Bodyguard of Azula by Deus Swiftblade

Chapter 21: Culture Clash and Visits

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Bijū/spirit talking"

"Bijū/spirit thinking"

(Location: Royal Palace)

Zuko tossed and turned, trying to sleep. Realizing he couldn't sleep because of one single thing, he got out of the bed and grabbed a heavy cloak. He walked out of his room and down the hall, making sure that no one saw him. He left both the palace and the city, climbing over the rim. Once he was over, he walked the path to the Royal Prison, reaching it while it was still dark. He stopped and looked up at the prison itself. A guard walking on the balcony saw him. "Who's there?" He called, only seeing a cloaked and hooded person who walked away. Taking a last glance at the person, he resumed his watch.

(Location: Team Avatar)

A cloud flew through the air, flying over a couple of islands. "I think I see a cave below." Aang's voice came from within the cloud as it descended to the largest island there.

"Sssh! Keep quiet!" Sokka's voice ordered. The cloud floated down next to the cave and then dispersed, revealing Appa and his passengers. Sokka leapt down from the saddle, Akela alongside him. The wolf raised his head and sniffed the air. He did that for a few seconds before shaking his head at Sokka. He looked at the others. "Great job with the cloud disguise, but next time, let's disguise as the kind of cloud that knows how to keep its mouth shut." He told them all.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want a bird to hear us chattering there and turn us in." Toph remarked with the barest amount of sarcasm in her voice as the rest of the team got off of Appa.

"We're in enemy territory, Toph. If we're not careful, someone will take notice of us." He pointed out to her.

"Sokka, would you stop being paranoid?" Katara asked her brother with slight exasperation in her voice.

He looked her straight in the eye. "The last time you told me to stop being paranoid, I did and we let the Fire Nation walk into Ba Sing Se and take it right under our noses." Both Katara and Aang flinched, as his words had smacked them in the face.

"...Maybe we should get into the cave." Toph suggested, hoping to move past the awkward feeling in the air.

They all nodded in agreement and walked into the cave, seeing that it was big enough and roomy enough to bring in Appa. "Well, this is it." Sokka announced. "We're going to be living like this for a while, just going from one cave to the next."

"We don't need to become cave people." Katara pointed out. "What we need is some new clothes."

"Yeah, blending in is better than hiding out." Aang agreed with the resident Waterbender. "If we get Fire Nation disguises, we'll be just as safe as we would be hiding in a cave." No one would look for them if they looked like they came from the Fire Nation.

"Plus, they have real food out there." Toph pointed out from where she sat. "Does anyone want to sit in the dirt and eat cave hoppers?" She slammed her hand against the wall, making cave hoppers jump out of the wall. Momo snatched one and ate it before looking at the others. Akela looked at the lemur with slight disgust.

"Alright, let's get some new clothes." Sokka declared.

They eventually found clothes that were hanging out to dry outside a house that was right by a waterfall. "I don't know about this." Aang said as they crouched behind a rock wall near the house. "These clothes belong to somebody." It felt wrong to do this.