Mako dodged the trail of blazing fire.

Exhaling, he launched an attack of his own. Korra dispelled the fiery punch and moved in on him again.

Mako had been holding his own in this sparring match with Korra for around ten minutes or so. Since the Pro Bending season was over and the arena was shut down, Mako, Bolin and Korra had a lot of spare time on their hands, which would have been otherwise been occupied with training and matches.

Korra had taken advantage of this and demanded that Mako and Bolin teach her some of the new modern fighting techniques that were so commonly used today in Fire and Earthbending. Bolin had immediately agreed, but at first, Mako had declined, in favor of working a few extra hours at the power plant. Why did he change his mind? Well, it was extremely hard to live your life if Korra was constantly pestering you.

Eventually, this whole thing had evolved beyond learning new techniques. As far as Firebending went, between the two of them they had managed to develop a whole new style of bending, combining the old and new styles. This new style had all of the quick, light-footed moves from the Pro Bending arena, but the power and control behind the punches and kicks originating from the old style of bending that Korra had been taught.

At first, Mako thought that the old style was... to put a a word to it... "mechanical", strangely enough. It was basically rigid straight forward thrusts and motions and didn't allow much room for any extra movement, but there was a LOT of power behind these moves. Himself and Korra had experimented with combining the two styles for weeks and today, they were putting both modern style and the newly formed "Avatar" style ("Great name" Mako had commented sarcastically. Korra stuck her tongue out at him cheekily in response ) to the test.

The Avatar style had already proved to be very effective against modern style bending and so Mako and Korra were using their newly created technique against each other in front of Bolin, Asami and to their upmost surprise, Master Tenzin was also interested.

And so, with an audience of three ("Possibly six, if the Tenzin's kids are lurking around somewhere" thought Mako) Mako and Korra started sparring in the training courtyard.

On the sidelines, Bolin uttered something that could not be heard. Tenzin hastily stood up, "I am not a betting man, Bolin" he declared loudly, briefly glancing over his shoulder. "Five Yuans on Korra." he murmured to Bolin, "Ahem, don't tell Pema"

Mako would have laughed at that if he had the chance, but was trying to focus on a streaming jet of flames targeting his shoulder. He brushed the flames aside with a flick of his wrist and sent a low kick towards Korras shins, which she skillfully jumped over.

Out of the corner of his eye, Mako saw Asami, but she had an ugly scowl on her face. "Great" he thought to himself, "Now, what have I done?". In the corner of his mind, he now tried to figure out what could possibly have put his girlfriend in such a bad mood.

He was forcefully pulled away from these thoughts as he barely deflected another one of Korras punches. As Mako sidestepped it, he feel the heat of the attack. He suddenly became aware of something... bizarre.

"I'm grinning like an idiot"

As this now obvious fact dawned on him, Mako clearly understood the reason for Asami's foul mood. Just the other day, she had asked him why he almost never smiled. Mako had told her, that he never really had much to smile about, given the monstrous responsibility thrown upon him since the death of his parents: raising his brother, Bolin. That, along with holding down a job, keeping food on the table, securing a place to live, learning Firebending and forming the Fire Ferrets.

Mako had realized, because of all of that, he really never was an optimist. He didn't dwell on hope and he didn't pray. "Hoping and praying doesn't make things better" he had told Asami that day, "and neither does smiling. We fought on our own and we found our way. We struggled, but we always made it through. We still are, even though things aren't exactly ideal right now."

Asami had just grinned and said "Mako, I will find a way to make you smile!" Thinking back to that conversation, Mako realized something,

"She doesn't understand"

Asami was a Sato! She had had everything given to her on a silver platter her whole life! She didn't have any siblings to raise, she didn't know what it was like going to sleep hungry night after night and she has never had to work for anything.

Mako just couldn't expect her to understand the hardships which complicated his own. "This is the first time she's ever been completely alone, without her fathers money and support to fall back on" thought Mako, now sparring on auto pilot. "She can't understand the hard times we went through, and why bending helps Bolin and I forget all of this madness, even if it's only for a short while"

How was he making things work with Asami anyway? They were just so different! She was an heiress, he was a street rat. Unlike Mako, she couldn't bend. What if they were too different?

"But I just can't help feeling like I owe her, and I don't know why."

Korra was getting too close for comfort, and so Mako unleashed a wall of fire, forcing her to retreat and begin a sequence of long range attacks which would have been effective, if Mako wasn't also a Firebender. The thought brought another smile to his face, one which refused to go away.

Korra was the only person who made him feel... well, he didn't know what he felt, but it was different, and Mako liked it. Whenever he was with her, he could feel an adrenaline rush, similar to when he was bending. Korra wasn't afraid to challenge him. Compared to Korra, Asami seemed tame, like a little kitten. Honestly, the girl was crazy.

"She drives me crazy"

He pushed that thought to the back of his mind and locked it in a little box, along with the feeling of that kiss they shared (Mako couldn't help but cringe whenever he thought about that) and everything else to do with Korra that practically screamed, "WAY MORE THAN FRIENDS!"

All of this had been put in the locked box in the back of his mind. This box was currently being ignored, although lets face it, that box was starting to get very very big. Still, Korra was his friend. End of.

Putting his thoughts on hold, Mako allowed Korra to close in on him again. After blocking her punches with his forearms, Mako forced her away again with a ribbon of fire and aimed a roundhouse kick at her right shoulder. Korra dropped down to the ground and mimicked the low kick that he had executed earlier, hooking his supporting leg and knocking him onto the cold stones with a dull thud.

Mako could have gotten up, but right now, he was way too tired to care about his bruised pride, so he stayed down. After that sparring match, Mako felt like he could sleep for a few hundred years.

Korra stepped cautiously towards him and knelt down at his side. After concluding that Mako wasn't unconscious, she firmly poked his cheek, which earned a growl in reply.

"OH YEAH!" howled Korra, jumping to her feet and punching the air excitedly, "I WON!"

Some people may have told Korra to act her age, act like she had won a battle sometime before in her life! However, throughout the various one on one spars between Mako and Korra (despite the fact that Korra was the Avatar), Mako was usually the winning combatant, given that Korra was new to the Pro-Bending style of fighting and that she was restricted to using only one element.

Yes, victory for Korra had been a rare occurrence, but now that they had created "Avatar Style" together, this made them more equal. It was clear to Mako that when they both used Firebending alone, they were now as strong as each other.

Mako pulled himself into a sitting position to see Bolin hand the old Airbending master five Yuans in a huff. Tenzin was clearly chuffed with himself, a satisfied grin on his face (shown after Bolin turned his back on him to congratulate Korra, of course) was prominent.

Mako hadn't even noticed Asami rushing to him, to help him sit up, in fact, she hadn't even crossed his mind as he gazed at his friend on the other side of the courtyard, strangling his brother and the old Airbending master with a bear hug. Mako knew first hand that Korra was WAY stronger than she looked.

He had to admit though, victory was a good look on her! He had taken a major beating, but... "It was worth it to see her like this" he concluded, murmuring to himself, oblivious to his seething girlfriend kneeling beside him, and he was none the wiser when she stormed off, completely ignored.

That forsaken locked box down in the deepest recess of his mind suddenly burst open, happiness, excitement and something unidentified emerged. One feeling, over all others was dominant and refused to be ignored. It was not the feeling that Mako had expected to harbor but, despite his efforts, it would not fade away:

Hope.