10 Chapter 10 : Complicated emotions and Admitting fears

*The gala*

I've had a custom teal color three-piece suit made just for these sorts of occasions. My usual man bun with messy strands of hair is tied up neatly this time.

Arriving at the entrance of the city hall I didn't have to wait too long for my date. In the distance, a sky bison can be seen closing in on my location. After landing the kids were the first to come down while Tenzin helped a pregnant lady who I assumed is his wife Pema. When our eyes met I gave him a nod.

Meelo and Ikki ran up to me with a slightly older girl walking behind them.

"Hey, Meelo! keeping out of trouble?

"Yes, Hanzo."

"Then what are you doing?! The next time you see Tarrlok, go pull on his hair." He tilts his head in confusion not remembering the name. "The ponytail guy."

"Yeah!" Meelo seems to like my idea.

"Hi, Ikki. Wanna hear a juicy rumor?"

"Tell me everything!" She demanded excitedly.

I lean in and whisper about how the head of the cabbage corp is having a secret love affair with his secretary behind his wife's back. I also gave Ikki a picture of them meeting and suggested using some light airbending to send the said picture to the unfortunate wife.

What?! The guy once said I should stay in my lane and leave doing business to professionals.

Later that evening you could hear a muffled scream of 'my cabbages' after his wife gave him a glorious kick. But that is later, now I'm meeting the last of the Airbender children.

"And you must be Jinora. I'm Hanzo. Nice to meet you. Korra told me that you like to read so I brought you this from my personal collection." I bring out a small book and give it to her.

She carefully takes the book and reads the title before looking back at me in surprise.

"These are the ancient records of the evolution of Airbender tattoos and ink! I thought they were destroyed!"

"I got it from an old crashed pirate ship. Apparently, the pirates got it from a crashed fire nation ship. Just... don't sail with the book onboard ok?"

"Thank you so much, mister Hanzo!" She thanked me while hugging the book.

I heard Korra call out from the side. "Looking good Hanzo."

I turn to her and see her in a celebratory water tribe outfit. It's a bit too conservative for my tastes but she still looks great.

"The same to you my lovely lady. Your beauty plucks at my heartstrings yet again. Oh, the woe of me to compare your beauty to this mundane world as not a thing comes close." I proclaim dramatically.

Korra cracks smile at my antics while Pema glares at Tenzin basically demanding something similar later on. Poor guy.

"Ok smooth talker let's head inside." She says while looping her arm around mine.

We walk into a hall filled with light music and populated by the rich and influential. I can almost smell the pretentiousness in the air. Now how can I create some more chaos I wonder?

"I can't believe this is all for me." Korra brings me out of my thoughts by her comment.

"I'm not sure what Tarrlok's plotting, but keep your guard up. It's not like him to throw a party just for the fun of it." Tenzin points out.

"So glad you could make it, Avatar Korra. And I see you arrived with a friend." Speak of the man.

"Councilman Tarrlok, this is Hanzo…"

"I am well aware of Dr. Hanzo." He cuts her off.

Tarrlok shortly glances at Tenzin and then at me.

"If you'll excuse us, the city awaits its hero."

He tried to imply that we should stay but I just ignored him and Tenzin had more problems to deal with. In the background, you can hear 'Meelo, no! That is not a toilet. Oh, dear'.

"Yeah, let's see if this party has someone interesting." I lead Korra forward.

"I was talking to the Avatar." Tarrlok added a bit of authority to his voice.

"So was I. Now let's go, times a wastin." It wasn't effective.

He sighs and takes the lead after seeing I'm here to stay. Few boring introductions later we arrived at the second to last person I wanted to see. The ponytail guy starts talking.

"Korra, it is my pleasure to introduce Republic City's most famous industrialist, Hirosi Sato." And the man responsible for funding and arming the equalists.

"Nice to meet you."

"We're all expecting great things from you."

"Right greatness…" she replies with doubt.

His gaze turns to me and when he is about to say something I give him a glare that promises pain. Now Hiroshi might be a bender hater but he knows when to shut up. He has done his research and he knows just how dangerous I am when I lose my temper.

"Hey, Korra." Bolin's voice can be heard before he comes out from behind Hiroshi accompanied By Mako and the first person I didn't want to see.

"This is my daughter…"

"Asami." I finished his sentence by calling out to her.

She looks at me with a mix of emotions ranging from anger, disgust, and betrayal to regret sadness, and a hint of longing. And I do the same. All of this happens only for about a second but it feels much longer.

Still, I feel everyone's gaze on me so I turn to Korra. "I think I'm going to get a drink. Do you want anything?"

"Um.. no. You okay Hanzo?" It seems Korra can sense the sudden shift in my demeanor.

"Sure I am! See you in just a bit." I squeeze out a smile and leave.

But just before leaving I overhear the start of their conversation.

"It's lovely to meet you. Mako told me so much about you." Asami steps forward after composing herself.

"Really? Because he hasn't mentioned you at all." She asks with slight hostility but this time not out of jealousy for Mako like in the show but out of how much both Sato's made me uncomfortable.

I don't hear the rest as I'm out of reach but it probably went the same as in the original.

After downing a few glasses of champagne in rapid succession I go to the bathroom to wash my face. I look in the mirror with the water still running, my hands leaning on the edge of the sink.

'What was that! I just crumbled! Fuck! Get a hold of yourself man!'

My plan was to play it cool if I saw Asami. not to call her out in front of everyone like a lost puppy finding his master. This can't happen again if I'm serious about Korra.

When I first chose this world I thought. Get a harem? Sure no problem. But the reality of the situation is that just as much the guys don't like sharing, neither do the women.

I take a deep breath. Getting the hold of my nerves I'm about to finish up when Bolin walks in and notices me.

"Hey, Hanzo! How's it going?"

"Fine. So, you got a sponsor?" I start a conversation.

"Yeah! Mr. Sato helped us to continue the tournament." He answers with excitement.

"So Mako and Miss Sato, are they a thing?" I can't help myself but ask.

"Yes. Well kinda." He scratched his head in confusion.

"Kinda?"

"Mako told me that besides handholding and a few tame kisses on the cheek Asami isn't allowing anything more. Apparently, she got burned in her last relationship so she wants to take things slow this time." His answer relieves me a bit.

"But enough about Mako and Asami, what about you and Korra? Are you… well, a thing?" Bolin asked fishing for Information. He clearly still has a small crush on Korra.

"I honestly don't know. I do like her and we get along great. But we just didn't have enough time to interact together." I tell him the truth.

Bolin tenses a bit before running to one of the stalls. "I'd like to chat more Hanzo but nature calls." He tells me the last part and slams the stall door.

Walking out I see Tarrlok standing in front of a group of reporters sporting a smug grin with riled up Korra beside him.

"I'm not afraid of anybody! If the city needs me… I'll join Tarrlok's task force and help fight Amon." Oh boy. She got played like a fiddle.

Ponytail guy steps in. "There's your headline folks!"

Later that evening Korra didn't seem talkative and was lost in her thoughts but so was I. Seeing this is going nowhere I escorted her back to the Air temple island and went home by myself.

*Avatar Aang Memorial island*

I knew this was going to happen but seeing it in action made me feel an aneurysm coming on. One successful bust of an underground chi blocker training camp. One! And she challenges Amon to single combat! Girl have you lost your mind cause I'll help you find it!

She can't do this sort of shit. I mean just recently Korra was berating me about responsibility and acting like a hero. What If Amon didn't care about the consequences of his actions and took her bending away or worse.

Sure she might have her Avatar magic and be able to reverse it but you can't reverse death.

Right now I'm sitting in a small cave I made for myself under the memorial monitoring the situation via the seismic sense. This is one of those situations where I can't help Korra as it is a pivotal learning experience for her.

She needs to put more trust in the people around her. And simply telling her that doesn't get through her thick skull. I'm here just in case the butterfly flaps its wings.

Oh, It's beginning. Amon just captured Korra with the help of his cronies. You know, for a guy preaching about equality, telling people he is chosen by the spirits to cleanse this world, and giving Zolt a fair fight, he does like to play underhanded.

And the whole speech he is giving right now about how Korra would become a martyr for benders across all nations while true is inconsequential. The Republic City has spies from all nations monitoring the situation waiting to see how things unfold and react accordingly.

The moment the other nations feel threatened they will go to war. Just the Fire nation alone is enough to wipe the equalists of the map in seconds.

Seeing the coast is clear, I dug to the surface and approached Korra. She is still unconscious and her eyes are moving under the eyelids so she must be getting flashes of Aang's memories about Yakone. I kneel beside her and wait for the sleepyhead to wake up.

Not too long after I heard the whistling of wind accompanied by Tenzin landing on the ground. Not recognizing me at first he got ready for a fight but getting a better look he put his guard down and ran towards us.

"Aang…?" Asks Korra weakly after waking up and seeing Tenzin's silhouette.

"Korra!" The man calls out in concern now behind my back standing tall.

I bring her to a sitting position while Tenzin starts berating the Avatar with questions.

"Korra are you alright? What happened? Was Amon here?"

Yeah. He ambushed me.

Did he… did he take your bending away?

He wouldn't dare. I state in a cold voice.

Getting her bearings back Korra realizes I'm here.

Hanzo? What are you doing here?

Hmph, you make me apologize for being reckless and then you pull this shit and make me worried about you. I'm here for my apology. I divert the subject of me spectating the whole thing for now. I can think of something later.

She smiles faintly before breaking out in tears and enveloping me in a hug hooking her head over my shoulder. I hug her back and start rocking Korra lightly as humans tend to relax this way.

"I was so terrified! I felt so helpless!" She cries out to both of us.

"It's alright the nightmare is over." Tenzin tells her in a comforting voice.

She tilts her head in his direction. "You… you were right. I've been scared this whole time. I've never felt like this before and… I don't know what to do!"

"Admitting your fears is the first and the most difficult step in overcoming them."

"And the next time you won't be alone." I add.

**********

Author's note:

Hi guys! A lot of emotions all around.

When I first had the idea of writing this fanfic I picked Korra and Asami because I liked them both and just couldn't pick one. Romance is hard to do right and a harem even more so. And as I get further into the story that becomes more apparent.

I honestly still want for Hanzo to get them both but without forcing it the task becomes very difficult. So as of now, I'm just as clueless as you guys on who ends up with who.

On a lighter note while picking Hanzo's outfit for the gala I realized I never described what he usually wears.

So, I ask you my dear readers to give suggestions on what Hanzo should wear. Go crazy!