Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender does not belong to me. Nor will it ever be so.

Warnings: This is not a fluffy piece of romance. It contains...a few deaths (but they are not described in much detail). Murder, suicide...Well, you get the picture. I also did not plan it originally to go in this direction, it just kind of went there on its own.

Harm

Humans, as a species, tend to hurt what they love most.

Learn

"It's not complicated," Hide sighed, "Fire Bending is easy, why can't you do it?"

Thousand

A young boy and his even younger friend looked up at the night sky dotted with stars with awe; the boy even ventured to guess there was a thousand of them in the sky.

Cool

Her skin was cooler than his, her being a non-bender and him being a Fire Bender, but she hadn't really noticed the difference until he had pulled her into a very unexpected kiss when they were young.

Motion

Hide liked things to go by fast, to see things blurred by motion and his relationship with On Ji was one of those things

Power

Even as a young child, Hide knew he was stronger than most and he knew how to use his strength to his advantage.

Fool

Their second kiss (four days after the first) lasts longer than their first (Hide started it again but On Ji expected it) but they're caught before it was over ("If you're going to pull a stupid stunt like that, try and not to get caught!").

Child

He touched her hand, briefly, before his father (tall, handsome, smug, strong) drug him away for some unknown reason and she couldn't understand the slight flinching movement her friend made when his father grabbed him roughly (but she does now).

Young

On Ji had protested they were too date so when Hide said that they were she would only shake her head 'no' to any who asked if it was true or not.

Hide

"You know I can't keep a secret," he said smiling down at her, "but I can try."

Change

Kuzon brought change, no one could argue that, but when On Ji saw him dance with the colonist girl she secretly felt somewhat like Hide and that was probably the most startling change of all.

Blur

The speed of dancing is what On Ji liked best about it but when speed blurred other things she felt uneasy.

Precious

"You're my girl friend," Hide stated bluntly when he saw On Ji after the dance party, "so I'll make sure you don't get in trouble but this is the last time."

Last

"On Ji, I guess you're angry with me and you've got a right to but just one more kiss," he said trying to get closer but she shoved him away with more force than he expected, however, he didn't react further.

Hold

The strong bind of old friendship and fear of breaking it could be a greater leash than any threat of violence and Hide knew that.

One

"I'll marry you in a year, Hide, just a year then we'll be able to have the family you wanted," On Ji had replied in a half-hearted tone and he had grudgingly agreed on her terms.

Drive

He cocked his head to the side, looking at her through heavy-lidded eyes, "Are you sure you don't want to go with me, On Ji?"

Wait

"I know it's been a year, just another couple of months then I'll marry you," she says and he nods with disappointment.

Wrong

Everyone in the town was happy during the wedding, for in tradition there was nothing more joyous than that, but the only one showing slight resentment was the bride herself (she didn't say a word that she wasn't happy with the arrangement).

Fortune

All the predictions had pointed to a good and long lasting marriage but fortune usually goes against what mortals plan.

King

There is a saying that states a man is a king in his own home Hide took this saying to heart and ruled his household with the iron grip of a battle-hardened tyrant.

Shadow

When the highest temperatures of summer were common day things, it wasn't unusual that the young married couple would spend the days in the shady house they owned (nine months after the height of summer their first child, a son, is born).

Book

The young boy, clutching the tattered scroll, looked hesitantly around the corner but turned around and went headed for his room when he saw the familiar sight of his parents fighting, neither of them were up to reading the story to him that night.

Command

She had smiled emptily when he had come back home and stated proudly to her and their children that he had "been promoted".

Sing

"Mama now," her youngest son states simply and she knows what he means, the boy liked her singing even if it was said to be the worst in the district.

Need

He held her close, she didn't even bother struggling this time, and whispered into her ear, "Please, don't go, the children still need a mother."

Stop

She had always felt her sons were too much like her, in the way that they knew what their father was but wouldn't leave him, and she simply didn't want them to be molded by him the way she had been.

Believe

"Everything will be fine," On Ji replied agitatedly when one of her sons asked her where they were going, "Just trust me and everything will go fine."

Attention

The older son would have yelled, screamed, cried, anything to gain help from anyone who cared enough to give aid if wasn't for the already damp familiar hand of his mother clamping over his nose and mouth (he would have bitten her if she wasn't his mother) while her other hand shoved his face towards the slow moving water of the river.

Sudden

The boy thrashed a final time before growing still and his mother dropped him in shame of what she did.

Soul

Her heart ached deeply but she wouldn't cry out; even though all the vicious rumors would later say otherwise, she did have a soul in her still (she didn't do it out of spite or jealousy, she did it to save them).

God

He bitterly thought that the spirits must have had it in for him.

Vision

Hide looked, no, glared at the woman he had once loved and protected with a passion; if he wasn't paralyzed with shock he would have killed the monster masquerading as his wife.

Eye

She stared straight back into his eyes when he looked down at her, she could have left before he came home but she wanted to see his reaction...the tables had turned and she loved that.

Mad

Every muscle burned with rage and his hand twitched towards the handle of the sword; the death of his sons would not be in vain.

Bother

"Does it bother you, Hide, that someone beat you at your own game?"

Now

Hide dropped his blade, bile was rising in his throat again but it wasn't in anger at his (now defeated) foe; instead it was in disgust at himself.

Wall

His fist cracked against the wood of the wall and he cursed beneath his breath that he couldn't keep his temper.

Wash

The water in the basin was stained red with his attempt of washing getting the blood off his hands (but the stubborn stain stayed).

Safe

"It's safe, now," he said, pushing a thick strand of hair from her forehead and getting her blood on his hands, "I made sure they won't hurt you for what you did, my On Ji."

Never

Her parents were in shock, they had never thought (nor did anyone else, for that matter) that she was capable of what she had done but the only person who found out why she did was her husband and dead men tell no tales.

Torn

Infant-killer, the man says softly to himself as he puts the slashed corpse into the box, we would've gotten you if your husband didn't first.

Naked

No amount of lies or deception matters in the end for everything is uncovered.

Goodbye

They say the old captain never could bear saying goodbye and that was why he killed himself, he couldn't bear saying goodbye to his dead wife (but rumors aren't always true).

Picture

The portrait of a young woman, a snobbish looking young man, and their two young sons with curious smiles is the only thing left of the old family that lived in the house near the border of the town.

Ghost

Children never roam the streets near the old house, they've heard the legends of the boastful captain's family and they realize there's a chance that ghosts might be there.

Hunger

"Don't go there," the old man told the young children and pointed a finger in the direction of what looked to be an old house, "There are spirits who wander that place, they hunger for revenge and children should be very careful near there."

History

After one hundred years, their story is still told but their names are forgotten and the details blurred.

Time

The only truth as tales are forgotten and bones are ground away into powder that the winds scatter.