This fic is also on my tumblr blog where my username is Kuno-chan and my blog name is Dragoness Ramblings.

Disclaimer: Legend of Korra belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko

Bravery is only bravery if it's in the wake of fear.

The Tree

The only good thing about the disaster of last night was the fact that Ikki didn't get off scot-free.

Their mother and father were none too pleased that she had blatantly disrespected someone's privacy like that let alone her own sister's and she'd been grounded for the next three weeks as a result. However, that didn't make things any easier on Jinora.

Her cherished well kept little secret had fallen apart in a matter of seconds and she had not been prepared to face it in any way, shape or form. When her father had thrown down her diary on his desk and demanded an explanation she couldn't even manage to form a coherent sentence before anxiety started to take over. The only thing that saved her from completely breaking down was her mother coming in to investigate what all the noise was about.

"So you've been dating this...this boy all this time?" her father asked almost incredulously.

Jinora nodded, her eyes stinging.

"Behind our backs? You've lied to be with him? Gone off on your own with him? And you even had him over here at the house when we trusted you?"

Again, she nodded, now fidgeting nervously with the hem of her nightshirt and letting out some sort of squeak that was supposed to be a response.

Tenzin frowned at her deeply, looking back at the diary page Ikki had shown him then back at her. "You're-" he began harshly.

"Jinora, you're father and I need to talk." said her mother, cutting across him.

"Pema-"

"She has school tomorrow, Tenzin. Let her get some sleep."

Not that she'd be able to.

Her father threw the diary at the corner of the desk nearest to her and gestured for her to take it. Jinora grabbed it cautiously, as if getting anywhere near her father would cause her to drop dead from the fear. When she still stood there, looking between her parents and fidgeting rather compulsively, her father looked up from holding the bridge of his nose. "Go."

She backed up and turned out the door, bowing her head all the way upstairs to keep her siblings from seeing the suppressed emotion probably trying to come through her face. She ignored the concerned inquiries of Rohan and Meelo and she certainly ignored Ikki who didn't seem to know what else to do with herself, but stare at the mess she'd caused. Jinora decided half-absentmindedly that if the two ever spoke again it'd be a miracle.

When she got upstairs and crawled under the sheets, she couldn't think straight with all the emotions broiling on inside of her.

There was shame. What was her father trying to say before? That she was a disappointment? A disgrace? Worse?

There was a weak, distant sense of anger. At Ikki. At her father. At herself.

There was anxiety. How could she have let this happen? Her parents would never trust her again and she had a feeling that this wasn't the end of the lies.

There was a deep, thin layer of relief. Her father hadn't read any other pages of her diary where some of the more... private things had been written out.

There was guilt. Kai had wanted to tell them a while ago. If she had listened, would this be happening the way it was right now? If she had told them from the beginning, by some skim chance would everything had been just peachy?

That night she dreamed of disparaging voices yelling at her through a darkness she couldn't get away from.

The next morning, breakfast was almost eerily silent. Only her mother seemed to have any sense of normality as she cooked a nice meal that would have been greeted heartily on any other day. Meelo and Rohan seemed to pick up on the tension and chose not to ruffle any feathers, sitting in a rather strange silence. Ikki had tried to approach Jinora earlier, but Jinora ignored her little sister outright. It may have been cold, but she didn't have any room inside of her to spare for forgiveness right now. Especially when she was still trying to process her own emotions.

Just as she had feared, her father's aura was as cold as ice. He didn't say good morning or even so much as look at Jinora when she came into the dining room. When she got up after her siblings and picked up her book bag, she weakly tried to talk to him.

"Dad..."

He didn't take his eyes away from his newspaper. "We'll discuss it later. Go to school."

She bit back tears and nodded miserably, only half hearing her mother wishing her a good day.

The day looked like she felt. Overcast, a little cold and she could already smell the rain. Walking to school slower than usual, she almost didn't care if she made it t on time and meeting Kai was the only thing that motivated her to actually even head in that direction.

Out of the way was a lone tree that stood near the center of a small forested like park. The park had been somewhat abandoned by the public ages ago and was just out of the way enough that it was almost always empty. Some people liked to joke that it was the place where bodies got dumped if nobody wanted them to be found, but neither she nor Kai had ever found such a thing. So, they kept going there.

She'd learned to associate the park with her most wonderful secrets. The likes of which only she, Kai and her diary had any business knowing. In the beginning of their relationship, that park was where they had been at their most vulnerable and where they had been their happiest. After a few months, they got bold and started sneaking over to each others places, but the park was always the perfect non-populated territory to meet up on a moment's notice. Apparently, it was also where Kai went sometimes when he decided to skip class.

Kai.

She thought of him as she leaned against the tree. Now, she was going to have to tell him what had happened. They were going to have to figure out what to do... if there was anything to figure out at all. The two of them had talked about it if this ever happened, but only a little. Was this it? Was this going to be their last time together at this tree that held so many memories of them?

Just thinking about it made her eyes water and a pressure start building up in her chest. She squeezed them shut and took to biting down on the knuckle of her index finger. The pressure inside was going to make her burst. Why did this have to happen? Why? Why? WH-

A hand clamped down on her wrist and she almost screamed.

"Hey, relax! It's just me!" said Kai when she jumped. His smile faltered. "... what's wrong?"

Jinora shook her head fervently, the tears threatening to spill over again. She was trying to get the words to form in her mouth, but they just weren't coming. Never the one to be stooped for words, this made her panic even more.

"Jinora..." he said and came around to be face to face with her, pulling her into a hug. "Babe, what's wrong? You're scaring me, did someone hurt you?"

She wrapped her arms around him and tried to speak, but her half words were only muffled against his leather jacket. He held her there for another minute, waiting patiently for her to say something when she was ready. The way he was rubbing her back gave her enough strength so that she could pull herself together for a second. Finally, she was able to croak out, "They know."

"What?" he asked, still not pulling out of their embrace.

"They- my parents- they know about us."

He almost stopped rubbing her back for a fraction of a silent stunned second.

"...how?"

She rested her cheek against his shoulder. "Ikki... found out and it's a long story, but she told my dad and my dad isn't speaking to me right now and I don't know what's going to happen or what I should do or what I shouldn't do-" her breathing started to become rapid again, her eyes stung, and she felt like she was on the verge of hyperventilating. "-and if we're going to have to break up or if they'll send me away if I don't and if this is the last time we're going to be like this or-"

"Jinora."

"-or if I'm just going to collapse right here and-

"Jinora!"

She felt him pull away abruptly, but instead he cupped her face in his hands and leaned down a little so that he was staring her straight in the eyes. "Right here. Focus right here."

Still breathing a little hard, she pursed her lips as a single tear fell.

"Do you love me?" he asked, wiping away the tear with his thumb.

"You know I do." she managed to breath out.

"Do you trust me?"

She nodded, starting to feel her heartbeat go down.

"Then you know that even if they did some crazy thing like send you away then I would just be right behind you."

"But you'd still have school..." she said weakly, reaching up a hand to his wrist and caressing the outside of his own with her thumb.

"And when has school ever really gotten in the way? You know I'd figure something out before letting you go over that. The only thing that can get between us is us... remember when we said that here?"

She nodded again.

They stood there in silence for a moment just staring at each other. She knew he was trying to show her how he felt and in response, she reached up her other hand to his other wrist. His eyes were always so comforting, warm and full of life. Now, they looked at her with a solemn understanding.

"... we both knew this was going to happen one day," he said quietly.

"I know..." she began breathlessly. "I'm just... I'm just really scared now."

"And that's the only time you can be brave."

That made her crack a smile.

"I can't believe you remembered that."

"Of course I remember it." he said, leaning in for a kiss. "You read it to me."

As brief as it was, his kiss melted away the panic inside. She had to breathe. Just breathe. Kai was right. This changed things, but it didn't change how they felt about each other. When he pulled away, he let go of her face and put his hands on her waist. "So uh..." he said, finally sounding a little nervous. "Should I, uh, come to your house tonight?"

Jinora shook her head. "No. I need to work things out with my dad first... but soon. It'll happen soon."

He smiled and took her hand, leading her away from the tree. "We should go. First period's going to start soon."

She raised an eyebrow, chuckling. "Since when did you care about making it to school on time?"

"Since I don't think you need anything else to worry about. Come on. I probably can hold your hand for at least another block before we have to split."

School that day went better than expected. Almost normal even. While Jinora still worried about how things we're going to go with her family, it was a great comfort to know that she wasn't going to lose Kai in the mix. She believed in his determination to be with her and in turn she strengthened her own resolve to be with him.

Of course, her father's opinion of it all still counted. After all, he was still her father and had always been there to support her. If he truly forbid them from seeing each other... well, she didn't know how things were going to get worked out. It still scared her. It downright terrified her, but she knew that her fear only meant that now it was time to be brave.

-:-:-:-

"Dad?"

Her father sat at the desk in his study, scribbling away on some poor student's paper he was surely grading. He didn't take his eyes away from his work when she came in. "Come in, Jinora. We need to talk."

"Dad, before you say anything," she walked into the room, trying to speak before her air of confidence was gone. "I know you're disappointed in me. I know that. But I love him. I love him so much. A-and I won't leave him just because you tell me to. It sounds really cliché, but he loves me too and we're staying together whether you like it or not."

"First of all," he began. "I am your father. You live in my house and I most certainly do have a say in what you may or may not do in my house."

"B-but... you've never even met him! How can you judge him withou-"

"However," he spoke over her, putting his pen down rather forcefully."Your mother and I have discussed it. She's right. You're seventeen turning eighteen this year. We can't protect you forever... you need to learn how to deal with your own mistakes. Furthermore... you are right. I don't know him. On the other hand, I still don't like him. He is a thief and delinquent and not worthy of you quite frankly."

This was it. This was the wall she had been so terrified to face. Her father, like everyone else, thought Kai was a criminal. Well, they couldn't be more wrong and damn it all she was going to fight for her boyfriend's reputation in her own house.

"Daddy... please try to understand. Kai used to be a thief. Yes, he stole things he didn't need. Yes, he stole because he liked to do it. But it only started because he had to and it became a crutch for him. You have no idea what his life has been like and how much he's turned himself around. He hasn't stolen anything in years. Please. Give him a chance," she gulped nervously. "Kai was the one who wanted to meet you ages ago. I convinced him that it was better to keep things a secret. I was the one who was too scared to face you."

Her father sighed and turned to look at her in what seemed like forever. "Jinora... dear, you know I only want what's best for you. This boy... he's no good for you. You deserve someone who's going to put you first."

"Then that just shows how little you know about Kai because if you knew him at all you'd know I am his first priority. He says it all the time. He proves it all the time."

Her father said nothing as he now rubbed the bridge of his nose.

She continued.

"And... and he's my first priority," her father looked up at her sharply. She went on. "And I am not letting this go without a fight."

Sighing, her father began rubbing his temples. "I suppose... that even if I said no, I couldn't really stop you from going out of your way. You've proven that much," he said bitterly. Seemingly resigned, he frowned. "I want to meet this boy. I don't like him. I don't accept him. But I will take baby steps with this and I will..."

Her father almost rolled his eyes as he got out of his chair. "... I will allow it."

"Really?" she asked, her spirit soaring and falling all at the same time as relief and happiness battled for the greater spot in her heart. "You will?"

"For now. If he makes so much as takes a single step out of line – a single toe – this is over. Do you understand? I will not jeopardize your well being for him."

Jinora nodded, the nervousness starting to seep back into her veins, but she tried to suppress it.

He sighed for the umpteenth time that night and opened his arms. "Come here."

Smiling, she came forward and hugged her father.

"You know I only do this because I love you, right dear?"

"I know, Dad. I know. You'll see. He's the most wonderful boyfriend in the world."

"For his sake, he better be."

Jinora went to bed that night with at least some sense of peace. It was far from over, but the battle was won if not the war.

I particularly like Tenzin and Jinora's talk because I wanted to show that Tenzin is barely allowing this. As it stands now, his "approval" is hanging by the slightest of threads and in all honesty he's only allowing it because he knows that saying no would only force Jinora to alienate herself and she's proven just how far she's willing to go. That's the last thing he wants.

Thank you for reading! Tune in for next chapter!