Chapter 33: Midnight Hunting Party, Part 9

Hospital

Agna Q'ela

"Step away from Sokka right now, or should I call up the nurses to expect someone's boomer ass in the ER?"

Before she could follow up, a long thin water whip left its mark on her left cheek, its presence cold and stinging against her cinnamon coloured complexion. As he bent the water back into a small waterskin, he replied "If you think I have reservations about hitting women, think twice. Especially if said woman is my granddaughter who does not know her place."

At this, Azula loosed off a small bolt at Pakku, who snarled and made ready to strike her down there and then before a doctor intervened, berating the lot of them for not having any common sense whatsoever in choosing to duke it out in a hospital corridor. With a glare, he rubbed his hand and let off a parting remark to Sokka, "If I'd were you I'd think long and hard if being tied up with war criminals and organized crime figures is the life you wish to live."

"Not like you can offer anything better. Besides, who else can say that their fiancée is the princess of the Fire Nation? I have already decided to cast my lot with her, come hell or high water." he shot back, defiant as ever.

"If you wish. Do not say I didn't warn you if White Lotus agents come knocking sometime in the future." he replied, before leaving the corridor to exit the hospital. When he'd left the complex, both women glared at him before questioning him simultaneously "Fiancée? Really, Sokka?"

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

"I don't know, you tell me. For someone who supposedly has the brains of the family, that was an idiotic play by you. I swear Sokka, your habit of falling for every pretty face that swings by your way is going to bite you in the ass one of these days."

"Oh wow, that's rich coming from you. Do you want me to remind us all just how smitten you were with Je-" he countered, before his mouth was frozen shut by his sister, who warned him to not say a word before walking off in a huff. Turning to Azula, he gave her a pleading look, to which she rolled her eyes and pressed her fingers to his frozen mouth, gently warming it up and defrosting it. When his mouth was finally free of its icy restraints, he stared expectantly at Azula, who gave him an annoyed look.

"What? Is there something on my face?"

"No."

"Then what are you looking at me for?"

"My lips are a bit cold."

"And?"

"Could you…."

"No."

"Aww come on firefly, please?"

"I told you not to call me that in public!"

"Please?"

"Urgh, fine." she relented, if only to shut him up and stop him whining on and on. Giving him a chaste kiss on his lips, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist and pulled her in closer for a more deeper and intense kiss, making her moan in his mouth. Seizing the opportunity, his tongue roamed over her lips, seeking to make contact with her. As the kiss deepened, she relented and soon both of them were engaged in tongue sparring, while their hands crept up the other's body, before finally settling on the cheeks, squishing the other's face. Just when they would pass out from lack of oxygen, they reluctantly separated with a breathy pant.

"That was nice. We should do it more often." Sokka commented, as they rode the elevator back to their ward.

"We could have done without the make out session."

"I didn't hear you complain."

"Would you rather I bite your tongue off?"

"Mmm, sounds kinky."

"You have a dirty mind, you know that?"

"Tell me something I don't know."

"You really are insatiable aren't you?"

"I mean, you do taste pretty delicious."

"Do I now?"

"I might have to do a few more tastings, for the sake of being through."

"That is the worst excuse you could have come up for wanting to kiss me."
"It is still an excuse." he replied, wrapping his arm around her waist in a possessive manner as they neared her ward.

"You are incorrigible."

"I'm not hearing you say you don't like it. On the contrary, I think that you actually enjoy it."

"Prove it."

"And here I thought you weren't a fan of PDA."

"I don't mind PDA, I'm just not a fan of your wandering hands inappropriately touching me in public."

"You mean, like this?" he smirked as he intentionally ruffled her hair.

"You know what I mean." she hissed while blushing.
"How can I know unless, of course, you show me?"

Exasperated at his teasing, she sat down on her bed and pouted. "Awww, you look so cute blushing and pouting like that." he cooed. In retaliation, she ruffled his hair back, which set off a chain of tussling that landed her on top of Sokka. Quickly, she trapped his arms with knees, while slowly dragging her pointer from his face down.

"Oh no, trapped under such a beauty, whatever will I do?" Sokka teased. Just then, the door opened to reveal Bulan, Katara, Aang and Zuko.

"Are we….interrupting something?" Bulan teased, enjoying the looks of horror and shock plastered all over their cherry red faces.

"Really, Sokka? Hospital sex? I swear if we hadn't come in both of you would have been going at it like rabaroos."

"Would you rather us be actually going at like rabaroos, hmm?"

"I like the sound of that." Sokka replied.

"Nobody asked your opinion, you horny boy!", to which he shrank back.

"Where's Kiyi?" Azula asked.

"She's getting a bite."

"'And you thought it was a good idea to let her wander around?"

"She's twenty one, not two and a half months old."

"Oh wow, what a responsible big brother you are."

"Shut the fuck up Sokka, you only have one sibling to deal with."

"He's not wrong y'know, what if something did happen to Kiyi?" Katara scolded.

"Fine, fine, I'll go check up on her, happy?"

"Please do, Mr. 'I'm never happy'."

Little did Katara know, her stern words to Zuko would be unintentionally spoken into reality.

Ten minutes earlier

"You look like hammered shit Kiyi."

"Not my fault they decided to play a drinking game and spiked my drink with moonshine." she bemoaned, her hair in a sloppy knot and large dark rings under her eyes visibly contrasting against her pale skin. Privately, she agreed with her brother's observations but she'd rather die than admit he was right.

"You could have said no."
"And miss out on all the juicy gossip? Bitch this why Mai don't talk to you and Ty Lee don't invite you to parties no more."

"The fuck has my love life got to do with this?"

"You started it."

Thrusting his wallet into her hands, he told her "Here's some coin, go get yourself something to drink and eat. It's going to be a long day. Also, please fix your hair."

"Whatever you say, dad." she snarked, as her brother made for the elevator without her. After ordering and devouring a breakfast platter and a medium glass's worth of espresso shots that elicited more than a few raised eyebrows from the staff and the checkout lady, as if it were not physically possible for a petite girl like her to possess an appetite that more resembled a half starved teenage boy, she slowly staggered her way to the elevator.

Before the door could close, three burly men entered, making the small elevator feel rather cramped. As it traveled up, the man in front turned and nodded. In an instant, two beefy arms locked hers against their chest, while the third one whipped out a chloroform soaked rag. Kicking and screaming, she put up a valiant fight but it was for naught the moment the rag made contact with her face. Gradually, she stopped struggling, before her legs went limp and she collapsed onto the floor. One of them pulled the hood over her head and slung her over his back. The man in front pressed the ground button and thus, they made their descent and as far as they could tell, a clean getaway.

Unfortunately for them, fate intervened at the last second as on the ground floor, Zuko exited from the opposite elevator. Spotting a familiar silhouette lying limply in someone's arms, he leapt into and spun the man carrying Kiyi around. Realizing that the game was up, the pointman performed a 180 and engaged him with a blast of fire that scorched the blue stone wall black with soot, before the trio quickly beat feet to the fire exit where a crate as well as disguises had been stashed by an earlier recon team.

Giving chase, Zuko lashed out with a fire whip at the man carrying his sister and sliced his foot clean off at the ankle, cauterizing it at the same time. As he stumbled, the full weight of him landed on Kiyi's unconscious body with a dull thump, cracking a rib or two in the process as well concussing her brain. Rolling off her, he did not surrender, but unleashed a vicious bolt of lightning at Zuko, who redirected it into the nearby waterway and inadvertently giving the resident water fowls and aquatic life a heart stopping encounter.

Better the fishies than me or Kiyi, he figured as the lobby erupted into chaos, with panicked screams and shouts at the crackle and pop of electricity, as well as the usual suspects getting into a firefight in a public area and performing some heated amputation without anaesthetic, which doubtless left more than a few puddles of regurgitated seal meat and puffin eggs on the floor.

With sirens wailing in the background, the duo pulled out their sidearms and evacuated the contents of their cranium, making sure their secrets and knowledge died with them. As Zuko neared the man lying on the ground, he warned him to back off, lest his sister got a heart stopping encounter.

"Who sent you!" Zuko roared

The man just stared back defiantly, pale jade clashing with honey gold before his lips turned into a teasing smile. "Take a wild guess, crown prince Zuko." spitting out the last three words like a piece of spent betel nut. Smiling, he grimaced and ground his teeth against something. Within minutes, he was foaming at the mouth, convulsing before going very still, eyes staring into the aether. Whispering a prayer to his patron deity, he closed the man's eyelids before cradling his sister in his arms, just as law enforcement surrounded him on all sides, globules of water and the business end of firearms ready to light him up. Staring back at the ring of fire and ice around him, he hugged his sister closer to his chest while putting on a show of defiance against them.

Just then, a chocolate coloured man with sky blue eyes stepped in between the ring and drily commented "Tui and La, this is a right fucking mess. I was rather hoping to make your acquaintance, prince Zuko in more, peaceful settings. Though you being here means the rest of the relevant members of this operations team is here as well, no?"

"Can I trust you?"

"I could ask the same to you." Glancing down at the body of Kiyi he remarked "Oh deary me, lost sight of the priority haven't we? Thank the Spirits this is a hospital. Medics!"