Alright, here's the next chappie! Now, on with the story ;). Azula's birthday...and you know her- she's got a devious plan with anything she does... :O

Disclamier: I don't own Avatar. And now that you know that, I'm gonna stop putting these up. Nobody ever reads them anyway...

Ages are...somewhat changed; Zuko- 10, Mai/Ty Lee/now Azula- 9

Chapter 16: Azula's Brithday

Yup, today was a pretty "special" day. For Azula, at least, because today she's no longer an annoying 8 year old, but is now an annoying 9 year old. Personally, Zuko didn't see much of a difference. Either way, she's still Azula.

Now the two siblings were sitting in separate thrones, waiting for more guests to attend. Azula sat straight, confident and happy it was her birthday today- while Zuko slouched in his seat with his chin rested on his hand. Yeah, he was bored. And he knew nothing could change that.

"How much longer?" he impatiently turned to his sister.

"Dad said until midnight." she bragged. "I am a princess, and their birthday parties aren't cheap." Letting out another uninterested sigh, he slouched even lower in his throne. He stayed like this until something else caught his attention.

From the main entrance walked in Ty Lee, wearing some formal pink dress with a red ribbon around her mid-section. Azula had rushed over to her friend to greet her. She was followed by Mai. She was wearing a traditional red/marron-ish dress and her hair was simply put into a long single ponytail that ended around her shoulders.

"So, who are you looking at?" he heard a gentle voice beside him. He looked up to see it was his uncle.

"Uh, n-nobody." he lied.

"Oh really?" Iroh asked, now trying to get him to admit. Zuko nodded his head. "Alright then, have fun." he started walking away.

"Okay!" he gave in. Iroh smiled, now listening to everything his nephew was to say. "One of Azula's friends."

"The pink one?"

"Ew, no." he looked back to Ty Lee who was happily in her Ty Lee World with Azula. "She's too..." he stopped there, unable to find the right words to describe his sister's bubbly friend.

"Girly?" he suggested. Zuko nodded his head once again.

"The...other one." he looked away, hiding his reddened cheeks. "I mean, she's nice, fun to talk to and be around, and she's nothing like Azula or Ty Lee."

"So I'm getting a sense here you...like her? As in like her-like her?" the old man smirked.

"What?!" he acted surprised. "No! Psh...psh, no...pff...psh. She's just my friend."

"M-hm." he supposedly agreed. "That's a shame- because I heard she likes you. As in likes you-likes you." And with that, the general had walked off to do something else. Zuko had really put that last sentence to thought. She liked him? Like that?

It wasn't much of a surprise to anyone but them two. They've just been oblivious.

To his surprise, he looked up to see she was walking towards him. He quickly straightened up from his previous position as she stood by him.

"Hi," she greeted. "Azula said she wanted to talk to Ty Lee 'in private', so we all left." she looked over to the two friends talking to each other as the rest of the children their age were scattered around everywhere.

"I bet they're planning something again," he shrugged. "You know, like she always does..."

"Yeah, probably." she smiled. "So, what do you want to do?" she changed the subject. The prince shrugged, honestly unwilling to get out of this position until it was time to go. Which was really just upstairs.

"Hey Mai," Azula had approached them. "Zuzu..." she used the name he hated being called.

"What do you want?"

"Dad says since you're the prince, you have to go dance with those girls," she pointed over to a group of girls, about his age all standing together.

"Are you serious?!" he whined.

"Yup," she smiled. "Now go." He carefully stepped down, muttering a few things under his breath, as he made his way to those girls and his father. One by one, the girls took their turn with Zuko- as Azula and Mai watched from a distance.

Mai crossed her arms as she watched the prince actually talking to one of them. Now her facial expressions were clearly saying, 'I really hate this'.

"What's the matter, jealous?" Azula asked, seeing the look on her face. Mai quickly snapped out of her thoughts and jerked her head over to the princess.

"Umm..." she didn't want to lie- but it was obvious she'd be teased if she said yes.

"I'll take that as a yes," she smiled. "So go over there."

"And do what, exactly?"

"Just go- then my dad will surely make him dance with you," she suggested. "But first..." Azula quickly took her hair-tie off, having her long jet-black hair fall down just below her shoulders. Afterwards, she took off the girl's sweater leaving her spaghetti-strap dress.

"There, now go." she pushed her off in her brother's direction. Mai staggered a few steps from that shove- but regained her balance at least a few feet away from Zuko. His arms reflexively went back to his sides at the sight of her. The girl he was previously with walked away in respect.

"Uh, hi..." she felt her cheeks burning as he stood there gawking at her. Her eyes shy and uncomfortable, her silky hair flowing down mid-length. It really complimented the nice dress she wore that fell just below her feet. "Azula said..."

"Oh," Well, anyone would immediately get it if they started with 'Azula said/thought/made me'. "You look...beautiful..." he struggled finding the right words- but this had them both blushing furiously.

"Thanks," she smiled. Zuko shifted his gaze over to his father, who had a familiar look on his face.

"I think he wants us to dance- not just...stand here." she had a hopeful smile. Mai glanced over to Ozai who had his arms crossed. Turning back to his son, she smiled.

"I don't mind," she said as their arms found their way around each other.

"AW! They're so cute together!" Ty Lee squealed clapping her hands below her chin. She and Azula were watching from afar.

"Yup..." the princess smirked. "It's a shame they'll probably "forget" this ever happened the next day."

"Hm?"

"If you ask them tomorrow, they'll probably pretend it never happened and move on with their lives." Azula explained. "I'd know- the play a year ago..." she remembered having that smirk grow on her face.

"Oh yeah," Ty Lee laughed.

"Well, my party's almost over- let's go 'enjoy' the rest of it." she said as they both walked over to a group of boys. You know Ty Lee- as long as there are boys, she'll enjoy it.

Phew! Long chapter...anyway, I'm so happy! I've gotten to 60+ reviews! Almost 70! For those who reviewed, THANKS A BUNCH! Next chapter may be up in a few days... :D

-Black5Belt