Chapter one

Chapter Four

A/N: Okay, so I finally updated! Yay! This was a hard chapter for me to write, as it's sort of filler. I know it's not great, but then again, I'm not the greatest writer. SO… In case anyone actually reads this thing… (Which I highly doubt, as for the lack of reviews,) I WILL get to the Gaang. Once I finish with the preparations, things are going to get interesting… BTW, In case he ever reads it, (Which I highly doubt, don't even think he reads fanfiction,) I modeled Kuro after a friend I will never forget. See ya at Pre-Regional Qualifiers, my friend!

Akari looked up at Zero, raising one eyebrow. "You'd better explain this later," she mouthed silently. Zero nodded, looking sheepish.

Pushing her hand through Ana-Marie's curly, dark brown hair, she hugged her friend tightly, whispering, "It'll be alright… You'll be okay."

Kuro sighed. "We really are bad at that, aren't we."

"Bad at what?"

"The whole comforting without asking questions thing."

"Oh. Yeah. I asked questions."

Kuro rolled his eyes. "Akari tried to explain this to me once. Something about, 'people don't want you to ask questions. Most of the time, they're incapable of telling you. You just need to…' And I forgot what she said after that. Ah well."

Zero gave a half-laugh. "Yep, we're pretty much useless in that section."

Akari gave them an exasperated look. "This is not the moment," she hissed, glaring a hole into their foreheads.

Both boys slunk out of range of her burning gaze "I'm guessing that means get the heck out of this situation with your insensitive comments," said Zero, glancing behind him warily. "I'd be scared if she was ever really mad at me."

Kuro sighed. "Trust me, it's not pleasant."

Zero nodded. "Don't get Aela mad. Rule One."

"Amen," came a mocking voice from behind them.

Both boys spun.

"Oh crap," muttered Zero.

Akari rocked Ana-Marie back and forth quietly, not saying a word, until she quieted down a few moments later. "Sorry," she whispered, pulling away from the hug.

Akari smiled and tugged playfully on one of Ana's curls. "Don't apologize," she said. "Anytime you need me."

Ana looked the shorter girl straight in the eyes. "Thanks, I'll repay the favor, someday."

"Deal."

Laughing through tears, Ana hooked her arm around Akari's. "Thanks for getting the boys away. What did you do?"

"Gave 'em the death stare. It works every time." Smirking, Akari continued. "But I have a feeling that we need to find them before Kuro starts another war. Things like that tend to happen around him."

"Really?" Ana asked as they headed in the direction the boys had taken.

"Go away, Tern."

"What if I don't wanna, pretty boy?" Tern asked, a mean tone in his voice.

"You'll go anyway," came Kuro's quiet, darker tone. Zero laid a hand on his arm, to the jeers of surrounding students.

"I will? Well, you just back off, you," Tern cut himself off, launching himself at Kuro's face, one fist extended.

Akari came to a stop before the crowd. "Wherever you are, Karma person, I didn't mean it," Akari muttered, glancing at Ana. "Gotta break this up. Goodness knows, K- I mean, Lee will beat the guy up."

Ana raised an eyebrow. "Well, I don't know. What if you get hurt?"

Akari gave her an exasperated look. "I wasn't searched by the Elite for nothing, Kai," she said, flinging herself into the crowd.

Zero gave a laugh. "Break it up," he said, his voice slightly hysterical.

Tern was already to far into the punch when something caught his fist and twisted it to the side. To his surprise, there was an almost insubstantial girl who had caught his punch and diverted it. And she didn't even rub her hand. She simply squeezed his hand so that he felt pain for a moment, then dropped it, stepping back by Kuro.

"I'm sorry," Akari said with a frightening, absolute calm, "but I believe that you were saying something?"

Tern stared at her for a second, then blinked. "Who are you?"

Akari raised one eyebrow. "That wasn't it."

Tern laughed. "Get out of the way, sweetheart. Wouldn't want that pretty face to get hurt," he said, reaching out with one hand to stroke her cheek.

Kuro's hand flashed out and grabbed Tern's.

"What, protecting your girlfriend?" taunted Tern.

Ana-Marie shouldered her way through the crowd to the center. "Stop!" she said desperately.

"You've got two girlfriends, new kid?" A mocking smile grew on Tern's face. "Not bad for being here for five minutes." He swung toward Ana-Marie. "And what's your name, pretty one?" he asked maliciously.

With that, Ana-Marie punched him in the face. Not with her fist, of course, but with fire.

Tern reeled back, his face unburned. "Hey, hey!" he said, beckoning to a few burly-looking boys in the crowd.

"Oh, crap," Zero repeated.

Akari narrowed his eyes, already mapping her way out of the situation.

Ana charged forward, fire on her fingertips. Two of the boys also were firebenders, plus Tern. "No one talks to me like that," she hissed, twisting her hand, a stream of fire coming out.

Akari leaped forward, between Ana's fire and the boys, redirecting the fire into the air. "Not now, Kai," she said, still cold, turned toward Ana. Tern touched the back of her neck. Her eyes narrowed and she spun, kicking up. Her foot caught underneath the boy's chin, knocking him flat on the pavement. Her burning eyes narrowed. "Then again, I might just make an exception in this case" she said, taking a fighting stance.

Kuro sighed and stepped beside Akari. "Now now," he said, gesturing with his hand. "No need to fight." His own eyes narrowed. "Not here, anyway. Tonight, outside the city gates.

Tern glanced from side to side and laughed. "You're on, new boy," he said.

"What did you do?" Asked Ana, finally, after half an hour of gaping at Akari, while they were on their way to their first class.

Akari looked up. "Hm?"

Ana sighed. "What did you do? How could you do that? You don't look all that dangerous. Where do you hide the muscle?"

Akari rolled her eyes. "I caught his punch, and when people got weird, I knocked a guy onto the ground. I did it because I have noble instincts. I know I don't look dangerous, that's what makes me all the more dangerous. And I have no idea."

Ana, once again, subsided into silence as they entered their first class.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Master Lee?" came the male teacher's stern voice.

Kuro looked him in the eye. "Only that Tern began to reach for one of my good friends, and I stopped him."

Tern rubbed underneath his chin. "He's right," he said ruefully. "It wasn't him who knocked me down. It was his girlfriend."

Kuro half-turned toward him. "And you deserved it, donkey-boy."

Tern glared. "I didn't do anything, and she just knocked me down, easy as that."

The man turned. "I will look into this."

Tern turned on Kuro. "Listen, Lee, whoever you are, I will see you after school, outside the city gates. I was thinking of skipping, but now I realize that this is much too good to pass up. See you later," he spat the next word out through his teeth. "Lee."

The teacher scratched a problem on the board. "Anyone know this offhand?" she asked, not expecting an answer

Nine hundred and fifty-four, Akari thought, raising her hand.

The teacher looked surprised for a moment, then pointed. "Miss Aela?"

"Nine hundred and fifty-four," she answered instantly.

The teacher stopped, her mouth dropping open. "Well– yes. How did you figure that out?"

Akari shrugged. "I did it in my head."

The teacher blinked. "In your head?"

Akari bit back a sarcastic comment. "Yes ma'am. It's relatively simple."

The teacher blinked. "Oh. You've seen this problem before?" she asked, tapping the charcoal on the white slab of marble that served as the 'board'.

Akari shook her head. "No. I just did it in my head."

The teacher blinked again, several times. "What about this one?" she asked, drawing another one quickly.

"Thirty-five divided by five X," Akari answered instantly.

Dropping her charcoal on her desk, she walked forward. "Can you do this with all math?"

"Most of the time. When they start dealing out the triangles, though, I have to write the problems out on paper. It's not hard, though. I just can't see the triangles in my head."

The teacher struggled for words. "Well… I… I… I don't know what to say. I'll talk to the headmaster about moving you up in math classes…" she muttered while walking out of the class, clearly in a daze.

The class stared in shock at Akari, minus Ana. A pretty girl, with hair as dark as Akari's dyed hair, but with a darker skin tone and chocolaty-brown eyes came up to the table.

"You're Aela Kazu?" she asked.

"No, I'm a renegade cow-monkey," retorted Akari. A ripple of laughter followed her statement.

The girl looked flustered for a moment, then recovered her composure. "You're the girl who knocked Tern down by the gate."

Akari rolled her eyes. Did these people have no original statements? "Shyepp," she answered nonchalantly.

The girl slammed her hand down on the table. "Now you listen, new girl. I'm the queen here, with the girls. Either you listen to me, or be ostracized for the rest of your time at this school. Get it? Now, I have a command."

Akari sighed. "Well, I'm not listening, as I have to get to History class, and I have not the slightest intention of being late. Savvy?"

The girl's eyes narrowed. "Are you insulting me?"

Ana stepped up. "What did you think she was doing, backflips? Of course she was insulting you."

Akari smirked. "Thank you for clearing that up, Kai. Now…" she hooked her elbow around Ana's and they sauntered out of the room. Stunned silence and sporadic applause followed them.

Once out of the room, the girls broke out laughing. "Did you see the look on her face," Ana choked out, "when you said the bit about the cow-monkey?"

Akari grinned. "Do cow-monkeys even exist?" she said, laughing.

Ana stopped, a look of intense concentration on her face. "I'm not sure."

Zero and Kuro raced into the nearly-empty lunchroom. "You didn't tell me – " Kuro gasped, "That hanging out with you could cause bodily harm!" he finished, as they leaned against a table.

"Isn't my fault I've got rabid fangirls," muttered Zero.

"It isn't?" asked Kuro, a slight teasing note in his voice.

Zero flushed. "Okay, slightly my fault. But –"

Zero was interrupted by a collective scream from thirteen or so girls. "THERE HE IS!" they shrieked, surrounding the two boys. A babble of incoherent admiration arose from the group.

Kuro chuckled, indivertibly drawing a few stares.

"Zero, who's that?" said a voice, rising above the babble

Zero paused. "This is my friend…" He paused, then smirked. Silence fell as the crowd waited breathlessly for his next words. "This is my friend Dark."

There was a pause, in which Kuro glared impressively at Zero with the, 'I'm not going to kill you now because there are people, but stay away from dark alleys,' look.

There was a pause of contemplation. Then there was a slight sigh. "He's really cute," came a voice from the back, one of the less-rabid Zero fangirls. There was a murmur of agreement from about half the crowd, though the other half had their eyes fastened onto Zero's sky-blue eyes.

Zero chuckled evilly.

Kuro slipped into line, with about four girls following him. With a sigh, he turned. So I have a fan-club. Great. Akari is never going to let me forget this. He then shook his head violently, ran a hand though his hair, and surveyed the four girls collected around him. "Hello, ladies," he said finally, "May I have your names?"

Akari and Ana-Marie took that opportune moment to enter the lunchroom, and stopped dead. Ana-Marie had gotten a good look at the intriguing Zero-and-His-Fangirls relationship, but they both stopped dead at the sight of Kuro.

With fangirls.

Akari burst out laughing, and Ana just stared in shock. "Shoulda – guessed – this – would – happen," Akari gasped through laughter. Ana gave her a queer look. "Why is that?' she asked. Akari shook her head. "Girls have always thrown themselves at Kuro. Personally, I can't see why, but it's hilarious anyway." Ana looked away, muttering something under her breath.

Akari slipped into line next to Kuro. Hi Lee, can I stand here?" she asked, a teasing smile on her face that was immediately received by the glares of the rabid fangirls. It vanished.

Kuro nodded quickly, but didn't miss the smirk on Akari's face. He raised an eyebrow at her, to which she answered with the twitching of her lips that usally meant suppressed laughter for Akari. They'd known each other for so long they could communicate basically without words.

The foremost of the fangirls stepped foreward. "Oh, it's you," Akari said, rolling her eyes with annoyance. "Great, my first enemy is the leader of my brother's fanclub. This is wonderful," she said with an exasperated tone.

The girl's mouth was half-open. "Dark is your brother?" she asked.

Akari gave a half-laugh. "Dark?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at Kuro. "Not really. We've been stuck together so much, though, we might as well be. We're not together though." She made a disgusted face. "He's incorrigible."

The girl struggled for a moment. "Incorrigible?" she finally asked. "I don't think so."

Akari laughed. "Do you even know what that word means?"

Ana sighed. "Incorrigible: Impossible or very difficult to correct or reform."

"Thank you," came the girl bitterly. "Now I do."

"Have you ever had a prolonged conversation with him? Then you'd understand," said Akari, amused.

Now the girl looked confused. "I… I'll see you later, Dark," she said hurriedly, rushing toward the doors, followed by the new Dark fan club.

Ana jumped at the feel of a hand on her shoulder. She spun hurriedly to see Kuro behind her. "Thank you," he said, his dark voice rippling across her. "I think you and Akari, in conjunction, confused her. And most likely Akari angered her. She has a talent there."

Ana laughed. Kuro was so easy to be around. One second, he completely dazzled you with a look and his refined, measured words, then made you feel totally at ease with a randomly-placed absolutely hilarious comment. "True. She's also a good friend, however."

Kuro nodded in agreement. "She's like my little sister. She gets on my nerves so much it is actually kind of funny." He raised an eyebrow and picked up a tray. "So are you going to get some food or not?" he asked.

Ana blinked rapidly for a moment, then picked up a tray. "Yeah…" she said, half-dreamily.

Akari watched the two of them and shook her head, smiling. Smitten. Both of them. It was so… cute! Interrupting her musings, Zero dashed in line in front of her. "He-ey," she said, poking him in the back.

"Ow!" he said, then glanced around warily. "Well, it looks as if my fanclub has joined the back of the line, so I can relax." He suddenly snickered. "Did you see K – I mean, Lee's fanclub?" he asked, looking positively evil.

Akari rolled her eyes. "You set that up?" she asked.

"Nope, it was completely on the improv," he said lightly.

"How did you do it?" asked Akari curiously.

This led Zero into a five-minute detailed description of the moment, which, in reality, took about thirty seconds.

By the time he was winding down to the end of it, Akari was blinking confusedly. "I… see?" she said, interrupting his explanation of the reasoning behind the moment.

Zero picked up a tray and bonked her on the head with it. "No you don't, you're only saying that to make me shut up," he accused.

Akari attempted to duck the tray but failed. "Okay, I admit, I was doing that. But really, I get the basic idea."

"Of course you do," he said, rolling his eyes.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Fine. Whatever. Would 'please shut up' work better?" she asked.

Zero shook his head. "Oh, I have to ask you something," he said.

Akari gave him an exasperated look. "What are you waiting for, my permission?"

Not acknowledging that statement, Zero launched into his question. "Undoubtably, you've heard the teachers informing you about the party that Jetnes family is holding? In every class?"

Akari nodded. "Go on."

"Well, you see, I have a fanclub of many girls who have been pestering me to ask them to it for about a week, and…" he lowered his voice, "No offences to them, but most of them are complete bubbleheads."

"Get back to the point."

"Well, I was wondering if you would go with me. As a friend, I mean, just so I can tell them I've already got a date."

Akari was stunned. She hadn't expected this. Not at all. She'd expected him to ask her for advice on which girl to ask or something to that extent. Not….

"Okay," she said simply, then mentally smacked herself.

"Okay?" he asked, his blue eyes hopeful.

"Yeah, okay," she said, then immediately changed the subject. "Hey, what food here is good, and what isn't?" she asked hurriedly, looking at the massive array of food.

Zero sighed, leading her through the basic list of edible/not edible foods on the buffet.

The fantastic four (as Zero had so dynamically named them,) left the school chattering, though both Zero and Akari did not mention the "date" to Kuro. After lunch, Akari had advised Zero to let her break it to him. "He's like my father, or older brother, almost," she had said, with a wary glance toward Kuro. Zero had agreed, as he had seen Kuro almost in a rage exactly once, and at that time the guy whom Kuro had been angry at had gotten knocked out and wrapped in a carpet.

As they entered Zero's house, they were immediately ushered into a room with one man in it. Zero gulped.

"Hello, Father," he said, his face slowly draining of color.

In the next half-hour, the rest of the group winced at alternate intervals as Zero's father berated him about his grades, (he'd gotten a B in music,) his social life, friends, and slumming habits, (Which, though she felt sorry for Zero, Ana agreed with Mister Kamanci heartily,) and, most curiously, his fighting progress.

As they left, Zero was still pale, but had a slightly defiant look around his lips and eyes. Akari approached him, pity in her eyes, but Ana held her back, something slightly knowing in her eyes. "Don't look sorry for him. It will just embarrass him more," muttered Kuro to the two girls. Zero didn't hear.

They entered Zero's room, still silent. Zero turned, and Akari swiftly wiped any traces of pity from her face.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that," said Zero in a slightly dead voice.

"Don't be."

He looked at them all. "Why not," he said, still in that almost-dead voice.

"Because it's not your fault," said Akari.

Zero looked at her, then sat down suddenly in a chair. "You don't have to make me feel good. I know he was right."

"That's not true," said Kuro. Everyone looked at him in surprise. "I've seen you. You're not a failure. You're strong… Lee."

Zero stood. "You really think that?" he asked, his voice more alive now.

Kuro nodded.

Zero's face softened slightly from that defiant set, and he turned, staring out the window.

Akari glanced at Kuro. His dark eyes squinted at her, trying to read what she had to say. She sent him a pleading glance. He nodded slightly. Akari stepped forward and jerked her head slightly, motioning for the others to leave the room. Kuro touched Ana's shoulder. The two turned and left the room, leaving Akari and Zero alone.

Akari stood behind him, softly, composing herself for a moment, then tugged gently on his wrist. He turned, sluggishly, to look down at her upturned amber eyes. Akari took a deep breath. I'm the only one that can help him, she thought, because I know exactly how he feels. "Listen," she started, "You gave information that would save my life, even at the cost of your own. You helped me escape, though that may have been then end of your own freedom. You and Ana stalled for time when I had none. You were willing to give up everything you knew to save me, a perfect stranger. You're not weak. You're not a failure." A tear traced a shining path down her cheek. "I'm the one who ran, while I let you risk your life. I destroyed Ana's, and…" Her words choked off. "And you never ran. You never wavered. You're stronger than an earthbender…" She swallowed. "You're no zero, Lee."

Zero's jaw trembled slightly and he lifted his head and turned his face away.

Akari looked down and wiped the tear from her cheek, choking back more tears before stepping away from him. "I'll give you some privacy," she whispered when she could talk. She turned toward the door.

Zero reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Wait," he choked out.

Surprised, Akari turned. She nodded and stopped, not quite looking at him.

A struggle was taking place on Zero's face. He finally let go of control, bursting into silent, racking sobs. Akari felt tears running down her own face, and, not really thinking, she took the few steps separating them and wrapped her arms around his waist, her arms tightening around him.

Zero looked down with slight surprise, but put his arms around her and buried his face in her hair, his tears soaking the top of her head. They remained like that for a solid minute. When both of their tears had stopped, Akari pulled away slightly, her face still wet with tears.

Zero smiled weakly. "Thank you. You have no idea what that means."

Akari smirked. "Maybe I do. You forget, but for the past four years, my best friend has been a guy," she said in a weak voice, half-hiccuping.

Zero shook his head. "No, trust me, you don't."

"I don't?"

"It's not something a girl could understand."

Akari looked questioning for a moment, then shook her head. "Well, let's get cleaned up. We can say you pushed me into the sink or something," she said, pointing at her head.

Zero smirked. "I actually could, you know."

Akari sighed. "Fine. Have fun fabricating the evidence."

After five minutes, they had sufficiently fabricated the evidence. Zero had, as a matter of fact, pushed her head into the sink, and she'd head-butted him in the place where her tears had soaked his shirt. (Which was, by the way, had not been part of the plan) When they both emerged, Akari scowling and dripping, and Zero laughing at her and dripping, Kuro and Ana looked up in surprise.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Ana.

Kuro raised an eyebrow. "Yes. What?"

Akari glared at Zero. "This intelligent person, as I was washing my hands, shoved me into the sink and dumped the pitcher of water on my head. Then I chased him around the room and head-butted him. I think that was appropriate punishment."

Ana rolled her eyes. "You two can be so childish."

Kuro simply glanced at them, doubts apparently assuaged… on the surface.

Zero handed Akari a hand towel from the bathroom and laughed as she buried her head in it. "You look so funny when you do that."

"Not my fault."

"Come on. Kuro and I did a bit of exploring while you two were having a water-fight. There's a sitting room here," Ana said, flouncing down the hallway.

As they entered, Akari was surprised to find a mostly plain sitting room filled with many, many fishbowls. "Wow. Fish." She said, stating the obvious.

They all settled into individual chairs around a little glass table. Kuro started. "Well, you see, that guy, Tern, is going to meet me outside the city gates and –"

Akari sighed. "We all heard what you said. Who's your second."

Kuro rolled his eyes. "You, of course. I mean, seriously, who else would I give my seconding too?"

Akari shrugged. "Good point. I mean, I can beat even you in training."

"Not true," Kuro chided.

"Okay, not always, but I can beat you."

Kuro threw up his hands. "What monster have I created?" he asked no one in particular.

Ana chortled. "A scary one."

Kuro glared. "You're going to get as annoying as Akari."

Looking very innocent, Ana said, "Now, why would I ever do that?"

"Um… so, Kuro and I usally practice firebending at night, and would you two like to join us?" Akari said hastily, changing the subject.

Ana shrugged. "If you're as good at fighting as you are at dancing, then I'm in," she answered.

Zero looked down at the floor. "Um… I'm going to have to decline."

Akari turned her burning gaze on him. "Why?"

Zero bit his lip. "I'm not a firebender."

Akari's mouth opened, and she made as if to stand up, ceremoniously knocking over a fishbowl with her elbow.

Several things happened at once.

One: Akari dove for the bowl, but only succeeded in landing on her hip and scraping her elbow.

Two: Ana screamed.

Three: Zero, not thinking, dove for the bowl, bending the contents, (along with the fish) up out of the bowl before it was dashed to the floor.

In the next moment, the bowl was shattered into a million sparkling points of sharp glass. Silence followed.

"Oh," said Akari after about two minutes of silence. "Okay."

"Leave it to Akari to break the silence," Kuro muttered.

Ana smirked. "Okay, so you're not a firebender. You're a waterbender. You could practice with us anyway."

Zero looked up, hope suddenly blooming on his face. "You mean, you don't care?"

Akari gave him an amused look. "We're escaped convicts, I can somehow bend lightning like most people bend fire, am being hunted by the elite in the Fire Nation, and you're worried we'll shun you just because of what element you bend?" she shook her head, "Zero, you constantly amaze me."

Kuro ran a hand through his hair. "She has a point."

Zero relaxed, his hands still moving, keeping the fish afloat. "Well, now that we've got that settled, let's find somewhere to put these fish."

Ana glanced at them for a moment. "Minnows. Put them… there," she said, pointing at a large aquarium. "With other minnows. They won't eat each other."

Kuro smiled. "How did you learn that?"

"You'd be surprised."

Akari sighed. "Can someone push all the broken glass into a pile?"

"How are we supposed to do that?" said Kuro.

Akari raised an eyebrow. "I didn't plan that far ahead."

Zero smiled. "Got it." With a sweeping motion of his hands, he pulled some water out of a tank, froze it to slush, then swept it along the floor. Soon all the glass was in a neat little pile at Akari's feet.

"Well, you're handy," said Ana.

Akari smiled, then shot a stream of fire at the pile, turning it into a fully crystallized glass lump. She leaned over and pulled it from the floor before the bottom had fully cooled. It peeled away from the marble floor easily. The four watched in silence as the red slowly faded from the bottom.

"So," said Akari, "does anyone have a bag?"

That night, as the lights were fading, Tern and Kuro faced each other from across a darkened clearing.

Tern rushed forward, feinting to the right. Kuro blocked easily. With a smooth slip, Kuro clipped him on the shoulder with a hand and dodged behind him. With one solid knock, Tern was on the ground, his arms firmly held behind him.

"I win."

"We still have our seconds. Let them have a turn."

"I won fairly."

Tern called for the seconds.

Akari stepped out of the shadows, while another person came from behind a tree. Once he stepped into the moonlight, however, Akari wondered how he ever hid in a forest. He was huge. Humongous. Akari controlled her features, then settled into a stance. A strange cold swept over her, as it always did when she fought.

The big man laughed. "I'm not fighting this little thing, am I?"

Akari smirked slightly. "I'm afraid so."

The man laughed again. "Well, I'll be gentle. Wouldn't want to hurt the little girl."

"I'm quite sure you could, if it were ever possible to catch me," Akari answered, still with that impossibly cold voice.

The man narrowed his eyes and lunged for her. She stepped out of the way smoothly, flipping backwards to stand on his shoulders. She placed a hand on his head and used it to flip in front of him. "What was that?" she asked.

The man's eyes narrowed, and a whip of flame appeared in his hand. "Can you outrun fire, pixie?"

Akari shrugged. "Never tried."

The man grunted as the fire whipped out at her, curving and twisting. Akari received it quietly, spinning it around her in a cocoon of fire. Silently, she slipped out of the back of the cocoon and snuck up behind him, her two fingertips bristling with electricity. Not able to hold the flame any longer, she let the cocoon dissipate and brushed the man's temple with her fingertips as she somersaulted over his head. He collapsed like a bushel of flour.

Akari straightened and brushed off her hands, feeling the cold leave her. It was so strange, how that sensation came and went. It enabled her to fight without qualm, to ignore most verbal jabs. But it always dissipated when she was done fighting. Sometimes, however, she couldn't stop fighting until people were dead. Luckily she had Kuro.

She turned. "Shall we go?" she said to Kuro, jerking her head toward the trees. "And I have something to tell you…

"Zero WHAT?" Kuro yelled, once they were safe in his sister's house.

Akari sighed. "Zero asked me to the dance. As friends. Not as his girlfriend or anything."

Kuro looked remarkably like an angry tomato.

"I can date whoever I want, Kuro. You're not my father or anything."

Kuro blew, the tendons in his neck standing out. "You don't know anything about what guys think! I have the advantage of being one! You don't know what goes through their heads!"

"I happen to have a guy for a best friend. I've had enough creeps after me to know the good from the bad. I can go to the party with WHOEVER I WANT! He only asked me because his fangirls were being fangirly! So just shut it! You're not even related to me, KURO," she yelled right back, "This isn't some jerk we're talking about! This is ZERO. The guy who saved my life. We're not dating or anything! We're just going to a party together so Zero doesn't have to ask some giggly fangirl!"

Then, most surprisingly, Kuro calmed down. "True. Fine. It could be worse, I suppose," he finally said, with surprising calm. "But hear me. If he does anything… inappropriate, he will have written his own death warrant. There will be nowhere he can hide from me."

They didn't talk the rest of that evening.

But later that night, however, Akari stood outside Kuro's door, wrapped in her robe. Kuro opened the door, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "What is it, Akari," he asked in an annoyed, but fully awake voice. He looked down into her hand. In it was a knife… one that he recognized.

"Kuro, I've had an idea, though you're probably going to shoot it down immediately," Akari said, also fully awake.

"What is it, so that I can shoot it down," he said, beckoning her in. She sank down on a chair.

"Well, you know that we're not going to be able to stay here for long."

Kuro heaved a great sigh, looking out the window. "I know that. But where are we going to go?" he asked.

Akari smiled. "We both don't like the Fire Nation, right? Neither do Ana or Zero, I'm guessing."

Kuro nodded.

"Well… you know the legend of The Black Dragon? The one I used to dance to? Well, what if we put together a vigilante group. I mean, like, recruit kids from the school or something and terrorize the Fire Nation," she finished, looking up with hopeful eyes.

Kuro himmed and hawed for a while. "It's not a bad idea," he said, finally."

Akari goggled. "Who are you and WHAT have you done with Kuro?" she asked disbelievingly.

Kuro sighed. "It's a good idea. It's either that or hop from city to city, never doing any good. This, however… Some of the kids at school are not extremely regimented. They're used to more freedom than they have now. Some of them have never known it, but would embrace it if they could. Still others have a deeply ingrained sense of justice."

Akari stared at him in amazement. "When did you learn this?"

"I read people well."

"Great. Now I'm scared."

Kuro chuckled.

"I hate it when you do that."

It happened just like they expected… Well, somewhat.

"Great idea!" Zero enthused.

"That'll be easy," Ana said, rolling her eyes.

"What'll be easy?" asked Kuro.

"Introducing the others to freedom… and the injustice of the Fire Nation."

"And how do you suppose we go about this miracle?"

"Well, we could take them to Solo CheKets"

"You're insane," said Zero, after about a minute of silence.

Kuro shook his head. "No, she's not."

Akari looked at him, surprised. "Are you sure that somebody didn't mind-wipe you? Usually you veto all dangerous and insane plans before they're out of peoples lips."

"It's not crazy. It's actually a good idea. It'll tempt their more rebellious side, show them a bit of freedom. And then they could see what the Fire Nation really does."

Akari nodded.

"Okay, brilliant plan, but it has one flaw," Zero put in, slightly annoyed.

"And what is that, all-knowing Kamanci?" asked Kuro, a slight edge in his voice.

"How are we going to convince them to come, without sounding like treasonous traitors or absolute insane people waiting to be locked up?" he asked dryly.

Akari smirked. "Let me handle that, Zero."

Akari sat on the ground at Sarai's house, basking in the warming sunlight of her success.

"You are a genius," Zero finally stated.

"You know it," she said, smirking.

Akari stood. "They'll be here soon."

Over the school day, she'd assembled a small group of four people to go with them. One was a girl, twelve or thirteen, whose name was Angie. She seemed nice, almost as if she saw more things than most people. There were two other boys, Ellis and Bryem. They were both sixteen or seventeen, in Kuro's class. The two boys were both six-five, the strong, silent type. Finally, there was another girl, named Tayca. Tayca was bubbly, with a good sense of humor, but definite instincts.

How she'd done it, she wouldn't tell anyone, only to say vaguely that there had been an event, before they had come, that had shown them freedom, whatever that meant.

There was a knock, and Tayca strode in, followed by the quieter Angie. "Hallo!" said Tayca merrily.

Akari waved. "Hello Tayca, Angie."

Tayca rubbed her hands together. "So, where are we going?"

Kuro looked pained. "You mean, you didn't tell them where we're going?"

Akari shrugged. "I didn't know at the moment. I only knew possibly where we were going. So I just asked them if they wanted to go somewhere with us, and they agreed. I didn't break any laws as of yet."

Ana stifled a giggle.

At this moment, the two tall boys came in.

"Yo."

"Hey."

Akari waved again. "Yo. Hey."

There were simultaneous facepalms throughout the room.

Ellis sniggered slightly behind his hand. "So when are we going to do this thing?" he asked seriously, after choking back his laughter.

Kuro rolled his eyes. "Now would be ideal."

Akari walked up behind him and whacked him on the back of the head. "You don't need to show off, Kuro. No one cares how big your vocabulary is."

Ana and Angie nearly died laughing in the back of the room.

Zero rolled his eyes. He hated to be the pragmatic one, but… "Hey, people, we need to get going. I'm going to get it if I don't get home before eight tonight, and this might take all day."

Akari looked between Kuro and Zero with narrowed eyes. "Did you two switch personalities when I wasn't looking?" she asked suspiciously.

What Akari had really done, however, had dangled a tantalizing offer in front of the recruits' noses. She'd offered to teach them how to fight. By that time, the news of her's and Kuro's defeat of Tern and the big guy had become widely known at the school. She'd offered to help them with acrobatics and fighting skills… which is exactly what she would do. They would just have to come with her and her friends on one little trip, just to see what they had.

So all four of the recruits were tiptoeing, cloak-and-dagger style, along the forest floor.

Akari and Kuro were walking silently without seeming to try. Zero was doing an acceptable job, and Ana was gliding along the forest floor like she had been born knowing how to do it.

Finally, Bryem bucked up his courage enough to speak. "Where are we going?"

Akari glanced back. "A place."

Bryem nodded solemnly.

Ten seconds later, Akari, now somehow at the head of the group, stopped suddenly. "We're here," she said, then took a deep breath and pushed back the thick, thorny branches of a nearby fire-lizard bush. "Through here."

She ducked quickly through the opening, stepping on the ground of devastation. The rest of them followed behind her, all of them stunned.

There was stunned silence for a few moments.

"What is this place?" Angie whispered, her eyes wide and horrified.

Ana's eyes narrowed. "Welcome to Solo CheKets."

A/N: AHHH!! It's TWENTY PAGES. OH MY GOSH!! Just noticed that, sorry. And if you read this, realize, I'm BEGGING. Please please please review. I don't care how horrible and boring you think this is. Just… please review!!