AN: Hey there! It's me! Not me as in HeyThereItsMe; me as in Marissa. We've been trying to write as much of Return of the Blue Flame as possible lately, but sorry if we take a while. We are only teenagers after all. I have a request for all of you readers out there! Please, please, please review and tell us what you think! We would like to know what we can do better, what you like about our story, and what might make the story more interesting! We love hearing your input, and it would seriously help us. You guys are the best!
Chapter Eight
Aurora and Ta Min left well after midnight. The moon was high in the sky and there wasn't a single cloud, giving them a perfect view of the thousands of stars.
"How'd your dance go?" Min asked.
Aurora blushed crimson, though in the dim light neither could see it. "It went... fine. Really well actually."
"Well that's good."
"I noticed you were dancing with a certain someone."
It was Min's turn to blush now. "Yeah..."
"What's his name?"
"Hiryu. From the Northern Water Tribe."
"Oh really?"
"Yes... Really."
"Well I'm glad you found someone."
"Mm. I'm glad you made amends with Zuko."
There was a pause. "Yeah. I am too." They were at Aurora's house by now. "Say, Min, it's a pretty long walk to your house. Big city streets aren't really good to walk alone this late. You're welcome to stay in the guest room, if you'd like."
"It's not that far... I'm sure I'll be-" The look Aurora gave her froze. Talk about puppy eyes. "I guess just for tonight."
The golden-haired girl squeaked with excitement and immediately pulled her inside, showing her around.
He knew the door being unlocked was a bad sign. Slowly and cautiously, Zuko went inside.
Stuff was everywhere. A chair flipped over here, a knife in the wall there. Typical angry Mai.
Just as he was considering making a spot to sleep on the couch, Mai walked out of the hallway, silent as a cat, and smiled at him. She had a bag in her hand, though Zuko couldn't see what was in it.
"You're home late. Have good time?"
She was being nice. Why was she being nice?
"Yes? What's with the bag?"
"Well, I thought since that ball was over we could go home. It was the only reason we came here. Right?"
"What do you mean go home? We just got here, Mai! Maybe we should stay a bit longer."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why? There's nothing else to do here." Mai glared at Zuko.
"This is the capital of the Earth Kingdom. There's plenty to do here."
"I've spent enough time in the Earth Kingdom for my liking. I want to go home."
She moved closer to Zuko, her face expressionless as usual but her voice quiet, low, almost pleading.
"I think we should make the best of the trip while we can," he said. "I'll buy us tickets home in the next few days."
"Why? What else is there to do here?"
"Um... I don't know. I could take you shopping." Mai glared. "Lots of... knives and things?" he amended.
"I can do that at home," she dismissed. "There's something else keeping you here. Someone."
Zuko was silent.
"Don't try to hide it from me. She was there, wasn't she?"
No reply.
Mai's voice didn't change from the low, quiet, pleading tone. "Don't try to hide it from me," she repeated. "Everyone was talking about it. You danced with her."
He looked away.
"You kissed her."
"Yeah? So what?" he snapped defensively. "It's not like you seemed to care where I was or what I did. You stormed out of there without looking back."
"I didn't expect you to cheat on me, Zuko! I leave one party and you throw yourself at every girl who comes your way!" This time Mai looked away. "I thought you were better than that."
"Mai, I am-"
"No."
"Please, Mai, it was a mistake-"
"No!"
"I didn't even know what I was doing, I just-"
"No! That's it! I'm through with this!" She had to pause to collect herself. "I'm through with you."
"Mai, come on, this is just one fight... We'll work things out."
"No. I thought we'd work things out. But it's pretty obvious we can't." She tossed her bag on the floor. Dresses and hair combs and little springs and things spilled out. "You have until... Until sunrise to get everything out. I don't want to see you again."
"Mai..."
"Out!"
Zuko had half a mind to remind her that this was technically his house, but after considering what Mai (literally) might have up her sleeves, he thought better of it.
He walked down the hallway and into their shared room. And quietly, in the middle of the night, packed up and left.
"This is fun, don't you think?"
Aurora was sitting on a stool as Ta Min brushed out her golden hair. The blue-eyed girl had just finished doing Min's hair and both girls were in their night dresses.
"I guess. And now I see what you meant when you said your hair wouldn't curl. It's thick!"
"Water Tribe hair. Got it from my mom."
"I see." There was a small pause. "Do you remember her?"
Aurora frowned slightly. "No. Not at all. No… When I think of my mom, Ursa's face appears."
"Ursa...?"
"Zuko's mom."
"I guessed as much." She paused to work the brush through a particularly difficult knot. "Well, I don't remember my mom either. I guess that's why we get along so well. Even if we do have totally different taste in guys." Min mentally kicked herself for how weird that last sentence sounded. But she thought they should talk about something... girly. After all, that's what girls did, right?
Aurora turned pink. "Really? 'Cause, I don't really have a taste for guys."
"Oh? I was thinking it would be the tall, dark, Fire Lord type," she teased. "You blush really easily, you know that?"
"Only lately. I usually have quite the poker face."
Min laughed. She could hardly believe Aurora could have any kind of poker face.
Aurora laughed, too. It seemed so long ago, the last time she had been serious. Besides when she saw Zuko.
"Wow. It's nearly impossible to get through all your hair."
"Now you know what I go through every morning!"
Min smiled and then tied Aurora's hair back. It had been a while since she had one-on-one time with another girl. It was... Relaxing.
The golden-haired girl got up and wrapped her blue silk robe around her.
"This is nice. When I was little, the only other girl who was nice to me was Ty Lee."
Min froze. "You knew Ty Lee?"
"For a while," she said as she tied the sash. "Her and Mai would come to the palace in order to hang out with Azula. Why?"
"I stayed with the circus for a while and met Ty Lee there. We traveled for a while before I left."
"Wow. It seems we are more alike then we thought!" Aurora beamed.
That's when someone knocked on the door.
Min and Aurora looked at each other before Aurora walked toward the door.
"Who would be here this late?" asked Min.
"Dunno."
Aurora opened the door to see Zuko standing there. Slight color rushed to his cheeks in the dim light.
"Um, hi. Am I intruding?"
"No, why?"
"Well, um... Mai kicked me out."
There was a pause. "Isn't it your house?"
"Yes!" he snapped before blushing again. "But, um, you know how Mai is."
"Lemme guess, you have no other houses in Ba Sing Sei?"
He lowered his head. "Unfortunately not."
"And you need a place to stay?"
"Yeah..."
Aurora sighed before grabbing his arm and pulling him inside. "Then get in here! Before you embarrass yourself. I can see tomorrow's headlines now: 'Fire Lord Gets Kicked out of Own House!'" She smirked and then closed the door.
"Who was it?" asked Min from the other room.
"The Fire Lord has graced us with his presence."
"Lovely."
"He got kicked out so he came here."
"Ah. That makes more sense."
"Hey, you're the reason I got kicked out," Zuko pointed out flatly. He immediately felt bad- it wasn't her fault.
Aurora hugged him. "I'm sorry, Blaze."
Zuko froze. Blaze... He hadn't heard that name in nearly six years. Hearing it again was... Nice.
"If you two start kissing, stay in there! I don't want to see!" called Min.
They both turned bright pink.
"We're not!" they said simultaneously, breaking apart.
Min laughed softly as she laid on her bed.
"Well... You can... Make yourself comfortable on the couch. I'll get you a pillow and a blanket." Aurora walked down the hall to a cupboard as Zuko looked around. She came back a few moments later carrying a green blanket and a spare pillow. "I hope it's warm enough for you."
"It should be fine." He smiled his thanks, but his eyes were drawn to what was hanging around her neck. His eyes widened. "You... You're wearing it..."
"What?" Aurora acted like she didn't know what he was talking about. When he didn't answer, she smiled at him and gave him a polite, "Good night."
As she turned away, she slipped the necklace back under her robe.
AN: HTIM here—just saying, there's a lonely little review button down there, who really wants some company. Maybe you should click it. :) We're looking for ideas, theories, praise and critique. Or none of the above. Just review! Thanks!
As a side note, I'm probably going to be out of town for the rest of the summer. So no guarantee on when the next chapter will be posted. We're trying our best to get 9 up by the end of the weekend.