Ryoko sat in her room, the dark surrounding her. Little light occupied her room as some candles were placed beside her. She couldn't sleep once again. She couldn't help but remember the past few days, seeing the Avatar in that state. She felt something ignite in her as she saw that beam in the sky and then when the Avatar exerted a powerful source. 

Every time she closed her eyes, memories came to her along with others she never remembered came to her. It was like a distant memory, was it lava? "What?!" She hears from rooms away. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose before getting up and leaving her room with her robe. Ryoko knew she would not be getting sleep anyway. 

Stepping into the room as dark as hers she approached the two men. "Some people would like to sleep," she says to Zuko and Iroh. 

"I'm sorry," Zuko says quietly, with annoyance in his tone. "We have no clue where the Avatar could be." Ryoko strays forward and holds Zuko's the back of hand that held the map, pulling it closer to her, not noticing the red in his face. Lines were darted all around the map. "He is clearly a master of evasive maneuvering." Ryoko rolled her eyes and walked away from the two. 

"He's twelve, how can he be master?" Times of nights like these were when Ryoko threw her respect away, especially if the noise of the royalty corrupted her already ruined sleep. The two men noticed how she held an annoyed expression. It reminded them of her father as she stood like him and thought about the Avatar as a child. They forgot at times she held herself as the daughter of a leader, even if that leader was corrupt and cruel. "I'm going to bed. Please Iroh, do not anger the prince further. I already can't sleep." She walks out the door and into her room again, closing the door on the rest of the world.

As she closed her eyes on her bed, there were flashes in her vision. An older man, lava, and then nothing. Ryoko tossed and turned throughout the night, her head pounding from all the thoughts and memories. 

The next day she groaned to herself, wiping away the sleep from her eyes. 

"Did you not sleep again?" Zuko asks, sounding annoyed. She sat with him and his uncle to eat. 

"I did sleep, that's the problem," she sighs out. 

"You seem to struggle more recently," Iroh notes, his mouth just watering from the thought of food. Ryoko did not know what to say to them without sounding crazy. Memories that were not hers was not an explanation. 

"I'm just eager to capture the Avatar," she says, not even knowing what the truth was anymore. She still wanted to capture Aang, help Zuko regain his honor. There was still that chance she would earn the respect she deserves as being the one who helped him and she wanted to take that chance. 

A man comes up to the three and puts a fish down on the table. But he doesn't leave until he tells the Prince the piece of information that was extremely valuable. "The Avatar's on Kyoshi Island?!" He stands up in disbelief. "Uncle, ready the rhinos. He's not getting away from us this time. You'll be able to sleep tonight, Ryoko." Ryoko sighed. She didn't like lying to Zuko, she preferred to be truthful, but she knew he wouldn't understand. His obsession with the Avatar has grown immensely since finding out he was alive and back. Ryoko just hoped no one would get hurt through all this, but she would do what she has to. 

"Are you going to finish that?" Iroh asks.

"I was going to save it for later!" Zuko states, snatching the fish from his uncle, leaving him pouting. Zuko leaves and then his voice is heard, "Ryoko!" Ryoko pats his uncle politely before getting up from the table and to follow Zuko. 

---

The journey to Kyoshi Island was not long and soon they were washing up on the shore. Ryoko sat on a rhino of her own, followed by Prince Zuko and six other soldiers on rhinos. "I want the Avatar alive," Zuko orders as they get onto the island. 

"He'll most likely have help, we need them out of the way." Ryoko tells them all in her armor. The five rhinos rode on until they came to the entry of the village. 

"Come out, Avatar! You can't hide from me forever." After silence, as people hid in their homes, Zuko spoke again. "Find him." The three rhinos, each holding two soldiers, walked ahead of Ryoko and Zuko. 

"I have a bad feeling," Ryoko whispers to Zuko from her position on the rhino. Her hands tightened on the reins, sweat beating down. 

Just as she said that, girls in outfits similar to the previous Avatar Kyoshi, jump off the roofs, all of the coming out to ambush the group of soldiers. One girl runs forward, her fans outstretched, towards the two. She runs right up to Zuko who throws fire at her along with Ryoko in defense. She evades the hits and jumps into the air, failing as she is hit with Zuko's rhino's tail. 

The girl falls to the ground, awaiting flames but is blocked by Sokka. Another girl pushes Zuko off of his rhino as Ryoko growls in frustration and jumps off of her rhino, slapping them away. She faces the two warriors with her fists up. The two run at her as Zuko faces another warrior on the porch. 

Ryoko punches the flames out and jumps as the two nearly catch her. She flips through the air and lands behind them, sending a kick of roaring flames to the two into the poles of one of the houses. "Guess training's over." Sokka says, groaning from the ground.

"You're the soldier, from the water tribe," Ryoko notices as she approaches the two who writhed in pain from the impact. Sokka grinned a bit in pride, being called a soldier from somebody. "Nice outfit." 

"It's a warrior's uniform!" he yells. 

"Nice try, Avatar!" Zuko yells in the middle of the village. "But these little girls can't save you."

"Hey, over here," a voice calls out. The two firebenders look to see Aang at the edge of the village, his staff at the ready. 

"Finally." Zuko hurls balls of flame at the Avatar. The two fight, as Ryoko is approached by a Kyoshi warrior. She growls, flames being thrown at the girl around her age. She flips around, trying to get closer to get the advantage, but to no avail as Ryoko sends flames to her, causing her to be pushed back into the house. Ryoko turns back to see Zuko being thrown through the air, causing him to crash into one of the other houses.

"Zuko!" She yells. She runs over, throwing off her helmet. She gets to the scene seeing the Avatar about to grab his staff, but a ball of fire thrown next to him makes him yelp in surprise. He turns around to see Ryoko standing ready to fight. "You're coming with us, Avatar."

"You don't want to fight me," he says as if it was a fact. "I don't want to fight you." He ignores her silence and continues, "What's your name?" He stares into her eyes. Eyes that normally would be a normal golden, but her pupils were not normal to Aang. It reminded him of a dragon. He grabs his staff as she hesitates. "Why are you hurting this place?" 

"Ryoko. We just want you," Ryoko says lamely. She did not want to hurt the people, or destroy more villages. Tearing apart families and hurting others was not what she wanted to do. She couldn't help she was born in the fire nation underneath as a captain's daughter, who keeps rising in ranks above her. 

"Do you know what I see in your eyes?" Ryoko didn't let the boy finish. She lets out a frustrated yell as she picks up her leg, flames coming from her leg in power, Aang rushes away into the air with his staff. She looks into the sky watching as he glided through the village. She herself looked around. There was fire and explosions everywhere. Holes in walls. Was destruction all the fire nation was? 

She shook her head of those thoughts that were just as destructive, and headed into the house that Zuko was thrown into. She came up to the boy who rubbed his head in pain. "He got away, I'm sorry. He's probably trying to find his friends now." She leaned in, examining his head and body, looking for injury. "Are you hurt?" 

"I'm fine." He shoves her lightly as he gets up and outside to find his soldiers. Ryoko slammed her fist into the floor. She had hesitated again. How could she rise up in rank if she hesitated in front of a twelve year old enemy? She makes her way outside and looks up in the sky to see the large beast, Appa flying above. "Back to the ship! Don't lose sight of them!"

Only two rhinos were found before Zuko and Ryoko took each one, the soldiers getting on the back of them. They rode through the island to get to their ship, their eyes on Appa. While riding, they looked above to see water falling down from an enormous beast. The water soaks the group, leaving the firebenders fuming. Ryoko clenches her fists that held the reins and kicked the sides of the rhino to move faster. The next time she faced the Avatar, he would not be so lucky to get into her head.

---

Days had passed and Ryoko had been training whenever the sun was out and when the sun set, she would rest, yet her mind was still taken up by thoughts. She yells in frustration as she hurls fire out at the sea. Iroh stood with Zuko watching as the soldiers backed away and past them. 

"She has been like this since Kyoshi Island, uncle." They continued watching as she calmed down and started again, but making a wrong movement, putting her leg centimeters from where it should be and she stops completely. Iroh's expression turns concerned as he watches Ryoko become more unhinged. He knew normally she would perfect these movements and yet here she was completely losing it. Much like his nephew. Her golden eyes held a rage that confused him. Ryoko was the one on board that ship who was calm, collected, and professional. He would forget she was so young like his nephew. 

Ryoko turns to see the two looking at her and she glares. "What?" They turn around and face the wall of the ship. Ryoko sighs, closing her eyes. She knew she must be calm, like always. Letting herself get worked up would be letting the Avatar win and she was not ready to let him win. 

Zuko and Iroh turned slightly to see her standing still with her eyes closed, but scrunched up as if trying to concentrate. "Maybe you should talk to her, uncle." Iroh shook his head.

"No, Prince Zuko. I think she will fare better with speaking with you." Zuko's eyes widen as he stutters.

"Why me?" 

"You are her friend, she needs a friend to speak to. Go." He pushes the boy forward, who stumbles a bit. He composes himself, sending a glare to his uncle and standing in front of Ryoko. Iroh looked at the teens and headed inside, hoping for the best. 

Zuko did not speak but waited for her to acknowledge his presence. When she opened her eyes she stared into his with an innocence to them. Hers were shaken and confused and he wanted to know everything on her mind that concerned her. Something was bothering her, more than he's ever seen from when they were children to now. "Is there something wrong with my eyes?" 

Zuko shakes his head from his thoughts and tumbles over his words. "Uh what?"

"My eyes." She steps closer as Zuko's breath hitched. "Is there something in them, something wrong with them?" Her eyes widen for him to see as he furrows his brows in confusion.

"No, they're pretty." Ryoko backs up, ignoring the blush on her cheeks and whipping fire in the air away from Zuko. "You usually get those steps perfect. Why not now?" 

"I don't know." She turns away from him and takes a deep breath. The flames became larger as they escape her hands. 

"You've been acting like this since Kyoshi Island. We'll catch the Avatar." Ryoko stiffens and then ignores his words and continues training. "So it does have something to do with the Avatar," he states as a fact. "Did he say something to you?"

"He's trying to get into my head." She glares into the horizon and lets out an uneven breath. She turns to Zuko who was still watching her. "Fight with me," she orders. She gets into a fighting stance, her fist facing Zuko. 

"You haven't wanted to train with me since you were 9, why now?" Zuko got into a fighting stance as well even though he questioned her. 

"Stop talking." Ryoko was never one to just order the prince around which surprised the boy as she got closer. She pushed the fire out with a grunt as Zuko avoided it easily. 

"You're better than that, Ryoko. What did the Avatar say to you?" She clenched her fist and turned to him again, getting back into a fighting stance. Zuko kicked up into the air, the flames flying towards her. She puts her arms up, crossed in defense. The flames hit her as they circle each other. "Are you not going to tell me?" 

"Like I said, he's trying to get into my head. I'm not going to let him. If I can fight you, I can fight him." She jumps kicks into the air and punches it as well, letting the fire go through the air with power. Zuko shields himself with his arms, pushing back on the power of the flames. 

Her gold eyes were more dull, as the bags under her eyes were evident. "Have you slept at all?" 

"What kind of question is that?" she snaps back at him. Zuko raises an eyebrow. She was acting different, maybe it was her lack of sleep he thought. "Just fight me!" Zuko sighed and got up from his stance as he stands still. 

"No." That would be what his uncle would want, so he decided to follow his steps. She freezes up and glares at the Prince.

"Why not? I'm finally allowing you a chance to fight with me." Ever since they were nine, Ryoko would avoid firebending with Zuko. She remembered that day in the fire nation gardens vividly. 

"Ryoko, don't you want to say something to the prince?" Zhao's voice says threateningly. His grip on her shoulder tightened as her frown became larger. 

Ursa stood behind her son and held him comfortingly. Zuko looked up at his mom and then Zhao. "It wasn't her fault, I promise. I pushed her. She didn't even really hurt me."

"Nonsense, your highness. Ryoko." 

"I'm sorry, Prince Zuko." She bowed her head in shame as she felt a harsh pat on her shoulder from her father. 

"There. I assure you she will learn her lesson." When she had gotten home with her father he had told her that her firebending was not strong enough to hurt the royal family, even one as weak as the prince. Nonetheless he made her apologize so they were not on bad terms with the fire lord. 

Zuko remembered that day and watched as some of the hope and color in her eyes drained. The two years on the ship let her become a powerful firebender though, even if Zhao did not believe so. He could not fathom to think of not wanting her to fire bend. She was natural with it, it was a part of her being. He loved watching her bend. 

"I'm not going to fight with you. But I'll help you, if that's what you want."

She frowned and her eyes soften as she walks away toward the railing of the deck. Zuko followed after her and stood next to her as she kept her professional stance. She looked down sadly at the water. "Do you know what I see in your eyes?" 

"What?" Ryoko turns to Zuko and looks into his eyes.

"That's what he asked me. What kind of stupid question is that?" Zuko chuckled and watched as she lightly smiled. 

"It is a stupid question," he agreed. Ryoko turned back to the water and let her hands loose of their grip of each other and leaned on the railing with her arms. Zuko strayed forward and let his hands rest on the railing, no space in between them. Ryoko would not tell him her guilt for destroying a village, or her continuing guilt of facing the Avatar though that was all she wanted to do. She didn't want to keep her thoughts from him. But she stayed silent and she would let herself enjoy the wind hitting her face on the water with him as long as she could.