TLOK Kyalin Oneshots NEW

When We Were Kids

Lin had just turned sixteen, she blushed as her friends sat around the table, singing happy birthday to her. She blew out the candles when they finished, relieved that there were no candles lit after her first blow.
"So Lin, what do you want to do next?" Katara asked. Lin appreciated Katara's caring spirit, Lin and Su's mother- Toph- was always busy at work, and Katara had taken it upon herself to throw Lin a party.
"Um I don't know? Games I guess."
"Oh Lin, so modest, the presents are over by Gyatsu Tree. Go on, I'll get the camera." Lin smiled wide as Tenzin and Su surrounded her, excitable looks on their faces. Per request Lin opened Tenzin's first, it was a set of iron cables, but smaller, similar to the ones her mom used on the force.
"I know they're not the same thing," Tenzin said shyly, "but these were the best I could get t your mom to sell me." Lin smiled and wrapped Tenzin in a hug.
"They're perfect," she said into his ear. Tenzin pulled away, Blushing.
"Who's this from?" Lin asked, picking up a small blue gift bag.
"It's from me." Lin turned to look at who's voice had spoken, she saw Kya, beautiful 19 year old Kya who looked so much like her mother in this setting. Lin smiled softly and took the paper out of the bag. In it was an envelope and small box tied with a bow. She opened the envelope first, as that was the standard in these cases. The card read;
To Lin Beifong
I'm sorry you can't open this now, but believe me it's worth the wait. When I tell you, you can open the box.
Lin moved the box in her fingers, she was curious no doubt, but with Kya watching she didn't want to open it.
"Thank you Kya," Lin said, getting up to hug the older girl. She embraced her for a little longer than anticipated, taking time to get the scent of her hair, it always smelled of the ocean. Lin continued un wrapping the last few presents, saying her thank you sand passing out hugs to those who wanted one. She gathered all the gifts in one bag and they returned to to the temple on the island where they could finally dig into that cake. If it was anything like Katara's pies she knew it would be good.

It didn't take long for there to be a disaster, just as Lin sat down, a piece of cake in front of her, Su decided that slamming Lin's face into her food was a good idea.
"Shit! Su what the hell?" Su reeled over in her chair, hysterical. Lin put her hands to her face, wincing when she saw the blood on her hands after rubbing her nose. "Su look what you did." Lin lifted her foot and kicked Su as hard as she could, sending the twelve- year old to the floor. Su landed with a thud and began an immediate dramatic discharge of tears. Katara rushes to Su's side, trying to silence the crying.
"Kya," Katara sighed in frustration, "can you take Lin upstairs to clean up?" Lin held her nostrils together and followed Kya up the stairs, she tried to ignore Tenzin's look of pity as she went, but he was pretty hard to miss. Kya told Lin to take a seat on the sink and Lin did what she asked. Kya took some paper towel and gently pried Lin's hands from her nose, and holding the towel there while she used her water bending to heal the injury.
"Is it broken," Lin asked, her voice muffled.
"No, I think it just got bumped hard enough. Does it hurt?"
"A little, nothing I'm not used to."
"What do you mean like that? Do you hurt your nose often?"
"Not my nose specifically, but all over, mostly because of Su. I swear one day that kid is going to hurt me beyond repair. "
"You'll forgive her."
"I don't know, today was a new low, even for her." Kya smiled and she dabbed Lin's face with a wet cloth, cleaning up the blood that covered it. Lin felt a change in the room's aura, and suddenly she remembered the note Kya had given her. Attempting to remove herself from the situation Lin began to slide off the counter, but Kya caught her by the arm.
"What are you doing?" Kya asked.
"I can probably do this part myself."
"I don't mind, really. It's your birthday it already sucks this happened in the first place." Lin gulped as she made eye contact with Kya. She had this feeling inside of her, something familiar but stronger than before. Blood rushes to her cheeks as she gently lowered her arm and Kya let go. They stared at each other intently, Lin focusing on Kya's ocean blue eyes, and Kya on Lin's emerald ones. Kya felt her breathing intensify and she pushed herself closer to Lin, if that was possible. She stood in between Lin's legs, and Lin stared at her in awe and confusion. Kya was used to these feelings, the heat her face would get when she stood to close to a girl at school, or the dreams she'd have about avatar Kyoshi. But this was different, it was surreal. And although she had accepted at least a part of sexuality this caught her by surprise.
"Lin..." Kya said. Lin expected to hear the words, but instead Kya leaned forward and pushed her face to Lin's, kissing her passionately. Lin used her hand to grip Kya on the back of the head as she returned the gesture. The kisses came in short bursts, with quick heavy breaths between them. Just as quickly as the kiss started, it ended, and Lin hopped off the counter.  "Lin wait," Kya called, causing Lin to stop in the doorway.
"I don't know if I can do this Kya. It's too much for me. "
"We can do this together, you don't have to do it alone!" Lin sighed and turned away from Kya.
"I think you have some stuff to figure out," Lin said quietly, before leaving Kya alone with those words. Something about those words stuck, they hurt her. Not three days later Kya had her things packed up and ready to go, the world was out there waiting for her, and with it the answers to her questions. Lin Beifong returned downstairs, Tenzin cut her a new slice of cake and they ate it together, side by side. When he grabbed her hand under the table she blushed not with embarrassment, but with frustration. How dare Kya make her feel this way. What was she supposed to do with the knowledge of that kiss? Perhaps it was to convince herself of something, but when Tenzin asked her out two years later Lin said yes, as for the box, it ended up in Lin's nightstand, where it still sits, waiting for the sign.