Author Note: Welcome welcome to Chapter 9! Thank you to everyone who's reading along or just started reading this recently! Reviews are always welcome! It helps me to know if I'm going in a good direction…or if I should change it up a bit. But as always, be kind…because this is my first story and I don't want to be discouraged before it ends
Other random note – this is again another rewritten chapter
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 9: Learning about Freedom
Azula woke up as dawn broke across the sky. She stood up from her sleeping bag and stretched. While the sleeping bag wasn't a big comfy bed, it had been more comfortable then the blanket on the cell floor. She slept pretty well throughout the night. Even though her dreams had been a bit more, adventurous, than she normally would have wanted them to be.
She looked towards Sokka, who had been a part of that adventurous dream, and found him still sleeping, completely sprawled out with a little drool coming out of the side of his mouth.
I'll let him sleep. We'll be moving soon enough.
She left him sleeping and moved to the softer grass by the creek to do her morning stretches.
Her dream had left her feeling a little…needy. Not surprisingly after that kiss from last night. It had been unexpected, okay maybe a little bit expected…and oh so pleasurable.
Not that she had much to compare it to, but that wasn't the point. The point was, she had been pressed against a tree and had her mind blown away by a kiss...well two kisses…and some nips…and….
Azula stretched her leg out to the point that her foot was next to her head. She grabbed her foot and leaned forward, holding that position.
If she was honest with herself, the first kiss may have started it, but she had been truly lost it the moment when Sokka had pushed her against the tree. His hard body had been pressing against her, making her feel small and defenseless. Something she had never felt before and something she never thought would have made her feel so…desired. He had possessed her, simply moved in and taken control. The old Azula would have been have been the one pushing him against the tree and taking control. But with him, she wanted him to be the one in control.
Azula switched to the other leg and repeated the process.
However, she hadn't been ready to go much further than kissing. That was new territory for her and she wasn't going to jump into it because she had enjoyed his kisses. She didn't even know him yet.
Azula bent herself backwards, making a bridge with her body and closing her eyes.
Maybe today she could learn more about him. They were traveling companions now more than anything else. Yes they had kissed, but she wanted to feel more of a connection than physical. She wanted to know what kind of person Sokka was. Maybe she'd ask him about his likes, his dislikes. Get more comfortable around him. Not that she was planning on doing any more kissing…okay maybe she was…but if it was to go any further, she'd have to know him better.
"I didn't know you were that flexible," a male voice said. Azula opened her eyes to find an upside down Sokka a few feet away. Using the strength in her legs, she pulled herself upward.
"Well I was friends with Ty Lee. You can't be friends with Ty Lee without learning a few flexible movements. Plus it's a great way to clear the mind," Azula said walking up to Sokka. Standing this close she couldn't help but love how tall he was. Most men tended to be just as, if not a little shorter, than Azula. However, with Sokka she had to tilt her head up a little to look him in the eyes.
"I wasn't sure where you'd gone," Sokka began. "I woke up to an empty tent and an empty sleeping bag. Thought you might have run for it." Azula frowned at Sokka's grin. Then smirking, she reached behind him and grabbed a hunk of his hair. Pulling his head back and then to the side, so she could look him straight in the eyes.
"I. Want. My. Freedom. And I want it the right way," She began slowly, tugging his hair a bit with every word she spoke. "Now repeat after me. Azula. Wants. Her. Freedom." Azula felt Sokka jerking his head, trying to get out of her grasp. She held on tighter, and cocked an eyebrow at him.
He took a deep breath, "Azula. Wants. Her. Freedom. Sokka would also like his freedom." He reached up for her arm. She instantly released his hair and patted his head.
"Good boy. I knew even a peasant like you is capable of learning. You just need a little…reminder now and again." Azula said smugly. She started to walk away only to have Sokka grab her arm and pull her back, and into his.
"Well if I was such a good boy, maybe I deserve a treat." Azula didn't attempt to stop the kiss. She was craving it. His soft lips pressed against hers. She angled the kiss giving them better contact. Feeling his tongue on her lips, she opened willingly. When she tried to put her arms around his neck, she realized he had them both trapped. One in his grasp, the other was tucked between their bodies.
After a few moments of intense kissing, their lips broke apart, each of them breathing a little harder than before.
"I do like those kinds of treats," Azula didn't miss the smugness in Sokka's voice. "Maybe I should get another." As he bent forward again, Azula turned her face away, rolling her eyes.
"Only one treat for the morning. We have to get moving, don't want to make the great planner upset by departing late, now do we?" She stated smartly. But Sokka was no longer looking at her. He was looking at her forearm, rubbing his thumb up and down the area where she hid one of her knives.
Shit…this wasn't going to go well.
"Is this what I think it is?" Sokka gave her a questioning look.
"Depends, what do you think it is?" Azula asked sweetly. She wasn't going to let him see her worry. Plus, she had another one stashed away. Not to mention the other three stilettos. She'd just hide them better.
"Feels like a dagger or a knife." Azula caught her breath as he slowly moved her sleeve up her arm. While she was being caught red handed, the way he moved her clothes was quite sensual, and she found herself unable to wrench away from his grip. "Oh look it is. Does this mean I get another treat for guessing right?" Sokka said hopefully, smiling at Azula.
Her head jerked in surprise. "You aren't upset that I have them?"
His brows furrowed together in confusion. "Why would I be upset that you've armed yourself? I'm armed, why shouldn't you be armed?" He paused and sighed heavily." I trust that you're not going to kill me Azula. If you were going to do that, you would have done it already."
Azula grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and kissed him, hard. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled him closer. Ever since this journey had begun everyone had told her how untrustworthy she was. Now this man, this man that she'd only been around for a couple of days, was saying he trusted her.
Just as quickly as she had grabbed him, she released him. "Thank you. You don't understand how much that means to me. " She smiled and gave a little chuckle as she noticed Sokka's dumbfounded face.
"I guess you did deserve that second treat after all, Peasant. Now let's go make some breakfast and get moving. If we wait any longer, we really will be running late. And I do not believe in being late." She grabbed his hand and directed him back to camp.
"Do you know that you snore?" Azula asked Sokka.
After eating a morning breakfast of the leftover fish and some oatcakes, they packed up camp and headed onward. Their goal was to reach the ports of the Fire Nation main land. From there they would board a ship that would take them to the old fire nation colonies. Azula knew that the trip would take a few days at the most, so if she wanted to get to know Sokka, now was the time to do it.
Although bringing up his faults probably wasn't the way to start the conversation...good going Azula chastised herself.
Her comment was met with an incredulous face and a cocked eyebrow from the man sitting on the ostrich horse to her left.
"I do not snore. I would know if I snored. Katara would have brought up the fact that I snore. So no I do not snore," Sokka replied conclusively. "But you on the other hand, talk in your sleep." He smirked at Azula.
Azula's mouth opened in shock. "I do NOT talk in my sleep."
Did she?
She never really slept with anyone near her to tell her if she did or didn't. And even if she did, they would have been too afraid to tell her.
"Yeah, ya do," Sokka responded in his cocky voice. "You were saying some pretty interesting stuff too."
Don't ask. Don't ask. You do not talk in your sleep. He's just trying to ann...
"What did I say?" Sokka's reply was another smirk in Azula's direction.
Damn it
"Oh are you admitting that you talk in your sleep, Princess? Are you sure you wanna know what you said," Sokka said teasingly.
Azula took a moment to think it all through then replied smartly, "How do I know that you're telling the truth about me talking in my sleep, unless you tell me what I said?"
"Was that a yes? I almost want to say that was a yes."
Damn it. Apparently the Peasant is smarter than I give him credit for.
"Okay, Peasant, tell me what I said before I smack you upside your stubborn head." Azula said, resorting to her normal threatening manner.
"Jeez lighten up Princess. I can't really remember. I believe it was something along the lines of 'Sokka is the greatest person in the world. I'm so glad that he went on this trip with me. I'd be so totally lost without him.' It was quite touching real...ouch!"
Azula had had enough and smacked him on the back of his head.
"Liar. You're such a liar Peasant. I knew I didn't talk in my sleep. But you snore. Your sister probably didn't tell you because she was so used to it that it didn't bother her. Or she couldn't stand to hurt that small ego of yours," Azula said finally able to do some smirking of her own.
She watched as he rubbed the back of his head for a few moments. Finally he looked back at her, slightly annoyed, "I do not have a small ego thank you very much. And you do talk. You said something like 'we can't do this; I don't have any plenta-fire berries.' Whatever the hell those are."
Azula froze remembering that she had said that in her dream last night. It had started with her and Sokka riding together, much like they were now, but a storm had hit. To take cover they went off the path and found a house sitting empty. Once they had been inside, Sokka had grabbed her and pinned her against the door and started kissing just like he had done the night before. However, in the dream he had gone further. At one point they had been naked, with Sokka on top of her, ready to penetrate her. That was when she had told him to wait because she didn't have any plenta-fire berries.
Even my subconscious doesn't want me to do anything too soon. Great….
"Earth to Princess. Earth to Princess. You there Princess?" Sokka's voice brought Azula out of her thoughts.
"What? What was that?" she replied blankly.
"I asked you, what the hell are plenta-fire berries?"
"They're a kind of berry that mostly just grown in the Fire Nation. Or at least I think they just grow in the fire nation."
"Gee a berry, I never would have figured that out without your help. Thanks for explaining," Sokka said sarcastically.
Azula looked around; spotting some she stopped her ostrich horse and jumped off. They were small round purple berries; some would mistake them for discolored blueberries if they weren't looking closely enough. She gathered up several handfuls of them, putting most of them in her bag she held out a hand of them to Sokka.
"Try one," as he went to grab the handful Azula smacked his hand. "One Peasant. ONE"
"Are these poisonous? Will they make me sick? I know. They're going to make me really tired maybe even make me pass out. Then I'll wake up hours later to find us naked and you taking advantage of me…won't I?" Azula cocked her eyebrow at him. "I kind of like that scenario, good thing you packed more." With a wink he tossed the berry in his mouth.
Azula smirked the moment she knew he had bitten into the berry. He promptly spit it out.
"You naked and taking advantage of me, is not worth the taste of that berry. Oh YUCK!"
Azula couldn't help herself, she laughed. As he continued making disgusted faces, she laughed even harder, doubling over.
"Your face, oh the spirits your face." Still laughing she took another berry and popped it into her mouth. Unlike Sokka, she knew not to bite into it and just swallowed it instead.
"What is the point of that berry if you don't eat it?"
"Because they contain a kind of medical property for women." Azula responded smartly. She packed the rest of the berries in her bag, and climbed back onto her ostrich horse.
"Medical properties? For women? Why just women?"
"Because women are the only ones that have periods, Peasant. Something in those berries helps a woman with their periods. They make them lighter and sometimes keep them from happening for a length of time." Sokka's face had turned from shock to disgust once more.
"Well you learn something new every day. Moving on."
Azula smiled and in her best seductive voice asked, "Do you want to know how they got their name?"
"No, no I really don't." Azula noticed that he was discreetly shifting in his saddle.
"Oh I'm sure you'd like to know. They're called plenta-fire berries because when a woman is taking them she can enjoy 'plenty of fire' with no…repercussions."
"Great so it's another thing that empowers a fire benders ability. Just what we need," Sokka said dramatically throwing his hands in the air.
"I didn't say anything about fire benders. I said it allowed women to enjoy plenty of fire without repercussions," Azula said suggestively. She rolled her eyes at Sokka's questioning look.
Either I'm really bad at this seductive thing…or Sokka is slower than I believe him to be.
"Repercussions, what kind of repercussions could berries stop…." Azula watched as Sokka put two and two together. "Oooohhh, I get it. I get it. You ah…packed a lot of those right? And like…how long do they take to kick in?"
Azula laughed, "Well some say just one berry could start working within a few hours. But, it's not like we'll really need them for that purpose. I just don't know you well enough for that…yet."
"What do you wanna know? I'm an open book. My favorite color is blue. My favorite food is meat. I've recently discovered that I may have a snoring problem. I enjoy shopping. I'm a master…"
Azula laughed again.
"Well that's a good start. My favorite color is orange. My favorite food is Komodo Chicken. I recently discovered I talk in my sleep. I'm a master fire bender and can create lighting…"
They continued traveling along, each taking turns to tell the other person little tidbits of themselves.
By the time they had stop to make camp that night, Azula felt more connected to Sokka. She wasn't sure if she was ready for anything more intimate than kissing yet, but at least it was a start.
A/N: Okay so yeah, I invented a birth control for the fire nation. Why? Because why not. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Some more adventurous stuff will be coming up. For now I wanted to focus on the relationship between Sokka and Azula, there will be plenty of action (hint hint…wink wink) later
