A Minor Inconvenience

A/N: I am so sleep-deprived right now. But I've had this idea for some time and today, I just have to write it down. You know those insane urges that grab your soul and don't let you be until you've written down your idea into a finished piece? That's sort of what I'm feeling at the moment. It's set from the start of season three until Boiling Rock.

Azula never regrets a decision. But sometimes, she comes close.

The Fire Princess is strolling along the courtyard. Well, it looks like a stroll, but she's actually deep in thought. Walking stimulates her mind—she's never known why. Her father comes up with his greatest ideas while meditating, but Azula simply blanks out when she does that. No, it's better to walk. Deep down, she shudders to think that it's a trait that she very possibly inherited from her mother.

From the corner of her eye, she registers Zuko. He's with the turtleducks once more. Pathetic. But there's something about him that she's never seen before. Something she can't place...the secret lies in the smirk of his lips, the narrow-eyed laugh in his eyes as he tosses the birds some bread.

What are you hiding? The princess needs to know, so she marches up to him, her golden eyes like a hawk. "Hello, Zuzu," she croons, using his most hated nickname. Surely that's the right trigger...It's worked before, hasn't it?

He glances up at her. The prince's smirk almost dissolves. Almost. There's still the remnants of it, and let's not forget the fact that his eyes have remained astoundingly cool. No tension, no nerves...Something isn't right. Azula knows that she can send shivers down his spine by her very presence, but today...

"Hey."

Mai's dry voice is laced with...what's the word...emotion. What? What? Just—what?

The knife-thrower comes towards the siblings and seats herself beside the prince. "Hey," he says softly, and his smirk is back.

It's Mai who notices it. "Zuko, you have a little..." and then she moves a finger to the corner of his mouth and dabs his skin, wiping away a small trace of food.

"Oh," Zuko says, taking hold of the girl's hand, without any regard to his sister being right there. "Fruit tart." He gives his girlfriend a look only people over eighteen ought to understand.

The complete lack of innocence in their expressions makes Azula want to hurl.

Floral is not the sort of fragrance you expect to encounter if you walk past your brother's room. Even the ever-ready Azula isn't prepared for this. His door is wide open, which is always alarming; the chamber is empty, and the threshold appears to be scented with perfume.

To be precise—(Azula sniffs the air to be sure)—Fire Lily perfume. It's a very faint, subtle aroma, customary to the flower. Even a Fire Lily in full bloom smells very slightly. Enough to be noticed and appreciated, but not enough to gag any creature that breathes.

It is something Azula has always associated with Mai. The knife-thrower is like that. Obvious enough to not be forgotten, but not so overt that she steals the show. It's just the right amount, the princess thinks. Because after all, to be Azula's friend, your very presence needs to make a statement, and yet not be more noticeable than the princess herself.

Not only that, but this is perfume also just happens to belong to Mai. Azula has noticed its faint aroma around the knife-thrower since the day they became friends. The girl's eyes widen in horror, just around the time her brother makes an entrance.

"Where were you?" she barks when she sees his scarred face.

He glances at her mildly. "I was just dropping Mai home. Why?"

Azula nods once, very slowly. "And Mai was here?" the girl points in the general direction of the room door.

Zuko, still very clearly intoxicated by the memory of his girlfriend's hand on his, doesn't catch on. "Yes. Why? What's going on?"

The princess cringes. This was one of the reasons she liked it when Zuko was banished. He went away, and with him, all his embarrassing boy-related situations. Like this. From the back of her mind, a conversation with her other friend comes back to her. "I once walked on my cousin and his fiance—" Ty Lee breaks off and shudders.

"Nothing," Azula manages not to stammer. "I'm going. There." And then she quickly dives away, away from Zuko's room, promising herself to never come back to this side of the palace as long as she is alive.

Azula is a warrior with a strong stomach for gore. During her training as a Firebender, she charred several of her opponents to death, multiple times, throughout many practices. She knew the damage Mai's knives could do, she'd seen Ty Lee get stabbed by them once when they were sparring. Azula didn't even bat an eyelid, though Mai had been horrified and Ty Lee had started to cry.

The princess could take almost anything.

Anything but this.

"For the love of Agni, get a room!" she roared as she walked into them making out. To be perfectly fair, they had a room. It had been a lounge with no-one but the two of them in it until Azula had invaded their privacy.

"We have one," Zuko replied, perfectly within his rights. Mai got off him and stood, straightening her dress.

"What's gotten into you?" the knife-thrower asked calmly. "You're never this aggravated when you see us kissing." Agni, trust her to get right down to it.

"That's because I don't see it happen much. And when I do..." Azula shivered. "It's sickening, okay? Anyway, Mai, I need you."

"Why?" was the sardonic reply. "Ty Lee need someone to braid her hair again?"

No, I just don't want to see my brother's tongue down your throat any more than I already have. "No. Ty Lee needs you to spar with her."

Zuko and Mai rolled their eyes at each other. Azula burned inside. Those two behaved as though they were already married.

"Just go," Azula snapped.

"Going, going," Mai said, glaring at Azula. "See you tonight, Zuko."

"Bye, Mai."

When the siblings were left alone in the room, the older brother burst out laughing.

"What?" Azula snarled.

"Nothing," Zuko gasped through his mirth as he made his way to the door. "It's just that, if you hate it so much, you shouldn't have set us up."

"Like that would have made any difference! You two would have started dating anyway."

"You're probably right." Still laughing, Zuko slammed the door in her face.

She falls, crippled. Her limbs disobey her as she tries to move them. Azula's entire world starts to spin. Ty Lee betrayed her. How dare she...How dare she...

"You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you."

The words haunt her. They resound, the force in each syllable sonorous and hurtful. Mai loves Zuko more than she fears Azula. Mai loves Zuko more than—no. How could that even be possible?

Perhaps it's shock, perhaps it's exhaustion. Maybe it's simply Ty Lee's chi-stopping abilities...but for some reason, Azula feels herself drifting away. Her eyes close, but she fights sleep off. She can't afford to rest. There are things to be done. She needs to compartmentalize this. Mai and Ty Lee are not important. Zuko matters even less...He is merely a...a..."It's just that, if you hate it so much, you shouldn't have set us up."

Azula never regrets a decision. But this is an exception.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please leave a review, they make me so happy :)