He sorry guys, this ones kinda short, but I didn't want to just leave you all waiting while I went on vacation. I promise I'll keep writing so there'll be AT LEAST two more chapters when I get back :) oh yeah, and I was listening to Metallica when I wrote this part, ironic huh? thanks for reading! ~th3rdhal3~


While my father was busy making dinner, I decided to occupy my time by going for a walk by myself. Though I was still recovering from the rush and excitement from earlier that day, I knew I needed to calm down. As proud as I wanted to be of myself, in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but feel even more alone. I desperately wanted a friend, but I had screwed up that chance by knocking Azula into the pond; after that, I doubted she would ever warm up to me. And the other kids, would they be intimidated by me because of that? Questions and questions clouded my brain. So much was going through the mind of a little eight year-old.

My bare feet caressed the grass I walked upon. I never really liked shoes. I guess it was just a comfort thing. The only reasons I wore them were because 1.) my father didn't approve of me treading the Earth without protective footwear and 2.) it wouldn't be formal if I showed up everywhere bare-foot.

I smiled as I approached the spot I that I had set out for in the first place. It was a Coy pond just outside the palace. Stones of all kinds lay around the edges of the water. The grass was a lush green and shade was abundant. I knelt down above the water and dropped a small handful of bread crumbs that I was keeping in my hand. I waited patiently for the fish to suck up the tiny pieces of bread. Three fish came up near the surface, nibbling the bits of food I had given them. One was all white and shiny-almost silver-ish. The other two were shades of orange. My eyes scanned the pond for my favorite Coy Fish; he was orange as well, but he had black spots on him which distinguished him from the others. Though I looked thoroughly into the water, I did not see him. I frowned slightly; that's when I heard the soft padding of feet approaching.

"Hi there" I turned my head to see Zuko. He was smiling politely, and I was relieved that it was him and not anyone else. I smiled a tad as well and acknowledged him.

"Hi." Zuko picked up a small flat rock from over by the large stones and with a flick of his wrist, he sent it into the water; it skipped twice and then sunk. "Careful! You'll scare Mr. Fishy!" I blurted out. Zuko gave me a puzzling glance as he sat down on a Granite stone.

"Mr. Fishy?" he giggled. "You named them?" At first I didn't know whether or not to change the subject or answer him honestly. It seemed embarrassing, for a moment, that I had given names to all the fish in the pond. But Zuko didn't appear to be poking fun at me. He actually seemed to be interested in what the names were.

"Yes." I truthfully replied. I pointed to the white fish. "That's Misty. Over there is Goldie." Then I pointed at the two orange fish. "These are Yin and Yang. This one looks old and wise so I named it Roku," Zuko chuckled at the reference to the previous Avatar. "And there," I spotted my favorite fish, slinking out from behind a rock. He was the largest fish out of them all. "is Mr. Fishy!" I squealed with delight. Zuko grinned and rubbed his chin for a moment, almost as if he had a beard or some sort. He eyes Mr. Fishy with golden eyes remarkably similar to Azula's. There was no mistake that they were related.

"Mr. Fishy, eh? I was thinking something more like, Bubble the Death-Dealer." he joked. I couldn't help but collapse into a fit of laughter. Zuko joined in with me, realizing that his comment was, indeed very comical.

"Azula's just like that, you know?" He changed the subject minutes later. My ears perked up. "It's not you or anything, trust me. My sister has almost always had that over-competitive nature." he explained. "I guess that's what makes her who she is. She acts all tough and intimidating towards everyone, even her friends and me, so don't take it too personally." I nodded, listening to every word he had to say. "Don't get me wrong, she's a total brat most of the time, but she's my sis and I've learned to live with her." I definitely agreed with him on the brat part, but I felt a lot better knowing that Azula acted as if she despised everyone, and not just me alone. Zuko glanced around the Coy Pond and behind us as well. He cracked a wide smile and lowered his voice. "Don' t tell her I said this, but I thought it was awesome how you wiped the smirk off her face and kicked her into the pond earlier." I felt a grin return to my face as well.

"Well you might think it's funny, but your sister sure as heck didn't." It was quite true after all. But if she did, she had a truly weird way of showing it. "The look in her eyes afterward made it very clear that she's going to kill me in my sleep tonight. Oh dear, I might have to pull and all-nighter." To my surprise, when I turned to look at Zuko again, he was rolling on the ground with laughter. I had no idea how funny my previous comment was. But the more I watched Zuko, the more I felt a chuckle in the back of my throat-which turned into a hearty, full-blown laugh.. Though it had sounded funny coming out of my mouth, I couldn't help but also wonder if Azula was actually planning my demise.

We kept going for at least four minutes. If a random spectator walked by, they would have assumed that Zuko and I were old friends, laughing at yet another funny that one of us had made. I realized then, but not quite as much as I would in the future, how different he was from Azula. There was actual joy behind his golden eyes, unlike the coldness I felt when looking into Azula's.

The sun was slowly beginning to drop in the horizon. My stomach growled and I instantly thought of my father and dinner. "Well, I'd better get back home. Dad's making something 'special' tonight." Zuko nodded.

"I'd better get going too." he said, probably thinking about his family's own dinner plans. "But first, do you want to go feed the turtle-ducks?" A big smile was attached to his face. My eyes lit up as I beamed back at him. My first true friend, YES! I exploded on the inside; it was a happy explosion however. "I'll show you how Azula feeds them!" Zuko snickered as we raced off to the courtyard together.