Thanks to my first replier! I'm thrilled that you like it and hoping that others will, too.

-sunlit insomnia

Two

Misaki kicked up the loose dirt under her feet. She wished there was somewhere she could get away and earth bend. Angrily, she crammed her hands into her pockets and stared at the ground. A strand of her long, light brown hair danced in front of her face. Misaki smacked the hair out of her face with her fingers

Above her, the full moon rose in the violet colored sky. Misaki made her way down the crowded streets. People rushed through the busy markets, forcing Misaki to bump into people accidentally.

Suddenly, a shove behind her pushed her to the ground. The gravel crunched under Misaki's hands as she landed. Quickly she glanced behind her to see who had pushed her. The gap she left when she fell had already been filled. Misaki sighed and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Need help?" a soft, penetratingly aggressive voice asked.

Misaki lifted her head to make sure the question was directed toward her. Now on her knees, she quickly studied the figure that was standing over her, offering his hand. He was fairly tall, with broad shoulders and perfect dark brown hair that was slicked to the side.

Using her fists, Misaki pushed herself off the ground.

"I'm good, thanks," she said to the boy.

Then she turned to face the road.

"Um, my name's Kamin," the boy said.

Misaki gazed over her shoulder. She cracked a crooked smile. She really wished this boy would leave her alone. She could tell just by looking at him that he wasn't of an honestly kind nature.

"Oh," she said as she turned around and began jogging down the street.

The boy stood on the side of the street, watching Misaki run. Anger raged inside him, but going after her was no option.

Misaki skipped down to the end of the markets. Not many people were active in the area, just a few kids playing catch in the near dark. She turned a corner, following it down to a dark alley way. The alley was surrounded by stone and brick huts, not much wider than her own, but tall enough to hide her silhouette. As Misaki made her way down the alley, she looked at the huts to make sure no windows were on either side.

It felt relaxing to pound her fist into the dirt for the first time. The ground around her slightly wavered and the dirt under her fist shot out of the ground in layers of rock. Next, she used her heels to shoot stone out of the ground and reflect it off the stone wall behind her. Her right foot stomped one final time and a huge boulder blasted out of the dirt. In a huge scream of power and a fierce punch in the floating rock, the boulder broke into a thousand tiny pebbles.

Breathing heavily, Misaki wiped the sweat from her forehead. Earth bending took a lot out of her, but she loved the thrill of being able to use her power to bend the earth. But from all the earth bending she had been doing, she noticed a few lights go on in the huts next to her. Quickly, she snuck out of the alley, sweating, but unseen. Misaki looked each way down the street. Now that it was later at night, hardly anyone was left roaming the streets. Turning right, Misaki didn't notice the figure that had emerged in front of her.

The two collided with force, knocking them both to the ground.

"Sorry," the boy said nervously.

His piercing, soft voice was familiar. It was that boy she bumped into in the market.

"Have you been watching me?" Misaki asked accusingly.

"Uh, sorry about that," Kamin said, "I couldn't help myself. You're a great bender."

"Not being able to help yourself from watching people isn't going to get you a girlfriend, if that's what you're after," Misaki spat, "You're stalking me."

"I just…" Kamin struggled, "I didn't get your name."

"And you're still not going to," Misaki announced as she pushed past him.

There was something about the way Kamin asserted himself to her, even if in a seemingly nice way, it made her sick to her stomach. Something wasn't right about the way he acted. He was too pushy.

"Listen, Kamin-," she started as she turned back around.

She knew she had been kind of mean, and although she still had a leeriness about him, the least she could do was apologize.

He was already gone. Misaki craned her neck to see if he hid in the shadows. Nothing. Taking a deep breath, she assured herself to stay calm, but a feeling in the pit of her stomach ate away at her composedness. Misaki forced a chunk of rock out of the ground for instant protection and made her way to her hut.