I'd like to thank my DA friend, Mary-Kate-Serafin for giving me this idea. I was going to handle it differently until she said "..If Zuko find it out ... Ugh …", and my mind went to work. Thanks Mary-Kate'

Thank you for all the feedback.

As always, characters by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, Story by Me.

.~.

Busted

On day six of their vacation Kya and Ursa were in their room getting ready to go to the beach and talking.

"They as so cool, aren't they.", Kya said admiring the little scar on her hip as if it were a tattoo.

"Yeah," Ursa said, holding the top of her shorts at an angle, "I told you. We're sisters forever now."

Zuko walked in right at that moment, "Hey girls, are you ready to g…", he froze in his tracks and looked at the girls. They froze too, guilty looks on their faces. He pointed back and forth between the two girls, "What are those?", he asked, half knowing the answer.

The girls popped to attention and stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the Fire Lord. They both dropped their heads and shuffled their feet. "I'm waiting.", Zuko said as calmly as he could muster.

"They're scars Daddy,", Ursa whispered, "we marked each other so we could be sisters forever."

"You did WHAT?!", Zuko yelled as a rage came over him. He was literally breathing steam. The girls had never seen him angry. To them he had yelled so loudly that it echoed through their very souls, "What in the world made you think that THAT would be okay?!", he looked at his daughter, "This was your idea, wasn't it? WASN'T IT?"

"Yes Daddy.", she said quietly, still looking at the floor, too afraid to look her father in the eyes.

"You know better!", he continued, "What? Did you think it would be cute or something? Is THIS cute to you?", he said, pointing at the scarred side of his face, "Look at me.", the girls looked up, "What about THIS made you think that THAT was a good idea?"

.~.

Toph walked out on the porch where the others were, "Hey, you guys might want to go to the girls' room," she said calmly, "It feels like Zuko is about to burn some shit down."

Aang and Katara ran down the hall to the girls' room where Zuko was still lecturing the girls about what they had done.

"Zuko!", Aang said, "What's going on?"

"Show them!" Zuko demanded and the girls turned face to face to show Kya's parents the scars.

Katara and Aang gasped, "When did that happen?", Katara asked

"We did it about two years ago.", Kya finally said.

"Two years!" her father said, then the numbers ran in his head, "Is that why you asked about scars that night?"

"Yes Daddy.", Kya whispered.

Aang placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder, "Zuko, calm down.", he said softly, "Come here a minute.", When he got the angry fire bender to step away, Katara and the girls looked at the smoking footprints he left in his wake. Katara looked at the girls and smirked, "You know what, I'm not even going to comment about it. I'm going to let Zuko give you a punishment." and she walked out and closed the door. She knew the possibilities running through their heads was ten times worse than any punishment Zuko would actually give them.

.~.

The little benders stood in shock, too afraid to move. Ursa had gotten in trouble before, but nothing so serious that it made her father angry. He would just take something away for a few days and that would be it. But this, this was serious.

Urea and Kya looked at the still smoldering footprints, "Uncle Zuko is going to kill us.", Kya said staring at the smoke. Ursa said nothing, "Ursa?", Kya looked over at her partner-in-crime, "Ursa? Say something." The Fire Princess finally blinked and the tears began to roll down her face, "Ursa? No Ursa, don't cry."

"Daddy yelled at me. Daddy never yells at me. I'm in so much trouble."

Kya hugged Ursa, "He yelled at me too, we're both in trouble. Isn't the point of this for us to be real sisters? Well real sisters get in trouble together."

Kya's words didn't comfort Ursa , they only made her cry harder.

.~.

In the room across the hall, Zuko had calmed down, but he was still angry, "How could Ursa purposefully do something like that?"

"Kids do crazy things.", Aang said simply.

"What?" he snapped, "So are we supposed to let them get away with it?"

Katara intervened, "No, he's not saying that, he's saying that this may be the first of hundreds of stunts that those two pull and we have to be ready."

.~.

Katara, Zuko and Aang let the girls imaginations run wild for an hour even though they'd come up with a punishment after the first five minutes. After thirty minute Aang made sure that he walked past their window with everyone except Zuko on their way to the beach. By the time the fire bender came in to deliver the punishment the girls were terrified.

Although he'd worn his hair down the entire trip, he now had it up in its normal top knot. He leaned against the door jam, arms folded and looking down at the floor. "So," he began, " I've been thinking long and hard and I've come up with a punishment.", The girls stood shoulder to shoulder once again, "Now, I don't know what possessed you to think that it would be okay to scar each other. It's obvious that you two do not make good decisions together, Because of this you two are not to speak to, or get near each other until further notice."

"That's not fair Daddy, we're on vacation!", Ursa protested.

Zuko held his hand up for silence and turned to face the girls, "I'm not done, Kya will be taking her things and staying in the room with her brothers for the duration of the trip. Ursa, Lin will be moving in here with you ."

The girls spoke at the same time, "Daddy' 'Uncle Zuko' no!"

Zuko didn't budge, "Kya, gather your things."

"Daddy please," the princess said as she and her friend grabbed hold of each other, "we hardly get to see each other as it is. Please don't do this."

"None of that." Zuko said sternly, "Kya, get your things."

The girls pulled apart tearfully. Kya packed her things and took them down the hall to the room where her brothers were staying. Zuko stood in the hallway and watched the sad little healer . Then he announces, "Alright, lets go to the beach,", the girls looked at him from their respective doors, "Oh, you can still got o the beach, you just can't hang out together.", he said, seeing their confused looks.

The trek to the beach seemed long that day. Zuko walked with Ursa to his right and Kya to his left. He couldn't let the girls see that he was suffering over the punishment just as much as they were. He'd never had to be so heavy handed with Ursa, but he knew that this was something he could not let slide. He thought 'I'm happy we only decided to make them suffer for two days. I don't think I can take them looking like this for any longer.'