A Complicated Meeting (Open to Ray)

Akari was confused when she heard Akane whisper something about a 'garuda' and 'dust attackers' but she backed away, leaving him plenty of space. In a few moments a giant hawk swooped out of the sky and Akane jumped on it like nothing had happened. Akari stared slack-jawed at the bird and the man pair, her swords temporarily still. Luckily for her the people attacking them were shooting arrows at Akane now, or had stopped shooting completely at the sight of a humongous brown hawk diving at them from out of nowhere. Akari quickly backed away, jumping on the cart and grabbing the reigns from the empty driver's seat.
Akari got the horses moving and took the cart farther down the road, making sure Akane wouldn't destroy the thing they were protecting, and reassuring the horses that they were too far away to get eaten by a monster-sized meat eating bird. After getting them out of the way she hopped off and ran in the direction of the fight, wondering if she would even be needed.

Akane smiled as he saw, from a birds standpoint who his attackers were. "Fire Nation Military Police...so they know?" he said as if accepting a challenge, his face suddenly changed as he thought, how. "How DID they find me exactly? Could it be, that girl?" he wondered "No, no it couldn't be she hasn't left my sight since the trip started....she wouldn't do that? Would she? I guess I'll need to watch my back with her." Akane looked at the military police "Garuda" he said firmly "Dive bomb it. Falling Star Method." Akane raised his hands and fire burst from them, making a cone shape infront of the large bird. As he did Garuda started to dive towards the attackers, picking up speed, faster and faster. Untill it looked like a blazing star, Akane smiled "Eat this" he said as the fire combined with the birds speed collided with the nearby trees, instantly flash-burning the attackers. Akane jumped off Garuda's back as the bird screeched and flew away. "All too easy" he said, he turned quickly to see Akari, a part of him jumped for joy, but that unexplained joy to see her was cut short by a thought. Traitor. That word went through his head. Akane looked at Akari, fixing his hood, making sure it hid his face further "It's been dealt with..lets head back to the cart" he said. Akane was sure of one thing, he'd need to be careful around Akari, of what he told her. Until he was sure whether or not he could trust her.

Akari took a moment to collect her scattered thoughts. At the end of her long period of thinking, the only thing she could say was, "What in the flipping hell of the Fire Nation was that?!" Akari watched as the giant bird-of-prey vanished into the distance and looked back at Akane. Then she examined the people who had attacked them. They were all wearing Fire Nation Military Police uniforms. Akari was genuinely surprised, and her eyebrows shot up past her bangs. "Why is the freaking military attacking us?" She asked, exhaling slowly. For a second Akari wondered if it had been because she had told her mentor Arsotash about where she and Akane were. But how could that be, she thought, there would be no reason to involve the police in this. Why would they be coming after us? What is going on here?
Akari had about a hundred other questions floating around in her head, and none of them had answers that she was likely to get any time soon. This mission had been the wrong choice, because how could she carry through with it when she was kept in the dark by both sides? Who could she trust now?
((Look: the mentor has a name now! No more worrying about whether or not he's a mentor or an employer! Yay!))

As Akane had returned to walk beside the cart he couldn't help but glance back at Akari. He was wondering whether or not what he had just done was a good thing. Akane had just revealed the extent of his abilities to a total stranger who may or may not have alerted the Military Police of his presence. Akane sighed and rolled his arm around in it's socket, it was sore for some reason. Ever since Sasune stabbed him through the shoulder during their fight, preceding Sasune's death. Akane forced the memories of his dead brother from his mind and took another look back at Akari. Akane's eyes widened slightly as he saw she was bleeding. Akane rushed to her side "Akari, you're bleeding" he said. Akane went to pull out a roll of gauze in order to patch her up "Would you mind?" he asked.

(Jeremy was over at my house and he wrote this post, he was too lazy to log into his account, so he typed it up on mine and had me post it)

Akari looked down at her side and remembered the arrow that had hit her. "Oh, uh, yeah, go ahead. I'm bad at bandaging and that kind of thing, you know? Actually, since I was little I've always hated the sight of blood and broken bones and stuff. I'd be a pretty sucky doctor!" Akari babbled, letting Akane wrap the bandages around her. Her mind calmed as she talked, hardly letting herself catch a breath between sentences. "By the way, that huge bird was really cool! What was it called? It was a hawk right? How did you summon him? I've never seen anything like it!" She exclaimed, trying to keep still. "I'm sorry if you don't want to talk about it, but I'm a very curious person! A lot of people call me nosy but I just like knowing stuff... And sometimes I rant on and on like I am now, so sorry if it's really annoying or anything." Akari sucked in a breath and prepared to launch off onto another topic.
((By the way, I spelled the person's name wrong, it's Ersotash, not Arsotash...))

Akane laughed as he finished bandaging Akari. "Alright, that should do" he said. Akane suddenly stiffened as she started asking questions, he was afraid she was a traitor..but her voice didn't sound traitorous. Akane exhaled and started explaining "Well, that bird is an...old friend..of mine. His names Garuda...we've known each other since we were young kids. We've fought beside each other ever since. Similar to how you and Tsuki are bonded....me and Garuda are friends as well" said Akane, was he rambling too? Akane sighed "And don't worry...you're not nosy."

Akari smiled and poked her stomach a little. "It feels a lot better, now, thanks!" She said, feeling the pain from the arrow wound fade away. "That's really cool that you have a bond like that too. I thought I was the only one, and it made me feel weird, you know? People would always be kind of uneasy around me because I kept talking about Tsuki or was getting all worked up about him. But isn't it sad to only have Garuda come out when you need to fight with him? I know it would break my heart if Tsuki wasn't around...
"Oh, that's probably too many questions for one day... Sorry... I'll just go... check on Tsuki." Akari cut herself off and rushed away. To her surprise, she felt her face heat up, and she instinctively knew that she was blushing. She touched her burning cheeks and wondered what was wrong with her. She also noticed that her heart was slowing down, but she hadn't realized that it was beating so quickly while she was with Akane. Or maybe it was from the fighting, or the aftershock of seeing a giant bird swoop out of the sky and beat up a bunch of Fire Nation soldiers. Akari shook her head and found Tsuki, lying on his side on the cart, stretched out in the sun. She walked beside him and stroked him, calming herself.
"What's going on, Tsuki?" She whispered, burying her face in her cat. The sad thing was, she knew that she wouldn't be getting an answer.

Akane sighed and followed Akari back to the cart. He walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder "To answer your question" he said looking her in the eye as she turned around to face him "The reason I don't keep Garuda around like you keep Tsuki around is because it's hard to hide a massive bird than it is a cat. Though I do wish he could be around more, the difference between Tsuki and Garuda is that Garuda isn't bound to me, not like a pet, we are partners. Technically I borrow him, we are equals, so I cannot own him." Akane took his hand of Akane's shoulder and then looked to Tsuki "I know it's confusing but..it's one of those things you had to be there for to understand" he said almost disconnected. Akane looked up at the sky and noticed the sun was setting "We should pick up the pace" he said "No more distractions. We shouldn't be far from our destination, I'd say it should only take an hour more. Once we're there we can rest."

Akane prodded the horses and the carriage started to move forward. The two of them walked along the trail quietly. By now the sun had set, Akane could see the lights of the city in the distance. In a few minutes they would be there, Akane suddenly had a thought, he turned back to Akari and spoke "Hey, Akari" he started "When we reach our destination. What do you say we get something to eat? My treat of course. It can be a reward for the both of us, in celebration of a successful mission. So, what do you say? Sound good?"

Akari had been meandering after the cart, simply enjoying the feeling of the warm breeze when Akane asked if she wanted to get something to eat. She stretched and grinned widely, holding back a yawn from the long day. Her stomach rumbled, so she laughed, "Yes! That sounds perfect!" Speeding up, Akari went and picked up Tsuki, who protested loudly as she jostled his wounds. "Oh, c'mon now you big baby," Akari cooed, stroking him. "We're going out to the town! I'll get you a platter of milk and fish, ok? You'll like that huh? But no running around! I don't care how many mice there are, you are not going to leave my side, you got that? I don't need any trouble tonight." After giving Tsuki the lowdown and settling the cart and it's supplies somewhere safe Akari headed out with Akane. She found herself humming quietly, for once lost for words, because somewhere at the back of her mind, she was wishing she had prepared herself a little. She had an urge to brush her hair, maybe put on something nicer, and wanted for some reason to buy a necklace or bracelet and wear it in front of Akane. Akari was afraid that if she opened her mouth she would voice her feelings, so she kept it shut and hummed randomly, feeling the awkward vibes pouring from her.

Akane looked over at Akari his mouth open ready to talk, when he noticed how her skin seemed to glow softly in the lantern light of the town. He also noticed for the first time, how her long, pink hair seemed to flow around as she walked. Like a flag gently blowing in the wind. He also realized how her red eyes seemed to shine bright in the minimized light. Like two crimson rubies. "She looks...really beautiful..." said Akane quietly, but obviously not quietly enough because he could see Akari turn her head towards him. 'Crap' he thought 'She heard me...I couldn't help myself though...she is...why the hell am I acting like this? I can usually control my emotions but...'. Akane looked away from Akari and avoided eye contact as they walked. "So" he said quietly "What do you feel like eating? It's your choice. My treat."