disclaimer: Mike and Bryan own the ATLA universe; Mariko belongs to me (: enjoy!

Tree-Hugging Vigilante Secrets

"Walking stinks! How do people get around without a flying bison?" The young Avatar complained.

"It helps to not think about it much, actually," the older girl of the group offered absently as she walked at the back next to said oversized beast.

"Were you a nomad before we met, then, Mari?" The younger girl wondered, glancing back at hearing her speak for the first time since they'd left their campsite.

She shrugged, "I guess you could call it that. I've been on my own for the past three years, and it didn't bother me as much as you'd think it would."

"No wonder you're weird." The older boy of their group grumbled.

Having overheard him, Mariko pursed her lips, tipping her chin up with a huff. "Oi, Aang, to answer your question, let's ask Sokka's instincts! They seem to know just about anything and everything a fifteen-year-old would know," she said brightly, noting the older boy stiffened slightly at her sarcasm.

"Haha, very funny," Sokka rolled his eyes.

"I'm tired of carrying this pack," Aang groused.

Katara was next, "You know who you should ask to carry the pack for a while? Sokka's instincts!" She said in the same bright tone.

"That's a great idea! Hey, Sokka's instincts, would you mind…?"

"Okay, okay, I get it! Look, I'm tired too, but the important thing is that we're safe from the Fire… Nation…" His instincts weren't too sharp, were they?

An encampment of soldiers awaited them in the clearing, the occupants donning that familiar crimson red; life stilled in the clearing as the occupants slowly turned their sights onto the quartet of teenagers.

A squeaked out 'run!' sounded from the appointed leader of their group before a fireball jetted past them to ignite a bush, forcing the quartet to be caged in; putting out the growing embers that had caught onto the boy's blue sleeve, the four teenagers shifted into stances.

"If you let us pass, we promise not to hurt you!" Sokka wagered.

Mariko wanted to slap her forehead. "That's the worst bluff I've ever heard!" She hissed from her spot between him and Aang.

"What're you doing?" Katara hissed at him.

"Bluffing," Sokka answered in the same tone.

"You, promise not to hurt us?" The soldier that looked to be in charge, a captain or lieutenant, if she had to guess, drawled, before he suddenly fell forward onto the ground.

"Nice one, Sokka!" Aang smiled.

Mariko drew a dagger from her belt, "That wasn't him." She mused grimly.

"Look!" Katara pointed to the trees behind the campsite, earning the trio to follow her extended finger's trajectory.

A blur of red and brown dropped down with two swords in hand, knocking down two soldiers and then taking another two and knocking them down on either side of their leader so all three lay sprawled.

"You make it look too easy," the older girl huffed, slipping away from her place to join the brawl and lunge at the soldier nearest, a boot connecting with his jaw and knocking him back to crash into a tent, nimbly swerving to the right to evade a ball of fire sent in her direction; she smirked a little, running towards the offensive firebender and dodging the fire he sent in a vain attempt to burn her, perking up as a curved sword yanked the firebender's wrist sharply to the left, pulling his body with it, knocking him on his face.

The once-blur of red and brown took the shape of a lanky boy with bushy brown hair and deep-set brown eyes, a stalk of wheat in the corner of his mouth; he smirked at her. "Hey."

Mariko eased her stance and flicked her wrist, sheathing the dagger and scowling. "That would've been my kill if your bent sword didn't get in the way. Next time watch it, tree boy." She sniffed, striding up to him to poke his chest with a finger, before walking away to her friends.

"Mariko, what was that for? He just saved us!" Katara reproached as soon as she neared her, glancing over her shoulder.

The older girl glanced back to see he was coming near them and she bristled, huffing. "So what? We could've handled these idiots; besides, I don't need my skin saved by some tree-hugging hotshot." She bit out, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well that's cold, judging me before you even know my name." The boy in question declared in mock hurt as he stood before both girls.

"Pfft, please," Mariko rolled her eyes, stomping away to go check on the two boys in their group. "Oi, Sokka, remind me to brain you next time you call out a crappy bluff like the one you did earlier." She said when she neared her age-mate.

Sokka made a face that earned an amused smirk from the girl, huffing. "Well how was I supposed to know those soldiers were here?" He groused.

"Because the universe loves to screw with you," Mariko said off-handedly, looking over to see the youngest member of their group talking animatedly with two of the boys that accompanied the 'tree-hugging hotshot'; she rolled her eyes again, offering a slight smile at his effortless way of making friends.

It was a few minutes later that she noticed the guys in his group were busy rifling through the soldiers' supplies lying around the campsite; she lifted one brow, glancing to the shade of a nearby tree to see Katara talking with said boy, shaking her head a little and deciding to go gather the younger girl so they could leave before they were asked to stick around.

Something about this guy ruffled her feathers, and not in the good way, either.

"Making friends?" She asked blandly, coming to stand near her fellow female.

The younger girl smiled at her, "Mari, this's Jet, and the guys he's with are his Freedom Fighters. Isn't that cool?" She introduced.

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, "Yeah, amazing. Look, I hate to break up the little conquest-after-party, but we need to get moving." She said sarcastically, grabbing the younger girl's wrist and starting to leave.

"What's the hurry? Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark," The christened Jet challenged behind her.

Mariko looked at him over her shoulder to see he had an amused and lazy smirk on his lips; she turned to face him, an annoyed scowl crossing her pretty face. "No, I just have a problem with jerk-offs that think they can swoop a girl off her feet with a killer smile; by the way, don't ever think you can pull that crap with me. Got it?" She gave him one of her most dangerous glares.

Jet raised a hand in defense, the amusement gone from his small smirk. "You got it, Your Highness." He half-joked wryly.

::::::::dOb::::::::

"You're back early."

He looked up to see her drop down from one of the lines, landing nimbly and coming to sit with him. He lowered his gaze, "Shouldn't you be fawning over that idiot?" He wondered.

She plonked down next to him, slugging him lightly. "Guys like that make me sick. What's with you, though; you look a little more sullen than you did yesterday." She replied, watching him rub his arm gently.

He began to answer when the airbender dropped down infront of them, looking happy as a clam.

"Sokka, Mari, look what The Duke gave me!" Aang giggled, pulling out a small berry-sized ball from his pocket and grinning playfully as he tossed it at Momo's footing, watching sparks fly from the broken ball, to which the lemur hissed like a cat and then hopped up to grab the rest of them and chuck them at his footing, making the boy yelp out 'Ow' a few times.

Mariko rolled her eyes, smirking gently before Katara came down from their temporary hut, looking around for someone; she lifted a brow.

"Hey guys, is Jet back?" Katara asked curiously (the older girl now noticed she was holding something behind her back).

"Yeah he is, but we're leaving!" Sokka answered stiffly, making both younger members of their group perk up.

"'Leaving'?" Aang and Katara asked in chorus.

Mariko smiled brightly, "Good." The sooner they left, the better.

"But I just made him this hat!" Katara made a face, showing a poofy red hat that earned a slight grimace from her fellow girl.

"Your boyfriend Jet's a thug," Sokka informed darkly, scowling.

"What? No he's not," she defended quickly.

"He's messed up, Katara," he rebutted.

"No he's not; Jet's just got a different way of life, a really fun way of life." Aang added.

Sokka scowled again, "He beat and harmed an innocent old man!" He stated.

Mariko scowled slightly, straightening. "I knew there was something off about him."

"I want to hear Jet's side of the story," Katara said stubbornly, folding her arms.

Several minutes passed as they went to go confront said boy about his deed, half the group distrusting, the other half wanting to believe he was right.
"I knew there was an explanation." Katara sighed in relief once everything was settled.

Mariko stepped away to yank the dagger out of the stump, examining the blade. "It looks more like something he'd keep on his person to protect himself in the wild; I can see why, though." She added the last bit sorely, shooting him a look.

Jet raised a brow, "What's that mean?" He asked, playing dumb.

"Don't act stupid. Even though you're trying to justify mugging an old man, you can't deny that you threatened to hurt him." Mariko bit out accusingly.

"Mariko, Jet wouldn't do such a thing." Katara declared behind her.

She huffed, turning to her. "Believe what you want to believe, but I know a liar when I see one. I'm heading back to the hut." She stated, not sparing the boy another look as she left the hut stiff-leggedly.

She half-wondered if the spirits were doing this just to screw with her patience; even if they were, they sure were doing a mucked-up job of it.

::::::::dOb::::::::

"Come on, move along!"

She peered around the tree's width to see them leading him further and further along the beaten path.

Something fishy had been going on since they'd had that talk with Jet the night before, and going on instincts, she had tailed Sokka as he'd snuck out to tail Jet, Smellerbee, Pipsqueak and a few other boys; she'd kept her distance though, for fear of being found out.

So far she remained out of sight and out of range, luckily.

"Listen, Sokka, Jet's a great leader; we follow what he says, and things always turn out okay." Pipsqueak's deep voice pointed out as she hopped onto the next tree's farthest-reaching branch and landed neatly.

Deeming it was time to show, Mariko swung down from one lower branch and then another until she was closer to the ground by at least six feet; she felt the fire rekindle and ignite sharply in her belly, inhaling and then exhaling softly, leaping the remaining feet down.

"Except for today that is." She called leisurely, making all three teens turn to see her standing there; she smirked. "Liars are liars true and true, even unto the grave." She swung out her right foot, sending a sharp jet of orange flames to divide Smellerbee and Pipsqueak from Sokka.

"You're a firebender?" Sokka demanded in shock, watching her ease her stance, practically seeing the fire that had swelled inside her shining brilliantly in her amber eyes.

Mariko shrugged lightly, "I'll explain later, for now, duck!" She ordered, dodging the lunge Smellerbee attempted, her own dagger coming up to block her sharp swing.

"I thought there was something off about you; too pretty, too cocky to be a simple girl!" Smellerbee bit out venomously, shoving her weight onto the girl.

Mariko scowled blankly at her, her left ankle connecting with her skinny right leg and twisting her so she was knocked back to crash into a tree hard, her head drooping down.

A loud snarl sounded from the right as Pipsqueak came barreling forward, his tree-branch club brandished; she ducked the clumsy swings he sent, ducking lower on one particular swing so she twisted on her right heel and formed a ring of fire to lash out and send him reeling back for fear of being burned.

The nimble firebender bolted forward and sucker-punched him hard right between the eyes with her extended left fist, hopping off him as the big Freedom Fighter fell like a sack of rocks onto the ground.

Mariko dusted herself off, huffing. "Some Freedom Fighters," she muttered, trodding over to her friend. "Sokka, you okay?" She asked.

Sokka gave her a scowl, crossing his arms, "Why didn't you say you were a firebender? Why didn't you tell us?" He demanded, seeing her pause.

She lowered her gaze, amber eyes saddening a little. "I thought you guys would hate me if I told you that I was from the Fire Nation. Sokka, I didn't want to lie to you, or Katara and Aang. I never meant to hurt you, okay? I swear." She looked up at him with sincerity in her stare, holding his blue gaze.

He searched her face for any sign that she was lying, that she was just like the rest of them… but came up short: she was telling the truth.

Sokka looked away briefly, shutting his eyes closed; he exhaled steadily. "Okay, okay. I… I believe you."

Mariko's face brightened; she beamed, throwing her arms around him in a brief hug that left him blushing, pulling back to smile. "Thank you, Sokka!" She saw him look away again out of embarrassment and giggled, smiling again. "Come on, we've got a town to warn, right?" She asked.

Both teenagers set off to go warn the Earth Kingdom town, vainly hoping they could get there before all hell broke loose on the valley.

Mariko placed a hand on her shoulder, meeting her blue eyes. "You alright?" She asked.

Katara cast her gaze down briefly, fiddling with her skirt hem, "Mari, I owe you an apology. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I was being stupid and getting ahead of myself… Are we still friends?" She asked, looking up at her beneath her brow tentatively.

She smiled softly, nodding. "Friends." She retracted her hand, sitting back against the saddle. "Don't beat yourself up over him, though, Kat; guys like that aren't worth the misery." She added, running a hand through her hair she'd pulled out of the loose ponytail.

"Ms. Advice-Column, isn't there something you want to tell them?" Sokka called from the front seat, having been steering the bison in the wrong direction until Aang commented on his error, now steering in the right direction.

"Oh, right." Mariko sent him a look and made a note to beat him upside the head later on, exhaling and looking to both Aang and Katara; she flicked her wrist, summoning a small spout of fire to appear in her right palm.

Twin gasps of surprise escaped the young duo; "You're a firebender!" "Why didn't you tell us before?"

She extinguished the flames with ease, sighing. "I didn't think you would want me around if you found out. I've been keeping it a secret ever since we met, until today." She looked at their appointed leader. "I used it to save Sokka's neck, earlier, when Smellerbee and Pipsqueak had him. And I used it the other day with the pirates, and Zuko." A sad light appeared on her face when she said his name, lowering her gaze to the dark gray color of her pants.

"Are you kidding? This is great! That means you can teach me firebending!" Aang chirped, perking her ears.

Mariko blinked once at his exclamation before her face softened and she smiled wryly. "You think so, huh?" At his vigorous nod, she chuckled, "It's not easy, I'll give you that; it took me at least a few years to get the basics mastered. Though once you master waterbending, I'll see if you're ready for me to teach you. How's that sound?" He was too eager to learn firebending, but she knew he had to at least master water and earth before learning fire; it would probably be a while before he could master the lattermost.

"I kinda wanted to learn it early, but if that's what you think, then I'll try that first." Aang nodded again, getting a slightly sheepish look on his face. "Um, so should I start calling you Cifu Mariko?" He asked.

The older girl blinked again before she laughed quietly, smiling. "Just master waterbending first, then we'll talk about nicknames, Aang." She said, to which he pouted a little before complying with her advice.

A/N: don't fret, we'll be seeing Mr. Trouble again. okay, the review thing isn't mandatory, but it would feel nice to see i didn't make this a failure attempt. anyway, i've got almost ten chapters covered so i'm going to try and keep the updates regular.

oh and to answer Guest, that's going to come up but prolly not until book 3 (i'm covering all three books, btw). i've got a little twist planned for book 3, and another twist for book 2.. am i going to tell you? of course not, what kind of writer do you take me for~? ;D
i will offer a couple of hints though:

Book II - Jin isn't the only Number-One-Customer at Zuko and Iroh's teashop

Book III - Mariko's homecoming