Scorching Appetite
Chapter 1: Set Sail
"Hurry up Sokka, I don't want the ship to leave without us because you were busy screwing about with the house maids," Katara huffs from behind my door. I shoot a look at the carved wood, my hands never stopping their roaming over the curvy body lying beneath me.
"Why do you always assume that I'm screwing around? Maybe I'm just finishing packing," I defend, but right after the words have come out my hand slips under the short skirt of my maid and travels a little too far, her soft mew of pleasure loud in the otherwise silent room.
"I rest my case. You have five minutes before we leave without you," Katara threatens before I hear her retreating footsteps. Grinning, I turn my attention back to the woman writhing beneath me; marveling at how responsive her body is as I ghost a finger along her panty line and her hips arch forward.
"Five minutes; more than enough time," I assure the young maid before pulling off her underwear in one fluid motion and lowering my mouth as her eyes roll back in her head and her lips part in a silent scream.
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"Fix your hair, Katrina made a mess of it," Katara points out as I walk towards her, my seal fur jacket lying lazily over my shoulder.
"You should see what kind of state she's in," I tease my baby sister, winking as she just rolls her eyes. Three years ago and Katara would have thrown a complete hissy fit if I had said something like that to her. Now, however, seeing as she's almost 20 and I'm 24, she's gotten used to my 'whorish ways'; as she so nicely puts it.
"You know, I've seen Katrina sneaking around Marco's room a couple of times. What happens if they get together while we're gone for these next two months?" Katara asks, raising her eyebrow as I start laughing.
"Please, you think I don't know about them? Why do you think I always have Katrina clean my rooms like first thing in the morning? I'm not gonna stick my dick in her if she's already had Marco's tic tack in there," I say, wrinkling my nose in distaste as Katara just stares at me.
"Well it would explain why your morning showers are always so long," she finally says, actually laughing a little.
"Christ Kat, you're becoming twisted," I point out before grinning like a mad man. "I've never been more proud," I add, mocking all sentimental emotions as I wrap my arm around my baby sister's neck and give her a nuggie.
"Hey! Hands off before I water whip you into next week!" Katara threatens and I quickly pull away in surrender.
"I prefer leather whips; less messy," I say casually and Katara just laughs, shoving against my shoulder as we approach the dock.
"Miss Katara, Master Sokka," the boat hand greets us, extending his hand for Katara as he helped her step onto the ship; the action earning him a smile and polite thanks.
I know that Katara is no Virgin Mary, having been there to listen to her gush about how nicely her boyfriend of three years, Zuko, had treated her. It's safe to say that our last visit to the Fire Nation had been a very awkward one since the whole time I wanted to beat the shit out of Zuko for taking away Katara's innocence. Best friend or not, that's my baby sister he's taking to bed in the room right down the hall from mine and that means that he's gonna get his ass beat.
"What are you doing Sokka? Get out of my room," Katara ordered, trying to shoo me out of her doorway where I was just standing.
"Sorry Kat, I started thinking about fucking Katrina," I lied, smiling just enough that my canine tooth popped out making my smile what females called irresistible.
"You pervert," Katara muttered before closing her door in my face. I laughed quietly before heading over to the door where the guy from the dock was waiting for me.
"These are you quarters, Master Sokka," he announced and I checked to make sure the hallway was empty before grabbing the guy by his collar and throwing him inside of my room.
"Listen here, you little creep," I started, stalking over to the place where the dock hand sat cowering. "If I see you in this hallway again, I will beat the shit out of you. If I see you near Katara, I will beat the shit out of you. If I see you even look at Katara, I will beat the shit out of you. Understand?"
By the time I was finished with my threats, I was a little more up close and personal with the guy than I would've liked to have been, but it helped to get my point around so I stood my ground.
"Y-yes Master So-Sokka," he stuttered and I smiled before my eyes narrowed.
"Good. Now get the fuck out of my room," I ordered and the guy nodded, hell he even bowed to me, before running out of my room like it was on fire. I heard him skid on the carpet in the hallway and crash into the opposite wall and I couldn't help but laugh my ass off at how much of a pussy that guy was.
"Master Sokka," a voice said from the doorway and I looked up to see the general of my father's army. "Your father wishes to see you in his quarters at once," he said and I nodded, following him out of my room. As I was lead through the winding hallways of my father's best ship, the one that he always traveled in and sometimes allowed Katara and I to take when traveling, Katara came jogging up to me with her own escort.
"Who did you get pregnant this time, Sokka?" she demanded, glaring at me as we continued to walk behind the two generals.
"Why am I always the one that has to do something wrong?" I asked before quickly realizing what a stupid question that was as Katara just continued to glare at me. "Oh just shut up, it's not like you're little miss perfect," I huffed, but Katara just continued to glare at me; knowing that I was wrong and she was right. "Honestly, if I got a girl pregnant, why would you be coming too?"
Katara was stumped at this; her lack of having something to say a rarity that I internally giggled about.
"Well if you didn't get a girl pregnant, then who do you owe money to?" she asked and I just rolled my eyes.
"Face it Katara, this has nothing to do with me specifically and you know it," I said proudly, smirking at her. "And besides, I stopped gambling last week after I lost your fur coat to a gay worker from the kitchens," I added with a shrug and Katara turned to face me completely, shoving against my chest as she stared at me in disbelief.
"You told me you quit two months ago!" she yelled, the generals turning to look at us oddly. To them I could only shrug. Girls will be girls, you know? Somehow though, I figured that telling them that wouldn't be a very wise thing to do especially with Katara so close.
"You gambled with my fur coat?" she then yelled, finally registering just what I had said to her.
"Don't worry, I can just start gambling again and win it back for you," I tried to reassure Katara, but that only seemed to make her angrier. "Or!" I quickly said, wracking my brain for ideas. "I could just buy you a new one from the Fire Nation that no one else will have. How does that sound?"
There was a tense moment in which I wasn't sure if Katara would take the bait or use some of the millions of gallons of water we were floating on to completely destroy me. At least then that pervert boat hand would be too scared to come near her.
"Fine," Katara finally said before turning away and continuing to walk. I followed right behind her, falling into my casual walk as if I hadn't just been silently threatened by a master water bender.
"But seriously, why the hell are we being called into dad's room? If I didn't do anything exceptionally bad and you've just been you these past couple of days then I see no reason for this little family meeting to even happen," I mumbled, wondering just how long it took to get to my father's quarters. Like seriously, where the hell did he live? The freakin twilight zone?
"Do you have any idea why we've been called in, General?" I asked, not really specifying which of the two I was talking to; so long as I got an answer.
"Sorry Master Sokka, but we weren't told anything except to seek you out," the general that got me answered before he finally came to a stop in front of a rather intricately carved door. I think Katara was thinking the same thing about the door as I was because it looked like she could've stayed standing where she was for days and just take in all the details of the craftsmanship.
Gosh, what a dork. I thought, smiling all the same as I looked at my little sister with fondness. If there was one thing I was glad about, it was how amazing Katara turned out. I'm honestly surprised she didn't turn out messed up or something, seeing as she was raised by multiple baby sitters since our father was never around and then I was there to help raise her too technically… but that's not exactly a good thing.
"Quit staring you loser," Katara muttered, blushing all the same as she pulled me into our father's quarters. The generals stayed behind, as expected since there was no way they'd be important enough to be a part of a family meeting.
"Father," both Katara and I greeted, bowing before the Water Tribe leader.
"Children, please, rise. You should know by now that you don't need to bow to me," our father reminded us and I simply nodded while Katara smiled at him. If there was another thing about Katara that I was proud of, it was that she still had the ability to love our father while I could barely stand to look at him. Katara is too young to remember just what exactly it was like after mom died, but it was shit storm after shit storm with no end in sight. There was actually a period of time where, even at the young age of seven, I wasn't sure if our father would continue leading the Southern Water Tribe. Of course everything worked out though because dad just dumped the duty of raising us on some multitude of nannies that watched us play with snow.
Oh yeah, childhood was a blast with dad.
"What's the reason we were called in, father?" I asked, only giving him the title of father out of formality and I guess some respect because while he failed as a parent, my father did know how to run a tribe.
"Something happened concerning Ozai and his children," our father began and my attention instantly went to Katara as she noticeably paled. I wanted to comfort her; maybe just hold her hand so that she knew I was there, but I was frozen to the spot.
"As you may have noticed during out last visit, Ozai's and Azula's relationship wasn't as strong as usual and it's led to Azula running away," father continued on and I listened as Katara gasped next to me, watching from the corner of my eyes as her hand flew up to her mouth in shock.
"How long ago did this happen?" I asked, surprised at how hoarse my voice sounded. I've never been particularly close with Zuko's younger sister Azula, but her running away was just horrible news.
"A couple of months, I just wasn't sure how to tell you and figured that she would've returned home by now so that you children wouldn't even have to worry about it. Seeing as we're on our way to the Fire Nation now, it's important that you become aware of the circumstances there so that there isn't any confusion."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Katara demanded, advancing towards our father with her eyes narrowed. I already knew that somehow she was going to make this all relate back to Zuko so she could make a big deal about it and guilt trip our father. If only she used her big blue eyes for good and actually got something out of her guilt trips instead of just the satisfaction of knowing she was right once again.
"All this time and Zuko's been alone and unable to talk to me about," Katara whispered pathetically, down casting her eyes in part one of her act. It always starts with her sad, then the hopeless questions, and then she turns it back onto dad by making him feel bad about not telling her sooner. It works every time too and only with her. I tried it once and, well…it really didn't work out as well.
"He hasn't been exactly alone," our father said and I cocked my eyebrow as Katara just stared.
"What the hell do you mean by that?" she bit out, hands fisting at her sides.
"Azula's close friend, Mai, has been around the castle with Ty Lee. Ozai says that they've been stopping by a lot and helping with the search party," dad said indifferently and I could only watch as steam all but rolled out of Katara's ears; her face turned an extremely unattractive shade of red as well.
"What? That whore has been hanging around with Zuko these past two months acting like his shoulder to lean on and I didn't even know about any of this?" Katara yelled, throwing up her fisted hands in an outrage.
"Katara, you shouldn't talk about Mai that way. She has a very respectable father and has only ever been a good friend to you and Zuko," dad tried to tell Katara, but she wasn't hearing any of it as she just went on ranting.
"I can't believe you dad! How could you have not told me about this earlier? We should have been on the first ship over to the Fire Nation the day that Azula ran away!" she yelled and I just stood back and observed.
I'm not blind to the ways that Mai looks at Zuko when Katara isn't around. Hell, Mai sometimes shoots Zuko those looks when Katara is sitting right next to him. I honestly have no doubt that Mai is putting the moves on Zuko right now. If not, she's definitely thinking up ways to get him into her bed.
"I want the crew working around the clock so that we can get to the Fire Nation as soon as possible," Katara hissed before storming out of our father's quarters. I stayed behind for a moment, a bemused look on my face as I let out a low whistle and walked over to dad.
"That went really well Pops. Maybe next time though, you won't keep something concerning Zuko dearest from Kat for a couple of months," I suggested, patting dad's shoulder before leaving his office and heading for the deck. I really should be going to Katara to make sure she's okay, but right now all I really want is some fresh air and to feel the sea breeze on my face. Besides, Katara is a big girl and I'm pretty sure she's past the teen angst phase of her life so I don't have to worry about her slitting her wrists over this any time soon.
"Master Sokka, would you like anything to drink?" a waiter on the deck asked; a tired sigh escaping my lips as I looked longingly over at the head of the ship.
"Sure," I gave in. "Uh, something strong and not fruity. I want this trip to be over as quickly as possible, so the sooner I can get wasted and pass out, the better," I told the man and he just nodded before leaving me alone. With him gone, I could finally head out to my favorite part of the ship where I actually had a bench built so I could sit there for hours… which I do whenever we travel. I was about to sit when the waiter returned with my drink which I took while at the same time asking for them to keep coming.
"You have some horrible habits, you know," Katara muttered as she came walking up from behind me. I turned, looking over at her with semi blurry vision as I held my fourth drink in my hand.
"One day you'll learn that money can buy you happiness," I started and Katara just cocked her eyebrow in confusion. "Money buys booze, booze brings happiness," I explained and Katara just rolled her eyes, sitting down next to me all the same. I offered her a drink, half expecting her to turn it down because of her saintly ways, but to my shock and joy she accepted and downed the drink in one gulp.
"Thanks," she whispered hoarsely and I couldn't help but chuckle, signaling the waiter over and telling him to bring over more drinks.
"No problem, you looked like you could use one," I said and Katara just shot me a look, accepting the drink the waiter brought for her.
"I can't believe he didn't tell me about Azula earlier," Kat finally mumbled after swallowing down two more glasses of the hard liquor. By that point, I had consumed nearly seven glasses of what I guessed to be fire whiskey mixed with vodka; Fire Nation really does have all the best booze. Thanks to my 'bad habits' though, I'm only just starting to get buzzed which quiet honestly pisses me off.
"Are you surprised? He barely even spends time with us; why go out of his way just to tell us something that doesn't concern us directly?" I said bitterly, staring down at the drink in my hand. Is alcoholism hereditary in our family? It would really explain why I love the stuff so much, but I don't know enough about my family to really say.
"Dad just has a lot to do, all of which he does to make our lives better," Katara lamely tried to defend our father, failing horribly as I snorted.
"Oh yeah, because spending all of his nights with a bunch of whores really helps make our lives so much better. Thanks a lot Dad," I hissed, swallowing down another drink. A waiter came by, maybe the same one from before but I was getting too drunk to notice; the faces all blurring together as I picked up another glass.
"You don't know about any of that for sure Sokka," Katara tried to tell me but I just laughed coldly.
"So the number of times we've seen nameless women leaving his room in the mornings means nothing? Where did you think I got my 'man whoring' ways from? I only ever learned from the best," I said, laughing humorlessly to myself as Katara stiffened next to me.
"I miss Mom," she finally said, speaking so quietly that I almost didn't even hear her. When I finally processed her words though, my blood ran cold as I squeezed my eyes shut and swallowed whatever was left over from the glass in my hand.
"I do too," I whispered before pulling Katara into my arms as she began to cry.
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Alright, so I know that I haven't updated anything in over a year (some stories more than two years), and I'm sorry for that. I realize that this isn't an update or a TT/TDI story, but I wanted to give you all something while I struggle to get an update posted. I have the first 5 chapters of this story already written, so I'm going to post an update hopefully every two months (if I remember) so that way I can still be posting something while also having plenty of time to work on other things.
I am currently rereading Just My Way and When the Dead Live so those are going to be the first ones I get updates posted for because they seem to be the most popular.
Serious note: If anyone has ANY ideas for any of my stories, or even just a thought of where you'd like to see it go, I would LOVE to hear it. Please either message me or include it in a review because your ideas will only help me write easier.
I have one more week before summer starts at which time I plan to really bunker down and get some updates posted. So please just hang tight. You all are amazing and I've missed this whole writing gig.
K