Hello readers.

In terms of how long this chapter is in comparison to how long it took to complete this chapter in relation to just how much free time I've had to do it and taking into consideration how long it usually takes me to write something of similar length... I'd say this was disgracefully slow. And for that, I apologise.

I probably would've finished this a few days ago but I'm easily distracted (The main culprits of my distraction being video games and YouTube.)... My school work load has been unusually light lately so I would've thought I'd have finished this chapter a lot faster...

Anyhow, it is at last complete and now it is available for your reading pleasure! It takes off pretty much right after the first one. Not much in the way of crime happening in this chapter as the title of the story suggests. But fear not, it will happen eventually.

I feel I rambled a bit here and there in this chapter. But nonetheless, enjoy!

After running the length of a few blocks, Skoochy led Jinora around a corner into an alley between two apartment buildings. Skoochy let go of Jinora's hand as he stopped running, Jinora bent forward catching her breath after being dragged into a run. Skoochy laughed at her lack of energy.

"First order of business," Skoochy said, placing his hands on his hips while he gazed upwards, "you'll need a new outfit if you don't want to be found out."

Jinora's eyes followed the upward direction his eyes were looking. She saw clotheslines filled with drying clothes spanning across the gap between the two buildings. Realising Skoochy's intent, she was about to speak out in protest but Skoochy was already getting started.

Skoochy grabbed onto a pipe which spanned the entire height of one of the buildings. He climbed up the pipe until he was level with one of the lower lines. Reaching out, he unclipped a long coat from the line.

"Here," he called down to Jinora, dropping the coat, "catch."

"Wait!" she called up to him as she caught the coat, "Isn't this wrong?"

Skoochy snickered as he unclipped a few more articles of clothing, "If they can afford to get a roof over their heads, they can afford to replace these."

Jinora quickly placed her glider against the wall before catching the falling bits of clothing. She looked down and inspected what Skoochy had pinched for her. There was the long brown coat which Skoochy first grabbed, as well as that, there was a small pair of olive green fingerless gloves, a red scarf which reminded her of Mako and a plain black beret.

Skoochy called back down to her, "You should quickly put those—"

"Hey!"

His eyes shot up to find an angry lady shaking a fist at him.

"What do you think you're doing!?"

Skoochy stared blankly for a moment before he began to laugh. Giving the angry lady a spiteful wink, he slid back down the pipe, jumping off at the final moment before landing on his feet. He ran over to Jinora, grabbing her hand and grabbing her glider which stood against the wall. Jinora clutched onto the clothing she held as Skoochy pulled her along out of the alley.

They ran for a couple blocks before Skoochy led them into a different alley way where he told Jinora to put on the clothes he got for her.

Hesitant at first, she conceded when she reasoned to herself that they would still get in trouble if they tried to return the clothes nicely. The long coat fitted her loosely, but it was warm. The scarf and seemingly perfect fitting gloves accompanied that warmth. She placed the loose fitting beret over her trademark bun while Skoochy pulled the front lower to hide her features a little better.

"There," Skoochy said, looking proud, "you look like a true street kid."

"Thanks," Jinora responded, unsurely, "I guess."

Skoochy chuckled, "C'mon, you want to see the city, don't you?"

"I want to get my bag back first from that Xing boy first," Jinora answered.

"We'll find him along the way," Skoochy said as he placed Jinora's glider back in her hands.

"Wait, wha—"

She was immediately cut off when she felt her cheeks redden as Skoochy grabbed her hand. And no sooner did her take hold of her hand did he pull her along to explore the city.

The sights she saw as Skoochy hastily guided her through the city amazed Jinora. All the land marks she was able to see from her room window appeared far larger than she had first anticipated. All the other land marks which she had read about simply dwarfed her expectations. It felt intimidating, but the feeling would disappear as she'd quietly laugh behind her hand at Skoochy's commentary on his take of the history of said land marks.

When they passed through the city park, Jinora's breath got caught in her throat when she saw the dim lamps illuminate the paths and the edges of the water. She also saw couples taking a stroll together, some even riding taxi cabs through the part. Jinora suddenly had an urge to cling onto Skoochy's arm after seeing those couples, but she shook the thought from her head.

That's silly, she thought to herself, we're already holding hands anyway.

Wait, they were holding hands? Jinora's eyes darted to her left hand which was indeed being held in Skoochy's. She quickly pulled her hand away, which seemed to startle Skoochy. He turned his head and saw the embarrassment in her features before chuckling.

"Took you long enough," he said with a snicker, sticking his hands in his pockets, "I mean we've only been holding hands this whole time."

"I want to get my bag back now," Jinora said, changing the subject entirely.

"Alright then," he conceded, "follow me."

Skoochy led Jinora to the Dragon Flats borough. The atmosphere felt gloomy. The area wasn't loud and bustling with life like the rest of the city. Rather, the population here stayed in the confines of their homes, while a few homeless people curled up with what warmth they could find and everything was quiet.

They trekked deeper into the area. Skoochy rounded a corner and found a group of children huddled together.

"Xing?" Skoochy called out, "You there?"

One of the children raised their head groggily, "Who's asking?"

"It's Skoochy," he answer as he leaned against a wall, crossing his arms.

"Oh," Xing lowered his head, "hey Skooch', what do you want?"

"I believe you have something that belongs to her," Skoochy indicated Jinora who was standing next to him, "and she'd very much like it back."

"Fine, but you owe me." Xing reached behind him as he shrugged, "Here's your girlfriend's bag. There was nothing but a stupid book in there anyway."

"He's not my—," Jinora almost yelled.

But Skoochy cut in quickly, "Thank you, Xing."

He took the bag from Xing and placed it in Jinora's free hand.

"And it's not a stupid book!" Jinora continued, "It's a beautiful story of—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Skoochy cut her off again as he led her away from the huddled children, "let's go. Some people are trying to get to sleep."

The thought of sleep made Jinora yawn. She looked up at the sky to find a pitch black sky. They'd been wondering for a few hours and it was beginning to get late for her standards. Suddenly she started to feel a bit drowsy.

Skoochy noticed this sudden change in energy, "Follow me. I'll take you to a place to lie down."

Jinora, who was in the middle of another yawn, didn't wasn't sure what he had said but nodded anyway. She shouldered her bag and continued to follow Skoochy like she had all night.

A few minutes of walking through the quiet borough, Skoochy turned into an alley between two buildings. Skoochy jumped ahead a few steps ahead of Jinora and stretched.

"Well, here we are," he said, letting out a low yawn, "home sweet home."

"You live here?" Jinora asked in surprise, "In this alley?"

"Well this alley is what I do call home," Skoochy answered smugly.

Jinora gave him an unsure, sympathetic look. Skoochy gave her a reassuring smile.

"It's not so bad here," he continued, "Let me show you why."

Skoochy took hold of her hand and placed her palm against the brick wall.

"What do you feel?" Skoochy asked, knowing the answer.

"It's cold," Jinora winced.

Skoochy nodded. He then slowly slid her hand across. Jinora felt a sudden change in temperature that made her reflexes pull her hand back. Skoochy pointed a raised eyebrow at her surprised expression. Jinora placed her hand again, unsure as to what happened.

Maybe her senses were fooling her. She placed her palm against the wall again. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"It's warm." Jinora exclaimed.

"Sure is," Skoochy gave a smug smile, "On the other side of this wall is a fire place. The owner of this house makes sure it is always burning. It keeps the bricks warm."

Skoochy took a seat on the ground with his back resting against the warm wall. He let out a relaxed sigh as he embraced the warmth against his back.

"Here," Skoochy said, patting the ground next to him, "take a seat."

Jinora let out another yawn before she took a seat to his left. She let out a relaxed sigh as she pressed her back against the warm bricks. Her eyelids began to feel heavy. She fixed her coat to be a little tighter and let out a tired yawn.

She should really make her way back to Air Temple Island. She knew, but the warm wall made her mind seemingly melt. She looked up at Skoochy, his eyes were closed as though sleep had already consumed him. For all she knew it probably had. Her eyelids felt heavier.

Maybe I could just close my eyes for a little while, she thought to herself.

She sat there, curled up in her large coat, back against the warm brick wall and clutching her glider to her chest, she let sleep consume her.

She opened her eyes to the sound of a bird chirping somewhere in a place she couldn't conceive. She inhaled deeply before letting out a loud comfortable sigh.

She rubbed her eyes to wake herself up a little more. She then became aware that she was leaning against something. She tried to pull away but felt something pressing down on her head. Her eyes shot open when she realised that she had fallen asleep on Skoochy's shoulder.

Jinora felt heat rise in her cheeks as she quickly snapped away from him. This brought Skoochy right out of his slumber when he fell to the ground. Apparently he had done a lot of leaning in his sleep.

"What just happened?" Skoochy asked groggily as he picked himself off the ground.

"Um… Nothing," Jinora lied, turning to hide her reddening face.

She sighed inwardly when Skoochy merely rubbed his eyes, not pressing the issue any further.

"Why are you awake so early anyway?" Skoochy asked as he yawned.

Jinora looked at the sky. There was the slightest tint of blue in the once black sky which was ever so slowly growing brighter. Her eyes snapped wide open in realisation.

"Skoochy, help me get to Yue Bay!" Jinora cried out as she tugged at his arm, "I need to get back to Air Temple Island before everyone starts waking up!"

Skoochy yawned before giving Jinora a nod in response. Jinora picked herself off the ground with a puff of air while Skoochy slowly dragged himself off the ground using the wall as support, letting out a loud yawn as he did.

"Come on," Skoochy moaned, "follow me."

By the time they reached Yue Bay, the sky was a much brighter shade of blue, the sun barely over the horizon.

"Well," Skoochy said wearily as he propped himself down on a bench, "here we are."

"Thank you," Jinora said as her glider's wings extended with a loud click.

Jinora looked at the island that stood far away in the large body of water. She took in a deep breath of the ocean air before she turned back to Skoochy.

"Thanks for showing me around the city, Skoochy," Jinora said gratefully, "I had fun."

"Yeah, yeah," Skoochy said with a yawn, "don't you have an island to get back to?"

Jinora smiled at his tired face before turning around to look upon Air Temple Island again. She took a deep breath before she leapt into the air and took flight for home.

Skoochy stayed seated on the bench as he watched Jinora's figure turn into a tiny dot in the distance. She hadn't even reached the island before he spread himself across the bench and began snoozing.

Jinora landed herself on her window sill before quietly climbing into the confines of her room. She set her glider against the wall next to the open window before unshouldering her bag and ridding herself of her stolen clothes. She then proceeded to hiding said clothes under her bed. She quickly changed into her sleeping attire before crawling into her bed. Wearily soaking up the warmth of her blanket, she could not help the giddy smile that split her face.

Well, there's the chapter. Hope you enjoyed it despite the occasional ramble I feel I might have put in there. And I hope the wait was worth it. Again, reviews are most welcome.

After reading the reviews that popped up within 24 hours of publishing this story, I was over the moon with joy with the positive response.

My response to the notable reviews:

LucyHx: Thank you! It's nice to know you're hooked. That means I know I will have at least one faithful reader. (Mwahaha, and I am one step closer in my plight for WORLD DOMINATION! Just kidding. But seriously, thank you.)

LokFan (Guest): Thank you for the kind words. I was having thoughts that maybe the way I had Jinora and Skoochy meet seemed a little cheesy, but I'm jumping with joy to know you, and potentially other people, think otherwise.

Well, time to get started on the next chapter. I hope I can stay concentrated on it when I'm able to write, but knowing me, I'll probably end up getting distracted. Again.