Where There Is Smoke, There Is Fire [Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfic]

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Zuko strolled downstairs after waking up, yawning as he went. Izara hadn't been in her room; the door was open, and he couldn't hear her in the bathroom either. He guessed she'd already gotten up, so he came down to check on her. One of the shoji doors was open, and Izara was hanging wet clothes on the small line outside. A bucket of soapy water was on the ground next to the line, and he guessed she'd been out there for a while. Sighing, he slid on some shoes and headed out to join her.

"You know I brought you here to relax and heal, right? Not do laundry." He said loudly to alert her to his presence, even though she'd likely heard his footsteps.

"Well, I'm basically out of clean clothes. I don't own much." She offered with a shrug, pegging a pair of pants on the line.

Only a few pieces of clothing were on the line, and Zuko sadly assumed she'd not given herself a chance to buy some new casual clothes.

He also saw his clothes hanging up and recognised the pants she was pegging on the line as his own. "Wait, you did mine, too?"

"Yeah. I wasn't just going to do mine and not yours. Are you embarrassed that I've seen your unmentionables?" She teased him with a smirk over her shoulder. A moment later, she winced since she'd likely turned too far to look at him.

"You haven't even given yourself a chance to heal properly." He scolded softly, worrying about her.

"I'm fine, really. I can't just do nothing." Izara pegged the last shirt up and then turned to face him.

"Even if I ask you to?" Zuko allowed his tone to become a little more forceful. She wasn't listening to him.

She raised an eyebrow at him in response but didn't say anything. Her silence was enough of an answer anyway.

"Your uncle, Uzan. Did he ever give you a day off?" Although he didn't want to mention her uncle, he knew this would likely hit home with her properly.

Her answering scoff said everything, and she kept her back to him.

He growled in answer to her affirmation, but his focus wasn't on the man who needed to retire right now. "And before you were with him?"

She narrowed her eyes at him almost imperceptibly but schooled her expression a moment later. It didn't matter. He knew her well enough to notice those slight changes on her face and figure out how she felt. Her mouth was usually the giveaway, and it was downturned in frustration.

"Ah, yes. Remind me to punch Kazan in the nose for that. I had fully intended to leave all that behind—the moniker, the skillset, the blood—all of it." Izara said slowly, hinting at menace, as she moved to lean against the clothesline pole with her arms crossed over her chest.

"We aren't much different." Zuko knew he'd hit a nerve but felt it was necessary, so he didn't want to change the subject and remind her that they shared common ground.

"Is that right?" She asked sarcastically.

"I hunted the Avatar. The fucking Avatar. Intending to capture him once I found him. I had plenty of ideas about what would happen to him after." He felt his temper bubbling inside him but did his best to control his breathing and keep calm.

She took a breath, too, and stared. Her golden eyes bore into Zuko's own as her face fell into the blank mask he'd seen when she had reported to him and his council about what had happened during her capture. It was a definite attempt to intimidate him, but it wouldn't work. He didn't want to feel like she was throwing his attempts to relate and find common ground with her in his face, but he couldn't help it.