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chapter x

Word Count: 2,294 words

Chapter X: 晴天の霹靂

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"Hey, where am I?"

Natsuko was still asleep when she accidentally opened her mind to her dreams which meant she was about to see another half of hers. She was trying to get to Aang and with all the waking up and sleeping again in a cycle made her head hurt just to get to the small bald monk. She forgot about the voice but didn't know who it was and from all the thousands of them it was hard to keep track of them by sound except this sounded like a small boy, "Natsuko?"

She turned around and saw Aang who was his first time meeting her in a dream, hugging him and he returned the hug before scratching his head in confusion as to what is happening, "How come you're in my dream?"

And she explained to him, he established a connection with his past life which meant that he was is now also able to contact her through dreams and the dangers they might be in.

"I've been trying to contact you now and it's daylight soon. But, what did you do today? Well, not today but yesterday before you went to sleep? Did you do anything really bad?"

"Not that I know of like bad bad." Aang paused for awhile, "Is stealing bad?"

"If you did it to pirates then it is a problem." Aang flashed one of the those toothy grins he always had but was met by Natsuko's unamused face,"But not a bad problem."

"Don't test my patience, boy."

Natsuko shook her head and bid good luck and good bye to her other half as they both woke up from the dream, her mind closing to the Spirits and her eyes opening to the world she was in.

Aang woke up somewhere else, yawning and stretching and saw Sokka taking out the things inside the bag asking him what happened before even comprehending that he was pulled by his arms and was captured by the same pirates they got the scroll from. They were taken towards the edge of the waters where they saw Katara and Zuko who had the scroll in his hands.

"Give me the boy."

"You give us the scroll."

"Where's Natsuko?"

Everybody who was present was taken aback by Aang who mentioned the name of the girl who was kept inside Zuko's ship. Natsuko was still trying to get away from the soldiers who had to lock her inside the cabin as per Prince Zuko's order which, in order, was to not let her out of the ship and to not touch her or harm her any other way. It seemed like a lot of time had passed ever since she admitted defeat for the meantime until she tested her patience, "Let me out!"

"Miss, Prince Zuko told us to not let you leave the ship until they come back."

"Where are they?"

The sound of shouts of frustration was very familiar to the ears who had to spend a fair amount of time in this ship, followed by vocal sad noises that were not as loud as the other. She then got out and saw Zuko and uncle as well as a few more men, she was confused at what happened and where they went, especially since they left her behind and all, "She was trying to escape, Prince Zuko."

"Young summer child, I lost my lotus tile." Natsuko looked at Iroh, more confused than a while ago, "Yes, uncle, that's why we were at a bargain yesterday."

"No, I found my lotus tile but Prince Zuko threw it away." she glared at Zuko, who already ordered to head for another bargain to find for another lotus tile as soon as possible, much to the satisfaction of Iroh who would be able to browse for more than just a tile.