My story is prompted by NiceThorn's amazing story "The Masks We Wear." I read it with great enjoyment and started thinking to myself at the end of Chapter 31 What if Zuko's world was turned upside down as the sight of Azula bathing in the stream shatters everything Zuko ever thought he knew about himself.

Here, with thekind permission of NiceThorn is the result of my musings.

Disclaimer: I write for my own pleasure and I make no money from my writings. All rights pertaining to A:TLA belong only to those they ought to and certainly not to me.

Blue burns the flame.

Ch. 1. Awakening

At first Zuko just concentrated on sluicing the surprisingly cold water over his arms, his hot, dusty skin beginning to feel somewhat refreshed as the rivulets of moisture ran over it. The day had been strenuous to say the least, what with the strangeness of it all. It wasn't every day that something so momentous as dragon slaying occurred even in the amazing life he and Azula had been living lately.

Zuko's head throbbed with a dull headache from adrenaline overload caused through the intense concentration that he'd needed to blast the huge quantities of energy into that mind-blowing scenario where those mighty behemoths had been bested.

His sister was just a few metres away, he could tell by the splashing sounds even though he was turned away from Azula, being focused more on his bathing than on what Azula was doing. Zuko scrubbed a double handful of water over his face, breathing out a spray of mist as he exhaled forcefully to stop the water going up his nose. He straightened up, shedding his hot, dirty shirt so as to finish the cleansing, soothing ritual of bathing, slowly bringing a little ease to his aching battle weary body.

Dropping the garment he bent over once more, lifting cupped handfuls of the clear water, splashing his chest and belly with abandon. He shivered as the impact tightened his skin, rippling gooseflesh across his torso, involuntarily pebbling his nipples with the combination of cold water and cool evening air.

Zuko thought about the dragon cubs as he washed, mightily pleased with the surprising discovery that resulted from Azula's astute speculation that where there was a 'mummy' dragon and a 'daddy' dragon, it surely meant that baby dragons wouldn't be far away. He turned to speak to her about what they should do next in that regard and as his eyes found her, the words dried up in his throat.

Azula knelt on the soft sand of the streambed bent forward a little as she scooped up water in her cupped palms. She had shed all of her clothes before entering the water after first having calculated the distance between her brother and herself. The dimming light and what seemed an adequate distance reassured her of her privacy and she concentrated on her task of finding some relief for her over-heated skin, smarting after so much exposure to that prolonged fire-stream. She was oblivious to Zuko as she hummed tunelessly, tiredness uppermost in her mind.

Her back was to her sibling and her pale skin caught the last of the radiance of the fading day, gleaming softly in the wan light. Zuko was entranced with the contrast of white skin and that long lustrous curl of rich brown hair twining over one shoulder, coiling itself in a rope that meandered down to her hip. He watched her kneel further forward as she dipped her face closer to the water's surface, her rounded curves accentuating as her bottom lifted a little further making a soft heart shape that his eyes marveled over.

Zuko stood still, his eyes riveted as his heartbeat increased and his belly muscles clenched as pressure asserted itself across his loins. A soft insistent ache began to escalate through him, his grinding headache forgotten for the moment. He watched a further minute or two, his golden eyes gleaming with an ardent heat when he suddenly froze and held his breath, a fierce flush flaming over his face.

Dear spirits! He thought to himself, that's Azula there, naked and beautiful in the water. Azula. My sister.

And I want her.

The knowledge washed over him like a shocking shower of ice shards and he tore his gaze away, his mind mewling with the effort of not wanting to look away, his head burning with the white-hot sear of wanting to keep on looking.

Looking at that beautiful creature that was his sister.

Confusion flared through his mind as he struggled with these unbidden alien thoughts; finally managing to scrape together enough resolve to keep his face turned away. Zuko hastily scrabbled for his shirt wanting, needing to cover his bare chest and back, trying to focus on something ordinary like getting dressed.

You are not supposed to look at Azula with those thoughts, his mind silently screamed at him. She's your sister for sanity's sake. What is wrong with you?

Zuko's thoughts continued to berate him. He had to stop and drag in several deep breaths, frantically searching for the equilibrium that had been his unthinkingly and effortlessly before the world started turning the wrong way around on its axis.

A deeper more insistent layer of his consciousness continued on a different path, playing over and over in his thoughts the way her skin gleamed like a pearl in the soft light. How the beads of water ran down her back, to trickle softly off the round sleek cheek of her bottom. Of how he wished she would turn around. Of how he wanted her to see the look in his golden eyes, searching her paler ones for that answering spark.

Zuko actively shook himself trying to restore order to his tortured thoughts. He turned briefly back to where Azula still splashed happily, oblivious to his torment. Willing his eyes to remain down cast, he barked out an order to her, startling her with his ferocity.

"Azula!" he spat out the words through gritted teeth. "Come on! Enough of this foolishness! You've had enough time to wash a dozen times over. Time to get back before more trouble finds us." With that he turned on his heel and started heading back, striding aggressively along the shingled edge of the stream, whipping up his anger as a cover to try and distance himself from those treacherous earlier thoughts.

Azula turned, startled at the unfamiliar harshness in her brother's voice. Her mouth opened in a soft gape of utter surprise. She began to ask Zuko what on earth was wrong with him, how dare he speak to her with that terse barking command but he had already marched off, stringing quite some distance between them in no time at all. Hurriedly shrugging on her garments in haphazard fashion Azula prepared to catch up the burgeoning gap between them.

Surprised irritation at Zuko's uncharacteristically irrational outburst was foremost in Azula's head as she made up her mind to get to the bottom of this mystery. She wondered at his sudden black mood, totally baffled at this strange behaviour given the earlier euphoria between them as they'd come down to bathe.

~0~

Give me strength he thought grimly as he neared the cave.

Give me the strength to forget the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

~0~

If you enjoyed this then reviews would be greatly appreciated.

If drama and intrigue of the Avatar: The Last Airbender kind are what you crave then please go and read "The Masks We Wear" by NiceThorn, you'll be glad you did.