Author's note : Ok, so this is probably the softiest chapter of this fic. And I promise this is the strongest level we will get. Because I tried to handle it IC, and yet he only really speaks out in one episode, I don't see Jee getting all stary-eyed and emotionnal, no matter how much booze he got.
Still, that doesn't mean he doesn't have a heart and is feeling proof ! And he deserves his part of "oh no i can't believe the fans read that" shame too, like every other character of the show !
... Aaaah, sailor man...

Oyone's slender fingers brushed the wooden table, and for a second Jee wondered how their pad would feel on the skin of his shoulder blade or on the edge of his lips.
She shook her head slightly and a few wild strands of black hair, escaped from her messy topknot, tickled her neck.

- If you could read, why engage in the Fire Navy ? Why not seek for a more lucrative job ? or just a job where you're not so likely to get killed in suffering ?

She raised a questioning eyebrow, her pointer's nail scrapping faintly against the wood, sending Jee a light shiver. He smirked.

- Things turned out differently. I lived things that led me closer and closer to this, without my noticing, and when I had to choose I just ended up engaging myself.

" My friend and I were all entering adolescence. We were all bold and cheerful from it, while our interests changed in consequence. For instance, woman looked different. Some of my mates were blushing and squirming when brushing the sleeve of a pretty girl in a crowded street; whereas some became true womanizer in a few years, boasting of or flattering swiftly. I think I was somewhere between the two. I was never ill-at-ease with a woman, even when she attracted me greatly, but I never was bragging either.

We went more and more often to the 'hot and cheap' neighbourhoods, if you see what I mean. It was pretty much slums, actually, but with the very specific activities you can imagine. At first it was just to… I don't know, kind of proving ourselves we were not afraid to. We decided to go together. Shinzo, Kizari, Guani, Anjin and I. We were the best friends, really. We were taunting each other, playing the snooties, but deep down we were a bit unsettled. You probably know what this kind of place is like. Brawls, purse snatching, unsafe houses corners, a few drunkard floating numb in the street… Not to mention all the filthy brothels the weary soldiers and sailors freshly back home went drinking away their boredom to. The kind of place that would get a well-to-do housewife's face bloodless.

On our first afternoon we just walked around a bit. We didn't talk, didn't drink, didn't enter anywhere, we didn't do anything really. Just crossed through the quarter. But you have no idea how proud we were. We felt like men, afraid of nothing and introduced to everything. The badass boys, kind of. We felt so grown-up over so little thing it seems laughable now. We talked about it for days and days, perking and teasing each other… and eventually, we went back. And back again, and again… Every time we got a bit more confident and curious, and that's how we started to patronize those places, from ramblers to customers. Regular customers.

We used to spend most of our time in a small dive called "the tipsy sun warrior" or "the fuddled sun warrior", something of that kind. You get the idea. And anyway, the name was not really the point. That was our favourite place. We would sit on the heaps of old cushion and drink warm millet beer and tell stupid jokes, or play cards… and we thought we were on top of the world. It was not too crowded. There were not lots of space, but the many pillars and drapes hanging on the ceiling made it feel cosy. We would always be welcome, and in the late night hours the innkeeper would offer everyone some fire flakes for each new order.

My friends got the use to call it "jee's music school", because I had a crush on a girl working there. She was basically a waitress, but apart from bringing a couple of beers she had not so many things to do. So when there were no more orders, she would entertain clients she liked by playing the pipa. I marvelled in the way she pinched and poked the cords, it looked like if it was no big deal for her, but I'm telling you sometimes I was really impressed. I managed to keep it from showing too much, but my friends knew better. They would tease me restlessly until we would all crack up laughing. I think it would have been impossible for the girl not to hear. Her name was Sai. I had caught the innkeeper calling for her several times.

One day, or rather one night, there were only us and two old men completely drunk. Not that we were not a bit too, but we were still up. So Sai came to us and asked if we would like her to play something special. Anjin asked for a love ballad and gave me the most un-subtle wink ever. We all laughed, even me. And Sai chuckled and smiled. Her smooth deep brown eyes lingered on me in a pleasant way. So it was OK.

But then Shinzo said I was very interested in pipa, and that she should go closer to me so that I could have a better look on the instrument. She nodded, rose from her seat and walked toward me. Her bare feet and exposed ankles were merely an inch away from my legs. Suddenly I was not so laughing. She seated on my crossed-legs, her weight nestled in the crook between my thighs and her back pressed lightly against my chest.
'Mighty Agni' I thought. I could feel her thick cocoa hair tickling my jaw and I just wanted to bury my head in it. Her scent was making me flush. I yearned to caress that cute round face of her, so much that my finger tips almost felt sore. Then she said 'I'll pick a simple song, so you can put your fingers on mine and play it with me'. I was unable to answer. The only thing in my mind was my own voice repeating 'oh might Agni' like a mantra. Only this way could I keep a hold on myself.
'Let me show you first. There's a simple melody that goes all along the song' she said. She started squeezing the cords.

Her fingernails caressed the silky cords so smoothly, it was just so graceful to me… When she stopped, I slowly raised my hands next to hers and laid them on her skin. It felt good and right, and I let her guide me through the sequence of notes. Then she started to sing. It was a popular song at the time, something about two lovers reunited after the fire nation won the war. The man was off fighting the barbarian water tribes in the frozen lands, and the woman was on a beach, longing to see his ship in the distance, bringing him back to her… Shallow song. No, stupid and shallow song. But strangely I couldn't shake it off my mind until the next time I saw Sai again.

This earned me a bunch of teasing and mocking, but it was well worth it. Then Sai took the habit of sitting snuggled up to me whenever she was not busy. I would put my hands atop hers and follow her every movements. It would give me an excuse to relish her sweet smell and presence, and sometimes, to look down into the plugging neckline of her loose wrap-over tops.

With months passing by, she introduced me to more complex patterns of notes, and it seemed to me that she pressed herself further into me. Besides, I was nicely surprised when I realized my hands were not just following hers anymore : on the simpler songs, mine were moving just in time by their own above hers. I found myself memorizing chords and wanting to learn more. And the more we played together, the more I enjoyed it. I delighted in both the physical contact with Sai and the pipa practising. Every single gesture of Sai was sinking in my memory, like nothing had before.
In my later years, I would understand that when an appealing woman was teaching me something, I would get to the point much quicker. And learning to play the pipa was apparently no exception.

After a while, I eventually grew bolder, and from times to times, when my friends' eyes were not focused on us, I would give the nap of her neck a light kiss. She would giggle a bit, or gasp in a very enticing manner, and I would be so happy I'd think myself Agni's most blessed man in the whole nation.

And all in all, that's how I learnt to play the pipa. "