Hey guys. Wow, haven't updated this in over three years O_O. Still, was just looking through some of my old fanfics and this one seemed to have the most demand for more chapters. Plus I'm now aiming to write professionally (yeah, it's been THAT long), so I need to get into the habit of writing whenever I can.

So, for the time being, here's another chapter!

Onji's eyes were closed tight, and she was trembling with terror. The blazing light burned scarlet through her eyelids, and the heat tore across her skin. For a fleeting second, she dared to open her eyes and saw walls of her home ablaze, family paintings curling and withering under the immense heat, and rippling blankets of fire lashed and consumed all it could reach. Outside, there was only blackness, and the inferno around her was all that existed.

There was nowhere to go.

"Make it stop…" To her, fearsome roaring and cracking of flames drowned out her small whimper. But somewhere, beyond the darkness, Kuzon spoke back.

"Just hang in there, Onji! You're doing great!"

"Kuzon I can't!"

"Just a little longer…"

"No!" Tears trickled down her face and merged with hot sweat. "Please, make it stop! I can't do this!"

She heard a small sound that might have been a sigh, then the clatter of a wooden bucket. A rush of cold water splashed across her face, and the nightmare vanished as quickly as it had come. She spluttered and wiped her face, opening her eyes to a much less harrowing scene; waves washing gently on the shore of a coarse-sanded beach, right outside the cave where Kuzon had hosted his famous dance party. Toucan-puffins rode the sea breeze and let out the peaceful squawking that Onji always associated with childhood trips to the seaside.

"Sorry," she mumbled, continuing to wipe her face purely as an excuse for not looking Kuzon in the eye.

"It's okay," Kuzon said. "Opening a chakra can be pretty intense, but it'll feel better once you get through it."

Onji groaned. "Where do you learn this stuff anyway?"

Kuzon shrugged. "You know…places. Come on, let's take a break."

He gave a little spin and rose to his feet, holding out a hand for Onji. She took it with her good hand and heaved herself up, mentally cursing Kuzon for being so mysterious again.

They walked into the cool shade of the cave. Kuzon had bought three friends with him from the colonies, and all of them were in the cave. Toph was a short, pale girl, currently slumped on what looked like a very uncomfortable bed of rocks whilst picking her nose. She had quite strong-looking arms for someone who didn't seem to do a lot. Then there was Katara, that caramel-skinned girl that always had Kuzon's eye. Despite Onji's jealousy of the girl in almost every way, Katara was a very welcoming and friendly person…which was somehow harder for Onji to stomach. If she were rude and unpleasant, it would at least give her an excuse to dislike her.

The last one was Sokka, Katara's brother. Despite being the eldest of the foursome, Onji found it very hard to take the young man seriously…especially since his sister was presently tussling with a pair of shears in an attempt to hack apart a fake beard that had become completely stuck to his face.

"You actually glued it on?" Katara said, growing more and more impatient with the cumbersome shears. "I thought you were kidding!"

"Ow! Hey, I didn't know how strong it was!" Sokka retorted, looking uneasily at the sweeping blades so close to his skin. "I asked for glue, the shop-keeper provided it, I'm an innocent customer!"

"Somehow, 'idiot' just isn't a big enough word for you," Katara said dryly. "Why didn't you tell us about this earlier?"

"Cos you guys would make fun of me. Come to think of it, why are YOU so quiet?" he said, looking at Toph. "No smart name-calling?"

Toph snorted. "Sokka, you've already called yourself Wang Fire. When I can top that, I'll let you know."

Kuzon laughed. Even Onji couldn't help but giggle a little.

Katara looked up, almost clipping off Sokka's nose in her distraction and earning a distressed yelp of protest. "Oh hey Aa-…Kuzon," she said. "You two had any luck?"

"We're…working on it," Kuzon said, and Onji felt heat rise to her face. "We're just taking a break."

"Okay then. Water's just over there," Katara said, nodding towards a large bucket of fresh water in the corner of the cave.

Kuzon smiled at her and led Onji over to the bucket, dipping a cup into the water and taking a long gulp. He was sweating quite a lot. Why on earth was he wearing his full school uniform on a day like this anyway? Onji was at least in the sleeveless version, and had rolled up her trousers to give her shins some air. Kuzon however was completely covered, and clearly uncomfortable.

"You look hot," Onji said. Her face flushed. "T-temperature-wise, that is!"

Toph went "Ha!" from somewhere behind her.

"Do I?" Kuzon said. "Err…well, I feel fine. Nice and cool, not hot at all." He took another heavy gulp of water.

"You know…you can at least take off the headband," Onji said. "I promise, I won't make fun of you for your scar."

"I'd…really rather not," Kuzon said awkwardly, tugging his headband down slightly to make absolutely certain it was covering his forehead. "Sorry."

Onji sighed, knowing it wouldn't be that easy to see his scar. "Well, what about your arms? They must be chafing."

"Err," Kuzon rubbed his arms uncomfortably. "Okay, I'll be honest…I have…a few scars."

"What, on both arms?"

"Yeah…"

"And both legs?"

"Umm…yeah."

"Wow. What did you do?"

Kuzon's friends all looked at them, and seemed to go tense. Kuzon stammered.

"I…err…w-well, it was a…"

The three friends all finished his sentence at once…each differently.

"House fire!" Katara said.

"Platypus bear!" said Toph.

"Wooly-pig stampede!" Sokka exclaimed the loudest. Everyone gave him an odd look. "…what? Could happen."

"Is any of that true?" Onji said, having a peculiar feeling she was being mocked.

"Well…kind of none of them…kind of all three…" Kuzon said. This seemed to make about as much sense to him as it did to Onji, because he immediately facepalmed. "Look, I'd rather not talk about it."

Onji hesitated, unsure whether to argue his persistence to be an utter mystery to her. But for now, she just nodded. "Okay, I understand."

"Thanks," Kuzon said. "Now come on. Ready to give it another try?"

Onji winced, having almost forgotten about the chakra. "Well…okay. I guess I could give it another go."

"That's the spirit," Kuzon said brightly, glad to be off the topic of his scars. "Drink up, and let's go!"

He headed back towards the mouth of the cave, and the beach beyond. Onji looked down into her cup of rippling water and took a long gulp, savouring the cool moisture.

Because in a few moments, she'd be back in that terrible memory.

So, there you go! Just a little something to get back into the story until I can sit down and really plan what I want to happen next.

Sorry for the long wait (if anyone is still watching this XD; )!