After Ozai: Book Two (Kataang FanFic)

Chapter Twenty-Five: Confide In Me

 "How's the shoulder? You took quite the nasty shot from Azula when we were all in the courtyard." Carefully, Katara placed a hand behind Suki's back and brought her to an upright, sitting position. Scoffing, Suki attempted to play it off but instantly grabbed at her shoulder the moment that she began to inhale in the sitting position.

"I guess I haven't gotten over it yet. But, I have you guys to thank for getting us out of there. Luckily for me, I wasn't the one that had to deal with Azula and her army of benders." Katara snickered towards her as she unwound Suki's wraps, revealing a fresh, deeply bruised welt, covering her from the collarbone to the point of the shoulder. As the cold water hit her skin, Suki let out a deep hiss, rattling the water that consumed Katara's hands.

"You should also count yourself lucky that the bolt grazed you. Any closer to your head or chest and there would've been nothing that I could do. Where did they even have you anyway?"

"They ha-."

"-They had us in a med bay. Azula had her medics come by and "heal" us, but in all honesty, they just made sure that it wouldn't be fatal and then went on their way. Not even an ice pack was applied!" As Sokka rambled on and on about how inconsiderate the "healers" were, Katara turned her head towards him and raised an eyebrow.

"You know, even though your leg is all injured, you're still just as annoying! It's truly fascinating." Sokka rolled his eyes as Suki giggled at Katara's sarcasm.

"Listen to you! Over this past year or so, you've begun to use Sokka's sarcastic remarks!" Katara then whipped her head back towards Toph who was walking up confidently, banging Aang's staff across any rock she passed.

"Hey! That's Aang's staff! Why do you have it?" Toph shrugged her shoulders as she tossed some object of food into her mouth, smiling as she chomped on it happily.

"Speaking of... has anyone seen Aang? I haven't seen him since he walked down to the river about an hour ago." Katara grimaced lightly as she swayed the water across Suki's shoulder. As hard as she tried, she couldn't benefit Suki in any way as her mind was elsewhere, worrying about her beloved monk. Katara rose to her feet and sighed towards the sky before looking back down towards her friends and frowning.

"Go on Katara, I'll make sure that none of them hurt each other in the meantime." Katara looked past Sokka, Suki, and Toph, and laid her eyes on an upcoming Zuko. Katara then allowed a small smile to grace her lips before nodding in thanks and taking off. As she furthered herself away from the group, Katara began to pick up the pace once she reached the woods, watching the trees whiz past her as her speed increased per stride. Soon after she made her way out of the thin forest and came across a small river of water, glowing a bright white from the moonlight above. For a moment, Katara allowed all of her worries to flow away, similar to the water within the river. The calmness around her surroundings gave her a fulfilling aura that seemed to ease her every pain. She couldn't tell if it was due to being around her element, or the moonlight above, but either way, she was finally able to let go of her anxieties and be free... at least momentarily. As soon as she began to relish in the peacefulness of the area, a loud snapping sound came from her right. On instinct, she pulled water out of her waterskin and took on an attacking stance, daring anyone within the vicinity to try and attack her. Luckily for her, the snapping was Aang, who was oblivious to her appearance. She watched him curiously, her eyes a mix of sadness and curiosity as he used a sophisticated water whip to snap a branch off a nearby tree.

"You wanna talk?" Aang, scared out of his wits, gasped horrified before falling completely into the water, submerging his entire body. As Aang reemerged towards the water's surface, Katara let out a small giggle as she bit on her bottom lip.