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Fruits of Passion

Chapter 1: Don't eat that

It was a normal morning in the forest. And morning was a time for peace, quiet, and sleep. But as everything the Avatar and his friends did, it was far from normal. In the small clearing that had served as their campsite, everything was far from peaceful and quiet, and no one was sleeping; except for Sokka.

Most of the noise came from the airbender scurrying around. Moving back and forth , picking up bags and packs, tossing them up to Katara, who was sitting on Appa waiting to catch them. They checked off each item as they loaded them one by one onto Appa's saddle. "Sleeping bags" Aang said tossing them up to Katara. "Check" she replied.

"Canteens"

"Check"

"Map"

"Check"

"Snacks"

"Check"

"Well I think that's it, you're all set for your big trip" Aang said, throwing the last pack onto Appa. About a week ago, Katara and Sokka got a letter from their Dad asking them to meet him on whale tail island, he didn't specify why though. Aang remembered the day the letter came; no matter how hard he tried to forget.

Flashback

It was noon and the sun was at it's peak, casting golden rays of light on the Avatar's campsite. Aang was busy relaxing under the shade of a giant leechy tree, watching the clouds go by, occasionally eating a leechy nut that fell from it's branches.

Toph and Katara were out training alone today. After all, even thought they were masters at bending, they still needed to train once in a while to keep their skills sharp. So Aang had been left the day to relax and do what ever he wanted. A rare event, and he planned to enjoy every second of it.

He sat under the tree watching the clouds, listening to the rhythmic sounds of Sokka sharpening his boomerang. The young monk could feel the weight of his eyelids become heavier with each passing second. He almost fell asleep to, when he heard a sharp piercing cry. He sat upright, startled by the sudden shrill noise. When it didn't come again, he settled back down thinking he must of imagined it. He laid down; keen to start that nap he was working on.

Just then the cry came again, louder this time. He stood up this time, dusting the dirt off his clothes. The airbender glanced at Sokka who had stopped sharpening his boomerang, apparently he heard it too. "Sokka ; do you hear that?" the bald monk questioned. Sokka nodded, also standing up gripping his boomerang tightly.

The cry came once more, louder and closer than ever. Aang looked around in all directions, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from. Sokka spoke up, "Aang, lets get back to back, so it can't sneak up onus" he yelled. Aang nodded in agreement; picking up his staff he ran over to Sokka and pressed his back against the warriors.

The cry again, Sokka raised his boomerang, and Aang gripped his staff. The two companions kept alert, looking for any sign of movement or the source of the strange noise. Seconds passed like minutes, but still they kept their guard up, ready for any fire nation ambush, the wrath of a spirit animal, or anything else.

This tension was unbearable, it had only been a few minutes but already, sweat began to pour from both their foreheads. It was like a weight was attached to them; becoming heavier with each passing second.

Just then something light and feathery landed on the young avatar's head. Surprised by the sudden feathery softness, Aang yelped and proceeded to run in circles screaming "GET IT OFF!, GET IT OFF!, GET IT OFF!". "Aang stop moving" Sokka shouted trying to calm his friend down enough, so he could grab the feathery object.

And after several minutes of more running and screaming "GET IT OFF", Aang had finally calmed down enough for Sokka to pluck the bird that attached itself to Aang's head. Once Sokka got a good look at the bird, he instantly recognized it as a Polar Pigeon by it's white feathers flecked with blue. "Sokka, what is that?" Aang questioned again. "It's a Polar Pigeon" he replied, "Water tribe warriors use them to relay messages to each other. He removed the piece of parchment tied to the birds leg.

"Whose it from?" the Avatar asked curiously. "Let's find out" Sokka replied excitedly. He tore the seal from the letter and silently began reading the message. After a few seconds of silence, a wide smile began to appear of the water tribe warriors face. "It's from our dad" he exclaimed.

"He says he wants to meet me and Katara at whale tail island; this is so cool, I gotta tell Katara". Clutching the letter, Sokka ran full speed to the stream where his sister trained, screaming her name, leaving a dust cloud in his wake.

End Flashback

Ever since then, they've been flying south to whale tail island, for Sokka and Katara to meet with their father. And now they had reached the base of the earth nation. The plan was to have Appa fly Sokka and Katara to whale tail island to see their father. Aang and Toph were to wait at the campsite, until they returned a week later.

Aang didn't mind waiting at all, and was glad that his friends would finally be reunited with their father. And Toph was happy, so long as there was a good earthbending spot nearby. As they loaded the last of Sokka and Katara's gear, Katara jumped down from Appa's back and dusted her hands together.

"Well that's all of it" she said happily. "Almost all of it" Aang corrected her, pointing toward the sleeping Sokka. Katara frowned at her brother, slightly irked that he had done nothing to help when he was the one so excited to see their dad. She stomped over to where her brother slept, an evil smile upon her face. Taking her trusty water pouch, she quietly opened her pouch, and emptied it's contents all over Sokka's face.

But before he could completely wake up, she quickly bended the water back into her pouch. Sokka bolted upright in his sleeping bag, wiping all the excess water from his face, grumbling angrily. "Hey, why am I all wet, did it rain or something?" he shouted. "Yes; yes it did" his sister lied, suppressed her laughter. "Now get ready, we're leaving soon" she added, giving her brother's sleeping a swift kick; with him still in it.

Sokka looked up into the sky not seeing any rain clouds; he narrowed his eyes at his little sister who was whistling innocently. Grudgingly he freed himself from his now wet sleeping bag, and began to pack up all his stuff. After Sokka had completed loading all his gear onto Appa, he crawled on Appa's head calling 'shotgun' as he took the reigns.

"Come on, let's go" he called. Katara turned to her airbending friend, "See you in a week" she said giving him a big hug. "See ya" he replied, returning her giant hug. Once they separated, Aang airbended Katara up to Appa's saddle. "See ya Sokka" Aang said giving the warrior a playful salute, Sokka smirked and returned the salute.

"Wait; where's Toph?" Katara asked, looking for her earthbending gal pal. "I think she's training" Aang answered. "This early?" she asked with a confused look. Aang shrugged, "You know Toph" he said.

"Okay then; now don't forget", 'Oh, boy' Aang thought sadly, 'here we go'. Also since yesterday, Katara had taken the liberty of reminding him and Toph of chores they had to do, or where something was kept. This would be fine, if she didn't remind them every five seconds.

"Remember to practice your waterbending"

"I will"

"And I made dinner in advance, it's in the brown pack"

"I know"

"And incase you or Toph tear your clothes, there's a needle in thread in the bag next to Toph's"

"I know"

"And remember to"

"Appa, Yip Yip"

With a loud roar, the sky bison swished it's massive tail and took off into the sky. As Appa flew higher, Katara called out one last thing. "Take care, and tell Toph I said bye for me". And the bison was out of sight, lost in the clouds. "Well" Aang said to himself, wondering what to do with the rest of the day. "Guess I'll do what Katara said", walking to the nearest stream to practice his waterbending.

Several hours later

The canyon shook, as though hit with a large earthquake, but in reality the shaking was caused by a small girl. That small girl was Toph Bei Fong, the worlds greatest earthbender. Rocks and dirt flew in every direction, as Toph practiced several powerful punches and kicks.

She had been training since morning, and it was being to takes it's toll on the young bender. Toph panted slightly as sweat traveled down her forehead, down her sightless but focused eyes. But that didn't stop her, "Come on Toph, keep it up" she told herself, striking the rocks with the last of her strength. She continued for several minutes, shaking the ground, and smashing rocks, pretending to fight off several invisible opponents.

As the last rock smashed into the ground, Toph lowered her hands to rest them on her knees, breathing hard, trying to catch her breath. The earthbender noticed it wasn't as hot as it was earlier, and wondered just how long she had been in that canyon, she always lost track of time when training.

Straightening up, Toph faced north and felt for the suns rays on he r body. Most people could tell time by looking at the position of the sun. But since Toph couldn't see the sun, she developed her own way of telling time. By facing north and feeling for the heat of the sun she could tell where it was, by where it's rays were most concentrated. When the sun was on top of her head, she knew it was noon. And when it was at her waist, she knew it was sunset.

Toph inhaled deeply, as she concentrated on locating the sun's heat on her body. Soon she felt most of it's rays collected at her waist, it was sunset, another hour and it would be dark. She had spent the entire day training, not a bad way to spend the day in her opinion. "Ah, nothing like a good sweat" she said to herself, wiping some perspiration from her brow.

"Better get back, before Twinkle-toes freaks out and tries to find me in the dark, and gets stuck in thorn bush again. Toph began to climb the rock path, and started to trek through the forest, back to the campsite.

She had been walking no more than a few minutes, when she stopped at the sound of her stomach growling. The earthbender frowned, and clutched her rumbling stomach, "Be quiet, we'll eat soon enough" she told her whining stomach. Her empty tummy responded, with a loud gurgling sound.

She wasn't surprised she was hungry, she had been training since dawn and all she had for breakfast were some leechy nuts she wiped from Aangs bag; with the help from Momo of course. She continued to make her way back to camp. But her stomach was relentless in it's grumbling, demanding to be fed immediately. "Fine, Fine" she told get empty belly.

Toph planted her feet firmly into the dirt, taking a deep breath and raising her foot. She brought it crashing back down to the earth, the earthbender waited as she felt vibrations spread out in every direction. Seconds later with the return of her vibrations, she recognized the vibrations of a berry bush. "Bingo" she said, walking over to the berry bush. She reached in the bush and plucked a particularly fat berry.

She popped it into her mouth and bit down; she paused for a moment as the juices touched her tongue. Toph face scrunched up for a second before she spat out the berry. "Bleh...sour" she said spitting out the taste of sour berries. 'Guess their not in season' she thought, as she wiped the last bit of sour juice from her mouth. Her stomach began to growl again, louder this time.

She sighed in frustration, 'There's got to something to eat around here' she thought. There had to be something anything; Toph was too hungry to care what it was, so long as it was edible. She began looking for something else to eat, with her special sight. But all she could find were trees and rocks, nothing to eat at all. The earthbender would walk in a certain direction, and send out vibrations looking for a fruit or nut bearing plant. But nothing turned up.

The blind girl was about to give up, but as she sent out the last of her vibrations, one of her farthest reaching vibrations caught her attention. The vibrations ran over a tree she was not familiar with. Curious to see this strange new tree, Toph crept closer to the strange tree. The blind earthbender reached the trunk, she stomped her foot into the ground once more. The invisible waves wrapped themselves around the trunk, and spread themselves up and down the tree.

The roots Toph noticed were very deep. The vibrations went down several feet as they followed the roots, it must have been an old tree. The rest of the vibrations traveled upward, then separated as they followed every branch, twig, and leaf the tree had to offer. The branches stuck out in every direction, before hanging down like a willow tree. 'What a weird tree' Toph thought, never had she encountered a tree like this before.

She placed her palm against the trunk, and was surprised to see how smooth it was. The bark was very smooth, not like the rough skin of most trees. A sudden thought crossed her mind. "I wonder?" she said aloud, it couldn't hurt to try. Standing on her tip toes, Toph reached dup and felt around for a fruit or a nut of some kind. Her blind eyes widened as she felt her hand brush against something; a fruit!.

She began to pull, but the stubborn fruit refused to detach itself from it's tree. "Come on, come on" she coaxed, trying to free the fruit from it's branch. Toph then held on with two hands, and pulled as hard as she could.

Finally with a loud snap, the fruit broke off from it's leafy branch. It was so sudden that Toph wasn't prepared for the fruit to give. As a result, she stumbled back a few feet before tripping over a root, and falling backwards and landing on her butt. 'Ugh... that wasn't fun" Toph groaned sitting up, the fruit still in hand. Standing up, the earthbender used one hand to dust the dirt of her sore backside. The other held the strange fruit she had plucked from the equally strange tree.

Now being able to use both hands, Toph ran her fingers across the smooth surface of the unusual fruit. "It's like silk" she said caressing one of the sides, rolling over in her hands. It was even smoother than the bark of the tree. It was about the size of her fist she noticed, and was in a perfect sphere. But what Toph couldn't get over was how smooth and soft it was. In her old rich lifestyle, Toph had grown being surrounded by soft, smooth ,and fluffy things. This made all those things feel like sand paper.

However; no matter how soft it was, and no matter how hungry she was; Toph wasn't about to eat some weird fruit she just found in the forest. She wasn't Sokka. She at least has to test it first. Toph brought the spherical fruit to her nose; she didn't smell anything unusual. The earthbender dug her nails into the soft flesh of this new fruit. Warm juices instantly ran down her finger, past her hands to her wrist. She was surprised at how much juice it held.

She smelled it again; this time her nose met with a pungent sweet aroma that Toph liked a lot. Her curiosity growing, Toph licked some juice off her hands. It tasted just as sweet as it smelled; and it was warm, much warmer than it should have been, but Toph shrugged it off. Finally satisfied that the fruit was in season and not poisonous, Toph sank her teeth into the delectable fruit.

Tearing off a large chunk, she felt the sweet juice dance across her tongue, as she slowly savored it's wonderful taste. After devouring the first one in a matter of seconds, Toph began to feel strange.

A warm feeling that startled in her tummy; it didn't hurt or anything, it just felt funny. That warm feeling rapidly spread throughout her body, all the way to her finger and toes. Toph could feel the warm feeling reach her face, and her cheeks started to turn a deep rosy pink. Her head felt woozy for a moment and she thought she was going to pass out for a minute or two, but it soon passed. Instead the dizzy feeling in her head was replaced by the warm sensation, that had spread to the rest of her body.

Suddenly Toph was attacked by a massive hunger. Turning back to the tree, the earthbender frantically began to tear off more fruit. She was so hungry that she startled to pull off entire branches and eating the fruit right off the limb. Toph only stopped after consuming six or seven of the tasty fruits. By the time she was done, the ground was littered wither the fruit remains, along with several torn off branches and leaves.

The stuffed earthbender belched loudly and patted her full belly. All that fruit had only increased the warm sensation in her head, and her cheeks turned even pinker, if that was at all possible. "Well, I better get back to Aang" she said. Toph giggled as her warm fuzzy thoughts drifted to the young airbender. She giggled again as she suddenly realized just how cute and adorable the young bender was. "Aang" she said again as a giddy smile appeared on her face. "I'm on my way cutie"she said in a sing- song voice, as Toph skipped merrily back to camp to find Aang.

Chapter: 1 finished at 1:32 P.M.