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And welcome to another chapter of Beneath the Earth. How are you all? I'm good thanks for asking! ^_^ Thank you to those of you who reviewed last chapter, including my anonymous reviewers – much appreciated ;D Keep reading and reviewing and remember, I need five (5) reviews, or no updates!
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14. So Who's to Blame?
By morning, although they were underground and actually couldn't tell what time of day it was, Mai had regained consciousness. She and Katara sat in the caves under Ba Sing Se and waited to see what would happen next.
Before Mai had woken up properly, Katara had looked right around the cave that was their prison in search for some way out... some way to access a decent amount of water... something! But nothing came up. There wasn't nearly enough water in the air that she could eliminate in order to do any damage to the rocks, so there was no way of getting out via a hole. Her water skin and Mai's knives and other various weapons that either of them kept on their body had all been confiscated while they were unconscious.
As far as the two girls were aware, there was no way out until someone tried to get in.
"So what do we do now?" Mai asked in her usual bored voice, her signature sigh following Katara's huffy shrug of frustration.
"I can't believe we ended up stuck in here over all of that... I mean, if I hadn't been leaving because of Zuko, I wouldn't have been out on the rocks where no one could see me, trying to clear my head, you wouldn't have followed me over there to apologize and neither of us woulda ended up getting attacked by ..." Katara stopped short and bit her lip, how could he?
"You knew him, didn't you?" Mai asked.
Katara nodded quietly, "He is one of my father's warriors."
"What's his name?"
"Windu." Katara said his name as if it were poison, and then she sighed. "I bet it's because he's jealous... when I went back to the South Pole, he started fancying me. He kissed me one night and I got really mad at him and we haven't really talked since. I guess he doesn't take rejection well."
"I don't think anybody really does," Mai smirked, a bitter chuckle escaping her lips as she narrowed her eyes at the back of Katara's head. The girls hadn't really made any eye contact the whole time they'd both been awake.
"Hey, look, I didn't mean to make your dear, oh-so-precious boyfriend stop loving you!" Katara said, irritated. "It's not my fault he left you for me. Ok? I didn't ask for it! I was absolutely sure he was gonna end up staying with you after the last battle when we found out you two were in an arranged marriage. I didn't know that you loved –"
"I'm sorry," Mai blurted out, just loud enough for her to hear above her own yelling and ranting.
"I –... what?"
"Same thing I followed you to your little hiding spot on the beach for – I'm sorry. None of this whole cheating business was his fault. When you saw us kissing in the gardens, it was completely me – not him. He was trying to get me off of him. I don't know what happened the first night you two were married, but I know that it wasn't his fault either. I'm not so sure that I did anything – the last thing I remember before waking up is waiting for the boy I'd been talking to at the after party to come back and then blacking out."
Katara frowned, remembering how desperate and honest Mai had sounded as she had spoken and apologized just before Windu had attacked them. She'd sounded furious – at herself, not at Katara. It almost hurt to see her like that. But the only two questions remaining were – was she telling the truth, and did Katara believe her? Katara was only half convinced that the answer to the first was yes, but then again, Mai could have just been acting.
Some pretty good acting ... she thought.
As for the second one, the answer was a definite no. Katara did not believe Mai. She agreed that she was a selfish little bitch, but did not believe Mai was truly sorry for what she had done or that Zuko really had nothing to do with the situations Katara had found them in.
In Katara's opinion, Mai had earned as least half of the blame for everything that had happened. Why couldn't she have just not been jealous that Katara had Zuko?
And for all Katara knew, Windu attacking them was probably staged and Mai had everything to do with it.
But she guessed that they would find out in due time...
The harsh banging on the door was what startled him from his sleep.
"Uuuh... who is it?" Zuko asked, irritably.
"Who do you think, Jerk Lord? Come on, get up, we need to find my sister!"
"Sokka, the sun hasn't even risen yet," Zuko complained, looking out his window. With a groan, his buried his face in his pillow again.
"I honestly don't care what time it is – it's close enough to sunrise. If you want to help find her, then you're getting up now."
"Fine..." Zuko mumbled.
He heard Sokka walk away from the door and groaned to himself as he lay with his face buried in his pillow. He didn't move for a little while and started willing sleep to take hold of him again. He didn't want to face the day. He wanted the fact that Katara was missing to just be a really bad dream. He didn't want the fact that he'd somehow ended up sleeping with Mai the night he'd married Katara to be a reality. He wished that that morning he was waking up in at that very moment was the day of the wedding and all of the horrible stuff that had happened had just been a crazy nightmare, and that Katara was in fact lying next to him, and still in love with him and in a few hours, they'd be getting married and –
"Sparky... c'mon, get up," Toph's voice said bluntly.
Zuko lifted his head up from his pillow too look at her, a frown creasing his brow. The sky outside was a little lighter than he remembered it being when Sokka had awoken him, seemingly minutes ago.
"Did I fall asleep again after Sokka woke me?"
"Yep... but I don't think he really cares. He and the others are all sitting in the kitchen talking over possibilities and doing your job."
"My job being...?"
"Thinking negatively," she said with a smirk.
Zuko couldn't help smiling a little at that. With a sigh, he rolled on to his back and pressed the palms of his hands against his closed eyelids gently. "I guess there's no point me rolling over and going back to sleep in the hope that I'll wake up and find it's all just a dream."
Toph laughed humourlessly, "Trust me, Sparky, I don't think anyone didn't wish they could do that right now."
Zuko smirked. She was right.
"Alright, getting up!" he sighed, throwing back the covers and tossing his legs over the side of the bed in an effort to pretend he was enthusiastic about getting up. Toph just stood there with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her mouth, quietly shaking her head.
Toph left the room and waited outside while Zuko got dressed. Within two minutes, he was standing in the empty hallway outside his room with her.
"So, I guess Sokka and the others are thinking of ways we could find Katara and Aang, and also trying to figure out where Shang might have taken them."
"And Mai, as Ty Lee continues to prompt whenever we list the missing," she smirked.
Zuko chuckled, "Poor Mai, so unloved."
"Well, what can she expect after what she did?"
"Too true."
They walked to the kitchen and entered as quietly as they could, in the hope that they wouldn't interrupt any conversation that was occurring within.
But it was silent. And as the door creaked open, Sokka's head shot up and he glared at the two new arrivals.
"Well it's about time!" he huffed, wrinkling his nose. "Jeez, Zuko, I thought you'd be a little more eager to find my sister if you really loved her," he remarked cruelly.
Zuko opened his mouth to make a harsh comeback, but shut it abruptly when he noticed certain other people in the room glaring at him. He regained his cool and then let his face go blank.
"Sorry, are you doubting my affection towards Katara?" he asked, adding a note of incredulousness to his voice.
The corner of Sokka's mouth twitched as he scowled, "Well, all circumstances considered, I think it would be reasonable to say that your affection towards her aren't as strong as you led her or the rest of us to believe, Zuko."
Chewing on the inside of his cheek, he thought. But on second thought, screw thinking – yelling seemed so much more appealing.
"Hey, listen, you wanna find your sister?! Ok, fine, let's find your sister! Let's fuckin' talk about how much I fucking love her later!" Zuko shouted, giving Sokka one of those looks that just screamed, alright buddy, bring it on!
"No, no, no!" Sokka laughed bitterly. "Let's talk about it now! By all means, let's settle this now! Once and for all! Because I really don't think it would be fair for her to owe you her freedom if your love for her is as screwed up as you are!"
"Why you –"
The two older boys jumped at each other, hands at each other's throats. Sokka threw himself right over the table at Zuko, causing it to wobble violently which, in turn, caused Iroh to spill his tea – both the tea in his cup and (much to his horror) the tea in the kettle which was sitting in the middle.
"ENOUGH!" Iroh shouted over the two boys as they brawled on the ground before him. In one swift movement, he had each of them by the back of the collar of their shirt, one in each hand, and he pulled them away from each other and threw them at opposite ends of the room where they collided with whichever shelves and bench-tops were in their way with a thud as they had the wind knocked out of them. "Both of you pull yourselves together right now! Swallow your pride, get over yourselves, get over what happened with Miss Katara and clean up this damn mess you made with my tea!" he ordered grumpily, indicating to the mess all over the bench.
The two boys staggered to their feet, glaring daggers at each other from across the room as they straightened up.
"It was his fault," Zuko mumbled in annoyance.
"Was not, scar face! You're the one who was picking a fight," Sokka said, crossing his arms over his chest and sticking his nose in the air.
"Hey, all I did was walk into the room. You were the one who started making the smart-arse comments and –"
"I DON'T CARE WHOSE FAULT IT WAS!" Iroh fumed. He dropped his voice so that it was dangerously low. "I want you boys to clean this mess up, fill the kettle up again, put it on the stove over there, and make a new pot of tea, right now."
Zuko and Sokka raised their eyebrows and looked between Iroh and each other, slightly terrified. Then, completely composed, Zuko stepped forward and started mopping up the spilt tea. Biting his lip to prevent another smart-arse outburst, Sokka stepped forward to help him fulfil Iroh's orders.
Nobody spoke until a new pot of ginseng tea was sitting on the table in front of Iroh and a fresh cup had been poured for him. He took and experimental sip while still frowning at the two boys and then his face relaxed and he sighed.
"Sorry for spilling your tea, Uncle," Zuko sighed, rolling his eyes.
"So you should be!" the old man grouched, narrowing his eyes at the two older boys once more. "Now, both of you, sit down and behave yourselves... don't sit near each other at the table either. Don't even look at each other." Sokka and Zuko sat well away from each other. "Now, where were we before this raucous occurred?"
"Uhm, we were discussing the possibilities of where Katara and Aang –"
"And Mai!"
"– might be," Sokka said, ignoring Ty Lee's interruption completely. The acrobat huffed indignantly and crossed her arms. "We were also discussing possible ways of tracking them down and rescuing them. So far, we've come up with a messenger hawk, some sort of private investigator, one of those incredibly-venomous-viper-tracker-hogs and... Well, that's all we've been able to come up with."
"Uhm!" Suki put her hand up.
"Why are you putting your hand up like a school-kid?" Zuko asked blankly.
Suki frowned and made a sour face, "Sokka insisted that we use the pebble system."
"Pebble system...?" Zuko asked.
Suki pointed at the Water Tribe boy's hand and Zuko looked to see Sokka holding a pebble between his index finger and thumb.
"So... lemme guess, we can only speak if we're holding the pebble."
"Yup."
"Ok, that is so lame, it isn't even fu–"
"Uh-hum! Zuko, you are not holding the pebble, shut up!"
Scowling, the Fire Lord reached over and snatched the little rock from Sokka's hands.
"I am now. Now listen, why the hell did you put the incredibly-venomous-viper-tracker-hog on the list? If we used one of them to find them, it would kill them."
"That's what I was gonna say..." Suki sighed in annoyance.
Zuko ignored her and kept looking at Sokka. "Whose idea was it?"
Sokka shrugged as if he didn't know. Nobody said anything, but all eyes turned towards him with their eyebrows raised. Feeling all of their stares, Sokka looked up and glared at them all.
"What?!" he asked indignantly.
"So it was your idea, Sokka," Zuko said simply.
"No..."
Something, my dear readers, which I am sure you all know by now, is that Sokka is a terrible liar.
There were several thuds and whacks as virtually everyone in the room leaned over to hit the Water Tribe boy over the back of the head.
"Ow! Guys..."
"Ok, scrap the list you've made up so far. I have a better idea," Zuko started.
"Hey, who put you in charge?!" Sokka complained openly and loudly.
"I'm the one with the pebble!" Zuko retorted.
"No you're not! Yoink!" Sokka snatched it back.
Fuming, Zuko stood up, snatched the little rock out of Sokka's hand while pushing said boy to the floor and then turned around and threw it out the window.
"No more pebble system! That's got to be one of the stupidest things you've ever come up with, Sokka!"
"It's not stupid. It was working until you came along!"
"Sokka, you weren't letting anybody else hold it," Bato pointed out.
"I was too!"
"Um, actually son –"
"Dad, whose side are you on?!"
"No one's! I mean, yours! I mean –"
"Look, guys, this is totally irrelevant to what we're supposed to be doing!" Suki tried to cut in.
"What?! What do you mean, Dad?!"
"Now don't give your father that tone, Sokka."
"Respect your elders!"
"Hey, who invited you into this fight, Mr Oldest Candlestick Ever?"
"How are we supposed to work anything out with them fighting like this...?" Ty Lee sighed.
"Spirits, give me strength..." Suki sighed.
"Told you it was a dumb idea."
"It was not!"
"Hey, pay attention when I'm talking to you, Sokka!"
"Dad, I am paying attention!"
"Sure you were, Sokka."
"Zuko, shut up a sec."
"Ow, what was that for?"
"No, you were talking to Zuko."
"For interrupting Sokka and Hakoda."
"But Suki, he –"
"I DON'T CARE! LET THEM TALK!"
"Suki, can you please keep it down honey?"
"Hey, I'm trying to keep this one off your back for you!"
"Can you do it quietly? I'm sorta trying to talk to my –"
"Sokka! Pay attention! I can't lecture you if you're not listening!"
"Hmph, ungrateful husband..."
"I'm not ungrateful!"
"Ok, where'd that pebble go, maybe it was a good idea..."
"Oh, so now you agree with the pebble system! I told you so, Zuko!"
"Hey, shut up and listen to your dad you twit!"
"I'm not a twit!"
"Listen to your father!"
"No, Bato, let me handle this."
"Give him a smack over the head – that'll set him straight."
"No, not another one, please!"
"Do it! Do it!"
"Zuko, stop encouraging them!"
"But Suki –"
"Whoa, everybody's having multiple conversations. I'm impressed. Especially with Sokka. Jeez, he's like the multiple conversations king! Hey, I feel left out, I'm the only one who hasn't said anything yet, which is quite unusual..."
"Toph! Not helping!"
"Sure it is, Sparky!"
"Uh..."
"ALRIGHT! EVERYBODY, SHUT UP!" Toph yelled at the top of her voice. At first, Zuko, Suki and Ty Lee were the only ones who payed any attention to her and they looked at her and tried to block out the noise from others.
"How many times have I told you not to backchat?"
"Dad, I'm not back chatting – I was answering your question!"
"No, you were back chatting!"
"Bato, let me do this myself!"
"Oh come on! What's the harm in me stepping in?"
"Bato, let Hakoda discipline his son himself."
"Who put you in charge, old man?"
"It's the Retired General Iroh to you!"
"Why won't you listen to me? There is a very big difference between back chatting and answering your freakin' question! What part of that don't you get?!"
"Boy, you are so grounded!"
"What?! You can't ground me! I don't even live with you anymore!"
"You're grounded!"
"What the fuck?! I'm a grown man, Dad! You can't fucking ground me!"
"Stop swearing! You're only making matters worse for yourself!"
"Dad!"
"Yea, well it's Bato of the Water Tribe to you!"
"Don't you backchat me now! You're not even my son!"
"Like hell I'm not your son!"
"ENOUGH!" Toph shouted, stamping a foot so that the whole room shook violently. Several kitchen utensils clattered noisily to the ground and the pot of tea spilled once again. Everyone let out a little gasp of shock and clung to the nearest grounded object.
"My tea..." Iroh sighed when all was still again.
"Alright, as entertaining as listening to you guys squabble is, seriously, can we please get down to business? If we'll all sit down again, I think Zuko had something sensible to suggest for the list of how to track down and rescue Katara and Aang."
"And Mai," Ty Lee hissed through gritted teeth.
"Fine." Everyone sat down with a bit of a huff and a sigh of relief and all eyes turned back to Zuko.
"What did you have in mind, Nephew?" Iroh asked, folding his hands in his sleeves.
Zuko opened his mouth to express his suggestion, but just as he was about to speak, he stopped short and closed his mouth. Then, he turned to Sokka and glared at him. "I can't bloody remember."
Everybody groaned and Sokka received several more slaps over the back of the head.
"What?! It wasn't my fault!"
"Well if you had just shut up and forgotten about the stupid pebble system and let Zuko speak –"
"Guys, please, not this again..."
"Suki, who's side are you on?!"
"Sokka, don't speak to your wife like that!" the three older men in the room said in union.
"Do you mind?!"
"Guy's, focus, maybe Zuko will remember if we all shut up! HINT, HINT!!!"
"Nope, forget it, Ty Lee, it's gone..."
"Aw man..."
"You are grounded for at least the next three months, Sokka."
"Dad, you can't ground me! I'm a fully grown man."
"And I'm your father!"
"You sure you won't be able to remember?" Suki asked hopefully.
"Nope. Not a chance in a million years."
She sighed and she, Zuko, Ty Lee and Toph sat back and listened to the others arguing about Sokka's grounding.
"This is what I call entertainment..." Toph smiled, leaning back in her chair and propping her feet up on the table.
After much more arguing and debating over Sokka's grounding and a few more squabbles in which the whole group minus Toph had participated greatly in, after the morning had grown old, after they had all stopped to have something to eat after Sokka had started complaining that he was hungry, after the mess of tea had been cleaned up again... and several more times because something was constantly causing it to spill again... after everyone's voice had gone hoarse from yelling and after they had all become quite exhausted and given up so that they could all catch their breath and regather their thoughts and attempt to focus again and after they had been sitting around the table in the kitchen in silence for a few minutes (minus the occasional sigh and groan), Zuko's eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers and let a relieved smile take his lips.
"I remember!"
Everyone sat bolt upright and looked at him, waiting for him to continue.
He opened his mouth to say something... and his face fell again, "Fuck that..."
Everyone sighed again and several heads were heard further down the hall by the palace servants as said heads hit the table.
"Oh, that's right! We need to find Jun, the bounty hunter. She and her animal tracker thingy will find Katara and Aang in no time!"
Everyone looked up at Zuko with wide eyes as they took in the information.
Then Toph cleared her throat, "Um... would you mind explaining to those of us who don't know, who this Jun person is?"
"Yea..." Suki said.
Ty Lee nodded silently – she couldn't even be bothered prompting Mai's name when they referred to who they were trying to track down anymore.
With a sigh, Zuko, Iroh and Sokka explained to the others who Jun the bounty hunter was and explained about her animal tracker.
"A shirshu," Iroh said. "It is quite amazing... actually, we used it to track down Miss Katara before – while we were still chasing the Avatar."
"That thing was creepy..." Sokka said.
"My favourite part of that fight was at the very end where it struck Jun with its tongue and she fell and I went to catch her and she fell on top of me and I pretended it had hit me too so that I wouldn't have to move."
"Uncle, you're so sick..."
Everyone stayed quiet for a little while and then Toph spoke up. "I think Jun and her shirshu will do the job perfectly!"
"Finally, something we can all agree on," Sokka sighed. "So... where can we find her?"
Zuko furrowed his brow and sighed in frustration, "No idea..."
"Oh, well that's useful," Sokka rolled his eyes.
"Hey, if you had just stayed quiet and let me talk earlier, I wouldn't have forgotten it and we could have had this figured out three and a half hours ago!"
"Well, look, you were acting as if you were in charge of the place!"
"I am in charge of the place! I'm the Fire Lord!!!"
"Oh... well, that's beside the point. What I mean is –"
"Guys, please, let's not do this again..."
"No, no, let me have my say here. I'm just saying that –"
"Sokka! Give it up!"
"Fine..."
Hehehe, excuse the comedy ^_^ I could not resist. Tell me what you all thought ;) I hope you liked it. How much did you laugh? I hope it was funny... I don't like trying to make people laugh and failing... I mean, even if you didn't laugh out loud it's ok, just as long as you were laughing on the inside =)
So... yer, five (5) reviews or no update.
And I'm going away in a couple of days and I have a feeling I'm not gonna have the next chapter up by then. So I apologize for the lateness of the next chapter ^_^ But fear not dear readers! I will return soon! *zoom!*
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