Masami Motoyoshi's Story

Masami just got back into town from his little trip as he teacher called. He had the largest smile on his face that he could have possibly had on at this point. He was walking through the town trying to find something to do when his stomach growled. "Oh man i'm hungry." He then rubbed his gut and caught a wiff of baked bread from somewhere down the street. He impulsively took off running. "Ohboyohboyohboy." he said as he ran down the street. He rounded the corner to see a cafe with a whole lot of people there. "Yes food!" He exclaimed as he slowed his pace as not to draw attention to himself. He saw the sign that said a discount for Pro-benders. 'Oooohhh' he though as he stood in the street looking for a table to sit at.

When he finally located a table he took his seat and noticed a lot of people around him. He placed his bags next to him and leaned back in his chair. The place smelled fantastic to him. He looked to his left and to his right. He wondered if anyone would recognize him after all he had been pro-bending for a little while now he was known which could be a bad thing, yet he always thought it was a good thing. It was almost funny to him. He looked nothing like an earthbender but he loved doing it. He looked down at his bag wondering what he wanted to do with it.

The place was busy that was for sure. So many people carrying so many things that looked good. When a waitress finally got over to him and handed him a menu and asked him what he wanted. "Um you know what why don't you tend to others before me. I mean i'm the only one at this table I can wait." As she left he looked at the menu trying to decide what he wanted. 'Tea, and.... well everything looks so good.' he thought. 'Then again anything would be better than that crap that they place was feeding me.' he laughed and rubbed the back of his head. He set the menu down and cracked his knuckles as if he was getting ready for something. He straightened u[p to try and fix his back from being uncomfortable but that really didn't work so he just let out a sigh and placed his elbows on the table

"Just bring me anything, make sure there's nothing sweet but you though,"
Yoshe chuckled as she jotted down 'House Special', flipping her pad shut and sliding the pen behind her ear, "You got it sugar-pie!" she said as she quickly passed through the aisles of tables and buzzing people. Some of her favorite customers had already arrived, waving in greeting to her.
"Hey guys, It's good to see you again!" she chirped as she weaved back into the kitchen. The guys both cheered, "Sumiko! Great Morning Huh!" as one tossed and omelet high in the air to flip it, catching them once more on his pan. The other impressively chopped vegetables, flicking the waste pieces into the garbage with the flick of his knife.
"Alright guys, make this one good. I want you to bring him the new recipe, the one you guys wanted to try out. He looks like a man who would enjoy it." Handing them the ticket, they peeked over the counter and peered over to his table. They moved in sync so often, it creeped her out sometimes.
"Whats so special about him Sumiko. Looks like a normal guy to me," the guys responded.
"He's sweet ok, now you remember how to make it. Make a serving of your special cheesy-jalapeno pepper eggs, with the good spicy sausage. Once you have that made, get on of my freshest and biggest croissants and fill it with your eggs. Make sure it's one of the warm flaky ones Ok!" The guys nodded in agreement as she returned to the dining area, checking up on other tables.
"So many gorgeous men this morning," she sighed as she spotted another cute boy walk in. One of her girls quickly attended to him, she knew she would. Simon called out to Yoshe as he brought her the special dish.
"Thank you Simon!" she said, leaning up and giving him a quick peck on the cheek, "I don't know what I would do without you!" He grumbled..."you'll be the death of me...you and this cafe..." in response as he wiped her kiss from his cheek. Though is was stressful, she knew he loved it there too though.
As she passed the new customer she winked at him, swaying her walk a little more hoping he was watching her pass. I love it here... she thought as she slid the spicy,hearty,flaky an buttery dish on the table, "Alright, nothing sweet but me," she giggled, "though it does combine the skill of my cooks in the back, with the excellence of my bread."

Ya Le nodded as the information sunk inside her head. Any one who's been a costumer of her grandfather's was no enemy. Seeing that his attention was somewhere else, she decided to look around the cafe, too.

She could somewhat hear people talking about bending and pros. From a group of girls behind her table, she aslo overheard the words Pro-Bending. '...Pro-Bending?' She's heard some of the guards talking about that before but she never really bothered to ask any of them what it was. How could she? She was forbidden to get close to any servants as her mother feared that wealthy people often fall in love with someone working for them once they got close. Ya Le would just scoff at her mother for being so paranoid and unreasonable.

The words 'Pro-Bending' echoed in her head again. Curious to know what the words meant, she spoke up, breaking the silence. "What's Pro-Bending?"

As the words came out of her mouth, one of her guards, Chen, suddenly popped up beside her with a sneer. "Only the worst thing that ever happened! Besides benders themselves that is." Xiu chuckled at this causing Chen to laugh rather obnoxiously. He had a cocky grin on his face until Ya Le gave him a stern look- signaling him to shut up. Finally realizing his place, he bowed in apology before standing back up and eyeing the other benders once more with distrust. "Trust me Lady Ya Le. Those benders are just a waste of your time."

Masami watched as he girls passed and then kept watching her. When she delivered the dish to another table he thought he saw her head turn so he quickly snapped around and glancing at the menu. He gave a nervous laugh and smirked. 'I wonder if she saw me do that?' he thought. His eyes got wide he then realized how dumb he was being. 'You're a pro-bender KEEP IT TOGETHER.' He then slammed his head on the table making a loud noise. Masami started to rub his forehead "I shouldn't have been so impulsive right there." He smiled as he got done rubbing his head. He let out a sigh and glanced at the menu. He wasn't sure what to order so he would default to the most expensive thing on the menu and bread lots of bread.

As the fight broke out Yoshe quickly set the plates she was holding down on the table next to her. Though she didn't take a stance yet she watched to see if things were going to progress, ready to break it up if anything progressed. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Simon storm towards the two. With a slight wave of her hand he stopped, the smoke rising from his clenched fists disappated as he calmed himself, instead walking to her side. The earth bender she had just served and the blonde were no longer throwing punches, and began heading outside.
"Simon, will you please bring out a blueberry cheesecake muffin to any of the customers reaming, and apologize for the ruccus."
"Yoshe I'm sorry..." he trailed off, looking down at his hands.
"It's alright, I'm not upset. You however need to control your anger, you made a promise that I won't let you break."
"Yes Yoshe, I understand..." he defeatidly replied to her, making his way to the kitchen. When he returned he began passing out the muffins, all delicately wrapped in yellow butchers paper and tied off with a blue ribbon. Soon the customers had returned to normal calm as Simon walked around, flashing them his charming smile.

Returning her attention to the table she noticed the cute boy she had winked at earlier and smiled. Though he tried to hide it, she had been catching him looking at her all morning. Retrieving a muffin from Simon's basket and the cash from the empty tables she made her way over to him. Delicatly she placed it in front of him,"I'm sorry about all that, please I'd love it if you tried one of my newest creations, on the house." Though she started to turn and leave she stopped, stuffing the pad into her apron she turned back, not noticing that her tickets had fallen under the table, and sat across from him.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked with a quaint smile, "Been on my feet all day, and the scenery is nice at this table." Her gaze fell past him to the view in the street, but the tone implied that it wasn't just the sunny day outside she was referring to.

Masami smiled at the women who had brought him the muffin and sat across from him. "Yeah you can sit here I don't mind. And you are right the view is nice." He chuckled a little bit. His head still kinda hurt from ramming it on the table. "And the muffin looks really good." He took a bite and fell in love with it. "Oh god its so good." he lowered his head. "Thank you so much." He opened his eyes only to realize that someone had dropped tickets to the Pro-bending game tonight. He reached down to retrieve then and sat back up straight. "Would you happen to know whos tickets these are?" He knew the game tonight was his and he didn't want anyone to miss something that they had paid a lot of money for. he set them down on the table and looked back at the female. "Well I suppose that introductions are in order. Hi i'm Masami Motoyoshi it is really nice to meet you." He said this with the best smile he could give. After all he wanted to be friendly.

"Well I suppose that introductions are in order. Hi i'm Masami Motoyoshi it is really nice to meet you."
"My name is Sumiko, I'm happy you like it, I baked them fresh this monring as have been thinking about putting them on the menu." Looking around she saw they seemed to be hitting it off well with the customers. As he waved the tickets in front of her her heart skipped a beat. With a quick, almost deperate motion she reached into her apron pocket to find that they were in fact gone. Leaning across the table slightly, reaching out for the tickets she said, "Oh! those are mine! Thank you, I have been looking forward to this night for a long time! I don't know what I would have done if I lost them!"

"Well I bet you're glad im here then huh?" He chuckled slightly as he handed them to her. "So who are you going with? I mean who is the lucky man?"

"Well," she hesiatated, she had asked Simon to go with her, but he had a previous engagment, "Looks like I have an extra ticket actually." Eying him she pondered for moment. He was rather cute, and she did need a date for tonights match. Though she enjoyed the chase, and planned on trailing this game on for a while before letting him catch her, "Why do you want to know? hmm?" she replied teasigly from across the table.

"Well I was just curious..." He stopped and looked away really quickly. "hehehe. I just got into town and er." He let out a sigh and straighted up to look at her. "You are really attractive and I would like to spend some time with you." He was sweating a littlhe slouche from how nervous he was. 'I cant believe I just said that.' he thought as he slouched back down in his seat.

"I may be able to work something out...to show you around town since you're new and all," she replied with a wink ,"you're not half bad yourself."
The race in her chest was on as she was filled with invigorating feeling of flirting once more. Recently she has remained single, simply spending her time at the cafe, however when she first turned the knob on the radio to a Pro-bending fight, she fell instantly in love. Since that day she has been eager to finally go see a match for herself, and now she may have a cute date too! Her day seemed to be going quite nicely as she leaned back in her chair, gazing over at Masami wondering, Hmm...I wonder if he is as nervous as he looks right now...

'That really worked?' he thought as he let out a small sigh of accomplishment. "So when do I get to take this lovely young women to the match then?" he smiled at her. He mind was racing with thoughts. He has no idea what to say to her and to be honest this was going to be the first date that he has ever had. He never really got out during his training and the fact that his past gave him no opprotunity to date any girl. He popped he knuckles like he normally did when he was getting ready for a match or when he couldn't think of what to say. "So since we are going? Anything you'd like to know about me?"

"You can meet me here at the cafe tonight, and we can go together from here." she smiled, a little too soon to be giving out home addresses, but she saw nothing wrong with having a date to the match. As he cracked his knuckles she shutered a bit, the sound always sent shivers down her spine, "Ya, you can start by telling me what brings you here? Are you working, or maybe a student?" A bender? she silently added in her thoughts. He didn't look like a bender by the way he was dressed, of course the city is big you can never tell who can and who can't by simply looking. She stold a glance over to Simon, he was the perfect example. A firebender, who vowed never to bend agian. Just looking at him, you would never know. Quickly she returned her gaze to Misami, batting her eyelashes at him,"...and where are you taking me afterwords?" she added with a grin.

"i guess you could say that I am here for work." He glanced at his hands and realized that he was feeling uncomfortable because of his knuckles cracking. He stopped and looked around to see if he could see anyone he knew. To his dismay he saw no one that he was aware of. He let out a sigh then hit himself on the head for sighing to much. 'Wow I am and idiot,' he thought poking the spot that he hit. He rolled up his sleeve and rubbed his arms. Sometimes he would remember how he got the scars that were on his arms. Today was no exception for him. The bending at first hurt but then slowly the pain would leave. He smiled as he set his arms down on the table. "I plan to take you where ever you wish to go after the match. Which I hope you enjoy." He then looked past her then back. "Anything else before I ask a few?"

"Hmm..." she pondered for a moment, examining the scars on his arms. They were familiar, some of the boys back in her home town in the Earth Kingdom got them when they first learned how to bend. Noting by the amount of scars, she came to the concusion that he must be a pretty experienced bender himself. A smile widened across her lips as she thought on where to go afterwords. Maybe he will show me some of his own bending after the match... Her eyes wide with excitment she responded, "No, go ahead. I'm an open book."

'Interesting.' he thought he touched his chin and thought for a moment. "So how long have you worked here?" He was trying to start with something small. He was never really good at small talk but he had to start somewhere. "Oh annnnddd where on earth did you learn how to bake like this?" He asked pointing to the muffin that she had obtained for him. he smiled that muffin was good and he loved to eat well just about anything that didn't make his sick.

"Oh this place? I have been here for about a year now, though we just started getting good buisness a few months ago," glancing around, she took great pride in the cafe. It was her dream since a child to open one, and though tragic events made her dream come true, it came true nontheless, "My mother taught me everything I know, she was wonderful. My parents were killed two years ago by a fire-bender. I miss them, but my father left me plenty of money to open the restaurant. We were supposed to work it together, it was our dream ya know?" Only a breif moment if sadness passed over her face, but dwelling on the past was soething she tried to avoid, "But I think he would be proud of the way it turned out, and I even named it after him."

"I'd be proud of you that is for sure." He looked at the cafe. It was truely beautiful in every way to him. "You did amazing. No matter what anyone has ever told you, you can do what you want." He wished that he had someone to teach him that a few well a long time ago when his father had thrown him out of the house when he was 8. He had a hard time to start with but everything got better once he found a teacher to show him the way. He was happy at where he was but he had new dreams and he needed to find someone he would enjoy his time with. He smiled "Don't worry if anyone gives you trouble i've got your back."

"Awww, thank you," she replied teasigly, "but I didn't get it this far alone. I'ven Simon with me since the accident, without him I couldn't run this place. I'm no good with numbers, I just like to cook," she added with a giggle, "and If I wanted to, I could take you down."
Though she teased, she knew she had the skills. All she had to do was get close enough to touch him. Chi-blocking has saved her many times from rouge benders, though she rarely used it around others. Simon was the only other person who has seen her in action who wasn't enduring her wrath. It only worked however in evasion, she always ran after crippling them, and never used it offensivly.
"I have a few tricks of my own hidden up my sleeves."

"Those are my favorite kind of tricks." he smiled he wasn't really ever worried he knew he had to hide himself for the Chi-benders. He was nervous being in the city but he thought he could hide well enough. He leaned back in the chair nearly falling out of it. "Woo that was a little close." he rubbed his head and then rolled his sleeves to hide his scars again. He smirked at her. "You should see some of the things that I do for the fun of it." he laughed a bit "But don't worry I wont hurt you at all in fact its complete dumb to other people."

"I can't wait," she said pushing the chair away behind her, "I'll meet you here tonight an hour before the match." She handed him one ticket and smiled, "No don't you stadn me up tinight, our seats are next to eachother so I'll know!" With a slight wave and a giggle she made her way into the kitchen. Simon stood, arms crossed garing at her.
"And who might that be?"
"Oh just my date for tonight," she repsonded twirling as she spoke.
"I still can't believe you are going to that silly match..." he repsonded, peeking out to look at Masami, "Are you sure you should be going out with people you meet at the cafe...?"
"You know, you can't fall in love until you meet that person. You'll never meet anyone cooped up in here all your days, I'm a big girl Simon you don't have to protect me anymore."
"Yoshe, I made a promise-"
"I know you did, but pretoecting my life doesn't mean giving up yours. And it certaintly doesn't mean controlling mine,"
"Of course Lady Yoshe, my apologies."
"Simon, how many times do I have to tell you, I'm not Lady Yoshe anymore..."

After his chat with Yoshe he left a tip on his table even though he did order anything. He thought that the service was good so the tip was large. He chuckled as he left the restaurant but managed to trip over a chair and make an incredibly loud noise. "I'm okay!" He shouted as he stood up and placed everything back to where it was. He ran back to his seat and grabbed his bag. "Don't want to forget this." he said as he left. He walked the few blocks that is was to his house to drop off his bag. Once he opened the door Ku jumped on him. Ku was his dog that he had found when he got to the city a few years back. "Ku im happy to see you too but I don't jump on you every time." Ku then stopped jumping and sat there starring at him. "Okay you got me." He then reached into his bag and pulled out a dog treat and throw it to her. "Okay that should hold you over until I get home from training." He then left to go to the area to train. It took him a good while to get there. Once he finally got inside he changed and walked into the training gym to begin his workout.

Masami's training went well but he got bored after a little while of just throwing the earth plates at a net. Once he was done he put his shirt back on and left building. He had his earth bending shirt on even though he knew you were only suppose to wear it during a match, but it was the only clean thing he had on him at this moment. Then on top of that he put on his jacket. He left the area swing his head back and forth mostly out of boredom. He didn't even leave the lot when he spotted some guy getting harassed by a couple of thugs. "Hey!" he shouted as he ran to help the guy "Leave him alone." The guy was a little short for his age or what appeared to be his age but the thugs just looked at him as he zipped up his jacket.

"You want to help this guy? Ha! Don't waste your time. Just get out of here before you get in trouble too." Said the larger of the two. The other wasn't doing much but just making sure the man stayed around. "I bet I could take both of you on no problem." Masami said to them. He then dropped his bag and started to loosen his shoulders. As he was doing this one of the thugs connected with a punch that staggered him."Ow that kinda hurt." Masami said "There is more where that came from." The small thug said. "My turn." Masami said assuming his bending stance. The thugs just looked at him like he was crazy but then he throw his first punch launching a small column of earth hitting the big thug in the gut. Masami then kick the ground launching the other thug in the air. Once landing he got up and ran away yelling "I don't fight no benders." with the other guy right on his tail.

Masami the knelt down to the man. "You okay?" the man just looked at him and nodded "I'll be fine and thank you for helping me but I must be off." After that the man stood up and walked away. No knowing what to d Masami just put the little earth columns back in the ground and grabbed his bag.

Masami began to run back to his apartment. He passed though a group of people nearly hitting them. He turned around "I'm sorry!" He yelled as he continued to run. he had to ge tback to his apartment and quickly shower so he wouldn't be late to Yoshes' meeting place. He ran as fast as he could to get back. Once he got home he jumped in the shower and got dressed. He place his outfit back in his bag and rushed to go to get back to the cafe. He was breathless when he finally got to the cafe he sat down just to get his breath back.

Kaito listened to the girls talk, they talked like old friends, even though they just met. He stood a bit farther back from the group, taking in the sights, looking at the crowd already lining up at the Arena to get the best seats or to fight with each other over which team would win. He was amazed at the amount of joy gained from such a simple thing, how benders and non-benders alike joined to watch six people fight using their bending. He felt bad for Ling, seeing as she took part in this homogenizing event on a regular basis, yet had to be left out for her match. She seemed as if she wanted to believe that her brother could find a replacement bender, but he was still more than willing to help. He noticed one of La Ye's family guard moving through the crowd. He moved up closer a bit and said, "We should get out of here, those guards are still poking around. Where is this bar, Ling?"

Someone ran by and almost hit them, but Kaito didn't pay it much mind.

"Is there anyone in particular then who has caught your eye? What about the brunette behind us, Kaito?" Ya Le looked back to try to see Kaito but found Kai instead. Wow. Didn't know he was the nosey type. Well, you learn something new every day. Ignoring Kai, she looked back at Ling. The image of Kaito rolling his eyes upon mentioning her and her guards replayed in her head. "No potential interest for me. I think Kaito might have some issues with rich people so I doubt we'll even be compatible- Ow!" Ya Le squeaked as a light brown haired man bumped into them, rushing to get somewhere else. He said sorry so she didn't pay too much attention to him.

"We should get out of here, those guards are still poking around. Where is this bar, Ling?" Hearing that, Ya Le scanned the place. Surely, there was Si Ting, one of the family's best guards, talking to a couple- most likely asking if they've seen me. "Uh oh," she looked away from the guard before he could spot her and held her basket tighter.

Kaito asked for the bar's direction and she slightly grinned at the mention of her grandfather's bakery. She was happy for 2.3 miliseconds until she remembered that a guard was by them. Wasting no more time to flee from the guard, she picked up her pace.

~Before the Match~
"I'll be off now Simon!" Yoshe called out through the apartment as she slipped out the door. As she walked down the stairs and out of the building she smiled, and reflected on her day. The cafe made a lot of money today, and she sold every loaf of bread she had baked that morning. Reaching into her purse she felt for her cash, feeling the heavy bag of coins tucked away. Simon had been very impressed with her tips for the day, he even let her leave early to get ready for her date. He knew she would have just done it anyway, but he still offered to close up shop for her. I'll make him breakfast tomorrow as a thank you.
Soon she rounded the corner to see Masami already waiting for her. As she stepped under a lamp light her yellow sundress was illuminated, contrasting with her green hair. She gave him a sincere wave and began blushing as her heart began to race, I wasn't nervous till I saw him...
"Hi Masami...I'm so happy you came."

Masami stood up and waved back. "Of course I came I wouldn't miss this for the world." With a smile on his face he waled over towards her. "The best part is the surprise that I have for you." He chuckled a little bit while having his hand on his mouth. He wanted to tell her but it would be far easier to show her what he did considering that it was the place that they were going. He was in thought as he approached her his biggest and most overwhelming thought was 'Will she like me for what I am?'. His father and mother had hated, the only one who ever loved him was his sister and he never got to see her. The last time he had seen her was a few years back but that was only for minutes. Masami offered out his hand "Ready to go?"

Yoshe smiled as Masami spoke, he seemed so kind. Her day was turning out wonderfully, and when she woke this morning she would have never have guessed that it was going to be this cute boy going with her to her first match. The excitement was overwhelming.
"Ready to go?"
"Yes! I can't wait to go!" sh chirped back excitedly. Tucking her hand into her bag she felt to ensure she had her ticket. Once she was sure, the two turned and started walking down the road. Instinctively she reached out and took his hand, glancing over at him coyly. Noticing the sight look that came over him when she slipped her soft, tiny hand into his she cocked her head to the side and grinned, "Don't act so surprised, we are on a date. What can I not hod your hand?" As she spoke she leaned over and nudged him with her shoulder, giggling.

"You're just a little more bold than what I am used to. But don't worry its nice." He said as he nudged her back. "You look really good." He said looking ahead of them. Masami glanced down at Yoshe being only just a little shorter then him he didn't feel so bad. He smiled at her as he started to walk a little faster. "I don't think you'll want to miss a thing." He slowed down not wanting to drag her any further. "Oh and you'll love the surprise that I have for you." He squeezed he hand just a little. He didn't want to mess up considering this was his first date that he has ever had. Out of nervousness "So is anything else you'd like to know about me?" he was only trying to make small talk or answer some kind of question. He really did like this girl and wanted to impress her and not lose his bending to her.

Masami got this look on his face like she just hit him. "Ow that hurt you know." Ht then smiled at her "Just kidding. You'll get to see." he chuckled a bit and nudged her as they got closer to the area. " He started to get restless as they approached the gate up front. He began to look around to see if anyone was watching them he then turned towards Yoshe. "Hey lets not use the front gate." he then began to run towards the back of the area towards the "Contestants only" sign. "I bet we can get in through here."

"Contestants only"
"And how are we supposed to do that? I'm not a bender," she asked, crossing her arms in front of her. Looking around she noticed there was no one in the vicinity, "I guess if there isn;t anyone posted right on the other side of the door..."
Swiftly she turned to face Masami, "Alright let's try it!"