Lake Kazan, Outskirts of Makapu Village
9AB (170AG)
Mako laid on a raft in the middle of the lake with his Equalist comrades. His left hand was in the water and he was languidly making circles with it while listening to his squad jabber on about everything from girls to their impending graduation from the RCY Corps into the regular Equalist Armed Forces. Mako kept his mouth shut, as what his habit. In the last five years he had gotten to know these other boys like brothers, but in the back of his mind they were never anything more than enemies. Not talking much helped him maintain his state of emotional detachment. It was hard not take a small interest in their conversation after all this time. He removed his hand from the water and stretched his arms above his head. His muscles rippled under his skin before he fell back, hands behind his head into a relaxed state once again. He took a deep breath. His bare chest rising and falling. He drank in the sunlight. It was wonderful to be outside and he felt guilty that somewhere Bolin was probably cooped up in cave unable to enjoy the same freedom he had.
All his training with the Equalists had turned him into a warrior and he had the body to show for it, still a child, but with the body of a man. But soon, he and the other RYC trainees would be adults in the responsibility. Mako frowned. He had pushed his mind and body to the limit to show his dedication to the Equalist cause, but he had only managed to make Captain. He didn't think he would get a high enough rank to make much of an impact on the war effort as a spy. But he had made it though the RYC without being discovered. That was a greater accomplishment than the other who had gone on missions like his. He wouldn't squander this opportunity. He would keep working hard and prove his worth to them.
"Hey, Captain!" One of the boys said, "where do you want to get posted?"
"Republic City, of course," he said sounding disinterested.
"Want to stay close to your girlfriends, huh?" Shot out another one of them. Mako gave a curt laugh. It was true, another aspect of normal life he enjoyed a lot was dating. He had many admirers and he considered himself a ladies man. When he felt bad about his normal life he'd tell himself it was part of his cover and keeping up appearances, but if he was honest with himself he just enjoyed the company of woman. It took away some of his pain.
"Nothing like that," he answered, "I don't want to be some grunt on the front lines. I want to be an officer."
"Don't we all." The first boy snorted.
"Well at least I've got a better chance than all of you," Mako said with a tone of superiority that he had learned well from the boys who ranked higher than him and the EAF officers who trained them. There was an angry silence. As good as Mako was with the girls around Republic City, he was equally as bad with the boys of the RCY. He sat up and looked at his small squad, "come on guys, this is our last excursion before graduation, let's just enjoy it." The boys nodded in agreement and stopped hassling him and in return he didn't belittle them anymore. Mako decided that they would probably have a better time with out him and stood. "I'm heading in."
"Captain," they said snapping to attention and saluting. He could seem them visibly relax already. Mako dove into the water and swam a steady freestyle all the way to the lake shore. He decided to dry off and look for the other captains. He figured that they would have ditched their squads by now. Mako hated his time with them the most though, because he actual had to be friendly with them. Higher ranked boys were expected to treat lower ranked boys with a certain amount of contempt, but the other captains were his equals, and he had to be their friends. Any gesture of companionship from them make him want to lose his lunch, but he persevered and none of them seemed any the wiser. He walked over the changing room and picked up a fresh towel and started drying off. Just then, he head a loud roar from an engine. It didn't sound like a normal Satomobile and he peaked around the building curiously to see what kind of vehicle was making such noises.
As he expected it was not a Satomobile. It was a tuned up Satobike, and the nicest one he had seen at that. It was jet black and had the Future Industries logo on the side. He whistled in admiration of the bike and then looked to the rider. His cheeks suddenly turned red and he hopped that his whistle hadn't been misinterpreted. The rider looked back at him. She had just taken off her helmet with a glorious hair flip and was unzipping her black leather riding suit. She whistled back at him. "Hey stud."
Mako immediately wrapped his whole body in the towel and snapped to attention. "Ma'am!" He coudln't believe he had just whistled at Asami Sato, or at least she thought he had. She walked up to him, a smile playing on her lips.
"At ease, soldier." Mako removed his salute, but he wasn't able to stand at ease without letting his towel drop, so he stood there holding it up, his cheeks blazing crimson. This was the first time he had been this close to her and he was making an idiot of himself.
"Sorry, ma'am. I was whistling at the bike. Not you."
"That unfortunate," she said flirtatiously, "I was whistling at you." She strode by him and into the lady's changing rooms. A light bulb flashed in Mako's mind. This was his chance. His chance to get with a beautiful girl like Asami and to increase his chances of being useful to the bending resistance. Now that she was his target his shyness faded, replaced by Mako's usual confidence. He ran into the boy's changing room and quickly threw his uniform on and exited again holding his captain's armband in between his teeth and his shirt only half buttoned. He hadn't even bothered to put on his shoes. He looked around and saw that she was nowhere to be seen. He sighed in relief, she had not been quicker than him. He finished buttoning up his shirt and was straightening his armband when she came out of the changing room wearing an athletic one piece swimsuit. Mako refused to eye her up and down like other girls he knew, but resisting the temptation was difficult.
She pulled her smooth black hair into a low ponytail and gave him a raised eyebrow. "Is there something you need from me?" She eyed his armband, "captain?"
"No, ma'am," he said standing in a proper at ease position with his hands behind his back. "But, I am wondering what you are doing alone way out here. Where are your bodyguards?"
"I figured I'd be safe enough here with an RCY excursion nearby."
"That may be so, Miss Sato, but please allow me to accompany you until we can find you some proper protection."
"Proper protection?" She laughed, "I'm fully capable of protecting myself, captain."
"Of course, ma'am, I wasn't trying to suggest..." His words trailed off as she looked him up and down. He kept his blush down. Now he knew how the girls he checked out felt. It was actually pretty flattering.
"How about this, captain? You can guard me for today, if you can keep up with me." Asami winked and darted toward the shore. Mako was glad that he hadn't put his shoes on before because she took a shallow dive and started swimming out at a breakneck pace. Mako jumped into the water fully clothed and swam as hard as he could. It was impossible to see where she was while swimming so he stopped and treaded water to locate her. She was still quite far ahead of him. Mako cursed, she had the luxury of knowing where she was going. Mako could do nothing but try to keep an eye on her as he swam and hope he didn't loose her.
They were well past the middle of the lake at this point and Asami showed no sign of slowing down. Mako tred water again darting his head to and fro trying to find her. She had turned to the left and was heading to a cliff side of the lake. Mako followed, but when he reached the cliffs Asami was nowhere to be found. He dove down, venturing that some underwater tunnels might have been the key to her escape. The water was murky, but sure enough he saw a depression that seemed to be the entrance to an underwater cave system. He surfaced and took a deep breath. If Asami could make it through, then he knew he could as well. He dove back down and into the hole, swimming forward as quickly as he could. He could only see a few feet in front of hi, but it seemed to be a fairly straight tunnel. His lungs started to ache for a new breath and then he saw it. The water began to grow brighter and he surfaced, gasping for breath.
"There you are," she waved at him from a small beach surrounded by cliffs and heavy vegetation. She was laughing and sat down on the beach leaning against a fallen tree. Mako swam over to her and waded through the water the last few feet before collapsing at her side. "I'm impressed you followed me through there. You're determination is admirable Captain...?"
Mako coughed a few more times before filling in the blank she had clearly left open, "Mako."
"Mako," she repeated his name again, smiling. She reached out her hand, "how about some proper introductions then," she held out her hand. Mako eyed it for a moment not wanting to take it too eagerly. "I don't bite," she pushed he hand forward more, encouraging him to take it.
"Miss Sato," he said shaking her hand.
"Nice strong grip, Mako. And please, call me Asami."
"I couldn't-"
Asami cut him off, "only when it's the two of us, of course. We have to keep up apparences."
Mako coughed, this time out of embarrassment. She was suggesting they'd see each other again. This was going to be much easier than he expected. "Of course," he agreed. "That means we don't have to act like Equalist robots now, right?" He chanced a joke, as Asami seemed to be enjoying herself. He already known she had run away from her guards for the day, he wanted to make their time together as freeing as possible. Perhaps, he thought, that would draw her closer to him.
"That's exactly what it means," she said settling herself on her back, looking up at the blue sky.
"So tell me then Asami, how exactly did you escape your guards today?"
"You saw." Mako raised an eyebrow, and Asami met his gaze, "a very fast bike." He laughed.
"Well aren't you the rebel."
"More than you know," she said half heartedly staring toward the sky. "It's been a long time since I was able to talk casually with someone my age. Tell me about yourself, Mako."
Mako sighed and shrugged, "Not much to tell, really."
"Oh, don't be so tight lipped," she smacked his leg without averting her gaze from the sky. "It's just the two of us here. And besides, what else are we going to do here? Sit in silence?"
Mako could think of a few things he'd like to do here with her, but he pushed his those thoughts out of his head. "I've always been a fan of silence, myself."
Asami rolled her eyes. "The strong and silent type, huh?"
"That is my M.O."
"Well that's boring," she said shifting her gaze to him. Their eyes remained locked as Mako started to tell his story.
"I grew up in the Fire Nation..." Asami nodded. Her piercing eyes asking for more information. Mako broke eye contact. He hated recounting his cover story. "My parents and brother were all benders, and I sort of became an outcast because I never started bending fire. I got fed up with the disdain they showed me and favoritism they showed my brother. When I was thirteen I ran away and came to Republic City to join the RCY. There's not much more too it."
"I'm so sorry," Asami said sitting back up and placing a hand on his thigh. "That must have been really hard on you."
"I'm over it." Mako said flatly. Asami nodded at him, but said nothing. Mako could see out of the corner of his eye that concern was etched on her features. He figured he needed to say something else, "really," he added, "I've never been happier! Republic City is where I was meant to be. I wont be held back because I can't bend. And today makes me question my choice all those years ago even less."
"Why is that?" Asami asked. Mako laid his hand across her hand, which had not moved from his thigh.
"Because I got to meet you." He saw her beautiful face turn crimson. He wasn't sure why he was having this effect on her. She was the gorgeous daughter of the most powerful man in Republic City. He figured she must receive complements like his all the time, but for some reason she was swooning at his words.
"That's very sweet of you to say," she said leaning her head on his shoulder and flipping her hand over interlocking her fingers with his. Mako felt his cheeks go hot. Women normally didn't have this effect on him. He was usually one hundred percent in control, but in this moment he felt completely out of control. He was trying to say all of the right things, and he had gotten the reaction he wanted. It just seemed wrong. Not exactly wrong, but Mako wasn't expecting butterflies to form in his stomach. They were there in force.
"A-asami," he stammered out, "we just met for the first time today." He squeezed her hand. "I'm not saying I don't like this, it's just, you're Asami Sato, and I'm a nobody RCY trainee..."
"Don't worry about that." She reassured him. "let's just enjoy the moment." He sighed and did as she said. He leaned his head against hers and felt himself dozing. He didn't know where this chance meeting would lead him, but he knew this was likely the luckiest moment in his life.
Author's Note: Wow! Lots of Masami in this chapter (sorry if you hate that ship, it's not my favorite either), but it's for the sake of the story. Next chapter Korra will finally make her adult appearance! Yay! As well as more Bolin, Mako, and Asami. The setup is basically over now and now we can get into the real meat of the story. Time to focus on Team Avatar (even though they aren't a team yet, fear not, they will be). As always feel free to review. I don't bite! And I'd love to hear your thoughts. If you like what you see also follow and favorite! You all are awesome and thanks for reading!