Chapter 33: Passion and Anger
After pouring himself a cup of cold water, Shouto took a seat in the living room, where a very angry Bakugo glared at him. It had been nearly an hour since the rest of the group left for the meeting with the Earth King, and the house had been fairly silent since then. The fact that Bakugo would refuse to talk to Todoroki was the most to blame for that.
Shouto raised the cup to his lips, took a sip of the water, and rested the cup back onto his lap; the tranquility of the room made the teen feel calm, but the continuous glare that Bakugo kept aimed at him made things a bit too tense for his taste.
"Is there something you would like to say?" Shtoto questioned, his eyes closed in a meditative expression.
"You didn't have to stay here, you know," Katsuki barked, crossing his arms in front of him.
"I merely remained because I thought it would be better if there was more than one person to stay and watch the prisoners with the guards," Todoroki responded.
"Why? I could've watched over them myself," the spiky-haired boy spat, "I have things under control. I don't even need the guards."
"While I trust in your abilities, I nevertheless think that it's more efficient for both of us to remain here," Shouto said, bringing the cup back up to his lips.
"Tch, whatever!" Bakugo barked, glancing over at the prisoners' door.
Shouto looked up at Katsuki; the spiky-haired teen seemed to be thinking about something - he could practically see the gears turning in the young hero's head. There was a thoughtful look that appeared on his face as he kept his gaze glued to the door. Something was bugging him.
Standing up, Bakugo headed for the prisoners' room, "Hey, move aside. I want to talk to the prisoners," he informed the guards.
The soldiers gave each other unsure looks but eventually stepped aside, allowing the boy to enter the room. Todoroki followed Bakugo, mostly curious as to what his fellow hero was doing, but he decided to remain behind the door's threshold.
Upon opening the door, Bakugo entered the small room, whereupon the three girls glanced up at him.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Azula sang, pushing herself up from her seated position, "to what do we owe this unexpected pleasure?"
"Sit down," Katsuki stated in a low voice, "or i'll burn that damn smirk off of your face."
Still grinning, Azula slowly lowered herself down to a mat, taking a seat once again in the center of the room.
Kneeling down into a squatting position, Bakugo leaned in close to the dark-haired princess, his glaring eyes boring into her own, "You know you won't escape, right?" he sneered, "I know you're probably thinking of a way to escape right now, but you can just forget it. It's not gonna happen."
Shouto was confused by Katsuki's behavior, but remained silent.
At first, Azula's smile seemed to widen, but then she defaulted to a more serious demeanor, "Is this meant to scare me?" she questioned, tilting her head slightly, "if this is your attempt at intimidation, then you're doing an incredibly poor job of it."
"'Intimidation'?" Bakugo repeated, "I haven't even begun trying yet."
Uncomfortable with what was happening, Shouto pulled Katsuki toward him by the collar of his shirt, "Bakugo, what are you doing?" Todoroki whispered.
Katsuki didn't respond to his half-and-half friend; instead, he kept his attention on the girl in front of him. In his mind, Bakugo had already acknowledged that Azula is very similar to himself in a lot of ways, but that alone didn/t make her any more tolerable; that constant grin of hers drove Bakugo insane. It was as if she was openly telling him that she had already seen through him - all of his weaknesses, all of his shortcomings: she knew them all. He didn't like it.
He couldn't understand it. Everytime he looked at her, he became enraged by her presence, and yet, he was also intrigued by it. Even now, as he glared at her, as he hated her, he couldn't help but think there was something so stunning about her. This confusing mixture of thoughts and feelings towards someone he had never met was starting to mess with him.
"...stand up," he commanded, earning a confused look by the princess.
"I said: STAND UP," he tried again, this time in a much deeper voice.
Azula's smile was now gone, and she addressed him with a silent look of irritation.
"Why?" she finally asked.
"So we can fight," he said.
At this point, Todoroki had seen all that he needed to; he had to stop this - right here right now - so that things wouldn't get worse.
"Bakugo, it's not our job to fight with the prisoners," he said, trying his best to make Katsuki see reason. But as he looked into the blonde boy's eyes, he saw only rage - a rage that seemed to build and grow the more it simmered.
Shouto was so preoccupied with Bakugo, that he hadn't seen Azula get to her feet.
Now, as the dark-haired girl and the blonde-haired boy glared back at each other, Todoroki felt a sudden sense of unease.
Putting a hand on Katsuki's shoulder, Shouto spoke calmly to his teammate, "This isn't the time," he said, "or the place to do this."
"Oh? When is it, then?" the other teen spoke, not taking his eyes off the girl before him.
"Not. Now," Shoto said.
Bakugo and Azula continued to glare at one another, but Todoroki could begin to feel the tension in the air begin to lift. Finally, all of the pressure in the room seemed to release and dissipate when Bakugo let out a long sigh.
"Forget it," he said as he turned around and headed back to the door, "I'm not in the mood anymore."
"...that's it?" Azula called after him, only to receive the boy's middle finger in return.
"Pathetic," she muttered, "Oh, by the way, how's Zuzu doing?"
Bakugo stopped just shy of the door and angled his head to the side, "who?" he asked.
Although his rage from before was gone, there was nevertheless a fire that shone in his eyes as he stared back at her.
"Oh, nevermind," she giggled before sitting back down.
Bakugo remained idle in the doorway for a few more seconds, his gaze trained on the smiling girl in the room. She was mocking him - it was too obvious. His left eye twitched involuntarily, but he managed to maintain his cool as he finally exited the room, followed by a relieved Shouto.
Azula's POV
Her heart had been pounding ever since she stood up; it wasn't out of fear - she had experienced things much worse in life. It was out of some kind of excitement she didn't know she could feel.
It was strange - how excited she would get when in Bakugo's presence; he often exuded this air of danger, of violence. Even mere minutes ago, when he had ordered her to stand, she could sense an intoxicating amount of blood-lust in the air. Such passion was rare to see in someone else besides herself.
This boy, Bakugo, even though he wasn't the smartest person she had ever run into, nor the most intimidating, there was still an incredible feeling that Azula would get when around him. Some people, those of the more ignorant variety, would probably identify this feeling as a kind of 'romantic' attraction, but Azula much preferred the term 'unique obsession'.
Everytime the boy became angry or enraged, the fire princess would experience a spike in adrenaline, followed immediately by an intense pressure - it was as if his very presence invoked a fight or flight response in her. Everytime she spoke with him, she felt as though he could attack her at any given moment.
He was unpredictable, he was overpowering, he was dangerous. He was just like her.
There were many traits that Azula valued within herself, and Bakugo Katsuki seemed to have a lot of them in spades. It was a shame he was often too emotional for his own good, although that fact was still something Azula liked about him. He was practically the embodiment of pure chaos.
She would never admit it, but whenever she spoke with Bakugo, she felt the need to rile him up, to summon that rage of his that often bubbled too closely to the surface. Each and every time she was able to make him more angry, the more she enjoyed it. If there was a limit to the amount of anger Bakugo could express, Azula had yet to see it.
Hell, she became so obsessed with pissing him off, that she almost divulged the fact that Zuko was her brother. Thankfully, she was able to restrain herself.
Now that Bakugo had left the room, Azula almost immediately felt the air in the chamber lighten; she let out a sigh, one that she had been holding ever since he entered.
Crawling closer to her, Mai was the first to speak to Azula, "what the hell was that?" she asked, gesturing to the door that both heroes exited through.
Azula placed a hand on her chest, focusing on calming her heart rate down, "I'm unsure," she began, taking deeper breaths, "but he seemed angered for some reason."
"Who? That spiky-haired guy?" Ty Lee said, joining the other two girls, "he's always angry."
"No, this time was different," Azula said, removing her hand.
"How so?" Mai questioned.
Azula seemed to stare off quietly into space, as though that question had never entered her mind.
"...I don't know," she finally said.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Ba Sing Se…
Zuko finished cleaning and setting up one of the tables that a few customers recently used; his chores were only half finished, however, since he still had a handful of dishes to clean in the back.
Absent-mindedly wiping at his white apron, Zuko retreated back to the kitchen, heading straight for the store's sink in which mounds of plates and cups had piled up. Letting out a labored sigh, the dark-haired teen approached the stack of dishes, taking a hold of a few of them before dunking them into the water.
It had been nearly an hour since he had returned from his 'break'; or, more specifically - his errand to the black market alleyway. Thankfully, the trip hadn't taken too long, so Iroh wasn't suspicious when Zuko finally returned.
The item that he purchased, known in the more illegal spaces of the city as 'Shirshu Venom', was often contained in a small vile that was compact enough to fit in just about anyone's pocket. Once Zuko returned to the tea shop, he immediately hid the item in his pant's pocket, planning to take it home with him once the day was done.
"heh…."Home," Zuko snorted.
Even in his own thoughts, Zuko referred to the apartment in Ba Sing Se as his 'home'; it felt wrong.
The place he belonged in, the place he rightfully belonged, was back in the Fire Nation. He wanted to return back to that place, back to where he felt more familiarity and purpose. Here, in this foreign Earth Kingdom city, Zuko felt like nothing; less than nothing. He was not a prince here. He was not respected here as he was in the Fire Nation.
In Ba Sing Se, Zuko was just a meager bus boy who worked for a locally-run tea shot - pathetic.
Dejectedly, Zuko reached for another cup, plunged into the soapy water, and proceeded to rigorously scrub at it, working to rid the surface of any tea stains.
"I don't want to make a life here…." he murmured to himself.
The words, although said with little effort, held so much meaning to the teen. They were as true as words could be.
Living in Ba Sing Se would mean giving up on his dreams of returning to the Fire Nation, of re-capturing the avatar, of regaining his lost honor; it would mean being content with his own inadequacies.
That's why this plan of his was so vital.
When he discovered that Azula was in Ba Sing Se, Zuko immediately knew that she was the key to returning to his past life in the Fire Nation; with her help, he could capture the avatar once again and, with luck, be welcomed back into the arms of his father. Back home.
This plan of his to set Azula free had to be full proof - he couldn't afford mistakes. Even the most mundane errors in execution could be disastrous.
"Hey, how are you doing? Are you almost done?" Iroh said as he entered the room.
Zuko didn't bother glancing over at the old man as he responded, "No, I'm not," he replied.
"Oh, well, when you're finished, there's someone out here I'd like you to meet," the bearded man stated with a gleeful smile before turning back around and exiting the room.
Zuko made a tisking noise with his tongue, the sheer ridiculousness of his current situation infuriated him. The idea of being a simple bus boy was appalling to Zuko, but what really aggravated him the most was his uncle. Iroh was far too content with how things were - he wasn't angry like Zuko was; in fact, he often seemed as though he enjoyed such a disgustingly normal life. Zuko didn't understand it, the allure of a boring life.
Setting aside the final stack of dishes, Zuko turned to a towel that hung on a rack not far from the sink; taking the material into his hands, he proceeded to dry off the water from his fingers and palms, eventually placing the towel back on the rack. Finished in the kitchen, Zuko exited the room, emerging out into the wider chamber of the tea shop.
Upon walking out, Zuko saw Iroh talking with a group of about three men, the front one of which appeared to be the leader; judging by the way the other two men were dressed, he guessed they were probably assistants of some kind.
As Zuko walked out into the room, Iroh caught sight of him and beckoned the boy over.
Letting out an auditory sigh, the teen meandered over to his uncle and the group of men.
"Zuko, come quick," the old man said, "this fine gentleman here has just offered to give me my own tea shop!" he exclaimed.
Zuko said nothing and instead quietly stared at the man before him.
"That's right," the man continued, "In fact, I'd be willing to provide you a new apartment in the Upper Wing. The Tea Shop is yours to do whatever you want, complete creative freedom."
"I even get to name the shop?" Iroh asked excitedly.
"Of course!" the man said with a slight chuckle.
"Did you hear that, nephew?" Iroh said, turning to Zuko, "Isn't this amazing?"
"That's right, young man," the gentleman called, "your life is about to change for the better."
Completely disinterested by what the man had to say, Zuko headed for the door.
"I'll try to contain my joy," he said sarcastically before exiting the shop, making sure to shut the door behind him.
Standing outside, leaning against the side of the building, Zuko remained silent as he looked up at the blue sky. He didn't belong here in Ba Sing Se, but what's more important is that he doesn't WANT to belong here.
'An apartment in the Upper Wing'. 'A brand new tea shop'. What a joke.
Zuko let out a solemn chuckle.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the vile of Shirshu Venom; this tiny tube of clear liquid represented Zuko's last hope, a final attempt at redemption.
He clutched it tighter in his hand and closed his eyes as he pressed the vile against his chest.
"I hope this works," he whispered.
End of Chapter 33
Author's Note: Hey, guys! I hope you all liked this chapter. I've been getting a few comments demanding more interactions between Bakugo and Azula, so I felt this was the best way to have the two of them interact. I also thought that there should've been a slight break from Izuku and the gang's storyline, so this chapter just felt like a natural progression of the story.
If you liked this chapter, please leave a comment (I usually enjoy receiving feedback and I just like seeing what people have to say.)
Thanks and bye! :)