-The change-
Author: Hullo people. I finally got like a strike of an idea for this story. I was like yes! I finally got it, but when I started to write this I kind of forgot my idea. (Nervous laugh) because I thought of this while I was going to bed so I hope it's ok. I decided not to go all the way with the series flow, but just sort of. Whaa I miss my cocoa. TT Thank you jar of jelly beans, my muse. Thank god for that one avatar fan site. That's where I got my information. I looked at so many pictures for this chapter. . Sokka really does have a girly neck in some episodes. I especially love Zuko's new hairstyle, and I finally noticed he only had one eyebrow.
Disclaimer: I do not own avatar.
Warning: Umm I dunno for this chapter. Blahh this is sucky chapter.
Chapter 1
-My! What lovely curves you have mam errr…sir? Part 1
The day was just like any other mid-summer day. Humid, dry, and unpleasantly hot. The once small not expanded group had traveled for long, unpleasant hours on the flying bison. The heat had finally gotten to them, forcing them to land, and rest before traveling onward again.
"When are Katara and Toph coming back?" Aang said restlessly. He lay on the soft grass with his head resting against his flying companion. It was finally cooler now. A herd of clouds had drifted slowly infront of the Sun. Blocking it's strong heated rays. The two girls had gone to a spring nearby to bathe themselves. Katara had spotted what looked a hot spring as they landed, and insisted that they all take turns bathing, since the area seemed to be far from any other human contact. The girls were first, and then it would be the men. They had been gone for what seemed like hours.
"I don't know. They should be coming back any moment now." Sokka said a bit on the glum side. He was sitting on top of Appa with his back toward the others searching through his bag, pretending to busy himself. He really wanted to try to hide the fact that he didn't want to go to the hot springs with the others. It would be too embarrassing for him. After all he was a bit…different.
Zuko made an annoyed grunt as he glanced at the boy. It annoyed him how the water tribe boy was distracting him by constantly fidgeting. Especially this he was in the process of winning of the Pai sho game. He and his uncle had been playing to pass the time till the girls came back. During their last stop at the small village port, his uncle had drifted off once again to a merchant's store. Browsing the merchandise he had found something he had been looking for, a foldable Pai Sho set. Coincidentally, the set was missing a lotus tile, which his uncle later found at another store.
"Check." (1)
" What?" Zuko said turning his head back to the game only to see he had lost, once again. He was sure that he had gotten the best of his uncle at this game.
"Check. I've won once again." Iroh said with a small smile on his face. He felt he had won too easily; after all it was obvious that his nephew was distracted. "You know Zuko the key to winning is to stay focused."
"What would give you that idea uncle? Of course I'm focusing!" Zuko said in a some what snappish manner. He wasn't very much in the mood to receive a lesson from his uncle. For one reason he was had not won one game since they had started, the weather was far too hot even for Zuko; whom normally didn't mind warm weather, and also his uncle was right. He hadn't been focusing, well on the game that is.
"It's just that you have been staring at the young water tribe boy." Iroh said as he reset the Pai Sho pieces. Nothing could fool his wise eyes, he to could see that the young water tribe boy was acting odd. Well odder than usual that is. The boy was more quiet the past few days, and very distant from the others. At first Iroh believed that the boy was still getting used to the new additions to the traveling group. But soon it didn't seem as if that was the case, but as if there was something more to it. He lacked the usual unique energy that he once had. Though Iroh would have asked Sokka what was wrong with the boy, he saw that it wasn't his place to ask. Though his curiosity was somewhat getting to him, and it seemed that it was getting to his nephew as well. He noticed the slight side glances that his nephew was giving the boy; frankly he noticed that everyone was. Curiosity and slight worry no doubt.
"Don't say such nonsense uncle." Zuko said not wanting to get any further in the matter of the "water tribe boy".
The clock ticked on as they waited for the girls' return, until they heard a familiar voice shout.
"We're back!" Katara shouted as she walked closer to the group. In her arms was a basket of soaps and towels. Draped around her neck was a towel to block the water that dripped from her wet hair. Toph wasn't far behind Katara. Her long hair (2) was down and drooping, making her seem even shorter than she really was.
"Katara! Your back!" Aang exclaimed as he quickly leaped into the air, fluttering closer to Katara as he landed.
Katara smiled at the enthusiastic air bender before she softly shoved the basket into boy's arms. "Now it's your turn."
"Um ok, well we shouldn't be long." Aang said taking a firmer grip on the basket. Zuko and Iroh were already standing up, getting ready to leave themselves. He looked up at Sokka, to see that the boy wasn't even making any movement. He was just sitting on top of the flying bison, with his back turned to the rest of the group. "Hey Sokka!"
Sokka flinched hearing his name. He dreaded not having thought of any good excuses.
"Aren't you coming with us?" Aang asked a bit on the confused side. Didn't Sokka want to take bath?
"Um…ah…I" Sokka couldn't think of any excuses. What was he going to do?
"Um Sokka should stay here…And umm watch Appa!" Katara suddenly butt in. She waved her arms motioning Aang to leave.
"Then maybe I should stay instead then…" Aang said unable to stop an eyebrow from quirking. This was weird.
"No,no! You go along Aang! Sokka will just go later. So go on Aang!" Katara said a bit on the uneasy side, with a bit too much pep. She couldn't help but give a nervous laugh. All those questioning eyes were staring at her. But for her brother's sake she hoped that this would work.
"Um..okay then…We'll be back soon." Aang said a bit slowly as he waved a small goodbye before heading in the direction of the spring. He could already see that Iroh had left. It was just weird. 'Usually Katara wouldn't let me go anywhere alone with Iroh and Zuko…weird.' Frankly he thought Katara might have hit her head on a rock or something, usually she was so protective of Aang, especially since Iroh and Zuko had joined up with them. She wouldn't let Aang go anywhere without Sokka, Toph or herself. Katara still harbored a dislike against fire benders, and she especially didn't trust Zuko. After all he had been after Aang. But now, this was a change did she start trusting them? 'Hmm…'
Sokka slowly turned himself to see if they had left already. He gulped as saw that Zuko was giving him a questioning glare. Sokka finally gave a small sigh of relief as he saw that the fire bender was leaving. He silently hoped that they didn't suspect anything but he knew better, they all probably had their suspicions.
Sokka pushed himself off of Appa, softly landing on his feet. He leaned against the large animal worrying about any possibility that the others would find out.
Katara slowly walked up to her brother. She already knew what was up with her brother and that everyone had their suspicions. She sighed as she saw the worried look on her brother's face. Slowly she touched her brother's shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah..." Sokka murmured.
"So what's wrong with you then?" Toph asked suddenly as she walked up to the siblings. Even though she couldn't see she upheld her suspicions that something was wrong with non bending boy. It didn't take genius to figure that out.
"Nothing's wrong with him." Katara some snapped, misreading the question. In truth nothing was wrong with her brother, he was just different.
"I asked him, not you. Well fine then." Toph huffed as she crushed a rock with her food using her earth bending skills. She didn't like to be snubbed or let out of anything, but she decided to leave the pair alone…for now. She'd get her answers sooner or later.
Time passed on, as they waited for the guys to return. Toph and Katara played Pai Sho to pass the time. Iroh had taught them how to play, it was much harder to learn then in seemed. So many different strategies to know and learn. How to decipher what your opponent was trying to accomplish to win. Very difficult indeed. While the two girls faced off one another, with competitive force Sokka had fallen asleep. While MoMo graciously took it upon himself to sleep on top of Sokka's head.
"Katara! We're back!" the small hyper boy said as he used his bending to skills push himself up into the air and land next to the water tribe girl, who was at the moment intensively into the game. The girls were tied, and Katara wanted to beat the earth bending cocoa. All of them returned, and surprising dry. All thanks to Aang no doubt. He probably had used his air bending skills to dry everyone.
"That's nice Aang…Ah ha! Check! I win!" Katara shouted placing her final piece to win.
"No fair! You cheated!" Toph protested as she slammed her hand onto the Pai Sho board.
"As if! I don't need to cheat to beat you!" Katara said, angry that she was being accused of cheating. "Your just a sore loser!"
"Um, wait don't fight. Fighting's not the answer espe—" Aang began, but he was interrupted by two stubborn girls.
"Stay out of this!" They shouted together. They glared at one another.
"Here we go again." Aang said under his breath. He suddenly noticed the lack of someone else. "Hey where's Sokka?"
Hearing her brother's name Katara quit arguing. "Sokka's taking a nap on the other side of Appa."
"I guess I should wake him up then." Aang said as got ready to leap up, but only to have himself pulled back.
"I don't think it would be a good idea Aang. We should just let him rest." Katara said in that 'you should listen to what I say mode'.
"Um…okay." Aang said even more suspicious then before.
Zuko stood with his arms crossed as he watched the water bender's actions. It struck odd to him that she suddenly became protective of her brother. Usually she was so keen on the avatar, but now…something changed. Or rather someone changed. "Uncle."
"Yes Zuko?" Iroh replied as he glanced at his nephew.
"Something isn't right…" Zuko said as he glanced at the giant bison.
" What do you mean?" The old man asked as if he knew nothing.
The young fire bender just glanced his uncle. He knew that his uncle knew as well that something was different. But he also knew that his uncle wasn't going to tell him what was going on. He'd just have to find out himself, one way or another…
When Sokka finally woke up he was surprised to see that it was already dark. He pushed himself up off the ground. He pretty much guessed that everyone else was a sleep seeing the lumpy forms, and the stone tent as he walked around Appa. Sokka noticed that his skin felt oddly sticky to the touch, he guessed it was because he hadn't bathed since their last stop. Sokka quietly tiptoed to the soap basket; slowly he picked up the basket and headed off to the spring. It wasn't that dark, there was still some light from the moon, and well at least enough light so he could see where he was going.
The springs were further then he thought they had been, but it did seem worth it. The water was a milky white, most likely from the minerals in the water, and all the unique salts that were around this area. A rather warm almost steamy odor rang throughout the large heated water mass. For a hot spring it was almost the size off a lake. Sokka awed a bit seeing steam arise from the center of the spring. Setting the basket down near the water, Sokka began to undress. He was glad that the water was milky instead of clear, that way he wouldn't be able to see his reflection. He dreaded this…change and now especially his body. He sighed knowing that it was going to become worse sooner or later, but he hoped it was later. Sokka tossed his clothes in a small pile next to the basket before grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his waist. He undid his hair tie and tossed with the rest of his clothing. Cautiously Sokka dipped his foot into the water. It wasn't too hot so it was compatible to comfort. Sokka slowly descended into the water.
Sokka gave a sigh. The water felt nice, relieving any sore muscles of the strain and adding the calming aroma. It almost felt as if worry and stress were just being washed away. If only that were true. Sokka gave a long sigh before he slowly dove under the water. He was a natural born swimmer and the water was calling, though he didn't swim this time, just being under the water felt great. But being underwater had its disadvantage, you can't hear as well as above water. Sokka slowly resurfaced after a few minutes, he gently rubbed the water out of his eyes. Reopening his eyes, he noticed something, there was more steam then there had been, and oddly ripples of water were coming toward him. Shouldn't water ripples be moving away from him? Sokka swallowed, he turned his head slowly…..
"What are you doing here?" The dark skinned boy quickly sunk deeper under the water with his arms shielding his chest. (3)
Author: Yay! A chapter update! No I'm not done yet. This is only part one of this chapter! Muhahhhaa. Reviews are always wanted. (smile) edited this. There's probably some spelling errors and stuff that doesn't make sense somewhere in there.
1.I dunno what they say in pai sho so I just said check.
2.I think toph does have long hair since well that bun on her head is her hair right? And it takes a lot of hair for that.
3.Well in all those anime and dramas and things when the girls see the guy naked for some reason they cover their chest and then their little hoo ha.
By the way I went with the Asian tradition of bathing with pepole. Like those bath houses and things. It's alright for men to see other men and women to see other women its natural. Well yeah…