A/N:

(Bold= Whose POV it is)

Okay, so this is my first A:TLA fanfic. Please no flames. They reduce my self-esteem O.o Nonetheless, please R&R and ENJOY!

I'd just like to let you all know that the cover page is a picture of Raina :) and was done by yours truly ^_^

Raina

"Hatomi," my mother called to me. "Your father is getting ready for his raid. Come say goodbye."

I sighed. "No," I replied simply. "Why is he going to raid that village, anyway?"

It was my mother's turn to sigh. "Your father is under strict orders from the Fire Lord," she told me.

"Fine," I said. "But I still don't understand why-"

"Neither do I, Hatomi," she said. "But I know that I cannot do anything about it."

"But he's going to raid an Earth Kingdom village!" I shouted. "Those are your people! How can you say you can't do anything? Maybe you're not a bender, but you should at least try and talk to him. I may only be twelve, but I'm smart enough to know when to do something."

"Hatomi-"

"How did you and he even fall in love?" I interrupted. "I thought it was horribly forbidden for an Earth Kingdom princess and a Fire Nation general to marry." Maybe I over-exaggerated the word "princess".

My mother wasn't a princess. But she wasn't far from it. She was born into one of the richest Earth Kingdom families in Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom capital. She had everything right at her fingertips, but then she met my father. A firebender. And she ran off with him, followed him on all of his raids on different villages in an attempt to conquer each one of them. And somewhere along the way, she had me. Her half-Earth Kingdom, half-Fire Nation, non-bending daughter.

My mother sighed. "Perhaps you're right," she said quietly. "I'll go talk to him."

I immediately regretted screaming all those things at her. I put my head down as I felt my face begin to redden. "Good," I said. "He'll listen to you."

"Perhaps." And she walked out, her green satin Earth Kingdom robe flowing behind her.

I had no intentions of going to my father to say goodbye, like she had told me to. So instead, I strolled from my room and into the forest. It was beautiful, really. The trees were a nice red color, even though it wasn't even fall yet, and the grass felt soft beneath my bare feet. I fluffed out my pale green dress, similar to my mother's, and tiptoed through the trees.

Seeing all the low hanging branches, I jumped up and quickly hauled myself on to one. I began to climb, nimbly making my way up to the very top of the tree. From this altitude, I could see everything, the entire make-shift camp. I looked around and saw my mother slipping in to my father's tent. Good, I thought. She's going to ask him to stop these raids. But when she came out again with a displeased look on her face, I knew that she had been unsuccessful. I scaled my way back down the tree and raced toward her, tripping over my dress on my way there.

"What happened?" I gasped, trying to catch my breath and hiking my dress up to my knees, so as to not trip over it as I walked the last few steps toward her.

"Hatomi, put your dress down," she scolded. "It's un-ladylike." I groaned, stuck my tongue out, and threw my dress back down. "And, unfortunately, your father and I don't quite see eye-to-eye on this subject."

"So he's still going to do it?" I asked.

Before she could reply, I heard a deafening roar come from behind me. I whipped around and saw my father, along with about thirty of his soldiers, mounting his horrible lizard-like creature that he owned, which was identical to all the others. I turned on my mother, my eyebrows scrunching together as they always did when I was angry. But I quickly shook my head, reminding myself that she did try. She failed, but she tried.

I started toward my father. I was ready to tell him exactly what I thought of him and his raids, but my mother stopped me. "Stay here, in the camp," she told me. She kissed my forehead. "I'll be back." The lizard creatures bolted into the trees, carrying my father and his soldiers. My mother nodded to me once, then turned, and swiftly darted after them, her long brown hair trailing after her.

I considered staying in the camp, like she had told me to. But only for a moment. I had a habit of never obeying any rules. My mother had always told me that that was the one thing I inherited from my father. Well, that, and my "porcelain" skin tone, as she had described it. Everything else, I'm told, I inherited from my mother. My eye color especially. Green. Bright green.

I shrugged, considered the idea of staying in camp once more, then, mind made up, I darted into the trees, keeping track of where my mother's small footprints were leading me.

I soon came to the small, old looking Earth Kingdom village. And I saw that my father and his soldiers had already started in on it, blasting fire from their fists onto the less than stable looking village houses. He laughed maniacally as he watched them burn down. He ordered his soldiers to continue the assault. I actually noticed one person, who looked like a young boy carrying a bow, run into the trees. How, I wondered, does my father find that funny? Tearing families apart is not funny. I shook my head and dared to move closer to the flaming village. I could literally almost touch the fire. Too bad I'm not a firebender, I thought. Maybe I could have saved some people.

"Kasai!" I heard my mother's demanding voice sound from beside me. I turned my head to the left and quickly ducked behind the thick shrubbery to conceal myself from my quarreling parents. "I asked you not to do this. I thought you understood that."

"I have a duty, Shima," my father said sternly. He always sounded like he didn't care what she said or thought. Sometimes he sounded like he didn't even like her, let alone love her. "And this is it. You know what will happen is I don't fulfill my duties."

"You'll lose your job," my mother sneered. "Big deal! You can find another job."

"You don't understand," he snapped at her. "I have to do this."

"No, you don't!" she shouted at him. "You have the power to stop all this! Think about the families that you're ruining. How would you feel if someone tore apart our family? How would you feel if someone took Hatomi, or even killed her?" I flinched at this part. How would he feel if someone killed me? Would he even care? I doubted it. I looked back at my mother, and could faintly see small tears forming in her eyes. "Please, stop this!"

"Shima, be silent!" my father roared, flames starting to form around his fists. "I don't have any time to worry about 'tearing apart families'! The Fire Lord ordered this! And it's my job to do it. Go back to the camp. Now!"

"How can I..." she asked quietly, "...when you haven't answered my questions?" She raised her head and locked her green gaze on my father's amber gaze. "How would you feel if someone killed Hatomi? Kasai, how would you feel?" My father looked away and shut his eyes tightly. He did not answer, and the flames around his fists were growing larger. "Kasai, how would you feel if someone killed me? Would you even care?"

I wanted to know the answer to that question as well. But I realized that the answer, unfortunately, was no. I watched, frozen in place, as orange fire erupted from my father's hands and engulfed my mother's slim body. She dropped to the ground with a sickening death cry, and then, she was still. I screamed, but realizing that this wasn't a good idea, I slapped my hand over my mouth. Thankfully, my father didn't hear it.

"The answer to that, my dear Shima," he hissed to my mother's unmoving, lifeless body, "is no." He stood up, rolled his shoulders back, and walked away, as if nothing ever happened, pretending like he didn't just kill his own wife.

Involuntarily, I shrunk further down into the foliage, causing the leaves to rustle as my father was walking by. He stopped dead in his tracks, and stalked toward the bushes I was in. I gasped, and clumsily scrambled through the bushes, as far away from that monster I used to call my father as possible. When the bushes ceased to exist, I got to my feet, and dashed through the tall trees, hoping that he wasn't pursuing me. I ran for what seemed like an eternity, until I decided to climb into the trees, where I would be safer. Once I was perched on the highest branch that would support my weight, I laid my head against the trunk and sighed. That's when the tears came.

My mother was dead. No, she wasn't dead. She was murdered. By her own husband. My father. I shook my head in frustration. This man was not my father anymore. I didn't want to call him anything that tied him to me in any way anymore. No. Now, this man, this murderer, would be referred to in my mind as only Kasai of the Fire Nation.

I realized another thing. I was no longer half-Fire Nation. I now considered myself as one-hundred percent Earth Kingdom. I had completely disowned Kasai. He was not my father. He was just a firebender. A firebender who killed my mother out of cold blood.

I sighed again and rolled on to my side. Where am I supposed to go now?

Over the next few days- maybe it was weeks- I spent most of my time walking to nowhere and looking for anything edible. I didn't have much trouble surviving in the forest alone, since it was where I spent most of my time anyway. I didn't have much trouble with animals either, although sometimes I would find some of them trying to take my food.

I had lost quite a bit of weight due to lack of nutrition, but, surprisingly, my natural acrobat skills had not faltered in any way. And I didn't mind the slim curves the malnutrition had given me. Every day, I continued to climb and leap from tree to tree, enjoying the adrenaline that rushed through my body with every jump.

I became extremely lonely, and there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't cry or mourn for my mother. But I pushed myself to move on. And I always managed to convince myself that I would one day be able to avenge my mother. I didn't know how, considering I was not a bender of any kind. My father had trained me in hand to hand combat and a bit of sword fighting, yes, but I was still no match for a firebending master. I had a vivid imagination, though. And in some of my daydreams, I would imagine myself running Kasai through with a sword repeatedly, purely for my enjoyment.

I estimated I had been alone for about a month and a half. Maybe longer. I wasn't sure exactly how long it had been, but I knew that my birthday had past. I wasn't twelve anymore, I was thirteen. But, needless to say, I wasn't in the mood to do anything about it. A few more days passed, and I started to feel like I was doomed to be a loner forever. But then, everything changed.

It was a very, very rainy night, the water coming in large, heavy drops. I didn't mind. I grew to love the rain and the water, even if I wasn't affiliated with a Water Tribe in any way. I sat on the edge of a small stream and let my feet dangle in the water, letting the coolness wash all over me. I lifted my head to the sky and let the rain pour on my face and my dirty clothes and hair. I stared at the moon through my blurred vision. And that's when I felt him approaching. Jet.