Title: Need Meat. Gone Hunting.
Author: Arisprite
Rating: K+
Warnings: None, no slash. Little bit of peril and injury later on. Angst.
Summary: Ever wonder how they fed all those people at the Western Air Temple?
A/N: So this started out being a simple hunting trip between my two favorite boys, and then it blew up way bigger and more complex than I'd planned. More chapters to come, not sure yet how many, but I do have an ending planned. It all depends on how well the guys cooperate.
Disclaimer: I don't own, not even close. FAN site right?
Sokka groaned as he turned the food bag upside down. The barest of scraps tumbled out, leaving the sack as empty as his stomach. They had so many mouths to feed now, what with the other kids from the Invasion, plus those he and Zuko had rescued from the prison, that Sokka felt like he was hunting and gathering whatever he could find continuously.
Not that he was complaining! He was incredibly happy that they were all there together, his friends surrounded him, his family was back together, and he was with Suki again. What could be better?
Oh, yeah. Having a full stomach would.
Rubbing his chin, he took stock of the rest of their food stores. There was enough rice and beans to last for a few filling (if bland) meals, so they wouldn't starve yet. But little else. They (excluding Aang, crazy kid) needed meat.
Hunting trip it is.
"Hey Zuko, think Aang could do without you for a few days?"
Zuko breathed in deeply, keeping calm. Sokka didn't meditate himself, and had no qualms about interrupting anyone else doing it. Zuko kept his eyes shut while he answered.
"Why?"
Zuko felt the other boy come round in front of him and flop down. Zuko sighed, and gave up, relaxing his controlled stance, and opening his eyes.
"Well, we're kinda getting low in the food department, and since we didn't actually go hunting last time we went on a field trip, I thought maybe you'd want to help me really get some meat, where before we only saidwe were getting meat." Sokka rattled off, rubbing his stomach.
Zuko blinked, wrapping his head around the convoluted sentence.
"You want to go hunting...with me?"
Sokka grinned. "Well yeah! I mean, you saw the way we fought your sister. You were like foom," Sokka waved his arms in a approximation of firebending, "And then I came in with a Space Sword slice! We were invincible!"
Zuko smiled a bit. Sokka may not have been the most eloquent about it, but he did have a way of making you feel wanted.
But...he recalled journeying though the Earth Kingdom, being unable to survive in the wilderness, and resorting to stealing to keep himself and his uncle fed. He doubted Sokka had everstolen anything. Zuko shook his head.
"I'm not a good hunter." Sokka gave him a look of the deepest incredulity.
"Are you kidding?" Sokka asked. "You hunted us for half a year. That was some good tracking and trapping."
Ignoring the fact of how weird it was that the Water-tribesman was complementing him on hunting him and his friends, Zuko shook his head. "It's not the same. I don't know how to track animals, or make traps, and it's not like I can use my firebending or swords to bring down a deer."
Zuko stood and started to walk away, but Sokka followed, slinging an arm over Zuko's shoulders and grinning at him.
"Come on Zuko! You're stealthy, you can fight, you know how to track -animals aren't that different than people. There's no one I'd rather have at my back. Who else am I going to bring? Aang?"
Zuko thought of the flighty boy, who wouldn't even eat meat, let alone help hunt it, and grimaced.
"Exactly." Sokka said, and clapped him on the back. "So pack your things, and we'll leave in a few minutes." With that he walked away, whistling with his hands in his pockets. Zuko tried to protest.
"I didn't say...argh!" Zuko rubbed the bridge of his nose, and shook his head, turning towards his sleeping area to pack.
They ended up leaving almost an hour later, because of complications from the rest of the group. Katara had protested ("We only just got everyone back together, and you're going off on your own again?") Suki, Haru and Hakoda had all wondered why they weren't invited, and Aang had given off silent disapproval of needing to hunt at all. All in all, Sokka was more than ready to put his backside to their temple dwelling and seek out a more open, and less gravity defying terrain.
Of course, to do that, there had to be even more gravity defying acts of climbing. While they'd been flying over on their way to the Boiling Rock prison, Sokka had kept a look out for potential places to hunt and fish. He'd seen and taken note of a woody stretch of greenery in the gorge below the temple that looked large enough to sport some game. He was determined to go check it out. Getting down would be the hard part, but since they didn't want to ask Aang if they could use Appa as a pack animal for dead meat, they decided to trek down on foot, and bring what they could carry.
"It looks like this will lead us down to the floor of the gorge." Sokka said, leaning out over the edge of the cliff side at a windy, but solid looking trail. Zuko leaned out as well, and frowned at the sight.
"We'll get stuck right there." he pointed, and Sokka peered down. Oh-He saw the place Zuko was talking about, and frowned grumpily. "We should go that way, then we can wind down more slowly."
"Fine"
They hitched their small travel packs, and began the descent, with Zuko in the lead. Sokka sauntered behind, enjoying the feeling of actually walking somewhere. Appa was great for long distances, but it did get hard on his behind to sit for the long hours of flying. He was a man of action, and sitting still sometimes grated on his nerves.
...Kinda like the way lengthy silences did.
"Hey Zuko?"
"Hmm?"
"Did I ever tell you about the time I went hunting at the South Pole, and almost died?" he barely waited for Zuko's head shake and barely perceptible eye roll, before launching into at story of bravery, stupidity, and freezing temperatures.
"Well, I was about ten..."
Zuko listened with half an ear to Sokka's tale. He'd been around the other teenager long enough
to know that Sokka hated awkward silences, and would fill them with random prattling on little or no encouragement. Zuko didn't mind. There was a time he would have, how many times did he snap at Uncle for ruining his concentration, and distracting him from his swirling thoughts. Now he thought he could have done with a little more distraction on his old ship, or while they were in the Earth Kingdom. But, it didn't do to dwell on the past.
Sokka kept talking, and Zuko found himself actually enjoying the stories from the Water-tribesman's childhood, though the obviously warm relationship with his father gave Zuko a pang of jealousy, that he tried to squash. Hakoda, from what he'd seen and heard of, was everything a father should be, and all that his own father wasn't.
"Zuko?" Zuko blinked back to reality and found Sokka peering at him. "You okay? You were making a face..."
Zuko thought back to the subject of his contemplation and shook his head. "I'm fine. Your father sounds like a great man."
Sokka smiled. "He is. You should spend some time with him when we get back. I know he wants to get to know you."
Zuko turned back to Sokka, frowning. "He does?"
There was a moment of silence, where Sokka was looking entirely too piercingly into Zuko's face. The Prince shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny.
"What?" He snapped.
"I ...never mind." Sokka made to keep going, but Zuko gripped his arm.
"Sokka, what is it?" It was Sokka's turn to shift uncomfortably, and his rubbed a hand on the back of his head.
"I don't think you can compare our fathers." Sokka said slowly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Zuko snarled, turning abruptly away, and starting down the trail again. Sokka stepped forward, but didn't touch him.
"Zuko, wait." Zuko stopped a few paces away facing away, almost steaming. "I only meant...I could tell it was hard to hear about my childhood, and to see my relationship with my Dad, because you were comparing it to yours."
"So?" Zuko's voice was hard.
Sokka sighed. "Zuko, it isn't your fault, but your father is a terrible person, who doesn't deserve to have you as a son. My dad, sure we had our fights, but I know he loves me and my sister. You don't have that. I guess...I'm sorry."
"Is this supposed to make me feel better about seeing your happy little family up there?" Zuko snarled, finally turning around. Sokka suddenly saw the thin layer of control over his fury, and took a step back. "Is your pity going to make up for the years of fear and pain my father put me through. No, he doesn't love me. It only took me seventeen years to realize that, thanks! Shut up, and don't talk about things you know nothing about!"
Zuko stormed off down the trail, leaving Sokka stock still for a moment. Then he slapped a palm to his forehead, and groaned.
"My stupid, big mouth!"
*~*~*~*
Zuko kicked a few logs and bushes as he half hiked, half tumbled down the trail to the gorge floor. His mind was still in a rage, hearing those words of pity...
of truth
….fall from Sokka's mouth, seeing his happy, perfect, little family, and knowing that he could never, never, have that...
"Argh!" He snarled, and let loose a stream of fire from his mouth into the sky, before slumping.
"Woah, I've never seen you do that before." Sokka's voice cut in nervously. Zuko half turned, and sighed, wisps of steam coming from his nostrils. Neither one said anything for a moment.
Zuko knew that Sokka hadn't meant anything by what he'd said. Hadn't he just been pondering about Sokka's need to prattle on. And Zuko had asked him what he was thinking.
"Zuko, I didn't mean-"
"It's okay."
"Really? Oh, good." Sokka scuffed his foot against the earth. "So...this looks like a good base camp."
Zuko looked around at the small clearing they'd ended up in. In his rage, he'd tumbled right into a flat, secluded spot, perfect for a campsite. There was a small eddy running beside them, it's waters clear and calming.
"Yeah."
Sokka dropped his pack and stretched. It was about mid day now, after the long hike down the canyon, and their delay in starting out, and Sokka was hungry! He bent down and dug out two packet of dried fruit and crackers, grimacing at the lack of anything resembling meat.
"Here," He tossed a packet to the still standing Prince and then began to eat his lunch. Zuko caught the food, and sat down beside him, still feeling awkward about his outburst. He took a bite, thinking that if Sokka was willing to forget it ever happened, that was fine with him.
"So I was thinking we could set some snares near camp while it's still light, then tomorrow go further out to try and bring down some big game. What do you think?" Sokka said, liking sticky fruit pieces off his fingers. Zuko winced. No matter how long he'd been in the wilderness, he tried to retain some semblance of civility, unlike the water peasant sitting beside him.
"Uh, sure. Sounds good." Zuko ate his crackers politely.
"The snares should be set..." He licked his finger again, and held it straight in the air. "...to the west of us. Those scraggly bushes will be good cover, but we'll have to be careful not to break too many branches. We can then skirt the snares on our way out tomorrow, and follow the river."
Zuko eyed the tiny stream they'd camped by. "River?"
"We're upstream, it will get bigger further down, and draw the animals in, so we'll have a good bet on finding something... What?" Zuko had been staring at Sokka in incredulity for a minute or more, and at Sokka's question he shook his head in amazement.
"What?"
"Hunting people is definitelydifferent from hunting animals." Zuko replied emphatically.
Sokka sat down again and peered at him curiously. "Well, how'd you used to hunt us?"
"Asked around, looked for sightings of a flying monster, or bison fur. I knew you were going North, so I just followed the coasts, looking for signs of you guys. You weren't exactly inconspicuous most of the time." Sokka rubbed the back of his head. "All that stuff you just said about rivers, and ...snares.. and things made no sense to me whatsoever."
Sokka chuckled, and clapped him on the shoulder then, grinning.
"Well then, buddy. You've got a lot to learn!"