Quick one-shot about Mako's daughter. If I have time, I might make a few "chapters" long (i.e. a few drabbles). This is a little add-on to my story Republic City's Restoration. Might be worth a read if you haven't read it already ;) Like before, please leave comments and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

oOo

The sound of little footsteps padding down the hall had Mako in a state of semi-sleep and semi-consciousness. Padding was a bit of an understatement, he supposed. Naoki's footsteps resembled that of a rampaging armadillo bear. In his mind, he counted down from ten; Naoki would be there to "wake" him soon. Ten…. Six…. Four… three… one. And, there was six-year-old Naoki, jumping onto his bed.

"Daddy!" she squealed. Mako rolled over, pretending to sleep. The little girl knew not to give up though. She had had enough practice at this by now. "Daddy," she huffed, crawling over him and poking him in the cheek. "Daddy I'm hungry," she said. When he still didn't open his eyes, Naoki gently put her hand on his eye and pried his eyelids apart. "I know you're awake."

Mako let out a sigh, signalling defeat, but then quickly flipped over and started tickling Naoki. Amidst her giggling, she was telling him to stop, but he kept going. "You woke up a sleeping dragon," he joked. "Now you're gonna get tickled!" He knew that it made no sense, but it made his daughter laugh, and that's what mattered to him. He stopped tickling her and hugged Naoki instead.

So much had changed since her birth. At first, he had been scared. He had tried to turn to Bolin, but Bolin was busy with helping Opal out with Enlai. Despite Enlai being a very strong child, he had had difficulty when he was born and it had affected his rate of learning. He was still a smart boy, but he was a little slow, and it meant that Bolin was always occupied with trying to get him up to speed. Then, there was Mako's job at the police station. He was thankful that Lin gave him paid time off; she had really softened up once he had explained to her that he had intended to raise the child alone and be a good father.

Often, Mako had turned to Korra and Asami for help. Naoki had grown to love her aunts and, despite other kids in her school asking how and why the two women were together. In fact, Naoki was made fun of a lot in school; Mako had moved her twice, but she was a brave girl. She was the one who had told him that she didn't want to move around anymore, even if people asked questions. Mako felt that she must have taken this from her biological mother Kosame, as Mako himself was quite self-conscious. Naoki was often ridiculed for only having a dad and no mother and for having lesbian aunts. Mako felt bad about her being ridiculed, but she would always proudly stand up for herself and tell the other children that her family might be unusual, but they all loved each other and that's what counted. Mako couldn't be prouder of his daughter.

"So… can I have breakfast now?" Naoki asked.

Mako smiled down at her. "What kind of breakfast do you want?"

"I dunno… just something."

"You're going to have to be more specific," said Mako. "Just something could mean… swamp water and mashed ash bananas."

Naoki made a face. "Have you been drinking cactus juice?"

Mako gave her a stern look. "That's not an appropriate question to ask people, Naoki."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not. Where did you even hear about cactus juice?" Mako asked.

"Aunt Korra," she replied. "Aunt Korra was talking to Aunt Asami about it… she said something about cactus juice making… floating pictures? She used another word but I can't remember it."

"Mirages," said Mako. "In any case, it's not something I want to hear again."

"Okay…" Naoki said, somewhat dismayed. "Are you mad at me?"

"No. I'm not mad at you. I'm not impressed with Aunt Korra for saying that around you though." Mako thought about it for a moment and figured he might as well let it go and then deal with Korra later. "So, what do you actually want for breakfast?"

"Now that I think about it… do we have any more purple berry pudding?" Naoki asked hopefully. Usually, she wasn't allowed sweets for breakfast, but sometimes her dad would give in and let her have it as a treat. She hoped this would be one of those mornings.

"That's a treat," said Mako. When he looked down at his daughter's pleading eyes, he sighed. This girl got away with so much and he just couldn't help it. "Fine. But only because it's a weekend!"

"Yay!" Naoki exclaimed, rolling away from Mako and bouncing across his bed and onto the floor. "Imma go get it!"

"Uh, no," said Mako, quickly getting out of bed and following her. "I'll get it. Last time you got it there was a huge mess and you got more than you could take."

Naoki giggled, but ran to the kitchen area anyway. "Yeah, but I was five and a half then. Now I'm six! I'm not a little girl anymore daddy!"

Mako smiled. It was true, even though the difference between five and a half and six wasn't a huge difference, he could see her growing each day. He watched as her black (and somewhat knotted, as she hadn't combed her hair yet) curls bounced behind her as she ran. "Be careful when pouring," he said, relenting. She giggled and scooted off to the fridge.

Mako just watched her reach the cold box. He remembered holding her as a newborn. When did she get so big?