Chapter 3
"Naga, down." Korra says, laughing. She'd asked Asami to stop by her house, so she could pick up a few things. The last thing she needed, was to be sent back to the hospital because she'd gotten jumped by her pet. It was bad enough she'd allowed herself to get run over.
"Make yourself at home. It'll just take two seconds." Korra smiles at Asami, as Naga continues to paint her face with slobber.
Asami, cautiously, walks past the impossibly big dog, and looks around. If she had any doubts about where Korra came from, she knew now. Her small apartment was like a modernized Watertribe. There was blue, almost everywhere, accented with white decorations. It all, actually, blended together nicely. As she walked towards the large couch, she had to admit Korra had taste. Blue wasn't Asami's color, but it looked very nice in Korra's apartment.
She notices a photo-album, in the middle of the coffee table. She flips it open, and is greeted with a picture of a little girl with, wolf tails, a round belly sticking out of her shirt, and no shoes on, holding a small white dog, grinningfom ear to ear. She chuckles. "Is this you?" She asks pointing at the picture.
Korra pushes Naga's face away, and walks over to Asami on her crutches. She looks at the picture and blushes while smiling. "Heh. Yeah, that's right after I found Naga. We've been together ever since." Naga gives a small woof, agreeing.
Korra goes into her bedroom, while Asami continues looking through the pictures. She abandons one of her crutches by the doorway and grabs a backpack. She puts it on her chest to be able to reach the opening, while still holding one crutch. She rummages through her drawers, unceremoniously, shoving clothes into her bag, wrinkles be damned. She grabs her phone charger, and stares at her bed, debating whether she should take her pelt or not. She decides to leave it since it she didn't want to carry it. Surely Asami had covers.
She looks toward her desk and her eyes land on her Northern Watertribe history books. She frowns. Tarrlok was always, oddly, on her case. She didn't know what his problem was, but she hoped that he dropped it soon. It was entirely possible that he was angered by her deeds in the Watertribe. If that was the case, he needed to let it go. Holding grudges was beyond unprofessional, especially all because she helped her father stop a war! She shoves the books into her bag angrily, and moves towards the bathroom.
Asami sits on the couch looking at Korra's growth. She was currently trying to keep her mind off of her father. She fails as she sees the next picture. It shows Korra in a blue cap and gown, sitting on her dad's shoulders, laughing happily. Asami sighs, closing the photo-album. She sits it back on the table and sits back deep in thought. Her father was arrested a few months before her graduation. She still remembers how it felt that day. When her name was called, and her parents didn't cheer. She'd never felt more lonely in her life, than in that moment. She couldn't truly enjoy her graduation. She went straight home right after, and cried herself to sleep still wearing her cap and gown. That was the day she realized she was truly alone.
"...zip, dammit! Whew. You don't know how hard it is to-" Korra comes out of the bathroom with a toothbrush, inside of a Ziploc bag, hanging from her mouth, by the end of the zipper. She looks at Asami and frowns. "Hey. You okay? What's wrong?" She asks, now pouting.
Asami's mouth barely twitches at the sight. "Nothing. You ready to go?"
Korra nods, frowning again.
"Let's go." Asami says, coldly.
Korra watches Asami walk out the door, in shock, not moving. That was odd. She gets a grip on herself and follows on her crutches. "Pray for me Naga."
To say the ride to Asami's house was awkward, would be a gross understatement. Luckily she didn't live very far from Korra at all. It was still enough time for Korra to fall asleep fully. Kya had given her some pain medication, for her back and shoulders, and it had made her drowsy.
By the time they make it to her house, Asami's hearing small snores from Korra. She gets out of the car and goes to the front door, unlocking and opening it. She then walks back outside and to the backseat, sliding Korra's backpack onto her shoulders. She walks to the passenger side and opens Korra's door. She studies her face as she sleeps, and can see how exhausted she is. She sighs, then very gently scoops Korra into her arms, careful not to wake her. Korra groans, and turns her face into Asami's neck. Asami takes a shaky breath, walking them into the house. She kicks the door closed, then takes Korra into the guest bedroom. As she lays her on the bed, Korra groans. Asami leans down over Korra, and places a soft kiss on her forehead. "I'm sorry." She whispers, then leaves the room, not noticing Korra's small smile.
Asami makes her way into the living room and, before she knows it, stops to look at her last family portrait. She touches her mother's face, as a few tears escape her eyes. "I miss you so much. I wish you were here."
She sits on the couch and takes shaky deep breaths, reigning in her emotions. She knew why she was getting so emotional all of a sudden. Her father's birthday was coming up, and she'd been putting off reading all of the letters he'd sent her.
Her eyes find his face next. He was so different then. Her mother's death changed him so much. Well, it had changed her too. But he nearly lost his mind. Maybe she wasn't any different. Instead of feeding into her anger, she just shut her emotions off completely. But what other choice was there? All she feels now is pain and anger. Surely, being disconnected was better than turning into her father. Right? It had to be.
Asami spends another hour in the living room, before she decides to go to her work-shed in the backyard. There was no way she'd be able to go to sleep now.
Saturday 4:30am
Asami goes back into the house, with the same look she left with. Working helped her mind, but it only helped while she was working. As soon as she stopped working, she had to force her feelings away once again. It was becoming quite tiring, if she was being honest.
On her way into the bathroom, she sticks her head into Korra's room and smiles faintly. Korra's body was sprawled across the entire bed, with the blankets kicked to the end of the bed, her leg dangling off the side, foot in a cast. It was almost time for Asami to wake her again. She'd do so after her shower. She was dirty and oily, no need to get oil everywhere.
She quickly showers and gets dressed. She goes into the kitchen and grabs her home phone, dialing Mako and Bolin's home number.
*Ring*
*Ring*
*Ring*
"Asami?" Bolin answers the phone sounding groggy.
"Hey, Bolin. Is Mako with you?"
"Uhhhhh… Hold on." She hears him scrambling around his room. "I found him! He's under a pile of covers. I think he's hungover." He whispers the last part.
"How busy are you going to be in the next two to four hours? I need you guys to do me a favor." She asks, ignoring the obvious fact they were hungover.
"What do you need? I'm completely free, until later this afternoon. Mako and I have a game. But until then, Bolin is at your service! Ooh can I bring Opal too?" He asks excitedly.
"Sure she can come too. I'd prefer she came actually." She whispers under her breath. "I, uh, sort of hit your friend Korra by accident, with my car last night." She cringes.
"What?! Is she okay? Is she in the hospital? Oh no, she's dead isn't she? Koorrraaaaa!" Bolin starts sobbing into the phone.
"Bolin calm down! She's not dead." Asami huffs. "She has a broken ankle and a concussion. I need you guys to check on her every two hours from now until I get back from work, to make sure her concussion isn't worsening."
"Oh." Bolin sighs in relief. "Spirits. I don't know what I'd do without Korra. You don't know how many times she's saved my butt. Let me tell you ab-"
"So, you'll do it?" Asami asks.
"Oh, uh, yeah sure, no problem, Asami." Bolin says nervously.
Asami sighs. "Thanks Bolin." She says sincerely. She knew she was being cold.
She hangs the phone up and goes into Korra's room. Korra now lies curled on her side, cuddling an extra blanket between her legs.
Asami walks up to her and gently taps her shoulder. "Hey. Korra, wake up."
Korra squints up at Asami. "Who are you?" She asks groggily.
Asami gets worried. Every other time she woke Korra up, she never had any trouble recognizing Asami. "It's- It's me, Asami."
Korra smiles. It made it hard to tell if she had her eyes open or not. "Oh, you mean, the green eyed cutie who hit me with her car." Korra giggles.
"I, um, no. I mean-" Asami stammers, wide eyed and blushing.
"Why are you dressed so fancy? Where are you going?" Korra asks, tilting her head, with an adorably cute, child-like, expression on her face.
Asami clears her throat. "I, um, have to go to work. But I'll be back in a few hours."
Korra genuinely pouts. "Please, don't go." She grabs Asami's hand with both of hers. "I'll miss you. Stay with me, please." She asks, sweetly.
Oh crap.
Asami's heart starts pumping harder in her chest, as she looks into Korra's pleading eyes. She truly didn't want to tell Korra no. How could she? She considered staying home but she really needed to go. She takes a deep breath and sits down beside Korra, on the bed.
She lowers her eyes and sighs. "Korra… I really need to go. I'll see you soon, I promise."
She looks up and sees Korra's eyes, welling with tears ready to fall, and her bottom lip trembling. It breaks her heart. "Hey. Don't cry. Please? Mako and Bolin will be here soon. If you still miss me when they get here… have them drop you off at my job, okay?"
Korra wipes her eyes, and nods sniffling. "Okay. Can I have a hug?"
"Uh, sure." Korra pulls Asami into her arms. She wraps her arms around her tightly and catches a whiff of her shampoo.
"Heh, you smell nice." Korra giggles. Asami barely pays her any attention.
She is focused on the feelings going through her, as Korra's strong arms enfold her. It made her feel nice. But it also scared her. She couldn't be hurt again. Her heart couldn't handle any more pain. She'd lose her mind. She couldn't allow herself to get any closer to Korra.
She wasn't stupid. She knew she was attracted to Korra, and it scared her. Not only had she never felt attracted to another woman, but she was scared of losing another person important to her. That's why she couldn't let this crush develop into more than just a petty crush.
With that thought in mind, she slips out of the smiling woman's arms and stands up from the bed. "I have to go." She says, with a blank expression on her face.
Korra waves at her as she leaves the room. She decides to write Korra a note since she probably wouldn't remember any of that.
Korra,
Mako and Bolin are coming by in a few hours, to check on you while I'm at work. There's some food in the fridge and cupboards, if you get hungry. My office number is on the fridge, if you need anything else.
Asami
She decided to leave out the part about coming to her office. If Korra felt lonely, she could ask Mako and Bolin to stay with her. And with that Asami left the house.
Korra wakes up feeling better than she had in months. She really should get more sleep. She looks around the room confusedly, for a moment, not recognizing where she is. Then she remembers the night she had. She had nearly been killed.
Leaving the bedroom, she walks into the living room taking in her surroundings. The house itself wasn't very big, but the decorations were amazing. You could tell someone very wealthy owned this house. She flops onto the big leather sofa and sits there for a moment, realizing she hadn't heard anything from Asami yet.
"Asami?" She calls out.
She waits for an answer but doesn't get one. Her eyes land on a framed photo that looked very out of place, right next to her on the sofa. She grabs it and sees, Asami with, who she assumed were, her parents.
It was obvious that they were her parents. She looks just like her mother now, and there wasn't any doubt who her father was. As she studies the young Asami's face she realizes, she hadn't seen either of Asami's parents. There wasn't even evidence that they were here.
She sits the photo on one of the end tables. What was she going to do? She assumed Asami was at work, but had no idea what time she'd be back, if she was coming back at all. Then her stomach growls loudly. She makes her way into the kitchen and notices a note on the fridge. She reads it and considers calling Asami but decides that'd be weird, since they don't really know each other. Plus Asami was probably busy at work anyway.
She opens the fridge and rummages through the shelves, looking for something easy to make but also appetizing. She decides she'll have a better time looking in the cupboards, and settles on some instant noodles.
As she waits for the water to boil there's a knock at the door. She makes her way to the door as fast as she can, considering her crutches. She opens it, revealing Bolin and Opal. Bolin looked like he'd had a rough night, his hair was everywhere on his head, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was leaning on Opal a bit.
"KORRA!" He shoots forward and picks her up off of her feet. "Oh Korra! I heard you almost died! You are the toughest little squirt ever." He says sobbing into her shirt.
"I'm okay, I'm okay. It wasn't that bad, I swear." She says, laughing as he sets her down.
Opal comes up to her and wraps her into a hug. "I was so worried when Bolin told me what happened. He made it seem like you were in critical condition." She shakes her head.
"Opal, she got hit. By. A. Car. I don't even know how she's walking right now! How are you doing that? What happened anyway? Oh, here's your phone." He hands her the phone and flops onto the sofa, dragging Opal with him.
Korra unlocks her phone and notices 27 missed calls and 33 text messages. Majority of which came from Bolin and Opal. "I was walking home from work, when Asami came out of nowhere. I jumped over her hood, but it still hit my ankle. I landed on her windshield and she took me to the hospital. I only have a broken ankle and a concussion. I'm fine."
"Why are you here now?" Opal asks.
"Kya said I needed to have someone monitor me because of my concussion." She rolls her eyes. "And Asami volunteered." She looks at Bolin and takes in his condition. "I guess you guys had fun last night too. How's Mako?"
Bolin smiles sadly. "Let's just say, I wasn't the one who threw up this time."
Korra's eyes go wide and she guffaws. She'd definitely have to make of fun of him later. Her water starts steaming and she goes into the kitchen to prepare her noodles. "How long does Asami usually stay at work?"
"Hmm? Oh, I don't know. Sometimes she just leaves, and other times she has a lot of meetings. Like, a lot, a lot. When she called, she asked me what I was doing until this afternoon, so maybe she'll be back by then." Bolin says shrugging.
Korra nods. She really didn't want to stay here alone, with nothing to do. "What are you guys doing today?"
"I have to go home and get ready for work, after we leave here." Opal says.
"I gotta go home and babysit Mako, get us ready for game time." Bolin makes a disgusted face, at the thought.
"Ugh! What am I gonna do? I can't go anywhere with these crutches, and Asami isn't here." Korra groans.
"I don't know how much you can do with those crutches, but Asami has some workout stuff in her backyard. And she has a wicked crazy mover collection." Bolin says, gesturing to the huge TV, in front of the sofa.
"Maybe you can go to her job. She'd usually let Mako hang with her in her office, when they were still dating. As long as she wasn't in a meeting."
"Really?" Korra asks. Bolin nods and Opal looks at her, inquisitively.
"What?" Korra asks, noticing Opal's gaze.
Opal smiles at her the same way Kya did last night. "Nothing, nothing."
"Well we've got to go. So whatever you decide, please, call and let me know. Please?" Bolin says as he walks towards the door.
"Yeah, call us. You can't be trusted to take care of yourself. I leave you alone for ten minutes, and you leave your phone at work, and get hit by a car. You're no better than Bolin." Opal says, and Bolin pouts.
Korra huffs and rolls her eyes. "Fine. I'll call you later. Both of you. Now get out of here."
Bolin and Opal both say their goodbyes, and Korra locks the door behind them.
She sits on the sofa and starts devouring her noodles, thinking about her options for the day. First of all, she would check out the equipment Asami had. But she didn't know what she'd do after that. She thinks about going to Asami's job, but she'd have to wait for Bolin to come back, or call him to drop her off.
She didn't know how well Asami would take her showing up at her office, uninvited. Mako was a different story. They were dating, so of course, she wouldn't care about him just popping in. But she'd just met Korra, and they weren't even close. She probably didn't even consider Korra a friend. In the end she decided to wait for Asami to come home, however long that may take.
She discards her empty noodle cup in the trash can, before walking out of the backdoor, and towards the huge shed in the back. She steps through the door and her jaw drops. Half of the shed looked like some kind of factory, with machine parts, tools, and schematics all strewn about. Towards the back was a wall made of thick glass, and behind the wall was a mini gym, with all kinds of workout equipment.
She crutches over to a bench-press, and adds a few weights onto each side, with a smirk on her face. "Well, alright then, Asami."