Hide and Explode

It had been dark for almost an hour, but a seven year-old princess was still awake, and in fact, was running circles around her brother. Zuko sat cross legged on a bench in his family's courtyard, elbows resting on his knees as he watched the little girl run around and around. She was giggling at random intervals and had obviously had too many gummy platypus bears at her birthday party earlier in the day.

"Pleeaase Zuko!" Azula whined, skidding to a stop in front of him, her breathing labored.

"You've been playing all day, aren't you tired?" her brother asked, and the little princess felt her bottom lip poke out into a pout. The party had consisted of countless friends and admirers, firebenders, jugglers, magicians and lots of lots of candy and slowly throughout the day the act of a proper princess had slowly deteriorated into a very excited little girl, which is what Zuko now saw in front of him. Truthfully, he was a bit jealous of what a big deal was made over his sister's 7th birthday, and he was a little too annoyed to want to play with her now.

"Come on, you're not even doing anything! And I want to play hide and explode!" she squealed, bouncing a little for emphasis. The day had been so exciting, so full of games and happiness that the princess just wasn't ready for it to end.

Zuko's eyes flickered to the scroll still sat in his lap, but it was much too dark now to claim he was reading. "Suyin is going to come get you for bed soon," he attempted, although the princess could tell from his tone that he was about to give in. It was her birthday.

The girl raised her eyebrows and tilted her chin down. "Zuuzuu," she whined.

The prince in question sighed, placing his scroll on the bench beside him and setting his feet down. "Fine," he replied. Azula's face cracked into a smile and the boy covered his eyes. "Go hide, then! Only outside and in porches, not in the main palace," he added.

"Okay," Azula agreed; these were the usual rules. Not only was the palace so large that it could take Zuko hours to find her, but it was also littered with off-limits rooms and areas that weren't for children. Besides, they could break something.

Now the girl rushed away from her brother, leaping over the railings surrounding the path and to the other side of the courtyard, enjoying the warm summer air on her skin. The princess passed the tree by the turtle duck pond, Zuko's usual hiding place, and briefly considered hiding behind the flowers lining the wooden walkway along the palace walls. No, that won't work either, she thought. The paper doors were flung open to welcome the breeze and the light from within would make her too easy to spot.

Azula stopped running and turned in a slow circle, scanning the courtyard. Zuko's voice echoed across the empty square, he was already on eleven, which meant the princess only had nineteen more seconds to find a suitable place. Her chest bubbled with excitement; she loved being the hider, which meant Zuko was usually forced into being the finder, one of the reasons he didn't play with her much anymore.

Then she saw it. It was the perfect hiding place; a large, bronze pot on the edge of the wooden walkway with one side conveniently shielded from the palace's light. The princess plopped down behind the pot, pulling her knees up to her chest and carefully ensuring that her tunic and her bun were concealed in shadow.

"Fourteen…" Zuko called.

Azula smiled to herself, a warm summer breeze brushing across her face. Earlier in the day, for her party, it had been uncomfortably hot, and luckily the palace wasn't short on servants to fan the party guests, but now that the sun was down it had turned into one of those nights that Azula loved. The moon was only a sliver of light in the sky, but the glow from the palace bathed the edges of the courtyard in a warm, orange light. It felt comfortable and looking at her home from this perspective it seemed loving and inviting; this was in sharp contrast to the usual regal and sharp feeling that the palace held.

It was on nights like this that Azula could play with her brother and together they could forget about the royal etiquette and be children and it seemed to her that they were just like every other brother and sister in the world, who weren't a prince and a princess.

"Twenty-five…"

Giddily, the normally stoic girl smiled to herself. Something inside of her felt whole and bursting and she wished that she would never forget this feeling. It seemed to her that in recent days she had seen less of her brother, both of them attending different schools, and when they were together they would be pitted against each other in firebending sparring. They were quickly becoming less like siblings and more like rivals, and while the girl didn't quite understand what was happening yet, she felt the need to be better than Zuko. Always better. A sort of panicked jealousy arose every time he surpassed her, which only made her try harder and somewhere both of them knew that the competition was pulling them apart.

"Thirty!" Zuko called victoriously. Azula couldn't see from her position, but she assumed he stood up.

"Where aare you…?" her brother called. Now she could hear him step over the path, no doubt checking the tree first.

Pfft, Azula thought, like I would hide in his favorite place. It would be way too easy. She heard him wander around the garden, checking this or that spot, including behind the plant she had considered, and he stepped onto the deck. He was getting close and Azula grinned, waiting for her chance.

Two more steps, she thought as Zuko stopped and peered into the doorway, checking to see if she had cheated; it had happened before. He took another step, and Azula could imagine the frown that he would be wearing, eyebrows knit together; her excitement was almost too much to contain, this was her favorite part, but it could only happen if he got within one step without noticing her.

Finally, Zuko took the last step and at almost the same time his foot landed, the princess leapt into action, literally.

"BOOM!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, and jumped out of her hiding place. Zuko gasped and jumped backwards, laughing. Azula started to giggle, but her brother's foot caught the threshold of the door, and he stumbled backwards inside. The princess leapt forward to grab his arm, but, being heavier, Zuko just pulled her over as well and the two of them tumbled to the side into a shelf against the wall.

Time instantly slowed down and the siblings stared at a glass figure on the top shelf. It wobbled only twice before the momentum took over and the bird tipped forward. Somehow, her mind was running in hyper speed and yet instead of steadying the statue, Azula's thoughts flashed back to when her mother first placed the elegant lion-stork figure on the empty shelf and explained that it was a gift from her own father, the grandfather that Azula had never met, when she had studied the long delicate feathers in awe, and then later when the remaining shelves were filled with scrolls.

Zuko must have kept his wits and he dove onto his stomach to catch the glass statue, bumping his chin on the ground, which looked painful from his sister's perspective. A second later the shelf came toppling over to land on his back, scrolls spilling across the floor. Azula winced when she heard a muffled 'clink' and she finally jumped into action to lift the shelf off enough for her brother to crawl out.

"Are you okay?" she asked, actual concern painted across her face.

He nodded but by the way he was hunching she knew his back was injured. That, the small scrape on his chin and the thin trail of blood dripping were overshadowed by the look of fear and worry on his face. In one hand he held an outstretched wing, while the other contained the rest of the bird, only its beak and part of the mane missing.

Unluckily for the two, they didn't have much time to think about what they did before Suyin and another servant burst in to check on the sound. The elderly woman gasped, while the girl turned around and hurried down the hall, presumably to tell Princess Ursa what happened to her lion-stork.

"What have you two done?" she asked, frowning at the children and gently taking the pieces of the sculpture from Zuko; Suyin had never been afraid to scold Azula or Zuko, regardless of whose grandchildren they might be. Both the prince and princess bowed their heads. "You've been told thousands of times not to play so roughly and this is exactly the reason."

Azula glanced at Zuko out of the corner of her eye, but he didn't notice, only stared solemnly at the floor, frowning. With one hand he reached up to wipe the blood off his chin and the girl went back to staring at her slippers.

"What happened?" Suyin asked sternly.

Both children began speaking at the same time, "It was an acc—" Zuko started, but cut himself off when he realized what his sister was saying.

"It was Zuko's fault, I didn't do anything, he's clumsy," she was using the innocent face that always worked on Father, and paired with the whiny voice it did the trick; Zuko was a little clumsy and Azula was scared of their parents' wrath, mostly Father's.

"Come with me Zuko we need to talk to your parents," Suyin chided. The princess was only slightly relieved. She felt a small twinge in her heart; she had thrown her brother under to save herself. "It's time for you to go to bed, Azula."

But Mother likes him more anyway, she thought, trying to console herself. The girl didn't dare look to her left to see Zuko's face. No doubt he was staring at her with an open mouth and she couldn't bear to see that look of betrayal. She could hear Suyin leading her brother out of the room, and finally she dared to turn her head enough to glance at Zuko's face. He wasn't looking at her, but instead stared straight ahead, his mouth in a straight line and his eyebrows knit together in anger.

By the time both her nursemaid and her brother had left Azula standing amongst the scrolls, the princess wished she had shared the blame and her heart was heavy as she trudged to her bedroom.

A/N: Yes! I'm back from my hiatus, and I hope that you readers liked this chapter. The next one will not be about Zuko and Azula but I will be coming back to them in good time. Please let me know what you think (good or bad), whether it be in review, message, e-mail, or whatever form. =]