CHAPTER SIX :
A New Life

I woke up the second I felt a hand on my shoulder. My eyes shot open and I reached for the knife that I always kept in my pocket, but nothing was there. I winced in pain from moving too fast.

"Relax, it's only me." Jet said, his hand still on my shoulder while he played with the stalk in his mouth with the other.

I looked up at him. "Oh, sorry.."

"C'mon, let's get going before the sun comes up." Jet said.

"Okay." I answered. I looked back at Kala and sighed as my hand ran along his body to his saddle. I unbuckled it and slipped it off of him.

"You were really attached to him, weren't you?" Jet asked.

"Yeah... He wasn't just transportation, he was my best friend... I spent almost as much time with this guy as I did with my sister." I answered.

"You have a sister?"

"Yeah... I had to leave her though... for her own protection."

"Oh..." Jet said.

I put my hand on Kala's face and carressed his cheek. "You've already done a lot for me, and I don't want to bother you anymore, but... D-Do you think we could come back here later and bury him? I would do it myself, but I can't carry him alone..."

"Not a problem... We'll come back tomorrow with the others." Jet answered.

"Thank you." I said with a little smile. I was expecting Jet to turn around so I could climb onto his back again, but instead he picked me up bridal style. I held onto Jet around his neck and blushed slightly, but shook the thought off. As he started running, I leaned my head against him and quickly drifted back to sleep.

I woke up when Jet came to a halt.

"We're here." he said as he gently put me down.

I looked around and saw nothing but trees. "So, where exactly do you guys live?"

"Like I said, right here." Jet answered. I gave him a weird look. He smirked back at me and then climbed up the tree in front of us. He became lost in the leaves after a few seconds, but jumped down with a rope looped around his wrist.

"Well?" Jet asked, extending his hand to me. I took it and he brought me to him. He put his arm around my waist, but I winced a little.

"Are your ribs hurt?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine though." I answered through clenched teeth.

"I'll have my sister take a look at you. She's the healer around here. Just bare with me for a couple seconds, okay?" Jet said. I nodded and wrapped my arms around his neck as he held me around my waist tightly. He gave he rope a tug and it started to be reeled in, lifiting both of us off of the ground. I looked around at the green leaves and the flower buds that had just began to pop up. It was the beginning of spring right now. The scene was short, but amazing. Jet let go of the rope at the first deck. I let go of him, walking away from him a little, and stared in awe at all of the tree houses hidden in the canopy of the trees.

"Welcome to your new home, Shen." Jet said.

"Wow... This place is amazing..." I uttered.

Jet walked next to me. "Yeah... Don't get me wrong, it was a pain in the ass to build, but I think it was worth it."

I laughed a little. Then Jet continued. "The Fire Nation'll never find us up here. The only time of year we have to worry about is winter since the trees lose their leaves, but so far nothing's happened and we've been here a while."

There was a little silence between us as my face saddened.

"What's the matter?" Jet asked.

"I know I said I wanted to be a Freedom Fighter, but I really don't think that you want me part of your group." I answered.

"Whatever it is, don't worry about it. I told you before that everyone gets a chance for a new life here. It doesn't matter what you've done in the past."

I turned to Jet. "The reason I ran away from my home and got captured was because of the Fire Nation. I'm an assassin. I killed a battalion and its General for a job and they came after me. I don't want to put you guys in danger."

"You're already a Freedom Fighter. I'm not gonna turn my back on you and neither will anyone else. Most of the kids that are here with me are here because of the Fire Nation, just like you... Including me and my sister." Jet said.

"What happened?" I asked.

"When I was eight, the Fire Nation attacked my village... Both of my parents were killed. Fuu and me were the only ones who survived... It's changed us ever since. The fact that you're involved with the Fire Nation like that gives me more of a reason to protect you."

I smiled. "Thanks... Jet... For everything. Saving me, bringing me here. You really didn't have to."

"I know I didn't." Jet answered. He cupped my chin and made me look up at him. "I wanted to."

We stared at each other for a minute and then we slowly started moving closer together. Right before we kissed, Jet took the stalk out of his mouth. I retreated from him after a couple seconds and blushed, looking away. I couldn't believe I just kissed him... I used to be hit on at the bar with Jun all the time. One thing my sister taught me well was how to play hard to get, whether it was because I wanted to get someone off of my ass or just to give someone a little "test" to see if they were worthy enough to spend my time on. She said that the good looking, flirty guys were the ones that I had to play hard to get with because most of the times they were just scumbags who knew they were good looking and used that to get girls. Meh... He got me when I was weak... Every girl has that "knight in shining armour" fantasy. I was a damsel in distress right now.

"C'mon, I'll show you to your room. Fuujin will take a look at ya in the morning." Jet said as he replaced the stalk in his mouth and walked past me, motioning for me to follow him. Since the deck wasn't attached to anything, I had to hold onto Jet as we used one of the many ziplines attached to the tree to go to one of the, once again, many treehouses. Seeing all of them made me wonder just how many people were part of the Freedom Fighters. We crossed two more ziplines in between more treehouses and stopped at a platform with what looked like three seperate units.

"Well, this'll be your place. Smellerbee's to your left and Fuu is to your right." Jet said as he opened the door to the middle unit. He walked into it, picking up spark rocks that were on the table and went around the room, lighting up all of the candles in the candleholders on the walls with the spark rocks. When the room was fully lit, I saw that it was like a studio apartment.

"This is all for me?" I asked.

"Yeah. The older kids you, me, Fuu, Smellerbee, Longshot, and some of the others need their own space like this. Bathroom's over there. Just chuck the water out of the window when you're done taking a bath. Don't worry about not having a kitchen. We all eat dinner together every night... Oh, I almost forgot. There's some stuff for you on the bed." Jet said. There was a wooden floor, of course with a large carpet about five feet from the door. A small coffee table carved out of a large tree trunk was in the center of the carpet and two makeshift sofas, made out of hay, grass and feathers tied together with cloth on top of them. The table had a small pit for a fire for light. There were candle holders all over the walls of the room for lighting. Another five feet away from the carpet was a queen sized bed with a wooden frame, right next to two windows. The mattress was made out of the same materials and in the same way as the sofas. There was a dresser in front of the bed with a mirror attached the the wall behind it. The bathroom door was in the gap in between the bed and the carpet and a closet was behind the sofa closest to the same wall where the bathroom was. I walked through the treehouse, looking around at everything until I came up to the bed. My ringblade and shirasaya were on it. I didn't say anything. I picked up my ringblade and stared at it with a smile on my face.

"Thank you... Again, Jet." I said, the same smile still plastered on my face.

"Don't thank me. My sister was the one who picked them up. She thought they were yours since they didn't look like Fire Nation weapons. Well, I'm gonna let you get some rest. You must be tired. Tell me if you need anything. I'm just across the zipline at the other end." Jet said. He turned around to leave. I walked up to Jet and spun him around, taking the stalk out of his mouth and planting a kiss on his lips.

"Thank You." I said. I stuck the stalk back in his mouth as he smirked.

"Goodnight, Shen." he answered. Then he left, closing the door behind him and leaving me all smiling. My smile faded away for a couple seconds.

"Wait... why did I just do that...?" I asked myself. I heard a little snort in my head.

"You've been awfully quiet, haven't you? We're safe now, there's no reason why you shouldn't have been talking to me that entire time." I said as I walked to the bathroom, taking the spark rocks with me. I lit the candles on the walls and such for light. There was a closet inside of the bathroom filled with six big barrels of water. Another barrel was right next to the bathtub.

"I was nice and gave you some time with your little pet. You should be happy for that.."

"That's not what I meant. What about the entire time I was with Jet?"

I got another snort in response from her. I took off the lid and picked up the large bucket next to it. I filled up the bath with water and took the soap on the sink, placing it on the side of the tub. I stripped off my clothes and climbed inside of the tub. The cold water tingled as it touched my skin. I sighed and sunk down into it completely. I came back up when I was beginning to get out of breath and sighed again, washing the dried blood off of my face.

"Oh look at you... So happy about your new found life here? What makes you think that we belong here? What makes you think that nothing's going to happen? You'll mess things up. That boy doesn't seem to like the Fire Nation very much..."

"Neither do you, obviously... As I recall, someone wouldn't talk to me the entire time we were captured by them."

"That doesn't matter... You called me for help before that... One day, you'll need me again. I'll answer when you really need it and him and everyone else here will all find out that I'm a firebende and you're little dream will go down the drain."

"No! That's not going to happen!"

Zhu laughed. "Just wait for it... You'll see..."

The next day, I was woken up in the middle of the afternoon when someone bursted into my room. I sat up immediately, throwing my ringblade... It was a reaction since I still wasn't comfortable here. I recoiled in pain after throwing the ringblade, clutching my ribs. The ringblade was deflected and fell to the floor, leaving Fuu, Jet's twin, standing there with a saya(small japanese knife, kinda like a mini shirasaya)in one of her hands. The other one was behind the blade of the saya, supporting it when she blocked. A Saya... Only people skilled in arts with the shirasaya or katana used it.

Fuu's serious face instantly changed into a smile from ear to ear. "Whew! That was a close one! Heh heh!"

"Sorry..." I said.

"Oh, ish ohkay!" Fuu said in a weird accent. She walked up to my bed and sat down on it, putting the bag that was looped around her elbow down on the nightstand.

"I'm Fuu!... If you don't remember. Jet's twin? I'm here to make you feel all better!" Fuu exclaimed.

"Okay...?" I agreed... This girl was a little too happy.

"Okay, then! Let's start!" Fuu said. I told her that my ribs were bothering me. She threw the pillow that was under me on the other side of the bed and eased me down. Since I slept in my underwear, there was nothing really to take off.

"This is gonna hurt. I have to check out what happened by feeling it." Fuu said. I nodded. She reached into her bag and pulled out a metal bar, putting it near my mouth. I bit down on it and then she began to examine my ribs. I screamed as I bit down on the bar, pain rushing through my body at the slightest touch from Fuu. I let the bar drop from my mouth as the pain subsided.

"None of them are broken, but a lot of 'em are bruised up and two on the bottom right have tiny fractures. All I can really do it wrap it up so it heals the right way." Fuu said. I nodded. She wrapped up my ribs and examined the rest of my body, cleaning up cuts with alcohol to avoid infection.

"Okay, you're all done! You can keep the bag, it's my gift to you. It's got some stuff you might need. I'll take you shoppin' once you're better." Fuu said with a smile. I thanked her.

"So, where'd you come from? Why did the Fire Nation have you... if you don't mind me asking..."

"It's fine. I was doing an old man a favor. I'm an assassin. He didn't have enough money to pay me, but his village was massacred by the Fire Nation. He said he wanted revenge, so I helped him out. My sister said that she usually just bribed the Fire Nation if they ever came after us since we usually worked together, but they never came after us like that before. I left her to keep her safe, gave the Fire Nation a heads up of who I was and got captured a few weeks after running."

"Oh wow... The Fire Nation took my family away from me too... They burned our village. I was lucky that I got out with Rai-...Jet."

"Rai...?" I asked.

Fuu sighed. "Well, guess the kitty's outta the bag! Jet's name was Raijin before he changed it to 'Jet'."

I smirked a little.