A/N: Happy Holidays! If you don't celebrate, take this early chapter anyway ;P
Chapter 5
Asami awakens and the first thing she notices, is the scent of a soft sea breeze. It relaxes her, bringing back memories of her childhood and family vacations. She tries to roll over but something is draped over her back. She opens her eyes and finds a body underneath her. She turns her head and sees Korra sleeping, with both arms wrapped around her tightly.
She refrains from panicking, and closes her eyes, trying to remember what happened, and how they ended up in each others arms. After scrambling her brain for a few minutes, she remembers her dream and the events that followed. She sighs, reopening her eyes. She had a lot to think about. She'd have to thank Korra later too.
Asami enjoys the feel of Korra's arms around her for a few minutes longer and decides to get up. She gently slips out of Korra's arms and out of the room.
Korra rolls over, seeking Asami's warmth. When she doesn't find it, she feels around the bed and finds nothing but emptiness. She opens her eyes and looks around. Asami must have woken up. That's when the most delicious smells ever hit her. She swings her legs off the side of the bed and knocks her crutches over.
"Shit!" She curses herself.
Did she even bring those in here last night? No she bolted right past them and out the door, once she'd been awakened by Asami's screams. Her ever so gracious host must've brought them in.
She picks them up and walks out of the room into the kitchen, where she sees Asami stirring something with earbuds in. Asami is dancing and humming to whatever she's listening to, so Korra decides to sneak up on her. Right as she gets behind her, Asami turns around and takes one earbud out with a smile.
"Hey. Breakfast is almost ready." She struggles to hold in her laughter, at the pout on Korra's face.
"How did you even know I was behind you?" Asami shrugs, as Korra takes in the feast she'd prepared for them to eat.
There were two large stacks of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and Asami was currently cooking grits. Korra's mouth started to water and her stomach growled.
"Uhh. What's the occasion?" Korra asks, as she takes a seat at the bar, watching Asami cook.
Asami beams and turns toward Korra. Korra is shocked. That's the biggest smile she'd ever seen on Asami.
"I just wanted to say thank you for last night. I'm sorry if I woke you. And I'm sorry for how rudely I acted." She says, referring to when she stormed out of the living room.
Korra waves her off. "It's no problem. I'm sorry if I brought up some bad memories or something. It was insensitive of me."
"Well, regardless I still want to thank you for staying with me last night. And I have the perfect day planned just to show how grateful I am." Asami turns back to the stove and moves the pot to the counter.
Korra watches Asami make two plates and takes hers. "Thanks. So what are we doing?"
Asami shakes her head and smirks mischievously. "It's a surprise. Just get dressed and you'll see."
Korra can't help but smile and raise an eyebrow. Asami seemed to be in a better mood, than yesterday. "Alright then, bossy."
Thirty minutes later and they're in the car. Korra hadn't paid any attention, the other two times she was in Asami's car, but Asami drove like a maniac. She never took her foot off of the gas, and made impossible openings for herself. As odd as it sounded, Korra wasn't scared in the slightest. Of course Asami had run her over a few day ago, but now she looked like this was what she was born to do.
As Asami stops at a red light her phone starts ringing. She quickly glances at the name, and answers with a sigh. "Hello? What's up, Li?"
Korra turns toward her, and listens to her side of the conversation.
"Really? Right now? Okay, I'm on my way." Asami ends the call and looks at Korra with an irritated smile. "Quick little detour? I promise it won't take long."
Korra shrugs. "Duty calls, right?"
Asami makes a sharp u-turn and they speed down the street, until they end up in the parking lot of a large building with the words, 'Future Industries' across the top, in gigantic letters.
Asami steps out of the car and starts walking toward the building, then abruptly stops. not hearing Korra's door. She turns around and motions for Korra to come with her.
Korra gets out of the car with her crutches and walks up to Asami. She gives Asami an uneasy smile. "Are you sure you want me to come with you? I'm not good with professional settings."
Dealing with her father in politics, Korra had had her fair share of experiences, with stuffy and uppity people who thought they were entitled to every and anything they wanted. Everyone always tiptoed around each other in such environments and did things in a shady, underhanded way. They would even hide their smart remarks behind compliments.
But Korra was never very subtle and always handled things head-on. Dealing with shady businessmen and politicians was no different. She couldn't help it. It wasn't a lack of respect. She just couldn't be subtle if she tried.
She didn't want to embarrass her host, at her own job. She didn't care how people thought her personality made her look. But she didn't want Asami to be judged because of her, like her father was. Of course she always felt terrible any time anyone said anything, but he usually never cared very much it seemed. He'd laugh as if his reputation was a joke.
Asami frowns. Korra had to be the nicest person she'd ever met. What problems could she ever cause? "Of course I want you to come, Korra. If anything happens, just blame it on the pain from the accident." She smirks.
Korra still looks skeptical about entering Asami's job, but she gives her host, a small nod anyway.
Gesturing for Korra to follow, Asami walks through the front doors, holding them open for Korra. She greets the security guard before calling the elevator. The doors open with a ding and they both walk inside. They ride to the top floor in silence.
Korra looks at Asami out of the corner of her eye. Wondering if her host's family portrait, caused her to have the nightmares. What kind of question was that? Of course it was the portrait. She considers asking her, how she's feeling, but decides against it, not wanting to bring up negative emotions, since she seemed somewhat happy at the moment.
She wouldn't know how to comfort her anyway. What would she know about losing one's parents? If Asami needed someone to talk to, she would gladly lend her both of her ears. No one deserves to suffer alone. Especially her. Even Korra could see, Asami had been through enough, and they just met, what, two days ago?
The elevator reaches the top floor and they both get off, entering an empty room, with a gorgeous view of the city, occupied by one person. A small blond woman with golden eyes hidden behind frames, looking to be in her mid-thirties, sits behind a desk going through papers.
She looks up at them as they exit the elevator, and eyes Korra curiously. It had been a long a time since Asami brought someone to the office. The only person being Mako, and he only showed up uninvited, never with Asami's direct permission. After her father's arrest she quickly changed that, however.
"Ah, Miss Sato. The Fire Nation, has requested, that you make your final decision on the contract, immediately, as they have many offers, on the plots of land you requested." She says, handing Asami a thick packet of papers.
Asami nods as she skims over the contract. It makes sense. The Fire Nation had only just recently, gotten rid of their monarchy, in favor of a democracy after years of protest. Of course, they'd be busy with other changes, too.
"I've looked into the contract, prior to your arrival and everything seems to be in order." Li says, watching Korra, walk over to the, floor to roof, windows on the other side of the room, with a curious glint in her eye.
"Thanks, Li." Asami says, grateful for her assistant.
Korra looks at Republic City, from the highest floor in Future Industries, in amazement. She reaches into her pocket, reaching for her phone, so she can capture the breathtaking view. She frowns meeting an empty pocket. She checks all her other pockets and meets the same fate.
Asami makes her way to the giant door, leading to her office, across from the elevator. She opens it and steps inside. She looks over her shoulder at Korra then back into her office, not noticing her assistant's gaze, during her mental debate.
"Come on in, Korra." Asami gestures for Korra to follow her inside her office.
Korra greets Li, with a sweet smile as she passes her desk. "Morning."
Li, looks up from whatever she was reading and grins, seeing the smile on Korra's face. "Good morning..." Li says, silently asking Korra's name.
"Korra." The injured woman extends her hand.
"Nice to meet you Korra. I'd introduce myself, but you've already heard my name, and if you haven't, you couldn't have possibly missed the name tag." She grins further, as she shakes Korra's hand, referring to the large name tag sitting on her desk.
Korra nods. "I noticed it before I noticed you." She says, before her eyes widen in worry. "Er, not that you're not noticeable or anything. I- I mean you're a very attractive woman. Not that I'm attracted to you or anything. What- what I meant to say is, you must go on lots of dates. Not that you can't keep a man! Or Woman! I don't judge. Not saying-" Korra's flustered, babbling is cut off by Li's raised hand, signaling her to stop.
Li has her head lowered to her desk, as her entire body shakes with silent laughs. When she finally lifts her head up, she has tears in her eyes, and her face is beet red. "Whew! Spirits kid, you almost killed me." She giggles, the thought of Korra's flustered face still tickling her. "As funny as this was, I don't think you should keep Miss Sato waiting."
Korra's eyes widen once again, having forgotten about Asami, during her mini crisis. She moves as quickly as her crutches allow her into Asami's office, not wanting to seem rude.
When she steps inside the door, she notices Asami sitting behind a large desk, looking at the papers, Li had given her, intensely. She sits in the seat directly in front of Asami's desk and straightens to her full height and clears her throat, successfully gaining her host's attention.
"Ah, yes Miss Sato. Thank you for having me. I'd like to buy every last one of your Sato-mobiles. Before you answer, I'll make you a deal you simply can't refuse. Three entire, wholesomely whole, yuans." Korra says, in her best stuffy impression. She looks at her fingernails as though bored, awaiting Asami's answer.
Asami bites the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling, deciding to play along. "I'm afraid you're out of luck Ma'am. I don't personally deal with the selling of Sato-mobiles. I just make them sadly."
"Surely there is something we can do. I want to buy my Sato-mobiles and I want you to be my saleswoman!" Korra huffs.
Asami pauses, as her eyes flick behind Korra, for the briefest of moments, before landing on Korra again. "I… believe we have reached an impasse."
Korra opens her mouth, about to reply when she's suddenly cut off by a voice behind her.
"I'd happily sell you the sato-mobiles, if you tell me how attractive I am again, Madam Korra." Li guffaws as Korra shoots out of her chair, blushing wildly.
"Goodness gracious, Li! You almost made me break my other ankle!" Korra exclaims, face burning.
Li clutches her stomach, releasing small giggles, as she walks out of the office. "I'm sorry, Korra."
"You better be sorry. You should be fired." Korra mutters.
Asami suddenly jumps up out of her chair. "Finished. We can finally get out of here."
She walks out of her office and hands the papers to Li.
Li takes them and puts them away in her drawer, before leaning forward, resting her face on her fist. "What do you two have planned for today?"
"I'm taking Korra somewhere nice. It's a surprise, since I… sorta hit her with my car. And she helped me with something important yesterday." Asami says lowering her eyes.
Li gasps and her eyes widen. "I'm assuming, that's why her ankle is broken?"
Asami nods.
Her assistant sighs, noticing how quickly her boss's mood changed. "Well, don't let me hold you two up. I hope you enjoy your day."
Asami gives a small smile. "Thanks, Li. I'll see you tomorrow."
Korra grins at Li, waving, as she steps onto the elevator with Asami.
As they approach the final turn, Asami pulls over, searching for something. Once she seems to have found it, she hands Korra a headband.
Korra looks at it, amused, already knowing Asami wants to surprise her. "What, is that supposed to protect my eyes, from my hair or something? My hair's already in a ponytail Asami."
"What? Of course not. Put this over your eyes until we get there, please? It's just down the street." Asami looks at her with puppy dog eyes.
Her house guest puts a finger to her chin, pretending to be in deep thought. "Tell you what. Let me use your, phone to find mine, and we've got a deal."
Korra knows where her phone is. She left it in Asami's guest bedroom on the nightstand.
She just wanted Asami's phone number. She'd been thinking about how to ask for it, the whole ride to wherever the surprise Asami had planned was.
"Sure." Asami unlocks her phone and hands it to Korra.
Korra proceeds to call her phone, pretending to be listening for it to ring. Korra gives Asami her phone back when the voicemail sounds. "Leave a message."
Asami smirks as she takes her phone. "Put the blindfold on."
She watches as Korra slides the headband onto her head and over her eyes. She waves her hand in front of her face, to make sure it was actually blocking her sight. Satisfied that her surprise was going according to plan, she pulls back onto the road and they arrive at their destination, a few minutes later.
She guides Korra inside of a building and leaves her in the waiting room. Asami walks up to the owner of the place and speaks with him before handing him some yuans.
She goes back into the waiting room and crouches in front of Korra, removing the headband from her eyes. "You can look now. We have to wait here for a while, until they call our number."
Korra blinks her eyes open and comes face to face with Asami. Intently studying her facial features, she notices that Asami's lips are moving, but she'd missed every word.
"What?" She asks, with a light blush painting her cheeks.
Asami cocks her head to the side. "I said we have to wait, until they call our number. Are you okay?"
"Heh. Yeah, I'm fine. I just… had a lot for breakfast." She chuckles nervously.
Korra doesn't know why she's acting so weird, all of a sudden. I mean, she'd been staying with this person for two days and never once did she act like this. It reminded her of the feeling she got when she first met Mako, but different somehow. She couldn't decide if it was a good or bad different, but she hoped she didn't act like an idiot anymore.
"Do you wanna go back to my place? I can stop by the store and get some antacid." Asami asks, concerned.
"NO!" Korra says, harder than she meant to. "I mean… No, thanks. I'm fine, really."
Just as Asami is about to respond a number is called out on the intercom. "Ticket number 327."
"That's us! Come on lets go."
Korra follows Asami into another room, filled with a bunch of people, dressed in armor with targets on them, holding guns generating lasers. "Are we playing laser tag?"
"No. Your ankle is in no condition for anything like that." Asami says, as they continue walking towards the back of the large building.
Korra looks around confused. "Then what are we doing?"
Asami looks over her shoulder and smiles, not giving a response.
As they near the back of the building, Korra hears a noise that reminds her of a lawn mower. They walk outside, and Korra's eyes go wide. She beams at Asami. It was a go-kart circuit and it was huge. Korra looks at the people in karts at the starting line and notices two empty ones. This would've been great. If she knew how to drive.
"Uh, Asami?" Korra says. nervously fidgeting with her crutches.
"… Yes?" Asami says slowly, noticing Korra's apprehension.
"I, um, I don't know how to drive." She lowers her eyes.
Asami breathes a sigh of relief. She thought Korra hated her surprise. "Oh that's not a problem at all."
She walks off to one of the workers and mutters something to him. A moment later, he and another worker take the two extra karts and drive them away from the starting line. A muscular female worker brings out a two seated kart.
Korra grins at Asami and walks over to the passenger side of the kart. "Hey, can you hold these for me?" She asks the woman working there.
The woman rips her intense gaze away from Asami and smiles at Korra. "Sure. My name's Kuvira by the way."
Korra looks at her cautiously. She didn't like the look she was giving Asami. "Korra."
She slides into the kart and Kuvira hands her a pair of goggles. Asami follows suit and Kuvira walks behind the railing, where family and friends watch the race from.
Asami looks at her confused. "Wait. What about my googles? I'm the one driving."
Kuvira rolls her eyes. "You don't think I see you behind the wheel?" She huffs. "That was the last pair I had on me. Ask Jonji when he comes for the final check. Buckle up for safety." She tells them, smirking at Asami's glare.
They wait, while another worker comes and checks every person, to make sure they're buckled in properly and all have goggles. He hands Asami a pair as he passes her.
Asami huffs, sliding her goggles onto her eyes. She fastens her safety buckles and looks over at Korra who's pouting. "What's wrong?"
"You're the only one with that type of goggles. I wanna be special too." Korra says, trying to keep up the act.
"Aw, is that so? You'll feel special after we dust these guys." She smirks.
Right as those words leave her lips, the light indicating the race has started flashes.
Asami makes quick work of the, obviously, nervous driver directly in front of her.
As they started out in last, the young CEO has her work cut out for her.
She flies past three more karts, coming up to a cluster of three karts battling for first. The two karts in front were trying to overtake each other with the third kart, right on their tails, ready for any opening they may leave.
Asami decides to intervene. She speeds up next to the third driver and boxes him in, between the two cars in front and the wall on his right, he only had one place to go. With Asami coming closer and closer to him, he has nowhere to go, so he slows down, falling behind the group.
The focused racer focuses her attention on the two drivers in front of her, still battling for dominance. Asami notices a small opening between one racer and the wall next to them. She waits patiently as the driver sticks to the other, like glue. And then the space between the driver and the wall opens up, just enough for her to squeeze through, like she suspected.
Once she's far enough ahead, she decides to close in on the kart between her and the other, sandwiching it. Putting her plan into action she turns the steering wheel and gets closer to the driver. The driver, in turn, gets closer to the other racer, forcing them closer to the wall. Just as Asami's kart is about to come into contact with the other, the racer on the wall backs out, falling behind the two.
The one remaining racer, keeping Asami from first place, moves closer to the wall retreating from her. But she doesn't back off. She forces them closer to the wall, as they come up on a sharp turn. Not taking her foot off of the gas, Asami jerks the steering wheel hard, causing the kart's tires to screech in protest. The racer next to her, is forced to brake, so as not to hit the wall, while Asami cuts them off in her wild turn.
Korra looks behind them in awe. She turns back to Asami and shouts, "That was amazing!"
Asami laughs freely, feeling better than she had in years. "Do you feel special yet?"
Korra turns to her and grins from ear to ear. "Hell yeah!"
They sit in the kart, having just won, waiting for all the other racers to make it to the finish line. As the last kart pulls in Kuvira let's everyone leave their karts.
They both exit the kart and wait for Kuvira to come with Korra's crutches. Kuvira comes up to them with a smirk on her face.
"Nice wheel work. I didn't think a spoiled brat could drive like that." She says to Asami, while handing Korra her crutches.
Right when Asami's about to retort, a kid comes out of nowhere and snatches the clutch purse, loosely hanging from her wrist. But before he can get away he's tripped up, as one of his feet gets swept from under him, by the top end of a crutch.
He looks up and sees Korra holding the end of said crutch, glaring at him. He gulps nervously, knowing he's screwed up.
Korra leans down and lifts him to eye level, by the back of his collar. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Nothin'." He says, quickly averting his eyes.
She quickly drops her other crutch, and grabs his face, forcing eye contact. Kuvira tries to intervene. "I think you should put him-"
"Hey, Vira! Boss needs you ASAP!" A worker yells, with his head hanging out of the door.
"I'll be there in a minute!" She glares at him.
"I don't think you should wait! Sounded important!" He yells back.
"FINE!" She stomps off into the building with him following behind her.
Korra focuses her attention back on the little thief. "Why'd you take her purse?"
He looks up at her with pleading eyes, and it shocks her. "I had to. Please, you gotta believe me."
She sets him down and picks up her crutches. She leans on them and stares down at him with a scrutinizing gaze, trying to figure him out. He couldn't be any older than twelve years old. His clothes looked slightly small and his shoes were falling apart.
She softens her gaze, as she's reminded of Mako and Bolin. "What's going on?" She asks.
His eyes quickly flit to Asami and back to her. "I… can't say."
Getting the hint, Korra walks to Asami. "Hey, give us a second, alright?" She whispers.
Asami's just about to protest when she looks at the boy and her heart aches for him. She gives Korra a nod and walks over to the boy with her hand outstretched.
He blushes and lowers his eyes, realizing he still had her purse. He hands it to her and mumbles a low apology.
Once Asami enters the building, Korra turns back to the boy. "Well? She's gone. Spill it. Why'd you take the purse? It's obvious you didn't want to."
He looks at her with tear welled eyes. "I'm so sorry. I- I had to! They said they wouldn't feed us if I didn't work for 'em!"
Korra looks at him confused. Who was he talking about? "Wait slow down. Take a deep breath and start from the beginning."
"Me and my sister are all alone. The Triple Threats took me in one day, when they caught me trying to steal from 'em. They said I had guts and as a reward they bought me a few burgers. They told me they'd keep feeding me, if I did what they told me to." He says as tears run from his eyes.
"You gotta understand! I don't wanna do this, but I'm all she's got. I can't come back empty handed, 'cause if I have nothing, she has nothing. She's depending on me and I'll do whatever it takes, to take care of her." He says, firmly with tears still running down his face.
Korra sighs. This city is disgusting. This is how grown men treat hungry, little orphan kids? She couldn't even blame him because she'd do the same thing if she were in his shoes.
"Why'd you pick Asami as your target? There were a lot of people here, but you chose her." Korra asks.
"The goggles. That's how they tell me who to steal from. Anybody rich in this city wears those goggles, so I can see 'em."
Korra stares at the ground, thinking. This doesn't make any sense. If it's the goggles, that means the whole staff is working for The Triple Threats. It couldn't be a coincidence that Kuvira didn't give Asami goggles. Right?
Her gaze finds him again. "Are the workers all working for The Triple Threats, or are they being ordered on who to target?"
He shrugs, frowning. "I don't know. I just steal from the targets."
Korra throws her head back and releases a groan of frustration. She looks down at him again and notices he's slightly hunched over. "Hey, you okay?"
"My stomach hurts." He shrugs.
It hurts Korra that he acts like this is a normal thing. Nobody should have to experience this, let alone a kid. And he's gotten used to it.
She sighs, then pulls a giant wad of cash out of her pocket. His eyes widen at the large amount of yuans in her hand.
She hands him the money and he looks at her with his mouth open slightly, speechless.
"Take it. Buy you and your sister something to eat, and some new clothes." Korra sighs again.
There goes all of her tips. But she isn't even mad. She had helped to the best of her abilities. Of course she would look into this whole Triple Threat thing later. There wasn't much she could currently do. She wishes she could do more for him and his sister. They didn't deserve to have their childhoods ripped away, at such a young age.
He tackles her into a hug, sobs racking his entire body. "Th-Thank you. Th-Thank y-you so m-much."
He pulls away from her and stuffs the money into his pocket. He sniffles wiping his eyes, but the tears keep falling.
Korra has tears threatening to fall from her eyes now too at this point. "You should go tell your sister, the good news."
He smiles brightly at her and takes off in a full sprint into the building.
She soon finds her way to the parking lot and gets into the car with Asami.
Asami notices her expression. "What happened, Korra?"
Korra breaks down into the tears she was holding, while in his presence. "It was so sad Asami. Him and his sister are homeless, so he goes around robbing people, just so they can eat." She takes a shaky deep breath. "I noticed he was in pain and when I asked if he was alright, he just tells me his stomach hurts, like he's talking about sports. Hell, someone talking about sports wouldn't even be so casual!"
She decides to leave out the part about The Triple Threats. Considering Asami's past with gangs, there was no reason to worsen her mood, and tell her another life was being destroyed, by monsters.
Asami lowers her eyes. "I wish we could've helped him."
Korra nods. "I gave him almost two hundred yuans, but I wanna do more."
Asami stares at her. "What?"
Korra looks at her, confused. "Huh? What is it?"
Asami shakes her head with a small smile. She couldn't believe this girl. "You just did more than most people would've and you still feel like you didn't help. You just made a huge difference, Korra."
"But what about when the money runs out? I don't know, Asami. I just wish-" Asami cuts her off.
"Korra look at me." She does. "How much did you have on you, when you got here?"
"Almost two hundred yuans?" Korra tilts her head, wondering what that had to do with anything.
"And how much do you have now that you gave that kid some?"
"None... I gave him everything." Korra says, starting to realize Asami's point.
"Exactly. You gave him everything. Most people wouldn't have given him half. You did what you could Korra and that's what counts. That's how you make a change." Asami smiles seeing the light return to Korra's eyes.
Korra looks at Asami in awe. What she'd just said makes perfect sense. She shouldn't feel bad. She did everything she could and it sure made him happy. If he could be happy so could she. She was also amazed at how quickly Asami fixed her mood.
She and Mako essentially broke up because they could never talk to each other, without fighting, and making each other feel worse. Their relationship was toxic. Their friendship, however is healthy. He was one of the greatest friends she could ask for. But even so, it would have taken him a lot more effort to change her mood.
She turns to Asami with a small smile. "Thanks."
Asami smiles brightly in return. "No problem. Now lets get out of here."