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Nya sees the scars by accident. It’s clear both by the way he reacts and how hard he’d tried to hide them that she was never meant to. Kai has always been like that, her whole life, for as long as she can remember. He hides things, it’s what he does. He buries and disguises his true feelings, and failing avoidance he resorts to anger. In short; he does not tell her or anyone else anything and does not do well with prying.
When Nya sees the scars, ugly burn scars that cover the back of Kai’s hands and continue up his forearms, she doesn’t really think anything. It’s like her brain stalls, like an engine. She hadn’t known he was in the bathroom, clearly having just gotten out of the shower, only a towel wrapped around his lower half, hair down around his shoulders, dripping. He gives her an affronted, shocked look, but she isn’t looking at his face. She’s looking at his arms.
“What the fuck?” he cries. He doesn’t even notice that those scars she’s now realizing he’s made a real effort to hide, bandages wrapped around his knuckles and up to his elbows, long sleeve shirts, are on display until he follows her horrified gaze. He goes white, then surges toward the door. “Get out! What the fuck-” He slams the door in her face and she hears the lock click.
She stands there for a moment, unsure what to do. Those scars looked bad, barely healed, and above all, painful. She turns away, turns back, raises a fist and opens her mouth like she’s going to say something, then leaves.
It’s not a surprise that their elemental powers come with some setbacks, she’s seen Jay’s scars first hand, and if Zane weren’t a robot he’d likely be missing fingers by now, but she hadn’t known that Kai was also affected. It is a little bit of a surprise that she didn’t know, though, because she really thought that she and Kai had turned a corner and he was opening up a little more.
She should’ve known better, in retrospect. Kai will never see her as his equal, he will always think of her as his little sister, his ward, that he needs to keep safe, even from the horrors of his own life.
If Nya were sensible, she’d walk away right now. Maybe go find Jay and tell him about what she’s seen, or sit and think for a while. But Nya is not that way, and in fact tends to take after her brother more than she would ever admit. So she stands against the wall as her fear and concern quickly turn into anger.
The door opens a few minutes later and Kai comes out, his hair in a towel and his arms beneath one of his long sleeve shirts. There’s a hole in them for his thumb, which allows maximum coverage. She sees that now.
“The bathroom’s all yours,” he says, exasperated. “You know there’s more than one in this place, right?” He’s trying for light, hoping she’ll ignore it. He knows better, though, and it’s obvious. She can see in his eyes, he’s not quite begging, more trying to gauge how she’s going to respond.
“What’s with your arms,” she accuses. Her tone is sharp, demanding, and he, predictably, becomes immediately defensive. His face goes hard and he glares at her.
“Nothing,” he says. He crosses those arms and tries to shove past her. “Don’t just open closed doors. You don’t get to walk in on people whenever you want.”
“Oh no, no no no, you’re not gonna turn this on me,” she spits, grabbing his forearm and yanking it away from his chest. “I thought we weren’t going to hide shit from each other anymore, hm?” He attempts to pull away but she doesn’t let him. Instead she rips at his sleeve until the fragile fabric holding it around his thumb rips and she can expose his skin. Sure enough, it’s tender and burnt, fresh pink in some places, old white in others. “How did this even happen?”
Kai is known to get physical when he gets mad or is pushed too far, but never once has he laid a hand on her outside of training, so, perhaps foolishly, she isn’t expecting him to shove her off. She loses her balance and falls back, and the towel comes loose from his hair. Nya has never really thought about how big her brother is until he’s standing above her, furious.
“It’s none of your fucking business!” he shouts. “It’s not a big deal, it’s not something that can be fixed, so leave it alone!” Jay and Cole both come skidding around the corner, likely drawn in by Kai’s volume. He glances at them, then back to his sister on the ground. He pales, looking very guilty, but only for a moment, because his face hardens again and he shoulders past Jay and Cole, stomping off to his room.
“First Master, Nya are you alright?” Jay asks, falling to his knees beside her. She’s not injured, nothing even hurts, just surprised.
“I’m fine,” she mumbles, pushing herself up.
“What was his problem?” Cole questions, gesturing over his shoulder.
“It doesn’t matter what it was,” Jay huffs, helping Nya to her feet. “He had no right to shove you! Or yell at you!” Nya swallows.
“No, he kinda did,” she says. “He didn’t really do anything wrong.” Jay doesn’t look at all like he believes her. “Leave him alone. I shouldn’t have talked to him the way I did.” She wants to tell them why he blew up, and ask them if they knew, but if they did not, and she outs Kai’s secret to more people, her chances of being forgiven or understood anytime soon will be completely squashed. “I’m gonna- I’m gonna try and talk to him.” Jay opens his mouth to protest, but she doesn’t let him. “Seriously, Jay, this is between us and it’s my fault.”
Begrudgingly, he allows her to leave. Nya has always wished her brother and her boyfriend could get along better, but perhaps she’ll have to settle for cordial.
Kai’s door is shut when she gets to it, and he does not open it when she knocks.
“Nya, you need to leave me alone,” he says. His voice is low, but choked, warning, but on the verge of tears.
“I want to apologize,” she insists. “You’re right, I shouldn’t have walked in on you, and I shouldn’t have tried to make you talk to me, either. That wasn’t fair.”
“...No, it wasn’t.”
“Right,” she agrees. “I want you to tell me why your arms are covered in burns, but if you don’t want to tell me… then you don’t have to.” It’s hard to say, because it feels incredibly important for her to know about it, but she should’ve known better from the start. If she wants to get anything out of Kai it must be on his terms. If he doesn’t feel ready, and therefore feels cornered and scared, he will lash out in an attempt to protect himself. She knew that. “It was just scary to see you all burnt and I had no idea.”
His footsteps pad quietly over to the door and open it. He’s wearing an undamaged shirt, arms hidden.
“It’s from my elemental powers. I don’t do it on purpose.” He crosses his arms again and very pointedly does not look at her face. “There’s nothing to be done about it.” Nya swallows.
“Do they hurt?” It’s barely a whisper, but Kai definitely hears it. He does not reply, which is answer enough. “Why didn’t you say anything? Do you get more every time you use your power?” Kai uses them more than anyone, which is probably why his arms look as though they’re made entirely of scar tissue.
“I didn’t say anything because it doesn’t matter,” he repeats. He does not respond to her second question, so she assumes it’s another yes. “Zane knows about it, and he gives me stuff to take care of them. I can’t just not use my powers.” Nya does not comment about Zane knowing, even if it hurts a little that Kai felt he could trust someone else but not her. And Kai is right, he can’t just stop, he’s needed a lot. He’s an essential member of their team.
“Ok,” she concedes. “Well, thank you for telling me.”
“Mhm,” he hums, still not looking at her.
“I really am sorry for ambushing you like that,” she continues. “I promise I won’t do it again. But I hope you know that you can always tell me anything. I won’t judge you.”
“I didn’t think you would,” Kai grumbles. “It’s just not important. It isn’t something worth telling.”
“It is to me,” she says, emphatically. “You hurting is something worth telling me. I want to know, always, even if there’s nothing I can do about it. I always want to know.”
“Fine,” Kai shrugs. “I will make sure to alert you next time I scrape my knee.” He’s being sarcastic, she knows that, but if he wants the conversation to end then this time she will allow it.
“I can’t wait to hear about it.” That gets a smile out of him, and he uncrosses his arms to pull her into his side. “Forgive me?”
“You’re forgiven,” he says into her hair. She smiles into his chest. She’s still worried, of course, but that desperation in her chest is quelled, knowing he’s alright.