Authors note; I'm finally back with the fifth chapter! Sorry it's taken so long to update. I no longer have a beta reader so bare in mind the change in writing. Big thanks to all my readers! Enjoy!

I don't own Avatar or Naruto.

Chapter five

Friendship and honesty

He pulled me under. The arm around my waist definitely showed strength. The only other strength I had felt from a man was my father … but I wasn't going to think about that because I was happy, I was happy with Naruto. With Naruto … I pondered that for a moment. I didn't actually know what to think of it. What did it mean? I didn't know what it meant or why it was said, but it felt … right. It felt right, right to say 'with Naruto'. The whole sentence yes, but that part, it made me shiver in a way I didn't understand.

As I emerged from the beautifully clear water, I inhaled the sweet fresh air. He came up next to me with a huge smile on his face. I splashed water at him. "Jerk." I said as I splashed it at him again. He laughed and splashed back.

"Come on, you have to admit that it was fun." He said with a huge grin. I crossed my arms and raised my head higher.

"I will do no such thing."

He laughed again. Just as he laughed he picked me up again. I squealed as he handled me in the air. He put me on his shoulders. It felt weird, me sitting on his shoulders with his head in between my legs. He kept his hands on my calves as he started walking deeper into the water.

"What are you doing?" I asked. My one hand was on the top of his head, while the other rested on my thigh. He laughed mysteriously and as we came to a deep point, he flipped me off of his body and I landed into the water with a somersault. It was fun, just unexpected. Now I knew why he went deeper, it would be dangerous if the ground was too high. I came up and glared at him playfully.

"You did that on purpose." I said.

"What else would it have been?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. I couldn't keep my face straight for much longer so I smiled instead. He reached his hand and took mine. I looked at our joined hands and then looked at him. He had a sweet smile on his face. I wondered what he was going to do. I'd never felt this kind of tenderness before. We continued to look into each others eyes while our hands were joined. Even under the cold water, his hand was still warm.

"Come, I want to show you something." He said. Smiling, I nodded.

"Take a deep breath." He whispered. This made me slightly nervous. What was he going to do? Even though I was a little nervous, I trusted Naruto – I hadn't known him for very long but with what friendship and love he showed me, I would always trust him – and I did as he asked. At the moment we took our breath, we went under water and he led the way. Everything became more beautiful as we went further out and deeper to sea. There were multi-coloured fish swimming around and amazing plants. Everything had its own beauty, but it was different to land's beauty. It was astonishing. As Naruto led the way through the water, still holding my hand, I looked around and marvelled at the splendour. Suddenly, everything became dark and I started to panic. Naruto realised my panic. He took his hand out of mine and wrapped it around my waist. He swam faster, as did I and within a few seconds, I could see light. A little while longer and we emerged from the water together. He wiped the water out of his eyes and looked down at me.

"Are you okay?" He asked. I smiled up at him and nodded. As soon as his arm went around me I was fine.

"Yeah, I'm just claustrophobic, and afraid of the dark." I said. He seemed to understand as he nodded his head. "When I was younger, still quite young, he would beat me in the dark. Ever since then, I've been scared of the dark." I explained.

"I'm sorry." He said. I smiled up at him, reassuring him. Realising that his hand was still around my waist, I blushed. As if realising it too, he pulled his arm away and rubbed his neck awkwardly.

"Um … so, uh, what'd you think?" He asked. I smiled at him again before I turned to face what he was talking about. My mouth dropped at the sight, he tried not to laugh. I slowly walked out of the water as I looked around at the amazing sight. We were in a cave, but this cave wasn't dark, or smelly, or scary. The ceiling of the cave was lit by a bright orangey light that copied the sun's rays. There was a small island in the middle that had a small tropical forest on it. The water surrounding the island was just like the water on the beach and the sand too, but in between there were multi-coloured shells. The walls of the caves were the same reddish brown as the hill's rock wall. It was beautiful. The air was fresh, warm and humid. The water was also quite warm; a lot warmer than outside, but it was cool enough to keep you refreshed from the air's heat. The white sand was warm and comfortable under my feet and in between my toes.

"It's amazing."

"Pretty neat hey?" I hadn't noticed that he had come to stand next to me. I nodded slowly as I continued to stare.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"We're in the heart of Shaolin Island. I found this place a few years ago. This is the one place I can completely be myself." I looked at him while he spoke and I became confused.

"Why did you show me then?" He smiled at me.

"I wanted to prove to you that you are my friend, I do trust you, and I will never hurt you." He said. His words were sweet to my ears and I felt happy again. As I didn't understand this either I just smiled up at him. He returned my grin and we just gazed into each others eyes. I broke the hold with a hug. This time I wrapped my arms around his waist. It felt wonderful as he wound his arms around me. I felt so small compared to him. I didn't comprehend why it made me so happy or so calm to be in his arms.

"Thank you. It means a lot." I whispered. He squeezed me and let go just as I did.

"Who else knows about this place?"

He took as deep breath as he thought about it. "Um … let me see … Sasuke, uh … and Zuko." I frowned at the mention of Zuko. I was still convinced that he had a negative perspective on me.

"Are you and Zuko close?" I enquired. He thought about it for a moment.

"Yes, actually. We met when I was sixteen. He's actually like the brother I never had, so yeah, we are very close." He went quiet. I considered that he didn't know how to finish the sentence.

"How does he know about it?"

"He found it a few days after I did. I was hanging around here when he popped out of the water and found it." I thought about it.

"Do you think he followed you?"

"No." He said shaking his head. "He's just not that type of person you know? He's very … to himself." I nodded and considered it. I could have told you that without knowing him. He was just one of those people, I could see it, I'm sure anyone could. I wondered what had caused him to be so … solemn. I had my reasons, what was his? Naruto had felt similar pain to me, but he wasn't to himself, he was happy, energetic, hopeful. He was one of the best examples for those who live life to the fullest.

"Naruto?" I said after awhile. He looked at me with a smile.

"What classes are you in?" He laughed, but I didn't understand why. What had I said?

"I knew you were going to ask that sooner or later." He said. "I'm actually part of the royals. I'm in the 'Demons' category." He said. This surprised me. A royal? Why did he spend so my time with everyone else?

"Yeah, Zuko too. He's a royal, but he's human, so yeah." For some reason, it didn't surprise me that Zuko was royal. However I did wonder from which family he came from.

"Why do you spend so much time around us?"

"Well, it's a break. The people there are so stuck up and tense. It's so depressing." This made sense to me. The majority of the royals were snobbish, spoilt people who care nothing but for themselves.

"What about you Venus?" His question brought me out of my thoughts.

"I'm part of the 'unknowns'." I said. He became confused but interested at the same time.

"What are those?"

"It's a group where we don't have any specific kind. We are the only ones of our kind. However, they don't make a kind for us because we are … mutations if you could call it. We don't belong anywhere. That's why they call us the 'Unknowns'." I noted. As he considered it, I looked around again and when I looked at him, I found him looking at me. The way he was looking at me made me feel uncomfortable and yet … happy. I didn't understand this either. The only feelings I understood was fear, pain, sadness, depression and loneliness. I was still new to happiness. I didn't know, recognise or understand any of the others. We just stood there for a while before he looked down. Why did he do that? When he looked up again he had his usual big grin plastered below his cute nose. 'Cute nose', such a strange description, but it felt right.

"Come, I've got more to show you." He said, grabbing my hand. I couldn't say anything before he started dragging to toward the tropical forest. The humidity got denser as we entered the group of trees. There weren't any animals – not surprising since you have to travel through water to get here – but there were a few fruit trees. It seemed awfully quiet without the animals, but with the sound of the water and waves, it made up for the loss of animal noises and wind. We came to a clearing and I was again amazed at what I saw. There was a reasonable sized white house. There was a lot of glass on the house. Perhaps 40% of the house was glass. It was a beautiful square building with a flat roof and two floors. The first floor was the largest and the base, while the second floor was half the size and the rest was a balcony area. It was beautiful. I looked at him with a smile as he returned it. It was completely unnoticeable and isolated because of the trees and plants around it. I would never have guessed it was here just from looking at the forest.

He took my hand and led me inside the house. The door was glass with a wooden frame. Inside, the first thing you saw was a staircase. Then there was a door to your right and an opening to your left. He took me left where you saw a little sitting area. Right of the sitting was a square table surrounded by four chairs. In front of the minute table was a small kitchen. Right to the kitchen was a little bathroom. The whole second floor was a bedroom. The bed was in the centre, pressed up against the North wall. Opposite the bed was a cupboard. Both side of the bed had a bedside table and to the right of the bed on the East wall was a door leading into a biggish bathroom.

He must have built the building himself, unless it was already here, but what were the chances of that?

I admired the house as he took me downstairs to sit in the sitting room that consisted of four white couches and a wooden square coffee table in the middle. As I slowly sat down on one of the couches, Naruto went to the kitchen for some drinks.

"What's in that room?" I asked. I knew it was none of my business but I couldn't help feel curious about it.

"Ah nothing really, just another room." It must not have been 'nothing' since he didn't even go near it. Even so, I wouldn't press the matter because it really was none of my business. He handed me a glass of cold water and sat down on another couch. He lounged himself on it as he drank his own water. I – for some reason – found this funny so I smiled to myself. He didn't see thankfully. He just closed his eyes. I couldn't help but stare at him. He looked so … peaceful, so calm. It made him look younger than he was. As he opened his blue eyes to look at me, I blushed and stared down at my water. He didn't say anything; instead he just looked up at the ceiling.

"So …" He began after awhile. I looked up at him. "Are you dating anyone?" What a strange question. I wondered what brought him to ask it. I furrowed my forehead unintentionally and just looked at him.

"No. I'm not actually." He looked very surprised.

"That's very hard to believe." He stated.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, a beautiful, amazing girl like you still single? I'd imagine that loads of guys would want to be with you." I blushed at his words.

"I don't think I'm beautiful." I whispered sadly. He sat up and looked at me.

"Why?"

"I look a lot like my father. He was a monster." I stated. He stood up and sat next to me.

"You are beautiful, whether you see him in the mirror, or you." He said. I considered that. Maybe I did see my father in the mirror, maybe I saw him instead of me. I didn't know what my mother looked like so I wouldn't know if I looked more like her than him, or if my other features were just a cause of my … mutation. Perhaps Naruto was right, I needed to look into the mirror and try to see myself, not him. I didn't actually know how to reply to Naruto.

"What about you?" I asked. He seemed to accept the subject change.

"Yeah. I do." I didn't know why this made my heart sink. Disappointment? Maybe, but why? I nodded in acknowledgement but decided not to say anything in reply. To break the silence that was becoming a bit awkward, Naruto spoke.

"So, how do you know Zuko?" I wasn't too thrilled at what he changed the subject to, but it was better than before.

"He almost gave me a heart attack." I stated. He raised his eyebrows so I explained.

"I was playing piano and while I was playing he came and stood behind me. I didn't know he was there so when I got up and saw him I got a fright. I fell and he helped me up, then he told me I played well. I told him my name and asked for him, of which he told me. I don't see him much, maybe walking around sometimes. I ran into him when I left you after telling you my story. I literally ran into him and got a concussion from my fall. I haven't seen him since then." He smiled at me.

"Very interesting." He commented. At the comment, the door opened quietly. A tall man walked in without a sound and I was stunned to see that it was Zuko.

To be continued …

Authors note; End of part two. I hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thank you to those who have read and reviewed.