Disclaimer: if i owned LoK Jinora and Skoochy would have met by now... ;)

Summary: the five times Skoochy tried to steal something from Jinora and the one time she succeeded in stealing something from him.

Chapter One: A Necklace

The first time he sees her, he doesn't recognize her; which is odd, because looking back on it he definitely remembers seeing her face before (in the papers at least). Seriously, she's councilman Tenzin's daughter; he should have recognized her.

Then again perhaps he had been too distracted. He had had a lot on his mind that day hunger gnawing silently in his stomach, the fear of a small unpaid debt to the triple threat triads (who though they didn't rule the streets like they used to, still had some pull in the Republic City underground), and the nagging thought in the back of his mind, egged on by many a stranger, that it just might be time for him to grow up and stop this whole theft game. But not tonight; he was hungry and it was late and people don't change in a day…

Yes, that day it hadn't mattered to him who she was, that day she was just another dame to con, just another quick yuan (or so he had thought).

Her necklace poked temptingly out of the short dip in her blouse. It looked expensive enough, it was old and it had some sort of fancy design with swirls on it. It would definitely fetch at least a hundred yuan, and all he had to do was distract her long enough to steal it.

It should have been easy enough, he had been doing this long enough that he was no longer stranger to distracting women.

He hung back at first observing the girl. She was dolled up nicely, her hair pulled away from her face and her clothes looked clean (unlike his own). And for the past half an hour she had looked up every few minutes to glance around the large train station only to look down a second later in disappointment. Skoochy had no idea who she was looking for and honestly, at that point, he couldn't care less. All he could bring himself to care about, at that moment, was when she picked up her head for the seventh time in ten minutes and he saw his opening to approach her…

"What's wrong Dollface, are you looking for someone…?" she looked up, the apathetic look of boredom that had been plastered on her face for the last half hour breaking slightly as her eyes glanced over him, before looking down again, deciding to ignoring him.

"Hey, Dollface, don't ignore me; I was just trying to help. You don't look like you from around here…" her eyes met his in an instant; molten brown pouring into dusty green. It caught him off guard

"As a matter of fact, I'm waiting for someone and they'll be here soon. I don't need your help." Skoochy was a bit taken aback by her sudden hostility; this was not going as well as he thought it would.

"And for your information I've practically lived in Republic City all my life and I know my way around, probably even better than you…" she finished with a challenging smirk playing on her lips.

Thinking back on it he probably should have called I quits right then and there, got up and left her alone, but their was this strange feeling he had about her, like she had some sort of pull on her and he couldn't quite resist getting a rise out of her. The quick spark of emotion from her short outburst was already fading while he stared.

"I can assure you Dollface, you most certainly do not know your way around Republic City, like I do…" she raised an eye brow to the suggestion before brushing it off.

"Says you." She huffed in annoyance "And don't call me Dollface" the conversation was turning on him and honestly he was starting to forget why he was even talking to her in the first place. Regrettably his mind made quick work of that and tried to steer him back in the right direction, the one where he wouldn't be hungry tonight.

"Well Dollface…" hey if she wasn't going to play nice he'd just turn up the charm. "I wouldn't have to, if you told me your name" he said with a borderline cocky grin crossing his face.

"And why would I tell you my name? I don't know you…" he voice was assertive but the blush creeping across her cheeks betrayed her.

"My names Skoochy, there we've met… Now can you tell me your name?" She took a second looking him over a second time trying to see if he was even telling the truth. Because honestly who would believe that someone's name was Skoochy; still he seemed convinced enough.

"Jinora," she said finally "My name's Jinora."

As if on cue Skoochy took that as an 'okay' to slide in to the seat next to her.

"So Jinora, about my earlier question… Who are you waiting for?"

"None of your business…" she replied shifting away slightly

"Is it a date or something…?" He saw color flush her cheeks in an instant.

"What? No!" she denied almost instantly.

"It definitely is" he said with that over again overly self-assured smirk settling on his face almost instantly.

But it took only a second longer for the implications of that to settle into his mind. Frist she probably had a boyfriend, which explain why she wasn't responding to any of his advances (as half-asses as they happened to be in this case). Second she had been sitting her for over 40 minutes now and he hadn't see head or tails of her supposed goof; if he wasn't here by now he had probably stood her up. Damn it, now he felt a bit guilty. Cursing himself both for caring and being so insensitive at the same time he decide He should at least tell her, her dates probably not going to show up, (even though she probably could already guess).

"You know, if your date hasn't shown up by now he probably won't" he said bluntly. She glanced down shrugging her shoulder.

"I know, I was going to leave then you showed up." The word had a bitter bite to them but they were backed with a touch of hurt.

Skoochy felt a surge of anger. If he was her date; he wouldn't have stood dame like her up. It was just rude. He may have been a street rat but he wasn't rude.

"You know Dollface if I was your date I wouldn't have stood you up…" he mused honestly

"And he has no idea what he missing standing you up" he added almost silently

Jinora raise an eyebrow; a smirk, lighting up her face with emotion

"Oh? And you think you do…?" Skoochy took that as a cue to lean in close to her

"Well for one, Dollface, you sure are pretty" he put his hand under her chin and lifted her face so he could see it better. "And your pretty smart too…" he said as his eyes smoldered in to hers.

They stayed nearly frozen like that, faces no more than an inch apart, for what seemed like hours. Then, in an instant, Jinora pulled away frowning.

"You know your very sweet Skoochy." she paused a half frown half smirk playing on her lips. "But I'd like my necklace back…" The first phrase had his mouth hanging slack but the second brought him crashing back to reality.

As he handed her back the necklace he knew two things

First he had just been caught stealing something that hadn't happen since he was maybe fourteen

Second he had to get to know this dame.

In his apparent stunned state, Jinora took the cue to get up and start heading out of the station to go home.

"Wait!" he called after her.

"Jinora!" she shouted; at the sound of her name she turned.

"Can I see you again?" he asked. The question sounded much too soft for his liking. But he couldn't help it. He needed to see this dame again.

"Maybe…" she said smiling "If you're not trying to steal something from me." She added with a light laugh, as she walked away.

Then in her absence reality slowly crashed around him; he was still hungry, he still had debts owed and as the night set in the sidewalk was being rolled up before he even had the chance to make a few god yuans.

But for some wacky reason the most important thought on his mind right now was how could he get her to smile like that again.

A/N: Hi, i absoulty love jinoochy, so much, it's awsome... but i know i have other storys i technicaly should be writing... but for some reason this plot rabiroo is one of the most persistent right now and this is what he wants me to write. so for now deal with it... ;)

So please Read and Review... it pleases my plot rabiroo and he stops jumping all over the place... which cuts down on the cleaning cost of my mind. (seriously there's plot animal prints everywhere.) So feed them with your reviews and let my mind get some rest.