Author note: CHAPTER 6 ALREADY! Yeah! Hopefully you're finding them long enough to be considered chapters. I have this need to make each chapter from a different POV (mainly Azula and Sokka, obviously). But I still want the chapters to be long enough that you get a good sense of what's going on without making them seem…draggy. Thank you to all the followers, favorite markers and reviewers!

Onward with the story!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any rights to Avatar the Last Air Bender. I did not create it and I will not profit from it in any way, shape or form.

Chapter 6: Freedom Distracted

"Shit," Sokka heard Azula say quietly.

How she hadn't heard the bar on the outside of her door being removed, he'd never know, but thank the spirits she didn't. He would have missed out on the show. Sokka had opened the door just as Azula had landed face first on the bed. He watched in amusement as she rolled around, making little mewing and moaning noises in happiness.

"What are you doing in my room?" Azula asked angrily. She pushed herself up on the bed, curling her legs under her and propping herself on one arm. If it had been any other situation, he would have seen it as an invitation. Her robe had come undone slightly, giving him a clear view of the mounds beneath. He felt a small stirring of desire.

"You mind covering those, Princess?" His statement came out huskier than he had intended it to.

"Covering what…oh," Azula said, following his gaze to her chest. She quickly tied the robe tighter and sat in a crossed legged position, hiding her legs under her robe as well. Sokka told himself he wasn't disappointed, no not at all.

"Do you mind telling me what you're doing here? Besides staring at me…again," Azula said annoyingly.

Just enjoying the show Princess…

He held out a large rolled up scroll, "We need to make some general plans before we head out at dawn tomorrow. I just finished talking with Zuko. He told me your mother is near, or in, Ba Sing Se. That's a pretty long distance to cover and I want to make sure you're prepared properly." Wisely he kept the 'enjoying the show' part out. "I've created a general plan for the path we're going to take to get there. Zuko and I figured we'd take the trail to the ferry over to the Earth Kingdom. Then we'd follow the rivers to Ba Sing Se."

Azula reached her hand out for the scroll, Sokka held it back. "Well can I see it?"

"You don't have to worry about the plans, those are for me to keep us on track with" he said arrogantly. "I just came by to make sure you knew what kind of stuff to pack."

"Give me the plan Peasant, or I will come over there and get it myself." Azula said challengingly.

Sokka cocked his eyebrow at Azula. He highly doubted she was going to take him down in nothing but a robe. But he was interested to see her try.

"You sure you want to do that Princess? You're not wearing much, and I'm sure you'll show off more if you try tangling with me," he smirked. An image of him and Azula doing another kind of tangling, danced through his mind. He quickly cleared it away.

Don't think about that Sokka. Keep your eyes trained. We're dealing with a master bender here. All eyes up front and focused…on her face…just her face.

He could see her beautiful face deliberating. After a few moments, she unfolder herself from her sitting position and scooted off the bed. Moving slowly, she walked towards him.

She's really going to try this…well alright then. Focus on the face Sokka, just the face. He braced himself for her first swing, holding the scroll tightly in his hand.

"Are you sure you want to do this Peasant?" Azula challenged. "I may have been locked up, but that doesn't mean my skills are any less…potent."

Sokka swallowed hard. She was still walking towards him, a slight sway to her hips and a challenging smile on her face. He kept telling himself he wasn't distracted, or attracted, to that smile, nor the swaying of her hips, or the long legs that were barely covered by the robe. No not at all.

But his grip on the scroll had become a little looser. His braced position, a little less braced. And before he could do anything, Azula had fallen to the floor and threw out a sweeping kick, knocking him on his butt and back. The scroll flew up and into Azula's hands.

"Well that wasn't so hard now was it?" Azula laughed. Sokka watched from the floor as she moved and sat back on the bed folding her legs under her and her robe. "Well are you going to go over this with me or just lay on the floor all night?" She said, laughing at him.

Damn it, Sokka thought, so much for being the commander of this mission…and for being focused. He got off the floor and sat next to Azula, stretching his legs out. She scooted over to give him more room. Together they bent over the scroll.

Sokka started to explain, "Here's where we are now. We'll get to the ocean by tomorrow night or at worst the next morning. Then we'll take the ferry over to the Earth Kingdom where we'll take the river route to Ba Sing Se."

"Wait, can't we just take a war balloon?" Azula asked in a surprised voice.

Sokka gave her his best are you kidding me look, "No, we can't take a war balloon. We're supposed to be under cover remember? A war balloon will just scream MILITARY and FIRE NATION." He emphasized his statement by throwing his arms in the air waving them around. Putting his them back down he continued, "And that's not what we want. Zuko is, however, giving us a couple of Ostrich Horses.

He saw her shoulders relax and heard a sigh of relief.

"What did you think we had to walk the whole way?" he asked surprised that she would think they would be walking the entire way to Ba Sing Se.

"Yes." She stated in a matter of fact tone. "I didn't think Zuko would make this any easier for me than absolutely necessary." Her voice had gone soft and quiet.

"Well I'm with you," Sokka claimed. "And I'm not walking the whole damn way to Ba Sing Se. Punishment or not." Sokka stated looking Azula straight in the eyes. He was surprised to see a gratifying look in her amber eyes. Eyes that reminded him of a light caramel, another specialty of the fire nation, and by the spirits did he love caramel.

"Okay, tell me more of this plan," she said looking back at the map.

Sokka went back to explaining the route, the time table and the plan for the journey. Azula stayed quiet for most of it. Every so often she'd give him her ideas on where they should go and what paths may be easier to take. Sokka agreed to some, adjusted others, and flatly turned down a few. Within an hour they had a plan figured out that they both agreed on.

"Alright, we have an early start tomorrow so time to get some shut eye," Sokka said rolling up the scroll. He looked towards Azula, "Make sure to pack lightly and with civilian type clothes. No royalty stuff. We want to give the impression of modest travelers, nothing more."

Sokka noticed that Azula was staring at him, a look of sad confusion on her face. "Azula, are you alright? You do have civilian clothing right? You know, peasant clothes," he said with a smile. Azula continued to stare at him, that sad look still on her face. It made her look vulnerable, something he'd never seen the old Azula look like before. He had a strong urge to take that look away.

"Azula, talk to me," he said quietly.

She turned her face away. Sokka reached his hand out and cupped her face, turning her back to face him. "Azula," he said her name quietly again. He watched as she licked her lips and couldn't help but notice how luscious they looked. He started to lean in, thinking just one taste, one simple little…

"What are you doing?" an angry female voice said from the doorway, shocking Azula and Sokka out of the spell that overtook them. Sadly, Sokka watched as Azula's body language changed from vulnerable to her normal cool arrogant composure.

"We're planning. What else would we be doing?" Azula sarcastically responded.

"Really? Planning what? How to properly suck face with each other?" Katara replied in the same tone, crossing her arms and glaring at them both.

"We were just finishing up Katara," Sokka said, getting up from the bed and walking towards the doorway. He turned to Azula, "Get some sleep. I was serious when I said we leave at dawn tomorrow."

He saw Azula nod and heard her quietly say, "Good night."

"Good night," he replied just as quietly. He left the room and shut the door. Katara put the locking bar in place, harder than Sokka thought was necessary.

"You don't have to be so mean about it Katara. She's been through enough," he told his sister. Angry from the interruption and from her earlier statement, Sokka started walking towards his room, not caring if Katara followed or not. Katara followed behind him.

"She's been through enough? SHE'S been through enough? Have you forgotten what she's all done to us, Sokka? Like the fact that she tried to KILL Aang! Or the fact that she locked up Suki! Have you forgotten that part Sokka? Have you?!" Katara was near shouting again. Sokka felt his anger growing more intense with each sentence Katara said. Her final statement was the last straw.

He turned towards Katara and did some shouting of his own, "Katara ENOUGH already! Do I know what she's done in the past, yes I do. Do I realize that she UNSUCCESSFULLY tried to kill Aang, again yes I do. Do I know that she locked up…locked up…," he took a deep breath, the built up anger slowly fading away at the mention of his previous love's name, and continued softly, "Suki. Yes I do." He paused again, taking a moment to compose himself. He was never one to be angry, and even less so when it came to his sister. Katara stood there silent, for once.

"I know what she has done Katara. But can you open your mind to how she's been raised? She was raised to BE the aggressor. She was raised believing that everyone was beneath her. Look at this place, remember what Ozai was like? Remember what Zuko was like? This nation was raised to believe that being aggressive was the answer to everything. We…no…I have a chance to change that. To make her see that being aggressive and always in controlled isn't the only way to live life. Can't you understand that?" He looked at Katara. Trying to keep his face as calm as possible. He didn't want to mad at his sister, but that was the second time that day that she'd brought up Suki and the second time she'd questioned his decisions.

"So what, you think traveling with her through the world is going to fix it all Sokka? She's a trained killer, she will take the first opportunity she has to kill you and run. Mark my words. You're strong Sokka, but I saw what just happened, or almost happened, in that room. You were about to kiss her Sokka! You can't allow yourself to be taken in by those looks. It makes you weak, and you can't afford to be weak." Katara said simply.

Sokka didn't deny what he was or wasn't going to do in that room. If he was honest with himself, he could admit that he wasn't sure why he had felt such a strong need to kiss Azula. Nor was he sure why he found her so attractive. Was it her looks? Her personality? Maybe he was trusting Azula a little too quickly. But she was changing, he could see that. She had been vulnerable, old Azula was never vulnerable.

"Katara," he began quietly, "I understand that you're worried. I would be to if it were you and Zuko going off alone together. " Not that he wanted to think about that…at all. "But this is something I have to do. I know Azula can change, I can already see it happening. This journey could be the final turning point to get her to see that life can be better on our side. And you need to trust me to be able to do that for her. Can you do that?" He looked into Katara's eyes pleading with her to understand.

Katara's hands came up and cupped Sokka's face between them. "You're so stubborn. No matter what Azula does, I don't think anything will take out that stubborn head of yours. I'm sorry for my harsh words Sokka, from before and now. You are strong enough to do this, and your sword mastery is enough to take Azula out if need be. Don't get angry," Sokka forced himself to relax the muscles that had tensed up from Katara's statement, "just know that I only say this because I am worried. I can't lose you. You're my brother, you've been with me from the very beginning and I don't want to lose you for something that you could have stayed away from. Maybe you can change her. Maybe you can bring her to our side. But until I see it, I just can't believe it happening." She paused, "But I do believe in you. And I know that, no matter what happens, you'll come back. And that's all that I could ever want." She dropped her hands and gave him a weak smile.

"Katara," he started, "it's good to know you never change. You're still making long speeches about hope and destiny. They just keep going on and…ouch!" Sokka laughed dodging the next punch Katara sent towards him. He wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug. Sokka felt Katara resist for a moment, than she turned and buried her face in his neck and wrapped her arms around his waist. He could feel her tears soaking his shirt. "I'll come back Katara. I promise, no matter what happens I'll come back."

"Okay," Katara said tearfully. She slowly removed herself from Sokka's hug. "But if you don't, and she's the reason why, I will hunt her down and I will end her myself. Make no mistake about that. She will be ended Sokka. No more prison for her, just death."

"That's my strong Master Water Bending sister." Sokka responded laughing lightly. He knew Katara didn't make ideal threats. "Now go away, I need to sleep. Dawn will be here early and I don't want to screw up day one by being late." With that he pushed his sister out of the room and closed the door.

"You could have said good night you know!" she yelled through the door.

"Good night!" he yelled back and then listened as Katara huffed and walked away.

Turing to his bed, he stripped out of his clothes, got under the covers and promptly fell asleep. His dreams filled with a woman who possessed a beautifully curved chest, seductive amber eyes, luscious lips, long bare legs and a big comfy bed.

Author End Notes: First chapter to end without a cliff hanger Woot Woot! It may be a day or two before I can get another chapter posted. Have a lot on my plate recently and may not be able to sit and write. But I promise you the wait will be worth it!