The person came back. Again.

Zuko narrowed his eyes as he eyed the figure that entered his uncle's tea shop. At the person's constant return, at first Zuko had suspected him of being a spy for the fire nation, but his uncle had told him there was nothing to worry about; it was just a person who liked to enjoy his afternoons with his "lady friends."

So now Zuko no longer thought of him as a spy.

He thought of the person as a womanizer.

Day after day, the person returned, each time with a different girl.

Zuko had a feeling that even if he didn't know the fact that that person was a womanizer, he wouldn't like the person anyway. The person had sort of feminine features, with shoulder-length hair pulled back in a half pony-tail. Not to mention those seemingly-innocent black eyes that stared adoringly into his constantly changing "lady-friends."

"He's back again!" Zuko exploded as he entered the kitchen. Uncle Iroh looked up from his steaming mug of tea and peered through the curtains at the man.

"He must really like my tea," His Uncle said cheerfully. "Look at how he brings all his lady-friends to introduce my tea to them."

"Are you stupid? Who would look at that and call those girls his lady-friends?"

"Why are you so bothered, Zuko? It is none of our business…"

"It wasn't. But it became my problem from the moment he walked into the tea shop with Jin!"

"Relax, nephew. I thought you weren't really serious with her." Iroh took a deep sip from his mug.

"You're right. But still. It bugs me." Especially because she showed up in the tea shop with him just a day after I told her I didn't feel the same way about her.

"There is work to do! Now please, forget about the man and get to work, Zuko. Look at all the customers!" Iroh patted his big hand on Zuko's back and pushed him through the curtains. Zuko sighed and carried steaming mugs of tea to serve the customers.

Every now and then, Zuko shot the man a venomous look, but he didn't seem to notice it.

Remember Zuko, I need five jars of grounded Jasmine, Earl Grey, and if they have any, please get some Oolong Tea. Oh yes, and Ginseng Green Tea would be good too.

Zuko sighed and walked towards the herbs store. He fingered the money in his pocket and whispered the types of tea his uncle asked him to buy again. The last time he went on an errand for his uncle, he had forgotten one- one- jar of Keemun Encore Tea, and his uncle was unreasonably disappointed in him.

"Lee?" Zuko stopped in his tracks and froze. He recognized this voice.

"Hi, Jin…" Zuko said, and his face flushed. He couldn't possibly look at the girl in the eye after the way he hurt her feelings.

"How have you been?" Jin's voice sounded cheerful, so Zuko dared a peek at her. She was, actually, looking better than Zuko had ever seen her. "And how's your uncle doing? I forget his name…"

"Mu Shi. And he's been fine. I've been fine too." Jin's hair was in the same ponytail she had when they had their first date. She was still wearing her plain green robe, but now Zuko noticed that it matched the color of her eyes. Why hadn't he noticed it before?

"Uh… how have you been?" Zuko felt the need to ask. From the way the Womanizer (that's what Zuko called him in his head now) was changing his female companions, he was sure he wasn't the only one who broke Jin's heart.

"Good. I've been great, actually." Zuko didn't want to believe it, but Jin's face was positively beaming. "I got a job at the pottery store. I help customers choose vases and such."

"And… how's your new boyfriend?" Zuko dared to ask. Either the Womanizer broke up from her after their first date, or Jin was being cheated on. And if it was the latter, Zuko was going to let her know about it.

An eyebrow rose. "Boyfriend? No… I don't have a boyfriend." The light faded a bit from Jin's eyes. "I haven't really been seeing anyone after… you know." Jin looked away from him, for the first time Zuko saw a hint of sadness in her face. Zuko felt the heat crawl up from his collars.

"But… there was that one person. You know. After you and I… you know. You came into the tea shop with him…" Now Zuko could see the Jin's face turn red too.

"Oh, him. He's not really anyone. Just a friend, you know. He helped me get my mind off of things you know, and I've been feeling so down… I mean, not that I was too bothered by what happened between us and all, but um, we just went out for tea and just took a stroll around town, and after that we went to the fountain…" Jin's face was getting redder by the second. Zuko realized why; she was basically describing the first date Zuko and she had together. "…Anyway nothing special. Just a friend. It definitely helped me get my moods up…" Jin slowly backed away, her eyebrows here scrunched together and she definitely looked like she was about to cry. "Um… see you around!" Jin turned on the spot and ran away.

Zuko stared after her, not knowing what to do.

Then he realized how much time had passed and sprinted towards the herbs store, remembering the look of his uncle's face the last time he was tardy.

"Your friend is back!" Iroh cheerfully announced as he pushed through the curtains towards where Zuko was grinding up the herbs. Zuko looked up warily. "But this time, no lady friends."

Zuko sighed. "I don't care about that anymore… I have better stuff to worry about."

"Well, I'm glad. But he is a customer and he must be served tea! Go tend to him, nephew." Iroh started humming and checked on the steaming pots of tea. Zuko sighed again and rose from his seat.

Just like his uncle had said, the Womanizer had no girls with him. "How may I help you?" Zuko asked mechanically as he positioned his pen against the pad to write.

"One Jasmine tea, please… and could I speak to the tea expert of this place?" The Womanizer raised his black eyes and into Zuko's golden ones. Zuko noted that he looked much fatigued from other times.

"I'll… go bring him now." Zuko said, and walked in the kitchen. "Uncle! The person wants to talk to you." Iroh looked up, surprised. Then, after checking to see if he looked messy, he pushed through the curtains and left. Zuko resisted the temptation to peek through, and resumed the grinding of the herbs.

Iroh was talking with the Womanizer for a very long time, and soon it was time to close the shop. Even after other customers and their employees had left, his uncle was in a very deep conversation with the Womanizer.

It was after Zuko had finished cleaning up and sweeping when he saw that both his uncle and the Womanizer rising from their seats. Iroh handed a small package to the Womanizer, and after he gave a respectful bow to his uncle, he finally left.

"What did he want?" Zuko asked immediately after the Womanizer was out of sight.

"He just wanted some good herbal tea that would make his sick mother feel better." Iroh replied gravely. "She doesn't seem to be doing well."

"That Womanizer has a mother?" Zuko asked incredulously.

"His name is Kozue… and Zuko, you must know that everyone has a mother." Iroh looked sideways at him. "And…" He cleared his throat. "I have hired him to work for us starting from tomorrow."

Zuko blinked.

"Huh?" Surely he must've heard that wrong.

When it was apparent that he, in fact, did not hear wrong, he exploded into one of his rages. "Why?!" He asked angrily.

"He is facing hardship at the moment… And he cannot resume the job he has now. He told me that he was recommended this job by a friend of his."

"Jin." Zuko snarled under his breath. "And exactly why can't he continue his job?" Zuko spat.

Iroh's face hardened. "That is no business of yours, nor mine."

"But you know, don't you?" Zuko stared hard into his uncle's eyes.

Iroh sighed. "Yes. Yes, I do."

"Then why can't you-"

"You will learn soon enough, I expect, if you make friends with the boy." Iroh looked sympathetically at the direction Kozue walked off into. "And do, please try to be kindly with the boy. He has had too much corruption in his life for his age." Iroh's gaze returned to Zuko. "Like you."

Zuko looked away.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Kozue." Zuko stared at the hand presented before him, and hesitated a moment before reaching out to shake it. Kozue was shorter than him; the top of his head just reached Zuko's nose. Kozue's skin was light brown, with black eyes and black hair. After giving the boy another look, Zuko finally concluded that he could not understand why there were so many Earth Nation girls who were crazy about him.

From his short relationship with Jin, Zuko learned a bit about what girls normally thought of their "ideal boyfriend type." After listening to much of Jin's rant about her friends and their boyfriends, much girls (at least in Earth nations anyway) had a sort of general agreement in what a boy should look like to be attractive.

First of all, their eyes. Light colored eyes were the "in" in Earth nation cities, ranging from light blue, green, to yellow. ("That's why I instantly fell in love you with you," Jin had giggled to a blushing Zuko.) And paler their skin was the better. ("Because you know, if you have pale skin it sometimes gives a girl illusions that you're of noble blood, and you stay inside while others toil outside in the hot sun." Jin smiled at Zuko's pale face while he squirmed uncomfortably inside.)

To a girl from Earth Nation, it was not likely that a boy who shared common features with Kozue would attract much attention.

But Kozue did. How, Zuko didn't know.

But as he looked around the tea shop, he had to admit that Kozue's employment at his uncle's tea shop was definitely beneficial to their sales. The number of girls had increased.

Zuko turned to see his uncle smiling in an I-told-you-so way, and looked away in disgust.

"You're skin is so beautiful, Yu-Fan… And your hair is such a beautiful color of brown." Zuko pretended to puke over his bowl of ground herbs as he heard Kozue's praise of a female customer through the curtains.

The tea shop was filled with women now. There were even specific requests for Kozue to serve them, the other waiters and waitresses could sit around leisurely and watch Kozue hurry from table to table, delivering tea, getting orders, and… most importantly, charm the ladies.

"I must admit," One of the waitresses said while sipping tea, "After Old man Mu Shi hired Kozue, it's gotten easier to work in here." She sighed and continued her longing gaze at Kozue.

Zuko ignored the girls and turned toward the hired boys. They didn't dare say anything in front of Zuko's stony face, but he could tell they thought the same. At least, they were thankful that Kozue was doing all the work for them.

"Don't lie about there; go find something to do!" Zuko barked at them. The hired work threw a sullen look at him and slowly rose to find the easiest work possible.

He's throwing the peaceful little cycle our tea shop had. Zuko thought, disgruntled, remembering how hard working their employees was before they had hired Kozue. He resumed grinding the herbs in the bowl with a little bit more force than necessary.

Author's Note:

Hello there. I'm new to writing fanfiction, but not in reading. This is my first fanfiction ever, I've always had little ideas in my head but this is the first time wrting it all down. I hope you enjoy.

Oh yeah, and some of the stuff here I just made up to make the story more interesting. Like the "ideal boyfriend" type of the girls in the Earth Nation. I actually don't know anything about that, I don't even know if they have those things out there. But don't hate me to much :P

Enjoy! XD