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Kyoshi was sleeping, as you do in the early morning hours. Her face was buried in her pillow, a tiny smudge of missed makeup smearing on the pillowcase.
“Kyoshi,” a soft voice murmured, cutting through the darkness of her sleep. As soft and gentle and loving as it was, sleep was still too alluring to avoid. “Kyoshi, wake up,” it repeated.
“Whhyyy,” Kyoshi groaned. Her voice was still thick with sleep.
“ Because , silly, we have business to attend to,” the voice explained gently.
Kyoshi grumbled, but opened her eyes to see her beautiful girlfriend, Rangi, perched over her on her own side of their bed. Her bronze eyes shone with the morning light oozing in through their curtains. Inky black hair, in Rangi’s signature topknot, shone with sunlight.
“Better business is here,” Kyoshi said.
“Like?” Rangi smirked at her, leaning back on her hands and raising a dark eyebrow at the Avatar. Her fingers tapped the sheets behind her in anticipation for Kyoshi’s answer.
“Sleeping.” She had a feeling she knew what reaction this would receive, and was right on the mark. The heat in the room rose a degree or two and the now tense, angry firebender next to her stood up.
“Up, before I drag you out to training,” Rangi growled. She hastily grabbed one of Kyoshi’s hands and pulled her abruptly out of bed. “Which I’m doing anyway.”
“Will you stop yawning?! ” Rangi’s irritation was earned with another yawn as Kyoshi stood in the dreaded Horse stance. Only three minutes in. Oh how she longed to just be casually leaning against a tree as Rangi was this morning, eyes glued to Kyoshi’s posture. She tapped her fingers on her arms this time, letting her nails scratch at her armguards to show her frustration.
“I can’t help it, I didn’t sleep very well,” Kyoshi grumbled. A slight wobble ricocheted up her calves to her core. The look of sheer rage on Rangi’s face at her apparent weakness made Kyoshi gulp.
“Just for that, you get fifteen minutes of this.”
“Oh come on! ”
“You’ve been slacking off on your training, I can see it in how you stand. A little more will do you some damn good.”
“And I suppose you’ll be as torturous as usual with this?” Kyoshi assumed, rolling her eyes. An ache began to rise in her legs. She has got to be kidding me. Fifteen damn minutes??
“Depends. If you keep yawning, then no.” Rangi pushed herself off against the tree to circle Kyoshi, her attitude as abrasive and unmoving as always. She kept her eyes forward and walked at a steady, intimidating pace, keeping her head held high and her posture straight.
Kyoshi fought off another yawn. The ache in her thighs grew into a more intense burn as time drew on. Rangi still circled but was stealing a fierce glance at Kyoshi every few moments. Kyoshi couldn’t help but notice that many of these glances had… multiple meanings. Every now and then they’d go from ferocious to seductive. Spirits save me .
A sudden soft brush from Rangi’s fingers to move Kyoshi’s thick hair from the back of Kyoshi’s bare neck threatened to break her. “ Maintain ,” Rangi whispered, leaning against Kyoshi’s side. Her fingers idly played with Kyoshi’s loose hair and she occasionally let her fingers tease the back of the Avatar’s neck some more. Kyoshi’s self-control was unraveling by the second and Rangi saw every drop of it leaving as a bright blush crept along Kyoshi’s adorable, freckled cheeks.
“This is cruel,” Kyoshi hissed under her breath and through gritted teeth.
“What was that?” Rangi’s eyes channeled her fiery energy as she moved them to lock eyes with her girlfriend. Her expression was hard to read. Some moderate frustration but simultaneous amusement, and Kyoshi couldn’t decide which one was actually what Rangi felt more.
“Nothing…”
Rangi moved from her side to her back, wrapping her arms around Kyoshi’s waist and pressing a kiss to the back of her neck. “Just for that, I’ll be even more cruel.”
Kyoshi let out a very annoyed, very frustrated groan. Rangi, in return, pressed more weight against her back. Kyoshi’s legs were very ready to give out at this point, the final three minutes of her stance training be damned. It absolutely did not help when Rangi ran a hand down one of Kyoshi’s tensed up thighs. Kyoshi gritted her teeth harder in response.
“Careful, you might hurt your jaw,” Rangi teased softly. Her other hand crawled up the back of Kyoshi’s robe to tease her skin softly.
“And it would definitely be your fault, Rangi,” Kyoshi said. This was getting to be too much. Rangi was a huge tease, which was fine on its own. It was made infinitely worse by Kyoshi trying to actually concentrate and maintain her Horse stance.
“Well, if someone hadn’t given me lip we’d be over with this by now.” Rangi gave a noticeable shrug at her girlfriend’s answer. Her fingers found their way to Kyoshi’s waist, moving away from her thigh and from under her robe. “Anyway, your time is up.”
Kyoshi immediately stood, pulling Rangi’s feet well off the ground. The firebender let out a loud yelp and gripped Kyoshi a little harder at the sudden loss of ground at her feet. “Will you PUT ME DOWN??” Rangi dug her nails into Kyoshi’s training robe.
“Well, if someone hadn’t given me lip it would have been over sooner and you wouldn’t be dangling off of me like that,” Kyoshi teased, shrugging as Rangi had only minutes before. Heat seeped through her robes where Rangi’s fingers gripped as her anger grew at the mocking. “You’re not even that far off the ground! I may be tall but I’m not that tall.”
Rangi huffed, a little steam coming out of her nose as she placed herself back on the ground. Kyoshi got a powerful poke to the small of her back as quick revenge.
“Drama queen,” Rangi muttered. A teasing smirk was plastered to her face.
“Excuse me, you’re the one who freaked out when you were only a few extra inches off the ground!” Kyoshi placed her large hands on her hips and arched an eyebrow in Rangi’s direction. She took her turn to tap her fingers on her clothes.
“I’m teasing, Kyoshi.”
Kyoshi huffed and rolled her verdant eyes. Rangi’s teasing look, however, changed her annoyed expression to a warmer, teasing one as well. She gave Rangi a gentle nudge with her hip and headed back to the mansion for the day.
“Kyoshi, will you put those damn letters down and have some dinner for once?? ” Rangi’s voice shouted from another room.
The Avatar just shook her head softly to herself and continued reading. Another letter asking to bless this year’s harvest. She set it aside on a separate pile, away from letters that required more immediate attention.
A door creak made Kyoshi glance to her left. There stood Rangi, a frown on her face and a hand on her hip as she stood in the doorway. The expression in her eyes gave a contrasting mood. A pleading glow emanated from her bronze eyes, seemingly begging Kyoshi to just come and have something to eat. “Please?” she asked softly.
Kyoshi let out a sigh but she nodded. The chair she sat in gave a quiet squeal as it scraped across the floor while Kyoshi stood and pushed herself away from her desk and, by extension, the pile of letters on it. “There we go. Come on, I have dumplings downstairs for you.”
“I’m surprisingly not too hungry,” Kyoshi said. It was a bit of a lie. Her grumbling stomach gave her away.
“Kyoshi, dearest, you’re a horrible liar.” Rangi gave her an affectionate tap on the nose, but her eyes were filled with worry this time.
“I just have so much work to do and–” Kyoshi was silenced by a swift kiss to the lips. One of Rangi’s famous earth-shattering, mind melting ones. A wobble, similar to this morning’s, climbed up her knees and into her hips. Although this time, Kyoshi’s recent lack of training wasn’t the reason.
“Maintain,” Rangi murmured teasingly. She grumbled when Kyoshi broke away, but chuckled at her displeased expression at her callback to their training. “I’m kidding .”
“I know,” Kyoshi said. She pulled Rangi in against her chest and dropped a soft kiss on her forehead. A gentle floral scent washed over her as she buried her face a little further into Rangi’s soft, well kept hair. The firebender’s arms wrapped around her waist, guiding her fingers up Kyoshi’s well built back.
“Come on, silly, we have dinner to eat.” Rangi unraveled her arms from Kyoshi’s body and wrapped her fingers into Kyoshi’s own, dragging her out the door and down the stairs.
“We could just… eat upstairs,” Kyoshi suggested as they sat down at the long, shiny table in the dining hall. Scattered plates of dumplings, sides, and small bowls of a gentle broth littered the table. Guess she didn’t have just dumplings.
“I’m keeping you away from your letters this evening. You need an actual break,” Rangi growled. “What you really need is a whole vacation. And eat some soup, Kyoshi, you could use it.”
“That’s not happening anytime soon,” she grumbled. Kyoshi wanted nothing more than to take a long, well deserved break with her beloved. Maybe a cabin deeper into the woods, or maybe a house on the beach. Unfortunately the planning on its own was too much for Kyoshi right now, let alone actually leaving for the real vacation.
“I’ll find a way to get you out of here,” Rangi reassured.
Kyoshi rolled her eyes and took a sip of her broth. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Anything you want,” Rangi smirked, giving Kyoshi a light, toothy grin before biting her lip. Her expression was ruined upon laughing a little too loudly at Kyoshi choking on her soup. She was sent into a harsh coughing fit that only subsided after a quick drink of water. “What did you think I was going to say?!”
“I dunno! Just wasn’t expecting that while I was trying to eat.” A devious grin spread across Rangi’s beautiful face at another chance for an innuendo. “ DON’T go where I think you’re going. Not at dinner.” Rangi rolled her bronze eyes before putting a dumpling in her mouth. Kyoshi joined her, taking a few dumplings and putting them on her plate and one in her mouth.
“This is exactly why you keep saying you don’t sleep well! You’re always up so damn late!” Rangi chastised. The gentle pink blush on her cheeks and torso made it much harder to take her seriously.
“Like you’re complaining,” Kyoshi chuckled, pushing her ruffled hair out of her eyes.
Rangi rolled her bronze eyes but sighed contentedly before nuzzling into Kyoshi’s neck. In all honesty she was too exhausted to argue with Kyoshi anymore about this, it wasn’t exactly worth the hassle this evening. Too much effort. “I thought so,” Kyoshi sighed softly.
“Oh hush,” Rangi said, voice muffled in Kyoshi’s soft neck.
If Rangi was honest with herself, it was probably her favorite place in the whole wide world. Kyoshi had the softest skin imaginable, smooth as silk while peppered with various scars, big and small. Her freckles extended down from her cheeks to her collarbone, with a few stray ones sprinkling her forearms and shoulders. It added a subtle wholesomeness that only Rangi got to see. She wasn’t Kyoshi the Avatar here. She was Kyoshi the neat freak, Kyoshi the diligent, Kyoshi the sweetheart. And Kyoshi, my girlfriend Rangi thought.
“You good? You seem quiet all of a sudden.” Kyoshi swept her fingers through Rangi’s soft hair, dragging her back to the present moment.
“Just thinking.”
“May I hear what about?”
“...you.”
Kyoshi’s blush crept deeper under her skin at Rangi’s answer. She brought her hands up to bury her face in her palms. Rangi let out a light laugh but just buried her face further into Kyoshi’s neck. “Mostly about how much I love you, how precious you are to me. How I wish the world could sometimes see past your Avatarhood to see who you really are.” The vibrations in Kyoshi’s chest hinted at a subtle chuckle. “ But I also like having you to myself. Call me selfish, but having a side that only I get to see is… a little special.”
“The same could be said for you too, Rangi. I’m the only one who gets to see this soft, gentle, caring side. The only one who receives heat that isn’t to burn, but to comfort.” Kyoshi brushed a strand of the firebender’s hair out of her face and cupped her cheek gently. Her thumb stroked across Rangi’s sharp jawline, earning her hand a small nuzzle.
“Go to sleep, you big oaf. We have more business tomorrow,” Rangi said, voice laced with a chuckle.