Chapter 2

"Hey, there. You lost?" Zuko asked the strange young girl in front of him. She just stared up at him with her large, blue eyes that contrasted greatly with her darkened skin. Her long, dark brown hair was pulled back in an intricate braid.

"Why would I be lost? I'm not some little kid!" She was angered that Zuko had mistaken her for someone younger. Well, now that he looked beyond the obvious and saw the subtle differences in her face compared to a child's, he could see she seemed to be at least fourteen, and pretty cute. He looked lower, just to make sure. "Hey! My face is up here, pervert!"

Zuko quickly looked back at her eyes, which were now shooting daggers at him. "Sorry," he said softly. "But do you know where you're going? I can—"

"I said I'm not a kid! I know where I'm going!" she shot at him. Then she slapped his arm.

Just then, someone called a name from down the block. "Katara! Katara!" The girl looked around in confusion. When she saw another guy with dark hair and skin running up the street, her face brightened immediately.

The boy came up to her, breathless. He wheezed, "Katara. Where've you been? Aang said we were going to meet at the bank. Who's your friend?"

"Sokka! I don't even know him! He was just following me around asking if I needed help finding wherever I'm going."

Zuko smiled. "Well, I was right wasn't I? You were walking in the wrong direction." He chuckled.

The other boy glared at Zuko with the same eyes as the girl. "Come on, Katara. It's getting dark out. We should be getting back to Aang. He knows this city better than we do."

"Do you want me to lead you? I know this place like the back of my hand! Where're you going again?" Zuko asked. He looked down at the girl, Katara. She just glared up at him again. "By the way, the name's Zuko."

The boy shook Zuko's hand with a tight grip in his rough hands. "Sokka," he said. "The Chase bank. Lead the way." He indicated with his hands.

Zuko started walking down the street with the boy and girl that seemed related following behind. Sokka caught up with Zuko soon.

"You can just excuse my sister. She can be quite stubborn at times. She's a very independent young woman. Fifteen in just a few months." Zuko could hear the compassion in his voice. Sokka really respected Katara. "I'm sixteen," he added, not wanting to be outshined by his sister.

"Cool. I'm sixteen too."

They walked in silence for some time. Zuko was never a talker. He liked the quiet of the night. And apparently so did Sokka and Katara. Soon they were at the bank; it was closed for the night.

"Hey, it's closed. Sorry 'bout that. Well, I guess you should be getting home. Whoa, look at the time! I'm gonna be late! Oh, Dad'll kill me!" Zuko looked around for the two teenagers he had just brought and saw them slipping into the alley next to the bank.

He followed them and saw a flashlight lit behind the dumpster. "Sokka? Katara?" he called out.

A young boy appeared then. His skin was much paler, and he wore raggedy old clothes that were seriously out-dated and ill-fitted. There were some brown crusty stains all over them. His wide eyes were a pale grey color and his face was creased as if in a constant smile. He was gangly with not too much muscle. But his weirdest feature was his hair. It was shaved into a buzz-cut and in the shape of an arrow. Other than that, he was bald.

The boy stared at Zuko with worry plain in his eyes. "What are you doing here? How do you know their names?" he demanded. He seemed protective.

Katara came out from behind the dumpster and patted the boy's arm to calm him down. "Aang, it's okay. He helped us find our way back here. But now I think it's best that he leaves," she added with some venom.

The boy looked down at Katara's arm around his. He smiled smugly and walked back to their hiding place.

Feeling that he had overstayed his welcome, Zuko turned around and started for the mouth of the alley.

"Thanks!" he heard Sokka shout from behind him. Smiling to himself, he walked out into the open and a wind rushed through his light coat and froze him. He breathed on his hands and warmed them a bit then went on his way back to his house, wishing his dad hadn't taken away his lighter. Then he touched the skin around his eye in shame.

Zuko walked home through the darkened streets, wondering who those kids were and why he felt anger towards that pale boy with the weird hair when he smiled at Katara's touch. Katara seemed too proud to be thought of as just a hot girl like it seemed the pale boy thought. However, Zuko did think she was pretty hot.

"I'm home! Sorry I'm late, I needed to help some kids," Zuko called as he walked through the front doors of his father's house. He hurried up the grand staircase to his room to change into some nicer clothes for dinner and rushed back down and into the dining room.

Silently, Zuko sat at the opposite head of the table from his dad. Azula was sitting next her father affectionately. The three of them ate in silence for a while, with just the sound of clinking silverware on china.

"Your scar is healing nicely," Zuko's father, Ozai, stated, trying to make small-talk with his distant son. Then he said with both tenderness and sternness, "Please, don't play with lighters anymore. You can get seriously hurt—more than this time, I mean."

Zuko only nodded, still looking down at his half empty plate. Azula smiled crookedly, loving it when her father scolded little Zuzu.

Just then, Azula remembered what her brother had said earlier, as he came through the door. "Zuzu, who were you helping that were so important as to be late for dinner with your family?" She gestured around the table.

Zuko choked on the piece of meat in his mouth. He wasn't expecting anyone to hear that. But he knew he had to answer, otherwise Azula would get it out of him in some other, more horrible way. "Just some street kids it seems like."

Ozai perked up at that. "Street kids? What were you doing with street kids? You might get mono or something!" He was angered by this.

"No! I-uh…they were…different. Well, the two I helped were pretty okay. Their clothes were normal and I didn't know they lived on the streets until I saw they were staying in an alley behind a dumpster. Then this pale kid got all protective and stuff, so I left. I would have offered them food or even to stay here. That pale kid was weird. Dad, you should have seen his clothes! They were extremely old and dirty. It looked like he outgrew them years ago!"

"A pale boy with old stained clothes?"

"Yeah, Dad." Zuko wondered why his dad was intrigued all of a sudden.

"They were talking about someone like him at the office." Ozai was a psychiatrist. "Apparently he is an orphan just come out of a coma. He was released from the hospital as soon as he woke up with nothing but the clothes he wore before he was put in the hospital gown. I guess he came back to his home city. Everyone at work was talking about him," Ozai replied.

Zuko looked awe-struck at his dad. But the explanation didn't explain Sokka and Katara. "I think I caught his name: Aang or something like that."

"Aang? Daddy, didn't you say that was the boy's name?" Azula asked innocently.

Ozai looked down at his daughter and said with compassion, "Yes, you're right. I didn't even remember that." He turned back to Zuko. "I want to know how he feels about not having any parents, and living off the street, after he was in a coma for so long. Zuko, will you do something for me?"

Zuko wanted to appease his father, make up for his mistakes. He answered, "Sure, Dad, anything. What is it?"

"Find the boy. It would be so interesting to listen to his stories. What is going on in his mind? Such trauma! Find the boy again and bring him to me! We can take him in if he wants! But not his friends. Remember that. We don't run a shelter you know."

Zuko was taken aback. He had to find this boy he didn't even know and he was sure hated him. What if the boy didn't want to come? "Dad…I don't know…."

"Zuko, if you don't bring that boy to me, how are you supposed to be able to follow in my footsteps? You need to be a people person, like your sister here. She understands everyone in a way I can't even contemplate!" Ozai looked down at his perfect daughter with admiration. Then he turned on Zuko and stood, anger boiling into his face. "And look at you! You are a pyromaniac who got his own mother, my wife, sent to jail! You fail in your studies and wander the city with street rats! They could've been part of a gang and had you killed!"

"FATHER!"

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE AND DON'T COME BACK UNTIL YOU HAVE BROUGHT THAT BOY!"

Azula smiled up at her brother, who was standing across from his father. "What a great way to regain your honor, little Zuzu…."