WARNING: SHORT CHAPTER AFTER AGES WITHOUT UPDATING. I AM VERY SORRY ABOUT THAT.

Someone tell me I'm terrible. I can take it, promise. And I deserve it after waiting so long to finish this chapter. It isn't exactly entirely my fault, though! I had this stupid science project where we had to make a cardboard box look like a house and set up a circuit to make the lights inside it light up, and it was REALLY hard and REALLY stupid because the teacher wouldn't let us take it home and she wouldn't help us at all, we had to figure out how to do it all on our own, and we only had four classes to work on it and then one more class and a lunch period to decorate it, and I also got my braces which was shitty, so basically I've been having a pretty bad last couple of weeks. Not to mention I've been getting distracted by a lot of stuff, like ideas for HetaliaxReader inserts on deviantArt, and deviantArt in general. It's a very distracting website!

But everything's much better now! I promise!

And I have an IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR ALL OF YOU TO READ SO READ IT! I went back to a lot of my past chapters - like, nine of them - and edited them. Some I edited a lot, and others just a bit. I fixed them so that… it'll be easier if you just read them yourselves instead of hearing me explain. So the chapters I edited were (in order of chapters):

Prologue (Chapter 0)

Jet's True Nature (chapter 16)

A Wolf Girl and A Healer (chapter 17)

Tora Loses It (chapter 20)

The Old Woman with The Stuff (renamed and titled The Stranger now) (chapter 22)

Fighting (chapter 23)

The Masked Traitors (chapter 26)

The Blue Spirit and The Mononoke (chapter 27)

The Wolf Returns (chapter 30)

And I think that's all of them. I changed them so that now, Tora's sword and dagger aren't made of any special material, the old woman with the stuff is now just a mysterious young woman who WILL come in later, and all in all I changed stuff that I just didn't think made sense anymore.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or any characters thereof. Nickelodeon, and Mike and Bryan the proud owners of the fantastic show, while I am just a High School student and am writing this for my own amusement. I only own my own characters, and/or any plot twists that are caused because of them.

NOTE: VERY IMPORTANT: As of now, the reason Piandao gave Tora up has changed. He didn't give her away because she was distracting him from his duties, he gave her away for reasons that will be revealed in this chapter.

Bearing a Curse

Kick. Punch. Fire blast. "Damn you!"

Turn. Slash. Ice daggers. "I hate you!"

Kick. Kick. Flash of silver. "Damn you!"

Kick. Punch. Fire bla- "Tora, what are you doing?"

I froze literally one second before I released a fire blast into the air - which would have hit Katara directly in the face, considering she had snuck up on me from behind. "Nothing." I straightened, dropping my fist and attempting to act like I hadn't just been releasing my pent up rage through kicks, punches, firebending, waterbending, and just swinging my sword around wildly.

"Doesn't really look like nothing." She raised an eyebrow, looking at me with an unamused expression. "What were you really doing?"

"Nothing." I blew some strands of hair out of my eyes. "Honest!"

"Well, you've been out here since before I woke up, which was a few minutes ago, and judging from what you look like," She gave me a once over. "You've been out here longer."

It was true. I'd been up for a while, at least an hour, and even though I couldn't see myself, I could only guess I looked like a mess. I had been working so furiously and for so long that I had started sweating - a lot. While I had pulled my hair back into a braid, out of my eyes so it wouldn't get burned by my fire or get in the way of anything, it was starting to come loose and most of it was sticking to my sweaty face. And given the time it had most likely been when I woke up, I probably had shadows under my eyes. "So what if I have?" I asked, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand.

Katara just gave me one of her looks - the kind of look that made you feel as if you had said something stupid. "You really are bugged by being around Jeong Jeong, aren't you?"

"No, I am not!" I said through clenched teeth.

"I think you are."

"I am not!" I yelled, turning around and punching a fire blast. "DAMN IT!" She had seen right through me so easily - well, I guess it was pretty easy, considering what I was doing.

"Right… of course you're not." She said dryly.

"Shut up!" I snapped, pressing the back of my hand against my burning cheek in an attempt to cool myself down - because despite being a firebender, there was such a thing as being too hot. My attempt failed, however, considering my hand was just as hot as the rest of me. "I'm just a little pissed, that's all!"

Katara glanced from me to the forest behind me. Several trees now bore scars from my sword or my fire (in that case, I had extinguished the flames before they got out of hand) or my ice daggers, tree branches had been viciously separated from their trees and then cut into small chunks of bark and wood, some bushes were still smoldering, and several ice daggers had sunk deep, deep into the bark of trees, were littered across the ground, and all melting slowly under the heat of the sun. "A little… right."

I groaned, rubbing my eyes. "Okay, fine, I'm incredibly angry at everything right now. Happy?"

Katara didn't answer, she only sighed. "You know, it isn't too late to leave. Aang could just find another teacher later, when he's ready."

"No." I said shortly. "He's learning from Jeong Jeong. If he's going to prove to anyone that he is ready, it's going to be Jeong Jeong."

~~Water~~

I lunged, pointing my sword straight ahead of me. The sword that the woman from that Earth Kingdom village had given me was in my other hand, and pointed behind me.

"Widen your stance."

My left eye twitched slightly at the sound of his voice. Jeong Jeong had gotten Aang standing on a flat rock in the river, and had begun to teach him. Meanwhile, Katara was practicing her waterbending, manipulating little streams of water around her carefully, Sokka was fishing, sitting quietly and stewing in his anger at the fact that we had to stay with Jeong Jeong for longer than one night, and I was amusing myself by training with my sword.

"Wider!"

"Hey, you know, some of us are trying to concentrate." I said loudly, not even looking at Jeong Jeong as I did another lunge.

He ignored me. "Now bend your knees, and concentrate." He told Aang. Aang must have done what he asked, because Jeong Jeong muttered, "Good" and turned to walk away.

"Wait!" Aang yelped at his masters retreating back. "What about now? What do I do?"

Jeong Jeong turned and glared at Aang. "Don't talk! Talking is not concentrating! Look at your friends!" He gestured to Katara, Sokka and me. "Are any of them talking? Even that oaf knows to stay silent!"

"Hey!" Sokka snapped in protest of his new nickname.

I scowled, lowering my sword and standing up straight. "Hey, no one's allowed to call Sokka an oaf-"

"Thank you, Tora!"

"-except me!"

"Hey!"

"But what am I supposed to be concentrating on?" Aang asked, sounding confused and stopping me from retorting to Sokka.

Jeong Jeong then gave a brief lecture, about how Aang was supposed to be feeling the heat of the sun, and how the sun was the greatest source of fire, yet it was still completely in balance with nature. I scowled again, giving another lunge forward. It's good advice though - shut up, me! I was brought out of my thoughts as Aang asked, "When am I gonna be able to make some fire?"

"CONCENTRATE!"

And without another word - or shout, for that matter - Jeong Jeong turned around and disappeared into his hut. Katara and Sokka both began snickering at Aang's misfortune, while I just scowled deeper and deeper. Aang then turned to glare at the Water Tribe siblings, who instantly quieted and took on innocent looks, before looking away again.

"Hey, Tora?" Sokka asked, not looking away from the river.

"If this is about the 'oaf' comment, Sokka, I swear-"

"Hello! Airbender trying to concentrate here!" Aang said loudly, not turning to face us.

"I was wondering something." Sokka continued, speaking a little quieter than before. "If we're going to be staying here for who-knows-how-long, then you should at least try to get something out of it."

I raised an eyebrow. "And what do you mean by that?" I asked coolly.

"I mean, even if you don't want to be taught by Jeong Jeong, you could listen to his advice and, you know, train. You'd become better at bending, and that would help us out in the long run, don't you think?"

"I'm not having Jeong Jeong as my teacher." I stated flatly. "Never. Even indirectly." A thought suddenly occurred to me. "Hey, you've never seemed interested in me learning firebending before! How come you want me to learn it now?"

Sokka was silent for a moment, before he let out a small sigh. "Because it's all becoming real." I gave him a blank stare, which he couldn't see since he had his back to me, but he continued anyway. "Back home, the war seemed so far away. I didn't see any reason for you to learn firebending, because I didn't think you'd ever need to help protect us or fight against any enemies, because the Fire Nation didn't seem to care about our village. But now, we've found the Avatar, the only thing keeping the Fire Nation from winning the war, and the armies are willing to kill us to keep Aang from learning his elements." There was a moment of silence between the two of us. Katara had stopped her waterbending to listen to her brother, and Aang was still focussing on the sun, not really paying attention to us. "So, you really do need to master your elements, Tora. It will help us all."

I stared at Sokka for a long time, unable to believe what I had just heard. I didn't think I'd ever heard him say anything so deep before. Without a word, I slid my sword back into its scabbard, and sat down next to my friend. Neither of us spoke for a while, before I finally opened my mouth. "I understand what you're saying, Sokka. But I can't learn firebending from Jeong Jeong. Not from him."

"And I get that!" Sokka said instantly. "But what I don't get is why you don't just, you know," He waved his hand flippantly. "Ignore him. It would be easier than yelling at him all the time, don't you think?"

"Maybe." I paused. "But not nearly as satisfying. Besides…" I looked over my shoulder at Jeong Jeong's hut and glared at the curtain hiding him from my view. "That guy needs to be taken down a peg. He is way too full of himself."

"Like some people I know." Sokka muttered - before I punched him in the arm.

~~Water~~

"I want to know why."

Jeong Jeong looked up from the floor, and saw me, standing in front of the curtain with my arms crossed and a bitter expression on my face.

"Why, what?" He asked, raising an eyebrow carefully.

"I want to know why you made my father give me up." I said icily. "I deserve to know."

"To be frank, I don't see why it should matter." Jeong Jeong said, just as coolly as me. "It is in the past, and you should move on."

It took a moment for his words to sink in. When they did, my golden eyes narrowed into slits. "'Move on'?" My tone was dangerously soft. "You think - you actually - oh, Spirits, you actually believe that I could move on from something like that? Move on from my father practically abandoning me? He didn't even tell me what he was doing, he just gave me this necklace-" I pointed to the gold-and-fire-ruby choker on my throat. "-gave me a hug, told me he loved me, and just sent me off! How-" I sucked in a breath. "- how on earth would anyone be able to move on from that? How could he do that?"

I suddenly realized that my eyes were beginning to sting. Ah! No, not going to cry! Not in front of him! I couldn't cry in front of - not in front of him! Not in front of Jeong Jeong! Spirits, I couldn't show him any weakness, I couldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had gotten to me even if he hadn't done anything at that moment. I rubbed my eyes, muttering something about the smoke from the candles getting in my eyes, despite the fact that there was no smoke in the room at all.

"What?" Jeong Jeong actually sounded somewhat caught off guard - as caught off guard as it was possible for him to sound.

"What do you mean, what? I got smoke in my eyes, that's all!"

Ignoring my second sentence, Jeong Jeong spoke again. "Your father didn't tell you?"

"If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, then no, he didn't tell me!" I snapped, lowering my fist from my eye as I stopped rubbing it. "Didn't say a word! Just said that it was a learning experience, whatever the hell that means, and sent me on my merry way!"

Jeong Jeong eyed me for a moment, before sighing, lowering his head, and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Two years ago I would have questioned Piandao's foolishness… but seeing you as you are now," he glanced up at me briefly. "I understand perfectly."

"Is that supposed to be an insult?!" I demanded, clenching my fists so hard my nails dug into my palms.

"Your father did not 'send you away', as you put it, because he wanted you to have a 'learning experience'." Jeong Jeong said calmly.

"Gee, thanks, like I didn't already know that."

"Will you stop talking, girl?" Jeong Jeong yelled, the candle flames burning brighter and growing bigger in size. "Let me speak!"

I decided not to speak again until he finished. Not because I was scared of him, or anything, but because I just wanted to hear what he had to say - for once. That was all. Honestly!

"As I was saying," Jeong Jeong continued, sounding terse. "The real reason your father sent you away was because-"

The sound of a curtain fluttering behind me made Jeong Jeong stop and glare at something or someone behind me. "Why have you come back? I did not tell you to stop!"

Aang's voice came from behind me. "I've kinda been breathing for hours!"

"DAMNIT AANG!" I screamed, the candle flames shooting up in my rage. "You just had to come in now!" Any other time would have been great, but no, he just had to come in now, just as I was going to get something out of Jeong Jeong!

"Silence!" Jeong Jeong roared. "Tora," I blinked, slightly surprised that he actually used my name. "I am his teacher, I must punish him when he does not do as I ask!" He turned back to Aang. "And you - do you wish to stop breathing?"

I nearly snorted, before I caught myself. No way was I going to laugh, snort, or chuckle at anything he said.

"I wish for you to tell me what I'm supposed to be getting out of all of this!" Aang exclaimed, walking past me - shooting me a small glare for yelling at him - and approaching Jeong Jeong. "I already know how to squat, and breathe, and feel the sun! I want to know how to shoot flames out of my bare palms!" The Airbender waved his hands around in the air to try and make his point.

Jeong Jeong let out a long groan and bowed his head in exasperation. Then he began to speak. He told us of an old student of his, when he had still been in the army. His student hadn't cared about the balance of nature and fire, only about how he could use his fire to destroy and hurt his enemies. He then said that fire was a terrible burden to bear, how it was in its nature to destroy everything around it, without mercy. "If you bear the curse of fire, you bear the risk of destroying yourself and everything you love as well." Jeong Jeong said forlornly, closing his eyes and bowing his head.

I shifted uncomfortably. His speech had hit a little too close to home. There were rare - very rare - moments when I wondered if I would lose control of my bending, if I would hurt someone I cared about. But then I abandoned those thoughts, thinking and knowing that I would be fine, just as long as I thought about what I was doing with my fire instead of acting on instincts entirely. Admittedly, it didn't always work, but I had never hurt anyone before. Hopefully I never would. Accidentally, of course.

Aang watched Jeong Jeong for a moment, before slowly walking out of the hut. The unusually serious expression on his face made me think that Jeong Jeong had actually gotten through to him. I scowled. "Fire is not a curse." I muttered.

"It is." Jeong Jeong said harshly. "When you have become as old as I, you will understand that."

"And I have a question. Chey-" I noticed Jeong Jeong roll his eyes at the mention of the guy that had led us here - who had disappeared shortly afterwards. "-said that the reason you left the army was because you 'couldn't take the madness'." I used air quotes around the last four words. "What did he mean by that?"

The Deserter looked at me as if I was stupid. "Are you asking me that because you honestly wish to know?"

"Yes. I want to know. I mean, the armies are just doing what they're told to, aren't they?" I asked, frowning. I wasn't sure why I was asking him. I mean, that's what the armies were doing, right? Just following orders?

You know that isn't true… a voice whispered in the back of my mind. I repressed a shudder at the memory of the massacred village. It felt like months ago, when in reality it had only been weeks. The soldiers that I had killed… they were just doing what they were told! That's all they were doing!

Jeong Jeong gave another low sigh. "If you truly believe that, then you are as much of a fool as the rest of our Nation."

I couldn't help but notice that he said "our" Nation.

It looked like the traitor still thought of the "murderous, blood-thirsty Fire Nation" as his home.

"And if you continue to believe that, you will be disappointed." He continued, rubbing his temples.

I scowled. "Okay, enough of this topic." I approached him and sat down cross-legged in front of the ring of candles. "Tell me what you were going to say before Aang walked in. My father gave me up because…?"

Jeong Jeong gave me a long look, before sighing again. "If you truly wish to know, then I shall tell you."

Oh my god, I'm just… terrible. I'm sorry. I left you guys hanging for, how long? A month? Two, maybe? Jeez. And then I just update with a terribly short chapter with a cliffhanger that probably shouldn't be there.

But at least I updated. It lets you guys know that I'm not dead, and that I haven't abandoned this story.

I wrote some of this when I was dying from a cold… so it probably isn't so great. Yeah, this chapter isn't great, and I apologize for that.

But if there's a plus side to being sick, I've found it! My mother got me the DVD version of The Outsiders - has anyone else read it? I'd be surprised if no one else has read it. It's so awesome!

Small, unimportant note but I still think you might want to read it: if you like/love the novel and/or the movie, The Outsiders, I wrote a small one shot for it, if you want to see it. ^^"