A/N: So this was supposed to be split in two chapters, but I decided to post it as one. That's why it is so much longer than the others. I hope you don't mind :)
"I need Mai's help."
Zuko let out a laugh of disbelief and shook his head. "Azula, if you are doing this out of revenge-"
The Princess groaned, cutting him off. "Zuko, don't be ridiculous! There are many ways to get revenge on you and bringing your ex here isn't one of them!"
"Revenge on what?" Katara asked suspiciously.
Zuko looked alarmed to her.
"Nothing of your business!" Azula answered quickly, and turned to Zuko before the other girl could say anything. "Listen, Zuzu, we both know Mai and I aren't exactly best friends right now. This will not be fun to me either…" Azula paused, but then she gave him a mischievous smile. "Or maybe it can be fun… You never know…" She saw Zuko's eyes widening. "Anyway, that's not even the point. I need her because she will be really useful in this. Mai grew up in a wealthy noble family, surrounded by politicians and aristocrats. She knows better than anyone how to be quiet, almost invisible, and, at the same time, to listen to everything that is going on around her. She will know what to do here."
Zuko sighed and looked to the others, seeking help.
"She is right, Zuko." His Uncle started. "Your girl- I mean, Mai can really help. And you don't have much time to find other options… The party is in two days."
"But what makes you think Mai will help anyway?" He asked to Azula, his voice was already tired and stressed out. "I haven't spoken to her in almost a year! And she doesn't exactly like you." He gave her a look, and she just rolled her eyes.
"Don't worry brother, just let me talk to her…"
"You are not threatening or blackmailing her, Azula!" Zuko just lost his temper. He was trying to be patience to Azula, after what happened that morning, but he would not her hurt anyone.
Azula rolled her eyes again, in frustration.
"I'm not doing any of this, you idiot!" She made a grimace.
"You can't really blame him for worrying about that…" Sokka whispered to Azula, with some sort of sarcasm.
Ty Lee, who was on Azula's other side, nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you can't."
"Shut up, you two!" Azula growled, elbowing both of them.
"Ow…" Ty Lee complained, glaring at the Princess. "Don't worry, Zuko, Sokka and I are going to be there, right, Sokka?" The guy nodded at her. "We will watch them…"
Azula glared at both of them, annoyed, and sighed. "Well, see? Don't worry I won't hurt your dear ex-girlfriend, brother." She faked a smile to him and stood up. "Well, although I love these delightful reunions…" The Princess said with sarcasm. "I have better things to do." And then she stood up, making her way to the door. And then she stopped turning to her brother. "I will see my dear old friend tomorrow morning. Is that acceptable to you, Zuzu?" The question sounded more like an insult than an ask for permission.
Zuko sighed. "Yeah…" He paused for a few seconds. "Azula, wa-" But she was already gone, followed by Ty Lee.
Sokka was about to cross the doorway, following the two girls, when Zuko called him. "Sokka, wait!"
At this moment, Katara, Toph and Aang were also leaving the room. Sokka could see Katara giving him and Zuko a suspicious look, before she left.
"Sokka," Zuko started, nervously. "Did she say anything to you?" Sokka frowned confused. "About the whole 'I'm leaving the Palace' thing. She is just playing with me, right?"
Suki and Iroh were still there, paying attention. "Of course she is, Zuko." Suki started. "Don't worry about that…" The girl said in a reassuring tone.
Sokka gazed at her and at the Fire Lord unamused.
"She seemed pretty serious to me." He answered, shrugging.
"Not you too, Sokka… She is just manipulating both of you!" Suki shouted, frustrated.
Iroh cleared his throat, "If you allow me…" The three of them stopped and turned to the old man. "I won't argue that there might be a chance that Azula is just playing one of her games to get what she wants," Sokka rolled his eyes, making a grimace, but before he could say anything Iroh went on. "But we also have to consider that after all this time… Sokka was the first that seemed to actually get through Azula's walls."
"Huh?" Both Sokka and Zuko sounded confused.
Iroh sighed.
"Since a very young age, your sister has been… well, difficult to deal with. And she always had serious problem to trust people. I must admit…" He looked at Zuko. "You two have come a long way… Working together and actually caring about each other, well, in your own way, of course…" He paused laughing a little. "It was a huge step, considering everything that happened between you. But you still don't fully trust each other."
Zuko shook his head. "Uncle, I do-"
"You want to trust her. And I understand that it can be hard. But as far as I know… Getting her to trust you will be even harder." Iroh walked towards a small table in the corner to serve himself a cup of tea. "However, you, my young man," He looked at Sokka now. "Seemed to have conquered the Princess trust in this short amount of time."
Sokka saw Zuko frowning at him. He swallowed hard, wondering if his friend would suspect there was something going between him and the Princess. And honestly, not even Sokka knew exactly how he would answer something like that.
Zuko seemed to be absorbing all the information with some sort of trouble. How was it possible that in one month Sokka got closer to Azula than him? It was Sokka of all people! He used to hate Azula! And Azula… She despised all of his friends, mostly the one that came from the Water Tribe. How did that happen?
Iroh seemed to be reading Zuko's mind.
"How that happened… that's a mystery we can solve another time. But I think if there is someone who can help you to understand your sister, my nephew, that person is Sokka. So, my advice is… Right now, if you are actually concerned about what your sister might do, listen to him."
Sokka saw Zuko rubbing his forehead and taking a deep breath. After a while, Zuko and the other two people in the room stared at him, as though they were waiting for answers.
"Uh… Thank you, Iroh… I guess?" Sokka made an unsure face. "Look, I'm going to be honest with you guys… I don't know much. She just told me she is actually considering quitting her life here. And you can't blame her, can you?" His tone changed to an angrier one and he glared at Zuko, then at Suki. "You guys screwed everything up! I know what you are going to say!" He raised both hands trying to stop the others from cut him off. "Yeah, she might have had an episode or something…" Sokka rolled his eyes at this sentence. "But even so… that was NOT the right way to deal with her!" He scolded them. "Iroh is right! I've been here a month and I know how to deal with your sister better than you, Zuko! There is something really wrong with that!" The boy shouted frustrated.
"Sokka, look, I understand you are willing to help, but don't push it, okay?" Zuko stepped forward, he sounded angrier now, in fact he looked really mad. "You have no idea how things between Azula and me are… I appreciate your help, but you don't get judge me! You have no idea how she can be!"
Suki was about to say something, but Iroh just shook his head to her, with a sigh.
"Yes, I do! She was my enemy too, I was there when she tried to kill all of us! But things are different now!" Sokka raised his tone as he lost his temper. "The only thing that doesn't seem to change is the way you treat her! And if you don't change that, you will lose her!"
Zuko glared at him, but didn't reply. Sokka could see his friend's apprehension behind all that angriness.
After a long silence, Zuko sighed and said coldly, "I think you should go, Sokka."
"Yeah…" The other agreed, sounding impatient. "You're right. See you guys later."
Next morning, Azula woke up early to get ready to see Mai. She wanted to end that as soon as possible. She knew it would be a stressful morning. Also, she wasn't sure if Mai would agree with her plan. But she couldn't think of that… The feast was on the next day! This had to work.
When Sokka came into her room, she was in front of her mirror, finishing her make up. He noticed her hair wasn't partially down as she recently started to wear, but it was in her old classic style, a topknot with two loosen bangs on the side of her face. For some reason that hairstyle made her look both younger and scarier, but he couldn't help finding her incredibly beautiful as always.
"Morning, Princess!" He said as he approached her breakfast table. Sokka grabbed an apple that was left untouched, and noticed she had barely touched her food. "Won't you eat that?"
She sighed, impatiently.
"No." She answered rashly, giving one last look at her reflection, quite pleased with herself, and walked towards him. "And neither will you." She took the apple off his hand before he could give it the first bite. Sokka just looked at her unamused. "We don't have time for this. I hope Ty Lee is ready…"
"Relax, Azula. It won't be that bad…" He smiled in reassuring way as he just took another apple, finally taking a bite and ignoring her unpleased glare. "Well, it can't be worse than everything we faced until now…" He shrugged, his voice sounded muffed his mouth was full.
The Princess couldn't help but make a face, agreeing with him.
"Yes, it will be fine." She tried to remain calm. "Come on, let's go."
"Fine." He agreed, still eating. "One more thing, Princess." She stopped facing him, and he looked at her in an unsure way. "I know that you're still mad at your brother and everything… I'm not in the best terms with him right now either. But try to take things easy with Mai today, please?"
"I know how to handle Mai, Sokka. Don't worry."
"Yeah, but-" He tried to argue.
"Wait, what do you mean by you are not in the best terms with my brother?" Azula frowned at him, crossing her arms.
"Uh, yesterday… after you left… we've talked about you and what he had done..."
"WHAT?" She growled, giving him a death glare.
"Okay, calm down." He dropped the apple and held her shoulders, looking down to her eyes. That startled her. Again, he was coming too close. And again she didn't know how to react to do that. She only managed to stand there looking back at him, with her heart racing. "Look, I am at your side on this. And that's probably why things are bad between Zuko and me. But I do think he was the one did wrong this time." He could see Azula swallowing and nodding at him, she seemed puzzled. He wondered if it was really that hard for her to believe that someone was actually defending her. "But listen, if things go bad today… Well, things will look really bad for you. Zuko will think he was in fact right on forcing you to see a doctor, he might keep acting like this... And this time it won't matter what I say. You understand that?"
Azula just blinked at him. She wanted to do so many questions. First of all, why the hell was he risking his friendship with Zuko for her? She and Sokka had been friends for less than a month, and he and Zuko were friends for years. She couldn't mean that much for him. Could she? She also wanted to know what exactly Zuko had said to him. But right now they didn't have time for that.
"I…" Azula started, looking carefully at his face. She couldn't help but glance at his lips before looking at his eyes again. "I understand it. I really do. Don't worry, Sokka. I will… behave." She rolled her eyes at the last part and smiled. "I promise."
It was just so good to see her smile. He just nodded at her, smiling as well. "Good."
Sokka was still holding her by the shoulders and they were still facing each other, when Kiyi came in.
"Hi, Azula, hi, Sokka!" The little girl shouted, joyfully.
The older ones jumped scared out when they heard her voice. Sokka let go of Azula immediately and the Princess felt her cheeks burning as she turned to look at her sister.
"Uh…" The girl started, frowning at them curiously. "Where you two kissing?" She asked in a genuine way.
Sokka froze, his eyes widened. He looked at Azula and for one second he thought she was going to pass out. "WHAT? NO!" He screamed, sounding much more desperate than he planned.
Azula glared at him, but she herself looked just as desperate.
"What a nonsense, Kiyi! Why on Earth would I kiss him?!" She asked Kiyi, sounding really outraged.
Sokka couldn't help but feel a little insulted with that, but now probably wasn't the best time to show that.
"Because you two were really close. Like mom and dad are when they are kissing." Kiyi's voice was filled with curiousity.
Azula groaned. "Well, but that's mom and Noren. We… We were just talking! Now if you excuse me, Kiyi, we have to go."
"You are going to visit Mai, right?" The girl asked with a bright smile. "Can I come?"
"No." Azula answering coldly, making a sign to Sokka so they would get going.
"But I want to play with Tom-Tom!"
Azula just ignored her, as they left the room and started walking down the corridor. The little girl kept following them.
"Please, Azula! You owe me this, remember?"
Azula stopped and turned to the girl with a glare.
"I owe you?" The Princess asked with her eyebrows raised, shocked with the brat's boldness.
"Yeah! Remember that day I helped you find that passage behind Sozin's paint?!" Kiyi replied, crossing her arms over her chest and giving the Princess a daring look. Anyone who looked at her would find it cute, but Azula just wanted to scream at the girl.
"Well, and I have saved your life when that crazy servant almost poisoned you. So I guess we are even!" Azula argued. She sounded incredulous. She couldn't believe she was having this kind of discussion with her seven years old little sister!
"But Azula! You owe me twice!" The girl fought back. And Azula just widened her eyes. This can't be happening... "I helped you find the passage AND I kept it a secret from mom and Zuzu! I remember you were disobeying them!" Kiyi just shouted at her, with an angry voice.
Azula blinked at her sister. Kiyi was talking to her as if the Princess was the youngest one. Azula heard Sokka's muffed laugh behind her and gave him a death look.
"Kiyi." The oldest sister started, in a serious and very dangerous tone. "You are not coming, it doesn't matter what you have done or what you will do! That's my decision."
Azula, Sokka, Ty Lee… and Kiyi arrived at Mai's house about an hour later. Kiyi jumped happily out of the carriage. Sokka suppressed a laugh when he saw Azula's unpleasant gaze at the girl. He knew she was still pissed off, because once again Kiyi had won.
They were at Mai's mother's flower shop. Ty Lee knocked the door, and when Mai opened it her only reaction was to wide her eyes. Ty Lee forced a smile and hugged her before she could say anything.
"Mai! It's so good to see you!"
"Indeed it is good to see you, Mai." Azula smirked with sarcasm, gazing at the other girl, who was still holding Ty Lee.
"What is she doing here?" Mai just growled, pulling back and glaring at Ty Lee.
"Uh… She needs to-"
"TOM-TOM!" Kiyi screamed, walking past Mai to hug the little boy, who was inside the place.
Mai just gazed Azula with angriness. "If you think bringing Kiyi here will help you-"
"Kiyi!" Mai heard her mother's voice. "What a pleasure to see you, my dear. So, Mai, why didn't you tell me Zuko was- Oh!" The woman finally looked at the doorway and smiled. "Ty Lee!" But then her smiled faded and just looked quite pale. "Princess Azula?! Uh, I mean, what an expected surprised. Mai, why don't you ask your friends to come in and have a cup of tea?"
Mai just gave her mother an unamused look and made a sign for them to come in. She heard her mother calling Kiyi and Tom-tom to go play in another room with her. Mai didn't know if she wanted to thank her mother to give her privacy to deal with this situation or to curse her for leaving her alone.
"What is going on here? What do you want, Azula?!" She asked, trying to remain calm, but Azula could see her friend gritting her teeth.
For some reason, the Princess found that quite amusing.
"Wow, direct to point… I was hoping we could catch up first." Azula gave a glance of judgement to Mai's apron. "I mean, how a noble's daughter is managing a life working in a flower shop must be a very interesting story, don't you think, Ty Lee?" Ty Lee seemed to be frozen, she looked alarmed to Sokka, seeking help, but he was just as tensed. Azula on the other hand seemed to be having fun with everyone's puzzled faces. "Talking about your father… How is he doing in prison?" She asked, faking a concerned voice.
Mai sighed, losing her temper. She took off her apron, annoyed.
"He is fine! Too bad you aren't there with him! Because everyone knows that's your place, Azula!"
"Mai…" Ty Lee muttered, worried.
Azula just laughed. "I forgot how sentimental you can be, Mai."
"I'm serious! I still can't believe Zuko let you out after all you have done! And then he let you work with him! He is really turning into Ozai, isn't he?" Her voice was a mix of bitterness and sorrow.
"Okay, Mai, calm down. It isn't like this…" Sokka tried to start.
"What are you even doing here?" Mai frowned, confused.
"Uh… I'm with her." He pointed to Azula, and Mai just looked even more confused. "I mean, you have probably heard of the attacks in the Palace… The whole mess in the city…" He shook his head, as though he didn't even want to remember that. "Well, Zuko asked me to be her bodyguard since then…"
"Oh, yeah… the attacks. How are you handling it, Azula?" Mai's voice sounded different now. Colder and crueler. She grinned to Azula. "I remembered how paranoid you could get with those things… I bet you have been terrified… Have you already tried to banish the whole palace worrying they are traitors? Have you already lost your mind?"
"Mai!" Ty Lee shouted.
Sokka was about to say something, when Azula raised her hand and shook her head. But what surprised him was that Azula wasn't upset or even mad, she was laughing.
"Oh, Mai… I've missed that." The Princess smirked, but her tone was sincerer than expected. "You know why I picked you as a friend when we were younger?"
"Because you thought it would be easy to manipulate me?" Mai asked, almost growling.
"Well… probably that too." Azula looked at her nails, as though they were having a casual conversation. "But mostly because even though you seemed to be a shy obedient little girl, I knew that when you wanted… you could be cruel. And I've always loved that…" Azula grinned back to the girl. "Now I have something serious to talk to you. Can we take a sit and have a cup of tea? Like decent civilized people?" She crossed her arms in a demanding way.
Mai just sighed and made a sign for them to take a table. She brought a cup of tea to Sokka and another to Ty Lee. Sokka and Ty Lee were facing each other at the table. Azula was next to him. A few seconds later Mai sat in front of Azula, with her own cup. She couldn't help but make an amused face when the Princess realize she didn't get a cup of her own.
Sokka just sighed. And Katara had the courage to say girls were much more mature than guys... These two are acting like two stubborn children.
"So, what do you want from me, your highness? Hm, do people still call you like that after you disgraced the royal family's image, going insane and almost killing your brother?" Mai asked in a calm voice, sipping her tea.
Sokka only face slapped and Ty Lee shook her head.
"I need you to come to the party in the Palace tomorrow." Azula finally went to the point.
Mai's throat made a sound of disgust. "That's a joke, right?"
"No. Listen, the people who want to kill me… We think they are involved with someone powerful… who will be there tomorrow." Azula went on.
"So?"
"So? So we need to gather as much information as possible in that party. We already know who it is. Maybe there are more people, I don't know. Anyway, we need to know what are their goals… why they are doing this."
"Azula, it's not that hard to think a reason for someone wanting to kill you." Mai raised one eyebrow to her.
Azula just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know… People keep telling me that. But this isn't only about me. It's about the country. Zuko's government…"
Mai shook her head.
"I've done enough for Zuko's government! But apparently he prefers to get help from people like Ozai… or you." Mai replied, harshly.
"Come on, Mai…" Ty Lee started, already tired of this situation. "It's just a party… It's not as if you had to fake a relationship with someone else just to help your ex…" She commented, sarcastically, sipping her tea.
Mai's eyes widened to her. Azula just looked at Ty Lee with an eyebrow raised.
"I didn't-"
"Aren't you a Fire Nation citizen?" Sokka suddenly spoke and Mai turned to him, abruptly. "It's kind of your duty to help… your Fire Lord, isn't it?" Sokka sounded unsure, he didn't want to piss the girl off again.
"Forget her duties!" Azula spoke up before anyone could say anything else. "She never really cared about it. It's all about Zuko. As it has always been." Sokka could sense the bitterness in Azula's voice even though she was trying to show causality. "She doesn't care about Fire Nation or the World Peace or anything like that. She cares about Zuzu and their weird relationship… And that's why she will help us." Azula smirked.
"It has nothing to do with Zuko!" Mai shouted, her eyes on flame. "It's over between me and him. And I intent to let things this way…"
Azula rolled her eyes. "Of course, Mai…" She commented with sarcasm.
"And, yes, I do care about the country. I care that people like you are in power." Mai said angrily, crossing her arms. "If Zuko needs my help, why didn't he come here to ask?"
"Why do you think?" Azula raised her eyebrows to her. "You haven't spoken to him since forever."
Mai shook her head and turned to face the window. She closed her eyes for a moment. You will regret it, you will regret it, you will regret it…
"If I agree to this…" Mai spoke in paused tone. "What exactly would I have to do?"
A few discussions and changes of insults later… Azula stood up and called Kiyi.
"Are you already leaving?" Michi mother asked shyly, as she walked into the room, holding Kiyi by the hand.
"Hey, Azu! It was so much fun to play with Tom-tom! We should come here more!" The little girl smiled, holding Azula's hand.
"Yeah…" Azula replied and then looked at Mai. "So, do I see you tomorrow?" She asked in a serious tone now.
"I told you, Azula. I will think about it."
Azula gritted her teeth. There wasn't much she could do. Well, not following Zuzu's terms. And she had promised Sokka she would do it. "Fine." She muttered, making her way through the door.
The rest of the day was stressful. The whole palace was getting ready for the celebration. So there were servants working all around, meetings to decide the last things, some guests already arriving to Palace… Not mentioning things were still pretty complicated with Zuko. Azula was just ignoring her brother as much as possible. And Sokka seemed to be in a cold war with him. The Fire Lord on another hand was an emotional wreck. At the same time, he was trying to treat Azula the nicer he could, he would lose his temper at anything that happen.
That night, everyone had dinner together, so they could plan the last things for the party.
Hours later, Azula and Sokka were alone at one of the Palace's saloons. They were sharing the couch and there was a bowl of cherries between them. Azula had been quite for a while, she was eating the cherries staring at the window in front of her for several minutes.
Sokka studied her carefully, "So, are you worried about tomorrow?"
"Uh?" She seemed to finally come back to reality. "Well, it's first I will show up in an event like this since the end of the war!" The words came out of her mouth quicker than she planned, her voice was weird, uneasy. "The last time most of these people saw me it was on my coronation day, when I was literally losing my mind and ended up humiliated in front of everyone…" She let out a laugh that sounded more like a cry. "So, yeah… I am a little worried." She shouted angrily at him, making a grimace.
Sokka just stared at her, with his eyes widened.
"Wow… I was asking if you were worried about the whole thing with Jiang…" He sounded both worried and unsure. "But I guess we should talk about that first. I had no idea you were anxious about it…" He looked at her with concern.
Azula felt his eyes burning on her. Her cheeks flushed. Again, she opened up to him with no intention to do so. She had to accept it was something she couldn't control anymore.
"I… Well, yeah, I guess I didn't actually realize that until now… Or I wasn't letting myself think about it…" The Princess embraced herself, in a protective way. "But let's not talk about this now."
"Are you sure?" He asked, softly.
"Yeah, Sokka!" She sounded impatient now. "I will handle this tomorrow. I don't want to think of this now."
Sokka nodded, suddenly feeling an urge to make her feel better. Maybe he couldn't help her with this issue specifically, but he could certainly distract her.
"So, you think Mai will come tomorrow?" He asked in a reckless tone.
Azula turned to face him, and reached her hand to grab a cherry from the bowl.
"Most likely." She shrugged. "I really don't think she will miss the chance to be around Zuko once again."
"Do you think she still cares about him that much?"
"Are you kidding me?" Azula sounded as though she couldn't believe someone would ask that. "She is crazy about him. She always was and she will always be. It doesn't matter what she says." She said in an assertive way.
"You two treat each other in a very peculiar way…" Sokka commented. "Actually it reminded me how you and that friend of yours talked to each other…"
"Who?" Azula looked at him confused.
"The one who owns the tarven… Zirin."
Azula paused for a second and then just nodded. "Yeah… They have some things in common…" Azula had never thought of how much both of her friends were alike. And for different reasons... both of them despised her now.
"Yeah, they are the only people I've seen talking to you… Well…"
"With simply no respect?" Azula sounded both sad and frustrated now.
"Yeah…" Sokka nodded. "I have got to say… I was scared this morning. I really thought you two would start fighting at any moment."
Azula rolled her eyes at him, but then smile. She remembered how he and Ty Lee seemed scared that morning... And that delighted her.
"I promised you I wouldn't do anything, didn't I? I am a good liar, but I do keep my promises…" She said with an amusing expression. Sometimes it was just amazing to see how much concern her actions could bring to everyone.
"Yeah, but I also know how you can easily push people's buttons!" He narrowed his eyes to her, as if he was actually scolding her, but then he suppressed a laugh. "Troublemaker…" He whispered.
Azula couldn't help but smile.
"Well, you are right about that."
"Yeah, I am! Earlier today at dinner, you were doing the same thing with Katara!" Sokka commented with a bit of frustration.
"But that's different. I would fight your sister if I could!"
Sokka shocked at her.
"Are you insane?! Why would do that?" Now he sounded scared. What the hell was wrong with her?!
Azula just shrugged.
"Because I hate her? And don't make that face! You've always known that!" She sounded very proud of herself on admitting that.
Sokka just sighed, shaking his head. "You're unbelievable…" She just made a grimace to him. "Actually, you would be surprised with how much you two have in common!"
Now she looked outraged. "Excuse me?!"
"Oh, come on… It's true and you know it." He was the one with an amusing face right now. Sometimes it was just too much fun to tease her. But then he looked serious. "Now, seriously, you two are amazing benders, you are incredibly smart, you can be terribly bossy and… both of you love to drive me crazy!" He rolled his eyes at the last part.
Azula only narrowed her eyes at him. "You forgot how she can easily kick your butt, just I can easily kick Zuko's!" She shouted in an aggressive way.
Sokka just laughed and shrugged.
"Yeah… I guess you're right…"
She looked at him with her eyes widened, feeling frustrated that he didn't took that as an insult.
"So you admit I could beat you I wanted?" She smirked.
"What?" He asked, puzzled. "I never said that!"
"Come on, if your sister can do it, so can I!" She leaned closer to him and looked at him in a daring way.
"I don't know what you are talking about, Princess…" He groaned, but then he smirked. "Well, maybe, you could eventually defeat me… But that's just because you've got your creepy blue fire and your lightnings!" Azula's eyes grew wide at him again. "Without your bending you wouldn't stand a chance against me!"
Azula just gasped, looking at him incredulous. "You can't be serious." But he just looked very full of himself to her. "Fine." She stood up. "Let's see if you are right or not…"
His eyes widened.
"What?"
"You said you could fight me… Well… Fight me!" She dared him, with a smirk.
Sokka shook his head and stood up as well. "You are unbelievable, Princess… Fine. But if I win this, you can never call me and my sister peasants anymore!"
Azula rolled her eyes. "Like you could win…"
"And no bending!" He alerted her.
"Fine…" She replied, already trying to jab him on the neck.
She looked at him surprised when his first moves almost hit her. Her blood boiled when he saw his amused face. At the same time, she couldn't help enjoying that. It had been a while since she fought outside of her training. And this fight was just for fun. She didn't remember the last time she did something just to have fun.
Azula looked alarmed at him when he almost shoved her down with a quick stroke. "Sorry, Princess…" He said with sarcasm. "I don't want to hurt you… Just trying to prove a point here."
She groaned. Now he went too far. She managed to hold his arm, blocking his next move and catching him by surprised. Then she used her right leg to finally shove him down.
"HA!" She grinned, looking down at him. "I won, peasant." She let out a mischievous laugh.
But when she turned around to start walking away, he grabbed her by her ankle, and, since she was completely off guard, he shoved her down really easily. Azula just gasped as she hit the ground and saw him pinning her down to ground and sitting on her lap to immobilized her.
"Who said it was over, Princess?" He smirked at her.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Azula screamed, her eyes widened at him, her face flushed. Suddenly, he realized what he had actually done and where he was. Sokka felt his face burning too, but didn't let her go. "This is not fair! You hit the ground first! You lost!"
Sokka grinned at her again. "We never said those were the rules. As long as I know, the fight is still on!"
Azula glared at him and growled. She was trying to ignore how hard her heart was pounding against her chest and the electric feeling that was running through her body, especially in some very specific and private places.
Sokka suddenly saw blue flames starting to bright off her hands.
"HEY!" He screamed, scaring her a little. "No cheating…" He had to suppress a laugh. For some reason he couldn't help but love that situation.
"You cheated first!" She answered very mad.
But all the angriness went away when she saw him leaning in. Her mind just went blank.
"Just surrender, Azula. It will be easier…" His face was close to hers now. And his voice was almost a whisper.
She felt as though she was melting. She felt difficult to breathe… She couldn't think or do anything else. It was as if the world was spinning around her. But at the same time she didn't want it end. In fact, she wanted more.
She didn't say anything. She just stared at him, her eyes on his. Sokka felt his face burning even more. He didn't know what he was supposed to do now. Actually, he knew the proper thing to do was to let go of her. But first he had to find strength to stop looking at her eyes, which seemed to be impossible. All he could imagine was what would happen if he simply kissed her at that very moment. Would she instantly set him on fire? Or would she react like she did that night in the tavern? That thought almost made him lose control.
But before he could decide his next action, he heard Azula's voice. Actually it was barely a whisper.
"Kiss me."
A/N: Thank you so much for reading it! I hope you guys don't mind the cliches and the fact I can't really write a fight scene (not even a non-serious one!) lol.
Reviews will be more than welcomed as always! :D