"I'm fine, Zuko, really… I could walk." We were walking from the arena now, since all the battles had finished and it was time to sleep. After my leg had gotten bandaged Zuko hadn't let it touch the ground, meaning I was now being carried back, rather reluctantly. I knew I was blushing; it was embarrassing being carried without asking. Plus I was supposed to look tough in front of everyone, not like a damsel in distress. Zuko insisted that I had to stay off of it, and Iroh agreed.

Traitor.

I don't know exactly what was happening between Zuko and I anymore, I think we were both slowly starting to get used to the way the other acted. I think we might actually be growing to be friends; we were both brutally honest with each other, after all. Although the tempers could use some work.

"We're at the room now, Zuko, I know I'm amazing and should be treated as such but I can at least walk over to my bed!" Zuko flushed a bit, I guess he hadn't realized how far he had actually carried me. He let me down gently; Iroh was watching me carefully. I guess the wound was serious; it didn't hurt that bad. Iroh offered to fetch some tea in celebration of my win and left before either of us could say anything.

"Uncle is weird sometimes." Zuko watched me walk over and flop onto my bed; all grace I had earlier in front of people had gone now as fatigue set in. Firebending was no easy task; at first the exhilaration keeps you going, but once the battles done with, the fatigue can hit hard. I groaned as my leg throbbed painfully; well it didn't hurt that badly earlier!

"Stupid Earthbenders." I rubbed my leg, wincing when my hand made contact. They hadn't even closed the wound, there was still blood leaking onto the bandages. People could do nothing right. I unwrapped the bandages, much to Zuko's chagrin. "Oh shut up and burn it closed for me, will you?" He gave me an annoyed look, I was abusing him a lot lately, but listened. His hand hovered over the wound as he burned it shut; I winced at the familiar pain, but did my best to close my eyes and relax.

"If you got this injured during your first battle, you're going to be in ribbons by the finals." I sly smile made its way to my face as Zuko helped me re-wrap my leg.

"So you think I'll make it to the finals, eh, Zuko?" He twitched and turned red; he returned to his bed immediately and promptly ignored my question. "Aw, Zuko, I didn't know you had such faith in my skills. I knew you'd come today, you wouldn't miss an opportunity to see me in action!" He let out a sigh.

"Your overconfidence is going to get you killed." I shook my head.

"Don't mistake overconfidence for loving one's self far too much!" He didn't reply again, which annoyed me. We had a nice little conversation going on and he just stops it? How rude. I turned over ready to scold him when I noticed he'd fallen asleep. I smiled; he looked a lot more peaceful when he slept. The normal frown that was on his face had been replaced with a look of relief. He probably didn't have to worry about his 'honor' in his dreams, where he reigned King.

I kind of felt sorry for him, I was being a bit hard on him. It's obvious his life hasn't been easy; the scar was enough proof of that. But he had an extreme responsibility to inherit; he would need the love and trust of his people. He couldn't do that with shame hanging over his head. Maybe that's what Iroh wanted; he wanted me to help Zuko regain his honor in a different way, other than forsaking the Avatar.

How was I supposed to do that?

I sighed in frustration; Zuko was going to be a real challenge.

Iroh walked in with two cups of tea, handing one to me before sitting on his bed.

"When did he fall asleep?" He asked as he sipped at his tea.

"A few minutes ago." I replied, this tea was pretty good. It was soothing, too. "You knew he'd fall asleep before you got back?"

"We've had a long day." Iroh smiled. "You know he spent the whole day fretting over whether or not you'd forgive him." Good! He should be afraid that I'd hate him forever. I placed the tea on the bedside table and crossed my arms, putting up an annoyed front.

"He should… What time did he get back in last night?"

"Late, Zuko can get too caught up in his thoughts. You must excuse his abrasive behavior." I shook my head, showing it didn't bother me much. "I told him to get some sleep earlier but he insisted he come to your fight…" My heart fluttered a bit, my cheeks turning pink as I quickly lay on my bed and turned over so that Iroh couldn't see my face. So he did want to come, he had just decided to annoy me for the heck of it earlier? Now I felt bad for saying those things…

I'll apologize in the morning, and he better feel damn lucky, because I hardly apologize for anything. He was still a big jerk, but I was beginning to understand why. I've always had a good grip on my emotions, well except when anger decided to fly off the handle, but I always knew why I'd get angry, or why I was happy. But when I looked at him, I could tell he never knew what he should feel. I don't think he ever feels happy.

"Goodnight Iroh…" I muttered before closing my eyes. He whispered a goodnight back, before smiling fondly.

"Ah, to be young and falling in love; I wish I could relive those memories again."

"Ugh." I was not used to being woken up to bright sunlight in my face; those curtains needed to stay closed and let me sleep. Iroh was always up before us, he had the decency to let me sleep! But not this woman, my 'coach' as she now wanted me to call her. The battles happened every three days, which I thought was good pacing, it'd give my leg enough time to heal. It also gave the Avatar enough time to vamoose before Zuko caught up to him.

Zuko was still sleeping, I sort of preferred him that way, it was nice to see him relaxed for once. Plus I didn't have to hear that annoying voice of his. Well maybe it wasn't that bad now, it was comforting, especially when- Stop it head! No! There is nothing good about Prince Zuko. Once the Avatar defeats the Fire Lord, and everything goes back to normal, I'll be going to fetch Kim and going back to my life at Yura's Inn.

'You'd miss him.' A voice in my head whispered. I wasn't in the mood to argue with myself, but I was beginning to have second thoughts about this whole journey. How stupid was I? I should've just continued my boring life at Yura's, working every day, sleeping, and eventually getting married to another peasant and living a miserable life with children. I already had my boring future planned out and then he just had to come along and ruin it!

My life was full of excitement; I never knew what was going to happen next. Along with my brain having to work 24/7, my body and fighting skills were beginning to sharpen and improve. This was the life I had dreamed of living, so why didn't I like it? Suddenly I'm second-guessing myself, I was frustrating myself beyond belief and there was nothing I could do to sort out my cluttered mind. If this kept up I couldn't help myself, let alone the Avatar.

I finally pushed myself out of bed. Iroh, as usual, was nowhere to be seen, and neither was the woman. I shivered, pretending I didn't just have the horrible thought and went to bother Zuko. I sat in the bed beside him, over the covers, and nudged him with my elbow.

"Get up, jerk!" He grumbled unhappily, at first ignoring me. He must've known by now that it wouldn't work.

"Why're you in my bed…?" He finally mumbled out, using his hand to cover his eyes from the bright sunlight.

"Revel in it, because it'll be the only time any girl will be in your bed." I kicked his back, forcing him to roll of the edge and land with a loud thump. Unfortunately he took the blankets with him, and me with the amazing balance I had fell off soon after. My thump was softer, however, accounting for the fact I had landed on a certain firebending prince.

"Get off!" Zuko growled out. "You're heavy." I gasped, insulted, and crossed my arms before making myself comfortable.

"How dare you! I am in perfectly good shape; it's these melons on my chest that are heavy!" He grumbled out something else that I couldn't quite hear; it was probably a death threat. I stood up, pulling the blankets with me and leaving Zuko face planted on the floor. He didn't move for a few seconds and I began to panic; what if I killed him!

His tired groan and movements alerted me to the fact he was still alive; darn, I was getting used to the idea of him being dead. He sat up and opened his eyes, glaring at me before brushing himself off in a dignified manner.

"You fell asleep in the middle of my lovely conversation; has no one taught you manners!" Zuko ruffled his hair sleepily.

"Sure." He replied; he must still be half asleep. Iroh chose to enter at that time, the woman on his arm. Zuko and I shared a horrified look.

"Let's just pretend we never saw that." I muttered; Zuko nodded in agreement. Well, old people needed love to right? Even if it did creep me out. "So creepy."

"We're going to spend a day on the town, my treat!" Iroh grinned as he waved money in the air. What did he do to get the money? Oh dear God… I needed some bleach for my eyes now, no Kaya, just stop thinking of it. Breathe deeply; they could've just made some cookies together… over some simmering tea, nothing 'R' rated that could possibly destroy my brain.

Zuko seemed just as horrified at his Uncle; his thoughts probably along the same line mine were going down. Once the initial shock of Iroh being a prostitute of sorts wore off, I prepared for a day outside. I always enjoyed being outside, but I couldn't really walk in a straight line until now, thanks to my leg. Zuko was still iffy on whether or not I should go, but I promised if it started to hurt I'd tell them and we could return. Of course I wasn't going to, a little white lie never hurt, right?

"Change into regular clothes." Zuko scowled as he looked at my arena outfit.

"Are you jealous of other people seeing my gorgeous, toned body?" I grinned mischievously as a dark blush formed on Zuko's face, before his eyes narrowed.

"No, I just don't want people coming up to us and propositioning you for a night. It's a sickening thought to know what they'd want to do to you…" My look of amusement was replaced with one of surprise; it had almost sounded like he was jealous.

"Whatever you say." I began to take off my shirt when Zuko's cry to 'stop' made me glance at him. Oh right, they were still in the room. "You know sometimes I think you like men Zuko." I stood up and shifted over to the dresser, picking out clothes before entering the bathroom. I thought it was cute that he got so embarrassed when I almost took my shirt off in front of him, although I wondered if it was only because Iroh was in the room.

I walked out in the simple silver dress I'd gotten from the dresser; it was just the right fit, too! I modeled in the mirror, smiling in appreciation as my figure decided it was actually going to compliment what I wore today. Now if only my hair could do the same. I decided against doing anything to it, simply because I didn't care and I was lazy. So it remained down, wild and untamed.

"Let's go!" Both of them had gotten ready while I took my sweet time in the bathroom; Zuko couldn't fathom exactly why I took so long to get ready. He just didn't understand that a woman needs time to fix her outfit so it makes her look flattering; I could find a man out in town today, you never knew! Although I was only seventeen, men weren't exactly my priority at the moment.

The town was huge and filled with such wonderful sights and smells; it didn't take long for me to get lost and separated from Zuko and Iroh. At least I knew my way back to the Inn. I wanted to explore a bit more. As I was walking along I saw a crowd gathering around a man, who had three monkey's… No, that one in the middle looked different. Its ears were much too big…

It darted up suddenly, jumping on a rooftop and causing the man who was using the flute to cry out in surprise. That poor little thing would get hurt in a big city like this! I opted to push through the crowd, ignoring the annoyed looks people shot me as I pushed through them. Oh well, shouldn't be in my way when I was obviously trying to get through, just move and shut up.

The lemur looking creature continued to hope from rooftop to rooftop; I tried to keep a close eye on it, until I found a cabbage stand that was in my way. I grabbed onto it, feeling the weak stand crumble under my feet as I jumped and grabbed onto the edge of a roof, pulling myself up as I ignored the cabbage man's cries of anguish. How pathetic, they were only cabbages…

The lemur jumped down into an alley. It had caused quite the commotion, and a man with a net had slowly cornered it. I gasped, realizing they would probably put the poor thing down or keep it in captivity. I snapped my fingers and a swirl of fire shot forward and held off the animal catcher; I took the opportunity to jump down and snatch up the cute little lemur creature before hiding in a small nook in the alley.

After the flames dispersed, the animal catcher let out a cry of dismay as the alleyway appeared empty. As he gave up and walked away, I let out a sigh of relief and stepped out into the open. I took a good look at the little guy I had just saved; he had the biggest green eyes I'd ever seen. It made an odd purring noise, reminiscent of a cat, before it climbed on my shoulders and stood on my head, as if looked for someone.

What a cutely odd little creature. I don't think it's native to the Earth Kingdom; I hadn't seen anything like it before now. I grabbed it, taking it from my head and holding it in front of me as I observed it. I don't think Zuko would ever let me keep it; plus, he probably belonged to someone else and he got lost.

"Where did you come from, little fella?" It only blinked up at me owlishly. Had I really expected it to answer me?

"Momo! Momo where are you?" I heard voices echo down the alley I was in. The creature reacted to the voices, perking its ears and standing atop my head again.

"Are they your owners?" I asked, before realizing again it wouldn't reply. The way it was reacting it seemed so; I quickly made my way down the alley to find the source of the voice. I saw a small boy with an odd purple mark on the back of his head, looking the opposite way I was coming from. "Hey, is he yours?" I tapped his shoulder and he turned around.

It took everything in my power to not gape openly. I… I can't believe it.

I had run right into the avatar.