Just when I thought these couldn't get any longer. Anyways, sorry it's taking me forever to update. I just wanna say thanks to everyone whose still reading these short, pathetic tales of mine, and I really appreciate your support.
I wanna thank Sonja Schrieber for being my unofficial beta! Thank you!
Just a quick announcement: I will not complete all the ZM prompts. I will choose the last four, but after that, it will be considered complete. I really want to move on.
Reminder: I do not own A:TLA
Intimacy
Ten-year old Zuko ran as fast as he could down the halls of the Fire Nation palace. He was running away from him. Beads of sweat were beginning to form, and he was panting hard. He could not afford to stop, not even to catch his breath. His only thought was to go faster, and not let him catch Zuko.
He skidded into an arena, and quickly looked around to see if anyone was in there. He relaxed for a second; this meant he was probably far behind. Zuko saw the cabinet of weapons and decided that is was the best place to hide. He swiftly entered it, making sure the swords and clubs didn't slice him in half in the process. He left a small opening, and peered through. All he had to do now was wait.
Just a moment later he entered the private space. He was tall, dark-haired, and, according to the young maidens of the Fire Nation, quite handsome. He had a fierce look to him; with broad shoulders, a defined jaw line, and slightly sharp cheekbones, the very image of a man only second in command to the entire Fire Nation military. His eyes were the burning gold of the Fire Nation Royal family. To be under his scrutiny and gaze was an intimidating position to be in. And at this moment, the second most powerful man in the military was looking for Zuko.
Zuko's heart dropped when he saw the man entering the arena. The boy's knees were shaking, and his teeth were chattering. The man continued slowly and began to call out his name.
"Zuuukoooo. Oh Zuuuuuuukoooooo! Come out now and receive your punishment for disobeying me! I promise, it'll be swift and relatively painless, but you have to come out!"
"Yeah right," Zuko accidently said out loud. Realizing his mistake, he slapped his hands to his mouth, but he was too late.
The man jumped in the direction of the cabinet. His eyes scanned the area around it, before landing on the cabinet itself. Zuko peeked out, to see the man wearing a sinister smile, and a mischievous gleam in his eye.
"I think I know where you are…." the man approached the furniture piece with determined strides. "There is no escape for you now."
Zuko's mind raced, searching for an escape, and saw a small and risky route. He looked determinedly back on the man and thought,' you wanna bet?'. Zuko, then, dashed out of the cabinet and ran pass him.
Unfortunately, Lu Ten still caught him by the collar.
"Caught you!" Lu Ten yelled triumphantly. "Now, for your punishment!" He proceeded to start tickling Zuko.
"Wait no I-ha-ha-stop! -Lu Ten!-stop, Lu Ten!-I'm going to tell uncle!" He tried to speak through his uncontrollable laughter. Zuko couldn't release himself from his cousin's tight hold, and continued to be 'tortured' until tears were streaming down his face.
"Alright then," Lu Ten said playfully. "Did you learn your lesson? No more making fun of the future Fire Lord!"
"Ok ok ok! Just STOP!" Zuko begged. He was promptly released, and Zuko quickly tried to catch his breath. Lu Ten looked on, laughing at his younger cousin.
"That's what you get for goading me into a game of chase-and-tickle! I always catch you!"
"Again," Zuko let out, still exerted. "I'll get you this time!"
"Another round? I already beat you!" Lu Ten exclaimed, but respected his cousin's fortitude. It was an honorable quality in Fire Nation standards of character, and very appropriate for the Royal Nation Family.
"You'll see, one day, I'll get you instead!" Zuko declared.
"Maybe," Lu Ten consented, "but that will be a long time from now little cousin." He then look toward the sun and seemed to remember something. "Oh, shoot…"
"What is it?" Zuko asked.
"The Chief of the Southern Water Tribe and his family should be arriving anytime now," Lu Ten answered and looked down at Zuko. "I have to go get ready now, but we'll continue our game later, yes?"
He ruffled Zuko's hair, earning him a pouty protest. The older prince laughed, and walked away, promising once more a later play date. Zuko then was left alone in the arena, thinking about what he could do next.
"Perhaps I'll go see how the turtle ducks are doing," he thought to himself.
After a quick stop to the kitchen for some bread to give to the animals (and some fire flakes for himself), Zuko headed towards the pond. He was too busy eating his fire flakes to notice that there was someone already in his spot by the pond.
Zuko stopped in his tracks when his eyes caught the most unnatural sight in a Fire Nation garden. Actually, in the entire Fire Nation itself now that he thought about it. A small body completely covered in blue. Blue! Zuko had never seen so much of the color at once. The oddities of this little person did not stop there though. He realized this person wearing a heavy coat with white fur outlining it and heavy shoes in the heat of the Fire Nation! Zuko stood almost baffled at this person's appearance. He wondered who they were, but most importantly, what were they doing in his spot by the pond!
He must have made a noise, because the person turned around and locked eyes with the Prince. Zuko almost dropped everything, staring open mouthed. This girl (he noticed), had the clearest set of blue eyes he had ever seen! True, he has never seen any before, but they were brilliant! Her skin as well, it wasn't what was normally seen at the Palace. It wasn't a white, porcelain color like his mother and the women at court had it; instead, it was a light brown, as it was completely tanned. He didn't know how long he was staring, until he noticed her shifting uncomfortably. Zuko didn't know what to do, but resorted to do the one thing he came for; feeding the turtleducks.
He bowed politely, but said nothing, and continued to a different part of the pond. He felt the girl's eyes following him, making him a bit nervous. He found a part of the pond where there were no reeds in his way, and proceeded to feed the turtleducks. Soon, the aquatic creatures began to swim up to him for the treat, and quaked for more even as he threw it to them. From the corner of his eye, he could see the girl staring at him and the turtleducks with curiosity, and a little awe. He sat a little straighter, unconsciously showing off. He threw the pieces harder, to make the animals swim out farther to get it. He accidently hit at a tiny turtleduck, causing it to cry out in annoyance and pain. Uh-oh, not again….
He tried to get away, but the mother turtleduck got him before he could get up.
"OW! Ow ow ow ow ow OW! Get her off me!" Zuko yelled in pain. "Get her off me!"
The little blue-eyed girl ran towards Zuko and gently grabbed the creature away from him. She carefully placed the indignant mother back in the pond, and she led her chicks away from the shore.
"Why does she always do that?!" Zuko huffed, aggravated at being bitten again. He heard a muffled sound and turned to look at his rescuer. She was laughing, at him. She was laughing at his pain! Zuko became completely resentful and humiliated at his current state.
"What are you laughing at?" Zuko almost yelled. The girl was not fazed, but quickly answered while still giggling.
"She attacked you, and you were screaming so hard! I though only Sokka screamed like a baby! It was so funny!" and the girl was attacked again with a fit of giggles.
"Yeah, well," Zuko searched for anything to silence her. "You can't be laughing at me, you dumb little barbaric peasant!"
The girl swiftly stopped laughing, and looked at Zuko with one of the most intense and hateful stares that Zuko had ever encountered. The little girl looked absolutely livid, and marched right up to Zuko, making him look her in the eye. Zuko gulped, now feeling stupid for making the girl so angry.
"Well for your information," the blue-eyed girl started, "I am the daughter a Chief; Chief of the Southern Water Tribe for your information! I am no peasant or anything like that! None of my people are! We treat each other with niceness and good stuff! The only barbaric one here is you, for hurting the little turtleduck, and for yelling at the person who saved you! Who does that? Oh, right, you!" She roughly sighed, and began to walk away. Zuko stared after her, before she turned around and yelled, "I'm glad that the mommy bit you!"
Zuko gaped. He couldn't believed that the girl just talked to him that way; no one, absolutely no one had ever talked to Zuko is such a manner! He was mad, but he wasn't so mad at her. Zuko knew when he did something wrong, and this was one of those times when he knew he did something bad. He had to tell her something, and he found himself running after her.
"Wait! Don't go, I didn't mean for the little chick to get hurt, that was an accident!" Zuko ran in front of the girl, stopping her from going any further. She narrowed her eyes at him, putting her hand on her hips.
"Why should I believe you?" she asked severely.
"I- uh...I just wanted to make them go farther; you know, to swim more" he lamely answered.
"Why would you do that?" the Water tribe girl almost yelled back. "Why would you make the little animals work even harder? And why were you so mean to me?"
The girls lip wobbled a little, but her eyes stayed cold. Zuko felt very bad, knowing he had to do this. He took a deep breath.
"I just wanted to…impress you," Zuko admitted, color stinging his cheeks. He looked away from her. "I was just mad that you laughed at me. It really did hurt when she attacked you know. And, also, because I think you look…funny."
"You don't look so pretty yourself!" she exclaimed.
"No,not funny! Different! I meant different!" Zuko quickly changed his words. "I've never seen a Water Tribe person before."
There was a beat of silence. She spoke up and answered a bit warily, "I've never seen a Fire Nation person either." She hesitated, but said "My name is Katara. My daddy is Chief Hakoda, and my mommy is Chieftess Kaya. We're from the Southern Water tribe. Who are you?"
Zuko almost smiled, but straighten himself up and bowed for a proper introduction.
"I am Prince Zuko, my father is Prince Ozai, and my mother is Princess Ursa. We're from the Fire Nation." Well, duh.
Katara giggled a little for him stating the obvious. "Ok, Zuko," she said, fully forgetting the incident from her mind. "What do you want to do now?"
Oblivious to the two children, Fire Lord Iroh and Chief Hakoda saw the entire scene behind the taller bushes. They looked on as the children began to play a game of tag, completely lost in their own world.
"Well now," the Fire Lord chuckled. "Shall we continue our tour? I don't want them to see that we invaded their intimate time here."