Pretty Little Fire Bender

Silence

We kept going for a while in almost complete silence. Besides Iroh periodically chiming in about random stuff and us giving simple responses.

"Can we stop here for the night?" I thought out loud hoping we could because by now the sun was starting to set.

"Nice choice of venue I must say ms Kai. Beautiful lake." I didn't even noticed a lake but I glanced over and saw a huge blue splotch in the middle of trees.

"I'm gonna go for a swim." I said lazily getting down from the animal. Idk. I really just don't wanna deal with any of this. I don't want to be responsible for anyone and I don't appreciate Zuko acting like that.

What the hell's his problem anyway? I didn't do anything wrong. I guess I should've expected it. The prince Zuko showing affection towards someone? As if.

The feeling of my toes kicking into the water brought me back to Earth. The cool feeling surrounded me slowly. The water cooling my body down to think clearly. Then my head. My head was last to submerge and my feet stopped kicking the water. Letting my body stay underwater for as long as my lungs could take.

A minute of holding my breath I felt a bare chest on my back and arms lifting me up so my head wasn't underwater.

"What the hell! Are you insane?!" Zuko panicked behind me.

"Calm down I was fine." I said annoyed.

"You could've drowned!"

"Stop yelling!! I had it under control." I rolled my eyes at his sudden attention.

"Yea, My ass!!"

"Just because we fućkèd doesn't give you the right to care about me! Much less yell at me." I shoved him to the side as I walked past him.

"You know what, I DONT CARE!!!" He yelled back in retaliation.

"Good." I kept walking and changed into some new clothes. Then went to the camp getting my stuff together.

"Where are you going." Iroh asked politely. I'm almost positive that he heard our whole conversation in the lake.

"Away."

"Why? You mustn't give up on someone you care about." His wisdom apparent but I didn't want to listen.

"Yea? And who says I care." Slinging the bag over my should I started walking away before a tight grip snatched my arm.

"Hey where do you think your going." Zuko growled at me.

"Away from you." I tried to snatch my arm away but his grip tightened. The pain was there but I was much to mad to care. He didn't have to be an ass when he pulled me out the water.

Then it hit me. It wasn't his fault. It finally clicked why he acted that way.

I turned to face him and let my bag fall to the floor.

"I'm sorry I scared you. I didn't mean to. I was just cooling off in the lake. Taking a minute to think." I looked down at my feet waiting for his response.

"Sorry I yelled." He pulled me into a hug. Damn are we bipolar or what. Jeez.

"See. All's well that ends well." He smiled as he walked to us joining in the hug.

...

Zuko lit a fire and we all gathered around. For some reason, tonight was especially cold.

"I know." Iroh leaned close to my ear while Zuko was distracted.

"Huh?"

"About the night you followed Zuko. What rly happened."

My face flushed and was so red it was insane.

"I don't know what your talking about."

"I may be old but I'm not dumb." He laughed which caught the young prince's attention.

"What's so funny."

"Oh nothing. I just made a tea joke. Want to hear it?" Iroh knew how to loose Zukos interest.

"No. No one cares about leaf juice."

Iroh's mouth dropped and I just started laughing.

"I'm gonna turn in for the night." Iroh said as he went to his sleeping bag and rolled over where his back was facing us.

As if on cue Zuko and I caught each other's gaze. I took initiative and walked over to him then sat in between his legs with my back against him. He was leaning against a tree at the moment.

A warm feeling spread through me at the feeling of him playing with my hair. His touch combined with the warmth of the fire, felt amazing. My body was warm and comfortable.

"Stand up for a second." I followed his instructions and watched as he grabbed his sleeping bag and put it where he was just sitting. Then folded my sleeping bag into fourths. Finally he slide into his sleeping bag.

He glanced at me patting the space in front of him motioning me to lay there. To which I obliged. I slide into the sleeping bag and his body heat off his chest warmed my back. His arms warmed my stomach as he traced little patterns under my belly button.

We watched and listened to the fire crackle and Iroh's faint snores. Crickets chirped nearby and occasionally fish would twist in the lake water causing the splashing sounds.

Neither of us wanted to break the comfortable silence. In fact so comfortable that it started making me drowsy.

I wiggled into Zuko more and closed my eyes. I could feel his heartbeat against my back. His arms tightened around me. The fire started to get gradually smaller.

Zuko nuzzled into the back of my hair and I could tell he was as tired as I felt. Finally we let sleep take over and our eyes shut. Now we were carefree and dreaming in each other's presence.