A Beautiful Flame: ~Rules Are Rules~

Chapter 4 (Pt. 2)

After awhile, he wanted to have a break, She accepted it, in fact she was relieved that he decided that. She couldn't take more of his frustration, never in her days had she seen him so down on himself.

They sat in silence underneath the shade of the tree, Omi was hoping that this could happen often, it's better than being in the kitchen all day, bringing food, washing bowls, putting them away, cleaning the kitchen, etc.

"So..." Zuko started to say,

"How do you know all that stuff?"

"What, fire-bending? I only watched other benders do it," She said, Zuko arched an eyebrow,

"You mean you never actually had a lesson? but... you're so good at it!" Zuko said, feeling ashamed and embarrassed once again.

~great, another girl is better at fire-bending than me!~ he thought.

"Well, at first it wasn't easy..." She said, trying to soothe his embarrassment,

"I just practice a lot, that's all," She said folding her arms. Another silent moment passed, only the birds were heard.

"Omi... are we still friends?" Zuko said, afraid to look at her,

"I... I'm not sure, how long has it been since we last talk to each other?" She asked him innocently,

"Um... Forever? I guess" He replied, Omi giggled lightly.

"Come on, don't exaggerate, it must've been a year?"

"Really? I felt it much more longer than that," he replied,

~Yeah, it did.~ she thought, now it's time to be sincere,

"You know, I-" Zuko and Omi said in unison,

"I missed you," She said,

"I missed you too," He said back. He smiled and crossed his heart and held out a pinkie,

"Let's never stop talking nor stop seeing each other,"

Omi looked at it, she then smiled and crossed her heart and entwined pinkies,

"Deal," She said firmly,

"But on one condition," She said, leaning close,

"Promise me you won't say a word to anybody that I am a fire bender,"

Zuko understood it right away, Though she was a perfect fire-bender, she should have her own private lessons with a master, keeping that a secret would be a shame, but he promised that he would always keep his mouth shut.

"Good, because sometimes you talk too much," She said giggling,

"Hey!" He said, playfully nudging her,

"Okay, okay, who talks too much could be either Oashi or Azula," She said smiling,

"Ugh! Azula is the worst, Oashi... well, you can easily ignore him," Omi laughed full-heartedly, Zuko joined in.

"You know, My Uncle will be coming home soon," He said after awhile,

"Uncle?" Omi asked,

"Yeah, General Iroh, he's my uncle," Zuko replied joyfully,

"He gave me this cool knife as a gift," Zuko pulled out from his boot a sharp looking knife, there was some writing in it that Omi couldn't read, (she never really learned how to read or write).

"It says 'Never give up without a fight' " Zuko said,

"Oh, that's cool!" She replied,

Zuko thought of an idea, he took his knife and began carving his name and Omi's on the tree behind them,

"What are you doing?" She asked,

"It's your name and mine's," He said pointing at them, Omi squinted to see better, though she couldn't read, she was sure that it was her name besides Zuko's.

"You like that, don't you?" Zuko said, hoping that it would please her,

"Well, we are friends, so... Yeah, it's cool," She said sincerely, stroking the carved lettering.

"Okay then, shall we practice some more?" Zuko said, anxiously waiting for her to say yes,

"Fine, okay," She sighed.