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Chapter 48

All Good Things

Annoyed?

No.

Angry?

No.

Irritated?

No.

Something was bothering Azula and she had no idea what it was. Something was ticking at the back of her mind that made her feel annoyed, angry, and irritated, but the source was unknown. The feeling had been increasing exponentially for the past few days. She merely picked at her food at meals; spent the majority of her free time in her room with the music playing too loud; and everything that usually interested her barely held her attention anymore.

"Azula?" Sokka asked. She blinked a few times before turning to him. He wore an odd set of glasses with small lights attached to the frames that shone into her eyes. "I've asked you for that like four times."

Azula glanced at the hand that Sokka was now pointing to. The jeweler screwdriver in her hand was twirling distractedly as she stared at it. Gripping it tightly in rebellion to that strange feeling, she thrust it toward Sokka. He gave her a confused look before returning to the computer that the two of them were supposed to be working on.

"So what's up with you lately?" he asked without turning away from his work.

"Nothing's up," Azula answered defiantly. "I'm fine."

"Sure you are," Sokka mocked. "And Suki is upstairs playing baseball with our good dishes. Are you gonna be ready for this presentation tomorrow?"

"I said that I'm fine," she retorted.

"Okay," Sokka said, holding his hands up in defense. "I was just thinking that you might want to be doing something else right now since all that's left is the minor details. Why don't you go upstairs and relax? I got this covered."

Azula rose without a word or even a glance at Sokka. Perhaps he was the source of the odd feeling. No, that was not it. He was annoying most of the time, but it was not enough to bother her to this degree. Regardless, it would all be over and done with tomorrow anyway.

Azula stopped dead in her tracks halfway up the stairs. That was it. Tomorrow was the last day. The day it would all end. It was she herself who had insisted that the arrangement would only last until the project had finished. Why had she allowed herself to begin thinking of this place as her home? Why had she allowed herself to think of Sokka and Suki as family?

"Azula?" Suki called down the stairs. "That you? Done already?"

Azula shook herself from her thoughts and continued up the stairs. Suki was in the kitchen scrubbing her hands vigorously in the sink trying to get herself clean.

"What have you been doing?" Azula asked.

"My car's been acting up," she explained. "I'm pretty sure that it's the alternator, but the serpentine belt should really be replaced too."

"Good luck with that," Azula replied, heading for the door.

"Are you going to be back before dinner?"

"I don't know."

"Five o'clock!" she heard Suki shout as the door closed behind her.

She did not know why, but Azula had found herself going to the same place every time that she needed to think. Perhaps it was because it was quiet, or maybe because she knew she would not be bothered there. Whatever the reason, her old room was her thought sanctuary. Lying down on the floor where her bed used to be, Azula reflected on her options.

I could go back to the dormitory. I'd be back to living by myself with no one around to bother me, or interrupt my reading, or ask me to check their homework. No one who wants to spend time with me, or keep dinner for me, or care about me. I am not going back to that dorm.

But I can't stay with them. I said that it was temporary, and that is what it's going to be. Besides, I don't want to be in that house after they get married. Especially if they come back with extra luggage after their honeymoon. I don't do well with small children.

What about Uncle? He did say that his door would always be open if I wanted to come home. I can't imagine what it would be like living with his tea smelling up the living room from downstairs. And of course that means that I would be living with Dumb-Dumb again too. Well, perhaps not. He should be starting college next year. If he makes it out of high school that is.

She smiled smugly as her stomach began to growl. Pulling out her phone, she realized that it was already after six. With a heavy sigh she sat up and brushed her clothes off. Suki was not going to be happy with her, but that was fine. As Azula had come to realize, Suki only ever bit her head off and bossed her around because she cared. Strange that the two of them had not had as many fights as Azula had expected. Then again, that was probably because both of them took the majority of their aggression out on Sokka. Another smile spread across Azula's lips as she pictured Sokka's confused face as she or Suki yelled at him for something that he had nothing to do with.

The walk home left Azula regretting having not brought a jacket. The wind was picking up and the sun was falling low in the sky. Night would soon begin and the stars would cover the heavens. If she looked closely enough she could just barely make out the first few stars of the night on the eastern horizon. It was an odd sensation that began to fill her. She had always been so sure of herself, so certain that she would always be in control. Where was she going now? What was next? For the first time in her life, Azula did not know the answers the these questions. It felt like she was stuck in this twilight hour when it was no longer day, but not quite night either.

Azula pushed through the front door as quickly as she could with both arms wrapped around herself. She rubbed them vigorously as she strolled into the kitchen fully expecting Suki to be sitting there giving her the eye. To her surprise the kitchen was completely empty. A small note on the fridge caught her eye, held in place by a small magnet.

"Azula,

Went to bed early for presentation. Dinner in the microwave.

Sokka & Suki"

A strange sort of comfort filled her when she read those words. Reheated roast beef was not the best meal in the world, but it sure tasted like it that night.

- - - -

Azula barely paid any attention to her own lecture on how the computer worked. Sokka stood off to her side with the computer pointing out each of the components as she spoke, and every once in a while he would interrupt and simplify her explanation for the more simple minded students. About halfway through the explanation, Sokka fired up the unit and took over completely. Lights flared out from the holographic disk on the ground and displayed a cone shaped light.

"Alrighty. As you can clearly see, the unit produces a full sized projection into the area," Sokka said as icons began to appear in the light. "The big problem that we ran into was finding a way for the computer to recognize it was being interacted with. See? My hand passes right through each of the icons because all they are is a video light display of information. It was the lovely Azula who came up with the ingenious solution."

Azula reached into her pocket and pulled out a small white glove. She passed it to Sokka with absolutely no intention of being a showgirl for the remainder of the presentation, regardless of Sokka's poor attempt at flattery. Sokka's eye twitched as he took it from her.

"This glove is actually the computer/user interface tool. Rather than set up an overly complicated serious of receivers, this glove acts as the remote. All you have to do is make sure that the wireless signal is being received, which is indicated by this little red light right down here on the disk. It's kind of like a wireless video game controller."

Sokka began to poke at the icons, opening files and changing the display of the screen. The class applauded the invention, as did the professor.

"Very well done!" he said.

"There's only one catch," Sokka said. "Really just a minor annoyance. You have to be careful of icons that are located close together. Sometimes the signal gets picked up a little earlier than the actual contact or it'll be slightly off configuration. This can cause the computer to open a neighboring file or folder by mistake."

The remainder of the class period was spent answering annoying questions that Azula had spent far too long working out to explain to others. More than once she smacked Sokka in the back of the head when he began to give away to much information on how the glove itself worked.

"Sorry," he would say as he rubbed the ever tendering spot. "Trade secret."

When the class finally ended Sokka shook hands with each of the other students as they left. When they passed Azula with their hands out in expectation, she only stood there and stared at them with her eyebrow raised. These students had no idea who she was if they thought she would shake their hands just because they thought she did a good job. She did not need nor want their recognition.

"Stop being a brat and at least smile," Sokka whispered jokingly in her ear.

"I'll smile when we leave," she replied. "You know that I'm only in this class because I need it to graduate. This is all so beneath me."

"But the work isn't," Sokka countered. The last of the students made their way out the door and Sokka turned to face her. "We've created something completely unique. No one's ever successfully built this kind of system before."

"And now it's been built. It's finished. It's over."

After she said it out loud, Azula regretted it. Not because it made her feel upset or sad, but because Sokka got that look on his face. The look that seemed disappointed. The look that Azula knew would mean a talk at the house that afternoon in which he and Suki would try to persuade her to stay with them. It was not just Azula that had gotten used to living there, but Sokka and Suki were now accustomed to having her as well.

Suki stood out in the parking lot waiting with the car for Sokka and Azula to load up their project. Before they could load it however, Suki ordered them to put it down on the asphalt and to stand next to it. She then pull a camera out of her pocket and began to play with it. Suki placed herself between the two of them and held the camera out at arms length.

"Hold on a second," she said. "You got something on your face, Azula."

Azula cringed as Suki licked her thumb and rubbed it across Azula's cheek. She was so maternal it was annoying. The sad thing was Azula was sure she would miss this when she left the house too.

"Crap, now it's on me," Suki groaned. She then rubbed the filth from her finger on Sokka's shirt. "All better."

Azula was able to prevent the laughter from escaping, but not the smile. The moment that it appeared on her face, Suki snapped the photo. She then ordered Sokka to load up the car and left Azula wondering if she had planned the whole thing to go that way. Azula had to hand it to the girl. Suki was almost as manipulative as she herself was.

"So what now, Azula?" Suki asked as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"What do you mean?"

"You going to stay with us until the wedding, or have you made other plans?"

It was no wonder why Azula had such respect for Suki. Unlike her bumbling fiancé, she got right to the heart of the matter like Azula did. The truth of the matter though was that Azula had not thought it all through. For one, the wedding had completely slipped her mind. She was the one helping Suki make her wedding dress. Wasn't that a good enough reason to continue to stay with them? Unforeseen circumstances had arisen. Then again, after the revelations she had while living with Sokka and Suki, part of her had wanted to give living with her uncle and brother another chance.

"Earth to Azula," Suki whistled. "Don't go locking yourself away in your head. I need an answer."

"I've been considering moving back in with Uncle," Azula blurted out in annoyance. "I haven't decided anything yet."

"Well, why don't you move back in with him once the wedding's over?" Sokka suggested. "I mean, we're having it pretty much as soon as the semester's over. It would just be an unnecessary complication this close to finals to be moving around anyway."

"Okay, now that that's settled, what do my two inventors want for dinner tonight?"

"Meat!"

Azula was taken aback by the whole exchange. These two had just made a decision for her. A big decision. As though they had the right to do so. Then they just acted like it was no big deal. She had to admit that the logic behind what they said was sound, but that did not mean that they could just make that decision for her.

"You know, I'm entirely capable of--"

"So Sokka wants meat and I want something vegetarian. Looks like you get the deciding vote, Azula."

Sokka whipped his head around and gave Azula a pleading look. He looked so desperate and pitiful with his big, begging eyes. Azula just could not help herself when she saw that look on his face.

"Vegetarian."

Suki laughed in triumph as Sokka plopped back down in his seat and grumbled to himself about the imbalance of testosterone and estrogen in his household. Azula chuckled quietly as she leaned back into the cushion of the backseat. That was when she realized that it was not important whether she moved out of their place now or during the summer. She was going to move out eventually, Uncle's place did deserve another chance after all.

A/N: Kasamari is sorry for taking so long to post this. It has been one of those days that turned into one of those weeks that turned into one of those months.