Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

It had been a few days since I had met Korra. I hadn't run into her again since she was spending most of her time at the air temple. Not that I didn't mind. I was slightly cautious about hanging around her anymore. But after thinking about it for a while one day, I thought I'd give her a visit. I knew I would have to be careful not to let Tenzin or any of his family members see me or they would be able to recognize me the minute they saw me. It was a bright, clear day and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. The moment I woke up, I looked out my window and saw a few lizard birds flying by. I spooked them off when I opened it and took in the fresh air. It felt like it would be a good day and I would make the most of it. I didn't eat much for breakfast. I always tended to have a large lunch and would eat very little in the mornings. I was also not a morning person. Before I was to visit Korra, I took a walk around the neighborhood where my apartment was so I could clear my head. The area where I lived was always bustling with activity. Every day was usually the same: countless people walking by, merchants selling their wares, deliveries being made. I liked it there simply because no one would ever think to look for me in such a place. Once I felt awake enough not to walk into traffic and risk getting hit by a car, I headed toward the direction of the air temple.

As I walked, I kept my eyes open and watched everything that was going by. I could hear the radio every time I passed by a store or kiosk. Here in Republic City, pro-bending was our sport. Whether you were a bender or not, everyone would tune in to find out when the next match would be and which teams would be playing against each other. I listened close to the radio host saying that tonight the Fire Ferrets would be one of the teams. I had heard a few things about them and I figured that it wouldn't hurt to show up for the game tonight. I almost walked right into a pole because I was deep in my thoughts over it. A man had managed to stop me from walking right into it by grabbing me and pulling me from behind. I was about to thank him when I realized that the man was actually my older brother Torotaro. He was surprised that he had found me and was pulling me away to talk to me instead of letting me continue on my way. My brother was a combination of physical traits from both the Northern Water tribe and the Fire nation. His skin was tan like a Water nation member, but his hair was black and eyes were auburn like a member of the Fire nation. He was slightly muscular, but not very much. He usually dressed in white shirts with black pants and brown work boots. But no matter what he wore, he always wore a brown coat our mother had given to him as a gift when we were younger. It was his prized possession and he never went anywhere without it. He was very touchy about letting people examine it and you had to annoy him into letting you get a closer look.

He rubbed his nose with his thumb like he always did and looked at me. You couldn't tell we were siblings just by looking at us. I was different from him in that I had pale skin, light blue eyes and was slightly thin, and my arms and legs were fuller. The only thing we shared in common was our black hair, though mine wasn't naturally black. My true hair color was silver and I did my best to hide that fact from people. I had them believe that I dyed my bangs silver instead. He immediately gave me a hug and messed up my hair like he was prone to do when we were kids.

"Torotaro, cut that out. I'm not a little kid anymore."

"Now, now, is that any way to talk to your older brother? You're supposed to respect your elders, Ruka and that includes me."

"As if. You're only six years older than me. At twenty years of age, you don't count as an elder."

"Aw, now you're hurting my feelings, Ruki."

I twitched when I heard him call me that. We each had our nickname and the one he had given me was Ruki. I just called him Taro most of the time. I didn't like hearing him say that, since it had been so long. I hadn't gotten used to it again ever since the assault happened. I smacked his hand away and turned around to keep walking. He gasped, run up to me and prevented me from going any further. I was getting even more annoyed with his actions. I may have been calm most of the time, but if you pushed the right buttons, you were asking for a beating. I didn't want to have to beat up my own brother in public, especially if it was a risk to revealing myself and getting arrested by the police. As much as my brother cared for me and wished to be one of them, it wouldn't exactly go well with them if they knew who his sister was. I calmed myself down and smiled, doing my best to act like nothing was wrong.

"As much as it pleases me to see you, Taro, I'm quite busy and I should be on my way. I'm sure we'll run into each other again some other time. So, if you'll excuse me, dear brother..."

"Oh, no, you don't. You're staying right here, Ruka. Father and I have been really worried about you and it's about time you come home. Hasn't it been long enough already? Mother would hate to see you this way..."

I punched him in the face and started running off, pretending that he had somehow hit himself when people started getting curious. I waved at him from afar as he looked on, having a sad expression on his face.

"Ruki, are you still beating yourself up over what happened all those years ago?..."

I arrived at the bridge close to where the air temple was and stopped to catch my breath. I had been running for a while and needed to take a break. I wasn't willing to hitch a ride on one of the boats and had decided to swim all the way over. I had swimming in my blood and I was good at it. I leaned against the fence and looked up, watching the birds fly by. I listened to their cries and closed my eyes, picturing something I had not seen for years. I saw a piano with a chair underneath a light and a woman sitting on it. She was clearly from the Water nation with light black hair, teal eyes, and a slightly voluptuous figure. She was wearing a dark blue dress that showed off her curvy legs and black heels. She had her eyes closed as she started running her fingers over the piano keys and started playing. I watched on as she kept playing. For a moment, she turned her face to look at me and smiled. I blushed a little when I saw her eyes on me. I bit my lower lip and almost teared up as I got back to reality. Mother...No, I had to keep my eye on the present and not look to the past.

I observed my surroundings to make sure no one was watching and when no one was, I jumped over the fence and into the water. It was cool, but not enough to bother me. I swam all the way to the island and shook myself to get as much of the water off as possible. I sneaked around to avoid the guards and kept an eye out for Korra. I heard a voice that sounded like hers coming from somewhere higher than where I was. I quietly made my way through until I got closer to the voice. I went up some stairs and there she was, getting hit by what appeared some sort of apparatus that moved with the wind as Tenzin and some kids watched. Korra was having a hard time getting across without being hit by the turning doors. She got so angry that she hurled a fireball at it and burned it. Tenzin was shocked by what she did and told her that it was a thousand-year old heirloom. Korra apologized and complained about how hard it was for her to go across it. She refused to keep training anymore and stated that she didn't need airbending to be a good Avatar. Tenzin sighed and told the kids to come along as he left Korra alone. I hid behind a tree before they saw me and walked up to Korra once they were gone. I poked her from behind and she almost kicked me in the face. I was able to dodge it easily and she stared wide-eyed when she realized it was me.

"Ruka, what are you doing here? I thought you disappeared!"

"Well, yes, I did after you got arrested, but here I am. I was curious about you since you're the Avatar and all."

"Oh yeah..."

"You forgot to mention that in our conversation."

"Sorry. I just wasn't up to letting everyone know about that just yet. But things happened and Tenzin let me stay. I'll be living here from now on, so I can master airbending. It's so hard though...I keep trying, yet it's not working at all."

"Give it time. You'll learn. You just started and you can't expect to master it in one day."

"Ugh, why do I even need airbending? I already know firebending, waterbending and earthbending. I can do just fine without airbending."

"Korra, that's not the way things work when you're the Avatar. You have to master all four, not just three because one is hard for you. You need to relax a little and take your mind off things."

"I guess you're right, Ruka."

"Trust me; I know what would get your mind off it. There's a pro-bending match tonight. I was thinking about going, so why don't you come with me?"

"Tenzin doesn't like pro-bending and he's against me being involved in it. I'd love to go with you, but I can't..."

"Alright. I guess I'll see you around."

I bid farewell and left. Somehow, I knew Korra wouldn't listen to Tenzin and go to the match anyway. The match was at night and I still had time to kill. I headed back to my apartment after buying some dumplings to eat on the way. Right as I was going around a corner, I saw a fire ferret running toward me. It stopped in front of me, crawled up my leg and stopped when it was on my shoulders. It squealed and sniffed at the dumpling that I had in hand. I smiled, took one from by bag and gave it to the small creature. It ate it happily and purred as it licked my cheek. It squealed again as it looked at a young man that was running up to me. He stopped, breathed heavily and slowly lifted his face to look at me. He had green eyes, dark brown hair, and a big nose and was of a muscular build. I blushed a little, but resumed my usual manner. He stood up, cleared his throat and pointed at the fire ferret.

"Uhm, excuse me madam, that fire ferret happens to belong to me. His name's Pabu. I hope he hasn't tried stealing your dumplings or anything."

"I gave him one, but he's been behaving. I suppose I should give him back to you.", I answered, carefully handing the ferret over to the young man, "You ought to keep an eye on him. He could get in trouble."

"I do my best, but Pabu is always up to his old tricks. I guess I ought to thank you for stopping him from doing anything worse. My name's Bolin and I'm a member of the Fire Ferrets. If you want, I could let you get in for free, so you can watch the match closely."

"That would be nice.", I replied, thinking about it. I could have gotten in for free anyway, what with my reputation and all, but I thought I'd take his offer. "Okay, Bolin, I'll go with you. My name's Ruka, by the way."

"Ruka...well, Ruka, I'll see you tonight then. Pabu, say goodbye.", Bolin said, bowing down as Pabu did the same, "Have a nice day!"

He walked off with Pabu in his hands, scolding him for running off and doing as he pleased. I laughed as I watched him leave. I found him to be an interesting guy and I was looking forward to seeing him play. I arrived to my apartment and thought I'd pass the time till the match started by practicing my skills. I went to the roof with my sword and started swinging it, carefully planning my lightning strikes so no one would notice. To me, using my swordplay with my firebending was almost like a dance. My style was one that combined firebending, swordplay and waterbending in one, even though I wasn't a waterbender. My mother had always said that we should learn about the styles of every nation to better improve our bending and I held her words close to heart. I practiced till the sun started to set. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and thrust my sword into the floor. I looked at the sunset and coughed. It was almost time for me to head off to meet with Bolin. I went to my apartment, cleaned up as best as I could, got into some fresh clothes and left for the tournament.

As soon as I arrived, there he was, waiting for me outside. He seemed happy that I had come and led me inside. I had just gone in when I swore I could hear Korra's voice. I looked behind me and I saw her arguing with the man in charge of letting people in. He didn't want her going anywhere, but Bolin intervened, said that she was with him and had her follow him. Korra was shocked when she saw me standing and waved. Bolin was surprised that we knew each other and smirked to himself. I heard him whisper "Wait till Mako finds out that I got two girls to watch us in the match." He led us to the locker rooms where the arena was visible and the one I assumed to be Mako was complaining, saying that they couldn't play because one of their teammates hadn't shown up. Bolin talked with him, trying to cheer him up when Korra burst into the conversation.

"Hey, if you need someone to waterbend for you, I could do it."

"You can waterbend?", the tall man asked. He looked similar to Bolin, though taller, with lighter hair, thinner eyebrows, and auburn eyes and skinnier.

"Yeah. I can also firebend and earthbend."

"Don't tell me you're the Avatar. Alright, but you better listen to me during the match."

"See? I told you we'd be able to pull this off, Mako!", Bolin burst out. He waved at me while Mako sneered as they headed to the arena once Korra was suited up. Both teams were on the arena and I watched from where I was, smiling a little when Bolin looked up at me. I waved and mouthed good luck as the teams waited for the referee to give the thumbs up to start the match. Immediately, Korra was having trouble. She wasn't playing according to the rules and kept committing foul after foul. Not only that, but the other team took advantage of it and threw all their attacks at her. Korra got hit several times and almost got knocked off the arena. I started screaming for her to dodge or strike back before she fell off and something seemed to tick in her head. She calmed down and moved like the wind, dodging all that was thrown at her. Mako and Bolin were impressed by what she was doing and did their best to knock the other team off while they were distracted. Finally, after a few strikes, they managed to knock all three opponents off the arena and the referee declared the match over and the Fire Ferrets the winners. Bolin hugged Korra as she grinned in celebration of their victory. When they were back in the locker room, I congratulated them and tried to cover myself when Tenzin walked into the room. Korra was ashamed when he looked at her, but she was shocked when he told her that she was finally understanding what he had been trying to teach her earlier in the day. He said that she could stay on the team as long as it didn't disrupt her training at the air temple. Korra hugged him tight, almost breaking his back. Once she dropped him and he was on the ground, he turned his gaze to me. He must have recognized me and I thought he would called the police on me, but to my surprise, he didn't. Bolin invited me to celebrate with them and as I walked away, I knew Tenzin was watching me.

That night was quite fun. We went to a restaurant where Bolin was yelling and screaming the whole time while Mako and Korra laughed at his behavior. Pabu was there too, though his focus was on the food. I was quiet most of the time, but I did talk every once in a while. Despite still being cautious, I allowed myself to enjoy the celebration. Maybe I could open up to them when the time finally came.