Greetings and salutations to all, and welcome to chapter 4! Sorry this one is a day late, but next weeks chapter will be released on Saturday. Hope you all enjoy this one, it's definitely more groundwork for the relationships. Don't worry, I have not forgotten about the plot and it will be pulling out of the station next chapter. Please Enjoy!

I still do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Darkness.

All Suki could see and feel was darkness. She had no clue where she was. All she knew was that it was dark, and that she was moving. She couldn't tell where she was moving to, but she knew that she was moving somewhere.

Ugh, where am I? How did I get here? Where am I going? All thoughts that were racing through her head. She needed to find a way out, but any movement was restricted by the rope around her wrists and ankles. She had no choice but to stay put.

Suki spent most of her time like this trying to remember how she had gotten into this situation. The most that she could remember was fighting against Azula and her stupid little entourage of girls. She remembered fighting with the other Kyoshi Warriors and saving the Avatar's beast, Appa. Then she remembered getting thrown into this iron box and only leaving it to use the bathroom and eat. She was grateful that she was not dead. She just hoped she got to her destination alive and mostly intact. All she knew so far was that this was going to be a very rocky ride.

Ty Lee and Mai had been waiting for the pair in the foyer for the better part of half an hour. They had received notices from the Princess saying that they were all going into town to do some shopping and had gathered at the foyer of the palace so that they could leave.

"Ugh! Where could they be?" Mai asked, starting to get impatient. "We've been standing here waiting for them for the past forty minutes. They should definitely be here by now."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that Zula is still up in her room, so we can probably just go there and check," Ty Lee suggested as she was also starting to get impatient and wanted to go shopping.

"Anything beats waiting here for them," Mai agreed.

Her and Ty Lee started walking towards the main staircase of the palace. They were going to go find the Princess. While the Palace itself was a very large compound, the living quarters were in the relative center of it. All their rooms were within a short walk of each other. It didn't take very long for the two to find Azula's room.

"Well, this is it," Ty Lee said, pointing to the door in front of them. "Azula should be right behind that-"

She was cut off by Mai who had placed a finger to the acrobat's lips, silencing them. "Do you hear that?" Mai asked, leaning her ear towards the door, listening for noises.

"No, I don't hear anything...What are you getting at?" Ty Lee looked at Mai confused.

"Exactly; they aren't in there. But I did hear noise coming from the room right next to hers when we were walking up here," Mai explained while walking towards the room next to Azula's. "Maybe they are in here. Do you know who sleeps here?"

"No," Ty Lee said. "Zula hasn't told me anything about getting a neighbor in the Palace. Maybe they will be really nice!" The acrobat started jumping around excitedly. She followed Mai and opened the door after hearing muffled voices behind it.

A few moments earlier...

The two had been eating breakfast peacefully for the better part of 20 minutes. They were having a breakfast of fried dough powdered lightly with sugar, a fruit bowl, and some roasted duck slices. Everything was going smoothly until Aang didn't touch the roasted duck.

"Avatar, why have you not eaten your roasted duck?" Azula asked, looking at him and placing down her fork.

"As an Airbender, I don't eat other living creatures," Aang replies, looking at the Princess in front of him. "We believed that all living things are sacred, so I don't eat meat."

"I demand that you eat the duck, Avatar," Azula declared, glaring at the boy, who just looked at her blankly.

"No," he states firmly. "I will not eat it. I've never even had it before so I have no clue what it even tastes like." He pushes the plate away from himself.

Azula, being fed up with this nonsense, grabs the plate and makes a move towards Aang, knocking him onto his back on the bed. She grabs the plate of food and moves to a straddling position on top of him.

"You will eat this food, Avatar!" She moves him so that he is leaning on the backboard of the bed and grabs a piece of duck on the fork.

"I...I won't eat the duck, Azula," Aang pleads. He didn't know what to do. Azula was on top of him at this point and he couldn't think straight. This was the closest she'd ever been to him and he was starting to blush.

What the fuck do I do? Is that perfume she's wearing? His heart was beating fast.

Azula noticed this and started getting flustered. "Ava-AANG, JUST EAT THE FUCKING DUCK!" she screamed as she took the fork and shoved it into the boy's open mouth. Shit, I just called him by his name. What is wrong with me?

Did she just call me Aang? What is happening? Aang didn't know what was happening. He had a piece of roasted duck in his mouth (which he honestly didn't think tasted that bad). Most importantly, he still had Azula straddling him. Has she always been this attractive? I mean, damn, just look at those eyes.

He was mesmerized by Azula. He hadn't noticed how hot she looked. From the way that her hair flowed down to her shoulders to how pronounced all of her curves were. What she was wearing also wasn't helping him much. The way that she was sitting in his lap was causing the tunic to pull, causing more flesh to be revealed then intended. When did she get hot? Has she always been this hot? When did her boobs get like that? I think she has bigger boobs than Katara. HOLY SHIT! WHY AM I STILL LOOKING AT HER BOOBS?

His mind at this point was a pile of mush. His face was as red as a tomato and Azula wasn't looking any better.

Wow, his abs are really hard. And those eyes are just so…mysterious. I could look into them all day. He's just so hot. The longer Azula was looking at him the redder her face got.

Mai came in, looked at the two people in bed, and smirked at them. She cleared her throat loudly. "We were supposed to go shopping today? I hope we didn't interrupt anything between you both."

Both Aang and Azula looked at each other and instinctively flinched away from each other. These sudden actions caused Aang to fall off of his bed and onto the hardwood floor.

"Well, I must have forgotten the time. We should get a move on, right, Avatar?" Azula dusted herself off and straightened out her tunic, readjusting it around her chest and walking towards the door as though nothing had ever happened.

Aang was still sitting on the floor while the three girls made their way to the door of the room. Wow. How does she go from blushing back to normal Azula? Damn, that's hot.

"Are you coming, Avatar?" Azula asked with a smirk on her face.

"Yes, Azula. I'm coming." Aang got up from his place on the floor, slipped on his slippers, and walked out the door of his room.

Shopping with Azula was an interesting experience to say the least. She was very well known in Ba Sing Se, so she had to disguise herself. Aang, being the avatar with big bright blue arrows, also had to disguise himself much to his chagrin. Mai and Ty Lee were, surprisingly, having a blast. They were constantly making fun of the Princess and the Avatar because of how unhappy both of them looked.

"Alright, Avatar, you need training clothes." Azula grabbed the boy and pulled into another clothing store.

"Azula, what's the point of being in disguise if you are just gonna call me that?" Aang asked as he allowed her to drag him into the store.

"Because I can do whatever I want, Avatar," Azula said as she saw the store clerk walk over to them.

"I mean he does have a point, Azula," Mai commented as she was looking for some training outfits for herself. "It would blow your cover if you keep saying his name."

"I think that Aang is a very cute name!" Ty Lee shouted, snuggling up next to Aang, grabbing his arm.

"Ty Lee, stop help find Aang clothing." Azula didn't even realize that she had said his name this time.

Aang, who had noticed that she said his name, started to blush a little bit and looked at Azula who was grabbing some articles of clothing. What is her deal? It's like she keeps switching between soft and warm to cold and icy. It's so weird. And she's being generally nicer to me then the others. Aang was lost in thought about Azula. He just couldn't put a finger on how she was acting and it kind of excited him. He loved not knowing what was next.

"Here, Avatar, go on and try these outfits on and report back to me once you have." Azula handed him a mountain of clothing which caused him to snap back to reality. He took the clothes and went off to find a changing room leaving Azula alone to her thoughts.

Why is this happening? It's like every time I try to shut off my emotions towards him, I fail. And why is he so hot? Azula let out a soft but audible groan and cupped her face into her hands.

"It's the boy, isn't it?"

The sudden voice caused Azula to jump slightly and look around to see where the voice had come from. She eventually found an elderly woman who she had recognized as the store clerk walked towards her and sat down.

"He is very cute I must say. You look to be frustrated at something and it definitely doesn't look to be the prices in this store, leading me to believe that you are frustrated at him or yourself." The elderly women spoke to the Princess, who caused her to sigh in defeat.

"So maybe it is about him… I don't know what to do." Azula looked at the elderly women next to her. "He just makes me so different and I don't understand why or how."

"Well, feelings make us do some weird things, young one. And judging from how you normally act to right now, these are some pretty strong feelings, are they not?"

"I've never felt anything like this before. I don't even know much about him. I...I just don't know what to do." Azula sighed. "So much for being a hardened warrior of the Fire Nation."

"Don't worry yourself, my Princess. We all have a weakness; you just found yours. But remember, sometimes our greatest weaknesses can turn into our greatest strengths." The clerk saw Aang come back with the clothing and chuckled to herself.

"Yeah, you might be right," admitted Azula. "Wait...how did you know I was the Princess?" Azula looked at the only woman.

"I lived in the Fire Nation for many years. Only royalty wear that perfume. Also, if you're gonna be walking around, try not to wear such expensive fabrics and not walk around with a boy who has blue tattoos on his hands. Speaking of which, he's coming over to you." The elderly women pointed to him walking back.

"I guess I'll have to try harder next time," said Azula. "Thank you."

She sighed, got up to meet Aang, and asked which clothes he is going to have her buy.

"I think they would actually be really cute together. Don't you agree Mai?" Ty Lee asked the assassin who was standing next to her, watching the two purchase Aang's clothing.

"Actually, I think that they could be a really good couple. Aang just needs to get a backbone. But they could definitely work out," Mai commented while walking towards the exit.

"Yeah. They really could," Ty Lee said, walking to the exit behind Mai who was already waiting with Azula and Aang.

Katara couldn't sleep. She had had a very long day after getting off of Appa and doing some light training after dinner; but she couldn't sleep. She needed to do something with her body, so she got up from her tent and decided to go on a walk.

"Going somewhere, Sweetness?" Toph asked, standing in front of the Waterbender.

"Toph? What the fuck are you doing up?" Katara exclaimed.

"Well, I could ask you the same thing now, couldn't I? It's not like you to just sneak away from camp on your own."

"Well, for your information, I was just going out for a walk. I couldn't sleep." Katara started to walk past the girl.

"Mind if I join you?" Toph suggested. "I got nothing else better to do." Toph started to follow her out of camp.

"Sure," Katara said simply.

The pair continued to walk down a path and found a path leading to a small river. The water was shimmering in the moonlight. It was a rather pretty spot and they decided to rest here for a while. Katara had a lot on her mind and was staring into the water. Her eyes weren't focusing on any one detail...she just looked into the water.

What is this feeling? she thought to herself. Why does it feel so...nice? It felt so comfortable to sleep in his lap today, and I loved it. He was my enemy for so long and now-

"You're thinking about Sparky, aren't you?" Toph spoke, drawing Katara from her thoughts.

"What? No, I…I wasn't thinking about him at all. Why would you even think something like that?" Katara sputtered as she started blushing.

"Katara, I might be blind, but I'm not an idiot. Your heart is beating really fast." Toph smirked. "And it's getting even faster."

"Okay, fine," Katara admitted. "So what if I was? Why do you care?" She turned so that she was looking at the Earthbender.

"First off, I don't. Second, you just seem confused about something."

"I'm not confused about anything," Katara stated defiantly.

"Wow, you are really bad at lying, Sugar Queen. Like, REALLY bad at it," Toph laughed as her friend blushed even more.

"Toph, just fuck off, ok?" Katara shouted at the girl.

"Well, aren't you pleasant in the middle of the night? And here I was trying to help your ass. Nope." Toph gets up and starts to walk away.

"Toph, wait," Katara called out. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you. Please come back," she added timidly, making the Earthbender smile.

"Alright, so are you gonna tell me what is bothering you or are we just gonna stand here in the middle of the night?" Toph crossed her arms and sat back down.

"When I was asleep in the saddle today, I felt so comfortable in his lap," Katara explained. "It felt like I was protected; like nothing bad would ever happen to me when I was with him."

"I think someone has a crush on Zuko."

"No, I can't have a crush on him," Katara said quickly. "I have to remember that he was my enemy."

"Well, by the way your heart is beating, I think you do have a crush on him," Toph laughed as Katara grimaced.

"He probably doesn't even like me back. So it doesn't even matter that I like him. He probably has plenty of girls that are falling for him."

"Well, maybe you should try to woo him over. I don't really know how you would do that, but you can try. Maybe ask Suki when we find her. But what I do know is that you shouldn't beat yourself up over this. Sparky is not worth a sad Katara," Toph said to her friend, putting her hand on her shoulder.

"Do you really mean all that, Toph?" Katara asked, looking at her friend, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Yes," Toph answered. "You're my friend and I'm always here for you."

"Oh, thank you, Toph! You're the best," Katara said, hugging her and making her squirm.

"Hey now, wait a minute," Toph warned, "I never said anything about a fucking hug. Now get off of me." She tried to get out of Katara's embrace.

"We should probably get back to camp before anyone wakes up and notices that we are gone," Toph said as she started to stand up and walk away.

"Yeah, that's a really good idea. We don't want to worry the boys," Katara said as she got up from her spot on the river bank and began to follow her friend back to camp.

By the time they both got back to camp, the sky was still mostly dark, but had a few rays of dark blue in it. Both girls said their good nights and went to their tents. When Katara got back to her tent, she swiftly went to sleep and was content. She was actually looking forward to what the next few days would bring.