Aang POV
As I carried Korra away from Roku and back up the trunk of Jathr, she was constantly wiggling in my grasp, her legs kicking everywhere while she playfully hit my back, behaving like a child going through a tantrum. "Mu, let me down, Aang!" "Hmm, sure." Faintly smirking, I dropped Korra, causing her to fall outside of the vortex that had been raising me to the branches of Jathr.
Korra didn't scream in fear; instead, she looked at me with what was possibly the most impassive face, one that even Kyoshi would praise, as she fell, causing me to chuckle. "Hehe, her reaction is even funnier than if she screamed." Waving my arm, I created a secondary vortex from my own, which caught Korra and quickly lifted her parallel to me as she folded her arm and eyed me.
"Don't look at me like that. I did as you asked, and I let you down." Innocently raising my hands, Korra's eyes narrowed, and just as I lowered us onto one of Jathr's branches, she lunged at me, grabbing my shoulders and forcing me to the ground.
"You airhead! Get a load of this! I haven't showered yet!" Wickedly grinning, Korra, overpowered me and raised one of her arms before stuffing her armpit into my face, causing me to be genuinely disgusted. "Move your sweaty armpit!" "Next time, don't drop me!" "I definitely will now." "Ha, then I'm not moving it!"
'Why the heck is Korra so strong?' I'd trained with Bumi for four years before coming here, so I was at my physical strongest I'd ever been, yet somehow, Korra was still able to overpower me, a man, when it came to raw strength. I suppose that might've just been a part of her natural talent, raw strength that made no sense; the only saving grace was that Korra wasn't having an easy time overpowering me.
Since I couldn't overpower her, I used the flexibility she lacked. With a faint grunt, I raised my legs, wrapping them loosely around Korra's waist before pulling her off me and onto her back. Wiping my face, I quickly lunged at Korra, who was sitting upright, and grabbed both of her arms as I pushed her back onto the ground with her arms held above her head.
"Heh, look at you, a big man pushing down a weak o'l woman." Feeling my face twitch at Korra's shamelessness, I placed both of her hands underneath one of my own, directly above her head as I used a sharp gust of wind to cut my shirt, which I then quickly removed before covering her face with it.
"How does it feel?" A cruel smile made its way onto my face as I watched Korra violently struggle, only for her to free one of her arms before punching my stomach, knocking the air out of my lungs as I rolled onto the branch beside her. "C-Cheap shot."
Tossing my shirt off her face, Korra huffed in annoyance while eyeing me, prompting me to shoot her a glare for punching me; however, after a while, we eventually shifted our gaze to the thick canopy above us, gazing at the sky from whatever light could squeeze through.
"How has your bending progress been, Korra?" A brief moment of silence enveloped us both before she responded. "Good. There is no better practice than actual battle." I faintly chuckled, finding her response so Korra-like, or like that of a muscle head. However, speaking of muscle head, she suddenly punched my arm, causing me to glance at her. "What was that for?" "Don't know, just felt like doing it." "Glad to know you see me just as a toy you can abuse whenever you feel like it." "Oh, you finally realized our relationship? Great!"
Seeing that energetic and playful, yet surprisingly charming smile of hers, I just rolled my eyes. "Blood bending, have you started it?" Glancing at Korra, whose expression showed a mix of unease and revulsion, she shook her head. "No. You know bloodbending is outlawed in my world." "Yes, but I'm relatively confident that is what Amon is using… There is only one way to truly erase someone's bending, and that is through energy bending, which only YOU should know."
As I poked her cheek, Korra just furrowed her brows before sighing. "The only other way to take away someone's bending is to use bloodbending to block the chi pathways. If the chi can't flow, then you'll be unable to bend, but it's also reversible; unlike energy bending." "I-I don't know, Aang. Blood bending? I've been told it's nothing but evil." "Let me guess, by Katara?" Her silence was the only answer I needed.
"She said that because that's only how she's ever seen it being used… For evil. But I assure you it is not evil, no form of bending is evil, it's the one who uses it that is evil; I know you understand that." "Yeah. But it's still outlawed; if I get caught using it, I'll be arrested, and even the Avatar can't prevent that. It wouldn't be my first time after all." "Oh, what I would give to see you in chains." Korra stopped my chuckle as she punched my arm again.
"Well then, allow me to give you an answer to your problem… Just get strong enough." "Huh?" With a confused expression, Korra raised her head and glanced at me, causing me to smirk. "Get strong enough to the point where the police of Republic City wouldn't dare try to arrest you. No. Not just the police, but anyone who's your enemy. 99% of problems can be solved with enough strength; the only difficulty is whether you have enough or not."
She stared at me with a flabbergasted look, only for her eyes to shine brilliantly as if she'd just discovered the greatest treasure ever. "You. You're a fucking genius, Aang!" Leaping atop me, she tightly hugged me, causing me to chuckle as I nodded while gently patting her back. "Ease up, it's hard to breathe." Unfortunately, Korra didn't listen, and before she happened to cave my ribcage in, I pried her vice-like limbs off me, forced her onto the ground while mounting her.
However, just as I did so, I happened to see Roku and Kyoshi standing a few feet away, causing me to glance at them, and Korra followed my gaze soon after. "Hehe, get a room, you two lovebirds." Roku's mocking comment caused me to roll my eyes, though Korra practically threw me off her. "Tch, shut it, you impotent bastard!" Furiously glaring at Roku, who was slightly taken aback by her intense hostility, she stormed off to the trunk while I leaped onto my feet.
"That was a bit excessive even for her." Muttering under his breath, Roku glanced at Korra's back before shaking his head and continuing to our shared bathing leaf. As Roku went, Kyoshi gave me a deep look, causing me to tilt my head as I looked back at her.
"I didn't take you to be the type to stare at a man's muscles, Kyoshi." "I don't mind appreciating a warrior's physique." Faintly smirking at how smooth Kyoshi responded, I walked past her, heading to the trunk. "Honesty with others starts with honesty with themselves." Giving me a cryptic message, Kyoshi continued walking, causing me to furrow my brows in confusion.
'Oh great, why did Kyoshi advise me in such a way?' Softly sighing, I rubbed my head and grabbed a towel from my room before heading to my shared leaf with Roku.
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Deeply yawning, I glanced at my bed, which was whispering sweet nothings to me, though I put it on hold and opened my door, where Korra had been silently standing for several minutes; I had been waiting for her to knock, but seeing how she's been frozen and how I wanted to sleep, I moved first.
"Yes, Korra?" "A-Ah, n-nothing, I-I was– i-it was nothing." Fumbling her words, Korra turned around, trying to leave, but I wasn't going to allow that, not when she had been standing there for nearly ten minutes; whatever she wanted to discuss was clearly important to her. Grabbing her wrist, I pulled her into my room, which she didn't refuse, and closed the door before leading her to the bed, where I sat next to her.
"What's the problem, Korra?" Gazing at Korra, who was in her night gown, she kept her head down while her hands fidgeted, causing me to pat her shoulder, hopefully to ease her nervousness, which helped, since after a minute she took a deep breath. "A-Aang?" "Yes." "C-Can you promise me you want to laugh?" "Of course."
Faintly nodding, we entered another bout of silence before Korra tightly clenched her fists and raised her head, gazing intensely at me through her deeply blushed face; if it weren't for the serious atmosphere, I would've made fun of her apple-like face.
"I-I like you, Aang… G-Go out with me!"