...I realized looking at this that it is kinda short...it actually was supposed to be part of chapter 3, but oh well. BTW, I'm writing this as I go, and keeping it updated is hard with my sister and I fighting for the comp. Will do my best. Need reinforcements. Am calling for back-up. (NO DON"T BACK UP!...couldn't help myself)

RE: I wish i owned avatar, but then again, 2 horses, 2 cats, 1 dog, 3 peacocks, and two goats is really enough...

Before I knew that I could,
I almost believed them when they told me that I couldn't.

Chapter 4: Now I Am

It had been several weeks since the Prince had encountered the mysterious She-Wolf on his own ship. He had no doubts that she had disappeared when they had stopped for supplies, and he had shared the experience with no one else. The only thing that kept him from dismissing it as a vivid dream was the small burn high up on his shoulder. His men went about their daily lives, simply not knowing about what plagued their captain.

The General Iroh had noticed a difference in his nephew, but had the sense not to ask about it. Besides, who could worry about teenage hormones when there was TEA?

She-Wolf had indeed left when the Prince suspected she had, and upon leaving, she had nearly run into the Avatar's camp. Since then, she had followed the Avatar on his strange and sometimes confusing adventures. The Prince had never been far behind.

Now it was late night, and she watched the Prince's ship from the distant shore. She wasn't surprised to see a figure abandon the ship and slip off into the night, and she followed it.

The Prince paused in a small clearing to place the blue spirit mask over his face. He had just finished tying itinto place when a familiar voice reached his ears.

"Evening, dear Prince." He spun around; glad for the mask that now hid his surprised look. She-Wolf was just behind him, and he was startled by how much they looked alike. He was a few inches taller than she was, but they wore essentially the same outfits, and their choice of weapons outside fire-bending was the same.

"Don't call me 'prince.'" She smirked. "Fine, Zuko, then." He hissed; smoke escaping through the nose and mouth of the mask. "Not like this."

She tilted her head annoyingly at him, but then sighed. "Alright, Blue Spirit, what is your reason for sneaking off?" Accepting this term of address, Zuko frowned at her through his mask.

"I'm going to spy on Commander Zhao at his fortress a little ways from here." He had no idea why he was telling her this, but somewhere deep inside his confused and twisted mind, he trusted her. "Are you following me, She-Wolf?"

She shook her head lightly. "No, I'm following the Avatar. So, technically, we're doing the same thing, but for different reasons."

"And what reasons would those be?"

She smiled. "I'm protecting the Avatar, and you're hunting him. But I thought we were going to spy on Zhao?"

Ripped of his usual way of glaring about, Zuko didn't know how to respond, other than verbally, so he did. "We?"

Her smile never wavered. "You can do it alone? I was offering my help mainly because I'm bored and I have a thing against Zhao, but if you'd rather be alone…" She watched as his mental debate commenced.

Zuko had no wish for the girl to accompany him, but then again, two against ten thousand was always better than one should things go awry. "Alright, but you have to listen to me." This seemed to upset her.

She-Wolf crossed her arms and fumed silently. Stubborn stupid overruling lanky git… "Fine, I think I can follow orders…for once." Her frown changed from one of annoyance to one of determination. She had to spend some time with him if her plan was to work. Her plan to devise a plan.

For a moment, he stared at her, but finally turned away and motioned to her. "Follow me."

She rolled her eyes as he moved away from her. "As you command, oh great leader." She whispered, and he glanced at her with brief annoyance, but she followed him silently.

Zuko had thought that she wouldn't know her way to the fortress, but she actually seemed to know the way better than he did. The only way he knew to get in was hiding somewhere in a wagon or something and going through the front gate, but the moment he moved in the gate's general direction, she commented.

"You don't intend to just walk in do you?" The glare he sent her was completely ineffective. She rolled her eyes and turned away from him, staying to the shadows as she moved, following the wall. It was too dark to really see anything well, and he was surprised when she just randomly became climbing the wall.

"Come on." She looked at him, annoyed. Zuko could see the ladder that she hung from now, and he put his foot on the first rung.

"You've been here before, haven't you?"

She-Wolf sighed. "Yes, actually, I've been here many times." Zuko followed her up the ladder and was very surprised when she just vaulted over the edge of the wall, landing on an unguarded stretch in a crouched position.

He took an easier way up, merely crawling over the wall. "Why did you do that? Any guard could've seen you." She frowned at him.

"You've worn one of those helmets. You know how hard they are to see out of, and the closest guard is two hundred feet away." Zuko returned her frown, even though she couldn't see it.

"How do you know all this?"

"Simple. I've been here before. Now that we're in, what do we do now?" She handed over the role of leader without any of the earlier antics.

A little frustrated, Zuko let a simple stream of smoke escape which dissipated before it became noticeable to anyone.

She grinned gently. "You've really got to quit doing that." He shook his head defiantly.

"Would you rather me burst into flame?" Her smile didn't fade so Zuko sighed and assumed the role he'd appointed himself. "Alright, there's the observation tower," he said, nodding towards a pagoda-type tower. "I'll go there and spy on Zhao, assuming he's there, which he usually is."

Glancing at her, he saw no contestation in her eyes, so he continued. "You go to Zhao's office and see if there's any interesting papers in there." She nodded, but was silent. "We'll meet back here in, say, an hour." Again she nodded, and this time she moved off. He watched her for a minute before heading off towards the pagoda.

One hour later...
The Blue Spirit crept from the roof of the pagoda and returned to the deserted section of the fortress. She-Wolf hadn't yet returned and after several minutes he found himself growing impatient. Then he cursed as he saw a guard coming towards him. He started to get ready to attack when he realized the guard had no idea that he was there.

He watched as the guard turned so that he had his back to Zuko, and took his helmet off. Shoulder-length brown hair fell out, and he began to strip off the armor. Zuko quickly recognized that the he was a she, and even realized it was She-Wolf long before she drew out the wolf's mask and placed it over her face. She left her hair down, and she turned and leaned against the wall railing. She sighed, "What happened Zuko?"

Zuko chose this time to reveal himself. "Nothing really, just an old man's rambling." He said as he strode towards her. Her head snapped around sharply and she straightened up.

"How long have you been there?" She demanded sharply. "Not long." He lied. "So, She-Wolf, how did you do?" She shrugged lightly.

"I found some things that might interest you, mostly news from the Fire Nation." She took some papers from the inside of her sleeve, but before she handed them to him, she separated one piece from the others and tucked it away, this time in the fabric covering her chest. He watched her as she did so, but then shook his head, dismissing the action.

He huffed as he read over one of the papers. "What is it?" She asked. "Just Zhao taking credit for some things I did." Good or bad for you?" "Bad."

She smiled. "So, what turned you against Zhao?" Zuko glanced around. "Should we really just be casually conversing here?" She shrugged. "Why not?"

"I'm not sure what I have against Zhao now, he's just really a prick." He hesitated a moment. "Zhao and I dueled in an Agni Kai." She didn't seem surprised.

"Who won?" Zuko placed the papers inside his own sleeve. "I did." "Did you scar him?"

She was looking at him curiously, and he wished she could see the glare he was giving her. "No, I didn't, She-Wolf."

"Zhao not good enough to look as good as you?"

Zuko slapped her. Later, he couldn't figure out why, but now he couldn't remember ever being angrier at someone in his life. His hand throbbed from hitting the wood of her mask, but judging from her reaction, the mask was close enough to her skin for the slap to hurt. She stared at him, open-mouthed, with a hand resting lightly on that side of her mask. After a moment of stunned silence, she closed her mouth.

"What was that for?" He said nothing. She frowned deeply, her eyes flashing gold.

"Ass."

"Bitch."

They stared at each other for several more minutes before Zuko reached his breaking point and he climbed down the ladder and stalked off.

She watched him disappear into the dark woods, her expression one of confusion and surprise. Her hand was still on the side of her face he had slapped, and she knew her pride hurt more than her face. But still, he shouldn't have taken the comment as he did. Shaking her head, she climbed down the wall, and walked off in the opposite direction as Zuko.

Scowling, She-Wolf continued through the woods in search of the Avatar's campsite. She knew it was around here somewhere. As she moved, she used one of her swords to slash through the dense foliage. She wasn't very happy with her 'dear prince' at the moment, one of the few times in her life that she wasn't. She cursed him out loud as she walked. Pausing for a minute, she sheathed the sword in the harness across her back and took off her mask. She had stopped in this particular clearing because her bag was hidden under a tree root. Fetching it, she crouched down, shoved the mask into its depths, closed it, and proceeded to stand when she felt a cold blade against her throat. Her attacker, if you could call it that, was behind her.

"Stand up," he said gruffly. "And don't try anything, this blade's sharp."

whir clicking The pig says..."Review..." whir