After the rain that occurred the day before, the dark clouds were no longer to be found in the sky. Now there is only the sun, in the center of the sky, shining over the entire Republic City. Birds sail across the skies. Other animals came out of their shelters and went to quench their thirst in the river. Within the river, three standing silhouettes could be seen. And another could be seen under the shade of a tree.
"Can we start, guys?" Hikari asked the three children as he came closer to them. " No cheating, ok?" He pointed his finger as a warning.
"You can start counting, Dad!" Sora shouted with an excited smile while slapping her hand on the water.
"We're more than ready, Uncle Hikari!" Bolin replied with the same titillating smile as Sora, while Mako responded with a firm nod.
"In their seats..." Hikari looked between them. "Prepare..." Hikari took a long pause.
"Hurry up, da-" Sora was suddenly interrupted.
"Go!" Hikari shouted, causing Bolin and Mako to start swimming. Sora, who didn't get out in time, took a lot of water to the face because of Bolin and Mako. But after Bolin and Mako's departure, Sora began to flap her arms and legs nimbly, creating rhythmic, lithe movements in the water.
Watching their little competition, Hikari noticed that, despite being a little ahead of Sora, Bolin, and Mako were already showing signs of exhaustion; which resulted in a reduction in the speed of their strokes. Himari knew of the competition that existed between Mako and Sora. So, it wasn't surprising when Mako, even though he was tired, continued to swim as if he was being used by some animal. It was obvious how much Mako would like to rub his victory in Sora's face. And the same can be said for Sora, who, as raised her head to allow oxygen to enter her lungs; noticed the tired state of the two boys and increased his speed, forcing her muscles to work hard.
Hikari saw that Bolin was behind Sora and Mako, he controlled the water with a smooth movement of his hands and propelled Bolin to the "finish line". When Bolin rose from the water, Hikari quickly lowered his arms and offered the younger boy a smile.
"Did... I... Win...?" Bolin asked in between breaths to Hikari, reaching up with his hand to brush the wet hair out of his eyes.
"You won, Bolin!" Hikari replied with a proud smile, going back to ruffling the boy's hair.
"I WON!" Bolin let out a victorious laugh. " Now you have to respect me because I am the king of the seas- or in this case, river!"
When Mako and Sora reached the finish line, they got up from the water still panting from the effort, they looked at Bolin with a frown on their faces when heard what Bolin had said.
"What? How?!" Sora looked at Bolin with a surprised face. How could Bolin win their competition when he was behind her?
"At least Sora didn't win," Mako murmured as he looked at the white-haired girl out of the corner of his eyes. But Sora heard that and gave him a piercing look, which was returned by the boy.
Stopping glaring at Mako, Sora found it strange how silent her father was and turned to him, squinting her eyes in his direction. Hikari, noticing Sora's gaze on him, looked away from her.
"Dad... What did-" Sora was once again interrupted.
"Let's get out of the water to rest, kids!" Hikari signaled to Bolin and Mako to go sit on the lawn. Turning to his daughter, Hikari found a soaked Sora with her arms crossed, staring at him with narrowed eyes.
"What happened to 'No cheating', Dad?" Sora arched her brows as she looked at her father with an accusing face.
"That rule only applied to you guys." Hikari placed his hands on his waist while copying Sora's expression.
"But that wasn't fair, Dad!" Sora sulked even more causing her lips to form a pout.
"Come on, don't be like that," Hikari mumbled, lightly touching his daughter's right ear. " Look how happy Bolin is to have won..." Hikari nodded to Sora to where Bolin was; boasting his victory to his brother. Sora's features softened as she took in Bolin's happiness.
"I just don't like to lose, Dad," Sora explained, scratching the base of her neck with a sheepish smile.
"Come on, let's get out of the water." Hikari put his hand on Sora's shoulder, leading her out of the water.
Leaving the water, Sora moved toward where Mako and Bolin were resting under the shade of a tree. Sora bent down and sat between the two brothers. Once she was settled down, she turned to Bolin and shook her head, causing drops of water to bounce on Bolin who started to laugh.
"This time you managed to defeat us, Bolin," Sora exclaimed in a content tone, trying to fix her hair so it wouldn't fall in her eyes.
"We both know it didn't go like-" Mako's speech was muffled by Sora's hand.
"Shut up. If you're going to talk nonsense then you better not open your mouth." Sora threatened softly into Mako's ear without first showing a smile to Bolin, who was looking at them curiously. Mako, out of spite, liked Sora's hand.
"Agh! You're disgusting!" Sora shouted at Mako as she took her hand out of his mouth
and brought it to Mako's shirt to wipe it.
"That was because you put your hand in my mouth!" Mako shouted back, holding Sora's hand so that it wouldn't reach him.
"Should we separate them, Uncle Hikari?" Bolin whispered to the older man, who was looking too at the bickering duo with a less-than-exciting face.
"We'd better leave them there. They will understand each other soon." Hikari sighed, shooting his head at the duo. "Come on. Let's see the turtle ducks." Giving Bolin a hand, Hikari lifted the boy from his seat, and together they went to the small family of turtle ducks that were nearby the river.
"Be... Still..." Sora said through clenched teeth, trying to bring her hand closer to Mako's shirt.
"Don't... Touch... Me..." Mako was having a hard time stopping Sora's hand that was getting too close to him.
"What's over there?" Sora suddenly asked while pointing to a random spot.
"What the" Mako made the mistake of looking where Sora had pointed, and Sora took advantage of his distraction to wipe her hand on his arm. " Sora! That's disgusting!"
"Disgusting? You were the one who liked my hand, remember?" Sora asked laughing, looking at the face of disgust that Mako made for his arm.
"You-" Mako was going to jump at Sora when he was interrupted by an arm that wrapped around his waist.
"I think that's enough. Don't you think, kids?" Hikari asked, looking between a giggling Sora and a sulking Mako, that was trying to pull his arm away from his waist. "What do you think about stopping your fight and joining Bolin?"
"We were just playing, Dad." Sora got up from the lawn and brushed off the bits that got on her clothes. "Isn't that true, scarf boy?" Sora was answered by a grimace on Mako's part.
"You know..." Sora caught Mako's attention. "If you keep that ugly face, no one will like you." Sora looked at Mako with a teasing smile.
"You're talking about my face... Have you seen yours?" Mako asked, approaching Sora and nudging her lightly on the shoulder.
"Of course yes! Have you seen my father yet?" Sora gave the boy a smug smile, pointing her hand toward her father. "My face is beautiful thanks to him!"
It wasn't a lie what Sora had said about her father. Hikari was a handsome man. His height was to be envied. Tanned skin that accommodated freckles all over his body. Long white hair fell over his shoulders and his eyes and vibrant blue eyes. Looking at Sora was like looking at a reflection of Hikari.
"Children! Children! Stop it!" Hikari turned to catch Mako before he attacked Sora again. Meanwhile, Sora continued to stare at Mako with a teasing smile behind her father's back. "Sora. Stop it." Hikari didn't even need to turn around to know what his daughter was doing.
"Sorry, Dad." Sora gave her dad a sheepish smile.
"Start walking." Hikari put Mako on the ground and made a signalized with his hands to make them start walking. " And no fighting!" Hikari yelled, seeing Mako and Sora starting to push each other as they walked toward Bolin.
"Ah... Those two..." Hikari let out a heavy sigh and rushed toward them to prevent any more fights from happening.
--
"Bo!" Sora shouted, looking down at Bolin. "Catch it!" Throwing another apple to Bolin, Sora climbed down from the apple tree slowly; moving swiftly between the trunks of the tree, then, with a grunt, landed on her feet on the turf.
"Thanks, Kashi!" Bolin exclaimed, munching on his apple. "Here's your apple." Bolin handed Sora her apple.
"Nothing's more satisfying than eating a piece of fruit after a swim." Hikari chewed on his apple and looked at the three kids in front of him. "Don't you agree, kids?"
All he didn't hear were muffled words of agreement from the kids.
--
The group of four walked aimlessly through the city of Republic City. They talked to each other about what they saw on the streets. The group stopped walking when they saw a group of musicians performing their songs amid a small crowd. They stopped to enjoy the spectacle of music taking place in front of them. One of the musicians was looking at the crowd while playing his violin, and his gaze stopped on the children who were there. With a nod of his head, the street musician invited the children to the center of the circle. Without further ado, Sora pulled Bolin, who pulled Mako, to the center of the circle, and they started dancing to the rhythm of the music.
Hikari looked at his children and a bright smile spread across his face as he noticed how happy they were; even Mako, who was the most reserved of them, was wearing a smile ( a tiny one, but still a smile), dancing and twirling between Bolin and Sora to the music as the small crowd cheered.
"Thank you! Thank you!" The musician thanked the small crowd. "And a round of applause for our dancers!" He smiled, pointing at the panting kids in front of him. Slightly bending their bodies in a bow, Sora and Bolin revealed the attention they received from the people. At the end of the music performance, Sora, Bolin, and Mako-- more specifically Bolin and Sora-- excitedly waved goodbye to the group of musicians and went back to where Hikari was.
"Did you have a lot of fun?" Hikari asked, observing the breathless state of the three children; mostly Bolin and Sora.
"It was so much fun, Dad! We rocked that circle with our dance moves." Sora replied to her father, shaking her body in a little dance and trying to, miserably, fix the mess that was her hair. Sora glanced at Bolin. "Don't you think, Bo?"
"Of course, we rocked our dance. No one can stop us!" Bolin replied, running away from Sora who started to ruffle his hair.
"I don't know where you guys get all that energy..." Mako let out a sigh, starting at Sora and Bolin with a confused face. "I mean, you were swimming a little while ago and now you danced like crazy! How are you not tired?"
"Eh... Mako? You were dancing too, remember?" Sora asked, ceasing to ruffle Bolin's hair to look at Mako's confused face. "And about not being tired... Bolin and I have a lot of energy. And... We are not like you..."
"What do you mean 'we're not like you'?" Mako asked, stopping to stare at the taller girl with an incredulous face, fixing his scarf.
"You act like an old man. You're always frowning and your face is always looking like you smelled something bad-- like now." Sora stared at Mako with an amused face as she pushed him by the small of his back with her hand to make him start walking, signaling her index finger to the frown on Mako's face. "You have to relax sometimes."
"I don't act like an old man, and I know how to relax! Bolin help me here!" Mako complained as he glared at Sora, then glared at his brother to come to his defense.
"Sora is kind of right-" Bolin cut off what he was about to say when he noticed the smoldering gaze his brother was giving him. Bolin began to stutter between words as he tried to get out of the corn he cornered himself. "Eh... Hmm... That wasn't quite what I meant..."
Sora stared at Mako with a smirk as she arched her eyebrows. " See...even Bolin thinks the same-"
"Can we go a day without you two fighting?" Hikari interrupted his daughter before a new fight started between them, while he rubbed his hand across his face in annoyance. "Please."
Sora and Mako looked at each other. Sora gave the younger boy a simple shrug, while Mako let out a heavy sigh as he straightened his scarf again.
"I know how to relax," Mako mumbled to Sora, watching her out of the corner of his eyes as they walked side by side.
"I know. I was just teasing you." Sora mumbled back, lightly brushing Mako's arms with her own as she stared at the traffic cars.
--
"Look at those people over there. They're kissing...eww!" Sora's face twisted into a disgusted face, making her go to cover Mako and Bolin's eyes. " You're too young to see this."
Mako took her hand away from her face, looking at her with an unfriendly face, reaching out to hit Sora's lower head. "Don't act like you're that old. You are also a child like us."
"I am the oldest and tallest among us. Therefore, what I say is the law!" Sora declared, throwing a sharp look at the boy next to her as she massaged the area where she had been hit. "And as your elder, it's my role to protect you from what's bad for you!"
"Are you saying that kissing is a bad thing?" Bolin asked, also taking Sora's hand over his eyes, blinking slowly to adjust his vision.
"Yes, Bolin. Kissing his bad. You might get diseases from that." Sora replied, looking at Bolin with a straight face. "For example...the babies! Where do you think they come from?"
"Uhm...from the storks...?" Bolin asked hesitantly, tilting his head slightly to the side.
"Wrong. They come from kisses!" Sora widened her eyes, resting her hands on the younger boy's shoulders, making the boy let out a gasp of shock.
Mako couldn't help but shake his head at what he was listening to, bringing a hand to cover his face.
"Where did you hear that from?" Hikari asked, arching a thick eyebrow, and giving his daughter a curious look.
"Why, I heard it from you, Dad!" You were the one who taught me how babies are born. Did you forget?" Sora asked her father, with an uneasy voice. She started to feel nervous when she noticed what she just said.
"Uhm...I don't remember telling you that..." Hikari narrowed his eyes, giving out an accusatory stare at his daughter.
Sora, noticing her father's accusatory stare at her, quickly averted her gaze from his. "Eh... Uhm...you said it a long time ago, Dad!"
"Sora..." Hikari pressed.
"Yes, Dad?" Sora faced her father with her best innocent face.
"Where did you hear that from?" Hikari narrowed his eyes even more.
"Gommu taught me this." Sora let out, lowering her head in defeat, bringing her hand to scratch her neck. "He asked me to not tell you that he taught me about kissing."
"Gommu and I are going to have a serious talk when we get back." Hikari made a mental note about never leaving Sora alone with Gommu again.
"Sorry for hiding it from you, Dad," Sora spoke quietly.
"It's okay, Sora. I just hope this doesn't happen again, okay?" Hikari said as he ran a hand through his daughter's hair, messing it up again.
"Dad! Not my hair!" Sora let out a groan as she felt her hair being messed up again. She didn't like it when someone messed up her hair. While Sora was preoccupied with fixing her hair--again-- Bolin asked her what she would do if she liked someone, and Sora replied:" The only people I like are my dad, you guys, and Mrs. Ling. I don't need to like anyone else!"
"Maybe one day you'll come to like someone, Sora. You never know what might happen in the future." Hikari looked at his daughter, amused by how much she rambled on about how unnecessary it was for her to like anyone other than them.
"The day I like someone Dad, will be the day I'm going to be sick," Sora said, grimacing at the thought of--one day-- liking someone.
"When that day comes I will laugh in your face," Mako said, letting out a light laugh, already imagining Sora's face when that happens.
"You're out of luck, scarf boy. That day will never come." Sora gave him a crooked smile.