A/N: I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, but I haven't forgotten about this fandom; I've just been too busy reading what others have written :). I'm not really sure what prompted me to write this, but it's partly inspired by something that almost happened to a friend of a friend. Anyways, I hope it's decent. The story takes place sometime (anytime) after the war. I purposely didn't mention ages, so you guys (the readers) can fill in the missing info however you like :D. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter I: A Stranger in the Dark

The last of the rain fell from the bleak, gray sky and settled lightly on the ground. For a moment, a brief space of time, the world seemed to sleep. Then, as if waking from a deep slumber, everything sprang into action. High above, nestled in the treetops of a nameless forest the birds began to sing, their calls drawing the attention of several little children in the nearby village. On the forest floor, the woodland animals scurried to and fro resuming their activities as if the storm had hardly struck. In the village, the children splashed and played in the puddles while their parents immediately headed to the fields to examine the crops after the long awaited and much needed rainfall. In the quaint little village, it seemed as if nearly everyone was out and about save for two, living in an isolated house.

"Is it still raining?" Sokka asked, not looking up from his meal as Katara came down from her room.

The waterbender shook her head, rolling her eyes. "No, it stopped. If you took a minute to stop stuffing your face, you'd know."

"I'm hungry," was her brother's reply and Katara just rolled her eyes again.

"You're always hungry," she said, reaching for a lychee nut only to have Momo screech at her. Katara sighed, handing Momo the lychee nut that he was trying to take from her.

"What can I say? They have good food here."

Katara resisted the urge to tell her brother not to talk with his mouth full for the hundredth time. Sokka said that just about everywhere they went. Normally, Toph or Suki would have teased him about that but neither of the two of them was there at the moment; Suki had was still training new recruits on Kyoshi and Toph was currently in Gaoling, having made a deal to spend at least one month a year with her parents in return for her freedom to do as she liked (and not be treated as a helpless blind girl). It felt somewhat strange to be staying with just Aang and Sokka in a quaint little village on some island between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation, but she wasn't entirely sad. This was the original group, so to speak. Smiling to herself, Katara gazed out the window. The outline full moon hung low in the sky and a soft breeze was rustling the treetops causing drops of water to fall towards the ground and giving the impression it was still raining. Katara would have gone to the lake nearby to do some waterbending, but it was already dark out and ever since the three of them had come to this village, she hadn't been able to waterbend by herself. She knew it wasn't the place itself that made her nervous; the surrounding forest and the lake were actually quite peaceful. She wasn't quite sure if it was the people, either. All the villagers she had met had been very friendly and kind. But still, for some odd reason, she couldn't bring herself to waterbend in the dark all alone.

"Do you need something?" Sokka asked, noticing his sister was still there.

She shook her head. "I thought I heard Aang come back, but he's not here. I'll just go back up to my room."

Sokka made a face. "I don't understand you. You spend every minute with him and you never complain but if we were locked in a closet together, you'd go insane."

"You're my brother," she replied. "I spent my whole life with you."

"So? You'll probably spend the rest of your life with Aang."

Katara flushed. "Whatever. Besides, if Suki was here you'd spend every minute you could with her or if Toph was here, you'd be playing pranks on the villagers with her."

"Probably," Sokka admitted, working on his third peach as Katara just returned to her room. She was bored out of her mind without Aang around, but he had gone out earlier on an errand, the details of which were still unclear to her. So instead of doing nothing, Katara decided to be productive and write some letters. She'd been meaning to send one to Suki, one to her family back home, and one to the kind old village leader who had given the three of them the beautiful little cottage-like house to use while they stayed there. He had given it Aang assuming it would be easier for the young Avatar to live close enough to the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom that he could go to either nation in the event of an emergency; Zuko and King Kuei were, needless to say, pleased that they wouldn't have to send messengers all the way to the Southern Air Temple or the South Pole for a while yet. Even if the village leader was too busy to come see them himself, he often sent letters asking how they were doing and if they needed any supplies or anything, so Katara had taken it upon herself to answer his letters as soon as they came and assured him the three of them were content and if the need arose, they'd find food for themselves. In spite of that, the old leader kept sending letters and as his latest one was still sitting on her desk, Katara set herself to writing another one in reply.

Downstairs, Sokka had finished the last of his snack when he heard a knock on the front door. Grumbling to himself and wondering why the airbender was knocking when he had a key to the house, Sokka made his way to the front door and opened it, surprised to find a burly, young man standing in the doorway. He was about Sokka's age, had piercing amber eyes and his dark hair hung loosely around him, framing his face. He was wet and judging by the glum expression on his face, it was safe to say he was miserable.

"Sorry to bother you," the man said, flashing a smile. "But, could you spare a meal and a towel for a traveler."

"Uh…sure," Sokka said, standing aside and letting the man enter.

"Thanks."

He led the man into the kitchen. "Help yourself to some food," the warrior said, as he heard Katara running down the stairs.

"Sokka, have you…?" she began, but she stopped when she noticed the stranger. He smiled cordially at the waterbender, but Katara didn't return the gesture.

"Your wife?" the man asked Sokka.

"Sister," Sokka corrected. As soon as he said it, he wished he hadn't. The man's expression had changed slightly and his eyes lit up with an emotion the warrior could only compare to lust. To be honest, Sokka didn't quite like the way he was staring at his sister. Even if he'd been told by countless young bachelors that the beautiful waterbender was quite the catch, he didn't like it when men looked at his little sister like a thing they craved. He'd seen countless men look at girls like that and privately found it slightly, for lack of a more sophisticated term, creepy.

"Ah. Pleasure to meet you," the stranger said, holding out his hand.

Katara just blinked, taking a step back and mumbling something incoherent, before dashing upstairs.

"I'll get you a towel or something," Sokka said, dismissing Katara's odd behavior and disappearing down the hall to the a small room where some supplies were kept. Opening the door, he stepped into the small closet, sighing in irritation when he realized the extra towels were on the highest shelf, just beyond his reach. He turned to go out and apologize to the traveler, but much to his surprise, the young man was standing just outside the door with a smirk on his face. Sokka heard the door click shut just as he opened his mouth to speak and something was jammed into the handles to prevent the door from opening. Sokka threw his weight against it, but it wouldn't budge. From somewhere outside, he heard the sound of someone going up the stairs and hoped it was Aang. For a split second, everything was deathly silent and then he heard a muffled scream followed by a thud. Something fell on the second floor and Sokka held his breath, hoping against hope it was just Momo fooling around with Katara as he sometimes did. But he could still hear her muffled voice and though he couldn't quite make out what she was saying, he could hear the several crashes that followed it. More muffled talking was heard and, cursing the thick walls that made muffled the sound of everything, strained his ears to hear what was going on. But in a matter of seconds, he heard someone walking calmly down the stairs before he heard the front door being thrown open.

Aang had never been more thankful to be on his way home than he was now. He was famished and looking forward to eating whatever Katara had made for dinner. He felt somewhat bad for leaving all the household chores to her, so he often did as much as he could, but Katara always cooked their meals and no matter how tired she was, she made whatever they all wanted. It was surprising considering how many arguments she and Sokka had gotten into over food during their travels. He'd always complained that she never make more than two types of dishes (none of which were his favorites). But now that she was, Sokka had actually told her not to go to all that trouble. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been strange, but considering how much Sokka loved food, to see him refusing food was a strange sight.

As strange as the sight of Sokka refusing food was, a stranger sight met Aang as he neared the house. The front door was thrown wide open and a young stranger, who, ironically, looked vaguely familiar, was running hurriedly down the path, looking quite nervous. He passed Aang in a flash and the airbender had half a mind to run after him, but then he noticed neither Sokka nor Katara were chasing the man out and he hurried up the path, wondering what could have happened to them. If the man was running, he must have been so for a reason and, assuming the man had done something to anger Sokka, it wasn't like Sokka not to give chase.

He entered the house only to find everything in place. In the sitting room, none of the furniture had been overturned or destroyed and the kitchen was completely intact. There was a stack of used dishes on the counter as usual, but other than that, everything seemed to be as he had left it. The only thing different was the little puddles of water on the floor that seemed to lead out the front door and Momo screeching in an uncharacteristically angry manner. Aang was about to head out again, when he heard Sokka pounding furiously on the other side of the locked storage room door.

"What are you doing in there?" Aang asked, once Sokka had been freed.

Sokka just grumbled his explanation before suddenly remembering Katara. Exchanging glances, the airbender and the warrior dashed up the stairs and into her room, neither one quite prepared for the gruesome sight that greeted them.