Ok, so, I would have updated sooner but I haven't had access to the internet for days. But now that I'm back I have a question for you all: Are you guys for real? You actually like the story so far? After every line I write I thing "Man, I shouldn't be doing this." But I read your reviews and just...wow. Well, if you want to keep reading then I won't stop you.
Warning: This chapter contains some sexual material. If you cannot bring yourself to read it, skip it.
Chapter 2: Voyage of Memories
The sounds coming from below when the waves crashed on the hull of the ship was very calming, Ty Lee thought. She was standing near the bow of the ship, staring at the seemingly endless ocean.
The closer they got to the Fire Nation, the longer and warmer the days got. They had been sailing for just over a week and the acrobat was finally comfortable wearing her pink belly shirt and matching baggy pants outside. When she had looked at herself in the mirror she'd realized she looked just like herself two years back, when she was been travelling with her friends. There were of course subtle differences, like the little dark bags under her eyes, but the similarities were far greater. She almost hadn't grown at all in height in the past two years and her body had matured and reached a beautiful feminine form quite early in her teens, so that hadn't changed. Her face even managed to keep its round features despite the loss of baby fat.
She had made the decision to go and see Azula when she got to the Fire Nation, and she wasn't about to go back on it, but with every passing day she grew anxious. What's she going to say when she sees me? What am I going to say? Ooh, this is going to be horrible.
For the past couple of years, every time she started reminiscing about how things used to be like between her and the princess she'd try to block it out and think about something else, but now...
Now that was impossible.
It was nearly night-time in the Fire Nation and most people in the Imperial Citadel had retreated to their homes. It was perfect, nobody was around to spot her.
The young acrobat quickly made her way through the streets, making good use of structures that had been destroyed during the day of Black Sun to remain undetected. She eventually reached the walls of the Royal Palace. Looking around to make sure she was alone, she started to carefully climb the wall. She had done this a few times before, she knew it was a dangerously high fall if she lost her grip but she wasn't a person who fell often, otherwise she wouldn't be a very good acrobat, now would she.
After a few minutes of climbing she finally reached her destination. She swung onto the small balcony, straightened her clothes out a bit and then proceeded to knock three time on the door. She heard someone quickly move around inside before it slowly opened.
"Why, Ty Lee. What are you doing here?" the princess smirked and leaned against the door frame. She was wearing a thin red silk robe with a gold trim, it was wrapped tightly around her body, showing of her slight curves. Her hair wasn't tied into her usual topknot, but hung freely down her back and shoulders.
Ty Lee matched her friends smirk before responding. "Just let me in already, it's freezing out here." Azula nodded and moved out of the way, gesturing for the acrobat to enter. It was much warmer inside the Royal's bedroom than Ty Lee had expected. Granted, Azula was a firebender, but the acrobat still thought it would be uncomfortable to go to sleep in such heat.
"So," Azula rested her hands on her hips, still smirking. "Why are you here, Ty?"
Ty Lee grinned impishly. "Ooh you know, I was feeling kinda lonely. I thought I'd just pop in and say hello."
Slowly stepping closer to her friend, the princess' smirk grew bigger. "Well then," she leaned in an caught Ty Lee's lips with her own. After a few seconds of an unusually tender kiss, Azula pulled back. "Hello."
They kissed again, wrapping their arms around each other. Ty Lee ran her hands through the princess' hair, then moved them down her back, finally settling on her hips. Azula started walking backwards, pulling the pink clad girl with her towards the large bed, never once breaking the kiss. The fell back, but Azula made sure that when they landed, she was laying half on top of her Ty Lee.
Ty Lee's heart was pounding, and her stomach felt like it was full of small butterflies. They'd done the kissing before, a lot of it in fact, but she wasn't sure how far Azula intended to take it this time. Not that she had any objections, she would do anything for her princess.
As the kiss intensified, the girl's hands started to get more adventurous. Ty Lee experimented with resting her hands on the princess' bottom or lightly cupping her breasts through her robe, while Azula snuck one hand under the acrobat's shirt and ran it over her slim yet strong stomach.
After a few minutes that felt like eternity, Ty Lee concluded that she had been right before, it was way to hot in that room. She removed her hands off the princess' body and instead put them to work in removing her own shirt. When Azula saw this she smiled seductively, and a bit hungrily, and started helping her friend, after the shirt was gone they were quick to pull off the baggy pants as well, leaving Ty Lee wearing only her undergarments and breast-bindings.
"Hey!" Ty Lee whined, "This isn't fair." Azula raised an eyebrow as she looked down at her pouting lover. "What do you mean?"
"Well," the acrobat's pout turned into an impish grin, "You get to see me like this, but you're still fully dressed."
The princess sighed with what seemed to be mixed annoyance and relief. "Very well then." Azula raised herself up to her knees and moved so that she was in between Ty Lee's slightly parted legs. "Let's remedy that, shall we." She loosened her robe and let it slowly slide down her shoulders. They both took a few seconds to admire each other's bodies before Azula dived down for another hungry kiss. The acrobat struggled to keep up with the princess, who seemed to have become much more enthused by getting a good look at her poorly dressed friend.
Her mouth and hands were everywhere. She kissed Ty Lee's mouth, moved down to her jawline and even went as far as nipping at her collarbones. Her hands moved over the contortionists body, grazing her tones legs and cupping and slightly squeezing her breasts, making Ty Lee moan in delight. This was even better than she'd thought it would be.
She gasped loudly as Azula's hand unceremoniously slipped town the front of her undergarments.
The rest of the night faded into a blissful blur...
When Ty Lee came to the next morning she was greeted by an unfamiliar sensation. There was an unusual warmth surrounding her, it felt great. She slowly opened her eyes, thanking Agni for the room being dark enough so it didn't hurt her eyes. She looked to her side to see the sleeping form of her childhood friend-turned-lover, who's arms were loosely wrapped around her.
"Hey sleepy-head," she whispered into the princess' ear as she poked her nose.
Azula wrinkled her nose and slowly opened her eyes and looked to her side at the round face of the acrobat. "Morning," she smiled lazily.
"Last night was amazing 'Zula." Ty Lee whispered as she tightened their embrace, wanting to never let go. This moment was complete perfection, she wished it would never have to end. "I love you," she didn't even have time to consider staying quiet before the words slipped past her lips.
As soon as she spoke those words she felts Azula tense up in her arms. Ty Lee knew that her friend wasn't really normal, she had quite a few issues, one of which had to do with letting people close to her. But the acrobat understood, really, she did. "It's ok 'Zula," she sighed and gently put her hand on the princess' shoulder. "You don't have to say anything back." The only response Azula could give was to smile thankfully.
Suddenly there was loud knock on the door. "Princess Azula?" a deep masculine voice called through the large, decorated door. "I have a message for you from the Fire Lord!"
The girls simultaneously jumped up. "Don't come in!" Azula called, obviously panicking, "I'm...not dressed." This would only buy them a few minutes at best, but at least it was something. "Quick Ty Lee, get in the wardrobe," the princess hissed. Ty Lee knew better than to disobey, not that she wanted to. She hurried across the room, grabbing her pink pile of cloths from the floor, and carefully closed the wardrobe so it didn't make a sound. She heard some muffled conversation between Azula and the guard while she was getting redressed, and soon after she heard the door to the bedroom close. She stepped out of the over-sized wardrobe and saw that the princess had started to put on her black royal armor. "My father wishes to speak to me," she said, her voice returning to her usual commanding tone. "You'll have to sneak out of the window again."
"O-okay 'Zula," the acrobat's voice was barely above a whisper. She hated it when amazing moments like that were replaced by the cruel reality that the two of them weren't supposed to be together.
The princess looked over her shoulder, frowning when she saw the obviously displeased face of the acrobat. "Don't look at me like that. What was I supposed to do? Let him walk in on us? We have to keep this a secret. You know that," she'd stood up and walked over to Ty Lee, placing her hands on the pink girl's shoulders.
"I know we do," Ty Lee's eyes were starting to fill with tears at this point. Azula had always told her she was too over-emotional. "I just wish we didn't have to, you know."
The princess sighed and moved one of her hands up the cup Ty Lee's cheek. "I know." Her touch was gentle and her voice had lost its sharpness. "Look," she said, lifting the acrobat's face up so that their eyes met. "I have to go and speak with my father, I don't know how long it's going to take. Why don't you come back around noon and we can hang out."
Ty Lee's pout quickly turned into a thankful smile. "Alright 'Zula." She wiped away her forming tears with her pink sleeve and then hugged the princess. It wasn't as comfortable hugging someone wearing armor as it was when they were only wearing cloths, or nothing at all, but it was better than no hug at all. She pulled back, stopping for a second to kiss her lover on the lips one last time. "Bye 'Zula. See you at noon."
She made her way out to the balcony, taking a moment to admire the beautiful sunrise, and then made her way back down the large palace wall.
Ty Lee sighed. The memory was so vivid, like it had only happened yesterday. But it had been two years and so much had changed, not necessarily for the better.
She looked ahead at the open sea. It was early in the morning and the sun was rising, casting a warm glow over the world. It was so alike the sunrise from all those years ago, but somehow, it had lost its beauty. It just looked dull now. An unwelcome reminder of a lost past, of what could have been.
Silent tears fell down her cheeks, dripping down onto the metal surface she stood on. She'd tried fighting it at first, but now she had come to terms with it. She needed to accept her past if she intended to confront the fallen princess.
She heard footsteps on the metal behind her. She had a sneaky suspicion as to who it was. "Hey," a familiar voice said in a friendly tone. "How are you holding up?"
Quickly turning around and putting on the biggest smile she could, the acrobat replied, "I'm great, silly! Why would I be anything else?"
Suki didn't look convinced. Crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow, the leader of the Kyoshi warriors gestured at her friend's face. "Well, for one thing you're crying."
Ty Lee's smile dropped instantly, most likely revealing how false it was. She brought her hand up to her face to find it was streaked with tears. "Damn it," she whispered as she turned away from her sympathetic-looking friend and started wiping her face dry. She felt Suki rest her hand on one of her shoulders. "Do you want to talk about it?"
She did want to, but bringing up the subject of Azula to Suki probably wasn't a good idea, but instead of just saying 'no', being the way she was, hating lies and having to lie to people, she decided to tell Suki just that. "I do want to talk about it. But I don't think you'd get it Suki. I'm sorry."
The acrobat then felt both of Suki's hands on the sides of her arms, turning her around to face her. "Ty, I'm your friend. What good am I if you can't even talk to me about stuff?" Suki's smile was reassuring, but Ty Lee saw a flicker of hurt in her face as well, making the guilt she was feeling rise to a whole new level.
"Alright," the usually cheerful girl drew a deep breath. "It's Azula."
As soon as Ty Lee spoke that name, her friends attempt at a happy look dropped and the acrobat was sure her face lost some color. It seemed to take a few moments for the words to completely set in with Suki, but eventually she came to. "What about her."
"Well," Ty Lee wasn't sure how to go about this. She knew what Suki thought of Azula, she knew what had happened during the war. Aaaahhh, I'll just say it...
"I miss her."
"You what?" Suki's voice wasn't hostile, but it definitely wasn't happy.
"Look, I know what you think of her, okay." The two of them had never talked about the princess to one another, and Ty Lee knew that it was for a very good reason. "But you didn't know her. She really wasn't that bad, she was ju..."
"Not that bad!" Suki hissed back at her. "Ty Lee, she tortured me! She killed countless people in the war, directly or indirectly, I don't care! And according to Zuko, it was her idea to burn down my homeland! Have you forgotten all that?" Ty Lee wasn't sure she'd even seen her leader this upset.
"N-no. But...but she's not..." The acrobat's eyes were welling up again. She hated it when people were angry at her. I knew this was a bad idea.
"You know what? You're right, I guess I just don't get it." Suki's voice was laced with venom. She wasn't usually like this, but the subject of Azula was a very sore spot for her. "I can't talk about this anymore," she finally stated and walked off.
Ty Lee's mouth opened and closed repeatedly as she debated with herself whether or not to stop her friend, but in the end she decided to do nothing...
It seemed that whenever she did, someone got hurt.
Ok, so, another chapter done and let me tell you all how sorry I am for making you wait so long and get so little. I've been away with no internet blah blah, excuses, excuses. And schools starting again, so I will most likely do all of my work during the weekends. I can't promise you a new chapter every weekend but I'll still do my best. I would like to make one thing absolutely clear, and that is that I am NOT a smut writer. I don't know whay I put that in my story, I just thought it fitted. Don't expect heavy sexual themes here, cause you'll be very disappointed. And I know, I'm awful. With this chapter I'm just stalling Ty Lee's arrival to the Fire Nation and forcing more back-story down your throats. Well, this has been me rambling apologies for how sucky I am. Thanks for reading. Peace out!
