I am SOOOOO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING! My computer's been TOTALLY SCREWY and I couldn't. But I recently started a Yu Yu Hakusho fanfic and finally got the problem fixed. So I hope that you haven't given up on me and I really hope that you'll read and REVIEW!

(I've been spelling "Iroh" wrong... oops! Oh well, I fixed it in the rest of the story)

Chapter 5

The next morning, Zuko was walking toward Nari's room to bring her to her first lesson. 'She's probably still asleep and doesn't usually get up this early. Well, if she's going to live with us, she's going to follow OUR schedule.'

He knocked on the door. No answer. Just as he'd expected. He knocked again and shouted, "Nari, it's time for your lesson. GET UP!" Still no answer. Now he was getting annoyed.

He was about to go in anyway when a soldier behind him said "Nari's not in there. She went to the deck about and hour ago."

He stared dumbfounded at the soldier for a moment, then grumbled and headed for the deck without thanking the soldier. Sure enough, she was there, sitting next to the railing with a pad and ink brush.

She looked up and nodded to him. "I've been waiting."

"Uncle will be here in a minute. We're going to start with meditating." She nodded once more at this and went back to her ink painting. Curious, he went and looked over her shoulder. His eyes widened. It was an incredible portrait of Aibō on top of the helmsman's watchtower. It seemed like it had perfect detail. He looked at the real watchtower to find Aibō on top of it, sitting perfectly still and in the exact same way as in the picture.

"It took me eight weeks to teach him that trick. Tropic Hawks are known for their uncanny ability to grasp concepts as easily as humans, if not easier."

"How long have you been doing this kind of thing?"

"Since I began traveling. I found that the easiest way for me to learn about something was to either sketch or paint it. To study the sketches and add new details or notes." She had to be the weirdest person he'd ever met.

"Ah, you are both here early. Excellent," said the general as he came in, "Well then, let's begin. Zuko, continue with the usual drills while I show Nari the proper meditation techniques. Then I will teach you the next drill." He looked at Nari, who had stood up.

"Very well, Nari, follow me. Zuko, get to work."

Zuko stared after them for a moment and remembered that she had never told them why she was an outcast. He made a mental note to bring it up later. With that thought, he went to meet his sparring partners.

I followed the former general into a room. It contained four cushions, a large emblem of the Fire Nation insignia, two candles, and very little furniture (besides the cushions of course).

"Have a seat," said Iroh as he himself sat down. I sat on one of the cushions. "First, light the candles … with your bending."

'Uh oh,' I thought. I didn't think that I could even do that. I breathed in and out, trying to concentrate.

"Any time now," grunted Iroh.

I tried to focus and shot a blast from my fingertips. The candle caught on fire … the WHOLE candle. Within a few moments it was a pile of burning wax.

"Interesting," said Iroh, stroking his short beard. "We learn how to do that by the time we're 8 years old."

I scoffed. "That explains it," I said under my breath.

"Beg pardon?"

"Nothing, it's just that I never had anyone to teach me."

"Well, then. Now you do, and we have a lot of work to do." Something crossed my mind. Now I had someone to teach me. Maybe …

No, I couldn't let myself go there. A part of me said 'Remember what happened last time,' but another part of me said 'No, that couldn't possibly happen again.' That decided, I pushed all of those thoughts aside and listened to Iroh.

After the lesson, I was so exhausted that I went into my new room and collapsed onto my low bed. However, as crummy as my brain felt, I felt as though I was floating on a cloud. I was happier than I'd been in eight years, and one thought repeated itself over and over again in my head.

I had a home.

After eight years of traveling around the world, never staying in one place longer than a week, I finally had a place that I could call home. I could only hope that I wouldn't lose this one, too.

Remembering the past, I searched inside my bedroll, which had a pocket that held all of my past art pieces … and something else. I took that something out now and looked at it. A powerful longing swept through me as I stared at the long-memorized colors and line and shapes that I had been given so many years ago.

It was a picture of my family. My mother stood in the middle, surrounded by nine kids. I stood to my mother's left, while my older brother stood to her right. I was eight years ole in the portrait, but I looked more intense, more mature than my brothers and sister. I remembered each and every one of them. Natsu, the eldest, was always a hard worker and tried to provide for our growing family even though he was only twelve years old. Narihira was the second oldest boy and only a year younger than me. He'd always been the lazy one. He would always try to trick his twin, Noriyori, into doing his chores. Naomi was my little sister, who idolized me, as I was her only sister among six boys. She would follow me around and do whatever I did (which came in handy when trying to get her to eat healthier). Naoki was only four years old and already helping around the house with Mama. Nobuhito was only three and sort of the babysitter for Nobuyki and Naoaki. Naoaki, the youngest and not even a year old sometimes burped up fire (we had to make sure he stayed away from anything flammable). We were all fire-benders except for Mama. She had a different gift. She –

"Is that your family?"

"What the-!" I sprang off of the bed and faced the freak. (How the heck did he sneak up on me like that? I ALWAYS hear them coming!) It was Zuko.

"Don't you know how to knock! Sheesh, you almost gave me a heart attack. And besides, I though you were attacking me, and I could've hurt you."

He scoffed at this.

"What do you want, anyway?"

"It's time for lunch and we're waiting on you."

"Go ahead. I'm not hungry."

"They won't start without you."

I gave a heavy sigh.

"I'll be there in a minute."

"Now."

"Excuse me but you're not the boss of me. I'm sixteen. I'll be there in a minute," I said, sounding out the words carefully so that he could understand. Zuko was getting angry.

"Look, as long as you're on MY ship, you'll follow MY rules. Otherwise, you're off."

"I was fuming. For eight years I'd been on my own and followed no rules. It would take a while to get used to, but he was right and I knew it. What was worse, he knew it. There was and extremely smug look on his face. I really wanted to kick him where it would hurt most right then.

So, with a glare at him, I stalked out of the room

Still fuming over Nari (the NERVE of that girl), Zuko was about to leave when he saw the portrait on the bed. Curious, he went over to look at it. It was definitely her family. Nari and the woman in the middle looked almost exactly alike. The little girl standing next to her was definitely Nari. She had changed a lot, but she still looked like she had an air of purpose about her.

In the picture, though, she looked so much happier, more full of life. She didn't have the scars or well-trained body. And she was smiling. He wondered what had happened to make her the way she was now. Then he thought again about her being an outcast. He had decided.

He'd ask her today.

At the midday meal, things were pretty much the same as breakfast, except people were more awake and much more talkative. I was being bombarded with questions. "What's your name again?" "How old are you?" "Where are you from?" "What are you doing before dinner?" I gave these questions the cold shoulder. This was why I hadn't wanted to come to the meal. They were really starting to get on my nerves. I glared at Zuko, sitting next to me, but he was pretending not to pay attention. The affect was kind of ruined by the fact that he was obviously trying not to laugh. He wasn't doing a very good job, though. Honestly, I don't really think that he was even really trying. I couldn't take it anymore.

"GRGRGRGRUUUUUUUUGGHHH! Enough with the questions PLEASE!" They stopped talking immediately. Zuko was now laughing uncontrollably. I just barely kept myself from bashing his face him, but I couldn't stop myself from overturning my soup on his head. Everyone burst out laughing. Even Iroh was finding it hard to keep a straight face.

The bowl slid off his head, revealing a VERY annoyed and angry face. He grabbed one of the napkins and wiped the broth off. I stood up, said "I've had my fill," and began to walk away when I heard a screech. I looked up as Aibō swooped down in front of me, then went over and landed on the railing behind Zuko.

'What's that all about?' I though. I held up my arm as a signal for "come." He didn't come, but squawked at me instead.

"Aibō, come." He'd never refused a voice command before, and he didn't now. He squawked again and flew over onto my leather-covered bicep.

"What's gotten into you?" I asked quietly.

Iroh cleared his throat. "I think that he wants you to stay here for a while." With that, Aibō flew over and landed by Iroh. I rolled my eyes and said "Whatever," but I was secretly amused by it. Apparently he wanted this to be home as much as I did. I walked back over and sat down next to Iroh and Aibō.

"Happy now?" I asked, and he hopped up onto my arm and ran his beak through my hair.

"I think that's a 'yes,'" said one of the other men, and some of them began chuckling again. However, I could tell that they were a little unnerved by Aibō's strange behavior. I couldn't help it; I began to chuckle, too. I looked over at Zuko to see him looking at me with his eyebrow raised. I shrugged, which sent Aibō into the air for a moment, then back down onto the floor in front of me, squawking and screeching and ruffling his feathers. This was too much. I burst out laughing. Everyone joined in, except for Zuko, who had started looking at Aibō with that lifted eyebrow.

'What's up with him?' I wondered.

"Uh, Zuko? Is there something you need to say?" He looked at me for a moment as if trying to make up his mind about something.

"Well?" I prompted.

"You never told us how you became an outcast. You know my story," at this he dropped his gaze, "what about yours?"

Everyone had gone silent and began staring intensely at me. I had known that this question would come up eventually as soon as I told them what I was; I had just hoped that it wouldn't come so soon. I didn't have a good answer yet. I wished they'd all just stop staring at me. I hate it when people do that.

I didn't want to lie to them, but I couldn't tell them the whole truth. They'd never accept me if I did. I looked over at Zuko; at his scar, and a realization hit me. I could tell them the truth … the vague truth. So I did.

'Maybe this wasn't the best time to ask her,' thought Zuko. As soon as he'd asked the question, a shadow had fallen across her face. She had started looking at everyone with a mixture of fear, confusion, embarrassment, anger, and something else … pain.

He almost told her to never mind, but he needed to know. Suddenly, she looked at him and said, "Even I don't really know why I am who I am. All I know is that I was punished for a crime that I didn't come; a crime that never even took place.

"My story is actually very similar to yours," she continued, nodding at him, "but … yet … so different. So very different." She said this as though she didn't even realize she was talking aloud. Then, she looked away and, without saying another word, she stood up and walked toward the door to the corridor, Aibō flying after her. She closed the door, leaving Zuko very confused, along with the rest of the crew.

Chapter 6

Later that afternoon, I was sitting by the railing while Zuko and some of the other soldiers were going over their new drills. I was studying their forms and quickly sketching them out on a fresh piece of canvas. I thought I had gotten everything: the form itself and its name, the positioning of each leg (one standing slightly bent and the other parallel to the ground in a side-kick position), the arms (in typical defense position in fists in front of the face), and the balance point. The kicking leg was bent at first in the ready position in one diagram, and in the second diagram it extended into the kick, the fire-blast coming through the ball and heel of the foot. I would have thought of this as one of the first things he would have learned until I realized that it was part of a combination and he had to be in a slightly different position in order to get to the next form.

There was one problem, though. He was balanced enough to do the move itself, but if someone caught him off-guard or something else changed, he'd definitely lose his balance. The problem was in his footing. Surely Iroh would catch it.

"Very good, Zuko." Or maybe not. I guess I'd have to say something.

"Um … excuse me, sir."

"Yes?" asked Iroh. Zuko looked at me, clearly annoyed by the interruption.

"I'm sorry, but I think you might've missed something. May I see that one again, with me at the receiving end?"

They both stared at me for a moment, then Iroh said, "Sure," and Zuko grunted. I stood up, placing my sketches on the ground. I stood opposite of him and readied myself. He turned his body and sent out the kick. I easily dodged it and quickly sent a cross-chop blast at him. As I had expected, he lost his balance and fell flat on his behind.

"What was that for!" he yelled.

"To prove a point. Two, actually. First of all, your footing was off, so you lost your balance. Second, you should always be ready for anything, which you clearly weren't."

"Very good," said Iroh, "you were paying attention."

"What … you mean you were testing me?"

"Really, no, but it sounds better."

"Hm," I laughed shortly and disbelievingly. Zuko had gotten to his feet and looked absolutely mortified. He refused to look at either me or Iroh. I felt bad for picking on him, but ha had to learn somehow. I muttered an apology for the interruption and sat down, picking up the canvas again and adding a few notes.

"So what I suggest, as far as the footing is to have your grounded foot pointing out more at an angle instead of being sideways, because then you'll have much more balance and agility," I explained.

"What are you doing, anyway?" asked Zuko, walking over. I showed him.

"I'm sketching out the form and taking notes. That's the easiest way for me to learn something new, as I told you." I watched as a flash of admiration crossed his eyes, but as quickly as it had come, it was gone.

Iroh came over and said "May I?" motioning toward the canvas. I handed it over to him, and again I saw admiration. This time, however, it continued to shine in Iroh's eyes.

"This is incredible. It's exactly what this needs to look like," I blushed, "And it's definitely not a bad likeness of Zuko, either. Don't you think?" he asked the prince.

"It's very good," he said in a toneless, emotionless, unenthusiastic voice. He clearly wanted to change the subject. I felt bad for him, but my mind kept going back to this morning, and that was the last thing I wanted to think or talk about. I looked over the railing to see that the sun was almost gone.

"It's getting late. I should probably go ahead and get everything packed up. Early to bed, early to rise." I hated that expression.

"Didn't we tell you?" asked Iroh.

"Tell me what?"

Tonight's music night. Surely you'll join us."

"I'm not really the musical type."

"If you were, you'd be the first," piped in the soldier who had shown me to the ship that first day, Kyuwa. Some of the other people sniggered and chuckled.

"Maybe I'll just watch."

"Oh, come now," insisted Iroh with a sly look on his face, "you can sing. Sing anything you know." The crew had begun to gather and sit on the deck. They started cheering me on. 'Uh, this can't possibly get any worse,' I thought.

"I really can't sing."

"Neither can we, but we do just for the fun of it." I couldn't fight it anymore and I knew it. I sighed heavily.

"Fine, but no complaining about headaches."

"Never." Now the whole crew was cheering … except for Zuko of course. I couldn't do it. I couldn't even think of a song. Except …

"This is a song my mother taught me when I was little." I quickly tried to remember the words and the tune. "It doesn't really have a name." I took a deep breath and started to sing.

The only reason Zuko was staying was because he wanted to see her fail at something. He smirked as he saw her shaking on the "stage" (or rather an empty space on the deck). She'd embarrassed him and now it was her turn. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was a slow and sweet melody, but he'd never heard the song itself before.

"When the Earth was young,

And time had just begun,

The moon, the stars,

The Earth, the sun,

Lived together

In unison.

Those were the days-

When we were one-.

Those were the days,

When the Earth was bright

Whether ocean-deep,

Or mountain-high.

Those were the days

When water, fire,

Earth, and air

Lived together in peace

No war declared.

Those were the days

When the earth was free.

Those were the times …

Of harmony-.

Those were the days –

The days of old ways –

Those were the times –

When the Earth shined -."

She stopped singing, and Zuko wasn't sure whether to be amazed or annoyed. She said she couldn't sing and yet her voice seemed perfect for the song. And the song itself sounded like blasphemy to a member of the Fire Nation.

Suddenly, everyone began cheering and whistling. He knew she was good, and she deserved the applause. But that didn't mean that he had to clap, too. He refused to give her that

"Perhaps you should accompany her next time with the sunghi horn." Iroh had come to stand beside him.

"Not a chance," he said with a stubborn look. Iroh chuckled. His nephew was always trying to get out of playing the instrument he once loved.

"It won't kill you."

"How many times do I have to say it! I'm not playing that stupid horn!"

"What stupid horn?" Nari had come to stand with them.

"The sunghi horn that he used to actually play."

"You know how to play the sunghi horn?" asked Nari, turning to Zuko.

"Yeah … so?"

"I've always wanted to learn how to play it."

Iroh looked at the two of them; Nari with her eyes shining with hope, and Zuko pretending that he couldn't care less.

"I'm sure that Zuko wouldn't mind teaching you after morning lessons."

"What!"

"Zuko, remember your manners."

"I don't have time to teach her how to play!"

"Nonsense, and besides, it would give you two a chance to know each other better."

He saw what was going on. His uncle was playing Matchmaker. The idea made him cringe. He looked at Nari and saw that she'd had the same reaction, but he also saw that there was still hope in her eyes at the thought of learning the sunghi horn. Then he remembered when he'd seen her fighting the assassins. She knew much more advanced fighting moves and they had seemed almost second nature. He wouldn't mind learning that.

"Fine. I'll teach you how to play if you teach me better fighting techniques that you don't need fire for."

She looked up and there was a huge smile on her face. "Seriously?"

He nodded.

"Done … and thank you."

He nodded again and looked at his uncle. There was a very content and satisfactory smile on his face. He would speak to his uncle later. He looked at Nari again and he almost lost his resigned feelings because of the look of pure joy and gratitude he saw on her face. For a moment, he was actually glad that he'd been able to put that look there.

The next day after breakfast, me and Zuko met in his room for my first lesson. I could hardly contain my excitement. Ever since I was little I had listened to the village musician play the beautiful instrument and had always wanted to learn to play like that for myself. And now I could!

I sat down and listened closely as he talked, taking notes all the while. He simply told me what the different notes were and how to play them. The key was the positioning of the hand inside the open end of the horn. By the end of the lesson I could play each normal note perfectly, but was still having trouble getting the sharps and flats right. I was frustrated about this, but all in all, I couldn't have been happier. I thanked him repeatedly throughout the lesson.

I didn't, however, forget my end of the deal. After my lessons, I would take him back on deck for his. He was a good learner and caught on quickly. He didn't have any real trouble on anything. I was wondering if what I was teaching him was too simple, but he wasn't complaining, so I kept him working on those things.

A few days later, during one of my lessons, he was teaching me my first song. Something had been bugging me since we started these lessons. Not once had he ever actually played. I wanted to hear him play the song he was teaching me, but when I suggested it, at first he refused.

"Come on, what harm could it possibly do?"

"Why do you even care?"

"Because it'll be easier for me to learn if I hear it played first."

"Will you shut up if I do it?"

"I won't say another word."

And he started to play. It was a beautiful song, and I watched as he slowly sank into it. It was like a total transformation. He had relaxed and closed his eyes and was simply feeling the music. I began to feel at peace as well, but it wasn't just the music, it was the way he played it. I was sad then the song ended. We sat in silence for a few moments. Then I spoke up.

"That was beautiful," I said slowly and softly, as if that feeling of peace would go away if I spoke to loud. "You can tell that you really love to play, so why didn't you want to play it before?"

Silence.

"My mother used to play it to me before she died." I looked at him. I hadn't known that his mother was dead. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't heard anything about his mother before.

"I'm sorry. Believe it or not, I know what it's like to lose a loved a loved one. In fact, I may know better than anyone what you're going through. You'd be surprised how similar our histories are." He was listening intently now. In the past few days, something had developed. A bond between us. The day that I figured it out I was happier than I'd ever been. I finally had a friend. In my entire life I had never had a real friend. No one in the village really trusted our family. We were the only fire-bending people in it.

He still looked like he expected to say something.

"Who did you lose?" he asked slowly.

Silence.

"Everyone. I lost all of them in a Fire Nation raid. My entire village. I was the only survivor."

Silence.

My heart filled with hate at the memory. The betrayal.

"I'm sorry," said Zuko, his eyes filled with pity. That made me even angrier.

"Don't pity me. If there's anything I can't stand, it's pity," I was standing up now and flames were appearing in and around my balled-up fists. Zuko hadn't moved or even blinked throughout it all. I took deep breaths until I had calmed down.

"Come on. We're going to try something new today," I said, leading him onto the deck. "We're going to see what you've learned so far and if you can use them well in combat. I'll be your sparring partner." We were on the deck now. "You can only use what you've learned from me so far. I, however, will have no limit, so be prepared for anything and everything. Pay close attention to which style I'm using, because I will be using one of the ones that I taught you yesterday. Are you ready?" We were standing opposite each other now, in fighting positions. He nodded, and we began to circle.

I made the first move, hook-kicking a blast at him. He dodged it easily, sending another one … two my way through a round-back-hook combo. He executed it perfectly. I shielded and separated the blasts and quickly ran up to him for the hand-to-hand combat. If he remembered what I had taught him about the Genshu style and recognized it by the positioning of my arms and head, he would know to avoid hand-to-hand combat at all costs.

He did. He sent a series of blasts my way through the rapid-cycle of round kicks I had taught him. I noted that he kept perfect balance and kept his upper body perfectly still, only moving his leg for the kicks themselves. I was impressed. It had taken me weeks to get that move perfect. I dodged each one, swerving right and left with speed and precision. I was almost close enough to strike when something hit the ship, knocking everyone to the side. A searing pain in my shoulder followed as a second strike threw me into the side of the boat and someone yelled "We're being attacked!"

'No duh,' I thought. I stood up and looked over the edge as a large shape went under the ship.

"It's an eel shark!" I yelled. It hit the ship again and I lost my balance and was thrown over the railing. The last thing I heard before I hit the water was "Man overboard!"

The water surrounded me as I was gripped with fear. I was eight years old again and unable to breathe, move, or think except for one thought that repeated itself over and over again.

'I'm going to drown … I'm going to drown…'

I opened my eyes and tried to see where I was. I watched as a dark figure came close and closer to me. It was the eel shark. I tried to scream but only bubbles came out and water came in. I choked as I tried to breathe and my mouth and lungs filled with water. I saw a figure above me, swimming toward the eel shark. It was Zuko. He had something in his mouth, and it shot something at the monster, which then shrieked and writhed and quickly swam away.

Something wrapped itself around my waist. I felt it, and it was scaly and slimy. It was another one. It began to drag me down as I watched a third one grab Zuko and begin to struggle with him. I closed my eyes and fought the one that had me. Soon it let go. I needed air. I couldn't move, but I knew that I would be able to float to the surface.

The shark wrapped itself around my waist again. I started to fight it, but I couldn't. This was the end, and I knew it. I felt life slipping away. I blacked out.

As soon as he saw Nari fall over the railing, Zuko struggled to his feet and ran over to the railing. He was about to jump in when one of his soldiers called his name and threw him a weapon. He caught it and dove in. Immediately he spotted Nari and the creature swimming toward her. He put the weapon to his mouth and shot a dart at the creature's eye. He missed and hit the nose, but it scared the creature enough that it swam away with a screech. He started swimming toward Nari again, who had an eel shark wrapped around her. He aimed to fire at it when another one wrapped itself around him. He pressed his hands on it and called fire to them, scorching the giant fish. It unwrapped itself from him and swam off. He aimed again and this time hit the monster square in the eye. It was dead in an instant. He swam the rest of the way to Nari, who was floating, motionless, in the water. He grabbed her around the waist and began to swim upward. She struggled weakly for a moment, then went still. He began to panic. He couldn't let her die. He … he just couldn't.

He was almost to the surface now, Nari limp and lifeless in his hold. He broke through the water and gasped over and over again, trying to get oxygen in his lungs. He spluttered and coughed, spitting out sea-water. A line was thrown at him. He caught it and held on, trying to keep Nari's head above the water. They pulled him in as quickly as they could, but he wished that they'd be faster.

Finally they were on the deck again. He laid her flat on her back and put his head to her chest, listening for a heartbeat and finding a faint one ... a very faint one. The crew was absolutely silent, holding their breath and praying for their newest member. He began pumping at her stomach, one hand over the other, fingers spread. He was desperate.

After what seemed like hours, she jerked and coughed and spat and coughed again. She rolled onto her stomach and pushed up with her palms, breathing heavily with a pushed sound, like it was all she could do to inhale and exhale. Then she lay back down and closed her eyes. This time, though, she was visibly breathing. She was asleep.

Zuko sighed with relief in chorus with the rest of the crew. His uncle came up to him and said "You both need to rest." He was in no condition to argue, so he nodded, picked up Nari's sleeping body, and took her to her bedroom. He closed the door and went to his own room. He collapsed onto the bed, exhausted both physically and mentally, and went to sleep almost immediately amid dreams of what had just happened.

Since I felt so bad about not updating, I'll give you the next few chappies too. REVIEW!