This was based on soopersara's prompt on tumblr, which was to write about Zuko and Toph (or Suki) going on a life-changing field trip. I decided to go with Suki. I also interpreted "field trip" a bit loosely ...

A Tale of Two Ninjas

Kyoshi Island was considered a neutral zone. This meant (recently banished) Prince Zuko could visit and demand if the Avatar was around (which he had), but it also meant they could say no and that would be the end of it. This wasn't good enough. Zuko wanted to be thorough. It was his duty to be so, and that naturally meant he had to don his Blue Spirit gear and sneak off the ship for further explorations. It absolutely wasn't because it was music night tonight ...

Ahem.

In any case, Prince Zuko, now the Blue Spirit (who was doing the responsible thing and absolutely not avoiding music night), jumped from rooftop to rooftop and blended in with the darkness. He moved like a shadow, he had become one with the shadows, he—

"What are you doing?"

He yelped and almost lost his footing. A person perched on the roof with him. Said person sounded like a girl and looked small enough to be about his age, but that wasn't the important thing. The important thing was that he was a stealthy ninja who had just been outninja'd. (Seriously, how had she even got up here without him noticing?)

She pointed something at him. A sliver of moonlight revealed it was a fan. Another thirteen-(but almost fourteen)-year-old boy might have laughed, but Zuko didn't. This island was full of scary ladies with fans, and he knew from experience that girls could be terrifying. (Ty Lee smiled as she shutdown people's limbs, Mai could pin a falling leaf to a tree with a knife, and Azula … Azula needed no explanation.) Anyway, Zuko knew better than to laugh at a girl pointing a weapon at him, especially since she'd just outninja'd him.

"Well?" Ninja Fan Girl prodded.

"I, er, um …"

The fan edged closer.

"I'm just … admiring the … stars?"

"And you thought you'd wear all black and a weird mask while you were at it?"

Zuko gulped. He would later say he had planned all along to push her and make a run for it. He totally hadn't panicked (even if this was his first time getting caught by someone). He was a confident, sword-wielding ninja, and—

And she was following him.

Zuko ran and jumped and scrabbled up walls (all with panther-fox stealth so as not to make a clatter and attract more people), and the girl was just as silent and kept up as if it was nothing. He was kind of impressed (but that didn't stop him from chucking one of the small oranges in his pocket at her).

"Hey!" she hissed.

Zuko sped on. He lamented the loss of his snack (a wasted thing since it had barely slowed her down). Indeed, it wasn't until his lungs started to really protest (and hers too from the sound of her wheezy breathing) that he realised this whole chase wasn't going how he thought. For one thing, she hadn't shouted or made any cry of alarm. For another, she didn't seem to be trying that hard to attack him.

He jumped to the next roof and tripped a little, throwing his hands out to steady his balance. The soft thunk from behind told him she'd also made the jump.

"You … almost … fell … over," she panted. "Ha."

"I'll … show … you … ha."

He didn't, of course. His legs were traitorous jelly and all he managed was to stand with his hands braced on his knees and wheeze. She also wheezed. (His wheezes might have been louder, but he would never admit that to her. The Battle of Wheezes was not one he wanted to win.)

"Looks … like … you ... can't … run … any … more," she said, pointing sloppily at him. It looked more like a droopy wave.

"Neither … can … you."

"Can … too."

"Then … prove … it. Go … that … roof." He gestured just as sloppily at the big building farther down the street.

The girl straightened, chest heaving. She looked as if she was going to do it, but then she paused and swung back to face him. "I'm … not … falling … for … that."

Damn.

Zuko leaned harder on his knees and took deep breaths. His back was wet with a line of sweat and he really wished he could pull off his mask. It was getting too hot behind the wood. (How long had they even been running around these rooftops? He'd lost count ages ago.)

"Why …" He swallowed, took another deep breath. "Why do you keep chasing me?"

"Because you're wearing a weird mask, sneaking on rooftops, and I know you aren't from my village."

Fair point. He would probably do the same. Still, there was one thing that niggled.

He tilted his head. "Then why did you only chase me?"

She was not so quick to answer. She fidgeted with her tunic, traced circles on the roof with the toe of her boot, touched her hair. Zuko's eyebrows rose. (Or eyebrow, since the other one had been burnt off and probably wasn't going to grow back. Which did not bother him at all, despite what Uncle thought, because there were worse things than having one eyebrow. And, no, his massive burn scar and one eyebrow had no relation to the fact he'd also broken the mirror in his room. He'd just tripped ... and a fireball had hit the mirror. Anyway, none of that mattered because he was wearing a mask and she couldn't see his one eyebrow, and—)

Oh, the girl was talking. Or mumbling. He couldn't make out anything.

"Huh?" he said (very intelligently).

"I guess I was curious … and it …" Mumble, mumble, mumble.

"Huh?" (Still an intelligent response.)

She folded her arms and raised her chin. "I said it was kind of fun, okay!"

He winced. She clamped her hand over her mouth, a big old OOPS all over her face. That had been way too loud.

Stompy feet from below. More movement from the neighbouring houses.

"Who's out there making a racket?" someone growled, followed by more stompy feet. "If that's you, Yumi, I'm going to—"

Ninja Fan Girl snatched his wrist and tugged him with her over the rooftops. He was too surprised to protest (and also didn't want to get caught by Stompy Feet.) It was lucky they'd both been able to have a breather as well, as his legs didn't feel quite so much like jelly now. Still, when they made it to the outside fields of the village and were no longer in danger of being caught, both collapsed onto their backs, chests heaving once more.

A soft, snorty sound escaped the girl. Then another and another, and then she was laughing and he didn't know how it had happened but somehow he was laughing as well.

"I'm Suki," she said.

"I'm … Lee."

"Lee, huh?"

"Yes."

That came out a little defensive, but she didn't question his tone. Maybe she didn't really want to prove he had lied about his name. (Just like she hadn't really wanted to capture him either.)

(And maybe he should have been more bothered that this whole chase and escape thing had derailed his mission to find the Avatar, but right now he was content to lie on the grass next to Suki. Just to catch his breath again, of course.)

"They're pretty," she said.

"Huh?"

"The stars. That's what you came out to admire, right?"

She was totally teasing him, but somehow he didn't mind. He looked up at the sky. Hundreds of specks of silver-white glinted and winked on a canvas of black. It was pretty. Everything was brighter out here as well. He could see that she was as young as he'd supposed and it looked as if she was smiling.

"I have an orange," he said.

"Um … what?"

Zuko pulled it out of his pocket and showed her. "This. I did have two, but I threw one at you and, uh …"

Maybe he should shut up. This conversation was derailing faster than his attempts to find the Avatar. Also, she was giving him a weird look. This was why he didn't like talking to people. (And why he sometimes practiced speeches on animals first. Pro tip: komodo-rhinos were great listeners, but owlcats were restless and tended to leave mid-conversation.)

And she was still giving him a look. Right.

"I mean if you're hungry you can have it," he said gruffly, avoiding her gaze.

"Thanks …"

She took the orange from him. The zesty tang of citrus tickled his nostrils as she peeled back the rind. Half an orange was plonked on his chest.

"We can share," she said simply.

Zuko's mouth curved a fraction (not that she could see), and he popped a slice of orange into his mouth. They chewed quietly and stared up at the stars.

"So, is that sword of yours just for decoration?" she asked.

"It's swords, and I dunno, are those fans of yours just for cooling yourself down?"

She sat up. "Shall we test?"

He grinned, popped the rest of the orange into his mouth, and flipped to his feet. "You asked for it."

oOo

The fight was a draw. Zuko bowed to her at the end as one does to an equal, and she bowed back with the same degree of respect. Both had earned that bow.

"I should probably get back home," she said.

"I should get back as well …"

Neither moved. Zuko didn't know why his feet wouldn't budge. He didn't know this girl, not really, but it was like there were gossamer threads twining and connecting them now. Threads that had been weaved from a silly chase over rooftops. Threads of secret fun, of fleeing Stompy Feet, and a shared orange.

Threads of … friendship?

She let out a small sigh and turned to leave, only to pause and glance over her shoulder at him. "The Avatar isn't here, you know."

"W-what? I never said anything about—"

"Your voice is kind of distinctive, Lee. Maybe you should rethink the whole speaking thing if you want to be an incognito ninja."

Warmth rushed over his cheeks. He coughed. "Uh, right."

"Anyway, he's not here. We have a lot of old fogies, but no Avatar. Believe me."

Zuko did believe her. He didn't like the idea of having to continue his search, but he did believe her.

She lowered her head. "So, uh, I guess this is goodbye then …"

"I guess."

"If we meet again, I'll kick your butt for sure. I'm gonna be captain of the Kyoshi Warriors one day, you know."

"Hey, I won't be slacking either."

A grin. "Good. I'll be counting on it."

She waved and dashed back towards the village. Zuko glanced up at the stars, taking in their endless brightness. Then he let out a breath and headed for his ship. It was time to put the mask away. (And if a part of him continued to hope that he would meet Suki again, it absolutely wasn't because he had kind of liked hanging out with her.)

I feel like I should apologise for this one somehow because I wrote it while my brain was like "wheee, sparkles!" and that, uh, tends to translate into my writing. Oh well. I hope you liked it anyway, even if it was more like Zuko and Suki have a sort-of adventure rather than a life-changing field trip.