A/N: New chapter! Hope you guys enjoy and as always, let me know what you think!

Word Count: 4056

15. A Much Better Beach (Incorrigible Princess')

Percy woke from a dreamless sleep feeling quite a lot of weight on himself. It wasn't completely abnormal, Siosi had often comforted him or just enjoyed his warmth on some occasions, but this felt different.

He groggily opened his eyes to see his fur blanket on top of both himself and what felt like the head of his ostrich horse in his lap.

Remembering last night, he looked across to see the opposite side of the fireplace empty. Swivelling his head around, he spied what he assumed to Azula's own blanket, well, stolen blanket, laying perfectly in the corner that he'd seen her put it in the day before.

The princess was nowhere to be seen.

The morning light shone through the doorway, illuminating his little cabin. He'd managed a few scruffy windows cut out of the wood and his makeshift lashings of the wood cast little intricate patterns in the shadows cast by the sun.

Afosiosi stirred on his leg, huffing and squawking lightly.

'Morning, dumbass.' She greeted him, as pleasantly as ever.

Her head popped out of the blanket and she ruffled her feathers dramatically. Her little eyes seeing what he was curious about.

'Where's the fiery one?'

"I don't know." He replied. "But you prefer her over me now, so why don't you go find her?"

'Oh, just because you're jealous doesn't mean you have to be a bitch about it.'

"Oh really, that's how you're going to play it, huh?"

'And what are you going to do about it, dumbass?'

"Oh, you little-" Percy stopped short as he was interrupted.

"Hey, before you continue this petty little squabble," Azula spoke up from under the bedroom door frame, "as I'm sure that's what it was, I believe last time I was here I heard something about a morning swim?"

Percy's eyes flicked to her as he replied.

"Yeah, I-"

He did a double take on the princess and his jaw dropped slightly. She stood there in a bikini unlike anything he'd ever seen, though that wasn't really a surprise. He hadn't really seen anything like what any of these people wore. But it still made his eyes go wide.

Her red two-piece with a skirt-like bottom drew his eyes every which way. Not to mention it was the first time he'd seen her in anything that wasn't Fire Nation armour. Her hair was still done up, tied into a neat bun with two strands shaping her face. The red, circular Fire Nation pin seemed to be the only thing holding the top together.

A slight cough from her made him realise he'd probably been looking and quiet for too long.

"What was that?" She asked, seeming all too pleased with herself.

Her curious look doing nothing to help the stuttering mess he was.

"I- Uhh, yeah. Morning swim."

Azula nodded, before striding purposefully out with a beach bag held over her shoulder, not giving him a second glance. Percy's eyes followed her every step out the door.

What is wrong with me?

'Hah, she got you there.' Siosi interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

'Oh, of course. The dumbass is playing dumb now. How apt.' She stood up and shook herself. 'Well, I'll be out there, eating my food. Good luck with her.'

The ostrich horse trotted out, chuckling to herself, leaving Percy very dazed and confused.

Azula was feeling good about herself. She'd gotten exactly what she wanted, and if where his eyes went were any indication, she looked good.

She lay on her blanket on the soft sand, hands propping herself up behind her. The benefit of coming straight from Ember Island, she had her bag with her that she brought. She'd gotten her royal fatigues and armour on the ship she'd taken here, but all her 'vacation' stuff had remained with her.

The very early morning sun was just starting to beat down on her from her right. She began to want Ty Lee to come and get boys to give her shade and fan her. Right as she was thinking about that, and smirking to herself, she heard the crunching of sand behind her.

Maybe he could fan me? She thought to herself, chuckling and quite liking the idea.

Azula looked up to see him looking out at the sea. He seemed to be trying to do anything but look at her as she lounged below him.

Cute.

His hands went to his hips as he finally met her eyes in a pose that she could only describe as slightly sassy.

"I thought you were going to go for a swim."

Percy looked at her with his eyebrow raised and she felt colour rise to her cheeks. The princess gestured to her surroundings.

"I'm at the beach, am I not?"

"You call what you're doing swimming?" He said, teasingly.

Azula felt all the control she'd just won that morning start fading away from her as her brain spluttered to a stop.

"Well of course not!" She replied, defensively.

Percy gasped at her dramatically.

"Does the Fire Nation Princess not know how to swim?"

"Of course I do!" She yelled at him.

No self-respecting Fire Nation royal would be allowed to not be able to swim!

Her hands made fists into the sand as she felt the effects of his teasing in her core. Percy's idiotic grin not helping her in the slightest.

"Now why would I believe that," He paused, giving her an overly pondering look as he stroked the light scruff of his non-existent beard, "when you're just sitting here?"

The princess had had enough.

Quick as a flash, her hands full of sand swung up and she hurled two fistfuls at him. It seemed Percy had been either expecting or hoping for it, because he ducked as the barrage of sand flew a foot over his head.

The boy swivelled and ran towards the water so Azula sprung to her feet and chased after him, bending over to pick some more sand as she did so. The princess saw his shirt lift up and be tossed to the side leaving him in those odd pants that he wore.

She ran through the spray of sand kicked up from his feet and threw yet another fistful of sand at him. This time, she grazed his shoulder before the ball unceremoniously landed in the shallow water right in front of him.

Percy kept running until he was about knee-deep into the water before diving and slicing effortlessly through the surface of the water. Azula let go of the remaining sand in her hands and leapt from the shore, slicing nowhere near as graceful a path directly into the sand just below the surface.

Azula's head rose out of the water as she stood up, attempting some last semblance of dignity, before it was torn down by a cackling waterbender. He waded out in the deeper, head thrown back with laughter.

"Were you trying to prove my point?!" He shouted out to her as the boy drifted further and further from the shore.

The princess felt sand caked in her hair as some of it fell over her eyes. Her pin just barely keeping it all together. She turned and stormed back part way up the beach.

"Stupid waterbending idiot." She mumbled to herself. "Distracting me, making me dive into sand. I'll show him. I can swim."

She turned and tried to give him a death stare with narrowed eyes but due to the distance and his incessant laughing, Azula thought it might not have worked. Not that it had ever really worked with him before.

Perfection. I need perfection.

With a huff, Azula began to sprint once more for the lake. Her hair slightly billowing with the air rushing past her face, she felt her spirits lift and a joyous laugh rise in the back of her throat.

No, focus. Get the dive perfect!

Her eyes carefully analysed the water's edge, judging the lapping of small waves onto the sand. She leapt over a small wave right as it landed and took a couple steps into the water. The princess dove, fully extended with her arms out and hands over each other, and she sliced into the water.

As Azula moved through the lake, she felt her hair fly back behind her as it came loose before her head broke the surface. She opened her eyes to see Percy almost double her distance out into the lake. Turning around as she kicked her legs to keep herself afloat, she saw that the shore was far too close for her liking. The princess had gotten nowhere near as far as Percy had, even with how he'd been slowly wading further away.

Unacceptable. She berated herself in her mind.

Kicking her feet backwards, the firebender began to swim back to shore. Only a few strokes in though, she heard a crashing sound directly behind her. Cocking her head to the side, she saw a wave larger than any she'd seen in this section of the lake breaking over her head.

Just in time, she ducked her head beneath the surface, but the turbulent water tumbled her around until she felt the sand underneath her feet. Propping herself up on the lake floor, she turned to look at who she suspected was the culprit of her dumping.

"Did you just throw a wave at me?" She yelled out to the waterbender.

The frustrating boy had the audacity to actually wave at her with his hand as he sat comfortably atop the lake. After he finished being annoying, he did look at her confused.

"Why were you going back to shore?!" He asked loudly, ignoring her question.

Although the princess did pretty much know it was absolutely his fault.

Azula's face reddened once more, although this time she was thankful that her sodden and completely loose hair might've covered her face slightly.

"The dive?" The princess stuttered out, loudly.

It was all she could say in the embarrassment and Percy's eyeroll was visible even across the distance between them.

"Boring!" He yelled at her, before turning and swimming further out into the lake. "Who cares about a dive?!" He threw at her over his shoulder.

Azula looked at him quizzically as he started to swim away from her. Her head swung around to gauge the few feet back to the shore, where she could try the dive again.

We could get it perfect next time? We have to be perfect.

The princess turned to see Percy's form looking much more out of reach for her and she made her decision.

Azula turned in the water and began her stroke out into the lake, leaving the sand behind.

(-)

After a few minutes of strong paddling, she checked where she was, only to see Percy bobbing just in front of her. She halted her swim and started wading.

"So, you can swim." Percy said, slightly patronisingly and very self-explanatorily.

Azula didn't realise it until she was staying still for a bit, but she was desperately out of breath. She tried to disguise her gasping for air, though as soon as she began speaking, it sounded all too obvious.

"Of course I can." She said, exasperatedly. "So why are we out here?"

Azula looked around them to see that they were quite a long way from the nearest land and she couldn't see anything close to the bottom in the murky, dark blue.

"I dunno."

The princess' gaze shot to the boy as he shrugged his shoulders. Feeling more than a little fed up, she moved her hand across the surface of the water, creating a spray of water that went for Percy.

It was only until right after she'd done it that she realised what a stupid thing that was to do, to a waterbender. But for one reason or another, that very same waterbender let the splash hit him across the face. For Azula's sake, she was more concerned with how his smile only widened after it.

"You probably shouldn't have done that." He said, with a tone too calm for his expression.

The boy threw up a hand and her eyes widened dramatically as a huge arm of water rose behind him. He had an evil glint in his eyes that terrified her, in a way that she found herself enjoying slightly.

"No, don't! Don't!"

Azula remembered what to do right at the last moment as she ducked her head under the water, feeling the heavy crash of Percy's assault right over her. She waited a couple seconds before raising her head back above the surface.

As soon as she opened her eyes, a sharp, thin stream of water hit her in between her eyes and she was temporarily blinded. What made it so much worse was that all she could do was hear the deafening laughter of the boy in front of her.

The princess scrubbed her eyes of the water, frustration coursing through her. She kicked a leg down into the water and pushed her upper body into the air. Lighting a fire in her hand, she threw it at the waterbender, having it land directly to his left. Her vision seemed to be slightly off due to the water.

Percy just looked at her, entertained. He gestured to their surroundings.

"I don't know if you're trying to turn the whole lake to steam, but I think it'll take you a while."

The princess struggled a little, getting some water into her lungs and she had to take her eyes off of the boy in front of her for a second. Her legs started to get a little desperate under the surface of the lake.

Azula was about to get overwhelmingly frustrated with the experience until she felt something beneath her feet. She went to scream out, her eyes and mouth widening, before she actually pressed on it with a foot.

It felt solid and cold, like ice. She raised her eyes to see him grinning, obviously enjoying her facial expressions. The princess pouted childishly, realising what she must've looked like. Finally, she stopped having to kick and just stood on the ice platform that it seemed Percy conjured for her, allowing her to get her breath back.

Now, just frustrated with her position, she asked the question she wanted to ask, instead of flinging water at him.

"What are we going to do out here then?"

"What did you think we'd be doing?" He challenged back.

"I don't know. We need food, don't we?"

This time she was the one gesturing to the lake.

"You mean the fish?!" He asked, entirely too dramatically for such a question.

"Um, yeah? Didn't you say your family was good at fishing?"

"When there's perfectly good food found on land?! No, we're not going fishing for food. That'll only be a last resort."

Azula looked at him oddly, seeing his completely flabbergasted reaction to her question. It threw her for a loop.

"The hunting can be done in a bit." He finished that conversation. "Right now, I just want to relax."

His legs came up in front of her as he laid on his back, floating serenely in the water. Percy's hands went behind his head and he just seemed content to close his eyes and bob around.

Oh well, what's the harm?

Azula let her weight leave the ice and attempted to copy Percy's positioning. The first couple times she had the balance all wrong and had to land herself back on the platform. The next time though, she felt her buoyancy keep her head and some of her body above the water, leaving the rest to bob calmly just below the surface.

For the first time in what felt like forever, the princess closed her eyes and just let the water move her around. It was the only time in her memory where she wasn't thinking of something, where her brain wasn't analysing, calculating or planning.

Her muscles felt relaxed, her hands as far from clenching as they could be. The water caressed her black halo of hair as she had yet to truly notice the lack of a pin keeping it all together.

Azula felt at peace.

Percy had been laying in the water, rejuvenating, for what felt like a few hours. It probably wasn't that long, as the sun had just begun to shine properly over the lake, but it'd been a blissful time either way.

Without even thinking, he'd supported both his own and the princess' weight whenever it appeared she might lose her balance and fall into the water. Though, that very same princess was off in another world.

He sat up on the water, soundlessly, and saw Azula still had her eyes closed and had barely moved. She floated serenely and Percy didn't want to disturb her.

In typical fashion for him, his plans were interrupted by his stomach. It growled obscenely loud, having not been fed since lunch time the previous day. Thankfully, it seemed the princess was out of it too much to hear him.

He couldn't exactly leave her laying out in the lake, but he didn't particularly want to disturb her either. So, with the gentlest of touches of water, he pushed her and began the comfortable swim back towards the lake shore.

The water dribbling past Azula barely seemed to bother her, as he could've sworn he heard her hum contentedly. The comparably calm sun hit his shoulder blades, unlike his New York summers.

After a few more minutes of strong paddling, he felt the sand beneath his feet. Percy let Azula curve up and down on the low, lapping waves as he sat in the water. The demigod looked out over the lake, taking in its untouched nature some more. It really was staggeringly beautiful, and unlike anything he'd seen back home.

Then his stomach growled again, and he thought it might be time to get some food. He stood and walked over to where the princess lay, nudging her with his hand. He was knee deep in the water, shading out the sun from her face, knowing how painful opening your eyes into the full bright white light of the sun was.

"Azula." He said to her, quietly.

Her golden eyes blinked open and came to rest on his face. Her features were as soft as he'd ever seen them, and the harshness behind those pupils had been almost completely extinguished.

"Hey." She said, very groggily. "What happened?"

"Nothing. We just floated back to land." Percy answered, casually.

He looked out at the lake, so she wouldn't feel like he was just staring at her.

"What did I do?"

The demigod gained a little bit of a half-smile.

"Well, I think you may have fallen asleep."

"Asleep?" She asked, shocked but still waking up. "Out on the lake?"

"It was either that or you were in a coma. Although I don't think I'd be able to talk to you if it was the second one."

Azula sat down on the sandy lakebed, rubbing her eyes and then her temples.

"A coma?" She asked.

Oh right, would they know what a coma is? That's annoying, she can't get my joke.

"Yeah, like a really deep sleep." He recovered.

"Oh, okay."

That seemed to be enough for her, or it was just too soon after she'd woken up.

"Did you fall asleep too?"

"I may have taken a little bit of a nap, but-"

With the timing his stomach had been known for, and his never-ending appetite, it interrupted his sentence very appropriately.

"You got hungry?"

Azula looked at him with a tired smirk.

"Yeah."

It was all Percy could say as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. Azula stood up in front of him and he got his first close look at her with the outfit. It seemed she'd found some energy as she stepped up to him, challengingly.

"And fish are totally off the menu?"

She appeared to be completely woken up as her expression only grew in entertainment.

"Yup." He replied, looking down at her smaller frame.

She poked him in the chest with her index finger.

"So, what are we going to do for food?"

Percy felt a lot of emotions, remembering all the challenging stares, tension and moments from his previous life, before backing away.

"I- I'll go hunt something. You can just stay here."

He turned and quickly walked away, scooping up his shirt as he went. Percy didn't miss the pouting disappointed face that the princess made, but he chose to ignore it.

Quickly jumping back into the water, he torpedoed himself along the sand and around the corner, travelling up the river leading to potentially more promising hunting grounds. The demigod twisted and darted around the rapids and rocks. Once he was clear of that, he found the water only made him focus more on what he was feeling, so he broke the surface and made a sheet of ice, determined to do anything to distract himself from the uncomfortableness.

After many minutes of travel and attempting to keep his mind busy and rid of the fiery princess', the forest opened up into a plain. Over some very green crests, small, disparate herds of animals that live in the savanna-like environment were spread out in his view. The closest to his little river was a group of what looked to be a mix of gemsbok and bulls. Or just, a very stocky antelope.

What even is this place? An antelope and a bull? Well at least I can't hear it talking to me.

It seemed his talking with equine animals didn't stretch too much farther than what he'd already spoken too.

Well, food is food.

He pulled out his pen, thankful for the distraction.

Azula stood on the sand, watching Percy recede down the beach and jump into the water. She felt supremely disappointed.

The princess had thought she'd been getting somewhere. It'd been such a relaxing and fun morning, and yet he'd still ended up running away from her.

Fun, since when did I look forward to fun?

She looked down at herself, her bikini still dripping wet from their swim.

What did I do wrong though?

She walked up the beach to his house, unhappy but still relaxed. The princess made sure to pick up her towel and bag as she went. She passed Siosi on the way, seeing her taking a nap of her own next to her slowly diminishing pile of feed. Azula went up the stairs and into the cabin, picking up her casual training robes that she wore around the palace. She looked into the bag and saw her spare hair pins. Her hand reached to grab one, but then she paused. Her hand retreated.

After changing, she thought she'd explore a bit, taking her mind off of her failure. Azula went back outside, seeing the sun higher in the sky. Her stomach rumbled, much like Percy's had, and she smiled a little. She looked over to her right from the bottom of the stairs and saw the cave entrance he'd been staying in previously.

As soon as the princess went back inside, she was reminded of the first cosy feeling she'd gotten from being there. Some left over kindling sat where they'd had the fire in the corner. She went slightly deeper, with the light barely streaming in, to see a satchel in the back of the cave.

The green earth kingdom colours stood out and it seemed very full. Her curiosity was peaked as she crept closer, suddenly feeling like she didn't want to get caught. Her steps across the twiggy and pebbly ground sounded deafening in the enclosed space.

Then she remembered her message that she'd gotten about the marriage. He hadn't even given it a look. He'd helped her out with her anxiety attacks while respecting her secrecy.

Why shouldn't I do the same?

You need to know! It could be useful!

Azula took a deep breath in, her refreshed and comforted mind letting go of the harsher voice.

The princess turned around and walked out of the cave.

A/N: There it is. A lot more soft character moments in this one. Really targeting specific flaws in both characters and seeing how they grow and/or accept their newfound surroundings. Hope you liked it! Let me know as I always enjoy interacting with all of you who read my book.

Some review replies:

CRUDEN: She is indeed growing up, even more so in this chapter. Little by little.

jugalnaik10: I'm glad you love it! I am, mostly because I'm back in uni plus general life business, but it should still remain fortnightly unless I do weekly uploads for certain two part chapters.

Iamironman15/Death Fury/Jctherebel/HellRaiderS: Thank you all! Appreciate it and hope you enjoyed this one too

perachelmakesmepuke728: I agree! They seemed like completely different characters when I first thought about writing this, but as I got deeper, they actually have a startling amount of similarities which is one of the main reasons this book exists. Writing them understanding each other is really fun too, as it just makes sense. It's awesome that you love the story, I hope that continues!

SupremeStarWolf: Well, no matter what happens, I hope you enjoy what I do with them. There is a whole bunch of story left to tell, even from where I've written up to, so the ending is still yet to coalesce.

Anvith Mithra: I agree, a sweet and sassy boy and a badass girl is an excellent relationship, and very fun. I won't telly you what I'm going to do with the characters though... because that would be spoiling the fun.
I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter so much! That's awesome and I am not looking to stop anytime soon.

WildMan98: That's amazing! I'm glad you liked the chapter that much! Their characters opening up and changing is honestly the most interesting aspect of the story for me to write so I'm glad that's coming across. Hope you liked this one!

Zerak: The pairing is still undecided in terms of how readers should see it. I know exactly what I want to do with the characters but I'm going to let the story play out for everyone in, hopefully, the most natural and interesting way. I've gotten a lot of calls for a Azula x Percy x Ty Lee so you're not alone. You can definitely still hope, I'd never take that away from you :)

Thank you to all of you for reading! I appreciate it and see you in the next chapter!

-PS