Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor the Legend of Korra. This is strictly a work of fanfiction that's being written and published without any intention of making a profit.

You are not Alone: Airbender

Chapter 1

(12 Years Later)

Sitting atop the head of his fully-grown, saddled Sky Bison – one he had fittingly named Cloud in his childhood due to its fluffy white fur – Naruto currently had his eyes closed as a his brow ticked in frustration.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

'I swear Tenzin, I am going to get you back for this. I don't know how and I don't know when, but I will get payback,' Naruto told himself even as his brow began ticking at a slightly faster rate as Ikki continued on with the unceasing inquiry. 'Two days. You couldn't have taken two days off of Council duties to come with me for this,' he continued to grumble within his mind.

Naruto had changed a fair amount from when he was a toddler. While he had been on the short side of the height spectrum and a bit too skinny, he now stood at just an inch or two shy of six feet and had a lean figure. His eyes and whisker-marks remained much the same as they always had, but his hair had grown out a fair deal; his bangs fell far enough that they had to be swept to one side so as not to impede his vision.

In terms of his attire, he was clad in clothing that was similar to that of what he wore previously: a double-breasted and sleeveless orange tunic with a pair of loose black pants, a long, crimson sash tied into a knot around his waist, tight leather boots that rose halfway up his calves and a long red cloak pinned at his neck with a golden pin in the shape of a swirl. While the last item was not a regular piece of his chosen wardrobe, it was currently quite effective in keeping him warm while in the frigid air of the South Pole.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

As the ceaseless question continued being repeated in just a slightly louder voice than it had been for the past ten or so minutes, the tick in the blond's brow became slightly more prominent to anyone who could've seen it at that moment. Quickly glancing back to the saddle that was behind him, his eyes narrowed accusingly as he came nearly nose-to-nose with the other child who was currently driving him to the edge of his patience.

"Meelo," he began, drawing in a deep breath in an effort to keep himself calm. "Stop trying to sneak up on me and go sit back down next to Ikki."

"What?! No! I don't wanna get Cooties from a girl!" The boy shot back, whispering the last part as if it were the biggest secret in the world.

Despite his mood, a mirthful chuckle rose up and passed through the blond's lips.

'Oh man, Cooties. I never thought I'd hear about that again. I guess he must have overheard one of the other city kids talking about it or something.'

"I promise that you won't get Cooties. Your sisters are still immune to it because they're still pretty young," he fibbed easily. "I, on the other hand, am not. You're actually safer with them than you are with me."

"…Really?"

"Really."

"…'Kay," the boy replied, quickly turning around and scooting himself across the saddle to move over next to Ikki as Naruto had suggested.

'There's absolutely no chance that's going to last. I give myself five minutes of peace at most before he's up here trying to pull my hair again,' the blond thought pessimistically, though the thought didn't wipe the amused-looking smile off of his face. Turning around a bit further to be able to glance completely at the other side of the saddle, he idly noticed that the bison's final passenger was calmly reading a small book of some sort. Noticing that fact made his smile widen even further. 'If only the other two were as well-behaved as Jinora, I might have been able to make this trip without having a massive headache.'

Turning back around to face the front, Naruto heaved out a loud sigh.

'You better appreciate this, Korra. I hate the cold enough as it is, but having to keep Meelo and Ikki from misbehaving too much while we're in flight to boot? You owe me so much for all of this that it isn't even funny.'

A few minutes of relative silence – excluding Ikki's unending inquiry – passed after that. Then, with no small amount of elation, Naruto spotted the large, familiar light-blue walls of the White Lotus Compound.

'Heh, the place still hasn't changed a bit. …Kinda sad really, but at least it still looks really nice.'

"Cloud," he addressed his bison as he grabbed the reigns between his horns and gave them two quick flicks. "Take us down, boy."

The massive creature let out a loud growl in response before descending towards the large stone platform in front of a large, multi-story building.

Ikki's voice, despite the fact that she had obviously seen and felt that they had arrived, grew only more fervent as they drew closer.

Forcefully drowning her out as much as possible, Naruto let his gaze flicker downwards towards the platform as he tugged on Cloud's reigns to direct him where he should land. A smile slowly grew on his lips as he spotted two familiar figures clad in the traditional dark-blue coats of the Water Tribe seemingly waiting for them.

"Easy boy…easy," he chided as his bison turned around in mid-air a bit too quickly for his liking before swooping down the final few feet and landing on the platform with a loud thud.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

"Yes, Ikki," Naruto sighed out without bothering to turn around to face her. "We're here."

"Yay~!" The excitable seven-year-old replied before promptly turning around, creating a small air scooter beneath her feet, and shooting off down the large bison's tail. "Weeeeeeehehehe!"

Jinora, despite her tendency to act a bit more maturely than her siblings, quickly followed her younger sister's example and performed the same action less the excited squeal. The small smile on her face, however, betrayed the fact that she enjoyed the action quite a bit herself.

Naruto, meanwhile, stood up upon his bison's head before promptly jumping down to the ground – a brief burst of air shooting out of the soles of his boots at the last moment slowing him down so much that his boots didn't even make a noise when they touched down. Reaching upwards, he idly scratched behind Cloud's ear for a moment before turning his gaze back to where the two figures had been standing. To his surprise, one of them was little more than a few paces away while the other remained out of earshot.

"Gran Gran!" Naruto exclaimed happily, quickly closing what little distance remained between them and pulling the elderly woman into a hug.

"Hello Naruto," Katara greeted mirthfully, happily returning the embrace for a moment before pulling away and looking up to meet his eyes. "You've gotten even taller since you were last down here, I see."

"Yeah, I finally hit the growth spurt I was always talking about," he chuckled, though it quickly died out and his face grew somber. "Tenzin wanted me to tell you that he's really, really sorry that he and Pema couldn't make it. Things in the city are a bit crazy and he's the only one keeping things relatively stable. That and with Pema being pretty late into her pregnancy, he didn't want her to come down and risk her health with the cold."

"I understand," Katara said, though the way the corners her eyes drooped slightly betrayed just how saddened she was. "Still…" she trailed off, a hint of a smile crossing her face as she leaned to the side and spotted the three young Airbenders playing in the snow. "At least I get to see my Grandchildren again, even if it's only for a short while. Thank you for bringing them along with you."

The obvious sincerity behind her words immediately melted away all of the annoyance that Naruto had accumulated during his trip.

"It's the least I could do after all Tenzin has done for me. I'm just sorry that Republic City is so far away that I can't do it more often."

"Me too," Katara stated softly, taking a quick glance behind herself before turning back around and giving the blond a knowing look. "I think that there's someone else here who wants to speak to you even more so than I do, so I won't take up more of your time. I assumed that you would want to be the one to tell her, so none of us have broken the news to her just yet. I think I'll go speak with my grandchildren for a while and let you two catch up."

It was only after Naruto knew that the elderly woman's attention had been pulled away from him that he turned to the brunette teenager who had been lurking in the distance. Though it had been nearly two years since they had last seen one another, he recognized her at a glance and a wide, beaming grin quickly spread across his face as she began jogging towards him.

"Hey Korra," he greeted with a lazy wave. "Long time no see, huh?"

Instead of responding, Korra rushed the remaining distance and hugged him, her arms wrapping around his waist tightly before she actually lifted him off of the ground a few inches.

"You're here! I can't believe you're finally here!"

"Yes, yes, I'm here!" Naruto exclaimed, a chuckle escaping him. "Can you put me down now please, Miss Muscles?"

Blinking several times in surprise as if just realizing what she was doing, Korra allowed him to drop back down to the Earth and offered a sheepish-looking grin.

"Heh, sorry. I'm just excited that you guys are here is all."

"No, really? Here I thought you greeted everyone that way…"

"Oh shut up, jerk."

In retaliation for that comment, Naruto merely let out a huff. However, as he channeled a bit of Chi into his throat before he let it out, a visible stream of air left his mouth and hit his fellow teen square in the face, blowing her hair around wildly in the process.

Having closed her eyes out of instinct, Korra let them flicker open as she used her hand to make an attempt at raking her hair back into place.

"See? I call you one name and you get all grumpy and Airbend at me."

"Oh please. You're the one calling me names in the first place, so you are the one who is the jerk."

"Hah! Yeah, I started it. The whole Miss Muscles thing? Does that just not count?"

"Well no, obviously. It was completely fitting given the fact that you lifted me off of the freaking ground."

"Maybe it was, but you still didn't have to say anything about it. So it's only fitting in return to say that you are a jerk, good sir."

"…"

"…"

"Spirits, it's like we're still kids," Naruto finally stated with a chuckle, breaking both the deadpan staring contest and the silence that had briefly settled between them. "It's good to see you again," he finished with a warm smile.

"You too," Korra replied, letting out a soft laugh of her own as she gazed up at him. "Man, I never would've thought you would get so tall! You were shorter than me when you were here last time!"

"Growth spurt," Naruto explained with a bit of a smug-looking smile. "Told you it would happen."

"Hah, yeah, I guess you did. …Anyway, I really can't believe you guys are finally here!" Korra continued on with sudden excitement as she began bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. Leaning to the left she took a glance behind the blond. A confused look settled upon her face as she redirected her gaze to him again. "Where's Tenzin and Pema? Are they coming in on Oogi later or…?"

"That's…a bit of a long story, so let me start with this first. You. Owe. Me," he stressed, poking her in the shoulder after each word was spoken.

"Huh? What for?"

"Tenzin has been swamped lately with his work on the City Council, so he can't really leave at the moment. He was originally planning to travel down here only to tell you that you were going to have to wait a bit longer before you started your Airbending training."

"What?" Korra inquired, obviously aghast at the very idea. "But tha—"

"Luckily," Naruto interrupted before she could continue along that train of thought, "I was able to talk him out of that stupid idea. I know how much you've been looking forward to finally working on Airbending, so when he told me what he was planning after I came back from a visit home to Zaofu, I kept pestering him about how silly it was until he changed his mind. That's one you owe me in and of itself because we both know that you would've gone ballistic if I had come down here just to tell you that you'd have to wait."

"…I…well…yeah, okay," Korra conceded after a moment, anxiety practically oozing off of her. "But what about my training then? If Tenzin isn't moving down here then...are you going to move down here to train me?"

"Close, but no, not quite. I've got a job and an apartment back in Republic City that I don't really want to give up, so seeing as there was a perfectly viable option to let me keep working and teach you Airbending, I managed talk Tenzin into bringing you to us instead of the other way around."

"…Are you serious?"

"Super serious," Naruto replied with a knowing grin. "Assuming you're okay with it, you're invited to stay on Air Temple Island while you learn how to Airbend. We've already made arrangements to have you brought there in about a week. Sound like something you'd be interested in?"

"YES!" Korra exclaimed loudly before picking Naruto up much like she had before and spinning him around with her. "YESYESYESYESYES! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!"

"Air," the blond wheezed out while smacking her on the upper-back a few times. "Korra! Need air!"

After a few moments, the brunette allowed Naruto his freedom as her arms released him of her fierce grip.

"Sorry, sorry," Korra apologized as she took a step back, though the wide grin she wore somewhat ruined the sincerity behind her words.

"Yeah, sure you are," Naruto shot back, coughing lightly as he regained the breath that had been forcefully expelled from his body. "Man, you weren't kidding when you wrote about working out more."

"Nope, sure wasn't," the brunette replied with a chuckle before shrugging her shoulders. "It isn't like there was much else to do around here, so it was pretty much that or work on my bending some more."

"Right," the blond agreed with a small nod, trying to suppress the bit of pity that rose up upon being reminded of how little freedom she truly had. "Well in the end, it's probably a good thing that you've done the extra training. At least I know that you shouldn't struggle to keep up when it comes time for our lessons."

"Our lessons?"

"'Course! You didn't think that I'd pass up teaching you myself, did you? Tenzin will have council stuff to do from time to time, so you'll be learning from me every once in a while. It'll be fun getting to kick your butt again just like when we were kids."

"…I'm sorry, you kick my butt?" Korra inquired, her expression shifting quickly from surprise to amusement. "I remember kicking your butt until you went running off to Katara to get your poor little booboo fixed!"

"Pft, you're imagining things," the blond waved dismissively despite the fact that he remembered getting his butt handed to him on a silver platter on multiple occasions perfectly well. "That never happened. Besides, even if it did, I'm completely out of your league now."

"Oh really?"

"Really."

"That sounds like a challenge if I've ever heard one."

"Maybe it was supposed to," the blond offered with a challenging smirk. However, the look quickly vanished when he heard Katara's laughter echoing from behind him. Turning his head over his shoulder, he watched as she manipulated the snow that Meelo had somehow managed nearly adhere to his entire body to slip off of him as if it had never been there to begin with.

"It'll have to wait until later though," he continued on as he turned his gaze back to his fellow teen. "We'll get a chance to spar after you get to the city. Since I'm only going to be here for the night so that I could tell you about this in person and bring Yemek a few things, I want to spend some time with Katara while I'm here. You and I are going to be seeing a lot more of each other in the next few months anyway."

"Oh, sure," the brunette replied as her own expression softened. "I understand."

"Thanks. …Anyway, you feel like heading over there with the others and being social? You haven't even had the chance to meet Ikki or Meelo yet, have you?"

"No. I was too busy finishing up some Earthbending training the last time you all came down and everyone except you and Tenzin were asleep by the time I was finished," Korra answered as the duo began striding towards the young Airbenders.

"Well just in case you forget anything I wrote about them, let me remind you that Ikki is a little… energetic. Just do your best to try to avoid doing anything that makes her want to start asking questions."

"Okay…" Korra drew out, an eyebrow quirking upwards. However, whatever confusion she may have felt in regards to the warning quickly vanished when the aforementioned young girl spotted the two of them.

"Ooo, you have to be Korra!" Ikki began, running up to said teen and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, the buns in her hair bouncing along with her. "What's it like to be the Avatar? Does it hurt when you Firebend? Are you a better Airbender than we are? Why is your hair tied up like that? Have you talked to Grandpa Aang yet? What's it like to live in the cold all the time? Why are you standing so close to Naruto? Are you two secretly dating? Is that why he's writing to you all the time? What kind of benders would your babies be?"

Korra's mouth merely opened and closed a few times as she tried to fit in a word edge-wise against the girl's ceaseless stream of questions, but she ultimately failed to do so – particularly after she was rendered utterly speechless and blushing lightly at a few of the more personal inquiries. Even as she stood there gawking at the girl, Ikki continued on and on despite the fact that pretty much everyone around her had stopped processing what she was asking.

After being left in this state for several long moments, Korra simply turned her gaze towards her fellow teenager for any hint of what she should do next. However, he merely offered a shrug.

"I warned you."

"Seriously? Out of all of the things you could've picked, you do this for a job?"

"Don't you know that saying about insulting the cook?" Naruto asked a bit heatedly, turning around from a large pot of seaweed noodles that he had been stirring upon the stove within the sizable kitchen of the White Lotus Compound. "You could seriously regret making me angry right now, you know," he threatened, brandishing the lengthy wooden spoon he had been using to stir said pot in front of Korra's face.

"Hah, you don't have to tell me twice. I wouldn't want you to nearly catch the compound on fire…again," the brunette shot back with a small grin, casually leaning back against the standing counter that was only a few paces away from the stove.

"Oh my God," the blond groaned, letting his head loll back slightly. "Are we seriously going to do this again? I did not nearly catch the place on fire!"

"Really? So then what is that, exactly?" Korra questioned, lazily pointing up towards a large black spot that covered the wall the stove was pushed back against.

"How should I know?" Naruto inquired with a shrug despite memories of his ten-year-old self freaking out in front of a stove as the flames rose steadily higher and higher running through his mind. "Maybe you got bored and decided to see if the wood there would make for a good Firebending target or something."

"So I would firebend there instead of the targets that were set up for me outside? That doesn't even make any sense."

"Well since when has that ever stopped you? You're weird like that sometimes."

"Right, I'm the weird one here."

"Well you're the one between us that has the ability to bend all four elements and has a Polar Bear Dog as a pet, so…" Naruto trailed off, an amused look in his eyes as he made a 'so-so' gesture with his hand.

"Naga isn't a pet, she's my companion," Korra rolled her eyes. "Besides, the things I do aren't any weirder than the fact that you have that stupidly bright hair or have those silly whisker marks."

"Silly?!" The blond was aghast as he touched his free hand to one of his cheeks. "My whiskers are not silly!"

"Pft, okay. Whatever you say."

"…"

"…"

"I am so spitting in your food when it's done," Naruto said, turning around and stirring the noodles around some more to ensure that they wouldn't end up getting stuck to the pan.

"Uh huh, yeah, sure," Korra replied, clearly either not believing the claim or not disturbed by the thought of it judging by her lackadaisical tone. "Oh, I forgot to ask earlier, but what was it that was keeping Tenzin busy on the council anyway? Is there a big thing going on in the city right now or…?"

"A big thing… Yeah, you could call it that, I guess," the blond chuckled, clanging the spoon off of upper inside-portion of the pot a few times before turning back around. "I don't suppose that anyone here has bothered to tell you anything about the Equalist Movement, have they?"

"No. Well, not that I remember anyway."

"Trust me, I can't imagine that you would forget about it if it was brought up," Naruto said, placing the spoon on a nearby counter and leaning back against it much like his counterpart was doing across from him. "They're basically a large group of citizens that want equality between benders and non-benders."

"What do you mean by that? Aren't they treated equally in the city already?"

"Legally, yes. Realistically, not really," Naruto shook his head. "The movement was founded almost entirely by a group of non-benders who are either pissed off that some employers prefer benders for certain types of work or have been assaulted by some type of bender before."

"That…seems kind of stupid."

"Heh, isn't that the truth?" The blond chuckled weakly before letting out a deep sigh. "Still, stupid as it may sound, it's a pretty major problem right now. The movement is getting more popular lately and the more radical members have been starting to cause some problems. It's usually relatively minor stuff – hassling people who only hire benders, striking out at suspected gang members and other things like that, but it's slowly starting to push the city into the mentality of you're either with the benders or you're with the non-benders. Tenzin's worried that it's going to create a bigger problem later on if it keeps up, so he has been trying to be present for all of the council meetings to try and make sure they don't make a decision without him that will make things even worse."

"You really think that could happen?"

"Not really," Naruto replied, reaching a hand up and scratching his scalp. "I get that the citizens are angry with the situation they're in, but they aren't offering up any ideas on how to really fix the problem either, so I don't think most people would ever do anything too extreme. A few of the more die-hard members might do something stupid, sure, but I can't really see it escalating past that. Unless something really big happens to keep stirring up their anger, I think they'll eventually either come up with some ideas to fix the problem that the council could implement or the movement will die out like a lot of others have."

Silence reigned for a few moments after that as Korra digested the information that she had been given. In that time, Naruto picked the spoon back up and moved to loom over the pot of noodles.

"Perfect timing, food's finished," he claimed as he turned a knob that extinguished the fire that burned within the stove. Reaching over to the counter, he took a small bowl that had been sitting there into his palm before using his spoon to scoop a few noodles into the dish. Switching the bowl to his other hand and licking away the hot liquid that had trailed down the side and over his thumb, he held it out in a silent offer.

"What?"

"What do you think? Eat it."

"Eat your cooking? I'll pass, I think I'd rather take my chances with what they give Naga."

"Oh come on, I work in a noodle shop for crying out loud; it's the best one in Republic City to boot! If there's one thing I'm good at, it's making these!" Naruto stressed as he inclined his head towards the bowl of seaweed noodles in his hand. "Besides, you still owe me for getting the okay for you to come to Republic City. The least you could do is try it."

"…"

"…"

"Fine," Korra grumbled, quickly reaching out and swiping the bowl. "Chopsticks?"

"They're all in the dining room. Just plop 'em back into your mouth like you're taking a drink. We both know you're probably going to do that after the first bite anyway if they taste even remotely edible."

"I would not."

"Pft, okay," Naruto drew out disbelievingly. "First of all, we both know how you are when it comes to seaweed noodles. Before you even try to argue that point by the way, you've got a little drool right about here," he continued on, reaching up and tapping the left corner of his mouth.

Lifting her free hand, Korra quickly rubbed her palm across that area of her face, blushing in mild embarrassment when she felt drool sticking to it. Before Naruto had a chance to tease her about it, she quickly tipped the bowl of noodles back into her mouth.

"Mmmm. O-oh," she began, her face expressing nothing short of euphoria the moment that the noodles hit her taste buds. "These…these taste amazing," she praised, the words coming out slurred as she tried talking with her mouth full.

"Right?" Naruto asked with a knowing grin. "I convinced Katara to give me her recipe and tinkered with adding a few things to give the noodles a bit more flavor. I can make them taste even better, but I don't have all of the spices and stuff I need here."

"Better than this?" Korra inquired as she finished chewing the food and swallowed. "Oh man, you have got to let me try that sometime then! These are the best I've ever had!"

"Hm. I dunno~" Naruto drew out playfully, crossing his arms over his chest. "I distinctly remember someone mentioning that they'd rather have what Naga was given instead of try any of my cooking. Maybe you should just try some of that instead."

"Oh come on, can you really blame me? The first time I saw you cook, you did that!" Korra exclaimed, pointing once again to the large patch of burned wood above the stove. "If Katara hadn't heard us freaking out about it, this kitchen would be ashes!"

"…I'm definitely spitting in your food."

Sitting at a low-sitting, wooden dining table, Naruto, Katara, Korra, and the younger Airbenders were finishing off the dinner that Naruto had prepared for them. Yemek, the current head of the White Lotus, had also been dining with them earlier, though after he had received a few scrolls that Tenzin had sent with the blond, he had excused himself quite quickly due to the fact that Ikki had started trying to play twenty questions with him.

"Jinora, Ikki, Meelo," Naruto began calmly upon noticing that there was no more food either upon the small wooden trays that had held a few balls of rice nor any significant amount of noodles left within the bowls in front of them. "Are you done eating?"

"Yes, I'm finished."

"Mmhmm!"

"Zzzzzz…."

'Heh, he fell asleep again. I swear Meelo, you run on full steam until dinner and then just immediately crash right after it.'

"Okay," he continued on with a kind smile before turning towards Katara. "If it isn't too much trouble, would you please take the three of them to bed? I need to chat with Korra about a few more things before I call it a night myself."

"Oh, I suppose I could manage that," the aged woman chortled softly, slowly pushing herself up to her feet. Swinging around the table, she leaned down and gently picked up her youngest grandchild with a soft groan, shifted him around slightly to make him easier to carry, and quickly moved towards the hallway door.

"But I'm not tired~!" Ikki drew out in a pout as she turned towards Naruto with wide eyes. "Can't I stay up just a little longer? Pleeeeeeeeeeease~?"

"No. Pema would kill me if she knew I let you stay up too late."

"But mom doesn't have to kn—"

"Now Ikki, I know you wouldn't insinuate that your mother doesn't need to know something even with your dear old grandmother standing right here," Katara chided from the doorway.

"Uh…no, of course not Gran Gran! Hehe!" The young girl laughed nervously before quickly following after her, seemingly not wanting to say anything else that could potentially get her into trouble. Jinora, being the far more mellow-headed of the two, merely followed along behind her younger siblings after uttering a soft goodnight.

After the door to the room had closed and their footsteps echoed distantly down the hallway until they were completely out of earshot, Naruto only then glanced over to Korra who was still sitting across from him.

"Okay, since you're going to be coming to the city, there are a few things that you need to know about before you even step foot into it."

"Really? Like what?"

"The really stupid and boring stuff, mostly," he sighed out. "I guess we'll start with some of the basic laws…"

(The Next Morning)

"I still can't believe that you can't just stop a crime when you see it happening. That just…it seems so stupid!" Korra huffed, turning to face her blond counterpart. The two of them were currently standing on the middle of the stone platform in front of the large housing area of the White Lotus Compound next to Naruto's bison while the Airbender children were still inside getting ready for their departure with Katara.

"Well technically there isn't anything that says you can't; you just can't cause any damage while doing it…or if you do, don't get caught by the police officers afterwards," the Naruto replied, turning and giving her a not-so-subtle wink. "Not that I would know anything about that last part, of course."

"No, of course not," Korra replied with a knowing smile. "You're just a completely innocent, law-abiding Airbender, right?"

"I wouldn't know about completely innocent, but you'll never hear me claim to be anything other than law-abiding," Naruto laughed. "If I did anything else, my Aunt Lin would probably kick my butt so hard that I wouldn't be worrying about anything other than my recovery for a while."

"Heh, yeah, I guess that's true. I always forget that you're related to the Chief of Police."

"You and pretty much everyone else in Republic City. I'm apparently a lot different than what most people expect Lin's nephew to be like."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. Trust me, once you meet her, I'm pretty sure you'll see exactly why everyone thinks that."

"Fair enough," Korra replied, her eyes glazing over slightly as she grinned. "I still can't believe that I'm finally going to get to see the city."

"Well believe it, you'll be there by this time next week." Naruto leaned over and bumped her shoulder playfully with his upper-arm. "What 'cha looking forward to the most? …Well, besides learning Airbending from yours truly, of course."

"The most besides learning Airbending, huh?" Korra inquired aloud, bumping her shoulder into his arm in retaliation. "Well, besides just getting to see the city itself, I really want to see a Pro-Bending match as soon as I get the chance."

"Oh yeah? I didn't know you were a fan. When did that happen?"

"Well, I'm only sort of a fan. I don't really know the rules or anything, but the guards here talk about it a lot lately and it sounds like a lot of fun. I mean, it's a sport where people who practice bending all the time duke it out, right? Sign me up please."

"Well I don't know about getting you on a team, but you're in luck if you want to see a match. I may just so happen to have a friend who's a Pro-Bender," Naruto smiled smugly as his fellow teen went wide-eyed. "I may also be able to talk said friend into letting you watch a match from some of the best seats in the place."

"Are you serious?" Korra inquired as she reached over and grasped his arm as if to prevent him from trying to suddenly run away.

"Of course," he began with a laugh. "I wouldn't joke about something like that just to get your hopes up. If the guards have been talking about it around here lately, then I assume you've heard of the Fire Ferrets?"

"Yeah. They're one of the new rookie teams this year, right?"

"Right. Anyway, Bolin – the Fire Ferret Earthbender – is a pretty good friend of mine. I give him food on the house and he lets me hang out in the locker room from time to time to watch the matches, so I'm sure he'd be happy to do the same for you if I just ask him to. Interested?"

"Heck yeah!" Korra exclaimed with a toothy smile as she looked up and met his gaze. "I'd have to be crazy to even think about saying no!"

"Well that's why I asked."

"…Are you implying that I'm crazy?"

"No, no, no. …Well, maybe a little."

Rather promptly, Korra released her grip on the blond's arm before shoving him away forcefully enough to make him stumble a step or two to remain upright.

"Remember that whole 'you're a jerk' thing yesterday? Yeah, saying things like that is why it's so fitting."

"Oh come on! It was a joke!"

"Well it was a bad one," the brunette huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Come on now, don't be like that," Naruto insisted, moving back next to her and nudging her with his arm again. "You know I was just teasing."

"Doesn't make you any less of a jerk for it."

"Heh, maybe not," the blond admitted, smiling softly as he casually reached over and draped an arm across her shoulders. "But I wouldn't be me if I didn't tease you as much as I could while I was down here, would I?"

"…No, I guess you wouldn't be," Korra confessed with reluctance, turning her gaze towards Naruto's rather infectious smile and mimicking the action.

"I hope we aren't interrupting you two."

The two teens, having been absorbed in their own conversation, quickly snapped their gaze back to their side to see Katara, Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo all standing there. The three females were all smiling, but the lone male among them had a look of pure horror on his face.

"EWWWW~! NARUTO AND KORRA HAVE COOTIES!" Meelo screamed before hiding behind his grandmother's leg.

'Cooties? Why would he think that we have…oh,' Naruto pondered and subsequently answered his own question as he glanced over and took notice of how his arm draped so casually over her shoulders would likely be taken by others. Feeling his cheeks heat up slightly in embarrassment at the thought, he quickly retracted his arm.

"Told you little man, I'm not immune to those anymore like you and your sisters still are."

"ICK!"

"I wouldn't be so quick to judge, Meelo," Katara stated with a warm chortle as she reached behind her and pushed her youngest grandchild forward. "You may catch these Cooties yourself one day."

"NEVER~! I'M GOING TO BE THE BIGGEST AND BESTEST AIRBENDER IN THE WORLD WITHOUT SOME ICKY GIRL! YOU ALL JUST WATCH!"

"Yes, yes, we're watching," Naruto chuckled in return before jerking his thumb over his shoulder towards Cloud who was lazily standing behind him. "If you've already said goodbye to Gran, then you all know the drill."

Jinora merely nodded her head and moved that direction while Ikki, who looked as if she had just woken up if her half-hooded gaze and lack of speaking was any indication, lumbered along silently after her. Meelo eventually made his way there as well, but he gave a wide berth to the teenage duo – choosing to skirt along an extra ten or eleven feet instead of simply walking straight by them.

"He's at the 'girls are gross' stage, I see," Katara began with a chuckle.

"Really? Was it that obvious?" Naruto questioned sarcastically before he let out a chuckle and walked forward to embrace the elderly woman in a hug. "I promise that I'll come back whenever I get the chance."

"I know you will…" Katara shot back with an audible sniffle before pulling away after giving a soft pat to his cheek. Glancing up towards her eldest grandchild with gleaming eyes that looked to be on the verge of letting a tear or two escape, she continued on. "Please be careful on your trip back."

"I will be, I promise," the blond responded with a small smile before turning towards Korra. "I'll see you in around a week. Try not to drive yourself too crazy with anticipation until then, alright?"

The brunette in question merely smiled. "I make no promises."

Giving her a knowing smirk, Naruto quickly turned his back and walked towards his bison's head before hopping up to the top of it with the assistance of a burst of air from his feet. Turning around to make sure that the Airbender kids were all on the saddle, he spared the two women still on the ground one more lingering glance before he picked up the reigns tied between the bison's horns in his hands and gave them two quick flicks.

"Yip yip!"

End

Post-Notes

I told you all not to assume anything about Naruto's parentage, so you only have yourselves to blame if you assumed Lin was his mother based solely on the last chapter. You still don't know the full picture as of yet, so don't assume anything. The situation will be detailed in dialogue eventually.

No idea when Chapter 2 will be out, so don't bother asking.