The place was dark, and it had the stale feel of a home that had been empty, unlived in for a small amount of time. Asami stood back as Lin entered, holding her suitcase close to her and glancing around the entryway tentatively. Lin sighed as she removed her coat and hung it on the rack.
"Are you going to come in? You're letting snow drift inside."
Asami responded with a quiet apology, almost so low it didn't register to Lin's ears, then turned to close the door behind her. She had been silent the whole ride over, which was fine with Lin, who wasn't one for meaningless conversation. She had agreed to take the Sato girl in for a little while after she was cornered by Pema of all people. She'd lost her father, her home, and then she'd lost her boyfriend to the Avatar, both of whom she still had to live with. Lin wasn't absolutely heartless, and her home was much too large for one person.
"This is your room," Lin said, swinging open a door to reveal a sparse guestroom with only a neatly made bed and a side table with a lamp. Asami nodded and murmured a 'thank you' as she entered the room and placed her suitcase on the bed before sitting down next to it. An awkward silence sat between the two and Lin felt as if she ought to say something. She had never been particularly good at comforting words.
Lin put a hand on the doorframe. "I'm sure this will only be temporary. Your situation will improve. After all, there are many people that care about-"
"No, there aren't."
Lin was surprised at the girl's interruption. It was the loudest and most assured she had sounded since they had left the Air Temple. "Don't be ridiculous. I am sure-"
"No one cares about me," Asami said, cutting in again. Her green eyes were still and serious. "Don't tell me I am being ridiculous. They don't care about me. There are people who pity me. Who feel sorry for me. The only person in the world who possibly really cares about me is my father, and he doesn't care enough, and I don't want anything to do with him." She moved her eyes away from the older woman who stood in the doorway, unbuckling her suitcase. "You don't have to bother sugarcoating things for me."
Lin didn't argue. She didn't know the girl well enough to truly care for her, and she was correct- the reason Lin had taken in was simply because she felt bad for everything she had gone through. Saying otherwise just for the sake of comfort would not only likely be lying, it would also be incredibly condescending. She instead just nodded and left Miss Sato to sort through her things.
After that, Lin did not hear a peep from the girl for hours. She did not leave the room and Lin did not go back in to check on her, thinking it better that she live her alone, for the night at least. If the girl was going to be staying with her for any amount of time, Lin wasn't going to let her wallow, but she didn't see the harm in giving her an evening to settle in.
She was surprised, then, to see Asami appear at her bedroom door a little past eleven. She had changed into a long, floor-sweeping white nightgown and had her hair loosely braided behind her.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I just- it's too quiet. I can't sleep. Can I come in here with you for just a little while?" She took in the image of Lin in bed, under the covers but sitting up. "If I'm not disturbing you, that is. I'm sorry. I don't want to bother you if you are about to sleep."
The last thing Lin wanted was to be interrupted during her peaceful quiet time, but the girl looked so shy and timid that she couldn't help the pang of sympathy that hit her once again. This also made her feel almost immediately guilty, knowing how Asami did not want her pity. She waved her in, motioning to a chair that sat in the corner of the room. "I have the unfortunate habit of surviving on too little sleep," Lin said. "You're fine."
Asami's gown sashayed and flowed around her feet as she walked, looking almost ridiculously formal. Instead of heading for the chair Lin had offered her, she took a seat on the edge of Lin's bed. Her posture was rigid and her fingers gathered the expensive material of her skirt in her fists nervously. She cast a glance over to the book Lin held in her hands. "What are you reading?"
She didn't look or sound at all interested in the question she had asked- instead, they felt like words to fill the silence. Asami looked far off and distant as she stared at the mostly-bare walls of Lin's bedroom. Lin would have asked why she came in here at all, except she knew- the girl didn't have anything in particular that she wanted to say, but she just didn't want to be alone. Lin sighed as she closed her book. She placed it on the night stand and withdrew a package from the drawer.
She had been trying to quit, because really, she often didn't have the time to stop while working and indulge in the habit, but this seemed a time as any. Lin struck a match to light hers, then withdrew another to offer.
"Do you smoke?"
Asami still looked distracted, and didn't really take notice of what Lin had said until the older women held the cigarette in front of her face. She then nodded and took it, placing it between her lips and leaning over for Lin to light it. The flame glowed next to her face, reflection of it flickering in the green of her eyes, before it was shaken out. Asami pulled back. She inhaled in deep before removing it to tap against the ashtray on the side table, blowing smoke into the air.
Asami closed her eyes, slowly, and when she opened them, she turned to look at Lin.
"What do I do now?"
Lin wasn't used to dispensing advice. She wasn't an agony aunt, she wasn't a comforter. She just did her job and then dropped the broken people off to others to fix. For some reason, though, there was just something about this girl that Lin kept being drawn to make...feel better. She couldn't help thinking back to her own personal heartbreaks where she had kept to herself. The only one she had ever felt comfortable confiding with had been the one who had done the breaking. After that, there had been no one to turn to when something happened that hurt her. Even when her mother had died, she hadn't-
Yes, Lin identified with how it felt to be alone.
"I can't tell you that," Lin said, keeping her tone professional. "What do you want to do?"
Asami's head dropped. Her braid was loosening and pieces of thick, black hair were falling down over her face. "I don't know," she said. "I mean, I know, but I don't know how it's possible. I want to put this whole business behind me." She gathered her knees up in her arms. "I always thought that when I was older, when my dad retired, I would take over the company. But how do I do that now? Future Industries, Sato- both names are tainted." Asami let the cigarette sit in her mouth, and Lin couldn't help but notice the way she stroked two fingers up and down the sides of it absentmindedly. She let her head fall back, and blew smoke from the side of her mouth. "People would probably say I wasn't stable enough to run it, anyway. Since I'm so traumatized. I'm just a poor little rich girl, out of my element, with an Equalist father that she was completely duped by." She turned to Lin. "So what if I don't bounce back immediately? Just because I'm having a hard time...does that mean I'm not strong?"
A silence fell between them, as Lin didn't know what to say. The girl had been silent as the grave the whole night, and suddenly she wanted to talk. Obviously she had had a lot on her mind lately with nowhere to spill it, but Lin felt bad that she had chosen her to spill it on. What could she do to comfort this girl? She could barely comfort herself.
After a few moments of no response, Asami turned away, letting her head fall back down as she concentrated on tapping off the burned ash. Lin sighed; she actually felt guilty. Why? She hadn't done anything. The girl's dark hair was contrasted against the pale of her face, which was again contrasted with the red of her lips wrapped around the cigarette. It occurred to Lin how attractive she looked and oh, there was the guilt. She knew that this was a completely inappropriate time to be thinking anything like that about this completely inappropriate person.
"When I was first promoted to chief," Lin said finally, and Asami lifted her head back up at the voice. "There were lots of cries of nepotism. It was ridiculous, really. I worked four times as hard as anyone else there to get where I was. If they had thought my mother had any hand in me getting that job, they did not know my mother. She worked me to the bone in my training, growing up. I never had it easy, not once. But it was just like anyone refused to believe that, just because of who I was." She leaned over Asami's body to smash her cigarette in the ashtray. "Don't let other people's perception of you keep you from doing what you want to do. You'll have to work harder than everyone else. You'll have to put in twice the work to get half the praise. It's difficult as hell and it isn't fair, but it is worth it."
Asami actually smiled- Lin couldn't help but notice that her smile was as attractive as the rest of her- and then disposed of her own cigarette. When she turned back, her body was slightly closer, and she reached out to put a hand on Lin's.
"That does help," she said. "I mean, everything you're saying. It's smart." Her expression downturned a bit as she looked into her own lap. "I think I've been feeling just as sorry for myself lately as everyone else has."
"It's your right."
Asami shrugged. Lin couldn't help but notice that she hadn't removed her hand, and it was making her increasingly nervous. She couldn't help but notice how beautiful the Sato girl was, but anything else was completely inappropriate, not to mention most likely coming from her end alone. The girl would probably have been disgusted if she knew how the contact was making Lin feel.
"Maybe you should try to go and get some sleep now." She attempted to slide her hand away, but suddenly, Asami grasped it tightly. "What-"
Before Lin knew what was happening, Asami was on her, kissing her lips roughly, squeezing her hands so hard it felt like the bones might break. She then pulled back as quickly as she swooped in, breathing heavy, unsteady, hair now completely fallen down and messy around her face.
It took Lin only a moment to compose herself, and she let a stern expression take over her face, hoping her voice wouldn't give away how out of breath she really felt. "Miss Sato, I do not know what you think you're doing, but it was not appropriate. You should get back to your room now, and I will be willing to forget what just happened." Unlikely. Lin knew that she would be touching herself to the memory of it and the imaginations of what could have followed the second that Asami left the room.
"I'm sorry. Did I overstep? Did you not like it? I thought maybe-"
"It doesn't matter how I felt about it. How old are you, nineteen? I am over thirty years your senior." Lin knew that she should just say that she wasn't interested, the kiss hadn't done anything to her, that she was not a woman who enjoyed other women- but something kept her from lying. She could not force the words out, so instead, she stuck to what she thought to be true. "I don't think you know what you're doing."
Asami's face twisted up at this, and it wasn't sadness or lust Lin saw now- it was anger. "I'm not a helpless little girl," she spat, "And I would appreciate it if people would stop treating me that way! Didn't you just tell me not to let people's perceptions of me keep me from what I want to do? I don't need to be protected, shielded or told what I want. I know what I want."
"You've been through a lot," Lin said, unable to keep her eyes from roving over Asami's exposed collarbone, unable to keep from noticing the way the neckline revealed so much of her chest when she was leaned over as she was. "I don't want to be seen as taking advantage of you."
"Oh, I understand," Asami said, jerking back quickly, crossing her arms as she let herself hit back into the headboard. "I'm too vulnerable, too weak. My sorrow-addled mind probably doesn't even know what I'm asking to do."
"I didn't say-"
"You implied as much," Asami said. Suddenly, she was right there, the heat of her body against Lin's, arms pinned to either side of the older woman. Lin could feel the warmth of Asami's breath against her cheek as she spoke. "I'm not drunk, or drugged. I'm just sad. Does being sad suddenly mean I'm not capable of making my own decisions? I just want to feel good instead of miserable for a change. If you don't want to, that's fine. I'll just go back to my room and take care of it myself." She looked at Lin for an answer, giant green eyes glimmering with determination, and when she didn't receive one, Asami leaned in even closer. She pressed her lips lightly to Lin's, letting a hand crawl around to the back of her neck. Fingernails pressing into sensitive skin there left Lin shivering against the other's lips.
There could be no more refusal from Lin as Asami crawled into her lap, straddling her, deepening the kiss with a delighted moan as she began to grind her hips. The girl's tongue invaded her mouth and pushed against her own, she sucked on her her bottom lip and bit lightly with her teeth. Lin pushed away from the kiss and began dragging her lips lightly down Asami's neck. The little, breathy moans she received in response were more than enough invitation for Lin to take control. She slid out from under Asami and laid her out on her back, crawling over her, lavishing kisses on her chest as she pushed the nightgown up over her waist.
Asami wore nothing underneath, and Lin felt a familiar heat gather in her stomach at the sight. She moved her lips down to Asami's stomach, fingers stroking up and down the skin of her hips. Asami wiggled and made pleasurable sounds at these touches, encouraging Lin furthur. She could plainly see that Asami was already wet, and a single stroke of her finger against her entrance confirmed this. Asami arched into this suddenly contact, gasping out loud as Lin breached her with a single finger.
"Mmm, please," Asami said. "Yes, I like that. Another, though."
Lin pulled out, then added another finger, pushing in slowly as Asami bucked against her hand. She let out a strangled laugh as Lin took her time going in and out of her. "Stop that," she choked out. "Don't be a tease. I want it rougher than that."
Who was Lin to deny that sort of request? She always appreciated a partner that was honest in bed. She began to move faster, soon adding another finger and her tongue as Asami writhed beneath her. It was a pretty stunning sight.
"You are fantastic at this," Asami said, out of breath. "You're amazing." Lin's movements stilled for a moment, but the insistence of Asami's body against her hand caused her to pick up the pace again. "Mako was big, but he didn't know what to do with his hands." Asami let out low moan as Lin pumped her fingers in and out once, twice. "Which was a shame, because I really like getting- oh! - finger-fucked." Lin curled her fingers up and pushed in hard and fast, causing Asami to cry out again, this time louder. She let her own hand slide down and started to rub herself while Lin continued to fuck her in earnest. After a moment, Lin felt Asami's walls begin to tighten and push around her fingers, almost forcing her out as she came. Asami grabbed at Lin with her unused hand , mumbling out unintelligible she finally looked down at the woman between her legs, a faint blush was evident on her cheeks. "Sorry. I've been told I'm really chatty in bed."
"I don't mind." On the contrary, Lin couldn't think of anything that could be hotter to her at that moment than Asami talking about all the ways she liked to be fucked. She pulled her fingers back, now slick with Asami's wetness, then sucked them clean. Asami bit her lip at the sight of this, rolling up onto her knees and placing her hands on Lin's thighs. She pulled on her pants, slipping then off with relative ease and tossing them to the ground.
"Now it's your turn," Asami said, rubbing her thumbs in a circular rhythm into the skin of Lin's upper leg. She spread her legs slowly, but as she leaned in, Lin pulled back in sudden hesitation. Asami sat back up and looked at her, a calm smile on her face. "It's okay," she said. "I want to. It's not like I've never done this before; you don't have to worry about me." Her serene expression suddenly turned a bit more wicked. "I've been told I'm pretty good."
Lin relaxed, and Asami lowered herself again. As soon as her tongue made contact with Lin's clitoris, any doubt that was to be had melted away. She had done this before, she knew what she was doing and Lin couldn't help but just sink into the sensations of Asami's mouth on her. It had been quite a while since she had had anyone in her bed. She let her fingers sink into the long, dark hair, clutching large handfuls of it as Asami pushed her tongue inside.
When she came, it was with two of Asami's fingers inside of her and her tongue on her clit. Asami followed this with small kisses and nips to Lin's inner thigh, then crawled up and pressed her body against her. At some point, she had discarded her nightgown, and she urged Lin to do the same with her top. Naked body hot against her, Lin let an arm snake around Asami, probably against her better judgement. After all of that, though, why not?
"Can I sleep in here tonight?" Asami asked, eyes closed and body already under the sheets. She sounded tired now, and she nuzzled in closer to Lin's chest, leaving kisses where skin came into contact with her lips. Lin nodded with a sigh, then reached her other arm off to turn off the bedside lamp. The girl was probably made of tougher stuff than anyone assumed, but as she closed her eyes, too, Lin still hoped that she had not made a mistake.