The Smell of Hotness

Eight: Deception

Previously on Avatar: - Sokka leaned in towards her. Kiame felt a little awkward at first but waited until he was just inches away from her face and her lips softly touched his. Sokka closed his eyes and completed the kiss. Kiame closed her eyes and her heart did a back flip. Sokka tightly clenched her hand in his as they sat there underneath the rainbow sky…

-"It's nothing really… but—" he looked up at Katara who was still listening intently, "— well, last night… I kind of might have… taken a small look around town…" Aang smirked innocently but callow.

"What do you mean? Kiame already showed us around town." Katara said.

"Yeah but, I'm talking about somewhere she didn't show us… the big building that well uh— ha ha, looked like a mansion." Aang quickly put on a big smile that reached to both ends of his face.

-"Zuko?" Zuko heard a calm yet disturbed voice. Ty Lee released and looked over at Zuko's doorway. There stood Mai with a face full of disbelief. Zuko looked down at himself and then pushed Ty Lee.

"Mai!" Zuko yelled. Mai just turned her back towards him and walked away. Zuko ran towards Mai.

"Zuko-kins! Wait!" Ty Lee just smiled and ran after Zuko.

"Humph…" Azula smirked from around the corner as she watched them run around. She actually found all of this quite amusing. "A girl comes within feet of Zu-zu and immediately becomes attracted to him… genius…" Azula smiled at her work and walked off to her room…

-"Do you think they're hiding something from us?" Katara asked.

"Maybe… but that's what I need to find out." He stated.

"But, why would they give us all of this food, as well as a place to stay?" she questioned.

"To hide their guilt? Who knows?" Aang said.

"You want to know what we're hiding eh?" Katara and Aang heard a voice…

¤ ¤ ¤

"You want to know what we're hiding eh?" Katara and Aang look over to find someone standing near.

"Mr. Carper!" Katara smiled nervously.

"We were just—"

"Talking about snooping?" Lee interrupted Aang in his speech, "— It's not very nice to go and snoop around when a town takes you in with open arms, is it? You ungrateful children…" Lee snarled.

Tension built between Aang, Lee, and Katara.

"Look— Lee," Katara began, "You're hiding something important, now what is it? You obviously don't want us to know." Katara stood her ground and stepped in front of Aang.

"Little girl, little girl…" Lee shook his head with a smirk upon his face, "You should have just minded your own… business!" Lee raised his voice and his body caught on fire. Katara's eyes widened.

"Hehe…" Lee stared up at Katara and Aang from his position. He had an insane face of laughter on, which made you think he was psycho. His veins popped out and could be seen through his skin; his eyebrows narrowed and he hunched his back in a basic 'attack' position.

"Don't worry Katara, I'll take him." Aang stepped in front of Katara with a firm stance. Lee smiled with anticipation.

"Creaming a couple of kids… this should be fun…" Lee smirked…

¤ ¤ ¤

"Mai wait!" Zuko caught up to Mai who still had her back turned towards him. He was about six feet away from her as she stared dead at the wall in front of her. Ty Lee soon caught up to Zuko and hugged his back.

"Zuko-kins, why did you run?" Ty Lee giggled.

"Don't call me that!" Zuko yelled. He struggled to keep away, and he still didn't wait to get really angry because he didn't want to hurt her.

"Zuko…" Mai spoke up, "what are you doing?" she asked and turned around to face him. Zuko's eyes turned apologetic as he stepped closer to Mai with Ty Lee snuggling against his back.

"Nothing's going on, Mai— you should know me better than—" Zuko stopped in the middle of his sentence as Mai's facial expression changed. "Mai?" Zuko has a questionable look upon his face as Mai grew a big smile. Mai took a few steps toward Zuko.

"Zuko, I could never be mad at you!" Mia suddenly grasped onto Zuko in a tight hug, while Ty Lee snuggled against his back.

"Get off!" Zuko shouted as he shook both of them off. They both fell on their butts beside him. "What's wrong with you two? You've been acting funny lately, and I DEMAND to know what's going on!" Zuko became furious, because he had no idea what was going on exactly.

"Oh—" Ty Lee whined, "Zuko-kins, I love you. What's wrong with that?" she smiled.

"I'm your girlfriend, and I deserve unconditional love." Mai stated.

"This isn't love! This is psychotic!" he yelled. Mai and Ty Lee looked at each other and back at Zuko.

¤ ¤ ¤

"Ha!" Lee summoned fire from his hands and swung them over his head in a graceful circle; you could see he was well trained and prepared. Aang pulled his staff from his back and held it in front of him.

"Take this!" Lee's hands pushed myriads of fire from their depths and pushed them forward— fire blazing towards Aang. He jumped in the air and kicked swerves of air at Lee. The air hit Lee forcefully and took him to the ground. Lee looked back up at Aang who was standing firmly on the ground, waiting for his next attack.

"What's this?" Lee began, "An air bender? The air temple was wiped out— which can only mean… the Avatar lives, still, for time and definite." Lee smirked; "A battle with the Avatar should be honoring, and yet overwhelming. Let me just warn you boy," Lee stood up to his feet like it was nothing, "I'm not as frail as I may look." He smirked mischievously. Lee came rushing towards Aang and swung his fist at Aang's face but missed; then he came back with a low fiery kick and slightly grazed Aang's shoes.

"Wow, you're pretty good for an old man." Aang seemed surprised.

"Some say I am a healthy young man…" Lee smiled with pride in his eyes.

"I'll go find Sokka!" Katara yelled and headed off towards the village…

"An old man or young man, you won't win." Aang smiled.

"We'll see, young Avatar." Lee readied his next attack…

-

"They should be back by now…" Toph sat on the doorsteps of a home as she stared out into the distance, wondering when she was going to see Sokka and the others again. She stared down at his wrist pointlessly, knowing she didn't have a watch, but it seemed like the proper thing to do at the time.

"Yeah… haha." Toph heard voices coming in from her left and sure enough, there came Sokka and Kiame, smiling and walking together. Toph smiled upon seeing Sokka, and stood up from the steps. Then Toph peered down at their hands, which were entwined within each other— Toph then frowned and sat back down with a gloomy, yet anger look upon her face.

"Hey Toph." Sokka smiled as he walked up to her holding Kiame's hand.

"Whatever…" Toph yawned, "— Have you seen Aang and Katara? They've been away for a while now…"

"Oh, you know their training sessions. They're probably just throwing a couple of punches back and forth, yahdda, yahdda…"

"Sokka! Toph!" Katara's voice was heard loudly from the distance. They turned their attention towards her.

Katara came running to them and stopped, breathing heavily.

"We have— to go," she said between breaths.

"Why? What's going on?" Sokka asked, obviously not wanting to leave.

"Just come on Sokka. I'll tell you on the way." Katara stated, trying not to say anything in front of Kiame. Toph went ahead and stood up behind Katara. Sokka looked over at Kiame who stood with disappointment deep in her eyes.

"Kiame, would you— like to come with—"

"No! – She can't." Katara stopped Sokka in his sentence.

"What's wrong with you? Why can't she?" Sokka questioned.

"Because," Katara bowed her head momentarily, "— She can't be trusted."

Kiame almost seemed hurt by her words.

"Why not? She's done nothing but be nice to us!" Sokka tried to reason.

"Yeah, and she's lied to us, Sokka. Everyone in this village has. There's something you don't know… and Aang's in trouble. So ask yourself, Sokka, what's more important— Aang, or some girl you just met?" Katara asked him.

Sokka looked up at Kiame's beautiful crystal green eyes, and frowned. He dropped her hand and stepped forward. Kiame held the side of her arm with her hand and stared at Sokka with frowning eyes.

"I'm… I'm sorry." Sokka stated. Kiame looked down and then looked back up at Sokka.

"Let me go with you." She stated.

-

"Ha!" Aang's wind slashed against Lee's fire bending until they broke apart from pure force against force. Lee adjusted his wrists as he stared at Aang.

"Feh…" he stared down at the ground, "— I'm sorry to say, that I can't finish our little rumble today young Avatar." Lee said.

"Why?" Aang asked, being cautious.

"I have some things to do…" he said and took off running. Aang blinked as he watched him run. It was funny because he ran almost like a coward, but fought valiantly as a solider.

"Okay…" Aang scratched the back of his head.

¤ ¤ ¤

"Maybe they won't detect me here." Zuko sat on the floor of a darkened room. The room was quite small, and almost pitch black, with only a little light coming through the cracks of the door. He sat crossed-legged with his arms folded, and his back against the wall. He sat alone in the closet…

"I can't believe I'm a prince, sitting on the ground, in a closet, running from psychotic women…" Zuko stated with a sour look on his face.

"Oh Zu-zu!" he heard Mai shout from outside.

"Zuko-kins!" he heard Ty Lee giggle, "Where are you?" he then heard footsteps and they got further and further away… Are they gone? He thought. He stood up to his feet and slowly opened the closet door, peeping outside. No one could be seen. His eyes shifted around to all parts of the room. No one. Zuko stepped out of the closet and closed it.

"This whole thing is really getting on my nerves… something strange is going on… I wouldn't doubt that Azula has something to do with it…" Zuko told himself.

¤ ¤ ¤

"Aang!" Katara yelled while catching up to him. She was slightly seen in the distance, running towards Aang along with Sokka, Toph, and… someone else?

"Hey Katara." Aang greeted her as she caught up to him. She stopped to catch her breath along with the others. "Kiame?" Aang tilted his head at their follower.

"Oh— well, she said she'd be able to help us… she knows a lot about this place as well as Lee…but don't worry— I'll be keeping a close eye on her." Katara turned for a second just to give her a menacing look.

"Oh, okay." Aang smiled.

"So, what ever happened to Lee anyways?" Katara asked.

"Um," Aang scratched his head with a slight smile, "— He kind of, ran away…"

"Ran away?" Katara looked at him funny.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Sokka shouted, "So you… were fighting Lee Carper III?"

"Yeah…" Aang replied.

"Why would you fight an old man? Are you crazy?" Sokka shouted.

"He attacked us Sokka!" Katara yelled back. They looked over at Kiame who stood there with a guilty look upon her face.

"There's something you guys should probably know…" Kiame spoke up fiddling with the edges of her dress.

"What is it Kiame?" Sokka asked with a sweet, amorous tone.

"Well— Lee isn't actually the person you think he is… and—" Kiame paused, "— Neither am I…"

"What are you talking about?" Sokka questioned.

"Follow me." Kiame gestured.

"Why? So you can take us away from the village into a trap?" Katara stood her grounds.

"Don't worry… I won't do anything like that, I just need to get away from the village area— that's the only way I can show you." She explained. Katara still didn't seem to buy it.

"Come on Katara. We'll stay cautious." Aang said.

"Fine…" Katara gave in, "But I'll be keeping on eye on you."

Katara followed them along as Kiame led them far away from the village and beyond the hills that protruded over the area. Kiame soon stopped and so did the others; she just stood there with her head bowed.

"Why did you need to bring us here to show us anything?" Toph asked.

"Just watch… please." Kiame stated.

As they stood there before Kiame, a strange feel befell them. Then, Kiame's body began to glow a strange, white aura.

"What's going on?" Aang whispered. Then, the aura stopped. As the aura stopped, Kiame's old, raggedy dress turned to a long, clean, white robe. And then…

Please review everyone!!! And yes, I left a dire cliffhanger! You'll ahve to wait until the next chapter to find out. Any guesses? I think it's actually quite obvious with all the foreshadowing I had...