Work Text:
It was safe to say that Kirima never tended to miss Yokoya whenever she left.
From the first time she’d gone there, she had thought that it was irredeemably boring. She quickly felt herself growing restless every time she went to visit. The people were the same every time, nothing new ever happened, there was no action, and it really was far too quiet.
Or at least, it had been quiet before Kirima was violently accosted within not even ten minutes the next time she came to visit.
“Auntie Kirima!” Koko shouted, running over and throwing her arms around her with an enormous grin on her face. At the beginning, Kirima hadn’t been exactly thrilled about being anyone’s “aunt”, even unofficially, but the nickname—and the rowdy five-year-old—had grown on her.
“How’s my favorite niece doing!?” Kirima asked as she swung Koko around. Okay, so sue her, she liked the kid. What about it? “Still giving those moms of yours trouble?”
“Always,” one of said moms responded as she trotted up to join them. Koko giggled and Rangi shot Kirima a grin. “Nice to see you again. What’s with the hold-up? Wong got here hours ago.”
“A guy was bothering me at the next town over,” Kirima shrugged. “He kept saying that I owed him money, but I told him that if he was stupid enough to buy me a round of drinks and expect something out of me without even asking if I wanted any first, then I didn’t owe him sh—”
Rangi silenced her with a pointed glare and two hands held over Koko’s ears. “Not in front of the baby.” (Which was a phrase that had started out whenever someone was foolish enough to try and swear in front of baby Koko when her mothers—who were worried that her first word would end up being a curse—were around. The sentence had stuck around and was now something of a running joke between them all).
“I’m not a baby!” Koko protested loudly, stomping her foot. “Uncle Wong said that he would teach me how to fight with fans just like Mama!”
Rangi let out a noisy sigh. “And what did Mommy have to say about that?”
Koko deflated. “You said I have to wait until I’m older.”
“That’s right,” Rangi told her. “Weapons aren’t toys, and you need to be old enough to be able to handle them properly.”
Kirima laughed. “Cheer up, kid. Your mama didn’t even learn to fight with those things until she was sixteen.”
Koko sighed dramatically, and Kirima noted with amusement that she sounded just like Rangi. “But that’s…” She paused, thinking hard, and then gave up. “A really long time!”
“Where is Kyoshi, anyway?” Kirima asked Rangi. While she saw Wong nearby, spread-eagled on the ground and puffing as if he’d been chasing a certain someone around the garden, the Avatar was nowhere to be found.
“She’s inside, doing top-secret Avatar stuff,” Koko whispered importantly. “Mommy said that we shouldn’t bother her.”
Kirima exchanged a glance with Rangi. “Paperwork?”
“Paperwork,” Rangi agreed. “She’s been at it all day.”
“Well, then it sounds like I need to provide her with an efficient distraction,” Kirima said, ruffling Koko’s hair before making her way over to the house. “See you in a bit, gremlin. Topknot.”
“Bye!” Kirima heard Koko call as she also got a half-hearted grumble from Rangi. “Stop calling me that.”
******
Kirima had never said so, but she was glad that Kyoshi and Rangi had left that spirits-forsaken mansion when they’d taken Koko in.
Don’t get her wrong, the place was certainly impressive (and fun to rob), but it was too much for only a few people to handle and it had fallen into disrepair. The place gave off a vaguely haunted and run-down air that Kirima didn’t think was exactly conducive in raising a healthy and well-adjusted child. Kyoshi and Rangi had obviously felt the same, citing a need to “let the past rest and give Koko the fresh start she deserves”.
Their new house was much smaller, but it felt like a home in a way that the mansion had never achieved. It was cozy, with toys and knick-knacks everywhere, and still enough space for the Flying Opera Company’s foremost members to stay comfortably in when they chose to visit.
Kirima traveled up the stairs to the shut door that she knew to be Kyoshi and Rangi’s room, and rapped gently on the smooth wood. “Knock, knock?”
“Come in!” she heard Kyoshi call from within.
Kirima pushed open the door and leaned on the frame with her arms crossed and a smirk firmly affixed on her face. “Hey, sister. Long time no see.”
Kyoshi whipped her head up from her papers, eyes wide. “Kirima! It’s great to see you. I’m—” She gestured helplessly at her overflowing desk, “a little busy right now, but feel free to, uh, make yourself comfortable?”
Kirima barked out a laugh, striding over to plop herself onto the bed with her arms behind her head. “You don’t have to tell me twice. Damn, you would not believe the kind of idiots that hang around in Qinchao.”
“I think I can imagine,” Kyoshi muttered distractedly, scribbling away at one of those letters.
Kirima studied her more closely. Rangi had said that Kyoshi had been at her work all day, and she could see the signs now that she was really looking at her. Her shoulders carried what seemed to be a week’s worth of tension, and there was a furrow between her eyebrows that looked as deep as the Great Divide. Kirima wondered if she’d eaten anything all day. She’d have to find some way to pull Kyoshi away from those awful official documents.
They sat in silence for a while. Kyoshi continued to scribble away with her writing, while Kirima wondered what she could possibly say to grab Kyoshi’s attention when she was in full fixation mode. She cast around for a while before she heard Koko’s happy shouting from below. An idea for a topic popped into her head.
Bonus points for it being something that she had been vaguely meaning to talk to Kyoshi about for ages.
“Do you ever regret it?” Kirima asked suddenly, stretching her legs out to get more comfortable.
Kyoshi glanced up briefly from the letters she had been poring over, her face scrunched in confusion, before returning to her work. “I think you’re going to have to be more specific than that. I’ve done quite a few things that I regret.”
Kirima let out a short laugh, even though she knew that Kyoshi wasn’t trying to be funny. “Becoming a daofei,” she clarified. “Joining the Flying Opera Company, tying yourself to a group of criminals. Associating yourself with those who most people think of as ‘the scum of the earth’.”
Kyoshi finally abandoned her papers to look at Kirima with a frown. “Why do you think that I would regret it?”
Kirima snorted and sat up, mussing up the covers on the bed. “Look, Avatar Kyoshi. We all know that you’ve acquired something of a…reputation in these last few years.” Kyoshi gave her a rueful smile. It was true, after all. “But you do realize that part of that could have been avoided if you didn’t work with us? If your vows allowed you to work with the law?”
Kyoshi shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t really think about it all that much.” When Kirima raised an eyebrow at her skeptically, she raised her hands up in mock surrender. “I’m serious! Taking the vows and becoming a member of the Flying Opera Company was one of the very first things I did after learning that I was the Avatar. The rules that come with being a daofei have been my reality for so long that I don’t really even register it anymore.”
“But would you take it back? If you could?” Kirima pressed.
Kyoshi considered her question quietly for a while, Kirima absentmindedly fiddling with her long braid. Everything was quiet except for the sounds of Koko’s delighted squealing outside.
“No,” she finally said. “I wouldn’t. The Flying Opera Company is my family. I’m so lucky to have gotten a third chance at having one, and I wouldn't trade what we have for anything.”
Kirima grinned. “No need to get sappy on me, Avatar.”
Kyoshi rolled her eyes as she turned to look at Kirima again. “What brought this on, anyway? You’re not usually one for the soul-searching questions.”
Well, she was right about that one. “Just trying to give you a break from your work, is all.”
Kyoshi narrowed her eyes at her, the stern look in her gaze seeming to say, I know you better than that. Now be serious for once.
Kirima sighed, realizing that she had better be honest. “I guess it was…seeing you with Koko, and how protective you and Topknot are of her. You’re both not exactly popular with many groups of people—you especially—and I’m sure being a daofei doesn’t help with any danger Koko might be in.” She paused and made direct eye contact with Kyoshi. “You said before that we’re your family, and we feel the same about all of you. We would do anything to keep Koko safe, and if that meant you and Rangi cutting ties with the Flying Opera Company…we’d understand. Hell, we’d probably even encourage it.”
“Rangi and I discussed every possible outcome that we could think of before we officially took Koko in,” Kyoshi told her. “If we had decided that my connections to the daofei posed a threat to her in any way, I would have left, even if it meant breaking my vows.” She took a deep breath. “But trust me when I say that I would have missed all of you every day. You really do mean a lot to me. And we decided…Koko shouldn’t have to grow up the way we did. She deserves more family than just her mothers. We couldn’t think of a better one than the one we already had.”
That brought out a soft smile on Kirima’s face. “I don’t really do this often, but…thank you. I know that you don’t have much affection for your parents, but hearing this…it means a lot coming from the daughter of Jesa and Hark.”
Kyoshi dipped her head. “I only hope that I do better for Koko than they did for me.”
Kirima laughed. “Are you kidding? You two are some of the best parents I’ve ever met!”
Kyoshi looked over at her and grinned. “That’s Rangi’s side of the bed, by the way. Don’t let her catch you there.”
“Eh, what Topknot doesn’t know won’t kill her,” Kirima shrugged. “Besides, she’s busy with that gremlin of yours.” Maybe the gentle prod would remind Kyoshi of something she’d rather be paying attention to.
“In that case,” Kyoshi tossed one final glance at her pile of papers, but apparently decided to ignore them for the time being, “we’d better go and rescue her, don’t you think?”
Success! Kirima swung herself smoothly up and off the bed, where the covers were now successfully rumpled. She smirked, picturing Rangi’s face when she found it later. “I’m always up for a rescue mission.”
When they made their way outside, Koko launched herself into Kyoshi’s arms with a high-pitched shout of “Mama!” Rangi followed close behind, giving Kyoshi a quick kiss as Koko giggled between them.
“Are you alright?” she asked, just loud enough for Kirima to hear.
Kyoshi leaned down to peck Rangi on the top of her head, and then did the same with Koko. “We are.”
As Wong joined their little group, Kirima looked around at everyone gathered there and decided that Kyoshi had been right.
There really was no better family than the one they were lucky enough to have found.