Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or Naruto, or the characters in those stories
Sorry we will not be meeting King Boomy on this chapter, I had something else special in mind. We do get to meet the Fire Lord and Azula in this chapter. So I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 14 – Of love and family…
Sokka was miserable for a week after leaving Kyoshi Island. The group found out that Suki had pulled him from the fighting and told him to leave after kissing him. Sokka hoped he would see Suki again.
"We are almost to the island of the Eastern Air Temple." Aang proclaimed.
"Do you think we will find any airbenders here?" Naruto asked.
"I doubt it." Katara replied sadly.
"Why Katara?" Aang questioned with a worried look on his face.
"The firebenders were ruthless. It was said that Sosen and his troops killed all the airbenders and even most of the civilians. He also ordered the islands to be swept of humans and flying animals." Katara replied as tears ran down her face. "I'm sorry Aang." Katara wrapped her arms around a despondent Aang.
Naruto took the Appa's reins as Katara guided Aang back to the saddle.
Naruto looked at the shoreline and thought he spotted something. "Hinata-chan look over there. Do you see anything?" Naruto said as he pointed to the coast.
Hinata looked and then engaged her Byakugan. She saw several small flying bison heading for the forest and a group of people also running towards the forest. "Naruto-kun, I see some small flying bison and several people on the coast running into the forest. "
"Appa, yip, yip!" Naruto raised his voice to coax the bison to go faster towards the shore.
As they approached the shore Naruto smelled smoke and turned Appa in the direction of the wind. Appa let out a loud bellow. "I smell it too. Let's find them so you can see some of your relatives." Naruto said happily.
Aang perked at hearing the term said to Appa. "Are you saying you saw some sky bison?"
Naruto smirked. "Nope, I saw something flying, but I DO SMELL sky bison. And I mean more than one. I also smell smoke meaning either they are near a settlement or they have people tending to them.
They continued farther into the jungle and found a large clearing with bales of hay, a large fire, a few houses, and several caves nearby. Naruto landed Appa in the clearing near the fire pit.
"Hello is anybody here?" Aang yelled.
Naruto jumped down and looked at the fire pit and lit fire. "Someone is here, I can feel about twenty chakra signatures. Hinata…"
Hinata nodded and then activated her Byakugan. She then smiled. "I count thirty-five people and about twenty sky bison." Hinata boldly stated.
A large man with a shaved head and staff walks out. "Who are you and how did you come across a sky bison?" The man asked angrily.
Aang stood up in the saddle. "Appa is my friend and we have been together for a long time."
Several other people came out looking and pointing at Aang. "Is he the one? Is he an actual airbender?" Were a couple of the murmured questions from the people leaving the forest and that had entered the clearing.
"I do not know who you are, but you will release the bison now." The man demanded.
Naruto looked at him as if he was drunk. "Aang, you want to give Appa to these guys?" Naruto asked jokingly.
"Sure then they can brush and feed him and also clean Sokka's feet for us." Aang jokingly retorted.
Sokka sat up quickly. "Hey I resemble that remark, wait…"
"We will have the bison and have you as captives." The man stated.
"Not if you can't catch me." Naruto said playfully as he stood right next to the man.
"What? How? How did you get over here so fast?" The man asked.
"Hmm… let me think about that." Naruto said as he ducked as the man swung his staff. "Hey, you wanted an answer and you attack me?" Naruto angrily stated.
"You are trespassers on this island and you are not welcome. We will capture you and make sure you never reveal our location to the Fire Nation." The man said angrily as he continued to swing his staff in a useless attempt to hit Naruto.
"Chan! Stop this nonsense right now!" An elderly man ordered Chan.
Chan continued to swing at Naruto. "Why they are Fire Nation spies and want to finish off the sky bison!" Chan replied angrily.
"You idiot use your head. When was the last time a Fire Nation soldier wearing civilian clothing, have a blind woman, two people of the Water tribes and a person with arrowhead tattoos?" The older man questioned.
Chan stopped his swinging only to find his staff had suddenly become heavy. Chan turned to see Naruto standing on the staff with a huge foxy grin on his face. Naruto pointed to himself. "See, we aren't the bad guys."
"Naruto-kun be nice." Hinata scolded Naruto.
Naruto bowed to Chan. "I am sorry for what I said. Better Hinata-hime?" Naruto asked as he looked to Hinata and stepped off the staff.
Hinata nodded and smiled.
Aang jumped off Appa's saddle and floated to the ground. "How do you know they are from the water tribes? And what do you know about the tattoos?" Aang question the elder.
The elder bowed to Aang who returned the bow. "Forgive Chan, he is impatient and is still learning. I am Ran elder of this village. We are all that is left of the Air Nomads. A few of us can bend but without training we are sadly terrible at airbending. That should explain how I know about the tattoos as they were used by airbenders before the war and the culling. They have not been seen for nearly a hundred years. I would know the dress of the Southern Water Tribes anywhere, I have visited them on several occasions. What I do not know are the clothes of these two. The clothing speaks civilian but the way they carry themselves, and yes even the blind girl speaks warrior." Ran states as he bows to Katara and Sokka, who return the bow. He then bows to Hinata and Naruto who both return the bow.
"I am sorry airbender Aang, I did not know. Please accept my deepest apologies." Chan said as he kneeled down and bowed to Aang.
"Apology accepted." Aang said with a smile as several small air bison left the forest and circled Appa.
"Please come into our village and stay for a while 'Avatar'." Ran said quietly.
Aang stopped dead as he heard this and looked at Ran. "Why do you call me that?" Aang asked.
"You wear the tattoos of an airbender, you appear to be about twelve, the age at which the last Avatar was last seen and I have not heard of a new one being born amongst the Water Tribes so either the Avatar is dead or you are him. Also like I said airbenders no longer use the tattoos, they make us standout too much with firebenders around." Ran said with a chuckle.
Aang bows. "I am Aang the Avatar, please do not make a fuss over me." Aang pleaded.
"If you wish to be treated as a normal person then so be it." Ran stated, he then turned to the others. "Aang is the Avatar but wishes to be treated as one of us! Is that clear?" Ran yelled to the other villagers.
--
"Where is he uncle?" Zuko angrily asked as he continued practicing his firebending forms.
"We haven't a clue it is almost as if the waters have swallowed him up after the Kyoshi Island incident." Iroh commented as he drank some tea on the deck. "Now back to your basics. You were able to beat Commander Zhao with them but they still need work."
"Who was that guy with golden hair and the blind girl?" Zuko wondered out loud.
"My nephew is interested in girls. I am so proud of you my boy. Now back to work." Iroh smiled as he drank another sip of tea. "I love jasmine tea."
"My interest in girls in not in question it is how the girl acted. It was as if she could see. And she seemed to be worried about the boy with the golden hair. Ah!!" Zuko yelled in anger.
"What is it my nephew?" Iroh asked knowing the answer but wanting Zuko to voice it anyways.
"The boy was able to utterly humiliate me and my men. All by himself, I don't know what magic he used but he was able to create more of himself and take down my men so quickly. Also his form reminded me of the Avatar. Could there be more airbenders that great-grandfather failed to eliminate?" Zuko asked.
"That is entirely possibile as it is nearly impossible to truly wipe out an entire race of people. It would be a most evil act. I understand killing of combatants but innocents such as women and children just to make sure that there are no airbenders is an evil act." Iroh said solemnly.
"Are you questioning great-grandfather's actions?" Zuko questioned.
"I cannot question them as they are already done. I am just judging them based on what I know about life. I hope you learn this lesson my nephew. Life is balance, and yours is sorely lacking." Iroh said as he threw a small fireball that caused Zuko to fall as he became unbalanced. Iroh began to laugh. "See what I mean, you need balance. Anger can only get you so far." Iroh said as his mood changed from mirth to a stern visage.
"Right now anger is all I have uncle. It is the Avatar's fault that I have to hunt him down." Zuko replied as he fumed.
'I hope you learn the lesson before you destroy yourself from the inside my most precious nephew.' Iroh thought as he took another sip of his tea.
--
"That is amazing! You both seem to know so much more than we do with airbending." Ran commented as Naruto and Aang were having an airbending spar.
Aang was winded from the spar but Naruto continued to go through his kata as he was working on the twelfth kata of sixteen. It appeared that the village only knew the first two and were not very good at those either. Naruto and Aang took the villagers and began with each of them, thanks to Naruto's shadow clones, with the first kata from the beginning. After a couple hours about half the village was able to do basic airbending.
As the group explored the village they found that the huts were built so that they could withstand the occasional storms but they also blended into the jungle. The actual volcano had a few vents that allowed for the village to have hot springs, this also covered up the fact that they had fires and the like. The volcano had open vents with lava in it so people in passing ships would believe that the lights were just open lava vents.
Sokka seemed to put more effort into his training to push away the hurt of losing Suki. He also would seldom talk to the others any more than absolutely nessecary. This worried Katara who wanted Sokka to return to his normal jovial self. After a couple weeks the villagers were well on their way to learning airbending and a start at rebuilding the air nomads culture an way of life. Sokka softened over this time and started to crack some of his normal jokes.
Katara began to avoid Aang because she was not sure about her feelings toward the Avatar. Aang took this to mean she was angry with him and went to Naruto to try to figure out what he could do to patch their friendship.
"Sorry Aang I am considered a moron when it comes to girls or women. I chased a pink haired banshee for years only to find out she only wanted me to die or at least go away. My advice let her figure out what is going on and she will come to you. If you likes you as a friend, great, you have a dear and devoted friend." Naruto commented as Aang's heart deflated, which didn't pass Naruto unnoticed. "But if she loves you it will take time for her to sort out all the feels she has towards you. I hate to say it but your title is quite daunting."
Aang looked at Naruto with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean?"
"Like it or not, you are the Avatar, the savior of the world or so I'm told." Naruto said and he also winked at Aang. "That is quite a lot to handle. If she loves you she has to get past the title and see you for you. From what I heard you made quite the fool of yourself on Kyoshi Island."
Aang contemplated what Naruto had said and agreed. "But Naruto what do I do to get her to love me for me?"
Naruto put on a foxy grin. "You do nothing."
"Nothing? What do you mean by nothing?" Aang questioned.
Naruto chuckled. "Just what I said, 'nothing'. You need to be yourself and nothing else. You are the Avatar, but you are also Aang. Don't let your title overrule who you are." Naruto took a deep breath and sighed as he could see that Aang was still confused. "I am a jinchuuriki, the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but I am also Naruto. I do not let being the container be all that I am. Most of the people in my village hate me for something I could not control. In the opposite vein people love and hate you for something you could not control. So be yourself and it will all work out in the end."
"But I like, like Katara." Aang said as he blushed.
"Maybe she is not ready to be with you. You are both still young." Naruto pointed out.
"But you and Hinata are only a little older than we are and you guys are married." Aang said with a smirk.
Naruto chuckled. "You have me there, but then again you don't."
"How so?" Aang questioned.
"Hinata-chan and I have known each other for years. Also she has had a crush on me for years. There is also the fact that she accepts me for who I am and did not want to be a prize of the village. She would prefer the idiot she loves to the idol the village loves." Naruto said with a warm smile.
"For an idiot you can be smart." Aang complimented Naruto.
"Thanks I do have the occasional ray of inspiration." Naruto thanked Aang and put his hand on Aang's shoulder. "Hey even if she is not the girl for you she can teach you a lot. And if she is the girl for you, you will know her that much better. Hinata-chan and I were thrust into a situation where we had only one chance of winning and this time we won. I love her, I hope as much as she loves me. Katara loves you right now, if it be a brotherly love then so be it. If it is more than that, do not force it as Hinata-chan told me that most relationships have their ups and down. She may even have to go out with another person to see that she is in love with you. If you want it to be with her the best way you can do that is be there for her."
"Thanks Naruto, you have given me a lot to think about." Aang said with a sad face.
"Good because I was getting a headache trying to help you." Naruto joked as this made Aang smile.
Katara and Hinata walked up to the boys, Hinata wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck in a gentle hug. "Hey handsome, what did we miss?" Hinata asked as she kissed Naruto.
"Nothing much just guy talk. Aang had a few things on his mind." Naruto shot a glance at Katara, Hinata caught this but Katara did not.
"Guy stuff? I thought that only girls did that that sort of thing." Katara replied jokingly.
As the sun set Hinata laid her head on Naruto's shoulder as they lay against a log near the fire. Naruto and Hinata both wore content smiles on their faces. Aang looked at Katara and felt his cheeks warm. Katara looked at Aang, who turned to look up at the stars, and felt her cheeks warm. Katara immediately pushed this feeling down as she watched Naruto and Hinata fall asleep. She longed to have a person who would be there for her, she felt a twinge of guilt in that she was not sure if she could have feelings for Aang or not as he was the Avatar and had a destiny. As her eye lids began to feel heavy she felt something cover her legs then her hips then her chest. Katara opened her eyes to see Aang putting a blanket on her. She smiled warmly at Aang. "Thank you Aang, good night."
"Good night Katara, sweet dreams." Aang said warmly and with a blush on his cheeks. "I will wait for you, as long as it takes." Aang whispered, only to see Katara smile. Aang was not sure if she heard him or not but there was little he could do either way.
Aang walked over to Appa and lay down on Appa's tail only to see someone walking towards him. Sokka appeared to be a little angry but Aang couldn't tell why. "Hey Sokka what's up?"
Sokka plopped down Indian style in front of Aang. "What do you want from my sister?" Sokka angrily asked.
"I don't know? Why?" Aang asked confused.
"You like her don't you?" Sokka asked as his eyes bored into Aang.
Aang with a dejected look on his face turned his head and looked down. "Yes… yes I do."
Sokka sat up and had a confused look on his face. After a couple minutes of silence he spoke. "Why?"
Aang looked at Sokka but Sokka could tell that Aang's feelings were not helping him tell him what he wanted to hear. Aang took a deep breath and sighed. "Do you remember when you and Katara found me?"
"Yeah, she nearly killed us with her anger, but she did free you and Appa. She is funny that way." Sokka wore a far away smile.
"When I woke up and looked into her eyes I felt my heart skip a beat. I knew there was something special about her from the first moment I laid my eyes on her." Aang admitted.
"Well if that's how you feel, then I suppose there is nothing I can say or do that will matter. But I am warning you, don't break her heart. If you do, I don't care if you are the Avatar you will not escape my wrath. Do we have an understanding?" Sokka stated with a stern look on his face.
Aang wore a hurt look on his face as he again turned his face away and down. "I don't even know if she likes me that way. However, I am willing to wait for as long as it takes." Aang spoke as if no one was there.
Sokka sighed. "I understand, well sort of… I liked Suki and she showed me that she liked me too. If my sister doesn't work out for you I am sure there is someone else who will. Give her time right now she idolizes you as the Avatar, if she can get over that and see you for you we will know how she feels. Get some sleep bud we have some hard training tomorrow. We will also eventually need to make our way to the North Pole and the Northern Water Tribes. Good night Aang." Sokka said with a warm smile.
--
The large room was devoid of furniture other than the throne on the dais. The dais was surrounded in fire with a lone person sitting on the throne. There was also a young girl kneeling in front of the dais waiting for the man on the throne to acknowledge her.
"Azula, I have a mission for you." The man said with deep angry voice.
"Yes father, what is it that I can do for the Fire Lord?" Azula asked with an evil grin on her face as she lifted her head to look upon her father.
"It has come to my attention that the Avatar is alive and doing well. Also my brother, your uncle, and your brother, Zuko, have brought shame upon the Fire Nation yet again. I wish for you to bring your uncle and brother home and kill the Avatar and his followers. Do I make myself clear?" The Fire Lord ordered more than asked.
"Yes father I shall do so now and head out within the day. I will return our errant family members and kill the Avatar for you. Thank you father." Azula said as she stood and walked out of the room.
--
A/N: I thought I would be nice to travel off the beaten path and gave them another adventure.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, sorry it took so long to get published but was working with my betas on this one and they helped a lot.
Thanks to Volpes and Exantos for betaing this chapter. They found some good grammar mistakes and also helped out with some dry dialog. Thanks guys for your help. Next chapter on to… I am not sure where… I will figure it out this weekend and work on the chapter. :D