Nothing much to say…..second chapter….yep.

Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA 'cause if I did…nothing much would happen 'cause I'm to freakin' lazy. ;)

"Zuko! Table three wants more tea!"

"What kind, uncle?"

"Why, my Jasmine tea, of course!"

Zuko rolled his eyes and opened the nearest cupboard where the Jasmine tea was normally placed. Two boxes were left.

"We're almost out, uncle!"

Zuko smiled when he heard his uncle's laughter waft into the rundown kitchen.

"Well then, I'll just have to make some more now, won't I?"

Zuko emptied his uncle's favorite blue pot of the lukewarm water and rinsed it in the sink before placing it on the stove top. He measured out the precise amount of water his uncle told him and poured it into the pot and turned on the stove.

He sighed. It was nice to hear his uncle Iroh laugh again. It had been so long since he heard it. He himself hadn't laughed since….

His hand touched his scarred cheek and he sighed once more.

People were so afraid of him because of his scar. If they only knew what he and his uncle had been through. Perhaps they would….

A sudden crash roused him from his thoughts.

Had it come from the front? Did a certain customer drop their tea again? Zuko felt that old anger resurfacing. He had told Jee that if he dropped one more cup of tea, he would…

There was another crash.

No, it was definitely from the back, in the alleyway behind the shops. Zuko shook his head. Probably more thugs throwing bottles against the shop. That had become a habit of theirs. Like his uncle said, it was best not to interfere in the matters of others…

"Oh, God! Please don't kill me!!"

Zuko felt his breathe hitch. What was going on!?

He made his way towards the back door and pressed his ear against it. He jumped when another crash occurred. He rolled up his sleeves and grabbed the knife that he used to chop lemons. He could not let this go on.

With his apron still wrapped about him he unlocked and kicked open the door, knife at the ready. He turned to his left and saw a figure consumed by black and a man in a fetal position on the ground, his eyes and nose running with his eyes on the figure above him.

Zuko froze when the figure's head whipped around to look at him, it was then he saw that the figure was a woman. A tan-skinned woman who looked only slightly younger than his own 19 years. Her brown hair cascaded around her face and back that made her seem like some dark angel. Her tinted sunglasses she wore that hid her eyes seemed to enforce his thoughts.

What made Zuko wary, though, was the sword that she had pointed to the man's jugular. One false move, and both of them were dead.

Zuko kept his knife at the ready, aimed at the woman in front of him.

"Let him go," he said, in what he hoped was a demanding and authoritative voice.

From what he could tell, her facial features did not change in the slightest as she kept her eyes on Zuko and her sword on the man.

Zuko swallowed and tried another tactic that he had seen on t.v.

"You don't want to hurt him, I know you don't. You probably just had some misunderstanding, right?"

She didn't answer.

Zuko nodded. "Right. I…I'm sure he's sorry for whatever he did, and he'll do whatever he has to in order to redeem himself, right?" He aimed this last point at the fetal man laying on the discarded trash and toppled trash cans on the alley floor.

The man nodded and wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve.

Zuko tried a smile aimed at her. "See? He's willing to do the right thing!"

He paused for dramatic effect. "Are you?"

He heard his uncle calling him from inside the shop. He shook his head as he tried mental telepathy. Not now, uncle. I'm trying to stop this lady from killing someone!

Obviously it did not work for his uncle called him again.

Zuko turned and with his sudden motion the woman turned to, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the man on the ground pull a knife from his back pocket and push her sword aside as he aimed for the left side of her stomach.

It all happened so fast.

Zuko, seeing the satisfactory and evil gleam in the man's eyes, quickly whirled and tried to warn her. She was way ahead. The momentary distraction was indeed just that, a momentary distraction. She dropped her sword and crouched down to her right and twisted her body so that her back was to his front and her right arm gripped his knife hand.

The surprise was evident in the man's face as she jerked the knife from man's hand with her left hand and lifted him off the ground with her right where his body was up against the wall. She slammed the knife into where his ribs met and pulled back, but with the knife still in him, his body hanging from the wall.

The man's body jerked against the sudden invasion. Blood dribbled from his lips as he convulsed for a time, then he lay still.

The alley was quite except for Zuko's harsh breathing. Did he just see what he thought he saw!? She had been so fast, her movements so fluid it was like a dangerous river. His thoughts were cut off when she twisted and grabbed her sword and grabbed his apron and pulled him close, her sword pointed at his throat.

Time seemed to stop for a moment. He heard his own breathe and felt hers. He couldn't see past her sunglasses and for some reason, this comforted him. He was afraid he might see anger, or worse, resolve. She could kill him, right then, right there, and there was nothing he could do.

His life did not flash before him, instead, he gazed at her, hoping that she was gazing to.

Her breathing suddenly stopped….and she grinned.

Zuko blinked. Why….was she smiling at him like that?

She let go of his collar and sheathed her sword as she backed away into the darkness.

"Thank you."

Zuko blinked again.

"For what?"

Her grin widened.

"For sparing me the horrid task of cleaning my sword!"

Zuko did not know what to say, so he said the first thing that came to mind to try and stop her before she disappeared into the darkness completely.

"What's your name?"

She stopped.

"Assassin."

He shook his head.

"Your birth name."

He could see her hesitate.

"I have no birth name."

"Yes you do."

It came out before he could stop himself. He saw her wince, not out of anger, but….embarrassment?

"What is your name?"

He blinked in confusion.

"What?"

She grinned again.

"Your name, what is it?"

"Zuko," he said without a moments thought.

She slowly nodded and began to back away again.

"Perhaps we'll meet again, Zuko," and with that, she faded into the darkness and shadows.

Zuko was left standing there, still holding his knife, apron whipping in the wind. The assassin had not told him her name, yet, she left him wanting to see her again.

He cast a glance over at the dead man still pinned to the wall. Preferably not under the same circumstances as him, but…..

Why did he want to see her? She had just killed someone right in front of him, and he wanted to see her? Just thinking about it made it seem so morbid yet…

He sighed and rubbed his arms as he walked back inside to call the police.

He thought about his earlier thoughts, about her motions being like a dangerous river.

She herself was a dangerous river, and he knew she was begging to be crossed.

This was the second installment. Hope you like it! I'll write as often as I can! R&R, pleaaaaaaze!! ;)