Sunrise, Sunset

Dawn Breaks:

Katara leaned over the edge of Appa's saddle as she observed the first rays of the early sun pierce the dark blue sky. The water bender groaned as the soft light of dawn hit her tired eyes.

"Stupid sun." muttered the dark skinned teen as she turned away from the light in annoyance.

"The sun helps us live, Katara. It gives us the heat we need to survive!" exclaimed the exuberant monk, laughter twinkling in his gray eyes.

Katara rolled her eyes at Aang, and, deciding it was too early for light banter, pulled a blanket over her head and attempted to go to sleep.

No such luck. "C'mon, Katara, wake up already!" Aang smiled and leapt up to shake his friend from her half asleep stupor. "Rise and shine!" sang the monk.

Katara growled and fixed her friend with a steely glare. "Did I mention I hate morning people?" she muttered half heartedly as she struggled out of her sleeping blankets. The water bender stood up and stretched, ignoring the fact that she stood on a giant moving sky bison. She pulled back her hair and began to braid it, not noticing the fact that gray eyes watched her every move.

As the girl finished tying back two loops of chocolate brown hair, a sudden lurch brought her crashing down upon a lone figure who happened to be meditating in a dark corner of the saddle. Two pairs of honey colored eyes flashed open, and focused upon the aquamarine ones that were a mere two inches away from his own.

"Get off me." said Zuko in an emotionless tone of voice, anger flashing in his eyes. The girl on top of him blushed, and hurriedly got off him, trying to keep her hands on Appa's saddle, and not the fire bender beneath her. "Zuko, I am so sorry!" she exclaimed as she scurried off into the opposite corner of the saddle. "I would expect no more from a water brat like you." said Zuko with a challenge gleaming in his bronze eyes.

"Excuse me?" huffed Katara, her eyes darkening in anger. The water bender then snorted in disgust. "You think I'm the brat here? I'm not the 'spoiled prince' here." said the girl sarcastically.

"Yet you still think of yourself as a queen." retorted the prince with the self confident smirk that annoyed Katara the most. "Well…… well…" sputtered Katara, self righteous fury governing her every move. The irritated girl gave a frustrated cry and turned away from the fire bender, who smirked, laughter in his golden eyes.


"May I present to you, the Palace of the Fire Lord Zuko!" exclaimed Iroh in an excited tone of voice, waving his arm to encompass all of the Palace's grounds.

"I didn't expect it to be so…. so…. big." said Aang in awe.

"Yeah, Aang, we all thought it was going to be just a little cottage on a hill." said Sokka sarcastically, although he secretly was overwhelmed by the size. "So, Zuko, do we have to address you as Fire Lord now, or is it just Royal Dick?"

"Call me whatever you like, peasant, just remember, it's my roof you'll be staying under…" threatened the new Fire Lord, real menace in his voice.

Zuko was definitely not Sokka's number one fan

The feelings were, of course, mutual.

"So flame head, where do we sleep?" asked the blind earth bender, endearing as ever.

"In your rooms," replied Zuko, who's answers were descriptive and thoughtful.

"Oh Wise One, thank you for this gift of knowledge!" shouted Sokka, bowing deeply to the fire bender.

Katara rolled her eyes at all of them, and dragged Sokka off to an alley, and motioned for Aang and Toph to come with her. "Okay guys, I know Zuko can be a pain, but please, he's offering us someplace to stay. Let's all just be nice, okay?" said Katara, placing a placating hand on Sokka's shoulder. "Be nice!" she said to her brother, enunciating each syllable with a shake of his shoulder. "Got that?"

The gang moved through the streets of the Fire Nation capitol, making their way towards the distant Palace.

"FOOD!" screamed Sokka as he spotted a booth selling fire flakes. "Give me 3 bags!" demanded the teen, a crazed look in his eyes. The merchant backed up and quickly tossed over three bags of the food, and held his hands up to protect himself as Sokka threw the money at the vendor's head.

Sokka quickly downed all three of the bags at once, and for a little while, seemed okay. "See, that wasn't so b-,"

Sokka's comment was choked off as he was seized by a spasm; the water tribe boy hadn't realized that the flakes were that spicy. Or, that was what the rest of the group thought had happen, until their laughter was stopped by the sight at their feet.

An arrow protruded from Sokka's back, and blood had already seeped through the blue material of his shirt.

"Sokka!" screamed Katara in anguish as she ran to her brother, pain flashing in her azure eyes. "No!"

Katara's vision blurred as images of Sokka laughing, Sokka teasing, Sokka being Sokka flashed through her head. "This can't be happening." whispered the water bender as the world became fuzzy around the edges, and her own voice seemed to mock her.

This can't be happening….

This can't be happening….

This can't be happening….

The last thing she heard was a cry of her name, and the only thing she felt was a pair of strangely warm arms enveloping her body, and tugging her to his warm body.

And she was so cold, and the warmth felt so good, and so right.

So…. cold.


A/N: Hey! Well, so far no reviews, but I can't complain, I just started this story a little while ago. I hate all these middle chapters, I just want to get to the good parts, you know?

Well, read and review, as always. PLEASE DO! Right now, you know who you are….. DO IT! I will post next chapter soon. Cookies to all who guess who Katara's leaning against…… evil smirk