More Than Just Friends-
Chapter 1: Finding the Avatar
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender
A/N: This is the edited version of the first chapter because the first time I posted this I didn't proof read and this is better so here you go!
"Finally," Zuko said as he saw a bright blue light shoot up into the air. He turned to face his uncle and best friend. "Uncle, do you realize what this means?"
"I won't get to finish my game?" Iroh said looking at his wooden cards of the elements.
"It means my search is about to come to an end." Zuko said turning away. Iroh sighed loudly. "That light came from an incredibly powerful source. It has to be him!" Zuko said pointing in the direction of the light, once again turning to face his uncle and best friend.
"Or it's just a celestial light. We've been down this road before prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing." Iroh said placing a card down on the table. "Please sit, why don't you enjoy a cup of calming Jasmine tea?"
"I don't need any calming tea; I need to capture the avatar. Hounds man, head a course for the light," Zuko shouted.
"Well I would love a cup of calming tea, Uncle Iroh." Zuko's best friend stated.
"Oh of course, miss Jasmine. I'm sure Jasmine tea is your favorite since it has your name." Iroh smiled and poured the girl a cup of tea and handed it to her.
She gladly took the cup and chuckled. "Why thank you Uncle Iroh. And, for the last time you can call me Jamie." She took a sip and walked up to Zuko and wrapped her arm around his.
"Uncle, you're the only person that still calls James, Jasmine. My whole life I've known her as Jamie or James." Zuko said rolling his eyes as he turned back to face the front of the boat, bringing Jamie with him. "Are you cold?" Zuko asked turning to his best friend who was wrapped tightly in a blanket.
"Yeah, but we're in the South Pole. It's not exactly warm here." The girl said shrugging taking another sip of her tea.
"It's funny how you're a water bender, but you hate the cold." Zuko said wrapping his arm around her shoulder and raising his body temperature to heat the girl.
"It is funny, but then again I was also raised in the Fire Nation. I'm not used to the cold like I'm supposed to be." Jamie took another sip of her tea. "My father says I was adopted. I don't believe him. I bet he just took me away from my family." Jamie looked to the ground. "Well I'm going to go inside it's getting a little too cold out here." She looked up at Zuko who gave her a half smile. She then kissed him on the cheek before going inside to her room.
-A few hours later-
"I'm going to bed now." Iroh yawned. "A man needs his rest. Prince Zuko you need some sleep. Even if you're right and the Avatar is alive. You won't find him. Your father, grandfather, and great grandfather all tried and failed."
"Because their honor didn't hinge on the Avatar's capture. Mine does. This coward's hundred years in hiding is over." Zuko turned to look out over the railing as his uncle turned to go inside.
"You should come inside it's freezing out here. Miss Jasmine is in her room waiting for you." Zuko sighed and turned to go inside the boat's interior. He made his way down a corridor to Jamie's room.
Zuko knocked softly on her door. "Come in," he heard her say. When he opened the door she was sitting at her table in front of a mirror brushing her long thick dark, almost black, brown hair. Zuko walked over and sat on her bed and watched her finish brushing her hair. When she finished she sat her brush down on the table and walked over to Zuko. He laid down on the bed and moved as close as he could till his back was pressed up against the wall. Then Jamie laid down on the bed with her back against Zuko's chest as he wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her close.
This was routine for the two. They would sleep in each other's beds in each other's arms every other night switching rooms. To the crew, they were a couple. To them, it was just what they have been doing since they were banished. They didn't see each other anything more than friends. They never thought of themselves as a couple; just two really good friends that have been through a lot together. They sleep with each other to block out the nightmares that their banishment cost them. They feel safe in each other's arms.
-Next Day-
Jamie stood next to Iroh as he was perfecting Zuko's fire bending. "Again," Iroh told Zuko. Zuko threw his arms out as fire shot at the two fire benders that were there to help train him. As they moved toward him, he leaped in the air and shot at them again before landing back on his feet holding his hands out to them in fists ready to strike again.
"No, power in fire bending comes from the breath not the muscles. The breath becomes energy in the body, the energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire," Iroh shot fire at Zuko stopping before it hit him in the face. "Get it right this time."
"Enough, I've been drilling this sequence all day. Teach me the next set. I'm more than read." Zuko stood in front of Iroh with his fists clenched at his sides.
"No, you are impatient. You have yet to master your bending basics." Iroh said sitting down on his stool. "Drill it again!"
Zuko growled and kicked fire at one of his trainers knocking him off his feet. "The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last air bender. He must be over a hundred years old by now. He's had a century to master the four elements. I will need more than basic fire bending to defeat him. You will teach me the advanced set."
"Very well, but first I must finish my roast duck." Iroh picked up some chopsticks and a bowl of roast duck and started chowing down. Jamie covered her mouth to keep from laughing, but a chuckle escaped her lips before she could stop it. Zuko turned to her and glared at her before growling and turning around to fire bend at the other trainer.
Zuko stormed off inside the cabin of the boat towards his room. "Well I guess he's done for the day," Jamie said turning her focus to Iroh. "Uncle Iroh, do you mind if I use Zuko's trainers to practice my water bending on? I still need to practice my basics."
Iroh nodded finishing off the rest of his roast duck. "Why yes of course Miss Jasmine. If you don't mind I am going to take a nap." Jamie nodded as Iroh stood to go to his room. She started out with her breathing and then moved through the stances before summoning water towards her so she could fight her opponents.
The two fire bending trainers went easy on her since she was still having trouble water bending. She never had a real water bending teacher but Iroh had gotten her a water bending scroll and he helped her to the best of his abilities. She caught on fast but without a teacher struggled when she sparred.
A few hours past and Zuko walked out on the balcony of the highest floor of the ship, where the captain and some crew members worked to keep the ship running. He watched his best friend spar his trainers. He loved watching her water bend. It wasn't anything like fire bending. It was peaceful and flowing. It calmed him to watch her.
Out of the corner of his eye Zuko saw a flare go off into the sky he quickly moved to his telescope to see what it was.
"The last air bender, quite agile for his old age." Zuko turned to his crew members. "Wake my uncle. Tell him I found the Avatar. A well as his hiding place." Zuko leaned over the railing to call to Jamie. "Jamie! Come up here quick, I've got great news." Jamie looked up to see who had called her name. She didn't see the fire ball coming her way and got hit right in the stomach. She flew back a few feet and landed on her back. She wrapped an arm around her stomach where the fir ball hit her and rolled over on her side before sitting up on her knees. The trainers ran towards her to see if she was okay.
Zuko saw what happened and ran back into the cabin and ran down the stairs as fast as he could to get to his best friend. When he got to the deck he raced over to Jamie and pushed the trainers away from her. "Get away from her," he screamed at them. "Jamie are you okay?" Zuko kneeled down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with tears streaming down her face.
"It's okay, don't hurt him. I wasn't paying attention he didn't mean to hurt me. Just take me to my room, please before I bleed to death." Jamie was holding her stomach; when she pulled her hands away Zuko saw the blood.
"It'll be okay. I'll get you to your room. I'll have one of the crew members bring you some water to heal yourself. I promise I won't lose my temper as long as you're okay." Zuko said as he picked Jamie up bridal style and ran towards her room. He laid her on her bed and kissed her forehead. "Don't leave this room until I come back. I'll have a crew member bring you water and some bandages."
"Zuko, where are you going? Can't you stay with me?" Jamie cringed at the pain in her stomach.
"No, I can't stay with you. I wish I could but I found the Avatar and his hiding place. I need to go get ready to invade and capture him. I will come tell you the good news when I get back. But, I have to go." Zuko planted another kiss on her forehead before turning and walking out the door. He ran back up the stairs to the control room and gave orders to a crew member to bring water and bandages to Jamie's room. Zuko then ran back to his room to get ready for the invasion.
Back in Jamie's room she could hear the commotion outside her door. Just like Zuko said a crew member came to her room to drop off water and bandages. She removed her top since most of it was burned away, she didn't need it anymore. She secured her bright blue hair clip that is as bright as her eyes in her hair and bended the water from the bowl onto her hand. When it started to glow she then placed it on her stomach. She winced at first but then relaxed as the water soothed her burn. She let the water drip from her wound as she grabbed the bandages. She wrapped it around her wound. She then put a robe on and walked across the hall to Zuko's room.
When she walked in there was a staff leaning against his dresser. She walked over to it and picked it up to look at it closer. She turned around to lean up against the dresser. When she looked up she saw a young boy with tattoos standing outside Zuko's door and gasped.
"My staff!" The boy cried. "Hand it over and I won't hurt you." The boy said to her stepping into the room. Jamie dropped the staff as the door closed behind the boy.
"Looks like I underestimated you." Jamie saw Zuko and ran over to him and stood behind him. Zuko got into a fighting stance as the boy backed towards his staff and Jamie pressing herself against the door. Zuko shot fire at the boy who easily dodged it again and again. Finally the boy darted under Zuko's legs and stayed behind him as Zuko frantically shot fire around him in hopes to hit the boy. The boy spun a ball of air and rode it around the room to get away from Zuko's fire bending bursts. He then took a poster hanging from the wall and wrapped it around Zuko and grabbed his staff off the floor. Jamie then moved into a fighting stance knowing Zuko would be mad at her for not fighting when she could have. Zuko easily burned the poster and got into another fighting stance. The boy then air bended the mattress from the bed at Zuko; slamming him into the wall and then into the ceiling. Jamie then moved away from the door and backed up against the wall not wanting to get hurt by the boy. Zuko then got up to run out of the room. "Stay here," Zuko told Jamie. She nodded and slid her back down the wall and sat on the floor.
When she thought that everything calmed down Jamie went out of Zuko's room and to the deck of the boat. She ran up to Zuko who was panting and she turned and saw a bison flying not so far behind them and a girl screaming Aang. "I told you to stay in my room!" Zuko yelled at Jamie.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Then all of a sudden a water tornado came up from behind the boat with the boy inside. Jamie grabbed Zuko's hand now terrified as the boy landed on the boat and spun the water around him and pushed it out making Jamie and Zuko fall off the edge of the boat. Zuko was hanging on to the edge of the boat as Jamie was hanging on to the chain that held the anchor. Some kid picked up the staff and Zuko grabbed it. The kid hit Zuko in the head with the staff making Zuko fall and grab ahold of the chain just above Jamie. The kid yelled, "That's from the water tribe," as Zuko fell. Zuko climbed up the side of the boat as the bison flew off.
"Jamie you can come up now, do you need help?" Zuko yelled from the deck of the boat. Zuko looked towards the bison that flew away. "Shoot them down!" Then his uncle and another fir bender shot a fire ball at them. The Avatar deflected it into the side of the glacier next to them and ice broke off of it and came crashing down on the boat.
Jamie put a foot in between one of the chain links to help her climb, when she tried to pull it out it got stuck. "Zuko my foot's stuck. I can't get it out!" Jamie yelled. Zuko then turned and yelled up at the captain.
"Don't drop the anchor!" Zuko leaned over the edge of the boat to talk to Jamie again. "It'll be okay. Just hang on."
-Up in the control center-
"What did he say?" The captain asked.
"Drop the anchor sir." One of the crew members said looking at the captain.
The captain nodded and went to his microphone to notify the boiler room that controls the anchor. "Drop the anchor."
-Back down on the deck-
Zuko looked to his uncle as if he were telling him he would be right back. Zuko turned and was about to go back over the edge to rescue his best friend when he heard a scream and a loud splash. Zuko looked over the edge of the boat and saw nothing but the chain of the anchor. "Jamie, no!" Zuko yelled and threw off his armor and jumped off the edge of the boat into the water. He swam down to almost the ocean floor, when he saw her struggling to pull her foot out of the chain. He could tell Jamie didn't have enough time to take a breath before going under because she was starting to panic and he knew that Jamie doesn't panic. He swam over to her and helped her get her foot unstuck. Once her foot was released from the chain she passed out from lack of air. Zuko grabbed her before she could float away and swam to the surface.
When Zuko reached the surface the crew put a ladder down for him to climb up. When he got on to the deck of the boat he laid Jamie down on the floor of the deck. He sat down next to the unconscious girl panting. He touched his hand to her cheek and started crying out her name, "Jamie, please wake up. James? Jasmine?" Zuko started crying; he laid his head down on her heart and heard its soft beat weakening. He leaned down and softly pressed his lips to her. When he pulled away Jamie started to cough. She leaned over on her side and started to throw up water that she swallowed. When she finished puking, Zuko pulled her into a hug as she started crying. "I thought I lost you." Zuko held Jamie close to him. "I want to know who gave the order to drop the anchor. I said to not drop it." Zuko stood up taking Jamie with him. He held her close as his uncle came up to them and wrapped a towel around them both. "Uncle, find the man who said to drop the anchor and put him in the brig for further questioning." Zuko's uncle nodded as Zuko walked Jamie to his room. He put his mattress back on his bed frame.
Jamie laid down after throwing the towel in the hamper. She wrapped herself in the blanket that was lying on Zuko's bed as she tried to calm her shivering. "You need to dry off. Can you water bend the water away from your body? I'll be right back I have to check on the boat. A bunch of ice fell on to the front damaging it." Zuko kissed Jamie on the forehead before leaving her alone in the room. He walked out on deck and saw there was more ice than he thought. He turned and saw a few of the fire benders heating up some ice that his men were stuck in. "Dig the ship out and follow them! As soon as you're done with that." Zuko said and awkwardly went back inside to his room. When he walked in Jamie was in her undergarments sitting on the bed with her back towards the door. Zuko walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders as he watched her trace the scar that his father had given her.