Well, here you are, the new chapter, which I think turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. Injoi!

Iroh breathed in the steam from his tea and sighed deeply. He closed his eyes and appeared to be in a completely peaceful state. Then those amber eyes opened and he commanded "Again!"

Zuko and Jun wordlessly set up the sequence again. Iroh had taken over coaching, refereeing, and advising their afternoon sessions, which had become a daily routine. It was so great to see Zuko interact with someone his own age. The prince never gave more of himself then when he was up against Jun. Yes, Iroh thought to himself. This turned out to be a good experience after all.

He nodded his approval and it started again. First, both would strike a pose, legs apart, arms up and the ready, concentration flowing. Then one of them, usually Zuko because he was so impatient, would lunge forward. Jun wouldn't move until the last moment, then SWOOSH! she would twirl and strike back. It was all very impressive to watch.

Today they were doing particularly well. Zuko was finally starting to shed his usual tension and relax, resulting in a better fight. Zuko would step forward and strike out. Then Jun would take a step backward and confidently block it.

"Well done," Iroh commented and sipped his tea.

Again, the Firebender stepped and tried to deliver a blow. Jun narrowed her eyes menacingly and forced Zuko back. Before he could counter it, Jun managed to kick him to the ground.

"Excellent!" Iroh stood up and looked on approvingly. The bounty hunter smirked down at her opponent, who scowled to cover his anger and embarrassment. Jun stooped to help him up, but continued to smile smugly. Her pride gave way to curiosity, though, as she studied something in the sky behind Zuko's head. "What's that?"

A small, red spot appeared on the horizon, moving toward them. As it drew closer, the object grew wings and a head. It was a Fire Navy hawk, with a piece of paper attached to its legs. It swooped down and landed neatly on the side of the ship. Iroh carefully removed the message from the hawk, which promptly ruffled its feathers and took flight. Zuko and Jun stayed silent as he read through the letter. The old general's face turned unreadable.

"Well? What does it say?" Zuko snarled. Iroh held it out to him, but Jun snatched it up first. Deciding that it wouldn't be very smart to test a person who could easily kick his butt, Zuko was forced to read the letter over her shoulder. It read:

Prince Zuko

You assistance is requested at a battle in the Earthbending

city of Fa-Taeo. Bring only your strongest and bravest

crewmembers and arrive within 48 hours.

Respectfully,

Admiral Shang

Jun looked up.

"So, what are we going to do?"

Zuko turned from her to look out onto the sea.

"We go and we fight," he said simply.

"But Prince Zuko, think. Do we really have time for a detour?"

"I need to do this for my country, for my honor." Zuko didn't turn around. Iroh sighed.

"Very well. I'll go alert the navigator of the change of course." He went down below the deck.

It was quiet, except for the rustling of the letter still clutched in Jun's fist. She looked at it again.

"Hey, Zuko," she said. "Would—"

"Yes, Jun," Zuko cut her off and finally turned around. "I would consider you one of my 'strongest and bravest crewmembers'." He leaned against the side of the ship and gave Jun a rare smile.

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Latifa scrunched up her eyebrows and put a hand up to block the late afternoon sun as she gazed across the horizon in search of Zuko's ship. Aang and Katara had clamored away tirelessly about the prince and his uncle and his ship, which they didn't know had been destroyed, but the Lifebender wanted to see Zuko for herself. She let out a deep breath, her swirls glowed, and she spread her power out with a little whoosh of air. Eager to see more Lifebending, Katara and Aang put down the firewood they were carrying to camp and hurried up the hill Latifa stood on. Sokka groaned to be left doing all the work and reluctantly followed.

"Did you find him yet?" Aang asked.

"No, still looking. Hmmm, he shouldn't be too far away…no, that's a fishing boat…no….no…eww, that's nasty, definitely not…oh, this looks promising! All right, I see a Fire Navy ship…crew…oh, who's this? All right! This is it! I've found Iroh! Then this must be…yes, here's Zuko!" Latifa dropped the contact and looked curiously at Aang.

"I wonder…here Aang, take my hand, with you being the Avatar, I bet our combined power will let me see more detail."

So the Airbender excitedly lent his power to Latifa, whose swirls glowed as she once again found the ship.

"Ahh! That's much better!"

"But I don't see anything," Aang said disappointedly.

"You're not trying hard enough, now let me see what Zuko's thinking. Oh, this isn't his ship, they stole it! He's looking at something, damn, I can't tell what…he's thinking…" she stopped and looked at Aang as though he probably shouldn't hear what she was going to say.

"He's thinking 'What an ass'. What is he looking at! It must be a girl, I'm going to see who…Zuko's right, she's hot…she's a bounty hunter, do you guys know one?"

"We ran into one a while back," Katara said bitterly. "Does she have grey eyes and a skull in her hair?"

"Yep, must be her. Her name's Jun, by the way, Zuko hired her. I'm going back to him now. Oh, news! They're going to a battle tomorrow at the Earth city of Fa-Taeo, that's about thirty miles from here." Latifa broke all contact. Aang looked excited again.

"Do you know what this means? Latifa can find out what Zuko thinks! We can find out where he's going and what he planning and lots more!" Katara's face lit up with delight.

"You're right! Latifa, this is perfect! We'll spy on Zuko and he'll never find out!"

"Excellent! I can be your secret weapon!" The Lifebender, the Waterbender and the Avatar laughed and danced around in a sort of victory celebration.

"Whatever," Sokka muttered, wandering back to camp. "So now there's more freaky magic involved. Fantastic! I love it; this just made my whole day."

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After a long and fairly exhausting day getting the crew in order and sorting through armor, Zuko retired to his bedroom early. To his surprise, Jun was already there, lounging on her cot and running a brush through her black hair. She didn't say anything as he came in, but after he flopped head first onto his bed, she asked

"Are you nervous?"

Zuko rolled over to his side to look at Jun as he considered the question. Her eyes demanded an answer, but she was smiling. He reached down to pull off his boots and said simply

"Maybe."

Jun laid on her back and studied the ceiling.

"Because I could be. I might admit that."

Zuko slowly unbuckled his armor and let his eyes wander everywhere but on Jun. He wasn't actually sure how to answer.

"Well, uh," he started, uneasily. "We know what we're doing and um, I think it's going to be okay."

Jun held his eyes in hers for a moment, almost searching for something, then stopped and broke into a secretive grin.

"Well then, I guess I'm not too worried." She rolled over and faced away from him as if the conversation suddenly bored her.

Zuko was puzzled.

"Why?"

"Oh, just because," she answered vaguely.

Deciding that teenage girls were just about the strangest things creatures on the planet, Zuko blew out the lamp and climbed into bed.

"Because of you," Jun said quietly in the darkness.

-

-

That night, Zuko had a dream.

He was walking somewhere. Down a familiar road, he'd been here before. He was going home! This was the road to his old home, the castle! Zuko broke into a run in excitement and burst through the huge stone doors. There were hundreds of people packed inside, people he'd known before he was banished and people he'd met on his journey and some people he didn't know at all. They had all been talking, but as soon as Zuko came in, they all cheered and laughed and ran forward to talk to him.

"What's going on, what happened?" He shouted, but nobody even heard him.

Iroh appeared.

"Prince Zuko! You've done it! Captured the Avatar, we've won the war!"

Before Zuko could answer, a hand was placed on his shoulder and he turned around to see who it was. A deep voice he hadn't heard in a long time said

"Zuko, my son, I'm proud of you."

Tears filled the prince's eyes and he could barely mouth the words "thank you" to his father.

Hours went by. The mad celebration drove far into the night. After stating over and over again that he couldn't remember how he had succeeded in capturing the Avatar, Zuko said

"All right! I'm going to bed!"

No one stopped him as he went upstairs to find his old bedroom. It was still there, just like he left it. Fully exhausted, he crawled into his old bed and was instantly asleep. He didn't know how long he had been asleep, maybe hours, maybe minutes, before he was awakened by a beam of light cutting into the room through the open door. Blinking at the sudden brightness, Zuko could just make out a dark figure in the doorway.

"Who's there?" he asked timidly. The figure closed the door and came closer; Zuko was afraid.

"Who are you?"

The figure said nothing. It gracefully climbed on the bed and edged even closer, briefly brushing against Zuko, who was now stiff with fear. It was a person. It straddled his waist. It was Jun. Too shocked too say anything, Zuko simply stared. Jun wore a red lace thong and matching bikini top. She leaned forward and kissed Zuko gently on the mouth. He unfroze instantly; it was like stepping into a warm bath and Jun's hair smelled fresh, like jasmine.

"Jun…" he started, but she put a finger to his lip. Jun licked the side of his neck and Zuko shivered with pleasure all over. He opened his mouth to try to talk again, but the entire room gave an abrupt, enormous lurch and Zuko found Jun, his bed, the walls, everything, swirling away into darkness…

-

Zuko woke up suddenly and completely, in a terrified sweat. He breathed heavily and assured himself that it was alright; it was only the ship swerving to avoid some obstacle. He laid back down and said over and over again in his head, it's alright, it's alright. It wasn't alright. Zuko realized he was wet, not just with sweat. He closed his eyes, then forced himself to look under his blanket. He mentally groaned and let his head fall back into his pillow.

Great, he thought, furious with himself. Of all the nights, ALL THE NIGHTS to have a wet dream, why not chose this one, when Jun is right there? Gawd, didn't I grow out of that stuff? Obviously not, it looked as if someone dumped a bucket of water all over his pants.

Zuko looked over to make sure that the subject of his, urm, 'accident' was still sleeping. She was, looking positively angelic, her black hair wildly arranged around her head, her moth still with that secretive smile, the one that said she knew something he didn't.

Ever so carefully, Zuko slid out of bed and crept silently around Jun, his goal the dresser at the other side of the room. He stalked to it and quietly opened it. He exchanged his soiled pants for a fresh pair, eyes never leaving Jun, who didn't even stir. Satisfied with his accomplishment, Zuko had just started to make the journey back to bed when Jun rolled over and propped her head up with her arm, her expression smug. She wasn't asleep after all.

"Hmmmm, too bad, I did warn you about the teenage-boy-hormone-thing. Oh, well. Good night Zuko, keep 'em dry." She rolled over again and really did fall asleep, leaving Zuko embarrassed, flushed, and, somehow, slightly pleased.

Me- Welllllllllllllll…Zuko, very nice….

Zuko- WE ARE NEVER SPEAKING OF THIS AGAIN! (storms off angrily)

Jun- (trys not to laugh) Snorts (bursts out laughing)

Zuko- AND THAT WOULD BE SPEAKING OF IT AGAIN!

Bring on the reviews!