𝑺𝑬𝑬𝑫 𝑶𝑭 𝑰𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑹 •𝒃𝒙𝒃•

29 ~ a debt

AN: YOYOYO IM BACK EHE
AS PROMISED, A LONGER CHAPTER!!

Noran, whom held his hand and promised he'd be with him.

Noran, whom told him he'd get used to the ice, and that he'd help him every step of the way.

Noran, whom...made promises he refused to keep.

Noran, whom let him go and disappeared.

Noran, whom wasn't there when his knees bruised from slipping.

Noran, whom never knew of his nightmares.

Noran, whom...blatantly looked him in the eye and broke his barely held together heart.

Noran, whom went to chase a ghost.

Yet another person he had lost.

A person he now wished stayed lost.
.
.
.
"They talked about you."

Guren turned and there stood Suki.

"Really? Do I fit their description?"

For a moment, she squinted her eyes, as if looking him over, before she tilted her head. "Not quite." She took a step forward and sat down next to him. "You're not what I imagined you to be..."

Not what she imagined? "In a good or bad way?"

Again, she took a few moments to answer. "So far so good...I think."

"You think?"

Suki shrugged, turning to stare at the campfire. "Well, first impressions matter, no? When Sokka and that Zuko guy came out, you looked rather overjoyed at the sight of them. That tells me you care, a lot."

Perplexed, Guren didn't know what to say.

"So yeah, so far so good, you know?"

Hmm...

_

Through the dense forest, he trekked, bag snugly swung over his shoulder. He glanced around but couldn't really see that which he was looking for, not until he went further in. Surrounded by the vibrant greenery, he heard water flowing in the distance. It took him a little while, but he got to it eventually. The stream wasn't big, but it did seem to be deep, as far as he could see.

Kneeling at the edge, he dropped the bag and opened it, pulling out red and blue articles of clothing. One by one, he wet them, rubbing them clean with the soap he borrowed from Katara. It smelled nice, like medical herbs. After a bit, he drained them of any excess water and rolled them back into his bag. He was going to let them dry at the temple, anyways, as it had rather nice wind currents which would dry the clothes faster.

He never needed to do this before. Not like this. He'd wash the clothes and dry them up within...moments. Now he couldn't do anything, could he?

Ah...he really should stop thinking like this. Briefly tilting his head, he got up. Alas, he rested too much of his weight on one leg which made his knee give out and send him tumbling forward. Fortunately, he wasn't as close to the edge as he previously was, and thus did not end up in the stream.

But he did hear the shuffling of leaves behind himself.

Turning back, he locked eyes with none other than Zuko whom had half of his body peeking out of a bush with one of his hands reaching out.

"What...are you doing?" Guren asked.

Zuko blinked, fully coming out of the bush. Quickly, he shook the leaves off his clothes, before he looked back at Guren and...said nothing.