Ok. More back story, more to be revieled about Sokuro.

Chapter 9

Sokuro jumped from rock to rock down the side of the waterfall, heading to the base of the cliff. A bloodcurdling scream rose above the waterfall's roar, and he quickened his pace. He didn't know where exactly the scream was coming from, but new it was from below him.

When he reached the base of the waterfall, he kneeled to observe a disturbance. The ground showed signs of a struggle. There were three sets of footprints, but one was smaller and lighter than the others, and he assumed it was either a very small child or a woman. The other two were obviously men. They dragged the girl or child off down the bank, but she continued to struggle. Sokuro fallowed it down the river, and his breath grew heavy as if the person he was tracking really meant something to him, but every time he was about to touch the name in his mind, it would shy away.

He rounded a bend in the river, and stopped dead in his tracks. Blood flowed down the sides of some high rocks in tiny rivulets, and the river around it was dark red. He tried to use a power to give him flight, but found that he couldn't feel any of them. Looks like I have to do this the hard way, he thought. He dug his hand into the surprisingly soft rock, and began to climb to the top. On his way, the blood became wider and darker as it fell over the edge, making it harder for him to keep his grip.

When he made it to the top, he almost fell back off, because before him lying in a pool of blood was Katara. His eyes darkened and he let out a barbaric scream, and the water below him erupted in a giant torrent, nearly empting the flow. When it stopped, droplets of water fell down from the sky, washing away the blood. He kneeled down be side Katara and wept as he cradled her head in his lap.

00End Dream Sequence11

Sokuro sat ridged, straight up and down, sweat pouring down his back and face, drenching his shirt. His breath came short and fast, as if he had just run several miles without stopping. He looked down at Katara who was quietly sleeping. The moon shown down on them, like a pillar of marble, illuminating the nearby ground. It caught Katara's face brilliantly, making her seem more beautiful. He pulled himself out of his sleeping bag, and stirred the white coals back to life, and dried him self off. It had been three days since the skeleton had attacked and the third time he had had this dream.

Then he sat there, waiting for something to happen and thinking about the meaning of his dream. Could this mean I'm going to lose her? Maybe I should talk to her about it. Said one voice in his mind.

No, that would just make her worry and paranoid. Keep it to yourself until it holds some relevance in life. Replied another.

May be she could help you understand it's meaning. It concerns her, is that not relevance enough? Argued the first voice.

If you tell her, she will think you have something to hide from her, and that is what's causing you your bad dreams about her. Retorted the second.

But he does have a lot to hide from her, but he's been hiding it from her from day one. Why would it be bothering him now? Asked the first voice.

Because he has kissed her no, that is the ultimate sign of love and companionship, basically saying "I will be with you forever." That is why these dreams are coming up, he is afraid of losing her before he has the chance to tell her all of his secrets.

What do you suggest he does then? Tell her what he was accused of and got him banished? Or maybe he should tell her what happens to people he grows close to? Oo, maybe he should tell her how the soul gem gains its powers; that would sure go over well.

Enough! Shouted Sokuro, I'm going to open up to her. If I want to be with her, and her me, she should know what she's getting into.

Katara stirred, and sat up. "Good morning, what are you doing up so early?" she asked, dragging her self from her sleeping bag.

"Bad dream," he said solemnly without turning around.

She drew her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on her knees, trying to warm her body without getting back into the sleeping bag. "Want to talk about it?" she asked.

"About the dream, no, but there is something I want to talk to you about." He got up and walked over to her, sat down and put an arm around her. "I haven't told you much about my past, have I?"

"No, but I thought I would wait until you were ready to talk about it." She said with a broad smile.

Sokuro looked over at Sokka and Aang to make sure they were still asleep, and then began his story looking into the flames of the fire.

00Flashback/ Story11

"When I was young, about five years old, demons, evil spirits, broke through a barrier into my world. They ravaged the world, and forced my people into the caves. The scientists gabbed all of their research that they could carry, and hid in the caves so they could continue it. There was a vast amount of the Soul Gems in a stockpile, and a group of us were sent out to get them, before the demons could. The small government that was setup in the absence of the former one selected the few of my people with a special gene that allowed them to touch the Soul Gem with out it bonding to them, unless they willed them to. The crew consisted of a score (small definition: score means twenty) of our best warriors and four gene carriers, as they were called. I was one of these. We set out from the closest cave to the stockpile and snuck in. We each had a weapon of our choice." His hand drifted down to his sword hilt, as he continued, "The demons were there, trying to break in to the vault, so the warriors had to kill them, which proved to be a rather big mistake on our part. It only required a few men to kill them, but the demons infused their essence into the blades that killed them. The men's minds were quickly taken over and they turned on us. I ran and hid underneath a pile of ruble, as the warriors battled amongst themselves."

"When finally the battle was finished, I was the only person from the crew to survive. As I walked through the bodies, one of the warriors, barely alive, grabbed my leg. I knelt down next to him, and he told me that he needed me to take his sword, that it was the only way to open the vault. He said that the mission had to be completed or else the war would be lost. As he said those last words, he died."

"Following his orders, I hefted his sword and found the groves that it fit into, and place it there. The center of the pommel melted away, and the soul gem replaced it. The door opened and the sword fell to the ground with an earsplitting clang. In the vault were millions of pommel sized Soul Gems. I grabbed as many as I could, hoping it would be enough for the scientists, then took all of the C-4 off the dead soldiers bodies and placed it in the vault. Grabbing the sword, I dragged it away behind the rubble I had hid behind earlier and pressed a button on a control pad. Shards of shattered soul gems flew all around, and the vault door broke off its hinges. The roof began to collapse, and I had to run as fast as I could, dragging the sword behind me by a leather tassel."

"When I returned to the caves, alone, it was assumed that the demons had infected me, and they locked me up in a normal cell. For all their wisdom they couldn't see that I would have not returned if such was the case. But they still imprisoned me, and the sword taken from me. Before they did though, I willed the Soul Gem to bond to me and not to hurt anybody. So there I waited for ten years, never getting to see my mother or my brothers and sisters. My father had disowned me, and was the one who tried to break my mind so I would reveal the "demon" inside of me. At first I pleaded with him to stop hurting me, and for your benefit I will not tell you what he did to me, but then I realized he no longer accepted me as a person. I was just a possessed animal that had to beaten."

"Finally, the government decided to test their new invention, that would combat the demons. The prototype was my sword. It had been given the technology to jump from dimension to dimension. They decided to use me as the test subject seeing as I was supposed to be evil. Two guards and my father were to escort me as we tested it. I slashed through the rift, and waved good by to the family that cared about me, and walked through, followed by my escort."

"On the other side, we looked in awe at the spectacle in front of us. Buildings towered around us, touching the sky. They were taller than mountains. They reflected everything, making it appear to be a world of mirrors. The escort was killed then by one shot between the eyes each. The forth shot that was intended for me bounced back at the shooter, as a blue field appeared around me. I turned to run, but the portal had already closed. Again a shot came at me, and the blue field protected me. I slashed another rift, and jumped through. Thus my journey to try and get home began."

00End Flashback/ Story11

As Sokuro finished, the sun was bout to come up. Katara had gotten out of his arm, disturbed by his story and no longer sure of what to think of this person. He suddenly looked very worn and older than he was. She decided to break the silence, asking, " What's C-4?"

"It is an explosive. It is powerful enough to, if placed in the right spot, cause an entire cave to collapse," he said.

Changing the subject again, she asked, "Was that skeleton a demon?"

"No, although it was controlled by one. And the only way a demon could get here is with help. Doran must still be alive, that's the only person with the ability to bring a demon here. He was bad enough, but if we now have a demon, powerful enough to resurrect the dead, then this world could be destined for a greater doom than when I found it."

"How can we kill the demon? And we need to kill Doran, and we need to get Aang to learn the elements before the end of summer," said Katara frantically.

"Calm down, we'll be safe as long as Doran is to weak to really help the demon hold itself in this world. We might have 'till summer's end to protect this world."

"Then we had better get Aang to Omashu so he can learn Earthbending," said Sokka, pulling himself out of his sleeping bag.

"How much of that did you here?" asked Katara, giving Sokka a disapproving glare.

"Enough to know the danger we're in, and that we can't really trust this kid anymore," he said returning the glare.

"I'm the only person who can help you against Doran, he is faster than Zuko and more determined to devastate this world," snapped Sokuro.

"I never said you had to leave, but you won't be allowed some of the trust you have previously been given," replied Sokka, rolling up the sleeping bag.

"Their was trust somewhere in his series of aggressive statements?" asked Sokuro rhetorically, causing Katara to giggle. Sokka sniffed indignantly, and continued to pack. Sokkuro allowed a smile to creep across his face, and sat back down on his sleeping bag to rest.

Ok, yay for background stories! Ready reveiw.