We Love the Water

Chapter 2

Tahno came home in an exceedingly good mood, mostly because he felt inspired, which was something he hadn't felt in a long time. He stopped by his little sister's room to see her playing on her piano keyboard in her room. For her, it was like he somehow transformed into a genuine, loving and caring knight in shining armor, instead of the cocky, self-obsessed, ego maniac everyone at school saw him as. Tahno liked to think of this side of himself to be truer to his real personality than what he was at school.

"Hi Sura," Tahno called softly so that he wouldn't startle her.

She stopped to look up at him and smiled but didn't move from where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor. He came in and sat down next to her and played a few seemingly random notes on her keyboard and then watched for her response. She rocked back and forth, turning her head from side to side as he tapped the keys and then played the same exact notes only on a higher register and much faster than he had. He smiled sweetly at her before playing some more, watching her closely as she mimicked his movements exactly without even seeming to pay hardly any attention. This was the way they communicated most of the time.

Sura was a musical prodigy. She was only five years old but had already mastered the piano with ease. But she was autistic as well, making her progress in verbal communication come at a painstakingly slow pace. So playing together on a piano was how Tahno and Sura communicated best. He had learned that the type of music Sura played often reflected her mood and emotional state. If it was dark and erratic, she was usually angry or frustrated, and if it was light and smooth, she probably had had a good day. And today was a good day. Tahno played on the piano with her for a few more minutes before he gave her a side hug, kissed her on the top of her head, and told her he had work to do but if she needed anything to come and get him. She gave no indication that she had heard him but instead began playing Spring by Vivaldi. He knew by now though that Sura comprehended much more than she let on. Her senses were hyperactive and took in everything around her, and she remembered everything in vivid detail.

Sura's nanny came in with her snack, and Tahno left her room and made his way down to the basement where his office and sound studio were. He sat down in front of his sound mixer and reflected for a moment about what exactly he wanted to do. Tahno didn't sing and he barely even danced, but he did write and produce music professionally. No one in his school knew about it. Hell, his friends didn't even know about his music, just like they didn't know he even had a little sister. He went by a different name in the music industry and had cultivated a decent reputation because he picked the people he worked with very carefully. He went by the name of Casper Dinali professionally and even incorporated himself in Sura Inc. of which he was the founder, owner and only employee. His father scoffed at the idea of his music career, thinking it was immature and childish, despite the fact that Tahno's royalties often outweighed his own father's income, not that Tahno's father would ever know it. In fact a majority of Tahno's income went into a hedge fund to insure that his little sister would always be taken care of. Tahno's mother, however, encouraged her son as long as it didn't interfere with his school and extracurricular activities.

Tahno turned on the mixer and wrote down a few notes and brought up whale songs on his computer, digitally manipulating them until they were a catchy little tune. He added a beat and rhythm and recorded the track before sending it off to a few of his favorite music artists to see what they thought. He labeled it 'The Ocean in Her Eyes'. Tahno felt his heartbeat pick up and a blush form on his face as he became enveloped in the memory of how amazing Korra's eyes were when she looked at him. Granted she had been angry, but the fire in them was what sparked today's inspiration. That and the way she moved in the water like she was some kind of majestic sea goddess also had a lot to do with why he used Blue Whale songs.

He got replies almost instantly, all of them raving about how different and unique the track was and how they really liked his new direction. He smiled smugly as he replied to them before turning everything off and returning it to its usual pristine order.

Korra arrived at school the next day, tired and sore. She hadn't slept very well the previous night. She couldn't get images of a lean but still well-muscled brunette man chasing her around a swimming pool out of her mind every time she closed her eyes.

She got to her first class when her teacher handed her a note from Mr. Tenzin requesting to see her as soon as she was able.

"Can I go now?" Korra asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes you may," was his indifferent reply as he went over his notes for the class before it started.

She nodded and left the room, passing Tahno in the doorway. They exchanged glances but didn't say a word.

"Hi, Mr. Tenzin. You wanted to see me?" Korra said cheerfully as she entered the school counselor's office.

"Yes. Hello, Korra. Please come on in," he greeted her from his desk as she came over and plopped herself in the seat opposite him, dropping her bag to the floor with a careless thud.

"I wanted to make sure your first day went smoothly yesterday," he inquired calmly.

"Yeah, it was fine," she answered while shrugging nonchalantly. "Thanks for backing me up on the arm band matter, by the way. That means a lot to me."

"I saw little harm in making an allowance for something that is important to your culture, and it's really a very interesting piece, not gaudy or flashy like most of the other dress code infractions made by female students."

"Ha! I can imagine," she laughed as she considered the overload of prissy girls at White Falls.

"Yes, well… the main goal is to let you maintain a strong connection to your heritage and its history. I personally feel that everyone should be free to express what makes them unique and different from their peers. Knowing where we come from is a significant part of the journey we make in finding out who we are."

"Believe me, I agree completely. The last thing I want to do is blend in with a crowd."

"That being said, how do you feel you're fitting in here so far?"

"Um… I guess there have been a few bumps, but nothing I can't handle," she admitted while still avoiding specifics.

"Class work going okay so far?"

"Yeah."

"What about interactions with your classmates?"

"That's fine too. Made a few friends, and this weekend I'm going to a par-uh… I'm going to participate in a… social gathering," she clarified carefully.

"Hmm. Glad to hear you're making friends, but what about enemies?" he probed as he observed her inquisitively.

"Enemies?"

"Coach Mills informed me of some rather biting remarks exchanged between you and a fellow swim team member."

"Oh that," Korra brushed off with dismissive wave of her hand. "Tahno just had some stick up his butt, but I don't let that sort of thing get to me because I really don't give a crap."

"The testimonies I have disagree with you. Shall I recount some of the words you used that were repeated to me?"

She huffed in acknowledgment, "Okay, okay. I may sometimes have a little issue with my temper."

"I'm afraid that doesn't excuse your behavior. Apparently you also threw his personal property across the room."

"Did he seriously complain about that? I didn't even hurt it!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

"Tahno hasn't said one word about your confrontation yesterday afternoon. That's just according to the other people who were there. You can't let your anger get the better of you like that, Korra," he reprimanded as he eyed her somberly.

"I get that it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I couldn't stop myself! He's just so - so infuriating! He kept saying all these things about me and trying to intimidate me; you can't expect me to just take that lying down." She crossed her arms stubbornly. Being a pushover was definitely not one of her shortcomings.

"I expect you to conduct yourself in an acceptable fashion. You're not exempt from the rules of this school and you will be treated like any other student here when it comes to policy. Now, you're still adjusting this week, and you're not in trouble today. But I want you to come and talk to me if you have any more issues with Tahno or any other student instead of risk getting involved in another episode."

"I'll stay out of trouble, okay? And I'm not scared of Tahno."

The counselor closed his eyes and shook his head in exasperation before looking up at her again in earnest. "There doesn't need to be any reason for you two to be at odds with each other. If you tried, you could even be friends."

"Psshh. Yeah sure, when there's a cold day in Hell."

"If you got to know him better I'm sure you wouldn't feel so adverse to him. There's always more than meets the eye; humans are complex creatures, yet we are often too quick to assume that the reasons behind another person's undesirable behavior are due to character flaws, when actually it's quite regularly because of circumstantial reasons."

"So you want me to just give him the benefit of the doubt?" she asked with a sour look on her face.

"It wouldn't hurt. Now I've kept you here long enough. Remember, you can come to me about anything. Don't hesitate to visit me if you need to talk."

"I won't," Korra reassured him as she stood and slung her bag over her shoulder before walking out the door. "Thanks, Mr. Tenzin."

"Wait, so Tahno didn't say anything, about yesterday?" Korra asked for clarification.

"No," Tenzin confirmed.

"So who did? Besides the Coach, did any of his friends say anything?" Korra asked.

"That is not up for discussion, Korra. The point is to not let it happen again; you're better than that," Mr. Tenzin told her, putting an end to the conversation.

"Yes sir," Korra replied begrudgingly, dropping the issue and leaving to go back to class with a note to excuse her tardiness.

She returned to class and handed the teacher the note silently as she made her way back to her seat. She felt Tahno's eyes on her and chanced a very short, narrowed gaze at him right before sitting down but resolved to ignore him for the rest of the class. All throughout the lecture she was almost certain she could feel him boring a hole into the back of her head, and it took every ounce of self-control she had not to simply turn around and smart off to him or hit him or something.

In between classes she found Sasha in the hallway and filled her in on what had happened.

"You're kidding! Ugh, men and their egos. Well I'm sorry Korra, but good for you for getting to him. Bastard deserves a challenge," Sasha offered.

"Yeah and look where it got me," Korra deadpanned in response.

"Hey, at least you didn't get in trouble. If anything, all you got was a slap on the wrist. It'll be okay, come Saturday, you will forget it even happened. Oh, and I hear Asami's boyfriend from military college is visiting her this weekend so you will get to meet him. He is so hot it should be illegal. I better get to class. See you at lunch," Sasha said while patting Korra on the shoulder before taking off.

Tahno leaned back in his chair in the second class of the day as the rest of the students filed into the room. He gave Sasha a smirk in greeting as she entered and took her seat next to him. She returned his cocky look with a glare. "What did you do this time, Satan?" Sasha quipped.

Tahno put a hand over his heart as if her words hurt him and pretended to look scandalized. "What could I have possibly done to deserve such treatment?" he inquired innocently.

Sasha narrowed her eyes at him. "And here I thought you had a clue," she countered condescendingly as she turned her attention back to the papers on her desk.

"Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Tahno sneered from his seat.

"No, just irritated that you continue to be the most annoying ass on the planet," Sasha drawled as she gave him a pointed look. "Seriously, if you don't stop picking on Korra, you and I are going to have a real problem. I finally have a friend with substance, personality, and a real heart. Someone who is honestly genuine for once and you go out of your way to mess with her. Are you really that threatened by her that you have to be this much a douche? Because if I didn't know any better, I would actually think you had a crush on her with all the time and energy you spend to make her life miserable."

Suddenly Sasha's eyes go wide and her mouth forms a silent 'O' as she figures it out. Seeing through Tahno's bullshit was a gift.

"Don't look at me like that," Tahno warns as he narrowed his eyes.

"Oh. My. God," Sasha enunciated in amazement as she gasped dramatically.

"Stop. Stop whatever it is you're thinking because it's insane," Tahno growled menacingly while staring daggers at her.

"Deny it. Deny what you think I'm thinking then," Sasha challenged with a victorious smile.

Tahno opened his mouth and barely managed to utter a syllable before Sasha cut him off, "Liar."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Tahno responded weakly in defense before turning to face the front of the class.

Sasha chuckled darkly and her eyes flashed mischievously as she took out her cell to text Asami: "GIRLS NIGHT OUT - Friday night, you, me and Korra. MAKEOVER, I'm buying." Sasha smirked as the reply came back almost instantly.

"OMG, YES, details at lunch."

"Tahno, you are so in trouble," Sasha teased in a high, sing-song voice before the teacher took control of the class and started teaching.

But that didn't stop Sasha from sending knowing and smug smiles to Tahno periodically for the rest of the class, no matter how many glares he gave back to her.

"Don't say a word to ANYONE," Tahno warned in the deepest, scariest tone he had as they left class.

"And ruin the fun of having her figure it out on her own? Never. You're safe," Sasha replied with a wink as she escaped to her next class.

Somehow Tahno didn't feel assured.

At lunch Sasha huddled with Asami as they crafted their game plan and how to convince Korra to go along with it. Once Korra arrived the three girls became thick as thieves. Sasha looked up and caught Tahno staring at them several times, and each time she did, her smile only grew bigger.

Yeah, he was in trouble.

Korra entered the aquatic center ten minutes early for practice just to make sure she and Tahno wouldn't bump into each other on their way out of the locker rooms. She had been making efforts to avoid him all day, because she wasn't sure if she could trust herself to not start another fight with him if he were to take it upon himself to try and egg her on again. Right before diving into the pool to get a head start on warm-ups, she caught a glimpse of the day's workout schedule: technique drills.

'Great,' she thought to herself sarcastically, 'just what I need'.

After her meeting with Tenzin that morning, her day had continued to be nothing but one pile of crap after another. More conflicts with teachers and completely pointless rules she had apparently broken just by existing, and none of it was helped by the fact that every time she turned around, Tahno appeared to be sneering at her out of the corner of her eye. What she really wanted was the chance to work out all her frustration on the water in another series of exhausting sprints like yesterday, not have her every kick and stroke meticulously scrutinized and corrected. Her form was perfectly fine!

She hesitated for a moment as she deliberated on which lane to swim in. She almost selected the lane furthest away from Tahno's, but would that make it look too obvious that she was avoiding him? The last thing Korra wanted to do was to give him the satisfaction of thinking he had actually managed to intimidate her. 'Screw him', she thought angrily, leaping into the same lane she had occupied the day before and began attacking the water with much more force than necessary for warm-up laps.

She continued swimming for all she was worth, not even keeping track of how many laps she was completing. She barely noticed as the other swimmers joined her in the water, but kept on swimming until they eventually stopped their own warm-ups, and then practice commenced as scheduled. The coach was strolling along the pool deck as she barked out instructions and specifics on what she wanted everyone to work on that day. Korra half listened as she calmed her harsh breathing, well aware of Mr. High Class himself as he stood in the waist-deep water no more than four feet away from her, but she refused to spare him even a proper glance.

"Hey, superstar," a deep, honeyed whisper met her ears, crawling with arrogance and derision.

Korra rolled her eyes but otherwise didn't acknowledge Tahno's presence.

"What's the matter? Am I beneath the notice of White Falls' saving grace?"

Unable to help herself under such goading, she finally snapped her body in his direction with her hands placed obstinately on her hips to stare icy daggers at him. He didn't flinch; in fact, his smirk only spread wider on his face as he looked up at her while casually resting his forearms on the lane ropes that separated them.

"What do you want, Tahno?" she hissed.

"I never got to thank you for all the entertainment my swim cap cost me yesterday."

"And I never got to thank you for keeping so many snitches in your company! Heaven forbid something should happen to you or anything that belongs to you without every person in authority knowing about it. You must have half the people in this school marching to your fife. That fact that you would go so low as to get your minions to rat me out for something so completely petty speaks volumes about you," she spat back at him.

"I'm offended," he said with mock hurt in his eyes. "You think I would actually do something like that?"

"Hell yes I do. A drama queen like you? How could I not?" she accused under her breath.

He narrowed his eyes as if in solemnity, but Korra didn't miss the spark of wit that still resonated from within them. "So you think I'm some stuck up prig, huh? Do you hate me?"

"If I gave you any thought I probably would."

"Oh, that stung."

She was about to open her mouth to retort when suddenly the coach yelled out from the other side of the pool, "Tahno! Front and center!"

"You got it, Coach!" he yelled back before giving Korra one last smug grin. "Duty calls," he said with a shrug, diving under the water to swim to the side where the lower level swimmers were.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Korra wondered out loud as she crossed her arms, still steaming with irritation.

"The coach likes to use Tahno as an example to the intermediate group for technique drills," a girl from the lane beside her answered. "He's got the best moves… if you know what I mean," she ended suggestively.

"Whatever," Korra snapped. 'Of course, case in point of him having minions to march to his freaking fife!' she thought to herself bitterly.

The coach had them go one by one through the drills, practicing each of the four different swim strokes. The students who weren't currently swimming were supposed to be paying attention to the swimmers who were until their turn came, but during those pauses Korra found herself becoming increasingly bored. Luckily they were in the deep end of the pool, so finding entertainment wasn't very difficult. She let herself sink to the bottom and stayed down for as long as she could stand it; she could hold her breath for a really long time. She let her body adjust to the pressure as her mind become lost in the sounds of the water all around her, looking up at the entrancing way the light played on the surface of the pool.

Suddenly she was distracted by the sight of a lean, muscled male figure kicking off from the wall off to the side. For a moment she forgot about the terse words and loathing stares that she associated with the teenage boy swimming above her and just watched with awed fascination as Tahno propelled through the water in a powerful, streamlined dolphin kick. His body rolled through the motions, muscled abs and legs flexing beautifully. His black, knee-length speedo sharply contrasted his pale skin tone and bended along with his fluid, rolling progress.

Korra decided that she didn't really think he had persuaded his friends to tell on her for yesterday. Now that she thought about it, he didn't really seem like the kind of guy who was afraid to fight his own battles. She shook her head to bring herself back to reality. One appreciative look at his physique, and she was ready to dismiss her previous notions about his personality? What was wrong with her? Maybe she had too much water in her ears. She shot back up to the surface and gasped for air.

"Nice of you to join us again, Korra. Perhaps you'd like to astound us with your skill on the breaststroke?" the coach said sternly to Korra as she rejoined the group, not bothering to hide the displeasure in her voice.

"Sorry, Coach Mills," she answered contritely before taking off from the wall with five other swimmers in the breaststroke.

When she returned to the wall, she looked up to see the coach standing right over her. "Okay, we're going to have to work on that one."

"What? But I finished way before the rest of them did!" Korra exclaimed as she gestured to her team mates who were just now getting back to the wall.

"You're rushing through it too fast which in turn causes your technique to get sloppy. If you don't correct it now then you'll suffer for it further down the road and you may even get disqualified in a meet."

Korra just stopped herself from groaning in frustration. She had heard the same lecture from her old coach, but what did it matter? She was beating everyone, wasn't she?

"I want you to see how much of an improvement can be made when it's done right. Tahno! Get over here!"

Oh joy, Korra grumbled to herself as Tahno swam into her lane.

"We need a demonstration of your breaststroke please," the coach requested firmly.

"No problem," he said smoothly before gliding off into a perfect execution of the stroke and returning in a remarkably short amount of time.

"See that?" the coach asked Korra as Tahno was still swimming. "Even with taking the time to do the stroke exactly the way it's supposed to be done, you can still manage it with plenty of speed. In fact, proper technique is really the key to reaching the ultimate pace."

Korra battled between being impressed and being furious with Tahno's stupid technique as she listened to her coach speak. "I could still beat him," she mumbled.

"He just beat your time by four seconds," Coach Mills replied.

"You've gotta be kidding me! Let me go again. I can beat it!"

"Not today. Practice is over, everyone! Out of the pool!"

Korra pulled herself out of the water and yanked off her cap and goggles as she strode over to her things and began toweling off with intensity. She was so absorbed in the thoughts running through her head that she nearly jumped a foot in the air when a deep voice suddenly came from right behind her.

"Enjoy the view earlier?"

She swung around to see Tahno looming over her, droplets of water still dripping down his shoulders and chest.

"What view?" she snapped at him.

"Don't play dumb. I saw you looking at me underwater," he reminded her while raising a single eyebrow suggestively.

"If you saw me looking at you, then that just means that you were looking at me."

"Touché. So… I guess we were looking at each other."

"I guess we were," she tried to say indifferently but felt the heat rising in her face regardless.

He nodded his head slightly in response. "Nice lung capacity you got there."

"Thanks. Nice… breaststroke. Funny how the one with no breasts is the one who's better at it."

Not a smirk, but a genuine smile tugged at his lips. "Maybe it helps to have a strong appreciation for that part of the anatomy."

She was surprised to find herself returning it with a playful grin of her own, and she wasn't sure whether or not she imagined the subtle, downward flicker of his eyes. "Well that's classy," she responded, throwing her towel over her shoulder and turning to stroll into the girls' locker rooms. Friday could not come soon enough, because Friday night was Girls Night Out and by the good graces of GOD she needed a reprieve.

Author's notes- Again biggest thanks to Alaburn for co writing and betaing this for me. Pretty much all the snark comes from her, I come up with the drama lol.

Thanks for reading. :D Reviews are love.