AN: Thanks for reading. Please R&R, enjoy.

DISCLAMER: I do not own the Avatar; I only own the plot and two characters, the rest of it belongs to Nickelodeon.

Chapter 5

Girlfriend

Kaori was sound asleep; Katara had her head on her lap and was dabbing her forehead with a cold cloth, Sokka was pacing back and forth with his arms crossed.

"Sokka sit down, you'll fall off." Katara said as she dabbed the cloth in a bowl of water.

"How can I sit down at a time like this? Kaori was just on Zuko's ship! Will she be alright?" Sokka asked in a concerned voice.

"She'll be fine." Aang said turning around on Appa's head.

"Yeah, if you ask her to be your girlfriend." Katara said in a sarcastic voice.

Kaori slowly opened her eyes to see Katara and Sokka looking down at her.

"Are you ok? What did Zuko do to you?" Sokka asked moving Katara so Kaori could rest her head on his lap.

"I'm fine Sokka; Zuko didn't do anything worth telling." Kaori said sitting up.

"I'm going to talk to Aang." Katara said sliding on to Appa's head.

"So Kaori, how many boy-friends have you had? Sokka asked curiously.

"Are you seriously asking me that?"

"Yeah, why? Are you ashamed at the number of boy-friends you've had?" Sokka asked grabbing Kaori's hand.

"No," Kaori responded pulling her hand away, "Ok, maybe I am. I'll tell you if you tell me how many girl-friends you have had."

"Are you sure, I don't want to make you jealous."

"Try me."

"Ok if you insist," Sokka took a deep breath, "There was Ai, Toki, Hoshiko, Kanna Yoshe, Yori, Nariko, and last but not least Oki."

"Tell me the truth."

"Ok, so maybe I exaggerated a little, these are all girls I wish I dated. I really haven't had a single girl-friend. Your turn, and please don't have one for every letter of the alphabet." Sokka said crossing his fingers.

"Actually, I have only had one boy-friend. His name was Ryu, but we broke up before it got to serous. We didn't want to hurt or friendship." Kaori said as tears came to her eyes.

"What happened to him?'

"You really want to know?"

"Yeah, you sound surprised." Sokka chuckled.

"Well this is the first time I have ever meet a boy who wants to know about Ryu."

"Well I'm not like every other boy."

"If you insist."

"I do. Insist I mean."

"Ryu was different; he always knew what to say. He could make me smile; no matter how bad I was feeling. He was my only friend after my village found out I could fire bend."

"Not anymore, Katara Aang and I are your friends." Sokka interrupted seeing that her tears were getting bigger.

"Yeah that's true, but these were people I had known my whole life; but Ryu, he was not afraid of what people said about him. He was my protector, the dragon that guarded my heart. When the fire nation attacked; my village blamed me. But Ryu protected me, and when I went to go steal from their ship he was right beside me. He took out the guards with a sling-shot I gave him for his birthday when we were four," as Kaori said this the tears left her eyes and she began to laugh. "Every day after I gave it to him he would wake me up before the sun came up and we would sit on top of a hill and watch the sun rise. I will never forget the time he hit Zuko with it. It was the first time we where captured, Zuko was taunting us and as he walked away Ryu shot a rock through the bars and hit him in the back of the head."

"I gotta meet this guy. Where is he now?" Sokka asked anxiously.

"I don't know, I don't even know if he is still alive."

"Ohh…" Sokka said as tears came back it Kaori's eyes.

"Our last escape didn't go as planed. We were separated and Ryu told me to stick to the plan, no matter what happened to him; and I did."

"Are you going to look for him?" Sokka asked concerned.

"Well maybe…I don't know."

"You should. I'll go with you. I would do anything for you Kaori." Sokka said as he took her hands in his.

"Sokka… you really mean that? It would mean the world to me."

"You are the world to me." Sokka said as he leaned in close and kissed Kaori.

Kaori pull away slowly and looked into Sokka's eyes.

"Do you want to ask me something Sokka?" Kaori smiled.

"What you say if I did?"

"Other then 'what took you so long?' I'd say I'm inclined to acquiest your request."