Disclaimer: I don't own neither Naruto nor Avatar. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Nickelodeon respectively.
A/N: Well, I'm back people. I hope you all had a happy holiday and everything thereafter. I know I did since I'm typing this on my own, brand new lap-top. Along with it I've finally managed to acquire a functional English spell-checker, and that means that my chapters will contain significantly less of those pesky spelling errors that seems to pop up whenever you least expect it.
As such, I hope that the quality of my writing will increase. I'll also eventually go back to previous chapters and correct some of the more blatant errors, as well as some minor sentences in the story. Nothing major, just some things like, for instance, in the last chapter where Aang managed to spot a village that I, in this chapter, changed to a town.
And since I have my own computer to play with, I should theoretically be able to write more often since I don't have to mind anyone else who wants to use it. Thereby updating more often. *CLANG* Ouch, who the heck threw that?!
Anyway, I'm not going to keep you up any longer other than to say that I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 04
Festival
Katara let out a groan as she pushed yet another low hanging tree branch out of her way. Once that obstacle was dealt with, she moved her torch in front of her, illuminating the path before her as she attempted to find the traces of a certain blonde teenager that she had been trying to follow for the last half hour.
"Where could he have ran off to?" asked the young Waterbender to no one in particular before letting out a sigh of frustration. This was proving to be harder than she had initially thought and she started to wonder if she was actually going to be able to find Naruto. Maybe she should have brought Sokka along after all. Her brother had always been a better tracker than her.
Katara's lemur-companion silently observed her from his position atop her left shoulder. His head was slightly tilted to the side as he looked at her with those big, green eyes of his, when suddenly, something managed to catch his interest. Momo's tiny, but sensitive, nostrils flared as he recognised a familiar scent that lingered in the air.
The Avatar gang's smallest member then jumped down from Katara's shoulder and started to scurry along the forest floor, trying to get a lead on the scent. While Momo's sense of smell wasn't as potent as other species', it was still adequate enough.
"What is it, Momo?" asked Katara as she squatted down next to her furry friend. "Have you found something?"
Momo raised his head, taking a final sniff of the air, before bolting off in a certain direction. He only stopped for a brief moment to look over his shoulder back at Katara, wordlessly telling the girl to follow him, before he was off again.
Getting the hint, Katara quickly followed the lemur, trying her best with keeping up with the speedy little animal.
Once the two of them were finally on the right track, it wasn't all that hard to figure out which direction Naruto had taken. A quick look at the surrounding vegetation was all it took in order to see were the blonde had headed, since, in his current state of mind, Naruto had simply forced his way through the forest, completely ignoring any bushes or plants that had been unfortunate enough to stand in his way.
After a few more minutes of running, the girl and the lemur soon began to hear something up ahead. It was faint, but it was enough for Katara to quicken up the pace of her steps.
The closer they got, the louder and clearer the sounds became. Judging by the storm of curses that Katara was hearing, Naruto had apparently stopped running, something the girl was grateful for since she hadn't really looked forward to the prospect of having to comb through the entire forest in order to find him.
After taking a slight left-turn after passing a couple of particularly large oak trees, Katara and Momo finally came to a stop when they found the boy they had been searching for in a small clearing. It was just big enough to allow the moonlight to filter through the treetops and reach the ground.
Naruto currently had his back facing them and seemed to be right in the middle of beating a tree to death with his bare hands. He was hitting it with such force that it not only visibly shook from the powerful impacts, but also caused splinters to fly in all directions, seemingly without a care of how the whole thing was affecting his knuckles.
Whether it was a conscious decision or not, he didn't bother to enhance or shield his punches with chakra. Using the added pain in an attempt to clear his head from the raging thoughts that kept plaguing him.
If any of Naruto's friends were to see him now, they would most likely have scolded him for both his outburst and for the fact that he left in way that wasn't at all becoming of a ninja. But to be honest, he wouldn't really have given a damn about any of that at the moment. Everything just kept spinning in his head and the young man desperately needed an outlet for his frustrations, a job this tree was perfectly suitable for.
Hearing laboured breathing coming from behind him, the blonde Konoha ninja quickly spun around to face whoever it was that had come to disturb him.
Katara took a step back and was just barely able to stifle a gasp when she saw the nearly feral look on the male teenager's face. The effect was even more pronounced due to the combined light that her torch and the moon was emanating, causing the boy to actually look quite frightening.
Momo uttered a frightened squeak and hid himself behind Katara's legs while the girl in question could merely stare at the ninja with wide eyes.
Naruto's cerulean orbs widened as well, and his features instantly softened when he recognized the young Waterbender. The look of anger that he'd had on his face was quickly replaced with one of embarrassment and shame once he realized what he had just done.
"Sorry. I didn't... I didn't mean to scare you," he said as he looked another way, unable to look her in the eye.
Blinking a couple of times, Katara tried to figure out what exactly had happened just now. She silently wondered if she had just imagined things since it had only been for barely a split second, but during that short amount of time that it had taken place, she could have sworn that she had seen Naruto's pupils turn into slits. She was, however, brought out of her reverie when she caught sight of the blonde's hands, or more specifically the bruised and bloody knuckles, that were hanging limply at his sides.
Without even thinking about it, the medic in her had completely taken over and she rushed the last couple of meters to where Naruto was standing, leaving Momo behind. She briefly stopped for a second in order to stick the torch into the ground before she quickly took a hold of both of his hands and started looking them over. "What were you thinking?! Look what you've done to your hands!"
"H-hey, you don't have to...," Naruto protested and made an attempt to extract himself from her hold, but Katara would have none of that and kept his hands in a firm grip that would have even made Tsunade nod in approval. Without as much as batting an eye, the girl removed the lid on the water-bottle at her waist, bending the contents of it until she had covered her entire right hand in the liquid.
Naruto wasn't sure what exactly was going to happen next, but as soon as Katara gently grasped his damaged knuckles in her water covered hand, he instantly stopped struggling. He blinked a couple of times as he felt a distinct tingling sensation where the water came in contact with his battered skin.
Once the Waterbender was sure that her "patient" wasn't trying to escape, she started to move her hand with slow, circular movements. The effect was nearly instantaneous and before Naruto even had the time to think about it, the bloody knuckles began to heal. The bruised skin returned to its usual lightly tanned complexion and the splinters seemingly extracted themselves from his flesh.
Naruto was surprised just how nice the procedure felt. When Katara healed him it wasn't at all like how it was when Kyuubi used it's demonic chakra to regenerate him, something that always managed to leave behind a lingering, unpleasant burning sensation. The feeling reminded him instead much more of medical chakra, while still managing to be distinctly different.
She then repeated the procedure on his other hand and once she had done her work and let go of them, they felt as good as new.
"So, would you mind telling me what exactly happened back there?" Katara asked after a moment of tense silence.
Naruto let out a sigh as he leaned his back against the tree that he had been giving a beating just a few moments ago, allowing himself to slide down it until he was seated on the damp grass in front of it. "Yeah, sorry about that," he said, still not completely able to look at her. He took a deep breath, taking his time in an to attempt to sort his raging thoughts out and try to come up with a way to explain his previous actions.
"I don't know. This day has just been so damn weird that I don't know what to make of it. And after all the things you told me, I guess I just sort of snapped." Naruto let out another sigh before finally looking into Katara's ocean blue eyes. "I didn't mean to take it all out on you guys."
Katara gave him a small smile before taking a seat right next to the blonde. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. "If there's something that's bothering you, I don't think that you should keep it bottled up inside of you like this. Now, I know we have just recently met each other, but if you'd let me, I would be more than happy to hear what you've been through."
For a moment, all Naruto did was staring up at the starry sky above, causing Katara for a second to believe that he wouldn't say anything. However, before she even had the time to apologize for saying something that she believed to have been out of line, he finally opened his mouth and began to speak.
"What do you want to know?" he asked.
"Well I... I guess I'd like to know a little more about you," answered the girl hesitantly. "For starters, where are you from? I think it's safe to say that you're not really from around here."
"You've probably got that right," laughed Naruto as he though of everything that had happened. He then pointed at the symbol on his head band, using his thumb. "I'm from Konoha. The village hidden in the leaves."
"Right... And that would be where, exactly?" The name didn't say her anything, but the blonde had said it with such passion, like it was something that everyone should know, making Katara almost feel embarrassed to ask about it.
Naruto looked at her oddly for a second, blinking a couple of times. "In the Land of Fire, of course," he continued.
This revelation was really not what Katara had expected to hear, causing her eyebrows to practically reach her hairline in shock. She nearly instantly rose to her feet, taking a few steps back from Naruto, but never once leaving his confused blue eyes with her own. "W-wait just one minute here," she stuttered. "I thought you said that you weren't from the Fire Nation. The way you talked before, it sounded like you hadn't even heard of it. Was all that just a trick?!" she accused, her tone continuously rising in volume as she went on.
"I would never trick anyone like that!" retorted Naruto heatedly. "Everything I've said to you guys have been true. I don't know what this Fire Nation is, but it sure as hell isn't where I'm from!"
"But you just said..."
"I know what I said, just..." The blonde took a deep breath and combed his fingers through his spiky hair, giving his best to put his thoughts into proper words. This was something he'd always had trouble with in the past (although he was getting increasingly better at it, despite what everyone were saying) and the current situation wasn't exactly helping matters any.
Katara observed the blonde for a brief moment, silently trying to decide what exactly she should believe. She didn't know what to make of the things that he'd said, but she could clearly see that this whole thing was troubling him immensely. Furthermore, he had done nothing to harm any of them, on the contrary he had gone so far as to go head to head with Azula when they'd been in trouble, despite the fact that he hardly even knew them.
Katara allowed herself to let out a sigh before hesitantly returning to her seat beside Naruto. She figured the least she could do was to hear him out of what he had to say and give him the benefit of the doubt.
"Al right, let's see if I get this straight," the Waterbender began. "You say that you're from the Fire Nation, but at the same time you're not?" Katara couldn't help but let her disbelief be heard in her voice.
"No, no, no. That's not what I'm saying at all," replied Naruto in slight frustration. It soon became clear to the young shinobi that in order to get the girl to understand, he would have to take everything from the beginning.
Despite never had much of an interest in history, often having fallen asleep during Iruka's classes in that particular subject, he still came to spend the following half hour giving Katara a brief lecture about the Elemental Countries and his home, Konoha. He also ended up bringing up the subject of chakra and ninjutsu and what it could do, as well as telling her a few things about his life and his own part in the village. He did skip over a whole lot of details, especially those concerning a certain nine-tailed engine of destruction that happened to reside within his belly.
While the fact that he was a Jinchuuriki didn't bother him as much as it did when he was younger, having accepted it as a part of who he was, it was just one of those things that you don't tell people that you've just met.
During his story, Katara didn't do anything but listen attentively to every word that the blonde was saying. She had mixed feelings about the whole thing, though. Everything Naruto was saying just seemed so unbelievable and alien to her, as if he was describing a completely different world than the one she was living in. But on the other hand, he spoke with such passion about his home, that a part of her couldn't help but believe him.
"- then, when we had basically finished our mission, I was captured by that bastard Orochimaru who used some sort of weird technique on me. After that, I woke up in that cave with you guys, and the rest you know."
Everything was silent for a while after Naruto had finished his tale. The only sounds that could be heard were the crickets' nightly song, and Momo munching down said crickets like it was a buffet, having long since grown tired of listening to all the jibber jabber.
"That's... quite a story, Naruto," said Katara, breaking the silence between them. "But that still doesn't explain how you ended up in the cave."
"You mean you didn't get me out of the snake-bastard's lair?" asked the blonde.
"Eh, no," replied the Waterbender hesitantly, wondering how ever she was going to explain this. "You see, when we found you... you sort of just... materialized out of thin her," she finally said, emphasizing her words with a few gestures of her hands.
"Wait, how could I have-?"
"I have absolutely no idea," said Katara, knowing full well that what she said didn't make any sense. "One second there was nothing there, then, in a flash of light, we found you lying on the ground in front of us. I know it doesn't make any sense, but that's how-," Katara then paused in her explanation as she looked over at Naruto, nearly having to bite down a laugh that threatened to escape her lips when she saw the look on his face.
The young man's eyes were closed in that fox-like fashion of hisit was done in such an exaggerated way that she could practically see and hear the gears turning inside his head. The Waterbender nearly lost it then and there before she managed to catch herself, hoping that he hadn't noticed.
"Maybe it was some kind of space-time jutsu... like a reverse summoning or something," Naruto said as he scratched his head, more to himself than anyone else. "Dammit, why didn't I pay attention when Ero-sennin went through all of this?!" He then leaned back against the tree, once again looking up to the stars before letting out a sigh of frustration, "And how the hell am I supposed to find a way home if I don't even know where, or how far away I am?"
Katara frowned sadly as she watched Naruto's troubled expression. She thought about everything that had happened during the last 24 hours, and it didn't really take that long for her to make up her mind and come to a decision.
Naruto blinked a couple of times as he watched the girl by his side rise to her feet. She then turned to him, a gentle smile on her face, "Why don't you come with us then? I won't pretend to understand everything that's happened to you, but I do believe that you are a good person and I'd rather have you with us than on your own."
"I don't know. I really don't want to be a bother, and-" it was at exact this moment that Momo decided to plop down onto blonde boy's shoulder, effectively cutting him off in the process. The lemur then stared into Naruto's eyes for a short moment, right before letting out a yawn that was promptly followed with him curling himself around the young shinobi's neck, falling asleep within seconds.
"See, even Momo agrees with me," giggled Katara. "And besides, if you come with us, you might have a greater chance of finding your way home."
Naruto looked from one to the other before chuckling to himself. "Well, I guess I really don't have much of a choice then," he finally said with a big grin.
OoOoOoO
"Man, this is awesome!" cheered Naruto loudly as the wind blew through his blonde hair. "Do you guys always travel like this?" he asked over his shoulder to the rest of the group.
"Most of the time," replied Sokka with a shrug. "It saves time and it sure beats walking all the time."
"Well, I for one prefer to have my feet safe and secure on solid ground," muttered Toph as she held onto the side of Appa's giant saddle like her very life depended on it. She had yet to grow comfortable with this type of transportation and couldn't wait until they finally landed.
The sky bison flew swiftly through the air. A feat he accomplished with far more grace than one would have expected considering his very impressive size. When Naruto had first been told of how exactly they were going to get to the town that Aang had found the day before, he had been pretty sceptical to say the least. But once his new companions had finally managed to convince him to take a seat atop Appa's back and taken off, he had, after getting over the initial shock, quickly adapted to the new situation with his usual enthusiasm.
When Naruto and Katara had returned to camp after their little talk, the first thing the blonde had done was to apologize for his previous outburst to the rest of the group. But to his great surprise, it seemed like no one really held it against him and everything was quickly forgiven. Sokka had just been happy to finally be able to go to sleep after having to sit up and wait for them.
"Wow. Everything looks so small from up here," stated the shinobi in awe as he looked over the edge and down onto the ground. He had thought that the view from Gamabunta's head was impressive, but this was on a completely different level. Never in his life would he have guessed that he would be able to gaze down at the earth from the clouds like he was doing now.
"Be careful," warned Katara. She was glad over the fact that their new friend seemed to enjoy himself so immensely, but did he have to lean himself over the edge like that?
Naruto merely turned around, flashing a wide grin. "Don't worry. Until I've become Hokage, I won't let something as silly as a fall kill me."
"I remember you mentioned something like that before, but what is a 'Hokage' exactly?" asked Sokka curiously, putting away the map he'd been reading up until this point. "Judging by the way you talk about it, it sounds like something pretty important."
If it was even possible, Naruto's grin seemed to get even wider at the mention of his number one goal in life. "You bet. The Hokage is the title of the leader and most powerful ninja of my village," he explained passionately. "It's always been my dream to become one and I won't stop until I've made that dream reality."
Katara couldn't help but smile at her new friend's spirit, having heard him talk about his dream in much the same way the night before.
"Well, that sure sounds like an impressive thing to aspire for," said Aang with an honest grin from his place behind Appa's head. "I'd love to hear more about it, but that will have to wait, because were finally here." The young Avatar gestured to the ground, urging his friends to look were he was pointing.
Down below was the town that Aang had found the day before. It was located right next to a large river that, if followed, would lead one right out onto the open sea. As such, it wasn't all too surprising for the group of youngsters to spot a fairly large number of boats and ships to be anchored in the town's harbour.
But as Appa went in for a landing, giving them all a much closer view of the town, they were all a bit surprised by the cheerful atmosphere that met them. Without them originally having even known about it, it would appear that they had managed to arrive right in the middle of a grand festival. Decorations and banners of every kind were everywhere. Musicians played beautiful songs that only served to further contribute to the mood. And the streets themselves were practically filled to the brink with people, wandering between the countless booths that lined them in search for goods, food and entertainment.
"Whoa, Aang, did you know about this?" asked Sokka, unable to tear his eyes from the spectacle below.
"No, I had no idea," replied the young monk with wide eyes. "They must have raised everything last night when we were asleep."
"What? What's going on?" wondered Toph who, for obvious reasons, had yet to figure out what all the fuss was about.
Down below, people had started to take notice of the Sky Bison's presence. They pointed and cheered loudly at the sight of the large animal and its occupants, causing said occupants to give each other a shared look of bewilderment.
"Well, it looks like we've come to one of those towns were you're quite popular, Aang," stated Sokka with a smirk as he gave his friend a thumbs up.
After a successful landing on one of the significantly less crowded streets in the outskirts of the town, Aang and his friends dismounted from Appa. They were just about to have a look around and ask someone what the occasion was about, when they noticed someone approaching them.
It was an elderly man, probably around his mid 70ies, dressed in a robe made in the customary green colour of the Earth Kingdom. A neatly trimmed beard covered his chin and a kind smile was placed on his wrinkled old face, making him fit the image of the kind grand father to a T. Once he had come close enough to them, he gave Aang a respectful bow.
"Greetings, young Avatar," he said in a friendly tone. "My name is H'u Xū, and allow me to be the first one to welcome you and your companions to our humble town of Gang Kou."
Aang smiled and gave the old man a bow in return, "Thank you, we're very glad to be here. I'm Aang, and this is Katara, Sokka, Toph and Naruto. May I ask you what it is that you are celebrating?"
"Why, certainly. But I am afraid that we'll have to move. Your bison is blocking the path and the people driving the bigger carriages might get impatient," he answered apologetically. Aang and his friends took a quick look around and just as he'd said, Appa great size was taking up a lot of space ."Walk with me to my inn and I'll be more than happy to answer all of your questions."
After coming to a wordless agreement, the group decided to follow the old man, who started to tell his story as they walked.
"Today marks the first day of Kuruk Week," stated H'u Xū with a smile. Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed an identical set of confused looks on the youngsters' faces. He let out a small chuckle before deciding to elaborate. "Nearly five hundred years ago, this town was nothing but a small, but slowly growing, fishing village where only a few people actually lived. One day, catastrophe nearly struck the village when a tsunami appeared out of nowhere and threatened to completely destroy the little community. However, as fate would have it, it turned out that none other than the great Avatar Kuruk just so happened to be in the area. He easily dispatched the tidal wave, saving the village and its people from certain doom."
"I've heard of him," said Katara as she recalled some of the stories that her grand mother had told her when she was a child. "He was the Avatar that preceded Avatar Kyoshi and was born in the Northern Water Tribe, wasn't he?"
"Indeed he was," continued their guide. "Avatar Kuruk's heroic act gave the village the chance of blossoming into the the town that you see today. We celebrate this festival that draws people from all over the world, not just in Kuruk's honour, but for all the Avatars through history that gave their best to make the world a better place for the people living in it. As such, it shouldn't come as a surprise for you to learn that the townspeople here holds the Avatars in very high regard."
"What about these past hundred years?" asked Aang with a great deal of hesitation. It was no secret to his friends that he felt deeply ashamed due to the fact that he hadn't been around during the past century to stop the Fire Nation in their goals of global conquest. While he was in no ways at direct fault for the state of the world, he still felt very responsible for it, wondering what would have happened if he hadn't ran away from the monks that night.
"Ah, yes. Those were some sad times indeed," replied the old man with a hint of sadness in his tone. "With the Avatar gone, a lot of people didn't see the point with continuing with the festivities any longer." He then turned around and gave Aang a reassuring smile. "But some of us remained hopeful, and as soon as the news of your return reached us, we immediately felt it was high time to reintroduce the festival again. To shed some light during these dark times."
With those words said, the group had finally arrived at the old man's inn. It wasn't a large establishment by any means, just a regular wooden, two stories house. But as soon as they set a foot inside, they could instantly feel the cosy atmosphere. Everything was clean and tidy and the pleasant smell of a home cooked meal lingered in the air.
After having said a polite hello to H'u Xū's wife, who was sitting behind the check in counter, they were given a quick tour around the building.
"When you're all done for the day, please return here and stay the night as honoured guest," said the old man with one of his friendly smiles.
"Wait just one minute here," drawled Sokka as he eyed the old man suspiciously. "You seem almost too nice to be true. You're out for something, aren't you?" he accused.
H'u Xū merely threw his head back and let out a bellowing laugh that shook his thin frame. "Nothing escapes this young man, eh? Fine, you got me," he confessed, still chuckling. "It is true that I have some selfish reasons for taking you in like this. You see, when people finds out that the Avatar stayed at my inn of all places, my profit is sure to shoot through the roof."
After having been shown where they were going to sleep for the night, they all headed out. They were anxious to see what this festival had to offer, but first they had to say a quick goodbye to Appa who would have to stay behind.
The Avatar's Sky Bison had found his place by the inn's stable, allowing himself an early lunch alongside the few Ostrich Horses that occupied it. Naruto had never seen animals like these before, resembling a cross between the two animals of which they were named, but since no one else seemed to pay them any real attention, he simply shrugged as he figured them to probably be a common part of this place's fauna.
...That and having seen a giant, six legged buffalo that could fly really put everything else in perspective as far as weirdness was concerned.
"Sorry, buddy," said Aang apologetically while patting his large friend on the head. "It seems like you'll just have to stay here for the time being. But I'll try to find something neat to buy for you."
Appa hummed in a tone that almost sounded dismissive before taking a mouthful of hay that the innkeeper had been generous enough to provide. The sky bison had gotten used to the fact that there would be situations were he wouldn't always be able to accompany his partner, and this was one of them. But hey, as long as there was food for him to eat, who was he to complain?
"Do not worry, Avatar Aang," said the elderly man as he gave the boy a short but respectful bow. "It will be an honour for me to keep a watchful eye out for your bison during your absence."
After saying their thanks, Aang and his group of friends began to walk their way back down the more crowded streets. The old man hadn't been joking when he said that the townspeople didn't have anything but the utmost respect for the Avatar. They never had to elbow their way through the masses, basically because practically all of them simply allowed them to walk before they did, most often nodding their heads in a court bow as they did so.
There were even a few instances where a person would walk directly up to the Avatar to either ask him a question, wish him good luck on his difficult journey, or just tell him how all around awesome they thought he was.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at all of this. He couldn't help but find it a little strange to see people give a twelve year old boy the same level of respect that one would often reserve to the likes of a Hokage or a feudal lord. But then again, judging from what he'd heard from his new friends and old man H'u Xū's tale, being the Avatar did seem to be quite a big deal to these people.
As Aang was currently held occupied talking to an old woman, who wanted some advice regarding an argument she'd apparently had with her grandson, Naruto allowed his eyes to wander lazily for a minute. That was when he noticed something that caught his interest.
On the other side of the street stood a pair of teen aged girls that kept pointing and stealing glances of him, all the while whispering and giggling amongst themselves.
After allowing a foxy grin to form on his face, the blonde boy raised an arm and waved at them. This in turn caused the girls to freeze up for a second and blush an identical shade of red, before sharing another fit of giggles as they quickly began to happily wave back at Naruto.
"So, what should we go and check out first?" asked Aang, turning to his friends once the old lady had finally left.
"How about we try to find a new set of clothes for Naruto?" suggested Katara a bit dryly. The young Waterbender frowned at the way those two town-girls kept sizing up the blonde's top-less, and well built, form. The way they looked at him reminded her of how her brother would often look at a particularly fine piece of meat, and she didn't really like it at all.
"That might be a bit of a problem," stated Sokka suddenly, causing all heads to turn in his direction to see him hold their very empty looking money-pouch. "I'm afraid we seem to be a bit short on cash at the moment."
"Well, how much do we have left?" asked Aang.
Sokka turned the pouch upside down, spilling it's contents into his left hand for all of them to see. "We seem to be down to one measly copper-piece, three useless rocks and a couple of nuts." Sokka was barely allowed to finish his sentence before one of Momo's hands shot forward, grabbed onto the previously mentioned nuts and showed them into his mouth.
"Correction. Make that one measly copper-piece and three useless rocks," dead panned the young Water Tribe warrior before letting out a heavy sigh.
The depressing revelation regarding their economic situation caused most of the youngsters to slump their shoulders in defeat. But just before the sombre mood had had any real time to set, all attention was directed towards a snickering Toph, who, for some unfathomable reason, seemed to find their predicament extremely amusing.
"Would you mind telling us what's so funny, Toph?" demanded Sokka with a sour look.
"Oh, nothing," replied the blind girl casually, her wide grin never once leaving her face. "I was just thinking about just how lucky you guys are that I decided to tag along on your little Sunday picnic," she continued as she brought out a rather heavy looking pouch from her backpack that she'd decided to bring along. A pouch that produced a certain sound, like small pieces of metal were grinding against each other, when she began to toss it between her hands.
Aang, Katara and (especially) Sokka immediately recognized the green sack of money that Toph was currently juggling with. "Is that...the prize money from the Earth Rumble tournament?" asked Aang, voicing what they were all thinking.
"Didn't we hand it back over to Xin Fu as ransom when he and his Earthbenders kidnapped you and Aang?" asked Katara as she recalled the events that had led up to Toph joining their group in the first place.
"Yeah, but I decided to snatch it back after I kicked their sorry behinds," grinned the young Earthbender, chuckling at the memory. "Besides, it's not really stealing when you think about it. The prize money belongs to the champ, right?"
"Hey, if that's the case then I should have the money," protested the Avatar. "After all, I defeated you, remember?"
Toph merely scoffed at that. "All you did was knock me out of the ring with a wind puff, so you lost by default," she rebuffed while jabbing lightly at his chest with her right index-finger. "The tournament was called Earth Rumble VI, not 'Air Flair Extravaganza'."
All Naruto could do during their exchange was to look from one to the other, scratching his head in confusion. He was clearly missing out on something here.
"Calm down, you guys," admonished Katara and placed a gentle hand on both Aang's and Toph's shoulders. "Since we're in this together, shouldn't the money be spent according to the needs? Now, why don't you two take Naruto and have yourselves a quick look around, while Sokka and I go take care of the groceries. Does that sound fair to you?" she asked before taking a few coins from the bag.
"Hey, why do I have to do that? I wanted to check out that guy back there who swallows swords," complained Sokka as he used his thumb to point over his shoulder to where, not that far away, a man was indeed swallowing a variety of bladed weapons in front of an awed audience. But once his sister gave him "the look", he instantly quieted down and slumped his shoulders in defeat. She had started to do that a lot lately...
After agreeing to meet up at the same spot in about an hours time, the youngsters went their separate ways. Aang, Toph and Naruto to check out what the festival had to offer in terms of entertainment, while Katara and Sokka went to stock up on food and other essential supplies for their journey.
However, what neither of them realized was that they were being watched by a shady looking individual. Once he saw the kids part their ways, said individual was in a great hurry to tell his boss of what he had seen and ran towards the docks.
After Sokka had been walking/dragged around for a while, having quickly grown bored with having to check if a vegetable was fresh enough for consumption, or if a particular spice was too strong to be used in a dish, his mind started to wander.
"What were you and Naruto doing last night?" he asked his sister out of the blue.
"Oh, nothing. Just talking," replied Katara without looking up, currently being too busy checking out the prices for turkey duck eggs. "Why do you ask?"
"No reason really," the pony-tailed boy replied, his hands placed behind his head as he absent-mindedly glanced over at a booth right next to them that appeared to be selling a wide array of exotic weapons. The sword collection in particular managed to catch his attention before continuing with the conversation. "It's just that you two were away for quite some time. He didn't try anything funny with you, did he?"
"No, Sokka. All we did was talk," Katara said as she let out a sigh of annoyance. Honestly, she loved her brother, but sometimes he could just get a tad too over protective. "He actually told me a bit of his home."
"Really? Like what?" asked Sokka, suddenly becoming a lot more interested in this conversation.
For a moment Katara contemplated whether she should tell her brother of the things that Naruto had told her or not. She wasn't sure if it was her place to tell, but on the other hand she figured he would find out sooner or later so he might as well learn of it now. It couldn't really hurt that much, could it?
Having made up her mind, she turned to her brother with smirk, "I'll only tell you if you carry all the supplies when we're done."
"Urgh... Okay, deal."
OoOoOoO
In another part of town, Naruto suddenly let out a sneeze.
"Are you feeling all right, Naruto?" asked Aang, concern evident in his voice as he looked up at the older boy. "You're not coming down with a cold, are you?"
"Nah, it was probably just a bug or something that flew under my nose," replied the blonde with a dismissive shrug. As far as he could recall, he had never really suffered from a cold during his entire life, which was one of very few things he guessed he could thank a certain fur-ball for. "So, where are we going now?"
"I don't know. There's just so much stuff going on here, I have no idea where to begin," replied the young Airbender with a wide smile as he eyed his surroundings until an ongoing puppet-show not too far away caught his attention. Momo, having up until this point been sitting atop Aang's shaved head, unfolded his wings and decided to have a closer look.
"Well, you better take your time enjoying yourself while you can, Twinkle Toes," stated Toph as she picked out a small fish-bone from between her teeth, the damn thing having bothered her since breakfast, before wiping her hand on her beige tunic. "As soon as we leave this place, it's high time for you to start practising your Earthbending. Now, I don't know how Katara's handled things, but you can bet your ass I won't go easy on you," she finished with an intimidating grin.
Aang visibly gulped at this, fearing for a second over what exactly his imminent training might entail. However, this train of thought was abruptly interrupted when he felt Naruto's hand suddenly plop down onto his shoulder. The young Avatar turned his head in confusion, looking up into the blonde's face that now sported one of his foxy grins.
"Training, eh?" said Naruto excitedly. "Now that's something I can get behind."
With that said, the trio followed the lemur as they continued to explore the town.
OoOoOoO
The door was kicked open with such force that it nearly fell of its hinges as the man walked into his personal cabin, an angry snarl on a weather beaten face that had endured countless years on the sea. He unceremoniously plopped down on a moth-eaten old chair behind a work desk that had also seen better days, before taking off his hat which he placed in front of him. He then let out an exasperated sigh as he combed his fingers through his long, grey hair, wincing slightly as he touched the bald spot on top of his head that only seemed to be growing wider by each day.
"What's a pirate got to do in order to earn some money around these parts?" grumbled the captain while handing his trusted pet a piece of meat that had passed it's due date a long time ago. The reptile bird merely took a sniff at the bad meat before turning its head away in disgust. "I know m'boy. I know," sighed the old seafarer as he patted the animal. "These past few weeks haven't been too kind to us."
That would have been the understatement of the year, he thought bitterly. Everything just seemed to have gone downhill since they had left the North Pole. First of all, when he and his crew of pirates left the Northern Water Tribe after a little "job" , they had nearly been sent into the depths of the ocean when an enormous tidal wave unexpectedly hit them from behind. They had then decided to take a short cut to the grand city of Ba Sing Sea through the Serpent's Pass, only to find out that the name wasn't just for show. And to top of this series of setbacks, they had just recently been caught in a storm that not only managed to rob them of most of their cargo, but also the money of which they'd earned after getting rid of a certain crown prince of the Fire Nation (who, as it later turned out, wasn't actually quite as dead as they had thought).
The captain was interrupted in his moment of bitter reflection when his first-mate suddenly barged into his cabin. Usually when they where on dry land, the lanky man would spend most of his time drawing in potential customers into their mobile boutique. But as things were right now, they neither had anything worth to sell nor had they really had the the time to acquire any new merchandise through their "high-risk-trading".
As such, the captain couldn't help but notice that the goofy grin that was normally present on his second in command's face, something that he'd seen notably less of during these past weeks of hardship, had now returned in full force.
"Good news!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Guess what I found, cap'n! It's somethin' that will cheer ya right up."
The old pirate rolled his eyes at his underling's enthusiasm, "Let me see. It wouldn't happen to be a barrel of cheap alcohol to drown our sorrows in, would it?" He could sure as hell need a drink right now.
"Ah, that would be truly good news. But no," he replied as he adjusted the green head band that kept his messy brown hair out of his face. He then inched closer to his captain, gaining a certain gleam in his eyes as he started speaking in an overly conspiratorial manner. Hand cupped by his mouth and everything. "It's somethin' far more profitable, if ya catch my drift."
The captain raised an eye-brow at this, having had his curiosity piqued by the ramblings of his lieutenant, "I'm listening."
"Well, me and one of the boys were out checking things in town. But guess who we happened to lay our eyes on just when we were about to steal something to fill our bellies with."
The shady old man slammed his fist down on his desk, causing his pet to utter a frightened squawk as he growled, "Just get to the frickin point already!"
"It was the Avatar," said the skinny pirate, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Ya know, the same Avatar that the Fire Nation is prepared to pay a generous amount of money for if delivered."
For a minute, all the captain did was sit there in silence before his lips twisted into an evil smirk. "Well, that is good news, laddie." He then raised himself from his seat, his trusted animal companion returning to its rightful place on top of his shoulder as he put his hat on and calmly walked towards the door. Without turning around to face his underling, he said, "Would you mind gathering the boys? We've got ourselves an Airbender to catch."
OoOoOoO
A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I know there wasn't really any action in this chapter either (unless, of course, the case with the tree-assault counts), but it all builds up to the next chapter where the pirate crew makes their spectacular come-back. Maybe then we'll finally find out the answer to the ancient question whether ninja or pirates are better?
Anyway, until next time, this is ChaosGhidorah who's signing off.