Chapter 7, moving right along. Since I'm moving along so nicely, I thought I would tell you who some of my characters are based on (meaning they are somewhat exaggerated):

Ayumi: me (but she is a veryexaggerated charater, I'm no where near as good looking, or young looking for that matter, asI make her to be.)

Endoh: Eclipse'sChick (She's my buddy, I love 'er to death)

Masahiro: Eclipse'sChick's boyfriend in real life

Oguri: My BF (Oooh! He's my Babe & I love him soooo much!)

I'll give you some more in some later chapters, for now, let's get on with Chapter 7: I do not own Avatat: The Last Air bender, or any of it's characters, but I do own the kids of the woods.

Chapter 7: Caught

Ayumi kept turning in her sleep. What sleep? She wasn't sleeping. She got up, and looked over at Emi and Endoh. They, on the other hand, were out cold. Ayumi got out of bed, wearing a long sleeve shirt and a pair of short shorts, and went outside. The cool air would clear her head, she hoped. She kept telling herself that it was the booze, but she had some how managed to stretch one drink out to last the entire night. She shook her head, and pushed back her hair, which was down and kept falling into her face. She looked up to the full moon, and stared for a while.

A noise came from the bushes, and she spun around. Ready for attack, she went over to the bush. She looked over, and fell back when Zuko shot up. "Aaahhh!" They both yelled. "What the hell are you doing out here!" She shouted at him. "Me? What are you doing out here?" He asked back.

"What does it matter to you?"

"If it doesn't matter to me than it shouldn't matter to you, now should it?"

"Grrrr…" Ayumi said as she stormed off. "I'm going thieving, I'll be back." With that she left the village, leaving Zuko alone. "Brat," he muttered under his breath. That was what she was, and all she would ever be to him, a brat. He headed back to the house.

Ayumi went over to a small house, and knocked on the door. A girl about the age of 13 answered the door. "Haruko, is Tsubaki here?" The girl nodded while she rubbed her eye. She had short, light brown hair with bangs that covered her pretty brown eyes. She went back into the house and came back with Tsubaki, who was rubbing her eyes, too. "We're going out tonight, you ready?" Tsubaki nodded as she yawned. Ayumi patted her on the head, and they head out into the woods.

They entered the town, Tsubaki riding on Ayumi's back. Looking around, Ayumi's eye caught an old man. He had long gray hair, with the beard to match. Ayumi put Tsubaki down, and told her to ask the old man for money. Tsubaki nodded, and ran towards the man,

"E-excuse me," she said. The old man turned around. "Why, hello, little one. What are you doing out here at this hour?"

Tsubaki looked down at her feet, then at the man, "Do- do you have any money, sir?" The man let out a chuckle, and took out a pouch and began to look through it. "Good job, Tsubaki," Ayumi said as she pulled a hood on over her head. She readied her stance, and bolted out of the bush. She picked up Tsubaki up by the waste, and the old man's pouch, but she didn't keep running. The old man had grabbed her by the wrist.

"Well, what do we have here?" He said.

Ayumi glared at the old man then looked to Tsubaki. "You seem to be caught, let the girl go, and give me back my money." Ayumi freed her wrist, and ran to the woods, but for once, she was too slow. The old man cut her off in the woods and grabbed her, again. She looked back at him, scared. 'Who is this old man?' she continuously asked herself. She turned towards Tsubaki, "RUN, TSUBAKI, RUN!" She ordered the little girl. "And don't tell anyone what happened!" Tsubaki looked at the old man, with very worried eyes. She wasn't far from bursting into tears. At this rate, neither was Ayumi, but she couldn't show this man any fear. "TSUBAKI!" She yelled again. Tsubaki ran towards the village.

Ayumi tried to free herself again, but to no prevail. She looked at her captor, anger, confusion, fear, all in her eyes. "Let go of me, please," she whined. The old man held out his hand, and asked in a calm voice, "May I have my money back, please?" There was no anger in his voice. This confused Ayumi even more. He released her, and looked at her with kind eyes. She looked back at him, still very confused. "I heard about you in the town back there. I had arrived this morning. Some men told me about a thief that roamed in the woods. They, however, told me that you were a boy." Ayumi blushed and looked at the ground. This was the first that anyone had ever seen her, besides Zuko. Thinking she was a boy wasn't a surprise. It annoyed her, but didn't surprise her. She glared at the man, and he continued, "I have to say, I am very impressed."

"You should be. It took me ten years to get that could. But apparently, I can improve."

The man laughed, "That long? How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"Good job."

Ayumi had continued to glare at the old man this whole time. "Who are you?"

"May name is Iroh," he told her.

"Iroh, huh? Well Iroh, I'm impressed by you. You are the first person to ever catch me. I was followed not to long ago, by my last victim, but I lost him in the woods first."

Iroh laughed again, "Really. Judging by that, you must be very determined."

"In a sense."

"Hmm… You remind me of my nephew," Iroh told her.

Ayumi looked at him, surprised, "really?"

"Yes, he, too, is very determined. I've been looking for him."

"He ran off?"

Iroh nodded, "Not too long ago."

"Sounds like a pain to me. Are you sure I remind you of him?"

Iroh laughed once more. The sun began to rise, and the two realized they had to depart.

"Well, I have to be on my way. It was a pleasure meeting you, umm…"

"Ayumi." She held out the pouch, and gave it to him.

"Well, I would have forgotten from all this, so why are you giving it back?" Iroh asked.

"Because, thief or not, you are the first to catch me. Anyone that can do that, deserves respect." She smiled at him, and he smiled back. "I hope you find your nephew," she said. Iroh turned towards her, his golden eyes shined as they hit the sunlight. "Thank you," he said, and with that he headed out of the woods. Ayumi was caught on his golden eyes. "Nah," she said to herself, and she turned to go back to the village, when she heard a scream.

From where she was in the middle of the woods, she knew it was Endoh. She ran back and was blocked by a crowed of kids. She could hear Tsubaki crying and Watari cursing. 'What the hell is going on?' Ayumi thought. She was able to make her way enough to see what it was, and long enough to hold back her dinner. In front of her friends, was a burned body.

What is going on? Is Ayumi dead or...?

R&R!