A/N: Alright ladies and gentlmen, good news and bad news. Good news first. I'm on the mend. Even better, My grandpa's all but recovered from congestive heart failure, and I managed to sell my old house, though all that money went to more bills. Ugh. Anywho, I've finished moving my things and am now a proud resident of East Berlin, Pennsylvania! Alas I'm now jobless, and the bills are piling up because of my health. Fun, right? But enough about this.

As I'm sure you've all noticed, I've been on a bit of an updating binge as of late. I've rewatched several shows, reread manga to its latest chapter. And I realized something. I wanted to try my hand at a slower-paced fic. My others are just fine, but I wanted to make this more realistic. More character time, instead of setting Naruto on a path and making him run it, he'll walk before he remembers what it truly means to sprint.

On that note, I should warn you. This Naruto is a bit more vulnerable-emotionally-than most. Why, you ask? Because not only is he a SHE, but unlike his others counterpart there's very little left to redeem here and she really isn't afraid to shed blood for the sake of her duty. However-her tendency to violence has also made her emotionally crippled of a sort. She's not exactly open to positive emotion at present, but that'll be a changing soon. She's been scarred-in more ways than one-and it shows in this chapter.

Anywho, I managed to put this up here at points between job hunting. Prepare to laugh in this chapter so...

...aways we go!

"This is pretty good tea...!"

~?!

Clash

"Soooo, I had tea with your uncle. Not bad guy...considering he's Fire Nation."

Zuko felt a muscle jump violently in his jaw as he glowered at Naruko, his teeth grinding togethers as he struggled to repress his anger at the bewitching blonde draped across the rail only yards away. Needless to say, he did not succeed. Every second he spent staring at this arrogant airbender only stoked the hot flame in his stomach, spurring him to an action he was almost certain he'd regret. This was wrong. He should be calmly resting in his bunk, not allowing her to interrogate him whilst she sipped at her tea. The situation had been hopelessly reversed from the moment they'd embarked, and he had been powerless to make it otherwise.

No escape attempt had been made as of yet, but he was certain it was only a matter of time. She was just waiting for the right moment, that was that. She had to be. Else she wouldn't be tormenting him like this. But hours had since passed and still, she continued to talk to him.

"Why are you doing this?" he seethed at her, snarling against her bemused expression. "Do you enjoy tormenting me?"

"Not really, no." she replied, delicately drinking her gingseng once more, her bewitching blue eyes never leaving his, not even for a moment. "I mean, I kinda did at first but now? I just feel sorry for you-actually. The banished prince, scarred by his father, doomed to forever chase the avatar-little ol' moi-until the end of his days. And now that you finally have me? You don't know what to do with yourself. You're even more twisted up inside than ever before and its killing ya. At least I have an outlet. I mean, look at you!" At his thunderous expression, she was all too happy to continue her subtle mockery. "You want so badly to kill me don't you scar boy? I can see it in your eyes. You hate me."

Zuko reeled. Not form the words, but from the truth within them. She knew. He didn't know how, but she knew.

"Who told you that?!"

"Your uncle." came the ever-so eloquent answer. "Chatty, that one. But back to the bit about you wanting to kill me. You obviously want to, scars. A blind bandit could tell you that." she was tempting him. Mocking him. Zuko knew this and yet, with every word she spoke, the Airbender dug herself deeper into him, picking him apart with ever syllable. Finally, he could take it no more. At the meintion of his mark, he rounded on her with a sibilant hiss.

"Don't," he warned, his voice dropping in a low growl as he spun to face her, "Call me that."

Naruko's lips quirked into a smile. She cocked her head aside cutely. "Whyever not?"

"Because."

There was a silence. And then:

"Sca-

Zuko whirled with a wordless scream, the fireball already forming in his hand. Imagine his surprise then when her hand closed around his fist, snuffing the flame out like a tiny candle. They stood there for but an instant of silence, a sliver of time. Naruko studied him for a moment, unfaltering as she held fast, her grip shifting to his wrist and wrenching the limb behind his back. Then, ever so slowly, she smiled.

"You know," she began, her words the most naked of whispers, "I've been called many things. A fast learner. Genius. Prodigy, even. If I see something -anything- once, just once, I can duplicate it. And you've shown me enough of your firebending today...that I think I've learned something." Drawing a deep breath, she pulled her free hand backwards, fingers clenching into a fist. "Your uncle was right when I asked him-the power comes from the breath, not the muscles. This energy flows outside our bodies and becomes something more. The physical representation of our will. Something like...fire."

Then she firebent at him.

It was a straightforward motion, her fist simply snapping forward to produce a thin lance of flame. It shot past him with a might whoosh carromed harmlessly off the iron hull and into the sea, where it fizzled out quietly amidst the glaciers.

Zuko gawped, his silence overshadowed by her smug smile.

"But you...how did you...

"Before I took that century-long nap the monks taught me a thing or two about firebenders and their nuances." she twisted aside as his leg lashed out, sweeping over him effortlessly. "For starters, you take away their oxygen, and all their bending becomes useless in a fight. Also, no offense to insult your tea-loving uncle, but from what I've seen so far...

"They're predictable!"

In a single, startling movement the Airbender swept herself off the rail and vaulted at him in a great gust of wind; her hair swaying violently from the summoned storm, bringing her face mere inches from his. He never saw the technique that bested him but it was certainly felt. One moment he was standing the next he was clutching at his throat, gagging and trying to breathe when there was no air to be had. A wave of her wrist and sensation slithered back into his larynx, allowing him to breathe once more. In that instant, he became clearly aware of the clenched fist pointed at his face.

She smirked at him over her outstretched arm, flames flicking at the edges of her fingertips.

"Whaddya say now, scars?"

The prince balked.

Naruko was surprisingly tall for a girl, he realized, only an inch or so shorter than him. And her eyes. Saphire bored into saffron without relent; refusing to back down at the fire in his gaze. Unbidden, his eyes strayed to her scar, the ugly burn that marred her arm, shoulder, and even part of her neck, a blotch on her otherwise flawless beauty. But Naruko, she was proud of her scar; it signified her strength. His only reminded him of his weakness on that fateful day. His failure.

Perhaps that was part of the reason he couldn't stand to look at her; because she was everything he wasn't. The picture of pristine composure-utterly unfetered by everything that had been thrown at her. In a way, she was almost like Azula. And he loathed her all the more for it.

"Leave me alone!"

Biting back the insidious urge to incinerate the Last Airbender, he stormed off the deck for the sanctity of his quarters. Hopefully, he thought, she wouldn't follow him there. Once more, he was proven hopelessly wrong in his belief. The soft padding of her feet followed after him, an almost silent shadow that dogged his every move. He ignored her, hoping in vain she'd grow bored of this game and leave him be.

"You're just like Azula." he snarled, refusing to slow, not daring to look back at her. "Always so perfect, so dogged. Everything comes naturally to you...

"Ah," her sing song voice chimed, "Maybe she'd be more fun to mess with! But for now, I'll have to make do with you, I suppose."

"Aaargh!"

Things weren't working out at all as he'd hoped they would. He should have known better. But it had all seemed so simple at first. Fate had handed him the Avatar on a silver platter and instead of ending him as he had feared she might. Yet instead she'd surrendered allowing him to capture her and instead make full speed for home. And so they were beginning to see the glaciers thinning around them. But not soon enough. He wasn't entirely sure where everything had gone terribly, horribly wrong, only that it had. Instead of being taken to the brig as he'd instructed, this insufferable Avatar had simply taken it upon herself to roam the ship unbound and wreak all sorts of havoc, perusing their weapons and wares, sharing tea with uncle and the like. As if she owned the place! And now, as if to add insult to injury, she'd somehow picked up a modicum of Firebending solely by watching him and listening to Iroh!

It was insufferable!

"Oh, and one more thing-

Something snapped inside Zuko, a wellspring of anger and wrath sprining forth. All those years of searching for the Avatar, hunting, scrounging, and now he wished he'd never found her. She mocked him at every turn, challenged his beliefs, and constantly made him think. She was his enemy! His foe! She was his prisoner! She should be under his control! So why, why did this keep happening to him?!

"What do you want from me?!" he roared. Whatever she was going to say, planned to say, he didn't give her the chance. With one hand he dashed the tea from her grasp, sending the warm liquid spilling out across the wall, the ceramic cup shattering against the iron hull. With the other he seized her, bodily slamming the blonde into the nearest door. He'd expected Naruko, to flinch. She didn't so much as bat an eyelash. Instead she simply stared, those bright blue eyes silently damning him for his weakness.

And then she breathed.

Whoosh.

A wall of wind explods out of her mouth, launching him away from her and slamming him into the far wall like a rag doll. Stunned, he slumps, collapsing to the ground in a heap. He waits for her to approach and deliver a final insult of some sort. But nothing comes.

Naruko sighed.

"We forge our own honor, scar boy." she breathed, reaching down to pat his marred face. Her fingers trail from the motion, surprisingly gentle given her history. "It is not given to us. Not by anyone. When did you lose sight of that, I wonder?"

The Prince said nothing to that; because, her words had shaken him. He simply lay there and stared up at her-his face devoid of any expression. That silent moment seemed to extend indefinitely. Then, without another word, Naruko broke the stalemate turned and walked away, her hips swishing back and forth until she finally rounded a corner and was mercifully lost from sight.

Zuko watched her go. Then he realized he'd been staring.

"What's wrong with me...?"

Shaking his head, he slammed the door shut behind him and barred it.

He did not emerge for quite some time.

"He didn't take it well, did he?"

"Not even remotely." Naruko sighed at Iroh as she flopped down onto the cot beside him. It was strange she thought, colluding with a Firebender, spilling her heart and soul out to a man she should by all rights, loathe above all else and everything. But Iroh was different. She wasn't sure when she'd realized it, but somewhere between the tea and the talks she'd come to understand that this man had just as much of a pained past as she did. Perhaps even more. Losing his son had wounded him somehow, marked him in ways that she couldn't quite understand.

"So? What are you going to do now?"

The Avatar considered it for a moment. She'd kept Katara and Sokka at bay for nearly two days now, instead of being rescued posthaste. She'd gotten what she'd come here for, learning the first nuances of Firebending in only a matter of days. So for what reason did she have to stay in the first place? Zuko couldn't stop her, and Iroh certainly didn't seem inclined to stand in her way after their talks. Deep in her heart she knew that he was right in a sense; she'd learned something more than valuable during her stay here. Perspective. Perhaps the Fire Nation wasn't as wholly evil as she'd thought. Perhaps not.

Either way, her mind was made up. Ozai needed to die. And she couldn't accomplish that until she mastered the elements. She'd gotten a head start on Fire, but she still needed to learn Water and Earth. And she would not find either on this ship. Sitting up, she sighed.

"I'm going to leave." she said at last.

Iroh laughed at that, deep and low from his belly. "I thought as much. At least I can say that I had tea with the Avatar."

Naruko appraised him for a long moment, frowning.

"You're really just going to let me go?"

The former general merely chortled and stroked at his beard. "If you'd asked me that a few days ago, I would've said no." His eyes lingered on her scars, tracing the marks. "But after seeing your scars, I say otherwise, now." At her baffled expression, he swiftly ammended those words. "You are young, Naruko and still learning your way in this world. And yet even after everything that has been done to you, despite all the hurt and all the strife, you still seek to restore balance to this world. I think it I would be doing you a great disservice, were I to try and stop you now."

"And Zuko?"

"In a twisted sort of way, you give my nephew hope. So long as he has you to chase, I won't interfere."

"Good. I'd hate to have to kill you."

"I think you'd get along well with Azula." Iroh said suddenly. "You certainly seem to have the same...mannerisms."

Her ears perked up at that.

"That's twice I've heard her name now. I take it she's someone important?"

Iroh simply smiled.

"Just pray that you never meet her."

Naruko did something she'd never expected to do, then.

She bowed.

"Its been a pleasure, sifu."

"What, that's it?" Sokka balked in the dead of night as Naruko clamored onto Appa's saddle. "They just let you go?" For a long moment her only reply was silence as she swarmed up the bison's furry hide and squirmed into the seat. They'd been following her at a distance for the last two days, their first rescue attempt having been repulsed quite violently. Katara could only wonder why the blonde had insisted that she stay for as long as she had; it didn't make any sense...

"Something like that." the Avatar whispered. "I learned a few new tricks." Flexing her fingers, she summoned a small fireball to her hand. It danced there a moment, the warm tongues of fire lighting the darkness with its soft touch of light.

"Oh." Katara blinked. "Well, that explains a lot...

"That reminds me," Sokka grumbled, reaching around into his pack. "We found...this. Friend of yours?"

Suddenly and without warning, a bllur of white and brown leapt from the sack and into the girl's arms, clamoring onto her neck and behind her head for safety. Naruko nearly squealed before she realized who-what-had secured itself on her shoulder. A familair chattering greeted her ears.

"Momo!" Naruko grinned in delight at the sight of her old pet. "But how did he...?"

Sokka thrust a thumb at the roll of sacks and furs in the saddle, doubtless where the lemur had secured itself all those years ago.

"Stowaway."

Everything moved most swiftly after that.

Eventually they happened up the island of Kiyoshi...and nearly got themselves eaten by a giant sea monster. Naruko wondered if they should've visited the Air Temple but...no. Going back there would have caused too much pain. Her friends and family were gone. Vising there would have been pointless.

"So...I'm guessing that was an Unagi."

"Well, Unagi or not, I'd rather not stick around." Sokka decided, dusting himself off. "Time to hit the rooooooo-what the heck?!"

They hit without warning.

One moment they were standing beneath the trees, listening to Sokka. The next, four shadows leapt from the branches and attacked them. In the time that it took Naruko to turn her head Sokka, Katara, even Momo were all subdued-bound and blindfolded-thrown down to the sands at her feet. Naruko was spared only because he'd been standing near the beach. It gave him just enough time to realize their attackers weren't men as he'd first suspected, but women. No, not even that. Girls!

Interesting.

Even as they closed on her she spun, a wall of wind leaping from her fingers.

"Mind if spar with you girls?"

Suki and the rest of her warriors startled slightly at the voice-alarmed to find the Airbender hanging merrily from a nearby branch. She was watching them keenly, interest shining through her bright azure orbs as she made herself known to them.

They all collectively stared at Naruko, who tilted her head to the side cutely at their silence. "Is that a problem?" Their response was nothing short of enthusiastic.

"NO!"

A/N: And there we go. Yes, there WILL be yuri-girl loves girl-action in this fic. I apologize for those of you who don't like it, as one reviewer -I won't name names- has already made their dislike of that element clear. But that's the mindset for this story. Although NarukoxZuko remains an amusing possibility, given their painful pasts. After this we will be seeing a major departure from Canon-Naruko isn't Aang after all, so she won't be acting like him.

Finally, and I'm only going to say this once, I am NOT bashing Sokka. I merely took into account that he was very suspicious of Aang in the beginning, and here Naruko outright attacked him when he insulted her. Of course there would be some hostility there. He doesn't trust her, and she certainly doesn't trust him. Heck, she hardly trusts anyone at the moment. They won't be bickering for much longer, though!

That aside I sincerely hope you enjoyed the latest chapter and all of the chaos and hilarity that is to come.

So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review...Would you Kindly? And of course, enjoy the Preivew! Also, the next chapter for Die Another Day is coming out soon-I've already got well more than Seven thousand words and I just want to live up to your grand expectations, is all =D

(Preview!)

Naruko yelped and ducked aside as a swathe of fire sizzled over her head. Bending it away, she turned to face the foe who'd been hunting her.

"Are you insane?!"

"No," Azula laughed, "I'm having the time of my life!"

R&R! =D