Disclaimer: I own nothing!! Not even the OC's...
Notes: I totally rewrote this fic since I first wrote it when I was twelve and back then my english was terrible. Now it's not so bad xD. By the way, Cheng Shi means "honest" in Chinese... I needed a new name for the Servant.
The Life and Death of the Princess of Fire
After many years of the death of Fire Lord Zuko's daughter, nobody knew the real reason of her death. Only a few people knew about it, and decided not to tell. A servant from the Palace, Cheng Shi, decides that it is time to shut the rumors and tell the truth. With Fire Lord Zuko's approval, he tells us her story.
When she was born, all of us were incredibly happy. The servants in the palace prepared gifts for our new Princess. The first girl in the royal family, after her mother of course, and everyone was greeting the Fire Lord and our Lady for bringing to the world such a beautiful creature. She had a beautiful pale skin and a black hair, dark as ebony. She looked just like her father. The oldest prince, Prince Iroh, named after his grand-uncle who passed away before he was born, was only 5 years old when she saw his new baby sister for the first time, his eyes lit up when her mother told him that the baby was a girl. His 2-year-old brothers, the twins Hakoda and Takeo, were both staring at the princess fascinated. She was so little, and beautiful and she was their little sister.
"Mommy" Iroh said, breaking the silence "Why my baby-sister is so... tiny?" He asked with a hint of concern in his voice. Many chuckles were heard in the room. It was right for the Prince to ask such a question. He had vague memories of his twin brothers when they were born. All he asked that day was "Why are they two?" It took a while for Lord Zuko to explain to him what twins were. Of course it was stupid from him to explain a three year old boy such a complicated matter.
"Oh, sweetheart" Fire Lady Katara said, sweetly like she always does."All the babies are like this when they come to the world."
"I see... Was I that tiny once, too?" The Prince asked again.
"You were... A little bigger." Said his father, with a bright smile on his face. "Why don't you come and welcome your baby sister?" He said again.
The Prince reached over to touch his sister's face, and when she felt contact, she opened her eyes for the first time. They were blue, like her mother's. But a pale blue. She was going to look just like her father, have the spirit of her mother, and the short temper of both. We all assumed that because as soon as she opened her eyes and saw her big brother she started to cry. The poor young Iroh thought that he hurt her and ran out of the room. Now, everybody was laughing.
"Zuko, come here and hold her" Said Lady Katara. Her voice was a little throaty, and her face was pale and still covered with sweat from the labor. Fire Lord Zuko sat beside his wife in the edge of the bed and took the young princess in his arms. They looked perfect. A father holding his daughter for the first time. "What are we gonna call her?" Asked Lord Zuko as he looked from his daughter to his wife.
"I like Kaori" Said she, staring at her husband as he held the baby. She had thought of that name since she married him. Lady Katara has always wanted a baby girl since the very start. But never complaint with her boys, she loved them with all her heart.
"And here's to you Princess Kaori" Said Fire Lord Zuko to the people that were gathered at the room. The Midwives, some servants, Avatar Aang, Lady Toph, Lord Sokka and Lady Suki started to chuckle at the mocking tone in Lord Zuko's voice.
I was there. I saw everything since the very start.
A few days later, Fire Lord Zuko asked me to do him a favor. I knew the Fire Lord very well. When he came back with his sister after conquering Ba Sing Se, I was only twelve years old. I was an orphan, my mother died when she was giving birth to me and my father just sent me here to work when I was five. After Princess Azula "banished" everyone in the palace in her nervous break down, I was the only one who stayed since I wasn't around by the time she was making everyone's lives miserable.
"I'm asking you to help my wife to take care of my daughter while I'm out on an important meeting in the Earth Kingdom" He said to me, looking at me in the eye, as if he was testing me and my competence, "I trust you the most, Cheng Shi. You know me well, you know I wouldn't ask anyone to do this task... " That was pretty shocking, and true.
Since that day, I became more than a friend to Fire Lord and his wife, and of course, I became the tutor of the princess. I took care of this little girl as if she was my own daughter, and I wanted to prove Lord Zuko that he wasn't wrong when he asked me to do this task. And I'll always be thankful for that.
Obviously I bonded with the girl. I, along with her father and patient mother, taught her how to write and read. We shared this little task, dividing the time with the four kids.
The years passed, the princess was on her bed. With a high fever.
"Mommy, my throat hurts" Said Kaori. She has been like that for the past 6 months. Everything seemed to be a pattern.
"Honey, everything's going to be fine, you will see" Lady Katara said. She has been worried sick for this child and her healing abilities didn't help much. That's what drove her crazy. Kaori would get sick easily, everytime she would suffer a little cut, it would get infected awfully quick. She had mouth ulcers already, she'd have chills and tremble when it was warm, it was difficult for her to breath and her arms and neck were unusually red.
And there's nothing Katara could do.
"Let's take her to see the royal Doctor... Maybe he'd know what to do" Said Lord Zuko breaking the silence, after Kaori fell asleep."It's the best we can do now, Katara. You can't help her anymore" And with that, Lady Katara took the sleeping girl in her arms and walked to the palace's nursery followed by her husband.
I woke up to take a glass of water, as I normally did every night. When I walked past the waiting room, I saw the Fire Lord and his wife sitting there with worried expressions on their faces. I stopped immediately and entered to the room.
"Cheng Shi, what are you doing up so late?" Asked Katara. It was midnight. I explained that it was already a routine for me to wake up at this time of the night to get a glass of water. "Is she okay?" I asked, afraid of the answer.
"We still don't know" Lord Zuko said, "A few more tests and we can see what's wrong with her". And with that we all sat on the couch in silence, looking at the stars outside the window.
Twenty minutes.
One hour. The Princes woke up and came in.
Two hours, thirty minutes.
And finally the Doctor came out with his diagnosis.
"I fear, My Lord, that your daughter has a blood illness that we didn't know it existed" Said the Doctor after taking a few tests. Lady Katara was already crying silently. "Our princess has... a new illness, apparently. We have no name for it, but for what you told us, it seems to be a sickness in the blood" We didn't know what that meant, we didn't know if whatever the Princess had was mortal, but we all cried. For the first time, I saw the Fire Lord's eyes full of tears.
Our Princess was dying and we didn't know why.
The princes saw their mother cry, and they started to feel bad for their sister. Seven year old Iroh started to stroke his mother's cheek and the five year old twins gave their father a comforting hug. This scene was so heart braking. I saw in the Doctor's face, a hint of guilt.
"Do you know if it's dangerous?" I asked, hoping that the answer would be something that could calm everyone.
"I'm afraid it is, Cheng Shi" He said, when he turned around to search for the Princess, I looked at Lady Katara, with her arms around her son and her face buried in his neck, sobbing. This isn't the way things were supposed to be. The first two and a half years of life of the Princess were so full of health, then the fevers and the infections started to come out, and now we know it was no simple fever.
Lord Zuko asked the servants that were around to take the princes to their respective quarters and try to make them sleep. The Doctor came out of the nursery with Kaori in her arms, and she handed her to his parents. Lord Zuko couldn't help it and he held his daughter against his chest.
"Daddy, what's wrong with me?" The Princess asked, unaware that her life was in danger for this life eating illness.
He hugged her tighter and said.
"Nothing my love, everything's fine, you don't worry about a thing" He hugged his wife with his right arm. "Kaori, you will live your life plainly and you don't worry about this anymore, okay? I promise you everything will be fine". I was sad. My Princess Kaori could die in every moment if we didn't take care of her properly... and now... how were we supposed to tell this little girl, who's only starting to live... That her time in this world is short?.
Six years passed since the Doctor told us about that. Her brothers knew about it, and they were told not to tell her until his father says it was the proper time. Five days before her birthday, Lord Zuko told her the truth. When he came back, he looked paler than usual, and a shocked expression was covering his face."She didn't cry" He said to me, "She didn't scream, she took it perfectly fine. The only thing that she told me was that the only thing that she wanted, was to be treated like any other girl" He told me with a sad tone in his voice, then he went to his throne room.
It took me a while to digest the information. This nine year old girl was so strong... that she only asked for that simple thing. A simple thing that she knew that couldn't happen. Sick or not a Princess was never treated normally, anywhere.
In our Princess's 9th birthday, we gave her the surprise of the life. A nice private party, nothing big, just close friends, family, and a cute cake in the different from all her birthdays parties before. Lord Zuko bought her a formal dress, so that she could use it in the "Peace Ball", or something like that. It was a Ball made every year in a different nation to celebrate the end of the war. And it was the turn of the one who started this year.
"Thank you, Daddy!" She exclaimed.
Lady Katara gave her a sable-tooth-mooselion cub puff, and immediately, Kaori ran into her mother's arms and hugged her. Prince Iroh made a drawing that said "Never give up without a fight", I bet that's something that Lord Zuko told him when he was little, the young princess looked at her brother weird and then she passed to the other gift, saying thanks first. Takeo and Hakoda gave her a new hairband that matched with her pale blue eyes. She was enchanted with that hairband and immediately put it in her head. Her uncle Sokka and Aunt Suki gave her a waterbending scroll and her Aunt Toph along with the Avatar Aang gave her a bunch of crayons and lots of paper.
Though I didn't have enough money because I work in the palace voluntary, I knew the princess like the back of my hand and I bought her a book. She was paralyzed, when I gave her the book, she read the title out loud.
"'Puss in boots!! Oh, Thank you Cheng Shi!!" While she was hugging me she muttered many "thanks" into my shirt. Then we cut the cake.
"Takeo, that's not true!" She argued with her brother, again.
"Of course it is! I mean, you always blush when he gets near you" He said making his point very clear. Kaori had a secret crush. I couldn't help listen to their argument so I approached to them, preparing my little "interview" in my mind.
"What's going on here?" I asked, pretending to be annoyed with their discussion. But failed miserably.
"Takeo says that I like one of the new soldiers... You know, the ones that are training to be royal Guards. But that's not true!" Kaori said, glaring to her brother, who was smirking 'cause with that he made her admit her true feelings. I knew perfectly who the guy was and, if I may say, it was technically impossible that it would happen... So I was pretty sure that it will work out.
"Kaori, didn't you now that your twin brothers have a crush on the daughters of the Yun Fengs?" I said with a huge grin, watching Takeo's smile disappear.
"Oh, really?" Kaori responded with a devilish smile
"It was a mistake!" Takeo said, with a nervous tone on his voice.
"I bet they would be glad to know"
"If you keep your mouth shut I'll tell you who is Iroh's secret girlfriend" Said Takeo. This guy was terrible at keeping secrets.
"Keep my secret and I'll keep yours, and of course you gotta tell me who's Iroh's girlfriend!!" She said, becoming excited. She will tease her brother the rest of her life.
"Deal, well... Iroh's girlfriend is the older sister of your best friend" He whispered to to her sister.
"Takeo, I don't have a best friend..." Kaori said sadly. All the girls in the academy teased her saying that she was a cripple that won't last too much in this world. That kind of people weren't her friends.
"really?" He said, feeling a bit guilty for saying that "And that girl that came the last week with you isn't your best friend?" He asked
"No, she was my history class partner... and the only thing she did here was flirt with Iroh... And now that I'm thinking of it, it's kinda disgusting." She said, already mad at her brother. It was true that the girls in the academy weren't too fair with Kaori's situation, and for a 13-year-old girl, the fact of not having friends must be difficult.
"Kaori, tell me how are your waterbending skills?" I asked trying to change the subject. Her face lit up and she told me to follow her to the pond, so that I could see them myself.
Just as she started pulling out water from the pond, Hakoda (We call him Koda) came up to her and told her to team up and play a demonstration for me. She said that I asked only to see her skills.
"I can see both of you performing, it's ok" I said, calming her down. They performed beautiful movements that, if I have the chance, will able to watch again. When they finished, Lord Zuko called me. He told me that I was doing a great work and that, if I want, I could leave the palace whenever I wanted.
"My Lord, you're very kind of proposing me such a thing... But, no" I said with a huge grin on my face.
"And may I know the reason?" He said smirking too, knowing perfectly the reason of why was I staying.
"Well, I think that your children would miss me if I leave"
"Very well, then" He said smiling "Welcome to the family"
"My Lord, thank you very much, you have no idea--"
"Hey, if you want to be part of this family, then enough of the 'My Lord's' and 'Lady's'... Just... Zuko"
"Thanks then, L-- Zuko"
"Now you fit in" He said with a smirk, and left to his morning meetings.
ºººººººººººººººº
I could tell that Kaori was afraid of telling her dad that she was in love with one of the New Guards. She told her mom, she told her brothers but her dad. Iroh was in his honey moon with his wife, Leean. Kaori had time to know her new sister-in-law, she liked her and they became close friends. Tomorrow was Takeo's wedding. Koda was still planning on proposing.
When I was in the library reading one of my favorites books, that night... creep me out. Kaori entered crying in the room, and Lady Katara was following her trying to calm her down. The Princess sat down in a couch and Lady Katara sat beside her rubbing her back.
"May I ask what's upsetting you, Princess Kaori?" I asked trying to sound the most polite possible.
"Stop talking like that" She said among the sobs.
"She told Zuko about... You know" Katara answered for her. I guessed that Kaori told her father about the crush thing, and as I see, Zuko wasn't happy with this.
"He always ruins it, mom!" The Princess yelled suddenly bursting in tears again "When something makes me happy he always comes and ruins my happiness! That's why he--" She stopped because she knew that that was not true.
"Honey, you know very well that your father and I are always looking forward your happiness. And he's doing what he thinks is right for you, my love" Katara said, hoping that the comment will slow her down a bit.
"Well it is not right to tear you apart from the one you love!" Kaori screamed and then started to talk loud, again "He thinks that I'm a "special" person, Mom! He's always mentioning that I'm sick and that this illness is taking my life every minute! I tell him to forget about it at least for a second but he always reminds me of it! He thinks like everyone does... He thinks that I'm a cripple... A freak" The Princess said, crying harder this time. Katara just stared at her, her eyes filling with tears though she knew it was a lie. Zuko always treated his daughter differently, and Katara had told him to stop, but like always, he didn't listen.
"Kaori, do you know how your parents met?" I asked with a smile, this is a love story that would cheer up anyone with a broken heart.
"Not... really.... No" She said, wiping her tears away and flashing a little smile. "I just figured that they were arranged since they were born" She said.
"Well, guess what, you're wrong" Her mother said with a huge grin "Your father and I met in the middle of the war, he was a banished 16-year-old prince and I was a 'peasant' from the Southern Water Tribe, we were trying to kill each other for months. And after all that killing, and hating, he turned out to be a good person, we fell in love and we got married. Though it was a few years after the war was over" She said smiling and remembering the old days, when they were trying to hide their love from everyone.
The princess laughed so hard, that for a moment, I forgot about her current health situation. She seemed happy for a moment. Her life has been a living hell since her 16th birthday. The illness was getting worse and her breathing was becoming shorter every day. She was getting paler and her lips were sickly red, her eyes were deeper and darker, her waterbending, though... It was the only thing improving. Maybe the fact that it was the only thing that she could do right without her father poking her head every 5 seconds motivated her.
Iroh came back, and he greeted his brothers and warned Takeo's wife, and Koda's engaged. After being a moment with them, he decided to go and greet his sister. But instead of seeing her sister in her room, she was talking to that new guard that she always mentioned in her letters. His eyes widened when she kissed the soldier, but she quickly pulled herself away and ran to her room, passing right past Iroh who stopped her.
"So, you and your boyfriend were kissing behind my father, huh?" He asked with a hint of sarcasm. Prince Iroh was always concerned about his sister. When I had the chance to meet Katara's older brother, I saw that he was really protective with her, and blamed Zuko a lot for getting her pregnant. Iroh was like that with Princess Kaori, he was always poking her head asking where she was, what was she doing, with who she was, etc.
"He's... not my boyfriend" She said, blushing like hell. Iroh knew she was lying, but he was happy because at least his sister found her true love, no matter if it was a guard, or a member of the nobility. Kaori turned her face away to hide the crimson blush. The guard came up to them and asked for forgiveness to Prince Iroh.
"Why are you humiliating yourself in front of my sister begging for mercy?" He asked laughing to Lu Ten, the guard that stole Kaori's heart. His parents named him in honor of General Iroh's dead son. Lu Ten's father was a close friend of... well, the real Lu Ten and they were together in that battle on Ba Sing Se. When he died, General Iroh, his father and many other soldiers were just devastated by the loose of a good friend, a good son and a brave soldier.
"Well, I-- Umm... Your point is?" For the way he talked, Iroh knew that he was damn nervous, but still not afraid of him. He told them that it was okay for him to be to together, and he was sure that Takeo and Koda didn't care about Kaori's crush. Prince Iroh knew that Lady Katara was happy about this weird relationship, but he wasn't sure if his father would accept him in the Royal Family.
"Of course not!" Lord Zuko yelled at his daughter. "Dad, please. I love him, isn't that enough reason for you?!" Kaori answered already angry with her father for treating her like a child.
"Kaori, you know very well why I don't want you to be with him, he's a p--" Lord Zuko shut his mouth when Lady Katara shot him a deadly glare for almost using the word "peasant" in front of her. We all knew that, since Katara is living in the palace, the word peasant was forbidden in this castle. Lord Zuko continued, this time calmer than before. "Kaori, my point is that..." He looked at her pale blue eyes. He didn't have anything against the guard, he just didn't want to see his daughter get hurt. He even liked the guy.
He sighed "I don't have a point, do I?" He said, smirking because he knew that he has been defeated by his own daughter.
"Dad... are you serious?" Kaori said with excitement. She knew perfectly that her father would agree if she marry Lu Ten. Kaori hugged her father tightly, and then she jumped around everyone saying and screaming "I'm getting Married!". Lu Ten was aware of her illness, he cared and worried about her. He have had Zuko's approval since the beginning, he just didn't want to tell.
The wedding took place a month later. Lord Zuko felt happy because her daughter was enjoying herself. All the family was present in the wedding. The Avatar Aang was the God-father of the not-so-young children , and of course he was here with his wife Toph Bei Fong. Their sons, Kui and Tei, were here making a performance of their respective elements. Mr. Sokka and his wife The Kyoshi Warrior, Suki, were present to greet their nephews and niece, though they didn't have the chance to be present in the weddings of the boys, they came to congratulate Kaori and her brothers as well. When the party ended, Kaori and "her" Lu Ten parted to Ember Island, like her brothers and everyone else of her family have done.
She was happy, and all of us were happy, we thought that she would be with us for many years... but we guessed wrong. A week later, Kaori and Lu Ten came back, the looked so happy together. We made another party in her honor and well, the couple was tired of parties so they went to their quarters.
The night that we most feared arrived. At three o' clock in the morning, Lu Ten knocked all of our doors, he was screaming for the Doctor like a mad man and crying desperately. He looked for the Doctor, who came five minutes later. All of us were awake, Lord Zuko and Lady Katara, Prince Iroh and Princess Leean, Prince Hakoda and Princess Teeah, Prince Takeo and Princess Miriam, and me. What scared me was the fact that Princess Kaori wasn't here with her husband. Lu Ten led the doctor to the room where Princess Kaori and him were sleeping.
We followed them and we saw that Princess Kaori was in the bed, upside down, paler than ever and with eyes wide open. We were worried, the Doctor asked us to stay out of the room. We were waiting, hoping the best for our princess. Lu Ten was already in fetal position, with his back against the wall. Prince Iroh was crying for her sister already, and was praying to the spirits to give his sister at least 2 more years of life. The Doctor came out with a sad face. She gave us her condolences and said that our dearest Princess wasn't with us anymore. Lu Ten shook his head in disbelief, he ran inside the room and hugged his wife's empty body muttering in her ear that she promised him to never leave.
Lady Katara faint and we were trying to get her back. After three minutes of unconsciousness she burst in tears, screaming for her daughter. Lord Zuko sat in the edge of the coach and cried in silence. Iroh was just staring at the floor with tears in his eyes, his wife hugged him and cried in his chest. Takeo and Hakoda hugged their wives and cried together. I cried against the wall seeing the saddest scene ever: Lu Ten hugging his dead wife, our princess, crying.
Her funeral was the biggest in the history of the Fire Nation. We honor the memory of Kaori, Princess of the Fire Nation.
I tell this story, because it's horrible to keep it inside of your being. I wanted to share with you the story of the bravest girl I've ever met.
Thankfully now we have a name for this illness. Apparently it is called Neutropenia, a decreased production in the bone marrow, in her case.
"The death isn't the thing that scares me... what scares me is the time. I'm scared to not live enough to do the things that I want to do". I felt tears in my eyes in that moment, I really never felt so happy for this girl.