Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

I've been thinking about this plot for a long time, and I like it! Please review this if you read it, 'cos I just wanna know if it's alright at the moment. Thx!

Chapter 2: The Boy

"Geez, girls are always unreliable! My one chance to get a valuable object, and you blow it! Do you know how important this thing is to me?!"

"Look, Sokka, I said I'll get it back, so just calm down, okay? You know I don't break promises."

Sokka turned his back onto his sister, and punched the nearest tree trunk. "Katara. The thing is, you are incapable of getting it back! The thief that stole it has a knife. A knife, do you get it? He could kill you!" he turned around, and sighed. "The truth is…I wanted that club for Dad."

12-year-old Katara was starting to get annoyed. It wasn't like she couldn't defend herself or something!

"I can get it back, okay? Geez, I mean, I can waterbend if anything happens, right?"

"Yeah, like a little bit of water from your bottle can like, just subdue a thief and recover a stolen item. Besides," he leaned in. "You're a girl. That guy's a full-grown man with a knife and my club. All you have is a bit of hocus-pocus and melted snow."

When Katara drew herself up to her full height and lowered her head in a glower, Sokka knew he had gone too far. Katara had always had a problem with the idea that women were inferior to men, which was exactly what most men thought.

Her deep blue eyes burned fiercely. "I'll show you," she hissed. "I'll show you how I can do all my chores, including yours, and also rescue some bit of carved bone with a leather binding." And with that, she stomped off after the direction in which the thief had taken.

"O-o-oi! Katara! Where do you think you're going now?"

"To save your stupid piece of bone!" She yelled without looking back at him.

Sokka was dumbfounded. Slapping his forehead, he murmured to himself.

"Now what have I done?"

Katara was annoyed. Not just at her brother, but also at herself. How could she just have blown up like that?

But then again, her brother had been irresponsible and irritating. Did he just have any idea how bad his socks smelt when she washed the clothes? Or how she had to spend ages on clearing all the frozen ice on the sole of his boot? Or –

Stop it! She told herself. Stop whining right now. It won't do anyone any good.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, she took in her surroundings. She had just entered one of the back streets which were really quiet and dark.

Reaching an area where no light could get to at all, Katara stopped. It wasn't that she was scared of the dark…but she could never know what was there. Taking a deep breath, she took one step forward into the darkness…

…and nothing happened. Sighing with relief, she walked on –

To trip and be grabbed by a stranger's rough hand. Opening her mouth to scream, she found a wad of mucky cloth shoved in.

"Who are you and what purpose do you have here?" said a thick, monstrous voice.

It wasn't the thief, but someone else. The thief had been tall and thin, but this man was slimy and built on muscle.

However, a quick analysation of him gave her some valuable information. The man had chosen to ambush her in the worst possible place. It was between two normal houses, and already they could hear the different families going about their work inside.

Also, due to stupidity or to sheer carelessness, the man had asked her a question while expecting her to answer with a gag on.

He was not exactly intelligent.

"I'm bringing you back to the Fire Nation. Water peasants are hard to catch in an Earth village."

Katara put forlorn expression on her face, then looked down.

"But before that, I'm having some fun with you."

She looked up, scared. This was frightening.

The man pushed her up to the wall, his eyes closed as he leaned in to smell her face. He bent closer, his breath contaminating the air around her –

"That'll do, Ouyang."

The strangely boyish yet slightly raspy voice gave that calm order. Looking up, Katara met the face of a boy. She saw the right side of his head. It was quite handsome, but his golden eyes were what stood out.

The boy turned to face her and Katara gasped inwardly. His left eye and surrounding area had been scorched, the flesh a reddish-brown.

His eyes met hers, and for a moment, they both felt an inaudible shock. It felt like lightning and ice both surrounding their bodies.

The boy quickly turned his head away to face the man who had tried to take advantage of her.

"I believe you did not come to dally with women. I am most displeased."

That raspy voice gave no emotion away at all, except for a constant anger.

The man walked out of the shadows. When he straightened out of the light, Katara could see that he wore a Fire Navy unifom.

Were they all from the Fire Nation?

Now that her arms were not pinned down anymore, Katara ripped the gag out of her mouth and ran. She had to tell someone about these people!

Someone was running after her.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp rap of a blade hilt on the back of her head.

Her legs crumpled beneath her and her world went black.

For a moment, though, she thought she saw the figure of that boy stepping into her view…