Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted material's that will be featured in this fanfic. They are the property of their creators and associated companies. I make no money off this whatsoever. I write for my own personal amusement and for those people who like to read my works.

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Two Days Later, Approaching the Northern Mountain Range of the Fire Nation,

Akiko's P.O.V

"Yuck! We've been traveling for four days straight and—" Akiko said after pulling the neck of her prison shirt out a bit and taking a sniff.

"—it's beginning to show BIG time!" Finished her sister, Akira, who looked at her with disgust at the smell information that had just been dumped in her mind.

Turning to her sister after sensing that emotional reaction, she glared at her sibling before reaching over and pulling her twin's neck before indicating that the young woman should smell herself before criticizing others. Akira followed the hint and the embarrassment that flowed across their link let her know that the point had been made all too well. In the end neither of them could dispute the fact that four days of travel, combined with none of the basic necessities that just about everyone else in the Fire Nation possessed, and you had a group of fifteen stinky people. Put them all in a single group and she was surprised that they didn't cause birds to fall off their branches thanks to inhaling too much of the fumes and then losing consciousness. In any case, it would only make hiding from Fire Nation soldiers more difficult if they could be smelt coming before they even entered eyesight. Looking at the rest of the group, she could tell that everyone from the elderly gentleman that was barely keeping up with the rest of them to Zihao himself had taken notice of this little cleanliness problem.

"I know but it's not like we're going to come across a hot spring inn fully stocked with fresh clothes all of a sudden." Zihao said with both sympathy as well as skepticism.

She had to admit he had a point there but that was mostly because, aside from a general idea, she really had no idea where they were or how long it'd take to get to the port town they were aiming for. They'd traveled underground for so long after leaving the prison that they'd had to rise up a bit, using earthbending to find some recognizable landmarks with which to navigate by. Still, it was more than a little difficult to figure out where they really were with any precision beyond 'somewhere in this area… I think', so there was no real way to look for a place to get what they needed. They'd literally need the grace of the Spirits themselves if they were going to have anything change for the better before they reached their destination.

"Well, I'll be a badgerfrog's uncle!" Zihao suddenly exclaimed from the front of the group as they entered a clearing that had been in their path.

With curiosity rebounding back and forth between Akira and her, they walked briskly to the head of the group to see what had so surprised their unofficial leader so much. When they got past Kya and Ursa, they had to admit that they could completely understand how their favorite source of entertainment could be so shocked. Set at the far end of the clearing was what could only be defined as a mansion belonging to a member of the social elite, designed with all the extras including decorative golden inlay on every visible wooden surface. Obviously the owner didn't care about money all that much, since the amount of gold used in the building of the mansion must have taken at least four fully loaded carts to bring here. She didn't know whether or not this was done because the owner was simply that rich or if the fool had an inferiority complex and this was their way of combating it. Whatever the, case it was a welcome sight and even if the person it belonged to was there, they could still take what they needed with their superior numbers. With that opinion in her mind and mirrored by her sister's mind, the two of them made a dash for the front doors, intent on taking full advantage of the luxuries that surely lay within.

She heard the others yelling at her to wait and stuff but she ignored them because there was no way she was going to stay away from a hot bath and clean clothes with the potential for both being right in front of her.

Sadly, when she and Akira opened the front door to take in with their eyes what lay inside, they staggered backwards at the sight before them.

If the outside had been heavily decorated by gold in an interesting yet tasteful way, then it had been a completely different decorator who'd been in charge of the interior. Just about everywhere they looked the paintings, the sculptures, the curtains and rugs all shared a single theme that almost made them want to burn the entire mansion down on general principle. What was the theme? SEX. Everywhere they looked there was something that had something to do with sex, whether it was a ten foot tall gold statue of woman with a single scarf wrapped around her body or a painting showing two people all over each other. Quite frankly, while neither she nor her sister were exactly ignorant about what boyfriends and girlfriends did when they had some privacy, this was a place fit for a lecherous old man or a disgusting pervert. It sort of made sense that this place was built in the middle of nowhere, since if it'd been built closer to a village or city the locals would have torn the place down themselves.

It didn't take more than ten seconds for the rest of the group to catch up with them and so there were plenty of exclamations of shock as well as disgust. Both were feelings that resonated between her and Akira, making them wonder if they were really desperate enough for a bath or new clothes to even enter the place, much less explore it. Looking around at the others, she could see that the women were just as revolted as they were but there were a few of the men who seemed to be taking too great an interest in the decorations. Zihao, though, looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown as he tried to look in a direction that didn't have something perverted there while blushing like an innocent schoolboy.

This changed everything as an idea began to form in her head that had her using all her willpower to suppress the smile that threatened to burst forth on her face. She felt inquiring thoughts flow her way through her connection with Akira and she blew her idea across the sea of thoughts to let her know what she had in mind. It wasn't long before her twin was trying her best to keep a straight face as well and that clinched what was going to happen to everyone from here on out. Keeping their discomfort at the lewd interior design of the place, they both entered into the center of the room before turning to face the rest of the group.

"Well I can't say I like the décor all that much—" she said with a reluctant yet accepting look in her face.

"—but it beats another night in the middle of nowhere. Let's check this place out." Akira said, finishing her statement as usual.

It wasn't that they were incapable of keeping their thoughts separate, Kurosaki'd trained them to do so after being annoyed with their paired speaking, but it often threw others off their guard. That would make it harder to come up with a sound reason to leave this mansion behind for someplace else and, thus, their joint plan could proceed unimpeded. Plus it was just plain amusing to see everyone's head swivel back and forth between the two of them!

"I don't know if we should go any further inside." Lady Ursa said, sounding like she'd like to give the owner of the mansion a piece of her mind as soon as she found out who that person was, "Who knows what… traps… might be set up to guard this place. No one would leave a place this… expensive… unprotected."

"Maybe, but what're the odds that the guy thought to rig the place to defend against people who could bend more than one element? Not likely." She said before picking a direction to go in and walking, "Besides, if this place puts up a fight—"

"—Then we're just going to have to show it who's boss!" Akira said, following close behind her as they ventured further into the mansion.

All the while they did they were laughing on the inside imagining how 'fondly' Zihao would remember his time here once they put their plan into action.

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Hours Later, The Mansion's Interior, A Bedroom Upstairs, Kya's P.O.V

"Akiko… Akira? I don't think those clothes are entirely… appropriate… traveling." Kya said as politely as she could even though she had the urge to find a blanket and throw it over the two.

It had started out simply enough, a quest for clothes to replace the ones they'd worn as prisoners beneath the Tiamat Academy, but when they'd started looking through the closets, they'd found the selection somewhat lacking. They found clothes that were obviously meant to arouse the opposite sex, clothes that were meant to scream 'I am one rich guy/girl' and then there were clothes that were identical enough that they were probably intended for the servants. However, much like the interior of the house not a single outfit was something that would fail to attract attention if they entered a populated area wearing them, whether it was bad attention like revulsion at the way the clothes looked on some of the older members of their group or good attention like people admiring the more attractive members of their party. In either case, it would only ruin their chances of making it out of the country in one piece since the clothes would only make them more memorable to everyone who saw them. Thus for the last hour she'd been trying with Ursa to find different ways to combine the acceptable parts of the clothes meant for women with some of the more concealing parts of the men's clothes. She'd thought it to be an easy enough task in the beginning but, as the seconds had ticked by, it had taken more and more of her focus to picture the way the clothes combinations would look without actually trying them on.

This had been an unwise move since it left the Twins unsupervised.

Not a good move given their inner nature and predisposition towards chaos.

This had been proven minutes ago when the two terrors entered the room to show off the outfits they'd chosen and she had to say that it'd be a trial indeed to persuade the duo to try something else on. Akiko was wearing an outfit that looked like she had just ripped down a crimson curtain, folded it length-wise twice then wrapped it around her upper torso before securing it with a weak-looking broach. As for everything below the waist, this part had obviously come from a bed sheet since it was too shiny to be a piece of clothing in her opinion and, besides that, it was secured in such a way that it showed almost all of her right leg. Both halves looked like they'd fall off if they got snagged on even the smallest thing so she was not going to let the girl leave the room until she was wearing something a little more practical. As for Akira… well… it was a bit more modest but not by much. It looked more like swim wear with minimal additions, like a semi-transparent cloth skirt that barely concealed the shapely legs that existed beneath. Add to that the fact that the second half of the duo had obviously made sure that her top worked to the benefit of her chest by enhancing its appearance. All in all they both looked like they both looked like they belonged in a place like this.

However given how they'd been treated by the guards of the Anti-Avatar Project, she very much doubted that either of the girls would ever even consider working for a person who approved of just a lecherously decorated place.

There had to be a secondary motive.

It was right then that the door to the room opened up to reveal one Shen Zihao, dressed in clothes that were a sensible combination of flashy yet functional that wouldn't raise too many eyebrows when they reached the port town. It was when she put the three of them together in her mind, though, that she realized the intent of the girls and she had to shake her head at what was about to happen. In reality she should have expected this, considering how they'd treated the young man while they were all still in the caves beneath the Tiamat Academy. She contemplated for a moment intervening to spare the unofficial leader of their group the embarrassment, but decided that she could use a good laugh.

"Are you guys done yet?" Zihao asked sounding a little annoyed as he allowed his eyes to settle on them, "I swear! It doesn't matter what age they are, women… take forever… to…"

Brain freeze via overstimulation.

It was more than she could handle to see the chosen of the spirits slack jawed and vacant eyed look on his face, thus laughter spilled from her mouth. Ursa joined her in this but sadly this was enough to snap the young man out of his overload stupor and turn his back to the lot of them while obviously trying to banish what he'd just seen from his mind. It was a nice trait of his and not many other boys his age would have shown the same level of restraint when faced with the presence of two provocatively-clad young women. Others, she knew, would have continued to openly gape or made lewd comments in an effort to gain favor with Akiko and Akira. Definitely the sort of young man any mother could be proud of.

That thought, however, tempered her good humor as she mentally substituted Zihao for Sokka and wondered how he would have reacted to this situation.

It probably wouldn't have been much different then Zihao's doing right now. She thought as the twins tried to trick the young man into looking at them, Only Katara would probably slap him upside the head, regardless of whether or not he actually looked.

It was always the way those two behaved around one another, Sokka letting his desires get him into trouble and then Katara coming to knock some sense into him, and she had no doubt the same things were happening to this very day. She wondered if she'd ever be able to see the two of them again one day but decided that it would probably be years before that happened. The Fire Nation military was still an aggressive force in this world and while they had heard rumors that the war was nearing its end, with the firebenders being the favored ones, it was unlikely that they'd go quietly into the night. With that in mind, it'd no doubt be awhile before all pursuit of them ceased assuming that it ever would in the first place. She along with the others were the dirty little secrets of the Fire Nation government and if the world learned the truth of Tiamat academy, it would only make things worse for the people that started the war. They'd be hunted for as long as the people who'd suffer the most from the truth had the resources to pursue them.

She shook her head a bit to keep the depressive mood coalescing within her from taking hold and made sure an amused smile remained firmly on her face. She couldn't let herself ruin this opportunity for the others to, at least for a time, forget the hardships they'd endured while taking advantage of the luxuries the perverted owner of the place had equipped the mansion with. Spirits knew when they'd be able to sleep in a real bed again or be able to enjoy such things as 'safety' or ' contentment' again.

"If you two are quite through trying to make the poor boy faint, maybe you can help me see what sort of food this place has." She said, walking over to where the damsel duo continued to torment Zihao, "You'll need something to eat after chasing after Zihao, won't you?"

"Chase after him? What do you—" Akiko asked after stopping her tormenting acts to look at the Southern Water Tribe woman with a mystified look on her face.

"—mean?" Akira asked, finishing the question for her sister since similar inquiries were floating around her head.

All she did was point and the answer became clear to all. Just like she'd predicted the moment the twins had turned her way, Zihao had taken advantage of that opportunity and bolted from the room with all the speed his feet could manage. Both of them let out a single exclamation of surprise before they ran off in pursuit of their favorite plaything, alternating between trying to convince him to come back and giggling at the ideas that were no doubt being mass produced by their linked minds.

She'd make sure to rescue the young man after inspecting the kitchen.

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That Evening, The Perverted Mansion, The Private Hot Springs at the Back, Lady Ursa's P.O.V

"Akiko? Be a dear and warm up the water a bit more, would you?" Ex-Princess Ursa asked before letting out a sigh of relaxation as she immersed herself in the sensations the hot spring was producing in her body.

It had been after they'd all finished dinner, a large one thanks to the fully stocked kitchen, that they'd discovered the large hot springs in the back of the mansion. Actually they'd heard a yell followed by a splash that had caused both her and Kya to rush to see what the commotion was about, only to find Zihao completely soaked in the hot spring with the twins looking down from an open window. She had felt a mixture of amusement, nostalgia and sadness seeing this since it reminded her all to well of the time when Zuko had knocked Mai into the fountain to put out the small fire Azula had started on the tip of an apple. It had been such a good time, even though her brother-in-law Iroh had been away assaulting Ba Sing Se at the time. It had brought a smile to her face but it also reminded her of the truth of her situation and the likelihood that she'd ever see her children again. She wanted to see them both, both to see their smiling faces and atone for the wrongs she'd committed, but she could not, given that she was seen as both a traitor as well as a prison escapee. If one title didn't keep her out of the capitol, the other would make sure that she died in some out of the way place where only the animals would ever know what happened. It had been Kya who'd picked up on this and suggested that they enjoy the wonderful thing that Zihao had found for them as a way to compliment the delicious meal they'd just enjoyed.

That had been two hours ago and, upon the insistence of Zihao, it had been ladies first in getting first crack at the hot springs while the men waited for their chance later. Since then most of the older ladies had left to enjoy a good night's sleep in a nice comfy bed, leaving only her, Kya, Akiko and Akira to enjoy the soothing warmth of the hot water. It was doing wonders for the aches, pains and lingering effects of that monster Kurosaki's treatments to the point where she could almost believe that they'd never happened. Sadly, all she had to do was look down at her own body or look at the forms of the others to be reminded of the tortuous methods that had been used on them in an effort to infuse their bodies with unnatural bending abilities. The scarring was sparse but for those with the eyes to see them, the damaged skin was easy to see and an expert could probably deduce precisely what had been done. It hadn't been out of any noble reason on Kurosaki's part but rather it had happened purely by coincidence. Hopefully the time they spent in this hot spring would cause the scars that existed to fade a bit just as it worked wonders on the burn injury she'd sustained just before entering Zihao's tunnel. She was not a vain person by any means but the scars were a lingering reminder of the horrors they'd all been through and those times were something she very much wanted to leave in the past.

"Sure thing!" Akiko said before clapping her hands together and using a firebender's control over heat to force more warmth into the water of the hot springs.

Within seconds the water flowing around her was back to the right temperature and she moaned with contentment as her muscles slowly began to feel like they were turning into limp noodles. She figured it'd be best to stay for no more than another thirty minutes before getting out since, if she didn't, they might as well put a pillow beneath her head and let her sleep there. Not exactly a safe thing to do, considering she'd been known to toss and turn a bit in bed and doing that here would either get her soaked or have her fall onto the hard rocks surrounding the edge of the water. Not a good idea considering that the plan was to leave the mansion at noon tomorrow to continue their journey to the port town on the northern tip of the Fire Nation. Some had aired complaints about that and even suggested that they simply stay at the mansion since it was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Zihao, however, had quickly pointed out that given the good condition of the place, it was still in use and anyone rich enough to build it would be too important for them to either kill or keep prisoner since it would attract unwanted attention. The idea of bringing down the military on their heads had been enough to motivate the group into accepting the fact that they'd be moving on sooner rather than later. They already located a stash of currency that they could use to bribe the captain of the boat they chose to take them out of Fire Nation territory along with some valuables that they'd be able to sell for currency just about anywhere in the world. They'd have to be careful to whom they sold it since selling priceless Fire Nation goods outside their country of origin would only act as a signal beacon to their pursuers.

Fortunately Zihao seems to have it all planned out. Almost like he's done it before. She thought before shaking her head a bit at the absurdity of that thought.

Still she couldn't find any fault in his plans herself and considering no one else voiced concerns or complaints about the plans no one else did either.

Just as she was about to reach for a drink that she'd brought out with her, she heard sounds of a struggle coming from inside the mansion and immediately got to her feet. Listening careful, she tried to determine just how serious it was but the sounds were too muffled for her to make out much detail. The destruction of the quick patch job they'd done to the second floor window that Zihao had crashed through hours earlier, though, came through loud and clear. What caused the destruction? All she had been able to see at first was a humanoid shape falling through the air but that stopped with a splash and the sounds of someone trying to keep their head above water.

"Petui! Dammit Kazuharu! Roshi! I'm gonna get you for this!!" Yelled the familiar voice of one Shen Zihao, who she now realized was the humanoid form that had fallen into the hot spring.

While she agreed with the young man that the two most lecherous members of their group would definitely have to pay for peeping on them, she believed that the young man had a more pressing concern. That concern, of course, being that he was now hip deep in water and surrounded by four nude women, none of whom would react favorably to his presence at all.

"Zi-hao!" Akiko snarled while using one hand to cover her chest.

That one word and the tone in which it was said was enough to get the young man's attention and clue him into his current situation as she could see him go rigid with fear. With eyes closed, their unofficial leader tried to get to his feet and, despite a few slips on wet stones, he succeeded but it'd be anyone's guess if he made it any further.

"Um…yes?" He asked tentatively, no doubt hoping that things weren't as bad as they seemed.

"DIE!" Screamed both Akiko and Akira as they used their feet in perfect synch to cause the earth beneath Zihao to propel him back through the hole in the second floor window.

They used just a little more force than necessary in her opinion as she heard a lengthy roll finished by a rather painful sounding thud a couple of seconds later. While she didn't think that the boy deserved such a punishment, it would serve as a good way to keep the boy from picking up any perverted habits from Kazuharu and Roshi.

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Two Days Later, Approaching a Port Town on the Northern Most Part of the Fire Nation

Zihao's P.O.V

"Well boys and girls! Here's the first tough part of our little trek." He said, looking down on the small port town laid out before them on the edge of the sea, "Getting a boat of our very own or convincing one of the captains down there to take us where we want to go. Any ideas?"

The others looked at him like he was a little off in the head but only for a moment before he could see them trying to think up a way that they could acquire a means of getting out of the Fire Nation and to the Western Air Temple of the Air Nomads. It had been a long journey and when some of the ex-prisoners that had lingered around him heard where he intended to go, some did leave, believing that the task of getting out of the Fire Nation was impossible. Not an unreasonable assumption, given that there existed an almost constant naval blockade of Fire Navy ships circling the Fire Nation with orders to blow any unauthorized ships they come across out of the water. Still, he was confident that among these ships was a captain or a boat that had a way figured out to get past that problem, whether it be by promising certain captains a cut of the profits or simply because they were undercover operatives of the military. With a little luck they would be able to find themselves one that would be… flexible… enough in his or her way of thinking that there wouldn't be any trouble transporting a couple of unknowns out of the Fire Nation. If worse came to worse, they'd grab the fastest looking boat in port and use that to make their grand getaway.

If not… well he decided he was going to keep his thoughts positive.

Looking back at the fifteen people that remained in their group, the rest having gone their own ways, he had to wonder just how they were all going to slip into the village, get a ship and get out without every villager getting a good look at them. They weren't exactly dressed inconspicuously, despite having the good fortune of having come across an in-the-middle-of-nowhere mansion containing a fresh supply of clothes. This allowed them to ditch their prison get ups and get into clothes a little less likely to get the attention of the military. He said 'a little' since while he had had no problems finding clothes to fit himself, those of the female persuasion had to satisfy themselves with garments that must have been designed for servant girls. Servant girls of the shapely variety and, based on the various pieces of so-called art, it was pretty obvious the owner of the mansion was a complete pervert. A little borrowing, though, allowed the ladies of the group to turn their outfits into something a tad more modest. It'd probably look weird but he figured it'd be more the quality of their clothes rather than how they were arranged that would cause people to look at them funny. Still, when forced to choose between the ragged pieces of cloth that they'd been issued after first entering the Tiamat compound and these rich person clothes, he knew which way he'd go.

He just wished that his teenage hormones would stop putting dirty thoughts into his head!

It had been one thing after another at that perverted mansion and he had suffered one misunderstanding after another, ending with the incident where he got dumped into the hot spring while the ladies were occupying it. Considering that there were only two common ways to enter a hot spring, he had the mixed blessing of seeing Kya, Ursa, Akiko and Akira naked. While seeing the first two had been like seeing his Mom naked and thus 'ew'-worthy, the other two looked fine indeed. The twin daughters of the Shimizu family, however, made sure that his experience was a short one by using earthbending to send him back through the hole he'd come through in the first place. Being two or three years older, though, didn't necessarily make them mentally more mature than him though.

Physically, on the other hand, they were quite a bit different from how young ladies his age looked.

He remembered the early days when he'd first met them and they helped him to understand the unwritten rules of the prison and which guards needed to be avoided as well as the ones that could be counted on to be at least half decent towards the prisoners. The only downside, though, was that due to the fact that he had just taken their place as the youngest of the inmates, making him their beast of burden when it came to the chores. Even after he figured out what their game was, they still managed to stick him with the work either by playing on his weakness for women in distress or tricking the guards into dumping everything on his shoulders. If it wasn't for the fact that he was the victim in all this, he would have probably found their antics hilarious and been rolling on the floor with laughter at the poor schmuck who got saddled with the work.

Kinda hard to find the laughter when you're the schmuck.

He had, briefly, hoped that now that they were out of the prison that the duo would let up on their little act but instead they picked a new game to play with him.

He called it 'how many times can we get Zihao's brain to freeze in one hour' and they were steadily getting better at it.

Much to his horror.

Fortunately, since he'd spent most of his time with either Lady Ursa or Kya, the duo hadn't been able to go as far as they might have had the two adults not been around. That, however, had prompted them to up the ante since the clothes they had chosen were what you'd typically expect from two beautiful young women, namely stylish as well as sexy, so you had him playing his own unique version of 'keep away' during their time at the mansion.

They had their good points, though, but those good points came with some rather disturbing side effects. According to what he'd been told by other inmates, they had at first just been another pair of prisoners for Kurosaki to have his way with but then some idiot guard opened his mouth and said something stupid. The guard mentioned how he'd heard stories about how some identical twins could intuitively find their sibling through some mystical connection they had. He even went so far as to say there was a story about how two twins had such a strong connection between the two of them they could complete a job without having to speak or use signals of any kind. At first the mad doctor had dismissed the story out of hand but after about six months, the treatments that the twins were put through changed significantly. The head of the Tiamat facility had given the stories a second chance and, while it was unlikely that the madman believed the stories, the idea of creating a bond between two people allowing for the benefits mentioned in the stories was fascinating to him. Thus began a new series of torturous experiments and the end result was both a success and failure at the same time, depending on how you looked at it. By the time that Kurosaki was finished with them, which was roughly when he began his bending classes, they could move and fight in such a way that lent heavy credibility to the idea that they had some sort of mental connection. Without words, without hand signals or anything else they moved in such perfect synch with one another so as to appear supernatural in nature. There were even signs that they could combine their bending abilities to produce attacks greater than any normal bending duo could accomplish under optimum conditions.

The downside of the procedures though made the good points less shiny, though.

The first and most noticeable was the fact that if the twins ever lost their mental focus or got overly emotional thoughts, words and actions would slip from one to another. One of them would start a sentence only for the other to finish it off without any noticeable break. One of them would be eating after a hard days work and the other's mouth would move as though it were chewing something even though nothing was there in her mouth. This led to some rather odd sights and, when informed of what they'd done, the duo would smack the messenger across the face, slapping both cheeks before storming off in a fury. He'd experienced this firsthand so he'd know better than most. The second and less noticeable downside was the fact that keeping them separated, liking putting them in different cell blocks, for longer and longer periods of time was not good for their health. He didn't think it was related to the distance between them but rather that their souls, their spirits, needed to interact with each other on a regular basis in order to maintain stability. Kept in isolation for periods ranging from only a day to a week, the two found themselves unusually tired or found walking steadily unusually difficult. It didn't take them long to get better once they were reunited but it was horrible enough to see what time apart did to them that everyone with half a heart in them promised to make sure those times were kept to a minimum. It wasn't easy, sometimes it had required that he get put through the ringer instead of them, but he just couldn't bear to see the two of them so out of it again.

Now, though, he sort of wished that he didn't have such a soft spot for damsels in distress.

"Well, we could always find out who is smuggling stuff in and out of the country." Akira suggested before looking to her sister, "After all, there's gotta be someone…"

"…that's making money outta breaking the rules, right?" Akiko asked, finishing the suggestion that her sister started.

"Maybe, but those sort of people don't have a problem with stabbing their clients in the back if someone else is willing to pay them more." He said, pointing out the flaw in their idea with a grimace, "Unfortunately it's those sort of people that'll have the skills to sneak us out of the Fire Nation. We'll just have to be careful which one we hire."

With a nod mirrored by the others, they began walking down the path that would take them into the port village while doing their best not to make it obvious they were keeping their guards up or expecting trouble. Not an easy thing to do when you were in enemy territory and had no idea what the current troop placements were or what sort of problems would crop up. Still as they entered the village the residents only gave them a passing glance before resuming whatever they had been doing before. Whether this was because it had been beaten into them not to concern themselves with the affairs of their betters or just that they didn't care that fifteen richly-dressed people had entered their village, he didn't know. As long as they kept this level of interest in his group, he'd consider it a good thing but just the same he started making battle strategies in the back of his mind that used the environment to his advantage. If he hadn't managed to convince Draco to stay outside of the village, though, it would have been impossible to do what they needed to do without raising one helluva ruckus. The Twins had suggested trying to disguise the dragon like something just about everyone had seen so as to allow the rare animal to blend in but no outfit they were able to come up with managed to disguise the fact that Draco was a white and gold dragon. In the end it took an hour of telepathic image conveying to the young sky serpent what he had to do and how important it was not to deviate from the plan. He just hoped that the overgrown lizard did as it was told because otherwise things would go pear-shaped really quickly.

It didn't take them long to reach the boats as he began looking them over to see which ones stood the best chance of either standing up to a Fire Navy ship or shooting past them in terms of speed. Most of the ships docked were fishing boats with a range that barely went beyond eyesight of land but there were two that looked like they could make it to another country. Focusing on them, he tried to determine which ones had the unsavory types running it and which one was simply a law-abiding craft. Fortunately it didn't take along and he could tell that the one built for speed was the one operated by pirates/criminals. Telling all but Lady Kya and Lady Ursa to stay where they were, he walked to the bottom of the plank and waited for one of the crew to notice him.

"Is there somethin' I can help you with, young sir?" Asked the oldest and scruffiest looking sailor of the whole bunch who looked to be counting something or other.

"Indeed you can." He replied, trying to sound upper crust and everything, "My associates and I would like to book passage on your ship. We realize that your craft might not be designed for accommodating anyone aside from the crew but we are willing to accept some discomfort in order to get to where we desire to go."

As expected, both Mr. Scruffy and the other members of the crew looked at his group, then the ones waiting at the base of the dock and then back at him in shock. Not surprising since one would think that someone rich enough to wear the clothes he was wearing would have their own boat and thus have no need to book passage on another. Fortunately he had managed to plan for this from the first moment that he considered this potential scenario the day before.

"Ah! I am sure you are wondering why we would book passage on your vessel when we are obviously of the social elite." He said, putting a little arrogant pomp into his words, "While my father did not permit me to divulge everything, I can tell you getting these people to their destination is of considerable importance to our family. We would appreciate it though if you would not inquire further on this matter."

While the expected annoyance at being spoken to so snootily showed up, it looked like Mr. Scruffy was actually considering his request.

"Well, I'd have to know a few things first before I could agree to anything." Mr. Scruffy said as he passed a scroll to another crew member, "Where is it do you wish to go with your group?"

"While I was instructed not to tell you the final destination until after we were well underway, I can tell you that the place my associates and I wish to go is beyond the borders of the Fire Nation itself." He said as he indicated to Kya to step forward with the bag she had in her hands, "As for the terms of the agreement, you will receive half the payment now and half upon our safe arrival. Also I have been permitted to give you a bonus if you and your crew refrain from asking any probing questions. Do we have a deal?"

Watching as Kya stepped forward to open the bag and show Mr. Scruffy the money he'd be paid, he could practically see the man's eyes widen as he looked at the booty inside. In truth it was only one quarter of what they'd liberated from the mansion and, if all went well, they'd still have a tidy sum that they could hopefully have converted into the currency of whatever they needed. However, if it became necessary, they'd use it to bribe these people even further to both take them where they needed to go and keep what happened to themselves if asked by Fire Nation soldiers. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that but thankfully his time as Xander Harris was actually proving useful to him since it allowed him to think of the worst case scenario and plan for it. He even had something planned out if they actually had to throw down with one or two Fire Navy ships although he hoped it didn't come to that. While he was fairly certain they could all throw enough curveballs at the Fire Navy to get by, it would be the equivalent of setting off a signal flare to the forces that attacked the Tiamat facility. He'd prefer it if they could sneak out of the country without raising that kind of ruckus.

"If you need some time to think it over then I suppose I can allow that." He said, moving onto one of his contingency plans should he not get an immediate response from Mr. Scruffy, "We will return in one hour. I hope that will be sufficient time for you to reach a decision on this matter. Is that alright?"

A nod was all he received in response from Mr. Scruffy and, with that, he, Lady Ursa and Lady Hya turned away before proceeding to return to the others. He could feel the eyes of not only the crew but also just about everyone else on the dock on them as they moved but knew that there wasn't anything he could do about that.

"So what's the deal Zihao-chan?" Akiko asked while craning her head a little to look at the man in charge of the boat, "Did the guy accept the deal or…"

"…do we have to check with the other boats." Finished Akira as she then arched her neck a bit to look at the same person as her sister.

Still not quite used to how they finished each other's sentences, he looked at the two of them before shaking his head in disbelief. He knew that they did it sometimes when they were under stress due to what Kurosaki had done to them but personally he thought they sometimes did it just to rattle him or piss him off. They loved playing head games with him and the more it threatened to blow a brain fuse in his head, the more they liked it and the more they tried to top the previous trick. He did manage a counterattack a few times but he often just wound up giving them more ammunition for their own pranks and schemes. Since then he'd learned that when they entered the room, it was in his best interests to be find someplace else to be. If he could not leave the room then he found some way to totally gross them out that was universally known to make girls want to scream 'eeewwwww' no matter what. Most times it worked but sometimes instead of making them sick to their stomachs it actually pissed them off resulting in him getting a face full of fists.

The phrase 'you hit like a girl' could NOT be attached to them in any way, shape or form.

"I think we might have found our way out of the Fire Nation." He replied neutrally since he honestly had no idea which way things would go, "I decided to give the crew of the ship time to think over the deal I gave them before choosing anything."

"So what'll we do until then?" Lady Kya asked him with an unusual amount of deference.

It was then that he realized that, aside from a few times when he was completely clueless, Ursa and Kya had pretty much let him call the shots from the moment he woke up. He supposed this might have something to do with the fact that he'd told them all about his meeting with the elemental spirits that ruled this world. While he personally didn't take much notice of it all, he knew that many people said prayers to the spirits and even erected shrines to them. If that was the case with the others, then naturally they would follow him since following him would be like following the will of the spirits. Still, he hoped they at least let him know what they thought should be done since, despite his special status, he was still just a teenager. Deciding it might be best to grab a few supplies, he divided a quarter of the money they'd purloined from the place they liberated their clothes from amongst the fifteen people with him.

"Go around to the shops and start buying up supplies." He said keeping some of the money for himself, "Stick to the essentials: food, water, medicine and blankets. If you have some money left then you can use it on something non-essential."

With a nod from everyone he went about to get his own supplies focusing on the essentials. Fortunately the shops around town had this sort of trip in mind and it wasn't hard for him to find what he was after. True, the blanket he found was a little itchy and some of the medicine looked like puss from a sore but he'd seen and felt worse. As far as food, he asked specific questions of the vendors concerning how long the food would last before going bad and what could be done to make lengthen the time the stuff was safe to eat. Fortunately his mother had given him some pointers on this sort of thing when he helped her out in the kitchen so he wasn't completely naïve in this area. It was easy enough to buy a few bamboo tubes of water as well making it relatively easy for him to fill his quota of things he had to get for the group. Finding he had enough for a meal, he looked around and easily spotted a pub/tavern/restaurant that looked to be quite popular amongst the locals if the traffic passing through the front door was any hint. Stepping through himself, he was greeted with a sight that was both familiar to him but at the same time foreign enough to his Xander side that had never been to a place like this. It was throwing him off a bit how he was getting two separate reactions at the same time but fortunately felt as though both he and Xander were similar enough that things didn't feel too weird. Sitting down at the nearest vacant table, he waited for one of the waitresses to come his way so he could order something. He didn't have enough for a full meal but at least he'd be able to get a snack and something to drink.

"How you doing cutie?" Came a girl's voice, causing him to look up to see the owner.

Looking up he saw that it was a girl that looked to be about his age, if a few months younger, with dark brown hair, brown eyes and a braided ponytail trailing down her back. She was wearing what appeared to be the official waitress outfit of the place she appeared to be quite… chipper, but he had a feeling that she wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer either. Still, she kind of reminded him of a younger pre-Buffy Xander in she looked like the kind of person who always tried to keep the mood light but was loyal to a fault. Deciding to do what he could to make her day a little better, given that being a waitress couldn't be easy, he decided to open with the corniest yet also funniest thing he could say.

"Much better now that you're here." He said in what he hoped sounded suave and refined.

He'd meant it humorously.

After all it had to be the oldest and corniest thing he could say.

If Xander had said this back in his world, the girls would have laughed at him or scoffed at the unoriginal line.

"I could say the same thing about you, hot stuff." Miss Teenager said with an unmistakable tone in her voice as she sat down across from him, "Today's been so dull! It's been nothing but old men and disgusting guys that can't stop pinching my butt. I mean, I know I'm cute and all, but it makes me drop the plates I'm carrying and the manager gets mad at me and I really need this job."

Listening to her ramble on and on about how her job was pretty much cemented the idea that while not entirely as ditzy as Harmony Kendall was in Xander's world, this girl would probably break something in her head if she ever tried to act serious for more than five minutes. Whether this was an act like the valley girl routine Cordy employed as Queen C or not, he didn't know and would probably never know. In any case he wanted to have his snack and get back to the docks where he'd meet up with the others but with the way this girl was talking he'd probably have to wait an hour before he'd have an opening to interrupt her.

"TY LEE! GET OFF YOUR ASS AND TAKE THAT GUY'S ORDER!!" Bellowed a large, stubble-chinned man who looked like he had already told the brunette this ten times before, "DO THIS AGAIN AND YOU'RE FIRED!"

"Right away, Mr. Lee! So what'll it be cutie?" Ty Lee asked, getting to her feet and trying to at least look like she was determined to do her job perfectly.

Smiling a bit uneasily at this girl who now apparently had a crush on him, he rattled off his favorite snack and drink before watching her head for the entrance to the kitchen of the establishment. While Ty Lee wasn't exactly an annoyance, he was glad that he'd probably never see her again after this because with Akiko and Akira already having amusement at his expense every chance he got he shuddered at the thought of them hooking up with his current waitress.

There are some combinations that were never meant to see the light of day! He thought as he tried to find something else to occupy his thoughts rather than the trio of Akiko, Akira and Ty Lee.