bow to the sun

Summary: Bright wisps of red and orange dance on top of his left palm, and it makes him feel at ease. He still has this. He is still Zuko. /wherein Zuko gets reincarnated into the body of one Shouto Todoroki, and everything is the same and different at the same time.

chapter i.

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the beginning

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It is said that the Avatar is the only being in the entire world that is capable of going through the cycle of reincarnation. Spirits of those who had already departed in this life permanently rest in peace, able to go to another plane of existence, where everything all leads to in the end.

Former Fire Lord Zuko of the Fire Nation dies peacefully in his sleep at the age of ninety-nine, just a few hours before his birthday. He dies sitting on his favorite chair, on top of the balcony of his palace. He dies with the image of the burning sun before it disappears over the horizon. It is fitting; in the Fire Nation, sunsets usually symbolize the end of a life, while sunrises signify the beginning of one. It is not surprising that executions in the Fire Nation occur during sunsets.

The first to find him is one of the servants. The second is his daughter and only child. Fire Lord Izumi orders that her father's body be buried in the royal tombs of the palace. She arranges his body to be laid beside his uncle, her late grandfather Iroh. This, Izumi thinks, is what Father would have wanted.

The next day, the death of the direct great-grandson of the legendary Sozin, esteemed leader of a nation reborn, friend of the Avatar and the former Fire Lord, is announced to the world.

That day, the world dims, and another fire starts somewhere far away.

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The one who welcomes him into his second life is not the one he is expecting. It is a woman. Not his mother. Not Uncle Iroh. An unknown woman, with hair like dull silver and eyes of the same shade, looking at him like he is the mighty sun, sitting on the palm of her hand, a thing she is weary of carrying.

"Shouto," she says, voice cracking.

Shouto.

Shouto?

That is not my name, he wants to say, wants to shout, my name is Zuko. But the moment he opens his mouth and urges his voice to work, nothing comes out but an unintelligent garble. Similar to a babe's. The thought makes everything around him stop. Golden eyes slowly stare down at his hand; soft, small, and so unlike his before.

This is not his hand; his hand was wrinkled, rough, full of war calluses and small burns between his fingers and on his palm. This is not his hand. It is a newborn's hand.

His head is spinning. He is supposed to be in the afterlife. In the Spirit World, maybe. Anywhere but in a newborn's body.

I am Prince Zuko, firstborn and only son of Fire Lord Ozai and Princess Ursa.

I am Fire Lord Zuko, ruler of the Fire Nation, instigator of a new era alongside the great Avatar.

"Shouto," the woman-hand shaking, soft smile and tired eyes-says again, and that is the last thing he sees and hears before the bright lights fade away and darkness welcomes him home, like an old friend.

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When he awakens a second time into consciousness, there are four things he has come to understand.

First, he has been reincarnated into a new body. A baby.

Second, he has retained all memories of who he was before. He is none other than Zuko of the Fire Nation. Every memory of his in his past life is more or less still ingrained in his mind. It is something inconceivable, a feat that seems impossible. Even the Avatar comes to forget the lives it has come to live and experience whenever the cycle of rebirth starts all over again.

Third, the name of the body he currently inhabits is Shouto Todoroki. And the one who held him in her arms earlier was, supposedly, his new mother.

Fourth, he is somewhere far from home. He is not in the world of Zuko anymore. It is a frightening thing. A strange and frightening thing.

Almost as strange as being able to see the world, for the first time in a long time, with eyes placed on an undeformed face.

His tiny fingers slowly pat the left side of his face. It was nice, not to feel any damaged skin on the left side of his face. At the same time he felt sad. Losing his scar was akin to losing his entire identity. His scar symbolized him, made him Zuko.

Without it…he felt empty. A small part of him was glad, but a bigger part of him felt melancholic-it was like Zuko didn't exist, never existed.

No.

That wasn't right.

He was Zuko, child of Ozai and Ursa. Shouto Todoroki is the lie.

Maybe this, all this-it was all a lie.

Maybe, he muses, I just have to see and find out.

May the Spirits help him.

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Todoroki Yukie stares at her newborn son, feeling the familiar surge of warmth and protectiveness and fatigue within her; here is her youngest child, a small bundle of red and white and pale peach skin, and she faintly wonders why he has eyes like molten gold.

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A/N: A random idea inspired by my brother's ramblings, and because this was bound to happen anyway. We all know that Todoroki is basically the anime version of Prince Zuko. On the other hand, Zuko is a weird combination of both Todoroki (background story) and Bakugou (personality-wise, initially anyway).

ugh I love these characters so much

(actually planning to make another story but this time it's azula who's reincarnated into an OC body in the BNHA world, and they're all fucked because it's AZULA)

Please review! I'll really appreciate it.