K.M:

Hello my little kitties, here we are with another fic, even though I should be working on HTLP101, I had the idea and my head...and it wouldn't go away, what can you do?

So here we are in the world off A:TLA, with another OC, kitties this is Hak-Yeon, Hak-Yeon these are my minions- I mean my Kitties, now that you've all been introduced, let's get to the reason I'm here.

So I was at home, being lazy, and then I was like, wait...what if Zuko had like a little brother figure with him? Maybe he wouldn't be so annoying at first! So yes...I'm sorry I'm not working on HTLP101, BUT I HAVE TO DO THIS!

Disclaimer…~

MYSTERIOUS VOICE DEVOID OF EMOTION: Kitty Master Doesn't own the following content below, and if anyone has the gall to say so, Kitty Master will probably be Copyrighted, and as such she will become discouraged from ever writing again thus causing her to never log into this sight ever again. Also the base in the cover art does not belong to Kitty Master (though I did do the cover art...), it belongs to Sayamiki1, see her bases in Deviantart.

K.M: Thank you my little creepy disembodied voice.


"Name one part of the body that has no blood." A deep man's voice asked, his voice deep, and void of any emotions.

"The cornea of the eye." a small voice replied, sounding soft, and meek.

"What is the most indestructible part of our bodies?"

"Our hair."

"What are-"

"Sir?"

The deep voiced man sighed in irritation, he had hoped that he would get to have at least this lesson with his student without being interrupted. He looked at the young boy in question, not looking in the least disturbed by the man that had called out, he had been taught well by his father to always listen when an adult spoke to him, hear and obey, he was a quiet thing, not shy, just quiet, which was good for him, it meant he would have less of a chatterbox, and more of a listener, though it annoyed him how soft the boy was. He was sweet to anyone, too kind, and naive, no not naive...more like trusting...

And hopeful.

He was always hopeful that there was good in everyone.

It was all his mother's fault, if she hadn't put in those thoughts of kindness, and generosity, he wouldn't have started out so weak, as his mentor it was his job to toughen him up, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

"What?" he asked in annoyance, the messenger trembled slightly under the ex-general's glare.

"I-it's from t-the Fire L-lord..." he quivered weakly.

The ex-general could only sneer as he saw the scroll and swiped it from the servant's shaking hands, the servant only cowered fearfully and fled. It was disgusting.

He opened the scroll, he was on very good terms with the Fire Lord, Ozai being his given name, he was thrust the throne when his father was assassinated, and his brother too weak to take the throne, it made the general smirk, he knew something shifty had happened, because the day the previous Fire Lord had died, Lady Ursa had mysteriously disappeared, in the end it didn't matter to him, Fire Lord Ozai was much better suited for the throne, and he didn't need a sniveling woman to do it.

He read the scroll, his eyes slowly widening before reverting back, he shouldn't have been so surprised, Ozai's son had always been very weak.

"We're going Hak-Yeon." He said to his student, he needed to be toughened up, and this...this was the perfect excuse.

"Where sir?"

"The royal Agni Kai arena."


"Ugh! Girls are crazy!"

The young boy wanted to laugh at the slightly amusing scene, his friend was stomping angrily away from his mother, who had only been away for ten minutes only to find her oldest drenched in water, and as funny as it was, he didn't want to hurt Zuko's feelings, the boy was sensitive. his mother could only stare in confusion as he stomped away, the younger boy gave a quick bow.

"Good day Lady Ursa." he said respectfully before following his friend, when he had caught up to the older boy he tilted his head forward to see him clearly, his eyebrows always scrunched down when he was mad, and he seemed really mad because there were frown lines at his lips too, he wanted to cheer up his friend.

He hummed and looked away.

Occasionally looking at Zuko as if he wanted to say something.

Zuko noticed, "what?" he asked angrily.

"Oh no, it's nothing." the younger boy said hastily, keeping up the charade.

Zuko stopped, "What is it?" he crossed his arms and looked at the shorter boy, expectantly waiting for him to tell him what was bothering him.

"Well..." quickly the boy poked the middle of Zuko's eyebrows and the corner of his lips, "did you know that if you frown you'll grow really thick wrinkles, at this rate you'll look like a little old man. If it gets really bad, you'll get a disease called Pantalon Grincheux " He said as he threw his hands up as if innocent, internally laughing at the face Zuko made. When a maid passed by he sneakily took one, he winked at her as she saw what he did.

"You're making that up! There's no way that's real!" Zuko said as he pointed an accusing finger at the boy. The boy gasped dramatically and held a hand to his chest.

"Denial is one of the first symptoms! You have Pantalon Grincheux!" The boy wailed. Zuko could only cross his arms angrily.

The boy then dropped the charade, he smiled softly and threw the other boy the towel he had taken from the servant girl.

Zuko grabbed it in surprise, the younger boy smiled, "just messing with ya Zuko!" with a grin he ran ahead laughing.

"That's not funny! Hak!"

Farther away from the two, sitting in an alcove was a slightly chubby man, with long silvery hair, and a mustache with a short beard, a small smile on his face as he saw the two youngsters laugh and grin freely.

A younger man walked up behind the old man, "if only they could stay that way father..." the young man said, a sad smile on his face, the old man didn't look back at him, "if only..." the older man repeated.

"Tea?"

"You think I'm going to say 'no'? What's wrong with you?"


"Uh...Master Bong-Ju?" Hak-Yeon asked to his mentor, his teacher at the moment was staring at the arena with an almost gleeful look on his face.

It had been a whole year since he had been in the Fire Nation, it had taken them a week to get back, all for a letter that had come from the Fire Lord, what had been so great they had to come back right away? As much as he had missed his home, there were still things he didn't miss. But he didn't want to look a Ostrich-horse in the mouth, they were back, which meant he could see Zuko, Iroh, Lu-Ten, and his father.

He had missed them all dearly, and was glad he was back. Though to see his father was bittersweet considering it was because of him he had left in the first place.

One of the many things he wouldn't miss was the cruelty people had in the Fire Nation, some were kind and friendly, but some were so cold it was a question whether they were Fire Nation or not. As unfortunate for him as it was, his mentor was one of them.

"Tomorrow, all you have to do is wait till tomorrow." I could only frown, if we were at the Agni Kai Arena, there was a fight going to happen, it must have been serious if the Fire Lord had invited us personally, I knew Master Bong-Ju, and the Fire Lord were friends as children, which was what worried me. "I see...is it alright if I see the prince? it has been a while since I've seen him and the rest of the royal family." I said softly, he waved me away, I took off, a foreboding feeling settling in my gut.


"Hey Mom, want to see how Azula feeds turtle-ducks?"

"I don't think you should-" Hak-Yeon tried to intervene-

"Ah!"

"-Do that..." Hak-Yeon ended lamely, Zuko cradled his hand as he glared at the turtle-ducks.

"Stupid turtle-duck. Why she'd do that?"

"Maybe you shouldn't have shoved food at it's baby..." Hak-Yeon said weakly, he looked at Zuko's hand over his shoulder, "It's not too bad..."

"Baby?" Zuko repeated, ignoring the younger boy as he took his hand and examined it. Ursula knelt by the pond and released the turtle-duck back to the others.

"That's right." the two children looked up to see the elegant Lady Ursa, smiling at both of them gently, "That's how mom's react when you mess with their babies!" in a quick motion she grabbed Zuko and tickled him, Zuko laughed happily, as his mother laughed, and hugged him close, Hak-Yeon leaned back a little from the scene, he didn't want to exactly intrude on their moment, only to suddenly be grabbed by the neck, he yelped as he felt someone smother their head into his hair, he looked up to see Ursula smiling gently at him, he felt red color his cheeks, embarrassed at how she felt so at ease, Zuko also looked relaxed, he seemed to be the only tense one with the scene.

"Don't think you can escape Hak." she said as she tickled him too.

His absolute weakness. He was ticklish.

He released a squeal as her nimble fingers ran over his side, "no, no, no! I'm ticklish!" as soon as he said that he clamped his mouth shut, he shouldn't have said that...

"Oh really?" he looked at the two, they both sported the same devilish grins. They really were alike.

"No!" that was his last cry before he fell into a peal of laughter as the two assaulted him in giggles.

At the end of the attack the three had been left breathless on the grass, laughing softly every now and then, "well wasn't that fun?" Ursula asked with a grin, Hak-Yeon was so surprised at how she took it all so calmly,.

The Fire Lady was friendlier than he thought she would be, and now, she didn't seem all powerful, and above him as she often looked next to the Fire Lord, not when she was there on the grass, laughing along with Zuko, and him.

She reminded him of his mother.

"Hak-Yeon." the boy instantly sat up and stared at his father. At first glance he was a stone-faced man with a harsh exterior, he was only friendly to one person now, his only son, but even thought the boy loved his father, his arrival always meant one sad thing.

Time to go home.

"I'll see you some other time Zuko...Good day Lady Ursa, Prince Zuko." with a quick boy he hastily walked to his father.

He didn't know when he would see Zuko again, with both of them having lessons most of the day, or one doing something while the other was free, they didn't always get to see each other, but when they did it was the most fun. Zuko grinned and waved, "see you later Hak!" Ursula grinned impishly again behind his father's back.

The royal family was more fun than he thought.


"How was your play date with the Prince?" His father asked softly as he gently mussed his hair, in the privacy of their home the man wasn't so worried of enjoying time with his son. They were both identical, the boy had his father's piercing red eyes, and smooth and spiky black hair, though his skin was sun-kissed like his mother's.

"We had fun." the boy said with a grin, alike to the one that was growing on his father's face.

"fun huh? without me?" Hak's eyes widened as his father scooped him up and started pretending to eat him,

"No!" Hak-Yeon squealed as his dad ate his stomach in fake anger.

The boy managed to get his father to let him go, and fearfully ran off, not wanting to get tickled again, the man though followed along with a deep chuckle.

Laughter rang in the empty, and sometimes lonely house, the two occupants didn't care, they could be lonely together, and have fun doing it.


K.M:

And that's a wrap for chapter one of "Embers to ashes"

I'm not going to lie, I had a little fun writing this. The character of Hak-Yeon is a person that pretends to be quiet around the adults but is a loud tornado around his friends, much like all of us were when we were kids, much like all of us are now, as teenagers and adults...it's embarrassing.

I'm in love with little Hak, he's going to be that really sweet kid that would give you cavities just by looking at him. I hope to do a good progress of Zuko, and Hak's brotherly relationship, and it ain't just gonna be with Zuko, I'm thinking of Aang here too.

But I'm gonna stop here because it's like 11:57 and my mommy's probably gonna be like "get outta there, and get to bed, we gotta go places tomorrow!"

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(BTW, yes, I call my mother Mommy, got a problem with it?)

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Review, or PM me, or...whatever it is you crazy kitties do.