A/N: Fair warning to you all, but Mako might come off as a bit OOC in this chapter. He's a little bit cruel, but he thinks it's for a good reason, and it's kinda something that I can see Mako doing. So, uh, yeah, I would appreciate it if you would just go with it and I hope that it's not too out of character for him.

Mako knew that Wu needed to learn self defense. He knew that their last attempt had been a miserable fail, but this time was different. This time Mako at least knew that Wu had something to build up from. Also, they weren't doing it at Asami's place. Mako loved his grandmother, but he knew they would never get anything done if she smothered Wu so much. The young man was already prone to collapse and curl in on himself when he felt threatened, as though he hoped that by doing so it would make his enemies leave him alone. Mako couldn't have his grandmother encouraging this behavior, especially not if it was the first thing that they needed to work on.

Mako knew that it would be hard to teach Wu that it was actually safe for him to stand up for himself, but he had an idea of how to go about doing it...it was a horrible idea, and Mako hated it, and he was sure that Wu would hate him if he knew what the plan was. But it had to be done. Wu had to be kept safe, and if this was the best way to make that happen, then so be it.

Because it was impossible to teach Wu how to defend himself at Asami's place (Mako's grandmother would be hovering over them every second) Mako had Asami drive him and Wu to the pro-bending arena. The training rooms would be the perfect place to teach Wu how to hold his own in a fight. That's what the rooms were for.

Asami pulled up in front of the pro-bending arena. Wu immediately got out, but Asami grabbed Mako's arm before he could follow.

"Are you sure you don't want anybody else there to, you know, help?" Asami asked.

"I'm sure." Mako frowned slightly. He couldn't have anybody else around, and Asami knew this. She was just asking about it because she didn't completely support his idea. She thought that it was too harsh. Mako knew that if Asami was around while he tried to train Wu then she would interfere within just a few minutes.

"Alright." Asami let go of his arm. "Just...don't go too hard on him, okay?" It was really weird for Mako to hear that Asami was worried about Wu, but it wasn't all that surprising. Wu had been living at Asami's place for awhile now, and even though they weren't exactly good friends, she had definitely warmed up to being around him. Especially since Wu had stopped trying to 'flirt' with her.

"I'll try." Mako promised sincerely, and he really would. Asami sighed. It was clear that there was more she wanted to say, but she knew that nothing she said would change Mako's mind.

"Alright. I'll see you boys in a few hours." Asami waved goodbye to the two of them before she pulled away with the satomobile and drove off at a speed that only she could handle going at while still being in complete control. Mako swore that that woman didn't know how to drive the satomobile at a slower speed.

"Mako, hurry up!" Wu ordered from where he impatiently waited in front of the door to the arena. Mako shook his head and made his way to join him.

"Wu, we've talked about how you can't just order people around like that." Mako reminded his friend. "It just angers people, and nobody wants to listen to it."

Wu pouted slightly, which he often did whenever he was scolded. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"You could have waited for thirty seconds like any normal human being would." Mako said with more bite to his tone than he had intended. He was not looking forward to this training, and he was taking it out on Wu. Mako knew that it wasn't right or fair, but it was the way that it happened. "Come on, let's get started."

Mako led the way upstairs to the training rooms. Mako found some old helmets lying around and passed one of them to Wu. It was a little big for him, but it would get the job done. The two young men then took off their shirts and jackets so they were in their undershirts. They were ready to begin.

"Alright, so, are we picking up where we left off last time?" Wu asked as he threw some quick mock punches that made him look ridiculous.

Mako took a deep breath and prepared himself for what he was about to do. He just hoped that Wu would forgive him for it someday. "Not exactly." Mako said before he lunged forward and punched Wu's chest. It was a light punch, one that probably felt more like a light shove and wouldn't even leave a bruise. Still, Wu reacted as though he had been hit by a brick wall.

"Ow!" Wu fell to the ground dramatically and curled up in a fetal position. "Wu down. Wu d-agh!" Wu cried out in genuine pain when he was met with a harsh kick to the side that definitely would bruise.

"M-Mako, what was that? Wu asked as he curled further into himself. Mako felt really bad for kicking Wu when he was down, but he forced himself to not show it, because he knew that it had to be done.

"Get up." Mako said. When Wu didn't even attempt to get to his feet Mako set another sharp kick to his side. Not hard enough to do any real damage, but enough that it would be sore later. "Get up now!"

Wu whimpered and curled in on himself further, but when Mako moved to kick at him again the ex prince scrambled to get to his feet. Wu was quickly learning. Mako just hoped that this lesson would stick, otherwise he this would all be for nothing and Mako would feel even worse about it than he already did.

"Are you ready for it this time?" Mako asked as he got back into a fighting position. Wu grimaced and kept his hands curled up at his side, but at least he wasn't on the ground anymore.

Once again Mako lunged forward and aimed a punch at Wu. This hit was harder than his last one had been, and once again Wu instantly fell to the ground like he was used to doing. Before he could even properly cry out 'Wu down!' Mako had already moved in to kick Wu, again, though this time he used just a little bit of firebending to heat things up a bit.

"O-ow." Wu whimpered weakly as he curled up in a tight ball, clenching at his sore sides. Mako gave him a minute to catch his breath and adjust to the pain. After that minute had passed and Wu hadn't moved from his spot on the floor, Mako knew that he had to interfere.

"Get up, Wu." Mako said coldly, but also, he hoped, not cruelly.

"N-no." Wu sniffled. "You'll just hit me again."

"Which hurt more?" Mako asked. "The punches? Or the kicks?"

"...The kicks." Wu said in a quiet tone.

"And the only reason I'm able to kick you in that way is because you're just lying there." Mako said. "If you just wait around on the floor and hope for your enemies to go away, it's just going to make you an easier target. An assassin or kidnapper won't leave you alone just because you go 'Wu down'. They'll take advantage of that vulnerability and strike while you can't defend yourself. Do you understand?"

"...No." Wu answered honestly. Mako sighed.

"Basically, things will hurt a lot more if you curl up on the ground." Mako surmised. "It's just begging for somebody to come along and cause some real damage."

"W-what else am I supposed to do?" Wu finally looked up at Mako, and the firebender immediately wished that he hadn't. Wu's eyes were wet with unshed tears and full of pain and betrayal. Mako hated that look in his eyes. Especially when it was directed at him.

(Especially since he knew that he deserved it).

"You can fight back." Mako held out a hand to help Wu to his feet. The ex prince eyed his hand suspiciously before pulling himself to his feet without help. Mako tried to tell himself that he wasn't hurt by this (Wu being independent was what he wanted. There wasn't any point in Mako getting upset because Wu was finally deciding to do something for himself).

"How am I supposed to do that?" Wu asked with a yelp as Mako quickly hit him with yet another punch. The hit made Wu stagger a bit, and it made his legs start to shake as though he was having a difficult time holding his own weight. Still, Wu kept his balance and didn't fall over.

"That'll come in later." Mako said. His tone was cold, though he was feeling extremely sorry for what he was doing. Mako sent a kick to Wu's knee, which caused the young man's leg to buckle beneath him, sending him sprawling to the floor. And, as much as he hated it, Mako knew that he had to keep consistent with this, so he kicked at Wu while he was down. Right in the gut.

"First though, you need to learn how to stand on your own two feet when there's conflict." Mako said without emotion. On the inside though he just hoped that Wu was a quick learner.

Asami came to pick them up nearly an hour earlier than she and Mako had previously decided, and she wasn't a moment too soon. By this time both Mako and Wu were completely miserable. Wu hadn't said a word to Mako in almost two hours, and the firebender couldn't blame him. Wu was walking with a slight limp, he had so many bruises that Mako was worried that there might be some internal damage, and Wu had a broken and still bleeding nose because Wu had tried to duck out of the way of a punch from Mako and only succeeded in being hit in the face instead of the chest.

Wu was completely beat up, and it was all Mako's fault.

Asami took one look at Wu and snapped a disapproving glare at Mako. He just sighed and got in the satomobile next to Asami while Wu curled up in the back. Mako let Asami glare at him, because he deserved it. He had hurt Wu. Even if he had done it for a good reason. Even if all of Wu's injuries were superficial and would only hurt for the next few days. Mako had hurt Wu, and he didn't think that he would ever be forgiven for it.

And even if he was, he didn't think he would ever forgive himself.

The second they got back to Asami's Wu leapt out of the vehicle and ran inside, though he did stumble a few times because of his flight limp. Mako stayed where he was, and so did Asami.

"So, I'm guessing things didn't go too well?" Asami asked.

Mako groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "Please, Asami, don't lecture me about this." Mako said. "I already feel terrible enough about it."

"Well, I should hope that you feel bad about this." Asami said sharply. "Could you really not think of another way?"

"He had to learn." Mako said.

"At least tell me that your insane plan worked." Asami pleaded. Mako nodded.

"I think it did." Mako said. The first half hour had been the absolute worst, but things had improved slightly after Wu had finally forced himself to stop falling to the ground after a simple hit. There had even been a couple of times where Wu had tried to hit Mako back. The punches felt like nothing, and only served to get Wu even more off balance, but at least he was learning to fight back. Mako just didn't know how well it would stick. "I hope it did.

"Yeah, well, for both your sakes, so do I." Asami's expression lightened, making her concern shine through more clearly. She took Mako's hand in her own and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Will Wu be okay?"

"He'll probably hate me for awhile, but he'll be fine." Mako said. "He just needs some time." Wu could usually hand difficult times fairly well. Normally he had just one or two temper tantrums, and then handled things in stride. It was just what he did. "He probably won't want to see me right now though."

Mako meant to sound casual when he said that, as though he was just pointing something out, but Asami heard something more in his voice. Something that made her look sympathetic towards him.

"I don't think that kid knows how to hold grudges." Asami said, which Mako scoffed at. She really didn't know Wu the way he did. Wu could hold some very petty grudges when he felt like it. He was related to the late earth queen, after all. "He'll forgive you...eventually."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Mako said moodily, but he found himself giving Asami a small smile. Even though Asami was still mad at him, she was still trying to cheer him up, and it meant a lot.

"Hey, Mako!" The firebender turned away from Asami towards her house where he could see his younger brother leaning out one of the windows. "Your prince friend is crying."

"Yeah, I know." Mako yelled back. "We just got back from training."

"Oh." Bolin looked surprised. "That was today?" Mako groaned.

"Yes, that was today." He answered. "Can you keep an eye on him?" Mako knew that he was probably the last person that Wu would want to see right then, but it wasn't safe for the young man to be on his own and unprotected. Since Wu didn't want to see him, Mako had previously asked Bolin to watch him for a day or two.

"Yeah, I'm on it." Bolin nodded seriously and drew back inside. Mako sighed. He was glad that his brother was willing to do this for him. He knew that Bolin wasn't exactly good pals with Wu. They got along decently enough, but both of them thought that the other was annoying, somewhat pathetic and dumb, easily manipulated, and stole all of Mako's attention...actually, now that Mako was thinking about it, the two of them were a lot alike. Why didn't they like each other?

Mako and Asami headed inside shortly after that. Asami quickly went to go find Korra, while Mako headed upstairs towards Wu's room. Even though he knew that his friend wouldn't want to see him, Mako just wanted to make sure that he was okay.

Mako approached the door to Wu's room, but he didn't enter. Even from outside he could hear the ex prince's sniffles and occasional wails. He could hear that Wu was talking, but he could not for the life of him understand what he was saying. Wu's whines and cries were hard enough to understand when Mako was standing right next to him. It was nearly impossible to interpret the already hard to understand moans when they were being muffled by a closed door.

Bolin though. Mako could make out what he was saying just fine.

"Hey, Mako doesn't hate you." Bolin was using a soft, reassuring tone of voice. It was kind of like what Mako used as a kid whenever Bolin would have a nightmare or a scraped knee. Surprisingly though, even though Bolin wasn't an older brother and Mako was, the earthbender definitely had a better 'big brother' voice. "He's just trying to protect you."

Wu answered in some way, though Mako still couldn't understand him. All he could hear was Bolin's response. "No, I'm being completely serious. Believe it or not, this is how Mako protects people." There was muffled silence for a moment, or, at least it sounded like silence to Mako. Something must have been said because a second later he heard Bolin's laugh. "Yeah, I know, it's crazy, but it's just what he does. Especially for the people that he really cares about."

More silence. "I don't know why. You'll have to talk to him about it." A pause. "Yeah, I guess I wouldn't really want to talk to him either." Mako felt his chest clench at those words. He had known that Wu wouldn't want to talk to or see him, but it still hurt to hear it being confirmed.

Mako didn't want to hear anymore. He already knew that this had been a bad plan, he didn't need to hear just how horrible it was. He knew that Wu was safe and that Bolin was probably taking care of his bruises as they talked. Mako really wouldn't be doing any of them any good by just standing outside the door, listening to their private conversation.

Mako sighed and headed towards 'his' room. After the kidnapping and/or assassination attempt Mako had taken up a semi permanent residence at Asami's place. He even had his own room and everything, even though most of the time he didn't use it because both he and Wu felt better if they shared a room. But since that wasn't really an option right then, Mako figured that now would be as good a time as any to use the room Asami had set aside just for him. That way he wouldn't have to be around Wu, but he would be nearby in case anything happened.

A tiny, horrible part of Mako almost wished that something would happen. Nothing too serious, of course. Just something that would have Wu looking at somebody else as the bad guy instead of Mako. This was just a small desire, and it was overpowered by Mako's will to keep Wu safe.

And if he Wu hated him for it, so be it. Just as long as he was safe.