Elements Joined

Chapter five

Written by: Drgn Prncss

Well, I hope you're all enjoying this fic, 'cause I'm being worked to the bone. I have written a complete chapter already today, and yet boredom drives me to write another. If I finish this in one night I'll sleep till noon- thank god tomorrows Saturday.

Sorry, bit cranky from being up till eleven, then writing. Ughhhh.

Onwards then!

OoOoO

Kaze was happy. And he had a right to be. He wasn't being fried to a crisp. Nor was he going to be turned in for his thievery. He had even won a fight! Unfortunately for Kaji, with happiness came hyperness.

At the moment, Kaze was playing around, trying to spur up Kaji, who merely glanced at him, extremely annoyed, before turning his attention back to the pathway. Kaze would use a swirl of wind to mess up Kaji's hair, or try to knock him off balance. Of course, he only bended when he believed that Kaji wasn't paying attention.

Finally, Kaji exploded. "Will you quit that?" Kaji asked, giving the Airbender a fiery glare. "You're heading down the road to me roasting you."

Kaze shrugged, starting to think this was normal for the fire bender, simply electing to ignore the threat all together. But, he did stop his game- it wouldn't do to find out Kaji was serious, now would it?

So, the two traveled in silence, only broken by the sounds of animals gong about their individual lives. But, these breaks became less and less as the road lead to a small Earth Kingdom village. The road was a sure sign of settlement- it became more packed, and furrows from where carts have been pulled were clearly etched into the pathway.

An hour of silence passed slowly, as the two continued. They had traveled several miles, and could just see the edges of the small town. Faintly, in the distance, yelling could be heard.

"Should we check this out?" Kaze asked, hesitating slightly- it somehow felt wrong to break the long silence.

Kaji nodded, and the two entered the town. It was quaint, having the felling of a tight-nit community. Small stands had been set up, the most popular being a cabbage selling cart. But, as they got closer to the center of the settlement, the yelling became more distinct, until the words were understandable.

"NO!" A distinctively female voice shouted, sounding livid. "I'm NOT going back; I don't care what you say! LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!"

The voice belonged to a red haired girl, who looked a few years younger than Kaji and Kaze. She stood tall and stiffly, a naginata raised in ready stance. There was a black haired girl in front of her, who must have been the one to get the girl in her frenzy.

"Now, Kidate! Honestly, you really should come home. Mom and Dad say you must come, and keep our family superior." The raven haired girl said pompously, twirling her hair on a finger.

"No. Mom and Dad can just go and…well…I don't care what they do, as long as they leave me alone. I'm not going to do anything they say!" The girl- Kidate- screamed. "Leave me alone!" With that, she flourished her hand and a ball of rock flew at the older woman.

The raven haired girl dodged the boulder with ease, and it crashed into the cabbage stand Kaji had noted before. "My cabbages!" The man screeched, falling and his hands and knees to pick up the vegetables.

"Kidate, I don't have time for this- c'mon!" The black haired woman grabbed Kidate by the wrist and pulled the struggling girl along with her.

"NO!" Kidate yelled, using her body weight to wrench herself from the older girls wrist, and backing up a few paces. "I won't go!"

"Yes, you WILL." The other girl stated, trying to grab at her again.

"HEY!" Kaze yelled suddenly, startling both females. "Leave her alone, would ya? Jeez, so she doesn't want to go with you, just go!"

The black haired girl stared at him with a face that screamed 'You have no idea what you're getting into. Shut up.' And Kidate sent him a half mistrusting, half grateful look. Suddenly, the older of the girls grabbed the red-heads wrist again, and pulled hard enough to hurt.

"Ow! Let me go you psycho! I won't go!" With that, she twisted into a fighting stance, and slammed her foot into the other's face, pushing her off.

The black haired one glared at her counterpart for a moment, before turning pompously, and saying over her soldier, "Fine. You'll just come crying back to our family later. Why should I force you now?" and left the streets, disappearing around a corner.

Kidate sat down with a soft thump massaging her shoulder where her relation had stretched the muscle. Kaze walked up to her, silver eyes staring.

"What?" The girl asked gruffly, giving him a slight glare.

"Aren't you going to thank me?"

"For what? Yelling at my sister? I do that just fine on my own, thanks."

"You should be grateful I said anything at all!"

"Really? And why's that?"

"Because I distracted her. Or is that beyond you?"

"All you did was give her another opportunity to grab at me. Thanks SO much"

"You shouldn't insult people better than you."

"Who says you are?"

"Well, I-"

"Oh shut up. Both of you." Kaji interrupted, sounding irritated. He stretched out a hand to help Kidate up, which she took.

"Thanks." She murmured, as she shifted slightly under Kaji's stare. He seemed to be looking strait at her very being, as clique as it sounded.

"Who do you think you are?" A slight crazed voice asked, and suddenly the cabbage man from before was shaking his finger in front of Kidate, who nearly fell backwards from shock. "You should be given a years of torture for this terrible crime! One year for every cabbage!" The man shrieked, and the two men stared at him. Kaji looked blank, while Kaze appeared to have trouble holding in his laughter.

"Er…Okay then…I'll just-." Whatever she would have said was cut off, by Kaji's voice.

"C'mon, let's go." Kaji said, motioning for both to follow. "Sorry, sir, but we must go." His voice held little respect, even as his words were uttered.

Kidate and Kaze followed dutifully, more than relived to get away from this insane cabbage man, who still ranted at them from a far.

After re-entering the forest, Kaji turned around. "Well, Kidate- that was your name, right? - You seem to need something to do, and we need an Earthbender. ("Since when!" Kaze shouted) would you like to join us?"

Kidate looked at them both thoughtfully, before asking "Why do you need an Earthbender."

Kaji shrugged. "It's better to have one person of each element. Covering all the bases."

Pausing again, Kidate asked, "Can I have a trial run on this? If it doesn't work out (She gave a purposeful glance at Kaze), I can still drop out?" Kaji nodded. "Then you've got yourself an Earthbender." She shook hands with Kaji, smiling happily for a moment.

And so, Kidate the Earthbender joined the group.

OoOoO

DP: Ugh! It's a lot harder to keep a trail of thoughts when you're half awake. But, I have -what two weeks? – to look for mistakes. Review or no next chapter.

Toodles

DP