Okay, here' s chapter 5, after so long I had to reread this story to see where I had wanted to go with it. I had written another chapter a long time ago, but I think I lost it in the shuffle, and therefore couldn't post I don't expect much feedback, ya lily-livers! ;) J/k. I'm trying to write for myself, and this seemed like it might work.

Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender does not belong to me now, nor will it in the future, unless the creators scout out my "talents" and recruit me in the future. :p I kid, but one can dream!

Ch.5

Zuko found himself staring at his guide's back, senses on fire as the two further removed themselves from the heart of the city. Time seemed to pass slowly as they walked through different neighborhoods, homes getting plainer and plainer as they progressed. Cautiously, Zuko began to slow his pace, noting the unnatural silence as they continued on. Where was she taking him? Zuko thought, briefly wondering if he had been fooled by her pretty face.

Zuko paused for a second, taking a moment to get familiar with his surroundings as he felt the unpleasant shiver of venomous eyes on his back and the town citizens cowering in fear as they caught the glint of the twin swords strapped across his form. The girl hesitated in her steps, before glancing one way and than the other and taking a firm step back, his arm in her hand.

"This way," she all but whispered, and Zuko paused, clearly expecting this to be some sort of trap. Not even chancing the possibility that he may be wrong Zuko leapt towards her and took her arm firmly in his calloused hands.

"Alright girl," he fairly hissed,"Playtimes over." The girl stumbled back and looked at him with true fear in her soft face. Zuko hated that look. Noticing his harshness, the young prince winced and backed away from her, shaking his head in disgust. He hadn't reacted that way in months.

"I'm s-"

Before he had time to finish he heard a muffled cry from the young guide.

"Watch out!" she called as Zuko sensed a hostile presence behind him. With one fair sweep, he pulled out his swords and spun them until a distinct clang was heard as it met resistance of another blade. He opened his eyes to see the shady merchant from the market and gasped.

"You!" Zuko cried in indignation.

"Yes...Me Prince ZUKO." he sneered, and the merchant swished his blade around, separating there blades from one another in order to move in for another attack. Almost too quick to see the man changed his position and went in for another attack. He was not trying to kill, no not yet, as he could get much more reward if the boy was alive, but he wasn't about to go easy on him.

Zuko blocked effectively, enough force in his attack to throw off the man's balance just a tad.

"Who are you?"Zuko asked, "and what do you want from me?"

"Don't you remember?" the man asked, when Zuko looked at him blankly, the man pulled up his sleeve to reveal a long thin burn across his forearm. "Well I suppose not," he smirked, "you were just a child, no more than five years old when your gift was revealed to me." he paused, " or shall I say on?" Zuko blinked , somewhat surprised at the revelation. Shifting through his childhood memories, Zuko searched for the day his gift was revealed. After what seemed like forever, the long forgotten memory had been revealed to him.

Zuko had just left his mother's chamber, red from the top of his head to the tip of his toes. He was five years old now! He didn't need to be hugged like a baby. On the way to his room, he had tripped over one of the guards feet. Startled the drunken man stood up from his unceremonious position on the floor.

"What?"the man screeched in a slurred, yet familiar voice, a very familiar voice, noticing the small figure who stumbled away, the tall guard quickly grabbed him by the collar and stared at him blankly, "What do we have here? A fire-nation runt?"

Zuko struggled from the mans grasp, trying to free himself from his entanglement. "Lemme go? Lemme go you big bully! My father won't let you get away with this!"

And the man sneered, "Like he cares about a fire-less whelp such as yourself."

Little Zuko was furious, never had received such disrespect, and the way this man spoke about his father like that. How dare he!

"You 're wrong! " The child hissed, "My father cares about me!"

These men had laughed at him before, and he had gotten angry. After all he was a fire prince that couldn't bend. He had heard the rumors. His father was ashamed of that, furious that his son couldn't bend. Nonetheless, these men didn't need to rub it in.

"Take it back! Take it back!" he cried again, hurt and furious at these men and there claims. No more laughing he thought to him self, I am the Firelord's son, I am proud, I am strong, I will prove my worth to these men, and it was if a light shone. Zuko didn't know what it was, but at that moment, something in him changed. Maybe it was the time, maybe it was the irritation, maybe it was the sorrow he felt for his mother sadness, but whatever it was he felt a heat that had lain dormant rise to the surface in anticipation.

"You're wrong!" he fairly snarled and it was as if an explosion went off. A moment later his captor released him, crying out in pain as the white hot heat seared into his flesh.

"Ahh!" the guard cried, dropping the boy and staring at the bubbling skin that had since burned away.

A deafening silence seemed to fall across the present, and for a moment the guards forgot to breathe. Zuko himself was shocked at the outcome of his outburst what had occurred. He had felt that heat before, many, many times, but until now he had never known why.

"He bends!" One of the guards gasped as soon as he managed to recover from the shock, and the little boy looked at his hand as if it was a distant object before turning around and hurriedly rushing towards his room.

Father would not be pleased.

The guide who had somehow escaped notice from the attacker, gasped as she heard the story. Never would she have guessed her tag a long's identity, had she not heard it with her own two ears. This was the Fire Prince, the famed young man who had been banished from his land on an impossible task, only to disappear the day of the Solar Eclipse. He was alive, and he was here. Why? The girl watched in anticipation as the young prince shook his head, not noticing when his father's guard raised his weapon with intent to kill.

"No!" she unwittingly called out, and Zuko widened his eyes, just as the sword was about to cleave off his ear. Hitting the ground with an ungraceful fall, Zuko barely managed to roll out of the way, as the sword had been buried into the part of the ground his body had just been.

What was she still doing here? He cried in his head.

The attacker paused just long enough for the young prince to gain his bearings, clearly surprised he had noticed the girl before. Using the distraction to his advantage, Zuko smiled as Iroh's words floated in his mind.

Remember you basics...

Zuko quickly got on his hands and swept his long legs in a circle, effectively tripping the man who had come at him. Gaining the upper hand, Zuko scrambled on top of his attacker, effectively preventing any attempts to counter attack.

Looking pointedly at his escort, Zuko tossed her Sokka's bag and used his free arm to point her towards the path that they had come.

"Go!" cried the handsome young man, though he had the upper hand, the man was struggling ferociously and Zuko wasn't sure how much longer he could hold him down,"Find some help and get my friends! They'll be at the entrance of the village with a giant bison!"

The young girl just stared at him as if he was an alien. Bison, she thought to her self, does that mean...

"Well don't just stand there!" Zuko cried exasperatedly, "GET THE AVATAR!" emphasizing the urgency, Zuko threw a fire ball towards an abandoned building.

"The girl shook her head in response, Zuko WAS friend's with the Avatar! "Ah...yes!" she cried, and with that she spun around, flying in the direction in which the young prince had pointed.

Keeping his ears open to make sure she was gone, Zuko felt a burden lift as the distant pounding of her feet became more and more faint, until he could here nothing but the sound of creaking posts, and a bit of wind brushing across his form. Pleased, Zuko smiled faintly and focused his attention on the task at hand.

"Now," he smirked wickedly, voice laced with dark intent, "Where were we?"

With that Zuko raised his fist above his victim's head, hot with yellow fire.

To Be Continued...

And so there we have it, I was thinking about making the girl captured by a deranged ex-boyfriend, but that was just too over the top. :p No need to turn this into American Psycho...yet. J/k Next chapter switches perspectives once or and sees the gang!