1. Early Beginnings

**Disclaimer:** No, I do not own Avatar. Now, on with the drabble.

... 

"No! Sokka, don't pull on your sister's hair! Katara! Stop that waterbending this instant!"

Kaiya looked up from where she was trying to get her two children to stop fighting to smile at Chief Arnook. Unlike Sokka and Katara, his daughter, Yue, was behaving quite well. Despite the differences though, they had more in common than the rest of the people here. Aside from her husband, Hakoda, the five of them were the only Water Tribe members there that day for the Fire Nation prince's birthday.

"But, Mom! He started it!" Katara yelled. Sokka fumed silently.

Kaiya sighed in exasperation. However, her daughter had bended the water back into the pond and Sokka was keeping quiet, so Kaiya took this as a sign that most of the fighting was over.

"Now listen, you two," Kaiya said softly, crouching down so that she could pull them in and talk to them at eye level. "You guys have to behave well today. Our family and Princess Yue's family are representing our entire tribes, so do you know what that means?"

Katara tilted her head while Sokka bit his lip. After a few moments of pause he said, "If we mess up, then everyone messes up?"

"Right," Kaiya said smiling. "Though… Even if you two manage to cause a war, I suppose I'll still have to love you." She hugged the two of them briefly, letting go when they did, and then stood up to face Chief Arnook.

"So," she said. "Shall we? I bet the rest of the families have already gathered."

"Yes, being late would not be good," Arnook said taking hold of Yue's hand. Sokka and Katara followed her example and each grabbed one of their mother's. He sighed. "I can only hope that what you have said will not come true."

…

**AN:**So yes, I start my first AU of drabbles. Yes, that's right. An entire AU in drabbles. Why? Because I get tired of extended scenes and I like to switch around, and yet I like staying on the same timeline. Um… Things to know.

1. Sozin never went power-hungry or at least Roku managed to prevent him, so there never was a war.

2. This would take place around ten years before canon, so right now Sokka is five, Katara is four, and Yue is five or six.

Everything else that unfolds will probably be explained/revealed in the actual story.

Read and review, please?


	2. Some Things Never Change

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Avatar. Oh noes! What a nightmare.

…

He stared at him. He stared back. Their mothers desperately tried to break the ice.

"Zuko," Ursa said, giving her son a bit of a nudge. "This is Sokka, from the Southern Water Tribe. He's come to wish you a happy birthday. Now, what do you say?"

Unfortunately, for both mothers, Sokka wasn't looking very happy at wishing the prince a happy birthday, and Zuko wasn't looking very happy at receiving the wish.

"He smells weird, Mom," Zuko whispered, glancing at Sokka and then back to his mother. He wrinkled his nose. "Like some dead fish."

"Hey! I heard that!" Sokka yelled. He lunged forward to do things that obviously weren't in protocol, but Kaiya grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him back towards her.

"Well, look at the time," Ursa said, now holding her own son back as well. "I think I see my brother-in-law, Prince Iroh. It's been so very nice meeting you."

"Let me go!"

"Yeah, I can take him!"

"It's been nice meeting you as well," Kaiya said with a smile. Both mothers ignored the fact that their sons were struggling to get free and punch each other's eyes out. "Perhaps we can talk to each other later in the evening."

Since each one understood that "later in the evening" meant "after our children had gone to bed," they bowed slightly to each other and took their leave.

…

**AN: **Ah… Sokka and Zuko. Each one has never been too good with subtlety. Next, we find out how things fair on the daughter's side of things.


	3. Unwritten Rules

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Avatar. Insert some random quote here.

…

It was an unwritten rule that, while two girls could hate each other, they normally did every thing they could not to show it.

"Hi, you must be Katara," the girl said, smiling. "I'm _Princess_ Azula. It's very nice to meet you." She held out her hand for Katara to shake.

Katara tried to smile back, but despite the Azula's nice introduction, there was something about her that scared Katara. Still, her mom had told her to be nice, so Katara smiled as well and shook Azula's hand.

"OW!" Katara cried out, snatching her hand back and cradling it in pain. It felt like it was burning, but there hadn't been a fire… or had there?

"Oh. I'm sorry," Azula said taking her own hand back, worry plastered on her face. "But that's how children greet each other in the Fire Nation. I forgot that you're not a firebender, so it would actually hurt for you."

Katara opened her mouth to say something, but heard a giggle coming from a nearby tree. She turned her head and caught a quick glimpse of a pink outfit and brown hair before it ducked away behind the tree. Katara was not amused.

Still, she marched over to the pond in the courtyard with as much dignity as she had left and stuck her hand in the water. Instant relief was ever so nice. Seeing Azula draw nearer at the corner of her eye, Katara got an idea, put her other hand in the water, and scooped up as much as she could.

"Catch!" she said as she wheeled around, tossing the water at Azula. Azula put up her arms to block it, but it ended up splashing all over the front of her shirt anyway. Katara's hand was still slightly twinging from Azula's burn, but she could deal with it for now.

"I'm sorry," Katara said. "That's how Water Tribe children normally greet each other, but I forgot that you weren't a waterbender." They hesitated, and then both gave a forced smile at the other.

It was an unwritten rule that, while two girls could hate each other, they normally did every thing they could not to show it. However, there were always exceptions.

…

**AN: **I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Katara and Azula would be about four in this, but while four year-olds can be pretty diabolical, I'm not sure that they would go this far. Then again, we're talking about Azula and Katara, so there's always exceptions.


	4. The Naive Watch On

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Avatar. Yada yada, blah blah.

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"It's nice to see that the children are playing together now."

Kaiya nodded. Earlier, she and Ursa had assumed the worse, but now the six children were playing a simple game of tag. Suddenly, Kaiya felt a tug on the bottom of her dress. She looked down to see a frowning Yue.

"Where's my dad?"

Kaiya blinked. "You mean, Chief Arnook? I'm sure he's around somewhere. I'll help you find him if you want."

Yue nodded silently and Kaiya took her hand as they started searching. Since the girl was obviously saddened by something, Kaiya tried talking again. "So did the game of tag not go so good?"

Yue looked up in confusion. "What game of tag?"

"But Lady Ursa and I saw you six playing…" Kaiya trailed off in dread apprehension and buried her face in her free hand. "Oh, spirits give me strength."

---

**AN: **Tag? What is this 'tag' you speak of? And yes, I'm going to go somewhere eventually with this story, but I'm having some fluffy fun tonight.


	5. A Bystander's Interlude

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Avatar. Ode to joy.

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"Father, do I dare to ask?"

Iroh, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, turned around to see his son, Lu Ten, pointing at a group of younger children sitting around in a clump over by a tree across the courtyard. They had a mixture of expressions – bored, annoyed, fearful, tired – but clearly none of the children looked like they were happy to be there. Occasionally one would glance around, only to see Lady Ursa or the other woman she was with glare at them. The child then went back to looking down at the ground.

"Hmm… I suppose they started playing something that got out of hand," Iroh said. He stroked his sideburns while chuckling silently. "Children often underestimate their own strength. Now, Lu Ten, have you tried the tea here yet; it is as if the spirits themselves took it upon-"

"Father," Lu Ten warned. Once Iroh hit his stride there was very little anyone could do to stop him.

Iroh sighed. "Just wait until you are older. Then you will truly appreciate the beauty and the art."

Lu Ten simply stared straightforward as if he had suddenly gone deaf. Since his son obviously didn't share his enthusiasm, Iroh changed the subject. "Have you seen your uncle around? He of all people should be here..."

There was dead silence for a few moments where neither one said anything, but they both knew what the other was thinking.

Lu Ten spoke first. "I'll start looking on the eastern side of the palace."

---

**AN:** Okay. I've started introducing some other dead characters into the mix. I'm pretty sure by now you all know Kaiya is Sokka's and Katara's mom. I took her name from what Katara's name used to be, but I used Japanese phonetics to spell it since "Kya" will never be pronounced "Kai-ya" to me. (It took awhile for me to register "Mai" as "Mei," but that's an entirely different story.)

Oh. And Lu Ten would probably be in his mid-teens right about now. I'm guessing either fifteen or sixteen?


	6. Punishment and Crime

**Disclaimer: **I don't… Oh, just screw it already. A ton of other fanfics don't have them and no one ever sues them.

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"Okay, children! It's time to learn a lesson from no one less than your favorite bridge between the two worlds… the Avatar!"

Avatar Aang finished his introduction with great enthusiasm, especially for someone of his age, but it just seemed to suck even more life out of the six children sitting down in front of him, quarantined there by the combined efforts of Kaiya and Ursa. Azula yawned, Ty Lee and Katara were plucking petals off flowers, and no one seemed to notice that Sokka had slumped forward and was already asleep. Clearly, this did not faze Aang in the slightest for he plowed on with his speech.

"Now, the people around you might seem different, but everyone's always a little different before you get to know them. And no matter how similar someone is to you, they will always be unique and special in another way. You see, we are all parts of the same whole, and that is the most important thing to remember as we-"

"Lady Kaiya," Ursa whispered as the old avatar continued to lecture the children. "I know the children were being a bit rough, and I wanted to apologize for my daughter." Ursa paused, thinking of the right words to say. "She tends to get a little carried away sometimes when she plays."

"Also," Aang was saying. "You must keep in mind that both your ancestors spirits and the spirits of your countries are looking down and judging-"

"But Avatar Aang!" Azula said suddenly. "That's exactly what Ty Lee and I were doing! We only _trying_ to appease the spirits by sacrificing my brother and Katara to Agni."

---

**AN:** Yeah. I think this clarifies what the children got in trouble for. Naturally the sacrifices resisted. But we have another appearance… Aang! So yeah, he didn't get trapped in an iceburg this time, so he's actually 112 years old. I try to imagine his somewhat like Gyatso, but with Bumi's stamina if not physique. So he's somewhat matured, but he still retains traces of goofiness.

As a side note, I wish we had cool games like "Sacrifices for Agni." However, we did have Capture the Flag where we buried the flag, so that was a plus for us.


	7. The Birthday Candle

"Okay, now light the candle, Zuko," Ursa said, giving a nudge to her son. Katara and Sokka giggled, while Zuko reddened. Still, he was already six. Lighting the traditional birthday candle was simple firebending. Tired as he was, he had nothing to worry about.

He punched outwards to light the wick, but it didn't catch. He tried again. The same thing happened or rather, didn't happen. Behind him, his sister burst out laughing.

"Azula!" Zuko yelled as he spun around. "If you're the one doing this…"

"I'm not," Azula said. "I don't see why you're trying to blame someone else. If you can't light it, you can't light it."

"I'm not blaming someone else, and I _can_ light it!" He tried again, but once again it didn't light. There was silence… and then a very small giggle. But that giggle was enough.

Zuko turned back around. He narrowed his eyes towards one person, taking aim. Katara eyes widened as the young prince charged. The two hit the ground in a fury of bashes and shouts.

--

**AN:** You think that they would have formed a sort of friendship after Azula chose them to be sacrificed to Agni? Preposterous!

BTW, Katara was using the Southern Style of Waterbending to keep the wick damp enough to stop it from being lit. I figure if she started when she was three or something, she should have enough ability to do that. Why would she do it? It's been a long day and she's probably tired, wants some amusement, and is not really thinking things through.

I know the whole candle and birthday thing is a mostly American thing, but I thought it would be cool if part of a firebender birthday would be lighting a candle instead of blowing one out. Hopefully, no one thought it was too cheesy.

And for everyone who has left a review so far, thank you very much. They mean a lot to me.


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