Zuko, Sokka and Azula told the Kyoshi Warriors everything that had happened, almost eveything, since Sokka and Azula didn't say anything about the investigation they were doing. They already took some security decisions and came up with some ideas to take whoever was doing this down. But at that moment, everyone was taking a break in the Palace's gardens. Zuko was sitting on a table with Sokka and Suki, talking about the feast that was happening with in two weeks.
"Aang and Katara will probably be here next week." The Fire Lord commented.
"It will be nice to see them again…" Suki said, smiling. "You must miss them, right, Sokka?"
Azula was on another table with Ty Lee, not very far from the other group. She couldn't stop looking at Sokka and his ex-girlfriend, every time they smiled to each other or laughed, for some reason, she wanted to set something in fire.
"Azula, are you even listening to me?" Ty Lee complained.
"Uh, what? Oh, sure." The Princess lied and drank some tea.
"What's with you today? You are too quiet and distant."
Azula just shrugged.
"You haven't told me yet how it is to have Sokka as your personal guard." Ty Lee went on, now smirking. "I wouldn't mind having such a cute bodyguard."
Azula rolled her eyes at her friend and glanced at Sokka again. Would he ever stop talking to that girl?
"Uh… Since you talked about him…" Azula tried her best to sound casual. "I thought they had broken up..."
"You mean Sokka and Suki?" Ty Lee asked, and Azula nodded. "Well, they did. And they seemed pretty well with it, at least, Suki did. But now… I'm not sure, I mean look at them." She smiled. "They do look cute together."
Azula felt nauseated. Why was she feeling like this? She herself admitted she was getting too close to Sokka, and that should stop. Maybe it would be a good thing if he got back together with Suki…
"You don't look very happy with this…" Ty Lee frowned at her, trying to understand her friend.
Azula's eyes grew wide when she realized she was letting herself out of guard. Was it just her imagination or was this really happening more often since Sokka arrived?
"Uh… I'm not happy or unhappy with this… It doesn't make any different in my life." She said with disdain.
"Then, why did you ask?" Ty Lee was looking at Azula confused.
"I don't know… I was curious?" Azula shrugged again and sipped her tea, looking away from Ty Lee's eyes.
"Hmm… There is something you aren't telling me." The girl's eyes widened. "Is it something about Sokka?"
"There is nothing, Ty Lee." Azula glared at her friend. "Let's talk about something else."
Her friend suddenly gasped.
"It's not possible that something has happened between you two, is it?"
Azula's stomach sank and she blushed deeply.
"Wh-what? No, are you crazy?" She tried to look angry at Ty Lee, but she just looked really embarrassed.
"That's why you're acting weirdly since I got here! I can't believe it!" Her friend was laughing now.
"Nothing happened, Ty Lee! And keep your voice down." Azula panicked when she saw everyone glancing at them.
"Only if you tell me the truth…" Ty Lee said in a childish way, smirking at the princess.
"I am telling the truth…"
Ty Lee just rolled her eyes at her and looked away with a grumpy face. Azula groaned.
"Fine…" She muttered and looked around making sure no one could hear her. "We kissed once, but that's all."
Ty Lee's jaw dropped and her eyes went wide again.
"YOU TWO WHAT?"
Azula felt like she would pass out. Not only the three from the other table looked at them curiously but also every gardener and servant around did it too. She gave Ty Lee a death glare.
"Shhh…."
"Sorry, sorry…" Ty Lee whispered. "It's just so unlikely… Why- How that even happened?"
Azula sighed, still blushing.
"It was about a week ago! I was upset at something, and he was nice to me, and I ended up kissing him. But that's it. I don't even know why I did it and it meant nothing. Now forget about this!"
Her friend was still smirking though.
"Was it good?"
"Uh?" Azula blushed more. She didn't expect her to ask that. "I- I don't know… I-"
"I bet it was… He looks like a good kisser." Ty Lee said distracted, looking at Sokka. "Haven't you considered doing it again? Not even once?"
"Oh, I'm sorry if I was more worried with protecting my life than kissing guys!" Azula said with sarcasm, glaring at her friend again.
Ty Lee rolled her eyes.
"I know, I know… But what I mean is what do you feel for him?"
But before Azula could even think of an answer to that, she saw Zuko coming near them.
"Azula?" The princess heard her brother calling and froze. Did he hear anything? "I'm going to work on the terms I need to send to the Earth Kingdom and I want your help with something… Will you come with me?"
The princess almost sighed in relief. She gave Ty Lee a look that clearly meant keep your mouth shut and stood up. Azula started walking with her brother and realized something was missing. Sokka. Was he still talking to the Kyoshi Warrior? She gritted her teeth and walked until them.
"Excuse me?" She looked down to them, folding her arms.
"Uh, hey, Azula…"
"Well, as far as I know you're still my guard, so you need to come with me, peasant." She made sure to say that last word carefully as looked directly at him. "Although I wouldn't mind to have a break from you…"
Sokka looked confused to Azula, and then sighed.
"Well, duty calls."
"Good luck!" Suki laughed a little.
"I see you tonight."
Azula was reading a document at one desk in Zuko's office. Her brother was on the principal one and Sokka was sat near Azula, looking at a map from Fire Nation distractedly. The Princess realized she felt much better once they left the Kyoshi girls behind. Although she couldn't understand why seeing Sokka around that girl made her feel so horrible. She remembered of Ty Lee's question. What do you feel for him? Thinking about that made her anxious. No, she didn't feel anything for him... That was impossible. He was annoying and loud… And…
"What?" Sokka asked her, making her realized she had been looking at him for a long time.
She blushed. Damn it, what's the matter with you, Azula?
"Uh… nothing, just careful with this map…" She turned her face to the document again, cursing herself.
Sokka was going to say something, but Zuko spoke first.
"So, Sokka…" He started in an awkward tone. "What's going on between you and Suki?"
Azula's ear perked at that. She kept looking at the scroll, pretending to read it, but all her attention was at the boys. Sokka frowned, confused.
"What? Nothing. I mean nothing anymore, why do you ask?"
"Uh, no reason… Since you two are having dinner together tonight I thought maybe there was something." Zuko shrugged.
"We just like to spend time together, as friends." Sokka said distractedly, but then his tone changed. "Well, to be honest, we never know, right? Let's see how things go through dinner… I mean, I'm still guy and she is a pretty and nice girl." He smirked at Zuko.
Azula cleared her throat.
"I'm trying to work here. Will you stop this pointless conversation?" Azula growled.
Zuko rolled his eyes.
"Someone is in a bad mood today…" Her brother teased her and smiled at her glare.
"Only today?" Sokka asked sarcastically and laughed, making Azula blush and get even angrier.
"Shut up, you two…" She muttered.
Azula pretended to keep reading, but the truth was she couldn't even focus her eyes on the paper anymore. All she could think about was what Sokka had just said. Were they going to have dinner together? Like a date? And was he actually considering the possibility to get back together with that girl? Suddenly, she felt an urge to cry and it got hard to breath. Why was this happening with her? She blinked several times making sure there was no tear there. She needed to control herself, at least until she was alone again. Then what? She still needed to find out why she was feeling like this. Unless…
Unless she already knew why and was too scary to admit it… There was a reason she didn't want Ty Lee to know about the kiss, because she knew her friend would make that question. What do you feel for him? And she didn't want to think about that… And mostly now that it was getting clearer and clearer what was the answer to that.
The Princess felt panic taking over her when she slowly admitted to herself: she had fallen for him. She had fallen for Sokka.
Hours later Azula and Sokka left the room. Azula had been quiet, trying to calm herself down. What was she supposed to do now?
"You look worried, did something happen?" Sokka frowned to her.
"I'm fine…" She muttered.
First things first. She didn't know what she would about her feelings for him, maybe they would go away just as they came, but she certainly knew she didn't want him be around the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors tonight. Having dinner together, ugh… She almost groaned.
"Remember that Governor's secretary who wanted to talk to Zuko at the middle of night a week ago?" Azula said, as she came back to her normal plotting self.
"Uh, sure…"
"I just saw that the Governor he works for is still in the capital. Isn't that suspicious?" She went on, as they walk in her office.
"I don't know… Is it?" He frowned, confused.
"Yes. He has another to town to govern, why would he be here for no reason? And Zuko has told me his secretary wanted to talk about funds to a special monument in the city. I mean, who comes at that hour to talk about that?" She folded her arms.
"But why are you bringing that up now? It has been a week!" Sokka was still confused her, he had to admit sometimes it was really hard to follow her train of thought.
"Because the week was too busy and I didn't know he was still here! He has a house here in the capital, not too far from here. I want to go near there, to take a look if there is anything strange going on… tonight." She said the last word very emphatically.
Sokka sighed.
"I'm not even wasting my time arguing with you… But you know Zuko asked you to leave the palace with an escort, right?" He asked, trying to figure out how they were doing this.
"Zuko won't know we are going, you idiot!" She rolled her eyes at him.
Sokka's eyes widened at her.
"Wow, you really are in a bad mood today. What's happening?" He asked genuinely concerned, which made her feel worse.
"Nothing..." Azula muttered. "Let's just get everything ready…"
Sokka suddenly made a grimace.
"I was going to have dinner with Suki… What do I even say to her?"
Azula glared at him.
"Do I look like your love adviser or something? Just make an excuse!" She growled.
"Fine, fine, calm down, I will think of something…"
When night fell, they were already at one of the secret exits from the palace. Both were wearing similar black clothes, and the princess' hair was down, so she would look less like herself.
"So what did you tell to your ex?" Azula asked impatiently as they started to walk into the woods.
"I told her you had to work late, and since you are in a worse mood than usual, it would be better if she didn't come near by." He said casually. "I think she bought it."
Azula blushed a little. Was her she really that obnoxious? She realized she never gave much thought to how he must feel about having to follow her everywhere. Did he even like to be around her? Well, now he must hate it since he just missed a date to help her with her crazy plan.
Did she even have a plan? She dragged them there, but she wasn't even sure what she was doing. The point was to get Sokka away from Suki. Azula blushed more when she realized how ridiculous that was. They weren't going to have dinner that night, but they could do it in the next one. Was she going to find another excuse to make him stay near her? How sad was that? He probably didn't even want to be around her anymore… She sighed. Well, now you have to go with this until the end. And maybe she would end up finding something out about the attacks after all.
Sokka was observing Azula from a certain distance. He wondered why she was so weird. Did he do something wrong? Or was she just in those days of the month? Yeah… Probably that. He sighed, he didn't like to see her like this though, and walking through those woods in the middle of the night wasn't the most reasonable thing to do. Mostly when there were so many people who wanted the princess' death. Sokka instinctively got closer to Azula.
After a while, walking in silence, Sokka finally said:
"Azula, are you sure we are going to the right direction?"
"Of course I am sure!" The princess answered with disdain, rolling her eyes at him and walking a little faster than him.
"Really? Because we passed that fallen tree two times already…" Sokka questioned, frowning.
Azula stopped, finally noticing what he was saying. Shit.
"Did you bring a map?" He asked.
"No, but we don't need it, it's not far from the palace, I remember going there when I was little."
"But you probably come with servants and guards, and in a palanquin… Not alone or walking!" Sokka said in frustration. "Do you even know how to survive in a place like this?"
"A place like this? We are a few hours from the-" The princess stopped talking when something wet fell on face.
Suddenly there was a thunder. The rain came out of nothing, heavy and cold. That certainly wasn't Azula's luck day.
"Can we go back now?" Sokka sighed, trying unsuccessfully to wipe the water from his face.
"No!" Azula groaned and continued to walk.
She knew she wasn't making any sense, it was really reckless to stay in the middle of the woods during a storm like that, and of course they would not find out anything in those conditions. But she was so frustrated, with him, with Suki, and mostly with herself, she couldn't simply give in and go back now. How could she let herself get in a situation like this? He was a peasant, a stupid water peasant! Her thoughts were stopped when she stumbled at something. At the next second, she was facing the ground.
"AZULA!" Sokka rushed to her side, helping her. "Are you okay?" He asked with concern, while he checked if something serious had happened to her.
The princess felt ridiculously humiliated, she wiped some mud off her face, but it was everywhere, her clothes, her hair… She blushed and felt worse when she realized Sokka was by her side. He helped her to stand up, but she winced in pain and almost fell again if he wasn't him to hold her by her waist.
"Ouch!" Azula groaned. "I think I sprained my ankle…" Wasn't this perfect?
Sokka looked around, trying to think at something. The rain was so heavy it was making it hard to see… But then he saw something.
"Look…" There was an old abandoned build, not very far from them. "Let's go there…"
"How am I even supposed to go there? I can't walk, you idiot!" Azula yelled at him, frustrated.
Sokka rolled his eyes and quickly put one arm under Azula's legs and the other around her shoulders, holding her up.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Before she even finished the sentence they were already under the roof of the old build.
He put her down gently.
"There you go. Let's stay here until the rain is over…" Sokka said calmly. Azula was still blushing, shocked and embarrassed. What had just happened? "Hey, let me see your ankle…" He said in a worried tone.
"What?" She almost jumped and looked confused to him.
"Let me see how bad it is…" He explained, in a comforting tone, but that just made her feel more uncomfortable.
"No! Since when you are a physician?"
"Come on, my sister is a healer, I know a thing or two…" He was already taking her boot off.
Azula blushed more. Why was he always invading her personal space? He touched her ankle softly and shivered at his touch.
"Does it hurt?" He asked, looking at her with concern.
"No…" She muttered, awkwardly.
He moved her feet a little.
"Ow! Now it does!"
"Sorry…" He smiled. "Yeah, it's sprained…"
Azula rolled her eyes and gave him a mocking look.
"Really? I didn't notice it."
Sokka looked back at her unamused.
"It doesn't seem that bad though…" He said, sitting next to her, leaning his back to the wall.
Azula was freezing, her clothes were soaked, in fact every inch of her body was wet and cold. She held herself, trying to get warmer and stop trembling. Suddenly, she felt an arm around her and her heart skipped a beat.
"What are you doing?!" Azula almost yelled, glaring at Sokka. What the hell was he doing?
"Trying to warm you up? Look at you! Your lips are turning blue!" He held her close, rubbing her arm to make her warmer. "Now I'm sure wouldn't make it in South Pole…" He laughed a little at her, but then he winced in pain when she elbowed him. "Ow… Relax, I'm just kidding!"
Azula felt her heart pounding hard against her chest and her face flushed. Why was he always doing stuff like this? And the worst part was how it made her feel. She couldn't even deny that, even though she was really mad that everything had gone wrong, a part of her was enjoying that situation. She cursed herself.
Sokka looked at the princess, as she avoided his eyes. He sighed, why did she have to be so gorgeous? Even when she was a mess, she was beautiful. But he felt a tightness in his chest when he realized she was still really upset. Of course, her plan didn't work, he knew how much she hated when that happened. But what kind of plan was that anyway? It was more than obvious that something would go wrong there. He had never seen her acting so reckless like that…
"I'm sorry we didn't get to spy on that governor… And it started raining… and you sprained your ankle…" He said awkwardly, trying to cheer her up, but she just looked unamused at him.
"Well, I guess I'm sorry you missed your date…" Azula said with disgust, not looking at Sokka's face.
He frowned at her, confused.
"What? Date? What date?"
"Come on, weren't you going to have dinner with ex tonight?" The princess tried to act cool.
"Yeah. But it would be just a dinner, not a date!" His eyes were widened and his voice sounded almost desperate. "We are just friends…"
"That's not what you told Zuko…" She said in a mocking tone.
Sokka looked puzzled at her. What was she doing? Why was she asking those things? For some reason he didn't know, the last thing he wanted was she thinking he was going on date with Suki. He didn't know why he said that Zuko, maybe he was scared his friend would think he was interested in someone else. But wait, was he? Sokka caught himself looking at the princess' amber eyes for more time than he should. He cleared his throat.
"I-I didn't mean that…" Sokka started insecurely. "It was just going to be a dinner with a friend. That's all." He noticed something sparked at her eyes when he said that, and she got closer to him.
Their faces were a few inches of distant. He swallowed and felt his heart racing as he stared at her. Maybe it wasn't so bad that things had gone the way they did, otherwise they wouldn't be there, he wouldn't be holding her, they wouldn't be so close… Sokka frowned confused at himself. But before he could question himself about his crazy thoughts, the princess looked away again sadly. His chest tightened.
Azula suddenly felt Sokka's hair touching her hair and her heart stopped. She looked again at him with her eyes widened, blushing deeply, remembering that's what he had done before kissing her in her dream.
"You got mud in your hair…" He laughed softly.
Azula just rolled her eyes, a little disappointed, her face burning with embarrassment. But then she realized he was looking at her again, why did he keep doing this? Looking back at his eyes just messed so much with her… She was trembling again, but not from the cold, actually she was feeling really warm now. He was still touching her hair, when she felt his lips against hers.
Azula wasn't sure if it was another dream or not, but she didn't care. She put one hand around his neck, pulling him closer to kiss him deeper. That kiss was different from the first. She wasn't crying or thinking about her family problems, her mind was only there, with him. And this time he was the one who kissed her first and she couldn't help but feel really happy about it. Azula felt an electric sensation taking over her body, when she felt he leaning into her, his body pressing against her and his hand going up her tight. She had never felt something like this and she moaned weakly into his mouth. But all of sudden he broke the kiss.
They looked at each other, gasping for air. The princess felt like the world around her was spinning, she held herself on him to keep her balance.
"I-I'm… I'm sorry…" He started, still breathing with some difficult. "I shouldn't have... Wait a second." Sokka's countenance suddenly changed. He was frowning at her now in a suspicious way. "Did you plan this whole situation?" He was smirking now.
"What?!" Azula looked both terrified and shocked to him. "What are you talking about, moron?"
"I mean, you have done everything to take me out of Palace today, then you asked about me and Suki… and now the kiss."
"You kiss me!" She reminded him. Her eyes were widened as she glared at him with exasperation.
Sokka laughed at her face, making her even angrier.
"Yeah… but you kissed me back." He raised an eyebrow to her.
Her mouth was opened while she looked shocked at him. He couldn't be serious. She couldn't believe it…
"Do you really think I planned for us to get stuck in here so we could kiss?" Azula was yelling now. He was such an idiot, she couldn't even believe she was kissing him a minute ago. "I guess you must also think I made it rain and sprained my ankle on purpose!"
"I don't know… sometimes I just don't get how your mind works, to be honest." Sokka gave her a smirk. He had to admit he loved messing up with her. Of course he wasn't serious. But yes, part of him was wondering if she did plan any of that.
"You just… you can't-" Azula growled and looked away from him, gritting her teeth in frustration. But before she came out with a better answer to that, he was already leaning himself on her again. He smirked and closed his eyes, kissing her again.
Azula's heart stopped again. What was wrong with him? She wanted to pull him away and complain, but instead she just kissed him back. This kiss was softer, less desperate. He pulled her closer gently, by her waist, almost making her sit on his lap, while she slowly put her arms around his neck. When they pulled back, Azula looked at Sokka with some sort of smile.
"You are an idiot, you know that?" She muttered, trying to look mad at him, but she was clearly suppressing a smirk.
"Yeah… you've told me that enough times." He sighed and chuckled.
She looked outside. It was still pouring.
"I guess we will stay here tonight." She sighed.
"We should get some sleep." Sokka said.
Azula grimaced when she realized he was right, she would have to sleep in that disgusting place. At least, some things went better than she expected…
It was already morning when Sokka woke up. He blinked a few times when he saw the princess sleeping next to him. She was lied on her side, her hair all spread on the floor, her mouth a little open. She didn't look very comfortable though. Clearly the princess wasn't used to sleep on the floor, Sokka thought, smiling a little. Then he blushed remembering the night before, and he couldn't help but feeling a strange urge to touch her again.
Sokka knew that was wrong. Very wrong. Just because the princess let him kiss her last night, it didn't mean she would want him to touch her again, mostly when she was sleeping. But he couldn't control himself anymore, he was already stroking her hair slowly. Even after all the rain and mud, her hair was so soft, he bet her skin was too... Sokka caught himself looking at her body... He quickly pulled his hand back, feeling a little guilty for his improper thoughts.
He kept staring at her, he didn't know why but he realized he could spend hours looking at her like this. Who was he kidding? He did know why. Actually he had known it for a while now. Sokka sighed. There was a reason why he had followed her in all her crazy missions, and why he couldn't stop worrying that something would happen to her if he left her alone… it wasn't just because he was his guard or because of Zuko. It was because of her. He couldn't deny it anymore, could he? It was true...
He was in love with the Princess of the Fire Nation.
A/N: So, this was supposed to be 2 different chapters, but I felt like posting it all as one, that's why it's so long.
Thank you all for reading it! Please review it! :)
