A/N: Hiyas! This is ArilianaFireQueen, a.k.a. Ari, and I'd like to thank you for reading my first published fanfic!!! I do not claim to own any of the original "Naruto" characters, Masashi Kisimoto-sensai has that honor, nor do I have any ownership of Okuda Chihiro and Myojin Amaya, they belong to my friends. Hyuga Azula and Zukara, however, are mine!

Chapter One: Tiger Lilies

"Mama!" a 6-year-old girl called as she ran over to a pot of flowers. "Look at these!"

Hyuga Zukara followed her daughter slowly, smiling at the child's happiness. She knew that she was the only one who saw this side of Azula, and loved to see her smile. "Yes Zula-chan," she said calmly, crouching down next to her. "Do you like these flowers?"

Azula nodded. "They're pretty!" Closing her eyes, she leaned over to smell them. "What're they called?"

"These are tiger lilies. I like them too." Plucking one of the flowers off of the stem, Zukara stuck it behind Azula's ear. "There you go!"

"Do I look pretty now?" The child's wide eyes told her mother how much she yearned to be accepted.

"You look even more beautiful now," she replied, wrapping her arms around her in a hug. "You're my Zula-chan, of course you're pretty all the time." Over Azula's shoulders, through the windows of the greenhouse, Zukara could see her cousin, Hiashi. He was watching them, pale lavender eyes unreadable. One of the few people to know about Azula's inner demon, Hiashi alone had disagreed with her decision to enroll Azula in the Ninja Academy. He feared that the demon sealed within her would eventually destroy the village, and the clan along with it. Zukara's eyes met her cousin's as her smile faded. She clutched her daughter to her chest and silently prayed for her acceptance.

"Mama?" Azula asked, her voice showing confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing Zula-chan. Nothing's wrong." Zukara smiled, letting go and looking at her child. "Just thinking about how much I love you."

Azula grinned. "I love you too Mama!"

10 years later

"I hate this." Azula stood outside a building, staring up at a sign above the door. "Of all the stores in the village, it has to be at this one."

"Then don't get a tiger lily," Myojin Amaya told her teammate. "That way you don't have to deal with her."

"But that's kaa-san's favorite flower. I have to get her one."

Okuda Chihiro, the squad's third member, sighed. "Well, let's just get this over with," the girl said half-heartedly, pushing open the door to the Yamanaka Flower Shop. "After you Zuzu-chan."

Azula scowled, stalking past Chihiro into the shop. "Didn't I tell you that I hate that name?" she hissed, glaring at her teammate.

Before Chihiro could reply, another voice rang out from behind the counter. "Well if it isn't the sluts." All three girls turned to glare at Yamanaka Ino, whose family ran the shop. "Preparing to seduce someone else?"

"Like we have time Little Miss Pig," Azula retorted. "We're far too busy doing more important things like, uh, training!" She rolled her eyes, an action barely noticeable due to her trademark Hyuga eyes. "Just point us towards the tiger lilies and we'll be on our way." The girls were used to comments on the way they dressed: Azula with her short, open kimono and bandages wrapped around her chest, Chihiro for her short shorts and cropped, strapless top, and Amaya for… well, just for being friends with the other two.

"Down this way," Haruno Sakura called, appearing from the back room. "But you better not be giving them to Sasuke!"

"Hello Billboard Brow, helping the pig out? How sweet. Obviously you two are friends right now." The girls followed the pink-haired kunoichi to the potted lilies. "Still, you're way too suspicious. These aren't for Uchiha, I'm giving them to my kaa-san." She grabbed a pot of tiger lilies, and strode back to the counter. With a smirk, she placed money to pay for the flowers in the counter. "See you around girls. Maybe one of you can be my next victim." With that, she left the shop, Amaya and Chihiro close behind.

Once they were a safe distance away, the kunoichi squad stopped to catch their breath. "Well, that could've gone better," Chihiro joked.

"Seeing as though the only two people in this village that all three of us hate were both there, yeah it could have," Amaya stated, leaning against the side of a fence.

"They judge everyone through the way they themselves act," Azula commented, pulling a red ribbon out of one of her sleeves. As she tied it around the pot, she continued. "I mean, why would I buy flowers for Uchiha?" She didn't mention the feeling she had whenever she watched him fight, not only wouldn't her teammates understand, she barely comprehended it.

"Though I'm sure that we all want to talk about Sasuke," Amaya said sarcastically, "shouldn't we be going to Azula's to deliver her kaa-san's birthday present?"

"We will. Just as soon as I finish." Relieved that the subject was changed, Azula swiftly tied the ribbon into a bow. "There. Let's go." As she led the way to the Hyuga estates, she turned to tell the other two, "By the way, thanks for coming to back me up."

Chihiro grinned, tossing her arm over Azula's shoulder. "We're a team! Mya-chan and I wouldn't let you deal with those two alone!"

A small smile crossed Azula's lips. "Thanks," she murmured, thankful for her two friends' loyalty. "Thanks."

A/N: Chapter 1, done! Please read and review, and I'll try to get chapter 2 up soon!!! Also, I need ideas for the names of Azula's father and half-brother, so please chip in with ideas! Thanks in advance!!!!