A/N: People need to start writing small reviews. Please. After chapter 13, I won't write any more if I don't get any reviews. I need encouragement!! :( So please please please help me out. Suggest things that I should include more...etc. Here's chapter 11, and I will upload more chapters faster. Enjoy!
Chapter 11: A Woman's Heart
Nightfall in Ba Sing Se used to seem so beautiful, but since the city was under new authority, there were restrictions for the natives. Moonlight softly and dimly illuminated the ground with pale blue. Crickets that used to chirp by the thousands on summer nights grew scarce. Townspeople began making up stories that the insects even became spooked by the Fire nation.
The city was quiet as well as the courtyard in the palace. A certain fire bender meditated later than usual. He sat at the northern end of the courtyard, eyes closed and clothed in long, scarlet, silk robes. No sound except the steady breathing came from him. There was a slight rustling of cloth and the amber eyes snapped open. He did not move, but his eyes darted around as to distinguish where the sound was coming from. A figure to the right of him remained shaded from the moonlight by the porch ceiling. By the curved appearance of the silhouette, he could tell this was a female.
It took him some struggle to find his voice after so much silence, "Who is it?" The figure became illuminated with the pale light. She wore gossamer silk in crimson and the trousers were of a faded and light color. Her glossy dark hair fell loosely down her back in think locks. "Sun?! What are you doing up so late?"
"I should ask the same thing about you," she acknowledged. He slowly got up from his spot to match her height.
"Well that's not your business, is it now?" he snapped quietly, folding his arms. She seemed identical to Saya, but he didn't know how to approach the situation. If he made a move to attack her and realized that this was not her, which would compromise the honor he'd gained back.
"True, it's not," she began, walking a few steps closer to him. She stopped at the column behind him and propped herself up against it, folding her own arms, "but I worry about you."
Zuko and Sun had both been taken aback by the rash statement. He raised his eyebrow, wondering if it was Sayamiko. "Since when do you care?"
"Since always," was the next thing he heard her say with a feline quality. This completely lost him, and she could tell. "You could've guessed that my name's not really Sun, you know. And I'm sure you know who I am." She taunted her own safety.
She had hidden her eyes from any given rays of light, Zuko had realized. This had indeed grabbed his curiosity. With the fear that he would be slapped in the face, he place two fingers under her chin, and tilted her face up to meet his stare. It's just as I suspected, but why? Why did she follow me? Her glistening, fiery eyes dazzled him and he couldn't pry himself away.
Her gaze shifted around for a moment or two, curious as to why he was so puzzled at her presence. He yanked his eyes away from hers and averted to staring at the ground before him. Sayamiko had expected him to be at least worried; at least a grasp of her hand would have been enough, but his lack of response was getting her worried. Finally he replied.
"Why did you come here? Why did you follow me?" He looked at her; now seeing that her eyes had began to become glassy.
"Well I thought- I just thought it was okay to be worrying-"
"You shouldn't have come here, Saya. You know you could be in danger too!"
At those simple words she looked up. Her mouth slightly quivered; astonished at the words he spoke. She couldn't tell whether she heard right, or that it was a figment of her imagination.
"Zuko—Prince Zuko," she addressed, "I came with the others because we worry about you. You can't keep running with the winner of every battle. You've seen the lack of sympathy that Azula has in everyone-"
"Saya, don't. I care for your safety, but when you criticize my choices, my destiny-"
"This isn't your destiny!" she finally released. She was sick of hearing him lie to himself; sick of watching him lie all of his life to please everyone. "Are you saying that it's your destiny to walk under your younger sister's shadow? Was it your destiny to capture the Avatar to save your honor? You didn't succeed in that."
"Stop it, Saya. Why must you reopen the wounds? Why do you need to push me to my limits?" he said with a frustrated and shaky tone. Sayamiko could tell this was his breaking point. He'd boil into fury. She paid no heed to his warnings.
"I push you to your limits because I want you to do better than I did, okay? I don't want you to mess up an opportunity like I did. Do you believe that satisfying my sister by killing whoever she instructs me to, made me happy? I felt trapped, Zuko! Now I'm trying to run from it until I can stand up to her. I've been living under her shadow for many years and I don't want you to suffer…again."
Zuko was surprised at her display of anger and how she stood up to him, but it did not seem enough. "Why would anyone or you especially, give a damn about my life?"
Sayamiko felt a familiar stinging in her eyes again. She could not believe that he did not get what she was trying to say to him. All this toil felt like it wasn't even worth the tears that would never come. She'd made it clear as to how much she meant to him, and for what? A miscommunication; another misunderstanding?
"Do you want to know why I don't want you to suffer everything? It's not just because I had to go through that, Zuko; no. It's much more. And do you know why I'm sick of watching you suffer, and not be able to comfort you?" She could feel the stinging turn into a burning sensation on her eyelids and everything looked blurry. "I care about you—I care about you so much; that's why. I always have!"
He was completely shocked. She looked so frail and let down, that when the words finally sunk in; it made his heart ach with overwhelming emotions he hadn't felt in years. Here she was, the once unattractive slave girl, now a beautiful maiden and goddess, with emotions rippling from her aura that she poured out to him. He heard a sharp intake of breath and saw that she had started to weep for the first time in her life. Zuko slowly approached her, feeling sure of the painful yet wonderful emotion that had consumed him. Finally, he knew that his darling possession, the object of his affections loved him back. And finally he realized that someone was there with him in his seemingly lonely life from the start.
He slowly enveloped her in the tightest embrace that he could muster. In return, she held him close to her like the fragile child she had been. "I guess I needed you all along…right?" she managed through short sniffles of air. Zuko nodded his head dumbly in reply. He whispered to her that he needed her as well. He enjoyed every moment of embracing her, although he was scared to death of telling her.
"Everything's going to be fine, right?" she asked as she pulled back to watch his gaze. He looked back at her and replied with a hesitant kiss to her forehead.
"I really don't know. She'll have suspicions—I'm sure Azula will. And it won't be easy."
"But you'll promise to think on it?"
"Of course," he said calmly now. He lifted his rough hands to her cheeks and smoothed away the salty tears that still poured out. "Don't worry."
She doubtfully took a hand off her face. Is he really being honest? How can I tell if he's truthful or not? She averted her eyes from him to the floor.
"What's wrong?" Zuko asked, taking a finger to her chin to tenderly persuade her to look at him. When she didn't respond, he commanded, "Look at me…Saya?"
Sayamiko bit her lip nervously, but refused to look at him. She did not want to give in and simply tell him that she did not believe him. He whispered for her to look at him and she complied. The patience he kept was surprising to her. Now she'd given in and resorted to gazing as the amber eyes that had once been stone-cold. They burst to life before her eyes.
He asked again what was wrong.
She shook her head again and slightly buried her forehead into the robe he wore. A while of embracing him seemed useless. She looked up at him with tears nearly coming back again. "It's just that I'm confused as to whether to believe you or not," she said within shuddered breaths. This statement caught him off guard, and he sensed a lump in his throat due to such disappointment.
He took her into his tight embrace once again, and with a rush, he pressed his lips against hers. Their eyes had instinctively closed, and their arms wrapped around one another as if they simply couldn't risk loosing contact with one another. In his kiss, Saya could tell that he really did need her. But also with his kiss was a desperate sense of his desire. This almost sparked fear in her for some odd reason. Her heart ached with all the passion, sappy as it sounded to her. The way his lips pressed up to hers…the way he was unable to disconnect from the smothering embrace…this was what pushed that unnerving thought away and yearned her back to him.
He tasted the same desire in return of his actions. Zuko, in truth, wished he'd never have to detach the moment. The sweet, cherry blossom scent of her perfume had already wafted to him; and he could not get enough of her essence. He had missed her those several days that she had been gone—he just never realized why he felt empty and bland until then, in this place…in this time.
When the kiss became so intense that they both needed air, Sayamiko was the one to slowly and reluctantly break it. Her mouth still hovered, inches from his, and she could feel Zuko trying to recapture them already. His soft tugging at her lips made this tactic more difficult to resist, and she giggled softly. Without pulling another inch away, she suggested, "We should be getting back, you know."
"You have a point there," he said with a slight smile she had not seen in a long while. Sayamiko turned away from him to leave in the way she came, until his arm wrapped partially along her waist, pulling her back to him. "But where's my goodnight kiss?" he whispered subtly. His soft breath on her neck sent the fine hairs of her neck on end.
She smiled once again, and returned his contact with a kiss on his cheek. With that, she hoped it would satisfy his desire, as well as hers. As their hands lost contact as she drifted away, Sayamiko gave a coy smile and walked to her chamber in a soft sigh. Zuko was left in a daze as he propped his back against the wall. He felt so dizzy, like he hadn't been for a while. His heart beat wildly within the confines of his ribs, so much that it hurt him, but with sweet rapture. He had a strong feeling, an intuition, that dreams would finally appear in his mind, making sleep come easily to him.
As Sayamiko held her blanket close, shrouding her, she thought of him once again. It took a lot for him to come out and express his feelings toward her, let alone kiss her. She only wondered one thing now. Will tomorrow be the same? Will he treat me the way he did tonight? The thoughts echoed in a still-restless mind as she drifted off to sleep.
However, one pair of eyes in particular had seen the short exchange of words and affections. These pair of dark amber eyes belonged to an old man who shook his head in dismay, but sighted quietly in bliss. He sat up and rubbed his temples, knowing that if anyone discovered the young lovers, that their future would be utterly doomed. Then he pondered on a slim and hopeful thought while stroking his rather bushy beard; his nephew was finally happy, and so was the lovely lady. This idea and its chances of succeeding in secrecy were indeed slim, but maybe…just maybe they could change each other for the better. It just depended on how much the heart of this woman, could change Zuko. Their love to go on in privacy and their love would stay strong, or it would go up in flames and the romance would crumble. I have to warn Sayamiko, first thing tomorrow, even if it ends her trust in me. I was wrong about this. I'd rather lose her trust than her life, Iroh thought as he lay back and closed his eyes.
A/N: Hoorah! Let me hear it for SayaZuko!! Guh.. I don't know what to do in the upcoming chapters with them. Mei is in love with Zuko in the episode "Boiling Rock" :o Oh no! We have complications!! So you will kind of notice that I'm inspired by Stephenie Meyer's writing style. That's if you haven't noticed too. But yes, I am a Twilight fannnn! I feel that I will have to drop the whole "Gem of Yoshi" concept in this story by the way. Too much plot diversion, hahaha...I feel it will confuse you. :D Please REVIEW!! (Hugs)
