Hey everybody! I'm alive! Just to let you all know. I can't tell you how sorry I am for the long wait. But I promise you it was worth it. And once again, I'd like to thank Akura ice for helping me with this, it wouldn't be done without him. ANd if you are reading this, I'm glad that you have stayed faithful, if you just started, yay you! you're liking the story if you made it all the way to chapter 11. I hope you enjoy the chapter! I've already started on the next one, and hopefully it'll be up later this week.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or any of its characters, yada yada yada...

I stopped in the middle of the street and sighed. I was hopeless wandering around alone, always getting lost, especially in large cities, like Ba Sing Se. I'm good in smaller places where everything doesn't look alike. I looked down at my feet as I thought, or more like my boots, comfortable brown leather for big feet like mine, since I wear size twelve women's. But I'm tall, that's a valid excuse.

Someone will eventually find me if I stay put somewhere, I thought as I looked around. No benches in sight, I know there are some out there, I just need to find them…time to wander around again.

As I walked, searching for a bench, I got lost in thoughts. About what Zuko asked me a few days ago.

I was taken aback at what he said. Honestly, I wasn't expecting this from Zuko, of all people. "Excuse me," I asked, really, really confused.

"Akura," he answered weakly, "you love him…"

"Wha- Why do you say that," I stuttered, nervously curious, if that's even possible.

"The…way you ran after him. The way you look at him," Zuko murmured.

I looked down at my hands and rubbed them together nervously, "he doesn't think that. Akura knows I love you…and I love him, too." I said the last part meekly, I didn't want to upset him, I hate upsetting people, I like it when people are happy.

It took him several long, painful seconds to reply, "He's making you choose…"

I nodded, without looking at his eyes, I was nervous, "and I don't want to make a mistake for this decision." Why am I even telling him all of this, he could just get mad…but so far, his response is nothing like I expected. My heart is going against my mind here. Telling him could just make it worse.

His hand grabbed mine, and I looked into his soft golden eyes; he was…concerned, not angry. "you think too far ahead, about the consequences, about the outcome. Just remember, with the choice you make…whether if it's me or not, I'll be there for you, even if it's only just as a friend." He sat up, his eyes unwavering, "I just want you to be happy…even if it's with him."

I hate to think that I'm one to do this, I'm not like those other girls who live to read romance novels, I prefer not to. But that was probably the sweetest, most reassuring thing that's been said to me.

A bench finally came in sight, I lit up at the thought of resting my aching ankle, which I sprained again, training, by myself…poor me. I'm so clumsy, I can't help it. It was then, I suddenly tripped, holding in a yelp as I fell onto the bench. Well…at least I had a safe landing.

It's been a few days…three, since Zuko told me that. And of course I've been thinking, I can never stop thinking…if I keep on thinking like I am now, I just might go off onto something random, so back to main subject.

I've never realized until now it's almost impossible for me to make a decision without thinking ahead, the outcomes, and how it will affect other people. I've also noticed that it's hard for me to be selfish, I usually look out for others first, then myself. I took in a deep breath, clearing my thoughts, to focus on one. Akura or Zuko?

The Watchers said to listen to my heart…not my mind, but it's really hard to do that, 'cause I have to think about this, it's so hard not to. I know who I want…but I just don't want to admit it, and I don't know why. I can't even admit it to myself, his name is the first thing that comes into my mind, at times all I can think about is him. But I just can't admit it…not yet at least.

I stood back up with my ankle feeling somewhat rested and continued wandering around, looking for some sign that I'm near home…but everything looks just about the same to me.

I sighed hopelessly as I kept walking. The streets were quiet at night; it was peaceful yet somewhat ominous. I shrugged the bad feelings off and kept walking as I was in deep thought. The night always made me think more clearly for some reason, but I didn't want to think right now, it would make me worry and stressed, and I'm already stressing about what I'm trying not to think about.

I bumped into a man in front of me, I looked up to see a group of scraggly men, I took a step back. "Sorry, sir. I wasn't-

The man took a tight, unbreakable grip on my wrist. "Hey there, pretty girly. Watcha doin' out here so late at night?"

I struggled to pull my wrist out of his grip, but he was too strong. "Let go of me," I said through my clenched teeth. I was scared, and I didn't want to show it, it would make me even more vulnerable.

He laughed and looked at his friends as he started pulling me into an alley. "She wants me to let her go. Girly is too pretty to be let go just yet…"

His hold only got tighter as I thrashed about. I then decided to kick him and his grip loosened. I was able to get out of his grasp and started running down the alley, he pulled me so far in, I didn't realize it.

I could hear them chasing me, and they were catching up, fast. It wasn't long after I was tackled from behind. One of his friends pinned me to the ground, he held my wrists, and his legs on mine so I wouldn't be able to kick him. "We have a feisty one here." His face inched closer to mine, "I like feisty."

I struggled and struggled to get out from under him, but he had me good. "Get off of me," I tried to growl, but it came off as a whimper, I was terrified, and he knew it. But I refused to give in.

"I'll do that once I'm finished with you, girly." He grinned as hot tears of fear and anger started to pour out of my eyes. The man then put my wrists above my head, so he could hold them with one hand. His hand lowed, drifting down my body, feeling it as he went along. "Now let me have the privilege of-"

A rock soared in and hit the back of his head, "hey, what the…" He had to get off me, but one of his goons held on to my wrists, once they were fully distracted, I would have the chance.

"Aren't you a little old to be getting girls off the streets," a familiar voice said coolly. I was too panicked to identify it. "Let go of her."

"Why should I do that, pretty boy," snarled the leader. "I could take you out easy."

"Let's dance," the boy whom I couldn't see said cockily. I heard running, the clashing of metal on metal and the goons were cheering, I felt the grip loosen.

They made a mistake deciding not to pin my legs, I flexed my back and swung my legs over my head, hitting a man's cranium. He let go of my wrists and I sprung up on my feet and, suddenly was in focus, my fear remained, but I knew I could take care of at least one of them.

I heard the leader thump heavily onto the ground, as if he passed out from a well placed kick to the head. The remaining goons stared at me, befuddled. "How- how did she do that?"

Ignoring them for a second, I glanced to see who my savior was, letting out a gasp of surprise and joy, "Akura!"

He was just as surprised, it must have been too dark for him to identify me from where he threw that rock, or the men were practically all over me. "Olivia." He looked angered, "stay still." He jumped onto the wall behind him where a fountain laid on the road. Akura lifted his hands, an enormous wall of water came touring up and sent them thundering toward them, toward me, after all, they were behind me.

I took a deep breath and thought to myself, Akura knows what he's doing. The water split before it could touch me, I let out a sigh of relief and looked at Akura. As the water hit the goons, he exhaled, freezing them in place.

Studying the scene and the assailants, I collapsed onto the ground. This was all too much to take in, or I was just downright terrified; what they had done to me…what they were going to do to me. I hugged my knees to my chest and cried. The one thing I hated doing was showing weakness, but I seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

Akura leapt down from the wall and walked towards me. He barely touched my shoulder before I whimpered and winced away from his hand, but I didn't mean to do it…it's what they did. What they did to me.

"Olivia…" Akura said in a soft, worried tone, he sounded hurt, but I didn't want to look up in case if I was right. "It's me, Akura."

Akura then got up and strode over to the leader of the thugs. He unfroze them then pointed his sword at the leader's throat. If you EVER touch her again...the police will never find your remains." The scary thing was I could tell that he meant it. "Now...GET OUT," he said in a menacing tone that I had never heard from a waterbender before. The men almost tripped over each other trying to get away.

Akura shook his head and laughed. "Cowards," he muttered under his breath. He then came back to me and helped me up. I was still in shock at what had happened in the past fifteen minutes. But at least I was safe.

I stood there silently, taking in everything. I could feel Akura's worried stare on me as I looked up at the night sky once more. Finally, I gave up holding it in and rushed to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and hugged him close. "Akura, you don't know how grateful I am. You saved me," my face was wet with tears, and my throat was dry, I was a wreck. But, Akura saved me, they would be-I'd be…I don't want to think what would have happened if Akura hadn't come.

He looked surprised at my sudden outburst of gratitude and fear. Akura just held me for a few minutes; I suppose he was waiting till he thought I was calm enough to be let go. I straightened up after awhile and looked up into Akura's face. The anger was gone, and the only emotion that held his features was concern. Then his face darkened. "Those evil worms have been preying on women here for months now. This is the first time they've tried to get a teenager though. I'm glad you didn't give in to it, Olivia. Most girls I've seen have either been too weak or they actually..." his face contorted into a disgusted grimace, "enjoy it. They musta been desperate." I looked down. Akura turned to me again. "Olivia? You ok?"

"No," I murmured out of shame, "I didn't do anything…it was like if I was frozen…out of fear." I looked up into his eyes, I felt weak…it almost happened to me. I could have been one of them if Akura didn't come, "I was petrified…Akura, I'm such a coward."

Akura shook his head. "You're not a coward, Olivia. If you were a coward, you'd have given in. But you fought back. I'm proud of you." He smiled, then his face grew cold again. "To be honest, I'm surprised you were ABLE to fight back. According to the victims, those men used to study the human body. They would know where to touch you so that even if your mind resisted, your body and your hormones would respond. Its so disgusting." I looked at him for a while, trying to remember what those hoodlums were doing to me.

It kind of hurt when he said he was surprised I fought back…but honestly, I barely did anything. I really was a scaredy cat then, but I let it slide. "I didn't know that was even possible. Controlling people's hormones…that's just horrible." Then I just started wondering, "Akura…what were you doing when you found me?"

"I was looking for you," he said, as if that should have been obvious. I looked up at him again and realized that Akura was one of the reasons I was still alive. He was such a great friend. I hugged him again and he just stroked my hair in a big brother sort of way. Then i sank to the ground again. After a few minutes, I realized I REALLY needed to go to the bathroom. I tried to get up, but apparently my brain was being lazy in sending signals to my legs. I suppose my mind was so befuddled with fear that i hadn't noticed my bodily functions, but here they were, and pretty strong.

I took a deep breath, trying to hold it in, and met Akura's eyes in deep urgency, I have no clue what he would think about this, but it was very important to me. I shuddered just from holding it when I exhaled to tell him, "I need to go to the bathroom."

I waited with bated breath. Akura was silent, and then he did something i totally didn't expect. He burst out laughing. I'm talking doubled-up laughter. Personally, I didn't see what was so funny; all I knew was that my bladder was killing me.

Finally, his laughter wheezed into a chuckle. He started bending water around my head in long thin streams. "Just practicing," he said but I could tell he was enjoying my discomfort. In fact, he found it absolutely hilarious. I watched as the water danced around my head, making loops and twirls.

I took another shuddering breath as the water whirled around my head, of course the water only made it worse. "You're a meanie, you know that," I whined, rocking back and forth, holding it in. The water did look pretty and it was distracting, it was hard not to look at it, so I couldn't help but watch it out of the corner of my eyes as I pouted at Akura.

Akura smiled, "yeah, I know, cause saving your life and possibly your virginity is such an unspeakable act of evil." Then his face turned sympathetic. "I know your gonna hate hearing this, but once word got around that those neandertals were around, the city was shut down. Everyone has to remain indoors, and the only bathrooms are in the center of the city, which is heavily guarded by guards. I don't know how you're gonna get past them."

I groaned at this news. My stomach was so swollen I must have looked pregnant. "Akura, can't you do something," I half asked, half pleaded. Akura shrugged. "I don't know, you got any ideas?"

"How about we ask the guards nicely," I said hopefully, "they might let a lady into the bathrooms." I knew I was too hopeful, but I think it's worth a try. I needed to go BAD.

Akura glanced around. "I don't know, Olivia, if the guards catch us out, we'll be arrested. The city of Ba Sing Se can be very strict." I gulped. My bladder was on fire. "Well, shouldn't you have to go by now, too," I asked. Akura shook his head and gave me a sort of devious grin. "I don't need too. Whenever I have to go, i just bend it out and then turn it into vapor. That way it can be evaporated and cleansed." "Hey, it may be disgusting, but it's efficient," he said, catching my disgusted look.

No matter what, that's still disgusting, but convenient. I wonder...no, that'd be weird. Would he? I'd be too embarrassed to ask. But I need to relieve myself soon. I don't know, I just don't know. I was too deep in thought, debating with myself, in order to say anything out loud about it.

Akura just sat there, still twirling the water around in his hand. I didn't think Akura would try to take advantage of me, but...he WAS a boy, after all...but he was my friend...besides, Akura probably wouldn't go for that anyway...it'd probably make him uncomfortable. But I needed to go soon. I wasn't gonna be able to hold it much longer. I looked up at Akura again, and he was just looking at me, as if waiting for me to come up with something.

He got up, and I wondered what he was doing. He went over to the fountain and took out his water flask. He emptied the water that was inside, and then refilled it with fountain water. "Sorry, I gotta empty this once in a while so the water won't get germy." He then sat back down and refastened the flask to his belt. "so, you thought of anything yet?" he said.

I bet that he was teasing me. I took a deep breath, ready to ask the question, "can't I just...let it out and you bend it out of my pants?" I looked down at my hands, hiding my now red face from asking him the question.

Akura just looked at me. The gaze he gave didn't show any anger or disgust. Surprise, maybe. He shrugged; "If that's what you wanna do..." he turned around.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm sure you don't want me to see you doing this. I'm trying to respect your privacy," he said without turning around. I smiled. Good ol' Akura.

"Thank you," I sighed in relief. I then relieved myself, my pants now becoming wet and warm, which felt weird. And thankfully, no one else was around to see it, I'm so embarrassed for having to do that. I took a deep breath, "done."

Akura turned around, but his eyes were closed tight. I suppose he wanted to spare me the humiliation of him actually seeing me like this. He waved his hand, a clear liquid rose from my pants, leaving no evidence that it was ever there. He then made a fist, and the liquid evaporated. He then opened his eyes and breathed. "Well, that was awkward..." he said.

I nodded, "yeah, very. But I feel better now. Can we not mention that...ever?" I blushed in embarrassment. I stood up and brushed the dirt off my now dry pants, glancing at him, but too embarrassed to hold the eye contact.

Akura nodded. "No prob, Olivia," he smiled. "Wow, I saved your life, your virginity and your bladder all in the course of a half hour." He shrugged, and I looked down in embarrassment again. "Well, looks like you're ok now, so I guess I'll be going now..." he kissed my head and prepared to leave.

"Wait," I said, "Akura, I'm kinda lost. And I don't feel safe being alone after...after that. Will you...will you take me home, please," I asked politely, and added "and I'd like to talk with you for a bit. If that's alright with you." I don't know if he was tired, because it's late now, but I'd really like his company right now. I don't want to be alone, especially not after tonight. And I wanted to talk to him, I feel like I've been asking too much of him tonight, but...I just don't want to be alone. I looked up at him and said nervously, "you don't have to of course, you can if you want to..." I trailed off, hoping he would come with me...but I felt bad for asking so much in one night.

Akura smiled. "If you want, I'll stay with you, Olivia...". Tears of joy and relief gushed from my eyes as I hugged him for what must have been the hundredth time. He laughed. "Why do you think you're asking too much, Olivia?" He put his hand on my face. It was warm and surprisingly smooth, like a hot spring. I looked down again, not knowing what to say. He raised my chin and looked into my face. For the third time, he managed to hypnotize me with those deep blue eyes. Then he laughed again, "come on, Olivia, lets get you home." He brushed against my shoulder and we started walking. "So, what do you wanna talk about?" he asked.

"Three things. Well, firstly," I started, holding up a finger, because I talk with my hands, and I really can't help it...at all. "Thank you, Akura. For everything. Like you said earlier, you saved my life, my virginity, my bladder," I smiled at that one, "and now you're taking me home," I was completely serious, "thank you."

"Its ok, Olivia...what's next?" he said, smiling sweetly.

I haven't told Akura about the dreams I've been having yet...but I'm not ready to tell him, I'll tell him tomorrow, if I see him tomorrow, and ask him about my true name then, but a question popped into my head, "why were you looking for me?" I was purely curious as to why; it puzzled me for some odd reason.

Akura frowned. "I had heard those men were out again. I knew they preyed on beautiful, seemingly lost girls. You happened to fit both descriptions. Looks like I arrived just in time. I scoured nearly this whole city. The only thing that kept me going was thinking about what those pigs would do if they found you before I did. It was so horrible...I can't lose you, Olivia. I can't. I'm sorry." I was silent at this news. "What's the third thing?" he asked.

This was the nerve-wracking part, for me at least. I was admitting it...out loud, and not only to myself, but also to Akura. I halted in my steps, mentally gathering my bravery, "I've made my decision."

Yes, I know there's a mood killer, but it's all worth it in the end. You'll see next chapter. And a cliffie! Don't you love cliffies? keeps you on the edge of your seat. Please, if there's any errors, let me know and i'll fix it.

Oh, and there's a poll on my profile! What element does Olivia/Kyoko bend? I want to see what you all think!

And please review, it makes be very happy inside, even if it's a burn, it'll help me work harder and improve.