Chapter 4: Into the Shadows

"Zuko," came Mai's monotone voice.

Azula stopped at hearing it, eyes narrowing in annoyance. She was just around the corner from where her 'friend's' voice came from and it looked like she was a little late in going to intercept Mai before she made a move on her brother. Being Azula, though, that just meant this was an opportune time to spy on their interaction. She was curious to see how Mai approached the subject of her feelings toward him, of course. At least, that was what she wanted to believe. In truth, it irked her that anyone had any positive feelings towards him and that anyone noticed him enough, and liked him enough, to actually grow attached like this. It was rather sickening, making her feel the slightest bit nauseous and her heart to race more than it should.

"M-mai?!" She couldn't resist rolling her eyes at her brother's ineloquence. However, perhaps that was due to Mai, Azula assumed, surprising him. That girl could be as quiet as a shadow and could blend in just as easily with them.

The shutting of a locker could be heard. "Hey! I was looking for something." Zuko's annoyed voice could be heard clearly as the halls cleared of people who were rushing to not be tardy for their second class of the day(not that there was many people to begin with, this area being an out of the way hallway which few had any classes by).

At this point Azula had decided to risk looking around the corner to see the action, not as overly cautious as she was moments before to remain unseen.

The Sozin heiress saw Mai leaning on the lockers, one of them most likely being the one her sibling had just been rifling through, with Zuko standing not even a foot away from her.

Their proximity should have been further from one another, he'd only been back two days. They still needed time to get reacquainted, right? They shouldn't have been comfortable enough with each other for that. But that wasn't the strangest thing for Azula to notice. No, the strangest thing was that they were just standing there, staring into each other's eyes as if they were having a silent conversation. It was also the thing that enraged her the most, for when did they come to know each other so well to do that? How could she not know about it? Were they meeting in secret or something?

"I see," the quiet teen suddenly spoke, shocking Azula out of her thoughts only to leave her in confusion.

What did she mean by, 'I see?' They'd only been in each other's company for a couple of minutes; the bell hadn't even rung yet.

Zuko was kept rooted to his spot, eyes wide as if he was also shocked by her statement. His golden orbs then moved to look at the floor, head hanged as if in shame.

The raven haired girl stood up right, away from the lockers that she had used for support. "I suppose I should take what I can get while I still can."

His head snapped up at that, gaze questioning. "Wh-?"

Mai moved fast before he could question her words, stepping forward and pulling his head down to meet hers for a kiss.

Azula's heart stopped.

Pulling away, Mai met Zuko's dazed expression as she let a small, bittersweet smile come onto her face. "My first kiss from my own fairytale prince."

Zuko's brows furrowed at that, silently asking so many unspoken questions.

Mai shook her head, dismissing his plea as she brushed her thumb lightly over his scar, which caused him to shut his eyes on instinct.

"Mai..." he whispered, opening then again as her touch began to recede. He was left clutching at the hand that had touched his scar so gently, so lovingly.

Shaking her head again, a lone tear escaped Mai. When she pulled away from him this time, he let her go to disappear as silently as she had come and go back into the shadows.

The bell rang.

She ran, fast, and quietly, like she'd been trained to do since birth. She'd been trained to fight, she'd been trained to do it neatly and efficiently. She'd been trained to not care, she'd been trained to not be weak, but... right then... she was weak.

She had no idea what was coming over her. She had no idea what these emotions and feelings meant. She'd never really felt them before, at least, not like this. Never like this.

She hated herself for it. She loathed him for causing it.

She wanted to be rid of it. She wanted to be rid of him.

She couldn't control it. She couldn't vanquish it. It was growing rapidly. Whatever it was.

Azula was panting, holding onto the sink as if it were a life line and staring at the drain, trying to regulate her breathing. She couldn't let it take hold of her like this. She had to find a way to end it.

'Zuko.' That name made her grit her teeth, eyes glaring down at the dirty sink.

He was the cause for it, for everything. He'd only been here two days and already he'd messed everything up. How very Zuko of him.

She smirked, looking up into her reflection, gold meeting gold.

"He'll pay for this along with Mai. No one makes me weak. No one."

She hadn't seen much of Mai at lunch. A quick 'hello' and an excuse of needing to go to the library was all she heard from her, which was fine for the young heiress. She didn't feel much like talking to the emo right then. She was too focused on ignoring her brother and talking to Ty Lee to concentrate on anything else.

"-And so, I was like-"

"Ty Lee," Azula said. Just because she was ignoring Zuko didn't mean Ty Lee could ramble on and on at her for the entire lunch period. She had to draw a line somewhere.

The acrobat blinked. "Yes, Azula?"

"I was thinking, maybe we should get started on discussing ideas for our history project. I was thinking about doing it on the Romans."

"Really?" The cheerful teen scrunched up her nose, which, Azula noted, made her look kind of ugly for once. "I was thinking more along the lines of the Renaissance. With all its artwork-"

"And who was their artwork influenced by?" She questioned, face set in a blank mask.

The pink clad girl paused in thought. "Um...Oh!" She could practically see the light bulb go off in her head. "The Greeks...," her smile fell, realizing her mistake, "and the Romans..."

Azula smirked in triumph. "So, naturally we should go back to its influence, where it all started, and do the project on the Romans."

"Or, you could do it on the Aztecs, or something. They weren't as war hungry, but they could get just as violent," Zuko put in, arms folded while his hand toyed with his fork in the mash-potatoes served as a part of his school lunch.

"Excuse me," Azula said, eyes narrowing as her face adopted a playful smirk, "but were we talking to you."

"I don't see how that matters since you always manage to control all sides of the conversation by manipulating and pulling the strings without the other party even knowing."

His sister and Ty Lee stared at him, letting silence reign.

"Wow!" Ty Lee finally broke, "That was-"

"-completely inappropriate, Zuzu," Azula finished, trying not to let her anger show. He shouldn't have been able to say that, even if it was true. He shouldn't have been able to say it so matter-of-factly in the presence of Ty Lee. Did he want the bubbly girl to go around forming ideas about her? Ty Lee was one of her worshipers. She was to stay innocently bias towards her at all times.

A.N. Ruby of Raven

Hola! I'm back. Not sure for how long, though. Life is hard right now with all this homework I have. I meant to get this to you at the end of November. Sorry for it being delayed. I hope you enjoyed this! I know I'm leaving this at an odd point, but I wanted to get something out to you guys. I hope I can update again soon. Tell me how in character you still think everyone is and I'll try to make any corrections you guys point out. Thank you guys for your continued support!