[aragaki takeshi]
BENT
by daisy_chan
Fusion with Avatar: the Last Airbender
To say that Akira was a Pai Sho master would be entirely inaccurate.
One could surmise he was adept for his position on the eternal path, within the great circle of the four elements, but only fools and army lords measured strength by wins. There was no loss or win, just shifts- further or closer to an ultimate, unreachable goal.
Akira closed his eyes and breathed in a slow, calming breath, seeing the words etched before him in smooth, certain calligraphy. This, Avatar Sai had written once, was the way to where everything and nothing met. This was the Hand of the Avatar.
Akira's father said the key was wisdom and skill, earned through successes and failures, observation, and hard work. Things would come to be as they were meant to. Forcing time and becoming idle only wrought failure. Akira bowed low and thanked his father for the game.
Patience, his mother had instructed him over a cup of Jasmine, was like brewing tea, precariously exact in its monotony. Akira was not sure he accepted this analogy, particularly when his mother added marshmallows to his cup, but nodded respectfully and considered it anyway.
King Kuwabara laughed and told him that Pai Sho was a game for two. For all his self discipline and study, he could not truly begin until someone sat across the board from him. Akira frowned, inclining his head in acknowledgment, but not assent. An opponent might be needed to play, but Akira's progression would be an individual endeavor. Otherwise, the focus would be lost.
Akira had been told that earthbending was a gift, one that should be honed just as diligently as his Pai Sho, for it had chosen him from birth. His father said nothing on the subject to justify or refute these claims, only nodded approvingly during Sifu Ogata's positive, drawling reports on Akira's progress.
From his bedroom, Akira viewed the city below in crisp 19 by 19 lines, the people insolent pieces that rearranged at will in reckless and often illegal moves. It seemed impossible and meaningless to try to understand the plight of the commoners below, but if Pai Sho was everything, this too was a part of his journey, however tedious.
Akira sighed and bent the wall to fold in around the self-made window, turning his back on the dull, even surface, leaving it for future study. The ground seemed tense in anticipation lately, almost teeming with a knowing that Akira's proficiency was eons from dissecting. He sat at his desk, covered with careful piles of charts and scrolls, and opened to a favorite passage in Avatar Sai's memoirs.
Whatever was coming, Akira would be waiting.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"SHINDOU!" Waya screeched from his position below a massive maple oak tree. "Get down here, you ramen stealing freak!"
Shindou grinned around a mouthful of noodles, making no room to comply. He settled himself more comfortably against the tree trunk, his feet anchored around a thick branch, and admired the clear view the tree top provided of Omashu.
"I don't care what sort of deal your crazy bleached hair monks made with Fire Lord Morishita. All pledges of protection are void until I've had my goddamn breakfast!"
Isumi sighed from beside the fire, choosing to ignore Waya's increasingly shrill ranting as giant acorns began to assault him from above. From the corner of his eye, Isumi saw Waya lunge at the tree and fail haphazardly to scramble up to Shindou. He absently added a few more bits of herbs he'd managed to find during their trek through the forest, in the vain hope that their breakfast would taste a little more like soup and a little less like boiled water with weeds in it.
They were lucky their provisions had stretched this far as it was, especially after the incident in the labyrinth. Isumi still didn't understand how the riddle "love will lead the way" had convinced Waya and Shindou to tie a group of nomadic hippies together and roll them down the passages until they hit the other side of the mountain. It was only due to the badgermoles mistaking Waya's hair for a distant relative that they managed to escape at all.
With any lucky (and from their experiences thus far, Isumi had very little faith), they would easily reach Omashu before sunset. Isumi curled his index finger, sending the pathetic soup to mix itself in the pot, and sought the wisdom of Avatars past to guide them.
That, of course, was when Waya set fire to the tree.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Considering they'd been the cause of the largest forest fire in five decades, King Kuwabara was surprisingly welcoming. When the patrol of guards dumped the three of them unceremoniously before his thrown, Kuwabara had merely cackled in amusement as Waya whined piteously about his head.
The Earth King leeringly asked Hikaru if he'd care for a game of Pai Sho and Hikaru only had to pause a moment before grinning. He knew someone who did.
Strictly speaking, the connection between current and past Avatars was meant for rare use, as a method to guide or assist- not an outlet for dead men's last regrets. But Sai was only strict with Pai Sho and Hikaru with food, so neither paid much mind to silly things like tradition or propriety. Besides, Hikaru thought fondly as he was instructed with the next move, Sai was sort of crazy like that. Though calm as a cool spring, solid as a mountain, and free as a light breeze, Sai's unyielding passion was definitely that of a fire bender.
Hikaru supposed that's what they meant about the Avatar being a balance between all the elements. He frowned and placed the white stone as he was told, brilliantly sidestepping Kuwabara's trap.
There was a crowd around them by then, nobles and dignitaries and local elites, and they all witnessed the black stones on the right side die an abrupt death. Kuwabara took a long drag from his pipe, grinned toothily at Hikaru, and exhaled a smoke ring in his face. "What brings you to Omashu, Avatar Hikaru?"
Feeling like he'd passed some sort of test, Hikaru sat up straighter, ignoring Sai moaning for their suspended game. "To learn earthbending, your majesty," Hikaru dutifully reported.
Kuwabara raised an eyebrow, furry and unkempt enough to be a white caterpillarworm. "Starting a bit late, aren't you kiddo?"
Hikaru squirmed a little in his chair in embarrassment. "I got distracted."
At some point the servant had brought out platters of food and Waya paused in his epic mission to shove as many onigiri into his mouth at once as possible. "I heard you rolled a giant ball of air around, picking up stuff until it got so big, it flattened an Earth Kingdom village, and the monks kicked you out of the Air Temple."
Isumi blinked. "I thought you rode a wind glider so far that you passed over into the Spirit World and had to complete seven tasks before they'd let you back into the physical world."
"The man from the cabbage shall in the market told me the Avatar was frozen in a giant block of ice that wouldn't melt for another hundred years!"
From there, the stories from the audience became more and more ludicrous.
Through the din, a boy about Hikaru's age silently approached to study the board closer. He was wearing a lavender tunic and seemed visibly unimpressed with Hikaru's mythology, which endeared him immediately to Hikaru.
His eyes were sharp and thoughtful, as though he was playing the game over entirely in his head, dissecting it move by move. The boy rested his hand on the board, fingers carefully brushing the white stone Hikaru had placed first. "A beautiful game."
A stern man next to the boy made a low noise of agreement and Kuwabara leaned back, smoking contently. "Avatar Hikaru, this is Governor Touya and his son Akira."
They exchanged polite bows and greetings, Akira's eyes piercingly intent throughout.
Hikaru self-consciously picked a half burnt leaf out of his hair.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Hikaru was getting really sick of looking up at Akira from the flat of his back.
Not that it was a terribly unpleasant sight, but Akira's eyes had lost their interest days ago when he'd found out Hikaru wasn't the one playing Pai Sho at all.
Hikaru gritted his teeth. It wasn't his fault Sai was twenty ways to insane, and that he didn't have any real interest in exploring his own talent. Pai Sho was just something to do. Akira didn't have to get so snippy about it.
And if Hikaru was completely honest with himself, he sort of missed having Akira stalk him all over the castle with that determined fervor, demanding a game from him every time their paths purposely crossed. The disappointment on Akira's face had been obvious when he found out it had Sai all along. Hikaru felt inexplicably guilty. He hadn't meant to deceive Akira, but their interactions had been noticeably chilled ever since.
It really hadn't helped when King Kuwabara had insisted that Akira be the one to teach Hikaru earthbending.
"That wasn't right either," Akira informed him unhelpfully, as Hikaru struggled to his feet. "You need to hold your ground and stay firm. Don't think about redirecting, just stopping."
"It's a little difficult to think about anything when there's a giant rock flying at my head," Hikaru complained. He rubbed his butt mournfully, wondering how much longer this would keep up. "I only just worked out moving earth yesterday. Still pretty fast, considering."
"You're the Avatar." Akira seemed to think he needed to be reminded of this several times a day. Or perhaps he was just reminding himself. "You've practiced the art of earthbending since its inception."
Indignation rushed through him. Double standards had been swinging out of Hikaru's favor his whole life, but he wasn't about to hear it from someone his own age. "It's not exactly easy, you know."
"It's not supposed to be easy," Akira was advancing on him, his cheeks blotched red. "It's supposed to be right."
Hikaru rolled his eyes. Akira actually said that like he believed it.
He was surprised when he felt something clamp down on his hips and yelped when he realized it was Akira's hands. Hikaru fought to keep down the blush that he felt creeping up to the tips of his ears.
"Your stance is all wrong," Akira told him, obliviously. "You need to spread your legs more and let the movement flow through your waist."
They were not having this conversation.
"Look." Hikaru pushed Akira's hands off of him and took a step back. "Look, I know you don't want to be here either, but we're sort of stuck together, so just bear with me. I'll get it eventually."
Akira frowned down at his hands. "You're trying to force it. If you'd simply feel through the energies, your bending would instinctively resurface."
"I'm concentrating as hard as-" Hikaru cut off when a sharp stone came careening towards his shoulder. With a shout, he held out his palm to shield himself, bending a ten foot tall wall from the ground below. The stone knocked into it and rolled to the ground with a soft 'plunk.'
"Well," Akira assessed, walking around the barrier, "that was slightly better."
Hikaru glared, not missing the upwards twitch of Akira's lips, and fought back his own smile.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Hikaru held fast to Akira's elbow as they passed each other in the hallway, refusing to let it end with the usual cold nod.
"Play me," Hikaru insisted.
Akira quirked an eyebrow dubiously, but met his stare evenly. "You?"
"Me," Hikaru said firmly.
Eventually Akira nodded and swept away to continue down the corridor, leaving Hikaru uncertain but exhilarated.
After sixteen years of dithering, he'd found something worth tapping into his sea of resolve.
*~*~*~*~*~*
The earthbending lessons had gotten slightly better, perhaps, to the point where Akira no longer regularly threatened his life with flying projectiles and Hikaru was able to pull the upper hand on occasion. It was when Akira started to demand games again that Hikaru realized he had, at some point, gained Akira's respect. Pai Sho itself was becoming less of a question and more of an expectation. Hikaru wasn't sure what to think about that.
For Hikaru, Akira was the greatest challenge of his life, and one that he'd actually chosen for himself. And that was somehow significant.
He wasn't anywhere near Akira's level yet, but it was a difference in time, not strength, and Hikaru found himself looking forward to a lifetime of chasing Akira, and of being chased in turn. When he'd mentioned this aloud, Akira had given him a rare smile and mused that maybe Hikaru wasn't hopeless after all.
"Tell me about the Hand of the Avatar," Akira requested out of nowhere one day, calmly placing a stone as if he hadn't just asked Hikaru to shed light on one of the world's greatest mysteries.
Hikaru rolled his eyes and answered with a stone of his own. "What about it?"
"Avatar Sai often wrote about it. The ultimate move that embodies the harmony between the four elements, the end to a perfect, complete game." Akira was looking up at Hikaru from under his straight, black fringe and Hikaru couldn't remember whose turn it was.
"Sai thinks a lot of crazy things," Hikaru tried and failed to sound blasé, hoping Akira wouldn't notice the blush marking his cheeks. "To play a perfect move in a perfect game, the guy would have to be really good."
"Guys, you mean."
"Hm?" Hikaru responded intelligently, distracted by Akira purposely brushing Hikaru's shin with his sandal.
"After all," Akira continued wisely, "Pai Sho is a game for two."
Hikaru grinned in agreement and took the next step forward.
by daisy_chan
Fusion with Avatar: the Last Airbender
To say that Akira was a Pai Sho master would be entirely inaccurate.
One could surmise he was adept for his position on the eternal path, within the great circle of the four elements, but only fools and army lords measured strength by wins. There was no loss or win, just shifts- further or closer to an ultimate, unreachable goal.
Akira closed his eyes and breathed in a slow, calming breath, seeing the words etched before him in smooth, certain calligraphy. This, Avatar Sai had written once, was the way to where everything and nothing met. This was the Hand of the Avatar.
Akira's father said the key was wisdom and skill, earned through successes and failures, observation, and hard work. Things would come to be as they were meant to. Forcing time and becoming idle only wrought failure. Akira bowed low and thanked his father for the game.
Patience, his mother had instructed him over a cup of Jasmine, was like brewing tea, precariously exact in its monotony. Akira was not sure he accepted this analogy, particularly when his mother added marshmallows to his cup, but nodded respectfully and considered it anyway.
King Kuwabara laughed and told him that Pai Sho was a game for two. For all his self discipline and study, he could not truly begin until someone sat across the board from him. Akira frowned, inclining his head in acknowledgment, but not assent. An opponent might be needed to play, but Akira's progression would be an individual endeavor. Otherwise, the focus would be lost.
Akira had been told that earthbending was a gift, one that should be honed just as diligently as his Pai Sho, for it had chosen him from birth. His father said nothing on the subject to justify or refute these claims, only nodded approvingly during Sifu Ogata's positive, drawling reports on Akira's progress.
From his bedroom, Akira viewed the city below in crisp 19 by 19 lines, the people insolent pieces that rearranged at will in reckless and often illegal moves. It seemed impossible and meaningless to try to understand the plight of the commoners below, but if Pai Sho was everything, this too was a part of his journey, however tedious.
Akira sighed and bent the wall to fold in around the self-made window, turning his back on the dull, even surface, leaving it for future study. The ground seemed tense in anticipation lately, almost teeming with a knowing that Akira's proficiency was eons from dissecting. He sat at his desk, covered with careful piles of charts and scrolls, and opened to a favorite passage in Avatar Sai's memoirs.
Whatever was coming, Akira would be waiting.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"SHINDOU!" Waya screeched from his position below a massive maple oak tree. "Get down here, you ramen stealing freak!"
Shindou grinned around a mouthful of noodles, making no room to comply. He settled himself more comfortably against the tree trunk, his feet anchored around a thick branch, and admired the clear view the tree top provided of Omashu.
"I don't care what sort of deal your crazy bleached hair monks made with Fire Lord Morishita. All pledges of protection are void until I've had my goddamn breakfast!"
Isumi sighed from beside the fire, choosing to ignore Waya's increasingly shrill ranting as giant acorns began to assault him from above. From the corner of his eye, Isumi saw Waya lunge at the tree and fail haphazardly to scramble up to Shindou. He absently added a few more bits of herbs he'd managed to find during their trek through the forest, in the vain hope that their breakfast would taste a little more like soup and a little less like boiled water with weeds in it.
They were lucky their provisions had stretched this far as it was, especially after the incident in the labyrinth. Isumi still didn't understand how the riddle "love will lead the way" had convinced Waya and Shindou to tie a group of nomadic hippies together and roll them down the passages until they hit the other side of the mountain. It was only due to the badgermoles mistaking Waya's hair for a distant relative that they managed to escape at all.
With any lucky (and from their experiences thus far, Isumi had very little faith), they would easily reach Omashu before sunset. Isumi curled his index finger, sending the pathetic soup to mix itself in the pot, and sought the wisdom of Avatars past to guide them.
That, of course, was when Waya set fire to the tree.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Considering they'd been the cause of the largest forest fire in five decades, King Kuwabara was surprisingly welcoming. When the patrol of guards dumped the three of them unceremoniously before his thrown, Kuwabara had merely cackled in amusement as Waya whined piteously about his head.
The Earth King leeringly asked Hikaru if he'd care for a game of Pai Sho and Hikaru only had to pause a moment before grinning. He knew someone who did.
Strictly speaking, the connection between current and past Avatars was meant for rare use, as a method to guide or assist- not an outlet for dead men's last regrets. But Sai was only strict with Pai Sho and Hikaru with food, so neither paid much mind to silly things like tradition or propriety. Besides, Hikaru thought fondly as he was instructed with the next move, Sai was sort of crazy like that. Though calm as a cool spring, solid as a mountain, and free as a light breeze, Sai's unyielding passion was definitely that of a fire bender.
Hikaru supposed that's what they meant about the Avatar being a balance between all the elements. He frowned and placed the white stone as he was told, brilliantly sidestepping Kuwabara's trap.
There was a crowd around them by then, nobles and dignitaries and local elites, and they all witnessed the black stones on the right side die an abrupt death. Kuwabara took a long drag from his pipe, grinned toothily at Hikaru, and exhaled a smoke ring in his face. "What brings you to Omashu, Avatar Hikaru?"
Feeling like he'd passed some sort of test, Hikaru sat up straighter, ignoring Sai moaning for their suspended game. "To learn earthbending, your majesty," Hikaru dutifully reported.
Kuwabara raised an eyebrow, furry and unkempt enough to be a white caterpillarworm. "Starting a bit late, aren't you kiddo?"
Hikaru squirmed a little in his chair in embarrassment. "I got distracted."
At some point the servant had brought out platters of food and Waya paused in his epic mission to shove as many onigiri into his mouth at once as possible. "I heard you rolled a giant ball of air around, picking up stuff until it got so big, it flattened an Earth Kingdom village, and the monks kicked you out of the Air Temple."
Isumi blinked. "I thought you rode a wind glider so far that you passed over into the Spirit World and had to complete seven tasks before they'd let you back into the physical world."
"The man from the cabbage shall in the market told me the Avatar was frozen in a giant block of ice that wouldn't melt for another hundred years!"
From there, the stories from the audience became more and more ludicrous.
Through the din, a boy about Hikaru's age silently approached to study the board closer. He was wearing a lavender tunic and seemed visibly unimpressed with Hikaru's mythology, which endeared him immediately to Hikaru.
His eyes were sharp and thoughtful, as though he was playing the game over entirely in his head, dissecting it move by move. The boy rested his hand on the board, fingers carefully brushing the white stone Hikaru had placed first. "A beautiful game."
A stern man next to the boy made a low noise of agreement and Kuwabara leaned back, smoking contently. "Avatar Hikaru, this is Governor Touya and his son Akira."
They exchanged polite bows and greetings, Akira's eyes piercingly intent throughout.
Hikaru self-consciously picked a half burnt leaf out of his hair.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Hikaru was getting really sick of looking up at Akira from the flat of his back.
Not that it was a terribly unpleasant sight, but Akira's eyes had lost their interest days ago when he'd found out Hikaru wasn't the one playing Pai Sho at all.
Hikaru gritted his teeth. It wasn't his fault Sai was twenty ways to insane, and that he didn't have any real interest in exploring his own talent. Pai Sho was just something to do. Akira didn't have to get so snippy about it.
And if Hikaru was completely honest with himself, he sort of missed having Akira stalk him all over the castle with that determined fervor, demanding a game from him every time their paths purposely crossed. The disappointment on Akira's face had been obvious when he found out it had Sai all along. Hikaru felt inexplicably guilty. He hadn't meant to deceive Akira, but their interactions had been noticeably chilled ever since.
It really hadn't helped when King Kuwabara had insisted that Akira be the one to teach Hikaru earthbending.
"That wasn't right either," Akira informed him unhelpfully, as Hikaru struggled to his feet. "You need to hold your ground and stay firm. Don't think about redirecting, just stopping."
"It's a little difficult to think about anything when there's a giant rock flying at my head," Hikaru complained. He rubbed his butt mournfully, wondering how much longer this would keep up. "I only just worked out moving earth yesterday. Still pretty fast, considering."
"You're the Avatar." Akira seemed to think he needed to be reminded of this several times a day. Or perhaps he was just reminding himself. "You've practiced the art of earthbending since its inception."
Indignation rushed through him. Double standards had been swinging out of Hikaru's favor his whole life, but he wasn't about to hear it from someone his own age. "It's not exactly easy, you know."
"It's not supposed to be easy," Akira was advancing on him, his cheeks blotched red. "It's supposed to be right."
Hikaru rolled his eyes. Akira actually said that like he believed it.
He was surprised when he felt something clamp down on his hips and yelped when he realized it was Akira's hands. Hikaru fought to keep down the blush that he felt creeping up to the tips of his ears.
"Your stance is all wrong," Akira told him, obliviously. "You need to spread your legs more and let the movement flow through your waist."
They were not having this conversation.
"Look." Hikaru pushed Akira's hands off of him and took a step back. "Look, I know you don't want to be here either, but we're sort of stuck together, so just bear with me. I'll get it eventually."
Akira frowned down at his hands. "You're trying to force it. If you'd simply feel through the energies, your bending would instinctively resurface."
"I'm concentrating as hard as-" Hikaru cut off when a sharp stone came careening towards his shoulder. With a shout, he held out his palm to shield himself, bending a ten foot tall wall from the ground below. The stone knocked into it and rolled to the ground with a soft 'plunk.'
"Well," Akira assessed, walking around the barrier, "that was slightly better."
Hikaru glared, not missing the upwards twitch of Akira's lips, and fought back his own smile.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Hikaru held fast to Akira's elbow as they passed each other in the hallway, refusing to let it end with the usual cold nod.
"Play me," Hikaru insisted.
Akira quirked an eyebrow dubiously, but met his stare evenly. "You?"
"Me," Hikaru said firmly.
Eventually Akira nodded and swept away to continue down the corridor, leaving Hikaru uncertain but exhilarated.
After sixteen years of dithering, he'd found something worth tapping into his sea of resolve.
*~*~*~*~*~*
The earthbending lessons had gotten slightly better, perhaps, to the point where Akira no longer regularly threatened his life with flying projectiles and Hikaru was able to pull the upper hand on occasion. It was when Akira started to demand games again that Hikaru realized he had, at some point, gained Akira's respect. Pai Sho itself was becoming less of a question and more of an expectation. Hikaru wasn't sure what to think about that.
For Hikaru, Akira was the greatest challenge of his life, and one that he'd actually chosen for himself. And that was somehow significant.
He wasn't anywhere near Akira's level yet, but it was a difference in time, not strength, and Hikaru found himself looking forward to a lifetime of chasing Akira, and of being chased in turn. When he'd mentioned this aloud, Akira had given him a rare smile and mused that maybe Hikaru wasn't hopeless after all.
"Tell me about the Hand of the Avatar," Akira requested out of nowhere one day, calmly placing a stone as if he hadn't just asked Hikaru to shed light on one of the world's greatest mysteries.
Hikaru rolled his eyes and answered with a stone of his own. "What about it?"
"Avatar Sai often wrote about it. The ultimate move that embodies the harmony between the four elements, the end to a perfect, complete game." Akira was looking up at Hikaru from under his straight, black fringe and Hikaru couldn't remember whose turn it was.
"Sai thinks a lot of crazy things," Hikaru tried and failed to sound blasé, hoping Akira wouldn't notice the blush marking his cheeks. "To play a perfect move in a perfect game, the guy would have to be really good."
"Guys, you mean."
"Hm?" Hikaru responded intelligently, distracted by Akira purposely brushing Hikaru's shin with his sandal.
"After all," Akira continued wisely, "Pai Sho is a game for two."
Hikaru grinned in agreement and took the next step forward.