bwahahahaha! I am updating again, because I'm the expert at fast and crappy chapters.

so...YEAH

Morning came like an egg cracking on a stone floor- slow, trickling and cool. Aang shined his bald head with a piece of cloth and looked at himself in a puddle, amused temporarily by the distorted reflection.

"Hey sleepyhead!"

"Katara!" Aang beamed and walked over to the waterbender, who was busy frying something on their campfire. "Mmm…looks good!"

"I thought you didn't like meat."

"Oh…well…I was just trying to appreciate your cooking and all…" Aang blushed furiously.
Katara didn't notice.

Sokka sniffed, sitting on a rock and looking rather stubborn.

"Hey Sokka! What's wrong?"

Sokka growled to himself.

"He's still mad at me" Katara explained. "I tried to apologize for overreacting, but he won't even accept the fish I cooked him. Oh well, I guess I'll have to give it to Toph."

Sokka's stomach growled from over on his rock. He looked in the other direction.

Toph had already gone through three of Katara's nine fish and looked like she could eat another 50.
The small earthbender accepted Katara's apology to Sokka quite well, sawing at it barbarically and biting a sample off her knife.

Sokka made a whining noise from deep in his throat.

"Needs to be tenderized" Toph noted, preparing to smash it with a rock.

"WAIT!" Sokka jumped up and grabbed the fish out of Toph's hands. "Katara, I accept your apology if you accept mine!"

Toph grinned. Katara shook her head at Sokka's appetite. Did all men think with their stomachs?

"Apology accepted. And thank you."

Aang grinned from ear to ear, digging into his saladlike breakfast and mumbling something to Toph with his mouth full. She shot him a disgusted look.

Katara pulled her brother aside.

"So…" Sokka started, hoping that his truce with Katara would last. "Should we head out of here this afternoon?"

Katara shook her head.
"Appa's not looking so good. I think all the traveling is tiring him out. Perhaps we'll be safe for the rest of the day…I was thinking about it and…maybe those girls were thrown off by us going in the wrong direction."

Sokka grinned.

"Well, it was a part of my plan, after all, confusing the ene-"
"Don't push it."

Katara sighed.
"I don't think we're going to be safe anyway. Not for a while. But exhausting ourselves never does any good."

Sokka frowned, remembering his last encounter with those scary girls.

"They're fast" he mumbled to himself. "Maybe we threw them off for a day, but I'm not sure it's going to last."

Katara heard but didn't answer.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Zuko, do you mind fetching some water for the tea?" Iroh rasped, setting sparks to a new bundle of logs.

Why don't you get it yourself Zuko thought in annoyance, though he knew it was because Iroh still wasn't in the greatest of shape.

"What happened to the water you had in the gourd?" Zuko asked, not really wanting to risk interaction with the water-tribe girl again. At least not until he knew Iroh was fit to fend for himself in the case something happened to Zuko.

"Heh heh…I used it to wash my feet" Iroh said with a grin, wiggling his knobby old toes for his repulsed nephew. "See? Squeaky clean."

Zuko slapped his forehead.
"I'll get the basin."

Toph's psycho grin was back as she hammered the earth with her bare feet, forcing Aang to withstand a Toph-induced earthquake.

Part of it was for training.

Part of it was because she enjoyed hearing him fall on his face.

"H-hoo-wt d-o-sss t—hhh-iii-s h-help wi-ith my ea-rrth-b-ee-ending" he managed as he tried to steady himself.

"It helps you learn to stabilize yourself. You won't always be on steady ground. Earth can be a volatile element, you have to listen to what your feet are telling you and learn to achieve balance. If you can balance your body, you can balance your mind" Toph said matter-of-factly.

"Wow" Aang said, when Toph finished abusing the earth. "That was deep."

"So is this!" Toph chirped, creating an earth split under Aang's feet.

Aang airbended himself out of the way just in time.
Toph slapped her forehead. "What did I TELL YOU?" she shouted. "No airbending!"

She made another, bigger crack. This time, Aang failed to dodge. Catching himself on the edges of the small canyon, he avoided falling into the grave Toph had created for him.

"Now" Toph said. "Can you get yourself out?"

Aang's skinny airbender arms strugged to lift the mass of his body for a few seconds. The sounds of his feet scraping against the edges of the crack were audible to Toph's sensitive ears.

Toph walked forward and bent down, 'looking' directly into her student's eyes.

"You have to feel the earth" she commanded. "Stop struggling like a trapped animal! Sense the rock, feel it against your body!"

Aang stuck out his tongue at his obliviously blind teacher.
"I feel something all right."

Aang created a foothold with his earthbending, so he could relive the pressure from his arms. He then used them to force the earth from the bottom on the hole up, levitating his body out of the hole enough for him to climb out with springy ease.

Toph smiled. Something about this made Aang very happy. Pleasing Toph was difficult but when he did, it felt oddly more satisfying than making anyone else smile.

…

"WATCH OUT" the earthbender shouted all of the sudden.

Aang's stomach jumped about a mile as he turned to see what Toph was shouting about. And was promptly hit in the back of the head with a rock.

Aang fell dizzily to the ground, looking up at his teacher with blurry eyes.

"What was that for?" he whined.

"You're too easy" she explained.

Aang grinned lopsidedly.

"What?"
"There are two Tophs now" he said drunkenly. He pointed his finger at the blurry vision of her frowning face.

Toph sighed in exasperation, bending down to take Aang's hand and help him to his feet.
Aang grabbed on to her to keep himself from falling again.

And held on to her for about thirty seconds.

"Uhm…Aang? You can let go now. I didn't hit you that hard."

"Oh…right."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I thought I'd see you again" Katara said calmly to the masked face she noticed in the woods across the stream. Still, the Blue Spirit didn't move. She'd been there for almost two hours, wondering if he would return, and when she finaly caught sight she wasted no time in speaking.
Which…was the same thing she had done to Haru at first, and he'd run away from her.

Perhaps this tactic wasn't working.

"I'm not going to hurt you or anything…" she said curiously, wondering why it refused to approach her.

Yeah right. Like you even could the man behind the mask thought in exasperation. He'd only worn it in case she was there again. What was she doing, stalking him? Perhaps she'd slept in the river last night. That would explain her hair. It was a mess.

Not that he cared about her hair.

Katara sat down stubbornly and began to waterbend. The firebender's eyes watched the fluid motion with growing disdain.

Finally he stepped forward out of the woods.

What was he, scared of a little waterbender?

Katara looked at him for a second, but then back at her water, which was still suspended in the air.

The Spirit started to fill his water jug, plaster eyes face still staring at the girl with distrust.

"Let me help you" she volunteered cheerfully, using her bending to summon fresh water from the stream to go towards his container.

The man pulled back, dropping the jug and spilling the water.

"Oh…I see" Katara said, disappointed.

The spirit filled his jug on his own and left.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Sokka, the fearless warrior of the southern water tribe! Silently, he stalks his unsuspecting prey. The elusive beast cowards in the presence of his mighty sword-

"Hey Fruitbrain! What's up with you and that squirrel?"

The frightened rodent skittered away at the earthbender's voice. Sokka cringed.

"HEY! You scared away my dinner!"

This didn't phase Toph. She planted herself on the ground and crossed her legs.

Sokka looked at Toph.

Toph looked at Sokka.

Sokka frowned at Toph.

Toph grinned at Sokka.

"…why…are you here?" Not really a question. More of a statement. Go away.

"Aang and little princess sparklecakes are waterbending."

Sokka sighed.

"Well then…why don't you just…take a rest?"

"Don't need to!"

"Leave me alone?" Sokka tried.

Toph contemplated this.

"Nah…I don't feel like it."

Sokka tried again.

"I was going to take a bath in that pond…"

"You just do that!"

"I can't while you're watching!"

"Oh well then. Don't bathe for all I care."

Sokka wondered what he'd done to deserve this.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Mai, I want to you handle the waterbender. Ty Lee, The Warrior and that blind kid.

Score! Ty Lee thought enthusiastically. Forgetting that 'handle' meant 'kill.'

"I'll handle the Avatar."

Of course you will she mocked in the safety of her mind. Mai's lips were curled into a smile. She'd been talking about what a 'pretentious whore' the water-tribe girl was so Ty Lee assumed this would be fun for the assassin.
Not for her though. She disliked killing people. Especially hot warrior boys and cute little Earth-nation kids.

"So when will we get there" Mai asked Azula with a monotone impatience. She was bored. It was obvious.

"By nightfall. We should be able to catch them off guard while they're sleeping."

"You sure you can locate them?"

"Are you doubting me, Mai?"

Ty Lee shot a concerned look towards her best friend. Mai looked unphased.

"You're right- the only water for miles, four kids and a giant buffalo. There's no way we could miss them."

Azula gave Mai a smug smile. Ty Lee felt bad for the frumpy weapons lover- Azula always picked on her.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"You spend so long when you go to get water" Iroh teased.

The chubby old man sat comfortably in the shade of a tree near their campsite. His eyes looked suspiciously at the bag slung over Zuko's back but he said nothing.
"Perhaps I should get it next time."

Zuko suddenly felt alarmed. If Iroh stumbled into the Avatar's path, it would be bad news. They were enemies, if they assumed Iroh was after them they might attack. He could get hurt again.

Seeing the horror in Zuko's eyes, Iroh shook his head.

"I was only joking. What is there at that river you don't want me to see?"

"Nothing."

Iroh frowned. "Don't you think we should be heading out of here?"

Zuko looked at Iroh with sad eyes. He didn't want to tell the man that he was worried. The last thing Iroh needed was his nephew's doubt.

But Zuko knew he was getting worse.

Iroh- he looked pained every time he stood up, although he tried to hide it.

"No. Azula is following the Avatar. She won't find us here" he lied.

Just stay away from the Avatar and nothing will happen to him…

"Aren't you following the Avatar as well, Zuko?"

Zuko frowned.

"You are my main priority, uncle" he said stoically.

Iroh smiled, but his eyes looked distant and unhappy.

"Besides. It's not like catching him would make a difference anyway" the young man whispered, looking off into the woods.

He had to stop going back there. Perhaps next time he'd walk further down the stream to get water. What if someone other that the oblivious girl saw him and recognized the blue spirit mask?

So long as it was Katara, he was safe. Her brother was also stupid, he probably wouldn't be much of an issue. The earthbender was blind and wouldn't sense him if he was in the trees.

But the Avatar would recognize him immediately.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Katara, have you ever had feelings for a girl that doesn't even notice, no matter how hard you try to tell her?"

Aang, standing in his undergarments and sparing with Katara in the steam (also nearly naked), and had paused to ask her the question.

Katara raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure I've ever had feelings for a girl, at least not the sort you're talking about"

Aang's eye twitched as he realized what he said.

"I- I mean, anyone. You want them to notice you and they're completely oblivious."

Perhaps earlier he would have said the exact same thing about Katara. But the truth was, after their kiss in the cave of the two lovers, he'd realized something.

Katara thought of him as her little brother.

She was a totally beautiful, strong, brave water goddess and he was a dinky little kid. The Avatar, but still a dinky little kid.
And he'd given up.

He loved her, but as a friend. A gorgeous, unattainable friend that he'd never be with. She deserved better.

Katara smiled, her eyes closed.

"Believe it or not, yes."
Aang smiled sheepishly, glad to know someone understood.

A silence followed.

"Do you mind if I ask you who?" he prodded curiously.

Katara frowned.

"I- I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to…"

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt...

…

Well…you remember Jet?"

Aang's face looked rather disgusted.

"You liked HIM?"

Katara laughed.
"Before I realized how fucked-up he was" she said, then furrowed her eyebrows, ashamed that she'd sworn in front of Aang.

Aang still looked disgusted.

"WHAT? I thought it was obvious…"

"Not to ME it wasn't."

"Well you're just silly then" Katara teased, splashing Aang with water.

The playful battle between them started up again.

"So…anyone else?" Aang teased, sending a waterbending bomb onto his teacher's head.
The girl's white undergarments were soaked and she stuck out her tongue.

"Wouldn't YOU like to know."

"Yeah I would-"

Katara wrapped water-ropes around Aang's feet and tripped him.

"mrspsorep" Aang gurgled in the water. "No fair!"

Katara laughed.
"If you weren't so busy talking maybe you'd notice when someone's sneaking up on you." Katara kissed Aang's cheek playfully. Aang blushed.

Perhaps he wasn't over Katara.

Forget it, Airhead, it's never going to happen.

And a distance down, hidden safely in a tree, a silent spectator watched this with an inexplicable dislike.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The ribbon's in Mai's hair fluttered as she breathlessly ran to catch up to a stormy Zuko.
"Hey- wait up!" she huffed.

The boy looked back at her and grumbled something about girls being crazy and continued to walk away.


Mai reached Zuko and put her hand on his shoulder, looking at him sympathetically.

"What are YOU doing here? Coming back to mock me some more?" he shouted immaturely.
Mai looked like she was about to cry.

"Well don't bother! Azula told me about you! All you ever do is pretend you like me and make fun of me behind my back!"

"That's not true!" Mai protested, tears now starting to run down her face.


"YES IT IS. YES IT IS. HOW ELSE WOULD AZULA HAVE FOUND OUT ABOUT-"

"I DI-DIDN'T T-TELL HER! I S-SWEAR! S-SHE WAS W-WATCHING US AND-"

"WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE YOU?" Zuko's squeaky, prepubescent voice interrupted Mai's hopeless stuttering.

"Because…" Mai's voice stopped shouting. She sniffed and whipped her eyes, looking at Zuko's back.

"Because- Azula always lies." The little girl resumed her crying at having said such a horrible thing about her best friend.

Zuko didn't care. Zuko opened the door at the end of the hallway, shot a resentful look at Mai, and shut the door.

And from the shadows of the corridor where Mai had been left alone, a furious pair of yellow eyes watched with satisfaction.

Mai frowned and looked out the window of their noisy machine, gently massaging the dull edges of a kunai between her fingertips.

"Azula always lies."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Toph 'watched' the water-tribe boy train with interest, following his every stumbling movement with her earth-sense.

"Still there?" he asked, not bothering to look back. She'd been there for almost an hour now.

Toph didn't like the fact that she was annoying him. She hated to say it but for some reason, since last night, she'd begun to actually like him. Admire him, even.

Of course, Toph, being a sheltered child, didn't understand that having crushes on older boys was completely normal, and Sokka didn't understand what on earth (haha…earth) would cause Toph to start following him around.

"Hi Sokka! H-hiii Toph" Aang managed.
Sokka looked at Aang in boredom.

"Oh. Hi Aang. Come to train with Toph some more?"

"Well actual-"

"No! We're done training for the day!" Toph interrupted with a smile.

"Done…training?" both boys said at the same time. That was something not frequently heard from Toph's mouth.

"Yep! So there's plenty more time for you to play with Katara if you want…" Toph suggested.

"Oh! Well…Katara and I are done, I just wanted to see if you want to…take a walk with me or something" Aang said hopefully, blushing.

Toph stared blankly in Sokka's direction.

"Oh- yeah. Suuree…Aang."

Aang waved his hand in front of her face. Not that he was really obstructing her blind view, but Toph swatted it out of the way anyway.

Weird. Thought Sokka, watching both of them.
First Katara wants to kill me, now Toph's stalking me and Aang look at her like he just got bit by the love bug. I wonder if there's some sickness going around…

Was he the ONLY sane one anymore?

Momo jumped on his head and tugged his ears.

"Ahh, Momo. At least someone I can rely on" Sokka sighed. Momo's green orbs watched him upside-down from the top of his head, and his furry hand stuck itself in the warrior's ear, picking something out and sticking it in its mouth.

"Or not."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

As the sky darkened and the air grew cold, Zuko watched with mild disappointment as Katara pulled her blue dress back over her white underclothes.

Why was he even here? He should be back with Iroh, making sure his uncle was unharmed. Instead he was staring at some stupid, immature waterbender who was supposed to be his enemy.

Katara looked off into the woods where she probably expected to see him. Or, expected to see the Blue Spirit. That was probably why she hadn't left yet. Female curiosity had no limits. She probably wanted to be 'friends' with her silent acquaintance.

Zuko's fingers traced the contours of his mask, which he held in his hands.

Perhaps he could get her to give him more fish? He and Iroh had finished the last one off for lunch.

What was he thinking?

Zuko, you're going crazy. Catch one yourself if you're THAT hungry.

He masked himself and jumped down from his perch.

Spirit-Zuko started to walk off into the woods, looking at the water-tribe girl on the far side of the stream a distance off, who seemed disappointed. He felt a bit guilty.

Why did he even care?

Katara looked sadly off into the woods.

It's just a dumb guy in a mask. He's crazy if he's out here anyway. I should just leave.

And Katara turned to do exactly that, before screaming as something sharp ripped past her face.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

A miniature arrow pinned one of her arms to a tree. Another one followed. Katara struggled, managing to unhook one arm and trying to free the other.

A poker-faced Mai raised an eyebrow.

"You know, I was a bit annoyed to see that none of you were at the campsite. But it's much better when you aren't with your whiney brother. At least no one's here to protect you now."

Katara's mouth dropped at the insult.
"I do NOT need to be protected!"

Water summoned itself from the stream and threw itself haphazardly at Mai. Katara was having trouble at this distance with one of her arms useless.

Mai looked bored. She threw three metal stars at Katara.

With a ripping sound, Katara freed her other arm just in time to protect herself with a shield of ice.

"Looks like you could use some help to me."

"Your opinion means nothing to me!"

A slew of mini-arrows were thrown at Katara, who dodged them all but one, which caught and pinned her long braid to the tree.

Katara pulled her hair loose, undoing the braid which begain to fray and unravel itself. While she did this, Mai took the opportunity to throw a kick at the girl's stomach. Needles between each of her fingers, the assassin also took swipes at either side of Katara's face.
With nowhere to back into, Katara ducked and narrowly avoided the kick. She rolled to the side, stumbling on her skirt as she stood.

"Maybe if you didn't spend so much time making yourself look pretty you'd actually be able to fight" Mai droned.

Katara looked extremely insulted.

"Well EXCUSE ME FOR BEING PRETTIER THAN YOU!"

In the next few seconds, several sharp objects were thrown, water was tossed around, ice was shattered, and neither of the girls noticed a third person enter the fray until they were suddenly separated by a pair of swords.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" Mai asked, amusement suddenly lightening her face.

The Blue Spirit's plastered grin placed evenly between the two girls answered her question without uttering a sound.

So! What happened to the others, you say? Well, you'll just have to wait and find out!

This is becoming difficult for me to write without making them out of character. Zuko particularly- though logically it would be stupid for him to attack Aang, it's probably something he would do. But I'm keeping him neutral until Iroh heals, because I really don't think he'd get far with four tied up kids and an injured old man.

Oh- the bit with Toph developing a crush on Sokka was unexpected for me, but it seemed kinda logical. She's always making fun of him and I think that it's really more of her childish way of gaining respect for him. Don't worry, there will be no romance between the two, it's a just plot device I'll be using later :P