shots in the dark
III: Jinora
i'm the blade, you're the knife
It turns out, Kai is kind of an asshole. He's far too cheerful, but also infuriatingly pessimistic at the same time; Jinora isn't sure how he does it. And he keeps calling her Jin, no matter how many times she asks him to stop, he always manages to forget. Part of her thinks he likes riling her up. The other part knows that he's actually not half bad, overall.
He knows how to kill, and he does help her. He's talented, a bit of a smartass, but also, strangely enough, he can be pretty kind. He never says a word whenever she cries, anyway.
Jinora glances at him out of the corner of her eye. They're still in farm country, passing dying yellow crops, taking refuge in barns. It's only been a few days. She still doesn't know quite what to think of Kai.
On one hand, she still wouldn't put it past him to rob her blind, or ditch her without looking back if the need arose. But on the other hand, he can kind. Very kind. It almost seems like he wants to care but is scared to. Not for the first time, she wonders what happened to his parents.
Kai stops in the road and takes a swig of water, the water drizzling over his lips and trickling down his chin. He wipes his sweaty brow. It's a very hot day, and Jinora can feel beads of sweat rolling down the back of her neck.
"If it keeps being hot like this it might be better to travel in the evening," she suggests. Her shirt is clinging to her with sweat.
"At night? Are you insane?" Kai spits out, staring at her incredulously. Jinora flushes, her indignation spiking.
"It was just a suggestion," she snaps. "Besides, we haven't encountered any more zombies, and the longer we're in the heat, the worse state we'll be in."
Kai rolls his eyes, muttering under his breath. He runs a hand through his sweaty hair, pushing it back off his forehead. His eyes are closed. He reopens them slowly, his eyes shining. "That might not be such a bad idea," he says thoughtfully, clearly reluctant to admit she's right. "Maybe."
Jinora almost smiles, placing a hand on her hip and trying not to look too pleased with herself. "Maybe?"
"Okay fine. We'll go to the nearest barn for some sleep."
She grins. "Sounds great."
"Hey Jin?"
Jinora cracks an eye open, refusing to move from her comfortable position on a heap of hay. They only have a few hours to sleep before travelling through the night. "Shut up Kai."
"Please, quick question?" She can feel his eyes on her.
"Fine," she rolls over to her other side to face him, frowning. There's a hole in the roof of the barn and from the little light that pierces the darkness, she can make out his face. His gun glints in the sunlight.
"Have you ever seen anything die before?"
Jinora blinks, taken aback. "Um, my grandmother, Katara. She didn't make it past the first year post-breakout. She died naturally though, so…"
"I'm sorry about your grandmother," Kai says quietly.
"I'm sorry about your parents," she replies. Kai half-smiles at her, even if his eyes are still sad. Did he see his parents die?
"I was just wondering, because of how you reacted with the zombie… It's better not to think about it, Jin, trust me." His eyes are sad, pleading almost, for her to understand. For her to listen, to trust. It's the first time she's seen even the slightest bit of vulnerability in him, and well, she trusts him. She takes the first watch, and if she puts off waking Kai up for his turn, well, he never needs to know that.
She'll never admit, but Jinora thinks that travelling at night is scary. More than scary, actually; it's freaking terrifying. The stars are shining bright alongside the moon, a curve of silver in the sky, gradually rising in the sky. She has a makeshift torch in one hand, made from old, dying crops, just like Kai, but the light doesn't provide much in comparison to the darkness. They usually didn't travel this late at night.
It's cold, very cold. There's no wind, the the night air is still biting and crisp against her face and her jacket is a much too thin layer. It's also unnaturally silent and still, and it makes her unnerved; it feels as though some sort of zombie or dangerous animal is going to pop up any second.
Jinora jumps out of her skin when a howl from a lonely wolf pierces the calm. It takes her a few seconds before she realizes she's grabbed Kai's hand. "Sorry," she retracts her hand instantly. It's hard to tell because it's dark, and it could be just her imagination, but is Kai... is Kai blushing a little?
Kai clears his throat. "It's, er, fine." Now that she's looking at him more closely, the torchlight casting flickering shadows over his face, she thinks that maybe he's as nervous as she is about walking in the dark.
And maybe walk a little closer to each other after that. Maybe.
The first thing that strikes Jinora about the sign is how it's a miracle it's still standing. Its metal poles are rusted and half twisted over, and the green paint of the sign has almost completely been chipped away. She can barely make out the words: 30 miles to Senlin, Hei Bai. Population: 30, 000.
"Huh," Jinora says as the sign crumples in on itself and falls away in a pile of rust. "That's encouraging."
Kai chuckles softly. "Didn't know you had a sense of humour Jin."
"I think my sense of humour is usually more sophisticated than yours," Jinora replies, but there's a slight smile on her face.
Kai snorts. "Didn't know you were so pretensions either," he teases. It reminds her of how Ikki and Meelo used to tease it, and how easily they could get on her nerves, but Kai's different. It's probably because he's her age, and not her brother (definitely not her brother). She doesn't mind it so much, even if he is still sort of an asshole.
Either way, Jinora chooses to ignores his comment. "It looks like it won't take us too long to get to the city, though." She can make out a small cluster of trees, the leaves tinted with brown; it'll only be another week or two at most before summer's over and the cold will roll in. Jinora can't say she's looking forward too it; they'll need new clothes, at the very least.
"Cities usually have more zombies, and it's far enough away from the Sanctuary that most of them didn't leave. They'll be quite a few there. Which is why I've figured that you should learn how to actually kill zombies," Kai says cheerfully.
Jinora's brow furrows. She nervously clasps her hands together, letting them rest near her stomach. "Do you think-?"
"That you can do it?" Kai finishes, smiling at her. "Of course. I thought you were pretty fearless, Ms. Let's-travel-at-night."
Slowly, she smiles back at him, and if her face feels a little warm, it's totally not because of his praise. Not at all. "Alright then. When do we get started?"
"We can make camp now and use the last few hours of daylight to start," Kai offers.
Jinora smoothly pulls out her knife, faster than she had thought she could. "Let's start then."
Kai is a surprisingly good teacher. He hasn't been a Hunter, long he reveals, and only started his one-month of training three months before the Sanctuary fell, and has only been on five missions. He doesn't go much into detail about those missions, but Jinora gets the feeling that something went terribly wrong on one of them; she doesn't pry.
He teaches her how to jab and thrust and how to aim for the ribcage. He teaches her how to drive her knife in deep enough to slit a throat. He teaches her some hand-to-hand combat too, the very beginner-basics, and how to fire his gun. The last one's in theory: they can't afford to waste bullets.
"You're pretty good," Kai praises, screwing open a water bottle; Jinora smiles at him. He takes a long gulp and then hands her another bottle. They have enough supplies they don't need to share. For now, anyway.
"You're not as bad of a teacher I'd thought you'd be," she replies, teasing. Kai chuckles, shaking his head at her.
"I'm flattered Jin, truly I am." He caps his water bottle and shoves it into his backpack. "We should set up camp." Jinora nods and opens her own backpack, rummaging for the lighter Kai had left in her bag when a thought strikes her.
"Hey Kai, how long did Hunters live back home?" she looks at him in time to see him stiffen.
"Not long Jin." He takes an unnaturally long time to pull out a box of cereal from his bag, his back turned to her. "The usual lifespan is five missions. Some of the really talented ones manage to last way longer, but one was lost every five missions."
"So, you could've died on your fifth?" she says slowly.
Kai takes his time to answer. "Yeah," he says, his voice wavering. "I could have."
They eat in silence. Kai doesn't wake her up for her night watch either.
She is thirteen when she decides she wants to learn how to defend herself. She wants to grow up and be a Hunter. Tenzin vetoes it immediately, and Pema struggles to get him to reconsider. "She needs to know how to keep herself safe, Tenzin." Pema readjusts a two year old Rohan's position in her arms.
"Yeah daddy!" he chirps. Tenzin has Ikki come and put him down for a nap, and that's when Jinora realizes that finally, her dad is treating her like she's an adult, or at least on the verge of becoming one.
A compromise is reached. She'll learn in theory, without the danger, with minimal preparation.
God is it ironic now. Unfortunate.
When Jinora wakes up Kai's still sitting in the same spot as he was last night. He's obviously exhausted, his shoulders slumped and eyelids drooping. His eyes are red too, it looks like he's been crying. She follows his lead and doesn't bring it up. He yawns all the way through breakfast. It makes her worry about him, and then she feels annoyed because she feels worried. Kai shouldn't have any control over her emotions.
But he does, and that's sort of scary. They don't talk much during the day either. It's easier, and harder, somehow.
A/N: Thank you all for your feedback guys, I really appreciate it. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I've also started a blog dedicated solely to this fic called: zombiekainora on tumblr. You can ask questions about the fic/world down below or on the blog; I'd love to answer them! :) I hope you have a happy weekend.