A/N: This takes place right after Crossroads of Destiny. I've been thinking about writing this for a long time, so I finally got around to it. Please review!
The wind tousled her long brown hair, freeing strands to fall across her face.
Recent events haunted her - he had been so close to her, yet so far away at the same time. Pausing her thoughts, she looked across Appa's broad back to check on Aang again, making sure that he was still sleeping peacefully as they flew. She was the only one awake - the solitude fit her mood.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you before." She had even meant the apology, surprisingly. It had never occurred to her that Zuko might have suffered at the hands of the Fire Nation as well, and she had truly felt for him in that moment of vulnerability.
"It doesn't matter." Though he kept his mask well, she could see that her words had pierced something deep inside of him, something that he had tried for so long to keep hidden.
Shaking her head, she pushed the feelings deep inside. Feelings that she had never before experienced - yes, there was sadness and hurt for his betrayal, but there was something more at the same time. When she had touched his face, there had been excitement. Attraction, even. Making one hand into a fist, she punched her leg, hoping the dull pain would remove the image of his eyes softening as they had stared into hers. It didn't work. She wasn't even sure if she wanted it to. That moment would haunt her forever, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
…
"Tonight, you restored your own honour." Azula's empty words echoed through Zuko's head as he paced around outside. Alone. Company would just be a burden. Kicking at an unoffending bush savagely, he tried to suppress the memories, but they were too fresh.
"I've realized that I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark." For a moment, just one moment, he had had dreams. Dreams of changing his life around, making a new start, escaping the constant torture of his banished existence.
"Maybe you could be free of it." The water tribe girl had surprised him - she had offered a precious gift to him, her enemy who had tried to kill her so many times. And he had seen the emotion in her eyes when she had reached out to him, placing one soft hand on his disfigured face. Inside of him, feelings that he thought he had long since buried had risen up in that moment - hope, caring, compassion. Hope for a future. Caring for the girl standing in front of him, concern clear in her eyes. Compassion for himself and his mistakes for the first time ever.
Another bush fell victim to his simmering anger. "I thought you had changed." Those words still cut like a knife, deep in his heart. And then he had betrayed her trust, gone back on the very words he had told her so sincerely just a brief time before. There was no going back now; he had burned that bridge. If it had really existed to begin with, that is, it was certainly gone now. But deep inside, there was still a small piece of Zuko that hoped. Maybe something could change.
Please review!