"Hey, look what I brought!" I call out, as I enter the almost vacant Element room.
"Aww you're such a sweetheart, but I can't eat that."
I set the box of donuts on top of one of the punching bag stands.
"Weight in?" I ask.
"Sadly yes. But as soon as the fight is over. I want you to hop into the ring, with those same exact donuts."
"Won't I be tacked by security?" I reply.
"Most likely. But I will come to your aid. That's if, Azula doesn't kill me." she replies, with a wink.
I'm so glad I didn't drink as much, as I thought I would, last night. I almost over slept. I didn't even have time to put on makeup. Which isn't a bad thing, because I most likely would have sweated it out. Not to mention my basic attire, which happens to be my Adidas soccer pants and a white long sleeve thermal top.
"Here, bottoms up."
Korra tosses me a bottle filled with a strange green liquid. The moment I unscrew the top, I'm hit with an awful stench.
"Did someone die in this?" I ask, flipping the bottle over, to examine the poison.
"No! It's a green smoothie. It has one banana, kale, spinach, lemon juice, and soy milk inside."
Just hearing the word kale makes me want to throw up.
"You drink this?"
"Yes, every morning. Try it, you don't have to drink all it , just to the first line. If you can drink alcohol, you can drink that."
I make a funny face at her, unscrew the top and chug it down. Not stopping at the first line, but finishing the bottle completely.
"There you go!" Korra says impressed, but I literally have to cover my mouth, to avoid throwing up.I rather have a hangover for two day straight, instead of ever drinking such filth again.
"I don't know how you do it."
"One day at a time."
"Why is your personal brand a water droplet? Does the symbol represent the tears of your victim?" I ask, looking at Korra's photo on the wall.
"Why does everything has to be so negative with you?" she tease.
"It would make sense! Your symbol looks like a teardrop."
" It's a water droplet and it represents my family, friends, and hardwork. You see? When it's just a droplet, it's not effective. But when there are a collection of drops, it makes a bigger body of water, when they come together. Also my last name is Waters, so that plays along with my brand as well."
"That was deep, Korra."
"Like water!" she playfully adds.
As we stretch on the mat, the hem of her shirt rolls up, exposing her lower back and I get a glimpse of triangles all facing different directions on her skin.
"Woah, when did you get a tattoo?" she quickly pulls down her shirt and turns around facing me.
"When I was seventeen or so. I had a friend do it. I was sort of in my rebellious teen phase. Also my parents don't know about it, so don't tell them."
"Does your tattoos have any significant meaning to them ?" I ask, growing fascinated by such a rebel.
"They're element tattoos. The upside down triangle with the line in the middle represent earth. The triangle facing upward represents..
"Air, then fire and water." I finish.
"Yes! It took Mako weeks to figure out what it meant. How did you know?"
"I love the concept of elements. As an artist they always fascinated me."
"Same. You know with fighting, my family, and so on? I like to keep balance in my life. So my tattoos remind me of that."
"That's very clever. You're like the master of all elements in a way." I tease.
"Haha, no way. Can I ask you something?"
"No, I don't want another smoothie!" I blurt out, making her laugh.
"Can I ask you another question?"
"Of course."
We both get up and start doing ankle rotations.
"How can you move like that?"
I look down at my ankle.
"Um, I'm moving my ankle just like you" I reply, unsure what the problem is.
"I'm talking about last night. When you were dancing."
My face start heating up. I thought Korra just saw Suki on me, I didn't know she watched the whole performance!
"A lot practice." I reply.
"Soooo, you had a lot of dance partners?"
I find myself laughing.
"What so funny?"
"You!"
"I don't mean to be funny, I'm just curious. You're really good. I don't think I could ever get my body to move like that."
"Have you tried?"
"Well no. I never needed a reason to."
This time I laugh.
"You don't need a reason to dance."
"What you were doing last night, wasn't dancing!"
"Then what do you call someone, moving to the beat of music?"
she dips her head to hide her smile.
"You don't want me to answer that."
"Tell me! Do you not like when I dance like that? Was my moves too sinful?" I tease, because I want to know what she thinks.
"Yes, you should be saving such moves for behind closed doors, Ma'am." she tease, in a heavy southern accent.
" Tell that to Beyonce, Jlo, Shakira and Britney! Because that's where I got my sexy moves from. When I was a teen, I used to watch a lot of their music videos and try to imitate their moves. Miss Rosie caught me once, during one of my training sessions."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes! She just shut my door and acted like nothing happened."
"Wow, My Mom would have died! If she caught me doing that."
As Korra blast her music, jumping rope. I'm in the corner punching the bag.
Korra has the biggest fight in all of her career, in just a few days and she's just chilling! I been watching some of Azula's past fights and she's really good. At first, I thought Korra was just doubting herself, when she compared herself to her opponent, but sadly she was correct,Azula is vicious!
In just one round, I watched her slam her opponent to the ground so hard, it knocked them out. And when the ref tried to pull Azula away, she continued to kick her opponent.
The thought of Korra being in that predicament, frightens me. I swear, if Azula tries to pull that stunt on Korra, I'm jumping into that cage. I might be knocked out, but I'm not going out, without a fight. My worries aren't so of Korra losing, but the fact of her getting hurt!
Azula wants to take down the best! And when you have that mind set, you will do anything and everything in your power to accomplish that. Even if you have to play dirty, which I'm sure Azula is prepared to do.
"Hey? Are you okay?" Korra calls out, across the room.
I nod, returning to jabbing the bag.
"Yes. You can continue working out! Don't worry about me, I was just thinking."
She jogs over to me.
"About what?"
No longer being able to hide my worries, I come clean.
"I'm worried about you! I don't want you to fight her."
I know, I should be a good friend and support her. But I don't want her getting hurt. It's not that I don't think she's capable of winning. It's the fact, Korra fights fair and sometimes others don't do that. Which leaves you getting hurt, in the end.
Korra take out her phone, to stop the music from playing over the speakers.
"Sit with me."
I follow her to the benches and I sit across from her.
"It's not that I don't think you can handle it, Korra! It's just..." she nods, looking down.
"You just don't want me injuring myself."
"Exactly."
she gets up, sits beside me and grabs my hand.
"I'm going to get hurt regardless, you know that. I'm not flying planes, making copies, or a great artist like you. I'm fighting to protect myself and my title. If I get hurt, that's on me. Not you, but me. I also signed a contract." She tease.
"You hardly talk about the fight, though!"
"That's because it hasn't happened yet. If you're asking whether or not why, I don't talk about Azula and her trash talk. That's because I do all my talking in the cage. Yes, her comments are annoying, but they're just words."
Of course she says that. She sees the good in people. But we're all human and we all have feelings. Not talking about it, isn't healthy.
"Please don't worry about me. Because if you worry about me. I'm going to be worried about you, all through out my fight. And I think I should be focus on doing exactly what you want me to do, which is win."
The word win, gives me an idea and I quickly get up.
"Fight me!"
"What?"
"Fight me, Korra!"
"Umm, weren't you just worried about me getting hurt, a few seconds of go?"
I head over to the glove stations and put a pair on.
"Yes, but I have an idea. Just trust me."
Remembering both Korra's and Azula's past fight videos. I compared and contracted both of their fighting styles. Korra is more of a boxer. Her combinations will always give her an upper hand. They're not just powerful, but quick as well. Azula's fighting style is more heads on, she's a charger. The first thing she wants to do is, slam you to the ground.
Which is where I come in. Studying in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, we specialize in ground fighting. Even though Korra and Azula both have some capability of performing such technique, it isn't their strongest and they rarely use it. But if I can teach Korra some key ground defense moves, that might surprise Azula and give her an upper hand.
Korra puts on her headgear and mouth piece.
"Let's take it easy! I don't want Tenzin to be mad at me." I tell her
We bounce around and I'm ready for her to attack me, but she not making the first move, which frustrates me.
I send a side kick her way, hitting her lightly. She holds up a thumbs up, making me roll my eyes.
Next, I send a jab to her head, and she hold up two thumbs.
How am I supposed to teach her, if she's babying me!
I take my mouth piece out and glare at her.
"What's wrong?" she asks.
"You! You aren't fighting me like a opponent."
"Tenzin said I had to take it easy!" She defends.
"You aren't attacking me! That's not easy, that's hiding. You don't have to fight me with power, but give me a little more."
She gives me a head nod in agreement and I put my mouth piece back in.
Korra comes towards me sending a collection of combinations. I hold my guard up to shield my face, then bob out of the way to avoid a jab. I then set my feet far apart, hoping she catches my bait. By my poor fighting stance.
Just like I was hoping, she sweeps me, knocking me to the ground and as she stands over my fallen body, I lock my legs around her hips, push my back off the ground using my upper core, and send a upper cut halfway, stopping just before my glove makes contact with her chin.
No longer being able to hold such a position, I drop back down, on to my back.
"That was so cool!"
She helps me up and I take off my headgear, to let my hair breath.
"Yes. The drill is usually for getting up and leaving fights, but I thought we could interpret a boxing move for you."
She smiles and dips her head.
"Are you my new coach?"
"Hell No! I don't know how Tenzin can deals with you. But Azula is going to advance toward you and try to bring you down. There is no doubt in that. She wants you on the ground, especially in a position where you can't use your hands. Therefore your knees and your legs are your advantages. She won't be expecting such a move, like you weren't expecting mine. So I want you to try it."
"On you?"
"Yes!" I reply, putting back on my headgear.
"You can't support me! I'm too heavy!"
"You will be surprised to see what I can support."
"Now, the key is to do this move quickly. To avoid someone body slamming you. So it's a hit or miss with this move. Therefore, you should only attempt it, when you have no other options."
"I always have options."
"Okay, Rocky! I want you to pretend you tripped, so you're lying on the ground."
Korra hops around and dramatic stumbles to the ground, adding a few rolls for effect.
"Now wrap your left leg around my waist, first."
She does what I instructed, and I back away, causing her leg to drop.
"See, how I could pull away? I need you to lock your leg into me, so I can't move!" I order.
I move back in my previous position and she tries again. This time, I can hardly get her off of me.
"Next, I want you to do the same thing with your right leg. This part is important. As you move, you have to lift your body up as well. Now luckily for you, those crunches of yours are going to come through, because it's all in your abs."
"So like a curl up, in away?" she asks.
"Yes! But you're curling up to hit me. You ready?"
"Mmmhm."
She locks her right leg into place and pulls her self up, but instead of seeing her fist, we end up crashing to the ground, with her on top of me.
"OH MY GOSH, ASAMI! I'M SO SORRY. I was trying to do this new move, then I decided to bail. I really didn't mean to hurt you."
She talking to me, but I'm so captivated by her beauty to understand what she's saying. She undoes her head gear, letting her wavy hair fall down to her shoulder.I have never been so amazed by one person, in my life. Even if she sent my body crashing to the ground, everything about her is unexpected. Meeting her in that elevator, her personality, I just can't take it anymore!
"Asami, I'm going to call the ambulance! Me being on top of you isn't helping as well."
Before she can get off of me, I brush her hair with my my hand, stopping her.
"Talk to me, Asami!"
No longer satisfied by doing just that. I pull her down to my lips and just forget everything. I can feel her heart beat as she places her hand over the hand I'm supporting her head with. Then suddenly I'm holding just the air itself and can no longer feel the extra weight on my body.
I open my eyes to find her back facing away from me.
"Why did you do that?" she asks, lowly. Almost like a whisper.
I sit up and don't say anything, because I don't know where to start.
"You knew I was in a relationship, yet you kissed me anyway."
"I know, I couldn't help it."
she finally looks at me and I see nothing but rage in her eyes.
"You could! It can be done! Everyone has self control. GET OUT!"
"Korra please, let me explain."
"I SAID GET OUT!"
She climb out of the ring, throws her head gear across the room, and heads into the locker room.
What did I do?
The drive home was the longest and hardest trip ever. I couldn't stop picturing the hatred in her eyes. I never seen her like that before. She's always so happy and full of energy.
Yet, out of all people, I caused her so much pain. How could I be so foolish? I hate myself, I thought I was over all of this!You can admire someone without kissing them! Why couldn't I do that?
The moment I enter my apartment, I throw my key against the wall, out of frustration.
"Yoooooo! What's up with you?" Kuvira ask, pausing the tv.
Just seeing my friend, make eyes start to water.
"Asami, what's wrong?"
she quickly gets up from the couch and I rush into her arms, breaking down into tears.
"I messed up Vira. I really messed up."