Chapter 1 – Double Play

The sun beamed down on the team from above, it was high noon and it left most of the team with sweat beads running down their brow and back. Korra wiped the sweat from her brow as she got into a more athletic stance; she looked to see her teammates doing the same action. She turned and called out to the outfield, "Jinora, Opal, Hachi it's coming to you guys, throw home," and then turned back around resuming her stance between second and third, narrowing her eyes intently at Asami who stood at the pitcher's mound.

Even now, with sweat running down her face Asami still looked beautiful, Korra thought. Her long raven black hair was pulled up into a ponytail and she was wearing her usual practice outfit: a ruby compression short sleeve shirt that complimented her curves, black softball pants and socks that matched her shirt. Although, Korra wanted to appreciate her best friends ability to still look beautiful all sweaty she had to concentrate on the pitch Asami was about to deliver. So she squatted lower, staying on her toes she hovered her glove off the ground waiting for Asami's pitch.

Asami looked back at Korra, briefly appreciating the darker skinned girl. Her hair was cut short in a bob fashion, but today she had it pulled back in a small ponytail, with her bangs either sticking to her face or flowing in the wind. She was in her light blue tank that hung loosely off her body showing off her toned arms, and navy blue softball pants that clung to her feminine curves that ended just below the knee 'How can she look so sexy?' she wondered as she spun the ball in her mitt, absentmindedly looking in Korra's direction.

Korra gave her a nod with a look of deep concentration and Asami snapped back into reality turning her head to face the batter while stepping up on the pitchers plate. She studied her catcher, waiting for her to give her the type of pitch to throw; Zhu Li clenched her fist between her legs then moved her hand to the right of her thigh with one finger pointing down. 'Fast outside ball, okay' Asami thought as she placed one foot behind the plate and one in front. She spun the ball in her glove, rocked forward then back then forward again while bringing her arm in a full circle before releasing the ball towards the catchers mitt.

There was a satisfying crack noise as the ball made contact with the bat, a line drive close to second. Korra took long strides diving for the ball hoping to catch it before it made it to the outfield, but she was just a couple inches too short. As she landed on the hard clay with an 'ooph' she watched the ball pass by her glove heading to Jinora in center. Jinora was running full speed towards the ball anticipating it to hop once before scooping it up in her glove, crow hopping she used her momentum to fire the ball home.

The batter was rounding 1st heading towards 2nd when Jinora threw the ball towards home. The runner that was on third was pumping their arms hard as they pushed to make it to home before the ball. They propelled their body towards the ground vertically to slide into home as the ball was caught in Zhu Li's glove. She quickly put her knee down, cutting off the path to home and followed the motion with her glove tagging the runner out.

In one quick motion she shot the ball to 2nd, knowing Korra would be there to catch the ball. Korra swiftly recovered from the dive and was straddling the base, glove stretched out waiting for the ball. The runner was beginning to slide when the ball came in contact with Korra's glove and with a similar motion to Zhu Li's Korra tagged the other runner.

"Double play!" She screamed out with excitement as she stood up, tossing the ball back to Asami.

They began to walk towards each other, as well as the other in-fielders to perform their routine high-fives to celebrate the small victory. As they high-fived and congratulated each other Korra felt a firm hand slap her on the butt as she began to walk back to her position.

"Nice play, Cap," she heard from the familiar voice, she turned to see a grinning Asami. 'That's weird she's been doing that a lot lately, usually its me slapping butts' she thought before smiling back to Asami with a sideways smirk.

"You were the one that delivered the pitch Cap," the blue-eyed beauty echoed back as she returned to her spot on the field. After everyone was settled back in their respective positions they waited for their next play run through from coach, but when they looked in her direction to their surprise Coach Beifong did not look thrilled.

"Ladies! Line up behind home, we are running bases," shouted Lin as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and moved to stand beside third base.

"Our first game of the season is only a few weeks away and I plan to leave those Catgators in the dust" she declared nodding.

"But if you all keep running like sugar princesses then we won't get anywhere!" she turns angrily to face the runners "You both should have made it to your prospective bases," she ranted, "What is everyone doing standing around? Line up. I didn't stutter".

Korra groaned slinging her glove off, leaving it at her shortstop position and started to jog towards home. She passed Asami, who was walking from the pitcher's mound, and gave her a 'oh spirits, not this again' look. Asami returned the look, shaking her head while throwing her glove behind her. All of them had a grim expression as they reached their destination lining up behind Korra, since she always went first. Korra looked behind her to make sure her team was ready then glared at Lin and nodded.

"Kya, stopwatch ready?" Lin called out. Kya nodded holding the stopwatch out in front of her.

"Go!" barked Lin.

Korra dug her cleats into the red clay taking off as fast as she could down the first base line. 'I can't let Asami win again this time' she thought while putting all her power into the short sprint.

It was her personal goal to beat Asami, she was the only person on the team that was faster than Korra, and the bright blue-eyed girl didn't take losing lightly even if it was to her best friend. She stretched her leg out as far as possible as she approached the base hitting the edge of the bag with the tip of her foot.

"2.6 seconds! Good job Korra," Kya cheered then reset the stopwatch nodding to Lin.

Korra looked up at the sky smiling, feeling confident that this time Asami was going be the one to lose this little competition of theirs. She gazed back at home when she heard Lin repeat the command. She could see the determination in Asami's eyes as she pushed herself hard down the line towards first base.

She kept eye contact with her the whole time hoping that it would somehow make her slower. When her foot contacted the bag Kya shouted out her time and Korra groaned in protest, throwing her hands in the air.

Asami walked over to Korra throwing an arm around her friend's shoulders, "Looks like I'm still the winner," she proclaimed "2.5 seconds!" she breathed out trying to steady her breath again.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…it's only because your legs are longer than mine," she smirked, pushing Asami off her playfully.

Asami giggled pulling Korra back into her side "Maybe, but I still won," she beamed then she slapped her butt and then took off back to home.

Korra blushed slightly hoping that Asami didn't noticed and wondered what brought on this new interaction between her and her best friend. She rapidly regained her senses and chased after Asami calling out that she was gonna be the one losing next time.

"Coach Beifong is going to be the death of me this semester if she keeps making us run so much," Korra hissed to the team as she shoved her cleats off.

Everybody groaned in agreement, even though none of them would dare say it to the woman's face.

"You know, it's not that bad," Jinora speaks up, "She is just concerned because her sister's team is in our conference this year and she wants to show off," she decided while putting her own cleats in her bat bag.

Korra smirked and rolled her eyes at Jinora, "Whatever, we can beat those Badgermoles any day of the week because the fire ferrets always see through with a win, especially with these babies," she boasted while stepping up on the bench flexing her biceps.

A few of the teammates laughed mimicking the flexing as they shouted 'Fire Ferrets hoorah.' Jinora exhaled rolling her eyes back at Korra, and grabbed her bag to leave, "Whatever you say, Avatar," she called back while exiting the dugout.

Asami was speechless as she stared at Korra flexing her perfectly toned biceps as everyone around her howled their team's name. The darker skin girl was always attractive to her but recently she was sending Asami over the edge, butterflies were invading her body sending shivers down her spine.

She blinked her eyes focusing back to reality 'she's my best friend, I can't keep thinking like this' she thought as she included herself in the shouting.

Korra walked towards Asami and jumped down in front of her grabbing her shoulders, "Hey buddy, you think you can give me a lift to our dorm building?" Korra asked sweetly with a smile.

Everyone started to quiet down and clear out of the dugout to head to class or their room. Asami tilted her head to the side smiling, "I thought losers were suppose to walk," she joked before she bent down to pick up her bag.

"That's not fair, your legs are longer, you have an advantage," Korra pouted.

Asami started to exit the dugout before she spoke, "If you can beat me to my ride I'll give you a lift," and she took off running to the parking lot.

Korra stood perplexed as she processed what was happening, no longer than a second she was chasing after Asami. She was only a step behind Asami, when she reached out hoping to grab her gym bag to slow her down, and to her disbelief she could and tugged on it.

Asami gasped as she got tripped up; looking beside her she saw Korra smiling in satisfaction pushing to get in front. Seeing the pure bliss plastered across her best friend's face caused Asami to slow down, but only a fraction as they approached her parked vehicle.

Korra reached Asami's bike stopping abruptly, through uneven breathing she turned grinning from ear to ear, "Looks like I'm getting a ride," she claimed, grabbing the extra helmet from the pouch on the side.

The taller woman nodded while trying to catch her breath as she approached the black and red accented cruiser, grabbing her own helmet 'I'll give you something to ride alright' she thought 'what! Stop Asami, stop being perverted' she mentally face palmed herself before quickly pulling the helmet over her head shaking away the idea.

Asami shrugged off her bag that held her cleats and gloves and shoved it in the pouch Korra got the extra helmet from. Korra watched as Asami grabbed her keys and threw her leg over the bike straddling the seat as she put up the kickstand 'Oh man, why does she have to look so seductive getting on her bike' she thought as Asami started up the engine. 'I should ride back with her more often so I can appreciate this sight' she thought tilting her head to get a fuller view.

The taller woman turned to face Korra her voice muffled because of the helmet "Am I giving you a lift, or are you just gonna stand there and drool over my sexiness?" she winked and flipped down her visor; surprised she had the courage to say that.

Korra blushed a deep red and flipped her own visor down and climbed behind Asami wrapping her arms around her waist. Asami smiled under her helmet to the touch of Korra strong grip and the fact that Korra just blushed at her, confirming that she was admiring her 'maybe I should tease with her more to see if she feels the same way' she thought as she pushed off and turned the throttle making her way to their dorm building.

Asami pulled up to their dorm building, parking in the first available space she could find. She killed the engine and felt Korra loosen her grip around her waist and get off her bike. She pulled out her keys also getting off the bike, she turned to she Korra pulling off her helmet and shaking her head, her hair no longer in a ponytail but rather messily falling back into place. She smiled to the side, happiness in her eyes as she looked at Asami.

"Thanks for the lift. I always enjoying riding you," her eyes snapped wide and her cheeks flushed with red as she realized what she just said, stumbling over words to try and recover she stuttered, "R...R…RIDING WITH YOU…Not r…r…riding you…hahahaha…ha."

She turned her head while rubbing the back of her neck in a nervous habit trying not to make eye contact with Asami, who had one eyebrow up laughing silently as Korra tried to recover.

Asami shook her head, pulling her helmet off and flipping her hair to its more natural state hoping to make Korra squirm more.

'She is going to be the death of me' Korra thought when she caught Asami out of the corner of her eye flipping her gorgeous raven hair. A deep yearning was awakening in the pit of her stomach, sending shudders through her body while Korra stared eyes wide as Asami bent over to take her bag out of the pouch on her bike. 'I swear she's doing this on purpose' Korra contemplated as she snapped out of her hypnotic state walking over to put her helmet back in the pouch.

Asami smiled thoughtfully while watching Korra put her spare helmet back, feeling victorious in her capability to make Korra blush so much just by tossing her hair around.

Korra looked up into jade eyes after putting her helmet away, smiling she hesitated before asking, "Do you want to hang out or something in my room? We could order pizza and watch a movie; my class got canceled today so I'm free…"