Burn a little brighter (Zukka - Soulmate AU)

Chapter 5

[Listen, I'm super super picky with my writing, so if I post something that I end up thinking I could do better, it'll drive me crazy until I fix it. So that's why this chapter has gone through so many damn revisions. So sorry for any confusion.]

"What you do is you take it between your teeth, and you rip it."

"What?"

"You take it between your teeth, and you rip it, and all the good stuff comes out."

"That sounds disgusting."

"Try it. It's the proper way to eat them."

"Do I have to eat them?"

"Zuko," the voice whispers suddenly, teasingly, warm breath tickling against his ear like a promise, and for a moment, someone is right there beside him. He jerks his head to the side, startled, and it dips away as quickly as it'd come, fading into quiet. The humming of the ship returns all at once, masking every other rogue sound.

Zuko stares unsmilingly down the hallway. Tarnished silver pipes twist overhead. A fire nation banner hanging on the wall is the only glint of real color against the iron.

Clenching a fist, he walks steadily into his room. The daydreams come with the lack of sleep. Uncle says it could be the spirits talking to him. Zuko doesn't think the spirits care enough about him to whisper nonsense into his ears.

Up above, he can hear the faint prattling of the crew. They're lazy and useless on a good day, absolutely infuriating on the rest, forgetting their duties, and then Zuko has to come up and yell at them to focus. Whenever they dock, he'll spy them chatting up the girls and flexing their scrawny arms. They're more likely to come back to the ship stumbling over their own two feet- professing they haven't so much as looked at a bottle- than return with the actual supplies they need.

Zuko's frown digs deeper into his face. Uncle's useless too. He can hear his loud, jovial laughter up above, probably sweeping the crew of their money, and they're stupid enough to take the bait and demand another game.

A cough wracks Zuko's body. He brings a fist to his mouth, the other grappling a map tracking the Avatar's last known movements. Zuko's on the end of his sickness, but dealing with a snotty nose and a rowdy crew has been his personal nightmare. Trekking alone along thin ice had been one of his dumber moments, he can grudgingly admit that. He clears his desk, mistakenly knocking off a teacup and wincing as it cracks on the floor. Ignoring it for now, he sets the map firmly on the table and takes out a bottle of ink.

Somehow, the Avatar has managed to evade him. A twelve year old.

He's clearly a master of evasive maneuvering. Zuko would be wise to not underestimate him.

---

Why did they have to stay overnight in Kyoshi village? Sure, after that little fiasco of almost getting fed to the biggest animal Sokka's ever seen, the villagers offer them rooms to sleep in. That's great and all- Doesn't really make up for the tying-them-up part, but they're getting there. Apparently Aang being the Avatar has its perks, and Sokka could do well thanking him for not being halfway down the throat of an eel. He'll get to that some day. And the food here is- well, mouthwatering, especially after surviving on the basics for days. Especially after almost being the meal.