𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝘖𝘧 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 / 𝘈𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘪 𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘰

𝘐𝘟

"Sora." Light spanks were applied to the girl's face – who was on the ground, leaning against the wall of a deserted alley, unconscious.

"Sora." The girl babbled incoherent words before the spanking she received on her face. "Sora!'' The girl woke up when a hand was splayed hard against her face. So with eyes downcast and feeling her cheek burn, Sora stared, having a distorted view of the person in front of her. "Asami...?" she asked as she brought her face closer to the girl who occupied half of her thoughts at night, and touched the girl's face in a light affection.

"What?" The distorted figure asked, not knowing how to react to the girl's strange behavior. "Why are you looking at me like that, Sora? And who's Asami?''

"Hum...?'' Sora let out an airy chuckle, cocking her head to the side in complete confusion. "How come you don't know who you are, Asami?"

"Stop that, dude!" Mako scolded the older girl, taking her hand away from his face and fisting the collar of Sora's coat, shaking her body. "Come on. Wake up. We have to get out of here before the police come after us again."

"Mako–stop–shaking–me–'' Sora said in a slurred voice. She placed her hands over the boy's, forcing him to stop shaking her body. "You're going to make me dizzy if you don't stop doing that." Sora brought a hand to her head as she regained her senses after the blackout she had.

"Are you awake yet?" Mako asked the stunned girl on the floor.

Sora nodded as she massaged her neck, then extended her hand to Mako. "Help me up, scarf boy." And with Mako's help, she was lifted from the filthy floor where she'd been. Already on her feet, Sora staggered a little to the side and Mako tightened his grip on her before she fell to the ground once more.

"Am I that good-looking to make you lose the strength in your legs, Sora?" Mako asked, letting out a chuckle.

"In your dreams, Mako." Sora retorted, rolling her eyes, but a small smile graced the corner of her lips. After forcing her legs to maintain themselves on the ground, Sora could still feel light spasms of energy over her body, causing her to grunt in discomfort.

"Are your legs more stable now?" Mako asked, staring at the girl with a frown. Sora nodded. "Then why are we still here?"

Without saying anything, Sora raised her hand and without giving Mako time to react, she slapped the boy in the face. With the force of the slap, Mako's head spun around so hard that his neck made an uncomfortable sound that made Sora flinch.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Sora asked as she lifted the boy who had gone to the ground with the impact of the slap. "That's so you can learn not to hit me in the face next time. Now, come on. Let's go get Bolin." The girl started to walk out of the dark alley as she massaged her sore arms that already felt like they were bruised.

"Don't leave me behind!" Mako complained as he hurried his steps closer to the older girl. "By the way, who is Asami?" The boy asked as soon as he managed to reach Sora.

"Somebody," Sora replied with a shrug, quickening her steps. Mako quickened his steps as well.

"Do I know them ?" Mako asked again, eyeing Sora as he walked backward.

"No, Mako. You don't know them." Sora said with a slight eye roll. When the boy didn't insist on the subject any longer, she sighed in relief.

Finally, some peace–

"Does Bolin know them? It's a he? Or she?" Mako asked.

Spoke too soon.

"It's not a he. It's a she." Sora corrected the boy's speech. "And yes, Bolin knows her." The white-haired girl added, quickening her steps.

"Uhm, a girl, you say?" Mako said in a teasing tone, watching as the taller girl's face took on a red pigmentation, "She must be pretty special to make you react like this." The boy chuckled when he saw how Sora lifted the scarf to cover the redness of her face, "But, wait." Mako stopped walking as soon as he realized something. " You know other people besides me and Bolin?" He said, not able to hide the slight tone of surprise and jealousy that he carried in his voice. After all, Sora only had him and Bolin as friends.

Sora stopped walking, staring at the boy with furrowed brows as she tried to hide the amusement she felt at seeing Mako try to hide his jealousy. "Is that a hint of jealousy I sense in your tone, Mako?''

"What? Of course, I'm not jealous. It's just that, between the two of us, you're the most reclusive about making new friends.'' Mako explained as soon as he saw how Sora looked at him.

Unable to hide it any longer, Sora laughed as she reached out to stroke Mako's hair. "Awn, there's no need to be jealous, little Mako!''

"Idiot," Mako said, as he hurried his steps away from a laughing Sora coming up behind him.

A comfortable silence settled between them, both lost in their thoughts as they tried to warm their bodies from the cold. As they walked, Mako took the time to look at Sora, who was too deep in thought to realize she was being watched.

Mako knew his friend hadn't been well in a while, but it wasn't until now that he noticed how exhausted she looked. His eyes watched Sora's face and noticed how the shadows under her eyes and the unhealed wounds on her face made her look more rustic. And as much as she tried to hide how Hikari's critical situation affected her, Mako noticed how her eyes used to shine, Now they were in a more opaque tone, and the smiles now became frowns, despite her trying to hide them with forced smiles. And if her hair wasn't white as snow, Mako wouldn't be surprised if she already had a lot of gray hair from stress.

And despite not admitting it out loud, Mako hated seeing her like this; and he feared it would get worse if Hikari didn't get better and gave in to the illness.

"You missed something on my face?" Sora asked, cutting the silence between them. She had felt Mako's not-so-discreet stare for a long time but decided to ignore it. But after a while, she started to get uncomfortable with it.

"When are you going to stop pretending that you're okay, Sora?" Mako asked.

That made the white-haired girl stop walking and stare at the younger boy with raised eyebrows. "I don't know what you're talking about, Mako. I'm fine." Sora shrugged and turned to continue walking when Mako's hand gripped her arm tightly, forcing her to stop walking.

Sighing, Sora turned to Mako with an annoyed face. "Listen, scarf boy, I don't think now is the best time to talk about whether I'm okay or not. And can you let go of my arm? It's sore."

"And when is the right time for you, Sora?" Mako asked, also irritated, as he withdrew his hand from Sora's arm.

"Look Mako, I know you care about me, but right now I don't want to talk about it, okay?" Sora said as she raised her voice slightly. She was already irritated with her father asking her all the time if she was okay, and she didn't want Mako to do that either. "Look, Mako-" Sora was about to speak when a movement behind Mako caught her attention. By the time she realized it was Bolin, running breathlessly towards them, it was too late.

Bolin threw himself against Mako's body, which made both of them fall to the ground, taking Sora with them.

"Oh, I'm glad you two are okay!" Bolin said, his voice filled with relief as he looped his arms around Mako and Sora's necks. "I was so worried about you guys." His voice quivered at the end, and he buried his face in Sora's chest to hide the tears streaming from his eyes.

"Everything is fine, Bolin." Sora in a soft voice as she rubbed the younger boy's back with her right hand, placing a chaste kiss on his hair. "We are all fine." Sora exchanged glances with Mako, who was also trying to calm his brother down.