The next day Gaara and the bison (as Shukaku had helpfully supplied) continued on their journey throughout the desert. Shukaku had been oddly quite this morning not that Gaara was complaining because any silence from him was usually pleasant. The desert heat barely affected Gaara but the bison seemed to be struggling because it began panting. Gaara gently rubbed the bison's nose "don't worry we will be out of the desert soon." Gaara was about to continue walking when a thought occurred to him. Quickly Gaara made a platform of sand and jumped onto it. Gaara then turned to the bison "stay here I will go on ahead and scout I will be back soon," Gaara was about to leave when he remembered the sand benders who had originally kidnapped the bison. With this in mind, Gaara gently covered the bison in sand not enough to suffocate it but enough to help it blend in with its surroundings. Gaara nodded at his work "this should prevent those 'sand benders' from acquiring you while I'm gone."

The bison roared in agreement as Gaara gently flew away in order to scout. Gaara scanned his surroundings hoping he could at least find a cave of some sort to rest for the night. After what seemed like hours of scanning he finally found something. Or someone. Out of nowhere a boy (most likely a monk given his bald head) flew towards him on what appeared to be some sort of glider. The boy didn't seem to know he was about to crash into him or didn't care because he made no move of changing direction.

Against his will, his sand immediately blocked the boy from crashing into him knocking the boy off his glider and sending him crashing to the desert floor. Springing into action Gaara caught the boy in his sand before he could hit the ground. As Gaara lowered the struggling boy to the ground a small group of people ran towards them. "Aang!" a brunette girl with tan skin and a blue dress called. The boy next to her probably her sibling considering the resemblance held a boomerang in his direction "Let him go right now!" Gaara nodded "As you wish," he said before dropping 'Aang' to the ground with a loud 'oof!'

As the boy's friends surrounded him he quickly used the time to try and make his getaway. "Hey wait up!" the brunette girl said running after him. Gaara came to a stop once more and gently dropped to the ground calling his sand back into his gourd once more. "Can I help you?" Gaara asked face blank. The girl rubbed her head awkwardly "uh actually yes you see we kind of lost our bison and we have no idea where were going do you think you can help us?" the girl asked. Before Gaara could reply the girl's brother dragged her into what appeared to be a group huddle.

"Katara what are you doing we don't even know this guy!" her brother hissed angrily. Katara frowned "What am I doing? what are you doing! I'm trying to be nice and ask for directions which you rudely interrupted," "She has a point Sokka," the shorter girl said, "Who asked you Toph!" Gaara sweatdropped "They do realise I'm standing right here right?" While they were busy arguing Gaara took the time to analyse each member of the group. The taller girl had dark skin and dark brown hair in a braid with big blue eyes and a blue dress which was torn and dirty from walking around in the desert. She also carried a small container on her hip which contained water. The smaller girl, on the other hand, had short black hair and milky eyes probably due to blindness because Gaara doubted that she was a Hyuga. The girl was also wearing a green and white dress with no shoes.

The taller boy also had dark skin and brown hair which was tied in a ponytail with a blue shirt and shorts. he also appeared to be carrying two weapons one on his back and another on his hip. The last member of the gang was the one he had almost crashed into. The boy was bald with strange tattoos on his head and arms. "Oh no!" Shukaku whined. "What is it?" Gaara asked Shukaku in his head. "The brat with the arrow tattoos is the Avatar!" "Avatar?" Gaara asked once more not familiar with that term. "Yeah, Avatars are known to keep the peace not to mention he's an Airbender now I'll never be able to go on a killing spree!" Shukaku whined again. Gaara frowned "Even if he wasn't the Avatar I still wouldn't let you now shut up I think they are almost done talking," "Oh Gaara! you used to be so much fun until that orange wearing brat got to you!" Gaara's expression darkened "Do not insult Naruto Uzumaki," Gaara told him before cutting Shukaku off.

After his lovely talk with Shukaku Gaara finally realised what Katara had said. "Wait did she say-" Gaara took a step towards the group startling them "did you say Bison?" The avatar or Aang immediately stepped forward with a hopeful expression on his face "Yeah! our flying Bison! have you seen him?" Gaara blinked "does this bison have an arrow tattoo on his head too?" Aang grinned "Yeah! that's him! why? have you seen him!" Gaara nodded "yes I found him yesterday being smuggled by a group of sand benders and rescued him, why? is he yours?" Aang nodded a solemn expression on his face "Yeah he's mine we lost him a couple of days ago while we were in the Great Library," his expression immediately brightened "but you can take us to him right?"

Gaara nodded before making another platform of sand, this time, larger to fit the whole group. Gaara hopped on turning to face the shocked teenagers "are you coming?" Aang was the first one to snap out of it immediately jumping on before grinning at him "come on guys it's actually kinda comfy up here!" without another word the rest of them climbed on. Gaara started to move the sand in the direction of Appa. "So you're a sand bender right?" The girl Katara asked. Gaara nodded before looking down at her bag "and you are a water bender correct?" She nodded sheepishly "I take it you must feel really at home in this desert right?" the other girl Toph asked putting her feet up.

Gaara nodded again "Yes I actually grew up in a desert not this one but another one," Aang looked confused "if this isn't your home then why are you here?" Gaara winced "I... lost my home quite recently actually," Gaara said. It wasn't a complete lie because he did lose his home but not in the way they were probably assuming. Their expressions immediately darkened "It's okay the fire nation took my home too," Aang said placing a reassuring hand on Gaara's shoulder. Gaara nodded although he had no idea who these 'fire nation' people were he figured they were not good considering his companions expressions.

When they finally reached their destination Aang jumped right off and looked around hopefully before frowning. "Wheres A-" before Aang could finish a loud sneeze echoed and a large amount of sand flew up landing on Aang revealing Appa. Aang grinned jumping out of the sand pile before jumping on the bison's face. "Appa!" the bison let out a small roar before snuggling its owner. The rest of his friends joined in hugging the large mammal. Gaara turned to leave a solemn expression on his face. Although he had only had the bison a day he admits he had enjoyed the company.

He was about to start walking when Aang called out for him. Gaara turned to face him when he suddenly found himself in a large bear hug from the boy. Gaara froze not used to feeling such affection before. Aang pulled back a large grin on his face "thank you for finding and taking care of Appa!" he said grinning. Gaara nodded to shocked to speak. Aang had a thoughtful look on his face before it changed into a grin "hey how about you come with us!" Gaara stared at the boy shocked. "w-what?" he asked bewildered. Aang nodded "Yeah! I'm going to need all the help I can get to defeat the Fire Lord and I can sense your a powerful bender so pretty please?" Aang said with a puppy dog face at the end.

Gaara turned to look at the boy's friends and was shocked to find them with a thoughtful look. "This guy seems pretty tough," "The more people for the war the better," "Maybe he can even teach me sand bending I'm tired of being blind in the desert!" They then turned to face him with hopeful expressions of their own. Gaara blinked before bowing with a slight smile "It would be my honor to join you Avatar Aang," Aang looked slightly shocked that he knew before smiling again and squeezing him in another hug as well "This is great! I'm so glad I made a new friend!." Gaara felt his lip twitch up once more at being called a friend.

"Wahoo Team Avatar has just gotten a new member!" Sokka called out loudly only to be scolded by his sister who then turned and smiled kindly at him"welcome to the group Gaara," she said smiling kindly. Toph walked up to him a grinned at him "Let's see what you got Sand man" Gaara felt his lip twitch up. Was this what it was like to have friends? "Naruto," Gaara thought as he saw Katara scold Toph for calling him names "I finally understand what you mean."