Chapter 6

The General opened the door, slowly, as if he was afraid that the slightest noise would disturb his son. Rui followed the General into the room, suite. She stifled a gasp behind her hand as soon as she saw the prince on the hospital bed. He was unconscious and there were IV's attached to him and there was still dry blood on his front. Rui suddenly grew furious. This was the Grand Prince of the Fire Nation and they hadn't even gotten down to changing his shirt yet? Iroh, however, merely ignored it and sat down in the chair beside his son and began stroking the hair away from his face lovingly. Rui's eyes were flashing, so she looked pretty frightening and intimidating, which is why when the General looked up at her, his eyes widened in shock. He looked around, trying to find a cause for her anger, but he failed to find one, so he just looked at her questioningly.

"What is it, dear?" he asked her, confused. Rui, at this point, was shaking with anger. She was so angry she couldn't even reply the General right away. She tried calming herself down by taking deep breaths while pinching the bridge of her nose. It worked just enough to enable her with ability to answer the General's question.

"They….. they….. they….." She tried taking in a few more deep breaths to prevent her from exploding, but it didn't work.

"LOOK AT THE STATE THEY LEFT HIM IN!! THEY TOOK SUCH BAD CARE OF HIM!! WHAT THE HELL?!? DO THEY NOT REALIZE THAT HE IS THE PRINCE OF THE FIRE NATION??????? DO THEY NOT UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE HE HOLDS IN OUR SOCIETY? TO ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE NATION??? ARGHHH THEY ARE GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DONE HERE!!!" Rui took a deep breath to calm herself. "Okay, I'm done now." Iroh just stared at her, shocked. He probably thinks I'm not capable of expressing this much emotion in 30 seconds, she smirked to herself.

Iroh then blinked a couple times and shook his head before smiling sadly at her.

"You're right in your own way, however, you fail to realize that without them, he wouldn't even be alive anymore."

"Yeah, but that doesn't give them an excuse to do a half job! The least they can do is change his shirt or something!"

Iroh looked at her thoughtfully for a second. He then opened his mouth and started to reply when she interrupted him, frustrated.

"Don't you get it?? They are taking advantage of you! If it had been any of Ozai's kids instead, they would have been fully taken care of and would have had a nurse constantly watching them! And do you know why?? Because they respect him!! They are scared of him! They – " Now it was Iroh's turn to interrupt her.

"Exactly! They're scared of him! That's why he would get better treatment, because they would be so scared to lose their jobs! I don't want to have that affect on my subjects, Rui. No matter how much better treatment my son and I get." Rui just stared at him and then sighed.

"I guess you're right in your own way," she grumbled. "But I still think it was stupid of them to act the way they did – well, to act the way they are." Rui sighed and was about to leave the room to go and question the nurse about their beds and all, when an idea struck her. She didn't wait for the nurses! She could do all of the small things herself! Like, she could change his shirt and wipe the dry blood away, and all of that stuff.

She then ran out of the room right away and ran straight out of the hospital to her house, where she grabbed 2 extra pillows and blankets for herself and the General. Then she ran to her father's old room and grabbed some of his older shirts that were around Lu Ten's size and ran back to the hospital.

On the way into Lu Ten's room, she grabbed another chair, and, once in his room, she dumped all of the stuff onto the chair and ran from the room again almost immediately. Iroh just stared after her, dumbfounded. Rui ran straight to the receptionist and she asked her where she could find extra bed frames (which also included the mattress in them, just not the pillow or the blanket). The receptionist just told her to wait and someone would be over in the room soon with some extras, but, unluckily for her, Rui wasn't in the mood to wait. She grabbed the receptionist by the collar of her shirt and lifted her into the air, while still on the opposite sides of the counter. The receptionist looked at her in fear and alarm.

"I'm just going to ask you once more: where… are… the… bed frames?" Rui practically growled the words out. Shivering, the receptionist told her which room the bed frames were located in. Rui let her go and then ran as fast as she could to the room that had the bed frames in it. She grabbed one of them and wheeled it as quickly as she could down the hall and into the room of Lu Ten. She put the bed frame beside Lu Ten's bed and she then put one of the pillows she had brought on it and she also spread the blanket out nicely on the bed frame. Iroh just looked at her in shock.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, confused. Rui was still panting from all of that running but she managed to answer him.

"Since – they – aren't – capable – of – taking – care – of – the – Crown – Prince – and – his – son – I – decided – I – would – do – it," she managed to choke out between gasps. Iroh looked at his bed and then looked around the room, letting his eyes come to rest on the chair that Rui had grabbed to put the stuff on earlier. Realization dawned on his face and he was about to object when Rui cut across him.

"No, it's okay General, don't worry. I want to sleep on the chair; it'll make it much easier to keep an eye on the Prince." Iroh looked at her, saw the determination in her eyes, and, realizing that he wouldn't be able to convince her otherwise, simply nodded in agreement. Rui then took a deep breath and got down to business. "Okay, I'm going to need your help now, for a few minutes, if that's okay, General." The General nodded. "Thanks. Okay, I need you to help me take off the Prince's shirt, because I brought another shirt that he could wear in the meantime, while I get this shirt washed and I get more clothes for him from the palace. Anyways, yeah, so – oh! I hope you don't mind, um, the shirts I brought for the Prince to wear aren't new or anything. Actually, they were some of my father's old clothes. Would you mind if he wore them? Would he mind if he wore them?" Rui had just realized that they might actually take wearing some of her father's old clothes offensive and degrading. However, she was completely wrong.

"Of course none of us would mind! Actually, I am, and I am sure Lu Ten would be as well, extremely honoured that you have given us the privilege of being able to use your father's old possessions." Rui just nodded in thanks, her throat to constricted to speak. She had hardly been thinking of her father lately, because of recent events, but, kbuialso because of recent events, she had gone into her father's room and gone through his possessions for the first time since he had died. She had known as soon as she had made the decision to go into his room that it would cost her her sleep, but she didn't care. A few nightmares was hardly a fair trade for a debt of life. Lu Ten had saved her life, yet she was afraid to do something to benefit her saviour because she was afraid of nightmares?? No, she would not be that shallow. She had gone in with a brave face, but had come out of her father's room on the verge of breaking down….

Rui shook her head to relieve herself from the memory. She'd deal with that later. For now, she had a patient to attend to. Rui went to the chair she was planning to sleep on and grabbed one of the shirts she had brought. She then walked over to Lu Ten's bed to help Iroh in taking Lu Ten's shirt off, for he had already started, and was struggling. Once the shirt was off, she gasped. The nurses had bandaged and cleaned the wound all right, but they hadn't even bothered in wiping all of the dry blood off his chest. Rui's anger rekindled, but she held it in. There would be plenty of time for that later. She then left, with a quick murmur to the General, to go and get a bowl of water and a cloth. She returned with both, after making sure that the water was warm and not too hot nor too cold.

Rui walked up to the unconscious body of Lu Ten with the bowl and the cloth in her hands. The General held the bowl while she dipped the cloth in it and wiped the Prince's chest clean of all the dry blood. Once all the blood had been wiped off of the Prince, she left the room again to go and get a towel. When she came back, she wiped his body dry, and, with the General's help, she put one of her father's old shirts on the Prince. She stepped back to admire her handy work. She didn't see any remaining blood on the Prince, so she was satisfied with her work. She looked over at the General only to find his stoking his son's face sadly, with tears in his eyes. She had been about to help him to his bed before she saw him like that, and that's when she realized that the General wasn't going to move…. He would stay with the Prince, because this is when the Prince needs him the most… and the General had acknowledged that… just like how she had needed someone… and the Prince had acknowledged that… but she hadn't….

Rui wiped her eyes, angry with herself, because she couldn't believe how stupid she had been.