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“Hey, how are you feeling?”
The girl in the long blue coat stood at the tent’s entrance.
“Better, thank you. It was Katara right?” Karai sat up to greet her visitor. Bandages wrapped around her torso and arms. Her legs showed none of the damage dealt to what was formerly her tail.
“That’s me.” Katara entered, sitting down next to her cot. “I’m sorry you got this beat up. It was the only way we could-”
“Don’t apologize,” the other girl cut her off, “it’s not my first time. Plus, your brother patched me up pretty well. Although he was quite…talkative.”
“Yeah sorry, he can be like that.” Katara laughed. “Hey, I wanted to ask, Leo seems to really care about you, but his brothers…”
“Don’t like me.”
“I-I didn’t mean it like that I just-”
“It’s fine. My relationship with them is…complicated.”
“Are you and Leo-”
“Together?”
Katara nodded.
Karai sighed, “it’s complicated.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to push. I was just curious.” The tan-skinned girl chuckled nervously.
Karai always felt like it was easier just to call it “complicated” than try to un-complicate whatever was going on between her and Leo. She truly had no reason to open up to this girl, and yet something inside her made her desperately want to. She closed her eyes and just let herself talk.
“My dad was the leader of an evil organization, deadset on killing the turtles and their master. I thought I could use and manipulate Leo, but then somehow I ended up catching feelings. I then came to find out that the man who raised me wasn’t actually my dad, but my uncle. My real dad is the turtle’s master, and he thought that I was dead. He welcomed me with open arms, but the other guys never fully trusted me. And obviously things got weird between me and Leo because…y’know. Also, at some point, I got turned into a snake mutant and tried to kill them again.”
She opened her eyes again to see Katara, wide-eyed and mouth agape. She laughed at the sight.
“...Wow. That sounds…”
“Complicated?”
“Yeah.”
Karai snorted. “I don’t really feel that way for him anymore. I still care, but it’s not anything romantic.”
Katara rubbed the back of her neck, trying to laugh along. “So… this wasn’t your first time as a snake monster?”
“Nope.”
“Must’ve been painful."
“Yeah, well, that's the consequence of coming into contact with mutagen. Turned the guys from regular old pet store turtles into humanoid ninjas and turned me into a snake.”
“Mutagen?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Katara laughed. Karai found herself smiling at her. She tried adjusting her position when she felt a sharp pain in her side. She let out a pained grunt.
“Shoot, one of your wounds must’ve reopened. Here, hold still.”
Karai watched as Katara waved her arms. Water floated from out of her pouch and over to where Karai felt pain. The pain subsided almost immediately.
She could only watch in amazement as Katara moved the water around her body. Her injuries vanished from her skin.
“It’s a form of waterbending. Great for healing.” Katara answered the question in the other’s mind.
“Waterbending, huh. Is it something that can be taught?”
Katara shook her head. “No, some people in my world are born with bending, and others, like my brother, are not.”
“Huh, interesting.”
Katara hesitated for a moment before continuing to speak. “All the waterbenders in my tribe were massacred by the Fire Nation. When I was a kid, my bending abilities appeared, and somehow the Fire Nation found out. There was a raid, and my mom claimed she was the waterbender to protect me, and then they killed her.”
Karai was stunned for a moment. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“Thanks”, Katara smiled at her, “you shared your story so I thought it would only be right to share mine.”
Karai let out a soft “hm”. Before she could say anything, Katara interrupted.
“There! All finished! How do you feel?”
“Better, definitely.” Karai moved to unwrap one of the bandages on her arm. Underneath, the wound was fully healed, as if it had never been there to begin with.
“Wow…” She turned back to face the other. “Thank you,” she smiled.
“Of course”, Katara smiled back.
Karai wasn’t sure how long they were talking for. She also didn’t notice that they’d gotten closer until Katara was fully leaning over her. Hand pressed on her stomach. She could feel her breath against her lips. Something inside her made her want to close her eyes and lean in closer-
“We’re back!” A voice announced, swinging open the tent’s entrance.
Katara jumped back. The two could now see Sokka and Leo coming in, both with arms full of ingredients from the realms on the other side of the portal.
“We got the ingredients for the healing po- oh, looks like Katara already healed you. Well, there's no harm in having one anyway. It’ll probably be needed in the future.” Sokka rambled on, turning back around to start working on his potion.
Leo, on the other hand, moved closer to them.
“How are you?”
“Fine.” Karai snapped at him.
Leo looked surprised by the sudden hostility. “Are you sure? Do you need-”
“It’s fine, I took care of everything.” Katara cut him off.
“...alright. If you don’t need anything then I’m going back to check on everyone else.”
Katara nodded while Karai rolled her eyes. With that, Leo exited the tent, leaving the two alone again.
The two sat in silence for a bit, neither sure of what to say. Finally, Katara stood up.
“I’ll let you rest now”, she said as she turned to leave.
“Wait!” Karai called.
Katara turned back around to face her.
Karai wasn’t sure what she wanted to say. Her voice seemed to catch in her throat. The only thing she could muster was “thanks, again”.
“Of course", Katara smiled at her again, “that’s what friends are for.”
“...Yeah,” friends.