Here's the fourth chappie! It's kinda long compared to the others- to make up for last chapter's shortness.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar or its characters. -sighs really deep-
Spoilers: There are no spoilers for this chapter. Except for the things Mai and Ty Lee say in 'The Beach'.

Everyone's a year older in this chapter (finally); Zuko- 7, and the girls are 6.

Chapter 4: A Little Talk and a Game

It was nice and cloudy outside that day. Nice enough to stay outside and play- if you were only a 6-year-old with your two best friends.

"No, you're not doing it right!" Azula scolded her friend, Ty Lee. Apparently, she wasn't doing whatever they were doing right.

"But...that is how you do a handstand!" she fought back.

"She is from the circus. I'm pretty sure she would know how to do all that fancy flipping and stuff." Mai interrupted. Suddenly, a voice came from behind them.

"Azula, be nicer to your friends." it was Princess Ursa- Zuko and Azula's mother. She was walking with her son. She paused for a moment and spoke up. "Okay Zuko, I have to be somewhere. You stay here with your sister and...well...play with them."

"But mom!" he didn't sound so thrilled.

"What's wrong? They're just girls." she set her hands on her hips.

"That's the problem- I only like playing with boys," he started. "My age," he added.

"Well, you have a younger sister- so you have to get used to it." she started pushing him towards them. "Besides, that one seems nice- you should talk to her, she's all alone." she gestured towards Mai quietly sitting under a tree watching as Azula and Ty Lee were flipping all over the place.

"Her name is Mai. And fine..." he walked towards her. "Uh, hey." he sat by her under the shady tree. She turned her head to her left to see he had sat down with her under the tree. She smiled back feeling her cheeks turn a bright shade of red.

"So..." he tried starting a conversation. "What's up?"

"Not much," she shrugged. "I don't really like doing cart-wheels and handstands, all those things, so I'm just sitting here."

"I would rather not either..." they looked over to the two friends as they struggled to see who could hold a one-handed handstand the longest. Eventually, Azula gave in and fell to the soft grass. Ty Lee gently landed on her feet smiling and playfully sticking her tongue out. Azula, in frustration, sweep kicked her and she fell to the ground as well.

"But mostly because...Azula scares me." he admitted.

"But she's your sister." she was just as surprised as him. "Younger sister."

"Ya but...look," he pointed over to the princess and her friend again. Azula had pinned Ty Lee down to the floor and looked pretty ticked off. Whatever she did this time, Zuko and Mai were too disctracted to know.

"You should stop them," he almost laughed seeing Ty Lee squirm, but no progress was seen. Mai shrugged.

"Azula, you should get off her." she plainly said without getting up.

"Or what?" she got off helping a very grateful Ty Lee up. "You'll get your boyfriend to tell our mom?" this caused Ty Lee to giggle which caused the two to turn a deep crimson color. She didn't deny it, which gave Zuko ideas...then he spoke up.

"Be quiet, Azula-" Zuko shot back, easing the tension. "It's not funny."

"Whatever," she turned around to continue their game. "By the way- you two should come help us play a game."

"Why?" Zuko deadpanned.

"Because we need equal teams for a game." she simply answered. He sighed and turned to Mai, who had a look on her face saying, 'no'.

"No."

"Fine," just when he thinks he finally won- "MOM!"

"Okay!" he rushed over to his little sister's mouth and shielded it from ratting him out. He let go once he was comfortable and sure she wasn't going to talk much more. "Fine, I'll play your dumb games- but if you make me do something stupid, I'm leaving!" he conditioned.

"Ya- sure." she walked back to Ty Lee who was quietly watching the argument. "Yes, They fell for it! Now this is how it works..."

"Azula, could you hurry up so we can get over it?" he impatiently asked.

"Ya, ya. So we're playing truth or dare." she smirked.

"But, why would we need teams for-"

"Because we do!" she interrupted. "Just...listen; we need teams because you have the option of turning down the question or the dare. But if you do, there's a consequence."

"Of course," he whispered to himself.

"You have to do something else with your team-mate." she explained. "We go first."

"Alright then. Azula- truth or dare?" Zuko challenged.

"...Truth."

"Okay, remember last week in school when you got into that fight with the earth nation exchange student?" She nodded. "What exactly did you do?"

"Well..." she looked uncomfotable. "She said I was fat, so I pushed her to the floor. Then when she got up and told me I was mean, I pushed her back down...and from the ground, she told me to stop- but instead, I...kicked her in the leg..." Zuko smiled.

"Oh, so technically, there was no fight- instead, it was just you beating some new kid up?" he confirmed. Her gaze flew around the yard as she slowly nodded. "Alright then! I totally have something against you now!" he was clearly proud of himself.

"Your turn," she quickly recovered. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," he replied seemingly not intimidated.

"Okay- I dare you to kiss..." uh oh. Can't be good. "Ty Lee! On the lips!"

"What?!" he asked, shocked. "No way!" Mai sighed, relieved that he didn't say yes to that.

"I thought so- now you have to do something else with Mai." she smiled deviously. Oh she's good..."I dare you two to ki-"

"Zuko! Azula!" their mother got their attention. She approached them holding what looks like 200 peices of gold in her hand. "I need you two to run to the market for me...your father and I have an important meeting right now, but I really need the supplies."

"Um...sure, mom." Zuko took the money. "But if Azula's coming, what about her friends?"

"Can we come too?" Ty Lee asked eagerly. Ursa thought for a minute.

"If you want." she turned around to leave for the meeting. "But watch for eachother. Don't let anything bad happen." Just hope she didn't jinx that...

"You just got lucky..." Azula whispered walking by him followed by her friends.

Oh no! Clearly something's gonna happen at the market! Well, duh- I mean they don't mention that for nothing...

-Black5Belt