Author's note: I'm going through and adding in some details I forgot to mention to flush out the world more clearly. I'm sorry to those who are waiting for a legitimate update but I'm a perfectionist and I just couldn't bear to go on without fixing these few mistakes. Go ahead and read it again though and see if you can spot the differences this time!
Chapter Two: A Lazy Rival!
Sitting at the barbeque grill table, Choji and Sokka grinned as they watched the cuts of meat sizzle. "I love meat!" They cried in unison.
"So you guys are ninja?" Katara asked.
Sokka wasn't listening. He was too busy stuffing his face with meat. Aang looked repulsed. Ino nodded. "Yup. We sure are. Are you surprised?"
"Well, it's just…" Katara hesitated. "You're not what I expected ninja to be like."
"What did you expect?" Choji asked through a mouth full of barbeque. "Mask wearing, figures in black body suits?"
"No, I've seen ninja before." Katara said. "It's just that you guys are really different from ninjas of the mist."
"And Stone Ninja too." Toph added.
Shikamaru put his hands behind his head. "I guess you guys really are stupid if you think all ninja are the same. You certainly weren't powerful."
Toph scoffed. "Yeah well neither are you." She countered. "We heard all about your weaknesses from your boss while he was degrading you in front of us."
Ino smacked her hands on the table and leaned forward. "Hey!" she cried. "Asuma sensei isn't our boss, he's our leader. And he wasn't degrading us, he was teaching us." Ino looked around. "Asuma sensei?" Now that they realized it, neither Aang nor Asuma were still at the table. Aang must have taken his vegetarian self outside.
Shikamaru closed his eyes. "What a drag." He muttered. "We may not be perfect, but we were able to capture you. Finding you sure was easy. Who's idea was it to take a flying bison on a hike through the woods?" He asked.
"It's not like we could fly." Sokka grumbled, his mouth full of food. "You would have spotted us with your 'superior cloud watching skills'." As he said this, Sokka made wavey hand motions in the air to indicate that he was mocking Shikamaru's love of cloud watching. This was intended to piss Shikamaru off, but only really succeeded in making Sokka look ridiculous waving his arms with meat juice dripping down his chin.
Shikamaru yawned. "You act as though flying through the air like a giant target and tromping through the woods were your only options."
"If you're so smart," Katara retorted, "Why don't you tell us what you would've done."
"I'd send word to the Leaf Village immediately." Shikamaru replied. "You need to get into the Fire Nation without the fire lord knowing. It seems obvious to ask for help from the one entity in the Fire Nation that is not under the rule of the fire lord. Don't you have a messenger bird?"
"We did until someone decided to send a letter to her parents." Sokka pointedly looked at Toph. Irritated by Shikamaru's tone of condescension he asked, "And how do you expect us to contact a mysterious 'hidden' village that we have no idea where it is without a messenger bird?"
"By having the Hidden Stone village contact us." Shikamaru said flatly. He was obviously tired of this conversation. "You just came from the Earth Kingdom right? Well, sending word to the Hidden Stone is easy. There are free mailboxes all over Ba Sing Se that ninja mailmen collect and bring to iwagakure."
"Yeah, well we were'nt just in Ba Sing Se." Sokka said triumphantly. "We get move around a lot you know."
"Actually," Toph said contemplatively, "There are mailboxed all over the earth kindom. My parents used to hire ninja all the time as escorts whenever they let me leave the family compound." Toph frowned and added to herself, "I don't know why I didn't think of that."
"Humph." Sokka huffed. "Yeah, well I don't know if I trust you ninja any way."
"That's your problem." Shikamaru stated. "I just told you what the best plan of action was because you asked what I would do." He settled back in his seat and looked like he was ready for a nap.
Sokka was pissed. Who did this guy think he was saying that he knew the best plan of action? How dare he just show up and call all of Sokka's strategies stupid. He didn't know anything. "You think you're better than us, don't you!" Sokka snapped. Katara shot her brother a warning glance.
Shikamaru said nothing since it was not really a question. His indifference was so annoying.
"Well?" Sokka asked
Shikamaru sighed. "Well what?"
"Do you think you're better than us cause you're some flashy ninja?" Sokka growled.
Closing his eyes, Shikamaru sighed again. "Better than you in what sense?"
"See! He does think he's better than us!" Sokka shouted.
Katara grabbed his shoulder. "Don't push it." She hissed. "Don't you remember the rumors we heard about the mist?"
Sokka ignored her. "Well we'll see who's better. I challenge you to a battle." Katara face palmed.
"No thanks." Shikamaru declined. "It's too much trouble."
Sokka smacked his hand on the table. "This is a fight amongst men! So don't go backing down like a coward."
"Mng" Shikamaru grunted. He crossed his arms and stared at the celing and tried his best to block out the sounds coming from the very loud water tribe boy across from him.
"What, do you think I'm not worthy to fight you?" Sokka continued, oblivious to the fackt that no one was listening. "I bet you think I'm just some water peasant that can't even bend. But I'm a warrior! I have a boomerang!"
Aang had walked outside. He was worried about Appa. They had had to leave him outside the village walls since walking him through the streets would draw too much attention. Ever since he had lost Appa in the Earth Kingdom, Aang felt more nervous about leaving his friend alone. He turned as he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. It was Asuma.
"I'm sorry for the way we treated you back there in the woods." He apologized. "When we saw the trail that your pet bison had made, we assumed the worst." Asuma saw how the boy's face fell upon hearing of his beast. "Hey." Asuma reassured him. "The flying bison will be fine. I set up a genjutsu so that anyone who looks at him will just see more forest."
"What are you going to do with us here?" Aang asked.
Asuma shrugged. "That's really not under my control." He said. "I'll have to take you to lord hokage, but don't worry about it. He's a nice guy and a very good leader."
Aang looked skeptical. "How do you know?" He asked.
Asuma smiled. "He's my father."
Author's note: I'm assuming all of you who are reading this know what fan fiction is so there's no point in putting in a disclaimer telling you about it.