Remember, this is my first fan fic. Try to read up to the third chapter. If you don't like it after that, you can stop reading. I don't mind constructive critism, but don't murder me with insults.

Chapter 2 After School Activity

Shinju's old routine after school was to walk up a steep hill to her house, get a snack of fat and empty calories, and wait till five o'clock to start her homework.

Now every afternoon she would still walk up that steep hill to her house. But then she would go to the Fire Palace to practice her waterbending, firebending, or work on her swordsmanship.

Today though, she brought Erich with her so that he could work more on his swordsmanship with Zuko.

"I'm here!" Shinju called out to see who was in that part of the large palace.

"Hi Shinju," Sokka said as he turned the corner.

"Where's Zuko?" Shinju said with a small smile on her face.

"In the stables."

"And Katara?"

"In the garden."

"Where in the garden?" Shinju asked because the garden was 10 acres.

"The big pond." Shinju didn't bother about asking where Aang and Toph were because they were in the Earth Kingdom dealing with Avatar Issues.

"I'm going to go see Katara," Shinju said to Erich, "You go see Zuko and work on you swordsmanship." After Megan turned the corner and was out of earshot, Erich turned to Sokka and asked, "Who does Shinju like, Zuko or me?"

"Well…" Sokka responded," I don't know how you and Shinju were before she came here, but once we got to Ba Sing Sai and we saw Zuko and Iroh again, she was all over him."

"Did they ever kiss or go out on a date?"

"Well I don't know how dates compare from your world and mine but they did go out to the city one night. Then took a dragon ride to someplace romantic, and then they kissed. Also, Shinju would always sleep next to him. Not right next to him, but with a reasonable distance between."

With a frown Erich asked, "How do you know all of this?"

"Katara." With that Erich turned to go to stables, determined to show Zuko no mercy when they practiced one on one.

Katara and Shinju sat down at the edge of the pond passing a ball of water back and forth.

"So how was your first day of school?" Katara asked.

"Mehh. Not that exciting."

"How's Erich doing?"

"Good. Even though you saw him three days ago."

"I'm more or less asking how are you getting along ever since he found out that you loved Zuko over that six month period."

"Do we have to talk about that now?"

"Well sooner or later your going to have to choose. Right now you're not going out with either of them, but when the dances come up or the Fire Nation ball, one of them is going to ask you out to one of them. This morning Zuko was asking me if you were still interested in him now that Erich is healed. Erich also asked me the same thing. They're both feeling it." Shinju sat there for a moment soaking all this in. She never knew that they were both feeling this way.

"I'll sleep on that. Thank you for telling me. I never knew." Shinju got up and turned toward the palace.

Shinju headed toward the library, wanting to get some homework done when she went passed one of the training rooms and herd metal blades clashing against each other. Then she heard Erich's voice say, "So, I herd that you and Shinju got a little close over the summer." Shinju sat up against the wall just by the door, wanting know what they had to say.

"Yeah," Zuko responded, "We fell in love with each other. Have a problem with that." He seemed to say it in an offended tone.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I do," the swords suddenly stopped, "I had her first."

"Yeah, but did you ever respect her? Did you ever really care about her?"

Silence.

Then Zuko continued, "I care about her and I respect her decision on who she wants to be with. If it's you I'll go along with it. But just so you know, if you harm her, physically or emotionally, I won't hesitate to avenge her."

Shinju heard footsteps carry out into the hall and Zuko looked down to his right to see her, sitting against the wall, hugging her knees.

"Shinju?" Zuko asked. Shinju simply stared down at the floor with a blank look on her face. Then she slowly got up on her feet, walked into the training room and took her dual swords. Shinju walked out of the room and down he hall, still staring at the floor, Zuko just staring at her back.

Zuko found Shinju by the river on the outskirts of the capital, aggressively practicing with her swords. He calmly walked over to her.

As he got closer, Shinju stopped with her back facing him. "Go away!" Shinju demanded. Zuko stopped for a brief moment, hesitated, and then continued forward. Shinju swung one of her swords around, but Zuko stopped it with his hand, allowing the blade to cut into his hand and have crimson blood leak out. They both stood there for a moment, not saying anything. The only sound they could hear was the cool stream running and the soft drip of warm blood. After what felt like a hundred years, Shinju said, "I'm sorry." Brought the blade up and headed toward the palace. But before out of reach, Zuko grabed her by the hand with his bloody right hand, pulled her close, hugged her and said, "I love you."

Shinju started to softly cry out of the pressure of emotion. That only made Zuko hold her tighter. After what felt like another hundred years, Shinju said while waterbendeding her tears away, "Erich's mom should be coming soon. We should head over to the palace."

"Okay." Zuko responded softly. Shinju waterbended a stream of water out of the river, wrapped it around Zuko's injured hand, and healed it.

"I want to give you this." Zuko said pulling out a knife with the inscription, "Never give up without a fight," he read.

Shinju gazed up at him in shock. "But Zuko, this is your knife that Iroh gave you. You can't give it to me."

"But you deserve it." Shinju looked up at Zuko and smiled. Then she gave him a gentle hug and told him, "I love you too."