Hikari was glaring at the prince, "You, my dear prince, are going overkill."

      "Are you going out there, rising your life, to fight the Avatar," Zuko demanded in turn.

      "No."

      "Then shut up."

      "Well if he's supposedly so old, then-"

      "I didn't ask for your opinion, Hikari."

      Said girl deadpanned, "I don't know why I bother."

      She walked away and started mocking him under her breath. If she had seen the Avatar correctly, which she was sure she did, she was positive, the "high and mighty old man" that was that pain in the butt's drive, was really a kid. While she had not caught the best glimpse, there was something screaming at her, telling her that she had seen a kid, a child.

      Since the spotting, his royal butt was getting decked out in some good ol' fancy armor. To be perfectly honest, it was a big overkill and not entirely smart. He was giving up extra layers to keep warn for the sake of defense. His bulky armor was also a chain on mobility. Would she voice all of this?

     Heck no.

      He never listened. He always knew better. He was rude, interrupting, and refused to let her speak the majority of the time. Last night was just a rare moment of humanity. Today, he was being an absolute stick in the mud. For all she cared, he could drown that way too.

      By the time he had his finishing touches, she followed him down the corridor, finishing with putting on her cloak as they walked.

      "Woman, why are you still here," Zuko demanded.

      She huffed, "Making sure you don't so anything stupid."

      "I don't need a babysitter."

      "Someone's gotta do it while Iroh's napping."

      He turned sharply. All she received was silence and a glare. She returned it with her own. The ship was beginning to slow. After being at sea for so long, it was easy to tell that they were plowing through something or other. By the time the ship stopped, the prince turned on his heel once more. Hikari opted to stay behind the two firebenders that were following.

      The four of them made the grand entrance. There were some pelts made into tents for housing. No real buildings were in sight. Only women and children made up the crowd and very few at that. Most of the women were gaining grey hairs. The children hid behind their mothers. It made the girl wonder if the Fire Nation was responsible. Then again, knowing the prince, most likely.

      Within seconds, a young boy with war paint was charging up the ramp with a club. Without flinching, the prince merely kicked the club to his left and, without even resting his leg on the ground, sent the young warrior over to his right, sending the boy into the snow where his head become trapped. The four just made their way down the ramp and in front of the crowd.

      "Did you have to be so harsh," Hikari demanded in a loud whisper.

      Zuko decided to ignore, "Where are you hiding him?"

      The crowd of women and children fell silent. The temperamental boy of the firenation, without warning, he grabbed an old woman and held her by the hood of her parka.

      "He'd be about this age, master of all elements," was the demand.

      "Zuko, stop!" The brunette pried the old woman free and got her to a young girl who was about her age, "They are only women and children. You've only brought more hardships for them."

      He grabbed the girl by the front of her shirt and growled, "Don't tell me how to do my job."

      Having gotten used to this, the girl fixed the ruffled damage. She could only cross her arms and continue watching. The young girl from before had her eyes on her. Hikari saw the thankful look. Getting the message, she smiled ever so slightly.

      That moment was changed when Zuko sent an arch of fire over the crowd, "I know you're hiding him!"

      The boy from before was back up again, most of his war paint gone. He let out another, not so smart, battle cry. The royal pain swiftly turned around just as the other approached. He ducked under a wide swing and hurled the warrior forward. The other boy landed on his rear in the snow and was quickly forced to dart from his spot when fire was blasted at him. He spun to the side and threw his boomerang at the enemy who barely managed to miss getting hit by the weapon.

      A village boy tossed the older one a spear, "Show no fear!"

      The teen caught the weapon and charged at the prince once more. Yet again, royalty broke off pieces of the spear with his forearms, pulls the remains of the weapon out of his opponent's hands, hitting the other in the head with the blunt end that was left over. The spear was snapped in two and tossed to the ground.

      The oldest boy of the village, as it appeared to be, rubbed his head in pain. A sparkle of light shined for a brief second in the distance and the boomerang came back, unnoticed by the prince. While Hikari did see it, she let it be as payback for the roughhousing. The weapon struck Zuko on the back of his helmet with a loud cling and set it into a poor position for sight. The girl covered her mouth to hide her laughter, still fearful of her companion's building rage.

      Enraged, Zuko readied two fire daggers.

      Hikari felt her heart drop. She wanted to stop this, she really did. She desperately wanted the village boy's head to remain attached to his body. The problem was that she was too scared. She was well aware that now was best to stop interfering or fighting with the prince. She had learned her lesson the hard way that it was better to tuck her tail between her legs and let it be at this point. The prince had become a stick of explosives and was very dangerous to be near, should you accidentally light the wick.

      A young boy ridding a penguin-seal road towards the scene. He held a stick straight to his side with a determined look on his face, his tongue was even out. The boy rode by and knocked the enraged man off of his feet. The boy slid by with a cheer as the other fell on his face.

      Was...was this the boy from before? Was this really the Avatar?

      The kid, still mounted on the penguin, rode to the cheering crowd. The children cheered wildly. They were accidentally showered in snow as their savior went past, however, after giving each other silent, unamused looks for a few seconds, they began cheering once again.

     The kid came to a halt before the girl and the warrior boy. The penguin, having other ideas, crawled out from under the shortest, tossing him off. He fell on his rear, blinking stupidly. Shortly after, he grinned at the penguin when the animal quacked at him before waddling away.

      The brunette shook her head thoughtfully, "Wasn't that interesting?"

      She got a closer look at this boy wonder. He looked like the youngest monk she had ever seen! He was could not have been older than twelve. His head was bald, showing off his blue arrow tattoo. He wore a long sleeve, yellow shirt with a redish-orange shawl attacked to his sleeves. He carried that staff with him.

      "Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka," the boy greeted cheerily.

      The older boy replied moodily, "Hi, Aang. Thanks for coming."

     By this time, Zuko was back on his feet. He signaled the other firebenders to spread out, surrounding the chil. The two opponents took up a fighting stance. This little monk showed no fear at all. In fact, he held his staff firmly in front of him as he was being surrounded by the soldiers. He swept the ground side-to-side with his staff, showering the men with snow. He followed this with slamming the ground, sending a rush of snow at his royal butt, who was ready for the impact. Sure enough, he was covered, but easily melted the frozen water off.

      "Looking for me," Aang challenged.

      "You're the airbender? You're the Avatar," Zuko asked shocked.

      Hikari's eyes narrowed as she mumbled, "So I was right. The Avatar really is a kid."

      The girl from earlier looked very surprised, "Aang?"

      "No way," her brother (it was just an assumption) followed in disbelief.

      The prince of the Fire Nation and the Avatar started to circle each other. It looked ridiculous in all honesty, but what else could be expected? Someone was facing their destiny, as he frequently liked to put it, today.

      "I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training, meditating." The prince shouted angrily, "You're just a child!"

      Aang looked very confused, "Well, you're just a teenager."

      The brunette had to stifle her laughter. He looked so confused and the statement was so true that it was hilarious!

      Zuko sent a series of fire blasts at the child, who defended himself by twirling his staff, dissipating the flames. The villagers were watching directly behind the fight. Another blast was fired at Aang, who twirled his staff once again to ward off the attack.

      The villagers were too close. They cowered at the flames streaming through the air, over their heads.

      The moment the fire was gone, Hikari placed herself between the two, "Zuko, please stop. I know the Avatar is important to you, but you can't harm these people. I won't let you do it, accident or not."

      Before she could get yelled at, the kid stepped forward, "If I go with you," he held his staff in front of him as an offer, "will you promise to leave everyone alone?"

      The firebenders surrounded the three of them, spears poised. The brunette was pleading mentally to just agree. If the prince dared attack, she would risk getting burnt. She feared him, yes, but it would not stop her from defending the defenseless.

      Zuko stood straight and nodded in agreement. The boy was immediately apprehended by the men. Hikari picked up his staff.

      The girl from earlier ran forward as the Avatar was led away, "No! Aang, don't do this!"

      He was surprisingly calm, "Don't worry, Katara. It'll be okay." He gasped when he got shoved onto the walkway, "Take care of Appa for me until I get back."

      The brunette placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, "I might not hold any power, but I'll do my best to look after him."

      There was the slightest hint of a nod. She gave "Katara" a slight smile and got to the Avatar. She walked beside him and placed a hand on the shoulder opposite of her. When she saw grey eyes look up, she playfully winked. Thankfully, it was enough reassurance.

      "Don't worry," Hikari whispered to him, "I'm an ally."

      Aang raised a brow, "I don't mean to be rude, but aren't you his girlfriend? Can't you do something?"

      Thankfully, Zuko was already gone. The guards were laughing hysterically. Their glee was followed by her amused snort. Her? Dating the reason for her constant headaches? Nooooooooo thank you. Pass. Not in this life, buster.

     She waited for the noise to die down before speaking again, "No, I'm not his girlfriend. Technically, I'm his prisoner too. Even then, he barely listens to anything I say. His uncle, who's a very wise man, can't get through his thick skull either. I'll do what I can for you, Aang, but being able to influence a change of mind and heart?" She snorted again, "I doubt that would happen, even if we were lovers."

     She paused in her walking a moment. The guards paused too, curious as to what even stopped her. She suddenly glared at all of them, minus the child present.

      "If any of you dare mention what he said to Zuko, I'll personally throw you overboard." She pointed at all of them, "Got it?" When there was a collective nod, she let out a laugh, "Oh gods! Us? Dating? Please! Everyone is a peasant to him."

      They arrived on the deck of the ship. Iroh, the prince and a few guards were already there. Hikari rolled her eyes. She separated herself from the Avatar and handed over the staff. It was actually a pretty cool looking thing, even though it held no value to her.

      Zuko swiped it from her, "This staff will make an excellent gift for my father." He inspected the staff further before looking at the boy, "I suppose you wouldn't know of fathers, being raised by monks.

      The girl crossed her arms with a scowl, "That was rude."

      "Take the Avatar to the prison hold." The walking headache handed the staff to his uncle, "and take this to my quarters."

      Iroh waited until Zuko walked away to give the brunette the staff, "Hey, you mind taking this to his quarters for me?"

      She rolled her eyes, "I'll take care of it."

      Before leaving, she gave Aang a small smile of encouragement before running to the door. She jogged up the many stairs. Once on the right floor, she found the room, placed it on the floor in the middle and walked out. She had tried to look around once and decided she did not want to face the prince on that matter again.

      Hikari made her way to her room and flopped onto the cot. She was done with all of this excitement. That pain in the butt of a prince had been riled up too much for one day. Everyone seemed to be in an agitated mood, minus Iroh and they had destroyed half of a tiny village with just the ship. In fact, they had almost killed someone.

      Yep, today was just great.

      With a deep sigh, she forced herself to sit up. She went to the body length mirror that Iroh had gotten her and sat in front of it. She found her hair brush and began the ritual of keeping her hair free from becoming a rats nest. Zuko had walked in on her one time while this was occurring. She had opted to ignore his angered ranting before there had been dead silence. She had made eye contact with him though the mirror, continuing her work.

      Turned out, he got freaked out by the sound of the brush going through her hair. It sounded a lot like it was ripping hair out instead of untangling it. That was the first and only time that she had ever seen the slightest look of horror on his face. It had been so beautiful.

      "Search for the Avatar!"

      Hikari froze.

      "Don't let him get away."

     The girl with hazel eyes snorted as she began to pull her hair back, "The day of glory is beginning to rise in smoke. Better find the water before this turns to flames."

      Once her hair was pulled into a ponytail, she grabbed her cloak and made her way to the front deck. There was only one soldier present, but he ignored her in favor of keeping his eyes peeled for the Avatar.

      "What happened," she asked him.

      "The Avatar got away."

      "No duh! How did he get away?! His royal highness will screech at all of us because he lost his prize!"

      "Well..." He looked up and pointed, "Look, up there!"

      Sure enough, Aang was flying away from the lookout balcony on a glider. Before even the thought of his success crossed her mind, Prince Zuko leapt forward, off of the balcony! While yelling, he managed to grab hold of the child's ankle.

      "Zuko! Aang," Hikari shouted in concern.

      The two plummeted down to the front deck of the ship and crashed, bouncing a few times before coming to a halt. The Avatar's glider closed to the staff. Both laid on the deck for a moment, until the older of the two began rising. The boy rose as well and took up a fighting stance, looking very unsure of himself.

     A growl from the distance diverted Hikari's gaze from the fighters. Some giant creature was coming into view. She could just barely make out two riders.

      "What is that," a shocked Zuko asked.

      "Appa," the child shouted.

      Aang only turned to face a fire attack from Zuko. He managed to deflect the attack by spinning his glider around like a baton. However, he placed himself on the railing. His balance was temporarily lost. The prince took that weakness as his target. He sent fireballs at the Avatar until the child fell overboard.

      The brunette ran to railing, hoping to catch sight of him. From above, there was a girl shouting.

      For a few moments, silence covered the area, but a water vortex appeared from the water. The Avatar was placed at the top. His eyes were open, glowing a bright white, along with his arrow tattoos, frowning angrily.

      The ship was overshadowed by the sudden waterspout. Aang landed, summoning the water behind him and forming a protective circle from the Fire Nation Prince and the soldiers. Before the child could be attacked, the water shot out, knocking many soldiers away. It even knocked Zuko over the railing.

      "Zuko!"

      She almost ran after him, but saw Aang fall to his knees in exhaustion before fainting. The headache was a firebender. He probably knew how to survive these waters.

      She ran over to Aang and cradled his head in her lap. The giant creature from before landed on the deck. From his large saddle, the siblings from the village slide down and quickly ran toward her.

      Katara dropped to her knees beside her, "Aang! Are you okay?

      "Hey, Katara," the boy greeted weakly, "Hey, Sokka. Thanks for coming." He turned his eyes to the older brunette, "Thanks for the help, Hikari."

      "Well, I couldn't let you have all the glory." The warrior's eyes went to the girl, "Or all the fun."

      The older girl gave him a deadpan look, "Get his staff, would you?

      "Got it!"

      She assisted in helping Aang stand. Behind her, she heard a struggle going on. She turned her head to see Zuko for a short moment before he fell with a grunt.

      Hikari nodded towards her companion, "I have to help him. Get out of here, and maybe we'll see each other down the road."

      Katara smiled, "Hopefully under better circumstances, too."

      "Right."

      The girl ran over to where the prince had fallen. Thankfully, he was slowly climbing up the chain of the anchor.

     With a sigh, she grinned and lowered her hand down to him, "Zuko, really, you gotta stop falling for me."

      He growled, "Now's not the time, Hikari."

      "Complain after I get your rear end back on deck."

      He got a hold of her hand. She grunted. She struggled with pulling him up. Even with his help in using the chain as leverage, it was hard. By some miracle Iroh came along, grabbed Zuko's other hand and got him back onto the deck.

      The prince was quickly on his feet, "Shoot them down!"

      He and his uncle synchronized a firebending move blasting as steam of fire at the flying creature. Aang leapt on to the saddle. He opened the small tail wing of his staff and swung it, redirection the fire into a nearby cliff side. The impact caused an avalanche of snow and ice. The rubble sent Hikari off balance, but she quickly got up.

      With Appa still in sight, she cupped her hands around her mouth, "Safe travels! Let's meet again soon!"

      Behind her, Iroh spoke up, "Good news for the Fire Lord. The Fire Nation's greatest threat is just a little kid."

      The prince glared at his uncle, "That "kid", Uncle, just did this. I won't underestimate him again." He looked to the soldier trying to free their companions from their icy prison, "Dig the ship out and follow them!"

      The girl smirked, "I think they're busy."

      "As soon as you're done with that," the command was finished with slight embarrassment.

      "I'll get some of the men from below."

      With that, the brunette jogged to the familiar door. If she could get an adventure like this, just from that kid, maybe being a prisoner could get a little more interesting. For now, it was time to free those poor men from the ice.

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A/N: HELLO TO MY FELLOW GAANG MEMBERS! *pun drum sounds*

So here's the next chapter. I wanted to wait a while before I published anything else. This is only the start of the true adventure. Hikari's ready to get on board, kick but and look fabulous all the while.

I just want to give a warning, the school year has started and it's back to another four years in Azkaban. (or however you spell it.) Updates will be stupidly slow if there's any at all. I am proud to say that there are plenty of pre-written chapters, so if I have a spare moment, and if it's been long enough, I'll update.

I hope everyone has a lovely beginning, middle and end to this school year.

Tootles~

-Muse