not from around here | Zuko X OC

| chapter thirteen |

It was mid morning, and Zuko wanted to leave where his ship had docked as soon as possible.

"Uncle!" He shouted as he led Saki and himself through the forest.
Saki was following, absentmindedly trotting along after him and looking around.
She'd gotten so bored, she had started counting every tree that was on her right hand side.

"Damn it, lost count again." She muttered to herself.
"What?" Asked Zuko, glancing over to her.
"Huh? Oh nothing. Where's your uncle?" She said, trying to play it off.
"He should be around here somewhere. Uncle! It's time to leave! Where are you? Uncle Iroh!" Zuko called, getting more and more aggravated about his uncle's disappearance.

Saki inhaled as much as her lungs could handle, and shouted at the top of her voice.
"IROOOOOOOH!"

Zuko covered his ears and winced at the noise.
"For a small person, you sure have a loud voice." He grumbled.
"It's a specialty of mine. If you can't be seen in a crowd, be heard." She told him, listening out for Iroh's call back.

"Over here!" Came a shout from a little way away that they both recognised to be Iroh.
Zuko pulled back some branches to reveal Iroh, relaxing in a calming spring.

"Uncle? We need to move on. We're closing in on the Avatar's trail and I don't want to lose him." Zuko snapped at his uncle.
"Chill out dude, I dunno why you're in such a big time rush." Saki muttered.

They both looked at her like she was crazy.
"No one gets me over here." she said sadly, looking at the floor.

"You look tired, Prince Zuko. Why don't you join me in these hot springs and soak away your troubles?" Suggested Iroh, smiling at his nephew.
"My troubles cannot be soaked away. It's time to go!" Zuko snapped, getting more and more frustrated.
"Come on, can't we just relax for a little bit." Saki pleaded.
"No." Zuko said defiantly.
"Meanie." She grumbled under her breath.

"You should take your teacher's advice and relax a little. The temperature's just right. I heated it myself." Iroh continues to coax.
He breathed steam through his nose and out over the water.

"Enough! We need to leave now. Get out of the water!" Zuko yelled.
"Very well." Iroh got up, completely exposing himself.
Saki shrieked and Zuko clamped a hand over his and her eyes as she put hers on top of his and held them in place.

"On second thought, why don't you take another few minutes? But be back at the ship in a half-hour or I'm leaving without you!" Zuko told his uncle. They all knew that he wouldn't dare leave his uncle, however no one pointed out the empty threat.

Zuko steered Saki around with his arm and she followed willingly.
"You can let go now." Pointed out Zuko after they got a little distance between them and the spring.

"I'd rather not thanks." Saki said, still holding his hand in place.
"Can I have my hand back?" He asked.
"'No thanks." She answered, holding onto it even tighter.
"It wasn't really a ques-" He started, but She interrupted.
"No thanks."

He smiled ever so slightly and moved closer as they walked so it was more comfortable for him to hold his arm up.
Once they got to the ship Saki let Zuko have his hand back and they waited for Iroh to come back.

Saki taught Zuko how to play charades but he didn't seem to like the game very much, so instead she taught him how to play a game she call 'guess what.'
Saki and her parents would play it on long car journeys, so she shared it with the people that she now cared for and looked after her.

"So basically, you think of something in your head - literally anything - and the other person has to figure out what it is by asking questions. But the other person only gets to ask twenty one questions. The first person to guess the other person's thing they're thinking of, wins!" She exclaimed, using lots of hand gestures to exaggerate her point.