Note: I noticed that I forgot all about the line breaks and reposted chapter 2. However, that didn't count as an update for some reason, so here I guess are 2 chapters? (Also, I survived a bad car accident yesterday without a scratch so you guys are getting another chapter tomorrow.)

In the revision, the story starts here in order to eliminate any confusion on who the protagonists are.


Arc 1: The New Student
Chapter 3: Through the Eyes of Another

"Ahh!" Katara ran into her surprised older brother's arms. "Katara? What's wrong? What happened to you?"

"Jet was right!"

[-An hour earlier-]

Katara grumbled as she put on her pair of cleaning gloves, bought exclusively for taking care of the leopard-snake. The girl picked a spider-rat from the closet in which live food was kept for Zuru-Zuru. Though he preferred live food, he usually kept away from humans and therefore was harmless. (That is, unless frightened. . .) So when Katara unlocked the door of the classroom, she began to panic when she realized the snake's cage was open. "I must have forgotten to lock it last night!"

She tried to calm herself down, "Okay, okay. . .I mean it's not like he could have gotten far, I did lock this room so he's still in here. . .somewhere."

Katara searched under every desk and beaker and still there was no sign of the leopard-snake. Her hopes lightened, though, when she saw the broom closet slightly ajar. She picked up Bumi's large butterfly net and slowly approached it.

She began to coax the snake with kind words. She did not want to risk the possibility of startling the snake. "Here, Zuru-Zuru. It's me, Katara; I won't hurt you, just come on out and. . ." She slowly pushed the door open and found her jaw dropping.

There was the leopard-snake, plain as day, loosely coiled around another student, who, apparently, had fallen asleep in the closet. Katara then realized why the snake didn't come when she called him. There were two deep holes in its back, and two matching unusually large canine teeth in the snoozing student's mouth. It seemed natural that she assumed that the snake's death was the result of this student. She did not want to become the student's next victim, so she screamed.

The student, being Zuko Ryishi, had immediately awakened the moment Katara opened her mouth, and blue met gold. That position was held as she continued to scream. Zuko, however, did nothing but stare at her (and was still trying to comprehend the situation when the girl slammed the closet shut, locked it, and started sprinting to the first person that came to mind.)

Seishoki.

The dark-haired boy was eating a sandwich when the bewildered third year grabbed his arm and started pulling him in the direction of the incident. "Jet, I hate to say it, but you were right about Ryishi."

He was a bit confused that she even called him by name. "You mean about him being a Firebender?"

"Get real. Everyone knows that."

"Oh. . ."

"I mean about your new one: him being some sort of monster or something."

"Actually I said he was an alien…"

Katara rolled her eyes as they passed another corner, "Anyway, I caught him with terrifyingly sharp fangs after killing Bumi's pet leopard-snake. He would have gotten me too, hadn't I cleverly distracted him. I managed to capture him in his moments of surprise." The girl stopped and stood proudly, the older teen just looked at her with a face of disbelief. "Okay, fine. I screamed and locked him inside, happy now?"

Jet shrugged as they arrived in the room. Everything was in perfect order when they entered. "Didn't you trash this place looking for the snake?"

Katara dumbly nodded, "I did, and. . .Look! There's Zuru-Zuru!" And sure enough, there was a leopard-snake in the glass cage, "B-but, how can this be? I just saw him and he was dead!"

After thoroughly examining the room, Jet scratched the back of his neck, "Look, Katara, I believe you, I do, but this is something I can't quite understand."

Katara lowered her head before snapping it back up, "The closet! It's still locked!"

She fumbled with the key before opening it. Nothing. . . "What? But that's impossible!

Jet placed his hand on her shoulder, "Sorry, Katara, but you don't have any evidence to prove that Zuko was even in this room at all."

The girl shrugged his arm off before leaving. She made her way to the front of the school and slumped down on one of the steps. The wind blew through her hair slightly, indicating the coming of fall weather. She didn't look up when the figure sat down next to her. "I know you probably think I'm a freak or something now, but there's a really good explanation for what happened, I think. . . and I'm sorry for killing your cheetah-snake. If there's anything you need, just ask. I really want to make it up to you."

The girl stood to leave but the teen put out his arm to stop her, "You're right, I do think you're a freak, well, everyone does anyways. Oh, and by the way, it was a leopard-snake, and he wasn't mine, he was Bumi's."

"Oh," his blush looked the color of a pink rose against his strikingly pale skin to Katara, despite his face being shielded by his top hat.

"What'cha hiding under there anyways, a pair of antennae, perhaps?" He didn't respond, but pulled his head covering closer to his face. The girl giggled, "Jet was right, you are probably some sort of E.T."

The teen mumbled something unintelligible to himself, possibly in another language, and Katara brushed her skirt off, "Well, Mr. Ryishi, I'll be sure to take up on your offer, but now I must be going."


Sokka happens to be a very gullible person, especially when Katara cries about something that happened, granting the reason why she gave her hair a rumpled appearance before forcing tears in her eyes. She let herself cry for a few minutes before running in a hysterical rage all the way to her brother.

Sokka, at the time, was waiting for his younger sister to finish her duties with the snake, and constantly checked his cell for any text messages that indicated something was holding her up. He sighed when the phone beeped "ZERO MESSAGES" and slid it close.

The boy jumped into a defensive position when he heard a loud feminine scream, but was surprised when his sister leaped into his arms (no creep chasing her, by the way) with tears streaming down her face. "Katara? What happened to you?"

"Sokka, it was awful," she started before bursting into another set of tears, her brother slowly brushed his hand through her hair as she continued crying. "There, there, it's going to be alright. How 'bout we go get some ice cream, treats are on me."

Katara gave a smug grin as Sokka led her to his car. While they drove to the local ice cream shop, she thought deeply about what Zuko said.

"I can't believe it! 'I'll be sure to take up on your offer?' Am I nuts? He's basically offered himself up as a servant just because he killed a snake in his sleep, and I'm going to throw it away like that? I have just been given a blank check! No way am I going to just let it pass; I'll tell Ryishi he'll start working tomorrow. I'd better start making my list of demands tonight."