A/N: I rewatch Avatar the last Airbender all of the time and since Nowaki fits as a water bender and Hiroki fits a as fire bender, I decided to make this fanfic. This is years before Aang is defrosted in the first episode so team avatar are only going to be in this fanfic in the last chapter as they pass by Nowaki and Hiroki's cabin. (So in the last chapter should I make this a crossover? I have no idea how to categorize this when I finish it)

I already have someone already excited for this fic on tumblr and I hope I live up to her expectations. I'm updating so many things that I'm actually losing track of what exactly I should be working on without having to resort to writing them on a list of paper but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

-Lucicelo

Chapter 1: On the Run...

In the middle of the night, sounds of the fire benders screaming was all he heard as he ducked down into a ditch to catch his breath. The crunching of leaves might have given him away but the sounds of the animals running away through the forest disguised it to an extent. Hiroki slowed down his breathing as best he could while he clutched his side, he tried not to cry out in pain from the burn he received earlier that day.

The blood seeped through his fingers and Hiroki wiped the liquid on his shirt in an attempt to stop it from hitting the ground. This way the fire benders wouldn't have a trail to find him when he moved again. The night might help him hide for a while but the fire benders were not stupid, they searched high and low with every possible resource they could find. A simple blood trail was easily found when they paid close attention to the ground.

He looked over his shoulder and rapidly turned back around when he saw one of them getting closer to his location. His vision went a little blurry, he wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his old ripped shirt. The blood loss was already affecting him and he had no place of safety to hide in after he was exposed in the village days prior.

Earth benders in that town chased after him who he fought hard enough and defeated them. Yet one of them tipped off the fire benders in the next town and they tracked him down without mercy. They ambushed him in a group without his knowledge, a barrage of fire washed onto him and he barely managed to escape. His memories of the prisons in the fire nation fueled his determination to run away as well as a small touch of fear.

Hiroki looked around and all he saw for miles were a whole variety of trees, the moonlight illuminated them enough so he had a visual of his surroundings. He knew he was stuck inside of a forest terrain and it would take a while for him to even get out without exposing himself. He swore as he closed his eyes and leaned back onto the debris, not even caring that his neat kept hair was entangling with the dead leaves.
He pushed himself into the dirt as they passed the ditch he hid in. The light of the fire they produced lit a good portion of the hole as Hiroki focused on not moving a muscle. He stared at their shadows getting further and further away, taking the light away with them as it dissipated with each step they took. They stepped on dead leaves as they walked away from the ditch, never once thinking to even look inside.

Hiroki froze in his spot for a couple of minutes, he kept a close ear on footsteps returning or venturing to his direction. His head spun from lack of blood and he pinched his arm to keep himself awake, going to sleep wasn't an option. One wrong tumble onto the ground or a snapped twig could alert the fire bender and they would return.

When he was sure they were a fair distance away, Hiroki breathed in harshly to try to get air inside of his lungs. His wounds rubbed against the rubbish and he hitched his breath in pain.

"Damn it..."

Hiroki bit his lip as he stood up on his feet and he swayed to the side. Hiroki placed his hands on the dirt wall to steady himself and the cold night hit him hard as he trembled harshly. He regretted having left his clothing back at his old home when he ran away from the village, he had a decent warm coat which would've warmed him nicely.

He battled the pain as he climbed out of the ditch and laid on the grass. Hiroki stared up at the crescent moon in the sky as he sighed, he couldn't evade those hunters for too long. The nearest village hated anything or anyone from the fire nation and would report him immediately.

Hiroki assumed the news of his capture must have spread then he might have to go without food for a while or find food in the forest. He heard footsteps and he instantly stood up on his feet and pain coursed through his body. He walked away from the ditch and kept an ear for those footsteps while he tried hard not to make any noise.

Hiroki pictured the images of his parents when they saw him taken away from their home in chains. From his cell, he heard his father on a rampage to the guards who told him the reason why he was taken. Soshi denied this when his son was home for the past month after he was discharged from his troop and taught his cousins fire bending. The servants provided their testimony to help out the Kamijou family.

There really was nothing they could do, Hiroki figured out in a short time that he was targeted in a conspiracy webbed inside of the army. He was singled out like many of the soldiers before him, those that seemed dishonest in their loyalty to the fire nation. They were banished or exterminated before they betrayed their nation, they called it a cautionary measure but it was paranoia.

The fire nation soldiers bragged about how this generation would end the war in the fire nation's favor. Yet Hiroki saw no end in sight, the army have not taken over Ba Sing Se or even the Northern Water tribe. Everyone was getting paranoid of spies in their ranks and even the slightest notion of weakness and the person was taken out.

Hiroki only joined the army so his father didn't have to assign himself, his father already served his time in his youth and Hiroki didn't want him to experience his nightmares again. His strong stern father showed his weakness to him in hopes that he didn't do the same mistakes he did in his service in the army.

He didn't regret his actions while he was in his troop since he gave mercy and even let whole families escape with their lives. Hiroki didn't see how they were a threat to them when a good portion of them didn't even have weapons or were benders. It was meaningless slaughter in his eyes and Hiroki hated what he saw in his term.

Hiroki hated being labeled a senseless killer when he had never killed anyone in his life. Whenever he killed someone it was accidental and he regretted it afterwards. Killing people was a badge of honor to the soldiers and Hiroki felt sick to his stomach when they patted him on the back on his good work.

He never voiced his disgust when his words could be used against him.

The explanation given to his family on why he was arrested wasn't the real reason. One of the guards who knew him years ago told him the truth which shocked Hiroki immensely and he recalled his actions before his arrest. He was going to get executed for a whole different crime he didn't even commit.

Half an hour of walking and Hiroki's vision was blurred, he couldn't make out where he was headed to. His ears picked up the sound a river up ahead and he licked his dry lips. Hiroki saw this a stroke of luck, he was already thirsty and he needed to wash off some of the blood from his body. He might even have a chance to clean himself so he wouldn't be uncomfortable when he found a place to sleep.

Hiroki gulped as he stumbled though the shrubs and he made out the outline of someone right in front of him. The moonlight illuminated the blue clothing he wore which brought immense relief to Hiroki that he wasn't fire nation but the danger wasn't over.

This man might leave him to die when he saw him or kill him when he saw his clothing. Hiroki had to take a chance even if it might backfire on him. He got closer and closer and he knew his wobbly footsteps onto the grass alerted the man in front of him.

The man looked over his shoulder and stood up just in time to catch Hiroki in his arms. Hiroki felt the warmness of his body, the security of his arms wrapping around him as his body shut down.

The last thing he visualized was a pair of bright blue eyes staring down at him. For the first time since he escaped the fire nation he saw pure sincere concern in someone's eyes.

Nowaki bended some water into the jug he carried toward the river as he stretched his arms after he was done. He forgot to gather some earlier in the day when he left his home to buy some vegetables, well the ones he needed to make the stew he left finished at home. His garden outside of his cabin had some vegetables but they had not grown in yet or were still little sprouts. At least they didn't dry up on him since he checked on them every chance he got.

There was almost nothing to do in his isolated location, unless he went and spent time in the nearest town which was already a long distance away. His source of entertainment was either his gardening or using his water bending to play around in the rivers of the forest. He always found something to keep himself busy and talking with travelers on his walks was always a good experience.

He sat right beside the jug as he scooped some water from inside of it and took a long drink of water to quench his thirst. The moon illuminated the lake in the right places making it seem like the water was glowing in front of his eyes. The sounds of the night made it more magical and Nowaki thought this natural music would lull him to sleep.

A smile appeared on his face as he felt the power of the moon course through his body. He loved looking up at the moon when he stayed up late at night and when the moon was nice and full. This scenery reminded him of his days back at his hometown, where he swam in the middle of the night at times he couldn't sleep or had a bout of insomnia. Although the water was deadly cold, he managed to keep himself warm from the use of his bending and limiting his time inside of the water before he got out. He grew muscular from rowing the small boat his mother owned so he could go fish for her when they needed food.

The other boys of the village treated him the same as any other child, despite the whispering the mothers did about how his real mother abandoned him on the day of his birth. She left the Northern Water Tribe without a word and no one ever told him her name. Some said grief stuck her hard when her husband died months before his birth, she always looked tired and depressed when anyone saw her leaving her home. This was all speculation from anyone who tried to find a reason as to why she left him but no one talked to her or knew her well enough to conduct a proper reason.

His adoptive mother swooped in and took him under her wing because no one else was willing to house him when they had kids of their own. She fought hard to adopt Nowaki as her child even though she wasn't married or engaged like many women in the village. She always brought up how she raised her brothers on her own, who turned out to be excellent warriors. After a while, the chief relented when he saw no one else was going to take in Nowaki and her arguments convinced him she was the child's best choice.

She told him the truth when he was young enough to understand but he still called her his mom. She was his mom, no one could ever replace her in his eyes not even the woman who was his biological mother.

Many of the girls who were at marrying age already laid their eyes on him or implied on paying his attention on them. Nowaki politely declined his interest on marrying anyone when he was still figuring out his own identity and still had growing up to do. He understood the tribe's tradition of marrying the girls at sixteen but Nowaki preferred waiting until he found someone he liked and he fully explored the world outside of the north pole.

He settled in a random earth village after he visited one of the air nomad temples and he was in awe at the architectural structures of the buildings. Nowaki didn't enter the buildings, seeing that he wasn't an air nomad and it would be a big disrespect for the monks who used to live there. Nowaki scratched out visiting any place in the fire nation, he wasn't looking for trouble and he knew their soldiers wouldn't hesitate to blast him with flames when they first see him. He tried not to generalize everyone because of some individuals but he couldn't help doubting people from the fire nation.

Nowaki patted his cheeks as he sighed, he always hoped the avatar would pop out of nowhere and bring peace to the world. His tribe was still hopeful and it didn't hurt that the fire nation underestimated the size of their tribe and hadn't attacked them yet. In his travels he encountered many people who simply gave up hope already. The fire nation were taking over many villages in the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Lord's eyes were set on invading Ba Sing Se from what the influx of rumors told by the villagers led to believe.

No one was too worried when there were countless amounts of earth benders who were stationed in perfect places so they could defend their nation when necessary. They wouldn't get too far unless they had a whole army backing them up or knew the best spots to take over first.

Thinking they were never going to appear in Earth Kingdom soil was hiding the undeniable truth of the state of the world.

Nowaki heard rustling behind him as he readied to attack the person coming to his direction. He didn't know if this person was a simple civilian or a bender so he readied his hands to bend the water in the river when needed. He stayed in his crouched position and feigned drinking water from the river while he stared at the reflection in the water.

He looked over his shoulder and saw the figure but saw him swaying from side to side. Nowaki squinted his eyes and tried getting a better look at the person but the darkness of the trees obscured the person from view. He gathered some water in the palm of his hand and it formed into a small ball and kept his guard up.

A man made it through the bushes and almost tripped on his own feet. He managed to compose himself but struggled to keep himself on his feet as he kept on walking.

Nowaki was shocked when he saw the visible injuries the man had all over his body. Especially the blood which kept seeping through the hand the man pressed tightly on the would on his side. The man stumbled closer and closer to Nowaki, his eyes were half open in an attempt to see where he was going. Nowaki stood up on his feet and went to his aid in time to catch him he fell to the ground from exhaustion.

The man murmured a few words as he slowly went to unconsciousness. Nowaki stared down at him and saw the burns scattered around the man's body, he cringed when he touched the one on the man's cheek. He knew fire benders were ruthless in their pursuits and their fights but to injure someone to this extent was just horrible.

"It's going to be okay sir, I'm going to take care of you." Nowaki exclaimed in an attempt to wake him up with his voice, when that didn't work he maneuvered the older man in his arms.

He stood up and cradled him close to his body, he ran toward the direction of his cabin and left the jug by the river. All he thought about was to place this injured man in his bed and then return to the river for his water so he would conduct his healing bending.

Nowaki stared at the man in his bed and he sighed when he carried a jug of water in his arms. He felt bad for the older man who passed out in his arms, the burns that covered most of the man's chest made him cringe. He saw the fire bursting into the sky earlier in the day and in an instant knew fire benders wandered the area. Nowaki understood many aspects of the war through his traveling but he couldn't push away the reality of how much the world transformed after such a long lasting war.

He placed the jug on the floor and sat on his chair. Moving his hands fluidly, the water gathered in each individual hand as he placed them in spots over the man's burns. A bright light surrounded them as he kept them there until they dissipated to lower degree burns, then moved onto different sections he discovered.

In the Northern Water Tribe, they discouraged males from learning healing methods when battle style bending was what a boy needed to learn to protect the tribe. Nowaki was told that healing wasn't useful when later he would need to use bending to fight not to heal in the battlefield. The men were the ones who went to fight in the front lines and the women stayed behind to heal, it was the natural order of things and Nowaki had to accept it.

Nowaki begged his adoptive mother to teach him her healing methods, he didn't like fighting so much but wanted to help others instead. She told him he had to continue on with his classes in the daytime but she could teach him after sunset, she explained they needed to keep it a secret so he wouldn't get in trouble. Nowaki agreed to keep this a secret and he excelled in his daily training methods which didn't arouse suspicion.

He was glad he convinced his adoptive mother to teach him, he found this skill quite useful when he left the tribe and traveled around the world. Nowaki only alerted his mother who gave him enough food to last him a few weeks and a boat to sail away when he left in the middle of the night. She slapped him on the back with a smirk on her face and wished him the best of luck on his travels.

Nowaki touched the man's face and cupped his bruised cheek, making the unconscious man's face scrunch up in pain. He healed the bruised cheek and when Nowaki saw no visible signs of injury he removed his hand in order to tend to other parts of the man's body. From the tattered and burnt clothing, Nowaki knew they needed to be replaced.

He found a small pendant hanging from the man's neck with the insignia of the fire nation. Nowaki touched it and found a small button on the side which interested him. He left it alone and continued healing different parts of his body, it would be rude to open something sentimental to someone else. From the overall state of the man, he assumed he ran away from the fire nation or was banished.

Nowaki furrowed his eyebrows as he healed more spots on the fire benders body. Calling the man a run away was more plausible, fire nation soldiers were relentless in capturing traitors and jailing them so they wouldn't leak out any vital information from the fire nation.

He felt bad for him, he couldn't imagine the pain of his injuries before he started healing him.

The man groaned as Nowaki whispered. "It's okay...I'm just here to help you." The man murmured in disagreement, Nowaki arched a brow at the rapid denial of his assistance.

If he wanted to hurt this man he wouldn't have healed his burns and left him outside in the cold night. In his experience, Nowaki rarely got an individual who refused his help, though it helped that he was a water bender and not a fire bender.

The man opened his amber eyes and stared up at Nowaki in disbelief. He sat up on the bed, touched his chest in the places he knew had burns and turned to Nowaki in shock. His eyes wandered up and down Nowaki's figure, stopping at his glowing hands.

Nowaki smiled at him and stopped bending so the man felt safer and not at all threatened. "Hello I'm Nowaki Kusama, what's your name?"
He answered with hesitation at revealing his name. "Hiroki Kamijou."

"Nice to meet you Kamijou-san." Nowaki told him as he stood up from his bed and went to check on the soup he made, excitement filled his body that he had a guest to serve for once. "You looked pretty bad when you fainted in my arms so I hope you don't mind that I healed you while you slept."

He opened the door to his bedroom which lead straight to the kitchen and left it wide open. This way the fire bender could see him as he went to get the food. Though he did risk the chance that Hiroki could blast him with a fire ball but Nowaki dismissed this assumption.

Hiroki stared at Nowaki in disbelief as he asked. "Why?"

"Hmm?"

Hiroki glared at him as he snapped in irritation. "Why did you do that? If you haven't noticed I'm from the fire nation, you should be trying to chase me out or trying to kill me like the rest of those people in the village and everywhere else."

Nowaki stirred the soup as he looked over his shoulder when he responded. "Kamijou-san do I really need a reason to help someone in need?" Hiroki didn't answer as Nowaki turned back to the stove and took out a few bowls from a cabinet. "Besides I don't judge until I get to know a person."

"Until you get a face full of fire balls." Hiroki stated as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Nowaki chuckled while pouring the soup into each bowl. "You have such an interesting sense of humor." He went back to his seat and handed Hiroki a bowl as the fire bender kept his eyes on Nowaki. "It's good, trust me this soup stayed on the stove and cooked very slowly so there is loads of flavor."

Hiroki furrowed his eyebrows as he smelled the soup with suspicion. "This isn't sea prune soup is it?"

Nowaki laughed as he shook his head in amusement, he knew water tribe food was an acquired taste to many people. Not a lot of people who didn't grow up eating it wouldn't enjoy it or even eat it on daily basis.

"No! It's meat soup with loads of vegetables."

Hiroki wrapped his hands around bowl and Nowaki eagerly sipped his soup without using utensils. "No spoons?"

"I'm sorry!" Nowaki got up and grabbed a spoon from the cabinet. "I usually never eat soup with a spoon or with company present. I'm just so used to it..." He handed Hiroki his spoon as the fire bender took a sip. "What do you think?"

Hiroki took another gulp before he answered honestly, there was no use in lying, the guy basically healed him without needing to. "It's good...best food I've had in a while."

"Thank you!" Nowaki accepted the compliment as he drank more of his soup before he sat back down on his chair. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing out there in the middle of the night?"

Nowaki saw Hiroki stiffen as he clutched his side in reflex and chose to glare at the wall instead of Nowaki. "I do mind and you wouldn't be keeping me here any longer if you knew why I was out there at this hour. I'll be gone in the morning so you don't have to worry about a thing Kusama."

"Call me Nowaki," Nowaki told him as he placed his bowl on his lap. "You can stay as long as you want Kamijou-san but I think I can guess why you were running in the forest in the middle of the night. It's pretty obvious once you think about it."

"Oh really?" Hiroki inquired as he drank another bit of the soup. "What happened to me?"

Nowaki grimly stated. "You were targeted by the fire nation."

"Were?" Hiroki chortled. "I'm still being hunted down by those bastards, it's more convinient if I don't leave clues that I was here. You are going to be involved in my business and I don't want more people to get hurt because they came into contact with me."

"I don't care."

"What?" Hiroki stared at Nowaki with a stunned expression. "Are you insane?"

Nowaki shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe I am, maybe I am not. If you keep going the way you are going then you will collapse someplace where someone will report you. Why not recover your whole strength here? I don't mind having a new roommate and no one ever comes around this part of the forest to begin with so you are safe."

"Let me reiterate if this got lost in the conversation, I am from the fire nation."

"No matter how many times you repeat that it makes no difference to me. You need my help and I'm sure they won't think of looking through this cabin." Nowaki explained as he got closer to Hiroki. "I chose to build my home here on purpose, it's far enough from the next town, good soil to grow vegetables and no one ever comes by."

Hiroki handed Nowaki an empty bowl and inched away from Nowaki, "Are you sure no one comes by here?"

"Not really, only some wanderers but they never stop at my cabin since they go for water at the river." Nowaki answered as it dawned on him, a smile graced his face. "Wait..are you accepting my offer?"

Hiroki nodded his head. "I have no money or clothing anyway...what else can I do?"

"Well I hope you enjoy your stay here Kamijou-san," Nowaki told him as he placed the bowls onto the floor. "Tomorrow I'll go into town and get your some clothes to wear."

Hiroki looked down at his burnt clothes, he removed his shirt and tossed it onto the ground. "I can just borrow your clothes, don't bother." He managed to pull off his pants from underneath the sheets and went with his shirt.

"It's not a problem at all Kamijou-san, all I need is to calculate your measurements and I can give them to seamstress in the town."

"Don't they usually need the person they are making the clothes for to be there? Because as you already know, I can't show my face anywhere."

"I was just there today and I didn't see any posters of you on the board in the middle of the town. The seamstress never asks questions anyway so she won't know they are for you." Nowaki assured Hiroki as he went to his drawer and took out one of his shirts. "Besides, you will look so tiny in my clothes." He presented the long bed shirt to Hiroki. "See you can't wear my clothes for too long."

Hiroki sighed, Nowaki handed him his shirt and he pulled it over his head. "You have a point...so when are you measuring me?"

Nowaki's face turned slightly pink when he imagined measuring Hiroki in only his undergarments with measuring tape, he chuckled to hide it. "We can do this early in the morning if you want, you need your sleep."

Hiroki laid back on the bed and snuggled into the sheets. "Can't argue with that." He saw Nowaki leaving the room as he asked. "Why aren't you going to sleep?"

"I usually stay up late anyway, it's not really an issue that you sleep in my bed." Nowaki explained as he tried holding back a yawn but it escaped from his lips.

Hiroki's eyebrows furrowed as he scooted a good fraction to the corner of the bed. "Get in. I'm already being a bother and we can share the bed. Unless you get creeped out at the idea of sharing a bed with another man."

Nowaki shook his head, he climbed into the bed and laid his head onto the pillow. "Not at all."

Hiroki tried keeping himself awake to see if Nowaki might leave him after he fell asleep. Nowaki chuckled when he noticed Hiroki was trying to keep himself awake and he patted the man's shoulder.

"You can fall asleep anytime now."

"You go to sleep first."

Nowaki smiled as he closed his eyes, of course Hiroki didn't trust him completely yet. "If that's what you want, I can go first."

Hiroki frowned and watched Nowaki until he fell asleep, the obvious sign of his light snoring indicated he was knocked out. Hiroki slept right after him, his body relaxed into the sheets and parts of his body were sore from his sprint in the forest.

This was the first time in months Hiroki almost felt safe in the presence of another person.

TBC