The Girl Of Ba Sing Se III
Annnnnd Chapter 3!
Once again:
The Girl of Ba Sing Se
Rating - pg13
Pair - Jin/Zuko
Warning - losta spoilers
Summary: Prince Zuko's mind won't let him forget that judgeless love and he wants it again, at whatever cost.
His fingers gripped the wooden frame tightly, an amber eye looking around the corner of the hallway to the seating area of the tea house.
The sickening weak feeling of nervousness crawled up his spine.
She was sitting at the corner she usually sat at, the one just beneath the sun rays at noon. The one where, if she sat on the right side (which she was, much to his misfortune), her eyes would shimmer beneath those dark silky locks. Her smile was soft…always soft and the steam from her teacup would curl in the air. She looked like a beautiful ghost of Ba Sing Se.
A loud slapping sound rang through the hallway and Zuko gave a very unprince -like yelp to the stinging sensation on his back. Iroh laughed and heartily patted the spot on his nephew’s back he had mistreated seconds before.
“Well what are you doing hiding back here, nephew? “ He asked loudly and Zuko’s face filled with red embarrassed anger.
“Uncle, you-“
“The sun is shining and the tea is great!” The older man chortled. He looked at Zuko with a smile before blinking in confusion. “What has you in such a scowl?”
The boy glanced at the girl only to look away with flushed cheeks when he saw her staring right at him. Probably watching his horrid spying display be found out quite cheerfully.
He raised a hand to tug on his hair before brushing past his Uncle to the kitchen, hopefully there would be many utensils in there to kill himself.
Iroh watched his nephew leave with a shrug, turning to his room full of customers.
She smiled and gave a wave and an evil grin reached his mouth when he realized what his nephew had been hiding from.
“Good afternoon Jin, what are you here for today? Jasmine? Lavender?” He asked.
She shook her head, “Do you have anything on the menu that will escort me to a dinner in the Upper Ring?”
Iroh laughed, “Oh you’re looking for quite an expensive leaf!”
She giggled and blushed, “I was thinking more of Li…”
Iroh leaned to her and winked. “He’s in the back, go give him a scare.”
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“So STUPID!” He exclaimed, his hands in the air. They dragged down his face as he turned to the cupboard, resting his head against it sighing. “Why am I so bad this?” He whispered quietly, his hands coming in front of him.
He made a fist and a flame burst from its clench. “I just want her to like me! I just want her to…to…”
“Li?”
“Jin!” He swung around and quickly extinguished the flame, smoke curling in front of him and perfuming the room. She tilted a head at him and blinked. He waited patiently for a scream of ‘Firebender!’ or even ‘Loser!’ but none came. She seemed to be thinking hard about something when he grew sick of the silence.
“Uh, um--It’s not what it… looks…like?” The Prince’s voice stammered and he ended his statement in a question, making him feel like the ultimate fool. He cursed her and wished she would just disappear.
“Not what what looks like?” She asked and he was surprised to see her smiling. “You’re not a handsome boy brewing tea?”
His mouth formed a small ‘o’ and he blinked twice.
Handsome?
She stepped around the table and he stepped back. She frowned at his nerves, but stayed where she was and sighed. “I was wondering Li… if you would like to go out to dinner tonight.”
His face didn’t change.
“You know, somewhere nice? Perhaps that restaurant I told you about on our tour, the one that sells orange cream cake...” She looked at him hopefully and he felt his chest ache. His hands turned to fists and he wanted to yell at her for making him feel this way. For making him feel.
“I-I-“ He looked at the floor, his brows furrowed in what looked like fury.
“If you don’t want too, that’s alright.” She spoke quietly and despite her smile her eyes were a duller green.
“No!” He retorted and she watched his irritated yell with hope, growing used to his bursts of emotion. “I… would enjoy eating dinner tonight.”
His eyes watched the ever impressive floor as he responded and suddenly he could see the yellow hems of her green dress as she moved closer. A small, soft hand touched his shoulder and he looked up into emerald irises. “Thank you Li.”
Zuko…
He nodded numbly, his gaze flickering from her eyes to her mouth. ‘Is she going to…? Oh Agni…’ He trembled beneath her lazy stare and wet lips. She just had to step up on her delicate toes…her eyes closing. His heart hit his chest and his eyes slammed shut when he shot out from under her. “I’m sorry! I….I have to make tea.” He spouted, darting from the kitchen as his mind screamed in horror.
“Li!”
“Oh neph--nephew?” Iroh asked, watching as Zuko shot out the door. He looked back towards the kitchen to see a distraught Jin in the hallway.
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“Oh Agni! I’m so stupid! She was gonna do it!” He yelled to himself, his mouth scowling and his eyes looking to the sky. He paced back and forth in the abandoned alleyway. “I wanted it for so long and just when she does it, I run like an idiot!”
He face grimaced and he slammed a fist against the wall before leaning into the blow, his frustration dissipating into humiliation. He turned his back on the bricks, sinking to the floor, one leg stretched before him.
“What am I doing?” He murmured softly as he thought of those lips… those eyes. A hand reached to knead his forehead. What am I doing…What am I doing… I should be tracking the Avatar. I should be training, planning to go home… I should be…
“Nephew, there you are!” Iroh called, running forth to stand in front of the miserable Prince, leaning on his knees as he panted.
“What do you want?” Zuko asked, glaring sideways at the dirt. His Uncle frowned at the troubled yellow eyes hiding beneath all that anger.
“You cannot just run away like that nephew, you hurt a lot of people.” Iroh stated, talking about Jin and yet so much more.
The boy stood with force, a hand opening just to grip a fist tightly, “I can run wherever I want to!” He squared his shoulders, standing tall. “Just leave me alone!”
Iroh stood straight and crossed his arms, “No nephew, I will not.” He took a step forward and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, keeping his stern face. “You can’t avoid everything you’re feeling right now. You have to face it.”
Zuko shoved his Uncle’s hand off his shoulder. “I’m not feeling anything!”
Iroh’s face dropped and his hands came up in a pleading way, “Please, nephew, take this time in Ba Sing Se to let go. The Avatar has yet to make it through here; you have a chance to ignore your destiny, to ignore your duties.” Zuko glanced at him and shook his head. “Take this time to see the world from different eyes.”
“How does that help me? How does forgetting my responsibility as the Prince help me?”
Iroh sighed, “It will help you decide whether or not this destiny you are chasing is really what you want.”
“Isn’t it what I always wanted?” Zuko asked, more to himself than to his Uncle, no more than a soft whisper.
“Jin is going to wait for you at the Upper Ring entrance. You made a promise to her Prince Zuko.” Hs Uncle smiled slightly, “I know my nephew is not the type to betray a promise.”
Zuko looked up at him from beneath his brow. “She’s waiting for me?”
Iroh smiled fully now, “I know you’re troubled, but this girl can help you. She wants to spend time with you, to know you.”
Zuko glared, looking away. “She doesn’t even know my name.”
Iroh shook his head, “One does not need to know your name to know you’re a pain in the rear.”
The Prince shot a look at his smiling Uncle. He sighed and a hand rubbed the back of his head. Maybe he did have time to think some things through and maybe he needed that time to sort out a few issues. Jin was changing him, in odd ways, ones that made him irritated and uncomfortable. “I think I hate her Uncle.”
Iroh laughed obnoxiously, his hand holding his stomach. Zuko scowled at him, “I do, I hate her!”
The old man shook his head, “You do not hate her Prince Zuko, you like her very much.”
“She makes me angry and weak. I never know what I’m supposed to do. She makes me feel ridiculous and stupid. She manipulates me to do things I do not want to do.” He fumed.
“So you are going to dinner tonight then?” Iroh asked. The boy shifted, his prideful shoulders sagging. “Yes.”
“Then nephew, you will need something to wear.”
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The school’s library was vast and old. Her shoes clacked on the marble steps, echoing throughout the building. A smile played on her lips as memories flooded her mind from the loving structure, a refuge to a student peasant when times were worse than tough.
The building had been designed by the current King’s father, a tribute to the first graduating class of the University of Ba Sing Se. It was a monument of the growing Earth Kingdom and many scholars across the world came to read its tomes.
She walked towards an elder man shelves books, his high jade hat a sign of his seniority in the library. The clicking of her shoes gave her away and the man turned to her. “Why Jin it is good to see you again.” The man’s brows rose. “And looking so pretty, what is the occasion?”
Jin blushed. “I’m actually meeting someone soon.” Her face grew focused and she looked at him. “But first, I wanted to learn something.”
He bowed, “How may I assist you, my dear?”
“I want to know everything about Firebending.”
The librarian straightened and pushed his glasses back on his nose. “That’s quite a request my dear, a controversial one too. That may take a few days.”
Jin nodded. “I understand, I’m just very interested because my mother…” She trailed off, leaving the librarian to guess for her. She hated lying, but she had to protect him.
“Well, I suppose we should start with history first.”
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“This is degrading.”
“No, this is green.”
‘Exactly.’ Zuko thought with a grimace. “Can’t we have something… less green?” Zuko asked the shop keeper, who looked at him oddly. Iroh scrambled, nudging his nephew.
“Nonsense-this is fine.”
“Well, we do have something black -“
“Yes, whatever it is, we’ll take it.” The Prince stated, excited he didn’t have to walk around in the bright florescent green gown his Uncle was holding. The shopkeeper left through the back curtain.
“Prince Zuko you do not wear black on a date!” Iroh whispered angrily.
Zuko ignored him as the shopkeeper came out holding black attire, a fine silk vest that extended into a front and back panel, separated by a gold sash to match the gold trim. The charcoal colored loose sleeves were long until it hit dark silk cuffs, matching the loose charcoal pants.
He grinned, “It’s perfect.”
Iroh ruffled. “It’s a funeral gown!”
The boy paid nonchalantly while the shopkeeper handed the clothing over, looking awkward. Zuko brushed past his irritable Uncle with a second, “It’s perfect.”
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“…Firebending with dragons until the day when General Iroh killed the last one.”
Jin nodded numbly at the librarian’s voice as she scanned the pages of various tomes, her student mind had awoken and she began searching for something. For what she wasn’t sure, but she would know when she saw it. ‘Calming yourself, exhaling and balancing your breath, that’s what Firebending is about. It’s all based on your emotions, finely tuned to your emot-‘
The tome slipped through her fingers, unrolling on the table.
A fading ink painting was drawn on the dusty parchment. The general colors of red, grey and yellow spilled into the lines, creating a formal family portrait. The man was big, but not in a big way. He nearly took up half the page, just from the air he held himself. He was glaring at her, with liquid hatred framed by long tendrils of hair. Shaking her head she looked to the woman, her thin lips a line that to Jin, looked sad. She was beautiful and her hair was a faded black, appearing grey. In fact her whole form looked ghostly.
Below the woman was a young girl that she assumed was her daughter. She had to be, because she had her mother’s lips and nose, but her father’s cruel eyes. Finally, next to his sister was a young boy, his face a spitting image of his mother in every way. From his chin to his sad face. He looked awkward and lost beneath his father, sitting straight and proud without pride. Their clothes were filled with shades of red, so the boy’s eyes stood out in the painting, shooting straight into her soul.
His amber eyes…those…eyes…
“Who is this?”
The librarian looked over at her, shifting his glasses. “That is the current Firelord Ozai and his wife Ursa. Their youngest daughter Azula is leading Ozai’s armies as we speak.”
Her voice wavered, “And the boy?”
“The exiled Prince… Zuko. I believe.”
“Exiled?”
“He lost a degrading battle of Agni Kai to his father at thirteen, whom banished him. I think he is still of Fire Nation and last I heard of him he was searching for the Avatar to reinstate his position. But that was half a year ago….” The librarian shifted through the book of Firelords. “I think former general Iroh is with him.”
“His Uncle…” Jin answered with her breath whooshing out at the words.
“Yes, Ozai’s older brother.”
Her finger traced the boy’s face, stopping to cover his left cheek. Jin felt her eyes sting as the image blurred before her. “Prince Zuko…”
A tear hit the painting and a ripping sound interrupted the librarians reading as he watched her tear the painting from its tome. “Jin! What are you-“
“I’m sorry! I must have this!” She exclaimed, grabbing the other small book of Firebending and racing out of the library in a flurry of beautiful robes and shedding tears. Jin shut her eyes tightly and slipped the paper in the book, shoving it up her sleeve pocket.
“Li…”
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Zuko ran a shaking hand through his hair, exhaling steadily. He leaned against the great stone gateway of the Upper Ring, the two guards regarding him warily. He had already tried reminding them that he had been through here not two days before, but once they raised their swords he backed off.
The sun was almost down and he was starting to get worried, then again he wouldn’t know it because it was hidden in anger.
“Where is she?” He asked quietly, clenching his fists at his sides. She had probably cried home, when he ran from her, finally deciding he wasn’t worth her time. His face soured at the thought, hating her for giving up on him. How could she? What did he do wrong?
Or she had simply forgotten about him. This thought turned his insides from anger to pain.
Or she could be hurt, he imagined and his hands felt sweaty. She could be lying in a ditch somewhere, bleeding. His heart thudded against his chest and he was about to turn and take off toward her home and make sure she was--
“Oh, Li!” He watched in awe as she came striding up to him in a delicate white gown. The dress was pure and clean, trimmed in gold and falling behind her feet. The sleeves beneath the robe were a sheer material, suggesting her pale arms beneath it. Her face was dusted by her brown bangs, the rest of her hair tucked in a bun adorned by a white dragon lily. His white dragon lily.
His face grew hot and red. “Ji-ji-you…you look… I mean…I-“
Jin smiled politely at him, tilting her head. “Thank you?”
His hand tugged at his already messy hair. “I-I mean you…” His eyes shut and he tried to compose himself, tried to bring back the confidence of a prince. He coughed in his nervous hand and looked straight at her. “I mean, you look very beautiful. “
It was her turn to blush and when she did, Zuko felt his chest constrict.
He eyed her face again, when he noticed the red rim around her eyes and her puffy nose. “Are you alright?” He asked, his concern moving him in front of her to grab her shoulder.
Jin looked up at Li, no, she looked up at Zuko and her eyes grew sad. The run to meet him here was the fastest, hardest time she had ever thought about something besides her parents’ death. She had to decide what to do with her Li, her exiled prince. And she did.
“Has someone hurt you?” He asked urgently and she tasted the first tone of his worry, his protection.
She smiled and shook her head. “No, no I’m okay. I just fell a little while ago.”
She was a terrible liar, but he let it slip at that smile, that wonderful smile meant just for him.
“Ready?” She asked, giving him her elbow and he stared confused, before nodding and taking it slowly.
‘Please Zuko, for once, don’t screw this up…Just have this one perfect night.’
Acutally not chapter II, its three and I dont feel like changing the cut XD