Avatar: The Warring Earth

Book Two—Air

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.

He had to go in there. Syaoran knew he had to go in there. But the last thing he wanted to do was go in there. All night, the Avatar could barely sleep, dreading morning to come. Why? Because he'd seen that his pint-size teacher is apparently a slight bigger than pint-sized in the busts department. All because he was trying to make sure Kei wasn't trying anything. That was the other reason he couldn't sleep. His mild irritation with Kei was growing into a full-blown agenda against the nonbender. Kei was trying something on Tiki every couple of minutes, and Syaoran makes one accidental mistake, and suddenly the Avatar is the bad guy? No. Syaoran did not like that.

But he'd already procrastinated long enough. Syaoran had to go into the dining hall for breakfast, and he had to go through training with Tiki. Which meant he had to apologize again. By the time Syaoran had manned up enough earlier to come out of his room and knock on Tiki's door, everyone had already left. So that meant breakfast was his battle ground for this. Fantastic.

"Syaoran, stop staring at the door and go in. You're blocking the way," a strict voice told him. Turning, Syaoran found ZanYi behind him, already sparkling with sweat, a couple of her Agni-Kais flanking her. Knowing that was his nudge, Syaoran had to act. With a grumble of irritation of what was to come, the Avatar finally opened the door and walked inside the dining hall. Tiki, Kei, and Shun were already seated at a table in the far corner. Shun had finished his breakfast in record time and was now staring out into space while Tiki and Kei conversed about other things. Tiki was in mid-laugh when she spotted Syaoran enter the dining hall; the laugh died in her throat and a rosy hue darkened her cheeks. Kei followed her line of sight and immediately scowled.

"It's okay, Tiki. I'm here," he assured the tiny airbender, sliding a hand around Tiki's tiny shoulders. Tiki sighed but nodded. In reality, she knew Syaoran didn't purposefully do anything wrong… even so, she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to see the Avatar just yet. She was still thoroughly embarrassed from the incident the night before.

And so was said Avatar. Even after he opened the door, once Syaoran saw the look that crossed Tiki's face as soon as she set eyes on him, he froze. Clearly she was about as ready to talk about this as he was—which was not at all. But he wasn't really being given a choice in the matter.

"Syaoran. Move," ZanYi ordered him, pushing him along a bit. Syaoran ducked away to go get his food and she sighed a bit. Something was wrong with the Avatar this morning, and a look over at Team Avatar's table, she saw a similar expression on Tiki's face. The lieutenant huffed. Turning to her soldiers, she said, "I'm going to be sitting with my other team today. Go on ahead."

She gave them each pats on the shoulders before going after Syaoran to get some food of her own. "What's wrong, Syaoran?" she asked him. Just the question made him almost drop his tray.

"Nothing!" he answered far too quickly, and he knew it when the lieutenant gave him that scrutinizing eye. Syaoran groaned. "Okay, I may have made things awkward with Tiki while trying to keep tabs on Kei last night…" the Avatar allowed himself to tell ZanYi. Said woman rolled her eyes and started for the table, Syaoran in tow.

"Then patch it up so you can get back to it. You need an airbending teacher and Tiki's what you've got and who you chose. So fix it."

Syaoran wanted to grumble how that was easier said than done, but he was certain ZanYi would not appreciate his sass and therefore kept his mouth shut. He was trying to do more of that. When they reached the table, Syaoran quickly took the seat next to Shun, trying to avoid sitting next to Tiki if he could help it.

While Shun was keeping an ear out for trouble, he was looking away from Team Avatar, his face in his hands as his fingers played with the fanged necklace he wore. He had gone to bed in bliss, only to dream about the moment he was snatched away from his family, their screams and his mixing into one mournful wail that echoed through his mind until he had awakened in a cold, anguished sweat. Needless to say, the giant waterbender hadn't gotten much sleep after that.

So while his heart went out to the problem Tiki and Syaoran seemed to be having with each other, he was too distracted this morning to invest any energy into the conversation at hand.

ZanYi scoffed and took the open seat next to Tiki. "So, how's Syaoran's training, Tiki?" she immediately asked, straight to business.

Tiki cleared her throat. "Um, fine," she replied, eyeing ZanYi uncertainly while trying to avoid Syaoran's gaze at all cost. "No air yet, but I think we're making progress." Kei let out an unkind snort, which Tiki then proceeded to elbow him in the ribs for. "Be quiet—it's not like you have to learn all four elements," she scolded the nonbender quietly. Kei lifted and dropped a shoulder, saying nothing more.

ZanYi nodded, taking this into consideration. Progress was progress, but after a month and a half, close to two months of no airbending, this was starting to paint a troublesome picture. Sure, Syaoran hadn't taken to firebending right away, but once he started getting the hang of it, he was fine. Then again, it had taken him the last nineteen years of his life to even get there. They didn't have nineteen more years to waste on airbending. "Are there any distractions during training, Syaoran?" she asked him next, and the young man sat up straight. Syaoran wanted to look over at ZanYi to answer, but that would also mean looking Tiki's way, and clearly she did not want to look at him either.

"Um, nothing that hasn't been around a while," Syaoran answered carefully, focusing on the bowl of food in front of him. To say that Kei wasn't a distraction would be a lie. Having the nonbender staring him down during training was nowhere near relaxing, and Syaoran was certain after last night it was going to get even worse. He sighed at that.

ZanYi watched the glances—or lack thereof—at the table and frowned. This team was going to start splitting if Syaoran and Tiki didn't fix whatever their problems were. Her gaze then went to their last member, finding Shun surprisingly quiet and distant, which was quite a shift from the previous night. And if he hadn't called her out on her dogtags so many times, ZanYi would have almost missed how he was absentmindedly playing with his necklace. "Well, perhaps we should change up training today," ZanYi suggested, tearing her eyes away from Shun to look at the other three. "Kei, you will stay behind today for training. You have the option of your room or waiting with the earthbenders at the gate, but you won't be going topside today."

Syaoran wanted to smack himself. As if this couldn't get worse, now ZanYi was forcing Tiki and him to be together alone. Perhaps it hadn't been a good idea to confide in the lieutenant.

"Uh, ZanYi—"

"Not a word, Syaoran," she cut him off, dominant as ever. "Kei will stay behind, and Tiki: you and Syaoran will go out to continue training as you did before we relocated."

Kei shot ZanYi a disgruntled look. "Why am I being punished?" he demanded to know, feeling as if he was being treated unfairly. "Syaoran was the one who—"

Tiki shot him a look just then that could freeze over fire, and Kei promptly shut his mouth. The last thing he wanted to do was make Tiki angry at him again. "…Fine," the nonbender grumbled, getting to his feet. "I'll just hang out in my prison—I mean my room." As Kei stormed away, Tiki sighed. Though the nonbender continued to be sweet to her, she wasn't really enthused about his behavior when he didn't get his way with others. He was like a spoiled child who had been just told 'no' for the first time: it didn't register to him that there were bigger things than him at work at the moment.

Tiki ended up pushing her half-eaten breakfast away, her appetite gone. "Ready when you are, then, Syaoran," she said, trying to be all-business… though her gaze was on the floor instead of on the Avatar. She wanted to get past this awkwardness as soon as possible… she just wasn't sure how.

Both ZanYi and Syaoran gave Kei dark looks as he stormed away; ZanYi because when she gave orders, she expected them to be followed, and Syaoran because he just didn't like the attitude. But the latter of the two was also plagued by another issue entirely: the fact that he was about to have the most awkward training session in his entire career as Avatar. Syaoran groaned a little, under enthused about how this was going to all play out. Any other day he would be grateful to have Kei out of his hair… and he supposed he still was. But that still didn't alleviate the situation from his shoulders.

With one last bite, the Avatar finished his breakfast and looked away to the floor as well. "Now's as good a time as any," he told Tiki, rising to his feet. He picked up his tray and, with a bit of thought, picked up Tiki's as well to carry it over to the rest of the dirty trays and dishes. "Let's get this over with…" Syaoran grumbled.

After nodding to Tiki and Syaoran and turning to the waterbender across from her, ZanYi then added, "Shun, I believe Zaron wanted a word with you. I can show you to his office after breakfast."

Which was a flat out lie. But something was wrong with him, and she was going to make sure it wasn't herself.

Snapped out of his reverie at the sound of his name, Shun looked over at ZanYi in confusion. "But I—" he began, about to tell the lieutenant that he already knew where Zaron's office was when an acute sense of déjà vu stole over him once more. Shutting his mouth, Shun gave her a nod, showing that he understood. He was a little confused on why she always used Zaron as an excuse to get him alone, but considering their newly begun secret relationship, he was glad her brother was a legitimate excuse.

As the other two walked away, ZanYi finished her breakfast and rose to her own feet. Whatever was messing with Shun's head, at least he'd caught up to speed before he'd said something stupid. "Let's go," she encouraged, grabbing her tray to dump it and head towards Zaron's office. Her brother didn't need to see either of them. But ZanYi also knew that her brother was not going to be in there, which meant they could talk in there without fear of interruption.

Shun followed after ZanYi, recognizing the route they were taking. This was indeed the way to Zaron's office… did the sergeant major really want a word with him after all? But as he entered the office after ZanYi, Shun realized that it was empty. So his initial thought had been right—ZanYi wanted a moment alone with him.

The giant waterbender shut the door behind him, looking expectantly to ZanYi. "What's the matter?" he asked, brow furrowing in concern. Why did she want to speak to him all of a sudden? Was she regretting last night? Was she suddenly uncomfortable at the thought of them being a couple? Did she want to call the whole thing off?

As Shun struggled with his inner panic, he kept his expression neutral, as to give nothing away. It would hurt him more than words could express for ZanYi to suddenly push him away after they had finally reached each other, but if she wanted space, he would give it to her. Being in love wasn't easy: it gave someone the power to break him, but the trust to believe she wouldn't.

ZanYi propped herself up on Zaron's desk, looking at Shun with a watchful eye. Shun seemed more alert than he had at breakfast, but that didn't erase the fact that something was off. "That's my question to you, Shun," she threw back at him, lifting an eyebrow skeptically. "Something is wrong, and don't tell me that it isn't. I can tell. You looked like you weren't even there at breakfast."

Her eyes narrowed a little bit, as if trying to see past his neutral expression, trying to see what he was thinking. "So what's the matter with you? Do you regret last night? Because I don't." At least, not yet anyway. Very rarely did ZanYi ever feel remorse for her actions. She was always confident in her decisions, always had a plan. However, she was going into this one without a back-up plan. So if Shun was already regretting this, then she was going to get out, fast.

"Oh," Shun uttered, both in surprise and relief. "No, ZanYi, I don't regret last night at all. In fact, I was afraid you were having second thoughts, which is why you brought me in here." Shun shook his head at himself now, chuckling at his insecurity. ZanYi had just been worried about him, that was all. Everything between them was fine. "This isn't about you, ZanYi," he assured the lieutenant. "I just…" A dark shadow passed over Shun's face, and he touched his fanged necklace once again. "…I dreamed—no, I relived a memory while I was sleeping last night. It was about the day I was kidnapped."

The clearest memory Shun still had of his family, and it was of his mother's and sister's distraught faces, his father shouting for him, his brothers being held back from chasing after him…

Shun closed his eyes, the memory still leaving him raw, even after all these years. That was the last time he had ever seen them, and the giant waterbender wouldn't be surprised if they all thought he was dead.

ZanYi nodded, thankful that it wasn't about something regarding the two of them. But this was a much bigger deal, so it appeared. Kidnapped? Shun had been kidnapped? She looked at the waterbender, as if doubting that, but she supposed he couldn't have been a giant all of his life. Perhaps this had something to do with being a lab rat? Shun had mentioned something about it before, being stuck in the labs. It's what his night terrors seemed to be about… ZanYi knew this couldn't have been quite as bad, because on a normal night she was a light sleeper, and she didn't hear anything through their joined wall.

But ZanYi knew that it still had been bad for Shun. The pain on his face all but screamed it at her. It wasn't a look that she liked on Shun either.

"You want to tell me about it, Big Guy?" the lieutenant asked, leaving it up to him. If he didn't want to, that was fine by her. Some memories need to stay buried, some secrets left alone. But if Shun were the kind of man who needed to get this stuff out, she would listen. Just like that stormy night on Southern Air Island, ZanYi was going to be there for Shun, just like he was there for her all the time.

Shun sighed heavily. Honestly, he didn't know. Such memories were painful for him, and having to relive them even more so. Still, it was ZanYi who was asking, and she was giving him a choice to tell her or not. Another thing he loved about ZanYi: she didn't push when the matter was personal.

Leaning against the door, Shun gazed down at his necklace, the fang in between his thumb, index and middle finger. "…My little sister made this for me, you know," he began conversationally, a small but fond smile upturning his lips. "She worked really hard on it, and all by herself—wouldn't let my older brothers help her at all. She told me, when she gave it to me, that the wolf reminded her of me: strong and independent, but choosing to stay in a pack out of love. She saw me as the man I would be some day, even though I was only a child then…" Shun closed his fist around the fang and swallowed around the lump in his throat. "…I was nine when they took me. My family and I started to move from place to place two years before, after learning the Neo-Equalists were searching for waterbenders. I didn't understand much back then, but I did know that no matter what, I had to do my best to help keep my family safe. I had to keep Nyla safe, most of all, because she was only four years old…"

Four years old. Shun remembered Nyla's little face puckered up in a pout as she tried her hardest not to cry when they would go hungry some nights. She, too, seemed to understand the danger they were in, and tried her best to behave. She was so young, so innocent…

"…They caught us," Shun said, his voice and expression bleak as he stared at the floor, his eyes cloudy. "We were trying to get out of Republic City, but they caught us. My dad and my brothers fought against them as hard as they could, but they were blocked. And then there was just my mother, Nyla, and me. I remember them muttering about needing the strongest waterbender of our family, but having someone as young as possible. They chose Nyla."

The screams of his mother for her daughter still rang in Shun's ears. Nyla had been crying so hard as the cold Neo-Equalists pried her from their mother's arms, kicking her to make her let go. He remembered feeling raw anger for the first time, and reacting instinctively, channeling water from a nearby river to fight against the Neo-Equalists. Back then, his bending hadn't been that strong, and he had only managed to splash water over the men and Nyla. But then, Shun watched as the same glint began to form in their eyes, and they nodded to each other before dropping Nyla to the ground, closing on him…

"I fought back. I was rebellious. I needed to be taught a lesson. So they let my sister go… and took me instead."

Shun drew a deep, shuddering breath, running a hand over his face. Fifteen years later, and the memories were still as fresh as if they had happened just yesterday. He understood perfectly well what it meant to have childhood trauma. The giant waterbender finally looked up to meet ZanYi's eyes, his expression wry. "You know a little about what happened next: I was taken to a facility where they… did things to me, in an attempt to understand how I could bend water, and what it would take to take that away from me. I spent five long years in that place, until the jailbreak when I was fourteen. I took what little possessions I had, escaped, and never looked back… though the past seems to like to haunt me a lot."

He frowned. What a heavy topic to discuss first thing in the morning. Shun was disappointed in himself for dumping all of this on ZanYi as well. She didn't need his problems. "Sorry for rambling," he apologized humbly, a hand resting on the back of his neck. "I don't usually like talking about all this, but when I do, it's hard for me to stop. It's a wonder that I'm not more screwed up… or maybe I am."

Shun looked down at his hands, eyeing them in a sort of wary distaste. They hadn't managed to take his bending away… quite the opposite. They had made him abnormal, a freak. All their tests, all their experiments did nothing but make him stronger… scarily so. This was why Shun was more for peace than violence—he was afraid of his own strength, what they had made him. He didn't want to be this way, but he was… and he was determined to use such terrible powers for the benefit of others. Maybe then he wouldn't think his existence was some sort of abomination.

And all the while, ZanYi could only frown. Everyone had a story. Everyone had a past. But when it's the story and the past of someone she cared about, it made things personal. Her hands gripped the table tightly, the only outward expression of emotion that she could allow through her self-control.

"Don't apologize, Shun," she told him through tight teeth. "You did nothing wrong."

The Neo-Equalists were the ones who had done wrong. Prejudiced against nonbenders or not, Resistance soldiers never took civilians, never used them for their own needs. The fact that the opposition was trying to find another way to remove bending was valuable information that they did not necessarily have. But all of that was secondary to Shun's obvious pain.

Taking a deep breath, ZanYi cooled down and hopped down from Zaron's desk, crossing the room to Shun. The hands he eyed with distaste were pushed down by ZanYi, and she used one hand to grip his chin gently. "You're not screwed up, Shun," she told him, looking him straight in the eye, as if daring him to say she was wrong. "I've seen screwed up, and you are not it. You've gone through darkness and come out on the other side. And you're stronger for it." Her brow softened a little, but still stern. "From what I can tell, you've had that big heart of yours all your life. If anything, everything you went through made it bigger. You're alive, Shun, and stronger, and smarter, and that's what matters. They will never take anything from you again."

Could the giant waterbender really believe the words that were coming from ZanYi's mouth? Could he really believe that those people—and he used the word 'people' loosely—would not ever seek him out again to do him harm, to take more precious people away from him…?

Well, ZanYi had never gone back on her word yet. But even as he looked into those burning golden eyes, Shun felt a stab of panic—ZanYi herself was another precious person he stood at a risk to lose. If anything happened to her…

"I hope you're right," Shun whispered, a hand reaching up to cup ZanYi's cheek. "It looks like I have even more to lose now." He had already lost his family, along with almost any hope of finding them ever again. He could not lose ZanYi too.

ZanYi looked at Shun with a bit of surprise and a bit of embarrassment. Surely he wasn't putting losing her as similar to losing his entire family, would he? That didn't make sense at all. Sure, he cared about her it seemed. And they would lay their lives on the line for each other. But to put that much importance on her…

She dropped her hand from his chin and leaned into the hand holding her cheek, just staring at him, trying to figure it out. Shun was a man unlike any other she'd encountered; part of that was because of the big heart he wore on his sleeve. That wasn't something found often in the military. And neither was his gentle touch or approach, that look in his blue eyes when he glanced her way…

"It's going to take more than Neo-Equalists and Lab-coats to take me down, Shun," ZanYi assured him, confident in that.

Shun smiled. "I'm counting on that," he told her, lowering his head to kiss ZanYi's forehead. He would have kissed her lips except for two things: one, he didn't want to make her uncomfortable with too much physical contact. And two, this was her brother's office—having the sergeant major walk in to find Shun kissing his little sister would be crossing the line a bit.

Keeping that in mind, Shun stepped back from ZanYi, grasping the doorknob of the office door. "Come on—let's go before your brother comes back and wants to know what we're doing in his office."

Now that would be an interesting challenge—what was a legitimate excuse for why the two were in Zaron's office? Shun could think of nothing, so he wanted to leave before he was put to the test of coming up with a plausible story for his intrusion upon the sergeant major's office.

ZanYi wiped a palm at her forehead, as if Shun's kiss there had left a mark. It was just an unfamiliar sensation. "Zaron owes me big time right now," the lieutenant scoffed, moving over to the door. "Besides, he's training all morning with his unit." Stopping next to Shun, she tilted her head to peer up at Shun. ZanYi felt like she knew so much more about Shun then, knew the tragedy behind that smile he always gave her. But there was also the feeling of getting closer to him, even if she didn't always understand him.

At the very least, though, she could understand herself. And the lieutenant had the feeling well up inside her that the kiss on her forehead was not enough. "I've got to get cleaned up before lunch, and then I'll be in that meeting for most of the rest of the day," ZanYi reminded him. Then she grabbed the front of his shirt to pull him down, forcing his lips to meet hers. Pulling away, the lieutenant smirked. Hopefully that would hold them both over until later that evening. Putting a warm, chi-filled hand over Shun's on the doorknob, she turned them both to open the door and walk out into the hall. "I'll fill you in about the meeting after dinner," ZanYi called back. And then she just strode away, mischief still on her mouth.

Shun watched her go, bewildered as always. One moment, she didn't like physical affection, and then the next moment, she did. Maybe the difference was when it was on her terms. Shaking his head, the giant waterbender exited the sergeant major's office, his face feeling hot. He would probably never get used to the sensation of kissing ZanYi, the feeling so raw and passionate that he all but lost his mind, if the night before was any indication.

Shun forced himself to breathe deeply before heading down the hall to do… something. ZanYi had his mind all messed up, and he couldn't think straight. That woman's power over him was scary, indeed. And the giant waterbender had a slight inkling that they would not be doing much talking after dinner, despite what ZanYi might have said.

Tiki took calming breaths as she led the way out of the base and topside once more, where sunlight reigned and the chitter chatter of animals played with cadence. 'It's okay, you can do this. Last night was an accident, and it'll probably never happen again, so you don't need to worry. Syaoran's sorry for what he did, and it's not like he saw much… though he saw enough…'

Tiki sighed and shook her head. This avenue of thought wasn't helping. She was just going to have to shut out her feelings and let go for now. She sat on the worn ground, got into her meditation position, and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. "You know the drill, Syaoran," she told him, her eyes still shut. For the sake of Syaoran's training, she was going to pretend that last night never happened. Now was not the time to be embarrassed when Syaoran still had yet to produce one puff of air.

Syaoran did know the drill all too well, and he sat himself down across from Tiki, mimicking her meditation position. He was just going to have to relax. They still had to work together, and they were still a team. It was just an accident and one they could push past. Clearly Tiki was going to; so should he.

But even as he sat there and focused his breathing, tried to allow his chi to move freely, Syaoran knew that was going to be easier said than done. Popping one eye open, he found himself looking at Tiki—which did not do him any favors because then he remembered the previous night.

Syaoran growled at himself, scratching frantically at his scruffy hair, as if it would erase the images from his mind. He had to focus, had to get back to business.

Tiki was not into her groove yet, but she could already sense Syaoran's agitation—the growl he expelled made it even more obvious. Tiki sighed and opened her eyes, surveying Syaoran. He looked every bit as uncomfortable as she felt, which was kind of a relief, in a strange way. The tiny airbender crossed her arms, adamantly ignoring the blush forming on her face.

"Okay, this isn't working," she readily acknowledged. "Clearly we're not going to get anywhere until we talk about this."

But still, though she wanted to talk about it, Tiki didn't want to look at Syaoran while they were talking. She was still too embarrassed to even look him in the eye for long. Getting up, Tiki relocated herself behind Syaoran, her back pressed against his. She wrapped her arms under her legs, her knees pressed to her chest and her head leaning back against Syaoran's neck.

"So… let's talk," she encouraged him. But she had no idea what to say, leaving him with the role of speaking first. Hopefully they would be able to continue with training without a hitch after this.

Syaoran groaned. He knew he was going to have to talk about it, but that didn't mean he looked forward to it at all. This could quite possibly be one of the most embarrassing things to ever happen to him. But Tiki was right: unless they got this out of the way, training was not going to happen, and Syaoran already had enough stumbling blocks without this on top.

With a huff, he unfolded his legs, raising one as the other lay out. He strung his arm across the propped knee, resting his head back to sit on top of Tiki's. At least this way they didn't have to look at each other. Silence continued to pass between them, and the Avatar knew she was waiting for him to talk first. Even better.

"I'm sorry, Tiki," he said first, getting the most important part out of the way. "It was an accident and I walked in without even thinking. I didn't mean to… well, you know!" Syaoran couldn't say it. That would just be pushing him even farther out into the Awkward Zone. "The point is," Syaoran continued, pressing on, "I'm sorry and it's not going to happen again."

Tiki nodded, her forehead bumping lightly against the back of Syaoran's head. She knew he was sorry already—he had said so over and over again the night before. It was just an awkward situation for the both of them.

"And I forgive you," she said simply, "I was never angry… well, maybe a little. But mostly I'm embarrassed. I mean, you've seen me in a towel before, but that was different because—"

Because she still thought like a kid back then. Her face flaring, Tiki closed her mouth with an audible click. Why did she have to become aware of her womanly figure now? It was just an inconvenience, as far as Tiki was concerned. The tiny airbender was suddenly not so sure if she didn't prefer to be thought of as a child rather than a woman, because being thought of as a woman seemed to bring a whole slew of problems on its own.

"…You didn't see much… right?" she felt she had to ask, just for her own peace of mind. She had seen Syaoran shut his eyes as quickly as possible, but that didn't mean he hadn't gotten an eyeful of her first. That thought caused Tiki's embarrassment to shoot up, near breaking point. It may have been just Syaoran who had seen her, but the thought of any man seeing her in her underwear like that caused the tiny airbender to want to drop dead for the second time in twenty-four hours.

It was also a question he did not want to answer. Syaoran didn't want to lie to Tiki, but it was definitely going to cause him more trouble to admit the truth. Enough. That was what he saw of Tiki. Enough. Enough to know that the girl was not as childish as he had once thought.

The Avatar's face went red again. He hadn't wanted to see any of that. Syaoran could be a lot of things: grumpy, moody, irritable. But something he was not was a pervert. Being an older brother taught him that. If anyone had done something like that even on accident to his little sister…

One of his fists went up to hit his forehead. Syaoran should've knocked. That's all he could reap from this.

"Saw or not saw, it doesn't change anything to me," Syaoran talked out of it, trying to alleviate this issue. "You're still Tiki, and you're still my friend. That comes first. This is awkward, but I'm already that according to you, so we should be able to just push past this and forget about it. If ZanYi can manage not to kill Shun all of the times he sets her off, then we can do this, no problem."

Tiki's brow puckered. She didn't miss that Syaoran avoided the question, but she was just as ready as he was to get over this awkwardness between them. He was right: despite him seeing or not seeing anything, Tiki still considered him a very good friend.

But then, what was this strange feeling weighing in her chest at the thought of Syaoran still seeing her as a friend? Though it was nothing she didn't expect, why did Tiki feel unsatisfied…?

"Ha ha, Shun does make her angry a lot," she agreed, amused at the thought. One would think that Shun would do his best not to upset the woman he loved, but he could not help but be true to his own heart, even if it conflicted with ZanYi's dictations. "They're a little different from us, though…"

'Different' as in Shun was in love with ZanYi, and ZanYi seemed to be taken with him, if the looks she was giving him lately were any indication. But Tiki did not have to clarify this distinction with Syaoran; she knew the Avatar was already painfully aware of it.

"So, are we good?" The tiny airbender question, sitting up and turning to face Syaoran. "Can you focus enough to get back to meditation now?"

So Syaoran had walked in on her while she was dressing—no big deal. It was an innocent mistake, and things like that happened. It wasn't as if he had seen her naked—now that would have been a problem.

Thankfully that was a problem they hadn't had to deal with though. This was bad enough. But Syaoran was just happy to put this behind them. Actually he was elated to do so. It filled him with an acute sense of relief and like the chi was already flowing through him with ease.

"Yes, definitely," he answered Tiki, looking back to nod at her. He turned back around and let loose a huge sigh of relief. A large enough sigh, in fact, that it was enough to ruffle the air around them like a breeze, the grass and leaves swirling briefly around them.

Syaoran froze, and then he looked around. There was no wind today. Even as his hair ruffled across his face, the trees around them stood still. So, did that mean he…?

"Did I just airbend?"

Tiki blinked, her ruffled bangs poking her in the eyes. If she had not been slow to close them, she probably wouldn't have seen the large gust Syaoran had just exhaled.

"I think you did," she replied, looking awed. At last, Syaoran had bended air! It was an accident, sure, but he had done it! It was actually quite amazing, considering the stress of the awkward situation just a moment ago. Elated by his progress, Tiki lunged forward and hugged the Avatar. "You're awesome, Syaoran! Great job! Now if only we knew your trigger…"

Tiki sat back, keeping a hand on Syaoran's shoulder while the other hand tapped her chin as she thought, her face screwed up in concentration as she considered Syaoran. Something had happened to unlock his airbending potential, if only for a moment. The only problem was that Tiki had no idea what that 'something' was. How was she supposed to go about figuring it out, anyway?

Syaoran shrugged, a bewildered expression on his face. "You think I know?" he asked, incredulous. "If I knew, I would've been airbending for a while now!"

He'd just airbended. He hadn't even been trying! It was just an accident, like what happened with Tiki. Nothing Syaoran had done was purposeful or even focused on airbending at all. But he'd had a feeling like when he went into the Avatar state and was Avatar Aang. Light, and relaxed…

"I was just… really relieved," Syaoran tried to explain. "I mean, I'd been worrying about talking to you all day, so the fact that we're okay… I was just relieved, like a burden was lifted."

Tiki blinked up at Syaoran, a little surprised. So he really had been as affected by last night as she had been, enough to be burdened with the guilt. Well, good: now she knew he was truly sorry for the strife he had unintentionally caused. "Well, that's good!" she encouraged, echoing her thoughts out loud. "You can't really airbend when you're stressed out over something… which means you've been struggling because you've been stressing. I know you have a lot on your shoulders, Syaoran, but the point of meditation is to let all of that go and gain peace of mind. Let's try again, shall we?"

With that suggestion, Tiki moved to sit behind the Avatar once more, her hands immediately going to his shoulders. "Just relax, and hang on to that relieved feeling. If we can channel that, you'll be airbending like a pro in no time."

Syaoran was already clinging to it. They finally had something to go off of and he wasn't about to let it go. Airbending was a must. So as Tiki worked the kinks out of his shoulders, Syaoran straightened back up to his meditation posture, allowing the air to breathe in and out deeply. The Avatar tried to hold on to those feelings of relief. Tiki had forgiven him. They were going to push past this awkwardness. And for the first time since he went into the Avatar state in the middle of Tiki's dojo, progress had been made. He'd finally managed to airbend.

That filled him with even more relief than Tiki's forgiveness had, the feeling swelling that he could do this, that maybe he wasn't a broken Avatar after all.

A slight breeze began to pick up around them, encircling them. Syaoran could feel it, he could feel the air coursing through him. He could feel… nothing underneath of him.

Syaoran's eyes snapped open to find the air billowing beneath him, pushing him a foot off of the ground. "I'm airbending!" he exclaimed, almost elated. This was major progress! He was doing it! He was airbending! This would be great news to tell ZanYi and Shun…

And just like that, the Avatar fell back on the ground with a painful thud. Muttering his pain, he scowled. That didn't last long.

Tiki had jumped to her feet in alarm when Syaoran had begun to rise off the ground. Okay, it was good that he was making progress, but if he made too much progress, he was going to float away! Luckily, his newly found ability to be airborne was short-lived; he came crashing back to the earth, looking none-too-happy about being on his natural element. Smothering her giggles, Tiki embraced the Avatar from behind.

"It's okay: you're learning. And you did it! You achieved airbending! If this keeps up, we'll be able to start your sparring training soon!" Eyeing the disdainful look the Avatar wore, Tiki nudged one of the corners of Syaoran's lips up with her thumb. "Smile, Syaoran," she encouraged with a smile of her own. "You did it, you're on your way. I'm proud of you."

So what if he had only been up in the air for five seconds? Frankly, Tiki was relieved that the air trip didn't last too long—Syaoran did not yet know how to control his airbending, and to have him loose in the air would have been disastrous for so many reasons that Tiki did not even care to count.

Syaoran deadpanned her a look. Sure, she could be happy that he was making progress. For a moment, he was too. But as soon as he took his mind off of relief, as soon as he thought about the other two members of their team, that progress ended. Which was but another sign to Syaoran about what was holding him back.

He already knew he had to let ZanYi go. The Avatar was working on it, and he was getting better at that.

What he wasn't getting any better at was dealing with Shun's love for ZanYi. And that it seemed to be working. He wasn't blind. As mad as the lieutenant could get at Shun, something was different lately. She almost seemed friendlier with him, as if she accepted him. ZanYi certainly didn't get on him for being so close these days, that was for sure. But even if Syaoran wasn't going to try to win her over, to have someone so close to all of them be able to do it?

The Avatar sighed. That could be where the problem was. It wasn't ZanYi as much as it was Shun with ZanYi. Seriously, that woman caused so much conflict in their lives… and Syaoran was going to have to find a way to make peace with all of this if he wanted to keep airbending.

Pushing the dreadful thoughts away, Syaoran reached back and to hold her with one arm around her waist, bringing her forward. "Listen to yourself, so ecstatic," he grumbled, using his other hand to mess up her long hair. "It's not like you did it." But Tiki was proud of him. Considering it had been a goal of his not to let her down again, this satisfied him immensely. No matter the changes of the past few months she'd gone through, Tiki was smiling again, and he was making her proud. It brought a small grin to his mouth, a bit of pink to his cheeks.

Tiki was about to shove Syaoran away for always messing up her hair—did he have any idea how long it took her to condition it?—when his expression distracted her. There was a rare smile there—barely, but it was there. There was also a little color in his cheeks, which Tiki took to mean that he was pleased over her praise. His eyes had become that inviting green again, pulling her in, drawing her towards him…

Tiki hastily dropped her gaze, her cheeks becoming rosy. "You should smile more," she commented softly, playing with the ends of her hair. "You're even more handsome when you do."

Why was Tiki embarrassed? She was just giving him a compliment, and a very sincere one at that. Syaoran didn't smile often, but when he did… strange things happened with Tiki's heart. What was going on?

The tiny airbender cleared her throat, shrugging out of Syaoran's grasp to stand up. "Okay, enough fooling around," she decided, "time to get back to work. Let's practice your airbending forms and see if you can produce air again." Tiki turned to braid her hair because it was getting in the way, but mostly to hide her blushing. She felt ridiculous right now, not to mention confused. But these foreign sensations she was feeling could wait until later—right now, she had a student to train.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll see if I get lucky a third time," Syaoran scoffed, as if doubting he would be able to do it again. Then again, now that he knew what the problem was holding him back, maybe he could push it back far enough to focus on airbending.

He stood up and dusted the dirt off of his pants and turned to look at Tiki, finding her facing away from him. Now that everything between them was settled, Syaoran wasn't afraid to look at her. Though he was surprised by what he saw.

Sure, it was still Tiki. But from that angle, with her hair draped over her shoulder as she braided it, a slight flush to her cheeks... The airbender almost looked demure, soft. Like an actual girl.

Syaoran shook his head furiously. Seriously, walking in on Tiki was screwing with his thought processes now. Tiki was Tiki, a short airbender that was probably the best friend he had on this team.

"Let's just get this over with," he groaned, pushing all thoughts from his mind except those pertaining to airbending.

As she tied the end of her braid into a knot, Tiki shot the Avatar a look. "Wrong attitude to have," she chided, wagging a finger at him. "Remember, peace of mind is key. Now, go ahead and start with your basic forms." As Tiki instructed Syaoran, a familiar chi flow crossed her senses. She turned expectantly, but when she saw no one there, a frown began to form on her features. Had she just imagined it? She couldn't sense him now…

With a slight shake of her head, Tiki returned her attention to Syaoran's practice. There was no way Kei was up here anyway; ZanYi had confined him to his room. He wouldn't be able to come topside without her permission.

As Tiki watched Syaoran finish out his forms, Kei reappeared from behind the tree that was concealing him. That had been too close—he wasn't expecting Tiki to turn around like that. She had almost blown his cover.

Getting topside hadn't been easy. It took a lot of 'paper persuasion' from Kei's emergency stash to have the guard let him up and out of the base. But now Kei was glad he had spent so much, after seeing the way Syaoran and Tiki seemed to be getting even cozier with each other.

This was not good. They seemed largely unaware of it now, but if things kept progressing the way they were… no. Kei would not let that happen. He needed a fighting chance, and he needed it now.

…And, if he was right in his observations with Tiki, he knew just how to achieve it.

A/N from DJ: He did it! Syaoran made a poof! xD Progress is progress, my friends, and Syaoran will take all he can get~ Anywho, lots of stuff to say this week, so keep reading! First, acknolwedgements!

A.W.: I know you don't actually review, but considering the line-backer tackle I got at the end of last week's chappie, I'm going to assume you enjoyed it. My reply: you're welcome xD

Revolution But Civilization: SO LOOONG! But you warned me on dA that it would be xD Anyway, YES! It finally happened. ShunYi is now a thing. It is canon xD As for SyaoTiKei... well, you're just going to have to keep reading to find out what happens there! And yes: Shun's kiss was indeed Hua from "The Bar".

HalfaLeader: Again yes - ShunYi is now a thing. We knew lots of people were gonna get excited about that xD And I'm so glad you're enjoying the other mess we've created! The three of them together... it's generally hysterical in a way that it's just so bad, it's funny xD

Chloe Quinn 96: Thanks for the favorites and alert for Fire, as well as the Author favorite and follow! That means so much, and I hope you make it this far into Air where you can finally see this!

Masseffect321: Thanks for the alert for Air! I hope this means you're enjoying the story thus far and that we'll be able to hear from you some time!

Once Upon an Airbender: Hey! You're still with us! Hooray! I hope this means you've caught all the way up, and we'll get to hear your opinions soon!

Now THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! So, to all of our readers that are budding artists or writers: I am holding a seasonal contest on my deviantArt account! The purpose of the contest is to use any of the characters I have on there and either depict or write a seasonal piece about them! It can be the holidays, it can be the seasons, anything! The full rules are over there, but if you love this series, this is your chance to show it and win artwork from me or even specially comissioned written work! And you guys have a leg up too, since most of the characters on my account are from this series! The contest starts today and goes to December 21st, also the date for the Air Finale.

So if anybody wants to join in, shoot me note, find me on dA, review and write that you want in, whatever! I'm honestly super excited about this, so it'd be awesome if you guys wanted in, since a lot of you are writers yourselves!

And on that note, see you guys next week!