Kaki rolled her eyes before ducking behind Sokka. "Rokujou can't see me here. He'll know I told you, and that will make things worse!" She was just small enough, that when she crouched behind him, she couldn't be seen.
Sokka nodded, "Right. We'll have to land. When we're landing, I'll lower you down on the other side of Appa, so he won't know you're here." Kaki nodded in agreement. As soon as the massive animal landed, Kaki quickly climbed to the ground and pressed her back against Appa. She hugged her food sack to her chest.
Aang and Katara had already been woken up. They were ready to fight. Before Katara could climb off, Kaki grabbed her sleeve. "Your element is water. That means you'll have a hard time fighting Rokujou. I have an idea."
Sokka and Aang charged toward the cruel man. Sokka charged first, but Rokujou simply moved and then knocked him down by ramming his elbow into Sokka's back, driving him to the ground.
Aang charged next. He sent a spiral of wind toward Rokujou. He ducked, and sent a whip of fire around Aang's legs. He stumbled and fell just as Sokka had. Soon Katara emerged from behind Appa.
Sokka looked at his sister with a confused look, "Why is your hood up?"
"This way, he can't hurt my face." Her voice seemed slightly deeper, but still feminine. Sokka looked at her a minute, "Wait!"
Katara charged for him with her hands up. He swung a punch, but Katara swiftly dodged it. She swung a punch right back, but she hit her target. He got forced back a few feet. He charged toward her again. She continued to dodge his blows. "Aang, get Sokka on Appa!"
Aang nodded, helping Sokka up. They both got onto the animal and got ready. "Katara…now!" 'Katara' pulled down her hood to reveal she was really Kaki. Katara bolted out from behind Appa, in Kaki's clothes.
The two of them got side by side. Katara pulled up a bunch of snow with her waterbending and began to swirl it. Kaki did the same with her fire. Then they made the two elements wind through each other and then struck Rokujou with a hard blow.
He was sent flying several yards until he slammed into a tree. Katara gathered up more snow and Kaki melted it. She surrounded Rokujou with the water in an orb form. "Aang, use your air to freeze the water!" Aang did as he was told, and soon Rokujou was stuck in an orb of ice.
"Let's go!" Kaki screamed to the boys. The bison began to list off the ground. The two girls jumped on Appa just as he was lifting off the ground. Once they were on, both girls let out an exhausted sigh and relaxed.
"That was stressful," Katara mumbled into the fur she was laying face down in. Kaki nodded and leaned against Sokka. "You two did a good job!" Aang beamed as he settled down.
Kaki opened her sack and looked into it. She looked calm at first, but her eyes got wide after a minute or so. She began to rumble through the bag urgently. After a minute, she slammed the sack down. She closed her eyes and sighed out loud.
"What is it, Kaki?" Sokka asked, placing his hand on her shoulder gently.
Her eyes flew open really quickly she looked at Sokka and forced a small smile. "It's nothing. I'm sorry to worry you." When he looked away, she stared down at her palms. She reached into the bag and pulled out a photo. Unless you had seen those people before, you wouldn't have been able to tell who was in the picture.
When Sokka turned back towards her, she stuffed it back into her bag urgently. She nervously smiled at him again. She was trying to look as innocent as possible. Sokka looked at her suspiciously, but didn't say anything.
They looked at the sun that was now in the upper regions of the sky. It warmed their faces. The only things that slightly dimmed the light were the thin, wispy clouds puffing by.
Kaki ran a finger across the fur part of the coat she was wearing. Then she looked over at Aang. "Once we're far enough away, can we stop real quickly? Katara and I need to change back into our own clothes."
Aang didn't turn around, and was silent a moment before answering. "Can you two wait until we find a place to camp? I don't think it's wise to stop. Rokujou has most likely melted the ice by now. If we stop, that gives him a chance to catch up."
The two girls looked at each other and then nodded. Katara reached into a bag made of animal skin and pulled out some beads and string. "I'm going to make you a necklace," she smiled over at Kaki.
A blush crept up onto her face as she smiled. She had never had a close friend when she was little. It was a nice change. Sokka started laughing and put his arm around Kaki. "It looks like you two are getting to be close friends."
Katara also laughed a little. "What do you expect? We're the only two girls here, so it makes sense that we would become friends."
Just then, all the clouds cleared from the sky, revealing it was right above them, shining down like a spotlight on them. Three of them liked the heat, but one crouched over and moaned in pain. This was Kaki.
Sokka placed a hand on her pack and lowered himself so that he could see her face. "Kaki, what's happening?"
Kaki didn't answer. A symbol of a fire ball glowed deeply red on her forehead. As the color darkened, she screamed out in pain. An aura around her body began to glow yellow. When her eyes opened, they were an unnatural kind of red, not the kind you get when you've been crying.
The yellow aura swirled until it was a long ribbon, swirling around her body. Then, in a flash, the yellow light turned to fire. Her eyes were half open, but she wasn't blinking. She then fell, face first against Appa's fur. Sokka turned her over onto her back, ignoring to burns left on his hands afterwards.
Katara quickly grabbed her bottle of water and quickly maneuvered it to that is surrounded Kaki's body. "Impossible," she exclaimed, stunned, "my water didn't even douse it!"
I know things aren't making sense right now, but things are starting to unfold. That means there are only a few more chapters left. If I had to guess, I would say there were two chapters to go. Review please!