Word Count: 3,015 words
Chapter V: 縁の下の力持ち
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Natsuko looked at the boy who she had been holdings in his shoulders, surprised to see that he already knew who she was, "Did I get it wrong?"
She shook her head and let's go of his shoulders, her right hand clasping his hand just how she saw other people greet for the first time, "No, no, my name is indeed Natsuko. May I ask your names?"
"I'm Aang." he perked up and the girl with him also introduced herself, "I'm Katara, how do you know each other?"
"I just do." he looked at her and Natsuko just shrugged at the girl, "That's amazing, there could still be other airbenders who are still alive."
Aang was ecstatic when he saw Natsuko, someone who was inside the sanctuary which meant she could airbend, an airbender who was alive. He wasn't the sole airbender anymore, "Aang, I'm not from the Air Nomads."
The three of them walked towards the center of the circle, leaving another person who was with them complaining about how they only found statues instead of meat, "I was sent here by my other halves to search for you, Aang, you've left for a hundred years."
"What do you mean?" his confusion grew more and more the more he talked to Natsuko. He doesn't know who she is but he knew her name? Why did her voice sound familiar? Where did she come from? He already understood that the statues represent the cycle of the Avatar and he was the last one, as well as the last airbender, and that his friend believed in him.
He had a lot of questions he would like Natsuko to answer but his eyes were focused on the statue at the end of the circle, the eyes of it glistened the more he looked at it, snapping out of the trance when Katara shook him, "Aang, snap out of it."
"That's Avatar Roku, the Avatar before me." he told Katara who asked him who he has been looking at the entire time Katara, Natsuko, and the other boy named "Sokka" was in a banter about the Avatar's.
Sokka still hadn't find out the name of the spirit, nor did anyone know that she was in fact a spirit from the Spirit World.Unlike other spirits of this place, she was tangible and human-like, she eats, sleeps, and desperately in need of a break from solitary confinement, it still isn't definitive if she is able to die in this world.
The two kept on talking about the last statue of the cycle and Natsuko walked towards them, knowing that Aang had many questions, "You were a firebender in your past life? No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met."
He joined the three of them and was feeling unsettled with the way the place is in it's solitude and emptiness, especially when Aang talked about how he knew Roku without seeing his name written on the stone or anywhere in that matter, "You just can't get any weirder, and this place too."
He pointed towards the girl, Natsuko, beside him with his thumb, "Who is this girl anyway?"
"You needn't know who I am, you are just my mere hostages with no one who will find you ever again." Natsuko looked at the man with the wolf tail dead straight in his eyes and she could sense that he didn't find it funny, "Aren't you alarm with who she is, guys?"
Before she could answer his question, a horn could be heard from the door something that wasn't the same as the horns of the door and with the door unlocked, it could've meant another person had reached the temple.
They quickly hid behind statues while the two who were clad in what seems to be Water Tribe clothing kept on whispering to each other, Natsuko had just grunted silently as it seems that she hasn't been given a break from the Fire Nation. She looked at Sokka who was ready to attack the other being in the room, turning around then suddenly lowering his weapon down when he got a clear look at the "Fire Nation Soldier". The three others followed suit and Natsuko saw the friend who was accompanying her all this time.
"Lemur."
"Dinner."
Natsuko just gawked with an agape mouth at the other Water Tribe clad boy who she had heard clearly his exact words when he saw her friend, Aang was talking about keeping him as his pet, while the said Water Tribe boy chased it away, followed by Aang, leaving Natsuko and Katara behind.
The two girls looked at each other and Katara just groaned at what they were about to do, "So, Natsuko, how long have you been here?"
"A few days to say the least." they both walked with each other around to see the past Avatars, "How did you meet Aang?"
Katara then talked about how they found Aang inside a ball of ice with his pet bison and she and her brother had been travelling with him ever since he saved their tribe from Fire Nation, "It may feel a bit odd to leave the place you are most comfortable with on the first few days."
"It is. Have you been here ever since and what did you mean when you were talking to Aang?"
Natsuko knew that the way she phrased her words wouldn't be fathomable if they knew what she was talking about. Other halves? Claiming to be not from the Air Nomads when only people with airbending abilities were able to stay? Why was she looking for Aang? She was about to answer Katara's questions when a feeling of weakness surged through Natsuko and Katara noticing Roku's eyes lit up and soon the rest of the Avatar statues did as well.
"Natsuko, what's ha-" Katara looked at the spirit, eyes widening as she saw Natsuko also had eyes glowing blue as well. Another few seconds, her body pulsated again and separated the two forms of her, body and spirit, Katara was growing and growing more suspicious of what happened, "What?"
The spirit didn't pay much attention to the other girl and dashed her way towards the source, it wasn't hard to find seeing a building tornado destroying an already soon to demolish infrastructure. She was already there beside Sokka, who looked like he has seen the ghost of the girl who was just with them a few minutes ago.
Katara already made her way there, asking what happened and tried to walk her way towards Aang in his Avatar State. She tried to do the same, reaching out to cling onto his small frame when another spirit began resonating within her, "He won't listen to you, he doesn't know who you really are."
She could hear a gentle voice within her, a voice she knew from long ago, and she obeyed her, letting Katara talk to Aang. Raava eased the pain coursing through her body, a toll she takes whenever the Avatar State is misused, and she learned it the hard way. Katara talked about family, Natsuko was left unnamed when she told Aang that he was apart of his, did she really think it would be that fast to earn their trust? That a girl who was suspicious for being at a temple then a spirit who is able to leave her body at certain times?
Fast paced, she dashed through the halls and arrived at her body, awaiting for Aang to have calm down, and might take awhile before she gets the hang of her body once again, and that she did, letting her spirit ease up to her body for a few minutes.
She opened her eyes to the Spirit World and saw Wan, another hug coming from the old geezer who had tea in his hands. Natsuko took it from him and told him while her mouth was still by the rim of the cup, "I found Aang."
"That's wonderful." Natsuko just looked at him before closing her eyes to drink from the tea, "I don't think he'll be able to trust me, Wan."
She set the tea on Wan's palm, who placed it on top of the table, sighing against at the girls pessimistic take on what was yet to happen, "The Avatar's won't doubt you, Natsuko, you have that gift."
Natsuko looked at him and saw his face serious yet a warm smile to assure that everything's going to be alright. She nodded and apologized for the short visit, before closing her mind and opening her eyes to the world.
"Oh good, you're awake." she could hear the voice of the Avatar from above her in a dark room, "We were going to leave you, you know."
"No we won't." Katara began a small quarrel with her brother while Aang kept an eye on Natsuko, "Katara told me you got out of your body and I can't imagine what it meant."
So she explained it to them on the saddle of Aang's sky bison, Appa. Natsuko brought with her a staff of her own and they introduced Momo, the accompanying lemur she had and the three of them listened with intent, "So let me get this straight."
"You've been looking for Aang for maybe four years because you lost him in the first place and the other 'Avatars' were forcing you too." Sokka was the smartest of the group when it came to planning and it makes up for his stupidity, Natsuko was impressed by his unneeded summarization of what she had just said, "Basically yes."
"You could've started with that."
"I believe your small brain won't be able to process even the function of a flower if you were told of things you don't know of."
"Why you-"
Now, the banter was always between Natsuko and Sokka, she was content having someone by her side and someone to challenge to everytime. Katara helped her settle in with things they take care of, it was better for her now that there was another female in the group but hard enough when she learned that what she knows she had to teach Natsuko with.
"Stop bugging her airhead, you need to give girls space when they do there sewing."
Now, Katara was teaching Natsuko how to saw, probably due to her nimble fingers and its similarity to tapestry she was good at it, "What does me being a girl have to do with sewing?"
While the two siblings began quarreling with each other once again, Natsuko decided to talk to Aang, "When's the next airbending training, Sifu Aang?"
Aang perked up at the sound of airbending training and being called a master, he was happy enough to know that there was one more person other than him who was able to airbend, she wasn't that human, but she was there, and they need each other. Natsuko was also good at airbending, her training caused her to be. A few more and she'll be able to learn the air scooter.
"I also wanted to say thank you." Aang mentioned casually while Natsuko had her arms crossed and rested her head on it, "For keeping up with me and my past lives all this time."
Natsuko didn't expect that, not ever once in her life did anyone acknowledge what she had done for them, being The person that holds up the house, it was just her significance anyways so no one thanked her for it, "You've been just you, no predecessor or someone to take your place when you want to rest, it was only you who also keeps balance to the world and the Avatar who needs to bring balance."
"Thank you." Natsuko was only able to smile and thank him for the wonderful compliment, something about this boy was different than the others, appreciating all kinds of life, it was his good trait and his downfall at the same time. No matter how pure his intentions are, it will be a hard time managing him at a very innovative and prosperous age.
They landed by the opening of a lake, apparently he wanted to ride a koi fish and with him being alone for a century, they decided that it was better for him to be happy with what he's able to grasp at the moment. Of course, covering the fact that they had to go to the North Pole and Appa being tired was just an excuse.
And at the moment he reaches Sokka from another sea creature much more hostile than the koi fishes, Aang had already fulfilled what he wanted and decided to head back to Appa to keep moving forward. At least that was the plan until they were captured by Kyoshi warriors. The first one to be caught was Sokka, then blocking Katara's sense of sight with her hood, Aang was distracted enough, and Momo was literally bagged.
Natsuko had the most experience to fight them out of the four travellers, she had been trained by Kyoshi herself, after all and if there was one thing Kyoshi taught her, it was that never let the opposing win without a fight.
She grabbed her attacker by the wrist, twisting it around to grab the fan they used as a weapon, using it to block every move they tried to land on Natsuko, she learned the flaw of their techniques from being too defensive, what they defend was not their whole body but only a portion of bend away from the attacker, the more kept doing it without any proper attention to the surrounding was their downfall. Unfortunately, she was fruitless as she was grabbed by the back and forced down to her knees, knocking Natsuko out with the bottom of the fan for a considerable amount of times.
They were all tied up to a pole once she regain consciousness and released after he proved himself to be the Avatar, but the Kyoshi warriors were intrigued by the way Natsuko presented herself in battle, familiar and intriguing to say the least.
She joined them in their trainings while Aang kept on keeping his fanbase in Kyoshi Island while the siblings mope for different reasons. She had fun in this island, she knew her other half did too, but she was more careful with what could happen if they stay one more day.
"It's my first time wearing this." Natsuko was happy, she knew Kyoshi was too, while she wore their warriors outfit. It suited her well and trained with them more until Sokka showed up, "Sorry ladies, didn't mean to interrupt your dance lessons."
Another happy moment ruined by Sokka, who looked at Natsuko funnily for joining their get up, "You having fun dancing and doing all those makeup stuff girls really like?"
"You girls have fun with this guy, he's not that hard to crack." Natsuko left before she could even hear Sokka's retort, looking around and heard the shouts from Sokka, the market had a certain amount of people in it but a girl in blue stood out, "Hey Katara."
Katara was already fuming when Natsuko greeted her, causing the waterbender to jump in surprise and let out a sigh of relief once realizing it was Natsuko, "I thought Aang was going to pester me again."
"Want help with that?" despite only asking, Natsuko grabbed it for her and let Katara talk about the nonsense she and Aang quarreled about, another case of jealousy was all she could conclude from it and frankly, she wasn't fond of it, so she left after brining the supplies up to their living quarters. Katara sulked inside while Natsuko took off the uniform she had on her and wiped the makeup on her face before heading out to meditate.
She stumbled upon a secluded area that wasn't far from the village, trees were around her and the sound of wind rushed through them like a wonderful tune. Peaceful, tranquil, and whatever else meant having to find what she wanted all this time.
"Come on Avatar! You can't hide from me forever."
It was always a thought too soon.
Natsuko grunted and picked up a fan she brought herself with and eyes widen once an animal began approaching her with a familiar clothing style she saw many moons ago. She hoisted herself up with a punch on the ground using her airbending skills and fanned the soldier away from the animal before attacking him.
She was exceptional in hand-to-hand combat, a few Avatars helped her be one, but to fight with airbending unmastered was hard at the very least of her problems right now. While calculating her probability of winning, however, the soldier grew interest of her skills to airbend when he knew that the only person who could airbend was the Avatar and he saw what the Avatar looked like, he was sure that the Avatar was a small boy and not a girl. He punched her with fire coming out of his fists, maneuvering her towards the rhino, who sensed her near and attacked her from behind, knocking her unconsciousness yet once again.
The lack of energy to do things really takes a toll on a person, make sure that one should eat three meals a day and 6 glasses of water, an ideal 6-8 hours of sleep helps one be more swift, agile, and effective in combat.
The soldier carried the girl to the ship, unusual for a man to abduct a woman from villages, that wasn't their intention in the first place. Aang saw her body being carried too, he knew that he should've continued on practicing with Natsuko but pushed their training away for a few more annoying fangirls. They were all aboard Appa when Aang jumped out to ride the unagi and let it rain to quench the fires created in battle. He already felt bad for losing Natsuko and for bringing this to the village, "Come on, Aang."
On the side of Natsuko, however, was the boy with a scar on his face looking down at a girl unconscious on his ships deck and a soldier who was explaining himself before they throw him out of the ship, "I saw it with my own two eyes, Prince Zuko."
"Cut to the chase, we have to trail the Avatar."
His pupils dilated at interest at what the soldier told the people who was their to listen at his claims, he turned around and saw the girl with no special features on her but the possibility of her to do what no one else could.
"This girl could airbend, sir, I saw it."
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We finally meet another person from the group, hooray(?) Also, going all in in one chapter because you all deserve it.
Natsuko is Sorcerer Supreme of the Avatar world, that's what we could gather from here.
In all seriousness, I also change the demerit Natsuko had whenever an Avatar would go to Avatar State improperly from being lifeless to being lifeless but Doctor Strange like. She basically could feel her spirit self separate from her physical self so she could roam around and go through walls but risking her body and no bending or touching anything in her spirit form which is still bullshit now that I think of it.
Hope you liked it! Enjoy and read responsibly but most of all, stay safe!
- Amboo