Time: 8:45 PM……..weeeeeeeeee

When I am bored I watch episodes of Avatar. Today's had Hakoda in it, and I for some reason just pictured him younger, in the southern water tribe. I wanted to write a story about him….. YEY a young Hakoda!

Hope you like it…. I just write strange stories sometimes…. Haha, sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar; the Last Airbender. ……*heavy sigh*

He delivered a rough blow to his opponent with his fist, while twirling around and swinging his water tribe sword at the two that were pursuing behind him. One of the guys moved to the left to dodge it, but was quickly run into the stomach by Hakoda's forceful foot. Bato, the other opponent, ducked under his arm, popping up behind him. He swung his sword at Hakoda, near his neck. Barely making it out of the way in time, Hakoda jerked his head roughly to the right.

As he jerked away, the sword sliced the air barely missing his neck, and did succeed in cutting his small braid that was caught in mid flight. His eyes watched it as it silently fell to the snow. The bead slipped off and rolled a few inches away from his boot.

Hakoda blew hot air out of his nostrils. Dang, he thought, That had taken me months to get to the perfect length.

Now that Bato had succeeded in ticking him off, Hakoda swiftly moved towards him, ducking under his sword and reaching up slightly behind him as Bato swung once again where their swords clashed. Pushing against one another the two friends struggled to gain dominance, until Hakoda stomped his feet into the pile of snow, creating a foot hold and pushed at Bato with all his might.

Bato stumbled backwards as he tried to keep his balance. Hakoda pulled his feet out quickly from the snow pile and stepped around him, tripping him, ultimately making him fall once and for all.

His partner fell with a thud, where once on the ground, Hakoda pointed his sword at his neck, glaring defiantly.

Staring at him darkly only lasted a moment though. Hakoda broke into a hearty laugh and reached his hand down, pulling Bato out of the snow.

Bato grinned, got up, and clamped a strong hand on Hakoda's shoulder.

"No matter how much I train, or how many people I team up with, I just can't beat you."

Hakoda smiled, swinging his sword over his shoulder. His now short chunk of hair hung in his eyes.

"Bato," he glowered, his smile disappearing, "Thanks for the haircut. That took me four months to just get into a braid, let alone get longer to get a bead on it."

Bato inspected his place where the braid had been. "Oops, did I actually get you? Maybe I am a better fighter than I thought, if I could actually touch you."

Hakoda sighed heavily, trying to blow the short hair out of his eyes.

His training master walked up to them, his arms crossed. When the trainer did this, it was a sign that he was pleased with their work. Hakoda and Bato bowed to one another and faced their master.

"Nice work men," he simply stated, "Although Bato, you need to work on your balance a bit it seems."

Bato reached up to scratch the back of his head, "Yep," he agreed and looked up at the snow clouds.

The master turned to Hakoda, "And it seems to me Hakoda that you were a bit distracted today. Make sure it doesn't happen next time. If there was a real raid, you would need to have your mind clear and ready to fight."

"Yes sir," Hakoda said quietly and bowed, watching the back of his master leave as he went to talk to the other fighters he had fought against.

Bato looked at him curiously, a sly smile on his face. "Distracted huh?" He chuckled.

Hakoda glared at him, "About you cutting my hair."

Bato laughed fully now, tucking his sword into its hilt. "Sure sure, whatever!"

Hakoda was just about to give him a piece of his mind when he heard the quick footsteps of people surround him. Bato's laugh grew stronger.

When Hakoda turned around, he was face to face with a group of five young females, their faces bright and full of smiles. They were incredibly close to him, and he backed up a foot.

"Err.." he mumbled awkwardly, "H-hello ladies."

They giggled, their dainty hands cover in fancy gloves covering their mouths.

Leyna spoke up first, being that she composed herself quickly. "Hello Hakoda, you did a wonderful job at your training session today."

Hakoda gulped nervously, then recovered and grinned back at her. "Thanks, glad you girls decided to show up and watch."

Another girl, Mako, shyly spoke up. "W-well we wanted to cheer you on since your test is only a week away." She glanced shyly at Bato, who was too busy sitting on the snow now laughing his head off.

Hakoda glared at him, but of course he ignored him.

Turning back to the ladies, he smiled. He heard them intake a sharp breath quickly and giggle once again. He groaned inwardly to himself, but kept a handsome smile plastered on his face.

Girls flocked to him like snow flies to an open flame. With his good looks, and great fighting skills, he was the most popular on the training squad. Now nineteen, he was told he needed to think about marriage. He just couldn't find the right girl.

When it came to girls, his thoughts swirled and he stumbled over his tongue, unless he knew them really well, then he could talk to them like a normal person.

He was destined to become the leader of the southern water tribe, and with that came all the women wanting to have his attention. In dire need to get away some times, he would wander off to the secret cave him, Bato and a few other guys had created during their childhood, where they could come and think, or practice. Most of the time lately, it had been to get away from the women that attempted to fight over his attention and his alone. Sure, he liked the attention, but it was getting a bit out of hand.

Now still smiling awkwardly at the girls, he was trying to think of a solution to get out of this. He looked at Bato, who had now settled down on a snow pile, his fur hood pulled over his face, so all you could see was his sly grin on his face.

Hakoda imagined shoving his friends face in the snow, but was interrupted when Leyna spoke up again, being the bold one of the group today.

"You must be hungry after all that training Hakoda. Would you like to come over for lunch?"

Hakoda's face softened. "Sure," he said, grinning boyishly.

A blush tinged her face, and she backed away from the group beckoning him after her. He squeezed through the group of disappointed girls and followed her, walked by her side, at the same pace as her.

The silence was awkward, but they soon reached her house. He stepped aside so that she could enter first, as he was about to pull the flap away for himself, he heard a loud thump to his left and stepped back.

There was struggling behind the house and Hakoda left to investigate, checking the front flap of the house, to make sure that Leyna wasn't coming back out.

He quickly escaped to the back side of the house where he found a girl half buried in snow. Her hood had gotten knocked off, and snow was scattered all over her. With the majority of her lower body covered, she was struggling and muttering to herself, as she brushed as much as the snow away as possible.

Hakoda, surprised at the sight, looked up to where the snow had fallen off the roof. From the scene of it, the girl had been outside collecting some water for the pot for dinner, which was knocked over, snow spilled on the ground. He held in a small laugh at the irony and sight of the young girl struggling.

He cleared his throat, and the girl stopped, and whipped her head up. Her bright blue eyes, the color of the bluest bead he had ever seen, bore into his in surprise. His eyes widened at the beauty of the young girl in front of him, her small, half opened lips, staring at him.

Suddenly, it felt as if his heart was constricting, and all the air he had left in him had vanished.

She finally went back to work, trying to scoop out snow in piles off of her body. Finally realizing his rudeness by just standing there and staring, he quickly sunk to his knees and helped plow some snow away from her. When she was able to stand back up, he offered a shaky hand to her, desperately wanting to touch her.

Shaking the snow from her hair, and pulling her hood over her head again, she bent down to pick up the pot that she had been filling.

Awkwardly standing there, Hakoda shuffled his feet and kicked the snow. Say something! He urged himself to speak.

"I-I'm Ha-Hadoka," he managed, his hand coming up to scratch the back of his head, nervously. Great one Hadoka! Just wonderful, that went as smoothly as possible! NOT!

She stopped and looked up at him carefully. "Ah, you're the one who will become the next tribe leader?" She didn't wait for him to answer, "I've heard about you," and she turned again to the pot, shoveling snow into it with a clean whale bone shovel, that was leaning against the house, "From the girls at school."

He was silent as she scooped more into the giant pot. Think! Say something else! His eyes were on her body, watching as she scooped up the snow, the way her body bent…He squeezed his eyes shut quickly. What are you doing!?

"Uh.." he started, "That's funny, 'cause I've never seen you before."

She squatted, picking up the large pot of snow.

She took a step and then stopped, staring at the white ground, her voice level, "That's because I am not of marrying age yet."

He gulped. Really? She looked at least seventeen.

He recovered himself, and walked up to her, "Here," he offered, "Let me help you with that."

A small smirk crossed her face momentarily, and then disappeared. She handed the heavy pot over to him and he took it with no trouble at all.

She gracefully held the back flap open for him, her face blank.

As he neared the door, he stopped and looked at her carefully. "So what's your name? Do you live here?"

She half laughed, as if mocking him. It was cold and rude, her words said as if the most obvious thing in the word. "Yeah, I'm Leyna's sister, Kya."

Kya. That's a pretty name. He felt the back of his neck heat up. What in the world is wrong with me?

She was about to go back in, when she looked at him carefully once again.

"Do you always keep a chunk of hair cut, and hanging in your eyes?" Her voice was sharp and playful for a moment, but became serious again.

Hakoda stared at her a moment and then realized what she was referring too. He groaned outwardly, and walked past her into the kitchen area where he saw Leyna's mother and Leyna herself. He then realized that he had forgotten all about Leyna and coming in with her.