Zuko once again failed to find sleep. But this time it was for a different reason. That girl, Jen, had made a big impact on him. He had never really had anyone even close to a girlfriend in all his years, but then one girl who meets him gets almost girlfriend status in only one date. Life could be so confusing.

Once again, a cricket chirped loudly. This one was outside the window, singing its song of annoyance. Zuko took a long sigh. There must be an infestation of the little things.

This time, instead of scorching the thing, he simply flicked it off the window. It went flying, landed on the roof, and rolled off. It hit the ground hard. It was stunned from the high fall.

An unwitting lady who happened to be walking along stepped on it and heard a crunching noise. She drew back her foot and looked at the underside of her shoe. She screamed in discuss and quickly wiped her foot on the ground, taking off the bug guts.

Zuko sighed and let his eyes rest. He thought about the previous day and let sleep take him.

---

Miles away, outside the city's walls, Azula and her crew stood outside their make shift camp inside a cave and pondered what they should do next. They had decided for a long time now that they must somehow infiltrate Ba Sing Se. However, they had only their fire nation clothes and if seen in the city with them on they would be instantly killed, or at least take prisoner.

One thing was for certain though. If anyone was going in, it was Azula, Mai, and Tai Lee. Azula had made it very clear that she was going to be the one to capture the Avatar, and she knew she would need her team for assistance.

More than likely, Tai Lee and Mai would just have to change their hair style or cut it to elude notice. However, Azula's hair was already cut short, and changing the style wouldn't help. Cutting it at this point wouldn't solve anything. She would just have to cover her face.

After a long discussion, they agreed on the plan that the girls would change their hair and appearance to blend in with the rest of the civilians. However, there was still the matter of clothing. There had to be someone from whom they could get regular clothing, or else they would never make it into the city.

---

Aang was busy walking the streets. Ever since he had made that new zoo, things had been fun. He was invited to stay all day and have fun. He met a lot of people, many of whom were overjoyed to meet the Avatar. However, after the excitement died down, people left, and so did he.

That was how he got here. Wandering the streets, seeing what there was to be seen. As he was walking, few people stopped and talked to him, but once in a while he was greeted. Usually they were just people going home, or couples out on dates.

However, just now two men had come by, one telling the other about a certain tea shop. "Oh yeah," said one. "It's true. This freak with hooky swords came in and attacked them!" His partner shook his head in disbelief. "But it gets better!" continued the first. "The kid working there, goes by the name of Lee, fought him back with two swords. I've never seen such impressive sword play in all of my days."

"I'm sorry man. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that that story seems a little far-fetched." The first shook his head. "Ask anyone. After the sword fight, the Dai-Li came in and dragged the freak with the hooky swords away." The second sighed and shook his head, thinking of what this boy's fate was, now that he was in the hands of the Dai-Li.

Aang thought about what they had said as they walked on. How strange, a fight in a tea shop. He didn't know why, but the mention of the kid with the "hooky swords" gave him an ominous feeling. Somehow, that sounded familiar. Oh well, it was probably nothing.

As he walked, he came upon a peculiar chirping. It was cricket-roach, just like the ones from the tea shop. Aang looked it over, and then sighed. There were so many of the things. Somehow or another, these things are going to be bad news. He didn't know how right he was.

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Well, I know these two have been a wee bit boring. But trust me, things are going to "heat up" really soon. R+R please, it gives me more reasong to keep writing.