"It's only for the first few days I'm in the city," Kai told Pema nervously, tugging at her fraying belt loop, Councilmen Tenzin (the father of the two girls who she had saved)'s wife. "I plan on having a job soon and using that money to buy my own apartment in the city."
"Nonsense," Tenzin's much younger wife voiced, "You're welcome here as long as you need to be."
"Thank you," Kai replied softly. Her expression turning sad once the woman's gaze turned away from her as she took her daughters into her arms. Kai's experiences with mothers were few and far between, never having met her mother until just recently. Her mommy issues were something she tried not to think about, but recent events and Pema's kindness had drudged the dreaded thoughts up. She forced them back down, not wishing to think about them tonight. The yawn she let out soon after she had spoken proved that.
"Korra," Councilmen Tenzin asked, "Could you show her to one of the guest room's please?"
"Of course," the girl that had been with Councilmen Tenzin and former-chief Bei Fong replied. "Follow me," she told Kai and Kai did as asked.
"I'm across the hall if you need anything." Korra explained to Kai, "If I'm not there, my friend Asami's room is at the end of the hall. On the boy's side of the house there's Bolin, Mako, and Meelo. Meelo's Tenzin and Pema's oldest son, Mako's my boyfriend, and Bolin's his younger brother. Pema's usually got her hands full with Meelo and the baby, so if Mako or Bolin aren't there, there's usually an air acolyte around. Pema usually has breakfast ready at around seven in the morning. I know it's early, but her food's amazing, you don't want to miss out on it."
"Alright," Kai nodded, trying to make not of all the information. "Thank you for the help. I think I'm going to turn in for the night, though."
"Alright," Korra replied with a smile, "I'll see ya in the morning."
"See ya," Kai repliedwith a small smile before sliding her room's doors shut. The young earthbender dropped her bag to the floor and then walked over to her bed and collapsed on it. She was out like a light soon after her head hit the pillow.
Kai didn't actually see Korra in the morning. The girl was up earlier than her and out of the house to the training grounds with Tenzin, or so his wife had told her. Kai had eaten breakfast with the woman and her children, facing a quickly spoken and brutal interrogation from the youngest daughter of Avatar Aang's son, Ikki.
Ikki wasn't able to finish her questioning though, because halfway through, Korra's boyfriend, Mako, came into the room wondering where his brother was. No one at the table had known, but Kai quickly finished her breakfast and then offered to help him look. It had taken a little coaxing from Pema, but the firebender agreed eventually.
That's what Kai had been doing for the last four hours, but she was now heading to the spot where she had met Skoochy, ready to see what the details of her job was from the lady that she had him meet at the corner of Clutch and Able. Kai was stopped though, because in a place as big as Republic City, you know there's something wrong when a group starts to build around one area. So, it was for that reason that Kai made her way through the crowd to the front. Standing there, she saw a guy tied to the pole the crowd was standing around.
Kai sighed irritably, irritated that her plans to meet up with the kid she had befriended the night before were being interrupted by people being stupid. She slipped off one of her metal cuffs, metalbending it into a blade. She then walked up to the pole, where a reporter was taking a picture of the boy tied up. "Move," she told the guy.
The reporter looked down at her in a condescending amusement, "Who died and made you–" Kai flashed him the blade and the reporter quickly scurried off. Kai got close enough to the pole and began sawing through the rope that was keeping the boy tied up to the pole.
While she sawed through the rope, she took the time to study the boy. She could tell by the build that the boy was an earthbender; he was strongly built, his shoulders broad and his muscles bulky, but not too bulky. He had dark brown hair that was combed back in exception to a single curl that hung in the center of his forehead, which sloped down into a cute button nose. Cute, Kai, really?
In the time she got distracted by scolding herself for her wording, she had gotten a little close to his hand, and he let out a squeak of fear. Kai muttered a quick sorry before quickly getting back to severing the rope. Soon after that she was taking a few steps back and the rope fell away and the boy jumped down. "Thank you!" He exclaimed loudly and wrapped her in a lung crushing hug that lifted her off the ground.
"Put me down," Kai demanded swatting his arm.
"Sorry," he said quickly setting her back onto her feet. Kai could tell he was about to further thank her, but he was cut off,
"There you are!" Skoochy's voice came from behind her.
"What are you doing here, Skoochy?" the boy Kai had just cut down asked.
"'Sup Bolin," the boy nodded at the earthbender, ignoring his question with a smirk.
"What've you got for me, kid?" Kai asked him, starting to walk towards the smell of food.
"So, the lady who wrote you thinks her husband's cheating on her. Says she's willing to pay whatever for you to get the money shot," Skoocy told her quietly, but loud enough to be heard over the Republic City lunch rush.
"Alright," Kai dug around in her bag for a pen and pad of paper, "Did you get her address?" she asked, prepping to write it down. Skoochy nodded and told her. Kai quickly wrote it down and thanked the boy. She was about to speak again when a very loud grumbling sound came from her left.
Kai looked over at the boy she had cut down from the pole who was glancing down, rubbing the back of his neck. "When was the last time you ate?" Kai asked him.
"Yesterday at lunch," the guy muttered embarrassedly.
"Spirits," Kai sighed while pinching her nose. "Come on," She grabbed Bolin by his bicep and then Skoochy by his collar when he went to walk away.
"Let go 'a' me!" Skoochy said as he tried to wiggle out of her grasp.
"No," Kai deadpanned.
"Where are we going?" Bolin asked.
"To the noodle shop down the street," Kai replied, "And while we're in the process of eating, you can tell me who the guys who tied you up were, and why they did it." Kai then dragged the two boys to the noodle shop they were close to.
Side Note: If you think some of the scenarios or Kai's character is coming off as a little "Veronica Mars"-ish, she's one of the fictional characters i based her off of, along with Toph Bei Fong from ATLA (obviously) and Cana Alberona from Fairy Tail.