My Christmas Gift

"I wonder where he is…"

I poked my head around the corner and saw him in his bedroom, bending over and doing something. Quietly, I snuck up behind him and screamed a quick hello. He did move. Can't he at least fake that he was shocked.

"Ko-chan…?"

"Stop calling me that," he commanded, staying in his same position. What was he doing? I walked to the side to see what he was doing, but he turned away. Okay, this is not cool. I want to know.

Plopping down beside him, I noticed he turned my back to me again. OKAY, I want to know! "Is this thing you're doing on a need-to-know basis or something?" I demanded angrily.

"Yes, leave me alone."

I shouted in frustration. My curiosity was much stronger than my sense of safety right now. I shook him vigorously, pleading for him to tell me what he was doing.

"Tell me! Tell me!" I pleaded. He didn't speak back. Tears swelled up in my eyes as I poofed into sad chibi mode. "Ko-chan! Stop being so mean."

"That's the way I am, now leave me alone!"

Turning back to my regular self, I stomped off. If Zuko won't tell me what he's doing, I'm going to ask Iroh-san. Walking down the hallway, I happened to bump into him. Yes, I had such good luck… kinda.

"Iroh-san."

"Yes, Sammy?"

"Well, I was wondering… do you know what Zuko is doing in his bedroom?" I asked. Iroh-san placed his hand to his chin as if he was thinking about it. After a few moments, he shook his head.

"I don't know, Sammy."

"Could you get to him and then tell me, Iroh-san?" I asked, almost ready to get on my hands and knees. C'mon, what does a girl have to DO around here to know what this guy is doing? He shook his head.

"It'd probably be best we left him alone. He seems to finally find a different hobby than finding the Avatar," Iroh-san stated, patting my head like I was a little child. I pouted and nodded. Before we continued on, he told me, "I'm sure he'll show you soon."

I nodded again and stumbled down the hallway. It's not fair. Today is Christmas and I wanted to give Zuko this present I made him. I was telling him about Christmas this past week. Every time I was about to say something, Christmas would somehow pop into the subject.

However, my present for him wasn't that cool. I just drew him a picture of a panda spitting out fire on some bamboo. It's how I thought of Zuko. I though the panda as a cool, yet ferocious creature and the fire represented the determination he has. The bamboo is for anyone who stands in his way, which was burning. I liked it a lot. I've been carrying it around all day in my hand so if I ever saw Zuko in a somewhat good mood, I could give it to him. That's it. Turn on the Mission Impossible music, I'm going to interrogate—err, I mean, ask people about what he has in store for us.

Sneaking around into the kitchen, I appeared next to Hana like a snake and frightened her when she acknowledged my presence. I almost got my arms chopped off with that huge butcher knife of hers! Jeez, can't I just be James Bond without trying to get killed? "Hana, do you know anything about Zuko's strange behavior lately?" I asked after she realized it was me and not one of Zuko's drunken men.

"Well, I think he's been acting strange since we visited the Trading Ground," Hana replied, thinking. "I think he bought something, or he made someone buy something. I don't know exactly, but I'm sure he bought something."

Okay, clue number one, he bought something at the trading ground. The rest of the day, I had been asking his men. I hadn't gotten much more other than

He asked that no one would tell about it.

And

He actually bought two things, lots of one plant and something else that couldn't be described very well because it was in a bag.

The only think I could think of was the Fire Flower from Mario Brothers. I had no idea at all what it could've been. I plopped down on my bed. Believe it or not, I'm giving up. There aren't enough clues to put anything together. I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in!" I said lazily. Suddenly, I perked up. What if word had gotten around and someone had another clue for me! However, there he was. Mr. I'm-so-mighty standing in my doorway with his hands behind his back. Oh, now what? Is he going to try and pretend he's not going to attack me and then attack me when I think he's not going to attack? Nice try, Zuko. I'm not that dumb. Sighing, I let him come into my room.

"What're you doing here?" I asked, still bummed out from not finding anything that would've clued me in to what he was doing before. Zuko looked away.

"I heard you've been snooping around, trying to figure out what I was doing," he stated, seeming a little ticked. Hmph, it's his fault for not telling me. Inquiring minds want to know.

"Yeah, I did," I replied, a bit sadly. I think Zuko noticed my tone of voice. Smirking, I think he could tell what happened by the look on my face.

"Nothing, huh?'

"I didn't get any info and you're probably not going to tell me," I whined, digging my head into the silky pillow.

"Of course I'm not going to tell you."

"See…"

"I'd rather show you.
My head darted up. I looked at him with sparkles in my eyes from the excitement. "What is it, Zuko? What is it?"

"Only if you don't call me Ko-chan or whatever dumb nicknames you make up," Zuko replied, glaring at me. I sighed in defeat and nodded to him. He held out a bag and I took it.

"Ooo, I can open it?" I asked.

"What else is a bag for?" Zuko remarked.

"To carry stuff."

"Just open it!"

I opened the bag and inside was a thin silver necklace with a flame charm attached to it. My entire system almost shut down. Zuko is being nice… TO ME? I slapped myself. No, that hurt, it's not a dream!

"Why did you slap yourself, stupid?" Zuko asked, raising an eyebrow. "I know it's not much, but you've been going on about this Christmas thing all week and I thought maybe you'd shut up if I got you something."

What a little LIAR! I leaped up and hugged him. "Thank you, Zuko! This is the best present you could've ever gotten me! Well, it's the only present you've ever gotten for me, but still!"

"Let go of me!" He pushed me away, blushing a bright red. Oh, that's right. I held out my hand and handed him the scroll with the panda drawing on it. He opened it up and looked at it strangely.

"Why'd you draw me an octopus with four legs? And why is it burning sea snakes?"

"It's a panda and it's burning bamboo!" I corrected angrily. Before I could rant at him some more, I felt his lips on my cheek. I pushed him away. "ZUKO, YOU RAT!"

"You told me about that too, wanted to try it out," Zuko replied. Smirking, he added, "Never seen your face that red before."

"Zuko you're so mean!" I stated. I suddenly noticed the mistletoe hanging from the roof of my room where I was standing and everyone at the doorway looking at us. Iroh-san… Hana… the men…

Those meanies knew all along what was going on! I whacked Zuko hard. "You're all so mean to me!"

"Hey, that hurt!" Zuko shouted, throwing a fireball at me. I blew it to pieces with my bending. I'm not sure whether our relationship got better or worse, but we continued to fight on the ship for the rest of the day and right through breakfast the next. When our battle was over, I knew what Zuko was doing. He had bought a lot of mistletoe because every time he rethought about it, he'd burn the plant, so he bought a lot just so he could do all of this for me. Although, I could've done without that kiss.

End of My Christmas Gift

Author's Note: Well, what did you think? I know I did Zuko a little OOC, but I liked the idea how I bothered him so much to try it out. HAH, I feel like laughing at him for doing such a dumb thing. I liked this story a lot because I was James Bond for about two paragraphs. Hahaha, that's cool though. Zuko did all this junk and everytime he thought about having to kiss me he went AUGH! NOOO! and burned some mistletoe. What a nice guy. HAHAHAH!