Avatar: The Fifth Element

10. Boys and Girls

Sokka watched Zuko suspiciously as the group gathered in Aang and Katara's room in the inn for breakfast.

"You seem happier than usual, it's weird," Sokka mused, raising one eyebrow at Zuko.

"Yeah, and you did come back pretty late last night," Katara added.

"Hahaha! You were with that girl!" Toph exclaimed, pointing and laughing.

Zuko just rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and gave a small nod.

"That's great, Zuko! But we should go check if that thing is still outside the tea shop!" Aang said, already almost out the door. The others quickly followed as Aang practically ran the whole way there.

"It's gone! It's gone!" he shouted, relieved that Osamu wouldn't be coming to get mad at him again.

"Oh thank god," Sokka said, Katara and Toph smiled in approval.

"Zuko, isn't that good news?" Katara asked, but Zuko wasn't paying attention to them. His focus was on Rumi, who was walking hand-in-hand with Kaito. Chou was there as well, holding hands with some Water Tribe girl who resembled Kaito a lot. Sokka followed Zuko's gaze and saw what he was looking at.

"What's the big deal?" Sokka asked nonchalantly.

"Him! That's the big deal! That's what I have to compete with!" Zuko's voice cracked hysterically as he threw a hand in Kaito's direction.

"Hey hey hey, I'm sure it'll be fine. It's supposed to be what's inside that counts, right?" Sokka tried to be encouraging, but naturally, that wouldn't help Zuko, especially with his newfound insecurities, not to mention the fact that most of what came out of Sokka's mouth was sarcasm.

"Sure, that's what it should be, but it's not, and look at her," Zuko sighed. "She's beau—"

"Hot, attractive, perfect? Yeah, I know," Sokka cut in, "but you can't let that guy get you down! You're no quitter!" Sokka cheered, resembling that of a sports coach.

"What am I supposed to do then?!" Zuko began getting a little heated.

"I think what you need right now is a guys night out, we can go hunting, or whatever there is to do here," Sokka suggested. "Aang! We're doing a guys night!"

"Sounds fun! What are we doing?" Aang asked with his usual cheeky grin.

"Uh, I didn't think that far ahead," Sokka admitted. He thought about fetching his hunting idea to Aang, but he knew Aang wouldn't agree to that. Aang and Zuko rolled their eyes at each other, entertained by Sokka.

"I got it!" Sokka exclaimed, "We could pack some food, go for a hike into the woods and swim in the lake and tell scary stories!"

"The woods that you were so scared of before?" Zuko asked menacingly.

"Eh, scary shmary, it'll be fine," Sokka said flicking his wrist.

Aang shrugged, "Sure, sounds good to me!"

As the three boys went off, Katara and Toph were left dumbfounded.

"What just happened?" Toph asked.

"I think this is my brothers way of trying to make Zuko feel better. For his sake, I hope it works."

"Me too, I don't like the return of high temper Zuko," Toph remarked.

"Please, it's not like high temper Zuko ever left." Both girls started laughing, and then Katara had an idea, "Hey, if they're doing a guys night then we could do a girls night. We could invite Rumi too, she'd know what there is to do around here."

"You know I'm not really crazy about that kinda stuff, but okay, I've got nothin' better to do."

***

"Let's face it, Sokka, there's no good place to get down into the water from the forest. It's too low from the ground," Aang said.

"Arghh," Sokka yelled, "This was my big plan to save Zuko from his heartbreak!"

"I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm heartbroken," Zuko muttered under his breath.

"Let's just set up camp right here, it's getting dark and I'm starving!" Aang proposed.

"Alright, alright," Sokka said as he began unpacking the food and Zuko lit a fire.

After several not-very-scary stories, the boys finished their food, and Sokka felt the need to keep the conversation going. This was, after all, his big idea.

"So Zuko, you like Rumi, huh?" Sokka smirked.

Zuko smacked his face into his palm in embarrassment, "I guess."

"You know she's with Kaito, right?" Aang asked.

"No, Aang! He didn't know!" Sokka said sarcastically.

"Sheesh, sorry," Aang's tone got quieter, but he quickly piped back up, "If you like her, you should tell her!"

"It's not that easy, Aang. It wasn't easy for you to tell Katara, and she even liked you back! Rumi doesn't think of me like that..."

"Well, how do you know that?" Aang prodded.

"She's with freaking Kaito!" Zuko exploded, "And there's nothing I can do about it!"

"You know, you could show her that he's not right for her, that you're better," Sokka urged.

"But I'm not..." Zuko scoffed.

Sokka just shrugged, "Y'know, Aang and I could talk to her, we could talk about how great you are and stuff," he said in a bored tone.

"Hmm, that might work," Aang pondered, "Yeah, I'll do it!"

"Come on," Sokka got up, "Let's go find her so I can get this over with, I wonder what the girls are up to anyways. Probably boring stuff."

***

"Okay, on the count of three, I'm gonna push off! Don't forget to steer with me!" Rumi ordered.

The three girls had sat themselves in a hollowed out log, perched at the top of a huge hill that let off into the river. Apparently, this was something Rumi and her friends did for fun, but Toph was starting to feel sick.

"One!

"Two!

"Three!"

Rumi pushed her foot against the ground, sending the log cascading down the huge hill. They picked up speed as they successfully steered and dodged every rock and bump and tree.

"This is amazing!" Katara yelled.

"This is terrifying!" Toph screamed in horror.

"This is hilarious!" Rumi laughed just as they got to the end of the hill, right where the land turned up.

The three were sending soaring into the air just in time for the boys to see them, and then quickly came down and plummeted into the river.

When they emerged from the water, Katara and Rumi were laughing, while Toph looked absolutely petrified.

"I'm never doing that again!" she exclaimed, but still had a small smile on her face.

The boys just stared at them, eyes wide and mouths agape.

"Well," Rumi walked right up to the boys, "Looks like we had more fun than you three."

"Now I wish I had hung out with you guys," Aang said, disappointed.

Sokka quickly elbowed him in the side, "Hey, we still got work to do."

"Oh, right," Aang smiled goofily, "Rumi, do you think Sokka and I could talk to you for a bit? It's important."

"Uh, sure," she said skeptically.

As Rumi walked away with Sokka and Aang, she heard Zuko utter an "Oh no."