Hello! So here's Chapter Seven. I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender but I do own Anala, Kai and any other character that isn't from the series, and would appreciate if you asked for permission before using them :D Also, thank you to those people who reviewed, I really appreciate it :)

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It was the most peaceful sleep she'd had. Not one nightmare, unlike every other night previously. She was just savouring the moment when something hard collided with her face. "OUCH!" she roared as she jolted up, thinking she was being attacked. She looked around in worry for her attacker but saw no one except Kai, who was suspiciously close. The girl was still asleep but was rolling all over the place, muttering words Anala couldn't make out. She was definitely the person who'd hit Anala, she knew she didn't do it to herself.

Anala huffed and punched Kai in the side before she stood and exited the cave. Kai screeches could be heard echoing off the walls of the cave. Anala continued to walk though, back to the shore where they'd run off that ship. Maybe someone would get rid of Kai for her. She imagined how peaceful it would be once the girl was gone. She was constantly making comments about every move Anala made or being very sarcastic about something. Everything about the girl made Anala want to punch her and, once again, she started to wonder why she bothered saving her.

"I'm telling you, there are only Fire Nation ships that way!" Kai yelled, chasing after Anala who was still storming away from the cave. Anala grunted and continued on her path, she thought if she ignored the girl long enough that maybe she'd go away. "Are you listening to me? What are you even doing? Where do you-"

"Kai, shut up," Anala said calmly. "I already have a headache because you punched me, I don't need to make it worse with your voice." Kai ran up to her side and walked at the same pace. The younger girl was fuming, and tried hard not to look at Anala who could honestly care less. "I promised I'd get you home, and that's just what I'm going to do."

The two made sure to avoid the burned village at all costs. There would be no survivors and nothing left to take, so there was no point venturing there. They circled around it and continued on until their feet touched sand. It was soft and warm under Anala's feet. She had a sudden flashback of her and her family at Ember Island, on one of their usual holidays.

"I got you Lu!" little five year old Anala yelled as she tackled her older brother into the warm sand. She heard her father laugh as Lu Ten squealed in shock. She left her brother in the sand and ran to her father. "Daddy!" she cried joyfully, jumping into his arms. He laughed and hugged her tightly, not daring to let her go. She'd missed her father, he'd be so busy with the War, she barely got to see him.

"Hello my little princess, having fun?" Anala nodded wildly, her dark hair coming loose and falling around her face.

"Nala!" she heard Zuko call. She glanced over to where Zuko and Azula sat building a sand castle. Azula giggled as she waved to Anala. Anala jumped from her father's arms and ran over to the two, helping them. She loved the way the sand slipped through her fingers. It was so warm. She went and retrieved some more water and sat with her cousins. They continued to build their sandcastle as her father, uncle and aunt watched, smiling happily.

She kicked the sand angrily. Stupid sand, she thought. Why did everything have to change?. "Just as I thought," Kai whispered harshly as she grabbed Anala and pulled her into a bush. In front of them were at least twenty Fire Nation ships, all docked at the platforms and were roaming around on the boards. They were carrying all sorts of things and were leading people out who also looked to be Fire Nation. They were glancing around and chatting, small children clung onto women while their eyes scanned the surroundings. "Do you believe me now?"

"Well, obviously," Anala snapped, careful not to take her eyes away from the scene in front of them. "We'll have to go find another place." Kai groaned in irritation. "Well it's your only chance to get home."

"What if I don't want to go home?" asked Kai.

"Well then I'll make you go home," said Anala.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!" Anala was the first one to make the move. She swung out her fist and it collided with Kai's nose. Instead of moving away to recover from the attack like Anala had expected her to do; she swung her own fist out and slammed it into Anala's jaw. She winced as her teeth bit into her tongue. She snarled and pounced on Kai whose nose was dripping with blood. The two wrestled on the ground, sand covering them and their clothes. They rolled onto the beach, still holding each other roughly and getting hits in here and there.

Anala yelped and tears filled her eyes as Kai's nails dug into her back where her scar was. She reached around and backhanded Kai across the face, sending the younger girl flying off her. She stood shakily and made her way over to the girl, she was far from finished. She grabbed Kai's long dark hair and pulled her up before punching her in the gut, not once, not twice but three times. Kai gasped for breath and before Anala could get in a fourth hit, Kai kicked her in the shins, forcing her to let go of Kai.

Anala stumbled back, Kai still coming at her with kicks. As she bent to rub her aching shin, Kai kicked up and it collided with her mouth. She cried in pain, and backed up, taking a moment to assess the situation and plan an attack to get back at the girl. As Kai moved closer, Anala swung out her hand and brought her nails along Kai's face. The younger girl screeched and reached to cover the scratches. Before the two could continue fighting, they noticed two soldiers coming towards them. "Go, go, GO!" Anala shouted as she pushed Kai back towards the forest. Once again, the two found themselves running. Anala was getting sick of it.

It didn't take them long before they managed to lose the soldiers and had since decided to keep travelling inland. The further away from the shores the better, since there was sure to be more Fire Nation ships would be waiting. "You're going to have to cut your hair," Kai stated as they wandered through the forest, dead leaves crushed beneath their feet and made loud crunching noises. They'd lost their shoes the night they escaped and hadn't bothered with anything to substitute. By that time their feet had already toughened up slightly, but were still sensitive to the sharp objects they stepped upon.

"My hair?" Anala asked in a whisper as she curled her finger around one of the loose ebony locks that was resting on her shoulder. It had grown so long. She hadn't allowed it to be cut much when she was little and had preferred to keep it long, it suited her better that way. "I suppose it makes sense doesn't it? Someone might recognise me or suspect I'm Fire Nation with this style." She pulled out the tie that kept her hair in a bun on the top of her head. The black hair fell down her back, tangled and destroyed. "It used to be so soft," she muttered as she ran her fingers through the knots.

"Yeah, mine too," Kai sighed. "I think I'll cut mine too, just so it's easier to maintain."

"How the hell are we going to cut it though? I only have my boomerang and my necklace, and you don't look like your hiding a dagger in those prison clothes of yours," Anala said as she pulled the red shirt that was two sizes too big on Kai. She glared and huffed, pushing her brown hair from her face.

"You're right. We'll have to get new clothes too. We can't exactly walk around with me dressed in red Fire Nation prison clothes and you in those robes," Kai poked Anala in the chest. She glanced down and took in her clothing. Though it was worn and torn in several different places, it was still expensive looking. Still Fire Nation looking.

"Yeah, well, how are we going to get new clothes?"

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"You're crazy!" Anala whispered to Kai who was crawling along in the bushes towards a clothes line where simple Earth Kingdom clothes blew gently in the wind. The woman had just finished putting the clothes on the line and had walked into the street and headed towards the market. Once she was out of the picture, Kai wasted no time in making a move.

"Be reasonable!" Kai whispered back.

"Reasonable? This is stealing!" Anala harshly whispered, shuffling along on her hands and knees after Kai in an attempt to stop the theft that was about to take place. "We'll be labelled as criminals!"

"It's not stealing, it's borrowing,' said Kai matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, without permission and also, with no intention of ever returning what you're borrowing!" Kai just laughed and waved her hand as if trying to swat her words away. "Don't you da-"

"Shush!" Kai whispered, holding her finger to her lip. Her lip was split from their scuffle early in the morning. "It's the sound of … I DON'T CARE!" Anala's ears trembled as the last part was shouted into her ear. She was stunned from the noise, giving Kai the chance to get up and run to the clothes. Anala ran up behind her but was stopped as Kai threw a dress into her face. "Put this on, hurry."

"If you think I'm go-"

"Is anyone there?" The two looked at each other with fright and eyes wide. They turned and headed towards the bush but Kai stopped and grabbed a nearby knife and returned to the bush where they saw the woman come back to the clothesline. "Come on," Kai whispered as she nudged Anala towards the trees more.

"You're crazy!" Anala stated again as Kai took off, Anala didn't hesitate to follow, especially when she heard the woman scream "Thieves, thieves!" Kai laughed ahead of her, sounding slightly mad. "You're a bad person!" Anala yelled up to her, Kai just laughed and bounded through the thick forest. They stopped momentarily to discard their old clothes and throw on the new ones. Kai was wearing a simple forest green kimono while Anala was wearing sickly green, patched-up dress. "You did this on purpose … didn't you?"

"Shut up and cut your hair off!" Kai took the knife she'd stolen and started hacking at your hair.

"Stop, stop! You're going to hack your head off if you don't stop that! Let me do it." Anala gently took the knife from Kai and started to cut the girl's hair, parting her head on the left side so that more of it fell to the right side of her head. She didn't look completely different, but the different hair style would make her appear different from a distance. It was all cut neatly to her shoulders when Anala was finished. She then took the knife to her own hair and held some in front of her. She hesitated slightly before she cut through, she didn't stop until the hair was well above her shoulders. It felt all choppy and was definitely not neat like Kai's was. But after seeing what Kai was doing with the knife, she had no intention of asking the younger girl to cut her hair. "How do I look?" Anala asked, hoping for a kind opinion.

"You look like a boy in girl's clothing," Kai stated flatly, not missing a beat.

"Thank you for your support Kai," Anala said sarcastically as she kicked the old torn clothes and hair into a nearby bush, to make it less visible. "Where do we go now?"

"Ba Sing Se!" Kai shouted pointing towards the direction they had just fled from and started to march that way.

"We just came from there," Anala said, as she watched with a smirk as Kai stopped in her tracks, spun around and pointed in the other direction.

"To Ba Sing Se!" she said with triumph.

"We don't have a map either, so how do we know that is the way?" asked Anala, leaning on the tree nearest to her with her arms crossed against her chest.

"We'll ask for directions," Kai said without stopping her march.

"You wouldn't rather go home?" asked Anala.

"I'd rather stay and annoy you. And besides, you'd be dead now if it weren't for me. So come on princess, the big city waits for us!" Anala scoffed but nonetheless pushed away from the tree and followed her waterbending companion, who punched Anala in the arm once she'd reached her side. "That's for scratching me."

"Fair enough," Anala laughed.