Author's Note - My first Zutara fanfic. Please review. Thank you.
Disclaimer - I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender nor any of it's characters.
Water and Fire
-- Prologue --
They walked through the city of Ba Sing Se together, their fingers occasionally brushing against each other, but never grasping at the other's hand. They chattered about seemingly meaningless stuff. Things that couples would speak of. However, these two were not couples. They were friends. However, neither could truthfully admit that they did not have feelings for the other.
One was a girl, standing at roughly five feet and six inches, not incredibly tall for other fifteen year old girls. She had darkly tanned skin, a stark contrast to most people's lighter tan in the earth kingdom city. She also had crystal clear blue eyes, a grand difference between the earth people, who had green to even a very blue green eye coloration. She had long dark brown hair, which wasn't that far away from becoming a shade of black, and wore it in a fashion unique to all other societies. She had placed it in a bun at the base of her head with a thick, single braid falling down to about her waist. She also had blue beads keeping her long bangs from her face, which were then turned into hair loops and the ends beaded into the bun at the base of her head. She was also slender, having those suttle curves of a young woman. She carried herself well with both dignity and pride with each and every step. She wore robes of blue and white, wound around her slender figure and kept that way by a thick, white sash around her waist. With one look, you could tell she was a full fledged water tribe girl. And after a year of the war being over, it was not uncommon to see a water tribe inhabitant visiting the great city that served as the earth kingdom's capital.
Her companion was a boy of seventeen. He was rather tall compared to the girl, standing at somewhere just slightly below six feet. He had pale skin, not that unique to the people native to this area. However, his skin was scarred beyond any healing could ever try to touch. The scar was the first thing anyone would ever notice about him; the leathery, darker flesh surrounded his left eye, and stretched across his face to disappear behind his hair line. The final memoir from his 'beloved' father from when he was thirteen years old. He had golden eyes, a thing that, again, was not commonly seen by others of this nation. He had black hair that was pulled back from where it normally sat to produce a high, waterfall ponytail, held up with a crimson tie that wound itself around the hair three times. He too carried himself with dignity and pride. He wore regular earth kingdom robes, however he was not of this nation. His robes were of a dark, forest green coloration, with golden accents around the trim. Overall, they were very simple clothes. This boy was of fire nation. The very nation that had been defeated and then reformed once more after the war had been fought and won by those not of fire nation. This particular fire nation citizen was the Prince. Had been since birth, through the war. He had betrayed his family when the war began, joining the side against his father and sister. He himself, along with the water bender he walked alongside, had killed his sister. The avatar killed his father. And now, his uncle, Dragon of the West and Fire Lord, was his only family. Not that he cared, Iroh was the only one who had been his family since the prince was thirteen years old and since his mother was taken away by the fire nation.
The pair were walking down the street, again, chattering about senseless topics such as talking about the stupid things they've done in their lives. The girl was smiling, while the boy had the faintest hints of a smile gracing his lips, a very rare thing for this prince to do.
The pair turned down a street, still chattering as others passed them by quietly. The girl nodded and fell silent, nibbling on her lower lip as she contemplated what to say next. Her companion said nothing, only watched him out of the corner of his good eye. She was, after all, walking on his right side. They turned again one another street before stopping at a rather elegant looking house, where they were to stay for the next week and a half as they attended various political meetings with both the avatar and their companions.