Kim seemed nervous about being on the road with Prince Zuko and Iroh, but I don't see why. She knew I'd protect her if anything happened to her. The thing about Kim, however, was that she was a sickly person. It didn't take a lot to wear her energy down, and as we walked more and more I could see her growing weaker and weaker. Her face was pale and she couldn't quite walk in a straight line.

"Can we stop, maybe? My feet hurt real bad..." Kim murmured, rubbing the soles of her feet and wincing. She'd always had problems with her feet; otherwise it was how she stayed connected with the earth. She loved everything about nature. She was normally this quiet; I figured it was just because she was really shy around guys, let alone people we hardly know.

Why had I agreed to this again? Oh yeah, for the Avatars sake. Zuko and Iroh stopped and looked back at the two of us, glancing at each other before I spoke for Kim.

"Yeah, I think we should find somewhere to stay." I was growing tired; too, it had been a long day after all. Iroh sighed.

"We're fugitives, running from the Fire Nation; we don't have time to rest. We must stay hidden from people." He explained. Kim grimaced; I knew if I hadn't been here she would've continued on without another word.

"We want to rest and if you don't let us, I will hurt you." I had no idea of course whether I could or not, I just knew Kim needed to rest or she'd get sicker. There was no way I was going to let these jerks take over my life. I crossed my arms and stood in front of Zuko, who towered over me. Damn short stature, it certainly made me less intimidating, until I set them on fire or put their face into a beehive.

"I'm not going to fight you." Zuko scowled. I scoffed and didn't back down. Iroh and Kim were staring off from the side, looking at us like we were a show in some theatre.

"Well maybe we could live in the forest... I see smoke coming from over there." Kim shakily pointed out the smoke that was floating up into the air from some trees a short distance away. Either it was a campfire or someone had a serious hate for trees. Kim remained distracted as we walked towards the smoke.

Zuko of course led the way, the petty little prince probably thought himself as the strongest of the group. I scowled. I didn't like people as it was, let alone people who acted like the biggest jerks on the planet. We took a few steps until the trees around us rustled. Zuko stopped holding out his arm to stop us from running. It felt as if we were being watched, and that's when I realized something was wrong.

Three boys dropped a net on us, and descended from the tree, landing in front of us. I let out an annoyed cry and tried to get the net out of me; the other three attempted to do the same thing and only ended up in us getting more tangled up.

The next thing I knew, we were all in a tree house, tied up and being interrogated. The one boy looked older than the rest; he was chewing on a piece of grass or something... I was too annoyed to bother with the little details. Besides his odd eyebrows. And suspicious brown eyes. And messy brown hair that he needed to run a brush through.

"What do we have here, some intruders?" He grinned as he looked each of us over; none of us had anything discerning us as enemies. In fact Kim had on her Earth Kingdom outfit, the ones the nobles wore. Jet's eyes landed on me first; obviously my hair is what put him off the most. I scowled, realizing I was going to be subject to his torture as long as I was bound by these ropes.

"Why's your hair like that?" He leaned close, his eyes scanning my face, hair, and then a bit lower. I wish I was born without boobs. I growled and whipped my head forward, successfully cracking my head hard against his and sending him teetering backwards. He looked shocked, as did the two children who were beside him.

"Don't touch me!" I snapped, using my feet to push me back against the wall of the tree house; it was the farthest I could get from him. Zuko looked back at me in disbelief. The boy leaned forward rubbing his forehead, before smirking, his eyes shining mischievously.

"Cute and a fighter? Double win." He grinned, and then turned to Kim. "But I prefer the girls who look like little dolls." He walked over and touched Kim's cheek, a grin on his face. I glared daggers as he got closer to her; he better not think about hurting her

"Who could ever think that red headed witch is cute?" He glanced over at me and I glared back at him.

"Who could think you were cute!" I snapped back. The boy shushed us both.

"I'm Jet. And these guys here are my Freedom Fighters. I want you two to join." He pointed to Zuko and I with a smirk. "You two are just the kind of warriors we need."

"Would you like me to show you how powerful my fists are?" Kim shot me a disproving look that silenced me; I didn't want to upset her after all. So I did something incredibly unnatural for me; I sat silently. Jet looked disappointed; I suppose he enjoyed our witty banter.

Jet untied us, almost all of us, he decided until further notice I was to be tied up. Kim stayed beside me though; Zuko and Iroh took their spots near the fire that had been built in the middle of the room, listening as Jet told the tale of his village. All I could do was think that something was wrong with him, I didn't like this kid.

I stared out the window at the stars instead, rather than listening to his ranting as intently as Kim was. He was speaking of his distrust of the Fire Nation, stating that they had killed his parents and that at one point in his life he had wanted to kill them no matter how many sacrifices he had to make. I wanted to laugh at the irony, as he had two fire nation residents in front of him. In fact, the Prince was sitting in front of him and he had absolutely no idea.

It was then that I saw it. A spider. A long legged, hairy, black demon spider that was coming straight at me. I squeaked unhappily, attempting to smash it before I realized my arms were tied.I gathered the attention of all in the room as I squeaked and rolled away from where the demonic hell spider was. Jet stood up and was about to question me before I kicked him in the face, hard. He caught my foot before it hit his face, but he had underestimated my strength and stumble backwards at the impact.

Zuko had jumped up at my sudden movement, as did Iroh, and they were both staring at me, Iroh looking more worried than Zuko.

"Get these ropes offa me!" I shouted; that's when it happened. The flames I couldn't control when I was angry came back and singed the ropes, causing them to easily break under my strength. They snapped as I strained against them; Zuko and Iroh shared an odd look and looked at Jet, who was eyeing my suspiciously.

"What... did you do to get them off?" His eyes were suddenly narrowed, a deep hatred beginning to reflect in them as he glared at me. I can't say that anyone has ever looked at me with such malice.

"I used all my strength; my fear of spiders makes my strength increase tenfold."

"You did all of that because of a spider?" Zuko snickered. I glared at him again, sitting upright and crossing my arms; I didn't appreciate the fact that Jet's eyes hadn't left me for a second. He suddenly regarded me suspiciously, especially as he checked the rope and noticed the singed parts of it.

"Where'd these come from?" He asked, holding up the singed parts of rope and nearly shoving them in my face. I felt anger bubble up in my stomach again but I chose to answer calmly.

"Fricition." He looked completely annoyed at me now; he obviously thought that I took him for a fool. The tension in the room increased as Jet tossed the rope down and his eyes landed on the other two. He knew that Kim wasn't a firebender, but now he regarded Iroh and Zuko with suspicion. And it was my fault; me and my stupid temper had blown their cover.

"You're a liar." The anger bubbled again, I hated when I was called a liar, especially when the exact opposite was true. I was one of the only honest people left in the world; it was why I didn't have many friends, and why I didn't like many people.

"Don't act like you know me." I snapped. Judgmental people, did he push all firebenders into the same category. I pushed myself up and started to exit the tree house, when Kim grabbed onto my arm and pulled me back.

"Don't go." She murmured, the look in her eyes was unmistakable. I couldn't leave her alone, after she'd been alone her whole life, I don't think she'd want me to go now. I sighed, realizing what a pushover I felt like and sat down next to Zuko, who had turned to me and raised an eyebrow. He was probably questioning why I had stayed but I had no time to worry about what he thought. Kim sat next to me on my other side; for her sake I would be forced to ignore the annoying looks he was shooting me.

"Uhm, I have a question…" Kim started shyly, Jet shot her a grin and a blush fell on her face. Could she really be attracted to this fool? "Why can't I fight, as well?"

"I don't want you to get hurt, my little doll." He got a bit closer to Kim, sending her another smile. I turned to the side and stuck my tongue out in disgust; Zuko seemed to be amused at my reaction to Jet. We shared a look before I glared at him and crossed my arms, and stared into the fire. I forgot that Princey was still a big jerk.

"Well you three can sleep in here; there are three cots over there." Jet pointed a thumb to the corner where three poorly made cots were, before he grabbed Kim's shoulder and pulled her with him. "I'll lead her to a different place; there aren't enough cots for all of you." Kim and I looked at each other for a second, I sighed, even though I'd rather her not be away from me in a place like this, at least I knew Jet would take care of her. She smiled apologetically before leaving with Jet, leaving me with the two firebenders.

Oh, what have I gotten myself into?