Even Though I Hate You

Zuko walked through the empty prison cells. He went down an empty corridor and passed his father, sitting in what seemed to be the only occupied cell in the whole prison, but Zuko knew of one more. He passed his father without a second glance and continued to a higher security area. There was also only one person locked away in there and as Zuko approached the cell she occupied, the girl looked up at him and glared.

"What do you want?" Azula spat at her older brother.

"I was just checking to see if you were making yourself comfortable in your new cell," he teased. It felt good to be the one in the better position for a change.

The Princess looked to the floor of her cell, "What are you going to do to me?"

"What do you mean when you ask that?" he asked. He really didn't know why he had come to see her himself; he'd just had the urge to see her and he was able to, so he did.

"I mean, what are you gonna do to me? Are you going to have me executed or banished? Or are you just going to leave me in here to rot?" she scowled at him as she spoke.

Zuko thought about the question for a moment.

"You're going to be staying in here. I won't banish you and I'm not going to kill you," he informed her in a calm tone.

There was silence for a moment.

"Why?" she asked.

"What do you mean? Why what?"

"Why are you keeping me in here?" she looked him in the eye and he could see her falling apart. "If you have no use for me and I'm not going to be able to do anything, then why won't you just kill me?"

Zuko looked down at his little sister in pity, "I wish I could let you out. I wish I could trust you not to do any damage."

"If you don't trust me then just kill me already!" she shouted to him through the bars of her cell.

Zuko hung his head, "Azula, you are the worst little sister in the world and I have no doubt that you're insane and that you hate my guts. You've put me through so much hurt and pain and I don't think I can ever forgive you for the things you've done. But…" He opened his eyes and looked right into hers. "Even though I hate you, I could never kill you."

Azula looked at him in shock. She had almost killed him on several occasions; how could he not want to get back at her for it?

"Uh, you're too weak to take a life," she smirked.

"No, I'm strong enough not to. The truth is," he paused for a thoughtful moment as he contemplated how to word his sentence. "The truth is, even though I hate you, even though you've done so many horrible things and I can never forgive you, you're still my little sister, and I can't help but love you."

The Fire Princess felt her mouth fall slightly open as her brother confessed to her. After all of these years of her being a back stabbing little bitch to him, he was still willing to admit that he loved her.

"How can you say that?" she asked in disbelief as she stood up.

"It's pretty easy. As your big brother it's my job to look after you. I can't help but feel for you," he explained, never breaking eye contact.

"But I've almost killed you so many times! And I hate you! How can you still say that you love me?" she yelled at him, clutching the cold metal bars that separated them.

"It's not something I can help. It's just the way things are."

"No!" she cried, tears streaming down her face. Why was she crying? Why was she upset that Zuko still loved her? "How? How can you love me after all that I've done to you? No one loves me! Not even dad loves me anymore! He only thinks I'm a failure just like you! How can you still love me?"

The Fire Lord looked at his sister in sympathy.

"What can I say? I'm not like Dad. It's as simple as that. I was raised by Mum and Uncle, and they always taught me that I should love the people around me no matter what. That included you, Azula. And I always promised Mum that I would take care of you even though you did so many terrible things to me," Zuko told her.

"No! NO! Zuko, stop it! You don't love me! You hate me!" she screamed as her face sparkled with tears.

"Azula, even though I hate you I love you at the same time."

The girl pressed her lips tightly together and tried desperately to silence her sobs. She shook her head slowly as she looked at her brother.

She fell to her knees and cried with her face in her hands.

Zuko looked at her in concern. He knew his sister had finally cracked. She had lost all sense of sanity and now she was broken and still tearing herself apart. Even though he hated her, it was still hard on him to see her like this.

Finally, he could take no more of just standing there and watching her break apart.

He opened her cell door and walked in, shutting it behind him and he knelt down at her side.

"Azula, look at me," he whispered.

The girl shook her head violently and tried to turn away from him but he put his hands on her shoulders and gently pulled her around to face him.

She tried to turn back away again but she no longer had the physical strength to do it, so she just cried into her hands.

Zuko wrapped his arms around her and she slumped to lean onto him, her head on his shoulder.

"No… Zuko, no…" she sobbed hysterically. Her rage and malice was uncontainable.

"It's alright, everything's going to be alright," he tried to comfort her, unable to leave her in such a state of hysteria.

"I don't deserve… after everything… why do you still love me...?"

Zuko couldn't stop himself from trying to comfort her.

"You're my baby sister. I can't stop loving you. I know you're upset, and I know you're really confused, but do you really hate me so much that you don't love me even a bit?" he asked, half hopeful.

"No… I hate you…!" she yelled, her voice muffled by his shoulder as she continued to cry.

"Azula, look me in the eye and tell me that you don't love me at all, that the only emotion that passes through you when you see me is hate!" Zuko told her. No, he dared her.

The princess pushed herself off of him and looked him in the eye. Face set in a frown she tried to say it, "I hate… I … I hate…"

Her face softened in self disappointment. She couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye and say it to his face. She just couldn't.

"I can't…"

"Azula, look me in the eye and tell me that you still love me. Can you do that?" he cooed.

She lifted her head and looked him in the eye once more and bit her trembling lip.

"I… love…you…" she managed to whisper with a solemn face. As soon as she said it her expression turned to one of fear and defeat and she hung her head. "I'm too weak not to."

"And as much as we say we hate each other, we'll never be able to do it when we're looking each other in the eye, because even though we hate each other we still love each other."

"Jeez, where did that come from, Zuzu? You've been listening to Uncle way too much," she forced a bitter laugh and scowled meanly at him.

Zuko cradled her for a little while longer before he left.

"So, you're just gonna leave me in here?" she asked.

"I can't kill you and I won't banish you. I can't trust you to leave here just yet, so for now, this is where you'll be staying," he said over his tear-stained shoulder.

"Will you come visit me now and then at least? I might actually find my sanity if I have some company," she gave a lopsided smirk.

Zuko looked at her and sighed, "I guess so. Even though I hate you, I can't let you go insane forever."

With that he walked off, promising himself that he'd remember that even though they had had their bad days – and lots of them – he and Azula were still brother and sister and they still needed each other.

"Even though I hate you…"

Random, stupid and probably way out of character. I wrote it ages ago and randomly decided to post it after giving it a really quick and pathetic excuse of a 'touch-up'. Whatever. Enjoy. R&R.