Sakura Beifong

Explain

Hey hey hey my dear viewers, hope ya all will enjoy the next chapter! Enjoy!

...

Normal pov

Two hours had passed since Zuko and Jet went into the woods, and Sakura was still feeling a bit on edge, but the distraction of talking to the gang had help lessen a little bit of the tension she was feeling. The soft rustling of leaves and distant chirping of birds served as the only backdrop to their quiet discussions, Sakura sat with her knees crossed, picking at a stick and doodled on the ground, and her eyes flicked toward the trees every so often, worry etched into her features. The others seemed to notice how worried she looked, and Katara spoke.

"Sakura, please don't worry, I am sure they are almost done with their conflicts"

"Maybe they are brawling it out."

“Toph!”

“What? I’m just saying, as what you all told me before back at Ba Sing Se, Jet hates fire benders.”

“We don’t need that kind of negativity right now. They’ll be fine.”

Despite her words, Katara's tone wasn’t entirely convincing, but Sokka nodded before adding with a grimace that they have enough problems on their hands, and asked if they can just focused what they should do now. But before anyone could respond, the sound of footsteps crunching through the forest caught their attention. Everyone’s heads snapped up, and Sakura immediately stood, eyes scanning the treeline. Zuko and Jet emerged, their expressions surprisingly calm. There was no trace of the earlier tension between them; if anything, they seemed relaxed, almost… understanding. Jet carried a faint smirk, while Zuko’s face, though typically stoic, held a more subdued, thoughtful look. Sakura let out a breath of relief, muttering a "finally" under her breathe as she stood up and went to them.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, we talked it out, took a longer than expected."

Sakura turned her attention to Jet, who only shrugged before smirking as he patted Zuko on the back, showing that they were now 100% on good terms. He made comments on how Zuko as they sat down, and Zuko ate since be didn't eat anything after he woke, so he was pretty hungry. Toph, who tilted her head curiously, had spoke.

“So, what? Are you two best buddies now?”

“We've been friends since Ba Sing Se, though I admit that I did tried to report him and his uncle to the Dai Li agents, if not for Sakura, I don't know what would've happened to me, I wouldn't even be here.”

Zuko gave him a sidelong glance but didn’t say anything, instead focusing on the fire. Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder, her touch grounding him as he sighed softly and continues to eat.

“Well, that’s good, I guess."

Katara had said cautiously, she still didn’t seem entirely convinced of Jet’s change of heart but decided not to push the issue. She was still mad at what Jet did, and she didn't immediately noticed him yesterday since she was so conentrated on Aang. It was only then this morning she noticed him, and was about to have a huge argument about him being here. Sokka luckily had intervened and had explained everything.

“Now that we’re all here, we need to figure out our next move.”

The group settled in, forming a loose circle around the fire. The Earth King, along with his bare who was laying next to him, had stared at Zuko while he just finished eating. He said nothing and listen as the others spoke, but just then Toph spoke.

"Before we start planning and everything, I have a question, something I bet everyone is dying to know."

"... And that would be?"

"Sakura, how did you even met Zuko and Iroh? Heck, how did you even managed to get Jet to NOT hate firebenders, even letting him befriend one?"

All attention was immediately turned to Sakura, who blinked in surprise, Zuko, who had stiffen a bit, and Jet, who only rubbed the back of his head head, flustered. It only took a moment for Sakura to take a deep breath as she began to tell her tale. Everyone listened as Sakura began to explain, and after she had finished her story, they had looked amazed and in awe.

"Gotta say, that was some adventure."

"Yeah, it was rather crazy."

"Okay, now that we have the curiousity out of the way, we should discuss what we will do. Ba Sing Se is a lost cause. We barely made it out alive, and with the Dai Li and Azula running things, it’s too dangerous to go back.”

“But we can’t just leave it like that. What about the people? They’re counting on us to help.”

“I know, but we’re not ready to take on the Fire Nation like this. That's why we need to focus on our current plan, we have to wait until the black sun.”

"Black Sun?"

Everyone, except for Toph who keeps looking down on the ground, turned to Jet, Sakura and Zuko, seeing the confused look on their face, and they wanted to mentally slap themselves for forgetting that they don't inform them about this, well at least for Sakura and Jet since Zuko was still unconscious last night. Sokka cleared his thought and spoke.

"Okay so in a few weeks, we will have a eclipse, as we called the Black Sun, it will completely block all fire benders from using their magic, but it's limited, it will last 8 minutes."

Zuko blinked in surprise, first time he heard that firebenders losses their bending during a eclipse, Sakura was intrigued, and Jet had looked very interested. Sokka began to explain what they had originally planned after finding this information in a underground library burried in the desert, that was before they lost Appa to the sand benders. Zuko was quiet for a bit, deep in thought before he began to spoke

"... I see, so in a few weeks you guys are going to invade the Fire Nation..."

"Well... yeah, it's when we decided to finally end the 100 year war."

"..."

Everyone was looking at Zuko, not knowing how they should speak at the lack of reaction he was showing, and they were talking about raiding his nation. Sakura had a worried look on her face, and was about to open her mouth and talk, until she, along with Toph, had felt a vibration as they sensed company coming in.

"Guys we've got company heading our way."

"Yeah, a group of people running our way."

Everyone immediately jumped up and readied for a fight, but Katara had went directly to Aang's tent, prepared to protect him. A the bushes were making rustling sounds, and two figures stepped out, but said figures stepped out had made Sokka's jaw drop before he yell out.

"Bato, Dad!?"

...

And I am done, sorry I was stuck with this chapter, but I finally managed to finish it, even if it's a bit short. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!