Life Happens Wherever You Are (Zuko x OC)

Chapter 14

Sunlight creeping through the cracks in the door and the sound of birds chirping outside slowly brought me out of my sleep. It was fairly light in the room, enough to see everything, but with a shadow over them.

            I heard the door creak open, "Zuko, Mara, it's time to get up, we have to be at the tea shop soon," Iroh's voice sounded from the crack in the door, but it didn't open further. I guess he was respecting our privacy. Not that we were hiding anything.

I felt Zuko stir beside me, and turned my head to look at him. His eyes fluttered open, and he focused on me. I almost saw a genuine smile on his face, but it went away before it came. He yawned and stretched, making the blanket shift down, revealing his abdomen. I could see his abs flexing with his movement, but quickly looked away. I didn't notice that the blanket had also shifted on my side as well, revealing my bare stomach. Zuko and I both noticed at the same time. I watched as he waited for my reaction, and when I didn't move to cover myself, he let his eyes roam down, examining my skin that was showing. I saw him get stuck on a scar on the right side of my stomach, near my hip. He glanced up at me again, almost as if he was asking permission to continue.

He shifted so that he was facing me now, and looked back down at my scar. He slowly brought his hand up to me, making sure that I could stop him if I wanted to. But I let him continue, my heart pounding in my ears. He gently caressed my skin, tracing the scar lightly, sending chills throughout my body.

"What happened?" He breathed, his voice deeper than normal.

"This is why my father sent me to Rahin. The first wave of fire nation soldiers came early in the morning, we woke up to explosions going off all around us. My father and his men were able to fight them off, only a few survived and retreated. But we suffered heavy losses as well, they made sure that when they came back, it would be an easy take over for them. In the commotion, I was hit by a fire nation spear," I placed my hand over his that was still tracing my scar. "I was the only one who wasn't old enough to fight, so once I was healed enough, they sent me away to protect me from getting hurt further. I should have died that day."

Zuko propped himself up on his arm, looking down at me. He moved his hand from underneath mine and placed it on my cheek, "But you didn't, and there's a reason for that. You are here now, with me, helping me not be stupid."

I smiled, "You almost sounded like Iroh for a second there."

He rolled his eyes and got up, starting the lamp again. I hesitated getting up, the room was lit now, and he would be able to see me clearly.

Zuko noticed my hesitation, "Do you want me to turn around while you change?"

I thought for a moment, I shouldn't be weird about this. "No, that's alright," I pulled the blanket off and stood up, trying not to notice the way that Zuko was looking at me. I grabbed my tunic dress, pulling it on and wrapping it tightly just below my chest. In my haste while packing, I seemed to have forgotten to bring extra clothes, so this dress was the only thing I had. I turned to the side, "Can you help me tie this?"

In an instant he was by my side. I handed him the strings and lifted my arms up to give him space. After some struggle, he successfully tied it together. "How's that?"

I brought my arms down and felt around a bit before responding, "Perfect." I smiled at him. I noticed the fire in his eyes was deeper than it usually is as he looked at me.

The door creaked open and Iroh stood in the doorway, "Are you guys almost ready? We don't want to be late."

Zuko stepped away from me, grabbing his shirt.

"Yes, we are almost ready," I blushed, and glanced at Zuko before walking out of the room and grabbing some bread to eat on the way.

"Would you like some tea, Mara?" Iroh asked, he seemed unphased by what he saw.