"Sorry, did I scare you?"

Goshiki looked straight into the eyes of the blond boy in front of him, whose hand was held out in front of the firebender's face. After a moment of hesitation, Goshiki grabbed the boy's hand and the boy help him up to his feet.

Once on his feet, Goshiki noticed that the boy was smiling at him in a friendly way, still holding his hand. "I didn't hit you, did I?" the boy asked worriedly.

Goshiki slowly shook his head, unable to understand why he hadn't fired a fire's blow at the earthbender yet. "Thanks Lord, I'm Koganegawa Kanji by the way, I've never seen you around here before"

Goshiki continued to look at him and only after a while he was finally able to speak "You are... an earthbender!", Koganegawa nodded "Yeah, I was training in my bender". "Don't you know that it's forbidden to use Earthbending here? If the Fire Nation soldiers see you, they'll deport you to the Fire Nation prison!"

Koganegawa looked at him in surprise "Really?, but I've never seen any soldiers". Goshiki didn't believe it "Impossible, they patrol around here every day!". Koganegawa shrugged "Maybe they don't pass through here... wait, come with me, let's get out of these bushes, they're picking me". The blond boy, who still had a grip on Goshiki's hand, gently pulled the firebender towards him, leading him out of the bushes.

Goshiki followed him without objecting. Once they were outside Koganegawa sighed happily "Okay, I think it's time for a break, do you want to keep me company?, we can sit in the shade of that tree and rest". Goshiki nodded slowly, this could be an opportunity to gather information on the enemy, although to be honest, this boy seemed a bit naive and simple-minded to him.

The 2 sat down in the shade of the large tree, Goshiki with his knees close to his chest while Koganegawa had his back against the tree, enjoying the light summer breeze.

"Hey, I'm sure you're from the fire nation, but you don't look like a soldier even if you're wearing some sort of armor", Goshiki smiled proudly "Heh... I'm not a common soldier, I'll be a general and lead the fire nation troops".

Koganegawa looked at him in wonder, a hint of curiosity. "Wow, so you're an important person". Goshiki grinned proudly "Of course, I'm training hard for this, also because... I actually discovered I was a bender only at 14, but that didn't stop me and in just 2 years I managed to surpass a lot of boys who had been training for many years more than me". Koganegawa smiled "That's cool, I also discovered at 14 that I was a dominator, but I still haven't managed to surpass my teammates".

Goshiki felt a spark of sympathy for the boy, knowing that he shared something so important with him. At the mention of his teammates, however, Goshiki remembered that the meeting was about to end and that if he hadn't been found at the outpost, they would have locked him up forever.

He stood up suddenly, worrying Koganegawa. "Is something wrong?". Goshiki shook his head "No... but I have to go otherwise my Teachers will get angry... I went out without them knowing". Koganegawa then stood up and smiled at Goshiki "Then it's better for you to go, even if it's a shame, I really like you".

Goshiki smiled softly, perhaps Koganegawa hadn't realized it, but they would definitely never see each other again, except on the battlefield, against each other.

The blond boy seemed to have other plans though. "Will you come back tomorrow?" and without even waiting for an answer he added "I'll wait for you here at the same time, I hope you can come, as long as your teachers don't lock you up for life".

Goshiki looked at him shocked, hadn't he realized that they were from 2 enemy factions? Why did this boy want to spend time with him? Wasn't he afraid of being attacked or reported?. Goshiki's thoughts however didn't match what the boy let out of his mouth "I'll try".

Goshiki turned, ready to leave, but Koganegawa stopped him "Wait, you didn't tell me your name".

Goshiki jumped, slowly turning around and looking at the boy in the eyes before proudly announcing "Goshiki Tsutomu". Koganegawa smiled "That's a nice name... see you tomorrow, Goshiki".

Goshiki continued to look at him without realizing it, then he came to his senses and added "But you must not tell anyone about this meeting, and I will not tell the soldiers on you, okay?". Koganegawa nodded and smiled, waving goodbye "Of course!, I'll see you tomorrow". Goshiki also shyly said goodbye to Koganegawa, before disappearing into the forest.

"Hey, did your stomach pain go away?" Shirabu asked in a mocking tone with the aim of imitating Goshiki who responded with a weak "Shut up". The boy in fact could not get today's meeting out of his head, he could not understand why he hadn't attacked Koganegawa, why he hadn't he had the courage? and if he hadn't had the courage in that situation how could he led the army into battle... or maybe he hadn't attacked because he knew that Koganegawa wasn't on the defensive and therefore it wouldn't have been a fair fight?

Tendou realized that Goshiki's mind was definitely not focused on the salad in front of him and decided to wake the boy from his thoughts "What are you thinking about that's so important that you can't even respond to Shirabu's provocations?". Goshiki jumped and immediately regained his composure "Nothing!... I'm just tired... in fact I'd like to go to sleep if you don't mind".

Semi looked at him worriedly "Are you sure? You have to eat something, you haven't touched anything... and then haven't you slept all afternoon?". Goshiki tried to hide his lie by looking down "Yes it's true, but I'm still very tired, and I can't eat, I feel like if I take in even one more bite I'll end up throwing up".

Tendou shrugged and went back to eating "If you feel tired then I think it's best for you to go and rest, I hope you'll feel better tomorrow morning". Goshiki nodded and thanked him "Thank you very much, goodnight everyone". Everyone replied by wishing him a good night in turn and Goshiki headed to his room.

After washing and changing, the boy lay down on the bed, but he couldn't sleep. He was still torn, he didn't know whether to try to go and visit Koganegawa tomorrow, or stay in the outpost and not risk being discovered.

'Ahhhhh... why am I even thinking about it? it's obvious that I shouldn't go, I can't risk being discovered by my teammates and ruining everything I've worked for so far... it would be stupid... and Koganegawa is an enemy too... what's the point of going to visit him?...'.

Yet it seemed that his heart had other plans, and the next day, this prevailed over the rationality of his brain.

Same strategy as the day before, Goshiki faked pain and with the excuse of going to rest without being disturbed, he climbed up the tower again and jumped from the tree, crossing the forest, this time at a brisk pace.

He didn't know why he was in such a hurry, he still didn't know why he was doing all this, but despite this, as agreed, Koganegawa, just like the day before, was training creating mountains of rocks.

Goshiki made his way through the bushes silently with the aim of observing the earthbender.

Koganegawa let out a laugh without even turning around."You finally came back, your teachers didn't lock you up."

Goshiki looked at him in amazement, "How did you know I was here, I tried to move as quietly as possible." Koganegawa put the rock mountain he had created back in its place and started laughing. "I can feel the vibrations in the ground, through my feet..., so I also knew you were getting close."

Goshiki continued to look at him in awe, "Wow, that's so cool." Koganegawa smiled confidently, he loved it when people complimented him. "Heh, Aone, a teammate of mine, taught me that. He's a really great bender and I hope to become like him."

Goshiki nodded and went to sit under the tree again, this time with his back against the tree, not feeling the need to sit in a more defensive positio. Koganegawa quickly joined him and sat next to him.

Again there was silence, but neither of them found it really awkward, in fact, it was reassuring.

The silence lasted until Koganegawa broke it with his shrill voice. "How old are you?", Goshiki turned to look at him before answering, "16". "Me too!, so we're the same age". Goshiki shrugged, resting his head on the trunk and closing his eyes.

"What's your favorite food?", "simmered flounder".

"And your favorite color?", "Purple".

"What do you do besides training?", "Why all these personal questions?"

Koganegawa smiled at him "Because I want to get to know you better, I've never had a friend my age, and then my only friends are also my teammates... we are all orphans and we started a family, we chose the name of Dateko... but they are my family... I wanted friends who came from other realities... and now I've found you who even comes from the fire nation... I want to be your friend!".

Goshiki blushed slightly, it was the same for him, he had never had a real friend and he also considered his teammates as his family. "Wow, we sure do have a lot in common..." Goshiki said sighing.

Koganegawa smiled "So are we friends?"

Goshiki turned to look at him, but before he could answer, a large stone was thrown at them. Koganegawa was quick to react, breaking the stone into smaller pieces that flew to the sides of the 2 boys.

Goshiki jumped on his feet and took a defensive stance. In front of them, two very tall boys, who looked their age, seemed ready to fight. One was really tall with white hair, while the other seemed to be the same height as Goshiki with brown hair.

"Futakuchi, Aone wait!" Koganegawa shouted to the 2. The boys had an angry look and the dark-haired boy also showed concern on his face. "Kogane get away from him!, he's a soldier of the Fire Nation"

Goshiki was ready to fight, but Koganegawa stretched out his arm in front of him, and the bender didn't know how to interpret the gesture, Koganegawa was holding him back from fighting... or was he protecting him?.

"Futakuchi he is not an enemy, he has no bad intentions, he is my friend". Futakuchi huffed "Sure, go tell that to someone else". Another stone was thrown at the 2 boys who this time dodged it to defend themselves, being separated.

At that point Futakuchi began to throw a barrage of rocks at Goshiki who was trying to dodge them and try to counter with fire.

"Futakuchi stop!". Koganegawa tried to interfere in the fight, but Aone raised a wall, starting to throw rocks at him and trying to trap Koganegawa in a vice to prevent him from interfering.

In the meantime, Goshiki was increasingly late in dodging Futakuchi's faster and more precise blows. In fact, the boy seemed to be unable to keep up and Futakuchi wanted to take advantage of this. He took a large rock and threw it with all his strength at Goshiki who was no longer able to dodge.

Goshiki swallowed and closed his eyes, instinctively putting his hands forward as if to stop the rock. However the moment of impact never came, and when Goshiki opened his eyes again, there was nothing in front of him, the rock was split in two on its sides.

Futakuchi widened his eyes, unable to believe what he had seen... the boy had destroyed the rock? How was that possible?...

Futakuchi at that point had to remove all doubts. "Aone, Kogane, did you by any chance broke the rock?".

The 2 boys stopped, called by Futakuchi's voice, and looked at each other before shaking their heads.

Futakuchi at that point had no more doubts, he turned with his eyes still incredulous towards Goshiki. "But you... are the avatar!"
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I decided that I will post a new chapter every Wednesday or Tuesday so stay tuned for more