A/N: Finally the next chapter is up! Sorry for the wait, I got caught up writing Truth Behind Lies and just realized how long it's been since I updated this story. I hope this explains some things and that I still have some readers!


"Good morning, Zuko! It is about time that you woke up. I was beggining to think that I would have to go and wake you up myself." Uncle Iroh sent a cheerful wave at his nephew as the boy wandered into the kitchen.

Zuko, contrasting his Uncle's cheery attitude, merely grunted as he pulled himself into one of the chairs at the bar-area his uncle was sitting on. Not that it contained actuall liquer any more. Iroh had replaced all of that with tea and the things he needed to create tea the night that he moved in.

The bar, like the rest of the large kitchen, was still fancy looking. The top was a pearly looking marble and the wood work was the same as the rest of the house. A deep mahogany wood, real of course, with intricate carvings in it. Zuko had always hated it but Iroh was a fan on it, something about it being 'something he would come to apreciate in later years', so it had stayed. Just like over half of the furniture that had belonged to his parents. Both of which were dead.

His mother, the kindest woman that Zuko had ever known (and the kindest Iroh had ever known), had died when Zuko and his sister, Azula, were just young kids.

His father, Ozai, was only killed around five years ago. When his sister, who had always had problems mentally, had snapped and killed him. Unlike his mother though, Zuko didn't miss his father. Ozai had been the cause of most, if not all, of his misery growing up. And anyways, how could he miss the person that had scarred him for life. Literally. His father was the reason that half of his face was covered in a hideous burn scar. Zuko had mostly gotten over that being there, though he wished people would stop staring at it.

Ozai had been a horrible person but most of his rage had been focused on Azula. Zuko had gotten away with a few scars, most noticably the one covering the left half of his face, and a lot of bad memories. His sister, on the other hand, was always on the recieving end of their fathers fist.

It really hadn't been a surprise to any one when she had finally snapped. Zuko hadn't even been at home that day but the image was still burned in his mind. How he had come home to see Azula sitting in the corner of kitchen, butcher knife in her hand, and a puddle of blood around her. They had commited her right away after that, no investigation into why she had lost it and killed their father, and Zuko had been left to take over the Ryuzo Inc.

Of course, he wasn't alone in it. His uncle, Iroh, had stepped up to the role of a father-figure quite well. Having moved into the mansion right away and not only teaching Zuko how to run the business but, for the most part, running it on his own. Iroh said he'd hand the reigns over to Zuko when he was out of school and done growing up.

"So, nephew, are you ready to head off to school this morning?" Iroh asked as he poured a second cup of tea. "I would suggest that you bring another layer. It is supposed to be a cold rain this evening and you don't want to catch a chill."

"Yes, Uncle. I'll make sure I bring my rain-coat with me. But...Isn't Teo going to be picking me up today?" Zuko raised an eye-brow at the older man as he took the offered china cup.

Teo was one of the few members of 'hired help', not servents like they had been when Ozai was alive, that had stayed around after Zuko took over the mansion. He generally drove the teen around when Zuko had to go somewhere. And Zuko honestly couldn't remember the last time that Teo hadn't picked him up from school. It was just something that the older man always did.

"Just because Teo is picking you up doesn't mean you shouldn't be prepared, Nephew. If the car broke down and you had to walk home, what would you do then? Why you would be as wet as a fish!" The older man laughed at his own joke before taking a sip of his own tea, a pleased look making its way onto his face.

Zuko sighed and rubbed the side of his head. His uncle was so...odd...sometimes. There really were just no other words to describe the aged man aside from that. But he supposed that was just a part of Iroh's charm. "Alright, Uncle. I'll make sure to bring my rain coat with me. Just in case."

-000-

His life really wasn't all that bad any more, Zuko mused on his way to school. Teo had, as usual, picked him up and they were well on their way there now. And for some reason or another that thought had just pushed its way into Zuko's mind.

After the day that his father had...passed...and Azula had been carted away to spend her life in a mental institution, his life had actually been relatively nice. Sure, it took a few weeks to get used to everything but, really, none of it was anything that he could complain over. It was all good stuff.

Like his Uncle moving into the mansion with him and the fact that he pretty much had the run of the place now. Even having to help out at his Uncle's tea-shop, the Jasmine Dragon, wasn't so bad. Especially since the only reason he had to help there was because his Uncle had practically taken over running the Ryuzo Inc. for him so that he could still have a chance of a semi-normal childhood. Something that he'd be forever grateful to the older man for, even if he never openly said anything.

Zuko shook himself from his thoughts as the sports-car slowed to a stop in front of Nations High. He grabbed his bag, pushed open the door, and nodded towards his driver. "Thanks for the ride, Teo."

He nudged the door shut behind him and started to push his way through the crowd of students milling around. Most of them were carrying around their science-projects, twisting through the crowds and trying not to drop them, but none of them looked all that impressive. Just standard volcanoes.

Zuko's was already tucked away in his locker. He'd finished it the day before during his free-period so he'd just left it there. He figured that there wasn't any point in lugging it to his house and then back to school the next day.

The volcanoe project was actually the only reason that he was looking foreward to Piando's class that day. He figured that most of them would just be the lame paper-mache volcanoes you saw eveyrwhere but he was actually pretty excited about seeing Sokka's project.

The Water-Tribe boy had been bragging about it all week which meant that it was going to be amazing. Zuko didn't doubt that it would be; Sokka's work was always cool to look at. Unfortuantly, his friend was nowhere to be seen in the crowd and Zuko was forced to go to first period without finding him.