Chapter 2: Starting Over

A/N: For this story, since I paired up Toph and Haru, and Haru's like, 14 (I think), I made Toph 13. Just a heads up!

Hana's P.O.V.

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I ran all the way back to my house, completely blinded by my tears and my overwhelming feelings. I ran through the front door and collided with my father, who said, "Woah! Where's the fire?"

He then got a good look at me and said, "Hana, what's wrong? What happened?" and I sniffed and said, through my tears, "He's here, Father. Here….in the village." Before he could answer, I ran past him into my room.

As I lay on my bed, crying and cursing Zuko, I heard my father say suddenly, "Well, if it isn't the brand new Fire Lord who broke my daughter's heart" and I gasped and jumped up, running to my doorway and listening to their conversation.

Then I heard Zuko say, "Advisor Hoshi. It's good to see you again" and my father said, "I wish I could say the same for you, my Lord." I bit my lip as I heard Zuko say, "Please sir, is Hana here? I have to talk to her; it's important" and my father said sternly, "Why? So you can hurt her again?"

Another voice said, "Hoshi, dear, leave the poor boy alone" and my mother came in from outside, smiling, and she said, "Hello, Zuko." Zuko said, "Hello, Miss Aiko. It's nice to finally meet you; Hana told me about you."

I knew that my father wasn't going to let Zuko off the hook that easily, and, sure enough, he said, "So, Fire Lord Zuko, what do you want with my Hana?"

Zuko then said, "Well, when we were kids, I had made her a promise that I would find her and marry her when we were both of age. Then, as time went on and everything in my life went wrong, I started to forget about her, and the promise. I feel horrible about what I've put her through; I know she probably doesn't want to see me right now, but I just wanted to tell her that I…..I love her."

I gasped and leaned closer, listening intently. Zuko said, "I had always loved her when we were young. I just never fully realized it, and now, I realized that I still do love her. She is everything I could possibly want in a woman; she's feisty, opinionated, caring and beautiful. She accepts me for who I am, and not my power or title. She may hate me right now, but I know that she still loves me. I wouldn't want anyone else for my wife. Just tell her that for me, and that when she's ready to talk, I'll be here."

I took a deep breath, then stepped out of my room and walked up, saying, "Why don't you just tell her yourself?" He turned and his face broke out into a soft smile before he said softly, "Hey" and I repeated, "Hey."

Zuko then said, "Can we go outside and talk?" and I nodded, taking his hand and leading him out to the back of our house and we sat down on the bank of the little river that flowed there.

We sat there in an awkward silence, just watching the sun. Then, Zuko cleared his throat and said, "Um…..Listen Hana, I never meant to hurt you. I am so sorry about everything. As you can see, I've had a pretty rough childhood. In fact, the only time I was really happy was when I with my mother…..or you." I bit my lip and continued to sit there and listen to him, and he moved a bit closer to me, saying, "Hana, please, look at me."

I turned my head and my breath caught in my throat as I looked at him; he had never seemed more gorgeous to me than he did right at that moment, with the sun reflecting in his golden eyes, and the emotion they held in them.

He took my hands and said softly, "I wanted to say this just to you….in private. Hana, I love you" and just hearing him say it to me, intimately like this, made me forgive him and fall in love with him all over again.

He then said, "I'd like to start over……you know, a clean slate. I just want us to be together….." but I didn't even let him finish before I threw my arms around him and kissed him. He let out a small noise of surprise, but then he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him as he kissed me back.

When we pulled away, we touched foreheads, and I said, "I love you, too, Fire Lord Zuko" and he grinned and said, "Just call me Zuko. You can even call me Zu Zu if you want" and I raised an eyebrow, saying, "Didn't Azula call you that, though?" He shrugged and said, "Well, with her, it was an annoying nickname, but with you, it'll be a term of affection" and I smiled and said, "Okay, Zu Zu."

We then walked back inside, hand in hand, and my father raised an eyebrow and said, "Zuko, do I have your word that you won't hurt my daughter again?" and Zuko bowed, putting his left fist against the bottom of his open palm in the traditional show of respect, saying, "You have my word, sir." My father eyed Zuko for a couple of seconds, then he gave him a small smile and nodded his head slightly, making me jump in happiness and hug Zuko.

Then, Zuko said, "Hey, I want to introduce you to my friends. Come on" and he took my hand and led me outside. We walked to the house where he and the gang were staying and when we walked in, a small girl looked up and said, "Hey everyone, Hothead's back!" I giggled at the nickname while Zuko growled under his breath in annoyance.

The gang came into the sitting room and Zuko wrapped his arms around my waist and said, "Guys, this is Hana, my girlfriend. Hana these are the guys. This is Toph" and the small girl from before came up and said, "Hey. Nice to meet you. You're a great Earthbender" and I said, "Thank you, Toph. It's nice to meet you, too" and she smiled. She was small for a 13 year old, but Zuko told me that even though she was born blind, she was a master Earthbender; I mean, hell, she invented Metalbending, for crying out loud!

I made a mental note to ask her to teach me Metalbending as Zuko introduced me to the next person, a very pretty girl with wavy, dark brown hair and beautiful blue eyes. He said, "This is Katara" and Katara smiled and said, "It's great to meet you, Hana. You are an amazing Earthbender; we were all in awe watching you earlier." I smiled and shook her hand, saying, "Thanks, Katara" and she said, "You know, I'm a pretty good Waterbender; maybe I could teach you some things."

I grinned and said, "Wow! Really? That would be great! I've always wanted to learn Waterbending" and Zuko introduced me to the rest of the gang. Sokka seemed like a bit of a goof, but he was a sweet guy; Suki was from Kyoshi, and she was a warrior (a great one, I'm told). She was also a sweet girl; Haru was very good looking, and Toph seemed to have sensed me feeling this, because she said, "Hey don't get any ideas, missy! Haru's mine!" which made me laugh and say, "Oh, don't worry, Toph. I'm perfectly happy with my handsome Fire Lord."

I couldn't believe I was meeting the Avatar; I mean, I had heard about him a lot, but I never thought I'd get to meet him. I was surprised when I saw that Aang was a kid, but apparently, he's enormously powerful; I wish I had been there to see him take down Ozai, or better yet, I wish I had been there to see Katara bring Azula down a few notches. I had never liked her, and when I heard that she had gone crazy, I felt a bit sorry for her, but overall, I was happy; I am also eternally thankful for Katara saving Zuko's life.

I spent the rest of the day getting some Earthbending pointers from Toph; she was a strict teacher, but it would benefit me in the end, so I wasn't really complaining.

By the time sunset rolled around, everyone was at my house in the backyard watching me and Katara in the river. We were in our makeshift training outfits; for Katara, a top that was made of bindings to cover her chest, a skirt that stopped at just about her knees and leggings made of the same bindings, and for me, a green tube top and matching shorts, and my hair (and hers) was pulled up into a high ponytail.

She was telling me how she learned Waterbending, and about her teaching Aang, also. She showed me the basic Waterbending move: making the water flow left and right, and we passed it around to each other while the others watched or practiced what they wanted.

Zuko's P.O.V.

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I was sitting on the grass with Aang; we were watching our respective girlfriends in the water while Haru and Toph practiced their Earthbending and Sokka and Suki trained with each other.

Aang sighed next to me and said, "She's so beautiful" and I said, "Yeah, she is" as we watched the two benders pass the stream of water back and forth between them. I then said, "Aang, how did we get so lucky? I mean, we have two of the most gorgeous girls in the world as our girlfriends" and he nodded and said, "Yeah. We don't even deserve girls as wonderful as them, but, they chose us."

As I sat and watched Hana bend the water in the river with Katara, I knew that we would always be together. I vowed to treat Hana like the princess that she is, and to never, ever hurt her again for as long as I lived. When Hana looked up and locked eyes with me, she gave me a heart-melting smile, and I smiled back, feeling my heart fill with love for the first time in years………..since she and my mother left.

I decided that, no matter what, Hana was coming with me when I went to search for my mother. I wanted her to go everywhere with me, and eventually come back to the Fire nation with me, to be Lady Hana, and so we could be the one thing I missed growing up………………a family.