{Very much sexiness slashness. Read at your discretion. And no god-mod intended; if he doesn't want it he can post that.}

It was either the stunned and embarrassed look on Honoo's face or the radiant color of it that made Tora smile weakly. As he got his breathing back in check, he heard the timid voice that came from his uke, a concerned tone that was his name. He suddenly realized the short bush of hair from his underarms was just as warm as the blankets that were crumpled at the foot of the bed. He lowered his arm and rolled on his side to face the bashful little firebender.

With the gentle blue light of dawn filtering in and giving him ample light to see from, he blinked sleep from his eyes. No doubt about it, he wouldn't be falling asleep for a long while after that nasty little nightmare. Or, not so little: it was the longest dream he'd had in months. Speaking of size... Tora didn't bother making himself decent. Eat your heart out, flame-chan, he thought groggily. I don't mind admirers...

"I'm okay," he found himself saying. His mouth was as dry as sandpaper, but at least his naked body was healthy-feeling underneath the layer of sweat. His lungs still hurt, though. Maybe from his dream, maybe from his recent hyperventilation. His heart hurt as well. He longed for something... His glinting golden eyes flicked to the Earth-Kingdom-yellow collar that was neatly clasped about Honoo's neck.

"But I need to feel my comforting uke." Already, his mouth was dampening itself with anticipation. Tora reached under Honoo and wrapped his arms around the nearby figure's tiny back. He pulled the flame close and pressed his lips against the other boy's. One had was at Honoo's neck, feeling the soft leather between fingers and flesh, and the other was at the base of Honoo's spine, holding him there. But the feel of Honoo's tender, innocent lips, just waiting to be kissed passionately and fervently, gently and soothingly... It made Tora's head spin in a way it hadn't before, ever. Not even the thought of lead-weighted falling in bottomless waters made Tora more... excited.

Tora pressed himself against his young uke, his young love. And then he pulled his head away to breathe. With every inhale, he could feel the tiny chest and the fluttering heartbeat. And with every exhale, he simply prepared to inhale so as to feel the soft flesh again. Tora ran his hair through the little snags that had accumulated overnight.

Finally, with a few pecks to the lips again, returned or not returned, Tora released Honoo. He rolled away and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed as he did so. After a brief, head-pounding blood rush, he stood, and stretched like a cat. He yawned and spoke. "Honoo? We're going out again. We have to keep heading towards Ba Sing Se if we want to totally lose those guys.”

He didn’t bother re-lighting the lamp, which had mysteriously gotten on the floor somehow. A random thought ran through his mind (What if it had caught fire?) but it was gone in a moment. He lifted another clean Earth Kingdom outfit from its folded pile on the floor, and slipped it on, finally obscuring the view of his nakedness. He then turned back to Honoo.

“Hey, I’ll be right back. I’m getting your clothes.” He made sure that Honoo was making eye contact when he continued, coaxing importance into his voice. “Don’t do anything stupid. I’ll be right back.”

He lifted the key from the door-side drawer, and then turned to leave. The second the door was locked behind him (not to keep Honoo in, since Honoo could just as easily unlock it from the inside; but to keep other people out) he hurried downstairs, quiet in the early morning. He retrieved the plush-feeling, fully dried clothing from the racks, and then scurried back upstairs.

It had only been a minute or so, but Tora was sure that if there was something that could go wrong, his flame would find it. He unlocked the door with the key again. “Honoo?” he said carefully as he slowly opened the door. He wanted everything to be exactly as it had been. He didn’t have any bad or sinking feelings, just the secret thoughts that something would possibly out of place. He pushed the door open to find Honoo...

{Seriously, don’t read this if you are faint of heart, or if badly written slash is unpleasant to you.}

He pointedly tried to cover his eyes with his hands, but with a mind of their own they migrated down so as not to obscure his view. Honoo just could keep his eyes from looking at the pale, lithe form of Tora, studying closely everything he could see… A string of metaphors materialized out of the mist of his mind, but before he could read them they vanished like smoke. Blood was pounding in his ears as his eyes finally fell upon Tora’s face. The expression there was frighteningly hungry.

Heralding from deep in his subconscious, a memory stirred. The firebender remembered watching a tiger-cat stalking a rat. In the feline’s eyes was a deep hunger, a fervor bordering on insanity. You knew that the rat would die. Escape was impossible. The cat was not going to compromise, not going to let it go. It would pounce, kill it, and eat it. It was that look that transfixed Tora’s visage now, and that look drained the blood from Honoo’s blushing countenance. The tension that corded the older bender’s frame, that perfect picture of a predator about to spring, paled in comparison to the yearning look on the seme’s face

When those golden eyes focused on Honoo’s neck, there was a wild moment when he thought his throat was about to be torn out. Before he had time to correct himself about this impossibility, he was grabbed by the collar and dragged into a vise-like embrace. He lost all control of his limbs, which tried to wrap themselves around Tora like bands of nothing more than grass. There was heat and no oxygen everywhere. All that was Tora seemed like steel, hard and strong and irresistible. All that was Honoo seemed like cotton, soft and unresisting and yielding. He had no power here; he was nothing more than a rat, helpless in the jaws of the predator, the tiger, Tora.

His mind reeled in confusion and hypoxic disillusionment. He enjoyed what was happening but had no idea what was happening and didn’t really care what was happening. And then it was over, and the little flame rolled away, feeling drained, confused, and lost. Tora said something about going somewhere, but these words didn’t really manage to filter through the red haze that seemed to blot out the world. Honoo’s heart was beating quickly, fluttering in his chest, and he was happy. He lay in the bed, drifting around in some non-sleeping, non-waking world, waiting for the return of Tora.

Honoo coughed once, twice, and one more time. He remembered that he was thirty... He shook his head to clear it, and slipped off the bed, thinking about what he should do. They were leaving, so he should probably make up the beds. There were to sets of sheets on the bed, so one of them must be for the other. The firebender grabbed one set and tossed it onto the bare cot before attempting to straighten the sheets out into something resembling order. The door opened while Honoo was facing away from it, but he didn’t turn around.

Hanabi looked at Haru hearing his rather... 'momentous story' and shrugged and almost laughed hearing it, she was smiling when he asked her about the river she paused stroking her chin.

She herself had that story, "I had bought a wooden ship as an antique from a salesman in a dock town somewhere in the northernmost coasts in the Earth Kingdom, I had set sail on a Voyage south with my hired crew, I was heading to the south on a trek towards the deserts, not sure if the deserts are north of here now... but a storm came mighty and wrathful." Hanabi was making colorful gestures of waving motions her hand mimicking the ship on the waves, "Then BOOM!" she suddenly smashed her 'boat illustrating hand' into her other palm flattening it, "The ships mast got struck by lightning smashing it down, I don't know what happened totally but one of my crew would have gotten smashed by the falling wooden beam and I charged forward crashing into him violently tossing him out of the way, that same charge ended me over the edge of the ship into the water."

Hanabi sighed, "I can only guess how much time I spent trying to swim or how long I've been drifting face up down rivers tell you found me." She looked at her drained pack, "I lost most of the stuff I carry around, Scentless Lamp Oil, Dried Meat, A bunch of blank paper for writing, A map and compass, And a skinning and meat curing kit."

Hanabi had a slight spring in her step, "I'm sure the ship itself is fine, the water wasn't so rough I think, after all I lived through it, so I'm sure aside from the mast that my Ship is probably in some port for repairs or marooned on an Island."

"So, What town are we going to Haru?" she asked having answered his question more then aptly, every word she had told him had been true.

"We're going to Gaoling," Haru said, pointing straight ahead where the path led into oblivion. It shouldn't be too much farther from where they were, since they had been walking for a while.

"It sounds like you have a much more exciting life than I do," he chuckled, "I just wish more exciting things like that happened to me." In all actuality, that was a lie. Nothing he could run into short of world-ending war was more "exciting" than the occupation and then defeat of the Fire Nation. That one day had changed him irrevocably into the courageous young man he was today. He could never go back to being plain old Haru. He was Haru, the courageous skilled Earthbending warrior, and he wouldn't have had it any other way.

"Gaoling? Isn't that the place that hosts... ohh, I dunno... EARTH RUMBLE!?" she suddenly looked exited, "I've never seen an Earth Rumble before, My second father said that it was just a bunch of sweaty dudes generally who liked to show off with flawed Bending designed to look fancy." She was smiling imagining flying rocks everywhere. "Who to bet on... who to bet on..." she muttered slowly.

She noticed him say the part about her life being exciting and smiled at him putting a hand on his back, "Don't sell yourself short, you found me in a river, and when you find a girl in a river and head towards a town full of rumbling benders you're doomed to have excitement."

"Goh'Zhan taught me Prison Style martial arts, it was made by him and a few other strong warriors to take advantage of propelling attacks and techniques that could work while your hands where bound." She smiled, Goh'Zhan, her 'Second Father' had been imprisoned in a Fire Nation Prison for a long time for crimes, and there he made most of the close combat style he taught his daughter, Hanabi.

Earth Rumble. It was known all over the Earth Kingdom, even in places like Haru's village. So many cocky boys went there, and so many came back humbled. He'd always wondered how his bending would stack up against others, especially since he didn't openly search for competition.

"I guess you're right," he said, laughing lightly.

"Okay, what else would you like to know about me?" He felt guilty, lying by omission, but he still felt like he didn't need to discuss his bending. Sadly, most of the exciting things in his life had happened through his bending; after all, it was how he'd met Katara and the Avatar. Still, he had a feeling like his "secret" would come out eventually, especially if he signed up for the Earth Rumble.

Hanabi smiled, "Nothing more to guess, just want to know how well you fight, what your fighting style is, so that if we enter battle I can adapt my strategies for best use." she laughed to herself, "I myself fight with Momentum based high impact strikes that focus on mobility and the use of fast hard hitting single hits and reducing redundant movements in my fighting style."

She was briskly following Haru, in high spirits a smile on her face as she did this, Hanabi didn't feel like she was lying about her style, she indeed practiced Firebending, but clung too her momentum style as it was easier to control and then Fire, and wouldn't kill or scar her opponent without her consent.

Haru's ears pricked up, so to speak, when she described her fighting style. As his mind processed every word, he began to think that incorporating moves like that into his Earthbending might be just what he needed to gain the advantage in any battle.

"Would you mind teaching me some moves? It might be good for me to know in case I ever get attacked or something," he said, proud that every word he was speaking resonated with truth. He needed to keep his lies to a minimum, non-existant if he could help it. Since he couldn't, he might as well be as truthful with her as he could be.

Hanabi looked at him and nodded, "The basic is converting a Solid Stance into a Fast Solid movement." she said to him Taking a stance, leaping a small springing step forward, "The basic is learning how, with every step while moving fast, not too loose your footing. While moving someone should be able too strike a kick at your legs and not shake you."

Hanabi's movements lacked a certain grace, it looked like she was tossing herself into her charge with force, "My Second Father once said that a large part of battle is occupying your opponents space, keeping them mentally guessing and forcing them to, even when attacking, keep mentally defensive, while focused as such they will ware themselves down overtaxing there energies."

Hanabi was moving around him in movements that where rough, jagged and hard looking, Her wrists together moving with her jagged tide ready too deliver a full speed charge into an attack anywhere within her reach, even to her sides.

"Lastly, it makes your movements hard to counterattack, If they push you past them you will drift in and out of there range for a moment, and instead of being able to drive you down, you will simply move past, able to charge again, and if they have a hold on you, your posture will only allow them to grip broad surfaces on you like your forearms, or your shoulders, and as such, your faster movement will drag them behind you and most likely cause them too stumble, This style uses the hands as a single weapon, it was designed for use while the wrists are shackled and takes advantage of power of your arms being close together, and the force you can propel yourself."

She looked at him moving back too her normal motion, "All styles have weaknesses, this one lacks; follow up and combination. You have a powerful One strike, but you don't have a One-Two."

Haru laughed and applauded lightly when she finished her routine.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive. I might not be able to learn it in one go," he said, smiling broadly. He admired anyone who had expertise over anything, especially bending or martial arts. One of these days, he would seek out an Earthbending Master so he could learn a thing or two that he might not know. After all, he had been taught by his father, but his father knew a lot about Earthbending. Still, he had a feeling that he could be better and who knew? He might learn a thing or two if he did end up registering for Earth Rumble, if there was even one going on.

"Would you like to see what little I know about combat?" he asked, figuring that she'd be slightly amused, at the least.

Hanabi smiled at him nodding slowly, "Sure, If you're gonna learn from me, and possibly me a bit from you, we should learn where our skills start and stop, after all, It's insulting to an expert to go over the basics with em, and it's like reading advanced theology to a three year old to try to teach advanced combat to someone with no basics." Hanabi herself had a Metaphorical way of speech, and again she spoke in Metaphors.

"What did you have in mind Haru?" she asked, curious as too see his routines, or possibly spar with him. She hoped deep inside he was the strong manly sort who didn't give up, and didn't cry over small bruises, it wasn't something she'd have normally thought of, but her last sparring partner she had fought had, while being skilled, broken down into tears and started wailing about how it was just practice and started balling and insulting her over a few minor bruises that wouldn't have even lasted the month. Probably not even the week.

Hanabi was silently cracking her knuckles and shoulders loosening herself on instinct thinking about the old fight, and the possibility of a new fight, it was obvious she was pumped.

"Well, I guess I could show you some of what I know," Haru said, unsure as soon as the words escaped his lips. Could he do his Earthbending moves without actually Earthbending? Would they even be useful as combat rather than bending?

He was about to find out.

"Let's see..." he said, taking his stance and a deep breath in. Rather than focus his energy in his core, he let it flow freely through his body, not concentrating it anywhere in particular. With that, he began to move as if he were Earthbending, and his heart soared as he realized that he wasn't. On and on, move after move, strike after strike, he practiced every move he knew. When he was done, he wiped the sweat from his brow.

Hanabi watched him move, motion after motion, they where pretty good, a hard hitting technique, but... as he was performing, she saw a move that was a solid bending move, stepped inside of his guard moving and setting herself behind the reach of his arm, putting his sides in range of her elbows, but instead of striking she moved back out of attack range.

"You're pretty okay, but your techniques are displays of a bending style, my survival teacher, The Dune Hunter, was a Sandbender and a few of the moves you have I recognize as the Root Basics of Earthbending, mainly the core stance you return to after each set, Don't get me wrong, if you where pulling rocks and Earthbending, your style would be vary strong, but your missing the rocks that occupy the space that I just used to bypass your guard."

She herself thought his style was a great style, it was solid, strong, it was obvious to her that he was an Earthbender, having fought, and been trained in survival by a Sandbender, she knew well what Earthbending looked like, and her style which focused on finding and widening openings for strikes could see the holes in his stance that earth usually closed.

Despite having figured out he was an Earthbender, she wasn't going to say anything, he wasn't like her, trained in a Martial Arts Style 'and' a Bending Style. But on the other hand he probably knew a lot more of other stuff then she did.

"My firebending style is a strange style that my Father and a few select others know of, with the death of my first father me and probably only a few others around the world would recognize my style as firebending, considering its lack of stance and constant large sweeping movements too fan heat, it would look more like a savage dance with no strikes." she thought, Haru had found her interest and peaked it, fighting, styles of fighting, bending, and practice, these where the things in her life she excelled at, she wasn't vary good at much else in her life. She was never able to hold a non-combat job, her skills in managing money, creating objects and living outside of combat where totally inept.

Haru was slightly taken aback by her reaction to his "style." Was it really that easy to stop and Earthbender who wasn't actually bending? Apparently. Something about that made him worry; worry that he was relying too heavily on bending as his primary form of defense. After all, unless he was surrounded by metal, he was unstoppable for the most part. Still, the Fire Nation had done a good job at disarming the Earthbenders of his village.

"My dad's an Earthbender, but I'm not. He taught me the moves so I could see how it felt to bend," he explained, cringing on the inside that he had to tell another lie. He was hoping against hope for a reason to use his Earthbending before they got to Gaoling and he competed in Earth Rumble. He didn't think he could take much more of this.

Hanabi's expression was not amused, she herself knew the difference between 'Learning a Style' and 'Learning your Bending', her expression was irritated, "Lets keep moving to Gaoling." she said to him flatly.

Hanabi turned and started walking towards Gaoling gesturing for Haru to follow, "We can practice a bit later." Hanabi wasn't angry about his earth bender Parentage, or about him obviously being a bender, You couldn't control your Parentage, nor could you control rather or not you had the bending gift, but the blatant and obvious lies where in his jurisdiction, and her nerves had been grated, if she practiced with him she might break his nose or something out of irritated reflex. Part of her own nature really, her temper, but instead of feeding it, she'd make her displeasure semi-obvious.

"So your dad's an Earthbender, I hear to be an Earthbender you need a Solid Foundation or set of prinicples to inspire the discipline to learn the craft. Judging from your moves I'd say he's probably a really strong Earthbender, In Mind, Body 'and Spirit.'" Her tone was a calmer and not so irritated sounding, but the sharp edge was still in her tone.

Haru picked up on the change in her tone; she was annoyed, but why? Could it be because...

He couldn't think of another reason except that she'd seen through his lies. His heart sank as it looked like things weren't going as well as he'd thought. Still, her last remark had seemed like a bright beacon amid the darkness that was gathering, and it brought him hope.

Something was eating him away on the inside, and he didn't think he could go on any longer with things the way they were. His Earthbending had gone from something he'd thought wasn't that important to something that, if he didn't bring it up, might destroy this odd friendship they had going.

"Wait," he said, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.

I can't believe I'm doing this, he thought, taking his stance and focusing his energy into his core. He raised his right foot and brought it down, causing a good-sized chunk of rock to fly up. Letting a burst of energy out through his fist, he punched at the right moment and sent the rock flying away. Taking another deep breath, he stood there, waiting.

Hanabi sighed, her expression was slightly tired, but in that resigned way, like when someone couldn't stay angry, "You're an Earthbender, you shouldn't shy away from that fact, not if the person is your ally or your enemy, Bending is something to take pride in. Even outside of battle bending is a wonderful gift." She was smiling as she turned on her heels facing him.

Hanabi looked at Haru and walked over to him, her mismatched eyes looking into his as she pondered. When she had had taught herself that bending was a gift too be cherished, that in the hands of a bender is a gift that most men could only dream of, and her soul had been entrusted with it.

"I know you probably don't trust me yet, Haru, but it is obvious looking at you that you are vary proud of your bending, your father, and who you are." Hanabi was smiling again and she had sort of found one more point of irritation, and she was going to flat tell him what it is. "Telling lies isn't you, in the way you carry yourself, the way you speak and act. Lies don't hold to you and you feel bad when you tell one."

"The key too anything, bending, living and fighting is truth to your nature, if you don't follow your own nature, and you like who you are, you will suffer, both in power, and in desire to win." Hanabi adapted a fighting stance, her wrists together, hands aimed towards him, "Earthbending is a sudden impact style, but to make room for earth the motions have been widened for optimum flowing of energy like most bending styles your wide movements are designed to sweep the elements along with you, and they will close the opening of the wide movement, the key is keeping the style and closing the attack when there is no elements to cover you." She spun quickly her hands together at the wrists still. Her ready too help him train once more. "The Martial Arts where created for defense, and learning defense is the first step in any martial art, after you have your defense you work on attack. Take your basic Earthbending stance, but, instead of leaning forward into it, lean back into it, this will shift your balance away from places in front of you, and make it harder for your opponent too root you. And when you strike, never put too much into any attack."

Hanabi's own stance with her hands together looked solid enough, her legs where close together, slightly crouched ready for dodging, her hands together in front of her put her defense between her and Haru.

It was with her words that Haru's faith and pride in his bending and its heritage was renewed.

"Thank you," he said simply, bowing to her in the way he'd bow to an Earthbending Master. He felt grateful at the same time because she'd been so accepting, even after his lies.

Taking his stance, he stood as she instructed, leaning back into his stance instead of leaning forward. She was right; he felt more solid in this position than he had in his normal stance, which created a stronger sense of confidence in his bending. Lifting his foot as he did before, he used less force bringing his foot down onto the ground, launching a bigger rock than he had previously. With a more fluid gesture, he punched the rock and sent it flying off into the distance. He froze with his fist out, amazed at how far he'd been able to launch it with such little effort.

"Wow, you were right," he said, exhaling heavily, slightly floored. This brought Earthbending into a whole new light, now knowing that he could do so much damage and not even break a sweat.

Something was bothering him. How could she have known so much about him without him telling her? Perhaps she was better at reading people than he was, and maybe she was picking up on some signals he was putting out without knowing it. Whatever the case, it was putting him off a little, as much as he didn't want that. They'd only met a couple of hours ago and already, they'd hit so much turbulence.

Turbulence you're responsible for, he reminded himself, slightly annoyed that he'd think that. After all, what if she was hiding something from him? It wouldn't matter, especially since she forgave him for lying to her. Still, the principle remained the same. He wanted to start with a clean slate again, but he might not have been too justified in wanting that. It was something to reach for, and it was something he'd keep in mind for the future.

"Well, I heard that Gaoling might be having Earth Rumble Seven pretty soon," he remarked, remembering how her face had lit up when she'd mentioned the Rumble before; besides, it would get their minds off the mess that had just happened. Hopefully, it would be enough to distract them both while they made their way to the city. Once they were there, there would probably be more than enough interesting things to hold their attention.