parallel lines

chapter ix

Word Count: 2,754 words

Chapter IX: 綺麗な

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Natsuko woke up just like every other day, comfortable and well rested. Recounting all the memories of what happened yesterday which seemed like just a bizarre dream to her, just meeting with her other half and their friends again, going to the fire nation, meeting Roku, and all in all the destruction of the temple, it seemed to her like a very bizarre dream. Adding to that headache that was slowly creeping in was all the red she was seeing hurts her eyes so she went back to sleep again.

Only to remember that a dream meant that it might have happened since her only contains her other half who she had contacted from the Spirit World, the Spirit World had no bending and the pain she felt just felt too real to be a dream. She opened her eyes again to red which turned out to be red tapestry with the fire nation insignia on, then he knew what was happening.

"You're finally awake." she saw Zuko enter the room in other clothing other than his armor which was a nice change for the eyes, she wasn't fond of their armor in the first place, "You must be hungry."

He sat at the edge of the bed like a mother would to her child's bed before they sleep for the night, but it looked too forced to even resemble the motherly essence that is paired with it. A knock came from the metal door and opened to a meal just for her. He placed it on her lap for her to eat but she stared at it in confusion before staring at Zuko.

"Why are you kind to me?"

That took Zuko by surprise, already catching up to his plan of letting her feel safe in his ship, as if he was trying to prove something to her even if he knew he didn't but he still did. It didn't stop her from eating though, she was hungry after not eating for a whole day and being kicked by a heavy boot on an empty stomach made her more in agony, if she was about to be dead in a mere matter of seconds at least it was with an already eaten stomach.

"I'm sorry."

Now it was Natsuko's turn to be surprised, it was only sometimes in her life when she received an apology from someone, much less it coming from someone like Zuko who she knew he believed that he wasn't entitled to apologize to anyone, "What for?"

He had a lot of things he wanted to say, about leaving her and letting her get hurt by Zhao, out of all people, just because she was with Avatar. He wanted to ask a lot too, How did she know Zhao? Did the Avatar promise to take her home? Why was she present when they were in the temple? Was everything he did for her worth it? Why is he doing this for her?

"Zuko?"

He snapped out of his thoughts when Natsuko called out his name, he was getting frustrated more and more with himself and he couldn't even say what's on his mind.

"Forget it." he stood up and grabbed her empty bowl, walking towards the door and told her before she say something else, "Come outside in 5 minutes, Uncle Iroh wants to see you."

There was still something in her that kept bugging her, about all of this, surely Zuko had something to tell her, she wasn't with Aang as well so it must've mean he took her somehow. Her mind was still clouded by what happened, but she felt the strong connection between her other halves, could have meant that Aang has already established their connection with his past lives. Either way, she made her way up to the deck and inside the Iroh playing Pai Sho once again, "Hello, Uncle Iroh."

"Young summer child, it's nice to see you again. Would you like to play Pai Sho with me?"

He was happy enough once Natsuko sat opposite him and was confused at the missing tile which Iroh didn't notice at first. His white lotus tile was missing. To solve his uneasiness, he went on telling the captain to change directions, towards a market place which was in time for bargains and such. Even if he knew that his nephew wouldn't take lightly to what he did, Uncle Iroh was sure enough that Natsuko would be able to help him with his predicament, not that what he was planning had something to do with endangering other people but it was something that's very important to him. Zuko, who was outside training with another firebender, stopped once the ship tilted towards the right side to change its course, he went inside with a temper.