-Lower Ring-

Kaede heard Heika answer the other agent’s questions, but his response about being a bastard child stuck in his mind. Was he telling the truth about that? She wasn’t sure. If he was, then it only left his death stick to worry about. Still, this was a desperate situation, and Heika was liable to say anything to get the man to back off. Odds, and instinct, told Kaede he was making up the story as he the words fell from his mouth.

But it was convincing enough for the agent. He moved away from the young man, took a look around the house, and spoke to his partner. A moment after he left, and now only the annoying little man was the stranger in the house. He gave the bounty hunter one helluva stare. A lesser person would have quivered, but she wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. Only a few minutes of knowing him, Kaede had him pegged as an insufferable little upstart who believed far more of himself than he actually was. His posture was rigid and straight, his arms hidden in the billowing sleeves behind his back. There was something about his body language that said, “make a single move and I will knock you down without a second thought.”

Kaede really disliked this little man.

“Ex-Corporal.”

“I’m listening,” she replied, her face betraying none of the dislike she had for the Dai Li agent.

“I don’t care what position you obtained in your years of service, or what perks you think that previous position afforded you. Make a wrong move in Ba Sing Se and the Dai Li will see. We will not hesitate to act. Understand?” he explained, his piercing gaze was lowered, and now Kaede was looking at the top of his conical hat. Melodramatic idiot. He was doing it for threatening effect.

“Through and through, soldier. I ain’t known for breakin the laws,” Kaede replied. “If you ain’t got anymore business with us, then move on.”

He sneered at her, and if smiling had been something Kaede liked to do, she would have done it out of the pleasure of seeing the unpleasant little man unhappy. Without another word, the Dai Li agent turned and walked out the door, slamming it behind him, and leaving a confused Feng Wan staring at the space the little man had just occupied.

Kaede let a breath out through her nose, her star also focused to where the agent had just been. Her mind went back to Daiyu. The girl had made a break for the back, and if there was a back door to this place one had to wonder where she was off to now.

Leave, just leave, her mind shouted. They’re not worth it. You know it. Hotaru is all that matters now. You can find her on your own. Go. NOW.

Indecision was not like her. Daiyu was quick and decisive. She knew what she wanted and she went after it. Right now, Daiyu wanted justice. That was it. And the quickest and easiest path to that was alone.

She moved to the front of the boarding house, ducking underneath a few more windows as she did. Now, Daiyu already knew that she was having a bad day. Started that way, was gonna stay that way. Only time was gonna tell her just how bad it would be.

Or she could know the very instant she made it back onto her street and into the scrutinizing stare of a Dai Li agent. Words couldn’t describe the utter frustration she felt at that moment, Daiyu was left with only one way to display this culmination in her bad luck.

She smacked herself in the forehead.

The Dai Lee agent walked down the street looking for any suspicious characters... He had just left the inspection of the boarding house and his partner was probably still in there doing god knows what... Then suddenly he ran into what seemed to be a woman.... Her face not very visible do to the dark night sky... and the stupid hat they had to wear which made the lighting situation even worse... But before he could act he heard a familiar voice...

After exchanging words with Kaede the remaining Dai Li officer left the boarding house... his face fool of anger... Heika almost felt like breaking into a nervous laugh but he managed to hold it in. But... where had Daiyu gone? Now that both of the Dai Li agents where outside... He had hoped that she had managed to have already made her escape... He walked over to the window... his heart still racing... but slowly making its way back down to its regular pace.

The young man stuck his head outside of the open window and looked in all directions for something that could be Daiyu... After only a few seconds of scanning his sharp eyes had spotted what they where looking for... but it seemed that she had run into one of the Dai Li agents who had left the boarding house. He then put his head back inside, and made his way to the door. He opened the squeaky thing catching the Dai Li who had run into Daiyu's attention. Hopefully the dark of night had covered her features... and the Dai Li agent had not yet had enough time to recognize her. " Oh there you are darling! " He yelled in a cheery tone.

He then made his way over to her side with a huge smile on his face.

" I had been worried that you had forgotten that it was our anniversary today!" He said as he wrapped his arms around Daiyu and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

" You two... know each other?" The now confused Dai Lee agent asked. He recognized the young man before him... it was that golden eyed kid.

" Your anniversary aye? I thought you said you had only been here for two weeks..."

"Yes but you never asked if I was alone or not... Well thanks for finding her sir! I'm sure if a strong and honorable officer of the earth king such as yourself had not shown up, my darling here would have gotten into some kind of trouble!" He said with that child like smile on his face.

" Yes well um... carry on with your business..." The man said... it had been quite some time since anyone had flattered him so... what a nice young man...


"Thank you sir we will! Let's go honey we will be late for our dinner arrangements!" Heika exclaimed as he pulled Daiyu away from the Dai Li agent... making sure he avoided every shadow that even resembled a conical hat...

-Lower Ring-

This was just not happening. Daiyu had to still be asleep, only that would explain Heika appearing out of nowhere, wrapping his arm around her, kissing her on the cheek and convincing a Dai Li agent to take a hike. Of course, all done in the absolute politest way possible with a great big smile on his face. There was no way all of that could be real.

He led her back to the boarding house, where the figures of Feng Wan and Kaede were silhouetted against the light of the lamps inside. Daiyu found she was unable to speak, still stuck in the theory that she was dreaming this entire situation up, and that her bad day had been nothing but the continuation of her nightmare from the night before. Part of the waterbender was also silence at the thought that if this was all very real, then Heika had just touched her as if they were ‘together’ and had…kissed her. No one did that.

Not since Iwao.

No one did that. Who did Heika think he was? A knight in shining armor? A brave young man that would swoop in and save the poor and trouble girl from the evil clutches of the straw hat wearing losers?

Again, the idea that it was a dream floated across Daiyu’s mind.

The two stepped back inside the boarding house, Feng Wan closing the door behind them. He wore confusion in his old face, more confusion than one person could muster in most of their lifetime. Kaede stood not far from him, but her face held no expression. It seemed that the biggest range of emotion for that woman was that her eyes opened just a little bit more.

Kaede watched the events, and couldn’t help but be mildly amused. Her suspicion of Heika was no less than it had been the moment before, but she had to admit she admired his guts. He dove headfirst into what would become a very bad situation, turned it to his advantage, and made out like a king. Judging from Daiyu’s expression, she didn’t know what to make of it.

More likely, Daiyu didn’t know how to deal with how it made her felt. That girl had a soft spot for the fella whether she admitted it or not. She had helped him with no real reason to, and had continued to do so with no other reason than, “it seemed like a good idea at the time.” Daiyu had no idea that her actions were guided by her emotions. The ‘hardened criminal’ was looking more like a lost child every minute. Her life had been hard, and she had responded by being harder. Emotions made no sense, so she hid them away. But Kaede knew well that it took more years of experience than Daiyu had to separate herself from it and to realize when her actions were nothing but the pulling of the puppeteer strings of her emotions.

Feng Wan smiled a little bit. “Aw, tall girl, you didn’t tell me you and Heika were getting on.”

“Yeah, lucky thing Heika saw you there, weren’t it?” Kaede stated, her tone casual and the barest of smiles creeping across her face.

Once Heika had lead Daiyu back into the boarding house he quickly let her go thinking she would probably be mad at him for hugging and kissing her... He still didn't really understand her mentality... and didn't want to take risks... He was rather surprised his heart hadn't burst out of his chest.... Since when was he a smooth talker? He never had much confidence in himself when it came to talking... But for some reason he had managed to pull off his little stunt was because he saw Daiyu in trouble... 'Your doing to much for her... That could have easily turned into the both of you being whisked away by the Dai Li... She wouldn't have done it if you where in her place...'

But those thoughts had not even registered... His mind was yelling at him, saying how stupid what he just did was... and if you think about it, it kind of was.


Feng Wan smiled a little bit. “Aw, tall girl, you didn’t tell me you and Heika were getting on.”

“Yeah, lucky thing Heika saw you there, weren’t it?” Kaede stated, her tone casual and the barest of smiles creeping across her face.

Heika's eyes widened at Feng Wan's notion... The two of them together? No no no no... He knew that Daiyu had little to no interest in him... If anything the only reason she kept him around was because he could easily turn her in... His heart still racing he looked at the two and decided it was just better to walk away from this situation... He had already saved his friend, and that was enough, and his head was beginning to hurt...

Without another word the young man left for his room, traveling quickly up the stairs... He opened the door to his room and simply walked in and crashed on to the bed...

" What a day..." He said to himself as he laid there on the small bed. He worked his sandals off with his feet... Then after a minute or so he sat up and began to undress.. his hair was covered in hair after all.

-Lower Ring-

Silence overtook the hallway as Heika let go of Daiyu, moved through Kaede and Fang Wan and marched up the stairs to his room. Internally, Kaede smirked at the action. He didn’t want to deal with the possible temperamental response from Daiyu, and judging from her time watching the young waterbender, it could be quite a blowout.

Daiyu’s jaw dropped open, as if she wanted to say something. Her eyebrows were raised, an expression of apprehensive confusion on her face. The slightest of sounds squeaked out of her throat. She raised one hand up, her index finger ready to point, whether in condescending accusation or make Heika stop, no one could tell.

Heika disappeared from view at the top of the stairs as he turned right to go down the upstairs hallway.

The waterbender’s jaw twitched the tiniest bit, the top of her index finger curling down with it. It then snapped shut, and her hand was lowered to her side. Kaede wanted to laugh, and that was something that hadn’t happened in quite some time. It wasn’t the right moment, though. As humorous as Daiyu’s non-reaction to the events that had just taken place was, laughing at her ‘current employer’ was never a good idea. Making Daiyu angry would just be a waste of time and slow down the process. Their job was gonna be hard enough as it was.

With the waterbender’s gaping mouth open like a fish, Kaede figured anything having to do with the potential Fire Nation man would be difficult.

He was gone. Just like that. No word, no apology for the outrageous thing he had just done. Heika just let go and walked away. Time for bed, see ya tomorrow, good night everybody.

It didn’t make sense. Heika liked to talk. Or he seemed like he liked to talk. Of all the things he had done in the short time Daiyu had known him, he had given reasons for them. He talked about them, sometimes at length, asked questions (usually with that innocent smile of his spread across his face), and always had something to say in response to Daiyu.

Except this time. He just walked away, like he was going to bed on a normal night…only a normal night he at least would’ve said, ‘see you tomorrow.’

Daiyu wanted to stop him, wanted to yell at him for what he did, the audacity he had, how it just was not right because nobody touched her without her permission (unless it was in a barroom brawl, which in that case they got hurt when it happened). She watched his back as he walked up the stairs, but found that no words would come out of her mouth.

It was a first. She was furious…but at the same time just shocked and confused. Why had he bailed her out? Why did he persist in helping her? Even Daiyu knew that she could be considered a horrible friend (and why not, people weren’t worth it, right?), and expect him to get fed up and just move on.

But he had just saved her from the Dai Li agent in a situation that could’ve spelled prison-styled doom for them both. They’d hate his Fire Nation heritage; they’d hate her traitorous, murderous stealing ways. He was risking his neck to ensure their mutual safety. That didn’t add up. People didn’t save other people; they just stabbed them in the back when it was most convenient.

“Are you done gaping?” Kaede asked, breaking the silent but torn train of thought.

Feng Wan still looked confused, but now worry crossed his face for the poor young woman. “I’m sorry, tall girl, did I say something wrong?”

“We’re…we’re not getting on. Sorry, I just, uhm, forgot what I was going to say,” Daiyu finally said.

“Why was Heika lying to that Dai Li fellow then?” the old man asked.

“I…have done some things that I’m not proud of, and the Dai Li would use an excuse to drag me away. Heika was…”

“Just trying to help,” Kaede finished.

Laugh it up, stony, Daiyu snapped in her mind. Kaede was dangerous, and better at earthbending than Daiyu was at waterbending. When it came down to an all out, drag down fight, Daiyu had a suspicion that Kaede could win. It was one of the many reasons it was better to have her in her employ than after her thieving ass. Still, it didn’t mean she liked Kaede any better. She got the feeling that the bounty hunter was enjoying this somehow. That was annoying.

Feng Wan’s eyebrows knitted together, his mouth falling into a contemplative frown. “You didn’t do things that were…too bad, did ya girl?”

Daiyu’s icy eyes glanced at Kaede, whose eyebrows raised just a little as if to say, ‘your call, say how much you want, I don’t care.’ “No. Nothing too bad. It’s just…hard to get along sometimes, y’know?”

The old man’s contemplative frown melted and stretched into a reassuring smile, his eyes twinkling with the same eccentric spark that she had known ever since she met him. He clapped his hand across her back, sending her forward just one step before she recovered. “Say no more, girl. I understand. Lower Ring’s a tough place to get along. Speaking of which, seems like Heika turned in for the night. Maybe you two better go ahead home. Don’t really feel too keen on entertaining anymore of those cone hat fellas for tonight.”

Kaede moved past Daiyu to the door, grabbing hold of the waterbender’s sleeve as she passed. “Come on, kid. We’ll go back to your place for a while.”

Kid? “Er, right. Yeah. G’night, Feng Wan. Thanks for everything,” Daiyu said as Kaede opened the front door and led the two out into the street.

Feng Wan waved, his pleasant smile still dancing across his face. “You’re welcome. G’night, girls. Stay out of trouble.”

(OOC: Hope its ok if i skip to morning.. o.o)

Lower Ring

Heika had removed all his clothes and had bundled it up trying not to knock loose all the hair which was on it. He tossed the hairy ball of clothes into a little basket with his other dirty clothes. He then walked over to his bead and once again flopped down on to the mattress. His head was now throbbing for some odd reason unknown to him... Maybe it was all this stress that he had from earlier today... He just needed to get some rest... But it would be impossible with this pounding head ache... He closed his eyes and tried his best to go to sleep... But no matter how hard he tried that pounding sensation would keep him awake...

So he simply laid there... staring up at the ceiling as his head throbbed... He even began to hallucinate that the ceiling was falling on him... And began to yell things, strange things in the middle of the night as if something where actually happening to him. It was now morning and he had gotten almost no sleep thanks to this pounding pain in his head... But his body wanted to get up, despite the amount of pain which he was feeling.

He got out of bed, his balance a bit off do to the continuous aggravation. He got a fresh pair of clothing and quickly changed into them. Once he was changed he picked up Ryu Eda and his sword which was still unamed... He made his way down the stairs almost falling with each and every step. His eyes which usually did look like actual gold seemed to have some how rusted.. their usual glow gone... but they where still wide open.

He wasn't hungry... no he was just for some odd reason in aggravating pain... Maybe it really was last nights events that had done this to him... He was terrified by the Dai Lee and he was face to face with them.. Lying to their faces and getting away with it... Yeah... that was probably why...

"Mourning Feng Wan... Morning Baobei... " He said as he walked by them... but his tone was not its usual cheery self... no it was an empty tone, a tired tone. He then made his way to the door opening it and simply walking outside... Maybe some sunlight would do the young man some good... But he had no where to really go... So... He simply sat down outside on the stone steps that lead up to the small wooden door of the boarding house.

(OOC: sorry its so short x.x)

Heika's rusted eyes looked up at Daiyu who had asked him about his dreams... If she had not approached him she would have never even noticed her. His head was still pounding... and he knew having a conversation wouldn't really help it much... But it was Daiyu... If he was willing to save her from some Dai Li agents than a little pain was nothing...

" Oh hey Daiyu... No, no dreams... no sleep at all actually..." He responded... He then began to wonder why she was talking to him? He knew that she probably only thought of him as an annoyance... and he already knew how to get to the basset bull.. so why was she here? If she wanted breakfast she could just go some where else... Oh...

"Are you here to yell at me about last night?" He asked her... his face not showing any of its normal expresions...

" Look I'm sorry I hugged you and kissed you... But it was the only thing that I could think of at that point in time... Plus i didn't want you getting hauled away by those freaks...."

Upper Ring

They were... where? A shadowy alcove, alright, somewhere in the Upper Ring. Where had she run into Suzuran? Near the terminal. A street... they had fled from a patrol, and they had run for... 10 minutes? At Orange-Eye's speed, that would put them within a... radius this wide. Ling traced a circle around their meeting point with a finger, and motioned for Suzuran to take a look.

"OK, so we met up... here." she said, pointing at a part of the map. "We're somewhere around..." she looked around. A few large buildings were around, and a wall. So that put them near the perimeter of The Beurea of Agriculture. "Here. The Royal Barracks are... here, so to get there we need... hmmm."

Ling paused. That couldn't be right, could it? No, it was; she remembered from the last time she was here. "We'll need to get through these compound walls here and here" she said, silently cursing. "Dai Li patrols get more frequent the closer to the palace we get, but at least they don't live in the Royal Barracks; we should only be dealing with Royal Guards... oh, I don't know, a couple hundred of them."

Ling re-folded the map and placed it in another of her many pockets. "I don't suppose this would be the point where I ask if you have a plan for this 'snooping around' business, do you?" she asked, looking Suzuran in the eyes. "Or if I asked 'bout your fighting skills? I'm not quite confident enough to take on a platoon of Royal Guards by myself, you know. You?"

(OOC: That's okay. It kinda goes with Heika's headachey-ness)

-Lower Ring-

Heika looked up to Daiyu to reply and damn if he didn’t look horrible. His eyes were dull, everything about him was just so drained and oh it was almost painful to look at. He just looked so…down. There was nothing about him that looked like he had since they had met.

Do you really know him all that well anyway? Probably not, her mind questioned her. Everyone has bad days.

He said he hadn’t had any sleep. She almost chuckled. Yeah, she knew well how that felt like and it was no wonder Heika felt like the walking dead. Whatever sleep he did get wouldn’t have done him any good. He as just sleep deprived.

Though one had to wonder what had kept him awake the whole night…

"Are you here to yell at me about last night?" he asked, again reminded Daiyu of someone who was dead but still talking.

She put up her hands, shrugging her shoulders at the same time. Yelling at him now would be like shooting fish in a barrel, nothing she could do would make him feel any worse than he already did. “Nah, I’m not here to yell at you. It’d cause a scene and I gotta keep everything on the down low right now—”

Heika didn’t wait for her to finish her sentence, though the young woman figured the end of what she was saying wasn’t that interesting to begin with. "Look, I'm sorry I hugged you and kissed you…But it was the only thing that I could think of at that point in time…Plus I didn’t want you getting hauled away by those freaks…"

She sighed. If he hadn’t said anything, she wouldn’t have bothered to continue talking about what happened. It happened, that was it, deal with it. Sure, an apology was called for but…somehow it felt wrong. That there was shame involved in the whole thing and that just wouldn’t do. There was never any point in being shamed of what you do, and what was there to feel shame about in the first place? Or maybe it was embarrassment…

Why would he be embarrassed?

Daiyu shook her head. Too many questions, no answers, and none of it was helping. Heika had bailed her out because he didn’t want her to get caught by the freaks in hats. No matter how much she wanted to think there was some sort of ulterior agenda connected to this…she just couldn’t find one. Heika had been home free and out from their suspicion. There’d be no point to go back out and bring Daiyu back. Especially because he wasn’t asking her for any sort of favor or reward for it.

Oh, he looked so bad. A night of no sleep didn’t suit him one bit. Not a marathon, stay up all night guy.

The waterbender looked down to her waterskin, an instinct taking over where thought was shouting she was an idiot. She unscrewed the cap with one hand, and pushed forward her other hand in a soft and fluid motion. The water responded to her, flowing out from the cap and hovering in front of her hand. Her other hand joined in the fluid waving of her hands, and the shimmering water responded by surrounding them. They glittered and glistened in the morning sunlight.

She strode over to the sitting Heika. From her own up all night experience, Daiyu knew that Heika’s head was probably pounding with an entire band inside of it. Those kinds of headaches were the worst. It made resting impossible, it made doing anything impossible.

Daiyu placed her hands on either side of Heika’s head, the water a buffer between them. It shimmered as the waterbender extended her chi forward and to where the pain was. One hand move to the top of his head, and the water spread there too, flowing and waving like a shallow pool. Somehow bending water to heal always made it glow and glisten brighter than when bending water to fight.

It was a funny thing, really. She hadn’t done much healing with water in her life, aside from fixing herself up. Her lessons had stopped quite some time ago, favored for the art of fighting. But healing had been what she had learned first and old lessons perhaps faded, but never died.

“You ain’t cut out for all nighters,” Daiyu declared, “if your head plays such a catchy beat all the next day.” She paused for a moment, somehow feeling the pounding beat easing against her hands. “You’d never get to work at that rate.”

Her mind screamed bloody murder. Oh sure, Daiyu wasn’t saying that she accepted his apology or was thanking him for helping her out. No, those admissions hadn’t been made. But, she was helping him, healing him! What was wrong with her? Sympathy? This was insanity! This was an all alarm situation! This was the kind of acts that led to a big knife in the back.

Shut up, brain, or I will stab you with an icicle, her instincts chided.

-Lower Ring-

The steady pounding beat that Daiyu had felt in her hands, the pain of Heika’s headache, was slowing to a halt. In a matter of seconds it would be gone, and the fella wouldn’t spend the entire day in agonizing pain.

"Yeah…I kind of noticed…" Heika replied and she could sense the sarcasm.

She chuckled a little. Didn’t know the guy could be funny.

"Uh Daiyu…not that I don't like this and all but…Why are you healing my headache? I mean really I appreciate it! I really do…but…umm…I don't know I…I just don't know what to even think anymore…" Heika went on.

What was wrong with him? Daiyu scowled, her arms retreating to her sides with the sharp movement of a person who had just touched hot fire. The water flowed with her, its glowing fading as it was snapped back into her waterskin with a flick of her wrist. He just had to question her reasons, didn’t he? Heika just had to know why she was doing something and couldn’t just take it for what it was. It was infuriating, and what was worse, Daiyu wasn’t quite sure why it made her so angry.

She threw her hands up, waving them back and forth as she took several steps away from him. “It just made sense, didn’t it? Couldn’t have you not show up for work because you have a headache or then show up for work but do it badly because you have a headache. I did it, it’s done, no need to get all tetchy about it.”

This was bad. Although she had spoken the preceding words calmly enough, she could feel her emotions bubbling to the surface. Her anger, her frustration, and perhaps still a dose of confusion along with it. He didn’t need to question her, and really had ruined her attempt at just making them even for the whole thing. He helped her; she helped him, forget how he helped her. The end. But he asked the question, and it infuriated her. Her annoyance was rising by the second. A tactical retreat was in order. She would not lose her calm demeanor in front of him. That would mean she was making something of what happened last night. She wasn’t going to do that.

Daiyu turned away from Heika, her hands still waving in dismissive back and forth motions. “Ugh, y’know, whatever. Just…whatever. Forget it. I have to go get breakfast. I’ll see you at work,” she said.

With that, the young woman practically stomped down the street towards her favorite ol bar, hoping they would serve something that resembled food and would stay down for the duration of the day. As she walked, Daiyu rubbed a hand up and down her face. It didn’t matter how much she had tried to come off as normal, what she had just done…

Ugh, she had stormed off. Who was she now, a pathetic tantrum throwing teenager? What the hell was she doing?