"You're Back"
Naruto and Avatar not mine.
I didn't really like the first chapter very much (in comparison to New Kid), so I'm hoping that this will be an improvement.
Three years later
I watched, panting, as Sakura collapsed to the ground. "You okay?" I asked, offering a hand to help her up. She took it and got up.
"Peachy, you?" She responded. I quickly examined my major-but-not-quite bruises.
"I'll say it'll take three minutes, give or take."
"Five for mine. Ino?" She turned to my one of my other best friends.
"…Two, maybe?" She shook her head, unsure.
"Girls." Tsunade called us.
"Shishou." We nodded.
"It seems you have learned enough from me, and quite a lot from each other. I think we've come to the point in our lives where you've outgrown my lessons and ventured into your own things. I really enjoyed teaching you everything I know." Shishou started. Ino, Sakura and I looked at each other, uneasily.
"Shishou… what are you talking about?" Sakura asked.
"Sakura, Ino, Megumi. You've grown to become like daughters I never had. It's been fun beating you to pulps when you deserved it. It's time you go back to your family. I've kept you for too long. I'm too old for this."
"Shishou…" I trailed off.
"You're only… Fifty-six, give or take a few years. There's no way you're too old for us." Ino continued.
"That's not the point. The point is that you've learned enough from me, and I'm starting to wither, like old people do. Look, I have wrinkles now!" She pointed to a spot on her face that was definitely starting to shrivel. "Genjutsu's no use to me anymore. My strength is starting to fade."
"That's not possible; shishou, you still kick Naruto's butt when he needs it, and he's stronger than we are combined!" Sakura insisted.
"You can keep training under me if you want. I'll close my eyes and give you five seconds. If you leave, then your training is complete." Shishou stated, closing her eyes. "Five… Four… Three… Two… One." She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw that we didn't move an inch. "Good." She smiled devilishly. "Get ready for pain, and lots of it."
The next day
"I don't think I'll ever be able to bend my leg properly again…" Ino trailed off, falling on the couch in the living room of the house that Sakura, Ino and I shared together.
"Ditto… who knew Shishou was so… unforgiving?" Sakura leaned against the armchair opposite the couch.
"No kidding. I think she meant it when she said there would be lots of pain…" I winced as I tried to heal the ugly bruise on the back of my leg that was very noticeable.
"Training with Naruto was nothing compared to this." Ino panted. We all nodded, having experienced the Kyuubi almost kill us, and he wasn't even trying! I lay down on the chaise lounge.
"Then, I take it you'll be able to whack me flat on my back after you're healed." A familiar voice put in.
"Zuko!" I shot up, immediately regretting it when my legs moved. "What are you doing here?"
"Ozai wants you to come back home. He's excused you for the month to come to Ember Island with us."
I rolled my eyes. "Only Ozai would think of the palace as a home."
"I agree, but you should come voluntarily or he'll send his guards to drag you back." He shrugged and leaned against the window, the sunlight framing his figure, making him look…perfect… What the hell?
"Good point. Last time I had an incident with the guards…" I trailed off, shuddering and pulling myself into a closed position.
"What happened?"
"Hm." I looked at him pointedly. Was I hallucinating, or did he look… pissed off? I shook it off. "Just, uh, let me get my stuff and we'll leave." I got up, having finished healing my injuries. "Sakura, Ino, do me a favor and talk. Just… don't bore him to death with your nonstop gossip. If I never liked it, there's a guarantee that he'll like it even less." I walked up the stairs. About five minutes later, I came back down, a bag slung over my left shoulder. When I came back, Zuko looked relieved that I was finished packing. Ino and Sakura were currently arguing about who was better looking: Naruto now, or Sasuke then. I rolled my eyes. "Bye Pig, bye Forehead!" I said loudly.
"Bye, Fireworks!" They called out just as loudly.
"I only set off ten!" I objected.
"Inside the shop!" Ino started cracking up at the memory.
"You blew the roof off, and it ended up in front of Choji's house! He was stuck inside all day because he couldn't fit through the window!" Sakura fell over, laughing like a madwoman who was given sugar.
"Let's go." I said darkly to Zuko, stalking out the front door.
"Fireworks?" Zuko asked.
"I was playing around with a ball of fire in the fireworks shop. I accidentally dropped it, and it landed on ten strings that were tied together. They blew up, and the roof went off and landed in front of Choji's house. Choji's… kind of big, and he was stuck inside all day because the roof of the shop was blocking his front door." I sighed at the memory. "Shishou had to pay the damages. I received a couple of big bruises after that."
Beside me, Zuko chukled. "You haven't changed. You've grown a little, but I think that's it."
"Oh, shut up." I hit his arm playfully. "You, on the other hand, have changed dramatically. You're not shorter than me anymore." This was true. He was now three inches taller than I was. Before, I was a good five inches taller. He also had muscles now, as opposed to the scrawny thirteen-year old I last saw. Time away from the Fire Nation obviously did good things for him.
"I also know the difference between Green tea and Jasmine tea." He pointed out.
"I guess that counts for something." I shrugged.
Zuko stopped just outside the gates of Konoha. "We'll be riding on horses from here." He turned to me. "Do you think you can handle that?"
I rolled my eyes. "Stupid brother." I noted how weird the word 'brother' sounded when associated with Zuko. "You've missed too much."
"I just noticed something." He said as we approached the horses.
"What?" I replied, mounting my horse, Snowblade.
"What was the first time you've ever called me brother and not Zuko." He pointed out, mounting his horse, Cobalt.
"There's a first time for everything, I guess." I shrugged, realizing that that was the first time I called him brother since… well, ever. "Why?"
"It didn't sound right. Just… stick with saying my name."
I shrugged. "Sure."
We settled into a comfortable silence as we rode back to the palace.
Back at the palace
"Really, Zuko, how long does it take for you to get someone who is only five miles away? It's ridiculous!" Azula shook her head. Her eyes, however, told a different story.
"You would've waited less if you came along." Zuko grumbled.
"You didn't tell me you were going!" Azula protested. I rolled my eyes.
"Come on, guys. Get along. I don't want to hit both of you."
"Last time I checked, you could never bring yourself to hurt me." Zuko pointed out.
"Shut up!" I playfully hit him.
"Zuko, you're back." A raspy voice interrupted.
"Great to see you too, Mai." I said sarcastically. She and I never got along; we were as different as day and night, and she had a crush on Zuko, who had always preferred Ty Lee's and my company over Azula's and Mai's. I wasn't sure, though, whether it was because he didn't like Mai, or whether it was because he did and was afraid that it would become obvious. He liked it better when his secrets stayed secret. That never stopped me from finding them out, though, and this was a secret that I definitely was going to find out.
"Is that the voice of my best friend I hear?" A bright, perky voice called out.
"I don't know, does your best friend's name start with an M, have six letters in it and end in the letter I?"
"I seem to remember that. It's been too long that I think I've forgotten."
"Two years isn't that long!" I turned around, pretending to be offended.
"Actually, seven-hundred-thirty days, seventeen-thousand, five-hundred-thirty hours, one-million-fifty-one thousand-two-hundred seconds. I think. That, my best friend, is a long time."
"Good point." I nodded.
"Now that you're back, Megumi, Ozai wants to hold a party for you. I overheard him practicing a speech, saying that you and Zuko were the 'dearly missed prince and princess' over and over again, but differently each time." Azula said.
"Tacky." My face scrunched up.
"That's what I said." Ty Lee agreed.
"He also wanted to keep it a surprise, so pretend you didn't know anything about it." Azula advised
"Got it." I nodded, going up the steps. Then, I turned around. "Anything else?"
"Oh, yeah. Your dress is upstairs. Since the party's going to start in about five hours," Azula dodged a party planner carrying a long pole, "Ty Lee and I are going to help you get dressed. That way, Zuko and Mai can have some alone time." They dragged me upstairs, where I saw my dress. It was a red, strapless dress with folds at across the stomach and embroidery at the bustline. "I have a dress in black, and Ty Lee's is yellow. Mai doesn't usually come to the parties, but I heard that her parents are going to make her come anyways."
"I wonder what she looks like in a strapless…" Ty Lee trailed off, sprawled out on my bed. While Azula and I sprawled out alongside Ty Lee, we tried to imagine Mai in a dress. We all shuddered when the image came. Strapless dresses and Mai didn't exactly go together.
"Help me get into my dress." I sat up and took my dress out. I hadn't tried it yet, and I wanted to see how it looked. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I frowned at my hair.
"We'll be going down as soon as you get out of the dress." Azula read my mind. When I got out of the dress, we all went downstairs (Mai included). My hair was curled in big, loose curls and the sides were gathered and held together with a small clip so it all cascaded down my back. Azula, whose hair was now long and glossy, got her wavy hair straightened. Ty Lee put her partway up and got it curled in very tight, small curls. Mai had the long parts of her hair curled in delicate, tiny curls. In all, it took us four hours, because we all got it done at once. We had out makeup done, and by the time we were finished, it was ten minutes to the party's start. I headed up to my room and locked the doors to my room: the one from the hallway, the one connecting to Azula's room (which was almost always locked, anyways), and the one connecting to Zuko's room. I looked at my dress and slipped into it. Once I was ready, I unlocked the door that connected me to Zuko. I knocked once.
"Zuko?" I asked quietly, opening the door slowly.
"Yeah?" He turned around.
"Oh! Um… I'll just, um… Just… tell me when you're ready." I closed the door quickly, blushing a dark shade of crimson. Well, then. It looks like all that chasing after the Avatar did good things to him. Really good things. I wonder… No, no, no! Now's not the time to be thinking of things like that! Actually, never would be the best time to start thinking like that. He's my… brother.
After waiting a couple of minutes, the door between our rooms opened. "Let's go." He said, offering his arm to me. I took it and we walked out of my room, down the stairs.