"What's that?" Akemi pointed at a parked car with her ice cream cone, her other hand busy holding Asami's.
"A Roadster Satomobile" the woman answered. Akemi had been asking question pretty much since they stepped out of the police station, but Asami was enjoying it, it had become a sort of game for them.
"Did you make that one at your job too?" Akemi followed. The girl had become very familiar with the inside of Asami's office at Future Industries lately. Even if she tried working home and usually took turns with Korra, most of the time Asami preferred taking Akemi with her, either because sometimes the Avatar duties were too much for a child to keep up with or just because Asami liked having the girl safe with her. And Akemi seem to have taken a liking to it as well.
"In a way, yes, I did" she answered "Now it's my turn, how many Nations are there?" Akemi jumped up, the scoop of ice cream dangerously sliding off the cone.
"Four! Fire, Air, Water and Earth" she said excited, but quickly resuming her own questioning "Who is she?" She pointed to the statue rising in the distance above the Police Headquarters entrance.
"That's Toph Beifong, the first metalbender" Asami explained "Do you remember in which nation Republic City used to be?" Akemi licked what was left of the melting ice cream and gave it a thought.
"Earth Kingdom?" Asami nodded and the girl smiled, proceeding to ask her question "Why did the lady say Hakue doesn't exist?" Asami flinched. Hakue had been an uninvited guest in their house for a couple weeks now and was pretty much the only thing Akemi ever mentioned about her past life. They had asked Lin if any of the captured triad members were named that way, and when the answer came back negative, they went as far as having her check for anyone that went by Hakue in the Fire Nation, but nothing had come up, only a couple men in no feasible way related to Akemi. So Korra and Asami had given up, figuring it was just an imaginary friend or maybe an old stuffed animal.
"Because she doesn't know, sweetie" Asami stopped walking and kneeled in front of Akemi, taking a handkerchief out of her pocket "And you shouldn't lash out at someone for not knowing better, don't you think?" she said while cleaning the ice cream off the girl's hands and mouth with the piece of cloth.
"I won't do it again" Akemi promised, and looked at Asami with those big blue eyes of hers that made it impossible for the woman to keep a straight face for too long.
"Alright, I skip my turn, ask away" Asami said with a chuckle, quickly running her fingers through the girls locks before standing up and resuming their game.
"Is Tonraq your father too?" Asami almost lost her footing.
"Oh no, he is not my father, he is Korra's" she laughed.
"But you said you and Korra are family"
"We are, but we are not the kind of family you are born into, we are the kind of family you choose" Asami saw she was not getting through Akemi, her eyes clouding with confusion. "When Korra and I first met we were just friends, but we fell in love and decided to be a family together, that's why we got married"
"Like moms and dads?"
"Exactly like moms and dads"
"So, you love Korra?" the girl corroborated.
"Very much so, and I know she loves me too" Akemi fell silent for a moment, staring at her shoes while they walked, thinking.
"Do you love me?" She finally asked, looking up at Asami, waiting for the answer.
Spirits kid, you and your questions.
"I do, Akemi, in a different way, but I love you with all my heart, Korra and I both do" The words were hard to say out loud, it felt like admitting it would break a spell and grant the universe permission to rip Akemi out of their lives.
"I love you in a different way too" the girl said in a whisper. Asami looked down and smiled at her, tightly squeezing the little hand. She was determined to enjoy the little things for as long as she could, because she didn't know for how long she would get to. Because as much as she wanted to find Akemi's family safe and sound, she also could no longer imagine her life without the girl in it. The conflicting feelings colliding inside her, causing that dull pain in the pit of her stomach. "It's your turn" Akemi brought her back to reality.
"Okay, how about…" she thought for a second "Who is Hakue?" she may as well try again.
"I told you already, he is my friend" Akemi seemed bothered by the question. To be fair, Korra and herself had asked her way too many times about Hakue, the answer always coming back the same.
"But what kind of friend? Is he like me or Korra? Like Naga?" She kept pushing.
"It's not your turn yet" Akemi said in what felt like an excuse to avoid answering the question. Asami closed her eyes in frustration.
"Alright"
"What are these?" Akemi let go of Asami's hand and kneeled close to the ground where vines as thick as arms sprawled. Asami looked up, blocking the sun with her hand. Distracted playing their game, they'd wandered further away from the police station than she had intended to, almost reaching the Spirit Portal.
"Those are spirit vines" she replied.
"There are a lot of them" Akemi pointed out, reaching out to grab one of the loose vessels.
"That's because we are near a portal, can you see it? Up high?" Akemi looked were Asami was pointing, but couldn't see anything, the earth barrier blocking the view. Instead, she turned her head around when a bright splotch of light in the corner of her eye caught her attention.
"Look!" she said, taking off after the illusion.
"Akemi, wait" the woman went after the child, worried about the officers she knew would be waiting by the portal. But climbing up the lump of vines, her foot got caught, and by the time she looked up again, Akemi was already out of her sight.
Soon enough she managed to untangle herself when Akemi suddenly cried out ahead of her, emboldening the kick that set Asami free. The woman quickly caught up to the girl, just in time to find her in a weak fighting stance against a bright pink spirit, her back turned to her.
The little thing was tiny, even smaller than Akemi, and seemed to be more curious than threatened by the girl, as it kept going towards her despite the hostile stance.
And it wasn't only the pink spirit who took an interest to the child either: to Akemi's horror a bunch of other spirits started to materialize near them in a matter of seconds, as if the girl was some kind of beacon they were drawn to.
Asami slowly approached Akemi from behind, not wanting to startle her, and gently placed a hand over the tense shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.
"They are just spirits, they are not gonna hurt you" she said. Akemi immediately turned around, her eyes widening with terror when she realized Asami had followed her.
And to Asami's surprise the girl didn't jump into her arms looking for refuge, instead she stood protectively in front of her, the scarred hands setting aflame.
Asami didn't quite know what was happening, much less what to do about it, she could just stand there speechless, backing off when Akemi did, as this one tried putting more distance between her and the spirits.
But these weren't catching on. They kept going towards Akemi and she was having none of it. It was a matter of seconds before one of the spirits came too close to them, inciting the blue flame exiting Akemi's fist in retaliation. The hit went straight through the pink spirit harmlessly, the entity barely even noticing the disturbance.
Asami saw the effect this impervious reaction had on the girl, whose fighting stance instantly became more defensive, her foot stepping onto Asami's as she tried backing off faster than the woman was moving.
And it got worse once more spirits started showing up: soon half a dozen entities surrounded them, unbothered by the flames shooting over their heads, Akemi's aiming worsening as her fear escalated.
"Akemi stop, they are not gonna hurt you" Asami finally managed to spit out, but the girl seemed to be in a different mind-set, her number one priority taking Asami out of there, now that fighting was off the table.
So she desperately grabbed her arm, pulling the engineer away from the spirits with all her strength. Asami gave in and let herself be dragged as the ignited little hand closed firmly around her wrist, burning the flesh beneath.
Asami held back any complaint until the spirits were out of sight, but even then, Akemi didn't let go and kept running, consumed by a panicked frenzy. And with the pain in her wrist getting worse by the second, Asami finally caved.
"Akemi, please, let me go" she winced and the girl looked back at her. For the first time she noticed her lit hand engulfing Asami's in blue fire.
She immediately let go, looking at her own hands in horror and then back up at the woman cupping her injured wrist. She stepped back, trying to get away from what she had done.
In that moment, Korra appeared behind her.
"Hey-" she greeted happily, her mood suddenly changing as she was confronted by the scene. She ran past Akemi to reach her wife "What happened? Are you ok?" She said, staring at the reddened flesh.
"I'm okay, go with her" Asami begged, looking up at Akemi. Her blue eyes welled up with tears as she stared at them from a few feet away, her arms stretched away from her body, as if they were separate entities out of her control.
"Akemi, come here, it's ok" the Avatar said, but the girl kept backing away. Korra and Asami shared a quick glance before Korra slowly started approaching her. "We're not mad, here look, Asami is okay" Korra said, trying to sound reassuring.
The girl tried giving another step back away from Korra but her foot got caught and she stumbled back, landing on the vines. Rather than standing up, she just stayed there on the ground, her face hidden between her knees, arms around her legs, trying to disappear.
"It's alright, tiny" Korra said, scooping her up. The girl didn't move a muscle, her face still hidden. "Accidents happen"
A/N: Sorry for the late upload, been without power all day yesterday... yet again *sigh*
So, for whoever said they liked Asami and Akemi togueter, I hope you enjoyed this chapter right up until I decided to ruin it for plot sake.
You are very welcome.
For real tho, this chapter ended up being more jam packed with foreshadowing that I intended to, so watch up for that I guess?
-TypingMitten
