Only you- Rangi & Kyoshi

Chapter 44

The sudden sight of sunlight was harsh on her eyes as she squinted around the room. It looked familiar, the furniture and the walls.

There was a mess of blankets beside her but there was no one there.

She looked to her hands flipping them back and forth as if to see if they were truly there, if she was back where she thought she was.

...
Rangi had tried to listen to her mothers words, but she felt like she needed to see it to believe it. She was done only hearing that Kyoshi was going to be okay, she needed it to be real.

She had declared that she would go check on Kyoshi and left the room hastily with the note still crinkled in her hand in a small ball.

Rangi wasn't paying attention as she entered at first, but then as she looked up there she was. Kyoshi was sitting upright flipping her hands over and back muttering to herself. She hadn't even noticed Rangi walk in the room.

Rangi herself felt paralyzed, it felt fake even though it had been the only thing she had been hoping for the past couple of days.

She tried to call out Kyoshi's name to try and pull her attention but nothing came out, she tried to walk but couldn't. It almost felt like her body was scared that if she approached Kyoshi then it would all be an illusion and she would go back to sleep.

But this couldn't be fake, it couldn't be. To prove the point to herself she threw the crumbled piece of paper across the room hitting Kyoshi's shoulder and falling down into her lap. Finally she looked up and Rangi's whole body felt weak.

"Rangi" Kyoshi said softly.

Rangi slowly staggered across the whole room as Kyoshi watched.

She had nearly tripped over the fox on her way. As she reached the bed's end she collapsed in Kyoshi's lap. "Are you real?" Rangi had nearly choked on her words.

Kyoshi lifted one of her hands to brush it through Rangi's hair that wasn't pulled into her topknot.

"Yes"

Rangi laid there for a moment longer until Kyoshi spoke once again. "I'm so sorry Rangi"

Those words seemed to flip a switch in the firebender's brain. Now that Kyoshi was awake she could focus on the other part of the problem. Kyoshi had had a self-sacrificial plan the whole time, and didn't tell Rangi until it was too late.

"Do you have any idea how much stress you caused me?" Rangi had finally looked up to look at Kyoshi's face once more, but she said nothing in response.

"How much I've been worrying over your near dead body? And then you leave us those notes telling us all to move on! What the hell was that Kyoshi?" Rangi yelled as she grabbed the wadded piece of paper back up again and threw it at Kyoshi's head.

"I swear I'm gonna die first so I can haunt the living shit out of you for this stunt!" She yelled, now having a hold of Kyoshi's tunic and shaking her violently.

Then someone cleared their throat. Rangi turned to see Jinpa, Atuat, and of course her mother standing in the doorway.

"Why don't you go get the girl some water?" Hei ran instructed. But Rangi stood there and fumed. "It will only take a moment" She rephrased. Rangi had narrowed her eyes before leaving the room.

"Welcome back" Hei ran had said as she looked back to Kyoshi who seemed to be stuck wide eyed. "I'm sorry for-"

But Kyoshi shook her head, cutting her off. "I honestly deserved that, I'm surprised it wasn't worse really"

Hei Ran found this whole thing odd. She knew her daughter had very strong emotions, and they had been all over the place these past couple of days. But she had looked like she was about to put Kyoshi back into a coma. Hei ran was about to respond when her daughter reappeared at the door frame with not water but a bowl of steaming plain noodles.