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I'd like to thank Celtic Goddess of Fertility and Capricious Kiwi for reviewing. It means a lot. :)

I hope you enjoy this next chapter, please review and tell me what you think.

"Ah...a nice hot meal" Yuo gives a wide grin as he sits down at a table. It's almost noon and Yuo has traveled quite a ways from Ba Sing Se in such a short time and has stumbled into a quiet little Earth Kingdom village. The village is but one of a few stops on his way to a ship that can get him home. It would be wise to just rest your feet and pass on through; however, Yuo's strong appetite seems to have gotten the better of him.

The small restaurant is simple looking, only one waiter to serve the customers, and about two cooks in the kitchen as far as could be seen.

"Hello sir...how may I help you today?" the waiterasks with an overly friendly looking smile.

"Oh yes...I would like the meat surprise plate please." Yuo responds in a friendly tone which the waiter seemed confused by. "Is something wrong?"

"No sir...it's just...the last time we had a Fire Nation solider here...he didn't have the...courtesy you have." the waiter says with a more sincere looking smile.

"I pride myself on it." Yuo says, giving a slight nod of his head as a sign of respect.

The waiter bows and runs, knees high in the air, into the kitchen.

Yuo leans back in his chair and let's his mind wonder. Lately his thoughts have been only on the Ba Sing Se rebels and what will happen next. This time things did not go as he had planned. His thoughts lead him back to the days when his parents were still alive, when he was closer to her.

The Fire Nation Royal Palace. (Flashback)

"It feels so nice to visit the Royal Palace again for the summer." Yuo's mother, Nahi, says in a relaxed tone as she stands in the royal garden next to her husband and son.

She was a very beautiful woman, a real catch some would say. She was known throughout the Fire Nation for being intelligent, but unfortunately was also known for having a sharp tongue. Her long dark hair was always tied in a simple ponytail. She wore a fragrance unique to her, made from the precious sweet smelling Moonsaku flower that grow only in their province.

Yuo's father, Krao, only gives a slight grunt in response to his wife's words; however, not due to a superior attitude that came to most men with his position but due to the fact that Nahi might take a worded response in a wrong way and in all senses let him have it.

Krao was a governor of a small province in the Fire Nation and was not a stout, stern, or strong man. In fact he was an awkward looking man, standing a good five inches shorter than Nahi and was nearly as thin as she was. Despite these features, Krao always wore a look of confidence and was a military genius who held high respect for general Iroh. Throughout the duration of his rule, his province had faced overwhelming attacks by the Earth Kingdom and never lost a battle. This fact brought his family a great amount of honor, respect, and the eye of prince Ozai.

"I can't believe I actually complained and fought for three days to try and get out of going." Yuo laughs to himself.

"I hate this place" little Yuo said, folding his arms and has an angry look on his face.

Yuo was wearing his Fire Nation school uniform, had short and well groomed hair like most Fire Nation nobility had.

"You haven't even given it a chance Yuo...now go play while your father and I say hello to the Fire Lord and his family." Nahi says with a well trained smile. "Come on Krao."

Krao was a brave man, only two things in the world made him nervous and that was seeing the Fire Lord, the other was his wife.

"Y-yes Nahi." Krao gives a nervous smile and follows her. "Oh..uh...play nice...alright son?" Krao waves goodbye.

Little Yuo gives a sigh and goes off to explore the gardens. He eventually finds a duck pond and sits down, taking out a blank book he uses to sketch animals and starts to draw the ducks.

"Ah...that was when I was in my fascination with animals stage."

"What are you drawing?" came a voice behind Yuo.

"Uh...just the ducks." Yuo says in a friendly tone mixed with a little annoyance.

"Really? It looks more...like a rock with a beak."

"What?! It does..." Yuo takes a look at the drawing. "Hmmm...I guess it does." he turns rubbing the back of his head, giving a slight smile. His embarrassed look changed instantly to a look of surprise.

"I'm Zuko." the boy said with a slight smile.

Yuo gets up. "I'm Yuo...you're the son of Prince Ozai...right?"

Zuko's heart skips a beat and he freezes for a moment. "Uh...yes...I am." he scratches his head nervously, looking down as he does.

"Let me guess...he's hard to please right?" Yuo says with a look of concentration on his face.

Zuko looks up. "Yes...how did you know? Is your father hard to please too?"

Yuo laughs and shakes his head. "Oh no...a bull-squirrel could please him."

"Then how did you know?" Zuko looks at him with a confused look.

"All princes are hard to please." Yuo said forgetting who he was talking to. "My father says that at least." he gives a friendly smile.

"Don't worry...I won't tell anyone...I don't see many kids my age here." Zuko says with a slight hint of excitement. "Mostly just my sister and her friends they're always playing some stupid girly game...like doing cartwheels or something." Zuko sighs and pauses for a moment. "So...want to be friends?"

"Oh good." Yuo says wiping the sweat off of his head.

"What?"

"I was going to ask you...but I wasn't sure what to say." Yuo said with a closed eyed smile. "I was afraid of spending my summer with no one to play with."

"Are you always this confusing?" Zuko said with a friendly smile.

"Uhh" Yuo says as he scartches his head "my mother says I am...unless it's time to eat." he rubs the back of his head.

The two laugh, now friends.

Yuo snaps back to the present. (End Flashback)

"Here you go sir...fresh from the fire." the waiter sets his food down with a chuckle and leaves.

"Thank you." Yuo waves and smiles as he always does.

What Yuo failed to notice were four familiar large men entering the restaurant. They choose not to sit far away from Yuo to prevent detection.

"Ah...hot!" Yuo yells as he force swallows a piece of meat and drinks an entire glass of water. "I guess I'll have to be more careful" he laughs to himself. "That heat...reminds me when Zuko wanted to challenge me to a duel...I was a pretty good fighter then too...but no better at fire bending than I am now." he says with a sigh.

Fire Nation Royal Palace. (Flashback)

Yuo found himself sitting on the edge of a vacant training ring.

Zuko had invited him to come watch his fire bending forms. Yuo accepted of course, but the idea of what time Zuko would want to go didn't come to him then.

"Zuko...there's still three hours before the sun comes up...shouldn't we be in bed?" Yuo says sleepily with his elbow on his knee and his head resting on his hand.

"You said you wanted to watch...besides I need to have an early start if I am to..."

"To what? Now you're the one being confusing." Yuo says trying to wake himself up.

"Never mind..." Zuko says with an annoyed tone and looks at the ground. He starts to go over his forms in his head when suddenly an idea comes to mind. "Hey Yuo...why don't we have a duel?"

Yuo looks up surprised. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"What's wrong...are you afraid...are you a pig-chicken?" Zuko smiled.

"No.." Yuo stands up with a smile. "But you won't beat me."

"We'll see about that." Zuko takes a starting stance.

Yuo stands there, no particular stance.

"That's a bad habit I never got rid of."

Zuko looks a bit confused. "What are you doing? Aren't you going to take a stance?"

"Let's just start alright?" Yuo stays still.

Zuko jumps up does an ax kick, spinning around and lands on the ground sending a fireball at him.

Yuo dodges the flame sent by the ax kick and slides to the left, dodging the fireball.

"Aren't you going to fire bend?" Zuko asks not letting down his guard.

"I would...but I'm not very good at it." Yuo gives a friendly smile. He runs quickly towards Zuko and the two clash again.

The fight lasts only ten minutes before Zuko and Yuo are on the ground, breathing heavy.

"Your better than I thought." Yuo says giving his closed eyed smile he would later become famous for.

"I could say the same about you...but I still won." Zuko teased.

"No...you hit the ground first...I won." Yuo laughs.

"So...how good are you at fire bending?"

Yuo thinks for a minute. "Well...I can heat my hands and make small flames...but that about all." he gives a nervous laugh.

"But you still worked on becoming a good fist fighter...you overcame your weakness and became better at something else."

"I guess you could say that." Yuo scratches his head.

"Thank you Yuo." Zuko said with a smile.

"For what?"

"Giving me hope."

Yuo suddenly remembers his food. (End of Flashback)

The young commander starts eating. "This is...the best food...I've ever tasted." he gave a big grin and started eating quickly.

The large plate only took five minutes for him to finish. Yuo leans back and burps loudly, picking his teeth free of any meat and as big a grin as his mouth will allow.

"Ah...both filling and delicious." he chuckles. "I have felt that happy since the first time I met...her."

Fire Nation Royal Palace. (Flashback)

Yuo and Zuko were by the duck pond in the same place where they first met. Both were silent looking into the pond of ducks. Yuo was still trying to draw one.

Suddenly they heard the sound of laughter coming behind them. Zuko looks behind him and then forward quickly, hanging his head. "Oh great..."

"What?" Yuo asks without turning his head.

"It's my sister and her friends."

"You mean...the pride of your family? The born Fire Bending prodigy? The one who you could never hope to outdo in a dozen life times?" Yuo asks, turning his head to Zuko.

Zuko's eyes narrow as he looks at Yuo. "Yes...her."

"Oh there you are ZuZu." Azula gives her devious smile.

"What do you want Azula?" Zuko asks standing up, hostility in his voice.

Yuo on the other hand was awe struck, he saw immediately her cunning, her strength, power, her charisma, her deviousness, cruelty in her tone, and her beauty.

"I knew then that if I were to wait the rest of my life...I would not find another so perfect"

"Nothing...just to tell you mother wants to see you." Azula says with a smirk.

Zuko stays silent, his eyes narrowed. He gets up and starts walking towards the palace keeping a cold look on his sister until it would hurt his neck if he looked anymore.

Azula let's out a sigh, her hands on her hip with a triumphant smile on her face. "Now that he's gone...you must be Yuo right?" Azula folds her arms. "The governor's son." she tilts her head, her eyes are cold, hiding any true feelings.

"That's right." Yuo said with a nervous smile.

"It seems you know me already...so I won't waste any of my time...this is Ty Lee." Azula looks to her leftand Ty Lee gives a big grin waving at Yuo, balancing on one hand. "And this is Mai." Azula looks to her right and Mai just looks at Yuo, arms folded and rolls her eyes.

"At that moment I felt something for Ty Lee also...although it wasn't the same feeling as the one I felt for Azula...it was more like a rivalry...I could tell despite her cheerful disposition she wasn't helpless...it was just a feeling at the time."

"Nice to meet you all." Yuo gives a slight bow. "But...why would you want to meet me? I am your brother's friend and the way he talked...you take pleasure in seeing him distressed." he gives a closed eyed smile, putting a finger up in the air as if to make a point.

Azula's smile turns into an annoyed frown. "Well I've heard you're very ambitious and using my brother to advance yourself later on." she says angrily.

Yuo pauses before answering. "Ah...how did you know." he says with a smile that almost matched the one Azula had previously had on.

"I didn't...you just told me." Azula's smile reappeared.

Yuo laughs. "And now...you just showed me...your not perfect...you're fallible...because I just fed you a complete lie."

To Yuo's surprise, Azula smiles.

"You were right Azula...not only is he good at fighting...he's a thinker!" Ty Lee said as if praising her friend's genius.

Yuo frowns. "You knew I was going to say that?"

"Of course I did...boys are very predictable...but I have to admit...you're a lot harder to read than my flunky brother." Azula closes her eyes and looks to the side. "But don't let that go to your head...I'll be watching you." she turns and leaves with Mai and Ty Lee.

"I consider that the best thing she had ever said to me."(End Flashback)

Yuo laughed to himself, leaning forward and leaving a few coins on the table. Right when he was about to get up he felt someone grab his head as if threatening to break his neck.

"Hello again...commander Yuo." Suzo says, standing in frontof him. "After our last little battle...we knew to make sure you had no help this time."

"That's right...it's just you and us this time." Cho laughed, gripping tighter on Yuo's head.

Som and Gui stand on either side of Suzo, arms folded with ominous smirks on their faces.

Yuo let out a chuckle. "I should have known I'd see you fools again."

Suzo frowns. "It's time you payed for humiliating us!"

"Any last words Fire Nation scum?" Cho said with a goofy smile.

"A few." Yuo responds.

"Well get on with it." Som says coldly.

"First...you." Yuo refers to Cho. "You made two mistakes...thirst is getting this close to me...and the second is listening to me tell you what you did wrong." Yuo raises his elbow and slams Cho in the liver.

The large man drops to the ground like a rock and Yuo stands up.

Suzo unfolds his arms, but before he has the chance to attack he falls to the ground unconscious.

"Thanks" Yuo says with a smile to the waiter who is now standing where Suzo was.

"You're...welcome?" the waiter laughs nervously as he looks at the large muscular twinson either side of him. The waiter drops the pan he just used on Suzo and puts his hands up. "Come on...no hard f-feelings r-right?"

The twins smile and turn to the little waiter, pounding their fists.

"Hey!" Yuo calls.

The twins look in his direction only to have chairs smash in their faces. They pause and their faces turn red and both have confused looks. "Ouch..." they both fall down.

"Whew!" Yuo wipes the sweat off his forehead. "I thought I was in real trouble there...thanks." he smiles.

The waiter raises a finger and opens his mouth to say something and faints.

Yuo laughs and leaves a little extra money to pay for the damages. He walks out of the restaurant with a smile on his faceand then he jumps. "Ah! I'm going to be late! I'm going to miss my boat!" he says as he runs around in circles and eventually takes off as fast as he can towards the docks, his arms in the air. "Wait don't leave me behind!"

This chapter took a little longer, because I was trying to get the personalities just right. I hope I did. I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can.