Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own avatar. I really don't. Seriously. Or do I? (Dr.Evil finger thing) no. No I don't.

Kagami heard her sister crying in her sleep. This wasn't new for her, but she cried harder now. Kagami got out of bed and crawled into her sister's bed with her. Why was it that she was younger, but she seemed the strongest? Amarante's arms wrapped around her sister; and held on tightly. Crying into her soft black hair.

Kagami, Amarante, and their mother and father sat together in the living room. Silence filling the room. Her mother mumbled something; which her father hated, he hated when anyone mumbled, because he always thought they were talking about him. He stood up and turned over the coffee table.

"What did you say woman?" He boomed at her. The glass from the cups were flying, the food that had been on that table was overturned and smeared into the floor.

"I told the girls to go to bed." She told him calmly. Amarante picked up her young sister and ran off to their room. She placed Kagami on their cot, her sister looked at her with horrified eyes.

"It's OK.." She told her sister softly. "It's OK.."

"Amarante!" Her head turned quickly to her father; who grabbed her arm and told her to go sleep with the rats. She did as she was told.

It was dark under there, dark and cold. It was raining, and she was crying. She saw the beady eyes of the rats that lived under her house; and she heard her mother being beaten. It was only a few seconds before a rat lunged at her and sank it's teeth deep into her skin.

Amarante shot up. Sweating. She looked at her arm and sure enough; there were the scars of all those horrible nights of sleeping under the house. Kagami was gone, and the sun was shining through the window into their room. She quickly got out of bed and walked down the halls. She bumped into Zuko, whom looked like he got up not long ago.

"Uncle told me to tell you it's breakfast." Amarante nodded and followed him to the breakfast room, where she sat next to Kagami and ate her breakfast silently.

"Sleep well?" Iroh asked her kindly. Having a guess that she didn't, but he could be wrong. She nodded, lying to him. Kagami knew that much, but didn't say anything.

"No you didn't." Zuko caught her. "Your room is right across the hall from mine, you were screaming your head off so much that you woke me up."Amarante didn't respond,all she did was sip at her tea, hoping for a subject change.

Later that afternoon; Zuko was walking back from the bathroom and he saw Amarante in her room, just sitting. Nothing more.

"Hey." He greeted, leaning on the side of the arch that was the door.

"Hey.." She greeted back, but sort of..dully. Like she didn't even care, there were a lot of things she quit caring about.

"Your still bitter?"

"Why not?" She asked him softly. "Yesterday I was suppost to be married. But today I feel like I'm in a tide caught out to sea."

"The sea leads to many places." He told her. "Maybe there is somewhere better for you and Kagami."

"Maybe.."

"And hey." He continued, but why? He didn't even know, he just had so much to tell her. "that guy probably wasn't what you wanted in a husband anyway. If he had the nerve to-"

"OK." He didn't even have to finish. "I get your point." Zuko nodded and left her alone in her room.

Later,again,like, an hour and a half later, Zuko was looking through his telescope for the avatar. There were no clouds in the sky so a fuzzy white bison with an arrow on it's head should be pretty easy to spot. The door behind him opened to Amarante.Kagami was on deck trying to learn how to play pai-cho, and Iroh was having fun teaching her.

"Um.." Zuko turned around and was slightly surprised to see her. "I was thinking about what you said.."

"And..?"

"I suppose your right."

"Exactly." He began looking through his telescope again. "The marriage was arranged anyway. I bet if he had any say in it, he probably wouldn't have asked you to marry him in the first place." right away he realized what he said and how it sounded. "oops." He saw her struggle for something to say; or something to stair at besides him. "Hey. I didn't mean it like it sounded!" God he's a word cluts. "I-I mean that if he had someone he loved already; he wouldn't have double-crossed-"

"It's fine." She told him. "I understand."

"I don't think you do." He wanted to clear up what he had said so badly. "I didn't mean he wouldn't like you-"

"I know what you mean!" Her voice was sharper now, more vicious. "I understand!" He saw her face grow from angry to soft again. "My parents didn't bother to look into wether or not he already had a girlfriend. They always told me that the only things that would be good out of my marriage, was the money we would be coming into, and the fact that the family I was suppost to be married into, they hated, so their son would get a bad wife. I didn't care what they said because it wasn't new."

Later on, after dinner, Zuko stopped Kagami in the hallway to talk to her.

"Kagami, can I talk to you for a second?" She nodded and walked with him while they talked. "Can you do me a favor?"

"What?" She sounded bright; and happy.

"Whenever your sister is upset, like she was last night, can you tell me?" She nodded. "Thank you." She smiled and went to go have tea with Iroh as initionally planned.

omfg it's a short chappie! Thank you my reveiwers!