Hey guys! I just thought I would give you this quick little piece I wrote! As always I own nothing.~

That night Zuko lay awake as he stared at the stables rafters. Next to him in the straw Iroh snored loudly on his bedroll, and just beyond his uncle Kitsu's ostrich horse lay in a deep bed of straw. Zuko couldn't bring himself to relax. The thought of Azula gaining more ground as each day passed put his teeth on edge.

As he lay awake Zuko replayed the bizarre events of the day. Kitsu wasn't as bad as he originally thought, and despite his desire to remain detached he couldn't help but feel the beginnings of friendship forming between them. Then again, what in the hell did he know about making friends? He was a fugitive on the run for Agni's sake.

There was something unsettling about how quickly Kitsu had accepted their presence there. Zuko sat up in his bedroll with a sigh as Iroh gave a particularly loud snort. He would never get any sleep like this. Throwing off his covers Zuko leapt nimbly to his feet and walked out of the stable. He didn't know it was a full moon.

Milky beams of moonlight illuminated the compound with an ethereal glow and the moon hung like a giant disk in the sky. Zuko spent a long moment staring at the heavens before surveying his surroundings. His sharp eyes caught sight of Kitsu standing near the edge of the pond and looking up at the moon. For a moment he grappled with whether or not he should disturb her, but the opportunity to learn more about his strange hostess got the better of him. He took loud steps in an effort not to catch her off guard. Once again Kitsu was in nothing but her nightgown, even down to her bare feet. She truly was a peculiar girl.

Kitsu welcomed him with a silent nod of her head and a grin. Her striking eyes lighted on his for a moment before returning to the object of her fascination. Zuko followed her gaze and realized that instead of purveying the heavens, she was admiring the stream of glittering water and billowing clouds of mist created by the waterfall. In the moonlight the water glittered like thousands of little crystals.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Kitsu asked breathily without looking away. Zuko considered the scene for a moment before looking at Kitsu once more.

"I guess." He answered flatly. Zuko never really took the time to stop and appreciate his surroundings. As he looked at Kitsu he noticed deep circles under her eyes and that she was swaying lightly on her feet as she hugged her arms tightly around herself.

"Lighten up, Zuko." Kitsu chided gently. "You can say it's pretty. I won't tell." Kitsu didn't want to look at the young man who stood next to her. He was more than half the reason she was awake to begin with, but she wasn't cross with him. She was battling with the voices in her heart as Zuko and Iroh's presence brought questions forth that she was trying to avoid. Only a couple of days and already she couldn't deny how starved she was for human interaction.

"Do you ever wish you could be normal?" Kitsu asked quietly. Zuko was taken off guard by her question.

"Of course not." He answered sternly. "Why would I want that?" To say the thought had never crossed his mind would be a lie, but he'd learned the hard way that dreaming about the impossible was a useless waste of time and terrible for morale.

"I do." Kitsu admitted as she shifted a bit closer to him. "If I was normal, I would have a strong young husband by now. Someone my father chose for me, someone my mother liked." Kitsu wondered if she was always as openhearted as this. "I wouldn't be alone all the time… I wouldn't be scarred for life." The emotional pain that squeezed against her ribs was not enough to make her cry, it was simply too old of a wound.

Zuko blinked at her statement, touched by the honesty of her words. She was in pain just like him. He had no idea what to say to her confession. His clumsy inquiry about her husband earlier that day suddenly seemed like a monumentally stupid idea. Those unusual eyes flashed in the moonlight and Zuko was snared by them.

"I suppose you have some beautiful princess pining over you back in the fire nation." Kitsu almost seemed to be talking more to herself than to him. She bent down and grabbed a rock from the edge of the pond and skipped it across the rippling surface of the water.

"Not really." Zuko grit as he looked at the sky. "It's hard to find princesses willing to pine for this face." The bitterness of his words made Kitsu wince, but she didn't laugh or recoil. Could other girls really be so vapid as to fixate on his appearance alone? More and more she began to understand his raging temper. For every bit of fire and malice, Zuko felt pain more acutely than she could realize.

"I like your face." Kitsu felt like an idiot as Zuko glowered at her.

"I don't need your pity." Zuko snapped. Kitsu grimaced at his tone and rubbed her brow. More than a day without sleep left her with a pounding headache.

"I mean it." Kitsu opened her eyes once more and looked at him. He really was a handsome young man. His features were angular and refined in a way that reminded Kitsu of her father. He was clearly a master fire bender, and his stature reflected the lean muscle and grace required of such a title. "Of course I'm no princess, so my opinion hardly counts." Kitsu turned once more to look at the water.

Zuko clenched and unclenched his fists as he watched her in the moonlight, ignoring the searing pain from his wound. Why was he so fucking good at sticking his foot in his mouth? He swallowed and racked his brain for something, anything to say. In some unspoken way they had called a truce, and he wanted things to continue as such. Zuko watched as she turned to look at him, her eyes darting over him in a silent question.

"I couldn't sleep. You?" Zuko watched as Kitsu rubbed one of her eyes with her palm and sighed.

"Me either." Kitsu reached out and took Zuko's injured arm in her hands to inspect his bandage. His skin was hot and smoothe to the touch. She couldn't help but wonder if all of his skin was so warm and beautiful. "How is it feeling?" She asked as she released him. The young firebender looked down at her with his amber eyes and shrugged. Kitsu's gaze lingered on Zuko's scar for a moment. It must have been terribly painful. He seemed lucky to have sight in both of his eyes. Could the rumor's really be true? Had Ozai done that to his only son? Her own scar was much more easily hidden, but the scar's location had its own complications.

"Stiff." Zuko grunted as he rubbed the muscle at the top of his arm. A long companionable silence fell between them as the rushing of the waterfall and the gentle whisper of reeds in the wind filled the air. "Kitsu?"

Kitsu barely turned her head in a sign for him to continue. "Yeah?" Why did her name sound so fucking sweet on his tounge? Was it the years of isolation making her cling to the only human companion she had or was it something more subtle? She'd come to the pond to think, not to have her thoughts clouded by the strange man she was hosting.

"Thank you." Zuko knew he sounded awkward but he didn't know what else to say. His eyes wandered to the scar peeking at him from the top of her neck. He wondered how large it really was. It suddenly dawned on him how impossible a normal life would be for Kitsu. Even if she left the compound and offered her hand in marriage to the first man she crossed, that scar would probably make them think twice about accepting. Just like his face. Kitsu turned to him and caught his gaze. A deep flush rose on her cheeks and she coughed as she adjusted her nightgown to cover the scar. Her eyes darted to the ground and she gulped.

"A fire nation soldier tried to kill me while I was running from the raid. He failed obviously, but his mark remains." Kitsu wasn't sure why she felt compelled to share that, but anything was better than silence and those paralyzing amber eyes. "I know what it feels like to feel undesirable because of a scar." She felt like she was rambling.

"You're not." Zuko blurted out as he watched her. Kitsu was probably the most genuine person he'd ever met, and her candor left him grasping for ways to offer solace. Her look of confusion threw him off as she raised a brow at him. "Undesirable I mean." Her face was unreadable as she stared back at him and it left his stomach rolling with anxiety. He knew he wasn't some smoothe charmer, but he hoped his words at least helped her. After all, she was risking everything to help him. The pretty flush on her pale cheeks did nothing to calm his nerves.

"Can I ask you something?" Kitsu knew she was about to ask something she shouldn't. "I don't get any company here, and… well… there's no one to tell me these things."She could tell he seemed reluctant to agree but he gave a quick nod nonetheless. Kitsu stealed herself and resolved to forge ahead with her foolishness.

"Do you think I would be considered… beautiful?" Kitsu held her breath as she watched his amber eyes ignite with an emotion she couldn't pinpoint.

Zuko immediately regretted agreeing to her question. Of course she was beautiful, how could she not know that? From the pout of her lips to the rarity of her eyes, and the spark of her temper she was breathtaking, but how in the hell was he supposed to just say that? He watched as Kitsu's hopeful look of trust melted into a look of dismay the longer he remained silent, but he couldn't decide what to say.

"Oh." Kitsu felt her throat drop into her stomach as she burned with shame. She felt like such an idiot as she turned to leave. Zuko panicked internally as he tried to come up with what to say.

"No, wait." Zuko grabbed her arm with his good hand and forced her to stop. "I'm not good at this sort of thing." He mumbled as Kitsu knit her brows in confusion.

"Forget it." Kitsu yanked her arm out of his grasp and was gone, rushing away from him through the moonlight. Zuko sighed heavily and flopped into the grass. Well that was just great.