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Light from the Shadows

Chapter 11

Kakashi was glad to have the Great Divide behind him. If luck was ever kind to him it would never make him return to the place. It may be a beautiful national tourist attraction, but now it was tainted with disturbing elderly molestation. He shivered. The woman had gotten pretty handsy. And he was not willing to share the details with Sakura. Though you wouldn't mind if Sakura got handsy with you... Kakashi shook his head. Sakura was his friend! A random image of her as an old woman pinching his ass and giggling filled his mind and he shivered. If he was lucky the memories of the old woman would be so shocking that they would give him situational was having a worse time than normal falling asleep lately. The nightmares were back.

And they were getting worse.

Last night he relived his father's public suicide. The crowd had laughed and turned on him, saying that he should be next. His father's body rose like a zombie and walked toward him with a sinister smile. His organs snagged on the ground in a bloody trail. The 'reanimated' Sakumo had come up to him and started choking him while the crowd held him down.

"Fire Nation scum. Die!"

The crowd around him whispered and spat slurs at him, their bodies morphing and changing into those of his traveling companions. They were the ones insulting him and instead of Sakumo's fingers on his throat, they turned into Sakura's. Her nails dug into the skin on his neck. Her eyes were filled with a fiery hatred. Her grip grew tighter and tighter. Just before he blacked out in the dream, Kakashi had woken up. His stomach rolled and he scrambled to get up and throw up in a small group of bushes a few meters away from the campsite. It was the first dream he had had like that, and he hoped it was the last.

The vision of his father's intestines dragging and ripping open on the ground haunted him. The blood spattered everywhere, coating his father's hands when they moved to his neck to strangle him. The smell… it was in his nose, even outside of the dream. His stomach lurched but Kakashi held it down, there was nothing left in his stomach, beyond bile, anyway.

Kakashi returned to the campsite and lay back down on his bedroll. While he was still tired and wanted to go back to sleep, he just wasn't able to rid his mind of the blood.

A noise made his ears perk up. It was coming from Aang's bedroll behind him. Kakashi had noticed the kid had nightmares every now and then. He seemed to have such a crazy life. Kakashi sighed. It was too much responsibility put on such a young child.

Aang sat up in shock. Momo, who had been sleeping on his chest, was startled and woke Katara while he was trying to get away. Sokka gripped his boomerang in his sleep.

"Huh? Uh… what's going on? Did we get captured again?" Sokka said in his sleep.

"It's nothing. I just had a bad dream. Go back to sleep."

"Mm."

Sokka rolled back over. Aang laid back down on his bedroll, but Kakashi knew he wasn't asleep.

Katara asked, "Are you all right, Aang?"

Kakashi stayed quiet, waiting for Aang's response.

"I'm okay."

"You seem to be having a lot of nightmares lately, you wanna tell me about it?"

"I think I just need some rest."

Their interaction temporarily woke up Sokka, "You guys wanna hear about my dream?"

Apparently Katara shot him a look, "…yeah, I didn't want to talk about it anyway."

The group was quiet. Kakashi rolled over and saw that Aang was still awake. He hadn't gone back to sleep.

"Aang."

His eyes snapped up. They were filled with pain and Kakashi felt the anguish living in the boy's heart.

"I'm here if you need to talk to anyone," Kakashi paused, "You know... I have nightmares too. Of my father being killed. Just know that you aren't alone in this. We are all here for you."

He tried to give Aang a reassuring smile, but only succeeded in a slightly watery turn of his lips.

It seemed to give the boy some comfort at least, even if he didn't say anything. He did close his eyes and try to go back to sleep. Kakashi rolled back over and did the same.

…

In the morning, Kakashi was groggy. He had only gotten another hour or so of sleep. What I wouldn't give for a steaming hot cup of tea. He strapped his bedroll to the saddle and started climbing up into it. Appa yawned. I hear you buddy. Aang was sitting on Appa's head and pointed at the sky, he seemed to have gotten a little more sleep.

"Look at those clear skies, buddy! Should be some smooth flying."

Katara opened their empty food bag, hoping for something Kakashi knew wasn't there. Sakura noticed and piped up, "well, we better smoothly fly ourselves to a market, 'cause it looks like we're out of food."

Sokka peeked over the back side of the saddle, "GUYS, wait, this was in my dream, we shouldn't go to the market."

Kakashi looked at him, "What happened in your dream?"

His eyes bugged out, "Food eats people!"

The expression on everyone's faces matched his own, blank. Unimpressed. Kakashi pulled out his book and opened it with a snap.

Sakura sighed, "Don't you get tired of reading the same books over and over Kakashi?"

Sokka continued talking in the background, "Also, Momo could talk. You said some very unkind things!"

"No, they seem to have something new to me every time I read them."

"Suuurreee… I bet you just use it as an excuse not to talk to people."

Kakashi didn't respond. No need to give away all my secrets.

…

They arrived at a harbor town a few hours later. It was apparent most of the villagers made their money from fishing, as there were several boats tied to the pier with many nets on them. Most of the island was largely mountainous terrain. A beautiful place really, a good one for a quiet life. If he hadn't gone to Kyoshi this might have been a good place to settle in. The stench of fish was off-putting, but he supposed you would get used to it. Glancing around, he took it back. The village was not without its struggles; Most of the construction on the coast was fairly new. The Fire Nation had raided it.

Appa floated in the water close to the harbor, almost as if he were another ship. Kakashi sat on a bench near the vendor stall Sakura and Katara were carousing. Katara was shaking a melon and it made a swishy noise.

"Ah, it's good! It's perfect, I'm telling you!"

"I don't know if I like the sound of that swishing."

Sakura had a basket of fruit she was waiting to purchase.

"Swishing means it's ripe! It's the ripe juices swishing around, eh?"

Aang was with the shopkeeper, "I think it's true, Katara, swishing means it's ripe."

Katara put the fruit down, "I just realized I don't have money for it anyway. Just the basket of fruit please."

Sakura brought up the basket and handed the woman a coin. She took it begrudgingly and the rest of their group walked away. Sakura gave Katara the basket of fruit and took one from it. Kakashi looked up and smiled at the vendor, she made a vulgar hand gesture and he chuckled nervously. She was crabby. Next to him, Sakura sat down on the bench and offered him a piece of her apple. He took it and they munched. The rest of the group was standing a little ways out and talking amongst themselves.

"Isn't it nice to get away from the kiddos for a while?" He mused with her.

"You have no idea."

She took another bite of her apple and they watched as an old fisherman and his wife walked behind the group. The wife took the old man by the shoulder. They started talking and Kakashi noticed the kids listening in on their conversation.

Kakashi could only pick up bits and pieces of what they said.

"Maybe…shelter?'

"Shelter from what?"

The old couple fought for a few minutes, before the old man obviously said something that got Sokka's attention. He ran up to the old man and shouted, "I'll go!"

The old man hired him, but for what, Kakashi was not sure. Should I go with him? I really don't want to stink like fish though…

…

Kakashi glanced at Appa, the bison was still floating in the water, obviously loving it. For a sky bison, he's strangely attached to the water.

Sokka was helping the old man load up his fishing boat. From what he could hear, Katara and Aang were trying to convince him not to go, the sky had become very cloudy in the last twenty minutes. The air had become slightly chilly and a bitter breeze had started whispering its way through the port village.

"Sokka…. Isn't…good idea…sky."

"I said…can't back out…weather.."

The wife butted in, "..Boy with tattoos…listen to him!"

"Tattoos?...well I'll be a hogmonkey's uncle! You're the Avatar, ain't ya?"

Katara put her hands on her hips, she was proud of their association with him. The old fisherman's expression was not so kind. He jabbed at Aang's chest,

"…disappeared for a hundred years… you turned your back on the world!"

Katara tried fighting back for her friend. Kakashi saw Aang retreat from the conversation and back away slightly.

"…then I guess I must have imagined the last hundred years of war and suffering."

He saw Katara step between Aang and the fisherman. She was upset. She started defending the boy, but as she did so, he backed further and further away. She looked back at him questioningly and he fled, opening his glider and taking off toward the mountain.

Kakashi sighed.

Aang shouldn't be the one on the receiving of such anger, it wasn't his fault a massive responsibility was put on him at such a young age. If anyone should be treated poorly for deserting it should be me. At least I had a choice in the matter.

"That's right! Keep flyin!"

"You're a horrible old man!"

"Eh."

She mounted Appa, "Yip! Yip!"

The two took off, drenching the old man with the wave Appa caused on liftoff. Sokka came out of the fishing boat. He seemed upset once he saw Katara leaving the bay on Appa.

Kakashi got up and decided to tour the town a bit before the storm hit. While he wanted to go after Aang, he knew there was nothing he could say without giving away his Fire Nation background and making everything worse. Kakashi held his hand out to Sakura,

"Want to go tour this little town? I'd rather ditch them for a bit than deal with preteen Avatar drama."

"Absolutely." She took his hand.

…

Kakashi and Sakura didn't get much time to explore the town. They had just enough to time to find a general goods store, buy a few supplies and head back out before the rain started coming down in sheets. Back on the pier they were getting hit with the worst of it, hoping that at least most of their packs wouldn't be soaked by the rain. They were currently hiding between two small buildings on the pier, attempting to use some newspapers as raincover. Needless to say it wasn't doing much for them. Kakashi pushed the hair out of his eyes and tried to shake the water off his face. The rain was cool and tasted good. He wished that they were in a different time and place where they could enjoy it.

He smiled. The moment was still peaceful. Sakura was caught in the rain with him, a huge grin plastered on her face as they tried their darnedest to avoid the rain with a soaked paper shield. (It didn't work well; the slanted tin rooves on either side of them were dripping right through a hole in the middle of the paper.)

A voice cried out behind him.

"Hey you two! Come inside! I have a little shack just over there!"

Kakashi glanced at Sakura, but the moment was broken. He was at least happy for the help.

They walked inside with the woman who had approached them. She was the fisherman's wife from before. She had been right about the storm. It struck Kakashi as a moment of divine intervention, and that perhaps the next time the man's wife warned him, he might actually listen.

Inside the shack, Kakashi set his pack on the wooden floor and sat on a stool against a wall. It smelled of fish and it was quite dirty, but who was he to complain when the building was giving him shelter from the elements? He looked at Sakura and she was wringing out her hair. She had been wearing a red split tunic with cream harem pants that day. Her clothes had become soaked through and were practically pasted on her body at this point. You couldn't see through them but it didn't leave much to the imagination…

Whoa. Kakashi. What the hell are you doing? Sakura is just. a. friend. You need to stop this weirdness! Stop it! You know you can never be with her. Think of old lady Sakura! Wrinkly!

He pushed the weird thought he had aside and tried to ignore them. Luckily the fisherwoman had chosen that moment to speak.

"You two have to help me. My husband? He went out with one of your young friends, and they haven't returned! I expected them back not too long ago, and they haven't showed up."

Kakashi nodded along, "so what do you suggest we do?"

"Do you happen to know where the other two went? That bison might be able to go out and find them!"

"We don't, but it looked like they went out toward the mountain when Aang left earlier?" Sakura mentioned.

The lady contemplated her options for a minute.

"We should try and go find them. They are the only ones that can help them!"

Kakashi nodded and put his pack back on. Thank god we replaced our packs with leather ones after the last river incident. He glanced at Sakura and she had put her pack on as well. She cinched the straps up to keep it from slipping around. It did something with her clothing and managed to make her chest look larger than normal. Kakashi looked away, cheeks burning, but the image was burned in his mind now.

Pervert. You don't even deserve her friendship, let alone a relationship.

The three left the little shack. The rain was coming down in sheets, any dryness they had obtained from the shelter was gone instantaneously. They started their trek up the mountain, the older woman in front as she had walked the path before and knew at least a little about where they were going. She said something about some caves going up the side of the mountain that they may have taken refuge in when the storm started.

…

They were at the end of the path. Every cave they had searched on the way up had been a dead end. Their last option was just up the path. Kakashi was worried something had happened to them and that they would be too late. The anxiety was eating at him.

As they rounded the bend to the last cave, Kakashi saw a small light glowing out of the entrance. Oh thank God. We finally found them! The old woman peeked inside, they were all soaked to the bone and desperate.

"Help! Oh, please help!"

Katara looked up next to Aang and they saw the three of them at the entrance.

"Kakashi! Sakura! Fisherman's wife!? Come in! You're safe now."

"But my husband isn't."

The old woman huddled a little further in the cave. Aang and Katara had a fire further into the cave and Kakashi pulled Sakura over to it.

"What do you mean? Where's Sokka?"

"They haven't returned. They should've been back by now. And this storm is becoming a typhoon. They're caught out at sea."

"Sakura and I can take Appa if you want."

Aang, Katara and Sakura looked at him.

"What? You're crazy if you think Aang and I aren't coming to help you!"

Aang stood up, determined. "I'm going to find them."

"I'm going with you." Kakashi and Katara said at the same time.

They looked at Sakura.

"Hell, I guess I'll go too."

"I'm staying here!" The old woman sat down by the fire.

Kakashi set his pack down by the fire and walked over to Appa. He removed a couple of bags left in the saddle. Kakashi handed Aang a length of rope to tie himself to the front of the saddle, while he used one longer piece for himself and Sakura. The instant he tied the last knot he regretted how close it put them. It would be a wild ride in this storm. Sakura's leg was pressed against his, and even though they were soaking wet and frozen to the bone, the contact managed to light his skin on fire. Kakashi gulped.

"We'll be back soon, I promise." Aang told the woman.

…

They took off in the rain. The drops felt like shards of glass as they pelted Kakashi's face. He tried to shield his eyes with a hand and see better, but the storm was horrible, he couldn't see anything. Maybe my eyes are failing? Sakura and Aang seem like they're doing okay…

"Where are they!?" Sakura yelled out next to him. She took his hand and held onto the saddle with the other. She was strapped in, but you never knew how well the rope would hold up.

"Come on, Appa!" Aang encouraged the bison.

A huge wave of water appeared in front of them. Kakashi saw Aang try and pull them up, but they didn't make it in time and crashed right through the wave. Using Appa's brute strength together with Aang's staff, he used it like a fan blade to part the water and they made it back out. In the distance was a small fishing boat. Their target was in sight.

"The boat! It's there!"

The vessel was tiny, and being forced all over by the vicious storm. Appa swooped in close, and Aang jumped onto the miniscule boat. Lightning struck and broke the mast over Aang. The wood was headed right for him, but he sliced right through it and the pieces fell to either side of him harmlessly. Sokka handed Aang an end of a length of rope, while he kept the other end.

He airbent back to Appa, pulling the two with him. They landed in the saddle, the old man next to Sakura. She gave him a glare. Probably something along the lines of you're such a foolish old man you should have listened to your wife. He smiled sheepishly. A shadow engulfed the saddle. Kakashi turned around and saw a wave behind them. Even larger than the first one. Aang tried to get them to safety but they were completely submerged. The scene underwater was eerie. Too alike to what Kakashi imagined Aang's experience was when he ran away from the monks. Aang drifted off of Appa and away from the group, he had given his length of rope to Sokka. His avatar spirit activated, and Aang surrounded them with a rotating bubble of energy. There was no other way to describe it. It was beyond words, seeing Aang's power like that. Their group was lifted out of the water and into the eye of the storm. Kakashi saw a Fire Nation rig in the middle of the dead zone as well. It had been none other than Zuko. Standing on the deck with him was Sasuke.

His former student.

Does he hold what happened to his family against me? Does he even know what really happened? Last time we talked I didn't give him any answers, I'm sure he's upset about that. Though why he didn't know Itachi was a Yuyen Archer, I don't know. Was I right not to tell him?

Their eyes met, briefly, but Kakashi didn't see hatred in the boy's eyes. Not hatred at him specifically anyway. More of a blind indifference to the world beyond Itachi. The distance between them made it hard to be sure.

They flew up and out of the eye, leaving Zuko and Sasuke standing on the ship alone on the water.

…

They avoided the storm on the way back by going above it. Or at least as much as possible. A little rain hit them on the way back to the village. When they arrived at the cave, Aang and the old man were first to dismount. The rest of the group checked their supplies and generally didn't speak yet.

"Oh, you're alive!" The old woman shouted. Her voice turned sour then and she pointed to Aang.

"You owe this boy an apology."

Aang waved her off, "He doesn't have to apologize."

The old man wouldn't meet his gaze. "Mmm, uh, what if instead of an apology I give him a free fish and we call it even?"

"Actually, I don't eat meat."

"Fish ain't meat." The old man looked at Aang like he was high on something.

Sokka approached them, the moment broken. "Seriously, you're still gonna pay me, right?"

From seemingly nowhere, the man pulled out a fish and dropped it into Sokka's hand with a wet smacking sound. Sokka made a squicked out sound.

Aang turned to Katara, "Katara, I think you were right before. I'm done dwelling on the past."

If only it was that easy to get away from my own skeletons, thank you Katara.

"Really?"

"I can't make guesses about how things would have turned out if I hadn't run away. I'm here now and I'm going to make the most of it."

"I don't think you're gonna have those nightmares anymore."

"..wish I didn't have nightmares anymore." Kakashi whispered under his breath. Sakura put a hand on his shoulder.

"Do you need me to be your Katara?" Sakura teased him.

You know that wouldn't actually be that bad…

Kakashi scratched the back of his neck nervously. He looked back at Aang. The old man was approaching him.

"Uh… if you weren't here now, well… I guess I wouldn't be either. Thank you for saving my life, Avatar."

An exuberated cry from the entrance made their heads turn.

Sokka was looking over his shoulder at them.

"Do you hear that? It's stopped raining!"

Kakashi moved over to the entrance of the cave and watched as the clouds cleared and a rainbow appeared on the horizon. Sakura squeezed between him and Sokka.

Now that the rain stopped Appa shook his fur to get rid of excess water.

"Appa!"

…

A couple of days later Sokka started coughing. He insisted it was just a cold and that he would get over it soon enough. He was a strong warrior after all. Sakura had started coughing the next day, and Sokka developed a fever. They stopped in a nearby Earth temple that had been abandoned and was mostly ruined. No one would be around to hurt them while the two were sick.

Appa was lying against a wall of the ruin, the bricks of the wall behind him thick with vines and rubble. Sakura and Sokka lay in their bed rolls, both with a raging fever. Sokka had started hallucinating every now and then as well. The sun was coming up over the side of a nearby mountain, but the sky was cloudy so the area was still rather dark. Kakashi had lit a fire to keep them warm nearby. It cast an eerie yellow glow on the camp.

In the valley below a ghost town resided. Trees grew in and around all the houses, leaving empty shells and vacant streets. There were no tumbleweeds in this part of the world, but if there had been, Kakashi was sure the area would be full of them.

Kakashi fed another stick into the fire. Katara was wiping Sokka's forehead with a wet cloth.

"This should bring your fever down."

"You know what I love about Appa the most? His sense of humor."

"That's nice, I'll tell him."

Appa grunted at Sokka in response.

"Haha! Classic Appa."

Aang flew in from outside, "how are they doing?"

"Not so good."

"Being out in that storm really did a number on them." The two looked up at him. Kakashi got up from the fire and walked over to sit with Sakura. She looked quite sickly. Her cheeks were red with fever, a sweat had broken out on her brow and her eyes seemed to be slightly cloudy. Katara handed him a fresh rag for Sakura. He took it and placed it gently on Sakura's forehead before slowly dabbing any sweat off her brow. Sakura's sleeping bag was a bright red color, compared to the two water tribe's sleeping rolls of blue. Though that was mostly personal taste at this point as most of their supplies and clothing had been stolen or worn out multiple times. I wonder where Sakura got a red sleeping bag? You don't usually see red dye practices outside of the Fire Nation. Seems people are quite averse to what is popular in that part of the world. Kakashi's own sleeping roll was a charcoal grey, one he had purchased many years ago in the fire nation, but it was a neutral enough color no one had ever asked him about it.

Sokka shivered in his sleeping bag and hocked back his running nose.

"I couldn't find any ginger root for the tea, but I found a map." Aang produced a scroll from his robes and unrolled it. The pictures on the map depicted just the surrounding area, mostly mountainous. He pointed to a spot on the map.

"There's an herbalist institute on the top of that mountain. We could probably find a cure for Sokka and Sakura there."

Kakashi glanced at the two sick friends lying on Appa's side.

"Aang, they're in no condition to travel. They need more rest." He pushed a loose lock of hair off of Sakura's forehead.

"I'm sure they'll be better by tomorrow." Katara mentioned, a slight cough slipping its way out.

"Not you too!" Aang whined.

"Relax, it was just a little cough. I'm fine-" Her words were cut off by a rather severe coughing attack. Aang backed away, shielding himself from her coughing. Smart boy. Kakashi sighed.

"That's how Sokka started yesterday. Now look at him—he thinks he's an earthbender!"

Sokka swung at something that wasn't there. "Take that, you rock!"

Sakura giggled at that. "Maybe I can make water swishy swishy!"

Kakashi slapped his face with the palm of his hand. Oh my lord. Please hurry with a remedy, Aang. Ridiculous Sakura may be hilarious but I worry...

"A few more hours and you'll be talking nonsense too, Katara." Kakashi said.

Aang pulled out his glider and opened it.

"I'm going to find some medicine."

A huge flash of lightning illuminated the area and the exterior of the temple. He shut the glider and leaned it against the wall of the temple.

"Uh... maybe it's safer if I go on foot. Keep an eye on 'em, Kakashi."

Appa grunted, Kakashi nodded.

As Aang jumped off the side of the temple, Sokka started laughing. Presumably at Appa's grunt.

"Haha! You guys are killin' me!"

At their campsite, the fire was going nicely and would be going for quite a while before needing fed again. Sakura was gathering her sleeping bag around her.

"Uuugghhhh..." She sniffed and lied down.

"I'm going to try and find some water. You stay here and I'll be right back.

Kakashi found a ceramic vase among the rubble and picked it up to fill with water. Surely the ruins in the valley will have some source of water.

He left the small campsite and walked down to the rubble of the village. While nonchalantly walking right in was easy enough, he avoided being too confident in his footfalls. You never knew who was about... and whether or not they were hostile. There had to be a swamp not too far from here, the smell was quite off-putting in the bottom of the valley. A swamp... that means there is definitely some sort of water around here! Kakashi walked straight through the town, noting that there were quite a few edibles in the area as well. Just outside of the tiny village was a small pond that Kakashi thought would work well. There were some bugs in it, but hey, if Katara weren't too sick when he got back she could just bend the good stuff out, right? He put the vase in the pond, and most of it fit in there. The water gurgled as it flowed into the pot.

Kakashi pulled it up and scooped what he could into the vase with his hands. The pot was extremely heavy now that it was full of water. How do I carry this all the way back without spilling it all? Maybe I could strap it to me with some leather? Fashion a lid from something?

He walked back to the village and started searching the homes for anything he could use for the vase. In the first one he found a small wooden barrel that just so happened to still have its lid. He tipped it over and blew out any dust or prior occupants before dumping the vase into it and tapping the lid into place. It was still heavy, so straps were still necessary.

It took a few more home-raids to find some leather strapping that would work. This place had been abandoned for quite a while and most everything that had been left behind had either dried out or was too small to be useful. Kakashi found a couple of leather belts left in a chest in one of the homes. These will work fantastically. He brought the barrel into the home. Luckily, the barrel had some sort of hand holds built into the side of it that made for easy attachment of the belts, making it a sort of backpack in the end. He looked in the bottom of the chest to make sure nothing else was in there. What he ended up finding was a gap between the bottom panel of the box and the edge. What the hell? Kakashi hooked his fingers around it and pulled the woodpiece out. It was a false bottom.

Underneath the panel were several books, a few weapons, and other random items that had apparently been important enough for this person to hide. He opened one of the books and found it was a diary. Kakashi didn't take the time to read it, as his friends were waiting on this water and if he didn't hurry he wouldn't make it before Katara was too sick to purify the water. He stashed the book, along with a few knives and a couple other books in his hip compartment and a secret pocket inside his tunic.

On his way out of town, a prickly feeling struck Kakashi. He wasn't alone.

He hid in a large bush at the edge of the home he was coming out of, and waited.

I can't afford to have someone follow me. Those three are vulnerable right now...

As he waited several flitting people ran through the village, jumping from tree to tree, hiding in the shadows, moving quickly and silently. Only one stuck out to him. The man had pitch black hair tied into a top knot. The lines under his eyes were dark.a His most identifying feature? The red eyes. Kakashi's hand traced his own cheekbone under his left eye. The eye that had been transplanted to him.

Itachi.

The man had a red pattern painted on his face and had a somber expression. He did not see Kakashi. In fact it seemed they were after someone else, something very important.

Aang.

Kakashi wanted to go after him, but against a platoon of the Yuyen archers? Even he wouldn't be able to defeat them all by himself.

He decided that Aang would have to handle this one on his own, and hoped against all odds that they wouldn't find him.

Once they were gone, Kakashi hurried out of the village and back to the crumbling ruins of the temple. Back to the rest of the group. Hopefully nothing bad had happened to them yet and Katara was still healthy enough to bend the water pure again.

I just hope Aang will be okay. If I can't stand up against the Yuyen archers, why do I think that he can? ...Because he's the Avatar? That may be so, but you know he is also still only 12 years old.

Kakashi was nervous about his leaving Aang on his own. It really bothered him. The trek back to the temple took a couple of hours. By the time he got there, an imaginary tea party was going on between them. Kakashi saw that Katara seemed to be the most rational of the three and thanked his lucky stars for blessing him with this. He waved her over and took the barrel of water off his back.

"Katara. There's water in here, but I don't know if it's healthy to drink, can you possibly draw the good stuff out so I can dump the rest?"

She nodded.

"I sure can try at least." Katara took a deep breath, which ended in a horrendous coughing fit. Kakashi clapped her on the back a couple times, before she looked up and thanked him. She stood up and steadied her stance. The water flowed up out of the wooden barrel, luckily clear and good looking. Kakashi quickly dumped everything else out of the container. Katara shakily dumped the rest of the water back in the barrel. She swayed a few times before her knees started to buckle. Luckily, Kakashi caught here before she actually fell to the ground.

She groaned and Kakashi helped her back to her sleeping back next to the other patients. I wonder what I have in my bag for spices. Maybe I can make something that will at least help them.

Sokka croaked behind him, "Water..."

Sakura responded, "Momo should be back any minute now..."

"Momo?" Kakashi questioned them.

Katara looked at him out of the corner of one eye, "yeah. We tried to send Momo out for water too. Whether or not he..." she coughed, "actually understood, is debatable. But he did bring me a beautiful crown. As I am the queen."

Oh no.

There was no crown.

Momo flew into the room and dropped a dead mouse on Katara's chest. She looked a little green in the face, like she might throw up.

"Ugh, Momo, no I wanted water!"

The lemur's ears pricked up, then he looked around and scampered back out of the temple. Kakashi took his pack and rifled through it for the cooking supplies. Luckily he was the one who actually had items to cook with most of the time. Inside the large pan in his pack was another smaller pan, 5 cups, silverware, etc. Inside one of the cups was a packet of various spices in small containers. Do I have any mint? He ticked through and found a couple of mint leaves. Yes! He also grabbed a couple packets of black tea. In the smaller of the two pans, he scooped several cupfuls of the water. Kakashi walked over to the fire and stocked it back up with a couple more of the larger logs he had gathered that morning. He placed the pot in the fire and waited for it to warm up.

While the tea was heating up, Kakashi took a cup of water to each of his friends. Sokka first, as he was worst off. He kept going on about something unintelligible. He drank almost all of the water Kakashi offered him, which he took as a good sign. Kakashi moved to Sakura next. She was just coherent enough to thank him,

"Thank you, Seifu Kakashi."

It had been a long time since Kakashi had been called a teacher. He wasn't sure if he even deserved to be called that, now or ever. He smiled at her anyway.

"Your welcome, Sakura."

Kakashi refilled the water cup once more and brought it to Katara. She was able to handle the cup and drink herself.

He returned to the fire and checked the tea he was brewing. It wouldn't be too long before it was done. The smell of mint tea filled the air and Kakashi was reminded of home. Last time I brewed a cup of tea I was sitting in my living room with Sakura. We were talking about her library and looking toward the future. Hell we don't even know if her hard work in building that library was for nothing. It might have been destroyed in Zuko's raid. I hope not, Sakura worked so hard on that library. The tea was about boiling, so Kakashi took it off the fire and poured it into three cups. He got up and took the cup that Katara had been drinking from off the floor where she had dropped it and filled it as well. It turned out she could not hold the cup anymore, so he helped her drink it, then helped the other two.

I hope this helps.

"Aang, what in the world is taking you so long?" Sakura woke up and asked. Her system was apparently trying to fight off the cold and gave her a moment of lucidity. Momo flew back into the temple with a small cup he placed on Katara.

"No Momo."

He flew off again.

Kakashi laughed at the situation before taking the last cup of tea for himself. He took a sip and while it wasn't the freshest or the best tea he ever had, it was still fairly good.

There was nothing more he could do for them for now, so Kakashi took his book out and started reading. Periodically, Momo would fly in with some new trinket for Sakura. For some reason after Katara told him no a couple of times he stopped bringing the trinkets to her. Sakura had a slowly growing pile next to her and his latest 'gift' was a crown.

Sakura, with every 'gift' was becoming more and more lucid. Apparently she had a better immune system than the other two. (It made sense if you thought about it, Sakura had been living in the Earth Kingdom and exposed to many things in the air in the different places she had spent time in, Katara and Sokka on the other hand had never left the South Pole before they started their journey with Aang, thus only giving them limited exposure as well as limited immunity.)

"Aang, please hurry."

Sokka was still delirious, "Who's this 'Aang' kid you keep talking about, Your Highness?"

Sakura didn't respond. Katara looked at Sokka and her eyebrow twitched.

"I thought I was the queen!"

"It's an imposter!"

Kakashi decided to break out something to eat. The others were too sick to eat anything beyond liquids, and unintentionally he had been ignoring his own needs. In his pack he found some cheese and dried meat. Katara continued to argue with Sokka over who was truly queen, her or Sakura.

...

A few hours later, Sakura was almost fully over her cold.

"Ugh, do you think he'll be back soon?"

"No telling. He's been gone for quite a while. I wonder if he ran into trouble on his way there."

"I guess we won't know until he gets back."

Night fell. Kakashi and Sakura slept in shifts feeding the fire and attending the sickies while trying to get some rest themselves.

...

In the morning, Aang finally returned. He looked quite depressed. Out of his robes he pulled frozen frogs. He stuck one in each of Katara and Sokka's mouths. They took them gladly (making Kakashi want to vomit). Aang offered one to Sakura but she kindly refused the invitation, saying she had somehow gotten over the sickness herself.

While Sokka sucked on his frog, he talked to Aang, "Aang, how was your trip? Did you make any new friends?"

"No, I don't think I did."

"Mmm! This is tasty! Mm!"

The frog started thawing out and moving around in his mouth. Sokka realized what it was and spat it out in disgust. Katara repeated the action. They began spitting and coughing.

Kakashi laughed.

I'm so glad they didn't kill him. Was that what he was talking about when he said he hadn't made any friends? Did he actually get away from them? Impressive.

AN

Thanks so much for reading everyone! I'm just so happy today I had to share with you! I just started a new job and it is wonderful! I love it so much!

I'm a secretary at the local methodist church and it's going swimmingly!

GOSH DANG IT IM JUST SO HAPPY

I love you all!