Walking side by side, the father-daughter duo made their way to the garage, where they found the driver waiting for them beside the car.
When they came to the car, the door was opened by the driver, who assisted Asami into the car; but before getting in the car, Hiroshi glanced at the driver, catching his attention.
"Be cautious when placing this in the trunk," Hiroshi warned as he pointed at the box that was on top of the tool table. " There's something extremely important in there."
With a nod of his head, the driver went to the tool table and picked up the midsize placing it in the truck; closing the trunk, the driver came around the car, unlocked the driver's door, and started the car to start driving.
Pressing the button on the small remote he had in his hand, the garage door opened allowing him to take off the mansion.
--
On the way to the park, Asami enjoyed the view of the passing streets. Looking away from the window; Asami looked at her father and noticed that he had a vanilla-colored document in his hands, reading the articles that were there. Tilting her head a little to get a better look at what was there, she saw a sketch of a glove quickly before her father suddenly closed the document. Acting fast, she turned her head towards the window once more, as if nothing had happened.
'She wasn't very subtle...' Hiroshi thought after catching his daughter trying to sneak a peek at what was on his document. Cleaning up his glasses, with a low chuckle, he turned his face to the window looking at the passing cars.
Arriving at her destination while the driver was looking for a place to park, Asami came across a head with white hair that stood out in the distance. Eager to go play with her new friend, as soon as the car stopped, Asami was already with her hand on the car door ready to get out but she was stopped by her father's voice.
"Asami don't go too far, alright? Be careful where you walk." Hiroshi was fixing a strand of hair that had fallen out of place on his daughter's head.
"I'll be careful, Dad! Don't worry." With a firm nod, Asami got out of the car and headed toward where her friend was.
--
"Do you think the kittens are still where we left them?" Sora asked the younger boy that was beside her as she walked with her hands in the pockets of her shorts.
"They're still very small, Sora. There's no way they can get out of where they are." The little boy kicked a few rocks he found on the sidewalk. " Besides, we hid the box where they are among the bushes."
"Humm... You're right." Sora said with a frown. "Mrs. Ling was so generous to give us this canned food and buns." Withdrawing a hand from her pocket, she touched the handle of the bag that was wrapped around her torso.
"She's one of the nicest people I've ever met." Said the boy tilting his head up to look at the birds that passed by. " And her beef stew is the best in the world! It makes my mouth water just thinking about it." He sighed longingly as he remembered how delicious the food was.
"Ah... Don't remind me how delicious Mrs. Ling's food is." Sora said with a grunt as she brought a hand to her belly. "I'll be hungry again."
Removing his gaze from the birds, the boy directed his gaze to the front of him, where he found a girl coming toward them, causing him to stop in his place. Sora noticed that her friend had stopped walking abruptly.
"Huh? Why did you sto-" a new voice interrupt her.
"Sora. Hi!" Sora could recognize the voice that had greeted her. 'That voice belonged to that girl. What was her name again? Salami...? Asaki...? Asami...? Yes! It's Asami!' she thought as she took her gaze from her friend to look at the girl.
"Asami?" Sora was a little confused seeing the girl there. " What are you doing here?"
"We agreed to meet here yesterday. Did you forget?" Asami said as she got closer to them.
"Ah...ah..." Sora was trying to find something to say to cover up that she had forgotten. Not finding anything, she chose to say the truth."I... Completely forgot about it..." She could feel her cheeks burning as she scratched the back of her neck. "Sorry."
Asami almost let out a small laugh when she noticed how red Sora's cheeks were. " You don't need to apologize for forgetting that."
With a shove on her arm, Sora then remembered that she wasn't alone. Looking at her friend, Sora frowned as she ran her hand over her shoulder, making a face at the boy.
Following Sora's gaze, Asami came across a younger boy who, upon noticing her gaze, hid behind Sora's body.
" Remember the girl that I was telling you about? It's her!" Sora looked behind her when she felt the thigh grip on her shirt, which make her put her hand over the hand that was on her shirt and gave it a light squeeze to comfort the boy.
"Asami, this little guy here is my friend, Bolin." Sora introduced with a lopsided smile as she ran her hand through Bolin's hair while looking at Asami. "He's a little shy around new people."
"Kashi..." Bolin, embarrassed, hid more against the older's body.
'Friend...? I thought he was her younger brother.' Asami thought as she watched the interaction between Sora and Bolin. 'Besides Sora's hair color... They could pass as siblings.'
Sora lightly withdrew Bolin's hand from her shirt and with a little push, he was in front of her, with her hands on his shoulders. "Bolin, this is Asami."
Asami found it cute how embarrassed the little boy was. "It's nice to meet you, Bolin." Asami extended her hand, which was then shaken by Bolin.
"It's nice to meet you too, Asami." Bolin withdraws his hand from the hold and looked at Sora, who looked back at him with an encouraging smile.
"Kashi wasn't lying when she said that you were very pretty!" Bolin was enchanted by the beauty of the girl in front of him.
Asami's cheeks were red as a tomato from hearing the compliment. From the corner of her eyes, she could see the point of Sora's ears bright red.
'It seems that his shyness has finally passed.' That's what Asami thought at that moment.
'I can't believe he told her that.' Sora thought as she tried to control her blush to spread further.
Clearing her throat, Sora hugged them both by the shoulders and pull them against her body as they let out a cry of surprise at the sudden action.
"Isn't this amazing, Bolin? We have one more person to play with us!"
"You're right, Kashi! We can show Asami our favorite games!" As Bolin spoke, Asami swore he could see stars shining in his eyes. His body was shuddering with excitement.
"Then? What do you think, Asami?" Sora chuckled as she pulled her gaze from the ball of excitement in front of her, to look at Asami.
Looking at Sora, Asami could see that she was also eager, as was Bolin, to be able to play with her. " What are we waiting for? Lead the way, Sora!"
"That's what I like to hear." Sora took Asami's hand and put an arm around Bolin's shoulders and with that, the new trio of friends set off on their new adventure.
"...we can show you the kittens we found..."
"...we can show you how to play marbles..."
"...did you know that Kashi taught me these games?..."
As they walked, Asami and Sora's eyes shone with amusement as they stared at Bolin rambling.
--
Looking at where his daughter went, Hiroshi returned his gaze to the figure of a man that was a little farther from his car. The man, noticing Hirsohi's gaze on him, entered an abandoned construction that was there.
With a motion of his hand, Hiroshi commanded his driver to bring the box with him. Entering the abandoned construction, he could see abandoned machines littered with dust; the turf reached up to his ankles as he walked by; and the remains of sand, iron, and cement were left unfinished.
"Did you bring what he asked for?" Hiroshi calmly turned his head to where the voice was coming from. Looking at the man's half-covered face, he nodded.
"They are here in this box," Hiroshi mentioned to his driver to set the box on the floor and open it. With a scoff, the man bent down to assess what was inside the suitcase and when he got up, he took an object with him. It was a glove.
"It doesn't seem like it's a big deal." Said the man with a sneering tone as he examined the glove.
"These gloves are still the prototype. I still have to perfect them better." Hiroshi exclaimed as he straightened his glasses.
"He asked for something effective and deadly! This is nothing like that! This glove looks like it will fall apart if used!" Snapped the man as he waved the glove from side to side.
"What part of what I just said you didn't understand? I will need more time to perfect them."
"You've been given enough time for that already, don't you think?" Raising his gaze from the glove, the masked glared at Hiroshi while subtly raising one of his eyebrows.
"Don't forget who you're talking to, boy." Although Hiroshi's words were spoken calmly, the threat was still there. " I can assure you that these gloves can be deadly..."
Taking a hand to the glove that was on the masked man's hand, Hiroshi put the glove on and activated it, causing small sparks of energy to form around his covered hand. "Allow me to demonstrate..."
Approaching the masked man, Hiroshi brought his energized glove up to the man's chest, causing him to be thrown from the shock. Removing the glove from his hand, Hiroshi slowly approach the man, who was agonizing in pain from the shock his body took. The man, in the middle of the spasms his body was having, opened his eyes and saw a pair of high-quality shoes; with his breath coming in pants, he raised his gaze until he was able to meet Hiroshi's cold brown eyes. Just looking at how cold and indifferent his eyes were made the man tremble in fear.
"Here's your demonstration of just how deadly these gloves can be. They will be more deadly in the future." Hiroshi declared as he cleaned up his suit and ran his hand to his head to strengthen a start hair and turn his body to the exit with his driver behind him.
Pausing midway, Hiroshi looked over his shoulder to look at the man on the ground who was still spasming from the overload of energy in his body. " In the meantime... You better start getting used to how to fight with extra weight in your hands." With that, he made his way back and left the abandoned construction site heading to his car.
And that's how a new era for the Equalists began...
--
"Aha! Here they are!" Sora exclaimed as she pushed aside the two large bushes, causing a box to be seen in the middle. Setting her bag down on the floor, she pulled the box between them and the three of them peered into the box to look at the kittens that lay there.
"Look, Kashi!" Bolin exclaimed happily, pointing to the breadcrumbs that were scattered around the box. "They ate everything!"
"I told you that they would eat all the bread, didn't I?" Sora looked at Bolin with a smug smile.
Still peeking into the box, Asami could see three kittens that were surrounded by breadcrumbs. The kittens were on top of each other sleeping in a corner of the box. Seeing them made her heart melt with their cuteness.
Asami could notice the difference between them. The kitten at the bottom has white fur with black spots on its paws and ears; the kitten in the middle has white fur but its body was full of black spots; and, the kitten at the top has black fur covering its whole body. "Where did you find them?" Asami asked the two friends (who were still talking about Sora's idea), while still looking at the sleeping kittens.
"Huh? Oh..." Sora and Bolin looked at each other for a few seconds not knowing how to respond to Asami's question. They wanted to forget about that day. "A few days ago, me and Bolin-"
"-Bolin and I." Sora was abruptly interrupted by Asami. An awkward silence settled between them. "The right way to say it is 'Bolin and I' " Asami explained, taking her gaze from the kittens to look at Sora; who quickly turned her head sideways to avoid looking at her.
"Hum..." Sora cleaned her throat with a sheepish smile on her face as she felt the burning in her cheeks. "Right... Bolin and I found them near a trash bin."
"What happened to their mother?"
"Uhm... We found her dead." Sora mumbled as she ran her finger through the black cat's fur.
"Oh..."
"Yeah... But now, Bolin and I take care of them." Sora mentioned with her finger on both of them. "Isn't it, Bolin? We are like their parents now!" Sora's chest swelled with pride for taking care of the kittens.
"Yeah!" Bolin had a smug smile on his face and stuck out his chest.
Examining the two friends, Asami couldn't help but think how adorable their friendship was. It was obvious how much Bolin admired Sora.
"Bolin? Can you pass me a piece of bread that's in my bag, please?" Sora glanced at the small boy and held out her hand, waiting for the food to be placed there.
Bolin stretched his body to grab the bag in the middle of the bushes. Returning to his starting position, he opened the bag and cut a piece of bread, then closed it and put it in Sora's hand. "Here it is, Sora!"
"Thanks, Bo!" With the bread in her hands, Sora put it in the corner of the box (without forgetting to cut it into small pieces beforehand), leaving the cat petted with her finger, and then she took the box and went back to place it among the blushes.
"Sora?"
"Yes, Asami?"
"Wouldn't it be easier to wake them up so they can eat?" Asami raised one of her eyebrows as she looked at the ash-white-haired girl with a curious expression.
Upon hearing this, Bolin burst out laughing while Sora stared at him with a scowl. Asami looked between them with curious eyes.
"What is it? What's funny?" Asami asked exasperatedly trying to understand the reason for Bolin's laughter and Sora's scowl.
"The last time I woke them up so they could eat..." Sora grumbled as she glared at Bolin, who was clutching his stomach as he hunched over from laughing too hard. "I ended up suffering the consequences of that." Sora showed the back of her hand to show Asami the scars from four scratches that were between her thumb, index, and middle finger.
Bolin's laughter increased, which brought him to the point of choking on his spit. His laughter was contagious, but Asami could only notice how red the scars were.
"How long have they been this red?" Asami questioned Sora as she took her hand between hers to examine them.
"For a few days," Sora answered as she examined Asami's face. Sora was amazed by Asami's eyes. She couldn't stop looking at them. While the raven-haired girl examined her hand, Sora noticed how the color of her eyes changed when the sun reflected on them; changing them from green to a more golden hue.
"Did you treat them...?" Asami stopped examining Sora's hand when she felt the weight of her gaze on her and lifted her head to look at Sora, just to find her looking at her with a distracted look. "Sora? Did you hear what I said?"
"Huh?" Sora was still lost in Asami's eyes. Bolin, who had stopped laughing for a long time, was observing Asami and Sora (especially Sora) with amused eyes. Discretely, he poked Sora's back so she could respond to Asami.
"Oh... Yeah! Yeah, I heard you." Sora cleared her throat to hide the fact that she had been caught looking at Asami. " My dad used chamomile leaves to help the scratches faster. He said that they will be like this for a few more days because they are healing inside."
"Chamomile leaves?" Asami asked with a curious gaze.
"Yeah! Chamomile leaves. They relieve itching and redness of the skin and... Something else that my dad told me..." Sora furred her eyebrows as she tried to remember what her father taught her.
"Uncle Hikari puts them on us most of the time. But who has more experience with them is Sora; she always has some scratches on her body." Bolin added as poked Sora with his elbow.
"Let's forget about how many scratches I have on my body, ok Bolin?" Sora grabbed Bolin's elbow to stop him from poking her. "We still need to teach Asami how to play with marbles before she leaves."
"You're right, Sora! First thing first... We need to create holes in the ground!" Bolin exclaimed as he looked at Sora. "Sora, can you please start doing them? I will do the marbles."
Sora nodded her head and started creating holes in the ground. With her index and middle finger, she draws multiple circles on the grass, and when she finally finished drawing them, she used her fingers to control the earth to take out the excess soil on the circles. While Sora was doing the holes, Bolin was by her side doing little marbles with mud and putting them in the sun so they can dry out.
Asami was awestruck by what Bolin and Sora were doing. Asami knew about the existence of benders. She knew what they were capable of doing with their powers. They are the reason why her father put her in multiple defense classes. The reason for her not having her mother with her.
"You two are earthbenders..." Asami gasped while looking between them.
"What gave it away? The floating ground?" Sora asked with a breathy laugh while cleaning the sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand.
"Oh you think you're so funny, don't you?" Asami narrowed her eyes as she looked at Sora with a sarcastic smile.
"I'm the funniest person you will ever find." Sora joked with a cheeky smile. "Just ask Bolin."
"Please, leave me out of this," Bolin mumbled as he checked out the dry marbles. "They still need a little bit of time to dry out." He announced to Sora.
"Well... While we wait for them to dry... Let me explain the rules to you, Asami!" Sora clapped her hands excitedly.
" We are going to use the largest marble..." Sora showed Asami the largest mud marble that was in between the smaller ones. " We put five or ten marbles in the center of this circle..." Sora pointed to the circle that evolved the marbles. " And when it's your turn, you stay outside the circle and flick the largest marble out of your fist with your thumb..." Sora demonstrated the movement of her thumb to a very concentrated Asami. " And then you aimed to hit many marbles out of the ring to enter the little holes that I made." Sora pointed to the freshly made holes.
"You can keep the marbles that you knock out and wait for your next turn." Bolin quickly added.
"I think I got it. Let's start the game!" Asami said with a determined face as she looked between Bolin and Sora.
--
During the marble game, three things were discovered. The first thing: was to never let Sora unsupervised ("Sora stop cheating!" " But I didn't do anything!" "Then stop controlling the marbles!"); the second thing: was how annoyingly competitive Sora and Asami were ( "You don't stand a chance against me, Asami!" "Don't be so confident, Sora. I don't plan on losing against you!"); the third thing: was the limit of Bolin's patience ( "Can you both please, stop arguing? This is just a game!" " You two are older than me! Stop acting like you're not!"). In the end, Bolin decided that he would never let Asami and Sora play together ever again.
After that long and exhausting game, they decided to just lie on the grass and observe the sky.
"Look! That one looks like a dog." Sora pointed with her finger to one of the many clouds that were in the sky.
"Uhm... For me, it looks like a cat..." Asami narrowed her eyes as she inclined her head to look at the cloud that Sora had pointed to.
"Uhm... No. It looks like a dog!" Sora said as she turned her head to look at Asami while using her hand to protect her eyes from the sun.
"No! It looks like a-"
"Can you guys please, don't start arguing again?" Bolin pleaded while looking between the two girls with wide eyes.
"Ok, jeez!" Sora mumbled with a soft roll of her eyes. After that, they stayed in comfortable silence and enjoyed the breeze.
After a few minutes, Asami turned her head to look at Bolin and found him resting on the grass with one of his arms tucked below his head as a makeshift pillow. Turning her head, Asami found Sora looking at the birds that passed by above them. While Sora was distracted, Asami could notice that from time to time Sora would play with a strand of her hair or pull the grass out of the ground. Asami noticed how Sora's thick eyebrows would furrow every time the sun hit her eyes. The small spots lay on her tanned face, neck, and arms.
As if sensing that someone was looking at her, Sora stopped observing the sky and turned to look at Asami with arched eyebrows. "Why are you looking at me?"
"Because I can," Asami replied as she mirrored Sora's expression.
"But why?" Sora furrowed her eyebrows as she asked Asami with curious eyes.
"Because earlier, you were looking at me too," Asami answered as she grinned at Sora.
"That makes sense..." Sora murmured while nodding her head in agreement with what Asami had said.
"So... How old are you?" Asami questioned Sora as she changed positions. Instead of laying down on the grass, she's now sitting on her backside with her arms below her knees.
"I'm twelve years old," Sora answered while placing her arms below her head. "And you?"
"I'm ten years old," Asami answered as she rested her face on her knees.
"You have the same age as Bolin's brother..." Sora announced in a low tone as she looked at the sleeping boy next to them.
"Bolin's brother?" Asami asked with a confused face. "Is he like Bolin?"
"Pfft...No!" A scoff came from Sora's throat as she rolled her eyes at what she had heard. "He's annoying and an idiot!"
"You seem rather close to them..."
"I see them as my brothers," Sora explained with a gentle smile. "They are my little brothers. Even if I find one more annoying than the other."
Asami found herself distracted by Sora again. She was distracted by how Sora's eyes shone a bit more as she mentioned her brothers. She noticed that every time she smiles, a small crease formed on her right cheek. Taking her eyes off Sora, Asami found herself looking at the sky again.
"It will start to rain soon," Sora announced quietly.
"How do you know? The sun is still there." Asami questioned with an incredulous face.
"If you weren't so distracted by looking at me, you would notice the sudden change in the wind and the movements of the clouds..." Sora explained with a matter-of-fact voice. "We need to get going or we are going to be wet." Sora quickly went to get her bag and then woke up Bolin.
"Just for your information, I wasn't distracted by looking at you! I was distracted by the booger inside your nose!" Asami snapped at Sora with her arms crossed.
"Have you seen me? It's completely normal if you were distracted, Asami." Sora boasted to Asami as she tries to wake up, Bolin. "Bolin... Bolin... Come on, let's go home."
With a sleeping Bolin on her back and her bag in front of her, Sora took hold of Asami's hand and started to walk away from the park.
--
Crossing to the other side of the street, Asami found her driver already outside the car waiting for her with the door open. Before climbing into the car, Asami turned and waved goodbye to Sora, who quickly returned it.
Seeing that Asami reached the car safely, Sora straightened Bolin onto her back and began her long walk. Looking at the sky quickly, Sora saw how the sky turned gray and fastened her steps. Passing a few stores, Sora took a turn to the left and enter an abandoned place, and knocked on the door.
"Mako! Open the door!" Sora knocked three more times. "It's only me, Sora!" A clicking sound came from the other side of the door and a boy appeared. "Step aside, flame brain." Mako stepped aside from the door and let Sora move into a small place.
"Stop calling me 'flame brain', you idiot!" Mako glared at Sora.
"Yeah, yeah. Stop complaining and help me out with Bolin." Sora nodded her head to the sleeping boy on her back. Mako helped remove his brother from Sora's back and set him down on their small bed.
"Take this." Sora took three cans of food and bread out of her bag to give them to Mako.
"How many times do I have to tell you that we don't need your help? We can find food for ourselves." Mako grunted at Sora with furrowed eyebrows.
"Shut up and take it!" Sora scolded Mako as she puts the food in his hands. "I will go now. I just came to drop off Bolin and this food." Sora made her way to the door and opened it and saw that raindrops began to fall. Before going out, Sora turned her head to look behind her. "Don't forget to lock the door, ok?" And then closed the door and began to run under the drizzle.
--
"Hey, guys!" Sora yelled as she came near the bridge. "I have food!"
"Hey, Sora!"
"Come near the fire, Sora. You're wet!"
"Cool! We have more food!"
Sora felt a gush of air near her and her face is throwback by the force. Her vision blacked out. Pulling out what was on her face, Sora saw a towel. Turning from where the towel came from, Sora found her father in front of her with arms crossed.
"Come on, let's go dry you out before you get sick." Hikari put his arm around Sora's shoulders and made her sit on the ground. Crouching in front of his daughter and started drying her hair. After drying Sora's hair, Hikari gave her one of his shirts and made her sit in front of the fire with the others.
"Did you have fun today?" Hikari asked his daughter as he places a blanket on her, covering her body.
"Yes. I had a lot of fun today..." Sora replied as she rested her body against her father's with droopy eyes.
"You can rest after eating, ok?" Hikari said softly as he caresses Sora's cheek.
"Here it is," Gommu said as he passed a bowl of soup to each one of the group. Taking one bowl for them, Hikari started to feed Sora. Hikari secured Sora against his body and he started eating too.
"Hey, Sora..." Hikari touched Sora's cheek softly when he noticed that she slept. "Don't sleep now, ok? You can't go to sleep after eating." Sora nodded while rubbing her eyes.
After finishing eating, Hikari straightened his hold on Sora and took her to their cardboard, laying her there with their blanket above her body and pressing a little kiss on her forehead.
"Make some space for me guys. I wanna play too!" Hikari grinned at the group playing cards.