A/N: This chapter is relatively short, and I'm gonna start posting my disclaimers at the beginning and my author notes at the end.

Disclaimer: This is for all you evil lawyer hordes out there: I SERIOUSLY WISH I OWNED AVATAR! And yet, sadly, I do not. And now, I shall slink into my room, which incidently my parentals own, and bawl. Goodbye. And don't forget to review!

Chapter XIII: Truth And A Problem

Two hours later, Shaiya was sitting on the right of Zuko's bed, Iroh on the left. Shaiya was crying silently, grasping Zuko's hand for dear life. Iroh was looking sadly down at his nephew. Zuko hadn't stirred once since his arrival in the infirmary. Everyone was worried. Only one person was not in there. Meiya.

Shaiya had completely forgotten about her mother. Meiya had only pretended to be knocked out by her daughter anyway.

At that very moment, Meiya was in Shaiya's room packing all her stuff. Meiya had said that they were going to leave the next day. She had forgotten the Agni Kai with her daughter that was scheduled. Instead, she would just tie both girls to their sujios when they were still sleeping and take off before anyone could object.

Meiya had packed everything of her daughter's in her duffle bag and headed to start on Onya's stuff. Little did Meiya know, Shaiya had prepared for this night. She had slipped her diary under Zuko's pillow. Meiya didn't even know her daughter had a diary, much less would do something like that.

Twenty minutes later, Meiya finished with the two teens' stuff. She moved as quietly as she could down to the livestock hold. There, she found her tan and white sujio, Ispilan, Shaiya's black and grey sujio, Kagouya, and Onya's red and white sujio, Vei. Quickly, Meiya set down all the bags, hers, her daughter's and her daughter's friend's bags. She ran back up to her room where she had two pieces of white cloth and two long lengths of rope waiting for her. It was now almost four and a half hours past sunset, and the crew, along with Onya, the Avatar, and his friends, were all asleep. Only Shaiya and Iroh weren't asleep. Meiya knew just how to lure her daughter out of the infirmary, too. She'd just have to get the sujios to start acting up.

She had already decided how to get Onya, so she did that first. It would be easier for her to tackle the easier obstacle first. Quietly, Meiya slipped into Sokka's room. Just as she suspected, Onya was sleeping with him. Luckily, Sokka was sprawled across the bed and Onya was sleeping on the floor, having been pushed off. Gently so as not to disturb her captive, Meiya picked Onya up bridal style and carried her down to the livestock hold.

She tied her up quickly and moved to get a commotion started. Meiya picked up a bullwhip Onya used frequently when she would warm her beast up before a good fly. Meiya held the handle above her head, jerked it down and then up with all her might, causing it to crack loudly, loud enough to wake Onya and scare the sujios, but not loud enough to reverberate through the ship the way the sujios' hooves did when they reared or landed.

Shaiya and Iroh were sitting beside Zuko's bed, drifting in and out of sleep. All of a sudden, the familiar boom of the sujios acting up again flew through the ship. It wasn't loud enough to wake everyone, just rouse Shaiya and Iroh from their humble slumber.

"I'll handle this, then I think I'll retire for the night." Shaiya yawned as she left the infirmary. She had a sneaking suspicion of what was going on. She just hoped she was all too wrong.

As she entered the infirmary, she heard a grunt, then she saw a shadow slink past her. She turned around only to get knocked out cold by her very own mother. Quickly, Meiya bound her hands behind her back and gagged her. She had saddled all three sujios previous to cracking the bullwhip, so they were ready to be mounted. Onya tried to warn her friend, but to no avail. Shaiya was thrown atop her mount and tied so she wouldn't fall off in mid air, again. Meiya did the same with Onya, but she fought back because she was conscious, unlike her best friend. After getting the two unruly teens tied to their mounts and the two sujios' headstalls tied to the horn of her own saddle, Meiya drug all three beasts to the deck and took off for Shiroh Nagiyan. Her home.

A couple minutes after Meiya had left secretly, Zuko began to stir.

"Ugh." he mumbled. Iroh had began to doze again, and he didn't notice his nephew move.

"Uncle." Zuko mumbled again. This time, Iroh stirred.

"Prince Zuko! You're okay!" Iroh said excitedly.

"Where's Shaiya?" Zuko asked, sitting up.

"She retired to bed near twenty minutes ago. Why?"

"Just asking."

"Prince Zuko, do tell me what happened." Iroh asked.

"I remember Shaiya's mother sneaking up on me in my room. I sat down to meditate, and then she just burst in there yelling something in German. I didn't have time to try to translate, so I'm in the dark. I also remember her lunging at me with a paring knife. Then she yelled something in English. I think it was 'You're gonna die for doing what you did to my daughter's mind!', but I could be wrong. Then she stabbed me in the shoulder, and I hit my head on my meditation table. I blacked out right after I heard Shaiya yell you biz-snitch. You evil, cruel, murdering biz-snitch. You killed my baby. She called me her…baby. I find that kinda weird."

"Well, obviously, she is harboring feelings for you, Prince Zuko. You should talk to her in the morning. Now, you need some sleep, as do I. Let me help you to your room, or at least escort you there, in case Meiya should try something like that again." Zuko nodded as his uncle got up out of his chair beside the bed Zuko was lying in. Iroh helped Zuko to his room where they saw the pool of blood on the ground.

"I will clean this up in the morning. Now, sleep Prince Zuko." Iroh said as he left. Zuko didn't bother to change into his night pants, he just flopped down on his bed. As he laid his head on his pillow, he noticed an abnormal lump there in the middle. He reached under to find Shaiya's diary and a letter addressed to him. He opened it and began to read:

Dearest Zuko,

Chances are, if you're reading this, my mother has made an attempt at either your life or an attempt at getting us to split up. I just want you to know that after she tries the above mentioned, and if she fails, she will 'kidnap' Onya and me and take us with her somewhere. Chances are, it won't be Shiroh Nagiyan. If she does, Zuko, I do not want you to follow us. It would be safer and better for all if you regained your honor first. Then, seeing as my mother is a loyal Fire Nation citizen, she will not object to you returning for me. She has tried to live through me. At first, she was all for you and I, and now she is turning against that because she thinks you are soft, like what your father thinks of you. Don't let it get to you. You are one of the strongest people I have ever met, and very possibly, the nicest. I know that you may have your bad days, but we all do. I can live with that. I can't, however, live without you. I will come to the Fire Nation as soon as you regain the throne. Then we can see more of each other. Remember, we are friends till the end. I never thought I'd say this, but I hope my mother gives up on us. I hope she will realize that no matter what she does, she won't be able to tear us apart. Only Onya has been as good a friend as you have. I love you like you're my very own brother, Zuko, and I will miss you dearly. Do as I say, and do not follow me. Regain your honor, throne and country first, then come for me, or I shall return to see you again. See you soon.

Love always,

Shaiya

P.S. I left you my diary because I would like for you to see just how much you have impacted my last seven weeks aboard this ship. Take no offense and do not feel guilty for reading this, for I mean for you to. And remember, we are friends till the end.

That letter tore at Zuko's heart. His uncle was right. And so, he lit every candle in his room and opened her diary to the first page. It was dated seven weeks ago. The day they met.

Wow, I have a diary. Last I had one, I was eight. Couldn't keep up with it for more that a day or two at a time. Hope I'll have better luck this time.

Not much happened today, other than the Fire Prince and his uncle, the Dragon of the West, coming to our…dock, I guess. I got to meet them. They are cracked up to be evil tyrants, but they are actually really nice. The Prince is a little stuck up, though cute as ever. General Iroh is very kind, and a little too preoccupied with his tea. Ah, well, so was Daddy. They are staying with us tonight. I'm about to go have dinner with them. And then I think I'll challenge Onya to an arm wrestling match. Love much,

Shai

Zuko flipped past a few pages of sketches to the next entry, that fateful night they caught the Avatar.

Dear Diary,

Today, Zuko finally caught the Avatar. Yay for him. Although I'm sure Mom would say something like 'What took him so effin long!'. Well, screw her. Also, I am getting ready to take Kagouya on her midnight flight. We haven't done that in a while. I just hope I don't wake the crew. They've had a hard day. Along with capturing the Avatar, we met Zhao. What a jack-donkey. And he looks like a friggin monkey! I can't get over that.

Zuko smiled when he read that. He agreed.

Well, Ta Ta For Now!

Shai

More drawings, one of Zuko training, one of Zuko discussing and planning the next route to take, and one of Zuko and Shaiya, and written under it was If only he could see in himself what I see in him. Zuko thought of what that meant. Did she think of him as more than a scarred teenage boy with no home? Did she think of him as an attractive young man with something to offer? Maybe she did. Zuko flipped to the next entry.

Dear Diary,

Well, I've managed to keep up with this for a good while. Must be because I'm older now. Anyway, Zhao and I have met in battle officially now. He hurt that waterbender girl, I think her name is Katarina or possibly Katara. I don't know. But either way, he broke her wrists. He is such an evil jack-donkey bastard. I will kill him. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Zuko is absolutely adorable. And he's a wonderful friend. He's giving Onya a run for her money. He can have his moments, but so can I. I was watching him training a couple days ago, and, man, he has got a great physique! And a six-pack! Gosh, I'd love to get my hands on him. I have one word to describe him. YUM! Love much,

Shai

So, she thought he was attractive. It was true, he did have girls follow him occasionally, but they backed off quickly. The sun began to show through the small porthole in his room. He decided to go up and tell everyone of the loss.

A/N: I know this is a short chapter, but I had to get it up. Don't sue me. (Evil lawyer hordes begin to advance) Bring it on suckas! (Begins to brandish replica of LotR's Aragorn's sword) Come and get me! (Evil lawyer hordes retreat) Hahaha! Well, now that that's been taken care of, I've began a new story, and it is taking up all my time. Well, sorta. Let's just say that there's one particular part of this story that I have decided to end it at, and that will be around the 16th chapter, so this story is coming to an end. My new story is called Star Fire, and I have only one chapter up on it, but I will try to update both today. Lots of time. TTFN!

Rhinestone Cowgirl a.k.a.Raaon Teisha

;D