This fic is also on my tumblr blog where my username is Kuno-chan and my blog name is Dragoness Ramblings.

Disclaimer: Legend of Korra belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko

One should always beware of keeping secrets because surely what's done in the dark will always come to the light.

The Diary

"Jinora? Jinora, we're home!"

Jinora's eyes snapped open. No way. No. That could not be her family already. They weren't supposed to be home until tonight.

She had to be dreaming. Oh Raava, this had to be a dream because her parents could not catch her boyfriend sleeping in her room. It wasn't the fact that he was in her room that was now raising a panic inside her. That could actually be dealt with in some difficult fashion. The problem was it could only be dealt with if somebody actually knew about him. As far as her family was concerned, Jinora didn't have a boyfriend let alone one who was fast asleep on her bed. Picking her head off of Kai's chest, she listened in just to see if her mind was playing some sick joke on her, but there was no doubt about the distinct voices coming from downstairs.

Why were they home so early? Did they even call? Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her cell phone light blinking. Snatching it off the nightstand, she looked at it. There were several missed calls from her parents and one text message from Ikki: Mom and Dad just picked us up. We'll be home in 20 minutes.

She let out a sharp gasp. This couldn't be happening. No, this could not be happening. Whipping around, she kneeled over Kai with her hands pushing in on his ribs.

"Kai! Kai, wake up!" she whispered furiously. He muttered something in his sleep, but didn't budge. "For goodness' sake, wake up!"

He only groaned and winced at the pressure she was applying on his ribs. "What is it?" he grogged. "Babe, that really hurts-"

"Jinora? Are you asleep?" A jolt of something like terror struck her heart. Spirits, they were getting closer to the stairs.

"N-no! I'll be down in a second! Just give me another minute! " she called.

They didn't have time for this. She buried her hands in the collar of his shirt and yanked him up to her level.

That certainly woke him up enough. "Hey-"

Looking him dead in the eye, she hissed. "My parents. Are home."

"What!?" he almost cried, leaping off the bed.

"Be quiet!" she shushed him frantically.

Kai looked around the room, half-disoriented and cursing the air blue as quietly as he could. He snatched up a black backpack and started throwing in whatever looked like his. "I thought you said they weren't supposed to be home until like ten o' clock tonight!?" he whispered.

"They weren't! They texted me about coming home early and I didn't see it because we fell asleep! You have to go right now!"

"I know! I'm trying, I'm trying!"

She unconsciously held a finger to her lips to shush him and couldn't stop herself from looking over her shoulder at the door. Were those footsteps she heard coming upstairs?

"You have to go! Now!"

"I'm trying! Let me get my stuff-"

Jinora could have cried in that moment, those footsteps sounded like they were getting so close. "Kai, please! Go! I'll get the rest and bring it to you tomorrow!"

"Jinora? What are you doing up there?"

He didn't seem to need anymore motivation after that. They both vaulted towards the window. She opened it up so hastily that it almost hit her head as she slid it up. When he was just outside, he twisted around to face her again "I'll call you later okay?"

"I'll have my phone on me. Now, please go? Before they come up here." Leaning her forehead against his, she pecked him on the lips and then again just for good luck. After making sure he got onto the ground safely, she shut the window and he was gone.

Without sparing a second thought, she rushed downstairs and nearly collided with her father. Tenzin Gyatso blinked at his daughter. "There you are," he said, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. "How was your studying, dear?"

"F-fine," she stammered a little at first then cleared her throat. "Got it all done. I even finished writing that big paper."

Not exactly a lie. Of course, she had finished that weeks ago though.

"That's wonderful. See, it's that type of dedication that's going to get you far in life. I'm just sorry we couldn't take you with us on our trip. The resort was really nice. I think you would've appreciated how peaceful it was."

Speaking of peaceful, she thought gloomily, thinking about the rather pleasant nap she and Kai had been taking just ten minutes ago.

"How come you're back so early?" she asked. "I thought you weren't supposed to be home until tonight?"

"Ah, your mother was worried about leaving Ikki and Meelo at their friend's houses for too long. I'll admit, so was I." he said good-naturedly. "Besides, we didn't want to get caught in traffic on the way back that late with Rohan with us. You know how cranky he can get in the car."

"Oh, well I-"

"JINORA!"

Jinora sighed. What did Ikki want now? She'd only been home two seconds. "What is it?" she called.

Ikki came stomping out of the kitchen, red in the face. "Where. Are. My strawberries?"

"You're what?"

"My strawberries! The ones I told you not to eat!? They're not there anymore!" Ikki scowled fiercely at her.

Jinora blinked. Strawberries...strawberries... straw- oh, monkeyfeathers. The box of strawberries she found and pulled out for her and Kai to share when they were watching T.V. the night her parents left. The ones she completely forgot were Ikki's.

"Oh... those strawberries," she began sheepishly. "W-I, um... I ate them. I'm sorry."

Ikki's mouth fell open. "You ate them? All of them? The entire box?"

"See, I was watching T.V.-"

"I can't believe you! Uncle Bumi got those for me when he went to Omashu! You can't even get them here! That's not-"

"Ikki, that's enough." said her father gently, but firmly. "We can get you some more. Even if we have to order them. Your sister didn't mean it. It was a mistake."

"But Dad, those ones aren't even in season anymore. I waited all year..."

"Don't worry, it won't be the last time you ever eat them. Okay?"

Apparently resigning it to a lost cause, Ikki glared at Jinora before stalking off back into the ktichen. Tenzin turned back to Jinora "And I know she told you at least a hundred times to make sure you leave them alone. You have to listen to her too, now."

"I know..."

It was an honest mistake, but she still felt bad about it. Her excitement at finally getting to spend some completely unobstructed alone time with Kai might have made them both a little eager. She also knew he loved strawberries just as much as she did so when she found them in the fridge, she snatched them up, assuming her mother had bought them and not spared them too much thought after that.

"Well, come on. We should go help your mother out with dinner."

-:-:-:-

At dinner that night, Ikki was still mad at her. She refused to so much as look at Jinora if she could help it. Jinora didn't let it bother her. She apologized for eating them a couple of times by now and if her little sister was going to be stubborn about it then she guessed they just weren't going to be talking until Ikki got over it.

"So, I saw that boy in the neighborhood today, what's his name again? Ko, Kahn..." began her mother, making a slight wave with her chopsticks as she tried to remember. "Kai! That's his name. He's a friend of yours from school isn't he, Jinora?"

Jinora coughed, having nearly stabbed the back of her throat with her chopsticks. "Y-yeah. I know him."

"Kai? Kai Fong?" asked her father, raising an eyebrow. "In our neighborhood? What was he doing all the way out here?"

"I heard he has a girlfriend around here." said Ikki

"Yeah," chirped Meelo. "I've seen him out here a few times, but I never get to see which house he goes too."

"Hmph. Well, whoever are the parents of that poor girl must have their hands full. I've heard a lot about him from one of the new professors at the college who used to teach at the high school. Heard he loves to go around and be the cause of mischief. In fact, they even said he almost got arrested once for robbing a supermarket."

He was thirteen and hungry, thought Jinora bitterly as she pointedly kept her attention on her bowl of rice and tofu. You'd steal from a supermarket too if your so-called foster parents hadn't fed you properly all summer.

"Well, no child of mine is certainly going to get chummy with someone like that. He's in your grade Jinora. Try not to get too close to him, alright?"

"Okay." Jinora half-squeaked out. When she looked up, she caught Ikki staring at her strangely before turning away with a huff. Hopefully, that meant she was going to stop being so silly over those strawberries. The part of her that still felt bad made a mental note to buy her favorite desert next time they were out in town though.

-:-:-:-

"So, are your parents going out of town anytime soon again?" asked Kai from over the phone.

Jinora moved her cell from one ear to the other. She could just hear him grinning. "They don't take many vacations since my dad's always working at the university throughout the year, but they might take one in the spring. I'm not sure."

"Too bad. I'd love to have you all to myself in that great big house of yours again."

"My house isn't that big. It's just a two story."

"Still a whole lot bigger than mine. I live in a two bedroom apartment, remember? Besides, that's not the point. You. Me. Big house. Alone? I can barely hold your hand or even be next to you at school with all those people around. Having it just be the two of us all weekend was like a dream come true."

"Don't be naughty." she said in a more hushed tone, but there was no keeping the grin off of her face. It had been fun. "You know we almost got caught today."

"Yeah but...would it really have been that bad?"

"Yes." she said firmly. "Of course, it would have been. Do you really want that to be the first time you meet my parents? Because my dad may try, keyword try, to be more pacifistic in nature, but there are exceptions to every rule you know."

"I know, I know. It'd just be nice to spend more time with you like that."

"Even if they did know about us, I hardly think they'd allow us have the house to ourselves like that again. By the way, you're not getting your body wash back. My brother found it and I had to tell him that I accidentally bought the wrong one without realizing it. So, he's keeping it."

"Aw, man. I really liked that one too. Ah, well. I'll just buy another one I guess."

"Don't worry. I'll get you one before I head home tomorrow."

"No." she heard him say firmly. "I'll get it. Don't worry about it."

"Kai-"

"Babe, please?"

She sighed. "Fine. But if you start coming to school smelling then I'm going to buy it for you whether you like it or not."

"Relax, I live with two other guys. I don't think we could stand each other if we ended up completely running out of soap. Anyway, did I leave anything else there?"

"Just a couple shirts is all. I already put them in my bag so they're not accidentally found too. But I'm going to get off okay? I'm getting sleepy over here."

"Mm. Okay, I'll see you in the morning?"

"Mm-hmm. Please don't stay up too late? You know you're not a morning person and I'd actually like to see you before school. Otherwise, we'll have to wait until afterward."

"Anything for you. Sweet dreams, okay? I love you."

"I love you too. Good night."

She hung up and put the phone on the nightstand, but instead of crawling under the blankets, she got up and grabbed a simple, pale yellow journal from off her bookshelf. Sitting down at her desk, she took out a pen and began to write:

Dear, Diary

I cannot believe how close we got to getting caught today. Mom and Dad came home early and I nearly had to to push Kai out the window just to make sure they didn't see him. He's getting restless though about us being such a huge secret since nobody knows we're dating except the two of us. He understands, but it's starting to get to him. I can't really blame him. Our one year anniversary is just next week and I'm going to have to really pull out a nice lie just to be able to go out on our date. It makes me feel bad that I've been lying to my parents so much, but my dad already doesn't like him and the two of them haven't even met. I don't think I could handle it if my dad told me I'd have to break up with him.

I really love Kai. You know that, diary? Everybody makes him out to be this criminal, but he's honestly not that bad and he's so sweet. So what if he's got a few piercings and tattoos? That doesn't make him a bad person. He just has his tongue pierced and his ears pierced a few times more than most guys do. Most of his tattoos are covered up too. Most of the time. Well, except that small one under his ear... he just has an appreciation for body art. That's not bad at all.

I don't want to let go of him just because he's not as well off as I am. Dad thinks "someone like him" would just drag me down, but I honestly think we pick each other up. Even if I've had to lie just to be with him, this last year has been one of the happiest I can remember. I think – I hope – he feels the same.

I really do need to "study more" when my parents go out of town. If it gets everybody else out of the house and lets Kai and I be by ourselves again, why not? I'm in this far. You what they say about love and war.

Yours,

Jinora

Yawning, she laid her pen down and got up. Just a quick bathroom break and then it was off to bed for real, but when she came back, having left her door open, she could see a sliver of a shadow coming out of her room.

Did she leave her desk chair out in a weird angle or something?

She walked up to the door frame.

What she saw almost made her swallow her tongue.

Ikki, who'd been leaning over her desk where her diary still lay open, looked up. They stared at each other, frozen in their spots. Her face unreadable, Ikki whispered. "You're the girlfriend."

"W-what...?" asked Jinora, both terrified and somewhat dumbfounded that this was all happening right now.

"You're the girlfriend in the neighborhood."

Jinora gulped and began moving forward slowly, cautiously. "Ikki, look. I'm really sorry I ate your strawberries. I didn't mean it. I know you told me, but I didn't eat them on purpose. I mean, I did, but not knowingly. I'll do anything you want. Chores, homework, whatever. Just don-"

"DAD!"

Jinora lunged, but Ikki, smaller and faster, snatched the journal, leapt out of the way and out of the room. "NO! Ikki, wait!" she cried and tore after her.

"DAD! JINORA HAS A BOYFRIEND!"

"IKKI! Come here or I'll kill you you little-"

She followed the smaller girl downstairs, hoping that by some shrivel of a miracle she'd be able to grab the fast little snitch before it was too late, but by the time Jinora had chased her down the hall and ended up in the door frame of her father's study, all she could do was gasp and clasp a hand over her mouth as she witnessed Ikki holding the diary in her father's face.

Jinora swore she started to tremble as the rest of the world seemed to fall away from the pure terror that was crawling back into her heart.

She could already see the scarlet and purple hues coloring his crown.

"Jinora..." her father began in a very quiet, very dangerous tone. "What. Is this?"

I tried not to write Ikki in this way that was too unreasonable. I thought about making it so that she told Tenzin about Kai and Jinora the next morning, but I figured she'd probably be over it by then. Right now, she's still mad and will probably regret it later, but sibling spite can be a very powerful thing when it's still burning.

Thanks for reading, tune in for next chapter!