Disclaimer: Don´t own Avatar..otherwise the ending would be slightly different..cough zutara rules and kataang drools cough
Chapter 2 - Second Night, Second Kiss
Instead of whispered words a giggle woke him up this night.
"What in Agni´s name.." He sleepily mumbled, but was instantly wide awake as he saw who was - once again - standing in his room.
"You were snorring." Azula giggled quietly, as if this would be the explanation for everything.
Mumbling an ennervated "this just can´t be true" he got up and sat himself on the end of his bed, facing her with a grim look.
"I can´t believe I didn´t notice yesterday, that you´re sleeping without a shirt.."
She bluntly stated, her eyes approvingly wandering over his bare chest without the slightest hint of feeling uncomfortable at violating his privacy.
"And you came here in the middle in the night to wake me up and tell me that ?" He asked her, a nerve pulsing at his head.
"Except that is isn´t of your concern, what a member of the royal family is thinking, ...yes, that was one reason out of many."
"Wonderful.." He rolled his eyes, instantly regretting it as he felt a sudden heat...his sideburns were...well,.. burning.
With one touch of his skilled hands the flames were extinguised and his eyes darted over to Azula once again, who seemed to be enjoying herself.
"I can´t remember to have allowed you to roll your eyes or show any other kind of disrespect towards your Princess."
She explained to him, grinning triumphant.
"Then why did my Princess give me the honor of her visit, if not to give me a chance to do exactly so ?"
"Well, well...how to put this..let´s just say I found a certain liking in your treatment last night."
Something in Zhao´s face twitched, but he was able to stay calm.
"I hope my Princess didn´t consider this treatment too high, as it was merely an accident-"
"An accident that certainly mustn´t be one of a kind, as I figured out.."
She hinted, moving closer.
Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he negotiated.
"I am sorry, your highness, but as sworn loyal to your father and sworn to protect you and the rest of the Royal Family I can´t possibly let this happen again."
"Admiral Zhao," She started, her voice already getting angrier, "I command you to kiss me now !"
"You, my dear Princess, seem to be forgetting that I am an Admiral..not a manwhore !"
"And you, my dear Admiral, seem to be forgetting that I can run to my father anytime and tell him how is faithful Admiral has abused me.."
Her voice was dangerously low now.
"You wouldn´t-..he would never believe you !" Zhao fired back, yet a little more cautious now.
"Hmm...let´s think about this..my word against yours...I wonder who he would rather believe ?"
The catlike grin reappared on her face.
"You see now, you have no other choice but to do my biddings-"
"Your biddings ? Is it really that what you want ?! Just look at us ! How can you possibly want that ??"
She raised an impatient eyebrow without saying a word.
"Just- just look at me ! I´m old enough to be your father ! And then look at you, the daughter of the Firelord - his favorite child at that -, your life still lying ahead of you and your body in the midst of its blossom ! It´s-"
"Oh, so you noticed ?" She showed her grin again.
For once Zhao was glad of the darkness in the room, otherwise she would have noticed his blush even more easily.
"Listen," She took the reign over the conversation again, "it could be that simple :
I want you, you want me..so we kiss."
She made it sound like some easy equation everybody could see and understand firsthand.
"But it isn´t that simple." He blocked.
A scowl flashed over her face at his words, yet he continued nontheless.
"Just because your hormones are making your brain go crazy right now, doesn´t mean you have to jump into an affair with the next best guy you find-"
"It isn´t an affair." She told him, sounding insulted.
It was his turn to raise an eyebrow.
"Oh, then what is it then ?" He mocked her. "Don´t tell me it´s love, you´re way too young for that plus you hardly know me !...Why don´t you just run off and go find a boy, any boy if you need some attention so badly ?!"
"Just why do you have to make it so hard ?!" She cried at him; she obviously had hoped this to be easier.
"It´s called flirting, my dear." Zhao teased.
"Ugh, and I´m so bad at that...." She told herself quietly, holding one hand against her head in frustration. He would have laughed at her actions, hadn´t he reminded himself of the bad timing since they were in the middle of an argument now.
"First boys who are interested in me, but run away screaming once I try to talk with them
and then you, who can actually stand conversating and being around me but isn´t interested in me at all...gosh I hate this whole relationship thing.."
All the time while she said this quietly she didn´t move an inch from her point a few feet in front of him, her hands being the only thing that moved; up to her eyes that is, as if to wipe away any proof of emotion that might be there.
Meanwhile Zhao was inwardly torn between the - for him - natural feeling to laugh out loud and the - for him - slightly disturbing urge to stand up to hug and comfort her.
"Just get it in your thick, stubborn head already !" It suddenly and without any warning bursted out of her, making even Zhao flinch for a second.
"I am not interested in any of these so called ´´boys´´, they are nothing but tall, pathetic babies ! At every word she said she stepped on step towards him.
"And for you !" She shouted at him, her forefinger flashing out to point straight in his face, nearly touching him and thus making him flinch again.
"Is it my fault that you are the only man in this goddamn palace and surrounding who could possibly be of any interest ?! Is it my fault you have this body that makes me want to turn around and look twice whenever I see it ?
Is it my fault you have this awfully nice sideburns ?!"
Flashing red in both embarrassment and anger she punched her arms down on the bed, one on each side of him, their noses almost touching.
Breathing heavy her amber eyes met his.
That was when he did an inner "oh well" shrug and closed the distance between their lips once again.
Almost instantly her arms were around his neck, making sure he wasn´t having any second thoughts.
This time she also tried to kiss him back - keyword being "trying" as she had absolute no expertise in that particular area.
However, he didn´t bother to help or show her how to improve; after all, he didn´t want to encourage her - as contradicting as it sounded, it actually made sense to Zhao, as this kiss wasn´t meant to start or even continue something, but to shut her up, to end this crazy scenario finally and for good. In the end, one kiss was all she wanted, right ?
Entangled in his own thoughts he almost jumped to suddenly feel one of her hands going through his hair, the other one still remaining at the back of his neck to pull him closer.
Indeed, this kid was growing more and more reckless every day.
Before she could grow even more reckless or consider his gesture as meaningful he broke the kiss, leaving her with eyes still closed and just as light-headed as the night before.
"Satisfied now ?" He asked a little impatiently, hoping to finally be able to get rid of her now.
"A little.." She half-opened her eyes and combined that with a lazy cat grin.
Her arms still around his neck she swiftly leaned forward to brush her lips faintly against his, before she stood up and stepped back.
Zhao stretched and let himself fall back on his bed.
"I guess I´ll see you tomorrow night then"
He half joked, the other half of him knowing her better than to assume Azula wouldn´t return after finding something new to pass her time with.
"What makes you so sure I will come back ?" She teased, now her eyes fully open and fierce again.
"What makes you so sure you won´t ?"
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