The Fire Within Us All (Completed)

Chapter 2 - Stranger Is No More

Knocking was all that could be heard on my neighbors door and it was driving me mad. 'It's too early for this.' Sighing, I roll out of bed and walk outside to see that three Dai Li agents knocking on their door.

"Sorry to awaken you miss." One of them say to me while bowing. I wave my hand and walk back inside and go to the window. They were gone.

"That's strange." I mumble looking around more outside before walking to the bathroom and getting into the shower. How long has it been since I've been in a real shower?

Dressing in my normal outfit I put my bag over my shoulder and walk out the door. I stopped at a dessert stand and bought some dango to snack on.

Today was the day I would try to find a place that I could go at night to practice my firebending. Looking around, it was all open space in the back of the upper ring, but it was all visible from the village.

I'm going to have to be careful practicing in this field. These places are too easy to be caught in. The world doesn't take lightly to the fire nation people, especially here.

Stopping back at the wall I decided to go back to the small tea shop I stopped in yesterday. It was definitely a good shop and cheap. Walking inside, I sat at the same table as yesterday. Sadly, the guy from last night wasn't here, so I just got one cup and left.

I started to explore the other half of the wall, and let me tell you, it's a little scary around here. Deciding this wasn't a good idea I walked back to the other side of the wall and took shelter in my small, plain house that was safe from the outside world. "This is so boring, and I have two full weeks until the party."

To help time pass I took a nap, and it felt amazing to drop my guard for a bit.

It was way past midnight when I woke up, so I decided to go to the field I found earlier to practice. Making sure no one was around, I put fire to my hands.

Twirling, stepping, and jumping is what I practiced first. It felt so good to feel the fire running off my hands. Over the years, I had finally gotten control over my wild bending, but I still had my moments.

"So, you're a fire bender." I gasp taking the light from my hands and turn around to see him. I started to back away slowly.

"Don't worry I won't tell anyone." He said bringing fire to his own hands. "You're one too?" I ask walking towards him and putting my hand over the fire in his. "You shouldn't be doing that." The fire in his hand disappeared making my hand fall into his.

I jerked my hand back to my side before walking away from him. "Wait!" He yells making me stop to look at him. "Why are you here?"

"Well it's pretty obvious, I was practicing my bending." I reply to the unknown guy. "You're a stranger, so I don't even know why I'm telling you." Turning around I start to walk off leaving him behind.

"Zuko." I turn around looking at him again. "What?"

"My name is Zuko. Now we're not strangers, we're friends." He started to walk towards me. "Come to the tea shop tomorrow, and we'll go do something." My eyebrow raises at this. "Alright I guess, but it's just a friends day out, nothing else." I state looking up at him and poking him on the chest. 'Dang he's built. Stop it!'

"Nothing more than two friends going out for a meal and spending the day together." Zuko says nodding before leaving me in the field all alone. "How nice of you, my friend."

The next day came quickly considering I couldn't sleep knowing the guy had my secret, but yet he was on the same boat as me. I walked to the bathroom and started to brush my long hair before braiding it to the side of my face. "Perfect."

~~

"This place scares me knowing I can't bend out here." I mumble to myself gripping my father's sword. Walking over to the tea shop rather quickly, I opened the door and found my way over to the same table as always.

"Morning." Zuko says sitting down. "Morning. So, what are we doing today?" I ask as he passes a cup of tea to me. "Well I was thinking we could go to this arena place I found a few days ago and practice your bending like you wanted. They have private rooms so no one will know." He pays for my tea along with his before leading me outside.

While walking along some people started to give me the willies. I might have traveled by myself ever since I was 12, but I still get scared. Everyone does. Somehow, I found my way to Zuko's arm, and he didn't even seem to mind.

After walking for a while, we came upon a huge building. "Come on and I'll get a room for us." He walked inside and soon after I followed.

"Here's the key, and we can have it for as long as you want." He put the key in my hand and led me to room number three. I quickly unlocked the door eager to get the heat out of my hands. That was my problem back then, and it still is.

As soon as we got inside, I shut the door before facing away and letting the heat flow from my hands. "I'm such a monster." The words slip from my mouth before I can even stop them. "You're not a monster, and don't even think about it." Zuko said lighting fire to his hands.

"I don't know about this. I'm not very good at controlling the fire sometimes." I say backing up until I hit the wall. "Just go with the flow."

He threw many fireballs at me and each one I dodged. I put fire to my hands feeling the nervousness go down. Flinging one blast after the other, Zuko dodged each one of them before we both blew one big blast. The fire filled the whole room as we both got down.

Unwanted memories filled my mind looking at the fire around me. Slowly putting my hand out, I made all the fire disappear slightly.

"I'm so sorry." I whisper looking down at my hands. "It's fine, it wasn't you fault." He says coming over towards me and helping me up and that's when I get a good look at his scar.

"Can I...?" He slowly nods his head, bringing my hand up to his face. The scar felt soft under my touch, but you could still feel the heat from the rage he felt. I smile taking my hand away from his face.

"It suites you." I say without thinking. The only answer I get was the silence that filled the room.

"Where do you want to go next?" Zuko asked filling in the silence. "I don't really know this place to well, but there's a dango shop close to my house, and I'm hungry." He nods his head and walks out of the room. I feel like a horrible friend.

~~

"Wait, you live on the other side of the wall?" He asked staring at the wall in front of us. "I'm here on an invite from the King, who I've never met before. It's fishy if you ask me. A person shows up out of no where and hands me an invitation." I say walking down the street to the dango shop.

"You sure you want to go alone?" Zuko asks taking a bite of his dango. "I may not look it, but I've been alone ever since I turned 12." I reply looking down sadly. "I can take care of myself."

Why am I telling someone I hardly know all of this? Somehow, down deep in my gut I feel like I can trust him for some unknown reason. I've never had this feeling before.

"I hope you can." He says smiling a little. A laugh escaped my lips looking at him. Men these days, they think us girls can't take care of ourselves.

"I have to get back to my Uncle before he starts to get worried." Zuko says standing up. I nod my head following him outside. "I'll walk you home." He says waiting for me to start walking.

"Your place looks nice from the outside." He says looking up at it. "Yeah, well it's way too big for one person for only a couple weeks. They even say this is a small house." I reply back unlocking the door and looking back at him.

"I had fun today Zuko. Thank you." A smile formed on my lips looking up at him. My hand went up to the scar again and rubbed the surface of it. "Maybe we can do it again." He says taking my hand in his before walking off.

For some reason I felt a blush came to my cheeks. What is this stranger doing to me...?

~~~~~

Authors note:

Thank you all for reading! Let me know what you think of the story so far.