On the preceding days of her 16th birthday, Azula had been actually excited. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to look forward to important events, since her father always made everything about himself, which meant the whole family was under pressure to not anger him in any way nor embarrass him in front of any of his guests. But now that he was gone, they could actually enjoy these big, especial days again.

And she could spend an entire night being the only girl her brother would pay any attention to. He was still somewhat involved with Jin, but it didn't seem to be that serious (as usual) and Zuko had thankfully not asked her to come to the party. The girl wasn't particularly insufferable, but Azula was still glad she wasn't coming - that way, Zuzu would be just hers, as it should be.

Her mother took her to a SPA, where they stayed for a few hours, coming back before sundown. Azula immediately went to her bedroom to make sure, once again, that there wasn't a single flaw on her make up, hair and clothing. She was getting a bit better at not obsessing over that kind of thing, but sometimes she just couldn't help herself. Then again, the simple fact that she was no longer terrified of seeing people that weren't real standing right behind her whenever she looked in the mirror was already a step on the right direction.

Her little inspection was interrupted as her brother walked in without knocking yet again, stopping right on his track as he saw her, making Azula smile. She knew red was her color, and Zuko seemed to agree.

"How do I look, Zuzu?"

"Perfect" he walked up to her, handing her a small, black box "I hope you like it."

She opened it, and her eyes immediately lit up at the sight of that gold necklace. She pulled him in for a quick hug and kissed his cheek, having to clean the lip-stick stain. She then took off the necklace she had on, turning around and telling Zuko help her put on the one he had gifted her. Azula looked at her reflection one more time before turning to her brother again.

"Now I look perfect"

There weren't that many people at the party. The only guests were Mai and Ty Lee, all of Zuko's friends, their uncle and their cousin, and some other relatives they didn't usually interact with as often as they did with Iroh and Lu Ten. Still, Azula felt a lot less lonely than she did on of all previous, absurdly huge birthday parties. And she was a far less overwhelmed, since she had grown a bit more accustomed to the people that were surrounding her.

Still, the only she felt truly comfortable around and fully safe with was her brother, and she was delighted by having him following her around all night and by the fact that pretty much everyone was commenting on how they seemed to be joined at the hip now. Even when they were talking to other people there was that silent, private conversation going on between the two of them with just a few glances and smirks. Eventually, even their friends got tired of being left out, and the group split in three: The ones that were just talking to each other somewhere else, the ones that were happily dancing with each other, and the two siblings. Azula watched their friends flirting while they danced, and considered asking Zuko to dance with her, but she knew he would say no. People would start talking about just how close they were to each other even more if he said yes, and, of course, some would say they were 'too close'.

As if that could ever be a thing. She was his sister, for God's sake! How could she be 'too close to him', when they belonged to each other? When she had literally been made for him? To be by his side until the very end? If anything, they weren't close enough.

Not yet, at least.

She needed to make people less suspicious, even if just a little, to make Zuko give her what she wanted. So, she asked Ty Lee to dance with her, and, by some miracle, it took three songs for the boys to start hitting on her bubbly friend. Her cousins must have realized it would be rude to not let her some time with her friend on her birthday. Once Ty Lee was out of the picture, Azula basically guilted Aang into dancing with her, then did the same to Sokka - she knew Mai wouldn't be caught dead actually demonstrating she was enjoying herself. Lu Ten asked for a dance later, and Azula gladly accepted. Finally, as a slower tune started playing, Azula went the one person she really wanted have near her, and, to her surprise, Zuko immediately took her hand. Maybe he was just being nice because it was her birthday and pretty much everybody else had done it, but she chose to believe he was jealous of seeing her paying so much attention to other people.

Her heart raced the second her brother allowed her to come near him, one hand on his shoulder, the other within his firm, yet gentle grasp, and she looked down to hide her face so no one would see her smirking as he grabbed her waist. They had been this close before, but only when it was just the two of them, so this was exciting. Well, for her at least. Zuko's entire body seemed to be tense.

"Relax, Zuzu" she whispered in his ear "No one is paying attention to us. Even if you're a terrible dancer, no one will see it."

Hearing her voice made him even more tense, and Azula had to hide yet another smirk. She loved knowing that she could affect him that much with something so small. She rested her head on his shoulder as he gently, yet awkwardly, lead her. His left hand moving up and down on her back, as Zuko was unsure of where to leave it, making her tremble against him, which only seemed to make him more nervous. Eventually however, her brother started to relax a little, which allowed Azula to enjoy that moment even more, safe in his arms, breathing in his scent, feeling his heart beating right next to hers. She gave his hand a little squeeze and he kissed the top of her head. After a while she forgot there were other people around them, simply swaying through the room, surrounded by nothing but him.

Unfortunately, it was over far, far too quickly, and her brother pulled away once the song was over.

After Azula was finally done removing her make up, she went back to her room, seeing her brother already asleep on her bed. That made her feel a little better, since he kept finding ways not be alone with her for even a second after their dance, and she had started worrying she could have crossed a line and that he wasn't going to spend the night with her.

I should have known that he wouldn't do this to me today.

The second she joined him in bed, she felt him unconsciously reaching out for her, melting into her embrace. She looked at his contented face, and kissed his forehead.

"Goodnight, Zuzu"