Disclaimer: I wish I could, but I don't own it.

Right, this is just a one-shot exploring a different perspective of the brother and sister relationship between Azula and Zuko. I don't know how well it shows that, but I tried.

Warning: Sibling-abuse and slight mentions of child-abuse.


There was her brother again…playing with those disgusting turtle-ducks. She didn't understand how he could be so happy playing with those…things. How he could enjoy feeding those…

She shuddered. Weakling. She snarled to herself. That was what was wrong with him. He was a weakling.

Father did all he could to correct his behavior… beat him, burned him, yelled at him…and yet it was not enough. So she took it upon himself to do what their father could not.

"Oh Zuzu!" She called out in a sickeningly sweet voice as she stepped out of the shadows, towards her kneeling brother. "Come play with me."

Her brother didn't look up as he shook his head, holding out some bread crumbs for the baby turtle-ducks. "I don't want to play with you."

She snarled. How dare he! When she says for him to play with her, he plays with her! "But there's this new game I want to play…" She continued though, in the same sickeningly sweet tone.

"I said no!" He snapped, not yet looking up.

Her snarl increased. Time to try the pathos approach. "You'd rather feed stupid turtle-ducks than play with your own sister?"

"Turtle-ducks aren't stupid!" Was his answer. Her hands tightened into fists.

"I want you to play with me!"

This time, he stood up and faced her, a scowl on his face. "I'm not a toy Azula! If I don't want to play with you, then I won't!"

They glared at each other for a second before she threw a small bolt of electric fire at him, catching him in the side. With a gasp, he fell to the ground, clutching his wound.

"When I say something, you do it!" She yelled at him. She was the better sibling; she was Daddy's favorite! So she had the right to order those beneath her around! And Zuko was nothing more than a disgusting worm in her eyes.

She saw her brother open his mouth for a retort, but both of their attentions were drawn to one of the baby turtle-ducklings. It had waded out of the water and had placed itself in front of Zuko, hissing at Azula.

Azula snarled at the duckling. It was all that stupid thing's fault! She decided. If it hadn't been here, then she would be having a great time seeing how many times she could push Zuko off a hill before breaking his leg! But noo…

Snarling, her fists flamed with blue fire as she readied a strike at the turtle-duckling. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Zuko's eyes widen and heard him yell at her to stop, but she ignored it all as she unleashed her fury on the small creature before her.

"NOO!"

The next thing she knew, she was shoved aside by her brother as he knelt before the baby turtle-duckling.

She growled as she pushed herself up, but smirked when she saw that her punishment had been successful. The turtle-duckling lay limp in her brother's arms. But her smirk faded almost instantly at what happened next.

Zuko whirled around, wound forgotten and the duckling still clutched in his arms. "I HATE YOU!" He yelled at her, his eyes blazing with a fire that she didn't know he had, "IT NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU AND YOU JUST KILLED IT!"

She scoffed as she stood. "You should've played with me—"

"I HATE YOU!" He yelled again, not letting her finish. "I HATE YOU AND NEVER WANT TO SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN!" And before she could say anything, he ran off, sniffing as he cradled the turtle-duckling to his chest.


Normally, Azula didn't give a damn about how badly she hurt Zuko. In fact, she rather enjoyed it. It made her feel powerful and all the more better about herself. She liked the brutal and sadistic games she played on her brother. She liked to watch him writher in pain. She liked priding herself with the fact that she bested him yet again in something. But most of all, she liked the fact that she could manipulate and torture him, that she could force him to do things he did not want to do and that she could punish him whenever she pleased. He was her older brother, but that meant nothing…it was just a small meager detail. He was weaker than her and she knew it. And all those weaker than her must be manipulated and used to their full extent before thrown aside and destroyed. But she knew she couldn't kill him…she knew that as useless and pathetic as he was, he was very useful. He was her elder brother, and as all elder siblings do, he believed that he had to take care of his younger sibling and make her happy no matter the cost. And this, she could easily manipulate. He was the perfect thing to vent out all her anger and frustrations upon…it was always so easy…oh so easy.

But the past three days managed to really confuse her. No matter how much she prodded, annoyed, hit, tripped, pinched, yelled, and even burned her brother, he would just simply walk passed her as if she did not exist. And being a Princess as she was, she did not like that. He had not even spoken a word to her after the little turtle-duckling incident!

She let out a scream of fury as she threw some blue fire at a passing servant, who managed to duck just in time.

It was infuriating her! What right did that weakling brother of hers have to just ignore her like that!

It was just a turtle-duck! It was insignificant and worthless! So how dare he make such a big fuss over nothing!

Stomping her feet she threw another ball of blue fire, knocking over a priceless porcelain vase. She was about to throw another, when she stopped, hearing footsteps. Rushing to the door, she stepped into the hallway, blocking her brother's path.

He stopped, stared at her, then wordlessly turned around and began walking back down the hallway.

Azula felt her anger rise as she saw his reaction. Without a second thought, she hurled a bolt of blue lightning at him, catching him in the side and throwing him to the ground. He gasped in pain as his hands automatically flew to the wound, but said nothing.

Azula waited for a bit, before realizing he still would not speak. "TALK TO ME!" She screamed finally at him. "STOP PRETENDING LIKE I'M NOT HERE!"

But he just stood up, hands still on his wound, and limped back down the hallway, not saying anything.

She screamed in fury as she stamped her foot. "IT WAS JUST A STUPID TURTLE-DUCK!"

Zuko stopped at that, and Azula thought for a second that that would make him speak, but he just shot her a hard glare before turning a corner.

Azula blinked for a second before hurling a bolt of lighting at the wall, making a nice big hole in it.


She could not believe this.

Azula shifted uneasily, suddenly realizing that she was nervous. Quickly, she berated herself. A Princess should always be calm. Besides, it was only her brother she was going to speak to.

So…

Why was she still so nervous?

She was outside her brother's room, but she had yet to go in. She knew he was in there and she knew what she was about to do.

A servant had suggested it, and she had burnt the servant's whole face for even the mention of it. But now that she thought of it…

Her brother still would not speak to her. She'd managed to break his left arm, cut his right cheek, bruise his ribs, and badly wound his side, yet he still refused to talk to her.

She hated this. It was making her feel weak and vulnerable. But she had to do this.

It was…a game. She decided finally. A game. You say one thing and then take revenge. A simple, sadistic game.

She smirked. She could deal with that.

She pushed open the door and stepped inside.

Her brother was sitting by the window, a sketchbook in one hand, and a pencil in the other. He looked up when she stepped in, but then quickly turned away, back to his drawing.

She took an inaudible breath as she readied what she had to do. It was necessary…for the larger and more important game to continue.

"I…am sorry." She hissed, letting those poisonous words roll of her tongue as she clenched her fists behind her back. It's just a game, it's just a game…she chanted in her head.

Seconds passed and she began to fear that she had said those hideous words in vain; but then… then her brother slowly turned around to face her…and spoke.

"What?"

Of course, she was most displeased by the fact that she had to repeat those poisonous words, but he had spoken to her and for that, she'd do anything. "I said, I'm sorry." She hissed, her nails digging into her palms. She tasted defeat in her mouth as she said them, but she knew that a defeat had to come sooner or later… Every game can either be won or lost, but one could not win them all. Silently, she swore that her brother would pay. He had had her in his clutches once; but never again. He was her toy to play with and manipulate and break, not visa versa.

Her brother, meanwhile, seemed to be hesitating between believing her and rejecting her apology. She saw this and knew that for the game to continue, she'd have to play it slow…until she had him back in her clutches again.

"All right." He answered slowly, still not completely trusting her. "I accept your apology."

She shot him a genuine smile…a genuinely fake smile, but he didn't need to know that.

"Will you play with me now?"


Right. This was just a short one-shot trying out (like I said above) a different perspective of how sadistic Azula could be. I don't know how she truly is (we've only seen her what? Like four or five times?) but to me, I believe that she just likes to play cruel sadistic games with her brother, and this is supposed to show that. Dunno how well it worked. Ah well.

R&R please.