Welcome to my new piece of fanfiction, "Empathy." It's a story about Katara and Sokka, and their bond as brother and sister. Before I begin, I would like to mention that this is not a brother/sister romance fic. Those sort of freak me out. Disclaimer: I'm just a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I do not own it, I am not associated with it, and I sadly have nothing to do with it at all. I am just a very obsessed fan who took the time to write this piece. I also thank the writers, voice actors, artists, directors, and everybody else who had something to do with the making of Avatar.. without you guys, I wouldn't be writing this today! Wow. All in one breath.

New version. Same plot, though.

Empathy

Katara's POV

I always welcomed rain. It brought life to even the deadest parts of the world. I've seen many of those lately... too many. Being away from my home, the South Pole, for the first time was exciting... and scary. Some days I ask myself why I even bothered to travel with the Avatar. It was just last week when we flew over a deserted Earth Nation town, the only inhabitants being vultures who were picking at remains of the men who had fought to defend their home. I feel nauseas at the sight, and turn my head away.

But sometimes, it's all worth it. I remember I fought for an Earth Nation town a while back, and I met a teenage Earthbender. His name was Haru, and his deep green eyes reflected the meaning, "Born in the Spring." His heart was in the right place, and he was, without doubt, scarred forever when the Fire Lord ordered his father taken away. Even though he got his father back, there are so many people who haven't. My brother, who is also traveling with us, believes that I loved that boy. I didn't love him, but we need more people like Haru in this world.

Flying on Appa has given me time to think about all of the things I've done on this journey. Meeting Haru, narrowly escaping Fire Sages, and learning so much more about my abilities. I look down from in the saddle, looking past the thick white fur that covers the flying creature's entire body. Below, small islands dapple the silent, endless, dark blue ocean.

The ocean's almost too silent. A gentle rain must be coming, but there's not a cloud in the sky. I glance over at Aang, the Avatar, who's sitting on the bison's head, holding the reins boredly. I think of the day that we were on Kyoshi Isle, and jealousy got the best of me, making me realize how much I truly care about Aang. Even now, I realize that as a child, he must have been treated so affectionatly, and envy spreads through my body. I've never gotten much attention, except "Katara, do your chores. Katara, go help Gran-Gran." "Katara, get your foot out of my face!" I snap back to reality, noticing that I've been resting my foot on my brother's chest this entire time.

"Sorry, Sokka."

I remove my foot from his abdomen, an image of Haru entering my mind. "What is he doing now?" I wonder to myself, "Probably doing his chores.. or something like that."

Sokka's POV

Katara's been thinking a lot. I don't know what's been on her mind, but she's been acting strange ever since she met a boy named Jet. What a cold-hearted buffoon, thinking that he could save everybody by drowning them. I scowl everytime I hear that name, but chuckle inside my mind as I wonder if he's still frozen to that tree.

Katara, out of rage, had thrown Jet against a large tree with the power of her natural waterbending abilities. Aang watched as she took a deep breath, and blew the vapor out of her lungs onto the water. The water transformed into ice immediatly, anger surging through both of their bodies.

I can picture it now, Smellerbee and Longshot, two of his men, poking at the ice, with Jet screaming, "Get me out! Get me out of here you darned people!" And Longshot's saying, "I don't know how to get you out, Jet." Then he leaves, Smellerbee following closely behind.

I grab our bag, finding myself growing increasingly hungry. As I dig through the parkas and extra clothing, I come across a pair of Aang's underwear. I try not to touch that item in the bag while rummaging through for some food.

An apple. I grab it, and quickly take a bite out of it while I put the rest of the stuff inside the bag. As I throw the bag into an empty corner, the lemur that travels with the Avatar, Momo, looks straight into my eyes, his tongue hanging out, a chitter emitting fron his throat as I eat the apple.

"No, Momo. You can't have any."

He silences and puts his ears down, sadly. Katara swipes the apple out of my hand and gives it to Momo.

"What did you do that for?"

"That's apple was for Momo."

I growl, knowing they're trying to starve me. I glance over at Aang, the twelve year old Avatar. I personally think they have some sort of relationship going, but hey, they could hate each other. Actually, I haven't paid too much attention. Maybe my mind likes making up stories to entertain me. Heck, maybe I'm just so hungry.

Katara's POV

I must admit, Sokka does get on my nerves a lot. But he can okay, I mean, in the past, he helped me get past the fact our mother was gone. As far as I know, he hasn't killed anybody off yet, and he's provided a comforting shoulder in times of need.

He does look rather hungry, maybe we should land in the next town. I see smoke coming from a coastal village only a few miles away.

Sokka's POV I notice a small village on the coastline ahead of us. My stomach rumbles, and I can almost smell the Turkey Duck cooking.

"Aang, we're landing in that small Earth Kingdom town over there."

"Okay, Sokka. Katara, are you okay with that?"

Katara smiles and nods.

She's up to something, I can tell. At least we're landing soon, and I can eat. Katara always says I'm in a better mood after I eat. I highly doubt that, and I glare at her.

Katara's POV

Why is Sokka glaring like that? I let my mind wander on the subject, but I'm interupted by a "thud" from Appa landing. I look at my brother again. He's muttering to himself. Sokka's so difficult at times.

But I've never really thought about why he's so difficult. He's always been difficult, even before our Mom's life was taken by firebenders. I guess it's his personality. He's really been thinking a lot lately, I crawl over to him, and ask what he has been thinking about.

He grins, and says, "I'm thinking about your boyfriend Jet." He puts an emphasis on the word "boyfriend," making me somewhat uneasy.

"He is not my boyfriend! He betrayed me, he betrayed all of us, and you know it!"

"Easy, I was just kidding. I wonder if he's still stuck to that tree."

I smile. "I wonder what Smellerbee and Longshot are doing... probably poking at him."

Sokka's POV

It's like she can read my mind. Maybe we aren't so different after all. I put my arm around her, in a sibling-like way. I feel her tense up, and then relax. It must have taken her by surprise.

Katara's POV

He understands. I lean on his shoulder, and everything seems perfect. It feels almost like Mom's here, since we're actually behaving for once. I can almost smell the fish roasting on the fire, the children's laughter as they throw snowballs at each other...

"Hey, Katara, want some fish?"

I'm woken up out of my trance, finding myself leaning into Sokka's shoulder. Aang's standing there, holding a stone tray of roasted fish, and staring at us with a "what-the-heck" sort of face. I blush slightly.

"Yes, Aang. I would like one fish."

"Hey! What about me?" Aang and I both look over at Sokka, our mouths full of fish.

"You two look like seals or something eating those fish!"

I grin, and throw one of the fish over to Sokka, who catches it his hands and throws it back onto the tray, grabbing chopsticks and chowing down.

"So... why were you two sitting together like that?" Sokka and I blush at Aang's question.

"Well, Aang, it's a little something called sibling empathy..."

Re-written on October 2nd... I like this version more.

Okay, I know this wasn't one of my better fics. And for those of you wondering why I took "Kakushigoto Kumo" down, I didn't have the inspiration to continue it. I'm probably going to stick with one-shots.

Oh, and why so much humor in this one? I was just in the mood to throw a bunch of humor in.

Loved it? Hated it? Just drop me a review and tell me how I could improve.

-- Koikitten