A.N.:...eh...three reviews...better we guess...well...at the moment jess and I are trying to figure out a way to keep writing this over the summer...she's going away to see her mom...and I'm staying here...so we're still contemplating...oh and you might not get an update next week...seeing as how we have SOLS...

Disclaimer: Refer to the previous chapter

Chapter 8: Omashu

:Red's POV:

The guards that stood infront of Omashu's entrance stared at me as I walked up. I thought they were staring at my clothes, but it turns out my red hair held their gaze.

"Halt! What brings you to Omashu?" one guard in a weird, green hat demanded, but after looking around I realized he was speaking to me.

I blinked and glanced at my companions for help.

"Well Sonny, we're here to see an old family friend," Aang answered for me in his old man voice.

"I see. What are your names?"

After my friends called off their "names", the guard turned to me.

"You're obviously not traveling with them, look at the quality of your clothes. Tell me your name and I'll let you through," he didn't leave much room for argument, but he was right, I didn't look poor like the others. My plan to buy new clothes would benefit everyone. We didn't want to bring more attention to ourselves. It's not like a boy with an arrow on his head is incognito.

"Akina...," I looked around, searching for a last name. Then, I noticed a bird in the sky," Wing, Akina Wing."

I smiled sweetly at the guard as he let us into Omashu, but all I got in return was an angry scowl.

Omashu was grand indeed and I couldn't help but gasp at everything unusual that happened. The earth bending mail service caught my I and I smiled with knowing.

"Aang, can we buy my traveling clothes before we go down the giant slide," I asked before I realized my mistake. I wasn't supposed to know that.

They all stared at me strangely, but Aang's mouth hung open.

"Uh oh!" I thought and ran a hand through my hair nervously.

"Sure," Aang said and turned to walk down a path filled with shops, but I knew without a doubt he would ask me about my knowing later.

The path was unexpectedly clean. No dust floated around and clung to my clothes. All the homes were made out of solid rock. The city was amazing and practically vibrated with power.

'It's too bad this city will be taken over by the fire nation...' I sighed and adjusted the tie around my waist. When I looked up I saw what I had been looking for. Between two trinket shops stood a clothes vendor. Inside the shop sat the perfect outfit for the journey ahead. It was a dark green tank top like shirt with black pants and boots. Around the middle a leather belt hung to complete the outfit.

"This is what I want," I said as I fingered the sturdy cloth, "It will stand through any weather I am sure." With excitement I pulled the kimono out of my bag and held it out to the shop vendor.

"How much will you pay me for this?"

"Hmm...," he studied the intricate designs on the cloth and smiled, "For the whole thing I will give you 40 gold pieces."

"50," I bartered.

"45."

"47," I continued.

"Deal," with a smile, he grabbed the blue kimono and handed me the gold pieces.

"Sir, how much for the green traveling habit?"

"Um..," he studied me now and I knew he knew how much money I had, but considering the value of the kimono he might charge more.

"11 gold pieces. No more, no less," he decided and I had to bit the inside of my cheek to hide my excitement.

"Deal," I shook his hand and tossed him 11 gold pieces without hesitation. Quickly, I grabbed the habit and walked on, "Pleasure doing business with you."

After a minute or two of walking we reached the end of the road. There I snuck behind the building and changed.

When I appeared again I was wearing the leather boots and green habit with pride. Besides the boots being slightly too big and the shirt a bit baggy, it fit perfectly. I looked just like a real earthbender.

"Aang," I called, "We can go on the slide now!"

:Leah's POV:

It was after breakfast, which was delicious by the way, and I was on deck yet again. They gave me some of Zuko's training clothes to wear while I waited for mine to dry. I was very lucky that these clothes were clean instead of being dirty and smelling of dried sweat. Although it was a very tight fit though. I curse my weight and size, but oh well I don't really care.

My clothes could take all the time they wanted to dry, for these clothes smelled like Zuko. I grinned as I thought this.

Uncle Iroh walked up beside me, "Why don't you show us how that...ipod, was it?...works?"

I shrugged and took out my ipod, "It couldn't hurt anything I suppose."

"Zuko!" Uncle Iroh called out to his nephew, who was talking to one of the crew.

"Oh Zuko's already seen it! You don't have to bother...too late," I sighed as Zuko headed our way.

"What is it Uncle?" Zuko asked.

"Leah was about to show us how this ipod trinket works," Uncle Iroh replied.

"I tried to tell him I'd already showed you it," I apologized.

(A.N.: I'm going to randomly invent something so that we can all listen to the music out loud...and for the purposes of this story the ipod is solar powered...even if there's no such thing as a solar powered ipod.)

"It's okay, I'd like to hear another song," Zuko said politely.

I reached into the deep pockets of the training pants and pulled out two micro stereo speakers that I'd brought to Jess's house for some reason. They were solar powered luckily, so they'd work over here. They were just as loud as normal speakers, and had been damn expensive at the local Walmart...wait...they don't even have a Walmart over here! Eh...oh well...I'll manage.

I hooked the ipod up to the speakers and flipped through the many songs I had on my list, "Ooooo...which to choose?"

I grinned as I selected "What was I thinking?", and then I turned the song on and the speakers up.

Zuko and Iroh just watched me I suppose, but I really wouldn't know...I hadn't been paying attention.

'Becky was a beauty from South Alabama
Her Daddy had a hard lock and nine pound hammer
Think He even did a little time in the slammer
What was I thinking?
She snuck out one night and met me by the front gate
Her daddy came out waving that twelve gage
We tore out the drive, he peppered my tailgate
What was I thinking?

Oh I knew there'd be Hell to pay,
But that crossed my mind a little too late!

Cuz I was thinking 'bout a little white tank top sitting right there in the middle by me
I was thinking about a long kiss man just gotta get goin' with a night like me
Well I know what I was feeling But What was I thinking?
But What was I thinking?

What was I thinking?

By the county line the cops were nipping on our heels
Pulled off the road kicked it to 4 wheel
Shut off the lights, tore through a corn field
What was I thinking?
Out the other side she was hollerin' Faster!
Took the third road had the radio blastin'
Hit the Honky Tonk for a little close dancin'
What was I thinking?

Oh I knew there'd be Hell to pay,
But that crossed my mind a little too late!

Cuz I was thinking 'bout a little white tank top sitting right there in the middle by me
I was thinking about a long kiss man just gotta get goin' with a night like me
Well I know what I was feeling But What was I thinking?
But What was I thinking?

When a mountain of a man with a Born to Kill tattoo
tried to cut in I knocked out his front tooth
Ran outside hood sliding like Bullduke
What was I thinking?
I finally got her home half past too late
Her daddy's in a lawn chair sittin' in the driveway
Put it in park as he started my way,
What was I thinking?
Oh What was I thinking?
Oh What was I thinking?

And she gave a come and get me grin,
And like a bullet we were gone again!

Cuz I was thinking 'bout a little white tank top sitting right there in the middle by me
I was thinking about a long kiss man just gotta get goin' with a night like me
Well I know what I was feeling But What was I thinking?
But What was I thinking?

What was I thinking?'

By the end of the song the whole crew had gathered around the 'magic marvel.'

"Hey Zuko!" I laughed when I recalled something, "I know something that would really irk your nerves!"

"And what would that be?" he asked me, glancing up form the ipod.

"I know your old nickname!" I replied in a singsong voice.

"No you don't," he immediately denied that I would know such a thing.

"Actually I wouldn't doubt that she does," Iroh commented wisely.

"Then prove it," Zuko's gaze challenged mine.

"Alright," I shrugged, "But you can't kill me, deal?"

"Deal," he agreed.

"Okay...ZuZu!" I smirked in triumph at the look of horror crossed his face, "See I told you so!"

The ipod switched to the next song, and the familiar beat from "Girl Next Door" made itself heard.

"I love this song!" I exclaimed.

Without thinking I began to dance and sang along.

'Small town homecoming queen
She's the star in this scene
There's no way to deny she's lovely
Perfect skin perfect hairPerfumed hearts everywhere
Tell myself that inside she's ugly
Maybe I'm just jealous
I can't help but hate her
Secretly I wonder if my boyfriend wants to date her

She is the prom queen I'm in the marching band
She is a cheerleader I'm sittin in the stands
She gets the top bunk I'm sleepin' on the floor
She's Miss America and I'm just the girl next door

Senior class president
She must be heaven sent
She was never the last one standing
A backseat debutante
Everything that you want
Never to harsh or too demanding
Maybe I'll admit it
I'm a little bitter
Everybody loves her but I just wanna hit her

She is the prom queen I'm in the marching band
She is a cheerleader I'm sittin in the stands
She gets the top bunk I'm sleepin on the floor
She's Miss America and I'm just the girl next door
Oh an I'm just the girl next door

I don't know why I'm feelin sorry for myself
I spend all my time wishin' that I was someone else

She is the prom queen I'm in the marching band
She is a cheerleader I'm sittin in the stands
I get A little bit she gets a little more
She's Miss America and... she's Miss America
I'm just the girl next door... '

I stopped dancing when the song ended because it had just occurred to me that I was dancing in public. I glanced around and saw laughter in some eyes, but most were still entranced by the music.

"What up?" I asked Zuko, "Oh I forgot that you don't know slang...sorry...nevermind the previous question. Do you wanna see something cool?"

"I'd really like to go back to training, but I suppose so," Zuko sighed.

"M'kay," I reached into the pockets again, and this time withdrew a bottle of bubbles!

"I'm a bubble bender!" I spun around with the bubble want outstretched, and was soon surrounded by bubbles.

:Jess's POV:

In my new outfit I felt like a whole new person, almost as if I was stronger. While we climbed to the top of the slide I kept sneaking looks at Sokka. A while later his face grew red and he glared at me.

"What?" he muttered under his breath.

"Oh...just wanted to know how your first kiss went with Suki," I smirked, but I kept my voice down so as to not alert the others to the secret.

"How did you know about that?" his face turned redder and I couldn't help but laugh at his expense.

"I have my ways," I tapped my head and gave him a knowing smile.

Before he could say anything else we arrived at the top of the slide. I avoided looking down because I knew how far down it was already and I had a small fear of heights.

"I feel sorry for the cabbage man," I whispered to myself before entering the crate behind Aang.

"What?" arrowhead asked.

"Oh! Nothing! Just not trying to loose my breakfast!"

"Don't worry! It will be fun!" then we went down the slide of doom.

Faster and faster we went. My hair blew every which way and my knuckles turned white from clutching the sides. Aang, being the smart boy hie is, made the crate move faster by using his airbending, but that caused us to topple over the side and into the street. There I came face to face with a ball of cabbage and a spear.

"Heh, heh. Hello nice guard," I smiled weakly and raised my hands in surrender.

Being the "never get in trouble girl" I am, I've never been arrested, but I am sure my world has a much harsher jail system.

After Aang blew our cover at the feast we were thrown into a well furnished cell. I fell asleep almost instantly and tried not to think of the inevitable.

:A few hours later:

"Well, ti's nice being covered in creep crystal," I remarked sarcastically, "I always wanted to resemble a shiny rock."

"Yeah, Aang you better hurry or people will be sitting on us and little children will paint on us for fun!" Sokka didn't sound happy, but I couldn't very well tell him everything would be alright.

I watched the three tasks with interest. Even thought I knew he would complete all of the tasks, I still felt tension whenever he got close to being hurt.

In the end everything worked out without anyone else finding out I am an airbender. Which was good because I didn't want to draw more attention to myself. My red hair did most of that.

:Back on Appa:

"Well, that was interesting...," I said while munching on a piece of rock candy. It tastes as good as it looks. I licked my lips and saved several other pieces for later.

"Aang, you heard what Bumi said, the world is counting on you," Katara was always worried for Aang, I noticed.

"Everything will be alright Katara. Relax," Aang reassured.

'Yeah, but it won't be easy,' I thought as the sun set beyond the horizon.

A.N.: Well review..please...you know the deal...laters...

:Us: