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

Safety is a basic human need and harm is not always physical.

The Safe House

Though she still felt miserable, being wrapped in Kai's arms made Jinora feel like the fire would never reach her. He held her tight and she cried into him, the bike virtually forgotten in that moment. All she wanted to do was wade out her misery feeling safe with him. It made her feel a little pathetic inside, but right now she couldn't have cared less.

"It's okay," soothed Kai, bringing a hand to her head as her held her. "I'm here. You're okay now, alright? Nothing's going to hurt you as long as your right here with me."

Still choking a little bit on her sobs, she tried to nod into his shirt.

"I-I know," she struggled to say, her voice thick.

They were silent for another moment.

Kai gently pulled back just enough to look at her face.

"Now," he said quietly. "Please tell me you did not bike all the way here from your house in the dead of winter."

She sniffed and nodded, tears still leaking from her eyes. He brought his hands to her face and wiped her tears away with his thumbs. Her hands came up to hold onto his wrists. Closing her eyes, she tried to stifle her wet gasps and stop crying, but it only seemed to make it worse.

"I'm sorry," she croaked weakly.

He shook his head.

"You don't need to be sorry. I'm glad I'm here," he said.

"But you just got off work..." she sniffed.

"I couldn't care less if I was at work when you found me. I'm just glad you did," he said, leaning in to kiss her mouth gently and with reassurance in his lips. When he pulled back, he spoke softly to her. "Now, did you want to tell me what happened?"

She nodded, but moved her head around as if to glance up and down the hallway. This was a bit public for that story, wasn't it? Even Mako and Bolin were probably listening in right about now.

Reading her, he wrapped an arm around her and grabbed the bike with his other hand, steering her alongside him and dragging the bike with them. Inside, Mako was in the kitchen stirring something in a large pot. He looked over at the two of them as they closed the door, raising his eyebrows at them – at Kai it looked more like – as if asking what was up. Jinora looked away, feeling her face heat up at how pathetic she probably looked right about now. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Kai shaking his head ever so slightly as he dropped the bike on the wall near the entrance.

They passed by the living room rather quickly and, though she wasn't paying attention, she could kind of catch Bolin making glances over at them. Her stomach dropped even further. Kai took her to his room and she immediately sat on the bed. She was very familiar with his room at this point and, quite frankly, his bed was a comfort spot for her. He sat next to her and brought an arm around her.

"I'm sorry," she choked out again.

His eyebrows came together and he took her hand.

"You have nothing to apologize for" he said. "Tell me what happened, okay?"

She told him about her father's suggestion and how it made her feel. As she was saying it, it sounded like something so ridiculous to get worked up over, but... she couldn't help it. Just talking about it made her start to cry again and at the mess of this entire thing.

It was absurd that this was upsetting her the way it was, but it wasn't something she was trying to do. It was scary that something as small as this seemed to have nearly set her off, but it wasn't a thing she had anticipated. It made her feel small that she had to go running to her boyfriend just to get herself together, but she couldn't think of another way to get through it.

She kept saying she was sorry because she sure felt sorry.

"And that's when you started to feel... panicky... again?" asked Kai seemingly trying to find the right word.

She nodded.

"I just felt like I couldn't breathe and like I was being suffocated... like last time... and fire. I felt like I was going to be surrounded by fire so... so I just ran. I didn't really know I was coming here, but I just kind of did..."

"I'm glad you did," he said. "I wish that perhaps you might have not taken a bike because now you're freezing and it's also kind of dangerous since it's already dark, but I can't blame you for that."

"Yes, you can," she said softy, her voice pulling itself together. "It was dumb."

"It was a reaction. Love, I'm not going to blame you for being on the verge of a full-blown panic attack. You needed to get out of there so you did. It's just unfortunate that the fastest way out was with the bike," he said firmly, pulling her closer to him. "I'm here now though, okay? You're safe."

She nodded again.

"Are you going to tell Mako and Bolin?" she asked, her head on his shoulder.

He shook his head.

"No, they don't need to know."

"You should."

She felt him pull back.

"What?" he asked, frowning.

Jinora sighed and wiped her own eyes this time.

"I just—I mean, if they ask then go ahead and tell them. I did kind of just come barging in all of a sudden... besides, it's... probably time for someone other than us to know..."

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"If you're sure..."

"I am," she said, taking her head off his shoulder to look at him.

He looked at her for a second, then sighed. Dipping in, he planted a soft kiss on her temple.

"I'm sorry," he told her.

Now, it was her turn to frown at him.

"For what?" she asked.

"That you're hurt and I can't fix this for you," he said, putting his forehead against hers. "That you feel the way you do and I can't go in and just make it all better."

She blinked at him.

"But..." she began, smiling at him. "You do make it better. Maybe not all better because that's just not realistic, but you do certainly make it better and that's why I ended up here."

"Well, I'm happy about that, but it's-"

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Hey, uh, is everything alright in there?" called Mako. "Kai? Jinora?"

Kai swore under his breath.

"Yeah!" he called back. "We're fine! I'll be out in a second!"

Fidgeting slightly, Jinora bit the inside of her cheek. While she wanted Kai to tell someone... she also didn't want him to. She wanted someone besides them to know, but she also wanted to bury it at the very same time. The problem there was the simple fact that this obviously wasn't just going to go away. Of course, she really should have known that before and, deep down, she probably did. Acknowledging that was another beast entirely and that beast had reared it's ugly head quite hard.

Turning back to her, Kai seemed to be searching for reassurance.

"I'll... be back okay? I'm just going to go talk to them for a minute...?"

She only nodded again.

When he let her go and left the room she began to fidget again. Raava, she was cold. It had to be less than thirty degrees outside and she'd just biked there in nothing but leggings, a skirt and a light jacket. She was generally good in the cold, but this was ridiculous.

Though perhaps that was what she'd needed at the moment. Somewhere cold where she felt safe from burning up like last time... at the moment though all she wanted to do was to warm up a little bit. Now, she was glad that she'd ended up at Kai's place because he certainly wouldn't mind a cuddle. If anything, she could use that most of all.

A few minutes passed and the door opened, Kai walked in, Mako hanging near the door for a moment.

"Dinner will be ready in a couple minutes," said Mako, looking from Kai to Jinora. "You two should wash up, okay?"

"We'll be there," nodded Kai.

When Mako left the room and closed the door, Jinora frowned.

"That's it?" she asked. "He's not going to say anything? What'd you tell him?"

Kai just kind of shrugged.

"I told him the situation and he understood. Mako's just not the type to really ask. At least not at inappropriate moments. All he asked was if your parents were looking for you and I filled him in on that. He wasn't totally happy that your parents don't know exactly whereyou're at, but he's not going to get upset."

"What about Bolin? Does he know?"

"Yeah, he was there when I explained it. He was worried about you too."

"Oh... okay... if that's it..."

"They're not the type to throw a bunch of questions at that exact moment unless it's of the utmost importance. Relax," he smiled at her and took her by the hand to walk out. "You know you're in good company."

After they washed up and sat down at the small round dining table, Mako placed a bowl of noodles mixed with shredded carrots and broccoli in front of her.

"Thank you," she said.

"Don't mention it," he said. "It's a meatless broth too so you don't have to worry."

She actually let out a small breath. That was a relief.

While Mako, Bolin and Kai talked, Jinora ate her bowl in silence. She could feel Kai glancing at her every so often, most likely in worry. Admittedly, she still felt a little sheepish about all of this. Here she was eating someone else's food because she'd put herself in a situation that required her to mooch off them.

"You know I don't mind you staying here, but I really hope your parents are okay with this, Jinora," said Mako, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked up and realized that everyone was staring at her now.

"Oh, yeah... my brother called and I told him to tell them I'd be at a friend's house..." said Jinora in a small voice. "I'm really sorry about this. I shouldn't have just come over the way I did."

"Don't apologize," said Mako, shaking his head. "I'm fine with you being here. I just know what it's like to worry and they're definitely worrying right now. Just make sure you give them a call when we're done here, okay?"

"I will. I'm sorry," she said again, biting her tongue and slumping at how she couldn't keep herself from apologizing.

She felt a hand on her shoulder.

Bolin was smiling at her.

"It's fine, Jinora. We like having you here," he said, giving her shoulder an extra shake for reassurance. "It's just... sad that you have to be here under the, erm, y'know... conditions that you are and all."

Jinora tried to smile, then sighed.

"It's a mess, I know. It's such a mess. I shouldn't have run away, but I just couldn't stand being there. At least not then..." she looked back at Mako. "Kai told you everything, right?"

Mako nodded.

"I just... I wish my Dad would be more open-minded. About school, about my grades, about Kai," she sighed again, gesturing to Kai beside her. "But it's like he doesn't listen. Like he won't."

"Well, you have to think about why he's not listening," said Mako, taking a bite of his food.

"What?" she asked, blinking.

"Why he's not listening," repeated Mako. "Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know," she said, deflating a little. "I mean, my dad's always been kind of stubborn. He's also been kind of strict lately in this last year of high school and I get he wants me to succeed, but it's... it's too much sometimes. What's more is that I hate the fact he thinks Kai's the reason why my grades went down and why my life for the past two months have been so hard. My dad's just... ugh, I wish he wouldn't be so stubborn and actually try to listen to someone other than himself."

"Jinora, you have to realize that you're Dad is allowed to feel the way he feels," said Mako.

Jinora looked up.

"...What do you mean?" she asked.

"Your Dad has reasons to be the way he is. Part of it is just his personality, but he's obviously been harder on you lately and it's not like he simply just chose to be harder on you because he enjoys it. He's harder on you because you lied."

She froze at Mako's words.

Beside her, Kai frowned.

"Mako-" he began.

"Hear me out," interrupted Mako.

Jinora looked up again, feeling a little small now.

"The fact of the matter is that you and you," said Mako, pointing at both Kai and Jinora. "-lied to people for a whole year. I'm not saying it was necessarily wrong. I'm not even saying it wasn't justified because who knows how people would have messed things up. Would you have made it? Likely. I think you two are compatible enough it would have worked, but I do get that you were afraid everybody nosing around in your business would have made things difficult. Believe me, I've been there. However, that doesn't change the fact that people were lied to and, regardless, that's going to have consequences. What's worse is that you two came out in the worst way: you were caught. And there is nothing harder to explain away than being caught in the act of something."

Jinora wanted to look away from Mako, but she couldn't. She couldn't look away or look down and pretend like he wasn't talking to her. Especially when he was so right. She lied. She knew she lied. They'd both lied.

Mako looked her in the eyes.

"I will readily admit that I wasn't happy when I discovered Kai had a girlfriend," Mako now looked at a confused Kai. "No, I wasn't happy. I didn't know it was you at the time or even who it was at all. All I knew was that Kai was dating someone. This girl could have been anyone. She could have been screwing around with Kai, she could've been messing with his feelings. I realized you two were sleeping together and she could have had STD's for all I knew, but... I remember how Kai's grades were going up. He started doing better with his teachers. He put more passion into his artwork than I'd ever seen before and I... see, I've made a career out of following my gut and so I did this time too. Then, I found out it was you and I knew it would all be okay... See, Jinora, you're Dad didn't feel that. He discovered that his oldest child was running around with a guy he doesn't even know. He thinks Kai's a deadbeat, a criminal, a nobody, a waste of your precious time.

"He's wrong of course, but that doesn't make how he feels any less important..." Jinora looked down again, then up at each of them, resting on Kai and back at Mako. Mako's eyes softened a little as he gently waved his chopsticks at her. "He's hurt, Jinora. He feels betrayed. And you have to understand that the fact that he was lied to probably makes him a little bitter."

Jinora swallowed. That... this made all the sense in the world with why her father had been so hard on her lately. Distant even. He wasn't exactly cold, but it was like he just couldn't get past something and, really, she should have seen it. It was such a simple thing: he was hurt that she'd lied to him. What made her feel even worse was that she'd never even really said she was sorry. The day they talked about her relationship with Kai she was more doing her best to defend her boyfriend than to explain to her father why she lied. In fact, everything she was afraid of just short of totally breaking up with Kai had happened. Everybody got their noses in their business, it caused a huge fight between them, she felt like the world had it's eyes on her, others had been telling her she could do better... they'd gotten past it finally, but she now realized that the one area they hadn't gotten past was her father.

What's worse was that they'd never even tried to understand why her father was an obstacle in the first place. They'd just resigned themselves to the fact that he hated Kai and that was that until it changed somehow in the future.

Jinora put her head into hands and groaned.

She was the worst when it came to her family at this point.

"Though remember, Jinora, Kai had every much fault in here as you do. So, don't just go blaming yourself like you've caused all this or something," said Bolin. "He knew what he was doing and nobody here is trying to make you feel bad."

"That's true," said Mako. "I'm only trying to help this make some kind of sense. You're not to take all this on and think you're a bad person."

"Exactly," said Kai, taking her hand and looking at her with a smile. "I did everything you did. I'm just as much to blame as you are, if not, even more. "

"That being said," Mako leaned back. "You guys weren't exactly wrong for lying either. You weren't right, but you weren't wrong. I understand entirely. Remember, I'm dating a former MMA champion and the Southern Water Tribe chief's only daughter. I'm lucky that Korra's dad likes me and chose to get to know me instead of writing me off as a street rat. Believe me, I get secrecy and trying to stay under the radar. I get what comes with all that and why. You two had reasons for what you did and were given all the ingredients to grow a strong relationship because of it. Privacy, excitement, compatibility, attraction and all kinds of things I could sit here and name off all day. Your secrecy was one of them. It gave you two the time and privacy you required to develop your relationship. In a way, your Dad also has reasons for the way he's been. You two need to come together and realize that both of you are neither right nor wrong."

Jinora stared at Mako for a moment.

"Mako?"

"Yeah?"

"How do you just know all of this?" she asked, slightly intrigued that she was asking him the same question she'd asked her mother under similar contexts.

He put his chopsticks down.

"Jinora, I've been raising kids since I was a kid. Exhibit A is sitting right next to you and you're dating Exhibit B."

Mouth full, Bolin nodded.

"Ish drue," he said and swallowed his food.

She looked at Kai, who ginned at her a little and just half-nodded, half-shrugged in an affirmation.

They finished their food as Jinora processed what Mako had been telling her and continued to process them as the night went on. It was nice the way she felt a little better. A little prepared even. Armed with the knowledge of what was probably going on in her father's head, she had to figure out what to say to him eventually. Until then, she kind of just wanted to enjoy being out of the house for the evening.

As soon as dinner was finished she retreated into Kai's room with her cellphone and half a mind to call the house, but instead called her mother's cellphone. She didn't want to hear her father's voice on the other side.

"Hello? Jinora? Honey, is that you?"

She thanked her lucky stars when her mother picked up.

"Yes, it's me Mom. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Where are you? We'll come to pick you up and we can talk about this-"

"Mom, please, I'm fine. I'm, uh... I'm at a friend's house."

Her mother went silent.

"I see. You're okay over there? You feel safe?"

"Yes, we just ate dinner and we're going to hang out now."

"... Jinora," her mother's voice went lower. "I'm fine with you being at Kai's, but honey... you are safe, right? You just left the house like you were scared out of your mind. Please tell me that whatever happened... whatever was going on with you... it's gone now? You're okay?"

Jinora sighed in half-relief and half-exhaustion.

"Yes, I'm fine now. I promise I'll be home sometime tomorrow."

"Okay... I love you. You know that, right?"

"I love you too... Mom?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Thanks... for trusting me and all. I know I should come home, but..."

"No, it's fine, honey. If being away for tonight helps you then I'm fine with it as long as you're safe. You are at Kai's, right?"

"I am. I swear I am. You can even talk to him if you want? Or Mako?"

"Not Kai, but I wouldn't mind talking to Mako. Just to thank him."

Jinora went outside and into the kitchen where Mako was cleaning up. She slowly walked up so not to interrupt him too much.

"Mako? Is it okay if my mom talks to you for a second?" she asked.

Mako looked up from wiping the kitchen stove.

"Of course," he said, removing his latex gloves and taking the phone. "Mrs. Gyatso?"

Jinora kind of stood off to the side, listening to the conversation. It only lasted a couple minutes and seemed to just be her mother thanking Mako for letting Jinora stay over. Mako reiterated that he didn't mind at all and that he was just glad she was safe here than somewhere else. When they were finished, Mako handed back the phone with a little smile.

She got back on the phone with her mother and started going back to the room.

"Okay, sweetie," said her mother. "I'm going to say goodnight now. I want you to relax, alright? Just relax and don't leave the apartment by yourself, okay?"

"I won't," she said. "I don't think any of them would like that anyhow. Thanks again, Mom. Is... is Dad, okay?"

"Well, he's a bit upset," she said, sighing. "But it's not just at you to be honest. He's just worked up because he's not sure if you're okay. I'll take care of him though, okay? Everything's fine over here now that we know you're okay."

"Kay... goodnight."

"Goodnight, sweetie."

Jinora hung up.

The rest of the evening was spent being introduced to various video games she'd never even heard of by Bolin and Kai. As if they knew exactly what she needed, Jinora laughed a lot more than she had in a while and even started teasing the two of them when she began beating them at their favorite games. After giving Bolin a run for his money on a martial arts games, they turned off the Xstation and the Nuu when the clock started getting closer to midnight.

She and Kai were heading back into his room when she stopped and gently pulled on his arm. He looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Is, uh..." she began in hushed tones, unsure and looking back at Mako who was sitting down on the couch flipping through a file full of important looking papers. "Is it okay for me to sleep in your room? With y'know... everybody here...?"

"That one's your business," announced Mako, turning a page over. "I don't care as long as nobody gets pregnant."

Kai groaned, rubbing his face. Jinora bit her lip, her cheeks a little hot.

"Don't get all embarrassed, I'm just saying," said Mako, still keeping his eyes on his papers. "I mean it though. Nobody gets pregnant under this roof, got it?"

"Got it," said Kai, quickly grabbing Jinora's hand and dragging her along with him.

Finally going inside, Kai went to go shower first. In his room, Jinora read an art magazine he had while waiting for her turn. There was a knock at the door and she looked up to see Bolin.

"Bolin?" she asked, blinking at his posture with a hand behind his back. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing's wrong... uh," he looked down, his face a little flustered as he took a step in. "See, er, I found this in my room. Extra... yeah."

He took his hand behind his back and thrust a leather-bound brown book out in front of him. She took it, confused, and looked up at him.

"A book?" she flipped through it's pages. "A notebook?"

"Y-you see, uh, when I was younger and, uh, you see- Mako and I used to live on the streets you know and I, er-" Bolin cleared his throat and tried to start over. "Sometimes when I wasn't sure if Mako would, uh, come back I would... um, I'd get a bit freaked out. Kind of became a pattern and I got all panicky too. I mean, not the same way maybe? I don't know how you feel exactly, but if it's anything like how I felt then uh..."

Jinora listened intently and Bolin sighed.

"I used to write down my feelings or, my thoughts, really. It was more stuff in my head that I couldn't get out. I found this empty notebook in my room and I was hoping that maybe it might help you the same way it did me."

Bolin looked up, his face a little pink, but he smiled weakly all the same.

"Bolin..." said Jinora, touched. "That's... that's really nice of you. I never knew."

"Yeah, I don't really tell people, but I saw you and the way you came in..." he bit his lip a little. She'd never seen this abashed side of him before. "I think you know too."

Nodding, she did know. No more words needed to be said and she got up to give Bolin a big hug. True to his nature, he wrapped his arms around her and patted her back, giving her a big smile when they let go.

She smiled at him too.

"You really don't have to you know."

"I know," he said, as he began leaving the room. "But I really wanted to."

After Kai, Jinora showered and they retired for the night. She shared just about everything with him, but she wasn't sure if her revelations about Bolin were hers to share. Seeing as they were Bolin's insecurities, she chose not to mention that bit. There were probably things about Mako and Bolin that Kai probably didn't feel he should share with her either.

Dressed in nothing but Kai's shirt for pajamas, she immediately rubbed her legs up against his when he climbed into bed next to her. She rolled over and he rolled into her as they joined in the cuddle she'd been waiting all night for. His lips met hers and she nearly forgot where she was at. Her hand went under his shirt, roaming down to the drawstrings of his sweatpants. Just then, however, he stopped her.

She pulled back, frowning a little.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," he shook his head. "Nothing. It's just..."

"It's just what?" she asked, worried. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, never," he said, and put his forehead against hers. "I just... I don't think this is the right time to do that."

Realizing what this was about, Jinora sighed.

"Baby, I'm fine right now. I want to do this. I just want to forget for a-"

"And that's the thing," he interrupted her. "I don't want... I don't want our romantic life to become a crutch for you. I've been there. Relying on something to keep you afloat. I love you and, believe me, you laying here next to me in nothing but my shirt and your underwear is something I'd never turn down under normal circumstances, but I... I don't want this part of our love life to be turned into some kind of drug for you. We do this because we love each other, but I don't want it to turn into something you need. Not like this. Not under these conditions."

Sightly stunned, but also slightly disappointed, she stared at him.

He took her hand and squeezed it in his.

"You know I'd protect you from anything."

"Even if that anything is me..." she said quietly. Suddenly, her eyes stung and her lip quivered. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," he said, wrapping his arms around her when she moved to bury herself in his chest. "I'm sorry. You know I hate the idea of rejecting you."

"No," she said, her voice muffled with her face in his shirt. "This is all I need right now. This is exactly what I need."

When writing this chapter, I had to wonder if Mako was too in touch with his feelings, but at the same time he's already twenty-six. He's grown up a lot since the age we all know him from the original timeline of Korra. I'd say at twenty-six years old he's more in touch with his feelings and, honestly, you kind of have to be when you're raising teenagers. I this universe, Mako's been raising Kai for six years. He's Momko for a reason. Speaking of which, I had loads of fun sticking in those little nods towards his parental/mothering nature. I also enjoyed shedding a little light here on Bolin a bit too.

Here, Jinora's her worst enemy and there are times where all we need in life is a support system and that's what Jinora has here. Not just her boyfriend, but friends and even then, Kai is her best friend (outside of Asami, Opal and Korra). Originally, Kai and Jinora were suppose to make love and all at the end, but it felt far more beneficial for Kai to reject her about that. Love making, as beautiful as it is, is not what she needs. Support is what she needs.

Notice: So, in addition to this fic, I've started a fic called The Book of War. It's a canon next generation fic that basically tells the story of my particular future verse and it features my next generation kids for Makorra, Kainora and Bopal (main ones). I'd really appreciate you guys checking that out and leaving a review for that if you have anything to say (even if you're just criticizing something or pointing something out I'd appreciate it) because next generation stories are hard to promote since they have OC's. But if you like my work and it's not too much trouble I'd love it if you guys would check that fic out. It's under my profile as The Book of War.

As always guys, I love it when you leave those reviews! They keep me writing this story and keep me motivated because it tells me what you guys think of the story! Every words means a whole lot to me!

Thank you for reading! Tune in for next chapter!