[[First off I must apologize for my lack of updates. Life is a bit of a bitch right now. And by bit I mean a lot. As some of you might have figured out, that while most children my age are off worrying about finals in college, I made they mistake of joining the military. More importantly the Nuclear Navy. :| Life hates me, due to the fact that for the past 7 months I had been trying to earn my qualification from the Department of Energy, but the plant I was working on had issues which I am not at liberty to discuss. ((confidential secret secret hush hush shit)) So, now that I boat has been finally fixed, they decided to jam what should have been two months worth of watches into two weeks, which means 12 hours days, ever single god damn day, including holidays. I might have like...two days off...every 7-9 days, but I'm also preparing for my Final Oral Board which, if you can imagine, is where you get put into a small room, with two people who have been doing this job for 20 years, and they ask you question, after question asking you to display ever bit of knowledge you where supposed to have retained from the past 2 years of training. All it does is make you freak out, realize your fucking retarded, hyper-ventilate and spew out nonesense that is supposedly the theroy and operation of operating this great nations nuclear aircraft/submarine. On top of that, I will be getting my orders, moving to a place I do not know of yet within a month, and pulling my hair out while I try to get everything in order before I'm whisked away on deployment. Once again, I apologize for the infrequent updates...I hope you all can forgive me one day. :(]]
Korra threw her things into her backpack in a hurry, ready to run out of the training room, the moment Mako declared that practice was over. She slung the sack over her shoulder, and took off running towards the door, when a strong hand grabbed her arm, yanking her back. The girl let out a slightly yelp, when she turned around and stare back into Mako's golden eyes.
"What?" She asked, anxious to get going as she tugged on her arm.
The young man didn't let go though and looked at her with serious eyes. "You've been rushing out of practice ever day this week, what's going on Korra?" He asked. Korra tried to prevent a starstruck look from coming across his face when she saw the compassion that was in his eyes. That was the last things she wanted to see, that last things she wanted him to do.
She tried her best to put up a cold front, "It's just Avatar duties, nothing that concerns you..." She said,a line that usually would end an argument but it seemed this time Mako wasn't going to budge.
"No Korra, you're our teammate, tell me what's going on, I might be able to help you..." He said, bitting his lip.
Korra blinked for a second. Damn he looked good bitting his lip. Shaking her head to regain her senses she tried to think of another excuse. "Don't you have to go with Asami somewhere-"
"Asami is doing something with her father, apparently him and his business partner are going to be announcing some sort of new product and-" At the mention of the business partner, Korra cut him off.
"What! Where, where is this going to be!" She asked, this time grabbing Mako's shoulder, as if she was ready to shake the information out of him.
Mako tried to recall the information, "I'm not sure...I think it was somewhere close to the council hall-"
"Take me there." Korra demanded and put the other strap of her backpack on. Mako though didn't understand the Avatar's interest in the invent, or the determined spark in her eyes. Yet he agreed regardless, and motioned for Korra to follow him.
They walked in silence, the first time the two had been alone together since that night Mako had assured Korra that she would never be alone. Their relationship was taking such a good turn at that point and the fire-bender couldn't figure out just what had exactly gone wrong and when.
"Hey Korra-"
The Avatar shushed him as they came across a large crowd of people. Pulling her ponytail out, and the two clips that held a pair of side bangs out as well, she let her hair run wild over her face, hiding herself. Mako just followed at a close distance to her, and they took a place near the back of the crowd.
Mako could see Korra's body visible straighten when the business partner Gin stepped on stage. The two of them didn't really pay attention to the actual product presentation that was going on, Korra's eyes where to fiercely directed at Gin, and Mako's on the girl by his side. When the man waved towards the crowd, Korra took a step out, heading down the street towards the shadier part of Republic City.
"Korra! Wait where are you going!" He asked as he followed the girl, watching her redo her hair.
"Home." She said simply, still heading down to the part known as the Narrows.
The Narrows was a notorious part of Republic City that was often overlooked and ignored. It was where the worst of the worst, the scum of the earth lived. Criminals, prostitutes, pimps, theives and murders all lived here, and it was the place that the Avatar had the privilege of calling her home for the first 15 years of her life. It was almost visible how quickly the atmosphere changed when they entered this part of town. They went from the tall, proud buildings that Avatar Aang had worked so hard to erect, to broken down buildings, trash in the streets and homeless people making the street curbs their homes.
"Keep your eyes down." Korra finally said and Mako gave her an odd look as she began to rattle off more instructions, "Don't look at the people sleeping on the streets, that will start a fight. Don't talk to anyone even if they talk to you. If a girl comes up to you asking for a good time, ignore them, and most importantly." She stopped for this rule and faced the young, strong man. "Do NOT get separated from me..."
All Mako could do was dumbly nod his head as she lead him towards a building that looked a little more fixed up than the others. Yet their where scantily clad woman leaning against it, skirts hiked up so high you could see their ass, and breast just hanging out of their shirts. It was easy to assume that the man had no idea what business Korra had in a place like this. After all, she said she was going home, so he assumed back to Air Temple Island.
"Korra!" A shrill female voice cried, and soon a group of scantly clad woman surrounded both of the young people. "Oh my god! I haven't seen you in ages! Can you believe it!"
"The Avatar! Right here the whole time!" She cried.
"And a pro-bender!"
"Tarrlok has been talking nonstop about how proud he was of you, for finally getting out of here!"
"AND WHO IS THIS!" A female, who was particularly over weight exclaimed when they finally noticed the presence of Mako. It took not even two seconds for the gaggle of women to jump to extreme conclusions.
"Is he your boyfriend!"
"Husband!"
"Lover!"
"Did he get your pregnant-"
Korra stopped all their talking with a single hush, as if she had done it a million times before, "This man is just my Pro-bending teammate, I'm hear to see Yaya that's all..." She said and some of the ladies face's dropped.
"Yaya is upstairs, but Korra, you're mother-" The Avatar silenced them again before they could start talking.
"Mom has made it perfectly clear that she had no intention of seeing me again, I'm going to go see Yaya now, come on Mako..." She said and headed up the stairs, the bewildered boy following her closely.
Finally he got the nerve to ask, "Korra what are we doing here? How do they know you?"
The Avatar stopped outside a door, her hand resting on the handle as she thought of what to tell Mako. She could of course lie, but she didn't know how. Also telling him the truth meant the risk of him turning her away, and the girl didn't know if her heart could take it. Slowly she took a deep breath and said, "This is where I grew up." And left it at that as she entered the room.
In there was a woman who was dressed in beautiful silk clothing, that dangled over a body that men often just dreamed about. Her hair was put up into a bun, with chopsticks sticking threw it, and she leaned on a bed of pillow's her eyes opening wide as she saw Korra walked in. This woman looked mature and sexy, but the moment her eyes landed on the Avatar, it's like she reverted back to an excited six year old.
"Korra! Oh how I missed you!" She cried, standing up, quickly as she wrapped her arms around her friend. Mako had to take a step back and avert her eyes, for she reeked strongly of perfume and had an indecent amount of skin showing. "Did you come for more news?" She asked, and Korra nodded her head.
"Indeed, I know I've been asking a lot of you, but you are Gin's favorite, and his lips always loosen when he drinks with you..." She said, sitting down with a wry smile. She motioned for Mako to sit by her side.
Yaya nodded her head, pulling out a fan as if to hide her face, "Is this the Mako you've talked about so much? Good job, you definitely have my approval Korra-"
Korra's cheeks where bright red as she begged her friend to get on with the information. The hooker just nodded as she started to spill secrets that no one was supposed to know. "There have been rumors that Gin and his partner, Mr. Sato, have been buying a lot more military grade metals, stuff that isn't supposed to be just for guards. Also Mr. Gin said one day when he came to visit that they where going through the finances to quickly, and that he was gonna have to find a different way to bring in income..."
Korra nodded her head, as she started to think of various ways Gin could increase his revenue, "Go on please..."
"Well, there has also been talk about Gin aligning himself with the equalist, you know he's never really been found of benders. He can't stand the thought of being inferior to anyone, I think he is proposing to meet with Amon, the leader guy ya know, in hopes of coming to a partnership-" This time Yaya was cut off by Mako.
"What about Mr. Sato! Where does Mr. Sato fit into all of this!" He asked and Yaya gave Korra an unsure look. The avatar though was to focused on hiding the hurt expression she so dearly wanted to show, and just waved Yaya on half heartedly.
"I haven't heard anything about Mr. Sato yet, but I can only assume that he must know something if Gin is going to be accessing their funds in order to help supply the Equalist. He can't just not notice that large amount of money going missing..." Yaya explained and her words where exactly the ones that Mako didn't want to hear.
"Impossible! Mr. Sato is a good man and so is his daughter! Your information must be wrong! Korra we can't trust-"
"SHUT UP!" Korra yelled, her eyes glaring a whole into Mako. "I don't care, if this hurts you, or if it is to devastating for you to here. We have to investigate every possible avenue, and if Mr. Sato has any connection at all with Gin and the Equalist, than we need to investigate them to! That also includes Asami."
Mako's face turned red with anger, as he stood up. "You're wrong Korra! You are just selfish and paranoid! You can't accept the fact that me and Asami are happy so you are creating lies to-"
Yaya cut them off with a cough, before worst words where said. Korra's eyes where already slightly misty, which mean that the next bit of information her friend had to deliver would be with extra hard to tell.
"There is something else you need to hear Korra..." Yaya said, and the Avatar nodded, trying her best to hold in her tears. "It's about your mother...Gin says she's come of age."
Korra's eyes flew open, her hands shaking as they balled into a fist, "What are you talking about! She isn't old enough yet! She had almost ten years left!"
Yaya shook her head, and held the fan close to her face. "Gin made the announcement the other day, he said in two months he was going to have someone take over her position, and she would be left on the streets. Your mother and your siblings will no longer be allowed to live here..."
Korra nodded her head, as she asked a question she didn't want to ask. "Has he named her successor?"
"Yes..."
With trembling lips and in a voice more like a sob, she asked, "Who?"
"You're sister...Yin."
