1. Awakening

**Chapter One**

**Awakening**

How long had it been since she had felt the wind on her face? Since she had seen the sky, felt the rays of the sun caress her skin? How long would it be until she felt it all again?

She was captured in some inner bliss, floating in some ethereal space not known by everyone. There was no word for this joy she felt, and yet, she was impatient to taste life again. To experience its triumphs and its disasters. But no, she had promised-

Don't think about it. Don't think about any of it, she told herself. Thinking about it would only shatter the existence she had right now. Even now, the outside world was only a faint memory of color. The only color she knew now was the color of sleep, but you couldn't' really call it sleep.

Focus on the inside, she said to herself. Feel the peace of looking inwards, pay no attention to anything else because it will only distract you from the greater goal. Focus, focus, focus-

The summons came abruptly. Energy coursed through her spirit in a crackling of blue light. For the first time in many, many years, she opened her eyes, but all she could see was a blinding blue light. All she could feel was rage and hate directed towards…the Fire Nation? Yes, she wanted to rend them apart and watch them all die a painful death for hurting the ones she loved.

But the ones she loved had all died a long time ago. And the Fire Nation did nothing to harm anybody, didn't they? They were a peaceful group, so why did she hate them so much?

Then, as suddenly as it came, the energy vanished. She was certain, though, that it was the summons. How else was she able to feel things she hadn't been able to feel for many years? How was she able to open her eyes when she had only just existed before? How could she see light when all had been dark before?

She exhaled carefully, letting out the air that had been trapped in her lungs for hundreds of years. Dust rose from the sudden disturbance, reminding her of how long she had probably been asleep. She took another breath, reveling in the control that she had over her breathing. Suddenly she was afraid. What if she breathed all the air available within a few breaths? There had to be a way out of this dark, cramped space she had occupied. She wouldn't have let them put her in here otherwise, would she?

_Calm down, she_ told herself_. You'll get out of here soon enough. You just have to remember. Remember, remember, remember. _She chanted that word in her mind like a prayer. Her memories came trickling back, but painfully slow. She was aware that there wasn't much time until she ran out of oxygen, but she couldn't panic. If she did, it would be so much harder to focus.

There! That was the memory she needed. There was a button in the wall somewhere in front of her. That button would unlock the door in front of her, letting it swing open. Out of desperation, she recklessly lit a fireball to give her light; aware that fire would burn up the oxygen in the room quicker than she would. There was the button, a large, brutish thing, but she had no time to waste thinking about its aesthetic appeal. She smacked it with her palm, and the door opened with a long, painful creak. Greedily, she breathed in the fresh air, so different from the stale air she had been accustomed to.

Unfortunately, another problem presented itself when she discovered that her clothes had deteriorated over the years as well. Her once practical, white, homespun robe had become an ash-colored rag with pieces falling off. That wouldn't do if she was to go into town again. She didn't want to seem like a beggar.

The stone felt cool underneath her feet as she stepped gingerly out onto the floor outside her prison. That reminded her that her shoes had decayed as well. So many things had to be acquired if she was to fit in this time. Speaking of time, her hair had apparently grown quite a bit while she had been in her slumber, but not as much as it could have, given the length of time. Now it was waist-length and contrasted starkly with her white skin, bleached from years of no contact with the sun. And she hadn't even reached a mirror yet. What must her face look like?

The hall was quiet when she looked around, searching for signs of life. When she was last conscious, this hallway had been fairly busy. Apparently, this outpost had been abandoned many years ago, for the floor was thick with dust and she heard several somethings skitter across the floor. She felt as if something wasn't right, but brushed the feeling away. After all, there could be several reasons why the building was empty. Her greatest inconvenience was finding the necessities on her own, since her memory wasn't the best.

She groped her way down the hall, not wanting to light anything in case someone saw, though how someone would be around to see anything was beyond her. At last she came out in what must have been the main room, for it was grand still. It had a kind of haunting beauty to it, but she felt as if she shouldn't stay long. Fortunately, the supply room was right off of the main room, so she hurried there quickly.

It was still intact, though the previous inhabitants had probably taken all of the valuable things on their journey elsewhere. All of the scrolls were gone, as were the gold decorations and the lovely fabrics which had made that outpost famous. It was only by chance that she found a box hidden away under rubbish heaps-made by the flurry of packing, no doubt, because she never knew them to be messy people-containing a store of clothing and coins of small denominations.

To her disappointment, the clothing was not what she would have normally worn, but at least it wasn't male clothing. It was a blue dress, complete with white borders and a white sash. She appreciated the fact that it was reasonably new and was even in her size. There was also a red handkerchief in there which she tore up into strips to tie her hair back into pigtails, although they were very long ones. She couldn't bring herself to cut her hair, especially since she knew it would take such a long time to grow it back. For shoes, she found a pair of well-made leather slippers, although they were a bit large. It was sheer fortune that everything seemed to be going her way with a minimal amount of effort. Almost too lucky.

She tucked the coins in her sash and took the last item in the box, a canteen with a long strap, for good measure. She didn't feel disturbed at taking the items. The elders of the outpost had promised her that they would provide everything that she needed when she surfaced, but as they were not there, she was entitled to whatever she could find. She was only puzzled as to why they were not there.

Almost timidly, she approached the door leading out of the main room and into the outside world. The sunlight almost overwhelmed her when she finally pushed the door open, but with the light came the rest of her memories.

"My name is Sakuyo," she began, her voice squeaky from disuse. "And I am the sixty-fifth Avatar."

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I'm just putting this out here to see if people are receptive to this idea. More will come later, if I get enough reviews, but I'm hoping that you all like the idea. Recognize the outfit? Picture what Katara wears, and you'll get a general idea of it, if you don't. 


	2. Orientation

**Chapter Two**

**Orientation**

Rocks crunched under Sakuyo's slipper-shod feet as she walked down the slope that the outpost was located on. There was a village nearby, she remembered, but it was just a small one. Why did the outpost choose to locate itself here, though? The village was once home to an Avatar, the eighty-seventh one, to be exact. Perhaps they would be hospitable to her since she personally knew her, although that Avatar was only a child when she last saw her.

The ground beneath her gave way and she fell through air and mud. Too late she remembered that the sky was clear and there was some wind, as it only could be after it had rained. The ground was unstable here because of the outpost's basement and other underground areas, and when wet, it was just even more unstable. Her walking on the ground triggered a mini landslide, apparently. Sakuyo groaned. She had no time for this!

"Come on," she said to herself. "Put your arms down by your sides, ball your hands into fists, and…pull up!" The wet earth hardened in place and formed a bit of a ledge at the bottom of the hill. She broke free of the dried earth and slid onto the ledge. Once there, the girl looked up. The landslide had carried her the rest of the way down.

"I'm getting slow," she grumbled. "Years of sleeping aren't good on the reflexes. At least I got down quicker, but look at this mess!" She was referring to the mud stains over her once clean blue dress. Even the dark blue pants that went under them were dirty now.

"Well, I can't go into town like this," she decided. "If I make it there, that is. Now let's see. Is there a river nearby or will I have to do something to make one?" She felt around with her senses for running water. The nearest source of water was about a hundred yards away. She settled for walking. After all, she could use some exercise after all that sleeping.

Sakuyo hummed a little as she walked in the direction of the water. The sound was jarring to her ears, since she had become used to the absence of human voice. Nevertheless, it was comforting to her to keep making some sort of sound to assure herself that she was still living. The water was quite close now; she could hear the rushing hiss of it. There was only one more hill to walk over and then she would be there.

Nothing could have prepared her for the sight that confronted her eyes when she broke free of the forest surrounding her. The ocean lay there before her, shining in all its glory as if it knew she had not seen such a sight for a long time. She slowed to a complete stop, staring at the ocean, devouring it with her eyes. She was filled with a hunger to see things as they were now, since her memory of the world was probably inaccurate.

"I see you haven't changed much, old friend," she said, blinking back sudden tears in her eyes. The ocean made no reply.

Sakuyo tentatively reached out a hand, palm up, and curled her fingers in as if beckoning someone to come. A finger of water rose up and lazily flew in her direction. It hovered above her clenched fist, waiting for orders. She could still waterbend after all. The girl couldn't hold herself in anymore. Cheering wildly, she plunged into the water.

The liquid embraced her like a living thing. Contentedly, she floated on her back, staring dreamily up at the clouds. Who knew the sky could be so blue? _Well, of course it could still be blue_, she chided herself. _Don't think that you're so important as to make the world collapse if you go away for some time. _With that thought, she immediately stood up.

"What am I thinking?" she said grumpily. "You'll probably catch a cold if you stay in the water forever, Sakuyo." Grudgingly, she waded to shore. Once there, she quickly whipped up a strong wind that left her dry-and clean, as was her original purpose.

"Civilization, civilization," she said, reminding herself of the main goal of her search. She was now walking along the shoreline, watching the water go in and out. It was vaguely comforting, in a way. "If I were a town, I would build myself near a source of water. Well, all rivers lead to the ocean. I might as well start here."

As if answering her wishes, she heard stones behind her crunch. Sakuyo pretended not to hear and continued walking forward, talking to herself all the while. Luckily, the sun was behind her, so she could see the person's shadow as he or she stalked her. The person was carrying something short in his or her hands. Perhaps a dagger? A telltale rush of air warned her.

Quickly, she stepped aside and saw a blur of green and black rush by. Discreetly, she manipulated the air so that the person would trip. The figure did so, but tripped directly into the water with a big splash. Spluttering, the person sat up in the water, completely soaked. She appeared to be a girl wearing some sort of costume she recognized as the uniform of the warriors of Kyoshi. The objects she had thought were daggers were actually folded fans.

"What the-" she spluttered. "Do you know how long it takes this outfit to dry out? And my fans! I'll have to make new ones if the fabric's ruined. And don't get me started on my makeup."

"I'm sure you'll tell me all about it," Sakuyo said drolly, observing the girl splash around in a disgruntled way.

"That's right! My makeup takes me almost an hour to put on. An hour! And this kind of white makeup is hard to produce. Do you know how rude it is for you to just trip me without any regard for my outfit?" She looked close to throwing a temper tantrum.

"It's also rude for you to sneak up on me with the intention of attacking me," the teenager pointed out pleasantly. Now that she had some time to examine her attacker's face, she was glad that she hadn't done something more drastic. The girl looked to be around eleven or twelve, which was why she didn't possess much of the typical warrior stoicism she had become accustomed to. It was quite refreshing, actually.

"You might have been a trespasser," she said in a slightly more subdued way. "Suki always says that anyone unknown is a trespasser."

"When you're finished giving excuses, would you be so kind as to direct me to Kyoshi?" Sakuyo asked. The girl stood up and slogged her way towards land.

"What's your purpose in Kyoshi?" she asked suspiciously. "For all I know, you could be a Fire Nation spy." Wow… Kyoshi's people hadn't been this afraid of outsiders when she had last been here. But why the Fire Nation in particular? Before she could answer, though, the girl's eyes lit up.

"Suki!" she cried, looking at someone beyond her. While keeping the first girl in sight, she turned and looked over her shoulder. A girl dressed in the same way as Suki, but a bit older, was coming down the shoreline towards them from the opposite direction the she had been traveling.

"Mina, I told you to stay with the rest of the group," Suki said reprimandingly, eyeing Sakuyo warily.

"I threw my fan into the bushes by accident, Suki, and I saw her," the girl pointed at her. "I thought she was an enemy."

"I most certainly am not!" Sakuyo protested.

"I can see that," Suki said. "You're Water Tribe, aren't you? Mina, a Fire Nation soldier would never stoop so low as to disguise herself as a Water Tribe girl." The girl bowed her head and shuffled her feet in an embarrassed way.

"Sorry, miss," she said abashedly.

"Did you lose track of your tribe?" Suki turned to her.

"Um, yes," she said, deciding to play along with the idea of being Water Tribe. After all, she had lived with one or two in her lifetime. "There was a storm, and we were separated. They might come looking for me."

"My mother would never forgive me if I let you go off in the wilderness by yourself," Suki said, smiling kindly. "Come with us to Kyoshi. I'm sure that you'll like it there." Sakuyo willingly followed the other two.

"Mina, you might as well not waste any more makeup and let your uniform dry," the older girl said. "Go practice by yourself." Mina went away, grumbling to herself and casting backward glances at the duo. Sakuyo decided to take a chance on a question.

"Do you know what year it is?" Suki eyed her strangely, but complied.

"You must have been isolated living up at the North Pole with your tribe," she said. "It's the year 2376, exactly a hundred years after the war started." The other girl decided not to ask about the war. It had been such a very long time since she had first put herself to sleep.

"Can I ask how old you are?" Suki asked her. "You look about my age."

"I'm sixteen," she said, deciding to stick to her basic age. The warrior studied her face thoughtfully, but said nothing as they entered town.

"Welcome to Kyoshi."

It's sort of short, and I'm sorry that it took so long, but I'm doing a lot of things on the side. I hope that you enjoy and I'll try to update more often.

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Thanks to:

**Khazia**: Thank you so much for your comments. I would be interested in seeing your immortal story as well.

**Plutobaby494**: Aang will be in this story, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Aang won't find out that there's another Avatar until later in the story.


	3. Encounters

**Sakuyo**

**Chapter Three**

**Encounters **

It really was very easy to get into the good graces of Suki's mother, as Sakuyo later found. All she had had to do was tell her about what had "happened" to her family and the woman became teary-eyed. She insisted that she had to stay with Suki and her, and wouldn't take no for an answer, not that Sakuyo objected. The village accepted her quickly after that, and she seemed to be well off in their hands.

Her days consisted of watching Suki and the rest of Kyoshi's warriors train themselves and occasionally being trained by them. The children of the village soon had her playing with them, during which she discovered she had missed human contact while in her unconscious state. She kept herself from Bending any element, though, because it would attract attention. To the inhabitants of Kyoshi, she would just appear to be a shipwrecked Water Tribe girl, alone in the world and cut off from the rest of her tribe.

But it was not what she had awoken for, and she began to grow uncomfortable with having nothing to do. Suki noticed her discomfort and sent her with a few other girls to explore the island, thinking that she was merely homesick. When they returned, someone had entered Kyoshi. Someone important.

Lost in her own thoughts, Sakuyo walked the streets of Kyoshi alone, having left her companions at their respective houses. She didn't hear anything or see anything out of the ordinary, but she was forced to notice it when something orange ran into her, knocking the girl and himself to the ground.

"Ouch," she mumbled, picking herself up. The person who had run into her did the same in a hurried fashion, apologizing profusely for the accident.

"I'm so sorry, miss!" he babbled, rushing to help her up. "I didn't see you there. Are you all right?" She noticed that he was wearing the clothes of an Airbender and smiled at him with recognition of his nation.

"I'm fine, but thank you for your concern-" she was interrupted by a din of loud squeals that seemed to be coming from a group of small girls at the other end of the street. The boy smiled at the sound and quickly waved goodbye to her as he dashed away from the group of girls, who immediately took off in pursuit of him.

Too late did Sakuyo realize that her arms underneath the Waterbender sleeves were uncomfortably warm, particularly in four places, two on each arm. She quickly dodged into an alley and pushed up her sleeves.

Long ago, when she had truly been sixteen years old, four marks had appeared on her forearms. Those marks were the symbols of each nation, and there were two on each arm. On her right arm were the symbols of the Air and Water Nation. On her left arm were the symbols of the Fire and Earth Nation. Now, they were all glowing blue, but the one that glowed the strongest was that of the Air Nation. The only time that they ever glowed was when she had met the Avatar of that time.

That boy was the Avatar.

The glow faded and she pushed her sleeves back down. She had to find that boy again. He would know why she had been awakened from her sleep. If the reason was that she was to be his teacher, then she would teach him to the best of her ability.

Then the screaming began.

Sakuyo smelt the smoke before she saw it, and, coughing from the acrid smell, she rushed back into the street to look for its source. Had a fire gotten out of control? Not daring to blow the smoke away from her face for fear of revealing herself, she ran towards the village entrance, since that was where the screaming was loudest. When she broke free of the smoke, she finally saw what was happening.

The girl didn't need to have been born in that time to recognize that there were people shooting fireballs at the houses. The statue of Avatar Kyoshi was on fire, and even as she watched, parts of it crumbled to the ground. She felt horrified, as if it were her own statue that was being desecrated. Technically, she was the same as Kyoshi, and she would have to help protect her namesake.

A load of fallen poles was lying on the ground near her, abandoned by its owner. She snatched one up and ran towards the Firebenders. They were wearing some strange kind of armor, helmets and all, and they were mercilessly torching all of the houses without any regard for the people inside. Sakuyo felt rage burning in her heart, demanding that she burn them in the same way, but she stuffed that rage into the darkest, deepest corner of her heart. It wouldn't do if she lost control over herself at such an early time.

_They must be renegades, _she decided. _The Fire Nation is too honorable to engage in such nefarious deeds._

Sakuyo brought her staff down on one Firebender's head with all of her strength and then tripping him with it while he was still stunned. Her attack seemed to signal the rest of the Kyoshi warriors to attack, for suddenly the roads were alive with them. Together, they fought with the Firebenders, diverting their attention so that they wouldn't torch the houses anymore.

As they dealt with the Firebenders, Suki fought nearby with what appeared to be their leader. Fans, however, wouldn't be much use against fireballs, even if they were made of metal. Suki dodged all of his fireballs, but she failed to notice that the tail of his animal was a weapon, too, and was hit by it. The leader dismounted and stood in the middle of the road.

"Come out, Avatar!" he shouted. "A bunch of _girls _can't stop me!"

"Then this won't hurt," Sakuyo said, whacking him across the head with her staff from behind. He pitched forward from the blow, then, catching himself, whirled around and shot a fireball at her. She threw herself to the side and held her staff pointed at him.

_He's only a teenager,_ she realized. He was a strange-looking one, though. The left side of his face was scarred, and he had almost no hair except for some which he had pulled into a ponytail. From his stance, she could tell that he was an experienced Firebender, despite his age. What captured her gaze the most, though, were his eyes. Golden in color, they were not evil eyes. They were intelligent and honorable.

"What is it you want?" she shouted at him, holding her weapon at the ready. "Gold? You won't find it here. Fame? Kyoshi is not the most well-known of Earth Kingdom towns." He lunged at her, but she neatly side-stepped him, solidly thwacking him between the shoulder blades, although she doubted he could feel it under his armor. He faced her again with a frustrated face.

"How could you want to destroy this town? They haven't done anything to you. How could you all be so dishonorable?" That seemed to annoy him the most. Without warning, he threw a fireball at her, which she swatted away on reflex with her hand. His eyes followed her unburned hand, and she used that moment to rush in and knock him to the ground.

"But you're just Water Nation," he whispered to himself. She regretted having to Firebend now, even more so when she seemed to be dressed as a Water Tribe girl.

"I'll ask you nicely. Please tell me what you hope to gain by attacking Kyoshi," she said, hoping to distract his attention. His gaze seemed caught by something then, and when she turned around, she saw what it was.

"Avatar," she whispered, aware that he heard her. There was a flying bison in the sky, and she could see three people on its back. They were already flying away, but she needed to talk to them. A blur of red rushed by her, and she realized that it was the Firebender. He jumped back up to his mount and hurried towards the sea with the rest of his group.

Sakuyo was torn between staying to help Kyoshi put out its fires and chasing after the Firebender who did such things. The other Avatar decided for her, as a wave of water came from the direction of the lake, dousing the flames. She blew herself dry, hoping that no one noticed, and ran after the Firebenders.

"I'm not finished with you yet!" She yelled at them, but they didn't even look back. Sakuyo caught a brief glimpse of Suki's face and she waved goodbye to her before setting her sight back on the men.

She slowed to a halt as the sea came into view with awe. A huge iron ship was sitting on the water as if it were made of wood, but it was floating just fine. Time had certainly made its mark on the earth. When she had gone to sleep in the abandoned outpost, the Fire Nation had been trying to experiment with iron boats, but it was unsuccessful. Now, they had managed to create a huge iron ship. Who were those men that they could afford such a thing?

The ship began to pull away from the shore, and she realized that she would have to either stay on Kyoshi or stow away in their ship.

"I'll eventually have to find the Avatar," she said to herself. "And they seem to be following him. If I go with them, they'll lead me to the boy." Convincing herself with this logic, she walked onto the surface of the water, turning it to ice to support her weight. When she had reached the ship's side, she made the ice push upwards so that she could step into one of the ship's portholes. It apparently opened into one of its storerooms, so she sat down on one of the wooden boxes and quietly listened to the muffled shouting of the men above, who would never guess that here was a stowaway on their ship.

_Wait for me, my brother. I'm coming._

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I'm so sorry for the long delay! School is taking too much of my day, but isn't that how it always goes? I'll try to update more often, but no guarantees!

What will happen next in this story? Well…that's for me to know and for you to find out!

Thanks to:

**Khazia**

**Plutobaby494**

**Oblivavation**


	4. The Capture

**Chapter Four**

**The Capture**

_Thump._

_Thump._

_Thump._

Sakuyo reluctantly opened her eyes when the out-of-place noise would not go away. She hadn't expected herself to fall asleep, especially when she had so recently awakened from a who-knows-how-long meditative state. From the light streaming through the porthole from which she had climbed into the ship, she could tell that it was morning again. She had slept almost all day and night. It was to be expected though. She was still used to sleeping, and the other times that she had awakened from her slumber, she had a hard time staying awake when there was nothing to do.

_Thump._

What was that annoying sound? She could vaguely hear men shouting on deck, but as long as it wasn't threatening her safety, she didn't see any reason to be concerned. She heard a whistling sound in the air, and then a giant, flaming mass flew by the porthole. There was a big splash, and, unfortunately, water flowed in through the porthole, which she had forgotten to close. She was drenched, and now uncomfortably awake.

"Well, there's no use trying to sleep now," Sakuyo muttered, and, drying herself off with a careful blast of air, she walked to the door and cautiously opened it. There was no one outside, thank goodness, so she followed the direction of the shouts. Quite suddenly, she emerged on deck and was confronted with a bizarre scene.

There were men swarming around large devices on which they piled large chunks of what appeared to be coal. One of them then lit the coal and the device flung the flaming chunk at a white speck in the distance. It was quite apparent that it was one of these rocks that had so inconsiderately drenched her when it fell into the ocean. But what was that speck they were firing at? Sakuyo squinted at it and then felt as if something had punched her hard in the stomach.

The Avatar and his flying bison. Of course. Wasn't it against the unwritten laws to attempt an attack on the Avatar, though? Had law and tradition dissolved while she was sleeping? Why hadn't anyone woken her up?

"Keep him in sight!" someone yelled. "If we lose him, you're the ones who'll pay!" It was the young man from before whom she had fought. She tried to make herself inconspicuous, but he caught sight of her before she could blend back into the passageway again.

Sakuyo attempted to reason with him. "You know, it used to be an offense punishable by imprisonment to attack the Avatar-"He didn't care, but instead directly shot a fireball at her. She was trapped in the doorway with no room to maneuver. She either had to Firebend or risk getting badly burned.

"Inconsiderate fool," she sighed, putting her hands together and cutting through the stream of fire. He did not look surprised. He probably only wanted to confirm what he had seen at Kyoshi. Sakuyo darted out of the doorway before he could shoot another one at her so that she would have more room to maneuver.

"Keep firing!" he yelled at the other men, who had ceased in order to watch the battle. They returned to their stations, but with many curious looks behind them. When he turned back to her, she was already gone, leaping onto the strange devices with a look of concentration on her face.

Sakuyo decided to stop the men from operating the machine so that the other Avatar would have time to escape. She directed a blast of fire at the men carrying coal chunks so that they would have to drop them, and then quickly dealt powerful blows to their heads. She wouldn't kill them, of course, but would make sure that they wouldn't hinder her efforts.

"What do you think you're doing?" her opponent shouted at her. She merely gathered fire in her left hand like a whip and snapped it at him to scare him away. He jumped away, but her fire whip left a scorch mark on the metal of the ship's deck.

"Quit wrecking my ship!" he shouted at her. Sakuyo thought about throwing the rock at him to shut him up, but dismissed the idea. He didn't need to know about her Airbending abilities yet.

"That was just a scorch mark. I think your ship will keep floating," she said dryly. "You should be more worried about your men." She glanced at the speck in the sky. They only needed a little more time to be completely out of sight. A stream of fire flew by her cheek, narrowly missing the skin. She turned her head back to look at him.

"Was that an invitation to fight you?" she asked, walking towards him. As she did so, she casually knocked out a few men who looked as if they were about to get up again. Perhaps it was overkill, but it made her look a bit more intimidating.

"Fight you? I wouldn't lower myself by fighting a girl," he scoffed, folding his arms in a superior way. "That was an invitation for you to quietly submit to me and let yourself be taken into the prison. Why did you even come back? Any sane person would stay away."

"Okay, ignoring the male chauvinism, do you want the truth or the nice story?" Sakuyo asked. The gender part didn't annoy her. She had received many, many insults of the kind over her lifetime, and to respond to them would only lower herself to his own level.

"What do you think?" he asked, trying to buy time for his crew to recover.

"I came back to kick your butt again," Sakuyo smiled ingratiatingly, but he let out an enraged roar and shot a fireball at her. She was expecting that, though, and quickly countered it with an identical fireball.

"What, are you embarrassed?" she teased. "Don't worry, better Firebenders than you have fallen before me." This time, she narrowly avoided a fierce burst of fire by flattening herself against the floor. He seemed to be fueled by an ever-increasing rage, but Sakuyo wasn't worried. He would fall, too, just like the others.

"You have plenty of passion in there," she observed with a critical eye. "but very not as much technique. For example, you should punch with the strength coming from your core, not your shoulder. The blast would be much more effective."

"I don't need you to teach me anything!" he yelled, loosing blast after blast at her with reckless fury, all of which she either blocked or dodged.

"By now, you're doing more damage to your ship than I did." A fireball flew by her shoulder, singing the fabric, but this time, it came from behind. Men were getting to their feet, much to her dismay. She had spent all of her attention on the one man when she should have focused on the whole group. They formed a ring around her, with arms held at the ready.

_Oh, crap, _she thought, eyeing them nervously. If they all fired at once, then she would have to switch to Water or Airbending. Not a good idea when she was trying to conceal her identity. And of course, that was exactly what their leader had in mind.

"Now!" he yelled, and every man loosed a stream of fire at her. So she jumped, but it wasn't one of those normal two feet high jumps. It was one of those twenty feet or more jumps aided by Airbending. She intended to make good use of revealing herself, though. There was a whole ocean beneath her, and luckily for her, every Firebender's worst nightmare was being drowned.

In one fluid motion, she drew a large mass of water up towards her and slammed it into the ring of Firebenders below. Sakuyo kept drawing the water up and down until she felt that they had all been knocked unconscious from the impact. Then and only then did she drop lightly down, landing lithely on her feet and the fingertips of one hand. None of them had drowned, she knew instinctively. She always made sure she did not kill when it wasn't necessary. She glanced over at their leader and let a smile come to her lips.

"I'm too good to let some novice defeat me," she said simply. It wasn't bragging. It was only the truth. Now she directed her gaze towards the sky. The flying bison had been heading north, she was sure, so she would follow him that way. Then she made a mistake: she turned her back on the enemy.

He had been watching her through narrowed eyes as he lay on the deck, pretending to be unconscious. Now he made his move and snatched at the back of her dress, meaning to knock her out by way of the pressure points on her neck, but once again, she proved to be a cunning opponent. When he lunged towards her, she collected water from the puddles on the deck of the ship and lashed back at him, cursing herself for being slow. He instinctively threw fire at it to avoid making contact with it. Mist enveloped the deck.

Sakuyo didn't dare move or make any sound to alert him to her position on the deck, hoping that he would blunder around in confusion. Yet another mistake. His fist came looming out of the mist at her and it was too late for her to block it. The blow distracted her enough that he could slip his hands into the right position on her neck. Darkness came swirling down upon her eyes.

_I really am getting slow…_

Her captor looked down upon her with thoughtful eyes. He had lost one Avatar, only to be confronted with another. This one was strange, though. She had a misplaced notion of Fire Nation honor, for one thing, and she used Firebending moves that he had never seen before. There would be time for interrogation later, though.

"Prince Zuko?" his uncle asked from behind him. "What happened here?" Zuko turned to him with an impassive face.

"Lock her up," he said, indicating the unconscious girl. "And head for the naval base you talked about earlier. We need to make repairs." His uncle didn't ask questions, but immediately saw to it.

"Very well, then."

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­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­I am so sorry for the long wait. I know, I know, I should update more, but I have a dozen different writing projects going on at once, not the least of which is a novel. I hope that you'll forgive me and that you enjoyed this chapter. It also just occurred to me that I haven't been including disclaimers in my chapters too, so here it is. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender, even though I wish I did, but we all know how it feels to want.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

Quick question: Who can guess which episode Sakuyo woke up in the first chapter? I'll give a digital cookie to anyone who can get it right.


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