...and here is chapter 6

Enjoy!

It has to be almost morning by now. After all, I had been lying down on this thinly cushioned mat and enjoying the wonderful experience of insomnia for what seemed like an eternity. There are too many conflicting thoughts and memories swirling around inside my head and they are keeping me from getting any sleep despite being more exhausted than I remember being in my entire life. There is also the added fact that the Dai Li are definitely looking for us at this very moment. This of course did the exact opposite of calming my nerves.

Fun times.

The moon is still behind a thick cover of clouds, and for a good long while, it has been pitch black outside. It's unsettling lying down in this dusty old room and being unable to see into the far corner. For all I know, someone could be standing in the room watching me for the entire duration of the night and I would never be able to spot them. But oddly enough, I am somewhat thankful for this. The paranoia is keeping me from replaying the images of Suki dying over and over and over again. Kind of sad in a way.

After a while, I accept that I'm not going to get any sleep tonight and decide to sit up and lean against the wall. The old wood occasionally creaks and squeals under the pressure of my back and a piece of dust sometimes gets into one of my eyes. This was all evidence of poor maintenance. I would think that a house full of women would be clean and spotless.

I do my best to not think about Izumi and the mind-blowing revelation that she is the Avatar. Just trying to piece together the whys and hows of that situation will make my head explode. All I can come up with was that the Spirit World must have imploded, or something, because this is completely against the laws of everything. But then again, I'm not exactly an expert on spiritual matters.

How did I get myself into this situation? Oh right, I was kidnapped.

Eventually the sun starts to rise above the horizon just dimly lighting up the room a bit. I can now see into the far corner of the room, and much to my relief, it's empty. A sigh escapes from my mouth. So, what now? Are the Kyoshi Warriors really going to just keep us here and take whatever punishment the Dai Li can dish out on us? The conversation last night seemed to indicate so, but I was hoping that they would somehow come to their senses, especially Noriko. I can tell that woman is going to get us into a lot of trouble in the future. But, I guess trouble is pretty much par for the course now.

I let out an exhausted yawn and stretch my legs out a bit while doing my best to ignore the crick that has developed in my back after leaning against the wall for such a long period of time. The birds are starting to chirp outside, indicating that morning is indeed on its way. But, out of nowhere, my ears pick up the sound of footsteps on the other side of the bedroom door.

What the…

I slowly stand to my feet, keeping my eyes glued to the room's entrance. A long and anxious moment of silence passes. My logic tells me that if it's a Kyoshi outside my door, then she would have knocked and asked to come in. But an enemy on the other hand? They would stand outside the door to check if it was locked, and they would be keeping an eye out for witnesses.

Shit. I wish my boomerang was still with me.

Suddenly, the door begins to slide open and I can see the small hand that's pushing it, clearly visible in the morning light. A small hand? Well maybe this isn't the enemy after all. I decide to go against my instincts and wait to see who it is. Finally, the door is opens all the way and the form of a small girl steps into the room.

"H... hey."

"Kumi?" I say before I can catch myself. It's that one young Kyoshi girl from earlier. The one who seemed nervous and unsure of herself. I find myself relaxing at her non-threatening presence.

"Shh," she hushes with a panicky gesture. "Not so loud."

Okay?

I watch as she quietly closes the door behind her and then slowly make her way over to my side of the room. She stops a mere foot away from me and I finally observe exactly how short she is. The top of her head doesn't even reach the beginning of my neck.

"Why are you whispering?" I ask her. I take a step back to increase the gap between us. She ignores my question of course and continues to whisper nervously.

"You have to go now," she says.

So this is the plan? Sleep overnight and then get us up early the next morning and flee. Not too shabby if you ask me, but I would have appreciated it if they had told me about this before. In any case it seems as if the women around here have come to their senses.

"So uh… where are we headed to?" I asked her without bothering to lower my voice.

"Not we, just you."

Huh?

Kumi doesn't wait for me to respond. Instead, she grabs me by the arm and practically drags me to the window. Her strength surprises me for such a small girl. After a second of struggling, I break free of her grasp and push her away.

"What do you mean just me?"

She looks startled by my sudden use of force and hesitates to answer my question. Whatever she is hiding clearly isn't something that I will enjoy hearing.

"Um…" She is struggling for words.

I look her in the eyes and I can tell they betrayed her nervousness. In fact, the girl looks like she is downright terrified. That's when the realization hit me that something big must be going down.

"Kumi, what's going on?" I ask in a much calmer tone of voice, but she still hesitates, probably looking for the right words to use. Finally, she speaks.

"They... they're going to kill you."

Shit I knew it! The Dai Li had found us and now they're after me. We have to get Izumi out of here now.

"Okay," I nod. My mind becomes focused into a singular goal. "Let's get Izumi and get out of dodge now before the Dai Li can kill us all."

I turn towards the door, a plan of action already forming in my head, but Kumi grabs hold of my arm and pulls me back.

"No!" she whispers harshly before pulling me down to her level of shortness. "Not the Dai Li."

What? Is she trying to tell me that someone else is trying to kill me specifically? It was beginning to dawn on me what she was trying to say, but a part of my mind is in denial.

"The other Kyoshi Warriors…"

Because of course.

I just shake my head in disbelief. I should have known this was going to happen. Shacking up with terrorists that are notorious for their staggeringly high kill count of innocent bystanders is generally a practice that is frowned upon. I shake my head in anger. Avatar Kyoshi is probably rolling in her grave at their actions.

Kumi nods and looks down at her feet in a vain attempt to hide from my accusing glare. "You weren't a part of the plan… Noriko's plan."

"What?" I am fumbling around for words at this point. "What plan are you talking about?"

What in the name of the damned spirits is Noriko's plan? I was under the impression that her goal was to keep Izumi inside of the city as a flag to unite everyone… while also killing me in the process apparently. She did a fabulous job of convincing everyone last night to jump on board with this.

There must be something more nefarious going on. I look back over to Kumi and notice that she seems to be on the verge of tears.

"I... I was only following orders…" she sobs. "I didn't want them to… kill me too."

I think I know where this is going but my mind is screaming back and trying to deny everything it's hearing. Kumi reaches into her cross-body bag, and she pulls out a blue curved object. When I see what she's holding, I feel my stomach practically drops into my toes.

In her hand is my boomerang.

"I found this in one of the other girl's belongings," Kumi says.

I step away from her in horror. The implications of what this could possibly mean! Suddenly, the events of the last couple days all make sense. Suki wanted to get the Avatar out of the city and Noriko, as well as the other warriors, were clearly opposed to that.

I reach forward, snatched the boomerang from her hands, and inspect it up close. Sure enough, my name is carved into the ivory blade just beside where my father had carved his name back when I was just a kid. I look back up at Kumi with a cold, hard stare demanding her to explain.

"Noriko didn't want you to live this long and…"

"And what!"

"And neither was Suki."

So that's it then. The attack… it was all a setup. Noriko has been planning this whole thing from the beginning and neither I nor Suki picked up on it. And, it appears that all the other Kyoshi Warriors are in on it as well. Except for Kumi apparently. I place a hand on my forehead, willing myself to calm down. It takes everything in me to not scream out in rage.

Dammit.

This whole thing is hard to swallow. While the Kyoshi Warriors had basically gone insane for years now, it was never easy for me to come to terms with that knowing their original ideals. But this? This feels like the ultimate betrayal.

I let out a sigh and finally speak. "When is Noriko planning on killing me?"

"Now, within the hour at least," she replies turning towards the window. "You have to go now, and… I think I want to go with you."

"Whoa," I hold a hand to stop her. "Let's not get too hasty here."

While it's true that this girl is young, and that she clearly doesn't play a major role in Kyoshi Warriors' decision making processes, she is still one of them. I have my doubts that I can trust her.

"I know what you're thinking," She says, somehow reading my mind. "When I joined the Kyoshi Warriors, I wanted to make a difference and to help the people of this world. At the time, they seemed like the only people who were trying to do something."

I can't help but scoff at her words. "Sounds like you bit off a little more than you could chew."

Kumi sighs in response to that. "I... I suppose I did. But I never wanted to kill anybody. And now that Suki is gone, there is nothing stopping Noriko from enacting here revenge."

Revenge? That sounded incredibly ominous. I'll have to ask about that later while my life isn't in direct mortal danger.

As for Kumi's story, it sounds convincing enough for now, but if she's coming with me, then I will have to keep a watchful eye on her. I don't exactly want her to pull any funny business.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" I ask her.

Kumi places a hand on her chin and gazes out the window. I follow her stare and notice that it has become considerably brighter outside over the past few minutes.

We need to hurry.

"Well out the window. Um…" she thinks out loud.

You know, I can be a relatively patient man when the situation requires it, but now is not one of those times. We can't afford to just sit around and think. As much as I hate jumping into action without a plan, I at least have the capacity to realize that sometimes, we just need to jump.

"Kumi." I step up beside her. She looks at me with a perplexed look on her face. "What about those ostrich horses that I came here on with Noriko? Are they still in the barn?"

"Of course."

"Well, that's our escape plan then."

Kumi nods in approval and starts moving towards the window again. There is one thing missing from this whole escape plan though, or rather, two other things.

"What about Izumi and her mother?" I ask.

"Oh… Noriko doesn't want to kill them. They will be safe here."

Somehow, I don't buy into that one bit. As long as Izumi stays in the city, she remains to be a target for the Dai Li and I am not about to allow them to capture her. And if they do capture her, I'm sure they won't be too pleased to learn that she is from the Fire Nation, even if she is the Avatar. I place my boomerang in its sheath and then strap it around my body. Even though we are planning to sneak out of here, I am prepared to fight my way out if I must.

"No. They're coming with us." I turn and make my way to the door while secretly hoping that the other warriors aren't already in the hall waiting for me.

"But, Sokka! There is no time!"

"Listen!" I stop with my hand on the door. "I'm willing to bet that if Izumi stays here she will die, and I refuse to wait another ten years for the next Avatar to show up. This is not negotiable."

And with that, I slide the bedroom door open and step out into the hallway. It's still dark, most likely because of the lack of windows in here. My ears pick up the sounds of some activity going on downstairs which means that the other Kyoshi Warriors are starting to stir about.

Time is short.

I hear Kumi sigh from somewhere behind me as I leave the room. I ignore her frustration as I make my down the hallway to the door that I recognize from last night.

Izumi's room.

I place a hand on the door and quietly slide it open. Unfortunately, it creaks in protest and the noise seems to echo down the hall.

Shit. That was kind of loud.

I silently prayed to the spirits that no one heard that. In the corner of my eye, I see Kumi is frantically motioning for me to keep quiet, but I simply roll my eyes at her and try to open the door much slower. It still creaks a little bit, but it isn't as loud as the first time.

Dammit why does everything have to sound loud when I'm trying to be sneaky?

I decide not to bother with opening the door any further and instead decide to squeeze through the small gap I had already created. Eventually, I make it into the room with Kumi stepping in just a few seconds later. The sun is casting its rays directly into the room and onto the far wall, and standing in the window itself and absorbing the sun's rays, is none other than Izumi herself.

Fire benders wake with the sun don't they? I nearly slap myself for forgetting that. Amaya on the other hand is sprawled out on the bed directly before us and is snoring quite obnoxiously.

Lovely.

"What are you guys doing?" Izumi speaks. She had turned around to face us and is now giving me the stink eye. I gesture for her to keep quiet and tell Kumi to go wake up Amaya. She nods and makes her way over to the bed.

"Izumi, we have to go now," I say to her in a stern voice.

Her expression changes almost immediately. "What? Why?" she asks confused.

"Noriko killed Suki because they want to keep you here and now they are going to kill me. We need to go now."

Izumi's jaw drops in shock. "You serious?"

"Trust me," I answer straight up, not in the mood for being sarcastic. "We have to go now."

Izumi stands tilts her head is if to process that information before looking at Kumi.

"What about her?" She asks me.

"Kumi told me everything," I said looking back to her. Amaya was now awake and staring at me in shock. "I think we can trust her."

"Okay…," Izumi seems completely thrown off guard by this news, but after a moment's pause, she nods her head in compliance and begins to pack up her things.

"What are you doing Izi?" I hear Amaya ask from the bed, awake at last. "You actually believe these two?"

"I trust Sokka," her daughter replies. " And I'm going with him. You can stay here if you like."

Amaya seems to be put off by that statement and for about a minute she just sits on the bed lost in thought. Now is definitely not the time for this. I was about to open my mouth to get an answer from the woman but she beats me to the punch.

"Well, then I'm going with you," Amaya looks from her daughter and over to me before speaking again. "I refuse to let you leave my sight."

Excellent

Now that everyone seems to be on board with the situation, I begin to contemplate how all four of us are going to able to escape the house without being detected. The front door is certainly out of the question as there is no telling how many of the other Kyoshis are awake downstairs, and there is no way we can fight them all off. That much is certain, especially since Noriko revealed herself to be pretty decent earth bender. There is only one real option.

I look over to the window just in time to see the edge of the sun rising over the distant tree line, casting an orange hue across the now thinly separated clouds. The sky is clearing up.

"How about we go out the window?" I ask no one in particular.

Kumi nods in approval, probably because that was her idea to begin with. Amaya looks up from her bag startled, showing that she isn't too fond of jumping out of the second story. It's not like we have a choice.

"Well, let's go," Kumi says leading the way.

"You're not going anywhere," a familiar voice rings out from behind us.

Oh crap…

At once we all turn to see Noriko standing in the room with an angry expression on her face. She must have slipped through the crack in the door like Kumi and I did. There goes the sneaky aspect of our secret escape plan.

Time to jump.

"Out the window!" I shout to the others in the room before unsheathing my boomerang. Noriko draws her sword in response. Well, this is going to be interesting.

"We'll get the ostrich horses!" Kumi shouts.

I then hear all three women behind me jumping out the window.

"No! Kumi you traitor." Noriko shouts as she sprints to the window.

I ran forward and tackled into her, slamming the new Kyoshi leader into the floor. She hits wood paneling with a loud bang and she let out a cry of pain. The whole house feels like it shakes from the impact.

"You're the one who's not going anywhere." I stand over her form with as much resolve as I can muster. In the back of my mind I know I have little time to grandstand but I simply can't resist the opportunity.

Then, without warning, she kicks her foot out, too quick for me to track and makes contact with my stomach. I keel over gasping for breath. With one hand clutching my gut, I swing my boomerang down at her but she rolls out of the way.

Noriko quickly jumps to her feet and moves into her fighting stance. I try to recover and get into my own stance, preparing to defend myself against her inevitable onslaught.

This is gonna suck.

"Sokka! Think about what you're doing. We need the girl!"

"Yeah, don't give me that nonsense," I reply to her. "I never should have trusted you in the first place."

The Kyoshi women growls in fury before lunging at me with her sword raised. I scramble to dodge all her attacks, one of them just barely managing to nick me in the cheek.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I cry out while grasping my cheek to try and lesson the sting from the cut.

Somehow the scowl on to Noriko's face becomes deeper. She raises her sword into another stance. I follow in kind, raising my boomerang in a futile attempt to match her weapon.

Seriously though, this isn't fair. My boomerang can't deflect swings from a sword! It's made for throwing not parrying!

She makes a move to attack me again. At that moment, I decide to use my weapon for the sole purpose it was made for.

After narrowly sidestepping her assault I roll across the ground and land in a squat, mostly for dramatic effect of course.

"I still got the moves!" I yell out before throwing my boomerang at her head. But just before it makes contact, a knife soars across the room and knocks it out of the air. Noriko and I both turn to see its source, which just so happened to be another Kyoshi Warrior who had just managed to force her way into the room. I see two more women just behind her.

I swear the universe hates me.

"Eshima! Kumi has betrayed us!" I hear Noriko yell. "She's taken Izumi and has gone to the barn!"

Eshima, who is apparently highly skilled with knives and such, has a surprised look on her face. "I told you she was too young and naive for this," she replies.

"Go find her. But don't harm Izumi!"

I just stand there unsure of what to do. Trying to stop them all alone would be guaranteed suicide, so I begin to inch my way towards the window. My eyes quickly look to my boomerang, which is now on the floor between the two girls. I don't want to leave it behind, but I may not have a choice.

"What about you?" Eshima asks. Her monotone voice unnerving me to the core. I glance back over to Noriko to see that she still has that same frown on her face.

"I can handle this," she says.

"Very well," the other woman nods and steps back out of them room. The others follow her into the hallway to pursue their traitor. Once again it is just Noriko and I, one on one. I just notice her hair is undone and now resting lightly on her shoulders. A small part of my mind has to admit that she looks surprisingly attractive with her hair down. It's a shame that it's come to this.

"I just want you to know that I don't take enjoyment from this sort of thing," she says while raising her sword in my direction.

"Wow, could've fooled me," I reply.

Yeah… this isn't going to end well at all. I slowly creep closer to the window hoping that she doesn't notice what I'm trying to do.

Suddenly, Noriko leaps forward, her sword aiming for my gut.

I jump to the side, just barley managing to avoid her attack. Then, using no grace at all, I dive to the floor and scoop up my boomerang. Noriko raises her sword above her head and swings. I roll out of the way a split second before her weapon makes contact with the wooden floor. While she struggles to wrench it free from the floor boards, I pull myself up and dash over to the window silently praying to the spirits that Kumi and the others havne't been captured.

"Sokka! You have no idea what you're doing!"

I don't even acknowledge her statement. Instead, I lunge through the window and all time seems to slow down. As I sail across the sky, I catch a glimpse of Amaya and Izumi on the back of an ostrich horse speeding away from the farmhouse and down the hill towards the woods. Then, I notice that Kumi is also on an ostrich horse that just so happens to be right below me.

Well, this is going to hurt.

I land on the bird's back directly on my stomach with the full force of gravity. Pain shoots through my body as the air leaves my lungs. Noticing that I am at least partially okay, Kumi pulls the reigns and we speed off. I gasp for air. Remarkably, my boomerang is still in my hand.

"How are you doing back there?" Kumi asks me once we had gained some distance from the farm house. I am still draped awkwardly over the side of the bird, unwilling to move for risk of falling off the saddle. I respond with a thumbs up.

"Is Izumi Okay?"

"Yeah," I answer back. "They rode off towards the woods"

I look back towards the farmhouse as it shrinks into the distance. I can just make out the tiny specks of the Kyoshi warriors scrambling about. It looks like some were heading towards the barn where the other ostrich horses are kept. They are going to pursue us, or they're going to try to anyway.

I slowly pick myself up and position myself properly behind Kumi on the bird's saddle. It's no easy task while bouncing up and down from the galloping motion.

"We need to find a safe house somewhere." Kumi says. Her voice rang out with focus and determination, which is a real change of pace from her previous demeanor.

"Oh yeah, because that last one was real fucking safe!" I reply with more bitterness than I intend. I can still feel the adrenaline pumping through my body thanks to me nearly dying about five different times a few minutes ago.

Kumi turns her head back towards me. Her face betraying obvious frustration. I guess she isn't faring much better than I am right now. "Well, what do you suggest, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah don't worry," I reply while willing myself to calm down. "I know where to go."

(2018 EDIT) In hindsight, the long wait that must have existed between chapter uploads back in the day seems pretty quaint by today's standards.

Once again, I apologize for how long it took to update this story. Next time I won't put such a close deadline.

Anyway, this chapter took ages to complete once I finally had time. I swear this chapter was rewritten at least three times and I'm not too sure if i manged to nail it here. I feel mostly good about it though. Notice how there were no breaks between segments, which all my other chapters up until this point have had. This whole thing was just one straight shot from beginning to end. Oh yeah!

Let me know what you think! Oh and don't forget to let me know if you spot any mistakes in grammar or spelling. I gotta know what I missed!