OMFG! another chapter! I'm not sure when my next update will be. I had to take a break from studying for finals so I decided to post this now.

Chapter 6

With Trina

The rhinos crashed through the brush in the forest on the almost non existent path. "This is making too much noise. No one in their right mind would just come out of the bushes; it'd be like asking to be captured."

With that Sokka stumbled out of the underbrush right in front of Zuko's leading rhino. When Sokka saw the fire benders he screamed and raced back into the bushes the way he had came.

"Follow him!" Zuko shouted at the soldier with them. He then slid down for his rhino and helped Trina down too. "Come on; if we follow him he'll probably lead us to your friend and the Avatar. Uncle watch the rhinos while we're gone." And at that he disappeared into the bushes himself.

"Wait for me. I can't move that fast yet!" Trina called after Zuko before heading in herself.

Sokka tore through the forest trying desperately trying to escape the pursuing fire benders. "Help! Someone, help me!" He screamed. He entered the clearing that Caroline was in. He saw her and quickly jumped behind her. "Hide me, hide me, hide me, hide me!" He said quickly as he cowered on his knees behind her.

The pursuing soldier burst from the bushes looking for Sokka. Caroline knew it was time to put her newfound bending skills to the test. She gathered water from a nearby puddle and made an incredibly hot fire in her other hand. The intensity of the fire had the water boiling in a matter of seconds. By that time the fire bender was coming at them so Caroline threw the boiling water at the man. When it hit him he screamed and fell backward through the bushes and only his feet were showing.

Zuko and Trina heard the man scream as they neared the clearing. "Stay behind me," Zuko said to Trina not knowing what to expect in the clearing. Trina on the other hand had a sneaking suspicion that the scream had something to do with her friend. The whole situation was so similar to a dream that Caroline had told her about.

Zuko pushed through the bushes and saw the girl protecting the water tribe peasant and he could have almost laughed at the situation. Trina came through the bushes behind him and saw the scene before her. She recognize the girl standing before them immediately.

"TARRINA!"

"LOMI KA!"

They leapt at each other out of the great joy of seeing each other again. They wrapped their arms around each other in a tight embrace. Zuko and Sokka were both shocked at the sudden display of insanity. Both of them were too surprised to do any thing other that blink for a few moments. Sokka wore a pricelessly shocked facial expression while Zuko simply cocked his eyebrow.

Trina gasped because of the sudden pressure on her broken ribs. Trina's gasp snapped Zuko out of his daze. "Ease up a little on those ribs!" He said not really wanting to ruin the moment that the two friends were sharing but he didn't want to see Trina's condition backslide either.

The two girls pulled away for each other for a moment and looked at him. Trina snorted smoke at him before turning back to Caroline. "What's he talking about Tarrina? "

"It's nothing, just a couple of broken ribs. "

"Broken ribs! "

"I said it was nothing, by the way BOOYA! For those mad bending skills," she said looking at Caroline. Then a wild look then came into her eyes.

Caroline recognized the look in Trina's eyes. "Oh no! Don't do it! Especially if you're hurt! You know what happened last time."

Trina would have no part of this advice. She leapt at Caroline and screamed "TICKLE!"

"NO! AHHHHHHHH!" But it was too late because Trina was already on top of her tickling her mercilessly. Both of the girls were laughing wildly and the two boys who were watching couldn't help but laugh too, although Sokka was still much my confused than Zuko. Caroline finally managed to grab Trina's wrists and tried to throw her off, but Trina would have no part of it and tried to continue tickling. Caroline tightened her grip and called to Sokka for some help.

"Hey now you get off her now….fire bender." Sokka said not knowing what else to call the newcomer (in his surprise he had forgotten what Caroline had called her). He had spat the word fire bender and Trina turned to him with anger in her eyes.

"Do you have a problem?" Trina rose and started to walk toward Sokka, doing her best impression of the "scary Fire Lord walk" as she liked to call it.

Zuko recognized her body language immediately (wonder why) and moved to grab her arm. "Don't hurt him. He's just a sap anyway."

"Hey, I am not."

At that Trina burst into hysterics again. "Yes you are!" She managed. All laughing was making her ribs hurt, a lot, and the pain was starting to show on face. She was starting to have trouble breathing (of course that always happened every time she had a laugh attack, but not for the same reason this time).

Zuko noticed her trouble and moved to her side. "Are you alright?" She nodded. "If I bring you back to the ship in worse shape than you were in when you left the doctor will kill me. Just calm down, ok."

She nodded again and sat down on a nearby rock, trying to catch her breath. When she had caught it she said, "It's so good to see you Lomi Ka. I didn't know what had happened to you, but it seems you found a protector too." She winked at Caroline.

"Yeah can you believe we both ended up with such strong handsome men?" (Ah thus are the thoughts of a fan girl.) Sokka puffed out his chest in pride at being called strong and handsome. Zuko shook his head at the thought that anyone would think that the water tribe peasant was either or much less both of those things.

"So who's this…..boy?" Trina referred to Sokka, knowing perfectly well who he was but she was making a point but using the same tone Sokka had used when he called her 'fire bender.'

"My name is Sokka and I'm sorry for that way I addressed you before. It's just that you're with him," he motioned to Zuko with his head.

"Hey you leave him alone!" Trina rose quickly to her feet only to nearly fall again.

"Not so fast, you'll hurt yourself," Zuko said as he steadied her.

"I just stood up too fast that's all."

Sokka saw Zuko's moment of distraction as an opening to escape form this uncomfortable situation. He grabbed Caroline's arm and with her in tow he bolted into the woods.

"Hey wait, I wasn't done talking to her yet." Trina yelled at Sokka.

"Wait! Sokka!" Caroline cried as they ran through the forest. "Go back! I wasn't done talking!"

Sokka pretended not to hear and kept running. He wanted to get as far away from Prince Zuko as he could. Caroline became annoyed that he was ignoring her and tried to stop. She dug her heels into the ground trying to slow Sokka down, but in the process, caught her foot on a root. She tripped, tumbling both herself and Sokka to the ground.

As they both collapsed in a heap, Caroline landed slightly on top of Sokka. The fall had disoriented her and by the time she realized her position Sokka was blushing fiercely. Caroline jumped back, blushing herself. She turned away from Sokka and neither of them spoke for quite a few moments.

When Sokka finally broke the silence, Caroline was pleased to hear that it had nothing to do with what had just happened. "Sorry about back there," He apologized, referring to their incident with Zuko and Trina only minutes before. "I didn't feel safe around that many fire benders."

"What do you have against fire benders anyway?" Caroline asked becoming slightly offended because she was a bit of one herself.

"Fire Nation attacked my village and killed my mother." Sokka returned.

"But that doesn't make all fire benders evil. Look at me; I'm half fire nation, does that mean you don't like me either?"

"No, that's not what I meant at all! You're a great person, that's different."

"Not all that much." Caroline said. "My friend Tri—Tarrina, is a fire bender as well, and she would never hurt anyone the way the men that attacked your village did. I'm sure if you just got to know a few fire benders you'd realize that they're not all that different from you and me."

"I guess you're right." Sokka admitted. "I'm sorry."

"I know." Caroline replied, finally turning to smile at him.

Sokka smiled back.


Zuko was torn between following them to the Avatar and staying with Trina. He decided that without help there was little chance of catching the Avatar anyway so he stayed with Trina. "I guess we should head back," he said with a sigh

"What about him?" Trina motioned to the still unconscious soldier.

"We'll have to make him wake up because I'm not carrying him."

Zuko slapped the man several time until he started to stir, careful to avoid the blisters that were forming on the men exposed skin because of the boiling water. "Get up. Let's go."

He moaned as he rose but started to walk back to the rhinos with them. When they got back to where Iroh was waiting he immediately asked them what happened.

"Well it seems that Tarrina's friend Lomi Ka can bend both fire and water."

"Oh really? Most unusual."

"Lomi Ka would be seriously amused if she heard you say that." Trina laughed.

"So I take it you didn't get the Avatar."

"Do you see him anywhere? No!"

"Don't worry you'll find them again. I know it," Trina smiled up at Zuko. The smile lifted his spirits some and he decided that they'd better head back to the ship.

"Let's go. Tarrina do you want to learn how to control a rhino?"

"Oh yes!"

"Then come here," he motioned for her to come to him. He helped her into the saddle and mounted the beast behind her. She blushed at his closeness. He put the reigns in her hands and guided her hands with his own. Trina was blushing even more when she felt his strong hands over hers.

Zuko gently guided her hands and instructed her softly. "Do you want to take over for a while?"

"No." She still hadn't built up the confidence to want to try.

"Oh go ahead. If something happens I'll be right here."

He removed his hands from hers and she was surprised when the beast responded to her commands. She was just beginning to feel confident the rhino started to act out. Before she knew it the reigns had been jerked out of her hands and she and Zuko were both thrown from the saddle. When they hit the ground she found herself sitting in Zuko's lap. Both of them blushed and got up.

"Are you two alright?" Iroh's voice came form behind them.

"Yes I suppose so," Zuko said simply.

"I thought you were going to step in before that happened." He simply snorted smoke.

He grabbed the reigns and helped Trina back into the saddle before remounting the creature himself. Zuko kept the reigns himself this time.

He felt Trina start to sway slightly in front of him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm just a little dizzy. From falling off I guess."

He took the reigns in one hand and put the other around her middle so there was no chance of her falling off. To his surprise he felt her hands over his own. He then felt her lean back against his chest and sigh.

"This is much better," she whispered.


BACK WITH CAROLINE

"Oh, I was wondering, what was with that huge tickle fight back there?" Sokka asked.

Caroline's smile widened. "Tarrina likes to use that to torture me. She knows that I'm terribly ticklish. I think she just likes to hear me scream all high pitched and super girly."

Sokka laughed at her words and allowed a mischievous expression to cross his face. "So, you're terribly ticklish, eh?" He reached towards her and smirked.

"Oh, no! Sokka, not you too!" Caroline moaned. "Please, no…"

It was too late. Sokka's hand was already tickling her side and she began to shriek and giggle uncontrollably. Sokka, like Trina found this incredibly amusing and refused to stop. Caroline grabbed Sokka's hands, trying to push them away. She didn't try to hard though, for she rather enjoyed the close proximity, though she wouldn't admit it.

Finally when they were both laughing so hard that their eyes were watering and their sides hurt, the tickling ceased. The two teenagers collapsed on the ground side by side and tried to catch their breath.

"That was fun!" Caroline said between breaths.

Sokka agreed, and laughed some more. When they'd both finally calmed down Sokka realized that it was getting late. "We should be heading back to the camp. Aang and Katara will be wanting to leave, and I already know that Katara will be fuming at me!"

He stood and then helped Caroline to her feet. They walked quite close together as they wandered out of the forest and back towards the cave. They were nearly there when Caroline stumbled slightly and bumped into Sokka.

"Ow!" She mumbled to herself.

"What's wrong?" Sokka asked worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. My knee just locked, that was all. It does it all the time."

"Are you sure?" Sokka observed that she gave her one knee less pressure as she walked. "You're limping."

"I'm fine, really."

Sokka didn't seem to agree. He paused and gathered her up into his strong arms. Caroline was speechless for a few moments.

"You don't have to carry me…" She said finally. "I can walk."

"No sense to strain yourself," Sokka replied, refusing to put her down. Caroline could think of no response so she just sighed deeply and rested her head on Sokka's shoulder. Without even meaning to, she fell asleep.


Well that's all for now.

R&R PLEEZE

so anywayuntil next time...