Time for updates seeing as its been years since I've updated this story. Yes It's MM/MF pairings, if you are not old enough or mature enough to read this please pass this story over.
I do not own Avatar-The Last Air Bender, nor do I recieve money or royalties etc, etc.
I own 6 cats now, yes 6 ;)
Regular updates on this story will be put out every week on saturdays seeing as I work 12 hr's a day M-F. I love writing but I have to eat ya know ;)
Now onwards to the chapter!
Fire Bender in the Forest
As the two men climb out of the river laughing, Katara on the other hand is full of huffs and puffs as she once again packs up the camp. If only the others would just start to pick up after themselves once and awhile I wouldn't have to clean all this up! Katara looks down to the oiled pack that carries the dishes and is surprised that it's full and packed. Fu must have had a very bad day yesterday, maybe that's why I felt like we were butting heads every two seconds. I have to give my apologies to him when I see him; well guess all the camp is packed. Wonder why Aang rushed off for the river so quickly? Katara thinks to herself.
"Katara how are you doing this morning?" Aang asks politely as he plucks a slightly damp shirt off his chest.
"I'm doing alright, the camp is packed up and I'm ready to get out of this Forest. I could swear I was being watched while packing, how is my idiotic brother doing?" Katara asks sweetly.
"He's doing much better since Fu…um they are…so what can I help carry Katara?" Aang sputters and looks around to pick something anything up.
"Aang! Out with it!" Katara places her hands on her hips and sets her face in an angry scowl.
"Why…I mean should I really say anything when it comes to your brother and Fu? I'm sure they would tell you when the time is right, but Katara don't make Sokka too mad." Aang gives Katara a smile.
"Why shouldn't I make him mad, he and Fu ran off too early today. They just didn't want to help me pack up!" Katara mutters darkly as she begins to scatter the still warm embers of the camp fire.
"Oh great wind!" Aang mutters, "Just don't at least until your brother and Fu explain!"
"Fine!" Katara spits the word with venom.
While Katara and Aang are busying themselves around the camp, Fu and Sokka dry themselves off quickly and dress themselves.
"Why did you let your silver hair tie get swept away it looked nice in your hair." Sokka asks pointedly.
"I have others gifts; some are payment for works I've written for others. Well others were courting gifts, most I gave away quickly after receiving them others I threw away as quickly as I could. Men or Women seemed that if they gave me a type of thin silver tie with bells I would court them." I chuckle at the memory of the few men or women's faces as I turned them down.
"Well I still liked it. Where the hell did my hair tie go?" Sokka utters a few choice curses and I chuckle.
"You mean this one?" I hold up a thick strap of light leather to Sokka.
"Yeah, I thought I'd lost that." Sokka reaches out to grab it and I pull it out of his reach.
"I'll hang onto this for now." I smile to Sokka as I quickly put my hair up into a ponytail like Sokka's.
"And if you'll accept this gift from me I'd be pleased if you would wear it." I reach into a hidden fold of the shirt I brought with me this morning. Taking out the two hair ties, one a thick sort of oiled leather, azure in color, and the second a thin purple silk tie with two little bells of pure silver.
"This is too expensive of a gift…Fu." Sokka gulps down his embarrassment.
"Nonsense, turn around and quickly." I walk up to Sokka's slightly damp back and gently take his hair in my hands and quickly braid it tightly. Using the Purple silk tie I bind up the hair to his scalp and the Azure tie near the end of my braid I helped to create.
"Is that too tight Sokka?" I ask pensively.
"No, no it isn't too tight. I've just never had anyone besides Katara fix my hair. She always cuts my hair and makes sure there are no snags in it. Do you think I'd look better with longer hair?" Sokka asks as he lifts a shirt over his head.
"It's up to you if you will let your hair grow longer. I would like it a lot, that is if my hair is long enough or does it need to be shorter?" I ask as I lace up my soft skinned boots.
"Ask me when we get to the earth kingdom, then one way or another if our hair is a length acceptable to us." Sokka looks down at me and chuckles.
"I know I need to hurry up! Katara must be furious with us for leaving her to all the cleaning up." Looking up to Sokka I quickly stand up and steal a quick chaste kiss.
Running out of the Forest Sokka and I quickly stop as we see Katara and Aang already packed and ready to hit the road.
"About time you two got ready, I didn't know Warming up took that long!" Aang smiles quiet broadly as he walks near Sokka and somehow his smile grows larger as he sees the two different hair ties. Grabbing Sokka's arm Aang drags him off with him.
Shaking my head I hang back till Katara gets to my side, and I just had to open my mouth. "Sorry we weren't here to help out Katara, Sokka woke me up early and it seemed he wanted me to take a bath."
"It's fine Fu, I'm sorry I was short with you yesterday. It just seems that my bending is taking longer to build back up. Then I noticed how you moved that breeze and I guess it just made me angry. I'm sorry." Katara mumbles out the apology and quickly looks ahead to Sokka and Aang.
"I didn't stir the air at dinner time, I had no bending power." I mutter out and quickly push on. "Aang saw my handsign and quickly stirred a little air, I was hoping no one saw my blunder but Aang is quicker then most people. Katara, how do you feel about me?" I ask subdued as we walk.
"How do you mean? Like a mate or a friend?" She asks, "A friend." I respond
"Well you are powerful and I've always heard there was only one air bender still alive. The Avatar, why do you ask?" Katara looks down at the road fearful of what I have to say.
"Aang and I had a conversation about our powers and suffice it to say it was lengthy." I take in a long breath and rush through the next part. "Well Aang told me Sokka may be interested in me so I went to the tent intended on speaking to him about it. Well our conversation went from one path to another. That's why Sokka woke me and told me to bathe." I breathe in another breath and see Katara bunching her hands.
"I gathered that Fu, you are powerful and only a fool; something that Sokka isn't, would be stupid enough not to try and court you. But that's all I'll say on it, the rest I'll save for my dear brother. Oh one other thing Fu, Aang told me not to make Sokka mad. Do you have any idea why he said that?" Katara asks in a half interested half annoyed voice.
"Well that has to do with the long talk Aang and I shared." I let out a huge sigh and continue. "Apparently Aang read a few texts about the wind nomads and our fellow benders. Well in a few texts it talked about when two partners court and fulfill sexual relations, and then the un-bender would be able to bend the native power of the bender who was courted." Shaking my head I look to Sokka and can't help but grin as I see Aang and him talking heatedly over something.
"Oh I see, it'll take me awhile to understand everything and I'll try not to be short with you or Sokka. But understand this Fu, in the water tribes and even in the great city we always had to have men and women marry and have children. We were never as large as the earth or fire kingdom. The Air nomads were the exception, most were monks and the rest groundskeepers. It's not that I'm not heartless and I know the gods and goddess's love each and everyone of us and love is next to god." Katara blushes, a rather rare event mind you, and coughs out a breath.
"Thank you Katara, I swear I'll have Aang explain it to you. He may look and sound like a sheltered monk child but he is, I suspect, far smarter then I." Giving Katara a grin we catch up to Sokka and Aang and for most of the early part of the day is uneventful. Save for how silly Sokka looked every time he tried to keep his hair out of site from Katara.
Pausing for a quick lunch, Aang perks his head up and glances back at me with a quick flash of a hand sign I rush to his side.
"There is someone out there, and I think it's a man. He's keeping to the shadows and he is quiet, I just barely caught scent of him. My air bending is still…wonky." Aang closes his eyes and shakes his head slightly.
Closing my eyes I send out quick moving, little air currents with slight movements of my right hand. There he is. My eyes open wide in recognition. "I know that person." I say through clenched teeth.
"Get Sokka and Katara we're leaving this forest today!" I order quietly to Aang. As Aang's eyes open up he turns around to gather Katara and Sokka quickly.
"What's up Fu?" Sokka asks quietly as his eyes dart back and forth along the paths green lines.
"We are leaving the forest, I don't care how but we are doing it today!" Grabbing up a heavy pack from Katara I nod for her and Aang to take the lead. Sokka looks at me and nods as he shoulders his packs and begins trotting down the path.
As the sun moves across the sky I can see how foolish I was to think we could make it out of the forest by today.
"Fu, I can't keep this pace up." Katara huffs out her breath quick and shallow.
"Alright stop, we need to find some water but we have to keep moving after we take a break." I pant out and swipe a hand over my wet forehead.
"Fu we can't keep pushing Katara and Sokka this hard. Even I'm getting tired of running and you're sweating like a pig." Aang admonishes me while walking off with Katara.
Shaking my head and letting the pack drop to the ground, Sokka wraps his arms around my chest and lets out a sigh.
"It's him isn't it, that's why your pushing us so hard." Sokka asks a bit muffled in my shirt.
"Don't try to bend Sokka, leave it up to Aang and me. I know how hard it is to control it right now but try." I feel Sokka try to speak but I press on. "If things look bad then by all means try, remember how you chopped at Aang and the water exploded?" I feel a slight nod and continue. "Just do that and run, fire benders aren't quick but they are powerful." Closing my mouth I hear a slight cough and turn my head.
"Is this warm up time again?" Aang smirks and Sokka removes himself from my back.
"No Aang it isn't now where is the water I'm thirsty!" Sokka grumbles as Aang sets down a smaller bucket of water.
Walking over quickly to the bucket I cup my hand down in the cool water and bring it to my lips. Cool water tumbles down my parched throat and I let out a satisfied sigh. Sokka beside me mirrors my actions. Aang looks around, frowns, and then looks at me.
"Katara was right behind me, she should have came out by now." Aang says looking down at his feet.
"Aang I told you to look after her, that fire Bender out there is strong. Oh it's not your fault; I just don't understand how you can lose her." I tell Aang as I look towards the forests walls.
"I didn't just lose her; she was right behind me with a bucket of water. Sokka we need to go and find Katara as quickly as we can Fu can you sense anything on the air?" Aang looks to me and cocks his head towards the forest.
"I can only feel a section of the currents that are blocked, but that can be anything from a tree or from something like heavy overgrowth. I can't be sure; my air bending isn't as powerful as I thought." Looking at Sokka I can finally see his face and it's pulled up into a grimace.
"Come on I guess the break is over." Sokka announces quite suddenly.
As Aang, Sokka, and I break through the underbrush of the forest, I can see the path Katara and Aang took while finding the water. "Judging from the tracks I can see this is where Katara went. Am I right?" I ask Aang sharply and Sokka and I rush to the forest.
Aang nods swiftly as he follows behind us, before we get to the stream. I hear a girl shriek, "Katara!" Sokka yells, whipping my head around I try to find the source of the scream.
"Fu we have to slow down, I know that we have to find Katara as quickly as possible. But think it could be a trap." Aang says as he puts a hand on my shoulder. "Think, if I were a fire bender I would take a hostage, preferably a water bender. Fire feeds on Air Fu, all we would do is fuel his flames when we fight. The alternative is to take away the air around him. Are you willing to kill." Aang says as Sokka turns and glares at us.
"He has my sister Fu, I'd kill him if I knew how to." Sokka snarls angrily as the winds around him pick up slightly. Turning to Aang I nod and the three of us race off through the dense underbrush. As the forest gets denser Aang begins to bend the wind into blades skillfully slashing just enough for us to get through. I watched and waited as I still feel drained. Shaking my head I push past Aang and bring both my hands up to my head, palms down, then I bring them to my chest, as if holding a large ball, then with my eyes closed thrust them out as I snarl "Chi!"
Opening my eyes as my hands release the pent up strength of the Air I called I smirk as a circular opening tall as it is wide. Placing my hand on the rough bark of an old tree I breathe deeply as I hear the silver bells from Sokka's hair band.
"Fu! Why did you do that, I felt the breath taken away from me when you loosed that…whatever it was." Sokka breathes deeply as Aang stares at me.
"Fu, never mind. Let's continue Katara shouldn't be too far away." Aang places a hand on my shoulder and squeezes gently. Smiling I stand up fully and adjust my azure robes before running full out through the opening I made.
As we break through the underbrush I see a man in a circular opening and a girl bound as if she were a pig. Thrusting my arms out I stop Aang and Sokka before they go around me. "Hold here love of my heart. Aang are you strong enough to bend at this distance?" I ask as I turn around and meet Aangs eyes. He nods, defiance in his eyes and the feeling of the air slowly moving towards him.
"Sokka stay behind Aang for now. I have a plan." I say as I place my right hand against his smooth face. Sokka nods once without taking his eyes off the man and his sister.
Walking slowly out I frown to myself as Chey notices me quicker than I would have liked.
"So if it isn't the would be Avatar? To think the last time we met I gave you a scar, I wonder what will happen today." Chey says as he plants his feet and his fists pump out two quick jabs and fireballs bloom out towards me. Shifting my body to the right I bring up my hands in an 8 palm technique dedicated to Air. As the flames approach I bring my palms down to the earth and the two fireballs splash harmlessly to the earth.
"Not terribly impressive Fu, now is not the time to be defensive." Chey snarls as his face darkens. His hands now blur with jabs and stabs. My palms flash out and my face is set in a determined glare. As my Air Bending slams against Chey's Fire Bending the fireballs flare into life at the extra air before being turned down onto the soft earth. All the while both of us slowly move closer and closer to each other.
As I loose Air Daggers I feel my hands begin to shake. Shaking them out the daggers of air dart into the earth a few feet infront of the fire bender.
"Seems you really are mediocre as I thought." Chey laughs as his right foot kicks against his left hand. A small wall of fire races towards me and before I can bend a wall of air I fall to one knee. Looking back I smile weakly as Aang lets loose a wall of wind aimed at Chey.
Within seconds the concentrated wall of air slams into Chey and hurls him against a tree with bone breaking force.
"Seems we didn't need to suffocate him and Katara huh Fu." Aang says cheerfully as he brings out a water bottle for me. Taking the skin of water I drink thirstily as Sokka begins to untie Katara.
"For a moment I had thought I would have to do just that Aang. I pulled the fight out too long, far longer then my bending would allow." I say as I drain the rest of the water from the skin.
"Fu, was Sokka giving you strength?" Aang asks, his voice lowered.
"I don't know Aang, I hope not because that is a path that is far too easy and equally as dangerous." I say just as low as I struggle to my feet. Hearing a moan I look over to Chey and spit. "Why can't he just stay down?" I ask annoyed.
"Fu we are here for Katara, not for vengeance." Aang says softly as he stands in front of me.
"Fu, I never thought you'd be able to bed the Avatar and have him do your will. You should know that the prince is looking for you and the reward on both your head and the Avatars is quite large. If I fall someone else will take advantage of that and capture the both of you." Chey says while attempting to stand.
"I wouldn't do that Chey, or more to the point don't try. Your back is broken. You will not be able to bend fire anymore either. Or you will but for nothing more then to light candles. I believe someone will find you before you starve, but know this neither of us will be caught easily or without a fight." Aang says as he turns and helps me to my feet. Sokka and Katara come walking slowly over to us without a look back to the mad fire bender.
"Fight if you think that will preserve your lives longer. But know this the prince is far stronger than I, and he has reason to kill you and not just capture you." Chey laughs loudly as we begin to walk back to where we started before looking for Katara.
"So he was the one who scarred you Fu?" Sokka asks quietly as he helps me over a large root.
"Yes and at that time my bending wasn't as strong as it was weak today. Remember fire grows with air, water snuffs it out, earth blocks it completely. All bending has it's strength and weaknesses." I say as Aang and Katara talk lowly.
"So what is your, I mean our strength then." Sokka ask somberly.
"I would have to say water but I have never fought a water bender before. You may want to ask Aang when he's done looking after Katara." I say as I see our discarded equipment. Bending down I quickly scoop up the large tent pack and sling it over a shoulder and Sokka mimics me with the smaller tent and cooking equipment.
"By the end of the day we should be across the border into the Earth Nation." I say as the curses from Chey fade behind us