I meant to add this earlier... But this is just a basic story, supposed to be over a few episodes, you know? Anyway, this is after Origins [obviously]. I kinda expanded on the magic a bit, but I tried to keep it true to the show! I also tried to keep the characters basically the same. I know, I should have more of Mr. Wu in here, but I dunno, it just doesn't work out that way! Heh. Chapter four is/is going to be the one with most of the action in it, so sorry if that's what you were looking for! I'm keeping the romance a bit toned down, but its definitely there! It's more of a bonding between the characters over similar situations, but there's some Tobey and OC action, and some undertones of Sid and OC... but don't worry. I think the end of the story is going to a lot different! I won't reveal it yet, but send me your suggestions! Pleasssse read and review. I'm open to opinions and critiques! And check out some of the other stuff I'm gonna post too ^^ Avatar, anyone?

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Chapter One

It was one of those days; Friday night and nothing at all to do, because she had no life. Well, she figured, what's wrong with a walk? Maybe she'd get lucky and stumble upon a life.

A few hours had passed since the end of the school week, and she wasn't sad about it. She saw it as such a waste of time, especially when she had tons of thing she'd rather be doing. Like... Lost for anything she'd rather be doing, besides heading to the arcade, she sighed, running a hand through her uneven hair. She needed a past time.

She stopped on the sidewalk, eyes looking up at the sky, looking for the first star to appear. In a few weeks it would be summer break, so the days had been getting longer. Dusk was just now approaching. Even being about at night in Chinatown was better than being at home. No doubt her father had gotten home soon after she abandoned her finished homework, and was already drunk. It was the norm; and the fighting with her mother soon after. That wasn't every night, but it seemed like it. Some days she heard her mother in the small bathroom, water running and the door locked, crying. She could hardly stand it, and her daughter couldn't either.

She wasn't stupid; she knew the only reason they stayed together was because of her. But she was almost done with school, about to go out on her own, and she hoped that her mother would step up then and leave him, finally. Whenever she spoke with her mother about it, her mother just shook her head on top of her skinny frame, terrified at the thought of leaving him, and terrified at his reaction. Which was reasonable. He was pretty scary when he was drunk, though she had only seen him hit her mother once, when they were fighting. He's better than most of his kind.

"Hey, watch out!" A voice called, and a quick glance around and she was up against the wall of the building she had stopped next to, and a bike went whizzing by, doing a wheelie. The boy spun around and came to a stop, a bag swinging dangerously from his handlebars. "Sorry!"

"For what? No one's hurt," she called in reply. The boy put a hand on his chin in a contemplating and amusing manner.

"True. Did you see that trick though! I was like woosh!" He exxagerated with his hands, and she giggled despite herself. "Hey, you go to the high school right? Lily isn't it?"

"Um that's right," Lily said, walking a bit closer, trying to decide if she knew this boy as well. "How did you know?"

"Your hair," he said simply, pointing at their identical bangs, except hers were dyed red, and his were blonde. "We match!"

Lily laughed again. "I never noticed! Who might you be?"

"Tobey." Ah, that's right, she realised. She had seen him and his siblings before. He started walking his bike, glancing back at her, and she came to the otherside, getting the hint. "So... Lily."

"Tobey?" She said, raising her eyebrows.

A ringing interrupted him, and he pulled out his phone with one hand. "Oh, wow, really? Okay Sue, be right there." He closed it and turns back to Lily, looking awkward. "I uh have to go. Mind delivering this for me?" He handed her the bag with an address on it, smiled, and hopped on his bike, zooming off down the street and around the corner.

Lily sighed heavily and looked at the address. Well, it was just around the corner. She had forgotten they worked at Wu's Garden, one of the Chinese restaurants here in Chinatown. Well, maybe she could get a job there, since she now had an in, and she was doing that boy Tobey a favor. Maybe. It would be a good excuse to get out of the house, to be sure.

After delivering the food to an inquistive and cautious Mr. Wong, she took the money back to Wu's Garden, where the three teenagers weren't back yet. "Um," she said, standing at the counter, and after a brief spout of yelling, she was greeted by a guy who was stirring rice. He just raised his eyebrows at her, and she handed over the money.

"Uh, did you order something?"

"No, I delivered an order for Tobey. Here's the money."

"You what?!" A deeper voice asked, and suddenly her vision was full of a large man, and the younger one moved out of the way. "He pawned off the order on—"

"No, its okay, really." She thrust the money at him. "I was actually wondering if I could work here." He took the money with narrowed eyes, counting it and handing her a few bills back.

"Oh, I see. Well, okay. You're not delivering though."

"Really Dad?" The younger man said, looking confused.

"Yeah, why not? Besides she can hold her own." He looked closely at Lily now, an eye narrowed. "Right?"

"Uh, right, Mr. Wu." She said quickly, doing a comical salute. He then promptly dissappeared, and she heard a exercise tape. "Uh.."

"Well, you can cook with me, I guess," the guy said, inclining his head to the kitchen. "I'm Barney, by the way. And you're...?"

"Lily," she said, helping by making rice and putting orders in their boxes. Two hours later the three return, looking much the worse for the wear. They all stop at spotting her in the kitchen, and Sue, the only girl, blushes as her eyes flick to Barney and then her again. "Uh, hey guys," she said, waving with a spoon in her hand.

"Oh cool, you're working here too now? Sweet!" Tobey said, grinning.

"Yeah. Mr. Wu wasn't too happy about—"

"You told him?" A yell from the back room cut off their conversation, and the three wince.

"Hahaha," Sid said, both him and Sue doubled over in laughter, and Tobey glared at him. "That's what you get! At least the order got delivered this time."

"TOBEY! Why did you pawn off your order on this girl?!" Mr. Wu demands to know, banging the door open from the back room. "Good thing she was trustworthy--!" He went on for a minute, then sentencing him to scrubbing the tile in the dining room.

"So," Sid said, leaning on one counter, while his sister leaned on the one on the other side of Lily. "Gonna do that for him again?"

"I hadn't meant to do it this time," she said, tasting a piece of rice. "Where did you guys have to go in such a hurry?"

"Oh, you know, just stuff," Sue said quickly, and the two quickly dissappeared upstairs.

"They're always like that," Barney assured her, handing her a pot to put in an order. "But they're family, y'know?"

"They are?" She said, eyebrows furrowed.

"Well, yeah. Nana adopted them years ago."

"Oh, I didn't know that," she said, contemplating the situation. An hour later, Tobey returned to the kitchen, sitting down at the table with a sigh.

"Hey, thanks Lily, but next time keep it to yourself, k?" He came up and put an arm around her shoulder. She looked at him with a glare as she went about her work. "What?"

"If I had, I wouldn't be working here!"

"Oh, right."

"Tobey, where is Sue and Sid?" An elderly woman asked, and Lily assumed that this is their Nana.

"They're upstairs," Lily answered before Tobey, and the woman looked at her.

"Oh, thank you," she said, inclining her head towards Tobey, and they head upstairs to get the siblings.

"Deliveries!" Mr. Wu bellowed up the stairs a few seconds later, and it made Lily jump. "Now you three!"

Tobey slid down the banister with a grin, grabbing a few of the bags, and Sue and Sid followed quickly after, and their Nana came down the stairs after a minute. "Calvin, who is this?"

"Oh, this is Lily Nana," Barney answered.

"Um, nice to meet you," Lily said, turning to look over her shoulder at her.

"You know Tobey?" Lily's eyes brighten.

"That's right. He almost ran me over with his bike earlier, and from school as well. Kinda." She shrugged. "I know the others by sight only, never really spoken with any of them."

"I see," she said mysteriously, sitting down at the table and watching her work.

"Can I get you something to eat?" She wondered, uneasy with the woman's eyes on her.

"No, no thank you. I'll be in the garden." She got up and went through the back door. Lily just caught a glance of the garden before she had to return her attention to her rice.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"I dunno," Barney answered, adjusting his baseball cap. Sighing, Lily helped him clean up for the night, then sat down at the table, not wanting to go home. "Here," he said suddenly, handing her a timecard. "I wrote down your hours, so just write down your name at the top. You can work tomorrow, too right?"

"Yeah, anytime you need me," she said gratefully, writing her short name on the card and handing it back to him.

"Cool, just come here around, I dunno, 9, k?" She nodded, but didn't get up or indicate she was going to head home. When the three returned from their deliveries, though, she couldn't delay it any longer. She got up and said a swift goodbye, but Tobey caught up with her after he had a quick word with his friends.

"Wanna ride? You shouldn't be walking around alone at night." Wondering about his concern, she nodded, and he handed her Sue's helmet, taking his own and getting on his bike, showing her how to hold on to his shoulders while standing on the pegs. Terrified, she warned him not to do any tricks. He nodded, amazingly not joking, and they set off for her house, once she gave him the street address.

"Uh-oh," he said as he heard sirens in the distance, and a second later his phone rang. He pulled to the road and answered it. Lily climbed down to the road, crouching and relishing in the solid ground. She looked up at him when his voice got unreasonably high, and he was looking at her, worried. He hung up, indicating she was to get back on the bike. He turned around without an explanation, heading back to Wu's Garden.

"Wait, what are you doing? Take me home!"

"Lily, no. There's nothing there. They'll all explain it to you when we get back." She couldn't help it, she let go of his shoulders, and he stopped quickly, looking at her where she lay on the pavement. "Com'on," he said, offering her his arm, his tone still uncharestically serious, which worried her more than the fact that her house wasn't there anymore. That means her parents too-- She took his arm and hugged him. He didn't seem to be too surprised, but after a minute he silently got back on his bike, and she followed suit, following him into the restaurant blankly. He led her to one of the booths, where Sid, Sue and their Nana were all sitting, and her and Tobey joined them.

"Someone set fire to your home. It took out half of the block."

"That's not a normal fire," Tobey said. "It's like some kind of super fire!"

"Exactly," their Nana said, raising her eyebrows. "It was a recipe, I'm sure of it."

"You think it was coincidence, Nana?" Sue asked, leaning forward worriedly.

"No, Sue, I think it was Kong Li." She answered, and Tobey's arm somehow made it around Lily's shoulders, his hand tightening on her shoulder.

"He saw us," Tobey said, anger in his voice.

"I can only assume so. He would have assumed she went home after."

"Wait, what?" Lily asked, confused. They all just shook their heads.

"What I don't get is why he didn't try to get to her first."

"Maybe this is his way, right?"

"Ai-ya, this is horrible," Sid said, head in his hands.

She banged her hand on the table. "No, don't do that. Tell me. I need to know; apparently this has something to do with me, so tell me!" They all exchange a long look, but their Nana nods, getting up and heading to the back door to the garden, and the others follow, and Tobey pulls her out there too.

Their Nana is sitting on a stone, a large book on her lap. The strange group sat down on other rocks and in the grass, and the old woman takes a deep breath. "This is a magic cookbook. It contains recipes from my old master, which we are still collecting. Kong Li—"

"You mentioned him before," Lily said. She nodded.

"Yes. We were students of the same master, but he's evil."

"Yeah, he's not very nice. If left to his own devices, he'll take over the world, literally," Sue said.

"I set up a forcefield to contain his magic and him within Chinatown, but he's still trying to find a way to break it down. I have ways to do so in the Cookbook, which is why we protect it."

"So, this... erm, Cookbook," she said, finding everything a little surreal. It seemed so silly. "It has powerful enough spells—recipes, that it could burn down half a block?"

"Yes, and there's a lot worse out there. I don't have that particular recipe, though, so he must."

"There's more," Lily prompts after a minute. They all look at Tobey, who sat next to Lily, and so she does as well, raising her eyebrows.

"Kong Li—he's my father," he said in a whisper, hiding his face from the rest of the group, his arms wrapped around his legs.

"Oh," Lily said thoughfully. She thought about the information earlier with this new information, but she still didn't understand fully. "So, he wants to turn you evil?"

"We don't know his intentions," their Nana said, running a hand over the Magic Cookbook fondly. "But yes, he might have thought that you—if you were in you house at the time, it might have made Tobey mad enough that he would have turned to other methods to gain revenge, something Kong Li would have used to his advantage, to manipulate him."

Lily put a hand on Tobey's arm, in an attempt to comfort him. It was strange; her family was probably dead, but she was the one doing the comforting. No, there was no probability, she realised, her face falling. There was no way they could have survived that. No one could have. "So, you guys try to take back the recipes before him."

"Right, we end up in more fights with the strangest things—" Sid grumbled. "Though Kong Li is bad enough by himself."

"Though not all of the recipes are his handiwork," Sue said, a little more peppier than she should be, perhaps realising that Lily doesn't like Barney. "Some are just people who find the recipes and decide to try them. Usually the recipes look like any other recipe."

"Except they glow once someone's made it," Tobey said.

"Yeah you think that would tip people off," Sid said sarcastically, and Lily smiled despite herself.

"This one time I was a Nian! I was all rawwwwwwwr!" Tobey said, imitating the Nian's howl and growl perfectly. He got on his hands and knees and leaned back his head, howling eerily.

Sue laughed. "And before that you were a puppy, remember?"

"Oh yeah that was fun! You know those toys are a lot more fun at their level! You guys should try it some time!"

"Lily, perhaps you should start training with Sue, Sid and Tobey. I'm sure they would be more than happy to teach you some basics."

"What, like, fighting?" She asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Well, yeah," Tobey said, sounding more excited by the minute. "You guys should have seen her reflexes earlier! Like a second after I called out to her she was out of the way! Amazing!"

"Yes, Nana's been teaching us Kung Fu," Sue said, ultimately ignoring Tobey. He shot her a glare. "It's really quite useful, when you see the things we do."

"Actually, can I talk to Lily alone for a few minutes?" Their Nana asked, and with a long look the three others left to go back into the restaurant. "I know its been a hard day. But I have to wonder why Kong Li would come after you in that way," she said once they were alone.

"You mean, something other than Tobey?" The woman nodded. "Like...?"

"He might see you as a threat," she said, chin on her fist, elbow on the cookbook, looking at Lily with interest. "I noticed it some earlier, before I knew the connection. Sue has some of the natural aptitude for magic, but I think you have more. Perhaps with training you could come to rival Kong Li."

"That's what he is so afraid of."

"I think so. He might have spotted it when he saw you earlier. He could have been following you and not Tobey, and it was just a coincidence. Whatever it is, all our destinies are now intertwined."

"And when social services comes?"

"Yes, I was thinking of taking you in as a foster child for now. Is that alright?"

"Oh my goodness, yes!" She crossed the short space and hugged the older woman. "Thank you!"

The woman smiled. "You're welcome. I don't think anyone should have to go through what you're going through, and live in a strange house." She looked up at their house above the restaurant. "We have a guest room, and you can stay there for now. Just ask someone where it is."

"Thank you!" She paused from her turn to go back into the restaurant. "Um, what should I call you?"

"You can call me Mai Hua, or Nana if you prefer." Lily bowed lightly.

"Thank you, Nana." She nodded as the girl dissappeared into the restaurant to seach for Sue. She found Tobey instead, waiting for her in the kitchen. "Hey."

"Hi," he said, a little awkwardly. "So... you don't take who my father is against me?"

"As long as you don't take who my father is against me," Lily replied lightly, eyebrows raised. "He wasn't the nicest guy."

He smiled wryly. "Hey, we match again!" He said with a laugh, then showed her up the stairs.

"Nana said there was a guest room—"

"Oh, right," he said, blinking and leading her down the hall a ways to a wooden door, opening it to reveal a simple room. "I'm sure tomorrow you can go shopping—buy clothes and stuff." He swept his bangs back. "But if you want to borrow some of my clothes for tomorrow—"

"Maybe just a new shirt," she said, looking down at her own red one, which was stained from her day's work. Her shorts had fared better.

"Sure! Hey, make yourself at home, I'll be right back." He left swiftly, and she looked around the small room. Against the wall and under the one window was the twin bed. At the end of that and against the wall was the dresser, with a mirror and a few small decorative figurines on top. Against the wall with the door sat a desk with a chair to go with it. She pulled open the drawers and found paper, pens and pencils. Next to the desk was a bookcase with a number of books both in Chinese and English, and next to the bed was the night table, with a simple clock/radio combo on top of it. Cosy, she decided. Very clean, she amended, wondering how long it would stay like that.

While setting the radio's station, Tobey comes back in with a short knock, placing in her arms two of his shirts. They're just simple a-shirts, but they were worn and well loved. She thanked him warmly, placing the two items in the top drawer of the dresser while he watched.

"What did Nana want to talk to you about?" He asked after a few seconds.

"Just about training, really. And about the family situation."

"You don't seem too broken up about it," he commented, and she side-glanced at him.

"When have I had time to be broken up about it?" She asked somewhat bitterly, sitting down against the bed, leaning her head back on it. "Besides, I'm never one to wear my feelings out on my sleeves."

"Yeah, I've been noticing that," he said. "So, is Nana going to adopt you?"

"Um, she said she was going to foster me for now. Which is good."

"Yeah. Well, I'm here if you ever want to talk about it. Just like Sid and Sue. We're all in this boat together now." He squeezed her shoulder tightly with a hand and gave her a wild grin. "We have to get you a bike too! You know how to ride right?"

"Yeah I did, once," she said.

"Well its not something you really forget, right? Maybe Mr. Wu will let me off tomorrow to help you shop!"

"It would be nice to have a companion. But I would think Sue—"

"What? No, it has to be me!" He grinned at her again, and she got the feeling that Nana had assigned him as her bodyguard. Maybe he was just being nice, friendly, kinda flirty, too.

"Yes, well, alright," she said, akward feeling again despite the easiness of being in his company. She was too aware of him. The words from earlier spun around in her head as they said good night amiably and she took off her shoes and climbed in the bed, clicked off the lamp and stared into the darkness. Everyone could see there was something between them, and she wasn't sure if she was comfortable with that. Even Kong Li saw it. Maybe. She frowned at herself and rolled to her side, shutting her eyes tight and focusing on her breath like she often did to drown out the sound of her parent's fighting—

And the mention of her parents, here, alone, in her thoughts and this dark room, brought on a whole new wave of emotion. She could hardly believe it. She knew—heard—it was like this for a while. Disbelief, denial, then the real recovery. She had her protectiveness over her emotions on her side, at least. She had so much practice, it would take little effort to conceal this, she reasoned. A little more than her day to day, maybe, but if she took the night to mourn, she should be alright come morning.

She turned to her other side, shutting her eyes tight again, trying to ignore the tears that wet her pillow, but failing.