanYi allowed, content with that.
"I'll try," Shun conditioned, though his expression suggested that he was doubtful. He had no idea how he managed to carry on that sparring match without calling a time-out or forfeiting. Then again, if he had done either of those things, ZanYi would have roasted him for sure. Maybe it was that unconscious thought that had kept him going the whole time—he sure didn't care about winning.
Still, he wanted to tease ZanYi a bit, so he said, "Watch out next time, though. You've got a win under your belt, and today we tied. Next time I'll win." Big words coming from the giant waterbender… but he figured he had to win some time. All he had to do was keep the mentality from today and he would be all right… hopefully. ZanYi was a challenge in more ways than one, so Shun was going to have to think up new strategies to best her when they sparred. If he could execute them quickly enough, the match would not last too long, which lessened their chance of injury. And that would be fine with Shun.
ZanYi could only raise her eyebrow skeptically at him. That was some big talk there, especially after today. She knew quite well that technically speaking, it had been her win today. Shun's back had touched the ground first. But considering he'd done that to keep her from getting hurt—or at least that had been his thought process—she'd called it a tie. If they had both been scrappy and gotten up, it could have been a toss-up for a win.
But ZanYi would have made sure that somehow she'd ended up on top.
"Shun, don't make promises you can't keep," she warned him, a competitive glint in her eyes. This was what she had wanted with Shun: this camaraderie, this way to push each other. Already, it felt like it was pulling her closer to Shun in a way she could understand. Hard work. Teamwork. Competition. The waterbender may not like that he was going to have to keep being serious in sparring her, but this was exactly what she needed.
The serenity of the moment would not last, sadly. Shun tried to resist jumping in surprise when the door was suddenly thrown open, but he could not help his reflex reactions. His groan of pain was swallowed as soon as he saw who had barged in—none other than his little sister, looking downright furious.
"How dare you?!" Nyla demanded, stomping up to the bed and baring her teeth at ZanYi.
"Ny—" Shun began, only to be harshly cut off.
"Save it! Jin told me everything!" Turning her fierce glare back onto ZanYi, the singer spat, "Who do you think you are, injuring my brother so badly that he can't walk?! Haven't you and your stupid family taken enough from me already?!"
Shun gaped at his sister, unable to understand her. "Nyla," he tried again, gritting his teeth as he struggled to sit up, "what are you—"
Nyla ignored him, grabbing ZanYi's arm instead and giving it a yank. "You get away from him," she demanded, her gaze more cutting than the tundra air as she glared at ZanYi. "Right. Now."
Pain lanced through the giant waterbender's back when he tried to sit up. His arms would not support him, so he could only lay there, watching this conflict unfold between his sister and the woman he loved. His heart began to pound with anxiety and anger, both over Nyla's rough treatment of ZanYi and the fact that whatever ax Nyla had to grind with ZanYi had apparently become sharp enough for her to start swinging.
And the outcome would not be pretty.
A/N from DJ: We're BAAAAaaaaaaaCK! Phew. It's been a while, hasn't it? xP A lot has happened and changed in our absence.
So, for those who have not heard, both DJ and Eva have had some awesome life changes. I got engaged and have been planning my wedding for later this year, and the ever wonderful Eva moved to Japan and has a sweet gig teaching over there! It has been a busy, busy absence, I will tell you guys that much!
Another issue we had was content and how to condense it. We have begun adjusting to our lives as we now know them, and have successfully managed to chop up the rest of Water into chappies for completion! Hopefully, as long as we can edit semi-regularly, that means we'll be good to finish the book.
There's a lot of new and old names for us at this point, so this time we just want to welcome everyone to the story and chappie, and hope you'll enjoy the ride to come! Until next time!