You are Everything that I've Been Searching for ~ a Zukka Fanfic

Chapter Sixteen, Little Soldier Boy, Come Marching Home

Chapter Sixteen, "Little soldier boy, come marching home"

Zuko was waiting at the bottom of the stairs with a backpack, he wore dark clothes. Black jeans, a black button-down. He had even combed his hair back though it had been a mighty challenge. He didn't always dress up nice like this but when he did he might as well put in some decent effort.

Iroh soon joined him, carrying a small rectangular wooden box with intricate golden designs embossed on it. He was also dressed in dark clothing. "You look nice," he told Zuko.

Zuko nodded his thanks and together they walked out of the empty jasmine dragon. It was shut for the day and the waitresses and kitchen staff were given the day off.

He and his uncle hailed a cab and took it to the south side of the city, once they were out they walked through a large park. It was a nice day, with just a slight chill to the air. There were families in the park, little kids running around chasing each other, songbirds were flying overhead. Zuko could smell the faint scent of flowers. It was all so picturesque.

He and his uncle kept walking towards their destination, a large hill. When Zuko had been younger, part of his P.E. had been to run up the hill every second morning, that had been cruel and unusual torture. Zuko was pleased that he would not be running it today.

Instead they found the path and followed it up as it wound around the hill, passing in and out of the green shade, provided by kind trees. Zuko wondered what type they were, he was guessing some kind of oak. A while ago he had researched common park and city tree names, but he was still none the wiser on his tree knowledge.

Eventually they came to the top. There were a few benches and trees around. Zuko and Iroh picked a large knobbly looking one near the middle. They sat down underneath its shade.

Iroh opened the wooden box and pulled out a picture frame, a book of matches, a little jar and two sticks of incense. He put the two sticks of incense into the little jar and lit them. Two small wisps of spicy-sweet smelling smoke curled upwards into the air.

Zuko sat there quietly as Iroh quietly spoke to the picture frame. He listened as Iroh told the picture frame all that was new and old, mostly things that had happened while Zuko had been at university.

Eventually Iroh turned to Zuko. "Do you have anything you wish to say?" he asked.

A sentence like that would usually mean nothing. But Zuko could hear the tremble in his uncle's voice and he knew that he was asking for strength. So Zuko began.

"Um... So it's been a little while since we last talked but... Well, I've been doing okay at uni, the schoolwork is tough but it's alright... uh what else?"

Zuko thought for a moment. He glanced at his uncle but Iroh was looking away, his eyes were watery.

"Oh," Zuko remembered. And even though it made his cheeks go red he said "You'll be pleased to hear that I... I made some friends."

It was silly how such a simple statement made him feel so embarrassed. But it was true wasn't it? He had made some very good friends, they were cool and smart and well adjusted.

Zuko glanced at his uncle. Iroh was looking down at his hands, they were folded in his lap. He was trying to hide his eyes but Zuko could tell that he was crying. So Zuko continued talking.

He told the picture frame about Aang. He talked about how they had first met and then became friends, he spoke about all Aang's pets and what Aang's ambitions were. He even mentioned how Aang was in love with a beautiful and kind girl called Katara. He didn't mind sharing this as he knew both Iroh and the picture would keep the secret.

He told the picture frame about how lovely Katara was and how smart and cool she was. About her fantastic cooking and her awesome accomplishments. Then he told the picture frame about Katara's amazing and hilarious brother Sokka, who Zuko found to be quite amazing.

He told the picture frame about Suki, Toph and Bumi. He talked about all the cool things he had done with his new friends and how they were so much nicer than the kids Zuko used to hang out with.

He told the picture frame about his soulmate mark and how he had gotten and how it changed from time to time. This made Iroh smile. As of right now Zuko's mark merely reads "how do you spell considerable?" a simple spelling check. A lot of Zuko's soulmate's searches were spelling and grammar checks.

When Zuko couldn't think of anything more to say he turned to his uncle and said "That's all I think."

Iroh nodded. They sat there in silence for a moment before Iroh's eyes began streaming again. This was still painful for him, it was always painful, Zuko wondered if the pain would ever lessen for his uncle.

As Iroh wiped his eyes, Zuko dared to reach out and gently stroke the wood frame of the portrait.

"Wish you were here... Cousin."

*Author's notes and ramblings*

Yo! Wanna know something cool? this is where I had to split my fanfic up into 3 seperate parts as it was getting so long it was slowing down my computer! I had this little note at the end of the first section that goes something like:

"Refer to file part 2 of You are everything that I have been searching for ~ a Zukka Fanfic"

This first section's word count is 39,485, so great job guys! you've all read nearly 40,000 words! That's a win for us fanfic readers, they say reading comprehension is going down? nah fam, it's going up! 

At least for us it is, hahaha!

Anyway, we're approaching more juicy chapters, so stay tuned folks!!