Setting Sail: Part Two

The next day swiftly arrived without much of a hitch. Suki minded her own business as she packed essential supplies for the next trip. She tightened a thin rope around the bag of supplies before tossing it into the caravan along with the others. After dusting off her hands for a well done job, Suki suddenly noticed Azula approaching her.

"Hey, Suki, do you mind if we talk?" Azula asked.

Suki looked around to see anyone was nearby, but it seemed everyone else was busy with their own work. Damn, she really didn't want to speak with Azula right now. Not after what happened before.

"Uh, right now?" Suki scratched her head. "I'm kinda busy at the moment."

Suki hoped that excuse was enough to drive Azula away. However, it seemed things never went as planned.

"Can it wait?" Azula insisted. "Please. It will only take a second of your time."

Seeing the almost pleading look on Azula's face, Suki gave in. Much to her displeasure, Azula was going to bother her one way or another. The quicker Azula said what she wanted, the better.

"Fine," Suki sighed out. "What is it?"

"Is it alright if we talk somewhere private?"

Suki nodded and followed Azula into a quiet room away from everyone else. Azula closed the door behind her, ensuring no one would intrude on their conversation.

"Alright, what's this all about, Azula?" Suki crossed his arms while her foot tapped impatiently against the wood floor.

"Do you like Naruto?" Azula asked.

Suki suddenly narrowed her eyes. What was Azula planning? Was she still mad about the whole ordeal before? Was she still jealous? Like honestly, can this chick not start up needless drama for once. So what if Suki liked Naruto? It doesn't give Azula the right to stop her from pursuing him. Just thinking about it angered Suki.

"And why do you care?" Suki clenched her fists and spat out. "Don't tell me you're still held up over the past."

If Azula wanted to argue about this again, then Suki was all ears. She still had more to say to Azula.

Azula shook her head, "No, I regret what I did back there and want to apologize for it. What I did was out of line."

Suki was stunned. This was definitely not what she had expected at all. She assumed that Azula was going to force her to back away from Naruto. Suki was even prepared to go all out on her in a heated argument. But, Azula actually apologized? Now, that was a first.

Her angered quickly dissipated as Suki calmed her mind down. Suki could tell Azula's apology was genuine, so she wasn't going to mull over it. After all, she was not the type of person to hold a grudge over an incident of the past. But, Azula's apology came unexpectedly, and Suki didn't really know what to do next.

"Wow, I didn't think you would actually apologize to me," Suki said. "Honestly, I don't really know how to go about this..."

Azula approached closer to Suki and raised a hand out to her, much to Suki's confusion.

"I know I wasn't very approachable ever since we first met, but I want to take this chance to start over," Azula bit down on her lips. She couldn't believe she, herself was actually saying this at all, "...As friends."

Suki stared at the hand that reached out for her. It was strange, in all honestly, but sort of sweet and endearing in a weird sense. Suki never thought Azula had this side to her. Although, Azula seemed like the sort of gal to grow up to be an evil villainous, Suki guessed she can't always judge a book buy its cover. Growing a small smile on her face, she clasped Azula's outreached hand.

"Yeah... let's start over," Suki friendly smile suddenly turned into a rivalrous smirk. "But, I still won't lose to you, Azula."

Azula quickly understood; it was about Naruto. However, instead of feeling jealous, a Will of Fire burned in her heart. She wasn't going fo be back down against a rival in love.

"It might be too late for that since I'm already two steps ahead of you," Azula smirked back.

"Sure, princess," Suki remained steady. "Don't complain when I manage to take him away."

After all, all is fair in love and war.

Time passed, and the caravan arrived at the port. Loads of fishing boats and small ships were docked near the pier, so it was difficult to find which one was theirs. Naruto hopped on top of the caravan and gazed over the sea of boats.

"Hey, Yulah, I'm not seeing him or the boat at all," Naruto said.

"He should be here- ah! There he is!" Yulah suddenly pointed towards an old man ahead.

The old man had a head full of spiked, greying hair along with a chin beard and a pair of glasses. Covering his grey hair was a straw hat along with a cheap, sleeveless shirt and pants. Tazuna had busied himself to clean the deck of his wooden boat. It was a fairly large boat, enough to house roughly a family of six. The hull of the boat had a sharp upward curve along with two sails at the deck.

"Tazuna, over here!" Yulah called out, earning the attention of the old man. He set down the scrub and noticed Yulah shouting from afar.

"Ah, Yulah, I was wondering when you would show up!" Tazuna yelled back with a smile on his face. He threw off his leather gloves as the gang approached him.

Temujin limped off of the caravan and approached Tazuna, "Temujin, nice ta meet'cha." He raised his hand out to offer a handshake.

"Mmm, likewise," Tazuna shook his hand. His eyes glanced over at Naruto as he hopped off of the caravan. His eyebrows rosed questionably as he studied the boy. Blonde hair and whiskers; damn, what a weird kid.

"Who's the brat over there?"Tazuna rudely asked.

Naruto quickly took offense, "Brat? I could kick your ass back to your mom's womb, old man!"

Tazuna merely smirked at the whiskered boy, "Hehe, that's cute. It's always the little ones with the biggest temper."

Steam blew out from his head as Naruto rolled up his sleeve in anger. He was about to charge at Tazuna, but he was held back by both Tenten and Azula. However, they struggled to hold him back from attacking Tazuna.

"Easy there, hotshot, you don't want to kill our captain already! We still need him to head to Ba Sing Se, remember?" Tenten said.

"Let me go, Tenten! This old man needs a severe ass whooping!" Naruto argued back.

Azula quickly smacked him across the head sideways, "Knock it off, Foxy. We still need him in one piece."

Naruto immediately came back to his senses after a quick smack to the head. However, he occasionally let out incoherent grumbles as he glared at Tazuna. Ignoring Naruto's death glare, Tazuna turned to Yulah.

"Hey, Yulah, I remembered asking for bodyguard. Why the hell are these brats here?"

"Uh...." Yulah muttered out. She couldn't properly think of anything to explain herself.

Tazuna crossed his arms. "Don't tell me that these brats are going to protect me."

"Funny you should say that, actually..." Yulah chuckled nervously. That was exactly what she had in mind.

Tazuna facepalmed himself in complete frustration. Why the hell would she allow some brats, who didn't even look above the age of fifteen, play the role as bodyguards. Unfortunately, Tazuna did not have enough money to hire mercenaries, so this would have to do.

"Damn it, alright..." Tazuna sighed out. "Get your things on board; we'll need to head out soon."

*****

Far away from their view stood two figures hidden above the rooftops. One stood a tanned skin man with a muscular build. He had hair the shade of charcoal. His viscous, obsidian eyes gazed down at Naruto's gang with a hint of bloodlust. His lower face was wrapped in white bandages while his back held an enormous sword.

Beside him stood a masked man who stood at a head smaller. The bangs of his hair blew gently with the blowing wind as he crotched down below. His hidden gaze focused on Naruto's gang as well. However, he paid particular attention to both Yulah and Tazuna.

"There's our target, Haku," Zabuza said. "Looks like he brought some company along with him."

"Doesn't the girl beside him seem familiar?" Haku asked.

"Yulah; daughter of Gato's rival, Er Lan," Zabuza smirked to himself. "Seems we might have an unexpected prize in our hands." Zabuza cracked his knuckles with anticipation.

"Zabuza, what do you suggest we do now?" Haku asked.

Zabuza narrowed his eyes, glancing at the crowded streets below. There were too many.

"We'll hold off for now; there are too many witnesses around," He replied. Raising two fingers at eye level, Zabuza conjured a small cloud of mist that shrouded them both.

The mist slowly faded, and the two men had vanished into thin air, no where to be seen.