Yo, yet again! I went to go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix yesterday. It was pretty good, despite the baby crying, and the continuous squeaky chair, and ringing phones, and wrinkling paper, and the volume on in the theater BEING TOO LOW!! But, I digress……time for another chapter!!
Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA…and unfortunately I don't own the movie theater….
Zuko grumbled as he pulled his down his ball cap.
"Calm down," Iroh said gently as he pulled Jet from off the floor. "You've been so tense lately, Zuko. Maybe you should just…,"
"Cool off," Zuko murmured while pushing his hands deeper into his pockets. He tried to avoid the eyes that continuously landed on his scar and ducked his head against his chest.
"Why should I have to leave when Jet was the one who started it?" Zuko thought aloud as he remembered the events that transpired only ten minutes ago.
"Hey, Zuko!"
Zuko turned to face the annoying face that accompanied that ever so cocky voice.
"Yes, sir?"
Jet was surrounded by his normal posse at their normal table: Smellerbee, Longshot, The Duke, and various others. Jet motioned Zuko to come over with a jerk of his head and wave from the finger.
"Get over here, tea boy!"
Zuko heard the posse chuckle as he approached, the eyes of his wary uncle on his back. He took a deep cleansing breathe. He had to remember what his uncle had told him: "The customers are our livelihood, Zuko. Do not upset them."
He forced a smile. "Can I help you, gentlemen?"
He thought he heard Smellerbee say something about girls, but let it go.
Jet smiled through the ever present toothpick in his mouth.
"Yeah, you sure can, uh…..help me with something."
Jet moved the toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other.
"You can, um…tell me when your sweet-heart returns."
Zuko felt his blood boiling and gripped the tea tray until his knuckles turned white.
Jet's gang was rolling over with laughter and Jet smirked as he chewed.
" 'Cause I'm sure she'd just LOVE to pin you to a wall…,"
Jet hit the ground so hard his toothpick went flying and skittered to a halt beside the feet of a shocked Longshot.
Jet coughed and tried to push Zuko off of him. He didn't budge.
Zuko pressed his face closer to his and whispered, "If you so much as think about mentioning her again…,"
Zuko tightened his grip and slammed Jet's head against the floor, making the boy's eyes roll in his head.
"I'll……,"
"Zuko!!"
Zuko turned to find his uncle hurriedly bustling towards them.
He pulled himself off of the boy and backed away. Iroh ran over to Jet and tried to help him stand. Jet coughed and glared at Zuko as he brushed off the imaginary dust.
"Calm down. You've been so tense lately, Zuko. Maybe you should just cool off for awhile."
Zuko tried to regain control of his breathing as he looked from his uncle, to Jet, to the horrified faces of the other customers.
He growled low in his throat before ripping off his apron and grabbing his black baseball cap and marching out the door.
"And you owe me another toothpick, tea boy!!"
Zuko rubbed his face. Why did it bother him so much when she was mentioned? Why did she keep popping into his mind? He exhaled slowly as he stepped out of the way of a mother chasing after her runaway child. He furrowed his brow. It was almost as if….
"ICE CREAM!! GET YOUR ICE CREAM, RIGHT HERE!!"
He looked up at the vendor who was yelling to the crowd. Zuko watched as little children tugged on their mothers' sleeve, only to receive a withering glare of disproval.
Zuko glanced upwards and squinted.
Well, it was rather hot.
He tugged down his baseball cap even more as he made his way over to the balding man.
Zuko motioned to him with a slight jerk of his head. "I'd like a Fudgy Melt, please."
The man lost the smile that was saved for the children and grunted while opening his machine. He pulled out a dribbling yellow packet with a broken stick and handed to Zuko.
"Here. That'll be $1.50."
Zuko frowned. "But the stick is broken."
The man shrugged as the brown liquid dropping onto his still extended hand.
"Look, do you want it or not?"
Zuko grumbled and handed the man his money. The man counted to make sure it was enough, then turned away.
Zuko exhaled even more slowly than before as he turned around and made his way towards the sidewalk and sat down on the edge.
He ripped off the cover and grimaced before throwing it into the street.
"You know, littering is technically illegal."
It felt as if the little breeze that had been blowing stopped right then and there.
Zuko didn't turn around as he said, "So is killing someone."
"Very true."
He felt her presence before she even sat beside him.
Zuko glanced over at her through the corner of his eye. She looked the same as the night before: Dark flare pants, dark tank shirt, dark sunglasses, blue necklace, and….
Zuko looked her full in the face. "You like Fudgy Melts?"
She nodded as she licked the delectable dessert.
"Love them."
Zuko looked away, unsure of what to say.
"Your name is Zuko, right?"
He turned back, surprised.
"Yeah. How did you remember?"
She kept eating for a time before responding.
"I have no idea."
Silence was their only companion for awhile as they ate. People would occasionally glance down at them before continuing their daily routines in their lives.
Zuko glanced at the woman sitting next to him. It was so weird. No one could possibly know how much of a dangerous person she was. How cold she could be.
"What are you thinking about?"
Zuko turned to look at her. "You."
She grinned as she took another lick. "Really? And what, pray tell, do find so interesting about me?"
Zuko thought about his answer before replying. "You seem like such a strong and intelligent person without your sword."
He turned his body to face hers. "I'm just wondering what made you pick it up and….you know." His eyes cast about to make sure no one was paying close attention to them.
She tilted her head. "I'd rather not divulge that type of information to you."
Zuko raised his hands in a defensive manner. "And I'm not saying you should!"
He lowered them. "But surely you could solve your problems by some other fashion…,"
Her head whipped to face him, her sunglasses flashing.
"Whoever said I had a problem?"
Oh shit
Zuko tried to shrug it off. "That's not what I meant…I mean, say if someone was trying to start trouble with you…,"
Her eyebrow arched. "Like who?"
"Well, uh, I don't know….some random guy who kept, like, following you or something…,"
Her face was unreadable. "I've ran into you twice."
Damn
"No! Not me! I'm not following you! You were the one who came and sat beside me and started talking!"
Her face was dark.
Well, it had sounded better in his head.
"You're right."
I am?
"I am?" Zuko said aloud with a questioning look.
She nodded slowly. "Yes. I am the one who started talking."
She turned away for a moment. "I remember your name for some reason, and sometimes I even think about you."
Zuko felt his heart jump. "Really?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
She looked back at him. "You're a distraction."
Wait, wha..now who now!?
Her hand slowly made its way toward her sword.
"And I can't have distractions."
Zuko's eyes went wide and he scooted away.
"Now aren't you just being a tad bit hasty?"
He scooted farther away as she tilted her head.
"No. I'm just being thorough."
"Look, you don't want to kill me!!"
"No I don't."
She started to pull the sword from its sheath.
"But I'm afraid I have no choice."
Zuko's eyes darted from object to object, from person to person. Someone had to see what was going on…wait, this was downtown, NOBODY ever saw what was going on!
Zuko pointed up at a tree. "Look! A Mockingbird!!"
The woman didn't even spare it a glance, but she stopped moving towards him.
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"
Zuko shrugged. "I don't know!! I just don't wanna die right now!"
She stared at him for a moment, then exploded into laughter.
He was going to make a run for it, but, he couldn't do it. Something was holding him there. Maybe it was her laughter. It was pretty.
She sheathed what little sword she had removed and wiped her eyes.
She shook her head. "You know, it really wasn't that funny."
Zuko licked his lips. Okay…
She grinned. "But I like you, Zuko."
Zuko blinked. Thank you…?
She fiddled with her ice cream stick. "You know, I've never met someone like you."
"Maybe if you tried to get to know people before you….," Zuko slapped a hand over his mouth.
Am I trying to dig myself into a hole, here!?
Surprisingly, she didn't seem offended.
"No. It's better if I don't."
After a few more moments of silence, Zuko figured she must have delved into her own thoughts. He looked her over and his eyes landed on her blue necklace.
He nodded towards it. "That's a nice necklace you have there."
She grunted in response.
"Can I…?"
"No."
"Okay then."
He pulled his hands together and clasped them inbetween his legs.
"So…what do you want to talk about?"
Zuko mentally slapped himself. He sounded like her therapist. Hmm…maybe that's what she needed.
"I don't want to talk at all."
He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.
"I just like….sitting…here…with you."
Zuko looked over at her, and indeed, she was just sitting there, looking at the stars.
He couldn't help but smile.
"Okay. Then we'll just sit here."
A few minutes passed with them just, as they had said before, sitting there. Many gave the two puzzled looks. Who, when there was so much to be done, had time to just sit down and, well, sit?
Zuko was enjoying it to its fullest. Though not a word had passed between them for over five minutes, it felt as though he was getting to know her. Well, maybe not mentally, but on an even deeper level than that. He was getting to feel her presence. He was starting to notice little things like, how her breathe seemed to slow whenever a person came too close. He noticed how her head jerked slightly whenever any sort of animal sounds were happened. He noticed how she would slightly move her head whenever a strand got in her face. He even seemed to feel her heart and how it skipped every fourth beat. It didn't make sense, and yet, it did.
He felt her heart jump on the second beat and he was immediately alert. He turned to face her as she moved from off of the sidewalk.
"What's wrong?" Zuko asked.
"I have to go kill someone right now."
Silence.
"That didn't come out right."
Zuko sighed and climbed to his own feet. "Yes it did. Do you really want to keep doing this to yourself?"
She shrugged. "Not really."
"Then stop!"
"I can't."
"Why not!?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why the hell not!?"
"Because…,"
"Because what!?"
"Because I don't want you to get hurt, Zuko!!"
Zuko took a step back. It wasn't so much the words, but how calmly they were said, like she accepted it as truth. "Did you just….? Did you just say that…?"
She tightened the sword that hung from her side. "I don't want you getting involved in something that I'm not sure even I can get out of."
She looked up at him, her deepest emotions hidden by her glasses.
"And I don't want you getting in my way."
She stepped away from him, about to walk down the street, then stopped. Her back was still to him.
"Zuko!"
Zuko had been watching her and there was no need to snap his head to attention.
"Yeah?"
"At that shop of yours…what do you sell?"
He frowned. "Tea."
Zuko could tell she nodded by the movement of her hair.
"Do you sell Jasmine tea?"
Zuko felt his heart lifting. "Yeah, but we run out real quick!"
He feel her smile. "Well then, I guess I should stop by sometime soon."
She started walking again. "I'll see you around, Zuko!"
Zuko smiled to himself as he turned away and started walking back to the tea shop.
For some reason, Zuko knew that she wouldn't have hurt him. Maybe his ill attempt at escaping was just an excuse for her. Whatever it was, he could feel the bond being created between them, and from that he was more elated than ever.
"But I like you, Zuko."
His smile widened even more.
"And I really like you, too……,"
Zuko paused in the middle of the walkway.
Shit! He still didn't know her name!!
Ta-da! Fourth chapter is completed!! Now, I shall answer your questions, Claria. Question number one: Is Zuko still Azula's brother? I can't tell you that or it would ruin the story…probably. Question number two: Does the necklace still have the same meaning as in the series? No. No it does not. It'll be explained later. Question number three: Is the person in the packet part of the series or are they an original character? Well, it is an original character. Hmm. I wonder if you can guess who it is, 'cause that's going to be in the next chapter. Of course I won't say their name, but, you get it! I'd also like to mention that I want Zuko to be a little lost and emotional at times. I like it and it's different. Anywho, I'm happy to answer any questions about the story! In the meantime, R&R pleaaaaaze!
