Chapter 1

The Unknown Boy

Gran Gran always told us stories about Long ago, when the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. She would tell us that only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him the most, he vanished. Now a hundred years have passed with no sign of them, but there is still hope that one day they will return to put an end to this war or that's what one Naruko Uzumaki, a member of the southern water tribe thought. When she was born it was quickly discovered that she had the power to bend, however it wasn't the traditional water bending that the water tribes were known for but the power to bend fire. Even though she was a member of the tribe, she was always seen as an outcast by the other members. Her birth was the action of the biggest betrayal that their tribe has ever encountered. Her mother fell in love with a captured fire nation soldier, who chose to sacrifice himself to help protect the people of the tribe. But his sacrifice was brushed aside by the people and her mother was viewed as a traitor for choosing an enemy over her family. After Naruko was born her mother grew sick and soon afterwards passed away due to the lack of healers within their small village, leaving her all alone to face the looks of disgust and avoidance by the others. Over time the action of the adults slowly seemed to affect the views of the younger generation, who viewed her as an outcast or unwanted. However, through all of the hate there are a few people who view her with love and caring.

Naruko groaned as she sat up in her bed to start her daily chores, she made her way to the mirror to fix her natural blond hair up into her signature ponytail. Her blue eyes drifted to her blue wool jacket as she made her way to the courtyard. As she exited her hut, she could feel the stares for the other tribe members as she made her way to the daily task meeting, which is where they pass out the daily chores. As she entered the meeting room she was greeted by a warm smile from Gran Gran.

"Good morning, young Naruko, how did you sleep?" she asked in her grandmotherly tone, making the young girl smile.

"I slept well thank you for asking." She replied as she took her seat on the ground getting a nod from the older woman. "That's good, because your going with Katara, and Sokka on a fishing trip to help collect more food for the village." This caused the young blonde's eyes to widen as she heard what she needed to do for the day. She didn't hate fishing; on the contrary she liked to fish during her free time, what caused her to worry was that she was going to have to work with two people who actively disliked her. Sokka both disliked her and didn't trust her at all, when she asked why he said 'I won't trust a fire nation scum like you with a stick in a million years.' When she told Gran Gran about it, she said to be patient and that sooner or later he will trust her. She could deal with the distrusting sokka, but Katara on the other hand hated her guts with a passion. She would take any chance to harass or bully the young blond. She was going to have a hard time trying to form any sort of bond with the two but she owed it to Gran Gran to at least try becoming friends with her grandchildren.

"Gran Gran not to sound like i don't want to help but are you sure you want me going on a hunt with them?" Naruko asked quietly. Gran Gran's face held a sad smile as she lightly placed a hand on her shoulder, she could feel the young girl shaking slightly.

"Maybe if i wasn't born with this curse they could have accepted me." Naruko said quietly as she looked down at her hands.

"Don't say such things." Gran Gran said getting Naruko's attention before continuing. "Your blessing isn't a curse." she said, simply causing her to look down at her hands once again before slowly getting up and making her way out of the igloo. She was too lost in her thoughts to notice someone make their way behind her.

"So, we're stuck with you." a male voice said breaking her out of her thoughts. She turned to see a boy her age with dark brown skin and black hair, done up in a small ponytail and shaved on both sides.

"Oh, s-s-sorry s-Sokka I was just lost in my thoughts." she said avoiding eye contact by looking at the ground with her hands together against her chest. Sokka just stared at her for a few seconds before letting out a sigh in frustration as he turned to make his way to the boats with Naruko right behind him. As they got closer to the boats, they could see the third member of the hunting team waiting for them. The last member was a young girl her age with brown skin and dark brown hair done up in a braid.

"Why is SHE here?" Katara asked her brother with annoyance clearly in her voice, as she shot the blond-haired girl a glare causing Naruko to flinch.

"Gran Gran wants her to come with us." he said simply before throwing his things into the boat as he started getting in himself. Neither one of the girls said anything to each other as they got into the boat. To say the trip was quiet would be an understatement, the only sound was that of the light waves hitting the boat. Naruko couldn't help but stare out at the water that surrounded them from her seat at the back of the boat. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed movement under the water, without looking away she reached down and grabbed the wooden spear and took aim before thrusting it forward. A small spark of happiness filled her as she pulled the spear back, revealing a fish at the end of it. She turned to hand the fish to one of the siblings only to be meant by a raised eyebrow Sokka and a glaring Katara, who grabbed the fish from her. She let out a small sigh before turning back to watch the water but was stopped by the feeling of ice-cold water falling on top of her. As she turned back again, she was meant by a smirking Katara.

"Oh, sorry about that Naruko. I was just working on my water bending, when I couldn't hold it any more." Katara said with what Naruko knew was a fake apology. The two stared at one another before Naruko felt a slight shiver run through her body.

"Katara stop your water magic, it's starting to get in the boat." Sokka said simply as he looked for more fish to catch.

"It's not 'water magic' Sokka, its water bending and I said it was an accident." Katara replied.

"Whatever, if you want to play with your 'water bending you should have stayed back in the village." he started but stopped as he lost the fish that he was trying to catch. With a frustrated sigh he continued "between the two of you, Naruko's the only one who is slightly less useless right now."

Naruko could feel her hands tighten around the spear she was holding at the comment Sokka made. However, Katara wasn't having any of it as she stood up and turned to her brother, anger clearly displayed on her face.

"I'm so sick of your stupid comments!" she yelled as she threw her arms backwards in anger. Naruko had to hold on to the boat as a wave crashed into it. Sounds of cracking cut off her rant as each of them searched the boat for any damage, but the search was cut short as a large piece of ice fell into the water causing their small boat to be swept away by its force. After what you could consider pure luck, by not crashing into the larger pieces of ice that was floating around, they were meant by the sight of a lightly glowing iceberg waiting for them.

"What is that thing?" Naruko asked quietly, getting no response as they drifted towards the glowing thing.

"I don't like this." Sokka said as he turned to them. "It could be some trap set by the fire nation." Naruko couldn't help but hold her hands close to her chest as she felt her heart start to beat faster as fear began to fill her body. It didn't take long before they reached the glowing iceberg, but something caught their eyes as they slowly made their way close.

"Is that a person?" Katara asked as she looked into the iceberg. Naruko wasted no time in taking off her gloves and placing her hands on the ice structure, causing her to wince at the sudden coldness. She took a deep breath as a slight glow formed on her hands, Sokka and Katara exchanged a look with one another as they watched the young blond slowly melt the ice. Her attempt to melt ice was cut short as a large gust of air broke through the wall of ice that surrounded it, causing each of them to raise their arms to shield themself from it. As the wind died down, they were meant by the sight of a young boy slowly falling on to the snow, this time Katara was the first one to act as she ran to catch the young boy.

"Is he alive?" Sokka asked but the only response was the sound of a slight groan from the boy. The three of them watched as the boy's eyes opened slowly as he looked up at them.

"I-I need to ask you something" the boy said weakly as he stared up at Katara.

"What?" she answered

"Please come closer." he asked weakly as Katara slowly leaned forward. "What is it?" She replied, waiting for the unknown boy to answer.

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" he asked, his once weak voice replaced with that of an energetic child. Katara seemed taken aback by the sudden question. "Uh sure. I guess." she answered. After taking a second to stand up and stretch the boy looked at the other two members of the hunting team. Naruko watched as his eyes stopped on her.

"You have pretty blond hair." he said simply, which caused Naruko to blush slightly at the complement.

"Oh, ah t-thank you, that arrow looks good on you." she responded, only wanting to kick herself in the ass for saying something so stupid. Her response caused the boy to raise an eyebrow at the strange comment. Katara watched from the side lines as the two of them talked.

"Not to cut in or anything but who are you and why are you here." Sokka asked aggressively, gaining the boy's attention.

"I'm not really sure what's going on." He started but was cut off by a loud groan coming from within the crater of the iceberg. A smile seemed to form as he turned and ran to the edge of the crater and looked down.

"Appa! Are you alright?" he asked, gaining a groan from whatever's in there. "That's good to hear. You gotta get out of there and meet these people" the boy called down. The three of them could only watch as a large creature walked out of the iceberg and directly towards them only to stop by the unknown boy.

"This is Appa, my flying bison and I'm Aang. nice to meet you." he said with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, right and this is Katara, my flying sister, and Naruko my personal slave." He responded sarcastically.

"I thought slaves were banned a long time ago?" Aang asked with narrowing eyes as he looked at the other boy.

"Please excuse my stupid brother. He was only joking about the slave part." Katara said, as she shot a glare at the blond. After hearing what she said the young boy couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Before he could say anything, the young boy let out a large sneeze causing him to shoot up into the air. As he slowly floated back down to earth he was meant by looks of shock from the three of them.

"You're an airbender!" Katara yelled in shock. Getting a nod from the young boy.

"Sure am." Aang said with a smile on his face. Sokka, who was muttering to himself as he looked back at their boat only to see it floating away. "Giant light beams, flying bison, flying people….." he muttered as he looked at the boat, which gained Aang's attention.

"Are you guys stuck? Because me and Appa can help you get back." Aang asked, getting nods from Katara and Naruko.

"If it's not too much to ask." Naruko asked nervously. Aang nodded as he hopped onto the bison who slowly made its way to the water. Sokka was about to say something but was stopped by Katara, who smacked the back of his head. Katara and Sokka wasted no time in getting on the bison, but Naruko slowly made her way to the side of Appa's head, slowly placing her hand on the soft fur. Appa watched the young blond for a few seconds before pushing his head against the girl's hand.

"He seems to like you." Aang said with a smile as he offered his hand as a way to get up, gaining a light blush from the young girl as she accepted the help.

"Okay, first time flyers, hold on tight! Appa, yip-yip!" Aang shouted, gaining a growl from the bison as he jumped up, they expected to fly but they were meant by a light wave of ice-cold water hitting each of them as the bison landed in the water.

"Wow this is truly amazing." Sokka said sarcastically.

"What's wrong Appa, yip yip." Aang said as he rubbed the animal's head, gaining a growl.

"What's wrong?" Katara asked.

"Oh, nothing he's just tired." Aang said as he looked at Katara with a smile on his face.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" She asked

"Oh, I was smiling?" he replied a light blush appeared on his face as he turned back to look at the ocean. Naruko looked between the two before asking the question that was on each of their minds.

"I-I don't mean to pry, but do you know what happened to the Avatar." she asked. Naruko noticed the young boy flinch at the question.

"Sorry but I don't know who the avatar is." he responded with a sigh.

"I thought that maybe you would know since they have been missing for over a hundred years." Naruko said with disappointment in her voice.

"Wait a hundred years?" Aang asked as he turned to look at the group.

"Yeah, they disappeared right before the war started." Katara said as she moved closer to the boy as she noticed the look of shock that formed on his face.

"War…" he muttered as he slowly fell backwards as Katara quickly grabbed the young boy, stopping him from falling off the swimming bison. After pulling the boy closer to her body.

"Is he dead?" Sokka asked, gaining a glare from his sister.

"No, you idiot, he just passed out." She said as she laid him down on the saddle, as Sokka made his way to the 'driver' seat of the bison, before turning to the rest of the group.

"By the way, does anyone here know how to drive a bison?"