A/N: Hey friends! Long time no see! Spending an extended period of time at my parents house makes me want to write more, and so i did just that! Hope you all enjoy this chapter, already working on the next one! Follow, like, review for more! 3

Chapter 4

As the next day came around Katara had woken up early enough to be sure that she would make it to her first morning class on time. She was hoping she could beat the crowd, as well as a certain prince, to ensure that she would be able to find her own seat, but when she reached the classroom she quickly noticed that her efforts were a loss as only a few empty seats were left. Her eyes scanned the room for a good spot to sit and that's when she noticed him. Sure enough, there was prince Zuko, sitting in the middle desk on the front row and next to him was an empty seat with his school bag sitting in it.

Zuko glanced up from the book he was reading and caught Katara's eyes. He looked at her only for a moment before he motioned toward the seat next to him and then proceeded to remove his bag from the chair. He did not bother to even look back up at her again as though he was absolutely positive she would come.

With a tight lip and furrowed eyebrows, Katara internally debated if she should just go and sit in the empty chair in the back corner, because why should she allow himto help her yet again. Why? So he can feel as though he has gained any level of gratitude or respect from her. Absolutely not. She knew that it was not necessary for him to save her a seat, but part of her also knew that he was well aware of that, and that maybe, just maybe, the prince was honestly attempting to be kind to her. The only problem with that is Katara could not find a single reason as to why the prince would want to be kind to her.

Don't overthink it, Katara thought to herself as she decided it would be best to take her chances and take her seat next to the prince. Afterall, it was one of the best seats in the class and if she were to sit anywhere else during her stay in the fire nation, it might as well be close to this so-called prince that her curiosity begged to learn more about.

She tossed her things to the side of the desk and fell down into it. She remained silent and did not even bother to acknowledge the existence of him next to her as she took out her supplies and placed them on her desk.

He had noticed her taking her seat but chose not to acknowledge her either, yet a small, and a brief smirk flashed across his face, as he continued to make notes in his book.

"Alright class, we have only a few minutes before we get started, I hope you all remembered to bring the book that we will be going over within this course."

Shit. Katara cursed herself. She had yet to make a stop at the library and pick up the book titled "The Warrior Letters". She was shocked that she forgot about it so easily, she had been so fascinated by it when Instructor Zhou gave a description of it to the class.

It was a 300 paged book, compiled of multiple letters written to and by different warriors throughout Fire Nation history. There is no designated author as only certain entries contain an author's name because the letters are signed that way, while others are left marked by "an unknown author". Each entry is a story of its own revealing important details of Fire Nation history, and its people. A remarkable work that, fortunately, the Fire Nation had been able to hold onto for centuries, and continuously make, add to, and edit copies of until the current date.

"If you do not have the book yet, I suggest you make plans to attain one rather quickly. As for now, find a partner who has it so that you can read along with the class today."

Katara sighed as she came to terms with the fact that whether she liked it or not, Prince Zuko was the most convenient person to have as an aid in order to help her get through this class. She turned her head towards him and sighed as she whispered, "I don't have the book yet". Zuko looked over at her with the slightest hint of disappointment within his gaze. Then without hesitation or even a word spoken in between, Zuko scooted his desk closer to hers so she could look over at the book with him.

The first chapter was a letter written by a lieutenant to his commander stating how his troops were becoming ill due to lack of proper meals and that they were stranded in the swamp lands. It was a heartbreaking read, yet the soldier's valor was remarkable. He had stated that he wishes to continue the advance on the swamplands no matter the cost, the only thing he asked for in return is for rescue troops to be sent for his sick men to be able to return home, and be medically treated.

Zuko already had annotated and marked notes heavily throughout the entire letter. This one quote in particular that he underlined caught Katara's eye. "Till my very last breaths, as I might be embarking upon them soon, I vow to defend the Fire Nation and her honor."

Honor? That's a funny way to describe a nation that has committed acts of pure evil and hate. Why would anyone want to defend this nation's honor, when it clearly has none to begin with. Katara thought to herself.

It was one thing to have pride in your nation and its culture, but it never made much sense to Katara how blind these men were to the lives that they were destroying. She knew all this to be true yet while reading more about the lieutenant she became sorrowful about how many of his own friends perished in their mission. How unimaginably lonely and heartbroken he must've felt when he had to retreat with only a few men left, who were all dying.

Katara glanced over at Zuko's face while they were reading the last letter. He always looked so intense, yet so soft at the same time. She could feel the heaviness of the letter and its impact that it had on Zuko, and that he deeply cared to learn about this kind of stuff. His eyes studied each line of the book as he read along with the professor, he had such an amazing focus. As she watched him she noticed so many details that displayed across his face, like the way his eyebrows furrow when he is concentrating, or when he starts to write out a thought he'll sometimes chew on the skin of his bottom lip. His lips were thin and small, with a soft blush pink that seemed fitting against his fair skin, and his eyes, ah his eyes were fashioned with such fierceness, a fiery blaze they held with a sort of golden hue they had to them. He had a rather pointed nose and high cheekbones, whereas the people of the watertribe had much softer face shapes, and rounder noses. So interesting, she thought as she continued to study the small motions, mannerism, and details in his face. She concluded that he had a genuinely fair looking face and his features were actually rather attractive… except for his scar. The skin there was puffy, red and rugous, it covered his left eye and a portion of his cheek and forehead, and stretched up to his left ear

"La, what could have caused that?" She couldn't help but think.

Katara jumped as Zuko snatched his book from under them and tucked it into his bag as he got up from his chair.

"W-where are you going?" Katara asked in a slight panic.

Zuko answered her plainly as he pushed his chair back in, "Class is over, we were dismissed a few minutes ago."

Katara looked around and saw that at least a third of the class was gone while others were getting their things together to leave. Had she not heard the professor dismiss? She then turned back to Zuko only to notice him walking out the door. Hm? She couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed that he didn't say goodbye or anything… He had gotten up rather abruptly, similar to the time when his sister and girlfriend were giving him a hard time at lunch. Is he upset? She wondered.

The thought vanished from Katara's mind as she left for her other courses for the day. She occasionally would have some time in between classes to sit and relax or walk around before heading to her next class, getting a better understanding of the campus. Finally, her lunch hour was approaching, but she had about 20 minutes to kill and right next to the dining hall was the library, so she thought it would be best to stop there to pick up the book she needed for class.

The library was rather smaller than she expected, less than five or six shelves of books to choose from and about four tables for people to sit and study in. It was no bigger than the size of an average home in the South Pole, which were not that big to begin with. Katara hoped she would be able to find the book there, but as she walked in, yet again she caught the prince of the fire nation to be in her nearest proximity, except this time he was quietly reading to himself at a table that she was approaching. She decided maybe she could sit and study with him for a while before they went to lunch, if he had not eaten already.

She pulled out the chair next to Zuko, and as soon as she did, without a moment to pass he got up and moved his stuff.

Now, she started to feel very annoyed. Katara scoffed, and quickly followed after him. Not one to particularly enjoy this type of game of cat and mouse, as she would much rather be the one on the other end, abruptly walking away and shunning him off because he deserves that, not her, because she had done nothing wrong.

"Pardon me…" She softly whispered, barely loud enough for anyone to hear. "Um Prince Zuko?…" she called out again with more courage as she followed him through the library. "Zuko!" She violently hissed out.

Quickly and radiating with annoyance, Zuko swiftly turned around as she followed him behind a bookshelf and shushed her angrily.

"Quiet! You do realize this is a library, right?" He whispered angrily. "You shouldn't be so loud… what do you want?"

Katara balled up her fist at her side "Maybe I wouldn't have to be so loud if you answered the first time!" she spat back at him with the same amount of annoyance in her voice. "Look, I don't want anything. I just happened to notice you…"

Katara froze at the thought of how ridiculous she sounded. Why was I chasing him? She thought to herself as if she should really be taking such offense to this ignorant man.

"What. You noticed that I what?" Zuko retorted sternly.

"I…" she clears her throat and straightens up and stands firmly against his temperament. "I noticed that you seem to be avoiding me."

A moment of silence held in the air between them before Zuko scoffed and rolled his eyes, as he pushed past her. "I have no idea what the hell you're even talking about."

She smacked her lips in disbelief, as if he has no clue what she's talking about, he has to, it was so painfully obvious that he had been avoiding her. Katara reached out and pulled him back towards her.

"Look, don't play dumb, I saw how you got up earlier today in class when it was time to leave. You left so fast and didn't even say a word, like- like I had upset you. I honestly didn't think much of it until now, when I approached you, and you did it again!" She angrily whispered yet again to him.

Zuko chuckled at her and muttered, "You are ridiculous, woman." He shook his head as he laughed, which quickly ceased as Katara shoved him in the chest.

"I'm serious!" She griped.

His face began to grow disgruntled in his anger and confusion. "What exactly is the issue here? You're upset with me because I left you in class? What, am I supposed to wait for you as though I'm some sort of escort? I was already nice enough to offer you a seat."

Katara felt the heat begin to grow in her face as it turned red as she grew more frustrated as well as embarrassed. "No no no no. I don't give a damn about the seat or if you 'escort me out' of class or if you even show UP! It makes no difference to me! I just noticed…" she caught her breath and slowed down her speech, and collected herself. "I just, I noticed that you seemed upset, and I was simply wondering what's going on. That's all."

A moment of silence passed again before Zuko shrugged and plainly said, "Well don't. I'm fine."

"Okay… Fine. Sorry to bother you." She turned away from him and began to walk off.

Katara clenched her fist and felt unbearably embarrassed at their encounter, but marched away firmly in her resolve. Zuko on the other hand tightly gripped his school bag he had on his shoulder, but slowly released it with a sigh as he turned around and followed after her.

Once he caught up to her after exiting the library, he walked next to her. They both ignored one another for a minute until Zuko broke the silence. "Look, you don't have to sit next to me, you know. I get it, it's fine, next time I won't save you a seat, and you can sit wherever you want. Fair?"

"What…?" She stopped and turned. "Now what are you talking about? I didn't think there was anything wrong with me sitting next to you. I mean, is there?" She asked.

"Oh come on, Katara... I saw you." He pinched the bridge of his nose as he spoke. "The entire last segment of class, I saw you..." He clenched his jaw and averted his eyes as his fingers grazed the outside of his scar. "I don't want to be some sort of spectacle or something for you to take pity on. I mean I get– I get that it's distracting… even I hate looking at it." his voice carried off as he shoved his hands in his pockets and turned his face toward his side .

Katara's heart dropped as soon as she realized what he was talking about. "Oh no. Zuko no no no, you've got the wrong idea, I wasn't— I wasn't staring at your scar."

"Oh? You weren't?" He scoffed in sarcastic disbelief.

"No! I mean well, not like that! Like I wasn't looking at you because of your scar."

His one eyebrow rose up slowly. "Then… Why else were you staring at me?" Zuko asked with his eyes steady on hers.

Oh shit. Katar's eyes bulged a bit in response. What a question to stop her dead in her tracks. Yeah, why was she staring at him?

Her hands grew clammy and shaky when she quickly realized that the prince knew. The prince knew she had been gawking at him. The. Entire. Time. Wow, not only does he have exceptional focus, but his senses are phenomenal as well. She thought for a moment.

How could he have noticed such a small glance his way. Her stomach twisted in knots as he waited for a response. What is she supposed to say, "Sorry I was, admiring your beauty, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, please forgive me?" Gross. Never, ever, in 1000 lifetimes, would she ever admit that, or even dare to allow such words to escape her lips.

Instead her lips trembled as a cluster of incoherent words fell out. Luckily the bell for their lunch hour chimed and she used it as an aversion.

"Lunch! Haha, it seems like we both should go ahead and head to lunch before all the good food is taken!" She nervously laughed. She nodded at him and smiled, although his face was quite puzzled, and quickly brushed along the side of him to run off to the dining hall.

Zuko watched as she scrambled away and thought to himself how strange of an interaction.

000

Katara was still rather flustered when she made it to the cafeteria, her face still red and hot from embarrassment, but all of that faded when she sat at the table with Ty-Lee, Mai, and Azula and noticed that Zuko was nowhere to be found, even well after the lunch hour had started.

Relieved that she didn't have to relive the awkwardness and embarrassment she felt not that long ago at the library, but on the other hand she was concerned as to why he wasn't there. Could it be that he was still avoiding her? The thought of that began to make her upset again, which further increased her frustration. Because, even if that were so, Katara couldn't comprehend why she cared so much about how he interacts with her anyways. She brushed off the thought and tried to think about something else as she played with her food.

"I'm so happy they're serving miso soup today!" Ty-Lee cheered as she began to blow on the bowl of soup to cool down its contents.

"They serve miso soup as an option everyday, Ty-lee." Mai spoke back at her bluntly. She had no food in front of her and instead of eating she was playing with a dagger that had hidden underneath her sleeve.

"I know! I just was reeeeaally craving it today." Ty-lee sang out happily as she dug into her soup. Mai rolled her eyes and shook her head in response.

"You're not eating today, Mai?" Katara chimed in to ask her.

Mai sighed and flicked the dagger back under her sleeve before responding. "Nah, I have to leave early from lunch today to help Zuko prepare for some important assessment or exam thing."

Azula gasped with amusement. "That does start today, doesn't it! I had forgotten all about it." She began to snicker to herself. "Let's hope he doesn't blow it like he has every other year."

"I'm sorry, but he already has to take an exam this early in the semester?" Katara asked, completely perplexed.

"It's not like your regular exam, Katara," Azula responded. "It's called the warrior's assessment for a reason." She chirped, exuding with joy and eagerness to share about what exactly this assessment thing was.

"Every year our best male fire benders all get scheduled to take this assessment to assess where they rank based upon skill. It comes in three parts: The first is the written, where the subjects are tested on their academic intelligence. Then there is the verbal, where they spend time answering questions from a board of different Fire Nation leaders, such as teachers, sages, generals and so forth, in order to see where these men lie in their intellect and ability to communicate effectively. And lastly, the physical portion, where they must perform bending techniques and fighting styles to prove their skill in combat." Azula paused and grabbed a pocky stick off of Ty-Lee's plate.

"Hey!" Ty-lee frowned. "I was going to save that for later." She pouted.

"You see they do this to see which few of these men have what it takes to be a part of the Fire Nation army and potentially be placed as leaders and commanders for it. Every year Zuko prepares and proves himself to be phenomenal in every section, except when it comes to the final spar between the top two ranked men. They host it in front of everyone, including... our father."

She began to twirl the pocky stick between her fingers. "Zuzu pushes and pushes himself until the last fight where all it takes is one strike at the right moment." Azula flicked the sweet snack straight up into the air and everyone watched as it fell back down and landed perfectly between her index and middle finger. "...and then". Not even a second after, she snapped it clean in half between her fingers. "He breaks… Which results in failure, and yet again he humiliates our family. "

The table fell completely silent.

"But who knows, hopefully this year will prove different for our little Zuzu. He does appear to be stronger."

Katara watched as she ate the broken pocky stick and laughed off her intense little story about Zuko. Katara clenched her jaw in unease. Something about Azula just wasn't… right. How could she speak so poorly, so coldly of her brother like that? Sure, yeah there is such a thing as sibling rivalry, Katara knows it all too well, but it more so went along the lines of her telling Sokka he smells like rotten tuna and in return Sokka would say something like "and you wonder why you're still single" which of course lands him in some sort of frozen prison he has to get out of, but it was always just fun… Never any animosity or cruelty was hidden in their voices. But as for Azula, it was different, there was something very off putting about the way she talked down to her brother.

Not wanting to bring any sort of unwanted attention to herself, Katara decided not to speak on it, and chose to sit and eat in silence as Azula and her friends continued to talk as though everything was normal. Not too long after, Mai parted ways with them to go off and help Zuko practice. Katara watched as she left and somewhere deep within her, she almost wished she could've been the one that needed to leave to go and help the prince with his assessment.

000

"What year did Fire Lord Sozin begin the Hundred Year War?"

"Late summer, year 0 AG."

"Correct, and what eradication took place prior to that?"

"Wasn't it the cleansing of the Air Nomad Temples?"

"Correct. Seems like you have gotten every answer right, do we need to keep going?" Mai looked up from the stack of papers in her hands and back at Zuko, who carried quite the serious look on his face.

"No. I want to go over them all one more time."

"The entire 100 questions again?" Mai groaned.

"Yes." Zuko spoke plainly.

Mai huffed and put the papers to the side. "I don't know what's got you all worked up about this part of the test, you've never failed this portion before anyways."

Mai got up from the couch they were sitting adjacent to each other on. They had been reviewing these questions for over an hour inside Zuko's room in the Royal palace. Not many people had seen the insides of the palace much less Prince Zuko's room, but Mai had always been the exception.

"And, where are you going?" He barked.

"To get water. My throat is parched from all this pointless repetitive questioning… " Her voice began to fade as she walked into his wash room.

Zuko clenched his jaw in frustration. Mai knew just how to work his nerves. Rather than going to his Physical Activity class he decided to stay home to study for his written portion of the exam which started in only a half hour. Had he passed this portion of the exam flawlessly every year? Yes. Was he going to take the chance of slacking even the slightest bit off, to risk this year being any different? Hell no.

When Mai returned with her water she placed it on the stand next to his couch, and as he urgently motioned the papers towards her stating how they needed to hurry up and review them again, she slowly pushed them aside and attempted to straddle him.

"How about we take a small break from studying and you let me help you ease your mind off of some of the stress you've been carrying lately." She huskily spoke as she sat on top of him and began peppering kisses along his neck.

Zuko's eyes fixated on the ceiling as she continued her advances. Uninterested, he grabbed her waist and gritted his teeth as he pulled her off of him and sat her next to him.

"No, Mai." He said flatly.

"But Zuko…"

"No." He spoke again more firmly this time, and proceeded to shove the papers towards her.

Mai scoffed. "Zuko… it's been weeks… Almost a month since we've last done anything."

"And whose fault is that?" Zuko glared back at her.

A moment passed before Mai quietly got up. "Look, I don't know what else you want from me. It was a mistake, we were fighting, I was drunk and… ugh I don't even know why I'm explaining myself we've already been over this." She crossed her arms and paced around the room in disbelief.

"That isn't an excuse." Zuko muttered as looked over at his bed.

About a week before school started, Azula and Ty-Lee hosted their annual end-of-summer party on the beach. This year being that they were all now of adult ages, they decided to rent out a house for everyone to stay in. Everyone had their own rooms including Zuko and Mai.

Zuko and Mai had previously gotten into a nasty argument because Zuko had changed his mind about going. Every year something always goes wrong and Mai thought he was ruining the party for them. It got to the point where Zuko told her to leave him alone because he didn't want to deal with her anymore. So, she left, went to the party alone, got plastered and ended up flirting with some other guy. By the time Zuko decided to come to the party late at night to surprise her with a bouquet of roses in his hand, sure enough he had found her half naked asleep with the guy she had been flirting with, in a room they were supposed to be sleeping in.

Zuko threw the flowers on the bed and slammed the door behind him, and refused to talk to her. Nobody knew anything other than that neither Mai or Zuko were on speaking terms, and they didn't speak until a few days ago where Mai insisted that they talk, and for the first time Zuko saw Mai cry and apologize about what she had done. Taking pity upon her and her raw emotions he decided to take her back, plus she swore up and down that she and the other boy had only cuddled… Half naked apparently… Zuko believed her though. He outwardly forgave her but still internally had a wall built against her, which only put a different type of strain on the relationship as well.

"I know it's not an excuse. Zuko, baby… I am so sorry… But if we are wanting to save what's left of this relationship I need you to work with me! At least start small, I mean we haven't even kissed, since the incident!" Mai had walked back over to the couch and sat down as she lifted a hand to graze his face, but he quickly stopped her wrist in its tracks.

They sat there for a moment and stared deeply into one another's eyes. Looking back at her Zuko felt nothing… not even anger anymore. He knew that deep down inside he couldn't bring himself to see her the same way as he had once before.

His mouth parted briefly as though he was about to speak when he heard a knock on his door.

"Fuck." He cursed under his breath, as he hastily got up from the couch and began to quickly put on his traditional Royal regalia.

It was time for him to be brought back to campus so that he could take his test.

A/N: yikes drama between Mai and Zuko, who could've seen that one coming! (Sarcasm) love to you all, see you in the next chapter!