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The rain was growing louder and louder by the minute.
This storm had truly come out of nowhere, when she’d checked the weather for her trip it had said it was going to be free and clear for the entire week and a half.
But no, now she was huddled in her tent in a cave she’d found at the last minute. She was lucky that she’d seen the sign on the rock wall she was walking along looking for the supposed next outcropping that may keep her a tad bit more dry.
Rain and rocky mountain paths cut right into said mountains were not a good mix. That was just asking to get caught in a landslide.
This place seemed safe, at least the sign had said so, and her tent hadn’t caught any wind or any actual rain since she’d gotten into the cave. She’d secured it to the rock wall as a precaution in case there was a wind tunnel but so far it didn’t seem like that’d be an issue at all.
Naga was curled up in her blanket sleeping soundly next to her, completely unbothered by the rain or the thunder that was starting to roll through.
“This is a nice tent, a lot better than the one I used to have.” There was suddenly a woman sitting next to her.
Korra screeched and scrambled to the other side of the tent, Naga jumping up and in front of her protectively. She growled low, her hackles rising.
In the low light of her small lantern-like flashlight the woman shrugged and leaned back against the rock wall side of the tent as Korra just had been.
“What the FUCK! Who are you! What are you! How did you get into my tent!” Korra pathetically threw a hiking boot at the woman.
Only for it to pass right through her, thud against the wall and land a few inches from the woman.
She promptly fainted.
——
When she woke up next she was tucked into her sleeping bag with a big comforter she’d never seen before draped over her.
She blinked at it then slowly rubbed her eyes.
The woman from before, the apparently intangible woman popped into existence above her. Just kinda floating above her with a grin.
She was about to shriek again but the woman slapped a hand over her mouth and muffled her so it sounded like a whine.
The woman frowned, “Stop with the screaming. You’ll wake up someone who isn’t gonna be nice to you.” Korra looked up at her with wide eyes then quickly looked for Naga, who was chewing on a huge bone that Korra had DEFINITELY not given her.
“If I take away my hand are you going to ask me a normal question like a rational person?” She shrank back slightly but nodded.
The floating woman pulled her hand back and sat on the floor in front of her cross legged. She motioned for her to ask her questions.
Korra backed up to the wall and braced herself. “Who are you?”
She smiled, “Asami Sato at your service.”
Korra blinked. “Asami Sato? Asami Sato who disappeared in a landslide almost 5 years ago?”
Asami clapped her hands together, “The very same! Didn’t exactly disappear, I was crushed pretty badly. My bones are probably still somewhere in the dirt pile.”
“So you’re…a ghost then?”
She nodded, “With unfinished business apparently. I don’t really know how to fix my unfinished business when I’m kinda tied down to the mountain.”
“And why can I see you? And why can you touch me?” Korra gripped the comforter close to her, shivering from the cold.
“Need another blanket? I have more. But for the seeing and me being able to touch you thing? No idea! That’s new! But I can pick up and move stuff no problem, always been able to do that. Just not living breathing things.”
There was an extremely loud crash of thunder that rolled on for almost a minute that startled Korra right into Asami’s arms. She chuckled and patted her on the back.
“How about you go to bed, I’ll grab you another blanket and we can talk in the morning.”
———
Korra had discovered a great many things about Asami in the past day she’d been stuck in the cave, unable to leave because of the ongoing hurricane outside.
One being that she actually hated hiking.
Hadn’t wanted to be hiking when she died.
That her ex had been huge into it and for the first time in their relationship had said yes because she was so frustrated about not being able to find a certain part for a car she was restoring and she’d finally found someone with it who conveniently lived near the trail.
Which was across the country.
And just so happen to fall and hurt herself on said hike. Then someone above them had started a landslide by pushing rocks down a hill, thus resulting in her death.
She’s not sure if her ex had died though. She’d apparently only met one other ghost on the mountain that wasn’t crazy but had never seen him.
Korra also learned a lot of random things about her, she’d nonstop talked for hours. She didn’t mind, Asami hadn’t had another person to really talk to in almost five years.
Naga was whining at the tent flap now that Asami had taken a few minutes to do whatever ghostly things she did.
The wind wasn’t bad in the cave so it probably wouldn’t do any harm to let Naga just find a nice corner of it to do her business.
She shuffled her way to the door and slowly opened it, the light of her lamp lighting up the cave. She stepped out and stretched, Naga doing the same at her feet.
She looked around but paused when she saw a couple of large boxes in the corner. Naga wandered off while she approached them.
Asami appeared next to her when she got to them. She would have fallen if she hadn't caught her.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I honestly didn’t expect you to be outside the tent.”
Korra’s cheeks burned but she stood quickly. “It’s fine! I’m fine! Um…what are the boxes?”
Asami smiled gently and opened the one in front of them. There were blankets, some rain ponchos, and what looked like a tarp. “I told you I had more blankets. You wouldn’t believe the things people leave behind in the woods. I’ve got all kinds of stuff. People leave and take things as needed as per the instructions I wrote on the boxes. Or if I hear someone talking about needing something and I have it I’ll leave it in whatever the next hiker box is on their trail.”
“That’s actually really cool. You’re like the mountain’s own little guardian angel.”
Asami frowned slightly but flipped it when she saw Korra was watching her. “I mean, it’s something to do. I’ve helped a lot of people. I kinda…I’d like to move on you know? At least if I did that then maybe I wouldn’t be so lonely anymore. I’m just not sure how to do that.”
“What’d this other ghost tell you? The one that isn’t crazy.”
Asami sighed and threw her hands up in defeat. “I dunno! That’s where I got the unfinished business thing from. He said the only way he’s seen anyone move on was when they finished out something big. Usually they got to whatever the end of their hike was supposed to be, or said goodbye to whoever because they showed up, or even that they confronted what killed them and reflected on it. Which is stupid because I’ve done that a million times and gotten nowhere.”
“Maybe you need to know what happened to your ex? Maybe that’s your big thing? Or what if it’s that car getting fully restored?”
She scoffed and plopped down on a rock that almost formed a seat, she patted it in invitation. Korra didn’t even hesitate and got cozy with her new blanket.
“It may be him but honestly…I was going to break up with him anyway. My preferences lean a bit more on the feminine.” She winked at her, making Korra laugh loudly. “But I dunno, I’ve restored a lot of cars. It was just another project, nothing too special…”
————
Three days in the cave and it was starting to become a bit much. It was freezing because of the early season rain, Asami reported that a little higher up the mountain it’d definitely been on and off snowing. Which was extremely strange for this when it’d been so nice out before.
She’d disappear for a few minutes, then sometimes a few hours, then be back for hours. Korra was honestly glad for the company and it may be the confinement talking but never tired of looking at Asami. She was gorgeous and her being able to touch her almost made it feel like she wasn’t a ghost.
Now that she was thinking about it, she probably slammed her head and Asami was just a hallucination, the hallucination of her ideal partner but hallucination all the same.
Naga had taken to digging in the corner of the cave while she was just resting in her nest of blankets and sleeping bag when Asami appeared next. She was sitting next to her while Korra was on her back with her eyes closed. She only noticed she’d come back when she felt Asami brush some loose hair out of her face where one of her side tails had been destroyed and lost.
She hummed softly and she heard her chuckle softly.
“Hey could I…could I try something?” The question was whispered, she didn’t open her eyes but nodded softly.
What she didn’t expect was soft lips being pressed to hers.
What Asami didn’t expect was for her to kiss her back fully.
She squeaked softly but leaned more into her, straddling her so softly that Korra could barely feel it.
They made out for a few minutes before Korra pushed herself up and pulled away to nuzzle Asami’s neck. She continued to kiss her neck softly, causing Asami to moan out.
“Fuck me I missed this. Please don’t stop.” Korra hummed against her and bit down, forgetting that it probably wouldn’t leave the desired mark.
There was an earth shaking crack of thunder and suddenly the feather light Asami on top of her was fully falling on top of her. A lot heavier than she’d imagine a ghost could ever be.
They bonked noses and both cried out.
Asami scrambled to push herself up only to fall fully on Korra with a loud thud.
“What the fuck, what the FUCK! Fuck I have to breathe again?! I don’t have to breathe, I’m DEAD!” Asami took an insanely loud breath and rolled off Korra.
Korra rubbed her nose and sat up quickly looking down at Asami. “I don’t understand, what’s happening?”
Asami reached out to her to help her sit up, she did but the usual cold that accompanied her touch was now a nice warm NORMAL temperature.
She let go of her but then started patting her in random spots. Each place was warm and fully there. Her clothes were now much more torn and worn and her nose had a small streak of blood starting to fall from it.
Korra leaned forward and held both of Asami’s cheeks in her hand and squeezed just slightly.
“I think…I think you’re back?!”
“Back? What do you mean back?”
“Can you just disappear anymore?” She squeezed again and Asami swatted her away and leaned back.
She made a face then looked down at herself then looked back up at her with wide eyes starting to fill with tears.
“Fuck no I can’t. Korra I think I’m back! I don’t have any idea how but I think-“
Korra interrupted her with another kiss, effectively pinning her to the ground.