We Love the Water Ch 1

We Love the Water

Chapter 1

The second time Tahno saw Korra, he had no idea he was seeing his 'Pretty Girl'.
He was in school when he noticed a dark pair of legs walking by him in a hallway. His eyes traveled up her body as he noticed she didn't sashay or try to walk in a way to bring attention to herself. If anything she seemed purposeful, deliberate, and precise, her stride, while strong, was efficient.
His eyes continued to travel up to notice a muscular yet lean build. Her long brown hair swished slightly from her pony tail as she walked down the hallway, looking around for what he assumed was her classroom. Probably a FNG; he knew just about every pair of female legs at White Falls Academy, and hers were new. Damn nice ones, too. Then he noticed his frenemy Sasha Noir walking alongside and engaged in conversation with the FNG. He watched as they turned around the corner together, chatting and laughing like they were already best friends. Fan-freaking-tastic. But at least he managed to catch the new girl’s name before they walked off.
“I'll see you at lunch, Korra,” Sasha said as she left Korra's side to go into her own class.
“See ya,” Korra called back, looking to where her only friend at this point had gone.
It was Korra's first day and so far she had already gotten into three arguments; the first with her home room teacher, the second with her Guidance Counselor, and the third with the Principle. They had all decided to make a personal vendetta with her arm band. Her tribal arm band that she spent two weeks in the frozen tundra, 25 miles above the arctic circle, killing seals, fishing and nearly dying of hypothermia - twice - and fighting off polar bears all alone to earn. She was damn proud of it; it was a part of her. But this stupid school that had recruited her because she was the best diver in the district had one hell of dress code, and it seemed her arm band came into conflict with it. But her silver lining was her tattoo, an exact copy of the arm band and just underneath it.
******
“So what's worse, the tattoo or the armband?” Korra had asked both Principle Tarrlock and Mr. Tenzin.
“I say just let her wear it,” Mr. Tenzin had said, knowing what the arm band meant to her. He didn't want to see her loose her identity like so many other students had done in the pursuit of their goals.
“We have a dress code for a reason! What message would we send to the rest of the student population?” Principle Tarrlock argued.
“That you accept that they are more than just faceless minions?” Korra ventured before Principle Tarrlock fixed her with glare.
“We always strive to make sure our students feel they are in a safe environment and that they are all equals,” Principle Tarrlock bit back, but his tone was all warning and acid.
“Yeah, totally feeling safe there, Mr. Tarrlock. Look you asked me to come here. I don't need to go to school here; you, however, need me here if you have any hope of ever winning a swim meet competition this year. I have already beaten every single one of your swimmer's times as well as outperformed every single one of your divers, male or female. And since you seem to have the notion that this school needs to have the best of everything, the ball is in your court. I will begrudgingly agree to take off the arm band but I will absolutely refuse to cover my tattoo. If you or anyone else pressures me to cover it up, I will have no reservations about going to my lawyer and suing this place for ethnic and racial grievances. I wonder how that will look on the news?” Korra had retaliated, knowing she had hit Principle Tarrlock's one weak spot, his image and reputation.
“Fine, I will write you a note to let your teachers or coaches know to not make you cover up your tattoo,” Tarrlock resigned bitterly as he quickly wrote out said note and passed it to her.
******
Tahno found himself wondering why the name 'Korra' seemed so familiar. Then he realized the school must have recruited her from Republic City High. He had heard of her before; she was a diver, a hell of a good one, and probably the best one RCH had had in the last two or three decades, and now she's here.
'Well, at least she's on the right side now,' he thought to himself.
But something in the back of his mind said that wasn't all of it. He dismissed the thought and got to class. One of his own fan-girls, who had somehow promoted herself as his 'assistant', handed him his books for said class along with his homework that she had done for him. She had even gone through the trouble of learning his handwriting so his teachers wouldn't get suspicious. He took them from her without a single word of thanks or even a second glance and walked away.
She was either too blinded by her infatuation with him to notice his indifference toward her, or too hungry for the power her affiliation with him gave her. Probably both. In return for her trouble she was considered the third most powerful girl in school. The first, being Asami Sato, thought by all to be the ‘Queen of White Falls Academy’. She was a fashionista along with a plethora of other talents, as well as just a rather likable girl. Her boyfriend was none other than a guy by the name of Iroh from a freaking military college. Even Tahno knew not to mess with the guy or his girl. The second most powerful girl in this god forsaken school was none other than Sasha Noir, Asami's best friend, who now it seemed had taken the FNG, or this 'Korra' rather, under her wing. Again, fan-freaking-tastic. The reasons for his sentiments were because Sasha was one of the few people on this earth that could see through his bullshit and call him out on it. It was beyond annoying.
Tahno went into class to discover that the new girl was sitting in the seat directly in front of his. Wait… was that a tattoo on her arm? The tribal authenticity of its design peaked his interest.
'Huh, wonder why the teacher isn't telling her to cover it up...' Tahno thought to himself before the teacher took control of the class and began the lecture. All throughout the class, his eyes kept returning to slide over her. He couldn't see her face from this vantage, but he wasn't going to complain about his view. Her dark mocha skin was a nice change to the pale beige and porcelain tones he was used to. Her hair looked like it would be really soft if he were to reach out and touch it. Wait, what? Since when did he ever think about touching anyone's hair but his own?
His other curiosities were satisfied at lunch when he finally got to see her face. She came over to his table that he shared with his fellow team mates as well as with Asami and Sasha, considering that most popular kids usually hung out together.
But god damn, she was pretty. More than pretty. Stunning, mind-blowingly beautiful. Her skin tone and facial structure gave her an alluring, exotic appearance. And her bright, turquoise eyes simply radiated from her face with an entrancing glow and were lined with a fringe of ebony lashes. Her eyes were the most striking physical feature she had, and the most captivating ones he had ever seen. They sparkled with humor, intelligence, mischief, and greatly added to the confident and self-assured way in which she held herself. The overall effect she exuded was charismatic and bewitching. To say he was enthralled by her was understatement.
She also had her food tray stacked. Good, that might mean she's a healthy eater. Most of the girls in his company barely ate anything and always complained that they were getting 'fat'.
'How on earth could you get fat if all you ate were mini carrots and celery?' he wondered from time to time, but he wasn't going to argue with the effectiveness that the strict diets had on their figures.
“So how about you tell everyone what they all want to know, the story behind the kick ass tattoo...?” Sasha started after she made the quick introductions. Now that got his attention.
“Eh, you spend two weeks in the arctic tundra above the Arctic Circle, fight off three polar bears, and nearly die of hypothermia twice while camping all by yourself and my tribe just hands them out,” Korra explained nonchalantly with just a hint of sarcasm, grinning at the gasps of shock from every other girl at the table.
“Are you serious?” Asami asked.
“As a heart attack,” Korra answered before taking a large bite of her hamburger.
“What do you mean your tribe?” Tahno's so-called ‘assistant’ Tiffany asked.
“I'm Native American, Nunatagmiut to be exact. North West Alaska, above the arctic circle,” Korra clarified between mouthfuls.
“Oh,” Tiffany softly replied. “So I take it you're here on a scholarship then?” Tiffany further inquired. While her words seemed innocent, her tone gave away her intent, which was meant to be intimidating.
But Tahno could see it had to opposite effect on Korra. She picked up her head and leveled Tiffany with a calculating look while smiling and nodding in affirmation.
“What sports will you be in?” Asami asked, genuinely curious as Korra swallowed.
“Dive team and swim team,” Korra replied, instigating everyone at the table to dart their gazes over to Tahno to see his reaction.
Tahno, however, was a master of giving off the impression that he didn't give a shit. But his hormone-driven brain was suddenly taken over by a flood of images of Korra in a swimsuit, which catapulted into thoughts of her wearing even less. He pushed the thoughts away with strained force as he hastily took a long pull from his water bottle.  
“So do you have a boyfriend?” Sasha asked, bringing Tahno back to the present in a hurry.
Probably, Tahno thought to himself. It would almost be a crime against nature for someone as hot as her to be single. But then he noticed her hesitation before giving an answer. He smirked to himself at the possibilities. Either she didn’t have a boyfriend and she was embarrassed about it, or she could have just been dumped. If that was the case, then she was putting forth a pretty strong presence.
“No,” Korra admitted with just a touch of defeat.
Tahno could read between the lines. That was a 'no, but I really wish I could say yes' kind of no. Lucky bastard, whoever he was.
“But I do have a lot of guy friends, like Bolin...” Korra began to say before Sasha reached out quickly to grab her arm as her whole body tensed, her eyes boring into Korra’s with startling intensity.
“Please for the love of all that is holy say the last name,” Sasha begged in all seriousness.
“Zhang,” Korra enunciated slowly, watching in amusement as Sasha and all the other girls dissolved into animated fluttering’s.
“Oh yeah, I forgot Bo told me he had fans here,” Korra replied with a chuckle.
“Oh my god, you’re on nick name terms with the great Bolin Zhang, the best wrestler and hockey player at Republic City High?” Sasha gushed in excitement.
“Well, best friends often use nick names so yeah...” Korra confirmed, puzzled yet amused at her reaction.
The girls suddenly squealed and began firing off a thousand questions all at once. Usually Tahno would feel insulted and jealous of the attention directed at another guy, but for some reason he was irked by something completely different. It was how Korra lit up when she talked about Bolin and his brother Meko or Malo or whatever it was. And where the hell did that come from? Since when did he care about something as insignificant as that? He shook his head to get rid of the displeasing thoughts as he continued to pick at his lunch with diminishing interest, trying very hard to ignore the outrageously attractive girl with a laugh like music and a smile that could brighten a black hole.
“You have to bring them to the party on Saturday,” Asami insisted, which got Tahno's ears to perk up again. He watched Korra carefully as she thought about it.
“I don't know if they have plans or not but I'll ask,” Korra responded casually.
The bell rang and they all moved to go back to class.
The swim team met directly after school for practice. White Falls Academy had an Olympic-sized swimming pool with an 18 foot diving well. Due to the school’s rule-happy standards, the boys swam on one side of the pool while the girls swam in the lanes on the other side. Tahno was already in his lane and arranging his goggles on his carefully swim-capped head when Korra emerged from the girls’ locker room. She carelessly tossed her towel to the side with the others and shrugged off her robe, revealing a magnificently toned body in a bathing suit that clung to her like a second skin and which left little to the imagination. Tahno knew without even checking that every pair of male eyes was glued to her, but goddamn, he couldn't help it. She looked up and every guy redirected his gaze except Tahno, who held it daringly.
“So this is why everyone looked at you when I mentioned I joined the swim team,” Korra ventured as she slid down into the lane next to him and began stretching in the water.
“I suppose it is,” he consented dispassionately.
“You didn’t say much in the cafeteria,” she recalled.
“Yeah well some new girl was doing enough talking for ten people,” he stated slyly while peering at her as he stretched one of his arms across his muscled torso.
“Psshh,” was her only unconcerned reply.
He watched in baffled amusement as she struggled to put her swim cap over her hair sideways.
“You’re doing it wrong,” he related to her condescendingly.
“Who died and made you king of the pool?” she asked in annoyance while she continued to fight with the silicone material under his scrutiny.
“He didn’t die, he just graduated,” he answered matter-of-factly.
“Oh. So… you’re the captain of the swim team or something?” she mused uncertainly.
“Bingo.”
“Again, why didn’t you say anything during lunch?”
Tahno laid a hand over his heart mockingly. “And take the spotlight light away from your precious Pako? I wouldn’t dream of it.”
She furrowed her brow at the heavy use of sarcasm. “His name is Mako, and you don’t even know him.”
“Never said I did,” he rejoined smoothly as he lowered his goggles over his eyes with a smirk.
Korra opened her mouth to retort, but as soon as she did the coach walked into the room and blew her whistle loudly to get the swimmers’ attention.
“Alright everyone, let’s do a 500 easy warm up, and then it’s interval training for the rest of practice. Advanced Level Swimmers look on the board to see what sort of intervals Tahno has scheduled for today. Go!”
Tahno eyed Korra’s face as she quickly scanned his practice schedule to gauge her reaction. Her expression never faltered as she read it over then finished arranging her cap and goggles before taking off from the wall to begin her warm up laps. He quickly followed suit, unable to keep from observing her graceful movements through the water. Either she was totally unfazed by the set of intervals he had written, or she had one hell of a poker face. Today was going to be a torturous workout. He had heard all the other advanced swimmers groan in misery when they read where it said ‘ten 100 freestyle on the 1:15’ and even louder when they read, ‘ten 100 butterfly on the 1:40’. But you didn’t become a competitive swimmer to goof around in the water.
She went through her 500 meters much faster than he did, but he easily could have caught up with her if he wanted to. However, the whole point of the warm up was to get the muscles warm and limber before the real work began. If she wanted to use up all her energy to show off now, he wasn’t about to complain. She would learn soon enough once she began killing herself trying to keep up with him during interval training.
He completed his laps to find her waiting on the rest of the team to get through with theirs’, and she was doing freaking handstands in the shallow end! He was about to go over and snap at her for not staying focused on the practice, when suddenly her legs rose up out of the water again in a perfect, straight line, with her toes pointed to the glass ceiling. Glistening rivulets streamed down the slim and immaculately toned calves and thighs. His mind went completely blank of any rational thought as he watched, hypnotized by the flexing of the not just nice, but the most fantastic legs he had ever seen in his life.
As soon as he started imagining what it would be like to touch that tan, sinfully smooth looking skin, he immediately dove underwater and did another lap to the end of the pool and back, this one furiously fast. Then he jumped up onto the pool deck and retrieved the giant clock timer from the supply closet and set it on the ground where it could easily be seen by all the swimmers. Normally he would have merely snapped his fingers and gotten one of the other team members to do it, but he feared that if he didn’t keep himself busy, his eyes and thoughts would return to the last place they needed to go.
He leapt back into the water as the last few stragglers completed their warm up. If he had been in his regular frame of mind, he would have allowed for everyone to have a proper breather, but not today damn it.
“In five seconds, the first set of intervals!” he called out to his team mates. He was answered by a unison of barely restrained mutterings, but no one wasted time to actually voice a complaint. They all knew that incompliance with Tahno’s rigid workouts meant pushups on the pool deck. “Watch the clock!” he shouted.
And as the rotating hand reached the zero, the swimmers took off from the wall, sprinting through the water so as to make it back before the end of the interval. The first couple of 100s were easy enough, but as they continued, it got harder and harder to keep up with the clock. However, instead of staying focused on his own strokes and breathing, his attention kept wandering back over to Korra as she blazed through each interval. He couldn’t quite make out the specific features of her body now as she kept up a constant storm of bubbles around while she stroked and kicked like a tireless, powerful machine, but her endurance alone was what was now blowing his mind.
He kept up with her for as long as he could, and he was the only person on the team who was able to. After each 100, they would wait side by side with panting breaths for the few seconds it took for the next interval to start. For the first half of the intervals, Tahno gave her a challenging smirk right before they boosted themselves from the wall again, which she returned each time. But as they got further to the end of the set and he saw that she seemed to still be doing fine while HE was the one who was actually killing himself to keep up with HER, the looks between them morphed into determined glares.
How was she doing this? He wasn’t used to being beaten in his own pool, especially not by a girl. They finished the freestyle intervals and prepared for the butterfly, the most physically challenging of the four different strokes. He had managed to not let her get passed him so far, but now he would finally see what she made out of. Already weakened from the first set of punishing drills, they began the butterfly, and he was astounded beyond belief as she pulled ahead of him, even with him swimming as fast as his body would allow him. The butterfly stroke consisted of a simultaneous stroke of the arms with a full rolling motion of the body. The technique itself was difficult enough to master, but the amount of speed she was displaying while performing flawless rhythm and method was unbelievable.
Some of the other swimmers began slacking and not making the intervals in time. He was grateful for the distraction and began taking some of his frustration out on them instead of wallowing in the truth that the new girl was a faster swimmer than he was. The end of practice finally came, and the coach instructed for everyone to take a free swim as their cool down for at least ten minutes, but informed them that they could remain in the pool until 5:00 if they wished.
Korra relaxed against the side of the pool for a moment before beginning her cool down. She looked to her side to see Tahno doing the same as he struggled to regain his breathing.
“So how long have you been swimming for?” she asked in an attempt to break the silence.
“My whole life,” Tahno answered with a snort as if it was a joke.
“I see,” Korra replied coolly as she removed her goggles and swim cap. She noticed his eyes follow the descent of her hair as it tumbled down her shoulders, but then he went back to ignoring her.
Damn it, she was trying to be nice and friendly. She had already heard of Tahno’s reputation as a lady killer and was surprised that he had not yet tried to lay any charms on her. Was something wrong with her? She knew she wasn't ugly, but hell, none of the guys at this school had even tried to start a conversation with her yet. Sure they had all leered at her, but none of them had actually tried to flirt with her yet. She had previously thought that maybe if she moved to a different school that she could break out of whatever funk Mako had put her in, but apparently it had followed her here. Were they scared? Or had they already measured her up and found her to be wanting? Probably the latter.
With a sigh of resignation, she ducked underneath the water's surface and shot off like a rocket to the deep end. This was she wanted after this confusing day with boys and annoying struggles with authority figures. This made sense. Her eyes closed in absolute peace as the water rippled through her unbound hair and she streamlined down the dip of the bottom of the pool. Then she let the joy of being submersed in water take over her, and she relished in her freedom by twisting and arcing all throughout the water as if she had the pool to herself.
Tahno observed all of this in fascination as her movements mimicked that of a seal or a mermaid. Her unusually warm skin tone seemed to almost blend with the water in this lighting. If it wasn't for her black bathing suit he would have had difficulty keeping track of her. He broke out of his trance to look at his team mates, of which the boys were all watching Korra as well in varying stages in interest. Something bubbled up in his chest, something that felt oddly like possessiveness. He furrowed his brows at the very idea. Before he really even knew what he was doing, he was diving to where she was and tried to get her attention by grazing her leg as she did another loose, backwards somersault in the water. She stopped and twisted around to face him. A scowl appeared on her face as she signaled that she needed air.
“Yes?” Korra asked with a raised eyebrow as they both broke the surface.
“I had no idea you were such an exhibitionist,” Tahno drawled pointedly.
“Excuse me?” she quipped while treading the water easily.
“You’re distracting every single guy on my team with your little water gymnastic routine,” he responded critically, trying to express disgust rather than the awe he felt towards her.
“Well it sounds like your guys should learn to discipline themselves better, Cap'n,” Korra rebounded smugly.
Tahno was about to tell her who exactly he thought needed more discipline, when her eyes unexpectedly became half-lidded as she slowly propelled herself closer to him. His words caught in his throat at the sultry way she shifted towards him, and he was suddenly struck by the realization that the color of her eyes exactly matched the bright blue water that surrounded them. Her arm rose up above his head, and before he had even comprehended what she was doing, she pulled his cap off and quickly dove back under the water with it in her hand.
“Hey!” Tahno roared as he lunged his hand out to grab her, but she was already a good six feet below him, a trail of bubbles coming from her mouth from what he assumed was her laughter at his expense.
He hated what chlorine did to his hair, but he dove after her anyway. He pursued her as swiftly as he could, but no matter what angle he came at her from she always seemed to outmaneuver him. He finally managed to anticipate a turn and caught her ankle, jerking it toward him sharply before she twisted out of his grasp and swam out of his reach once again. Then he realized she was playing with him. He could barely remember the last time someone had actually attempted to play with him. It was like she was bringing out an inner child that he had hidden away a long time ago. But he was still in front of his team; he just couldn't do this, not with so many eyes on him.
Korra was having the most fun she had had all day. By stealing his cap, she had just intended to get a little rise out of him. Uptight, no-nonsense people were always fun to tease. But she hadn’t anticipated that he would actually play along with this little chase she had started. She swore she had even caught a couple of glimpses at a smile from him whenever she let him think he nearly had her.
When he abruptly stopped chasing her, she came up to the surface to see what his next move was. As she faced him, it became apparent to her that the carefree quality of their antics had evaporated from him once she saw the expression on his face. He was still coming at her, but the mood of his approach was such a one-eighty from what it had been earlier that she found herself unable to do more than just swim backwards into a corner as her eyes remained locked with his. The way he aggressively sliced through the water reminded her of a shark, and the steely look of his gaze kept her from thinking up another clever way to slip away from him. He closed in on her as her back pressed completely up against the pool wall, and his arms came up to brace against the tiles on either side of her, caging her in as his face slowly inched nearer.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he sneered, keeping his voice low but dangerous.
“Um… I'm sorry?” Korra sputtered, surprised at his reaction. What happened to the guy she was just having fun with?
“You just got here, but your acting like it’s your kingdom or something because you got in for free. You somehow get the teachers to overlook rules for you because you’re just too goddamn special for them, but even that’s not enough for you. You insist on doing everything in your pathetic power to try and show me up in front of my entire team, and then you flip around like a freak in your own little personal underwater dance party. Does it not exhaust you to be so nauseating?”
The look on her face ran quickly from shock to fury. “What’s wrong with me? What the hell is wrong with you? Or any other guy in this retarded school for that matter? With the way I’ve been treated by the male population here so far I might as well be a pariah instead of just a girl!”
“Well forgive me for not living up to the standards of the wonder boys from the incredible goddamn Republic City High!” he snarled right back at her.
“Don’t worry about it. I would never expect that kind of achievement from you,” she retorted evenly.
“Hey, what’s she saying, Tahno?” came a male voice from off to the side.
Korra looked over Tahno’s shoulder to see one of the other guys from the team wading over towards them.
Tahno gave a half turn of his head to regard his team mate with a look sharp enough to cut through stone, and which clearly meant that he should beat it while he still could. As the boy edged away with widened eyes, Tahno turned back to Korra, the silky arrogance returning to his demeanor. “Listen closely-”
“No, you listen to me,” she said, poking him in the chest. “I don’t know what kind of girls you’re used to dealing with, but I’m sure as hell not one of them. Quit acting like you know me. You don’t know a single thing about me.”
“Sure I do. Why you’re Korra, ‘Superstar of Water Land’. But what are you without your swimming? You’re nothing. You have no class, no background, and definitely no clue.” The words were barely out of his mouth before the shame began filling him. He rarely resorted to such low tactics, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
He waited for the hurt to register in her luminous eyes, but it didn’t happen. If anything, the fire in them only strengthened. “Boy do I feel sorry for you, having nothing but the status you were born into to rely on for confirmation of your worth. Does it feel good to have Mommy and Daddy’s class to make life fulfilling for you?”
“You ought to be mindful of who you pick a fight with. I’m not like the guys you’re used to,” he warned as his eyes stared daggers into hers.
“No, you’re not,” she agreed. “The guys I’m used to would outshine you on your best day.”
“Yeah, I bet they shined for you. You just lifted your pretty little finger and Mapco came running, didn’t he?”
“MAKO has twice the class you do, and he earned every bit of it instead of having it given to him.”
“And yet I already know enough about him to make me want to puke my brains out.”
“I thought you said that you never said that you knew him?”
“I never said I wanted to know him either,” he bit back forcefully.
Korra rolled her eyes in utter vexation, shoved him away from her, and turned to vault herself out of the pool.
He pulled himself up as well as she went over and jerked her robe on, throwing her towel over her shoulder as she stomped towards the locker rooms. But right before she disappeared through the door, she turned on her heel to face him again, holding out his swim cap which was still wadded up in her fist. “Take your stupid class and shove it up your ass, Tahno!” she yelled in the echoing caverns of the room, throwing the wad of black silicone with precise aim and as much force as she had in her.
He watched it as it sailed over his head and landed with a slap on top of the highest platform of the high dive, then looked back just in time to see the door swinging closed after Korra’s retreating form. He jerked his hand at one of the guys who had been standing around gawking at the heated battle of words. With a jump, the boy scuttled up the ladder to retrieve the cap, and Tahno began sauntering to the showers with a grin turning up one side of his mouth. The past fifteen minutes had been the most fun he’d had all week.