Avatar: The Fifth Element

19. Past Tense

1 Year Ago

"The name's Kaito by the way, and you are?"

"Rumi, I came from Ba Sing Se."

Kaito nodded, and glanced down at her gaping cut on her neck. He then tore off some fabric from his sleeve, and walked up to her. "May I?"

Rumi hesitantly obliged, but the second he put pressure, Rumi yelped at his touch and sent Kaito flying back with a jolt of energy.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, still wincing in pain.

Kaito looked up at her, intrigued. "What kind of bending is that?!"

Rumi's head dropped, "I don't know exactly... it's some fifth element, ether, void, whatever."

"It's amazing! I gotta take you to Osamu!"

With that, Kaito grabbed Rumi's wrist and led her into the village. The two stayed along the outskirts as to stay out of sight, until the finally got to what was probably the biggest house in the village.

A towering firebender answered the door, who was soon introduced as Osamu, the village leader.

Kaito was quick to dive into the explanation of Rumi's bending ability, expressing how he thought it would be amazing if they could train her to be insanely powerful. Osamu listened in dismay, wary of Kaito's obsessive interest in Rumi's ability.

Osamu noticed how Rumi seemed to shrink as Kaito went on and on, his eyes glistening.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Osamu brought Kaito to a halt. "This all sounds extremely dangerous, we don't know what could happen. I think for now, we should keep Rumi's powers hidden from everyone else, I don't want to worry the villagers."

Kaito was outraged, to say the least. Even Rumi was taken aback. After everything she had been through, people being scared of her wasn't something she needed. She had only wished that people could just trust her. Even this big, strong firebender was obviously weary of her.

After a bit of back and forth yelling from Kaito and Osamu, Kaito grasped onto Rumi's hand, "Let's go." he said sternly, pulling her out.

Making sure to keep her hidden, Kaito brought Rumi to his house. It was then that they decided to train her after dark, deep in the forest. It did, however, take some convincing on Kaito's part. After what Rumi went through with her parents, part of her never wanted to feel angry again, but that would be unavoidable. She was an angry person, full of guilt and regret, even hatred.

It was easy for Kaito to use these things to his advantage. He had told her that no one would ever trust her, and if they were going to fear her, then she should just lean into that. Give them what they think she is.

Kaito was power-hungry, and he wanted to be by Rumi's side through it all. He'd never admit that he feared her as well, and he did a good job at hiding it; praising her, loving her.

With the start of her training, the falling stars came. As she got stronger, they got worse. But strength didn't necessarily mean control. She had no control, and because of that, the scars started appearing. Kaito insisted she cover them, or else people would start questioning things.

Rumi, of course, obliged, as she didn't want people knowing what she was capable of either. She had finally found friendship in Chou and Siku, and sometimes—if she forgot about her secret—she felt normal, happy even.

At times, she didn't want to train, especially when she had good days, but Kaito wouldn't have it. He threatened to out her identity if she ever disobeyed him, and she just couldn't have that. Not yet, not when she developed a life there.

Through their training, Kaito realized the key to her most powerful state, was anger. He became very good at triggering her emotions to use them to his advantage. He needed to, because to Kaito, Rumi's strength was his, as long as he could control her.

Throughout this time, both Osamu and Kaito consulted Nima, the village elder, individually. Osamu, to learn what could be done to help the etherbender, and Kaito, to find the extent of her powers. Neither of them outed Rumi's identity though.

Both Osamu and Nima has warned Kaito that he was dealing with a dangerous weapon, an explosive one at that, but Kaito was resistant to their concerns. Nearly every night he pushed Rumi farther and farther to the edge of her abilities, and even when she collapsed from shear exhaustion, Kaito wouldn't let up. He only grew more and more frustrated with her.

The cherry on top of Kaito's aggravation came when Zuko arrived with the Avatar. It terrified Kaito, and he had only hoped he could get Rumi strong enough to fight Aang. But when Rumi became closer to them, she resisted training, becoming more independent.

Kaito has noticed that Zuko had eyes for Rumi. Due to that, on the nights Rumi did train, her bending was becoming more fluid and controlled, with less raw power. Her scars were healing.

It pushed Kaito over the edge when she left to Ba Sing Se. The night before, he had trained her so hard, and that caused the meteorite to hit. He used her parents against her, convincing Rumi they deserved it.

When she left, Kaito panicked. He had lost control of her, and he used the only trick he had left up his sleeve. He had to turn the village against her. If he couldn't have her—her power, that is—no one could. He had to be rid of her.

-

A/N ~ there's a bit of Kaito and Rumi backstory for y'all, i hope ya liked it!
i've also started a new fanfiction, a Blue Exorcist one. i recently saw the Anime and i fell in love with it, planning on reading the manga soon. so if anyone likes blue exorcist, be sure to wait for me to publish that!
another thing i was thinking of doing is a Oneshots book, just for various fandoms that i'm in. i'd take requests n everything. i think it would be a good thing to do to expand my writing capability
anywayssss, remember to vote/comment/share! i'm loving the attention this story is getting, thank you!!
—Blaise⚡️