I Don't Own Avatar the Last Airbender

Normally I would have just jumped out of the way of the daggers, but considering I had a kid basically in front of me and with how dark it was, I couldn't judge perfectly where the ice would hit and I didn't want to him to be hit from what was clearly an misunderstanding. So instead I threw my hand out and a blast of flame erupted in front of me as the fire burned and melted the ice near instantly.

"Stop!" I called it out and held my hands up as the teenage girl ran up to me, well the kid more accurately, though I noted a number of blue highlights on her outfit, I didn't exactly need to seem them to know she was a waterbender. It also didn't hurt that she dropped into a basic waterbender form the second she got into a closer range. It was clear she was scared, the faint moon light making it a bit hard to see but I could still see the worry on her face.

"Hey Rina! Funny seeing you here?" He said that with an awkward laugh as the two of us stared at each other, the tension in the air was beyond some that I've felt in battle fields.

"Ran, we are going to have a long talk about this later" Ran, the one in question, looked really uncomfortable now, and a tad bit embarrassed. Like a kid who got his hand caught int he cookie jar, I would know, I've caught Bahi trying to steal from cookie jars more times than I think either of us know what to do with.

"So, I'm not entirely sure what's going on, I was just practicing and this kid here kind of jumped on me" That seemed to bring the focus back onto me as the girl, Rina? Rina shot me a look, like she's suddenly lost all ability to know what she was suppose to say to that. It seemed that Ran was able to instantly pick up the slack in conversation as he seemed to suddenly remember the reason he had run at me to begin with.

"Oh! Right! Rina, look this guy can just like go, boom! Fire! Do it! Do the thing!" I blinked as I looked down at the kid again before looking over at teen and raised a questioning eyebrow. I was mostly hoping that she would stop being so nervous around me, I could tell it was a mix of the fact that I just filled the clearing in fire and it looked like something else. Maybe she was just socially inept or something...

"Uh, I was in the middle of taking a break actually. I was about to head back to my campsite when you appeared" The kid pouted and the teen was looking more and more uncomfortable, I think it was because she had attacked me. I was kind of use to it, not like it was the first time I was attacked for firebending, at this point us firebender's kind of deserve the stereotypes. ninty-five years of constant war would do that to a group of people.

"U-Um, come on Ra-" Whatever the rest of what Rina was about to say was interrupted as her stomach suddenly rumbled as I could see her face morph into one of humiliation as the sound seemed to carry into the night air. I held back my chuckle though her little brother, I assumed, didn't seem to hold back any as he broke down into laughter, pointing at her while holding his stomach. Deciding to take a bit more diplomatic route and said to her.

"Hey listen, if you're hungry, we still have some left over dinner at the camp, I could warm it up for you so you two don't have to go around hungry... Actually what are you two doing out so late? Do you happen to have any guardian's around?" I couldn't really say anything about traveling around as a teenager, I was probably only a year or two older then her when I started my life on the run with two five year old children. I wasn't exactly the model role model here. Though Rina seemed to fidget a bit nervously at my question, Ran perked right up and said.

"You have food! Let's go Rina!" And with that he grabbed onto my hand and tried to pull me off in some random direction. Glancing over to the teenager while holding back the kid from running off randomly into the woods, I tilted my head to the side to ask a silent question. She seemed thankful some what that I wasn't using words before saying in a smallish voice.

"Aren't you mad?" I blinked and noted she looked even more uncomfortable just by speaking. I felt a little bad to be honest. It was clear she wasn't good with strangers, and this entire situation was pressing on her, and I think the only reason she hadn't run off yet was because I literally had a hold on her brother and she was more worried about his safety than her social problems. It was also something I could respect. So I gave her a smile and said.

"Of course not, if I say some strange male talking to my kids in the middle of an open field in the middle of the night, I'd also probably overreact" She blinked, as she looked at me for a moment, like she was looking for something in the darkness, but before she could say anything, like it was expected at this point, Ran spoke up and said in a both excited and confused voice.

"You have kids? That's cool, I'm a kid. But aren't kids suppose to only have like old people for dads?" I laughed at bit at that question before saying.

"Normally, but I some how ended up having two nine year olds and I'm only twenty" Ran just looked a bit more confused and was about to say something else when it seemed the akwardness was to much to Rina as she blurted out.

"Twenty? Did you hit puberty at like nine?" I blinked and looked back over to her in time to see her entire face turn beet red as she flung a hand over her mouth at what she just said. Looking down at Ran, who was continuously looking more and more confused, before I busted out laughing at that. God that that hilarious, even as I tried to hold back as she continued to look more and more mortified at her own words, I couldn't help it. I so wasn't expecting that at all, it caught me just really off guard. After a couple moments of trying to calm myself down, I finally managed to say.

"Alright, sorry sorry, that just...Heh, my kids aren't blood related, I took them in when they were about five, though we don't really know exactly, so we kind of just picked some dates. You two are welcome to join us all for breakfast, the sun's about to come up soon anyway. Waking them up at bit early wouldn't be anything new if you two are really that hungry" Ran turned and looked over at Rina expectantly with a huge hopeful look on his face.

How long had they gone without a proper meal? Judging by how they completely ignored my question about if there was anyone looking after them, I have to assume it's been a little while then. I kept the frown from forming on my face. Going hungry wasn't fun. I remember times when our food stores on the battle field were destroyed and I and my men had to go hungry or days at a time while fighting before reinforcements could come. I still remember that to be one of the worst weeks of my life.

"A-alright, if you don't mind...?" She sounded like she wasn't sure what she was suppose to say to that, and it was clear that she was still on guard. I couldn't see any water on her but I'm sure a bottle could be hidden her furs. Well, if she tries anything, it's not like I'm incapable of protecting myself and I'm sure Inaru's reflects haven't been dulled that much.

"Cool, come on, it's like a fifteen to twenty minute walk. I didn't want to disturb any of them with my little light show" That seemed to get the conversation into a more tense area, which I should have expected, but Ran clearly was inable to pick up on the air and just happily went back to pestering me about it.

"Oh yeah, by the way, what was that fire thing? Are you like big sis Rina? She can only control water though some times she makes use shaved ice and it's really good. Oh oh and one time when it was snowing she tried really hard and was able to make us a snow man thing, it was so cool!" The kid just continued on and on, seemingly just being able to ramble on forever, and apparently completely forgot about his own starting questions with all the stories he was telling me. Though as I glanced over at Rina, it was a bit clear she was a bit embarrassed about all this.

I would it kind of sweet, there might only be two of them it would appear but it was painfully clear they were close. Rina clearly cared about her younger brother, and with how much he was gushing about all the cool things his sister has done, it was clear it was reciprocated back. Even if she looked a bit embarrassed, it was easy to see a small smile on her face as she listened to his words. It wasn't a family dynamic I was use to but it was one all the same.

Now I just have to hope my kids don't end up causing chaos for the two. They are an interesting mix of social and stand offish. They love meeting people and talking to them, but at the same time I think to much and it just drains them of energy for the rest of the day. It's great when we get to a new town or villages because they sleep like babies but I'm already going to be waking them up a bit early and I don't want them to be too sleepy before bedtime.

Very slightly shorter chapter but if I did the intro with the rest of the group then this chapter would be about four thousand words than the average of two thousand that I'm trying to be averaging at. I have problems with how long my chapters are in my stories, sometimes there seven thousand, some times it's two thousand five hundred, hell I have a unpublished story that's average word count is ten thousand a chapter. I kind of just set an average for chapter length on a story by story bases for some reason. Not sure why, anyway, See ya.