Edited: 18/10/2012

Disclaimer: Nope I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender. But I think you already knew that.

Kissing the Enemy

Sokka was strolling around. He hated to admit it, but Toph had been right. This city had quickly become boring. He'd already visited all the stores that interested him and with the Dai Lee constantly following them other pastime activities were limited. Sure, last night had been fun. Those girls at the poetry club had been nice, well, except that one who had constantly tried to make him screw up his haikus. By the time he did screw up he'd been thrown out and told to not come back

It wasn't like there were millions of those clubs in Ba Sing Se, so the tan boy had to go looking for some other kind of entertainment. He'd thought about looking for a date, but had soon realized that all those upper-class girls were way too stiff for him and that he had no idea where to look for girls in the middle and lower ring.

Yesterday Aang had been all excited about this zoo he had helped to move. At first it had been in the lower ring and now it was somewhere between the outer and inner wall. Sokka had decided that he could go there. It would at least give him something to do if nothing else. So here he was, walking to the inner wall so he could go visit a zoo. On his own. He'd asked the others to come with him, but Katara and Toph were apparently going to some spa for some girl bonding or something. Aang had said that he didn't feel like going since he'd just gone yesterday.

Sokka had had to wait for what felt like hours until he was first in line for the ticket booth and could pay for a ticket. When he finally entered the zoo he looked around and had to admit that Aang had done a pretty good job. All the animals seemed pretty happy to have large new stays with plenty of fresh air. If what Aang had told about the small cages was true, this was a huge improvement.

Most of the other visitors were parents with children, which made Sokka feel somewhat out of place. Then he spotted two teenage girls leaning against one of the animal stays. They were kind of cute. One had light brown hair that was pulled in a ponytail, the other girl had dark brown hair that reached just below her shoulders. He could see that the girl with the ponytail was talking enthusiastically to her friend. Said friend had her head turned away from Sokka, so he couldn't tell if she was talking back to Ponytail Girl. The tan boy inched closer to them until he could hear what they were talking about.

"So, Li, where did you live before you came to Ba Sing Se?" asked Ponytail Girl.

It took a few seconds before the other girl, whose name was apparently Li, answered. "Uhh… I was traveling with my uncle." Somehow her voice sounded familiar to Sokka.

"How come?" Ponytail Girl wanted to know.

"We, uhh, were in a traveling circus." Li didn't seem all that sure of herself when she said that, but Ponytail Girl didn't seem to notice that.

"So… What was your act?" It seemed like all Ponytail Girl could do was ask questions.

It looked like Li really had to think about what she had done in the circus before she could answer. "I was a juggler?" It sounded more like question than an actual answer but Ponytail Girl didn't seem to notice.

"You see that guy over there with the blue clothes? He's been looking at us for some time now." Ponytail Girl said, changing to topic of their conversation. "I think he likes us, or at least one of us."

Li turned her head in his direction and only then Sokka realized that Ponytail Girl had been talking about him and a blush spread over his face.

As soon as Sokka saw the scar on the girls left eye time seemed to be frozen. The name of the girl in front of him wasn't Li, and she sure as hell hadn't been in a traveling circus with her uncle. Now what should he do? Run straight the apartment in the upper ring and tell the others that the Fire Nation had infiltrated Ba Sing Se? Or should he move closer and kiss the girl? Wait! Sokka's train of thoughts was pulled to a stop. What was he thinking? Kiss her? Kiss her!? Where the fuck did that thought come from? That girl was the Fire Nation's Princess! He shouldn't go thinking about kissing the enemy. Even though they were really good-looking… Stop it! Sokka told his brain.

"What's he doing here?" hissed Princess Zuka as she glared at the Watertribe boy. For said boy time started ticking again. He could feel a blush spread over his cheeks as he realized what he'd just been thinking, and hoped that his brown skin color would hide that damn blush.

"Do you know him, Li?" asked Ponytail Girl.

Zuka muttered something which sounded like 'sorta' and a couple of swear words. Then the princess calmed somewhat. "I'll be right back, Jin."

So now Sokka knew Ponytail Girl actually had a name, but he also had a new problem. A big problem. There was a Fire Nation princess coming his way. And an angry one at that. When Zuka was within reach she grabbed Sokka's arm and pulled him away before he could start protesting. She kept walking until they were away from the animal stays and were out of hearing range so no one would hear them talk. Sokka's back was facing the inner wall and the Fire Princess stood in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Zuka.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" demanded Sokka right back. "Last time I checked this was the last city in the Earth Kingdom where everyone was safe. The last Earth Kingdom city that was firebender-free."

"You think I'm here to conquer this city or something?" The princess was glaring even more now. "Besides, what would I be doing in a zoo of all places, if I wanted to conquer a city?"

"So… you're not trying to conquer Ba Sing Se?" asked Sokka, sounding rather dumb.

Zuka on the other hand felt like facepalming. "No, I'm not." She let out an irritated sigh.

The tan boy looked suspiciously at the seemingly calmer firebender. "Then, what are you doing here?" he asked eventually.

The princess's glare disappeared and her gaze moved to ground. "Haven't you seen the wanted posters?" The princess's voice was soft and sounded kind of… Sokka didn't know if he could trust his ears, but the girl in front of him, the very same girl that had chased them around the globe since they had first found Aang, sounded vulnerable.

"Wanted posters?" Sokka couldn't help but give in to his curiosity, even though he knew Zuka probably wouldn't want to talk about.

The pale girl let out a soft sigh and walked passed Sokka to the wall. Sokka turned around to see her slump to the ground. The girl's back was now resting against the wall while she hugged her knees against her chest. She looked conflicted. Sokka's heart went out to her. He crossed the few feet that separated them and sat down in front of her. He just wanted to tell the girl that she didn't have to say anything if she didn't want to when she started talking.

"They state I'm no longer just an exile, but a traitor." Her voice was just the tiniest bit broken. "That I'm to be captured and delivered to the Fire Lord when anyone sees me. Also that if anyone tries to help me or just lets me go, they'll be declared traitors themselves."

Sokka could only look at the girl in front of him. The princess was shaking just slightly. Unshed tears had formed in her right eye, which she blinked with repeatedly so they wouldn't fall down her face. He didn't know what to say. He hadn't even known she'd been an exile to begin with. Actually, he didn't really know anything about her. For some reason they had never tried to get any information on any of their enemies.

Zuka had calmed down by now, or at least she didn't feel like crying anymore. Her hand went to her eye and quickly rubbed the tears away. "So, what are you doing here?" Her voice was steady again and Sokka found himself thinking that he actually liked her voice when she wasn't yelling. "Are the others of your group her, too?"

"They're here, too." Sokka nodded, but then he hesitated. Should he go any further? Should he have even told Zuka that the boy she'd been chasing was in the very same city as she was? The Watertribe boy looked at her face but could only see curiosity and tiredness on her features. "We lost Appa." said Sokka eventually. The pale girl looked confused. "The bison." was Sokka's explanation. After an understanding nod from the princess Sokka continued. "He was stolen by sandbenders in the Si Wong desert. They told us they sold him to merchants and that by now he should probably be here in Ba Sing Se."

"Is that why you're in a zoo?" asked Zuka with her eyebrows raised slightly.

Sokka blushed, even though he didn't really know why. "No." he muttered. "I guess I was just bored."

"I think I should get back to Jin." Zuka said suddenly. "She's been waiting for a while now and the longer I'll let her wait, the more she'll have to ask about." Zuka stood up and dusted off her clothes.

"Wait!" Sokka stood up quickly. "Wh-where do you live?" he blurted out bluntly.

Zuka's eyes narrowed. "Why do you wanna know? So you can check I'm not plotting anything?" She sounded offended.

"No." Sokka held his hands in the air. "I just thought that…" Sokka trailed of and looked at Zuka, she wasn't glaring anymore. "That maybe we could do an activity together?" Sokka's voice was higher than usual and sounded uncertain. Wait… did he just ask her out on a date? What was his mind thinking?

"An activity?" snorted Zuka.

Some weird part inside of Sokka really liked that sound. And that same part of him made him lean forward and press his lips against the princess's. The teenage boy closed his eyes, put his hands in the girls hair and started moving his lips against hers. Zuka's eyes widened in shock at being kissed. Her hands moved to the boys shoulder to push him away, but instead of doing so she closed her eyes and hesitantly started kissing back. If anyone who knew both of them would see them right now, it probably wouldn't end pretty, but neither of them was currently thinking about that possibility.

After a while the two teens broke apart for air. They were both breathing heavily while trying to catch their breath. Sokka's bleu eyes stared in Zuka's golden ones, which were staring right back. Eventually Zuka broke the silence. "That was… nice." A light blush spread across her face along with a small smile.

Sokka's heart skipped a beat. The princess had a very pretty smile. No, skip that. She had a very beautiful smile. "So what do you say?"

"I work in a tea shop in the lower ring." Sokka found it hard to believe that a princess was working in a tea shop, but didn't say anything and let the girl continue. "It's called Pao's Family Tea House. Just drop by, if you still feel like 'doing an activity' with me that is." She looked past Sokka back to where the zoo was. For a second she looked doubtful before she turned her head back to look at Sokka "I should go back to Jin. Bye." With that she started to walk away.

Sokka grabbed her arm loosely. "See you around." he said with a smile. As he got another small smile out of the girl he let her arm go and watched her walk away.

The tan-skinned teen slowly followed her. He should be heading to the apartment since Toph and Katara would probably be done with their day of girl bonding by now. As he made his way over to the exit he passed Zuka and Jin. The pale girl was blushing slightly and he could hear Jin ask her: "Is he your boyfriend or something?" That only made the pale girl blush even more. Sokka couldn't hear her muttered answer anymore as he walked away, happy with his decision to go to the zoo.

A/N: So, I was looking for some genderbending fics and found there are only a few of those. Then I decided to write my own. I really like the idea of Zuko being female, it at least gives you a lot of new possibilities to write about. For instance a lot of people would go softer on her, something she wouldn't like.

The first thing I think about when picturing Fem!Zuko, is that she would be a crybaby. But then again, Ozai probably also wouldn't like it if his daughter would constantly cry since he still sees it as a sign of weakness. And, of course no child of Ozai is weak. However I still couldn't resist letting Zuka produce some tears. Something she'll completely deny were someone to point that out to her. I hope I portrayed her character well and didn't make her too OOC. Also I hope that I got Sokka's character right.

So this was actually supposed to be a sweet little one-shot with around a 1000 words, but than it became too wild to be tamed and became the double of that. Along with enough ideas to turn this into a multi-chapter. So tell me if you want me to continue this.