Mako could feel the tingle in his hand, the buzz of spiritual energy. He hadn't tried firebending with his right hand but if need arose with this thief, he was going to try. The pink haired woman watched them through narrowed eyes. She crouched low, as if preparing to attack. To his side, Korrah had gathered whiplashes of water in her hands, Asami had her fists cocked and Bolin had several stones flying around him in a circle. A feeling of anticipation was thick in the air. The woman made a movement and slammed her fist into the ground, creating a large shockwave which destroyed the ground below them. Bolin was quick to try and fix the damage, flattening out his hands on the ground. She appeared in a blur in front of him and slammed a stone-covered fist into him. He flew backwards, created a wall of stone behind and crashed into the wall. It was better than crashing into a metal container, he thought as he slid down the wall.
Asami moved to confront her, the ground more stable by Bolin's earthbending than when it had been destroyed. She threw her fist forward, followed by a series of kicks. The woman dodged all of them then threw a punch of her own. The dark haired girl crouched low to avoid the the fist but failed to evade the knee which came her way. It knocked the breath out of her. She was grabbed by her shoulders and hauled towards Bolin who had been just standing up, sending the both of them to the ground.
Korrah lashed out her water whips. The pinkette evaded all of them and the Avatar began to grow frustrated. Suddenly, the woman disappeared and appeared in flash in front of her. A gloved fist struck out and she dodged out of sheer luck. Another came and she used airbending to diverge her attack. The dark skinned girl moved her hand upwards, wanting to firebend but her hand was caught before it could go any further. The woman's other hand came up and a fistful of water slammed into her chin. Her eyes widened in shock. Didn't she just earthbend earlier? Before she could ponder more on the matter, another ball of mud slammed into her stomach making her fly backwards into a nearby container.
She turned to face Mako. He could see the added tenseness in her shoulders and a hard edge in her eyes. His right hand throbbed, itching to firebend again. He could do this, he had to. He rushed towards her and let out a war cry. He felt the flames form in the palm of his hand. Before he could release them, pain shot up in his hand and the last thing he remembered were concerned shouts before everything went black.
Mako woke up to the sight of green eyes. "Asami?" he croaked out, his throat dry. They moved away from his face. "Asami's in the other room," was the reply as he sat up and was handed a glass of water. He was in his apartment, his bedroom to be precise which meant Asami was in Bolin's bedroom. He looked at the figure seated beside him who was looking at him with concern. "Are you okay? Does anything feel out of place? Does your arm hurt?" she asked as she inched closer. It was that thief from earlier. "It's you," he said. "Sakura Haruno for you," she said with a small salute and a smile.
"Why aren't you chained up in jail?" he asked with a glare, putting the water glass on top of the drawer. "Always straight to the point," she muttered as she moved away a little. "Your Avatar allowed me to heal you after you passed out during our fight," she explained. He took in the sight of her. She was dressed in a maroon coat with a pair of white pants. His eyes widened a fraction in recognition. "It's you," he said. "The one and only," she replied with a cheeky grin. "I mean, I met you earlier, walking in the streets. We crossed each other," he explained. "I'm surprised you remember me. It wasn't hard to remember you, sullen golden eyes with a scowl on his face," she retorted.
"Where is my team?" he asked, ignoring her last statement. "In Bolin's room," she replied. He pushed the bedcovers aside, wanting to get out his bed. He noticed that he was dressed in a black shirt and black pants which he didn't remember having in his wardrobe. But she stopped him, pushing the bedcovers back. What surprised was the strength he couldn't wrestle with. Either she was that strong or he was just too tired. "You could have just told me to get them," she said with a tinge of annoyance as she stood up and left the room. A few moments later, Team Avatar plus Sakura were all cramped in Mako's room.
"Are you okay bro? You suddenly passed out!" Bolin exclaimed as soon as he got the chance. "I'm fine, what happened?" the firebender asked. "I don't know. I just saw you falling, the pretty miss caught you before you touched the ground. She said that your Chi was in disarray," the other brother explained. Mako cast a glance at the woman, or girl, he couldn't quite make out her age. "How old are you?" he blurted. Immediately, his face burned in embarrassment at the question. "Oooooh, I didn't know you were interested in her bro. Wanting to check if you two make a good match," the earthbender said with a teasing smirk. "I didn't mean it like that, I just..." he trailed as his friends burst into laughter. "I'm 21, in case you're wondering," Sakura replied with a smile, trying to smother her giggles.
"Okay, so what is she doing here?" Mako asked, hoping to cover his earlier embarrassment. "She offered to help you if we let her go," Asami spoke. "And just like that, you're letting a thief go?!" he burst out. "Hey chill out. She's still here plus we had no choice. Waterbending wasn't working on you," Korrah defended. "Look bro, your health is more important to us than a random thief," Bolin said as he put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Said random thief is still here," Sakura muttered that only Mako heard it. "If your waterbending didn't work then how did she heal me?" he asked. "I'm yet to explain that part," the pinkette replied. "And why was the police chasing you?" "And why did you waterbend and earthbend at the same time?" "Any why do you have pink hair?!"
Sakura looked at them sheepishly. "I'll answer all of your questions but first I haven't had a proper meal in days," she spoke as her stomach growled.
"Thank you for the meal," she clapped her hands together before digging into her meal of hot noodles, rice and pork ribs. "So Sakura, care to explain why the police were chasing you?" Mako asked as he eyed her suspiciously while she happily slurped her meal. "I kinda got into a fight with merchant. He didn't want to sell me food because my money wasn't enough so I threatened to take his car away. I made a single round in town, wanting to return it soon afterwards but suddenly the police were tailing me so I had no choice but to flee," she lied expertly. They all seemed to believe her judging by their satisfied looks. She wasn't about to tell them that she had taken documents from the archives she wasn't supposed to. "Before we go any further, please let me ask the question I have been dying to ask. Why is your hair pink? I've never seen any hair color apart from black and brown," Bolin asked. "I was born that way. it's natural," she replied as she subconsciously tucked her hair behind her ear. Mako eyed the gesture.
"How were you able to heal Mako?" Asami asked. "About that... Firstly, Mr Tough Guy here isn't fully healed. I've haven't fixed his Chi paths. I'll need to know what happened to his arm so that I know what to do," Sakura explained. She ate some rice before continuing. "Second, I have an ability to manifest my Chi in its physical form, to manipulate it as pure Chi," she put down her chopsticks and a green light immediately lighted in her hand. "Woah, what is that?!" Bolin asked, clearly amazed by this. "It's pure Chi. I use it to manipulate the cells in a person's body to whatever I want," she replied. "Does that mean you can also kill using that?" Asami asked warily. "Yes, but it takes years of practice to do that. I'm used to healing," she lied. She didn't tell them that see could use chakra to kill in methods they didn't want to hear about.
"It also explains why I'm able to earthbend and waterbend," she added. "Wait wait wait. You can control two elements?!" the green-eyed youth exclaimed. She nodded affirmative. "Where I come from, my master taught me the art of manipulating Chi in its pure form at a very young age. My father was an earthbender and my mother was a waterbender. They both lived in the Earth Kingdom until they passed away at the age of three. Since then, I've been living with my master until two months ago when I decided to come to Republic City," she gave the fake story she had created. "Where does your master come from?" the Sato heiress asked. "Somewhere far away," she replied as she turned back to her meal. "She's no longer alive."
The whole group seemed to grow sullen by the sudden change in Sakura's mood. "Can you teach me how to do that?" Bolin asked, hoping to cheer her up. "You're too old for that," she replied. "Do you have an element which stronger than the other?" Korrah asked. It felt unnerving to have someone who was not the Avatar use more than one element, she had been used to being the one for the thousands of years. "Yes, Earth is my stronger element," she replied. "That's great! We can practice together, teach each other new moves," the earthbender said with unrestrained glee. Sakura nodded her head in agreement.
"Any more questions?" she asked after seeing finished her meal. "For the time being no, but don't think about leaving. I have my eye on you," Mako warned her. "I hear you, lightning eyebrows," she muttered with an eyeroll. Bolin burst into laughter at the jab and the two females of Team Avatar started giggling. "I need to check your arm later though," she added.
Mako and Sakura were seated in in the lounge whilst the rest of Team Avatar was cleaning up in the kitchen. "I need diagnose your arm. I didn't get a chance to earlier as my major focus was removing the pain in your arm and breaking your fever," she said as she crouched beside him. Both her hands glowed green and hovered on top of his arm. He could feel her Chi in his hand, moving like a calming flow of water. It felt weird to have someone else's Chi in your body but it also felt strangely good. The trio joined them shortly afterwards and the only sound in the room was with whooshing sound of Chi. After a few moments, the Chi dissipated. "Your Chi paths have been blocked, that's what's causing pain and your inability to firebend with your hand," she said with a small frown. She cleared her throat. "I'll need a week or more to study his Chi paths so I can unblock them," she said.
"Meaning?" Asami asked. "I'll have to stay with him for the time being," she finished. "Are you okay with that, bro?" Bolin asked as he looked at Mako. A few beats of silence passed. "Fine, but she won't be staying here," the firebender replied. Both Bolin and Sakura looked about ready to protest. "Then she can stay with me and Korrah for the time being," the Sato spoke. "That's a great idea. She can come in the morning and go back in the evening," the dark-skinned girl said. She sent a discreet grateful smile to Asami which did not go unnoticed by Sakura and Mako. It would give her time to learn more about this stranger whose story didn't make much sense.
"But I have work," Mako said. "Obviously she won't be with you all the time," Asami said with an eyeroll. "I can accompany you to work if you want," Sakura quickly suggested. "I make a pretty decent detective and I don't have a job here," she said with a confident smirk. "That's a lot of trouble for me but I'll talk to Chief Beifong," Mako said. "Really?! Thanks!" she beamed. Mako couldn't help but smile. "Don't mention it," he waved it off. "Okay, we'll see each other tomorrow. I haven't had decent sleep," Asami said as she took Sakura by her arm and began dragging her towards the door.
"Bye you guys. See you tomorrow," Korrah waved as she followed after the two girls. Sakura sent one last glance at Mako before being dragged out of the apartment. The door closed shut and an eerie silence dawned in the apartment. "I hope they don't secretly have a threesome without me," Bolin blurted. "One: Ew, that's disgusting and out of topic. Two: You already have a girlfriend," Mako said as he began walking to his room. "Don't even think about me being involved," he warned as he noticed his brother's thoughtful look.
Done. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Read and review.
Tozoonana
AfricanFire
