In addition to "Eat beforehand" Yutaka Mifune's mother Takako had also advised her son to never make drastic changes to his hair shortly before a date. She never mentioned anything about drastic changes being thrust upon him.
What was once a light brown cascade if hair that stopped at the middle of his back now felt like a drip that didn't even reach his eyes. Instead of hanging loose and parted down the middle or tied into a braid or ponytail Yutaka's hair now only stood a few inches in length bending slightly back. It made him feel horribly exposed.

Before Ren'ai could make a comment on his new look Yutaka decided to explain.
"I thought I would get in some practice by having some guys at work throw fireballs at me. I dodged but my hair didn't."
He then laughed, partially to distract himself from his self-consciousness.

Hair issues aside Yutaka felt comfortable. It was a super huge date and vitally important peak with his relationship with Ren'ai because it was supposed to be casual. Wearing comfortable clothes meant to him that things with Ren'ai had progressed to a point where he didn't need to feel "armored" in fine clothes. With his white, cotton, mandarin collar shirt and semi-loose black pants and sandals Yutaka didn't feel like he was putting on any airs and that made him happy.

Slung over his back were two black carrying tubes containing prints of posters he had designed and in a worn-looking brown satchel were flyers he had spent the last three days designing. If Ren'ai ulterior motive was to recruit a waterbender Yutaka's was to gain a little fame as an artist. Seeing his girlfriend strive to make a career out of the thing she loves made Yutaka wonder if he could do the same.

On the way to the park Yutaka handed Ren'ai a stack of fliers from his satchel he had made to be handed out. The drawings varied in color, subject matter and style. On top was of two dragonhawks flying a collision course, one composed of fire, the other of water. Another depicted what was supposed to be the faces of Ren'ai and Yuri barely visible behind the rock and fireballs being launched directly at who was looking at the flier. While the styles were different with each sheet of paper there was a common calligraphy:
The Dragon Hawks Need A Waterbender.

Part of Yutaka wished the world would go silent while the person whose opinion meant most to him looked at his work. The other part wished it would get louder so she couldn't concentrate on the fliers' flaws.
He opted for conversation. Diverting, but not distracting.
"How are Yuri and your family? And you, of course. How have you been? I've been really excited about this and didn't know what to bring or if I should bring anything.

He could sense the line between chatty and annoying rapidly approaching and stopped to let Ren'ai go about her art criticism.
Yutaka was afraid he had crossed the line but the words refused to be unspoken.
"You look beautiful. Even casual you look like some sort of spirit."

Yutaka reflexively ran his fingers through his shortened hair after Ren'ai gave her opinion about it. In order to answer her complex question whether he liked it not took a moment. As he tacked up a poster of Yutaka finally formed his opinion on his own hairstyle.
"Um...it feels a little weird but it's nice on warm days and I think it's going to feel better when I bend. And I think it makes me look less like a spoiled rich kid...more like a spoiled rich adult."

If hearing his hair was fine was a relief, hearing Ren'ai call his art "amazing" was on another plane of existence.
?"Thanks. Thank you. Um, they're not too...you know...arty? I was going for something exciting, like a cover...for...a...pulp novel...or something."
The awkward pauses were partially due to being kissed. The other part had to do with Ren'ai's question of what had beein going on with him. Being called "handsome" didn't help his stammering either. It did, however fill him to the brim with temporary confidence.

S-peaking of pulp novels...I, well, tomorrow I'm showing some of my work to Kirin Publishing. You know...the short novels you can get for a yuan. Lots of sex and violence and stuff, like Izumi Tsukishima's work?"
He paused before he went too overboard explaining the pulp fiction that many people read but few admitted to reading.
"You know I never really cared about people seeing my work, right? Like if people saw it I'd be creating for the wrong reason? I thought about you and how you described bending in front of an audience and now I just wonder if I was scared. So...I decided to put some stuff out there and see what happens."

With a grimace, Yutaka handed his girlfriend a series of cards that were smaller copies of paintings he had done. One, a bespectacled metal bender wearing only a codpiece and the cables the police used for bending. The second was a man and woman embracing one another while standing at the mouth of a volcano. The third was of a teenaged girl with round glasses and a double bun odango hairstyle with her punching her fist into the chest of a green dragon.

Until they reached the park Yutaka made sure to keep silent while Ren'ai looked over the cards but couldn't help talking while he was nervous.
"Other than working on that not much. Oh! I finally...finally won a game of One Hundred Poets against that guy with the Foggy Swamp accent." Yutaka felt that he spent too many phone calls complaining about his constant loss to the same man without Ren'ai feeling at least some relief at his victory.
"Was there ever a team you just couldn't beat when you were a pro?"

Almost as if by fate Yutaka and Ren'ai arrived at the park where he hoped to find a waterbender for his girlfriend's team. He liked the idea of being the supportive voice on the phone while Ren'ai complained about a rival, for once.

“Any suggestions, oh great artist?”
Yutaka snorted in a way that was both derisive and in no way sexy which he immediately covered with a smile.
"Uh...let's see..." Yutaka looked around momentarily before attaching one of his posters to the building wall he walked aside.
"Perfect place. The surface is flat and it's near the park. Actually, I've been setting up posters all week. I've, uh, been kind of excited for this. Maybe there will be a crowd gathering to see you..." He paused lightly bumped his shoulder against Ren'ai's. "Oh, most combustible of firebenders."

The way his girlfriend said that she was glad Yutaka had beaten his rival in a single game didn't sound like the off-handed compliment he usually received. Yutaka assumed it was because Ren'ai knew what it was like to compete with someone and that while she didn't care for a poetry memory game she actually cared about this most minor of victories.
To his own surprise Yutaka found himself less interested in touting his own achievement than he was hearing Ren'ai talk about bending. He knew he couldn't appreciat the sport on the same level as Ren'ai but the look she had while speaking of it made Yutaka happy...as well as a tiny bit jealous.

As she spoke Yutaka handed out fliers while trying to keep his eyes on Ren'ai but it wasn't working. Advertising was important but he wasn't about to waste a chance to look at Ren'ai when she was at her most radiant. Idly, he wondered if she glowed like that when she talked about him to other people.

"Not a clue where we should start. One of us should, um, you know, address the crowd. Say you're looking for a waterbender. I'm not sure I'm the right guy to..." Yutaka sighed, a little frustrated at how wishy-washy he sounded. Foisting the burden of firing up the crowd onto Ren'ai seemed cowardly since she would have to test the difficult benders and judge them to be worthy or not while he only had to show enough bending skill to weed out only the most terrible.

Yutaka took a deep breath and lightly slapped at his face with both hands then ran his palms over his head and took yet another breath.
"G-good people, of...of Republic City!" he started with a semi-confident but much too quiet voice. "People of Republic City! Lend me your ears," he said with greater volume and confidence, although he kept his eyes shut the entire time.
"The mightiest of earth and fire benders have heeded the call of the Dragon Hawks but water remains sorely missing from this...trinity of elements." Aside from a minor pause Yutaka felt fine or at least not like passing out.
"Is there a waterbender among you who hears the call of the Dragon Hawk? Do you wish to test your skills against a pro-bender? Can you even best a novice such as myself? Prove yourself worthy of the Dragon Hawks, water benders and make a poem of your life!"

By then a small group had formed around the practice area with its' streams of water, bending disks and painted lines for pro-bending and Yutaka was utterly terrified.
Like a bashful child Yutaka found himself burying his face in Ren'ai's shoulder.
"Ugh. 'Make a poem of your life'? I should have gotten somebody else to do this. Hired an actor or something."


With more than a slight sense of agitation, Yutaka tested the bending disks provided in the park for texture and hardness. It was his first match without full armor, only a face shield and the torso of his black and gray uniform.
"It's just a try out. It'll be fine. You can do this. Stop muttering to yourself, Ren'ai is watching."
Trying to look more confident than he truly was Yutaka gestured for the first waterbender to approach. To his dismay, it was a large and intimidating man who wasted no time in attacking Yutaka with a stream of water.
In a way it was scarier than the fireballs his girlfriend would lob at him during practice. After all, he had no idea of there was any malice behind the watery attack.
As it turned out there was no power behind the attack. Yutaka turned to take the attack on his shoulder but was not moved.

The grimace the large man exhibited made him look smaller and much less intimidating. When Yutaka launched his first disk at him the poor man instinctively covered his head which made Yutaka feel guilty for aiming his attack at his body.
The man fell back into the second zone looking more than a little embarassed.
One barrage of disks later the man was out of bounds and had lost the right to challenge Ren'ai. Yutaka felt like he had just kicked a baby badger mole.

Yutaka's second opponent was teenaged girl with her brown hair tied into a single braid and sporting glasses that couldn't hide a look in her eye that made Yutaka nervous. He bended a series of disks at the young woman who casually dodged them at Ren'ai often did and hit him with a water attack that sent him tumbling back two zones.
By the time the three minute timer sounded ending the round Yutaka had not been defeated but the bespectacled woman showed enough skill to warrant a match with Ren'ai.



Once Ren'ai had done away with the glasses-sporting teen the other waterbenders that were once eager to show of their skills now shuffled around timidly. Only one raised their hand but Yutaka noticed that as she warmed up in her black pants common among martial artists and black shirt advertising Flame-O Instant Noodles that the woman looked completely past Yutaka at at Ren'ai.
The woman looked an inch taller than Yutaka and seemed so non-chalant that Yutaka wasn't sure he was being taken seriously. When his future opponent lit a black cigarette and gestured with one finger for him to start it was obivious that he was barely regarded at all.

Yutaka's pallette of attacks was small but he'd manage to move Ren'ai every so often and felt confident enough in them to move back someone inferior to his firebending girlfriend.
When his first set of disks were bended upwards Yutaka swung at them with his fist but that was only a cover for hitting them with his elbow giving them more momentum and throwing off the timing.
It didn't work. His opponent just sighed and shook her head before picking up her cigarette. By then Yutaka was annoyed enough to forget his sense of chivalry and attack while his taller enemy looked smugly casual while smoking.
Nothing hit. Yutaka felt like he was throwing rocks at a mirage. It wasn't until several disks later that he noticed the short-haired woman was dodging just enough like some sort of self-imposed handicap.

When the brown-haired woman started swaying side to side Yutaka had no idea what he was seeing. He saw her throw a punch but the timing of the gesture and the crash of the water to his chest was so amazingly off that it seemed like they didn't even happen on the same day. It was the one trick he knew writ large. Water curved in odd directions and hit Yutaka with enough force to move him...but not back. He was being moved to the side into the very corner of his zone. When the woman across from him threw another punch Yutaka stepped back out of reflex. He moved back and zone and her up one. Not only could she overpower him, she had enough finesse to move him into certain parts of the field at will.

Once in the second zone and with thirty seconds to go Yutaka was bombarded with a series of small but fast attacks until a larger one knocked him out of the final zone just as the buzzer sounded.

"I hope he isn't your earthbender," She said to Ren'ai. While thrusing her thumb at her own chest the water bending victor introduced herself, mumbling slightly with a cigarette in her mouth.
"Kiat. Kiat Igaluk. No need to introduce yourself, I know who you are. You're good but I'm still going to beat you down. "

Kiat strolled to her side of the arena and tied on a blue headband and took a sideways fighting stance.
"A Watery grave
Awaits those who would challenge
Kiat Igulak."

Yutaka decided he couldn't totally hate someone who began a bending match with a haiku.

Ren'ai had mentioned pre-game trash talk before but Yutaka couldn't imagine his girlfriend participating. This other women, the one who beat him so thoroughly obviously thought highly of herself. An arrogance that Ren'ai swiftly dismissed which Yutaka found sexy. Like his dignity had been rescued for dating the woman who would not be psyched out. Ren'ai never looked stronger or cooler than when she told her opponent not to be arrogant.

Yutaka had seen his girlfriend bend fire before. He had even been on the receiving end of one of those flaming kicks. This...this looked different. If it was possible for a flame to smile Yutaka imagined the fire coming from Ren'ai's kick was doing so. He thought any flames launched his way rolling their eyes...the eyes they didn't have. Like they were finally thrown at something worthwhile.

Ren'ai herself even looked a little different. She had an intense look. It was a bit like how she looked while concentrating on something bending related but it felt more focused and somehow dangerous to be around her.

Kiat had trouble dodging the fire attacks the way she had dodged her former opponent's earth disks. No showing off or self-imposed rules for this one. This was the captain of the Dragon Hawks pro bending team and was not to be taken lightly.
She swayed bit to see how much pressure she could but on her left knee before the pain set in. Her right shoulder didn't feel any better. Her physical therapist told her she was at least a year away from being able to compete again, but her heart commanded her to bend and Kiat had no desire to how how her heart would punish her for disobeying.

A misstep put more pressure than Kiat liked on her knee and it buckled slightly distracting her from the flaming kick Ren'ai sent her way. She crossed her arms to shield her eyes but couldn't help stumbling back out of instinct. She saw her foot over the line and looked at the judge to call it. After an awkward stillness Kiat sighed and stepped back on area. There were a lot of things she was willing to do to win but she didn't feel right taking advantage of a mistake from an amateur judge.

This gave Kiat less space to bend in and would make a ring-out easier for Ren'ai to achieve. Kiat didn't like being on the defensive so soon but a strong comeback seemed like fun, it was after all, a try-out and an excuse to show off.

She planted her aching left leg in front of her and swept her right leg backward while gathering large spheres of water at the instep of her right foot and then her hands. She launched two water attacks from her hands straight, but a little wobbly at Ren'ai and waited on the third prong of her attack.
When it looked like Kiat's opponent had to deal with the first two attacks she launched her third with a kick towards Ren'ai. As physically painful as it was to put so much pressure on her knee to kick that hard it hurt even more to see how sloppy and amateurish the water looked bending from her foot. All she could hope is that the two smaller attacks distracted Ren'ai enough for the larger water attack to hit.

Just to be safe, Kiat prepared for an onslaught of fire in retaliation.

A knockdown! It was something that was simultaneously disappointing and more than she dared hope for. Balancing extreme pessimism with extreme arrogance made for some odd emotions at times. Upon seeing that Ren'ai had dodged the strongest of her three-pronged attack Kiat felt a fear that her bending days were behind her.

Kiat instinctively patted her right hip where a metal cigarette lighter rested in her pocket. Other than the ultra-handy ability to light her cigarretes it also served as a reminder not to be too afraid of fire but to always respect it's destructive power.
She was reminded of her old boyfriend and team-mate's long-winded speeches about fire and humanity's instinctual fear of it being the best weapon in his arsenal and tried to fight all the instincts that told her to run or dodge...not that either was an option given the intense pain in her knees and right shoulder.

Kiat's body wanted to jump the arc of flame hurtling towards her feet but her mind knew that her damaged knees would not be able to take the strain. She ignored her healer most of the time but Kiat knew that at present her knees could not take the pressure of a jump...or at least landing one.
The wounded, aching water bender jumped and dodged the arc of flame but chose to land with a loud [i/]THUD[/i] mostly on the balls of her feet and palms of her hands. It seemed about as graceful a landing as an elephant koi thrown from a flying airship, but while her hands hurt her knee was fine.

She rose just in time to see a flame heading toward her stomach but managed to weave into an awkward side-stance so that the only half of the flame hit, though it still hurt. Kiat felt like she had been taking on an entire team single-handed and knew that she would most likely spend the next few days aching horribly but despite that she had to smile. She was bending again. Not since before the Equalists attacks with her old minor league team had she been able to do so either mentally or physically.

When her mind registered Ren'ai's fireball barreling towards her chest Kiat smiled. It was a beautiful, textbook example of a perfectly placed shot to the chest. So centered that it didn't matter which way she weaved to avoid it, it was the kind of precision that tended to rattle some. It reminded her of her training armor with a bright red bulls-eye painted on the chest. Kiat knew that if her knees could take it she could dodge it. She kept her left leg forwards and twisted it in conjunction with her right leg in the back and her torso until she took on an awkward but difficult to hit stance. The fireball skimmed her but did not hit.

Almost a year without serious exercise along with developing a smoking habit did no favors for Kiat's stamina. Too much time was spent wishing to play this sport she loved instead of practicing as well as not taking he healer's advice about physical therapy to heart. She felt enough chi left to launch one or two more attacks.

The first attack was a straight and powerful jet of water while the second lied in wait just behind it but moving faster. Like the earth bender she had faced earlier Kiat's strategy was based around throwing off the timing of her opponents. While Yutaka had used the elementary method of physical feints Kiat was versed enough in he element to vary the speed of her attacks while in motion.

She leaned into the second attack to fiercely that Kiat ended up face down on the ground sighing heavily into the stream of water she had been previously using as ammunition. The exhausted and hurting former minor-leaguer rolled onto her back and stared up at the sky for a moment, not caring that she had nothing left in her to carry on.

Not once had Kiat ever had a referee call a match because she couldn't continue but the words had barely left her ears before she vowed that it would never happen again. Losing was fine but she couldn't stand the idea of being deemed too weak to compete.

For a reason she couldn't fathom the earthbender that she had humiliated offered his hand and helped her to the side of the bending area. He even offered one of his infinitely more fancy cigarettes to her when it became apparent she had crushed her pack during the match.
She tilted her head upwards and sighed out a stream of smoke.
"So, that's the strength of a pro, huh?" She asked with a smile to no one in particular.

Kiat trudged her way towards Ren'ai but she'd be damned if the woman how trounced her was going to make her look even more feeble.
"No trash talk this time. That was a great match." Kiat paused and put aside her wounded pride at losing, as a result her words became less begrudging.
"It was like fighting a volcano." Weakly, she put her open hand against the closed fist of the opposite hand and bowed her head. "Thank you for the opportunity." Kiat felt like a fool but she had to smile at Ren'ai. "And thanks for reminding me why I love this sport."

Before the accident Kiat like sleeveless shirts and short, whatever she could move in. In the time since then she developed a liking for pants and long sleeved shirts.
When Ren'ai asked if she was injured or out of practice Kiat didn't know how to answer verbally. She merely pulled up the leg of her black pants to above her knee and displayed the various scars that resulted from several surgeries and healers.
"My boyfriend and I got caught up in the Equalist attack. We were in a building..." she paused and decided that this stranger didn't need to know exactly what she and her boyfriend were doing when the debris started falling. "...there was a boom and suddenly there were rocks and wall pieces everywhere. I survived because my boyfriend was covering my body and took most of the damage. Broke some bones and I've been in rehab ever since. My arms and legs still hurt but not playing this sport again isn't an option. It's my breath of life and it's about time for me to fill my lungs again."
Kiat smirked out a puff of smoke while laughing at herself. She felt like she was babbling.
"I'll need some time to heal after this walloping, but yeah...I would love to join. Thank you."

After writing down her contact information on a torn piece of one of Yutaka's fliers Kiat gently banged on Yutaka's shoulder. "Work on your feints and timing and don't let your opponent push you around." For a moment Kiat thought she might be lost in a dream and her words to Ren'ai were as much to herself as they were to her future teammate.
"I will get better. Teams will fall by the dozens. Ash left in our wake."

Hearing Kiat spout a haiku dissipated any lingering resentment Yutaka had towards the Dragonhawk's perspective waterbender and seeing her raise her fist as she walked away yelling "Dragonhawks!"set his opinion in stone.

For a moment Yutaka thought he might have been more excited about Ren'ai having a complete team than Ren'ai but realized that couldn't be possible.
"We have to celebrate! This is...wow, we just have to do something. A team! You have a team! I mean, if she gets past Yuri and Yuri's really good but I think Yuri..." The excited earthbender took a breath and decided to throw up his hands and condense his feelings down one one word. "Excited!"

Now that the rush of competition and good news were starting to fade Yutaka's noticed that while emotionally he felt like he was riding a dragon to Wan Shi Tong's library physically he felt he was stomped upon by that same dragon.
"I don't know about you but I could so with a hot bath and a meal." He nervously ran his fingers through his newly shortened hair and tried to think of a way to float the idea of spending the rest of the day at a hot spring without sounding like a pervert.
"Um...hot spring? I mean, I'm achey and I assume you are too. We can soak for a while and get massages."
He chuckled at his own nervousness. "I re-read 'Dao Ming Wei and the Hot Spring Bandit' the other day and since I get all my good ideas from young adult books I thought it might be fun. We can celebrate your new team and pre-celebrate my successful interview with Kirin Publishing."

Yutaka placed his hand on Ren'ai's shoulder but it didn't feel appropriate and transitioned that gesture into a hug. "I'm so happy for you. And this gives me confidence about getting that job. I think things are falling to place for us."

Ideally, hot spring resorts were located outside of town away from the noise and light pollution of the city where one could meditate or stargaze without interuption. Luckily, Yutaka was very much a city boy and didn't mind such things. He almost apologized for not whisking Ren'ai away to one of the nicer springs or some place exotic like Ember Island but decided it wasn't necessary. Ren'ai had a way of short-circuiting his self-deprecation at times and enhancing it in others.

My parents have a tab here," he said once the resort had come into view. "No need to hold back."

What the Repun Hot Spring Resort lacked in the rustic charm found in some resorts it made up for in convenience. Earth, water and fire benders were utilized for baths of both water and sand. "If you haven't been buried in warm sand it's much nicer than it sounds."
Making a series of pained grunts Yutaka managed to sign in the two of them and reserve a room. He handed Ren'ai a pamplet of the resort's services and hoped she would take advantage of one that took a while. In addition to healing his own battered body Yutaka wanted to add something extra to make their time together even more enjoyable...something that didn't involve his parents' money.

While his mouth mentioned something to Ren'ai about taking a long bath and getting a massage Yutaka's eyes kept focused on the phone behind the counter.
"Meet you in room 11 in an hour? Sound good?
Even with his parents footing the bill Yutaka fought the urge to fill the room with flowers or other expensive things. Before he started his hot bath Yutaka used the courtesy phone and called the one person in the entire world that owed him a favor.
It was Yutaka's nature to worry but the hot bath, massage and healing in a whirlpool using two waterbenders one to heal, one to keep the water moving made his worries easy to forget. Even though almost everyone else was wearing a robe Yutaka felt odd in his since it seemed like everyone else looked better in theirs. It made him feel better that everybody else would have the same feeling when Ren'ai showed up in her robe.

Room 11 had simple wooden floor and overlooked a meditation garden which Yutaka could manipulate from behind the window. Sandbending wasn't his best skill but he could make a pattern of concentric hearts. In the back of his mind he worried that the people he had called would not show up. He was happy simply spending time with Ren'ai but felt an obligation to make things as good as he could even if it meant using his parent's money as well as favors owed from friends.

"So..." Yutaka said with a huge smile. "What do you want to do? I don't think I'm up for any pro bending, though."

Ren'ai's words of thanks left Yutaka speechless for a moment and he felt like he could stared at her silently like an idiot for the rest of the day and still be content.
But he had other plans which necessitated he not be an immobile mute.
"I-I'm glad. You deserve nice things to happen." He took a deep breath and tried to think of the correct way to phrase a request of his girlfriend without sounding like a lewd creep.
"As a man I have certain needs..." Yutaka hung his head and exhaled something which sounded to him like the unholy hybrid of a sigh and a growl.

He took a breath a tried again. "That is to say, um," Yutaka paused and reached inside the brown leather satchel he kept his drawings in and produced a small pouch and clutched it to his chest as if it could ward off his insecurities. "I was hoping that you might do me the honor of...and you can say no if you want because it seems like an odd request and perhaps something not becoming of a lady." He almost stopped speaking then, wondering if he had the breath to continue.
"Um, this is my roundabout way of asking if I could" He reached his hand inside of the pouch and produced a hand ful of small, colorful bottles. "Paint your toenails for you? Does that sound lewd? I'm starting to think it does. It's just...I love you and I love to paint. Sometimes if you mix two colors you like you get an even better color, right?"

When someone from room service opened the door Yutaka let out an alarmed squeak which he assumed was even less manly than requesting that he paint his girlfriend's toenails.
An ornate pot of Golden Monkey tea was placed on a small table and steeped while Yutaka chuckled at himself.
"It's funny...you make me nervous sometimes but it's never a bad thing. So, uh, tea and toenails, then?" He poured her a cup of the red-orange tea and sat down on one side of the table. "How have things been, Ren'ai? Have you been taking some time for yourself or just working and training?"

Repun Hot Springs


While Ren'ai spoke Yutaka went about setting up a variety of nail polishes and tiny, pointed brushes for intricate designs and went about his work.
Just before Ren'ai had told him about dinner with her parents Yutaka had finished a stylized flame on the biggest toenail of her right foot.
It felt odd grasping Ren'ai's soft skin and thinking about her family at the same time.

Yutaka was used to passive aggression and coded language and tended towards looking toward critical subtext in people's words and actions. Ren'ai's family seemed to say what they thought which unsettled Yutaka a little but in a pleasant way.
He blew on Ren'ai's wet toenail before starting on the next.
"I'll let you know a good night after my interview. Is your whole family going to be there? I like your parents but the more people there are the less focus will be on me."

Ren'ai second toenail was quicky painted with blue and white swirling orb symbolizing air.
"You know I'm not used to people saying something without meaning something else."

After blowing the two painted nails dry Yutaka began on the Water Tribe symbol on the next toe which gave him a little trouble.
"Oh, you know me, he said in response to what he'd been doing with his time. "Painting, playing games, listening to music." He paused and chuckled. "I also found out that I shouldn't gamble. All of my losses at playing One Hundred Poets mean I owe my rival a mural." He let out an abrupt laugh again. "That's like you having a bending match if you lose a bet. So, I guess...no I can definitely say that things are good. Even my losses mean I get to do something I love."
The tiny earth symbol on the fourth toe didn't turn out as Yutaka had hoped but he gave himself a break, it was an awfully small toenail after all.

The final nail Yutaka painted black to symbolize void. It technically wasn't an element but with four elements and five different toenails the math just wasn't there.
The painting of Ren'ai's left foot went considerably faster as they were the same symbols.
"Ah, your temper's not a bad as you think it is. You'll do fine. Just...uh, I hope it doesn't take up too much of your time. Do you think you can handle that and probending AND a social life? Not to sound needy but...uh...I need you." Yutaka blushed and moaned at how foolish he sounded which resulted in painting Ren'ai's toes instead of toenails.