Sorry this took a while to post. I have been really busy as of late.
A great tension loomed in the sky. Particularly on Appa's back as he soared through the clear blue sky. Aang sat atop the bison's head guiding his furry friend as Kano clung to his arm, resting her head on his bare shoulder. She gently massaged the air bender's bicep and giggled at the sight of Aang's flustered expression.
At any other time, the air bender would not have minded Kano's affection but with the situation, he was in with another water bender…Aang didn't know how to feel. It didn't help that he could feel Katara staring at him and Kano from the saddle. She watched Kano hanging on to Aang too closely for her liking.
The surprising announcement that Kano would join them on their mission caught her off guard. Since Zuko could not join, Aang vouched for Kano and said that she would be a great help for the mission since she had spent time in the villages that reported the missing people in the community. It also helped that she was a master water bender. Katara knew she would just have to deal with Kano joining them. She hadn't expected her to hang so close to Aang since this morning. Katara wanted to sit next to Aang, but Kano had beat her to the punch and would not budge.
There was not much else she could do but keep an eye on Kano and make sure that she didn't miss what Kano had planned for the air bender. As Katara watched Aang and Kano; Sokka, Suki, and Toph watched the spectacle from the other side of the saddle.
Deciding that he had enough of it, Sokka pulled his sister back and turned her around to face him and the girls. "For crying out loud sis quit glaring at them."
"I wasn't glaring!" Katara retorted with a hushed tone.
"You kind of were", Suki replied.
"I-…w-w-well look at her! She can't keep her hands off Aang."
"As if you're not guilty of doing the same thing Sugar Queen", Toph responded.
"I'm not like that with Aang at all!"
"Oh come on Katara! You don't even know how to keep your hands to yourself when it comes to Airhead. Ever since we met Aang you would have your hands on him one to three times a day", Sokka answered.
"That is not true!" Katara denied it with a flustered expression.
"Yes, it is." Sokka, Toph, and Suki said simultaneously sharing the same blank facial expression.
"N-no it-…ugh who am I kidding", Katara gave in and slumped her shoulders, "I guess I'm a hypocrite."
"The first step to recovery is admission my dear sweetness", Toph smirked. Suki jabbed her side with an elbow. It was at that moment Aang called out to his friends.
"Guys! I see Renu village. I'm bringing us down so get ready for landing."
"About time!" Toph exclaimed, turning to whisper to Suki, "I'm getting tired of this tension in the air."
"I know it's not ideal but the sooner we deal with this situation with Aang, Katara, and Kano, the better. Maybe after we find those missing villagers, we can try to get Katara and Aang alone somewhere."
Eventually, Appa landed at the center of the village attracting a crowd. Cheers were made at the Avatar's arrival in Renu village. The air bender jumped down to address the villages, freeing himself from Kano's grasp. Before his departure, Aang was informed that leaders from various earth villages would come to Renu to meet with him. The leaders made themselves known to Aang, each greeting his arrival graciously.
"We thank you for coming in our time of need Avatar", the eldest leader, Josu spoke for all of them, "We hope with your help that we may find our dear friends and families from wherever they are."
Aang nodded, "My friends and I will do our best. Is there anything you can tell us about the situation? When did this all start?"
"About one month ago…the first person to go missing was a young woman named Ino. Then the next week three children disappeared. At first, we believed the children had run into trouble somewhere. We've sent search parties. It became worse when the men searching for the children had gone missing as well. We were continuously losing more and more of our people here in Renu and the other nearby villages. Between all our villages we've lost more than sixty people…men, women, and children alike."
"Spirits! Over sixty people are missing?" Sokka came up from behind Aang. The girls jumped down from Appa and joined in on the conversation.
"Wait did you say Ino?" Kano asked. Josu only nodded his head.
"Do you know her?" Aang asked.
"Um, y-yes. She's an acquaintance of mine" Kano answered, looking troubled.
"Don't worry Kano we'll find her", Aang assured and turned back to Josu, "We will start our search right away."
"Before you do I should inform you that for extra precaution we hired a bounty hunter to aid us in our search," Josu said and led Aang and the others with him to a building at the edge of the village.
"No offense but do we need some bounty hunter's help", Toph inquired.
"Yes, I do not mean any disrespect, but she came highly recommended with a reasonable rate. Her tracking is impeccable thanks to her Shirshu." Josu insisted.
'Hold on did he say Shirshu?' Aang thought in his mind, 'it couldn't be her…could it?'
Before he could ask Josu, a loud thrashing noise came from the building they approached. Out of nowhere a man crashed through the window and stumbled to the grass in front of them. Wide-eyed, they all looked from the man to the window he came out from. A woman with dark hair and pale skin jumped through with an unimpressed look on her face.
"Hands to yourself creep" she growled and glanced toward the newcomers. Her lips curved upward into a grin as she recognized Aang.
"Hi Aang" she greeted with a flirtatious tone and waved. Aang's face reddened as he remembered his last encounter with the older woman.
"H-h-hi June."
After meeting June, the gang went back to Appa to grab their belongings and bring them into the rooms they were given at the local inn. It was agreed that they would work with June to find the missing villagers. Aang's mind was dazed after June greeted him. The feeling of her tongue in his mouth was fresh in his mind once again. The goosebumps from that day came back. He wanted to stop thinking about that moment however his friends were not helping at all.
"Reminiscing over good memories Twinkle-Toes?" Toph cackled. Sokka laughed along while Suki tried to stifle her giggling.
"No I'm not", Aang replied with gritted teeth. Katara and Kano looked at the rest of them confused over what was so funny.
"Anyone want to explain what's going on here?" Katara asked with an annoyed tone.
"It's nothing Katara", Aang glanced back at her, "These three are just being silly."
"Oh ho! We're not being silly", Sokka grinned, "why don't we tell them eh Suki?"
"I mean we could" Suki shrugged.
"Spirits no…please don't" Aang begged them.
"Spirits YES!" Toph denied him.
When they finally reached Appa, Sokka wrapped his arm around Aang and turned him around to face Kano and Katara. "After Arrowhead left on his own, he happened to save June and her Shirshu from bandits."
"Okay and? She already told me and Zuko that after refusing to find him for us" Katara said.
Toph jumped to Aang's left and put her arm around his shoulder, "what she neglected to tell you was the award she gave him before they departed ways. Mind telling them what it was Twinkle-Toes?"
"Yeah buddy", Sokka encouraged and gave him a shake, "Tell these two lovely ladies what June gave you."
Aang pressed his face into his hands and groaned. He instantly regretted telling them back on Kyoshi island. They weren't going to let this go. Suki covered her mouth trying her best to stifle her giggling again. The water benders glanced at one another before looking at him with raised eyebrows.
"He isn't fessing up Toph," Sokka said.
"Guess I'll do it for him", Toph smirked and turned towards the two water benders, "June happened to give him a rather…intimate…sloppy gift."
"Intimate?" Katara wondered.
"Sloppy?", Kano wondered as well.
"She gave Twinkle-Toes the gift of her tongue", Toph stated. Katara remained confused but Kano figured it out, a knowing grin spread across her face.
"So she's the friend who taught you to kiss like that", Kano laughed.
'Kiss? Kiss like what…intimate…sloppy…tongue?!' Katara thought to herself until it hit her like a ton of bricks.
"That woman kissed you?!" Katara cried out.
Aang's hand dropped but refused to make eye contact with either of them, "…yes."
Everyone but Katara and Aang roared with laughter. Aang wanted to hide from the embarrassment while Katara stared at him in disbelief. June, a grown woman, kissed him and used her tongue. Her head snapped back to Kano, "wait he told you about it?"
Kano looked back at her with half-lid eyes and smiled, "Well…Aang put into practice what June taught him with me."
Katara gripped her biceps tight at those words. Suki had stopped laughing already and watched her friend's reaction. She figured that it was best to move on from the topic for Katara's sake.
"As much as I like laughing at Aang's expense. We should hurry and put our stuff in our rooms. We can't afford to waste time after all", the Kyoshi warrior stated. Once the laughter died down along with Aang's humiliation, they all gathered their items from Appa's saddle and placed them in their separate bedrooms. The first to finish unpacking was Katara who decided to step out with her gear ready. From the corner of her eye, she found June leaning her back to Nyla who was taking a nap. Katara narrowed her eyes at the bounty hunter and approached her. June finished a bottle of what looked like whiskey when she got close enough.
"Well if it isn't the fire lord's girlfriend", June commented.
"I'm not Zuko's girlfriend anymore", Katara responded with a flat tone.
"Awww did he dump you?"
"It was a mutual breakup", Katara crossed her arms again.
"Hmph if you say so", June smirked.
After what Katara heard earlier about the bounty hunter and Aang and seeing their interaction with one another, she wondered if June had something in mind for Aang. Was she the type to go after Aang romantically despite their age difference? The water bender wasn't sure. Before she could say anything, June spoke up first.
"Looks like you got to reunite with your beloved Avatar. I'm sure you must have been happy to see him again."
"I was. Although I didn't think you would be quite fond of Aang", Katara remarked.
"How can I not be? He saved my life after all and ended the war. I am grateful to him after all so, of course, I'm going to be fond of him. I'm sure he's well aware of how fond of him I truly am", June smirked.
"So you believe it's okay for a grown woman to kiss a young boy as you did with Aang?" Katara glared.
June only stared back at Katara. She stood up from her shirshu's side, closed her bottle, and stepped up to the water bender.
"You got a problem with what I did?"
"Yes," Katara stated, standing her ground.
"Did Aang have a problem?" June placed her hands on her hips.
Katara looked away as she remembered Aang's flustered state earlier. He obviously did not want anyone else to know about it, but not once did he show that he disliked the kiss. All that she could gather was that he had been surprised by it and taken what he had learned from her with Kano. Which infuriated her. Kano was steps ahead of her and Katara had only just figured that out now.
"I'll go ahead and take that as a no. You seem to be the only one here that has a problem. I wonder why that might be."
Katara looked back at the bounty hunter with another glare. The reaction only garnered a smirk in response from June.
"My my…Is that jealousy I sense?"
"What would I be jealous of a bounty hunter for? Just because you've kissed him once doesn't mean anything! I-I've kissed him plenty of times", Katara's arms dropped to her side with her hands balled into fists.
"Maybe you are, maybe you aren't. It still stands that my kissing him bothered you so much you had to make it clear to me. If you're worried that I would hurt him then I can assure you that I could never do that…I'm not you after all."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Katara narrowed her eyes.
"I believe you know exactly what I mean water girl", June went on, "you're the one who broke his heart after all."
Her words stunned Katara. How would she have known that?
"Did he tell you that?" Katara asked.
"Not with those words exactly. Imagine my surprise when he informed me about your new relationship with Zuko even though you both denied it to my face." June explained then taking a deep breath, "I could see it in his eyes…it was the same look my father had after my mother left us for another man. Heartbreak is something else I can tell you that…"
The water bender pursed her lips, mentally smacking herself for what she had done. It would not matter. It was a mistake she knew that she would have to live with.
"You want to know why I kissed him?"
Katara silently nodded.
"It was to help him get over you. To remind him that there were other girls in the world and not to get so hung up over you. Nothing more than that. It was the least I could do for him along with not taking the job your ex wanted to give me."
"I get it", Katara sighed, "It was my actions that drove him away and I can't blame you for that."
Neither of them said anything for a moment. All that could be heard was the wind in the air.
"After I refused the job, I wondered why you were so adamant that I find Aang. That for someone in a relationship, you were awfully clingy over Aang. So what's the deal?" June asked.
"It turned out…Aang meant a lot more to me than I realized", Katara answered truthfully, "After he left it was like he took all of the colors of the world with him and I was left with nothing but gray. It turned out that I fell in love with him without realizing it at the time because of my own internalized fears."
"Hmmm…well I wouldn't know anything about that, so I'll take your word for it."
"I'm sorry for how I acted. It was uncalled for", Katara said sincerely.
"Don't worry about it. For now, let's just put our energy into finding the missing villagers. The sooner we do that then the sooner I can get paid and move on from here."
Fortunately, Aang and the others had stepped out from the inn and headed towards June and Katara.
"Everything set June?" Aang asked.
June nodded her head, "the village leaders gave me a few objects belonging to the missing villagers. With their scent, Nyla should be able to locate them in no time."
"Perfect! Let's get going." Aang stated. He glanced at Katara, giving her his signature lopsided grin. Katara smiled back at him. From an outside perspective, it would be seen as nothing but for the two of them, it was reassurance. A reassurance that everything would be all right until it wasn't.
Meanwhile elsewhere…
A soldier dressed in fire nation armor walked through a hallway. Multiple cell doors were locked on each side with cries of the prisoned men, women, and children inside. The soldier reached the door at the end of the hall and knocked loud enough to be heard over the cries.
"Come in."
He did as he was told, he stepped inside the room and kneeled before another man in the room who was looking over a map of various earth kingdom villages.
"General I have come with news of the Avatar and his compatriots. They have arrived at Renu village", the soldier said with a booming voice.
The general glanced up from the map.
"Finally…I will succeed where Ozai failed. The Fire Nation will rule the world as intended once I wipe out the final the Avatar."
Please leave a review and let me know what you thought. I will be sure to update with a ch 33 at the end of the month!