She was being followed, she could feel it. But by who? She didn't know. So her little legs decided to walk a little quicker, hands gripping tighter on her backback straps.
Her mother was there, waiting in the car. Her green eyes scanning the whole school yard until they locked with her daughter's. With a few waves of her hand, she mouthed for Tikkani to hurry up. Her mother sat in that car, shaking like a reed in the wind, as if she had just caught a fever in the last 2 seconds.
Tikkani picked up her pace, travelling as fast as her little feet could take her, completely forgetting the feeling from earlier. But deep down, she could still feel those eyes burning into the back of her skull.
Once she reached the passenger side, she opened the door and slowly put her bag down inside the car.
"Hurry Tikkani." Her mother said. her tone was sweet, it always was, yet behind that sweet mask was riddled with fear.
The little girl nodded and slipped into the seat but before she could close the door, she finally saw who was following her all that time.
"Excuse me Mrs Omo!" Her teacher came running with an outstretched hand towards the car.
"Shit." Mrs Omo muttered under her breath. She wanted to stomp her foot down on the accelerator, she wanted to get the hell out of there. But she couldn't. Not when Korra practically threw herself in front of the car and stood there.
Korra let out a breath of relief and slowly moved around the car, not letting her hand slip away. She tapped onto Mrs Omo's window and the woman slowly rolled the glass downwards.
"I'm sorry to stop you like this." Korra said, leaning herself onto the vehicle.
"You must be Jargala right?"
Jargala kept her green eyes forward, hands gripping tightly on the steering wheel. As if her fingers were to let go, her whole body would slip from existance. She had been stopped and she knew damn well what this woman was going to ask her.
"Yes.. that's me."
"I'm Korra Smith, Tikkani's teacher." Korra introduced. Her orignal idea was to stick a hand out to greet this woman formally but, considering the circumstances that probably wasn't the greatest idea.
"I did leave a message on your phone... multiple actually."
Oh Jargala knew, she read every single one of them too.
"I'm sorry. Things have been hectic recently."
Korra placed her hand onto the car door and knelt down slightly so she could see this woman's face properly. Her dark hair was full, long and flowing. The woman was stunning to say the least, yet Korra had seen more beautiful green eyes before.
"Well is it alright if I talk to you for a moment?"
"uh..." Jargala looked at her daughter who was gazing right back at her. Her small lips were curled into a smile as she looked at her teacher. The little girl had taken a liking to Miss Smith, especially ever since the Naga moment.
"Go for a little walk Tikkani. I'm just going to talk to your teacher for a little bit." Tikkani nodded slowly before making her exit out the vehicle.
Once she had wandered off and out of hearing distance, Jargala turned her gaze back to the road.
"uh.." She paused. and it was a long pause as her nails dug into the leather wheel.
"I suppose you saw the bruises.. on Tikkani's legs?"
Korra nodded.
"I have."
"My husband has been going to counselling about this. He's been going for three weeks now." The lump in her throat made her stop in order to swallow it down. Without thinking she quickly turned to face the woman, desperately clinging onto her hand with pleading eyes.
"Please don't bring the school system into this. It will only make matters worst."
Korra clasped her other hand over Jargala's, her lips formed a straight line.
"He's beating you too isn't he?" The tightened grip gave her the answer.
"If he wasn't going to counselling then maybe I would've called the authorities. But I'm sure there won't be any more occurrences." Her greens eyes were glossy. So glossy that Korra could see her own infuriated face reflect in them.
"You won't say anything will you? Please?"
It was as if her eyes had darkened to a navy colour, she bit the side of her cheek; suppressing the words she wanted to say. The demands to meet the abuser were pushed into the pit of her stomach. As much as she wanted to break her cover to protect this woman, she couldn't. All she could do was nod.
"If he does it again, I'll press charges."
<->
The weekend came by quicker than Asami wanted it to and it was the day where Korra would be paying a visit. Miss Sato made sure her house was spotless before she left it this morning. There was a calmness to cleaning a house, feeling the furniture glide over the wooden floor and the soft sound of the broom as it sweeps. When the house was cleaned it felt lighter and brighter, becoming a place that invites deep breaths and for the thoughts that are probably as slow as Korra. Perfect to say the least. Though, to much of Hiro's dismay, she swiped around the house more than twice; giving the oak furniture a glossy shine to it. It took a while since her place of home was quite large, especially for just the two of them but she managed.
Bolin strolled over with his usual cheery smile on his face. In his hands were two cups in which he placed both of them onto the table Asami and Hiro where sitting at. He gave the little man a fist bump.
"Thanks Bo." Asami cheered, flashing him a dazzling smile which took the barista off guard. Bolin raised a brow and slowly sat down into the empty seat opposite. He was on his break, so why not spend it with Asami?
"You look happier than usual." He said, looking at the pink tint to her face. Asami wasn't listening. Instead she gazed upon a small scratch on the wooden table and let her eyes do the dreaming, her brain weaving reality and an array of fantasies with a large smile on her face. Bolin had never seen her like this before, so.. dreamy. He waved a hand infront of her face.
"Earth to Salami."
The woman quickly shook herself back to the real world and met eyes with her friend.
"Sorry what was that?"
Bolin crossed his arms and gave her a look of confusion. She was acting weird.
"Somethings got you in a daze. What happened?" Was it a someone perhaps? Maybe someone from the school? But what he remembers is that most of the teachers barely match her age, they're all older so surely it couldn't be any of them.
Asami nervously took a sip out of her cup, sighing with delight once she felt the hot liquid slowly trail down her throat.
"Nothing, I'm fine. Just a little tired that's all."
"Are you sure that's what's up?" Bolin asked, still confused on why her face was so red.
Hiro looked up from his mother's phone, pausing the small game he was playing.
"mum has been cleaning all morning."
Asami's breath hitched whilst Bolin's confusion heighted even more. He gave her a look which asked her tons of questions and he hoped Asami would answer all of them.
"what? It needed a clean." Asami responded.
"I swear you cleaned it last week."
"It's because Miss Smith is coming for dinner today!" Hiro practically yelled, thank goodness the cafe was busy.
Asami smacked a hand to her forehead with a groan. She really needed to teach her son to not shout out, and well, maybe also how to keep a secret.
"Woah, woah! You asked Korra out on a date?" Bolin asked as he leant forward on his chair. Of course, how could he forget the clumsy Korra?
"It's not a date." Asami huffed but she didn't even convince herself. Was it a date?
"What's a date?"
Asami chuckled and booped her son's nose.
"Nothing for you to worry about sweetheart."
Bolin moved closer to Hiro, a hand cupped his ear so he could whisper in.
"This is a secret between you and me." He whispered and Hiro nodded, brows furrowed in determination.
"Your mother likes your teacher."
Hiro's eyes widened with excitement and he turned to face Bolin, almost smacking him round the mouth in the process.
"Really!"
"What did you just say to him?" Asami asked and jabbed a finger over to the barista.
Bolin held up his hands in surrender.
"Nothing." He then sat back in his chair with a hand on his chin.
"Honestly I can picture it."
"What do you mean?" Asami asked and sipped her coffee.
"You and Korra. You two match... like perfectly."
She almost spat her coffee out.
"What are you talking about? It's not a date. We are friends."
"Friends that are going on a date."
Asami shot him a glare but when she did, someone familiar walked into the cafe. Opal? Bolin rose a brow at Asami's sudden change of expression. When he turned around, his cheery smile was plastered onto his face again.
"Oh it's fuss pot."
Asami scrunched up her face.
"Fuss what?"
Bolin was already waving the smaller girl over to the table. Opal stared at him for a solid second, her mind processing who the lunatic that was waving at her was. Once she finally clocked it was Bolin, a smile returned to her face and she stepped out of the line to greet him.
"Hey Bolin, long time no see." Her gaze moved to the other people that were seated around the circular table.
"It's nice to see you too Asami, and you Hiro."
Asami nodded with a smile whilst Hiro was a little too busy with tapping away at his mother's phone. Bolin looked between the two women, completely baffled.
"Wait you guys know eachother?"
"Yeah, we met a few days ago. She's Korra's sister." Asami answered. Opal stiffened slightly and her smile became strained.
Bolin examined the woman, trying to match the features but they just didn't fit.
"Are you sure? I mean they don't look alike."
"Yeah.. me and Korra are siblings." Opal awkwardly answered. What the hell was she supposed to do in this situation?
"Well.. if you're siblings then you should know about her and Asami's date." Bolin said and then suddenly winced. Asami kicked him from under the table.
Opal's eyes widened in shock.
"A date?" She couldn't remember the last time Korra went on a date, this is perfect.
"It's not a date." Asami groaned.
"Keep telling yourself that." Bolin mumbled.
"When is she going to yours?"
Asami put her cup down to resist the urge to dump the remaining coffee all over her friend.
"Later today, so I better get going soon." perhaps she could give her house one last sweep down.
<->
Korra gazed at herself in the mirror. The mirror that she had been standing in front of for what felt like hours now. She searched for a flaw and the longer she looked, more of them started to appear. The buttons on her blazer weren't aligned right, her shoes weren't polished properly, her hair wasn't nice at all. Soon enough, she looked like a complete lunatic in her eyes. Her hands slid into her blazer pocket and she huffed. This wasn't going to work. It wasn't a date, so why was she so nervous? This was for work purposes only.
Korra's brows furrowed. Maybe I should take the blazer off. She did, now leaving her in just a light blue shirt that hugged her torso professionally. No I'll keep it on. The mental debate went on for a few more minutes until a knock was heard from her apartment front door. Naga was the first on to the scene, sitting cautiously until Korra opened the door. Opal stood there and Naga immediately let her guard down.
"Opal?" Her blue eyes scanned over the items in the woman's hand. A bottle of wine and a bouquet of flowers.
"Hey boss, it took all day to get these." She said and invited herself in. Korra chuckled at her enthuasmi.
"I see you're all ready to go."
"What do you mean?" Korra asked.
Suddenly Opal pressed the bottle of wine into Korra's chest, making her hold it.
"I got you a bottle of wine for your big date."
Korra's face heated up.
"I-It's not a date."
"Korra you have to stop lying to yourself." Opal rolled her eyes and gave Naga a quick and gently pat on the head.
"uh.. I don't think bringing wine would be a good idea." Korra said as seh examined the dark green bottle. It was quite strong.
"The quickest way to slip up doing undercover work is doing things you normally wouldn't do."
"Wait a minute." opal said and frowned at her boss.
"You mean you wouldn't take wine to a woman who's invited you for dinner?"
Korra nervously scratched the back of her head, she wasn't good at this sort of stuff.
"I-"
"Of course you would." Opal sighed and chucked her boss the bouquet of flowers.
"And flowers as well. Here you go."
Korra sighed and shook her head. This was a bad idea, why did I even agree to this case?
"Opal-"
"Loosen up Boss. She'll love them." Opal cheered, sauntering around Korra's kitchen. She had been here many times before so she knew where everything is. The assistant poured herself a glass of water.
Korra gently set the items down onto the kitchen counter.
"How did you know about this anyway?"
"Oh I went to grab a coffee and I met Asami there. You didn't tell me Bolin worked at the school too." Opal explained.
"I didn't realise you knew him." Korra responded.
"Eh, he's a cool barista." Opal took a few more sips of water before pouring the rest of it into the sink.
"Anyway, how are you getting to Asami's?"
"well.." Korra fiddled in her pockets and pulled out some car keys.
"Kuvi-"
"There's no way in hell you're driving."
Korra smacked a hand to her head.
"As I was saying... Kuvira is driving me." Now thinking about it, Kuvira would possibly tease her more than she already does. What a long day and it's about to get even longer.