Korra POV
Groaning, I rolled onto my side, but eventually, with a yawn, I slowly sat upright in my bed, stretching my arms. 'Mhm, I'm still tired.' Exiting my bed in nothing but my under garments, I stretch my body, ridding me of my drowsiness and warming my body up for today's defensive battle against the corrupted spirits.
"Ah, that feels better. Would've pulled a muscle if I didn't stretch." Cracking my back, I headed to my wardrobe, putting on clothes some of the spirits made for us; the clothes we originally came with had long since been damaged beyond repair from our incessant year-long fighting.
"Damn, it's already been a year, hasn't it?" Maybe because of the constant fighting, time's been moving slower for me; I thought it's only been a few months. "Heh, technically, I'm an adult now, right? When I return home, I'm drinking all the alcohol I want!" Grinning in anticipation, I shut my wardrobe and exited my room, though I didn't head to the base of Jathr, not yet at least.
Approaching Aang's room, I quietly opened the door, watching Aang, who was in his boxers, perform his morning routine of the thirty-six Baguazhang. As I watched his lean, muscular body move with such grace and force, my heart rate increased, and I could feel my body turn hot. 'Damn, he's so hot.'
I had a massive crush on Aang. It was inevitable, spending months by his side and fighting against corrupted spirits nearly every hour; our bonds had grown deeper than ever. Of course, it was the same with Roku and Kyoshi, but the relationship I had with them was different; Roku was like a grandfather figure, and Kyoshi was sort of like a mother figure.
However, since Aang was only a few years older than me, we treated each other like friends. Before I knew it, I was crushing heavily on him… As for my former crush on Mako, I'd long since forgotten about that. Mako was cool and decently handsome, but he just paled compared to Aang.
This experience within the realm of Jathr, alongside my predecessors, has been both humbling and a powerful learning experience. Looking back on myself, I now realize how childish and arrogant I was. 'Well, I'm still a bit of both, but it's a healthy amount, so it's fine.' As for Mako, I currently feel like he is a bit too immature for me now, not to mention the stress I feel as the Avatar and the duty I have, which was something they'd never be able to understand from me, and it was possible it would've gotten in the way of our relationship.
But it was the complete opposite with Aang; he knew what it meant to be the Avatar, hell, he knew better than I did… I felt as if he was perfect for me. 'Though now that I think about it, aren't I technically his reincarnation? Is it weird that I like my past self?' "Eh, it shouldn't matter, we're from different worlds." As I softly muttered, Aang, who was performing the twenty-third move, suddenly glanced at me.
'C-Crap! He caught me peeking! He'll think I'm a pervert! N-No, I just have to play it cool. Yeah, play it cool.' Suppressing my shame and embarrassment, I fully opened the door and leaned against he door frame, casually responding. "Nice, Aang. You almost performed those moves as well as I." Smirking, I gave Aang a thumbs-up while refraining from ogling his body.
"I don't want to hear such arrogant words from a pervert." Feeling my face heat up in embarrassment, I tried to explain myself, but I just ended up sounding even more guilty. "I-I wasn't peeking! I-I was studying your technique! Yep, I-I wanted to improve, s-so I was just studying!"
Aang just quietly stared at me, causing my blush to deepen further as we both realized how pathetic my excuse was, but thankfully, Aang was kind enough to save my face by nodding along with my obvious excuse. "You could just ask, you know… I wouldn't refuse." "H-Haha, I-I just thought you'd feel embarrassed."
Awkwardly laughing, I closed the door behind me and plopped on his bed, causing Aang to softly shake his head before continuing his routine. As I watched from a much better viewpoint, I subconsciously bit my lip. "Damn." "Did you say something?" "N-Nothing!"
Internally groaning, I covered my face with my hands, completely missing Aang practicing. Feeling Aang poke my forehead, I moved my hands, glancing at him, who was only a foot away, staring at me already donned in his clothes.
Right then and there, I nearly confessed to him. I wanted to shout, 'I like you! Go out with me!' Everything about him was just so alluring: his appearance, his charming kindness, his nonchalant personality. However, before I was given the chance, he interfered. "C'mon, Korra." Faintly smiling, Aang outstretched his hand, causing me to quickly take it as he pulled me onto my feet, only for him to gently brush aside my hair, which had grown significantly over the past year.
Without saying anything, Aang winked and left the room, prompting me to follow him as I hardened my resolve to finally confess to him. 'I'll confess to him after the battle!' Thanks to Aang being an airbender, the two of us were able to quickly reach the base of Jathr by simply jumping off a branch.
Gently landing on the ground, I saw Roku and Kyoshi were already waiting. "Morning!" Approaching the two with a smile, I slapped Roku's back, making sure to put some strength behind it as he stumbled forward. "Are you trying to break my old bones?" "Tsk, so that wasn't enough strength?" "Tch, this arrogant girl, as your senior, you should treat me with some respect." "Yeah, well, respect this." Grinning, I stuck my tongue out at Roku, whose face twitched in anger and annoyance.
Moving to Kyoshi, I grabbed her two fans and used them to cover my face as I posed before her like a geisha, though she just raised an eyebrow at my act, causing me to wryly chuckle. "Think I can defeat you with these, Kyoshi?" "Those fans do nothing except help me control my immense power… Without them, my bending would be far too destructive. And no."
Pouting slightly, I handed them back to Kyoshi before taking my spot to the right of Aang, as we stood with our backs to Jathr, waiting for the corrupted spirits to attack, which didn't take too long, since they almost always arrive around the same time. "Man, are we sure they're not getting bigger?" "Haa, you ask this question every time, Korra." "Tsk, I'm just asking, 'cause that's a freaking lot of them." Shooting Aang a glare, he rolled his eyes, causing me to huff as I focused on the battle ahead.
Having performed this over fifty times, no words were exchanged between us as we attacked: Aang and Roku combined their bending, creating a massive wave of flames while Kyoshi erected several massive walls, funneling the mindless corrupted spirits into the fire, as for me, I used the near infinite dew collected on the leaves of Jathr to slow them down, transforming the hard ground into a deep, slurry of mud.
Our combined bending allowed us to comfortably clear out half of the horde before they started to overflow, prompting us to divide the remaining corrupted spirits into four smaller batches as we handled each batch by ourselves.
In the beginning, I found them challenging to face; the overwhelming number of spirits attacking at once was daunting. However, I've since grown stronger, thanks to numerous battles with powerful spirits in the wasteland and Aang's teachings. "Heh, c'mon spirits, I'll quickly beat you up!"
After thirty minutes, I dealt with the final spirit, causing me to smirk as I wiped sweat from my forehead before glancing behind me, only to see Kyoshi and Aang casually talking at the base of Jathr. Clicking my tongue, I approached the two of them and leaned against the side of Jahtr. "I see neither of you bothered to come assist me. What's that for?"
"Hmm, we just finished, Korra." Blankly eyeing Aang's blatant lie, Roku approached us, having just finished slaying the final corrupted spirit, causing me to smirk. "Heh, took you long enough, old man." "Oh, excuse me, Korra. I apologize for the limited energy of a 58-year-old man." "Heh, excuses, excuses." "Ho, Aang, you'd better get your little student before I discipline her in your stead." He glanced at Aang with a clear, annoyed look, causing me to grin as I cracked my knuckles.
"Oh, is that a threat?" "Not a threat, just the prophecy of the future." Fortunately for Roku, Aang suddenly grabbed me by the waist, causing me to faintly blush, only for him to hoist me over his shoulder. "Let us go, you little gremlin. No one wants to see you beat up a senior citizen." 'Tsk, not you too, Aang."