"Where are you headed today Misserm..Mrs. Sato?" The engineer fumbled his words, but quickly corrected himself.
Asami smiled. "Away from Republic City for now. I'll let you know." Truth be told, Asami had no idea where they were going. It was exciting.
As Asami stared out the window from the cockpit, she sighed in satisfaction as she watched the familiar buildings of Republic City fade away to nothingness. Sometimes it had felt like a prison. She knew how ridiculous that sounded, but it was true. She had spent her whole life in Republic City, dedicated her time to it and she knew the layout of every road and most of the buildings by memory now. After a while, it slowly started to drive her insane. Waking up to another meeting with Raiko or another corrupt politician, to redesign a road, or overseeing the production of the new generation of satomobiles, it was suffocating. She still loved building things of course, but doing the same thing day after day took away the joy that it had once brought her. That was why she was so insistent on leaving. It reminded her of the old days, only now they had all the freedom in the world to go wherever they wanted without worrying about Avatar-hating anarchists chasing them.
Asami walked down the winding stairs where Korra lay sprawled on one of the couches, her head tilted back and her mouth wide open as she snored loudly. As soon as they had gotten on the airship, Korra had collapsed and fallen asleep straightaway. Asami couldn't blame her. Being the Avatar was hard work, especially with those reporters after them every time they walked out of the house. Those vultures! They had always been nothing but trouble for Korra, and today hadn't been any different. Still, Asami had to admit that Korra was cute when she was upset. It was strange to have someone so insistent on taking care of her. A good strange. One she hadn't had in a long long time. She sat on a chair and watched Korra's chest rise and fall peacefully as she slumbered.
Watching Korra sleep brought back memories, not all of them good. Specifically, the last time she had gone on an adventure in an airship like this. Back then, they had hardly been friends. But now look what happened. Asami chuckled to herself.
They had been searching for new airbenders, she remembered. She had been lucky enough to be able to leave Future Industries unattended for such a long period of time, but she had been even luckier when she finally had the chance to bond with Korra. She hadn't told anyone, but she hadn't really liked Mako, at least not in the same way she loved Korra. That was why when she heard Mako and Korra had officially broken up, she was internally overjoyed, but knew it would offend Korra if she approached her the same way she had for Mako. That had been okay. Korra's well-being had been more important than her own.
Their relationship had started off very gradually. In fact, it had been Korra who had approached her first, she remembered. Asami had just finalized designs for a prototype of the same airship they were using today when Korra shyly walked into her office, which was very un-Korra like.
There. I finally found a way to fix that annoying leak of the pipes in the southern side. Asami stood staring at the sketch, her arms folded in satisfaction. She had spent two weeks designing the thing. She hadn't been quite sure what she would use it for at the time. It had been loosely based on designs of old Fire Nation airships, the kind that Avatar Aang and his friends had to deal with.
Someone knocked lightly on her open office door. She had long since left it open after constant knocks had given her a headache. Asami turned, and there she was. Korra.
"Um, hi Asami." Korra said hesitantly, her arms folded behind her back like a child would stand
Be cool Asami. She told herself. "Hey Korra!" She replied brightly. "What's up?"
"I'll be honest, I'm just here to hide from the media." Korra said sheepishly.
Oh. "No problem. You can stay here as long as you need to." Asami said. "They're still complaining?"
"Yeah." Korra sat down and put her head in her hands. "I don't get it." She looked at Asami. "What do I need to do to please these people? I get blamed for something bad happening. I fix the bad thing. Then I get attacked for fixing the bad thing!" She groaned in frustration.
Asami had no idea what Korra just said. At the moment, Asami found Korra's eyes very hypnotizing. And soblue. Like the sea, except lighter, almost like aqua. "That sounds pretty bad." She put on her best sympathetic face.
"Yeah." Korra said dejectedly.
Asami breathed in relief.
That had been a long time ago. After that conversation, Asami had made sure to pay attention to everything Korra was saying, and reinforcing that she was there for her if she ever needed help. She couldn't focus on her eyes though because they were just too beautiful, so she tried to focus on Korra's lips. She quickly found that just made things worse. Asami found the happy medium in between, and ended up staring at Korra's nose.
I wonder when I actually realized I loved her? Asami interrupted her own thoughts as she watched Korra mumble something in her sleep. I always liked her, but when did I realize that it might be something more?
She racked her brain. It would have to be after Harmonic Convergence, she knew that much. She was coming up empty. It didn't really matter, she supposed. What mattered was that they were together now."
Then it hit her, and she knew.
It had been the one time Korra was completely vulnerable. She had gone to the Spirit World to talk to Zaheer. That was when two of the Red Lotus had shown up. Asami had resolved to take Korra to safety while Bolin and Mako held them off. Holding Korra in her arms as they bounded off on Naga, she realized that she was precious to her. She dared anyone to try to hurt this girl. She tightened her grip around Korra's muscular stomach, whispering in her flowing brown hair, "It's okay, Korra. I"m gonna get us out of here." Of course, two seconds later, they had ended up captured by the Earth Queen's soldiers. Still, together, they had managed to escape the desert so everything worked itself out in the end.
Asami smiled. It was nice to have such great memories of the two of them before they got married. It reminded her of how powerful their relationship was. It made her feel safe.
She moved to the couch and lifted Korra's head gently as she sat, gently propping it on a cushion on her lap. Korra didn't budge.
Asami stroked Korra's short hair and caressed her cheek, running her fingers over the outline of Korra's cheekbones over and over again. She watched as Korra's mouth curled in a small smile.
"You're mine." It felt like heaven to say that. "I want to be here when you wake up." She whispered, lovingly rubbing Korra's cheek. "I love you, Korra." She grabbed Korra's hand and put it to her mouth as she softly kissed it.
Asami fell asleep still holding Korra's hand, their smiles mirroring each others perfectly.
