The Smell of Hotness
Three: Envy
Previously on Avatar: - "My name is Lee Carper III. My father and his father both owned this little town before I. Now they've left it in my hands. Figures, eh?" He laughed a little.
- "I bet Mai doesn't even like me… she doesn't like anything. She's just a big blah!" Zuko stood up from his bed and punched the wall with the side of his fist; "I just wish she'd feel something— God, this is so frustrating!" Zuko yelled once more.
- "Wow, for such a little town, you sure do have a lot of food!" Aang's eyes grew wide as he examined the large meal Lee had in front of them.
- "This is the center of town. Most of the people come here to loiter and to meditate. It's a very quiet and peaceful area." Kiame explained; "And this— this is the pride and joy of our little town."
- "It says: 'do not see with your eyes, for your eyes deceive you well. Illusion is what you breath.' Hmm… must be some old proverb or something." Aang scratched his head.
"This guy must've been pretty important to have his own statue." Katara pointed out.
- "I knew you would find it quite useful." A man smiled. His appearance was hidden by the darkened shadows.
"Good work… Mr. Lee…" a heavy built man stepped out from the shadows…¤ ¤ ¤
"Ah…. Oh man…" Zuko barely pushed open his eyes to the morning sun glaring out at him through the window. He sat up in bed felt his forehead. "I feel like I got hit by fire nation army…" he noticed that he didn't feel quite like himself. He looked down at his arms to find he was covered in perspiration. He pulled the sheets and blankets from off of himself, leaving his body bare and defenseless to the surrounding air.
He placed his feet on the carpet from the edge of the bed and slowly stood up from the bed. He seemed to be a bit wobbly at first, but caught himself and made a good balance. He swung his head to the side moving the bounteous twigs of hair from his face towards the back of his head. He walked over to the small mirror held up on the wall. His eyes seemed sunken in and he seemed to have bags under his eyes that usually occur from lack of sleep.
"This is going to be a long day." Zuko told himself. However, that was going to be truer than he thought…
Zuko opened the door from his room, heading for the bathroom. The shower awaits him. He headed through the halls and down the corridors of the main ballroom, just corners away from his destination. Then, he felt a weird sensation run through his mind. He felt— as if he were being followed. He stopped in his tracks and listened. Nothing. So, with suspicion, he continued on his way. Then, that weird feeling came over him again. This time he stopped and turned.
"Who's—" Zuko's face came inches away from Ty Lee, "— There?" his face turned a slight shade of pink before he quickly backed up. "What the heck are you doing Ty Lee? Go back to your room." He stated and began to turn around. He then felt the grabbing of his arm. He looked down to find Ty Lee's petite hands, wrapped around his bicep.
"What— do you want?" he tried staying calm with the tone of his voice.
"Why would I want to go back to my room Zuko?" she smiled big with her eyes closed. Zuko looked at her funny.
"Then, don't go to your room… just leave me alone." He said and tried walking again. Her hands seemed to be glued to him. "Ty Lee, get off!" Zuko yelled. She just smiled and hugged his arm tighter.
"Zuko, don't leave." She smiled up at him. He gave her a weird look that he was "creeped out". "Zuko, I love you." She said. An anime sweat drop ran down the back of his head.
¤ ¤ ¤
"Wow this is a small town…" Aang commented as Kiame continued to show them around. The dirt beneath their shoes began to mix with sand. It's sort of strange considering how far they were from a beach, and yet there still isn't any grass.
"What happened to all the grass around here?" Katara asked Kiame.
"Oh, it just died after a while, well at least after our earlier leader passed away… It just seemed like everything went downhill after that…" Kiame explained. She stopped next to a few houses located on her left. They looked as if they'd been standing for way over a few decades. It looked as if you were to step inside, they'd cave in on you. The wood holding it together looked very weak and unstable. It looked like the cheap wood found on common trees, and built by commoners. Of course, no one would dare mention that to such seeming helpless people.
As they looked around, people were standing around on the porches of the small homes and mothers were feeding their children. They seemed like such a happy people, although it seemed all hope was behind them. It was surprising how high their spirits were…
"Um, just by chance—" Sokka spoke up, "You wouldn't think any of those guys were cute, would you?" Sokka smiled big as he slipped his way over to Kiame's side.
"Sokka…" Katara put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. Kiame just smiled and continued on with the tour.
"Seriously! Do you?" Sokka followed her with persistence…
¤ ¤ ¤
"Hey, have you seen Zuko at all this morning?" Mai asked Azula who was seemingly walking around the fire nation castle.
"No, I haven't. Brother is probably still sleeping…" Azula smiled innocently with her claims to his current position.
"Sigh… Whatever." Mai walked off. Azula's mischievous smile returned to his face. She simply folded her hands behind her back and walked off…
"Zuko?" Mai called through Zuko's open door. She took a small step inside and looked around his room. "Zuko?" she called again softly, "Hmm. where could he be? – This is such a pain…" Mai complained and continued her search.
Mai walked down the halls searching for any trace of Zuko; he was nowhere to be found. She walked down and found another hallway in which she heard some voices.
"Zuko?" she found her curiosity had struck her, whatever was left of it; "Huh?" she stopped at the end of the hallway to find Zuko and Ty Lee together.
"What are you doing?" Mai asked, almost afraid of the answer. She seemed ashamed of it, not because of the fact he might be cheating on her of course, but because he looked like a complete idiot… Ty Lee was grasping onto to Zuko's leg for dear life, while he stood on his one leg, trying to shake her off.
"Oh, Mai. It's about time! Get her off!" Zuko yelled. Ty Lee just smiled and rubbed her cheek against the softness of his ankles.
"Why would I—" Mai paused and her facial expression seemed to change; "Ty Lee! Why the heck are you on my boyfriend?" Mai yelled with some force. An anime sweat drop ran down the back of Zuko's head.
"Uh, Mai?" he spoke up.
"He's my boyfriend!" Ty Lee stood up straight, and released her hold from his leg.
"Let's see about that!" Mai yelled and pulled out some needles from her dress. Mai ran towards her with a fist full, at hand. "Take this!" Mai flung some needles at Ty Lee. She did a back flip, and swiftly avoided the attack. She laughed at her attempts to hit her. Ty Lee then stuck her tongue out at Mai and pulled down the lower part of her eye, making a silly face.
"Why you!" Mai's anger grew quite quickly.
"You're making fools of yourselves! What are you doing?" Zuko yelled. But his voice didn't faze them from their deep concentration.
"Hiyah!" Ty Lee yelled as she tried landing a jump kick on Mai. Mai twirled and slightly avoided the attack. Mai then jumped into the air and threw some more needles Ty Lee's way. She did back-hand-spring and a step out to, clearly avoid the weapons.
"Stop!" Zuko finally yelled and got between them. They basically dropped their attacks and weapons and stared blankly at him. "What the heck is going on with you two? You're acting like idiots!" he said bluntly.
"I'm sorry Zuko." Mai apologized.
"Yeah," Ty Lee began, "We were only fighting over you." She smiled cheerfully. Zuko looked at her strangely.
"Doesn't matter anyway, because Zuko loves me." Mai smiled with confidence.
"I think I kicked you in the head too hard, because he's in love with me." Ty Lee argued.
"You didn't kick me at all! And I think you've been standing on your head too long!" Mai literally bumped heads with Ty Lee and static grew between their two faces.
"Why you—" Ty Lee began and then turned. Her face grew depressed upon the sight. Mai turned and grew quite morose as well. They both scratched their heads.
"Where did he go?" they asked in unison.
¤ ¤ ¤
Azula smirked as she watched Mai and Ty Lee from afar. She grasped something tight in her right palm.
"My plan is going magnificently, so far. This will definitely get him banned for life, and me a chance back in the spotlight…" Azula smiled and opened her hand revealing the stone that the man had given her…