[ p a i n t ]- chapter EIGHT
Author: Emmay, lotusunset
Title: Paint, Chapter 8
Word Count: 3,970
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Mystery
Characters: Sokka/Azula
Summary: When lady fate brings Sokka and Azula together, he discovers Azula is keeping a secret she didn't even know she had.
Chapter Summary: Sokka gets drunk. Sokka starts a barfight. Sokka gets his ass kicked. Azula saves it, River Tam style. =D
Notes: I'm surprised it didn't take me eons to finish this chapter. Guess it was the extra time I have since I have to have surgery this week. >(
Sokka felt like an idiot. Probably because he was one. Honestly, what kind of moron would decide that kissing Azula was a good idea? It was slightly more than a miracle that he was still alive.
But that didn't really change the fact that he had liked the feeling of her lips against his. He hadn't just sort of liked it either, no. He really liked it.
Which was probably the number one reason he was a total, complete idiot right now. Wanting to kiss the former fire princess was one thing. Wanting to kiss her again and again was practically a death sentence.
He growled to himself, still sitting on the divan. He hadn't moved since Azula had snapped and left. He hadn't seen her around since either. Sokka was honestly surprised she wasn't furiously cleaning something. Perhaps she was just off plotting his imminent doom instead? That made sense. And it scared him a little. But she had kissed him back! Sokka knew she had! Then again, he had been hearing the voice of his dead wife in the back of his head lately. Maybe an over-active imagination was the culprit.
As much as he had enjoyed that, though, Sokka couldn't help but think he had just ruined his sort-of friendship with Azula. That upset him more than he ever thought it would. He was still getting used to thinking of her as a friend, (or something more than that?) let alone as enemies. He didn't want to be enemies with her again. There was just something about her that he knew he'd miss. It definitely wasn't her obsessive cleanliness, that was annoying. It couldn't be that she was normally rude, mean and awfully cynical towards him. And it wasn't that she appeared insanely dangerous, even without her firebending (though Sokka now really expected she had lied to him about that).
Sokka had a decent idea of what he'd miss, actually.
He liked to see the extremely rare moments when she'd let her guard down, when little things would remind him that she was still just a person, not that much different than him.
But that was cheesy. And stupid. Oh so very, very stupid.
Feeling a slight bit paranoid, Sokka decided he'd leave for a little and let things cool off. If she really was plotting his demise, Sokka didn't want to be around, just in case she decided to go through with her plans. Not to mention a few rounds of sake sounded really good right about now.
Armed with enough money to last a while, Sokka left, heading for the tavern. He didn't bother with looking for Azula and telling her where he'd be. He didn't want her to know.
Azula wanted to strangle him. She wanted to put a noose around his neck, hang him from a tree and bludgeon him to a messy, bloody pulp. What was he thinking?! He wasn't, that's what, and Azula thought that that stupid, idiotic moron really ought to face the consequences of his actions.
What in the universe would make him kiss her? Had he gone brain dead for a whole thirty seconds? Azula found that to be a somewhat reasonable explanation, actually. What worried her the most though, was that she had kissed him back. Before she realized what they were doing, of course. Then she bolted away and went to the other side of the house. Currently, she was in her room organizing the mess Sokka had made in her closet. It had been such a simple task and somehow he'd managed to screw it up. Imbecile. If Azula hadn't lost her faith in humanity years ago, she was certain Sokka would have made sure she lost it.
Azula placed a bunch of paintings in a precise order on the shelf. She wondered why her first thought had been to get away from him instead of just kick him out of the house altogether. She would have gone and done it now but she was afraid she'd end up killing him. It wasn't that she really cared if he was alive or not, she just didn't want to call the attention to herself. She knew he'd put up a long and noisy fight and Azula knew she wasn't exactly in the position to be getting away with murder anymore.
She sighed, closing her closet and sitting on the bed. The last time she had kissed anyone was ten years ago on Ember Island. Azula had barely remembered what it felt like. Kissing Sokka hadn't exactly been horrible but it hadn't been the best thing either. It still angered her, though. He didn't even ask! He was rude and stupid enough to just do it! Didn't he know who he was dealing with?
Yes, yes he did. Of course Sokka knew who he was dealing with. Yet he did it anyway.
This was all a little too dramatic for her. This kind of drama was almost worthy of the rich and royal courtesans in the Fire Nation. And even when Azula had been royalty, she hated all of that. Now it irritated her even more.
So she decided to get out of the house for a while. When she got back, she'd kick the idiot out. Unless she ended up being in a better mood. Which was highly unlikely.
She grabbed a shawl and draped it over her shoulders. The nights were starting to get a little chilly, at least they were to Azula. But to someone who grew up in a place where the temperature was always hot or hotter, anything else seemed cold. She grabbed her coin purse and dug around inside, picking out a couple silver pieces and a few copper ones. She hid them in her bodice. That way, if anyone tried to steal it, she'd have more of an excuse to tear them apart. Besides, where she was planning on going, she didn't need a small fortune anyway. Azula wasn't the type to get completely wasted.
Slamming the door behind her, Azula started walking into town. Her steps were brisk and purposeful, she wasn't wasting anytime. As she started to see the flickering lights in town, she realized she hadn't even seen Sokka around the house before she had left. Perhaps he had kicked himself out. That would have been lovely. Would have saved her the time and energy of doing it herself. But Azula doubted he was smart enough for that. She sighed as she walked into the tavern. She sat down at the bar and immediately ordered a drink.
While Sokka had left the house before Azula, he had decided to wander around aimlessly for a little while. Being outside helped him think a little clearer. Even then, though, he still had no idea what he was going to say to Azula the next time he saw her. Or if he'd even confront her again. He wanted to apologize but he knew he'd only make himself sound like a fool, so was it really worth it? But on the other hand, Azula already thought him to be one of those, so did it really even matter? And even if he did apologize, would she accept it? The pessimist in him said no. Not in a million years.
Sitting down on the edge of the fountain in the center of town, Sokka wondered if people had still been seeing that mysterious blue light. He figured they were, even though he hadn't heard anything about it lately. Sokka hadn't really been paying that much attention to the townspeople. Must have been a habit he picked up from Azula.
He closed his eyes and tried to relax a little bit, listening to the rhythm of the water behind him. It didn't really work. Getting a stupid, childish idea, Sokka pulled out a copper piece. He held it tightly in his hand.
"I wish I could make this right. Whatever that means," He thought to himself. Then he threw the coin into the water behind him. Slowly he stood and stretched a little. Then he headed into the nearest tavern. He had been in this place before, he remembered. It was busier than last time, however.
He scanned the bar and noticed one open seat next to a woman. Sokka didn't pay attention to who she was until he sat down.
"What are you doing here?" The oh-so-very familiar voice snapped and growled. Sokka bit his lips together and swallowed hard.
"Same think you're doing here," Sokka replied automatically, trying his hardest not to look at her. As he spoke, the bartender came over and Sokka ordered something to drink.
"You followed me here," Azula hissed, sipping at her drink with all the refinement of a seasoned royal.
"I had no idea you'd be here!" Sokka exclaimed as the bartender handed him his drink. Immediately he raised it to his lips and took a few hearty gulps of the strong liquid.
"You're lying," Azula snarled at him.
"No I'm not! When's the last time I ever lied to you, huh?" Sokka demanded.
"You're lying right now, you ignoramus," Azula replied flatly. Sokka took a few deep breaths and then chugged down the rest of his drink, using the time to think of something to say. It burned down his throat, but it felt so good right now. He slammed the glass down on the bar and threw enough money down for another drink. The bartender came around and filled Sokka's order. He stared at it longingly for a moment before he grabbed it and drank some more.
"Your silence means I'm right," Azula smirked, still daintily working on her first drink.
"You know what?" Sokka asked, leaning close enough to her that she could smell the alcohol on his breath.
"What?" Azula barked, leaning away from him.
"I think you're just angry because I kissed you and you liked it!" Sokka announced. The second the words left his mouth though, he regretted it. That was definitely not the right thing to say if he wanted to make things right. Azula was making that painfully obvious as pure, unadulterated fury started boiling up in her eyes. She gritted her teeth together, restraining herself.
"And if we weren't in a public place, I'd rip you to shreds," she threatened violently.
Sokka stared at her wordlessly for a long time. Then he gulped and turned away, focused on whatever was directly in front of him. He had an overwhelming urge to flee the premises. His life was in danger here with that wild woman sitting just inches away from him. But Sokka was stubborn and he wasn't about to let her get her way. He wanted to intoxicate himself with sweet, sweet alcohol. Her presence was not going to stop him. If she had a problem with him being there, then she could be the one to leave.
The former princess quickly downed the rest of her drink and started on another. She wasn't even going to acknowledge his existence anymore. Sokka of the Water Tribe was a dead man to her at the moment. So she turned a little on her stool and stared off in some random direction. She had been here first anyway. She wasn't going to leave and give him the satisfaction of knowing that maybe she had actually enjoyed that kiss. A little. Sort of.
She continued to brood on the subject until her third glass of plum wine was about half gone, about an hour or so later. Then she was interrupted by a small group of drunken men. As they approached her, they caught Sokka's attention as well. His senses were starting to dull from the copious amount of alcohol he had consumed, but he still recognized trouble when he saw it. Azula paid little attention to them until they actually addressed her.
"Hey, pretty lady!" One of them slurred, laughing. He wore a soldier's uniform.
"How 'bout we leave this place, hmm?," A different one continued, placing a hot, heavy hand on Azula's shoulder. She shrugged it off immediately and stared up at him with malice. Sokka felt a little...jealous. Didn't those morons see that she had been here with him? Sort of? They had been arguing (loudly, by the way) for at least five minutes! Not that it mattered because why should he feel jealous about some drunken idiots hitting on their doom?
"How 'bout you leave me alone before I break your neck, hmm?" Azula snapped. The other men in the group burst into hysterical laughter. The one she had turned down grumbled in angry disappointment. He moved as if he was going to grab Azula's arm and pull her to her feet but she had a different plan. She blocked his hand and pushed it away from her. Then she stood and poured the remainder of her drink on the man before pushing past him and heading towards the washroom.
Sokka watched with mild amusement. Of course she turned them down. They were ugly anyway!
"Ain't she somethin'?" The bartender said to Sokka. He nodded, "But I'm sure you know that, eh? You seem to actually know her."
"Yeah, I know 'er. But I don't like 'er. Most of the time," Sokka replied. The bartender chuckled.
"She your girlfriend?"
"No! What would ever give you that idea, she's insane!" Sokka protested quickly. Him? And Azula? Together? Like that? Preposterous!
Or was it? Even if she was crazy, Sokka seemed to like subconciously entertaining the idea of Azula being his.
"The way you looked at 'er. The way she looked at you when she didn't think you were lookin'," The bartender explained. Sokka looked down at his drink.
"Oh," was he really that obvious?
"Well, whatever she is to you, I'm just happy to see she isn't completely alone," The bartender continued, then moved on to fill a few orders. Sokka continued to look down into his drink, seeing the dark outlines of his reflection in the liquid. With his mind clouded by the alcohol, Sokka's thought process wasn't crystal. He didn't know what to think. So what if the bartender thought Azula was his girlfriend. So what if he made it kind of obvious that he kind of liked her in more than a friendly way. So what if the bartender thought she was making it obvious too, (even though Sokka assumed the man had just been saying that because at the moment, Sokka truly believed Azula wanted to kill him.)
Giving himself another headache, Sokka groaned and rubbed his temples. He looked at the empty bar seat beside him and sighed. He really screwed up this time, didn't he?
"Man! That girl was harsh!" One of the men from before exclaimed, laughing.
"Think that whore would have actually broke your neck?"
"I dunno," He replied, the others erupted in laughter again.
"If she tried and you couldn't fight her off, then you'd have deserved it!"
"Hey, you gotta admit, that bitch was scary as hell!"
"If we all teamed up, we coulda taken her. Bet she would have made a mighty fine struggle too. But that's what makes it fun," another chuckled. Without warning, a fist came from nowhere and smashed into his cheek.
"Don't talk about her like that," Sokka growled, standing in a fighting stance. The four men who had been talking about Azula turned and spread out, surrounding the Water Tribesman.
"We can talk about whatever the hell we want," The one Sokka had punched rubbed the side of his face said. Sokka watched the four of them closely, though with a drunken haze over his mind, Sokka's reflexes weren't exactly the best. (Honestly, he had lost count of how many drinks he had had after five. Or six. Something like that.)
"What's it to you, anyway? She yours or somethin'?"
"Why would anyone want that? She was kinda ugly anyway!"
That last comment riled Sokka's temper up even more. Azula wasn't ugly, she was far from it! Thinking he could easily take down all four of these guys, he punched another one right in the gut. This time, though, the group fought back. From behind, the soldier put Sokka in a choke hold. Sokka flipped the soldier over his head and slammed him on a table, breaking it.
"What the-" The men sitting at it exclaimed, standing up and figuring what was going on.
Before too long, most of the bar had erupted into a full-out brawl. All because Sokka couldn't keep his mouth shut and had decided it would be a good idea to defend Azula.
A pudgy man got up on a table and jumped down, body slamming the nearest victim. Who happened to be Sokka.
When Sokka recovered (slightly) from that attack, he stumbled to his feet, ready to defend himself again. He didn't notice the soldier coming from behind him, holding a bar stool high above his head. In a rather predictable move, he crashed it down on Sokka's head, effectively knocking him to the ground.
This didn't stop the fight though. Oh no. It went on for quite a while.
When Azula left the washroom, she heard the rowdy yells and various things breaking. She groaned as she walked back up the short hallway and saw the fight.
"Can't I leave for five minutes without all hell breaking loose?" She mumbled to herself, looking for Sokka. Not that she cared if he got hurt or anything. He deserved it. On cue, he slid out of the mess of men and stopped at her feet. His forehead was bleeding and he had blood trickling down from his lips.
"Hi, Azula," He slurred.
"You started this, didn't you?" She asked flatly.
"Maybe?"
"You are so pathetically useless," She sighed, watching the enormous pile in front of her, "You owe me," Azula spat as she stepped over him and let her shawl fall off her shoulders and to the ground. Sokka sat up and watched her, slightly confused. What was she doing?
His question was soon answered though.
Azula launched herself at the nearest unsuspecting man and took him down with no more than a blow to his side. As he fell, that got the attention of a few fighters, they turned towards her. Both attacked her, but she deflected their blows and maneuvered herself behind one of them. Azula kicked him from behind, causing him to crash into one of his buddies. She jumped up on a table to get a quick, but better view of the entire situation. She backflipped off the table and landed in front of a man holding a broken bottle. He raised his arm as if he were to strike her, but she was most definitely quicker. With another well placed kick, Azula sent him flying into the table, which broke it in two. Inadvertently, the man and the table he crashed into took out another drunken moron.
A look of fascination mixed with horror appeared on Sokka's face. She had just taken down five men in less than thirty seconds. Without her firebending.
A group of about seven men closed in on her and attacked simultaneously. With blinding speed, Azula blocked their attacks. In the second they stared at her in stunned horror, Azula quickly and gracefully brought them all down to the ground, one by one.
The more men Azula knocked out, the more people Sokka noticed escaping the bar, including the group Sokka had started the fight with in the first place.
Within a few more seconds, Azula had the brawl under control. Those who weren't out cold were crawling for the door. Azula stood in the middle of the room and smirked, not a scratch on her.
"Looks like I'm not as rusty as I thought," She grinned to herself before turning back to Sokka. Sokka was slowly standing up, using a chair to help support his weight.
"Was that really necessary?" Sokka asked as she approached him.
"Was what necessary?"
"Beatin' the crap out of everybody! Kinda excessive, don'tcha think?" Sokka leaned over her.
"Not at all. They can't fight if they're unconscious, correct?" Azula smirked.
"But that didn't mean you hadda kill halfa 'em!" Sokka exclaimed. Azula rolled her eyes.
"They aren't dead. They'll all be fine," She said, grabbing Sokka's arm and pulling him outside.
"You sure?"
"Yes. Do you think you can make it back to my house?" Azula demanded. He gave a simple nod as she started pulling him along again.
It took them longer to travel back to Azula's than normal because of Sokka's clumsiness, but the journey had thankfully been silent. When they reached her home, Azula immediately made him sit down on the divan. He didn't argue, sitting down was a terrific idea. She left him for a few moments, getting a warm washcloth and some bandages.
"You're lucky your injuries weren't worse," Azula said as she sat beside him, the bandages in her lap, the washcloth in her hand, "Look at me," She ordered. He looked down at her. She wiped the blood off his chin first. Sokka didn't reply. He only watched her, making mental notes of how pretty she was.
"Why did you start that fight?" She asked, cleaning the gash on his forehead. She made no attempt to be gentle, she didn't really care if it hurt him or not.
"Those guys from before…They were talkin' bad about you," Sokka replied frankly. Azula pressed the washcloth into his wound hard enough to make it sting, "Ow!" He yelped.
"You started a bar fight with a bunch of idiots because they were saying things about me. You deserve to be in pain," Azula said flatly, scrubbing some dirt off his cheek.
"It wasn't right!" He protested.
"That doesn't mean you have to start a fight," Azula snapped, "Where else are you hurt?"
"I think the rest are just bruises," He replied, "And yeah, it did."
"What were you thinking? You'd defend me by taking down a few horny pigs? In case you didn't notice, I'm more than capable of defending myself," Azula explained, trying to restrain her anger. She knew it wouldn't do very much good to yell at a drunk man. He'd probably forget this entire conversation by morning.
"You weren't there and you're my friend. I'm not the kinda guy that's gonna sit back while some assholes call my friend ugly and scary and talk about doin' nasty things to her," Sokka explained himself, his words slurring together a bit. Azula stared at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You really are drunk," She commented.
"Why didn't you just let them all kill me? 'Cause you coulda, you know. And why did you bring me back here? I thought you were mad at me?"
"I am mad at you," Azula answered immediately, "But I couldn't just leave you there. Its not your fault you're a stupid backwards peasant who doesn't know how to handle himself."
"A decade ago you would have joined in on the fun, probably torched me alive," Sokka grinned.
"That was a long time ago. Things are different now," She said, picking the bandages she didn't use up out of her lap and standing up.
"You still didn't answer my question," He lazily smirked, looking up at her. She twisted the washcloth in her hands.
"What?"
"Why did you bring me back?" He asked again. She rolled her eyes.
"I did already answer that question," She said stubbornly.
"No, what's the real answer?" Sokka continued staring at her. She seemed to unravel a little under his gaze. Her eyes shifted and her hands fidgeted a bit. She swallowed hard.
"For the same reason you started the fight, I suppose," She said quietly before turning away, "Now go get some rest."
Title: Paint, Chapter 8
Word Count: 3,970
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Mystery
Characters: Sokka/Azula
Summary: When lady fate brings Sokka and Azula together, he discovers Azula is keeping a secret she didn't even know she had.
Chapter Summary: Sokka gets drunk. Sokka starts a barfight. Sokka gets his ass kicked. Azula saves it, River Tam style. =D
Notes: I'm surprised it didn't take me eons to finish this chapter. Guess it was the extra time I have since I have to have surgery this week. >(
Sokka felt like an idiot. Probably because he was one. Honestly, what kind of moron would decide that kissing Azula was a good idea? It was slightly more than a miracle that he was still alive.
But that didn't really change the fact that he had liked the feeling of her lips against his. He hadn't just sort of liked it either, no. He really liked it.
Which was probably the number one reason he was a total, complete idiot right now. Wanting to kiss the former fire princess was one thing. Wanting to kiss her again and again was practically a death sentence.
He growled to himself, still sitting on the divan. He hadn't moved since Azula had snapped and left. He hadn't seen her around since either. Sokka was honestly surprised she wasn't furiously cleaning something. Perhaps she was just off plotting his imminent doom instead? That made sense. And it scared him a little. But she had kissed him back! Sokka knew she had! Then again, he had been hearing the voice of his dead wife in the back of his head lately. Maybe an over-active imagination was the culprit.
As much as he had enjoyed that, though, Sokka couldn't help but think he had just ruined his sort-of friendship with Azula. That upset him more than he ever thought it would. He was still getting used to thinking of her as a friend, (or something more than that?) let alone as enemies. He didn't want to be enemies with her again. There was just something about her that he knew he'd miss. It definitely wasn't her obsessive cleanliness, that was annoying. It couldn't be that she was normally rude, mean and awfully cynical towards him. And it wasn't that she appeared insanely dangerous, even without her firebending (though Sokka now really expected she had lied to him about that).
Sokka had a decent idea of what he'd miss, actually.
He liked to see the extremely rare moments when she'd let her guard down, when little things would remind him that she was still just a person, not that much different than him.
But that was cheesy. And stupid. Oh so very, very stupid.
Feeling a slight bit paranoid, Sokka decided he'd leave for a little and let things cool off. If she really was plotting his demise, Sokka didn't want to be around, just in case she decided to go through with her plans. Not to mention a few rounds of sake sounded really good right about now.
Armed with enough money to last a while, Sokka left, heading for the tavern. He didn't bother with looking for Azula and telling her where he'd be. He didn't want her to know.
Azula wanted to strangle him. She wanted to put a noose around his neck, hang him from a tree and bludgeon him to a messy, bloody pulp. What was he thinking?! He wasn't, that's what, and Azula thought that that stupid, idiotic moron really ought to face the consequences of his actions.
What in the universe would make him kiss her? Had he gone brain dead for a whole thirty seconds? Azula found that to be a somewhat reasonable explanation, actually. What worried her the most though, was that she had kissed him back. Before she realized what they were doing, of course. Then she bolted away and went to the other side of the house. Currently, she was in her room organizing the mess Sokka had made in her closet. It had been such a simple task and somehow he'd managed to screw it up. Imbecile. If Azula hadn't lost her faith in humanity years ago, she was certain Sokka would have made sure she lost it.
Azula placed a bunch of paintings in a precise order on the shelf. She wondered why her first thought had been to get away from him instead of just kick him out of the house altogether. She would have gone and done it now but she was afraid she'd end up killing him. It wasn't that she really cared if he was alive or not, she just didn't want to call the attention to herself. She knew he'd put up a long and noisy fight and Azula knew she wasn't exactly in the position to be getting away with murder anymore.
She sighed, closing her closet and sitting on the bed. The last time she had kissed anyone was ten years ago on Ember Island. Azula had barely remembered what it felt like. Kissing Sokka hadn't exactly been horrible but it hadn't been the best thing either. It still angered her, though. He didn't even ask! He was rude and stupid enough to just do it! Didn't he know who he was dealing with?
Yes, yes he did. Of course Sokka knew who he was dealing with. Yet he did it anyway.
This was all a little too dramatic for her. This kind of drama was almost worthy of the rich and royal courtesans in the Fire Nation. And even when Azula had been royalty, she hated all of that. Now it irritated her even more.
So she decided to get out of the house for a while. When she got back, she'd kick the idiot out. Unless she ended up being in a better mood. Which was highly unlikely.
She grabbed a shawl and draped it over her shoulders. The nights were starting to get a little chilly, at least they were to Azula. But to someone who grew up in a place where the temperature was always hot or hotter, anything else seemed cold. She grabbed her coin purse and dug around inside, picking out a couple silver pieces and a few copper ones. She hid them in her bodice. That way, if anyone tried to steal it, she'd have more of an excuse to tear them apart. Besides, where she was planning on going, she didn't need a small fortune anyway. Azula wasn't the type to get completely wasted.
Slamming the door behind her, Azula started walking into town. Her steps were brisk and purposeful, she wasn't wasting anytime. As she started to see the flickering lights in town, she realized she hadn't even seen Sokka around the house before she had left. Perhaps he had kicked himself out. That would have been lovely. Would have saved her the time and energy of doing it herself. But Azula doubted he was smart enough for that. She sighed as she walked into the tavern. She sat down at the bar and immediately ordered a drink.
While Sokka had left the house before Azula, he had decided to wander around aimlessly for a little while. Being outside helped him think a little clearer. Even then, though, he still had no idea what he was going to say to Azula the next time he saw her. Or if he'd even confront her again. He wanted to apologize but he knew he'd only make himself sound like a fool, so was it really worth it? But on the other hand, Azula already thought him to be one of those, so did it really even matter? And even if he did apologize, would she accept it? The pessimist in him said no. Not in a million years.
Sitting down on the edge of the fountain in the center of town, Sokka wondered if people had still been seeing that mysterious blue light. He figured they were, even though he hadn't heard anything about it lately. Sokka hadn't really been paying that much attention to the townspeople. Must have been a habit he picked up from Azula.
He closed his eyes and tried to relax a little bit, listening to the rhythm of the water behind him. It didn't really work. Getting a stupid, childish idea, Sokka pulled out a copper piece. He held it tightly in his hand.
"I wish I could make this right. Whatever that means," He thought to himself. Then he threw the coin into the water behind him. Slowly he stood and stretched a little. Then he headed into the nearest tavern. He had been in this place before, he remembered. It was busier than last time, however.
He scanned the bar and noticed one open seat next to a woman. Sokka didn't pay attention to who she was until he sat down.
"What are you doing here?" The oh-so-very familiar voice snapped and growled. Sokka bit his lips together and swallowed hard.
"Same think you're doing here," Sokka replied automatically, trying his hardest not to look at her. As he spoke, the bartender came over and Sokka ordered something to drink.
"You followed me here," Azula hissed, sipping at her drink with all the refinement of a seasoned royal.
"I had no idea you'd be here!" Sokka exclaimed as the bartender handed him his drink. Immediately he raised it to his lips and took a few hearty gulps of the strong liquid.
"You're lying," Azula snarled at him.
"No I'm not! When's the last time I ever lied to you, huh?" Sokka demanded.
"You're lying right now, you ignoramus," Azula replied flatly. Sokka took a few deep breaths and then chugged down the rest of his drink, using the time to think of something to say. It burned down his throat, but it felt so good right now. He slammed the glass down on the bar and threw enough money down for another drink. The bartender came around and filled Sokka's order. He stared at it longingly for a moment before he grabbed it and drank some more.
"Your silence means I'm right," Azula smirked, still daintily working on her first drink.
"You know what?" Sokka asked, leaning close enough to her that she could smell the alcohol on his breath.
"What?" Azula barked, leaning away from him.
"I think you're just angry because I kissed you and you liked it!" Sokka announced. The second the words left his mouth though, he regretted it. That was definitely not the right thing to say if he wanted to make things right. Azula was making that painfully obvious as pure, unadulterated fury started boiling up in her eyes. She gritted her teeth together, restraining herself.
"And if we weren't in a public place, I'd rip you to shreds," she threatened violently.
Sokka stared at her wordlessly for a long time. Then he gulped and turned away, focused on whatever was directly in front of him. He had an overwhelming urge to flee the premises. His life was in danger here with that wild woman sitting just inches away from him. But Sokka was stubborn and he wasn't about to let her get her way. He wanted to intoxicate himself with sweet, sweet alcohol. Her presence was not going to stop him. If she had a problem with him being there, then she could be the one to leave.
The former princess quickly downed the rest of her drink and started on another. She wasn't even going to acknowledge his existence anymore. Sokka of the Water Tribe was a dead man to her at the moment. So she turned a little on her stool and stared off in some random direction. She had been here first anyway. She wasn't going to leave and give him the satisfaction of knowing that maybe she had actually enjoyed that kiss. A little. Sort of.
She continued to brood on the subject until her third glass of plum wine was about half gone, about an hour or so later. Then she was interrupted by a small group of drunken men. As they approached her, they caught Sokka's attention as well. His senses were starting to dull from the copious amount of alcohol he had consumed, but he still recognized trouble when he saw it. Azula paid little attention to them until they actually addressed her.
"Hey, pretty lady!" One of them slurred, laughing. He wore a soldier's uniform.
"How 'bout we leave this place, hmm?," A different one continued, placing a hot, heavy hand on Azula's shoulder. She shrugged it off immediately and stared up at him with malice. Sokka felt a little...jealous. Didn't those morons see that she had been here with him? Sort of? They had been arguing (loudly, by the way) for at least five minutes! Not that it mattered because why should he feel jealous about some drunken idiots hitting on their doom?
"How 'bout you leave me alone before I break your neck, hmm?" Azula snapped. The other men in the group burst into hysterical laughter. The one she had turned down grumbled in angry disappointment. He moved as if he was going to grab Azula's arm and pull her to her feet but she had a different plan. She blocked his hand and pushed it away from her. Then she stood and poured the remainder of her drink on the man before pushing past him and heading towards the washroom.
Sokka watched with mild amusement. Of course she turned them down. They were ugly anyway!
"Ain't she somethin'?" The bartender said to Sokka. He nodded, "But I'm sure you know that, eh? You seem to actually know her."
"Yeah, I know 'er. But I don't like 'er. Most of the time," Sokka replied. The bartender chuckled.
"She your girlfriend?"
"No! What would ever give you that idea, she's insane!" Sokka protested quickly. Him? And Azula? Together? Like that? Preposterous!
Or was it? Even if she was crazy, Sokka seemed to like subconciously entertaining the idea of Azula being his.
"The way you looked at 'er. The way she looked at you when she didn't think you were lookin'," The bartender explained. Sokka looked down at his drink.
"Oh," was he really that obvious?
"Well, whatever she is to you, I'm just happy to see she isn't completely alone," The bartender continued, then moved on to fill a few orders. Sokka continued to look down into his drink, seeing the dark outlines of his reflection in the liquid. With his mind clouded by the alcohol, Sokka's thought process wasn't crystal. He didn't know what to think. So what if the bartender thought Azula was his girlfriend. So what if he made it kind of obvious that he kind of liked her in more than a friendly way. So what if the bartender thought she was making it obvious too, (even though Sokka assumed the man had just been saying that because at the moment, Sokka truly believed Azula wanted to kill him.)
Giving himself another headache, Sokka groaned and rubbed his temples. He looked at the empty bar seat beside him and sighed. He really screwed up this time, didn't he?
"Man! That girl was harsh!" One of the men from before exclaimed, laughing.
"Think that whore would have actually broke your neck?"
"I dunno," He replied, the others erupted in laughter again.
"If she tried and you couldn't fight her off, then you'd have deserved it!"
"Hey, you gotta admit, that bitch was scary as hell!"
"If we all teamed up, we coulda taken her. Bet she would have made a mighty fine struggle too. But that's what makes it fun," another chuckled. Without warning, a fist came from nowhere and smashed into his cheek.
"Don't talk about her like that," Sokka growled, standing in a fighting stance. The four men who had been talking about Azula turned and spread out, surrounding the Water Tribesman.
"We can talk about whatever the hell we want," The one Sokka had punched rubbed the side of his face said. Sokka watched the four of them closely, though with a drunken haze over his mind, Sokka's reflexes weren't exactly the best. (Honestly, he had lost count of how many drinks he had had after five. Or six. Something like that.)
"What's it to you, anyway? She yours or somethin'?"
"Why would anyone want that? She was kinda ugly anyway!"
That last comment riled Sokka's temper up even more. Azula wasn't ugly, she was far from it! Thinking he could easily take down all four of these guys, he punched another one right in the gut. This time, though, the group fought back. From behind, the soldier put Sokka in a choke hold. Sokka flipped the soldier over his head and slammed him on a table, breaking it.
"What the-" The men sitting at it exclaimed, standing up and figuring what was going on.
Before too long, most of the bar had erupted into a full-out brawl. All because Sokka couldn't keep his mouth shut and had decided it would be a good idea to defend Azula.
A pudgy man got up on a table and jumped down, body slamming the nearest victim. Who happened to be Sokka.
When Sokka recovered (slightly) from that attack, he stumbled to his feet, ready to defend himself again. He didn't notice the soldier coming from behind him, holding a bar stool high above his head. In a rather predictable move, he crashed it down on Sokka's head, effectively knocking him to the ground.
This didn't stop the fight though. Oh no. It went on for quite a while.
When Azula left the washroom, she heard the rowdy yells and various things breaking. She groaned as she walked back up the short hallway and saw the fight.
"Can't I leave for five minutes without all hell breaking loose?" She mumbled to herself, looking for Sokka. Not that she cared if he got hurt or anything. He deserved it. On cue, he slid out of the mess of men and stopped at her feet. His forehead was bleeding and he had blood trickling down from his lips.
"Hi, Azula," He slurred.
"You started this, didn't you?" She asked flatly.
"Maybe?"
"You are so pathetically useless," She sighed, watching the enormous pile in front of her, "You owe me," Azula spat as she stepped over him and let her shawl fall off her shoulders and to the ground. Sokka sat up and watched her, slightly confused. What was she doing?
His question was soon answered though.
Azula launched herself at the nearest unsuspecting man and took him down with no more than a blow to his side. As he fell, that got the attention of a few fighters, they turned towards her. Both attacked her, but she deflected their blows and maneuvered herself behind one of them. Azula kicked him from behind, causing him to crash into one of his buddies. She jumped up on a table to get a quick, but better view of the entire situation. She backflipped off the table and landed in front of a man holding a broken bottle. He raised his arm as if he were to strike her, but she was most definitely quicker. With another well placed kick, Azula sent him flying into the table, which broke it in two. Inadvertently, the man and the table he crashed into took out another drunken moron.
A look of fascination mixed with horror appeared on Sokka's face. She had just taken down five men in less than thirty seconds. Without her firebending.
A group of about seven men closed in on her and attacked simultaneously. With blinding speed, Azula blocked their attacks. In the second they stared at her in stunned horror, Azula quickly and gracefully brought them all down to the ground, one by one.
The more men Azula knocked out, the more people Sokka noticed escaping the bar, including the group Sokka had started the fight with in the first place.
Within a few more seconds, Azula had the brawl under control. Those who weren't out cold were crawling for the door. Azula stood in the middle of the room and smirked, not a scratch on her.
"Looks like I'm not as rusty as I thought," She grinned to herself before turning back to Sokka. Sokka was slowly standing up, using a chair to help support his weight.
"Was that really necessary?" Sokka asked as she approached him.
"Was what necessary?"
"Beatin' the crap out of everybody! Kinda excessive, don'tcha think?" Sokka leaned over her.
"Not at all. They can't fight if they're unconscious, correct?" Azula smirked.
"But that didn't mean you hadda kill halfa 'em!" Sokka exclaimed. Azula rolled her eyes.
"They aren't dead. They'll all be fine," She said, grabbing Sokka's arm and pulling him outside.
"You sure?"
"Yes. Do you think you can make it back to my house?" Azula demanded. He gave a simple nod as she started pulling him along again.
It took them longer to travel back to Azula's than normal because of Sokka's clumsiness, but the journey had thankfully been silent. When they reached her home, Azula immediately made him sit down on the divan. He didn't argue, sitting down was a terrific idea. She left him for a few moments, getting a warm washcloth and some bandages.
"You're lucky your injuries weren't worse," Azula said as she sat beside him, the bandages in her lap, the washcloth in her hand, "Look at me," She ordered. He looked down at her. She wiped the blood off his chin first. Sokka didn't reply. He only watched her, making mental notes of how pretty she was.
"Why did you start that fight?" She asked, cleaning the gash on his forehead. She made no attempt to be gentle, she didn't really care if it hurt him or not.
"Those guys from before…They were talkin' bad about you," Sokka replied frankly. Azula pressed the washcloth into his wound hard enough to make it sting, "Ow!" He yelped.
"You started a bar fight with a bunch of idiots because they were saying things about me. You deserve to be in pain," Azula said flatly, scrubbing some dirt off his cheek.
"It wasn't right!" He protested.
"That doesn't mean you have to start a fight," Azula snapped, "Where else are you hurt?"
"I think the rest are just bruises," He replied, "And yeah, it did."
"What were you thinking? You'd defend me by taking down a few horny pigs? In case you didn't notice, I'm more than capable of defending myself," Azula explained, trying to restrain her anger. She knew it wouldn't do very much good to yell at a drunk man. He'd probably forget this entire conversation by morning.
"You weren't there and you're my friend. I'm not the kinda guy that's gonna sit back while some assholes call my friend ugly and scary and talk about doin' nasty things to her," Sokka explained himself, his words slurring together a bit. Azula stared at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You really are drunk," She commented.
"Why didn't you just let them all kill me? 'Cause you coulda, you know. And why did you bring me back here? I thought you were mad at me?"
"I am mad at you," Azula answered immediately, "But I couldn't just leave you there. Its not your fault you're a stupid backwards peasant who doesn't know how to handle himself."
"A decade ago you would have joined in on the fun, probably torched me alive," Sokka grinned.
"That was a long time ago. Things are different now," She said, picking the bandages she didn't use up out of her lap and standing up.
"You still didn't answer my question," He lazily smirked, looking up at her. She twisted the washcloth in her hands.
"What?"
"Why did you bring me back?" He asked again. She rolled her eyes.
"I did already answer that question," She said stubbornly.
"No, what's the real answer?" Sokka continued staring at her. She seemed to unravel a little under his gaze. Her eyes shifted and her hands fidgeted a bit. She swallowed hard.
"For the same reason you started the fight, I suppose," She said quietly before turning away, "Now go get some rest."