Changing Tides

Chapter 5; "Tree climbing race?"

        Waking up in the forest was refreshing. I breathed in the clean air that sat all around us and stood up with a satisfying stretch. Haku was still asleep as was Kakuro, but Kakuro wouldn't be asleep long seeing as he would hear me. I stood and began rolling up my sleeping bag and putting it away on Kakuro's saddle. I put the burning coals of fire out with some waterbending and all in all cleaned up the whole campsite.

        I finished with a sigh and waited for my brother to wake. Maybe I should try firebending?

        I grabbed the scroll and snuck off to a clearing by a river, just in case I had an accident and needed to put out the flame quickly. I rolled out the scroll and examined it. The second move looked easy but the first move I had yet to accomplish. First move it is.

        I stood in a firebending ready stance and focused on blasting fire out of my fist. I punched forward and a small flame shot out but it didn't last for more then a second. I decided to try my own move. It may have already been done but right now all I knew is that I came up with it.

        I did a front flip and extended both my hands forward into fist as I was crouched with my knees tucked to my chest, but my feet planted firmly on the ground. It shot out two long and think flames that licked a bush. It burst into flames and I scurried quickly to waterbending. I put out the flame quickly and breathed a sigh of relief.

        "Are you the avatar?" I heard an all too familiar voice speak behind me.

        "No, are you an idiot?" I said turning to face a smirking Gansu.

        "No, how are you bending two elements?" he said with a raised brow, but the smirk had still rested. I wanted to punch it clean off his face.

        "I don't know, do you have a death wish?" I sneered to the idiot boy.

        "Sometimes," he replied cockily.

        "Stop following my brother and I." I hissed finally.

        "Oh good, he's your brother at first I thought I had competition. I thought he was a dude who won you over." he said still with the idiot smirk.

        I was at first shocked because how could he think someone would actually win me over. No one has ever had a competition over me. Not even one male has told me he had the slightest feelings for me. No one ever liked me. I was ugly as a matter of factually. I don't even know why he would think that.

        "A loss of words? I guess I do that to the ladies." he said with more of a smile then a smirk.

        "Not a loss of words. I am simply thinking about-, uh, stupid! Yes, stupid. I was think about how stupid you could be for thinking you had competition." I said getting more confident after my stumble of words. I crossed my hands over my chest and watched his every move.

        "So you think I don't have any competition? Good that means I'm in the lead." he said with a quick wink. I rolled my eyes at him at his lame attempt.

        "Please, your not even in the game." I said smiling. I turned away and began walking across the river which turned to ice at each step I took. I crossed the wide river and began walking back to my brother on the opposite side of the lake. I could fish while I walked too.

        "Come on sweetie." he said running on the ice with his hands out in confusion.

        "Sweetie?" I said turning. I kept my arms crossed as I watched him. He rested the smirk on his lips once more. With a lot of concentration I took the ice beneath him and turned it back to water. He fell  in with a large splash. Before he could surface I took one leap and dove into the water. I began swimming underneath with a small oxygen bubble around my head. I walked on the bottom of the river as I bent the water around my head.

        I thought I was far enough so I surfaced and climbed on the shore. I took the water from my clothes and replaced it back into the river and soon found my way back to camp where Haku was building a new fire.

        "Oh good," he said turning around and the sound of me. "You're back. I hope you brought fish because with a fresh fish on this fire would be amazing!" he said turning back around and working on getting it lit. I chuckled nervously and turned and slipped into the edge by the water.

        At almost lightning speed, I waterbent six fish out of the river and laid them next to my brother. He smiled up at me and then turned back to the fire.

        "Let me take care of that." I said with a smirk. He chuckled and raised his hands in surrender and stood up.

        "Might want to step back though." I said with a chuckle. Kakuro and him went behind a tree and I stepped back. I did my front flip and shot the large flames from my hands. I stood straight and smiled down and my busy fire but when I went to brush my hands I found that I had a flame lit on my right palm. 

        I sat down and shuffled it back and forth on each palm as my brother watched in aw. I pulled the fire in a long string with out stretched arms and pulled it back to two flames now sitting on each palm. I juggled the two with a smile and a laugh. Then I clapped my hands and the fire shot out in front of me and disappeared.

        "Whoa," Haku said with a smile.

        "I know right." I said with a laugh. After I got the fire, it just seemed to come so natural to me. I felt power surge through me as it licked my hands but not in pain but happiness. Getting it started was the hard part and that should really be the easiest.

        "I was thinking we could have a spar and then we could try to climb some of the trees." my brother said after a long silence of us eating. I nodded eagerly and quickly finished my fish. I wasn't too hungry so I just had a few bites. I tossed the remaining fish in the river as did Haku and then began to ready my stance.

        I stretched first; one to let my stomach settle and two because it was good. Haku copied my stretches and soon enough we were warmed up.

        We both took our stances and began with simple tossing each other a water ball but I got bored with that. Little did Haku know that I worked on a move that he hasn't yet discovered. Why? Well, I made it up.

        I shot a wall of water at him from the river and while he was distracted I ran after the wall. When he finally parted it I was right there with a foot in his face. He stumbled back but quickly recovered. He shot ice daggers at me skillfully but I easily avoid everyone. I was more flexible then his so it was easier. I slashed water in a circle around him but froze it as I skated closer to him. I shot globs of water at him from all angles as I surrounded him. He avoided them all but when I wasn't paying attention he unfroze the water I skidded on and turned the dirt below me to mud.

        I flew forward into the mud and looked up at my laughing brother. I glared daggers at him as I stood. I took a mound of water and lifted it above my head. I splashed it down on him with much force. As he recovered I pushed him face first in the mud. Now he was covered in mud and it was my turn to laugh; although, I was sort of bummed because I couldn't use my special move. Guess I will have to save it for a different spar.

        We began cleaning up our sparring mess while Kakuro played in the river. Haku and I stripped down to our first layer clothing which mine consisted of a bra, underwear, leggings that went to my knees, and a half wrap that covered my chest. I chuckled and put on my warm outfit seeing as it was getting warm. Then I began washing our clothes in the stream, well, washing meant laying the clothes against rocks and scrubbing them with bending.

        When I finished I puled the water from them and packed them up in replacement of our current clothes.

        "Tree climbing race?" Haku said with a playful glint.

        "You're on." I said with a sly smirk. This was going to be fun! Even though I was upset about the mud I quickly got over that so a race would be fun. Haku and I were going to climb to the top of a random tree. The first one to the top wins. Oh he was so on.