"We have to land!" Aang's worried voice confirmed as he hurriedly landed Appa to the nearest water he could find. It was a waterfall. The usually blue water was near white as it crashed down into the rest of the water below. Usually, one would have stopped to admire its beauty, but in that case, there was no time to waste.
Sokka picked up the fire surrounded body and carried her over to the water, carefully but quickly lowering her in. He made sure her head was above water. "The fire isn't going out," Sokka yelled angrily. This was true. The fire wasn't going out; it was only heating the water.
Katara rushed to her brother's side. She lifted some water and splashed it against the mark of a fire ball on Kaki's forehead. That had absolutely no affect. The fire swirling around Kaki got more powerful. It was beginning to leave painful marks on Sokka's arms and hands.
"Kaki!" He didn't care how much the flames hurt. He hugged Kaki tightly. Tears began to stream down his face. Just then Sokka's entire body began to glow a light blue. The symbol of a whirlpool appeared on his forehead. Soon, the light around him turned into a ribbon of water and began to swirl around him.
Soon his eyes became half lidded, just as Kaki's had. They turned blue. After a few seconds of both bodies slumping, they're eyes flew wide open. They're bodies didn't turn back to normal though. Both bodies stood straight up and lifted out of the water, floating a few inches above.
The ribbon of water swirling around Sokka grew longer and surrounded Kaki. The same happened with the fire and surrounded Sokka. The two elements began to swirl so fast that you couldn't see the two bodies in the middle of them.
After a moment the fire and water floated forward so that it was hovering over grass. It then lowered all the way to the ground and subsided. Kaki and Sokka were lying on the ground, curled in toward each other. Their eyes were closed and the marks were gone. Their breath was steady and calm. It was obvious that they were asleep.
Katara knelt next to them to make sure they were okay. "I wonder what that was all about…" She was speaking softly, so that she wouldn't wake them up. Aang just shrugged and looked up at the sky. Clouds were surrounding the sun. It wasn't above them anymore. It was on its journey down.
"We should camp here and let them rest. I'm sure that we're far enough away from Rokujou," Katara said, walking over to Appa, grabbing the camp supplies they needed to set up. Soon they had made camp and a gentle fire was burning. Aang and Katara were sitting side by side in front of it.
"Aang?"
"What?"
"Do you think that Sokka was scared?"
"Yeah, he's seems to care about Kaki a lot," Aang looked over at them. They were still in the same position.
Katara nodded after a moment. "That was very strange. I have the feeling that there is a lot more to Kaki than meets the eye."
"I agree. I hope that Sokka can handle it."
"I think they can. When people are in love, they put up with a lot more than they would with a person who was just a friend. I guess that's just how it is. When you care that much about someone, you want to do whatever you can to help them. I mean, take Sokka for example, he didn't even care that he was getting burnt earlier. He was focused on Kaki's safety," she turned to Aang and smiled.
Aang found himself blushing, "That's all true." He thought about all the times that Katara had selflessly helped him. I wonder… He shook the thought away and stared at his feet. After a moment he lifted himself off the ground and looked down at his friend. "I'm going to bed."
"G'night," Katara waited a moment before standing up and putting out the fire. She made her way to her tent and climbed in. She hadn't realized how late it had gotten. It had taken them along time to set up camp and get a fire going.
The darkness soon turned back to light, bringing the wild around them to life. Katara got up early and packed up all the camp supplies. She looked over to see Kaki slowly open her eyes. She slowly got up and looked around her.
Katara walked over to the other girl, "Are you okay?"
"What?"
"Well…yesterday was pretty rough. I figured you must be hurt. There was fire everywhere. You're not burnt, are you?"
"I don't know what you are talking about…" Kaki stared down at her open palms and squinted at them. "I can't remember anything. All I remember is us flying on Appa, and now we're here."
Katara's eyes widened, "You don't remember? Something strange happened to you yesterday." She proceeded to tell her friend all that had happened the day before. She tried her best to describe everything. "It seems to me that it all happened when the sun was at the top of the sky."
"The…sun was directly above?" Something seemed to trigger in her head. She just couldn't quite remember what it was that someone said about that. She closed her eyes, and a memory began to appear like a developing photo. Her eyes shot open, "Rokujou!"
"What are you talking about?" Katara looked at her with a questionable look on her face. Just then, Sokka stirred and woke up. Kaki walked over to him and helped him up. He got up and looked around the exact same way Kaki had.
"What happened?" He turned to Kaki, who could only shrug in respond. Aang walked out of his tent and looked over at the three. He seemed relieved they were awake.
"What happened, Katara?" Kaki asked, looking her straight in the eye.
Katara shoved her hands into her coat pockets. "Well…" They were interrupted by a loud explosion behind them. A tree was fallen over, and another was on fire.
"Rokujou's here," Aang announced, getting ready to fight. The others did the same. A more trees either fell to the ground after an explosion, or caught fire and began to burn to the ground.
Rokujou burst through the heavily wooded area into the clear space they were in. "Did you miss me?" He sounded snide and angry. Both of his fists were engulfed in fire. "By the way, Kaki, yesterday I believe you had a strange event occur, didn't you?"
Just the Kaki's memory flooded into her head.
Two figures sat in a small cabin. There was a small fire dancing in the delicate looking fire place. The only things in the small living space were two make shift beds, a home made dresser and a small tea table.
Rokujou and Kaki were the two people seated in the cabin. They were much younger. "Why can't I be outside, Rokujou? I want to play." Kaki was pouting, hugging her knees to her chest.
"Listen to me, Kaki, you can't ever stay out in plain sight when the sun is at the top of the sky," he looked serious and stressed.
"At the…top of the sky?" Kaki asked tilting her head to the side. Her young, innocent eyes showed signs of confusion.
"Yes. When the sun is directly above, you can't be in plain view." The memory soon faded away and Kaki was once again aware of where she was. She looked at Rokujou with a look of sheer confusion.
"You know about what happened yesterday. When I was small, you told me never to stay outside at the time of day when the sun was directly above. Why is that? I feel that there is something you didn't tell me back then."
Rokujou's face got flushed with frustration. "Shut up, Kaki. I am in no mood to listen to your questions." He wasn't in a fighting stance this time. He looked sad. Kaki couldn't understand why.
"Kaki, do you want to know about the curse?"
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