Revelations

In a rocky terrain overlooking the sea, a group of females could be seen practicing different combat stances. Unlike before, these girls didn't wear make-up, heavy kimonos nor dark armor, but wore simple training clothes.

Not far away from them was another one… well.. not quite..

With heavy breaths, the person spoke "… Please… let me…. Die in Peace…"

Said a young person sporting a short high ponytail with the sides of his head shaved, and make-up on his face, while wearing a thick green kimono and heavy black armor; he was barely able to walk under the sun of late autumn, carrying a huge boulder on his back.

Behind him, an auburn-haired teen girl wearing a comfortable black kimono was following behind, like she was enjoying a leisurely walk, except that she carried a thick bamboo stick in her hands. "Don't worry Sokka, I will make sure that you die in one piece," she said giggling.

Sokka, aka the honorary painted Kiyoshi Warrior, could only grumble at that answer but didn't voice any of his thoughts, that bamboo stick in the girl's hand was scary "…Can we at least…Pause… for… Lunch?" He asked between breaths, with eyes full of hope.

The girl stopped and looked up a bit, locating the sun with a thoughtful expression on her face before nodding. "Sure thing, drop the boulder and we shall have lunch…"

Sokka was on cloud nine after hearing that and quickly let go of the cloth that allowed him to carry the rock on his back.

"But you don't have to worry… we will double our effort later! I am sure you wouldn't want to lose a single minute of improvement, that would be shameful for a warrior..." said the girl with the cutest face he had ever seen, even the clouds seemed to part ways so the sun could illuminate her face…. 'Demon!'

Sokka just stood there, frozen in place as if his sister was trying to practice waterbending again… he could hear things shattering and for a second he could've sworn that he saw his own soul leaving his body while saying 'Good luck!' back to him…

The meal was incredible, Sokka almost voiced "You all would be great wives with such cooking skills!" to the girls, but instantly forced his mouth shut with all of his willpower… The last time he said something remotely close to that, he received a knee to a very fragile male region of his body. 'I can still hear cracking sounds when I try to sleep…' he gulped.

"…Eh… b-by the way.. Suki…" Said Sokka trying to erase his thoughts.

"Call me teacher!" She said with a smile.

Gulp. "Y-yes… Teacher!... eh…. When will you explain what happened during that battle a few days ago? …" Sokka said while diverting his eyes, not in shame mind you, it just seems that these girls have a sixth sense to notice when he had certain thoughts… and the results have always been painful…

Suki stopped eating and lowered her head slightly, seemingly thinking about something "… I think it will be for the best to explain when you, your sister, and the Avatar are around… I don't want to have to talk about it twice…" a tinge of longing could be heard in her voice, which completely flew over Sokka's head.

He nodded and decided to ask a question that was bugging him for a while now "… and.. WHY… am I using these clothes and make-up again?..." it was the tenth time he asked in the last three days, and every time he did the girls giggled and didn't answer 'I DESERVE TO KNOW!'

As always, every single girl giggled at him, which made his eyebrow twitch.

Suki calmed down from her giggle "You said yourself that you would follow all of our traditions… "

Sokka's eyebrow twitched even more violently "I DON'T SEE ANYONE OTHER THAN ME WEARING THESE THINGS FOR TRAINING!" he shouted exasperatedly while pointing to the girls in their comfortable training clothes.

"Well…" Suki smirkingly said, while supporting her cheek with her palm and using her other hand to hold her beverage "… They already passed that stage of training, of course!"

Much to Sokka's dismay, the girls giggled again… even louder this time…"I… I don't think I will have time to follow your schedule… Aang wants to visit Omashu.." He said with hope, trying to speed up this shameful period of his life.

"You… you are right…" said Suki while seriously considering the time available, she didn't think about it before.

Sokka was super happy about it, he could finally stop dressing like a girl! "And I think we should have that talk as soon as possible as well!" He said with a sage nod. "I will call Aang and Katara right away!"

Instantly he stood up and dashed out of the cafeteria, running towards the house that Team Avatar was sleeping in while the girls giggled at his reaction.

"When will you tell him?" Approached a girl with long black hair and blue eyes, asking with a sarcastic smirk on her lips.

Suki chuckled "Are you kidding me Shinan? I never had so much fun before! Now I know why Teacher was so harsh on me…" her chuckle evolved into a laugh that all the girls around shared with her.

Sokka ran like his life depended on it, because he truly believed that it did! After spotting the house he instantly went inside just to see Momo lazily laying down on his bed, snoring with a bloated belly.

Looking around he spotted his sister washing the dishes "Katara!"

Turning around, Katara stared at her brother and instantly smirked. "Hello there, painted beauty…"

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!"

"Oh! Hey Sokka!" Said Aang out of nowhere as his head appeared through the window.

"Aang!"

"Nice war painting!" It was the first time Aang saw Sokka with make-up, but he saw him back in the Southern Watertribe with a painted face while facing Zuko. He once asked if it was make-up and Sokka blew up and explained to him that it was called "War Paint!" and was a warrior tradition.

Sokka didn't know how to answer that…. But before he could even come up with words, Katara joined in.

"Yes… Yes… Very good war painting, especially with lipstick!" Concluded Katara with a giggle.

"THIS IS NOT LIPSTICK!" he screamed while rubbing his face with his forearm, only to turn his neat and properly painted face into a clown face.

""HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"" Both Aang and Katara couldn't handle it anymore.

After thirty minutes of Sokka taking a shower, removing his make-u… ahem… war paint, from his face, and donning his classic Water Tribe garments, they walked back towards the Dojo where Suki awaited.

"So… are you telling me that your teacher is also Zuko's teacher?" Asked Aang with curiosity.

Suki gave a wry smile and nodded "Yes… "

"So, he is evil…" Said Sokka, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms, trying to look imposing. But contrary to his expectations, Suki didn't lash out at him for calling her teacher evil but started laughing loudly.

"If you think you can fight him and win against him.. be my guest Sokka…"

She said while cleaning the tears from the corner of her eyes. Sokka's pose reminded her of a certain scene, but it looked completely opposite of the intense, domineering atmosphere she felt back then.

"And who is he?" Asked Katara, trying to de-escalate any potential conflict from happening.

Smiling at Katara, Suki replied, "It's not like I can't hold this information from you guys, you will travel on Appa and will eventually find out anyway… his name…is Madara Uchiha."

"Madara?" Asked Aang with a raised eyebrow.

"Uchiha? He has a Family name?" Asked Katara with a curious tone.

"His name sounds like a Fire Nation name," said Sokka… completely throwing a wild guess out there, trying to look knowledgeable to impress her, unaware of how right he was.

Suki just shrugged, but her eyes narrowed slightly at Sokka's words. "No one knows where he is from, not even I, and I doubt Zuko knows it either… Teacher is a… mystery…"

"Is he a firebender?" Asked Sokka.

"Don't know," said Suki while shaking her head "When he arrived on the island, we all thought that he was a waterbender, seeing that he could walk on water like it was solid ground… but-" but she was instantly interrupted again by Sokka.

"HE CAN WALK ON WATER?!" he said, shouting in shock only to receive a narrowed gaze from Suki that made him instantly recoil. "Ahem… can you do that Katara?"

The southern Water Tribe girl was frowning, holding her chin in deep concentration. "I never heard of anyone doing that… if it's using water to propel someone forward, it should be possible, but to literally walk on water…"

"So…." Said Aang, not really thinking too much of it, he never met a waterbender before Katara anyway, so he thought it would be possible… he could pretty much fly with his glider after all… "He's a waterbender then?"

"We don't know… even after he walked on water, we never saw him waterbending.. but neither did we see him use any bending… he could fight us all with only martial arts…" Said Suki with a sad smile on her face.

"Wow, he must be a strong warrior then!" Said Sokka, excited to discover more about such a powerful warrior that could beat the girls that managed to beat the shit out of him.

"If he is a waterbender, he might be from the Northern Watertribe! If we find him… he might be able to teach me and Aang!" Said Katara also in excitement.

Aang on the other hand just nodded with a huge smile on his face.

As the conversation kept moving forward, the sun started going down and the Team Avatar finally satisfied their curiosity, well.. mostly.. they couldn't understand why someone from the Northern Watertribe would teach Zuko… a Fire Nation prince…

Except for when Sokka was about to leave, a hand held him by the shoulder.

"Where do you think you are going?" Asked Suki with a smile "We missed a lot of time and according to Aang and Katara you will be leaving here in two days… time to speed up your training…"

"I-I…. H-have to grab… the C-clothes….YES!... And my A-armor…" Stuttered

Sokka, with his forehead covered in sweat. 'Are you kidding me? I will hide for two days! I can hunt!'

"Don't worry about that… we have plenty!" Said Suki while dragging him back inside the Dojo.

Panicking, Sokka stared at his sister and best friend, communicating with his eyes… pleading for them to pull him out of this torture.

Aang obviously didn't get it "Don't worry Sokka, if you prefer I can bring your clothes and armor here for you!" he said with a huge friendly smile..

'Aang…' Sokka felt an arrow piercing his ribs

"Don't worry Sokka," said Katara with a mischievous grin "We will keep everything ready for when you are done with your training… you are the best warrior of our village remember? Two more days of training is nothing for someone strong like you!"

Sokka went limp as he watched them both walking away as the sun was setting on the horizon…'when did everything go so wrong in my life?...'

As Katara and Aang were walking back, having some small talk between them they heard a loud shout from where they came from.

"TRAITORS!"