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Jay stares across the cave at Nya and Kai. Kai is leant against the far wall of the cave, his gi abandoned beside him, hair more mussed than normal with sweat. Kai’s torso looks awful, blood and purple bruises creating a macabre painting of a battle.
Nya is hovering above him on her knees, valiantly attempting to halt the bleeding of her brother’s wounds as he gets gradually paler.
Jay doesn’t know much about the siblings, they only met recently, but he knows that there’s something important about the smile on Kai’s face. His eyes are only on Nya, and Jay can’t hear it, but his mouth is moving as well. The horrible slash on Kai’s middle must be agonizing, but his expression does not waver, no matter what she presses on with the torn piece of fabric in her hand.
Kai had been injured in the worst way, in Jay’s opinion, because now Jay has to feel guilty about it, and Jay hates feeling guilty for people he dislikes. Like Kai. The master of fire had taken the swipe of a sword to protect Jay, and then, once they’d found a cave to hide out in, lit a fire for Jay to keep warm by.
Jay had offered to help clean Kai up, even if he wasn’t very skilled with medical things, but Kai had vehemently refused. Thus far, for as long as Jay has known Kai, the only person allowed to touch him is Nya.
“You’ve got to put more pressure on it, Nya,” Kai says, loud enough for Jay to hear. His hands shift to be on top of hers and he forces her to push a little harder, without so much as a change in breathing. “There we go.” He’s so gentle with her, not anything like the hothead Jay’s growing used to. “We don’t have any stitches, so we’ll have to use my gi.”
Nya, without removing her hand from Kai’s wound, reaches over and grabs his discarded gi. It’s then that Kai hisses for the first time, his sister’s full weight pressing on him. It's hardly anything, barely a whine, but it has Nya scrambling off of him, holding her hands up.
“Sorry, I’m sorry,” she rushes to say, tears welling in her eyes. Nya is a strong willed person. Jay hasn’t seen her upset, sad, or even angry in the short time he’s known her, but here she seems rattled. Jay wonders if the bravado she presents is fake, meant to protect herself. Her brother seems to be her weakness.
“It’s alright,” Kai assures her, already recovered. “I’m fine, it just stung a little.” Jay scoffs, which earns a look from Kai. “Just- Nya, you’ve gotta help me get it to stop bleeding so we can wrap it up.” She nods, tears leaking down her face. “Don’t cry, I’m ok.”
Her head shakes a few times, wiping the little teardrops with the back of her wrist. Kai sighs and lifts one of his hands, curling it around the back of her neck and tugging her head to his shoulder. She sobs lightly, the adrenaline and stress of the day leaking out of her. Kai shushes her softly, running a hand along her back.
“I know,” he whispers. “I know, it’s been a long day, very stressful. Take a second, then you’ve gotta help me, ok?” She nods again against his shoulder. Jay can see Kai’s strength waning. He’s holding the cloth against his injury all by himself, but the pressure he’s putting on it seems increasingly weak.
“Do you want me to help?” Jay asks, trying not to sound too snarky.
“No, thanks,” Kai replies, curtly. Jay rolls his eyes and scoffs again. Nya pulls her head from her brother’s shoulder with a sniff, wiping her eyes hastily and replacing her hands on her brother. She pushes hard on his middle, making him wince.
The bleeding stops a few agonizing minutes later, and Nya gingerly wraps her brother’s abdomen with his bright red gi that she’d ripped into strips. Kai is still pale, and his eyes look a little unfocused.
“We’ll head out in the morning, ok?” Kai announces to the cave. Nya and Jay both nod, and Kai pulls Nya down so her head rests on his lap. “Go to sleep. It’s been a long day.” Too tired to argue, Nya’s eyes slip shut and her breathing begins to even out as Kai plays with her hair.
“You should go to sleep too,” Jay says, watching Nya sleep. “Rest up for the journey ahead.”
“I’m alright,” Kai dismisses, also looking at Nya. “I can keep watch if you want to get some sleep, though.” Jay, albeit hesitantly, shuffles to be laying on his side. He doesn’t sleep, but he closes his eyes and pretends to.
It doesn’t take long after that for Kai’s breathing to grow ragged. There are tiny whimpers of pain echoing through the cave, small grunts of movement. Jay peeks open one eye, watching Kai move his sister’s head to rest on a bunched up cloth so he can scoot away.
Kai peels the makeshift bandages off his torso, wincing and biting his lip as he does so. He stuffs the bloody cloth into his mouth, much to Jay’s horror, and his jaw tightens around it. It’s then that Jay sees, even in the meager fire light, that Kai is in fact, still bleeding.
A little flame lights up in Kai’s hand and, after a moment of hesitation, he brings it to the wound on his stomach. He whimpers again as the skin of his torso is literally melted back together, but he hardly makes a sound more than that.
“What are you doing?” Jay cries, shooting into a sitting position. Kai startles, hand slipping and burning his chest. He spits the fabric from his mouth, panting and hisses at Jay;
“Shut up! She’s sleeping!” he points at Nya. Kai’s injury is no longer bleeding, but it is red and angry looking, raised and burned. “I was still bleeding, Jay. It had to stop somehow.” He’s still panting, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “Go back to sleep or something.”
Jay just watches Kai as he wraps himself back up, significantly tighter than Nya had.
“Thank you,” Jay says through grit teeth. Kai looks towards him, confused. “For saving me. Thank you.” It’s by a mile the worst apology he’s ever given, rude and minorly hostile. Kai scoffs, leaning back against the wall behind him and scooting a little closer to Nya again to put his hand in her hair.
“No problem,” he replies, coolly. His breathing has evened out, and his face isn’t creased with agony like it was a few minutes ago. He’s faking, Jay’s sure, but that doesn’t matter. “It’s what I’m for.”
There’s something deeper there, something a little more revealing about Kai than Jay understands. He watches the fire ninja as his eyes slowly slip shut, despite his valiant attempts at keeping them open.
They get rescued the next morning, and Kai’s injuries are handled. It’s a miracle he held out as long as he did, apparently.
Kai is nothing if not a mystery.