"So, how do I look?" Korra asked with a small grin, as she modeled the borrowed pajama top and bottom Asami had lent her for the night.
Asami stood and looked over Korra's slender body covered in her slightly long-legged pajamas, and nodded her head with a small grin of satisfaction.
"Perfect, if I do say so myself. But then of course those are my PJ's, so I'm not surprised they look good," Asami answered with a teasing grin.
Korra gave a small snort of amusement, before she sat down gingerly on the edge of Asami's bed. Her back was still a bit sore, but the pain medication Asami had gotten for her from the local pharmacy was doing it's job, and it was mostly just a mild ache in her muscles now.
Korra began idly playing with a bit of the bed sheet beside her, before she looked back up at Asami and asked in a quiet, shy voice, "so ahh...about those sleeping arrangements...I really was serious about sleeping on the couch. I don't want to put you out of your own bed."
Asami waved off Korra's statement, before she moved forward to take a seat beside her friend. She then gently took Korra's hands into her own before speaking again.
"It's absolutely no trouble, Korra. Your body needs a soft surface to rest on, and as nice as my couch is it's not the best place for you to sleep on." Asami idly stroked her thumb against the back of Korra's hand, which caused a light shiver of pleasure to flow through Korra's body.
"I know, it's just...this is your home, Asami. Your own little piece of the world that you created for yourself, without any help from that deadbeat father of yours," Korra said with the slight scowl on her face that was always present, whenever she had to remember the bastard who had walked out on Asami and her mother, when her green-eyed friend was only five-years-old.
Korra still remembered the very first time she had met Asami; Korra was visiting her godfather Tenzin, his wife, and their first-born of the family. She had been very young herself, but had been allowed to run free in the park near Tenzin's home. She'd managed to find a small water-slide that had been set up for young children, and she was having a ball slipping, sliding, and making small cupfuls of water with her hands to splash on the other children. It hadn't even mattered to her at the time that she was still in her shorts and t-shirt; Korra was a child that just enjoyed life as it was, and never worried or fretted about such silly things like soaked clothes.
Korra had looked up laughing after she'd soaked a young boy roughly her age, with reddish-orange eyes and spiky-black hair. While the boy grumbled and fussed, Korra's eyes alighted on a young girl around her age, sitting quietly by herself on a bench near the water-slide. The girl looked sad and lonely, and young Korra felt a strange and unfamiliar twinge in her chest at the lonely girl's expression.
Well, Korra wasn't going to just stand around, and watch this girl be sad! Korra just wasn't built that way. She wanted everyone around her to be happy, and to enjoy each day of life as much as she did.
So Korra marched herself over to the quiet girl, passing by another young boy with bright green eyes, who was laughing as he wrestled the red-eyed boy into the shallow pool of water surrounding the slide.
Once Korra was in front of the other young girl, who looked up at her from behind a curtain of pretty dark hair, Korra immediately stuck out her hand and exclaimed in a loud voice, "hi, I'm Korra! Can I be your friend?"
The young girl, who had pretty green eyes that reminded Korra of the sea-green ocean, looked back at Korra with a slightly-confused expression on her face. She looked around and then behind herself, as if in search of someone else this strange young girl must be speaking to besides her. She then slowly raised her hand, and pointed at her chest as a softly-spoken, "are you talking to me?" slipped passed her lips.
Korra grinned brightly in response as she nodded her head vigorously, before she moved beside the girl and hopped up onto the bench beside her.
"My name is Korra. What's your name?" the inquisitive, bright-eyed Korra asked curiously.
"Asami...my name is Asami," the lime-green eyed girl answered, as she shyly tucked a strand of dark hair behind her small ear.
"Asami...that's a pretty name. From now on Asami, I'm going to be your new friend," Korra announced with a firm nod of her head.
Asami's small mouth fell open in a perfect 'oh' of shocked surprise at the other girl's pronouncement. Then a bright twinkle lit up her lime-green eyes, and she grinned back with a firm nod.
"Friends," Asami replied as she stuck out her hand, and delighted that her new friend immediately wrapped her small hand around hers, and shook back firmly.
"Friends." Korra's bright grin would have lit up a dark room.
From that day forward, Asami and Korra became practically inseparable. Korra didn't live in the city like her godfather Tenzin, but she started visiting from the country so often, eventually her parents granted her permission to move in with him, and his family when she was 15.
By then Asami's mother, who was practically a second mother to Korra, began to lose the battle with an incurable illness. She eventually passed away just after Asami's 17th birthday, and Korra remembered staying up all night with her best friend, as Asami cried out all the sadness and sorrow that filled her young heart.
And Asami's bastard father never showed his despicable face even once during Asami's mother's illness, or even after her passing.
Tenzin had immediately opened up his home to Asami, who was as much of a 'daughter' to him as Korra was. Asami however had to turn down Tenzin's hospitality, as she just really wanted to be alone during this period of heartbreak. The home she and her mother had lived in for as long as Korra had known her, was paid for in full. So Asami spent the next year there, slowly trying to put herself back together, and decide what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.
It was Korra who eventually pointed her down her current life path, when her slightly-younger friend who was then 17 to her 18, showed up on her doorstep with the most beautiful display of flowers Asami had ever seen.
When asked what special occasion the flowers were for, Korra had just given the little carefree shrug that Asami always found adorable, and said that she just wanted her greatest friend in the world, to be around the most beautiful and fragrant flowers in the world. And something had just clicked then for Asami. Her mother had always loved beautiful flowers, and had always kept a small garden full of them behind their home.
So, Asami had taken a portion of the money she and her mother had saved up over the years, leaving the larger sum that her mother had left for her in her will, and opened her own flower shop in the heart of the city. There was a quaint little apartment built atop the building her shop was to be housed in, and with only a little prodding from Korra, Asami also bought the apartment.
Then with the help of Korra and her best male friend Bolin, a friend she'd made the same day she and Asami became friends by the water-slide, Asami moved into her new home and business. Over the next two years, Asami's little flower shop had blossomed into a thriving business. Everyone who wanted the most exquisite, elegant, fragrant flowers around knew exactly where to go. And Korra had remained by her best friend's side the entire time.
And now Asami sat by Korra's side still gently stroking her tanned hand, while the blue-eyed girl tried desperately to think of a way to get out of sleeping in the same bed with her best friend. It wasn't as if Korra didn't want to sleep right next to her secret crush. But lately it had just become harder and harder for her to keep a firm handle on how her body reacted to Asami's closeness. And she just didn't trust herself not to do something absolutely mortifying...like snuggling up to Asami's body while they both slept.
"Please Korra, just stay here with me tonight. I'll feel better knowing that I'll be right here by your side if you need anything. And hey, I'll even make you some warm milk and cookies if you'll stay," Asami bribed with a cheeky grin, which finally caused Korra to let out a soft chuckle of defeat.
"Okay, okay miss-sneaky-with-her-bribes. I'll stay here with you tonight," Korra said with a soft grin for her best friend. "But I get the right side!" Korra then exclaimed as she wiggled her way backwards, and claimed the right side of the bed with a pillow tucked snugly against her stomach.
Asami laughed as she rose to her feet and walked towards the bedroom door, to head out to her small kitchen to get the promised...or rather bribed...milk and cookies.
"I'll be right back, Korra. Don't fall asleep and start any sweet dreams without me," Asami said with a quick wink over her shoulder, before slipping out of the room to head towards the kitchen.
Korra was left tightly clutching the pillow, her mouth hanging slightly open, and a mild shell-shocked look on her face.
"Did Asami just...flirt with me?"
AN - Did I mention before that I loved y'all? Yes? Then let me SUPER-SIZE it. I super HEART you all! =D
Thanks for the wonderful reviews, and warm welcome to this amazing fandom~ =D
I really hope you all enjoyed this new chapter, and please review to let me know what you thought of it, as it really helps motivate me to get the next chapter out as soon as I can~ ^.^