Burning Bright

Part XIX

No one really spoke about Jin and Zuko's enormous and extreme argument; everyone was too afraid that they might hit a nerve on their bodies after seeing the way they fought each other. Jin, after the fight, bravely went through dinner keeping up a cheerful façade though Sokka often caught her grumbling and muttering heatedly under her breath at times or looking off into the distance with sad and distant eyes. Zuko wasn't as graceful. He gave a loud, gruff snort as soon as Jin stalked off before turning on his heel and storming into his room, not once coming out even for dinner. Katara and Toph were very curious and the two of them wanted to give Jin a full interrogation as soon as the fight was over but Sokka quickly stopped them stating that Jin and Zuko were obviously very hurt and angry with each other and they were not ready to talk about their issues with each other just yet.

"And how would you know?" Toph snorted disbelievingly as soon as Sokka declared that Jin and Zuko didn't want to talk about their argument right now.

"I just do," Sokka arrogantly announced.

Katara scoffed before going forward in Jin's direction and saying, "Look, Jin obviously needs comforting and I think—''

"Hold your emu-horses Katara. Don't bother Jin," Sokka said as he stopped her by hooking her elbow with his hand.

Katara raised her brow at Sokka and said in a rather irritated tone, "Sokka, Jin needs someone to lean into—''

"No. Jin needs to be left alone. You know how she is. She'll just keep you talking in circles to avoid having to talk about something she doesn't wanna talk about. She'll come around and when she's ready, she'll start talking," Sokka said in a very all-knowing voice that did nothing but inflame Katara's irritation.

"Sokka, she's very, very hurt. And by that insensitive jerk nonetheless—''

"Aww, come one Katara. Zuko's not that bad," Aang defended, finally speaking up from his place. He had spent most of the time twiddling and playing with a marble under his sleeve and he didn't look too eager to participate in the impending argument between Sokka and Katara.

"What?" Katara snapped as she whirled to face Aang.

"Well…he may be grumpy…and cranky….and humorless….and well…he just doesn't like to have fun in general but other than that he's a really good guy with good intentions. And I think he's really trying his hardest to fit in with us and to make up for all the wrong things he's done," Aang mumbled as he twiddled his thumbs.

"What you just said had not changed my opinion in anyway whatsoever," Katara said flatly.

She then turned back to Sokka and continued, "But anyways, back to my main point. Jin is obviously very hurt and very angry and—''

"Katara, Zuko's very hurt and very angry too," Sokka interrupted. On his face, the "I-understand-some-things-better-than-you" look was plastered on it and that never fails to set Katara and Sokka off into a heated debate, one which Sokka usually wins but also one which Katara rarely conceded so easily.

"He's hurt and angry? Can you even hear yourself? Sokka, he's not the one whose city got burned or who got lied too!" Katara spat, her voice starting to reach her usually nagging pitch. Behind her, Toph started to make mocking imitations of Katara, her hands moving vividly and her expressions reaching exaggerated comedy. Aang had to stifle a bursting laughter to keep his calm.

"Well, Katara, I know that this might be news to you but guys and even the manliest men could get hurt and feel pain and get angry and Prince Jerkface is no exception!" Sokka continued. From her place, Toph began to imitate Sokka in a very comical and exaggerated manner. Peals of laughter started to escape from Aang's mouth.

"Zuko's pretty much heartless. I don't see how he could—''

"Give the guy a break Katara! He's not so bad you know—''

"Oh no! You too? I can't believe he also got you fooled with his whole "good boy" act—''

"Katara! He hasn't got me fooled in anything! And I just said that he isn't that bad. That doesn't mean that I'm letting up on him for one moment. But anyway, all I'm saying is that he's probably just as hurt and as angry as Jin. I mean here he is, trying to atone and apologize for his mistakes and she wouldn't even give him a chance," Sokka said as he wrung his hands. Toph wrung her hands too in an exaggerated manner her face squinting into a very funny manner.

"But what he did doesn't deserve a second chance—''

"Yes it does. Everyone deserves a second chance—''

"Don't you think that what he did might have hurt Jin?"

"Yes it did….but that happened a long time ago. People can't hold on to other people's mistakes for so long like that. It's not healthy—''

"I can't believe your saying this—''

"I'm just being objective—''

"Sokka, have you forgotten all the horrible things he's done to us—''

"But this isn't about us, Katara. It'd about him and Jin. And they obviously don't want to talk about it right now so we shouldn't push it!" Sokka said with a tone of finality.

"You wouldn't know a thing about a girl's feelings!" Katara shot back, not at all ready to give up.

"Yes, I would! Might I remind you that unlike you, I actually have experience with the opposite sex—''

"Oh, please Sokka! You and Yue weren't even completely official yet—''

"We kissed on the lips! How could it be not official? And besides it wasn't only Yue—''

"Then who? Suki?"

Sokka's cheeks colored and he said in a rather embarrassed tone, "Erm…no—I mean yes—I mean I don't know! We didn't really clarify….and hey what about you? As if you would know any better—''

It was Katara's turn to get flustered now. She looked away from Sokka and sputtered, "I've had many experience with the opposite sex—''

Aang looked slightly jealous at the mention of Katara's former flame.

"Like who? Jet? Because from what I recall….the guy tried to kill us!" Sokka roared, his face turning purple. A vein sprouted off his temple as he stared down at Katara who was matching his consternated face evenly, her face becoming just as red.

She opened her mouth to say something when Aang suddenly airbent a strong gust of wind that sent both Katara and Sokka flying backwards, breaking their heated fight apart. Toph burst into laughter and Aang tried to keep a straight face as he said, "Enough! We've had enough fighting around here!"

He suddenly swiveled to Sokka and snapped, "Look Sokka, Katara wants to comfort Jin and if she wants to then let her!"

Katara smiled smugly and said, "Thank you Aang!"

Sokka frowned and said, "But—''

"And you!" Aang said as he turned on Katara. He snapped, "You could comfort Jin whenever you like but never, ever ask her stuff she might now want to talk about and that includes the fight!"

Sokka smirked, "Exactly."

Katara huffed, "But—''

Aang held a stop sign and yelled, "Now everyone calm down and go back to your own business in peace and quiet! I want Jin and Zuko to be exposed in a nice, friendly environment so they could feel good and be friends again!"

Sokka held a hand up and said, "Um, Aang—''

"I'm the Avatar and that's my final word!" he yelled before flying off in his glider. Toph continued to roll all over the floor in laughter.

"Ahh…who knew that our great pacifist could be blow up like that! Good ol' Twinkletoes…" Toph hollered in between fits of laughter.

Sokka frowned and said, "I was just going to say that I fully agree with him. But yeah, who knew Aang could freak out like that?"

Katara on the other hand, had a dreamy look plastered on her face, "You know what? I think being forceful actually suits Aang."

Sokka and Toph both made gagging motions in unison.

Toph muttered under her breath, "And I thought Jin and Zuko were bad."

The days went on in an agonizingly slow place with the air of subdued anger and resentment settling over each and every one of the members of Team Avatar like a thick fog. Jin and Zuko barely interacted with each other but even so, they emanated such a strong aura of hate, disappointment and sadness that everyone else felt it from a hundred mile radius. Sokka couldn't exactly pinpoint what was so wrong with the two of them. They still held each other amiably. The two of them pretended as if everything was fine and their massive fight hadn't happened at all. They had small, little conversations with each other. Jin still brought him dinner in his small nook with Appa. If he didn't know any better he would have thought that everything was fine.

But things were seriously off. There was chill in the air whenever Jin and Zuko were in one place together. A forced friendliness often dripped across the room whenever they regarded each other. It was as if there was a barrier, a giant wall, surrounding the two of them and whenever they would come across each other, a very prevalent friction would happen. There were moments, wherein Sokka would observe that the two of them seem to let their guard down. They were brief and quick and they never stemmed enough time for them to reconcile. Aang's idea of having a nice, warm and friendly environment didn't seem to be working.

Haru, after seeing the friction between Zuko and Jin, seemed to take this as an opportunity to impress Jin. He began a long and steady campaign to win her over, but that only seemed to cause annoyance on Jin's part and anger towards Zuko. Sokka could clearly see that for all Zuko's anger and disappointment towards Jin, he still liked her and was extremely jealous towards Haru. Jin on the other hand, showed that she clearly still cared about Zuko, since she seemed annoyed that everyone, especially Katara, had purposely excluded him from their dinner and she quietly chastised everyone for it.

According to Sokka's very clever deductions, Jin and Zuko obviously still liked each other. The two of them, combined with the fresh re-opening of their wounds, were just too hurt to make the first move. Jin was still holding on to Zuko's very painful mistakes while Zuko was too angry with Jin for going on as if nothing was wrong and not giving him a chance. The two were not willing to let anything go and as a result, they were stuck with the other's past and mistakes.

"Look at them! They're so sweet they're giving me cavities," Toph mumbled interrupting Sokka's thoughts.

Sokka looked forward and saw that Jin and Zuko were at about a meter's length away from each other with Haru sitting in the middle, yammering about something to Jin. Once or twice the two of them would sneak a glance at each other and when they realize what the other was doing they would swiftly look away and their faces would redden. After many chastisements on excluding Zuko from dinner, he was finally invited and for once he didn't refuse.

Sokka smirked and he said, "Yeah they are kinda—and hey! What are you talking about! You can't see!"

"And you noticed that just now?" Toph sarcastically said.

"How did you know that they were even there?" Sokka said looking confused.

"Please, Sokka. I'm blind not terminally ill," Toph snickered. From his place next to her, Aang tried to hold his laughter down.

"That's not what I meant," Sokka huffed.

" Whatever. And calm down Schnoozles, what I just meant to say was that I could feel that they're lying," Toph continued as she chewed on a squid and stirred her soup with her chopsticks.

"Come again? Lying to who?" Sokka said.

"Lying to each other. Lying to themselves. Pretending to be mad at each other. Ugh, I just wish that they get it over with. It's so annoying," Toph scowled as she stretched her arms and lay back, her feet placed firmly on the ground.

Toph heightened her pitch and said in an airy tone, "Oh Zuko, my love? Do you think this new suit makes me look pretty?"

"Oh yes, it makes you look ravishing!" Aang quickly answered before Sokka could butt in, in an equally mocking tone.

"Really? You don't think it's too much?" Toph asked in mock surprise.

"No," Aang answered with an exuberant gesture.

Toph pretended to pout as she said, "Then why do you keep avoiding me?"

"Because I'm only pretending to avoid you….because deep, deep inside….I actually really like you!" Aang dramatically said. He then added, "You keep avoiding me too!"

"Well….I was just upset over what you did," Toph sighed. After a few seconds she added, "Sniffle."

"Okay, we all get it. They're being incredibly coy….and also being incredibly lame," Sokka smirked, eager to join in their mirth.

Sokka opened his mouth ready to say something else when Aang suddenly bustled forward, wind flapping as he sprinted and said, "Hey, maybe we should give them a little help."

Aang leaned forward conspiratorially as Sokka frowned, slapped his forehead and said, "How many times do I have to tell all you guys that it's not good to meddle!"

"I didn't say that we were going to meddle. I said that we were going to help," Aang defensively said.

Sokka pointed out, "You guys are worse than Katara! And besides everyone knows that helping is just a nicer way of saying that you plan to meddle!"

Toph turned her back on Sokka with a flourish, faced Aang and with an impish smirk on her face, she said, "You're on to something there Twinkletoes."

Sokka, panicked and not ready to concede, quickly jumped in between two of them and said, "I can't believe you two are actually planning to do this! Do any of you actually listen to me? This is going to cause nothing but more arguments between the two of them."

"Not if we do it right," Toph snorted.

"And besides Sokka, there's no harm in trying—''

"Everyone knows that that's not true!" Sokka declared weakly. Toph and Aang's eyes looked bright and glassy and they looked completely enamored with whatever idea they have planned.

"—and we know that they really like each other anyway! So all we're really doing is just helping them realize and remember that!" Aang argued defensively as soon as he realized that Sokka was completely against the idea and open to doing anything to stop it.

Sokka raised a hand and said, "But—''

"Yeah, stop being such a wet blanket Sokka. You're turning into Katara," Toph dismissively said, her gray eyes aglow with enthusiasm and the traces of a smirk plastered on her lips.

Sokka shook his head, feeling very insulted. He protested indignantly, "Hey! I most certainly am not turning into Katara—''

"Yes, you are," Toph declared.

"I am not—and that's not the point! You two will probably just make things worse! Why can't we just wait for them to make up with each other? Things are perfectly fine and normal and okay right now," Sokka said with a nervous twitch in his eyes and an all too-wide smile. He sounded as if he was trying to more to convince himself then them.

"That's easy for you to say Sokka. You're not the one who Zuko keeps giving difficult drills. You know I think this fight is making him extra-crankier and my training sessions extra-harder!" Aang declared.

"Same here with my Smiley. Ever since their fight, she's been horrible to train with always looking grumpy or sad," Toph said as she sat up with a more serious look on her face.

Sokka sputtered, "But—''

"And besides didn't you and Twinkletoes say that they look sweet together?" Toph demanded.

"They do look cute together," Sokka murmured as he rubbed his chin. He disliked the stupid jerk but Jin looked very miserable lately and he hated seeing his best friend being down so much.

"Exactly," Toph smugly said.

Sokka haplessly tried to protest, "But—''

Toph held a hand up and declared, "If you don't want to do it then fine. Whatever. Me and Aang are doing this so if you don't want to then you could just go to your own corner and eat worms or something."

Sokka opened his mouth the closed it then hung his head in defeat before sitting down and taking his place next to Toph.

"Thank you," Toph said in a ridiculously prim voice.

She then beckoned the two of them closer and smirked, "So…what's the plan Twinkletoes?"

Zuko rolled his eyes as Haru was again yammering to Jin about statues or earthbending or orchids or some other useless and boring stuff that he indefinitely knew that Jin would find unexciting. But if she wanted to listen to an uninteresting, boring loser then it was perfectly fine with him. He had no qualms about what she planned on doing in the future because he didn't care about her or what she does. She made it perfectly clear that she didn't want him in her life and he was going to respect her wishes.

He wasn't going to bother her.

So there.

Zuko scowled.

If he wasn't going to be bothering her why did he care so much? He wrung his hands and the bowl of soup he was holding started to grow hotter. Why is forgetting about Jin so much harder than he thought it would be? How could it seem so easy for Jin? Was it because she didn't care about him as much? That made him angrier and sadder and Zuko sorely wished that he knew.

He never intended for that fight to escalate into something so extreme. It was just that, when the time came, he couldn't control all the anger and resentment he was feeling towards Jin anymore. And now, he realized that he might never get forgiveness. Soon, when the war is over, when they have parted ways, they may never see each other again and the feeling of anger might always be with them until they die. Zuko sighed loudly. That sounded incredibly depressing.

And now Jin was going on as if nothing happened and Zuko, feeling very weary of all this madness, simply decided to play along with her obscenely optimistic charade.

Whatever.

He didn't care as much anymore.

Because things from his perspective were looking very hopeless now.

At least that was what he often told himself but from the looks of it, he wasn't sure if he was ready to live a life of force friendliness and hidden animosity towards Jin just yet.

He looked around the campfire and felt very out of place. For some reason, Sokka painstakingly made the effort to invite him over and deciding that he shouldn't make himself even more of a loser to the group than he already is, he dejectedly agreed. He was now regretting his decision seeing as that he was just as excluded from the group as always regardless of his presence there. Katara was laboring over a hot pot of soup where she was adding more carrots and turnips to the broth. The Duke sat beside her and was conversing with her and providing child-like commentaries as she stirred the soup.

Every once in a while Katara would shoot him a very angry look but she mostly preferred to ignore him. Teo didn't join them for dinner. He had gone exploring into one of the deeper antechambers with a bunch of scrolls in hand. He said that he had an idea and he wanted a sketch of the design of that particular antechamber. Everyone decided not to bother him since Teo was very serious in whatever sort of thing he got interested in.

Aang, Sokka and Toph were huddled in one corner deep in conversation. Zuko, started to entertain the idea of joining them seeing that the little blind girl and Aang was among them, but after seeing Sokka and knowing that the water tribe boy still held him with much contempt, he decided against it and settled on staying in his place.

Suddenly all three of them shot him conniving glance before promptly returning to their huddled formation.

Oh no.

Zuko knew that look all too well.

It was a look that Toph and Aang shared whenever they had some sort of scheme cooked up to get him and Jin back together. At first, he never really thought much of it because the schemes were immature and ridiculous and they held no considerable impact between him and Jin. But now that the Water Tribe boy was amongst them, he knew that he was going to have a little trouble seeing as how ingenious the Water tribe boy was. He knew that if Aang and Toph had coerced Sokka into joining their stupid little schemes, then he would be having a lot of trouble seeing as Sokka could probably come up with a foolproof plan of putting him and Jin in embarrassing situations.

And he honestly didn't need that right now. Weeks ago he might've liked to be given a chance to talk to Jin better but after their colossal argument, he decided that the two of them just really need some space right now.

Suddenly they shot him another conspiratorial glance before promptly falling back into position.

He heard Sokka say rather loudly, "No! That won't work…."

"Shut up, Sokka!" Toph hissed back.

"Guys! Eat your dinner! It's getting cold!" Katara called out, her motherly instincts once again taking over her.

The three ignored her and continued their conversation causing Katara to look severely annoyed. She huffed before continuing on her soup muttering, "Fine! See if I'll cook for you guys next time…."

Zuko started to feel nervous. What sort of schemes did those three have planned up for him and Jin?

As he subconsciously thought about Jin, he stole a glance towards her and unfortunately it turned out that she was looking at him too. The two of them looked away severely embarrassed. As Zuko gave a loud sigh and looked back at the trio, he saw that Sokka, Toph and Aang had finished whatever discussion they were having and they were now seated back, staring at Zuko and Jin with smirks and smug looks on their faces.

Zuko gulped.

This was not going to be good.

The next day, things went on routinely and that surprised Zuko, considering that Sokka, Toph and Aang had something planned up. In the morning, Aang and Katara forged on with their waterbending training while Toph drilled Jin on her Earthebending. Sokka was off doing and planning many inventions with Teo while the Duke and Haru enjoyed themselves by playing Four Kingdoms (in secret and away from the prying eyes of Katara). Zuko did what he usually did in the mornings and that was to do warm-ups and plan drills for Aang. Lately, he's been using that time to relieve all the stress and anger he's been feeling, so his pagoda often looked scorched and burned-down, its columns and pillars lined with ashes.

It was about half-way through the morning when Zuko saw what the three had planned for him.

Katara had just dismissed Aang to prepare everyone's lunch. Her habitual custom was to spread all the ingredients in one neat row, next to the fire she was kindling and the pot that hung over it, steadied by two poles. Everyone knew by now, to keep well out of Katara's way whenever her cooking was involved. She took the process very seriously and she disliked being disturbed. Furthermore, she hated it when someone messed the arrangement of her ingredients up being a very fastidious neat freak and the punishments she unleashed whenever someone did so, preceded her reputation.

Zuko was not aware of this, being always excluded and so he unwittingly entered Katara's culinary domain before training Aang. He was thirsty and the water reserve they had stocked up was neatly placed amongst the cabbages and carefully wrapped meat.

Zuko should've known something was up the moment he saw Toph hanging out near Katara.

She was sitting in a very laid-back manner on a log and she had a very contented smirk on her face. Katara toiled over her porridge, steadily ignoring Toph and completely unaware of Zuko's presence. Zuko narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Toph rarely hung out with Katara, and watching her do nothing but cook was something Toph was most definitely least likely to enjoy.

"Got a problem, Sparky?" Toph asked easily as Zuko carefully ambled towards the jars of water after a good amount of staring.

"How did you know I was here?" Zuko asked, a little startled. He was still rather incredulous as to how the little blind girl could see with her feet and was very unsure of how it worked.

"I'm blind, not helpless. Jeez, do I have to explain this to you people every single time? But anyway, I'm over that. So, what's up with you? Got a problem?" Toph wearily said.

"Um…..no. What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be training with….Jin?" Zuko found it slightly odd that it took him a full thirty seconds before he could actually spit Jin's name out.

Katara startled jumped up a little and said in a rather irritated fashion after discovering Zuko and Jin's presence, "What are you two doing here? Zuko, shouldn't you be training Aang? And Toph how about you and Jin?"

Toph snorted and said sarcastically, "What? You don't want me here Sugar Queen? I feel hurt."

Katara huffed as she stirred some onions into the porridge, "I was just saying that maybe you guys should do your duties first before messing around!"

"I just wanted a drink of water," Zuko quickly said.

"And Smiley's doing well enough. I just left her to finish the drill. She's almost mastered every single drill I could think of. And besides, her head ached or something," Toph dismissively said.

"What? Is she okay?" Zuko sputtered, concerned.

Toph yawned and drawled, "She's fine. Relax, Sparky. It was the glare of the sun. If you hadn't noticed, Firebreath, it's scorching outside. Why'd you think I came here in the first place?"

Zuko, finding nothing else to say, wordlessly nodded and quickened his steps as he moved forward to where the jars of water were. He didn't like Toph's expression. Some cabbages and lettuce were wrapped neatly alongside baskets of preserved and dried meat. He hurried passed Katara and her row of ingredients and stooped over, picked up a jar and took a long sip. Just as he was about to close the jar again, he suddenly felt something hard and solid hit his heel and before he knew it, he had tripped forward and all the cabbages, the rows of vegetables and wrapped-up meat came splattering around. A few jars tumbled over and water was spilled.

Katara's concentration on her porridge finally broke and just as Toph expected, she flew into rage.

"What happened? What happened to the food! What's going on!" she screeched as she whirled around. Zuko hastily tried to fix his mistake but it was too late. The cabbages were rolling away, the lettuce had splattered one the ground and the meat lay askew from their wrappings.

Toph tried to hide a giggle. Zuko's eyes snapped wide in realization and he said accusingly as he pointed at Toph, "You."

Toph shrugged innocently. Before Zuko could retort anything else, Katara barreled over towards him and snapped, "You. Now, look what you did! That was a week's worth of supplies!"

Zuko raised his hands up in defense and said, "Look, it was an accident—''

"With you, something's always bound to go wrong! Now back off while I try to salvage some of the meat and vegetables!" Katara snapped as she elbowed him away and bent over.

"Look, Katara—''

"Don't talk! I don't want another disaster to happen!" Katara peevishly said.

"Look, I could fix it!" Zuko snapped losing his temper.

"Like how? The food is ruined Zuko! Now we can't eat for one whole week!" Katara spat.

"I'm sorry—''

"Is this what your evil plan is? Starving us to death?" Katara raged as she hastily tried to put everything in order.

"What? No! I would never—''

"What's going on here?" Sokka asked as if on cue. Toph's smirk grew wider and Zuko suddenly realized why. Jin was trailing behind Sokka with Aang trying to stifle a laugh from her behind. Jin looked a little confused as she stared at the scene displayed before her.

"Um…did you ask for me Katara?" Jin asked amidst the confusion and raging on Katara's part.

Katara looked confused and she frowned, "Hm? No. I didn't ask for you."

Jin furrowed her brow and said, "That's funny. Sokka told me—''

"Okay, everyone! Let's stop talking about pointless things and move on!" Sokka edgily said, as he elbowed Jin into silence.

As always, her stubborn and persistent nature preceded her and she said, "But, you told me—''

Sokka raised his voice completely ignoring Jin as he said, "Let's talk about more important stuff! Like…what happened in here?"

Jin stared at him with narrowed eyes filled with apprehension and suspicion.

"He ruined a week's worth of supplies!" Katara accused as she jerked a thumb in Zuko's direction, her voice saying the word "he" as if her mouth was full of cockroaches.

"Okay, calm down Katara. I'm sure there's a perfectly good solution to this," Sokka said in a very loud voice which gave Zuko the impression that he had planned this beforehand. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and apparently Jin realized that too because she was looking at the trio with apparent suspicion. Only Katara seemed perfectly unaware of what was truly going on.

"What solution? We-have-no-FOOD!" she yelled.

"Hey, jerk, you got some cash on you?" Sokka asked diverting his attention back to Zuko.

"Um….a little—''

"Then perfect! We just let Prince Jerkface buy this week's supplies! No big deal," Sokka said with an overdramatic tone of carelessness.

"I don't trust him to go off on his own. He might go to some Fire Nation official or his sister or do something all so he could get his grubby, little Fire Nation claws all over Aang," Katara flatly said.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not evil anymore!" Zuko snapped.

"Then maybe someone should go with you to you know make sure you don't do anything funny," Sokka said. Zuko glared at him.

"Or to you know…prove Katara wrong," Aang hastily abated.

"Well, don't look at me. There's no way I'm going to go around town in this weather. It's hot," Toph whined.

"I have to do my training," Aang quickly said.

"Well I refuse to be stuck with him for one minute," Katara said as she turned her nose up in the air and sniffed.

"Well someone has to go with him…to you know…watch over him…say….I don't know…..someone like…Jin, maybe?" Sokka said.

Jin's face withered and Zuko looked nervous and uncomfortable.

"What? No! I'm busy," Jin shortly said.

"With what? Training? Smiley, your training's over for today," Toph smirked.

"But—''

"And besides everyone knows that you know him best," Toph added.

Jin glared at Toph and snapped, "What—no! I don't know him best—''

"Yeah, yeah keep talking Smiley," Toph drawled.

Finally, Katara seemed to have understood what all this was about. First she stared in a very confused manner at Toph then Aang and then Sokka. She then looked angry and her interfering nature took over once again. She spat, "Look guys, I don't know what this is about but maybe we shouldn't inter—''

"Glad you accept Jin! Make sure the jerk doesn't do anything stupid!" Sokka said as he pushed Jin forward and as Aang and Toph did the same with Zuko before Katara could scold and chastise them.

"But I have to train Aang!" Zuko desperately said.

"He can go through one day without training," Toph scoffed.

"Why can't Haru watch over him?" Jin frowned.

"Because Haru is doing something important!" Aang said.

"Like what?" Jin demanded as she struggled against being dragged forwards.

"Like….I don't know….brushing his beard?" Sokka offered.

Jin didn't look too happy. She protested, "But I have to do my training—''

"Well as your Sifu, I say that training is over for today," Toph declared.

"I could go alone! I'm not a child nor will I turn you over!" Zuko snapped.

"Oh but still…we can't take any chances so….." Sokka said as the five of them exited the temple.

"Sokka—'' Jin began.

"Oh. Here we are. Have fun you two," Aang hastily said as soon as they were in front of the dirt road.

Before Jin and Zuko could make another protests, the three of them sped off with Sokka yelling, "Don't forget to get me some rib-eye peppered steak!"

Nothing could compare to the awkward silence Zuko and Jin endured as they ambled their way towards the marketplace. Zuko had no idea how to proceed about this without starting some sort of quarrel or fight. They had a colossal argument with all those people watching once how much more that now they were alone. If he had any consolation, it was that Jin didn't really know what to do either. She was standing at a meter's length away from him, her eyes looking down and her fingers toying with the hem of her blouse. Zuko, finding nothing left to do, gave a low snort, before proceeding to twiddle with his thumbs. This goes beyond any level of degree of awkwardness and he suddenly wished that he just drank from the nearby sewer instead of going to those jug of waters.

Jin adorable little nose was twitching, she was biting her lower lip, her eyes were downcast and there was a small crease in her forehead. In Zuko's opinion she looked so cute and pretty and very beautiful with the expression she was sporting now. She looked demure and uncertain and it for some reason it made her look really pretty. Zuko internally slapped himself. He wasn't supposed to be thinking of her in that way. She made it very clear that she wanted him out of her life so he was just going to respect her wishes.

Jin cleared her throat before promptly looking away. Zuko coughed and said, "So….the weather today is pretty….hot."

"Yeah, I got a little headache awhile back because of it," Jin murmured without looking at him.

"Yeah, Toph told me."

"Okay."

"…"

"..."

Zuko sighed loudly, twiddled his thumbs and muttered, "So…I have about twenty gold coins. Will that be enough?"

"No. There are nine of us and Katara usually buys two basket-fulls of vegetables and three packets of meat," Jin flatly said.

"Oh."

"But it's okay. I think I have some money. So I'm sure we'll be able to get everything in Katara's grocery list," Jin said.

"Okay."

"…"

"…"

"Is she always like that?" Zuko said, snickering a little and letting a bit of his guard down.

"Yes. She just cares about everyone a little too much sometimes. That's all," Jin shrugged, her lips forming the barest of smile.

"Nice to know that she cares," Zuko sarcastically said.

"No need to be like that. She's just like any regular mom. Mess with her babies and she'll chew you up and spit you back out alive. But earn her respect and she'll defend you until her very last breath," Jin smirked.

Feeling emboldened by the traces of a smile plastered on Jin's face, Zuko said light-heartedly, "Well, I have a feeling that she just hates me for no apparent reason—''

"No apparent reason? No apparent reason?" Jin snapped, looking at him angrily.

Zuko could barely react.

"How about destroying Kyoshi Island, stealing Katara's necklace and using low tricks to capture Aang?" Jin snapped. Zuko slapped his forehead.

Oh no.

Zuko couldn't believe himself. Just when Jin was warming up to him, he had gone and said something stupid. But still the comment set him on the edge. There she was again, making his past mistakes very obvious and refusing to let him explain his side of things.

How hard was it to say to give him some time to explain?

Zuko opened his mouth ready to speak but Jin cut him off and snapped, "You know what Zuko? Let's just go and get this over with."

And with that, with acid dripping on her voice as she said "Zuko", she stomped ahead of him.

The day was stifling hot and the marketplace was overcrowded, more so than usual. This did not improve neither Jin nor Zuko's mood. If anything, it only made things worse. They spoke to each other with a clipped tone and that was only if they ever even spoke to each other. They mostly kept well out of each other's way, unless Jin had to tell him something about what kind of vegetable Katara usually likes. Zuko spent the time buying turnips and squash and tomatoes in one end while Jin took care of the packets of meat at the opposite end. Their exchanges were terse and curt and Zuko was quite disappointed in that even though he was very angry with Jin.

He had hoped that maybe things would be better between them this time.

They had only one item left to complete and that was the rib-eye peppered steak Sokka requested. Zuko claimed that he knew the best store to get it and since it was the last item on their list anyway, Jin grudgingly agreed to go with him. The two of them headed to the stall tucked in a less crowded spot of the city. It was a little empty and silent than when Zuko last remembered it and it was filled with shady characters. Most of them leered at Jin, whose clothes complemented her body…wonderfully and Zuko began to feel uneasy. He drew closer towards Jin in an attempt to make prevalent that no one should mess with her.

Jin seemed to be completely unaware of their less-than-stellar surroundings as she marched towards the stall and started to examined the different cuts of meat displayed, wrapped and preserved in vegetables.

"How much for a kilogram?" Jin asked the storekeeper as she fingered a big, juicy leg hanging from her left.

"'Bout five gold and two silver ones," the man gruffly said. He stared at Jin with an appraising eye and Zuko hold himself back to keep himself from knocking that idiot cold.

Jin nodded and began to examine, each and everyone with Zuko staying behind her and keeping out of her way. The man, who was big-bellied and very greasy looking, stared at Zuko with a very curious glance as Jin continued to examined and weigh the steak. Suddenly, he pulled a cigar out, belw a big puff of smoke and said, "That's one big shiner you got there fella…."

Zuko bristled. So that's why the man was staring at him. It was because of his scar.

Normally, it doesn't bother him anymore because he was so used to it. But it never fails to set him on the edge when people ask or talk about it.

Zuko didn't answer and looked away mumbling something incomprehensible. Jin stiffened from her place but after a few seconds of awkward silence she continued, with her examination of the meat. When Zuko didn't say anything the storekeeper continued, "It's a real bad one, if you ask me. How'd you get it? Accident? Training? Army? You're from the army aren't you?"

"Not exactly," Zuko mumbled. He began to scratch his head. In her place, Jin stiffened once again, her hands clutching the meat in an angry manner. She continued on with her work but she looked severely annoyed.

"Well someone must've' hated you pretty badly to give you that big, ugly, disgusting-looking scar—''

Jin suddenly whirled around and snapped peevishly saying, "Listen, here you stupid, big, fat greasy lout! Can't you see that this a sensitive topic for him? He obviously doesn't want to talk about it—''

The man narrowed his eyes and said in a dangerously low voice, "Don't talk to me in that tone you little wench—''

"Is this how you treat your customers? By bombarding them with personal and offensive questions!" Jin screeched, not letting up on her rant for even once.

"How dare you speak to me in that way you little earth kingdom peasant?" the storekeeper raged.

"Come on Zuko! Let's go! The service here is lousy!" Jin snapped as she grabbed Zuko's elbow and steered him away as she stormed off muttering under her breath.

"You're not going anywhere, missy!" the man said suddenly hooking his greasy palms into her elbow.

Jin stiffened and stared at him hardly. She pursed her lips and snapped, "Get out of our way."

"You don't think I know who you are? The scar is a very dead give-away, sweetheart. And your pretty, little, rebellious face isn't helping either," the man hissed. Suddenly, all those shady-looking men stood up, and out of nowhere, they held weapons in their hands and started to press around Zuko and Jin.

Jin paled and so did Zuko. Of course! He was an ex-prince of the Fire Nation and Jin was a wanted rebel whose wanted poster was plastered on almost every Fire Nation bulletin. How could they forget to put disguises on? Jin's brow began to bead with sweat while Zuko started to grow nervous. They were clearly outnumbered but they obviously had more skill and firepower to match. They'll be fine. At least that's what Zuko tried to tell himself. As one beefy looking guy drew his knife out, Jin subconsciously pressed closer to Zuko and she cringed though her face still looked proud and determined.

Suddenly, her slender hands brushed against his palm. Zuko looked at her and she jerked her head towards the vendor, who was busy babbling, "Oh I know all about the ex-Fire Prince. Your daddy'll pay a hefty sum for you….people say he wanted you dead or alive. And as for you sweetheart, you'll fetch me somethin' big I reckon, too…."

Her eyebrows drew upward and Zuko clearly understood. He nodded silently.

Jin glared at him and snapped, "This is the worst place I've ever been. You treat your customers badly, your service is lousy and the meat is three days old—''

"It is not," the storekeeper protested sounding incensed.

"—Zuko, I say we get our meat somewhere else….NOW!"

And before Zuko could say anything else, Jin lithely leaped atop the storekeeper and earthbent a couple of pressing men away. Before Zuko knew it, he and Jin were fighting together to get out of this mess. The feeling was exhilarating, being able to fight alongside Jin without lashing out on her. As he sent a fireball, she earthbent an earth spike to impale one of their opponents. They were finally in synch with one another. He had never fought alongside Jin before and the feeling was very elating—the feeling of being one, of finally working together. Zuko decided that perhaps some good would come out of this trip after all.

"Your girlfriend's got spunk! Someone needs to put that little Earth Kingdom peasant in her place!" the storekeeper hissed as he tried to kill Zuko with a knife.

"Actually she's not my girlfriend any—'' He leaped sideways as the man tried to stab him.

"Aargh!" the man screeched.

"Yeah…..we sort of have a fight….I mean a really, really big fight and now we're not talking and—wait why I am telling you this?" Zuko said as he rolled over and sent jets of Fire with every spin.

The storekeeper continued to yammer as he tried to hack Zuko with his knife, "It won't be long before your father slams your disgraceful looking face unto the ground along with the Avatar and your girlfriend and all your pathetic friends will die in ash and rubble once you've heard what your father's planned up—''

"Wait, what plan? My father has a plan?" Zuko asked incredulously.

"UGH!" the man yelled as he lunged forward. Zuko sent him sidewards with a kick, becoming increasingly distracted as he did so. His father had a plan for the Avatar? What was he going to do? He had to figure out what that plan was, otherwise he would never complete his destiny of helping the Avatar defeat his father.

"Look out!" Zuko screeched, snapping back to focus, as the storekeeper came up from behind Jin with a knife. Jin whirled around and just as the storekeeper lunged towards her, knife in hand, Zuko yelled, "Duck!" and sent a stream of fire towards him as Jin rolled to the ground.

Jin looked dazed as Zuko knelt down and helped her up.

"We have to go," he muttered. Jin nodded absently.

"Are you okay?" Zuko asked softly as soon as he realized that she was wincing as he helped her up.

Jin gave him a quiet stare before nodding wordlessly. Zuko tried to support her with his arms but after awhile Jin seemed to have gotten her old fire back since she elbowed him away and said snippily that she could take care of herself. The two of them sped off just as soon as everyone started to become unaware that they were leaving.

They didn't stop running until they reached a safe distance which was back at the overcrowded parts. They slid into a small nook and caught their breaths.

Panting and breathing hard, Jin gasped, "Zuko…."

Expecting her to lash out again, as she had always done even when he saved her, he was mildly surprised when she said in a quiet voice, "Thanks. For you know….saving me…"

"Thanks too. For you know….sticking up for me," Zuko smiled suddenly remembering the passionate way Jin was defending him.

"I thought you didn't care," Zuko smirked after moments of silence.

"I don't. It's just that I hate it when people make other people uncomfortable—and where's the food?" Jin demanded suddenly aware that Zuko was no longer carrying the basket-fulls of vegetables and meat they had shopped for prior to the incident.

"The meat? Oh—uh…I must've dropped it when they attacked us—''

"Ugh! You are impossible! Katara will kill us!" Jin screeched. She drew closer to him, stabbed his chest with her pointer finger and snapped, "Since you lost all our food….you might as well go foraging in the garbage before Katara drowns us both!"

And with that, she turned on her heel and stormed off.

Zuko sighed loudly.

First things were fine, with them acting all friendly.

Then she goes and turns around and lashes out at him.

Why can't Jin just make up her mind?

"Where's the food?" Sokka gaped as soon as Jin and Zuko returned late in the afternoon. They had come back with a pitiful amount of potatoes and a very thin and anemic looking rack of ribs. The two of them only had a few coins left and this was all they could manage after that awful incident with the storekeeper. Sokka looked very disapproving and apparently so did Katara but after seeing the sour expression on Jin's face she decided not to make any further comments.

Sokka picked up a bruised potato and frowned, "You spent the whole afternoon away and all you got was this?"

Then in a more suggestive tone, he asked, "What exactly were you two doing back there…alone?"

Jin and Zuko's face reddened at Sokka's implication and in a flummoxed tone, Jin scowled as shoved the basket in Sokka's hands and snapped, "Don't ask."

She bustled over to her room to get some sleep and things went on habitually with Katara gruffly preparing their dinner with the potatoes and the thin ribs, with Toph and Aang practicing Earthbending, Sokka being annoying as always, Haru, Teo and the Duke going off in their own ministrations and Jin promptly ignoring him as usual. But Zuko had little time to think about that. All he could think about was the supposed plot his father cooked up against the Avatar that the shopkeeper let slip. Should he tell the others so they could look into it? It seemed like the best plan. He looked over to the pagoda where Toph and Aang were practicing and he saw how tired and worn-down the kid was. Aang's face looked tormented and tired. Zuko already understood that he was in a lot of pressure. He wasn't sure if he should let them worry about something as pointless as this.

And it was probably nothing. The shopkeeper probably just said that to distract him. Make him lose his focus.

But still, this wasn't something that could easily be ignored.

He had to tell someone so they could check it out. But who?

Perhaps the little blind girl. But no, she was a little too carefree and fun-loving and he highly doubted that she would help him on something as risky as a hunch. And he still wasn't sure of what to do with bringing a blind twelve-year-old girl with him on dangerous missions. Even though she proudly claimed that she could take out anyone within a hundred mile radius, he was still very uncomfortable with bringing someone handicapped to dangerous missions.

He most certainly could not tell Aang. The poor kid had enough troubles already. And he was only twelve.

And the water tribe siblings were most definitely out of the options. They mostly regarded him with contempt and distrust and perhaps they would see this as another ruse to capture the Avatar instead of a sincere intention.

He couldn't imagine bringing a child and a cripple along so he definitely did not want to ask Teo and the Duke. And Haru was not even an option. Zuko despised him to his very last bone and he would rather eat nails then ask that nitwit to come with him.

Perhaps he could go alone but that was risky and dodgy considering he might need back-up if ever he got himself in trouble. He had to ask someone. Someone who was serious enough to take his information seriously. Someone who didn't hold him with contempt. Someone who at least trusted him enough to treat him amiably. And the only person left was….

Jin.

Zuko scowled.

Stupid Toph.

Stupid Aang.

Stupid Sokka.

Stupid Jin.

Stupid schemes.

Stupid plan that actually worked.

Why do things have to be so complicated for him?

As soon as the sun sank beneath the horizon, Katara called everyone to dinner. Everyone sat in their usual places, with Sokka, Toph and Aang forming their conspiratorial little trio, The Duke and Teo huddling in their corner and Jin and Katara sitting near the pot. Haru decided not to bore Jin tonight as he was sitting with the Duke and Teo. That would make things ten times easier for him. But he still had Katara to deal with. Zuko rubbed his hands together nervously.

He hoped that he'll be able to pitch his worries to Jin successfully without sparking a fight. He ambled towards hem, clutching his empty bowl nervously. The two were deep in conversation about something and as he stood in front of them, the two of them didn't realize he was there for the longest of time. Finally, Jin was the first to notice him. She looked up in surprise though it was Katara, who talked first saying, "What? What do you want?"

"Um…I need to talk to Jin," Zuko mumbled.

Katara stared at him suspiciously as she said, "Fine. Go on. Talk."

"I mean that I need to talk to her…alone," Zuko murmured as he found it unsettling to be glared upon by Katara. He began to see-saw in his place uncomfortably as Katara continued to look on with apprehension.

In an obnoxiously loud voice, she screeched, "About what? Can't you see that she obviously does not want to talk to you—''

"No, it's okay Katara. It's all cool," Jin re-assuringly said a she rose and stood up. Katara looked on with disbelief. She opened her mouth to say something but Jin silently shook her head. Katara huffed loudly and sighed, conceding. Zuko breathed a sigh of relief as Jin walked towards his side. At least this went on successfully.

Jin gestured for him to lead the way and Zuko pointed to the spot where he always ate, which was at the edge of the pagoda, away from everyone else and near Appa. Just as the two were about to depart, Katara suddenly said in a high-pitched voice, "If you try anything funny, Zuko…I swear I'll kill you!"

Then in a softer voice she said to Jin, "If he ever pulls something—''

"Don't worry Katara. I can take care of myself," Jin smiled.

Zuko cringed as Jin sighed bemusedly, tugging at Zuko's arm. As soon as they neared Appa, Jin easily slid down on his tail and buried herself in his fur crooning, "And how are you big guy? Is Zuko being good eating company?"

Appa gave a mighty roar of approval.

"He's not being his usual boring self?" Jin cooed. Zuko huffed.

Appa shook his giant, shaggy head and gave Jin a very wet lick.

"Nice to know, you're actually being fun with someone," Jin smirked as she turned and faced him. She crossed her arms and for the first time, she actually looked playful and happy.

"I'm always fun," Zuko grumbled.

"Well….that's according to you."

"Well, that's according to you too."

"Whatever you say, you fun-sucker," Jin smirked and Zuko found himself smirking too. He had involuntarily fallen into their usual pattern of bickers and childish fighting. He had forgotten what ridiculous conversations they used to have and how easily they fell into it. Zuko suddenly missed all those moments and he hemmed and hawed in his place as a silence started to fill.

"So anyways, what did you want to talk to me about?" Jin asked, her face looking a little hopeful.

"The shopkeeper said something about Aang and I think we need to look into it," Zuko quickly said.

"Oh," Jin frowned, looking a little disappointed.

It suddenly occurred to him that maybe she wanted him to tell her something else. Something which he had wanted to tell her ever since he became part of the Team Avatar and that was that he was sorry and he wanted a second chance. Maybe he should've talked about that now instead of what he was planning to tell her.

Zuko scowled.

How could he be so stupid?

He hastily tried to fix his mistake, saying, "Um…yeah…but that's not the only thing—''

"What about Aang? What happened? What did he say?" Jin asked looking concerned. Zuko sighed. She was now completely absorbed in that topic. He couldn't believe that he just threw away his big chance to give his "I'm-sorry" speech again.

"He said something about my….dad….having a plan to kill Aang," Zuko mumbled, finding it hard to say the word, "dad".

"What? Shouldn't we tell the others about this?" Jin said sounding panicked as she sat upright.

"No….it's nothing confirmed, okay? That's why I didn't need to tell the others yet," Zuko quickly said.

"Then why tell me? What's wrong?" Jin asked looking concerned.

"I just wanted to make sure that it's really something before all of us start fussing. I mean Aang…he's got so much on his plate right now. I needed to go look into it and I can't go alone….cause I might get captured and all…and I might need help. And you're the only one who….who….I'm sort of comfortable with…" Zuko blushed hard at this as his ramble became increasingly erratic. "….and you're also the one who I knew the longest and who sort of knows me best and well….the others still don't like me and all and…"

"Yeah, sure I'll help you," Jin shrugged. Zuko stared at her in surprise and she said in a more serious tone, "What do we need to do?"

"First…we need to figure out a way to get the…"plan"…..my dad has schemed up," Zuko quickly said.

"Oh that's easy. We just go to the nearest military base from here, infiltrate it, get to the vault and—''

"I'm sorry, what?" Zuko asked sounding confused.

"The vault. Every military base has one. Every week, your dad sends new updated battle plans and announcements to it every day. If we go to the nearest one, I'm sure we could find out something about it," Jin continued, sounding impatient.

"How did you know that?" Zuko sputtered. He had no idea about that and he was the prince of the fire Nation. Zuko sighed. Chalk that up to another item in his list of "being a useless loser who does not know anything".

Jin shrugged and said, "I learned about that when Sokka joined the army."

"Sokka joined the army?" Zuko said, barely containing his surprise.

"Yup. I had to pretend to be his wife—''

"What?" Zuko frowned sounding a little jealous. He suddenly remembered encountering Jin as pregnant lady during the time he gave a speech to that Fire Nation Academy.

"Actually….that part is an accident. I wasn't supposed to pretend to be his wife when he joined the army—''

"But why did he join the army in the first place?"

"To gather information and intel. Now please, don't interrupt," Jin said, sounding a little irritated. In a lighter voice, she continued, "Anyway, I pretended to be his wife back when Aang when to school and he got in trouble so someone had to act as his parents—''

"Aang went to school? As in Fire Nation School?" Zuko said sounding more and more confused.

"Yes. Anyway, it's a really long story so don't ask," Jin said quickly.

"You guys are really kooky, you know that?" Zuko smirked.

"We try hard," Jin smirked.

"A lot sure has happened before I came here," Zuko said as he chuckled.

"Maybe you should've come sooner. Or maybe you shouldn't have left at all," Jin said, her voice sounding distant and hollow. The meaning of the words weighed heavily on Zuko and for awhile he could barely function, the hurt and dissapointmnet pouring out of the seams all over again. Jin looked away while Zuko looked trying his best to think of what to say next.

As always things went sour and downhill between them.

"All right. Let's get our plan down. What's the nearest military camp from here?" Jin asked, forcing a laugh as she tried to brush away the awkwardness she felt.

Zuko tried to jog his memory of learning all the military camps as one of his duties of being a Fire Nation prince. After awhile he said, "I know one. It's only a few blocks from the marketplace."

"Good. How soon can we make it there?" Jin asked, looking serious again.

"Tomorrow by nightfall," Zuko promptly answered.

"Katara and the rest would know something was up."

"Not if we tell them, we're going out to buy more vegetables," Zuko finished.

"How will we get there?"

"By foot. Unless you want to take my hot air balloon."

"That would probably draw too much attention," Jin frowned.

"That's exactly why we're walking," Zuko smirked.

"I guess it's settled then," Jin said finally after a few more minutes of planning.

"Yeah. I guess so," Zuko mumbled suddenly feeling awkward.

"So….I should go now. Katara's getting uneasy. One more minute and she'll probably march over here and…blow up…heh," Jin mumbled as she stood up and twisted her bowl round and round. She glanced over at Katara who was eyeing Zuko venomously.

"Yeah. Okay," Zuko said.

Jin opened her mouth as if she was about to say something else but after a few minutes, she closed it, turned around, rubbed Appa for one last time and walked away.

Appa gave another loud roar.

Zuko sighed, turned to Appa and said, "Yeah. I know. I don't think I'll ever understand girls. One minute we were perfectly fine and the next, we were awkward with each other."

After a few minutes of mental trepidation, he added thoughtfully, "Girls are crazy."

The day went by slowly for Zuko the next day. Even though he desperately tried to will himself not to feel the anticipation that was building inside him, he always found himself looking forward to the night ahead of him and his little excursion with Jin. Apparently Aang noticed it too, because he realized that his Sifu was being more patient with him—Zuko let him do an easy drill, he didn't spend training sessions watching Aang with a critical eye rather he whistled and made cheerful comments all the way and lastly, he allowed training to be finished early. Armed with these new insights, he carefully pried Toph away from her training with Jin, called Sokka from his failed hunting expedition and said with an impish grin, "They're getting back together."

"How are you so sure?" Sokka asked as he scratched his ears. Apparently he had a run-in with some poisoned moss and after getting a very painful treatment from Katara, he wasn't in a very pleasant mood.

"Was Sparky acting all cheery today?" Toph asked.

"Yeah. What about Jin?" Aang asked smirking.

"Cheery as the sunshine," Toph sarcastically said. She then added, "Dude, we are so awesome."

"Okay, okay, I'm getting confused. Fill me in," Sokka roared creating a time-out sign.

Toph scowled and said, "Ugh. Can't you ever catch up? Remember when we saw Jin and Zuko talking to each other alone, last night together?"

"Yeah….but that doesn't really prove anything," Sokka skeptically said.

"You are such a scatterbrain! They talked to each other last night. Zuko gave Aang easy drills and Smiley was so peppy she actually earthbent her way into the next drill. Try to keep up, will you, you dum-dum?" Toph said impatiently.

"Well…I do admit they're acting strangely….but I'm still keeping up with my suspicions," Sokka said as he rubbed his ear.

"Do you think we should follow them? I think they're planning something for tonight," Aang eagerly said.

"Alright everyone! Stop and freeze! No one's following anyone tonight!" Sokka declared as he rubbed his ear.

"And why not Schoonzles?" Toph demanded.

Sokka said as he began to enumerate, "Firstly, it's none of our businesses. Secondly, they obviously don't want it to be our business because unless they do, they haven't told us. Thirdly, they might do…a bunch of stuff that twelve-year-olds aren't supposed to see—''

"But I'm blind," Toph protested.

"And I'm not twelve anymore," Aang added.

"That's not the point! You two aren't going and if you will….I swear I'll tell Katara on you!" Sokka grunted as he began to scratch his ear more rapidly. Finally after minutes of scratching and scratching he yelled as he flailed away, "Stupid moss! Aaargh!"

Toph blew the hair out of her forehead and huffed, "I can't believe it. What a wet blanket. I swear everyone's catching Katara's no-fun disease."

"Zuko."

Zuko whirled around and before he could say anything else, a hand clamped unto his mouth. He cleared his eyes and saw that it was Jin and before he could stop himself, his heart beat ten times faster. Like him, she was dressed in all black; black boots were strapped unto her feet along with black gloves on her hands, the form-fitting black top and pants hung unto her slender and shapely body splendidly and she was wearing a black hood, that had a small covering for her mouth.

They had decided to meet outside the Western Air Temple. As they stood before each other, the dark pervading above them, Zuko couldn't help but feel that this was a clandestine lover's meeting rather than a very important and risky mission.

"The others are asleep. I think. But it won't be long before one of them wakes up. They're all very sensitive and on high alert especially with…Fire Nation…attacks happening," Jin whisered saying the word Fire Nation in a very delicate manner as if she was afraid it would offend Zuko.

"Yeah, I figured as much," Zuko grumbled after remembering how Toph's earth wall connected to his head after she found him stumbling around in the night. He had simply gone to get a drink of water and after passing by Toph well….things just didn't pan out too well. He realized that everyone was being extremely paranoid.

"Let's go," Jin mumbled, tucking something in from behind her. Zuko peered over her shoulder and widened his eyes after seeing that it was a pair of dual dao swords, the very same one he forged for her.

Zuko smiled to himself. Seeing the pair of swords hanging upon her shoulder, he felt more re-assured, as he finally saw that maybe she did think of him sometimes.

After a few more minutes of silent preparation the two of them sped off at once. Zuko and Jin had no difficulty in finding the nearest military base with Zuko's knowledge of all base camps and Jin's uncanny ability to weave her way in and out past people's noses without them noticing. In the darkness of the night, she was like a quick, fleeting raven and Zuko was matching her lithe pace step by step.

When they reached the military camp, Jin began to grow nervous.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked as they hid themselves behind a small shrub.

"I forgot that there was so many of them," Jin whispered.

"It never bothered you that much when you were fighting against the Dai Li," Zuko mumbled.

"I didn't almost get captured when I was fighting with the Dai Lee," Jin whispered back furiously.

"Almost….captured?….ah. Right. Long story," Zuko said stopping Jin before she could open her mouth.

"Zuko….I'm nervous."

"That's unbelievable."

"What? I can't be nervous?" Jin snorted looking annoyed.

"Well…..you're always so assertive and confident…."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean when you want something….you don't wait for it to come to you. You go out and get it. Sort of like when you asked me out on a date," Zuko said as he couldn't help brining that up.

"What does that have to do with our situation right now?" Jin hissed, her face coloring.

"I'm just saying that you're the kind of person who gets what she wants once you've put your mind to it. I hardly think that a platoon of Firebenders would stop you," Zuko re-assuringly said and after a few moments, courage took over him, and he reached his hand out, clamped it on Jin's shoulder and gave it a re-assuring squeeze.

To Zuko's relief, she didn't re-act in a negative way. She did however pause for a short while, her eyes looking thoughtful and her mouth in an adorable little pout. After awhile she broke into a large grin, gently shrugged off Zuko's hand and said brightly, "You're right. I can do this. I can do anything once I've set my mind to it."

And before Zuko could say anything else, she stood up and lightly sprinted forwards into the shadows.

"I can do anything once I've set my mind to it. Hmpf. What kind of baloney advice is that?" Jin hissed as she desperately tried to keep her balance.

Things did not work out, exactly as they planned. Their plan was that Zuko distract the Fire Nation guards while Jin sneaked into the vault being more familiar with it. What they did not anticipate however, was the alertness of the fire Nation guards. Zuko had barely stepped foot inside the premises when he was already surrounded by hundreds of guards. He fled and unwittingly stumbled into Jin who was trying to take possession of the key to the vault. As they tried to escape from the mob, the two of them placed themselves in a rather precarious position with Zuko only being a breadth's width away from Jin.

They were trying to hide in a utility room and he was trying to desperately shush Jin who was raving mad, "I can't believe this! We're going to die!"

"Would you hush up? If you keep talking like this, we're really going to die," Zuko snapped, as he awkwardly tried to reshuffle his feet. They were standing on a small, raised platform that served as container for some inner armor , surrounded by a room full of sharp artillery that was bound to go off and make noises and possibly stab them at the slightest movement.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this!" Jin snapped heatedly. She tried to point an accusing finger at Zuko, but that only resulted in nearly making her lose her balance.

Before she could fall into a heap of armor, thereby making a whole lot of noise, she frantically reached for Zuko's shirt while Zuko hastily grabbed her wrist. He quickly pulled her back up and Jin, out of sheer panic, began to press closer to him.

"We have to leave," Jin whispered.

"I think it's pretty obvious that we can't….considering that there are a hundred Fire Nation soldiers waiting for us outside!" Zuko said, his voice rising an octave higher.

"We wouldn't be having this problem if someone had just distracted the guards as we planned!" Jin shot back.

Uh oh.

Zuko knew it.

He knew it.

They were going to get into a fight.

Again.

Of all the times, why now?

Before he could stop himself, Zuko furrowed his brow and defensively said, "There were more than I anticipated okay? And why is it my fault? I distracted them long enough! If you had just gotten the key faster—''

"Don't you dare blame this on me you heartless jerk—''

"Oh, I'm the heartless one? That's real funny coming from a girl who wouldn't even give a guy a second chance—''

"You lied and betrayed me for your stupid honor, Zuko! What am I supposed to do? That isn't exactly something that a person can forget so easily—''

"You know what Jin? Just go on and yell like that so the fire Nation can capture us! Or maybe you could…I don't know….grab a sword and stab me—''

Jin's face reddened and she flushed, "What are you—''

"I mean then you'd get exactly what you want. Which is getting me dead, right?" Zuko said, his voice laced with fake mirth and sarcasm.

"What—no! I never meant it that way!"

"Well, you sounded like you mean it!"

Suddenly Jin broke out into a small smile and she said in a little teasing voice, breaking their heated argument for a brief second, "I can't believe it. You're hurt."

"No, I'm not."

"You do still care," Jin said, her voice rippling with surprised awe. Zuko stared at her blankly. What was that supposed to mean? Did she think, during all those times they ignored each other that he didn't care? But no. She didn't want him anymore. She hated him with every fiber of her being. She even wanted him dead.

Zuko said icily though he felt the exact same opposite, "I don't."

Jin's eyes softened and she mumbled a little abashedly, "Zuko…I never meant it that way. I mean…I wasn't thinking straight…I didn't know what I was saying—''

"Would you just stop? It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you don't want me in your life—''

"I never meant it that way—''

"Yes, you did—''

"Would you please just listen for awhile?" As soon as Jin said this, it was as if she was slowly beginning to unravel what Zuko had been feeling these past few days. Did he feel like this? Was she always this inconsiderate and unwilling to hear him out? Jin frowned. She never thought that she behaved in that way of any sort.

"Why should I? You never listened," Zuko snapped before he could control himself.

"Ugh! Why must you be so infuriating?" Jin snapped, losing her patience.

"Why must you be so infuriating!"

Jin glared at him, gave a loud huff, before saying angrily, "I don't have time for this. I might as well—whoa!" And before she could balance herself and before Zuko could grab her again, she fell head first into the pile of armor making a loud noise. Immediately, Zuko heard a chorus of loud voices accompanied by the harried sound of footsteps.

He quickly leaned forward and tried to grab Jin's hand. Jin growled and slapped it away saying peevishly, "Don't touch me—''

"Can't you see that I'm trying to help you?"

"Well I don't want your help!"

A loud voice boomed followed by the sound of footsteps becoming more audible.

A bead of sweat rolled down Zuko's forehead. He said through gritted teeth, "Um…Jin? Now's really not the right time for us to fight—''

A loud banging resounded.

"What do we do?" Jin frantically said after realizing the gravity of their situation.

"We obviously can't storm out—''

"That's it!"

"What's it?" Zuko incredulously said as Jin clumsily twisted herself to face backwards amidst all the weaponries. Her back touched Zuko's and Zuko felt a small shiver coming from his spine at the small contact they made with each other. She grabbed an armor and strapped it unto her arm.

"Okay….get ready—''

"What are we going to do?" Zuko nervously asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We're going to storm out!" Jin said rather impatiently.

"What? Are you crazy?"

"No. You come up from the front with your power while I take care of the rear…"

"Um Jin…are you sure this is going to work?"

"….in three, two, ONE!"

She suddenly pushed him forward causing him to open the door. Reacting on instinct and basing it on what Jin told him, he immediately thrust his palm forward, and without looking, sent an entire wave of fire towards his perpetrators. He suddenly felt pressure at his back, causing him to crouch downwards further and before he knew it, Jin was sailing atop of him, using his back as a spring and landing directly unto one of the guards. Finding no earth to bend, she settled on giving a high kick and using the shield as a guard from the flames as Zuko sent more waves of fire. As soon as Jin subdued one guard, she hastily grabbed Zuko's elbow, ducking from a burst of flame he sent and said, "We have to go."

Zuko sent one last burst of flame before promptly running away as fast as he could with Jin. They made it as far as the courtyard when suddenly a wave of fire separated them. Jin lithely regained her steps as she dodged it falling sidewards and away from Zuko while Zuko firmly stood his ground, barely flinching as the fire lightly grazed him.

"Now what do we have here? Aahhh….is that the ex-Fire Nation prince I see?" a large, beefy man chortled as he came forward. He was like a big, pink balloon, with his flesh oozing out of the Fire Nation armor and his great, fat head squeezed into a helmet. He regarded Zuko with a mixture of contempt and light amusement.

"Let us pass," Zuko mumbled as he drew his arms forward.

"Not if I can help it, boy. You're father gave orders that he wants you at the foot of his fancy, schamncy throne. Dead or alive," the man said, curling his lips into a cruel smile as he said so.

"Then you're just going to have to send him this!" Zuko growled and he leaned forward and sent the man a wave of fire, making him take a step backwards. The man gave a loud squeal before flailing backwards. Immediately hundreds of troops started to clamor around them.

As one of the soldiers started to come forward towards Zuko, the man roared, "Back off! There's still power in this old man still. He's mine."

No one bothered to argue to that. Everyone backed away to give the man and Zuko more room. Jin nervously stood up and was about to run but just as she was about to let away into a crowd of onlookers, she felt something stop her. She didn't know why but she felt a sort of dread rising in her heart. A part of her was telling herself that now was the perfect time to go to the vault and look for the new battle plan. But she couldn't run. She simply melted in with the growing crowd of soldiers. No one even bothered to try and capture her. Everyone was too fixated on Zuko and the big, beefy man whom everyone referred to as captain.

She was worried.

Jin frowned.

What was this?

She was worried?

That must be it. She was worried that something awful was going to happen to him. And how could she not? There he was, looking so brave in his fighting stance surrounded by hundreds of fire nation soldiers, ready to claw him out at the slightest mistake. Jin wanted to yell at him that they have to leave. That this was no match for them. But he was too stubborn and determined to let anything stand in his way once he's put his mind to it. It was funny. In a way, he was like someone from the earth kingdom—strong, resilient and ever-persistent.

Jin pushed someone off to the side, hoping to get a glimpse of Zuko and to get a word in when suddenly the big, beefy man caught her eye. As he stared at her he broke out into a disconterting grin.

"Zuko—''

Her voice was drowned out by the roar of fire that burst from the big, beefy man's palm. It sped towards Zuko, who easily dissipated it with a punch. He gave a loud inhale before throwing a series of punches and from then, it was all a fast blur to Jin. All she saw were bright arcs of light, Zuko's sure but speedy footsteps outpacing the captain's. He was clearly gaining the upper hand and the crowd of soldiers, glad to see a good fight, jeered boisterously. A few of them began to get so excited that they pressed around her, shoving her and pushing her to the side.

There was a small, momentary pause in their little battle. The captain was in a standing position, breathing hard his face red and lined with sweat while Zuko was in a crouching position, his body tensed as a loaded spring.

Nobody made a sound for awhile.

The captain raised his hand.

Zuko readied to block it and to extinguish the flame with one push of his palm.

Then suddenly, he faced sidewards, looked at Jin and gave her a mocking grin before sending her a jet of flames.

"NO!"

All the soldiers around her scrambled away as the fire sped towards her. Jin couldn't move. She blacked out. And just when she could feel the pervading heat going near her, something smashed against her front and before she knew it, she heard the loud cries of pain.

"Zuko!" Jin yelled as soon as she figured out what had happened.

Zuko gave a groan as Jin stumbled towards him, the armor banging against her knee.

Her hand shot out to his hair, she ruffled it and murmured, her voice cracking, "What happened? Where does it hurt?"

"My arm…" Zuko groaned weakly. Jin's fingers skimmed his torn sleeve and burnt arm, fresh blood gushing out of it and her usual stony and firm resolve crumbled a little.

Suddenly, the captain's maniacal laugh splayed across the background.

"You and your girlfriend will be a nice little gift to your father, boy. I 'spects that I'll be general by the end of this month—''

Suddenly, a huge, brass armor swung in his direction. He barely avoided it and it grazed a part of his forehead. Jin angrily stood up and tried to blink away the tears from her eyes.

"Let us pass," she hoarsely said as she rose up.

The captain stumbled and growled, "Not on my watch you little—''

Jin suddenly came at him, dual dao swords in hand and before he knew it he was being pressed backwards as he tried to avoid Jin's furious, hits. He tried to get a hit in but Jin was angry. Her face was flushed and her eye looked red and strained, as if she was trying desperately not to cry. Zuko struggled to stand up.

"What do you think you're doing? You're hurt stupid!" Jin shrieked as she dodged a fire ball.

"I can handle it—OW!" Zuko groaned as he tried to swing his arms forward.

The captain tried to hit Zuko with a stream of fire, seeing as they were both distracted but Jin immediately caught that and she snapped, blocking him with her swords, "Don't you dare touch him!"

They continued to fight heatedly and when Jin was close to subduing him, he yelled as a last resort, "Grab them! Stop them you idiots!"

Jin stepped back and stood in front of Zuko, swords in an 'X' form, as she stood over him a little protectively. They weren't going to make it. They were going to die….

"Zuko! No!" Jin screeched as he leaped over her and despite the pain, he used whatever energy he had left, to firebend a fire whip. He gave a loud grunt before falling on to his knees as blood gushed out of his arm, the burn looking more grotesque. Jin, barely caring what was happening, ambled towards him and tried to stop the wound.

"Just…go!" Zuko said trying to sound icy.

"But—''

"You don't need me anyway!"

"That's not true—''

"Ow!" Zuko groaned. All around them, everyone tried to recollect themselves as they tried to recover from Zuko's very strong fire whip.

"We have to get you to Katara!" Jin said, her voice cracking as Zuko lay down and groaned.

"Zuko?"

No answer.

"Zuko?"

Still no answer. All around them, people started to steer.

"ZUKO?"

"What?" I can't concentrate with you yammering like that!" Zuko said half-light heartedly and half-irritatedly.

To his surprise Jin burst out into tears. She leaned forward and gave him a light punch on his arm snapping, "You stupid jerk! I thought you were dead!"

Zuko couldn't help smirking at her as he said, "I thought you didn't care."

Jin blushed, caught her herself and defensively said, "I don't."

"Really? Because it seems like—Watch out!"

Jin turned around, and saw a fire ball hurtling towards her when a gust of wind suddenly extinguished it. She looked to the sides and smiled with bitter relief. For there, speeding their direction was Toph and Aang. To her shock, Toph began to metal bend while airbent his way towards them. As soon as they made it pass Zuko, Jin blinked at them in surprise.

"What are you guys doing here?" Jin muttered in shock as Aang scurried over to Zuko and helped him up.

"What? No thanks, Smiley?" Toph sarcastically said as Zuko scrambled upwards.

"No…I—I didn't mean it that way—wait. Did you just metal bend?" Jin said suddenly remembering the impressive show Toph put on.

"You'll get there some day Smiley. But for now…let's get out of here!" Toph said as the Firebenders started to press around them. The four of them sped off with Aang trying to desperately move Zuko.

"What happened to Zuko?" Aang asked as he and Zuko narrowly missed a stream of fire.

Jin's voice cracked as she narrated what happened.

"And then…then….then he just looked at me….in…in that sort of way and b-before I knew it….he was trying to hit me with fire. I would've been burned alive or seriously hurt if….if Zuko hadn't saved me!" she said the last part as if she just realized that bit of information.

Zuko groaned, "It wasn't a—''

"You saved me," Jin whispered as she spun around and faced Zuko.

Aang gurgled from under Zuko's weight, "Um Jin? Now's not really the time—''

"I thought you didn't care," Jin murmured.

Behind them, yells were made audible.

"I don't," Zuko said though his voice didn't have that dramatic and curt effect he wanted.

And to everyone's surprise including Zuko, two small and slender hands suddenly touched his shoulder gingerly and before he knew it Jin leaned forward and gave him a soft and quick chaste kiss on the lips. Aang felt ridiculously awkward being in close vicinity with the kissing couple (seeing as he was supporting Zuko).

Jin quickly pulled away as if unsure that what she did was right when Zuko quickly pulled her back in. He missed her. He missed the feel of her lips against his, the taste of her mouth. He kissed her back, more tenderly and softly this time as if trying to get her tatse. He missed her and liked her and Agni help him…he had to stop because a horde of Fire Nation soldiers were after them right now.

Jin broke free, leaned her forehead against Zuko's and murmured remorsefully, "I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"Forgive me."

Toph interjected, "Um…Smiley? Sparky? Now's really not the time—''

"For what?"

"For never giving you a chance. For holding on to my anger towards you. I'm so sorry, Zuko. I—''

"Look, just don't—''

"I know you're mad. You're mad because….because…I'm just like everyone else who's ever been close to you. I'm no better than your father or your sister," Jin said her voice cracking.

"No, that's not true—''

"Um guys could you wrap it up?" Aang mumbled.

Jin completely ignored them as she continued to babble, "Yes it is. I've labeled you for who you are without giving you a chance to explain yourself. In a way, I betrayed you too….because….because I never gave you a chance—''

"I'm sorry too," Zuko mumbled.

"For what?"

"For lying and betraying you."

"It doesn't matter what you've done in the past. You're here now to help Aang and that's all that matters. I was wrong Zuko. Very wrong," Jin said, as she gave a little sniffle.

"I was always wrong. I've always made wrong decisions—''

"We're aware of that. Can we go now?" Toph impatiently said as the cries became more audible.

"—and I want to give us another shot. Another try. Because I really, really like you. Do you think you could ever forgive me?" Zuko asked. The circumstances were not the best time to give his big "I'm-sorry" speech but somehow, he felt that it was the most appropriate time.

Jin smiled. She knew what she would answer. She had always known what her answer would be. Especially with him.

She gave him a quick, fleeting kiss on the forehead, saying, "There's nothing to forgive."

"Okay! Time out! Smiley back in your corner! You too Sparky! We've got a military camp to escape from!" Toph screeched pushing the two of them apart. Jin sighed but she nodded grudgingly. They began to speed off.

"Hey…Toph," Jin panted as they ran, looking slightly giddy, her face aglow.

"What?" Toph snorted sounding annoyed.

"You never really told me how you guys knew we were here," Jin said, breaking her dreamy, facial expression for awhile.

"…"

"What was that? I can't hear you!"

"We thought you and Zuko had a secret romantic rendezvous, okay? So we thought we'd just follow you and you know….see if our plan actually worked!" Aang blurted.

"You stalked us—wait what plan? I knew it! I knew it! You two did have something planned up!" Zuko accusingly wailed from his place.

Toph snorted and scoffed dismissively, "Oh shut up Sparky. It worked didn't it? And quit pretending that you actually didn't like it. All of us were waiting for you and Jin to get directly to the point."

Omifuckingosh. Guys I am so sorry for the super late update but things have been really hectic with my job and semestral finals coming up. I have like five papers to write. But anyways, as you can see, this is where the timeline deviates a little just like I warned you. After this, will be on with the next episode but not to worry...I have more awesome shit in my sleeve. For posting so late...lol...here's an extra-long chpater. Fun fact (but I suppose you don't really care): This is my longest chapter to date reaching. And yes, that's legit, man.

But NO i am not abandoning this story. Just expect my updates to be a bit later from now on.

Thanks to those who have taken there time to read this, who added me as a fav author and added this story in there favorites.

My heart goes out to all those who reviewed: SkorpionQueen012, Alana C. Jones, SuperninjaX, ArrayePL, tgbwe and Inhibitor.

Thank you so much! I wish that i could give you more! I would leave you personalized messages as always but as I've said, I'm way too busy. But always know that you guys rock and are awesome.

Now Anonymous the Third on the other hand, I've got a special message for you mister:

Criticisms and a few flames I can handle but when someone accuses me of plagiarism? That never fails to set me off. Dude, i don't mean to rant, but I would never plagiarize another author's work. After reading your review, I took time in actually reading Ashes to Ashes (which is an AWESOME fic by the way) and after reading it, I have no idea how it could be related to my story in anyway. Our plots aren't even the same and neither are our characters. For crying out loud, Jin's personality is different!

I began to wonder what ever made you think that.

Then I saw that you only reviewed in the 4th chapter.

And I have only one message for you.

Keep reading hombre, and you'll see that Ashes to Ashes and Burning Bright are totally different.

And I would know cause I actually took the time to finish Ashes to Ashes to make sure.

But anyways, it's all cool. It's good that you're bringing things like that up. i would like to know too if someone's been plagiarizing my work. So thanks, anyway :D

And PEACE.

Don't let my rant bother you.

Always click the review button.

:)