Burnt Out - Zuko x OC

Snake Wine

Season 2, Episode 12

Zuko stopped short of the space his uncle had claimed for them all but before he could voice what he saw before his eyes, Jet's voice rung out behind him, "Kai! What are you doing here?"

Kai tossed the arrow and rope that they'd left behind at his chest, it poked him through the shirt and she scolded him, "Saving your ass, like usual."

Iroh made another few harmonious blows through the panflute while Jet passed around the bowls, "Kai, please, meet my nephew, Lee." He motioned toward the boy that Kai had already met, and under more honest pretenses. Zuko kept his distance from her, sitting on the opposite side of the semi circle.

She looked up from the food that Jet offered to share with her and he was met again by eyes like he'd never seen. They reminded him of those of a Mula, a cat-deer with intoxicatingly predatory eyes that drew its prey before sinking its razor sharp claws into their throat. Zuko wondered if she shared that same trait with them as well, "Nice to meet you."

She reached her hand across the space between them and he hesitated, still untrustworthy of someone that knew a little too much, but ultimately accepted her gesture. Their fingers popped again with static electricity just like his did when he touched her back a few weeks ago, while they were submerged in the same pool of milky blue, warm water. Kai pretended not to notice it, but the way Zuko's gaze hung onto hers told her that he'd felt it too.

"Your uncle speaks highly of you, Lee."

"Hope we didn't keep you waiting too long." Jet said as he moved closer to the girl, trying to claim her as his own while watching the tension grow between her and Zuko.

"You did, actually." Kai's soft expression that was made for Zuko hardened as she felt Jet's fingers brush against her thigh. She pushed the bowl back toward him, "I had time to clean up after the lot of you, grab a bottle of the good stuff," She pulled a hefty glass jug of Snake Wine out from her bag, "AND play a song with Mushi. All in the time that it took you to teach new recruits how to be sloppy."

"Speaking of songs! Kai, do you happen to know where an old man such as myself could acquire a bamboo panflute of this quality?"

She smiled at Iroh, "Please, keep that one. I can mold a new one in an instant."

"Such a generous girl," Iroh's fingers grazed the bamboo as he searched his mind for a way to express his gratitude, "I know! When we get to the city, I will brew you the best cup of ginseng tea you've ever had -- I guarantee it!"

"Have you been there before?" Kai feigned ignorance, as if she had no idea who The Dragon of the West was. She didn't know of him as well as she did his brother, but his reign was legendary. She would've learned about him regardless of her upbringing.

"Once. When I was a... different man." Memories haunted Iroh as he thought back to his failed siege, when his son was killed.

"We've all done some things in our past that we aren't proud of, but that's why I'm going to Ba Sing Se -- for a new beginning. A second chance." Jet tried to grab the jug of Snake Wine out of Kai's lap, but she gripped the other end in a tug-of-war, "Why are you going to the city, Kai?"

Zuko watched a wall of hell fire go up in Kai's jade irises. His hair stood on end, saluting the girl's quick response, as did Smellerbee's. The air between the two of them grew thick with hostility and for a moment Zuko believed Kai was going to draw her blade and filet the cocky boy where he sat. But instead she let go of the jug, Jet smirked at his small victory over the girl and took a swig from the bottle. It burnt his throat going down and he choked most of it up, into his bowl of food that he'd worked so hard to obtain. Kai smiled as he gagged and took the bottle back, which he didn't object to this time, "That's denatured snake venom, idiot."