A/N: "Thief in the Avatar's Estate" aka "The fanfic where I make Rangi and Yun sweat" ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) They don't get to know peace anymore. It's Anxiety Land for them now baby! B)

Since this fic actually predates "The Hunt for Kyoshi," the format is a taaaaad bit different. HfK has a new POV every chapter, the early chapters for this one switch sometimes mid chapter. Obvie I have breaks but sorry for the wonkiness, I believe it only affects ch 4, 5, and 7 but yeah just wanted to give y'all a warning. 8U (I know SoK/RoK do it too but it bothers me a bit now since I switched formats TT0TT) It might happen again in the future but eh…..we'll roll with it.

It took all of Rangi's effort to choke down her despair as they walked.

Yun was wrong, it most definitely got worse. It was bad enough when they thought they were beholden to some common thief, but a daofei?

She might as well cut her sacred hair and have the spirits take her right then. There was no way for her to recover from the shame.

A daofei! She nervously tried to smooth the loose strands of her hair back onto her head. Forget owing her anything, if word gets out Yun was saved by a daofei. He'll never live it down. They'll think he's in their pocket! They'll-

Yun put a hand on his friend's shoulder to calm her down.

"Rangi, stay focused," he whispered. "We'll worry about the consequences when we get out of here."

Rangi took a deep breath trying to center herself. This day had just been the worst, just been mistake after mistake. Nothing had gone right since they ran into Lee.

Her brain began to play all the highlights of the day. If only she hadn't tripped when they first confronted her. Or maybe if she sped up at a certain corner, or risked throwing a fireblast into the dense woods.

I shouldn't have lost my grip, I had her pinned down and- her brain worked against her, reminding her of the very reason why she'd loosened her grip on her target in the first place. Rangi buried her face in her hands and clawed in frustration, while a hidden flush ran down her back.

Little did Rangi know, Yun was experiencing something similar beside her. Something about that Lee woman bothered him. It made him feel off kilter like it had with Rangi. Well, not exactly in the same way she had the effect on Rangi, his was more on the unpleasant side of things. Something like a dark foreboding.

He let out a small sigh, he should heed his own advice. Calm down, stay focused. One step at a time. So many steps, they'd been walking for hours with no sign of getting out of that accursed forest.

Yun looked at Lee who led the charge, she would move the unique Spirit World foliage out of the way with her earthbending every so often. A long wavy flow of her arm, a form that resembled a waterbender's motions rather than a typical earthbender's.

Interesting. Yun thought.

"Your form is fairly unique," he commented.

Rangi lifted her head up from her face, small fingernail indents made in ten different places of her face. For the most part she seemed to have calmed down.

Lee flinched for a moment but didn't stop her motions. "You don't like the way I bend?"

"No, no! I just found it to be an interesting style, for an earthbender, you know?" He put his hands up in a friendly manner. "It just looked like a motion a waterbender would use."

"You come across a few waterbenders in my line of work. Maybe I picked up a few of their moves. What? Is that illegal?"

"No, just….. making small talk." He said simply. Really he was just trying to fish for information. Which daofei organization was she a part of? Which ones had waterbenders and earthbenders working in unison? Fifth Nation? Iron Fins? Lotus Blossom?

Hopefully it wasn't the Fifth Nation, she might not like the news of their downfall of her kin caused by him.

Yun looked at the way she walked. Her movements were more delicate, like they had been during the chase. Her airy way of walking on the dust was well…..almost like air. Almost like an airbender.

No, no that wouldn't make any sense. Airbenders were a peaceful lot, there's no way one would get tied up with a daofei. Waterbending and airbending could overlap in movements, so that must've been what it was.

"Lee, I have a question."

"No, really? Just one? Sigh, what is it?" It seemed like the past few hours of prodding information from her was wearing her patience thin. A lot of the earlier questions revolved around her knowledge on the Spirit World or who she was/why she was doing what she was doing. The former was met with many 'I don't knows,'and the latter met with tight lips. Thankfully, those same lips appeared to be loosening up now.

"What are your thoughts on the Fifth Nation?"

The snort turned boisterous laughter that came from the woman made it instantly clear she wasn't a part of them, nor did she think highly of them.

"Haha, those flaunting peacock cats? Getting too big for their britches I'd say!"

"You don't like them?" Rangi interjected.

"In the same sense you don't like a nosy neighbor, sweetie. Or just a neighbor you have beef with."

Rangi narrowed her eyes at Lee. If it was because of Lee's comment or for the question she was following up with Yun couldn't tell. "So you're rivals?"

"I guess you could say that. But isn't everybody?"

Yun's eyes scrunched up. "No, what do you mean?"

"Everyone's fightin' somebody about somethin'," Lee continued, swishing some ground to the side to move a small boulder in the way. "'If you're not with us, you're against us.' Or 'You have something I want.' And so on and so on. There's only so much stuff to go around, people are bound to fight over it."

"That's a fairly pessimistic way to look at the world." Not that Yun disagreed exactly, with the amount of info he was privy to, it was hard to stay optimistic with all the fighting that was going on behind the scenes. He supposed that the daofei world must work on a minor scale compared to the bigger governments around the world. Which both intrigued him, and disheartened him.

"I'd say it's just realistic," she said with a grunt, moving giant boulder out of the way with more ease than any average earthbender would. She didn't even break a sweat!

Yun wasn't sure what to make of her earthbending, her styles were all over the place. But one thing he did gleam was that she could move very heavy objects easily. Actually, the way she moved the foliage in big clumps was a bit overkill as well. She didn't have to move trees and rocks that far away, wasn't she afraid of disturbing the spirits? Or maybe she just lacked control?

"And you have an issue with the Fifth Nation because they're too powerful? Or because they take too many resources?" Rangi asked. "I've also heard you lot really like to follow the 'might makes right' ideology. Afraid they'll eat you up?"

"Depends on the group." Lee shrugged. "It wasn't their power that made it an inconvenience. Yeah, someone having more power can always be a problem. But attracting attention is also a real hassle as well."

"Yeah, I'm sure a thief would hate attention," Rangi muttered.

Lee stopped walking and turned on them, annoyed. "And I told you about a hundred times already! I'm not just a thief. If you're going to call me anything then it's a daofei!"

"Like it matters! You're a pathetic, low-life criminal regardless!" Rangi took a defiant step forward towards Lee.

"It matters to me!" Lee marched her own way to the smaller firebender. As she did, she put her hand up and started visibly counting on each finger. "I saved your life outta the goodness of my heart. I'm getting you outta here outta the goodness of my heart, and you can't even respect me!"

"Oh great! Two whole 'goods' that were caused because you got us into this mess in the first place!" Rangi scoffed sarcastically. "And 'Get us out'?" We've been walking for hours! What if you're just leading us into a trap? Do you even know where you're going?!"

"I may not know where we are exactly, but at least I have an idea on which way is better! If I let you lead we'd be in Koh 'The Face Stealer's' territory!" She rudely pointed a finger at Rangi, and in a patronizing voice said, "And I bet you wouldn't want your pretty whittle face stolen would you, princess? Wouldn't get far in life without it would you?"

Rangi made a lunge for Lee, but Yun grabbed her. Luckily he got in the middle of the two before they were within arm's reach.

"Yun, move." Rangi glared over Yun's shoulder, about to shove the Avatar out of her way. This thief had challenged her honor, and she wasn't about to let her get away with it.

"No, you two need to stop. Fighting is going to get us nowhere." He understood why his friend was upset, as pretty as she was, she worked hard to get where she was. Insanely. So Lee's jab might've prodded deeper than she'd realized. But as justified as Rangi's anger was, fighting wasn't going to get them out of the Spirit World.

"Oh it'll get us somewhere," Rangi made an attempt to get around him, but as she sidestepped him, Yun grabbed her from behind, locking his arms under hers and pulling her back with all his might. He cursed inwardly at how strong she was. "Back at the Fire Academy, fighting was the best way to resolve a dispute."

Lee gave a cocky grin at the struggling firebender. "Let her go Lil' Avatar, this girl is finally speaking my language. C'mon Firecracker, I'll have you on the ground before y…ou….can-"

Lee took a step back, her exposed skin paling to the same pallor as her white makeup.

"Yeah I'd run too if I was you!" Rangi made another lunge but Yun pulled her right back.

Lee's eyes widened in horror, "S-shut up." She whispered oh so quietly, Yun almost didn't hear her at first.

"I'll shut up wh-" Lee took the risk of Rangi biting her fingers off, and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Shhhh! Behind you!" she whispered.

Yun and Rangi slowly turned around to see a very giant and very, very angry looking spirit behind them. It looked like a crossover between a Kanga-frog and a deep sea angler snake-fish. It had the head of the more angler fishy side, and the body of the kanga-frog.

It appeared to be blind, its milky eyes drifting off in all different directions, the light hanging off its forehead acting as a means of detection. Black goo pooled and oozed off of the spirit, giving it a tainted appearance.

Before Yun and Rangi could think about fight or flight, they were both pulled by their collar and were booking down the forest.

Lee had picked them both up like sacks of flour, throwing Yun over her right shoulder, and carrying Rangi under her left arm. The two were still too shocked by the spirit to even marvel at the woman's strength.

Lee was running at full sprint, forsaking the floor entirely this time. Having only stayed on the ground floor on the hike as a courtesy to the companions who couldn't walk on dust like she could.

However, despite her soundless flight, it appeared that the dark spirit was still alerted, as a deafening shriek echoed through the forest. Vibrations of its running soon followed.

Lee let out a string of curses that only a daofei would be accustomed to, "Is it following us?!"

Yun and Rangi looked behind them, and they could see the light bobbing ever so closely.

"Yeah it's gaining!" Yun yelled.

"Then do something about it!"

"What do you expect us to do?!" Rangi yelled back.

"I don't know! He's the Avatar-'' Yun braced himself, for the woman to demand something from him that only the Avatar could do. Fire-air-waterbend or use the Avatar state or something along those lines. All the things he wasn't capable of doing yet. "-build a big Earth wall or something! Just slow it down!"

Yun wasn't prepared for that, an earthwall. That was something he could do. He flexed his arms and brought up several pillars of walls. Which got knocked down almost instantly. No matter, Yun could keep bringing them up as long as he had earth to work with.

"And Firecracker-!"

"Wh-what?!"

"-If he gets too close, light his ass up!"

Rangi looked at Lee and smirked. "Can do!"

She proceeded to twist around in Lee's arm, grabbing at Lee's waist and trying to climb up the woman.

"W-what are you doing?!" Lee's cries came out a little more high pitched than she probably wanted.

"I need to get in a better position!" Rangi threw her left leg around Lee's waist, and then threw both her arms around Lee's shoulders, almost like a rucksack. Her right leg was almost in position to attack the spirit freely.

"Well hurry it up, you're making this harder than it already is!" Lee slowed down from stumbling a bit while she tried to readjust her hand on Rangi's waist, but regained her momentum as Rangi finally got into position.

"Rangi get the blast ready! I don't think it cares much for earth!" Yun yelled to her as the spirit kept crashing through each of his earth walls, none of them slowing it down. He tried mixing it up with tripping the creature like he did Lee back in the mansion's forest, by grabbing it by the ankle, but each time it broke through the hold easily.

Rangi took a deep breath while angling and bending back her foot. Right when the spirit was just a human length away she jutted her foot out and unleashed a giant fire stream right into its face. Coincidentally as she did so, a giant gust of wind flew by, causing the stream of fire to expand bigger and rage out of control onto the spirit.

"What? Argh!" Rangi grunted, trying to get the flame under control, but it kept expanding as the wind mixed into it, feeding off the wind's power, before suddenly cutting off.

The spirit stumbled back from the blast, at the same time the same blast thrusted the trio forward…..right off another cliff.

"Agh! No, no, no, nooooo not again!" Lee complained as they started rapidly descending, this time it was more controlled thanks to her dust. She was taking giant leaps downwards like you would if you lost control running down a mountain. Risky large steps. But she controlled it all the same.

The landing spot was in a grassy meadow, and the second Lee's feet touched the ground, she collapsed…. Right on top of Rangi, with Yun crushing Lee's shoulder.

"Mmmrrrphf!" Was all Rangi could make intelligible.

"Sorry Firecracker," Lee heaved, exhausted. Yun could hear small attempts of shoving being made against the wall of a woman, but Rangi might as well had been trying to push a mountain with her bare hands because it yielded the same effect. "You're gonna have to blast me off of ya, I'm too beat to move."

Yun unceremoniously disentangled himself from Lee, before rolling Lee off his friend. Rangi was redder than he'd ever seen her. Her face bore an expression akin to a mouse cat having been caught falling off the furniture. Total and complete embarrassment.

Five. Yun humorously made a mental note to himself as he stared at Rangi's flushed skin. That makes five… I think?

"What was that?" Yun gasped out, his arms were tired from all the tough bending he had to keep up.

"A dark spirit," was all Lee could manage to say, and Yun briefly wondered how a child was able to survive this accursed place.

"Why did it attack us?" Rangi asked, making a point to have her back facing the two, but Yun could still clearly see the redness still creeping up her neck.

Lee shrugged. "No idea, I don't think they like humans."

"So we just need to avoid them?" Yun asked.

"Pretty much."

"What about other spirits?"

"They can be iffy, it's best to avoid most of them if we can."

The trio sighed. Escaping the spirit world was going to be harder than it looked.

Yun looked at the exhausted Lee and realized the literal opportunity that literally laid before him. "Lee, can you get up?"

"I think I need a minute, sorry. You guys are heavy."

Rangi turned around and gave her a light kick.

"Ow!" Lee gave a half-hearted moan, it sounded more amused than anything else. "Is that how you treat someone who saved your life twice?"

"Sorry," Rangi muttered, and she almost sounded like she meant it.

"Oh, that's good," Yun said cheerfully as he squatted down next to Lee, a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Then I guess that means I can have my stuff back."

Lee suddenly paled whiter and whiter.

"L-let's not be so hasty," she squeaked. She made a futile movement to get up, but exhaustion must not have been a lie as she barely budged.

"Oh c'mon now, this is a great time to return my items that you stole," he gave her his award winning smile. He figured they were probably in some hidden pocket near the arm sleeve.

Lee, visibly sweating, put one arm over her chest, "C-c'mon, you wouldn't do something so lecherous, would you? T-the Avatar isn't a creep! R-Right?!"

Rangi whipped her head around so fast an audible snap could be heard, her expression horrified. Yun stopped his hand, completely confused. He looked at the arm he thought the items might be, and where Lee's chest was. Back to the arm, and to her chest. Then to Lee's panicked face, and then back to Lee's chest.

As if he was shocked by lightning, he took his hand off Lee's shoulder, and then scurried back a few feet away from her. It was his turn to blush from head to toe in embarrassment.

"I-I-I'm not a creep!" he protested, sweating profusely. "I-I thought you'd hide it in the sleeve pocket! H-h-how was I supposed to-Why would you put it there of all places?!"

"Girls have more pockets than boys! Sue me!" Lee protested back. Yun wasn't entirely sure what she meant by that, but who was he to argue?

"I didn't know! I'm not a girl!"

"Thank the spirits for that!" Lee threw her hands up in annoyance and relief.

While Yun recovered, upset by the dirty tactics, he noticed Rangi was now sighing in relief. A childish idea ran through his head.

"But you know who is?" Yun put out hand, palm facing upward, as if offering something to Rangi. "It's true it'd be lecherous if I did such a thing, but the same couldn't be said if it was Rangi now would it?"

Rangi's eyes widened bigger than a pai sho board, Lee started sweating even more. Yun suspected that Lee knew she wouldn't have such an easy out, and she was spinning her wheels.

"W-what do you want me to do?" Rangi asked, taken aback.

"You can retrieve the items!" Yun smiled. "I mean, you're both girls so it'd be fine right?"

Rangi looked like a panicked cat mouse yet again, her face reddening and fanning down her collar. She, however, made a motion to stand.

Lee crossed both her arms over her chest, "T-that doesn't matter! It-it'd still be dishonorable!"

Rangi stopped her motion and went rigid at the word. The Fire Nation's core values were rooted in what was honorable and dishonorable. Yun could see his friend spiraling, weighing the honorable and dishonorable actions in her mind. It's honorable for her to follow the Avatar, but he's asking for a dishonorable act. But disobeying would be dishonorable.

Yun realized, in his attempt to take the heat off of him, and to tease Rangi a bit, he may have created an unwinnable scenario for her that deeply shook her to her core.

Lee, however, was willing to grab onto anything that would dissuade Rangi, which would in turn twist the knife deeper.

"T-that's right! It's dishonorable! You'll be dishonoring your family! Your country! Your topknot! Your cow!" Lee wasn't really making any sense as she continued down the list, but it didn't matter. Every word made it look like Rangi took another physical blow.

Finally, just as Lee finally ran out of nouns and adjectives that could be dishonored by Rangi. Rangi stood up.

She was stiffer than a statue, her voice was devoid of any emotion or inflection that Yun had ever heard. "It's been hours since we last ate. I'm going to go look for some food." Despite her monotone nature, she still bore a slight flush.

She then turned around and stiffly, but hastily, shimmied off into some nearby foliage, and quickly went out of sight.

Six. Yun thought.

"Wow, she really negative jinged outta here," Yun sweatdropped, feeling a little bad for putting his friend in an uncomfortable situation, not that he'd planned for it to be more than a joke. He was going to need to apologize…. And to figure out how to retrieve his stolen items some other time.

"I thought she'd do it to be honest," Lee sighed. "She seems like a real hard ass-turtle."

"She is." The duo sat in silence for a good long time, while Yun pondered over what to do next. "Lee, can you get up yet?"

Lee sighed, "No, still tired."

"Ok," Yun stood up. "I'm going to go talk with Rangi, you stay here."

Lee gave him a thumbs up as Yun left in the direction Rangi went in.

It didn't take long to find Rangi, she was crouched near a bush full of berries. She only looked up at him when she heard a branch break behind her.

She held up a handful of strangely colored berries. "I'm not sure if these are edible, I've never seen anything like this….."

Yun shrugged, "They kinda look like forbidden sweets." He got closer to her and gave her a sheep goat's grin, and tried to make sure his voice showcased his pure sincerity, "Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to put you in a crisis. It wasn't supposed to be that serious."

"Oh," she said while she turned her attention back to the bush. "Don't worry about it, I'm over it."

Yun blinked at her and then teased, "Really? Huh, you forgive pretty easily. Do you happen to get over crushes that fast too?"

Rangi whipped her head around, Yun was concerned she was going to have severe whiplash at the rate she was going. "Crush? I don't have a crush. What are you talking about?! What would give you such an idea?!"

Yun tapped his chin, "I think I recall someone ogling some very nice abs earlier today, don't worry, I understand. I was looking too." He winked at her. Rangi's eyes bulged a bit, possibly realizing she had been caught staring? He slapped one of his own shoulders with his hand, and then rolled the shoulder. "For your information, her shoulders? Very steady too! Oh wait, you probably already realized that, considering you were clinging to her like a spider monkey a second ago….."

"You're talking about the daofei?! No I wasn't-That's not-that wasn't- I looked away!" she finally said indignantly, and then stopped her foot. "Th-that's all circumstantial! You have no real proof. Honestly! What would ever make you think this?!"

Yun put his hands up, as if he was in a hostage situation, but his grin said he was going on the attack. "The six intense blushes-that I've happened to notice- in the past 13 hours make me think that." Rangi went ridged where she stood, realizing she'd been caught. Yun's grin grew wider. "Listen, I get it! She's a very pretty lady, and maybe you're into the whole bad girl kind of thing-"

Rangi spluttered at him. "I. Do. Not. Have. A. Crush. I carry no attraction for that criminal!"

Yun sighed, as fun as it was, he decided not to push his luck any farther. "Fine, fine. But if that's the not reason, why are you so upset-"

Rangi punched the tree behind her, letting her fist heat up into a flame, and slowly ignited it.

Yun jumped back in surprise, "Ah! Rangi what's the matter with you?! I stopped, so w-?"

"It's my firebending!" She yelled at him, shame leaking into her voice. She moved her hand and extinguished the flame on the tree, leaving a smoldering hole. "It's been messed up since we ran into that criminal!"

Yun recalled how Rangi's flame extinguished when she'd almost caught Lee, but when were the other times? "What do you mean?"

Rangi began pacing in a perfectly straight line, "First, it's extinguished out of nowhere! And then with that spirit, I lost control! It just started getting bigger and-"

Rangi continued her rambling, she was quickly wearing a rut in the ground. Yun thought about his training on firebending. Firebending came from within, and emotions could heavily influence how the flame took shape. It's possible she got surprised by Lee earlier, and then was scared by the spirit. The latter, however, seemed so out of character for the military trained firebender in front of him, but it was the only plausible explanation.

"Maybe your emotions aren't in check," he offered.

"My emotions are in check!" The girl yelled, in a tone that showed they were, in fact, not in check.

The two sighed and pondered, at a loss. Sure, it'd only been two instances. But both happening under twenty-four hours and to Rangi of all people? It raised some concerns.

It was highly unlikely Lee herself had anything to directly do with it, she was just an earthbender after all.

Wait, Lee! Yun thought with a shock. They had left her by herself for a bit too long, and fear that she may have slipped away coursed through him. He and Rangi decided to quickly head back, foregoing the little foraging Rangi had found.

When they arrived at the clearing, Lee wasn't there….but a message dug into the ground was.

You took too long. I got thirsty. Found a river this way.

An arrow pointing in the direction they assumed she'd went.

When they arrived at the river, they saw Lee crouched by the bank, her gloves laid next to her as she appeared to be washing her face in the river. A warm fire was lit nearby, with a few strange large fruits on sticks roasting over it. There were also three haphazard earth beds bent nearby as well.

Yun wondered how Lee had gotten all this set up, it wasn't like he and Rangi were gone for that long.

"Ah I was wondering when you two would be back," Lee said, turning to the two. "I figured this would be a good place to set up camp and get some rest."

Yun's breath hitched when she fully faced them. She had pretty chestnut skin, with freckles that starred her face as brightly as the stars shown in her grayish green eyes. The only thing that marred her face was a small crescent shaped puckered line running from her lower lip downwards. Possibly from where Rangi bit her earlier. However, it looked less worse for wear since they had last seen her, and he wondered how that could be possible.

He could feel a slight flush taking over, the girl was very pretty. And she appeared a lot younger than her height had let on.

"C'mon what are you two gawking at?" Lee gave them a lopsided smile that turned both the other two teens' stomachs lopsided too. "I found us some food, let's eat"

She walked over to the campsite, beckoning them over.

It took all of Rangi and Yun's strength to snap out of their daze, and follow the pretty girl.