DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, or any of the characters in the series. Writing this fanfic is not benefitting me, or at least, in a monetary way.
CHAPTER ONE
Destruction and Discovery
As Teo, Sokka, and Duke stood huddled around their newest creation, Sokka let out a little sniff. "I think I could cry just about now" Sokka sighed, wiping something off of his eye. After quickly glancing at Teo and Duke's smirking faces, he quickly added, "Not like Katara's sappy sobbing, you know. More like...manly water tribe tears. Of manliness!"
"Don't get yourself down, Sokka!" said Haru, who was now striding towards the three. "Some guys just have to face the fact that they can't pull off facial hair." Grinning widely, he began to eye the bulging bag in the middle of their circle. "Sokka, is that what I think it is?"
"Well, its a pretty big bag, and surprisingly, it's not full of all the lame mustache jokes you've attempted. No, it's...Duke, would you like to do the honors?"
"It's the stickiest, smelliest, most exploding-est blasting jelly we've made! Ever!" cried Duke, happily flailing his hands in the air. "And I told you, its THE Duke!"
"Try not to accidently tilt it, Haru" warned Teo. "We layered the different ingredients in a pretty intricate order, so if someone were to knock it over and disrupt the balance of the different jellies, then-"
"Kaboom!" yelled the Duke, who began to run circles around Haru, and make pretend explosions with his feet on the smooth western Air Temple stone floor. Sokka, sensing that the Duke's explosions might accidently cause a real once, he gently lifted the bag and carried it into the temple.
Meanwhile, Aang and Zuko carried out their firebending training on the outer edge of the temple, and Katara and Toph sat on the slightly elevated veranda in front. While Toph entertained herself by pulling and playing with the weeds which grew out of the jagged cracks in the rocks, Katara was completely engrossed in watching Aang and Zuko. Watching furious, amber fireballs racing towards a dappled sky, set against the backdrop of gently rolling hills and cool breezes turned out to be a beatiful sight; a sharp contrast to her previous thoughts about firebending, and about Zuko.
Although the memories of Ba sing Se were still fresh in her mind, she had started to regret her cynical attitude towards the former Fire Nation Prince when he first joined their group. She had her doubts about him at first, but now she knew that he, like the others, was ready to give up anything to protect Aang. After about a minute, she realized that she was smiling.
"KAH-TAH-RRAH!" yelled Sokka, who was sprinting towards her with a pouty expression. "It's been a while since we last had food. What happened to that rice that you were boiling?"
"Ugh, Sokka! Why don't you get the rice? Just for once, take care of your own stomach!"
"Well, Katara, I would. But since you're the one wearing the dress here..."
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?!" shrieked Katara, shifting her glare from Sokka to the slowly approaching Haru.
"Um, I think he means that since you're the girl, that you have to-"
"One more word Haru, ONE MORE, and that goatee of yours will be gone by tomorrow morning!" Katara said, jabbing her finger into his fearful face. As Haru backed away slowly, Katara turned on her heels, and marched toward the oblong archways that marked the location of the kitchens.
"Stupid, sexist hogmonkies" she thought, opening the door. The kitchen was plain and grey, with the exception of the large window-like wall on the left, and painted air bender symbols on the ceiling. Katara let out a groan of frustration as she glanced at the piles of dirty dishes that were scattered all over the countertops. The pot full of boiling rice was seated awkwardly on top of a fire, and began to tremble from the steam, with occasional shifting the lid. Sighing, she removed the lid, and paced back and forth as she waited for it to cool down.
"Stupid boys" thought Katara while she crossed her arms. "Always making me do everything..." The more that she thought about it, the more she began to realize that Sokka had really been a pain these past couple of days. He'd never bothered to help her with the dishes, cook, or even make his own bed. She let out a low grunt of frustration, aiming a kick at nothing in particular. It just so happened that her aimless kick stuck a funny looking bag facing the window.
--
Aang could feel the blast before he heard it. He stopped his fireball short, and spun around to see thick ringlets of green smoke issuing from somewhere in the temple. "KATARA!" he screamed in Zuko's face. Before Zuko could say anything in protest, Aang had grabbed him by the wrist, and was pulling him inside at top air bender speed. The world sped by in flashes of color and sound; Aang was focused on finding green. Green smoke, green splatters, green anything.
Soon, he found a room in complete shambles, with green slime dripping off the walls, and Katara in a corner struggling to get to her feet. Aang let go of a very dizzy Zuko, and rushed to her side, asking her a flurry of questons.
"SpiritsKataraareyouokbecauseisawitandicameandimsorryididntcomefasterand-"
"Aang, I'm fine. Thank you. Just- just bend it out of here" croaked Katara, who decided to remain slumped on the wall, eyes still closed. After giving her one more concerned look, the Avatar began to bend the slime into graceful streams, and send them through the window onto the valleys and trees below. Zuko, who managed to stop stumbling around, took a seat next to Katara on the floor and rested his head on the wall.
"I knew Water Tribe recipies always lead to disasters" he said in a matter-of-fact tone, giving her a smug smile. Katara eyed his expression for a second and grinned.
"How are you holding up?" he inquired, more serious this time.
"I'm pretty good. My right knee and wrists still kind of hurt"
"Oh." He gently lifted her wrist, and peered at it, examining for any clear breaks or bruises. After about a minute, he slowly turned her wrist from left to right.
"Does is hurt when I do this?"
"Not really, no"
"How about this?" he asked, tilting her wrist back and forth. "It seems like-"
"AH SPIRITS! That feels horrible!" Zuko quickly lowered her hand, but let it rest on his.
"Sorry" he muttered, casting his eyes at the window. Katara also shifted her eyes to somewhere on the floor, until she noticed that Zuko's fingers had crept up from her wrist to her fingers, a few of them interlaced. Before she could respond, a demanding yet child-like voiced boomed from the doorway, "Well! What do we have here?"
Zuko quickly stood up. Before he attempted to explain himself, he remembered that Toph was blind, and probably couldn't see his hands, especially with the slime obstructing her earth bending vision.
"Well, it seems there was some kind of an explosion" he explained to Toph and the others, who had just arrived behind her. They all wore equally stunned expressions. "Aang's trying to bend that stuff-"
"Katara, did you touch that bag that I put in here?" asked Sokka, with obvious concern in his voice. Now, everyone who had just walked in had settled around Katara, either giving her a lengthy visual inspection, or prodding her with more questions about what happened.
"Well, when I got in here, I was pretty mad at you, and I thought it was a bag of dirty clothes, and I- Wait! Did you just say that you PURPOSELY PLACED IT HERE?" Katara's voice had gone from monotone to angry and resentful. Suddenly, Teo spoke up.
"I TOLD you, Sokka! That stuff was dangerous! Putting it in a place that almost everyone goes too was the stupidest-"
"YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HER!" roared Aang, who was done with his bending, and was now shaking an angry fist at Sokka.
"Spirits, Katara, everyone, I'm so sorry! It was dumb, and stupid, and I wasn't thinking and- aw Toph! You're glaring too?"
"Hey, I may be blind" said Toph with a touch of sass. "But I don't need eyes to see that I'm looking at a complete dunderhead."
Instead of responding to her, Sokka just slumped on the ground, and with his nose on his knees, he began to rock back and forth. Aang, moved by this pathetic sight, came over to Sokka and gave him a nice pat on the back.
"It's ok, Sokka. We all know you didn't mean it. It was an accident, right? Katara will forgive you, won't you Katara?"
"Aang's right, Sokka" said Katara warmly. "I know you're pretty stupid some, well, most of the time, but I know you didn't mean it. It's a good thing that I kicked the bag out the window by accident. Otherwise..." she stopped short, and closed her eyes. Composing herself, she added, "You can make it up to me by gathering some food by dinner time, since, you know, you kind of wrecked it all."
"Yeah!" yelled Aang, with a fist in the air, as Sokka gave a weak smile. "It's strawmogranite picking seasoning! And you know what that means...fruit pies for dinner! Me and Sokka could-"
"Aang, I'd like you to stay here, if that's ok with you" said Katara, who was now on her feet. "If I'm going to get my hands back into water bending shape after a good self-healing session, I need someone to train with. Toph, do you mind-"
"I'll go with Sokka." said Zuko suddenly. "He might need some fire to see if it starts to get dark."
"Good thinking" said Katara with a smile. "Well, Sokka? Our stomachs aren't getting any fuller! Yip yip!"
--
The sky was beginning to look smoky-blue as Zuko and Sokka's bag was beginning to look full. The strawmogranites that day were exceptionally juciy as well as thin skinned. Every once in a while, the fruits would burst as they plucked them from their dense bushes, staining their swollen fingers with sweet violet juice, much to their annoyance and delight. The pair had maintained focus on their task for a while, but eventually sat down to talk, occasionally popping a fresh strawmogranite in their mouths.
"Some day, huh?" muttered Sokka, munching on a fresh berry that he had just plucked.
"No offense Sokka, but out of all places, why would you choose the kitchen as a place for the blasting jelly?"
Sokka had cast his eyes downwards, and a little color had drained from his face. "I didn't exactly choose it. I mean, I was walking by when I noticed the kitchen window, and I noticed that I could see the moon outside. It just looked so...bright. And peaceful. And I started to think about Yue. By the time that I walked away, I guess I just didn't realize that I had left it there. I'm not trying to pass that off as an excuse for my stupidness, but-"
"No, Sokka. It's ok. I understand." Zuko stared ahead into the trees, his chewing slower.
"Do you ever think about Mai?" asked Zuko slowly, starting on another berry. It was now Zuko's turn to flush.
"Well, I used to, almost all the time. I can only image what she felt while reading that note, how much I hurt her. But lately, its just like the feeling has-"
"Zuko, did you hear that?"
"What?!"
Both of them were now standing and alert, scanning the area.
"It was like leaves rustling, but I can't feel any strong breezes right now" Sokka whispered, eyes wide open. A bush that had gently, yet noticibly vibrated caught Zuko's attention. He silently motioned Sokka to stay quiet, and slowly pulled out his double broadswords. As he slowly approached the bush, he heard a loud thud behind him; Sokka had fallen to the ground, and two thick darts appeared to be stuck in his legs. He tried to get up, but everything below the waist wouldn't budge.
Zuko, now furious, roared to the bushes, "COWARD! SHOW YOURSELF!" Almost instantly, he saw a figure covered completely in black sprinting towards him from a nearby bush. Zuko began to sprint as well, and made agressive swipes for the figure's head as soon as he was close enough. The stranger avoided his attacks by ducking, and quickly backflipping behind him. When Zuko turned around, he was astonished; the figure was holding double broadswords as well. The two rushed at eachother. Zuko made quick jabs and slashes at the stranger's neck and stomach, which were blocked by equally fast attacks. The fighting seemed to continue for hours, punctuated by Sokka's groans of discomfort. While ducking from another attempt at his shoulder, Zuko spied a pile of hardened mud on the grass, and pivoted into a different position. As the two began to move backward, Zuko braced himself; the figure's heel would soon meet the lump of dirt. As the figure tottered backward, Zuko quickly spun behind, and caught the stranger's neck with the edges of his swords.
"Feeling okay, buddy?" Zuko called out to Sokka, who could sit up by now.
"The only thing I can feel hurting right now is my pride. But yep, doing great!" replied Sokka. Zuko turned his attention back to the person in his hold. Their face was covered in a semi-opaque black cloth, making it almost impossible for him to get a good look at their features. The stranger's breathing had gone from fast and hard to calm, and their fidgeting had stopped. Instead, the figure loosened their hold on the swords, and its face seemed to be slightly turned towards Zuko.
"Give me one reason -one damn reason- that I shouldn't end you right now" Zuko breathed into the stranger's ear.
The person said, in a dreamy and unfamiliar young woman's voice, "Why, Zuko! Is that really the way you should talk to an old friend?"
First fanfic ever. Yes? No? Maybe? Should I stop with pointless questions? Review, review, review!
See you next chapter!