Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.
Bodyguard of Azula
Chapter 12: Passage and Knowledge
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Bijū/spirit talking"
"Bijū/spirit thinking"
(Location: Earth Kingdom)
Aang and his group managed to get out of the Si Wong desert with the help of the Sandbender tribe (even though most of them stayed away from Sokka after what happened to Ghashiun). Once they were out of the desert, they started to make their way towards Ba Sing Se.
They took a break near the waterfall, while Sokka was looking over a map he taken from Wan Shi Tong's Library while Akela took a nap next to him (the wolf had recovered from his injuries from the desert). Toph sat near the water's edge, splashing her feet. Aang was floating in the water. He dived under the water and bent it to freeze himself in a block of ice to float better, leaving his head free. Shikamaru was lying on his back, watching clouds. Asuma and Ino were double-checking the supplies and Chōji was trying to fish.
As for Katara, she was high on a ledge over the pool of water. She yelled out "Waterbending bomb!" before jumping off the ledge and landing in the water. The reason she said "Waterbending" was because of the large amount of water that splashed down on the others. Team Asuma got clear of the splash zone, Aang landed back on the bank breaking the ice covering him, Toph stayed where she was and Sokka covered the map he was looking at from the water while Akela woke up with a surprised yelp.
While the others laughed, Sokka was annoyed. "Sure," he grumbled as he held the map up, letting the water drip out. "Five-thousand-year-old map from the spirit Library, just splash some water on them."
Katara got out of the water. "Sorry," she apologized before bending the water out of the map, drying it. Akela got up from where he was sleeping, padded over to where Katara was standing and shook his fur dry in front of her. "Stop that, Akela!"
"If you don't want that to happen, don't get the wolf wet," Chōji said.
"Or hit him with cold water," Shikamaru continued. "It's a troublesome way to wake up."
"Speaking from experience, Shikamaru?" Ino asked innocently.
"Yes," he answered shortly. He wasn't going to go there, not with her around.
"So, did you figure out what route we're going to take?" Aang asked as they huddled up around Sokka.
"Okay," he started. "We just got out of the desert, so we must be around here." He pointed to a spot on the map. "And we need to go to Ba Sing Se, which is here." He pointed to the city, which was visible on the map. "It looks like the only passage connecting the south to the north is this sliver of land called the Serpent's Pass."
"You're sure that the best way to go?" Toph asked him. She couldn't see the map, but the name itself was foreboding.
"It's the only way," he replied. "I mean it's not like we have Appa to fly us there."
"Shush up about Appa," Katara whispered to him. "Can't you at least try to be sensitive?" The two of them looked at Aang. Ever since his "temper tantrum" in the desert, they had tried to be careful around him, like he was damaged goods.
"Katara, it's okay," the Air Nomad told her. "I know I was upset about losing Appa before, but I just want to focus on getting to Ba Sing Se and telling the Earth King about the solar eclipse."
"Oh…well okay," she answered, unsure if he meant what he said. "I'm glad you're doing better."
"Just leave him alone, Katara," Ino told her. "He'll take care of it when he wants to." It was better to let him sort it out on his own.
"Then to Ba Sing Se we go," Sokka declared, rolling up the map and standing up. "No more distractions."
"Hello there, fellow refugees!" a voice called out. Behind the group stood a man and two women, one of which was pregnant. Sokka just scowled at them.
"How troublesome, a distraction," Shikamaru said in a very dry voice.
"Knock it off, Shikamaru!" Ino berated her teammate.
Introductions were soon made. The man's name was Tahn and he was traveling with his sister and pregnant wife. "So, are you guys heading to Ba Sing Se too?" Aang asked them.
"Sure are," Tahn answered. "We're trying to get there before my wife, Ying, has her baby." He rubbed Ying's swollen belly.
"Great, we can travel through the Serpent's Pass together," Katara said.
Tahn, his sister and his wife flinched. "The Serpent's Pass?" asked Ying. "Only the truly desperate take that deadly route."
"Deadly route," Toph repeated before hitting Sokka in the arm. "Great pick, Sokka."
"Well, we are desperate," Sokka told her, rubbing his shoulder. How else were they going to get to Ba Sing Se? He didn't see anything else on the map that got them there.
"You should come with us to Full Moon Bay," Tahn suggested. "Ferries take refugees across the lake. It's the fastest way to Ba Sing Se."
"And it's hidden, so the Fire Nation can't find it," Ying supplied.
"Hm, peaceful ferry ride or deadly pass?" Katara asked with obvious sarcasm, looking pointedly at her brother.
"Shut up, Katara," Sokka told her. "How was I supposed to know that there was a harbor there?" Aside from that, they all agreed to go to Full Moon Bay.
They managed to make there without any harm and soon found the tunnel that led into the harbor. Katara was shocked at what she saw. "I can't believe how many people's lives have been uprooted by the Fire Nation." She watched a mother feed food to her baby, who didn't like it and cried in protest.
"We're all looking for a bit of life, safe, behind the walls of Ba Sing Se," Tahn told her. But it didn't change the fact that what they were was quite basically, a slum. Even if they weren't in the city yet, it was still a slum.
One of the ferries behind the harbor wall sailed out onto the lake, traveling towards the city. On that same ferry, was a dragon who hailed from the west and a dragon that had been scarred by his own father. "Who would have thought after all these years, I'd return to the scene of my greatest military disgrace…as a tourist!" Iroh said solemnly before putting on a hat with a flower in it, trying to lighten the mood.
It didn't work. "Look around," Zuko told him. "We're not tourists, we're refugees." He picked up a bowl of food (which consisted of gruel and chunks of…something), drank a little bit and spat it back out. "Ugh! I'm sick of eating rotten food, sleeping in the dirt. I'm tired of living like this!"
"Aren't we all?" a nearby voice asked. Turning their heads, the two of them saw that the voice belonged to a dark-haired teenager chewing a piece of wheat. "My name's Jet," he introduced himself. "And these are my Freedom Fighters, Smellerbee, and Longshot."
"Hey," Smellerbee greeted. Longshot just nodded.
Zuko looked back out at the water. "Hello," he said. They were trying to blend in. That meant keeping conversations and interactions with other people to a minimum.
Jet walked closer. "Here's the deal," he began. "I hear the captain's eating like a king while us refugees have to feed of his scraps. Doesn't seem fair, does it?"
"What sort of king is he eating like?" Iroh asked.
"The fat, happy kind," he answered, making Iroh start to drool. "You wanna help us 'liberate' some food?" he asked Zuko.
Zuko stared into the bowl of food in front of him. It was either blending in, or eating bad food. Making his choice, he threw the bowl into the water. "I'm in," he told Jet, who smirked in reply.
"I told you already!" the passport attendant told a merchant in front of her. "No vegetables on the ferry! One cabbage slug could destroy the entire ecosystem of Ba Sing Se! SECURITY!" she called out. A nearby security platypus bear destroyed the cart holding the vegetables.
"MY CABBAGES!" screamed out the merchant, who then had to be carried away by security guards.
"Next!" the attendant called out.
Aang stepped forward. "Um, eight tickets for the ferry for Ba Sing Se please," he told her.
"Passports?" she asked, sounding like she already wanted him gone.
"Uh…no one told us we had to have passports." He would've thought they could go right in.
"Don't you know who this is?" Sokka asked her. "He's the Avatar."
The attendant scoffed. "I see fifty Avatars a day and by the way, not the very impressive costume." She pointed to a group of people who were dressed as Aang being watched by security. "Besides, no animals allowed." She said when she saw Momo and Akela. "Do I need to call security?" They looked at the platypus bear, which chomped down on a cabbage to emphasize the point.
"That won't be necessary," Aang told her.
"Next!" she barked out.
Toph walked to the attendant's stand. "I'll take care of this," she told Aang. "My name is Toph Beifong and I'll need eight tickets," she told the attendant, showing her passport.
"Ah, the golden seal of the flying boar," the attendant gushed as she looked at the passport. "It is my pleasure to help anyone of the Beifong family." She bowed her head to blind Earthbender.
"It is your pleasure," Toph told her pointedly. "As you can see, I am blind, and these seven imbeciles are my valets." She gestured to the rest of the group, who smiled and waved.
"But…the monkey—" the attendant tried to object.
"Is my seeing eye lemur."
"And the wolf…?"
"Has been trained to alert us at night should anyone try to kidnap Lady Toph," Sokka told her. "He's completely docile, provided you don't try to take Lady Toph." He looked at her with a suspicious look. "You weren't planning on taking Lady Toph, were you?" On cue, Akela began to growl at the attendant.
"That's enough, Akela. She's not going to kidnap me," Toph told the wolf. He stopped growling, going along with the act.
"Well, normally it's only one ticket per passport," the attendant began. "But this document is so official; I guess it's worth eight tickets." She stamped eight tickets.
"Thank you very much," Toph said, taking the tickets and walking away.
The rest of the group followed. Akela barked once loudly. "Yes indeed, Akela. The attendant is a suck-up," Sokka said loudly, letting the whole line hear him. It loosened the tension a little bit by making the line laugh. The attendant scowled but he didn't care.
What he did care about was when someone grabbed by the back of his shirt and pulled him around. "Tickets and passports please," a guardwoman demanded.
"Is there a problem?" he asked cautiously. He didn't think his comment was too out of line.
"Yeah, I got a problem with you," she told him. "I've seen your type before. Probably sarcastic, think you're hilarious and let me guess, you're traveling with the Avatar."
He looked at her closely. She seemed familiar for some reason. "Do I know you?"
His shirt was grabbed again. "You don't remember?" the guard demanded. "Maybe you remember this." She kissed him on the cheek.
"…Didn't see that coming," Shikamaru commented.
"Me neither," Ino agreed.
Sokka, on the other hand, brightened up and said "Suki!" before hugging her with a big grin on his face. He hadn't recognized the Kyoshi Warrior without her gear and makeup on.
She broke the hug. "Sokka, it's good to see you," she told him with a smile on her face.
"Hold up, I think some of us need an introduction here," Toph said. Personally, she was at a loss and she didn't like that. She wanted some information quickly.
"Right, sorry about that," Sokka replied, looking at the rest of the group. "Guys, this is Suki. She's the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. Suki, this is Toph Beifong, Aang's Earthbending teacher."
"Nice to meet you," Suki greeted the blind Earthbender.
"This is Asuma Sarutobi, Chōji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, and Shikamaru Nara," he introduced Team Asuma. "They were hired to protect us."
"Nice to meet you," Asuma said.
"Hey," Shikamaru said lazily.
"It's nice to meet you, Suki," Ino said.
"Kyoshi Warriors, isn't that the group you said you saw in the desert doing a—" Chōji didn't finish what he was saying due to the fact Asuma covered his mouth to stop him from talking.
"Of all the things you could have said, you went with that!?" Sokka demanded. Why would the Akimichi say something like that?
"What were we doing, Sokka?" Suki asked in an innocent (dangerous) voice.
"Something that I'll only tell you when I'm not sober," he told her. He was certain that he wouldn't want to remember what came next. He heard a woof and saw that Akela was giving him a pointed look. "Sorry. Suki, this is Akela."
The wolf padded forward and started to sniff her thoroughly, going all around her. Once he was done, he went back to Sokka's side and nodded. "What just happened?" Suki asked him.
"He approves of you."
Realizing the fact that they couldn't talk in the open, Suki led them a place where they could do so in peace. "You look so different without your makeup," Katara told her. "And the new outfit." The Waterbender looked at the uniform she was wearing. It was completely different.
"That crabby lady makes all the security guards wear them," she explained. "And look at you, sleeveless guy," she said to Sokka, looking him over. "Been working out?"
"Ah, I'll grab a tree branch and do a few pull-ups now and then. Nothing major," he told her while stretching, showing off without shame.
"Are the other Kyoshi Warriors around?" Aang asked her. It made sense to him. If she was here, the others must be too.
"Yeah," she answered. "After you left Kyoshi, we wanted to find a way to help people. We ended up escorting some refugees and we've been here ever since." Momo jumped onto the edge of the wall, making Suki giggle. "Hi, Momo, good to see you too." She scratched his ear. "So why are you guys getting tickets for the ferry? Wouldn't you just fly across on Appa?"
Everyone got a little downcast when they thought of the sky bison. "Appa's missing," Katara told her. "We hope to find him in Ba Sing Se." The information they got from the Sandbenders was all they had to go on.
"I'm so sorry to hear that. Are you doing okay?" she asked Aang.
He looked at her and then at the rest of the group. They all had a look of concern on their faces. "I'm doing fine," He told them, trying to reassure them. "Would everybody stop worrying about me?"
"Avatar Aang!" called out Ying from below, getting his attention. "You have to help us! Someone took all our belongings. Our passports, our tickets, everything's gone!"
"I'll talk to the lady for you," he told them.
It didn't go according to plan. "No passports, no tickets!" the passport attendant told him, stamping his forehead.
"But's she pregnant and all of their stuff was stolen. You have to make an exception," Aang protested.
"No exceptions!" she yelled. "If I just gave away tickets willy-nilly to anyone, there would be no more order! And you know what that means. No more civilization!"
"Shut up, you cranky bitch!" a voice cried out. The line cleared away to reveal a teenaged girl around Shikamaru, Ino and Chōji's age. She had brown eyes and short black hair. She wore a dark green shirt and black shorts. The funny thing was that what she wore didn't hide her ample assets. It highlighted them as well as her legs. "If you did what you preached, I would've been in Ba Sing Se already! You damn well knew that was my passport that guy gave you. It had my name on it! All the guy had to do was give you a little 'incentive' to convince you that was his passport and have security detain me. SODON'T YOU DARE PREACH ABOUT ORDER, YOU SPIRITS-DAMNED HYPOCRITE!" she yelled out for the entire harbor to hear.
"SERCURITY!" bellowed the attendant. "Detain that girl!"
The security men moved to grab her. "You'll have to catch me first!" she said before running away.
Aang turned his attention back to the attendant. "Look, what if we gave them our tickets?" Hh suggested to the attendant. He was trying to be reasonable.
But she was being stubborn. "No."
"But—"
"NEXT!" she yelled out, spittle hitting Aang in the face.
He walked away back to Tahn and his family, wiping the spit and ink from his face. "Don't worry; you'll get to the city safely," he told them. "I'll lead you through the Serpent's Pass."
"Of course, we're going to go through there," Shikamaru drawled. Why would things be easy for once?
Sokka groaned. "Knew it, I just knew it."
They had to get rid of their tickets first and Sokka knew just the way to do it. They walked up to the front of the attendant's stand, held out the tickets, and yelled out "Tickets! Free Tickets here!" It caused a stampede, and the attendant was left with the chaos (which was the plan). "Alright, that lady got what she deserved!" the Tribesman cheered as they walked away.
"Time to head for the Serpent's Pass then," Asuma said as they neared the exit.
"I'm coming too!" Suki called out. She ran towards them in full Kyoshi Warrior gear and makeup.
Sokka looked back at her with some surprise on his face. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Sokka, I thought you'd want me to come," she replied.
"I do, it's just…" Thoughts of Yue came to his mind. He could still see her, mere moments before she gave up her life to become the moon.
"Just what?" the Kyoshi Warrior demanded.
"Nothing, I'm glad you're coming," he told her, pushing Yue away from his current thoughts. She joined the group while he just watched her with a worried looked. He felt a weight press against his side. Looking down, he saw Akela giving him a look. "I'm worried, that's all," he told the wolf before walking to catch up with the group.
They were outside the tunnel that led into the harbor when they heard a voice yell "HEYYY! WAIT UP!" Coming out of the tunnel was the same girl who had yelled at the passport attendant. "Glad I caught up with you guys!" she said.
"What do you want?" Asuma asked, instantly on his guard. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, that his team had done the same.
"You guys are going through the Serpent's Pass, right?" she asked them.
"Yeah, that's right," Ino answered.
She grinned. "Great, then I'm coming with you." Her declaration threw some of the people there for a loop.
But the shinobi stayed cautious. "What makes you say that?" Chōji asked.
"I've been trying to get into Ba Sing Se for over two months now," she told them. "If there's a chance of getting to that city, I'll take it."
"How convenient," Sokka muttered. "A stranger wants to join us."
The girl looked at him. "You don't trust me, do you?" she asked him.
"Sokka, we don't need your paranoia now." Katara hissed at him with a frown on her face. "Sorry, my brother gets like that," she apologized.
"It's not his fault, you guys don't know me," the girl told her. "But still, I'm going with you guys."
"We don't need excess baggage," Aang said, surprising everyone there (he's usually the first one to help people). "So, you're not coming with—" Whatever he was going to say next disappeared when she was suddenly behind him with an arm around his neck, slightly choking him.
"If you're implying that I can't hold my own in a fight," she whispered in his ear. "I think I'll be fine. Is that okay, you self-important little brat?"
"Alright, that's enough," Asuma said, taking control of the situation before it got any worse. "You can come along."
"That was the plan." She let go of Aang. "Sorry about that, I wanted to make my point," she apologized to the Air Nomad. He didn't say anything in reply.
"Is there something we can call you? Or should we just stick to 'troublesome woman?'" Shikamaru asked her.
"Oh right, knew I forgot something," she said with a small blush on her face. "My name is Shù Yè. Is there anything else?"
"Yes, I have a question," Ino said as she stared at the girl. "What exactly do you eat!?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"They're huge!" The kunoichi pointed to her breasts. She couldn't get that size if she tried!
Her face blushed fast. "Don't stare at them!" she cried, covering them as best she could. "It's bothering me!" She didn't like when people did that.
"Wow, a girl who's insecure about her breasts being that big," the guys in the group (except Aang) thought to themselves.
"Sorry," Ino instantly apologized. She didn't mean to make the girl feel uncomfortable.
"It's okay," Shù Yè told her, still trying to hide them. "Just don't stare at them like that. Back in my village, the other girls started to make fun of me when they got bigger."
"Anyway, we'd better get going," Asuma announced. The girl was coming, and they had already agreed. So, they might as well get moving.
They made their way to the Serpent's Pass, which took them surprisingly little time. "This is the Serpent's Pass?" Sokka asked as he looked at the beginning of the trail. "I thought it would be windier. You know, like a serpent. I guess they misnamed it. "
"Try to think vertically instead of horizontally," Shikamaru suggested.
He tried doing that. "Sorry, still not seeing it." All he saw was a very tall, very thin pathway.
Ying noticed something on a nearby post. "Look at this writing, how awful," she said as she read what was there.
"What does it say?" Toph asked. She wasn't even looking in the direction of the writing, but she was curious all the same.
Katara looked at the writing. "It says 'abandon hope,'" she read aloud for all to hear.
"How can we abandon hope? It's all we have," Ying asked. It was the only thing that kept them going to get to Ba Sing Se.
"I don't know," Aang said. He had been taught differently. "The monks use to say that hope is just a distraction. So maybe we do need to abandon it."
Katara was about to say something but Shù Yè cut her off. "If that's the case, then your monk friends were probably among the stupidest people in this world," she said.
Aang gripped his staff tightly. "What did you just say?" he asked her, looking at her but not moving from where he stood. No one insulted the monks in front of him.
"You heard me," she replied, completely calm and not letting anything show. "But right now, we just have to keep moving." She started to walk onto the trail of the Serpent's Pass.
The group was silent for a few minutes. "We might as well follow her," Chōji said. Everyone else agreed with what he said and followed the girl. They had to be careful when traveling across the Serpent's Pass. The part they were on now was just a thin path against a wall of rock.
"The Fire Nation controls the western lake," Suki explained when they saw a Fire Nation ship on the water. "Rumor has it they're working on something big on the other side and they don't want anyone to find out what it is."
Aang gave the nearby ship a glance but kept on walking. Everyone else followed him until the edge of the path beneath Tahn gave away, making him begin to fall towards the water. Toph bent a slab of rock to jut out so that he could land safely. She then bent the rock to send him back onto the path. "I'm okay," he said, reassuring his family. But the falling rock alerted the Fire Nation ship.
"They spotted us!" Sokka called out as the ship began to sling fireballs at them. "Let's go! Let's go!"
Aang leapt off the path to meet the fireball head on. With a swing of his staff and some Airbending, he sent it flying back into the ship's smokestacks, destroying them completely. But they could still sling fireballs. Another one was fired and hit the side of the cliff above them, causing rocks to start to fall. They were heading straight for Suki until Sokka pushed her out of the way. They were about to hit him when Toph bent the cliff side to jut out at an angle, allowing the rocks to roll off into the water.
"Suki, are you okay!?" Sokka demanded as he helped her stand up. "You have to be more careful. Come on!" He led her down the path, leaving Toph standing alone with Momo.
"Thanks for saving my life, Toph. Hey, no problem Sokka," she muttered to herself before joining the run. Aang joined them as the Fire Nation just sat in the water.
They ran on for a little more time before finally stopping to catch their breath. "I think we're out of the danger zone," Asuma said looking back. The Fire Nation ship had been damaged and wasn't pursuing them.
"We need to keep moving," Aang said, looking ahead.
"We figured, Mr. Moody," Shù Yè said. "You go on ahead, we will follow."
He just glared at her and started walking away. The group followed as Katara walk alongside Shù Yè. "Why do you keep insulting him like that?" she asked.
"Simple, because I can," Shù Yè answered with a shrug, like it was the simplest thing out there.
"But he's the Avatar." That fact alone should've commanded respect from everyone who knew what that meant.
"So? It doesn't matter. He's just another kid who thinks he's hot stuff. Besides if he is the Avatar, he should've manned up a hundred years ago. But he ran. So,I think I can insult him all I want and there's nothing you can do about it." She walked up the group, leaving Katara alone.
They kept on walking until the sun was setting. By then they had found a place where they could sleep for the night, so they decided to make camp. Sokka saw that Suki was setting up near the edge. "Suki, you shouldn't sleep there," he told her. "Who knows how stable this ledge is? It could give way at any moment." He grabbed her gear and carried it away.
"Sokka, I'm fine! Stop worrying!" she told him.
"You're right, you're right," he told her as he laid out her gear. "You're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself." Suki began to sit down. "WAIT!" He barked out, leaping in front of her. "Oh, never mind, I thought I saw a spider. But you're fine." He patted her shoulder, making her give him a flat stare. Akela had to restrain the urge to not bite him in the ass.
Zuko, Jet and Smellerbee went the staircase to the third level of the ferry. Waiting for the guard to pass, they made their way to the storeroom. Smellerbee was on lookout while Zuko and Jet went for the door.
Ramming an end of one of his hook swords into the lock, Jet was able to open the door. After making sure there weren't any guards, the two quickly got to work. Jet cut the dead animals from their strings and bagged them while Zuko used his swords to stack and tie up bowls that were filled with food before bagging them as well.
"Guard's coming," Smellerbee called out in a hushed voice. They got out of the storeroom (closing the door behind them) and ran to the railing. Two levels below, Longshot was waiting. He fired off an arrow with a rope attached. It hit the railing, allowing Zuko, Jet and Smellerbee zip down the line with the goods intact.
Longshot pulled and the arrow broke away from the railing, letting it fall down just as a guard went by. The four of them walked away, making sure no one saw them with the food.
Aang stood alone, watching the water below him. Katara walked up behind him. "You know, it's okay to miss Appa," she told him. He said nothing. He just kept looking out to the water. "What's going on with you? In the desert, all you cared about was finding Appa and now it's like you don't care about him at all."
"You saw what I did out there," he answered. "I was so angry at losing Appa, I couldn't control myself. I hated feeling like that." The monks would've looked at him with disappointment in their eyes if they had seen what had happen with the Sandbenders.
"But now you're not letting yourself feel anything," she protested. "I know sometimes it hurts more to hope and it hurts more to care. But you have to promise me that you won't stop caring." She opened her arms wide. "C'mon, you need a hug."
He simply turned and bowed to her. "Thank you for your concern Katara," he said before walking away.
Katara was downcast by what he had said and how he treated her. "I thought I told you to leave him alone and let him figure it out," Ino said behind her. She turned around and saw both Ino and Shù Yè.
"I just wanted to help," she tried to explain. It was in her nature; couldn't they see that?
"Katara, the best way you can help him is to let him deal with it," Ino told her. "You trying to help will only hinder him in the long run."
"Or you could just hit him upside the head and tell him to grow up," Shù Yè suggested.
Katara glared at the girl. "What would you know about how Aang feels?"
"I don't. It gives me an unbiased look at him." Her voice filled itself with scorn as she spoke. "In my opinion, he needs to be kicked in the ass rather than have a nice hug."
"And you think you're the one to do it?"
"Nope, I'll just insult him until he's better." She grinned. "Face the facts, Princess, not everything can be fixed with a hug and someone saying that everything will be alright or that they're sorry. If that were true, this war wouldn't have dragged on for this long. Everyone is hoping that the Avatar will stop the Fire Nation and bring balance back to the world." She scoffed. "If little Miss Arrowhead keeps acting like that, we're screwed."
"You don't believe in him?" Katara asked, astounded by what she was hearing. "You don't think he can stop the war?"
"It's been going for over a century now and so far, he hasn't done a damn thing to stop it," she replied easily enough.
"Well, what about you? Do you have a plan to stop the Fire Lord? Did your parents train you in the ways of the warrior so you could help save the world? No, you're just here because your village got burned to the ground and you hope to find safety in Ba Sing Se!" the Waterbender yelled at her.
"You're going too far, Katara!" Ino warned her.
Shù Yè's grin disappeared, and she looked like she was desperately trying to make sure she wouldn't beat Katara into the ground right then and there. "For the record, Princess, my village hasn't been burned to the ground, they just kicked me out because they didn't need,and I quote 'someone that's not wanted here,'" she grounded out. "And yes, my parents didn't teach how to fight in the war, probably because I was raised by a woman who was skilled in the world's oldest profession, who kicked me out when I was ten." She walked away, anger showing in her steps.
The two girls watch her leave. "You went too far there, Katara," Ino told her. Sometimes, the Waterbender just didn't know when to stop.
"Maybe I did," she admitted. "But why would a huntress kick her out of the house?"
Ino looked at her like she couldn't believe what she had just heard. "What?"
"The oldest profession in the world is being a hunter, right?" They had been around for as long as anyone could remember.
The kunoichi shook her head in exasperation. "She wasn't raised by a hunter. She was raised by a whore. Odds are she was kicked out so the whore could get more customers."
Katara was shocked by those words. "No one would ever do that!" she protested. To do such a thing would've been unthinkable (at least to her).
"Yes, they do, and you just saw the result of one." Ino walked away, leaving Katara with her thoughts.
Sokka sat alone, looking at the moon in the sky. It went behind a cloud for a moment and when it cleared, Suki was walking towards him. "It's a beautiful moon," she said, looking up at it.
"Yeah, it really is," he said, thinking of Yue. Whenever he saw the moon, he couldn't help but think of her.
She sat down next to him. "Look, I know you're just trying to help, but I can take care of myself."
"I know you can." She had proven that to him back on her own island.
"Then why're you acting so overprotective?" she asked.
"It's so hard to lose someone you care about," he told her before looking away. He couldn't keep eye contact with her. "Something happened at the North Pole and I couldn't protect someone. I don't want anything like that to happen again."
"I lost someone I cared about," she admitted. "He didn't die, he just went away. I only had a few days to get to know him. But he was smart and brave and funny."
Sokka (being the clueless male teenager he is) got mad and stood up. "Who is this guy?" he demanded. "Is he taller than me?"
"No, he's about your height," she answered without giving away anything.
"Is he better looking?"
"It is you, stupid," she finally told him.
"Oh," he said, feeling like an idiot. The two of them just stared at each other. They leaned closer and their eyes closed. They were about to kiss when Sokka pulled away. "I can't," he told her, the reminder of what happened to Yue still in the sky.
"I'm sorry," she said to him.
"No, you shouldn't be." He walked away, leaving Suki alone under the moon.
Jet walked alongside the passengers, handing out the food they had taken. It was almost like a banquet. Zuko, Iroh and the other two Freedom Fighters sat together. "So, Smellerbee," Iroh began. "That's an unusual name for a young man."
"Maybe it's because I'm not a man," she told him. "I'm a girl!" She got up and walked away.
"Oh, now I see. It's a beautiful name for a lovely girl!" he called after her, apology evident in his voice.
Longshot got up from where he sat and went after her. He stopped her and gave a look. "I know," she said. "You're right. If I'm confident with who I am it doesn't matter what other people. Thanks, Longshot." He simply nodded.
Zuko and Iroh were eating their food when Jet joined them. "From what I heard,people eat like this every night in Ba Sing Se," he told them as he sat down. "I can't wait to set my eyes on that giant wall."
"It is a magnificent sight," Iroh agreed. It had been something that had drawn his breath away when he had first seen it.
"So, you've been there before?" Jet asked him.
"Once, when I was a…different man," he answered evasively. There was no need to tell them young man he had tried to take the city.
"I've done some things in my past that I'm not proud of. But that's why I'm going to Ba Sing Se, for a new beginning, a second chance."
"That's very noble of you," Iroh told him. "I believe people can change their lives if they want to. I believe in second chances." Zuko looked at his uncle. He knew Iroh wasn't just talking about Jet having a second chance.
Everyone, except for Sokka, was still sleeping deeply. The Tribesman had tried to go to sleep, but it had eluded him, allowing him to only sleep fitfully. Finally giving up when morning was, he got up from where he had tried to sleep and grabbed a towel, getting the attention of Akela. "I'm going to blow off some steam, you go back to sleep," he told the wolf before he walked away. Akela didn't believe him. He rose from where he was sleeping. He knew who should go talk to Sokka.
Sokka walked back to where he and Suki had talked. "Perhaps it's best to work on the one style I know the least," he thought. He took a Firebending stance and began to practice. He went over the moves and motions that he knew. He was sweating so much that he took off his shirt so that it wouldn't get sticky and gross. Admittedly, he didn't know a lot about the style, even though it was one of the more frequent styles of Bending he had seen (he couldn't exactly stop in a middle of fight and ask a Firebender to show him that move again). So he had to keep going over what he did know until it felt right.
He had just finished the practice when he heard someone moving behind him. "Having a good workout?" Suki asked, just standing there.
He turned to face her. She wasn't wearing her armor, just the kimono. For some reason, it made her seem a little…delicate. "Yeah, I was." He answered as he reached for the towel that he had brought along with him.
Suki stared at a bare-chested Sokka, taking in all the details she could see as he wiped himself off. And it all came into one thought. "I want." That was when she saw something hanging from his neck. "Sokka, are you…are you a Paragon?" she asked with amazement as she looked at his Medallion.
He stopped drying himself and looked down. "Why?" he asked cautiously. Her hand dipped into her kimono and she pulled out a similar medallion, the difference was the top of her medallion held the ancient symbol for earth. He just stared at her in surprise. "You're the…"
"The Paragon of the Earth Kingdom," she finished.
"But…how?" It was the only thing he could think to ask her at that moment.
"When I started my Kyoshi Warrior training, I also learned how to use the four Bending arts, even though I wasn't a Bender," she explained. "The day the Kyoshi Warriors left, Oyaji pulled me aside. He said that I had been trained for this. He gave me this and said that even though he was not a high-ranking member of the order, he was high enough to be able to give me it to me." She lifted her Paragon Medallion slightly to emphasize his point. "He said that I was now the Earth Kingdom Paragon and told me what that meant. The last thing he told me was that no matter what happens to the Bending Countries and no matter what the Avatar does, the four Paragons stand as one."
"Have you met Sifu?" he asked her. If she truly was a fellow Paragon, she would've met the spirit.
She nodded. "He visited me that same night. The first word out of his mouth was 'finally.'"
He chuckled. "That sounds like Sifu, alright." They both laughed at that. "So, you've been trained in all four Bending styles?"
She nodded. "Yeah." She knew each style quite well.
"Then maybe you can help me. I don't know much of Firebending, you could probably help me." He dropped into a Firebending stance, showing an open challenge.
She smiled. "You're on." They began to spar, stopping every now and then so she could correct something that he was doing wrong. He began to understand what she was showing him, and the spars lasted longer. They had barely noticed that the sun was rising. Finally, they had both blocked strikes from each other and were holding them, seeing who would break away first. They were panting as they stared into each other's eyes.
Suki looked at the boy she liked. Whoever was going to break away first was not the only thing on her mind. Finally, she couldn't hold it in anymore. "Oh, Spirits take it!" She broke away, grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss. Now this wasn't a kiss on the cheek one give to their family or the chaste kiss on the lips one gave to someone you like. Oh no, this was the kind of kiss that included tongue and usually led to clothes flying.
Taken aback from the sudden kiss, Sokka was so shocked at Suki's actions that his brain went into shutdown. He returned the kiss with gusto. He pushed her back to a nearby wall, making her gasp a little, letting Sokka invade her mouth. While their tongues were dancing, their hands explored the other's body. He cupped one of her breasts while she felt up the developed abs he had.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depends on your opinion), his brain had rebooted at this point. "S-stop," he groaned, breaking the kissand pulling away. "We should stop."
She gave a low moan of objection. "Why?" she asked huskily. "You were enjoying it as much as I was." She was enjoying herself.
"If we keep this up, the others will see us."
"Let them." She felt his muscles underneath her hand. She wanted to kiss him again. She enjoyed it.
"Suki, stop," he told her. "We have to go soon."
Her mind cleared from the hormone-induced haze. She immediately blushed at what had just happened. "You…you're right. Sorry." She quickly walked away, leaving him alone as the sun rose into the sky.
He put his shirt back on silently and started to walk back when he noticed Akela standing nearby. "How long were you watching?" he asked the wolf. Akela just smiled in his own wolfish way and padded back to where the rest of the group was waking up. The Tribesman had no choice but to follow.
Katara looked over at her brother walking back to them. "Where have you been, Sokka?" she asked. She hadn't seen him when she had woken up.
"I was practicing my Firebending moves," he answered, deliberately avoiding eye contact with Suki. "I still need to work on it."
"Okay, then." She looked at the entire group. "We need to get moving, so we'll have to eat as we walk," she told them all. The group started moving again through the Serpent's Pass, heading to Ba Sing Se. As they did, Katara walked alongside Shù Yè. "Hey, about last night," she began before smelling something. "What is that?"
"Herb ointment," Shù Yè answered curtly. "Helps relieve some of the back pain I get in the morning. The rest disappears after I walk a bit."
"Oh, okay," she said before falling silent. "Like I said, about last night—"
"Save it. Princess," she cut her off. "I don't want to hear about how you're sorry. Like I said, not everything can be fixed with a hug or saying you're sorry. Go away."
Katara sighed in defeat and walked to the front of the group. They continued walking on the Pass through the day when they came upon a surprise. The path that connected the two mountain-like formations had been completely submerged. "We could probably carry people over," Ino suggested to her teammates. "We can walk on water."
"It'll take too long," Shikamaru countered. "Not to mention it'd be troublesome."
Katara took charge. "Everyone single file," she ordered. They did so and she walked forward, bending the water to part before them. She continued to do so as they walked deeper into the water. "Aang, I need help." She called out to the rear.
Aang handed his staff to Toph and helped bend the water around them to form a bubble. They walked under the water, safe due to the bubble enclosing them. The fish swam around the bubble, content with what they had in life. "Hey, Chōji!" called out Sokka with a grin. "Do you still want some fish?"
Chōji groaned. "Why did you have to bring that up?" he asked. The Tribesman was never going to let him live that down.
Momo was watching the fish with interest. He leapt from Toph's shoulder into the water to chase after them. He would have gladly chased them for a little while longer had it not been for the large creature that swam right behind him. He leapt back into the bubble just as the others noticed the creature's shadow.
"What is that?" Katara asked as the shadow disappeared. But the thing quickly reappeared as it smashed through the bubble, quickly filling it with water.
Before they had a chance to drown, Toph bent the portion of rock they were on upwards. It broke through the water's surface, becoming like a small island in the water. She wordlessly handed Aang his staff back. Meanwhile, the creature that had literally burst their bubble began to circle around them. After a few moments, the creature's head finally showed itself, roaring at the people on the rock.
"I think I just figured out why they call it the Serpent's Pas,." Sokka said as he looked at the creature.
"No, really?" asked a nervous and very sarcastic Shù Yè. "What tipped you off?"
"Not the time for that!" Asuma told her.
The serpent screeched at the group, almost like it was angry about them for trying to pass. "Suki, you know about giant sea monsters. Make it go away!" Sokka told her.
"Just because I live near the unagi doesn't mean I'm an expert!" she replied with a frown.
Meanwhile, Shù Yè had picked up Momo and held him out for the serpent to see. "Oh, great and powerful sea-serpent, please accept this humble and tasty offering. Thank you," she told the serpent.
The serpent lunged for them but Aang swatted it back with an air-slice. "I'll distract it. Katara, get everyone across," he ordered before opening his glider and flying towards the serpent.
"Chōji, get in there and help him!" Asuma ordered his student.
Chōji ran out onto the water. "Chō Baika no Jutsu (Super Multi-Size Technique)!" he cried out as he flashed through the handseals. He grew to a tremendous size and grabbed hold of the serpent. What came next was nothing short of a wrestling match.
Katara jumped off the rock bent the water to form into ice, making a bridge. She repeated the movements again and again until the ice bridge connected the island to the rest of the pass. Everyone except for Toph got onto the ice and made their way to the other end while Katara bent a board made from ice underneath her feet and made her way towards the fight. "Chōji, get back with the others!" she called out to the giant Akimichi. "We've got this!"
Chōji nodded, let go of the thrashing serpent, and ran back to the group, shrinking back to his normal size as he went. The serpent chased after Aang, only to have Katara weigh a part of it body down with ice. It managed to break through the ice and chased after Katara.
Meanwhile, Sokka had noticed that almost everyone had managed to make it across, except for one. "Toph, come on!" he called out to the blind Earthbender, who was still on the tiny island she had made. "It's just ice!"
She put one foot on said ice and withdrew it immediately. "Actually, I'm going to stay on my little island where I can see," she yelled out. The serpent hitting said island made it cleared to her that it wasn't a good idea. "Okay, I'm coming!" she announced as she made her way slowly over the ice.
"You're doing great!" Sokka yelled out as she came to them. "Just follow the sound of my voice."
"It's hard to ignore!" she replied. But she was silently grateful. She couldn't see on the ice and all she had to go on was his voice.
"You're almost there!" he told her as she got closer. But the serpent's tail smashed through the ice bridge, shattering it and sent Toph into the water.
"Help, I can't swim!" she cried out as she struggled to stay afloat.
"I'm coming, Toph!" Both he and Suki leapt into the water at the same time and swam towards their friend. When Toph went under, they dived under as well. They managed to grab her and bring up to the surface.
"Oh, Sokka, you saved me!" Toph said after they broke through the water's surface. She then kissed Suki on the cheek.
"Wrong side, Toph," Sokka said from her left.
"Yeah, it's me," Suki said, feeling a little embarrassed by what just happened.
Needless-to-say, Toph was more embarrassed. "You can go ahead and let me drown now," she said. Sokka and Suki just swam back to the group with her in their grasp.
Meanwhile, Aang and Katara were trying to confuse the serpent by running in circles around it while also bending a whirlpool into creation. The serpent kept going around and around until it finally hit its head against a high part of the pass, driving it away. Aang and Katara flew back to the group, which led out a cheer. "Nicely done, you two," Asuma congratulated them.
"Yes, the way you dealt with the serpent was amazing," Ying said. She had never seen anything like that before in her life.
"We did what we could," Katara said. "That's all."
Shù Yè looked at where the serpent had left. "I'd hate to be a downer, but why don't we leave before that thing comes back for round two?" she suggested. That creature seemed like it would gladly come back for revenge.
Everyone agreed with what she said and continued walking. It wasn't long before they had gotten through the Serpent's Pass. "There's the wall!" Sokka announced pointing ahead. Indeed, far off in the distance was the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se. "Now it's nothing but smooth sailing to Ba Sing Se."
At that point, Ying let out a gasp of pain. "Oh no!" she cried as she clutched her stomach.
"What's wrong?"
"The baby's coming." she announced, a pool of water already forming between her legs.
"What? Now!? Can't you hold it in or something?" he asked her as she sat down on the ground.
"Sokka, calm down," Katara told her brother. "I helped Gran-Gran deliver lots of babies back home." This wasn't going to be a problem.
"This isn't the same as delivering an artic seal!" he protested, beginning to freak out. "This is a real. Human. Thing!"
"It's called a baby and I helped her deliver plenty of those too," she told him patiently (if not a little irritated). "Aang, Shikamaru, Asuma, get some rags. Sokka, Chōji, Ino, water," she ordered. The two groups ran off to do their tasks. "Toph, I need you to make an earth-tent, a big one." The blind Earthbender bent the earth into a tent-like shape over the family. "Suki, Shù Yè, come with me." She walked into the tent with the two of them right behind her.
Zuko stared off into the distance, looking at the incoming land. "You know," Jet's voice said behind him. "As soon as I saw your scar, I knew exactly who you were." Zuko tensed up, thinking he had been made. "You're an outcast, like me," Jet said, making him relax slightly. "And us outcast have to stick together. We must watch each other's backs, 'cause no one else will."
"I realized lately that being on your own isn't always the best path," Zuko replied. The two of them looked on as the walls of Ba Sing Se came closer. As he looked, the Scarred Dragon was glad he wasn't alone. He still had his uncle with him.
Ying was panting inside the earth-tent, holding onto her husband's and sister-in-law's hands. It was a hard process, giving birth. "You're doing great Ying." Katara assured her. "Guys, where that water!?" she called out. "Get ready to push. One…two…three…PUSH!" Sokka had walked in when she ordered Ying to push. The result was him fainting. "Get him out of here!" Katara told Ino and Chōji.
Finally, after much hard work, the baby was born. Its cries were loud and healthy. "It's a girl!" Katara proclaimed for all to hear.
Toph stood next to Sokka outside the tent. "So, you wanna go see the baby or are you going to faint like an old lady again?" she asked him. She was a little amused by he did.
"No, no, I'm good this time," he answered. He had just been caught off guard, that was all.
"Don't be so hard on him, Toph," Shikamaru said. "My dad fainted when my troublesome mother gave me birth. Of course, she hit him over the head with a frying pan later for it."
"Nice family you got there," the blind Earthbender commented.
"It kinda grows on you, actually," Chōji told her. They all walked into the tent, leaving Aang outside.
"Aang," Katara said from the tent's opening. "You have to come see this." He got up and walked to the tent's entrance. Hearing the baby cry, he turned his gaze on the happy family surrounding the newborn.
"She sounds healthy," Toph noted.
"She's beautiful," Katara stated.
"I've only seen this with deer and it's troublesome," Shikamaru said before giving a small smile. "But it's always worth it to see the look on the mother's face. It doesn't matter if she's human or not." To him, both Ying and her baby looked radiant.
"Wow, Shikamaru," Ino said, looking at her teammate. "We didn't know you cared."
"You're just full of surprises, aren't you buddy?" Chōji asked his friend.
"I shouldn't have opened my mouth," he grumbled.
"That's enough, you three," Asuma told them. "So, this is what it will be like for me soon," he thought to himself. Images of Kurenai and their soon-to-be-born baby filled his mind.
"It's so…small," Sokka said after looking at the baby. Akela moved his head closer to the baby and began to sniff. After he was done, he gave the baby a big lick on the face, making it giggle.
Aang smiled as he watched the scene in front of him. "Your monks said that hope is just distraction," Shù Yè told him as she stood next to him inside the tent. "But don't you see Aang? Hope doesn't distract people, it drives them. It drove this family to find a safe place, just as you should let it drive you to find your missing friend."
"What should we name her?" Tahn asked his wife.
"I want our daughter's name to be unique," she told him. "I want it to mean something."
Aang began to tear up at this point. He wiped the tears away and walked forward. "I've been going through a really hard time lately," he told the family. "But you've made me…hopeful again."
Ying looked at him and then her husband. "I know what I want to name our baby now. Hope," she said.
"That's a perfect name," Tahn agreed. "Hope." They both looked at their baby, happy to have a new member to their family.
Everyone filtered out of the tent so they could have some time alone. Aang pulled Katara aside. "I thought I was trying to be strong," He told her. "But really I was just running away from my feelings. Seeing this family together, so full of happiness and love, it's reminded me of how I feel about Appa…and how I feel about you."
Katara cried a little but wiped the tears away. She and Aang gave each other a hug. They broke the hug and saw that Shù Yè was standing nearby. "It took you long enough to stop moping around," she told Aang.
"But I thought you were said he needed a kick in the ass," Katara pointed out, remembering that conversation quite vividly.
"I said that was my opinion, Princess," she replied. "I also said that not everything could be fixed with a hug." She smiled. "I never said that this wasn't one of them."
Aang looked around and saw his friends gathering around him. "I promise I'll find Appa as fast as I can," he told them as he took his staff from Toph. "I just really need to do this."
"See ya in the big city," Sokka told him.
"Say hi to that big fuzz-ball for me," Toph said, punching him in the arm.
"I hope you'll find him soon," Ino said.
"Good luck," Chōji told him.
"Try not to get lost, it'd be too troublesome to go and look for you," Shikamaru said.
"Don't be afraid to ask us for help when we get there," Asuma told him. It never hurt to ask for help.
"You'll find him, Aang," Katara said.
"I know," he replied. "Thank you, Katara." He opened up his glider and was ready to take off. "You ready, Momo?" he asked the lemur, who was also ready to take off. They flew up and away to Ba Sing Se with everyone waving them goodbye.
As Sokka double-checked the contents of his stuff, Suki walked up to him. "Sokka, it's been really great to see you again," she said.
"Whoa, hold on," he said as he stood up. "Why does it sound like you're saying goodbye?"
"I came along because I wanted to make sure you got through the Serpent's Pass safely," she explained. "But now I need get back to the other Kyoshi Warriors."
"So you came along to protect me?" he asked, completely surprised.
"Listen," she said, her face blushing. "I'm really sorry about last night…and this morning. We were taking, saying things and sparring. I just got carried away and before I knew it, I—" Whatever she was going to say next stopped when Sokka kissed her on the lips, catching her off guard.
"You talk too much," he told her before kissing her again, this time she returned it. Akela watched the two with satisfaction.
Aang and Momo flew towards the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se. When they reached the wall, they flew upwards, passing clouds along the way. He landed on the top of the wall with Momo on his shoulder. He was about to take off again when he saw something that shocked him.
Slowly but surely, a gigantic drill with the emblem of the Fire Nation was making its way towards the wall. Aang knew if the drill wasn't stopped, it would penetrate the wall easily. "Sorry Momo," he told the lemur. "Appa's going to have to wait."
Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews you've sent me.
I don't know about the rest of you but I hated that passport attendant. She kept going on and on about order, you would've thought she was a Communist Chief of Police. If you ask me, she deserves a little chaos. Might get the giant stick up her ass out.
Yes, Suki is the Paragon of the Earth Kingdom. Those of you who have been guessing that are correct. Regarding the matter of the Paragon of the Air Nomads, I have only three things to say. Number 1: Who it is will be revealed much, much later in the story. Number 2: Neither Jet or any of the Freedom Fighters will be the Air Nomad Paragon. And Number 3: Just because Aang is the last Airbender, doesn't mean he's the last Air Nomad. If you want to call me evil for withholding the information, I thank you for the compliment.
If I have insulted any woman when it came to the breasts or making the birth easy, I apologize. I have nothing but respect for the human female, even more so because of the fact they are willing to go through nine months and a lot of pain to deliver a baby.
If you liked the interaction between Sokka and Suki during the spar and want more like that, I'm just going to say this: I'm not planning on writing any lemon scenes. Number 1: I don't know how good I would be able to write that. Number 2: I don't want this story to be killed because of that rule the managers of Fanfiction put out. They killed a lot of good stories with that, like NILF by EroslackerMicha.
I'll see you all next chapter!