The Next Generation

Chapter 7: Confusion

Yue blushed, holding her breath. Her heart started beating a little faster. She tightened her hold on Aki a little bit. Of course, she had grown up with Lu Ten, and should feel completely comfortable with him. She does, but when they are alone, and in such serious circumstances, and the intensity of his eyes made her feel weak. Of course, this was a good weakness. She felt weak, but also very safe. There was a part of her that wanted Lu Ten to put his arms around her. She felt oddly cold, even though it was only the beginning of autumn, and her body temperature had risen.

The silence was deafening. Yue waited in anticipation, and Lu Ten tried to collect his thoughts in order to relay them in the best way. Neither said anything during this time, because they were both unsure of what to say. So they waited.

Unfortunately, they had waited too long, because, right as Lu Ten opened his mouth to speak, Kaya and Haku came out of Iroh's office.

"Kaya!" Yue threw her arms around her cousin. "You aren't expelled are you? I won't be able to handle it here if you aren't here with me!"

"Don't worry, Yue, I'm not expelled…." Kaya patted Yue's back. "We have to stay here tomorrow, so we can't go into town with you guys."

"We also aren't allowed to bend for a week," Haku sighed. "We have to come here during our bending class and when we do our chores, we have to do them without bending."

"He said that he knew it seemed harsh, but that statue was a gift from the Earth King when the school was finally finished. We promised it wouldn't happen again, and that's true. Next time I'm trying to teepee a statue…. I won't fly. I'll just stand on the ground and throw…."

"Kaya…." Lu Ten said. "There was no toilet paper…."

"Yeah…. About that…. When the statue started falling, we didn't want to get in any more trouble, so I air bended it into one of the class rooms so no one would see it…."

"But then when we were explaining it, we ended up revealing that…. So we have to go clean it all up tomorrow…." Haku sighed.

"I'm sorry I got you into this mess, Haku."

"Hey, I didn't have to agree to it! And even if we did get in trouble, it was fun!" Haku smiled. Kaya smirked.

"It's getting dark, we should get to bed," Kaya hooked arms with Yue and they headed toward their dorm. Yue glanced back toward Lu Ten, who was watching them.

"We should get going, too," Haku smiled. Lu Ten sighed and followed him to their dorm.

"So, what's going down between you and Rei?" Kaya asked Yue as they lay in their beds. Yue blushed.

"Well, he asked me to be his girlfriend…."

"And you said yes?"

"Well, yeah…. Rei needs someone to be there for him."

"And you think the best way to be there for him is to be his girlfriend?"

"Well…. And he really likes me…. And he makes me feel special…."

"He makes Lu Ten feel suspicious."

"Yeah, Rei said that Lu Ten is a little too possessive of me…."

"Um, what?" Kaya sat up, looking toward her cousin.

"Rei doesn't want me to spend as much time with Lu Ten as I usually do because he is trying to be too controlling of me…."

"Um, yeah, that doesn't sound controlling."

"Rei just doesn't want me to get hurt. He has my best interests at heart. And it's not like I am going to completely break off contact…."

"First Lu Ten, what's next: me?"

"No, of course not. You're my cousin."

"Yeah, well, Lu Ten is like your brother."

"I guess. I mean, we grew up together, so he is sort of like my brother, I guess…. But I always thought of him not really as a brother…."

"Oh really?" Kaya smirked, leaning toward Yue.

"We should get some sleep…."

The next morning, Rei ate breakfast with Yue, Kaya, Haku, and Lu Ten. Yue and Rei finished first, so Rei and Yue left, going to get ready to head into town. Lu Ten watched them leave, Yue glancing back at her friends.

"He's taking her away…." Lu Ten said. "My fragile little butterfly…."

"You were right about him," Kaya said, glaring after Rei. "Do you know what he told her?"

"What?" Lu Ten and Haku leaned in closer to Kaya, who looked around before leaning in, too, lowering her voice.

"He told her to stop spending as much time with you, Lu Ten."

"No way!" Haku said in a hushed voice. Kaya nodded.

"He told her that you are trying to control her and are too possessive."

"That sounds like he's the one being controlling and possessive…."

"I know. I pointed that out to Yue, but she just wrote it off. I don't like this. I really don't like this. You both know how Yue is."

"She's so sweet and gentle…." Lu Ten said. "She thinks of everyone else before herself and will do anything to keep everyone happy, especially the people she's close to…. And that's how he's getting to her! She doesn't want to hurt him or anything! And she's a little naïve and innocent, so she will believe anything he tells her."

"Exactly. We have to figure out a way to show her how he really is."

"I don't think that will be very easy," Haku said. "My mom told me that Azula could lie without having a reaction, but that's very rare to accomplish. I think that even if he does have a reaction to lying, I'm sure he could use another method. I know that we have done that to get out of trouble."

"Loopholes…. When I took Miss Jinga's granite apple, and she asked me where it was, I said that I didn't have it. I had given it to you. And when she asked you, you said that you didn't take it, because you didn't, I did."

"Loopholes…." Lu Ten muttered. "We'll have to follow them today…."

"Um, you're on your own today," Kaya sighed. "Remember, we got in trouble…."

"Oh, that's right…. Well, I'll get Rin and Lee to help me…."

"I'm sure Bera would love to help, too," Haku suggested. Lu Ten glanced over at Bera, who was with Rin and Lee, and he sighed.

"Bera has a crush on him," Kaya smirked. "So he doesn't want to be a jerk and lead her on."

"I know," Haku smiled. "But it would make her day, being able to help you out."

"I don't want her thinking that we are anything more than acquaintances…." Lu Ten said seriously.

"Just go to the whole group and hang with all of them."

Lu Ten sighed, getting up and going to the three.

"Hey…." He sat down. They kind of looked at him for a moment.

"Hi, Lu Ten!" Bera and Rin said.

"What brings you over here?" Lee asked.

"Well, I'm sure you know that Kaya and Haku got in trouble, so they can't go into town…."

"Oh, so are you going with Yue…?" Bera asked hopefully.

"Actually, no…." Lu Ten looked away from them. "She's going with that new kid, Rei…."

"Oh…."

"So, I was wondering if I could tag along with you…."

"Of course!" Bera and Rin said excitedly. Lu Ten leaned away from them, and Lee smiled.

"This is great! The coolest guy in school is gonna hang out with us!" Lee high fived his twin sister.

"Wait, what…?" Lu Ten stared. "Who's the coolest guy in school?"

The three laughed. "You are!" Rin said.

"You're crazy…."

"No way! You really are!" Lee said. "You are the Fire Prince, and you have that whole bad boy thing going on."

"And you're totally hot!" Rin giggled. Lu Ten blushed.

"And mysterious!" Bera added.

"Um…." Lu Ten just stared at them.

"Don't scare him away!" Lee glared at the girls.

"Um, right…." Lu Ten stood up. "I'm going to make sure everything in my room is all on order…. Then I'll meet you in the main hall…."

Lu Ten left, shaking his head.

A short while later, Lee, Rin, and Bera were waiting when Lu Ten arrived in the main hall. They left for town, along with some of the others who were going, too. Rei and Yue had already left.

"What do you want to do!" Rin and Bera asked Lu Ten excitedly. He blushed a little.

"Actually…. I was hoping you wouldn't mind if we followed Yue and Rei…."

"Why?" Lee asked, interested.

"Don't question the prince!" Rin and Bera glared. Lu Ten shrugged, giving Lee an apologetic look. He just smiled and sighed. Rin and Bera each hooked an arm through one of Lu Ten's, causing him to blush a little more.

"Um…. You both know that we aren't anything more than…. Almost friends, right?"

"Of course!" Rin smiled cheerfully. Bera nodded.

"This just makes us feel like we're more special than we really are!" Bera said.

"Um, you are both special in your own way. Bera, you're an amazing earth bender. Even though Haku is the best earth bender this generation has seen, you're a pretty close second. And you are going to accomplish great things, I know you are.

"And Rin, you are a great fire bender. And you have this unique ability to turn every situation you are in into something good. You can make anything seem better than it is."

The girls both sighed, looking up at Lu Ten admirably. He just blushed a little more.

"You realize that you just made them like you even more," Lee laughed. Lu Ten sighed, then smiled slightly.

"There they are…." Lu Ten said, spotting Rei and Yue in front of a shop.

"Are they dating?" Rin asked Bera.

"I don't know, it looks like," Bera replied. "After all, if they weren't, why would they be alone?"

"Oh my gosh, are you serious?"

"Well, I have seen them spending a lot of time together within the past couple days."

"You know what this means?"

"There's Lili! She will just freak!"

"About Yue and Rei?"

"No! About Lu Ten coming here with us!"

"Oh my gosh, you are so right! But we have to tell her and Sera about Yue and Rei!"

"And Nora, and Shuki, and Tsumi, and Wena!"

"About us first!"

"Duh!" The girls ran off.

"At least you're free to watch Rei and Yue now," Lee shrugged. Lu Ten wasn't paying attention, he was already carefully watching Yue and Rei.