Hyellow! Thanks for all of the support and ideas guys, I'll be checking them out as the story progresses!

I'd like to apologize in advance to those who want to see a skip to Zuko's banishment, but you guys were outvoted 2:1, so in a few more chapters we'll get to that. Everyone else wants to see character development as well as fluff. A lot of fluff.

NOTES.

1 - This chapter is heavily focused on Mai, with both chunks of flashbacks belonging to her as a child.

I seriously enjoyed writing her, since I resemble her in both looks as well as being very sarcastic and cynical in real life.

I portrayed her as even more of an apathetic person while she's a child, and made her parents choose out her life for her, leading to her to be such an emotionless person since she never gets to do what she wants.

She also hates social interaction, just like me, except her skin isn't all sorts of fucked up, but that's another story.

2 – Also in this chapter, Amaterasu Naruto makes a brief appearance in a flashback. He really doesn't like people who fucks with his pseudo-family.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this fourth chapter, pumped out in a lovely timespan of six hours in two days.

So, yeah. This chapter covers mostly about how Mai ticks, as well as a continuation of the 2 nd chapter.

Please enjoy, and don't forget to leave a review telling me how you felt about this chapter.


"Like a match already dim and damp, your mind snuffs out." - Naruto


LOCATION: Royal Fire Nation Academy for Boys and Girls

CLASSROOM: 2A


A tiny Mai sighed as the teacher slid the 'introduction to class' paper onto her table before moving on. Pulling out the pencil she had in her plain and drab case, Mai stared at the paper before making her move.

It was a new year in school, the first day in fact, and good grief was it boring.

How repetitive. Every day, the same thing, again and again. Automatically, she picked up her pencil and began filling out her name, then her class, the date. Things she had done over a thousand times in the same neat hand-writing. Honestly, why even bother writing her name? The teacher already knew her hand-writing, everyone did. The girl could write in a monotonous font, a feat very difficult to achieve by her peers. Anyone who didn't like to read books themselves would already fall asleep just by reading her name alone. That was how boring, if not neat, her hand writing was.

She glared at the seat in front of her as a crushed paper ball soared from behind her and hit the boy sitting next to her, chuckles coming from the person who tossed the piece of rubbish.

'Amateurs.' The boy who had been hit, Mai recalled his name as something that went along the lines of, Shu, quietly cried indignantly before he tossed the ball back in a childish form of retaliation, a grin on his face as it made an arc that would have hit his intended target. Mai rolled her eyes and tossed her pencil behind her shoulder, piercing the ball in mid-air, stabbing it with extreme prejudice before it dropped to the ground.

If that paper ball had been alive, it certainly wasn't now.

Both boys gulped before turning back to their work, silently hoping that the stoic girl wouldn't get pissed off at them again, and aim at them instead.

The class knew about her prowess with throwing weapons, in a school densely populated by Fire Benders, Mai had picked up the useful skill out of boredom and in order to show her non-existent bullies –there was a reason why they didn't exist, y'know- that she wasn't some defenseless little girl her parents portrayed her as.

Oh, her parents, what wonderful people. They were the reason she had become so... bleak. A victim of her father's political aspirations since early childhood, Mai would later on, in the future, confess about her past to her crush during their afternoon talks that she got anything she wanted from her parents so long as she was quiet, well-mannered and perfectly behaved. Such a way of life had been so deeply ingrained in her; she nearly forgot what emotions she even used as a child before she turned apathetic. But after meeting the blonde idiot she would come to love in the future, expensive and immaterial items that didn't do anything to her in the slightest now and forever had nothing on Naruto, who got the girl to feel like she used to, all the while keeping her snarky attitude.

Ignoring her thoughts, neatly organising them and filing them back into the 'parents' category, she turned back to the first question. Time had slipped her and her classmates seemed to already be ahead of her. Scratching was heard through the silent class as her peers did what they were assigned to do, quietly filled out the piece of paper filled to the brim with meaningless questions, and when completed and handed up to the teacher, would probably be incinerated without even being read. Lifting her head up and looking to the front of the class, it was clear that the teacher didn't even care about the class, with his legs propped up on the top of the table and his chair leaning backwards, eyes nearly shut and nearly drifting off to sleep.

She sighed, shaking her head before looking back at the paper.

'What would you like to do when you grow up'. Dear Agni, how dull. She would be doing this again and again for the next few years, why in the Spirits was she even in school? She knew everything, aced every test and was practically the smartest girl of their grade, and the next, and the one after that and then the one after that. Basically, the school was full of incompetent fools who were by far no means 'on her level' and very much slower than she was at absorbing knowledge.

Mai was prepared to write a snarky comment that would make the teacher think twice before giving her another slip of paper containing such a stupid question. Grabbing another pencil since her last one was currently buried deep into a paper ball, she placed it on the start, just above the lines. She pressed her pencil against the paper, feeling the paper rub against the lead. And just as she was about to begin a whole paragraph that would rip the teacher's pride apart just from reading it, she paused and looked conflicted for a moment.

Taking the question seriously and into consideration for a second, Mai set her lips into a thin line before breathing deeply. The lead of her pencil slid up and down, leaving behind a trail of black, performing the task neatly and efficiently like an animatronic, a machine, one incapable of positive emotions. She was the tin man from that silly story her mother told her before the woman turned power-hungry like everyone in the damned country, searching for something else entirely instead of a real heart.

Closing her eyes, Mai felt incredibly stupid for what she was doing, trying to ignore the entirety of her that was telling her to stop, berating her for what she was doing, something so moronic. It was an act many others her age would do while blowing out a candle or seeing a shooting star, one she considered to rank amongst Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, make-believe bullshit to fool children into making dumb decisions and poor life choices... Wishing. She supposed it couldn't hurt just to try it out.

"Time's up! Please hand your sheets up to the front." Placing her pencil down, she slid the paper out from the table top, watching as for the first time, she only completed a single question instead of filling every single one with confidence-shattering words, words that could make a grown man cry. Instead, she merely filled out the first question, ignoring the rest, in the form of five words.

Five words that would never be read by anyone ever because, as she predicted with extreme precision, the papers were later incinerated by the teachers, just like every unimportant piece of paper that ever came into contact with her.

'I want to be happy.'


TIMESKIP TO: MAI WAS AT AZULA'S SIXTH BIRTHDAY PARTY.

LOCATION: Underneath the willow tree, hiding from being befriended by complete and total morons from people of her age group.


Underneath the willow tree, Mai took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. What was wrong with her?

Ever since she had written that stupid answer to that damn test she just couldn't get this... this heaviness off of her. It annoyed her to no end, how she, as a child genius, was being troubled. This feeling had made her think about her life so far and what was in store for her. If it was even possible, she became even more apathetic because of the stupid answer she gave, questioning what she had to live for.

Had life escaped her so easily? Once everything was filled in colours, all things bright and beautiful, and now, everything was monochrome, dreary and dead.

She'd think that she'd be happy with everything she had ever wanted handed to her on a silver platter... Oh, so that was the reason she was so apathetic, lifeless.

Mai grabbed her weapon of choice, custom stilettos made for throwing, from the gauntlet on her arm that was hidden by her baggy sleeves, chucking one at the snail shell that sat at the top of a rock with a quick flick of her wrist.

The tiny metal pike travelled through the air, cutting through the wind, unhindered by anything. Piercing the shell, it travelled further, getting stuck in the dirt. Frowning, she wished she could be like that. But it was much too late. Locked and buried were her emotions and the key tossed into the sea of requests her parents pushed upon her, leaving her no time to answer.

If only...

'When daddy's friends come over I want you to greet them, can you do that honey?'

She'd...

'Honey, be silent and daddy will buy you whatever you want, okay? The meeting is important.'

Just...

'Go and befriend the princess darling, it'll be good for the family.'

Listened...

'I know we didn't ask for your opinion, but we hired you a tutor, darling. It's for the best.'

To...

'Can you-'

Herself...

'Dear, do me a favour-'

'BREATHE!'

Mai's eyes widened and she gasped hard, coughing furiously. She had been so lost in her anger; she had forgotten to even breathe. Regaining her breath, she closed her eyes and calmed her heart down, wiping her forehead of the tiny beads of sweat she had gained during her anger-induced trance.

Years ago, she used to be... normal... Now... Now she was just this... broken girl who just couldn't feel anymore. Joy was an alien to the girl and when she could even feel other emotions, they were faint and empty, nothing but a husk of what they used to be.

This was her life, she supposed, to be alone forever, unable to even bother holding a conversation with people her age due to her thinking they were all but Neanderthals, her gloomy aura, and even if they could stand that, she still had a back-up of constant cynicism, sarcastic humour and a depressing outlook on everything. Grabbing another stiletto, she angrily tossed it. The pike speared a falling leaf, dead centre, pinning it against the wood of a bench overseeing the koi pond.

"Good shot." A voice came to her left. Without even blinking, Mai twisted her wrist and released one of her weapons into her hand, the sharp stick on the throat of her speaker in an instant, "Oh, she's fast. What do you think, Azula?" The voice now sounded amused.

"I don't think killing royalty will do you any good." Said another voice. Mai frowned before she blinked twice. She then realised that her wrist had been caught by another person, following her arm to the offending hand on her wrist, she met the eyes of adashing boy with spiky and shaggy yellow hair. He was the one who had spoken first, an amused smile on his face. Then her eyes went to the second voice and saw the face of the (in)famous Azure Princess.

"Nice to meet you," She smiled as Naruto gently pulled the weapon out of her hand, ensuring to disarm her, before slowly releasing her hand. "As you already know, I'm Princess Azula, and this is Naruto. Say, would you like to be friends?"


Two hours later and Naruto was sitting next to Mai, Azula excusing herself a little while ago to tell the guests that the party was over. And that it was time to leave... before she burnt someone.

Surprisingly, Mai felt the emotion she thought were lost to her rise up when she spoke to Azula and Naruto. At first sceptical, Mai soon found out that Azula had a sharp tongue and a brilliant, cunning mind, while Naruto was nicer than the princess was, but equally as smart, if not a little clueless sometimes. She enjoyed their company because they weren't blubbering simpletons who tripped and fumbled around in their ignorance, trying to use words that they didn't even know of or, in general, weren't like the people she was so used to.

But Naruto was the one, the first Fire Bender that didn't look down upon her just because she wasn't able to bend like so many others did. In fact, he actually found the fact that she could use throwing weapons to be very impressive and had, astonishingly, asked for lessons in order to improve his arsenal of skills. Azula had jabbed a few time at her inability to bend, but a few looks from Naruto stopped that, the girl looking way unhappily. Mai easily figured that the princess had a thing for the handsome boy, and could understand why.

"Hey, Mai, you wanna go get something to eat with Azula and me later? Three's a party, y'know."

"I don't..." She paused, eyes wide as her inner Mai began scrolling through her neatly arranged memories before pulling out two specific ones.


'I want to be happy.'


If only she'd just listen to herself...


"I... I..." Naruto looked at her, patiently awaiting her answer. And it came in the form of a tiny, minute smile came onto her face when she had made her decision.

"I think I'd like that."

"Cool," He grinned, "Follow me to the palace's kitchen, I'm cooking tonight." He waggled his eyebrows proudly and the younger girl smirked.

"What're you making?"

"Homemade special ramen, food fit for kings," Then he looked unsure as he pulled her up off the grass, the afternoon sun bathing the world in orange, "Although, Lord Ozai disagrees with that statement," Naruto shrugged, the girl smiling at his words, "But what does he know. He's just a grumpy old man."

That night, as the trio slurped up bowls of delicious ramen, she realised that she had achieved what she had wrote down on that stupid piece of paper. The stupid piece of paper that had her figure out what she wanted for herself and not what her parents wanted for her.

She became happy, for once in a long, long time.


TIMESKIP TO END OF CHAPTER 2.

LOCATION: PALACE BALLROOM, AZULA'S 11 th BIRTHDAY PARTY


In the midst of the palace's ballroom, the princess's birthday was going splendidly. Guest did what they did best and tried to outshine each other with large and magnificent gifts to the princess, each trying to show their family's wealth in a contest that the teen had no care of. Brown-nosing was so common in the Fire Nation it was practically a wide spread disease amongst the rich and, surprisingly, the poor. All tried to get on the good side of the prince and the princess, hoping to be lucky enough to be invited to live in the palace with her like the two lucky girls, she considered her best friends, did.

Alas, if brown-nosing was ever fatal, it would have wiped out more than a third of the entire population of the Great Red.

"No, seriously Ty Lee, how in the name of Agni did you afford these?" Azula stuck her hand out, showing her the four crimson tickets bordered with a gold trim. Ty Lee bit her lower lip and began looking like she was thinking hard. "No offence," She said, knowing that Naruto would admonish her kindly if she didn't be nice on her birthday, "But I know very well that you can't afford these..." She paused, looking confused, "Wait, where are you getting money from anyways?"

"Oh! Naruto gives me part of his pay check," Azula sighed. Spirits damn that boy. "And I remember!" She hopped up into the air as she cheered; glad that she could recall the reason she had even gotten them in the first place. Mai slapped her forehead. Honestly, Ty Lee was so clever, yet so scatter-brained, that she could literally be fooled into doing anything if you could subtly manipulate her natural kindness. She seriously worried for Ty Lee at times, hoping that some sicko wouldn't trick her best friend into doing something disgusting. Agni knew that the girl would do it without a second thought if it meant 'helping' people. Also, she made a mental note to check if Ty Lee's brain had any holes in it that gave her short term memory.

Ty Lee nodded to herself, grinning. "A silly old grandpa gave them to me." Mai looked uncertain and slightly angered.

"And he didn't do... anything to you? Or ask for anything?" She asked with narrowed eyes. Let it be said that the girl had really grown on Mai, and the apathetic girl had considered Ty Lee to be equivalent to that of an annoying little sister, but a sister nevertheless. Azula was her fraternal twin sister that, despite not looking alike, shared the same level of intelligence, if not differing by at least a few one digit numbers, as well as being able to use the same level of sarcastic, sardonic humour that could obliterate a grown man's pride completely.

The acrobat looked at Mai before shaking her head.

"Nope, nope, nope!" Then her head tilted to the side, making her look very much like a lost, but very elated, puppy. "He did say some bad things to me though, words that Azula uses all the time!" The princess looked aghast for a moment as some of the guests for her birthday turned to her with a questioning look. The girl faced them and gave a polite, but fake, smile and waved their concerns off, sending them off to the table that held a mountain of mouth-watering food, an array of expensive alcohols and delicacies not found in the Fire Nation.

Harshly, she whispered back to Ty Lee, "I do not!"

"Yeah, you totally do." Ty Lee wagged a finger and Azula tried to reach out and break the finger off of her hand, "You called me a man-snatcher when I asked Naruto out to fish fire-fishies."

"Tch," She hissed, clearly annoyed by the incident when Naruto had left the palace with a smiling Ty Lee in tow, saying that he was going to go fishing with the ex-circus entertainer. "I never did that. Don't put words I never..." She corrected herself. As she did so, Mai managed a tiny smirk, "... have yet to say in my mouth."

"What's in your mouth?"

"Aah!" Azula squealed as Naruto appeared behind her, a confused look on his face. Blushing up a storm, the princess stomped hard on his foot.

"Aaah-Ow!" He howled, hopping on one foot while his hands massaged his just stepped on foot, the guests giving the hopping boy amused looks, Why'd you do that 'Zula-chan?!" He wailed.

"Oh drop the act you big dum-dum. Besides, don't blame for you scaring me. I just reacted naturally." The princess folding her arms up, looking away haughtily to hide her blush. How embarrassing, making such a fearful noise in front of Naruto. Gah, if trying to win Naruto's affection was a game, she was sure that she had been deducted two points by the referee.

He looked horrified than in pain at this point, "You paused for a second before deciding to step on my foot!"

"Exactly." She smirked, "Naturally."

Then Naruto sported a mischievous look on his face, "I suppose it was fair that you stepped on my foot for scaring you, at least could hear you make such a cute noise." Or maybe gain two points?

Unable to take his answer as a compliment, she set herself up for another pit-fall, losing another two points.

"I – will - kill - you." She spoke through grit teeth. The points floated away as she shook her fist at him, the imaginary referee rolling his eyes at Azula's ability to get angry easily. Naruto didn't take it too seriously though, choosing to laugh about it.

"Sure, sure, Azula-chan." He waved away her threat before reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a sleek black box, that looked like it could fit a pair of chopsticks, shined brightly under the chandelier's white light. Ebony wood that had been polished finely and then coated with a special kind of resin, fibreglass, to ensure that it wouldn't break if struck. The girls looked very interested at this point, with Azula's eyes being wide open.

She really hoped that it wasn't chopsticks. I mean, she could use it to eat food with or as an accessory to hold up her hair if she tied it up into a bun... Or she could stab someone with it... But, y'know, chopsticks weren't exactly a good birthday gift.

"Here, I made this for you. Well, not the box, I provided the wood for that." He opened the case and Azula looked very surprised at the inside. Sitting on a bed of black silk, a black string was threaded through a small blue bead the colour of his eyes, what appeared to be a piece of jade, which was then was topped off with another blue bead. Ty Lee had her cheeks in her hands and was squealing excitedly for Azula. Despite being a competitor for Naruto, she couldn't help but feel happy for Azula, who seemed to really like the gift if her dropped jaw was anything to go by. Mai had the same sentiments and was smiling softly at Azula's face. Make no mistake, she was pretty jealous, but she knew that Naruto would do the same for her and Ty Lee on their birthdays as well.

"This is what I made for you, as a birthday gift. This is what I found on Ember Island the last time we went. I kind of picked it up and grinded it down to this size then polished it." She looked up, awestruck into his smiling visage. "It's so that I'll always be with you, even when I'm not." Using one hand, he gently removed the necklace and shut the box, slipping it back into his pocket for now. Moving to Azula, he carefully unclasped the necklace before pausing.

"Do I have the permission to give the princess her gift?" She held her head down and spoke softly, the redness burning hard in her cheeks.

"Y-Yes... Yes, you do." His wrists brushed across her neck and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Goosebumps began forming on her skin as his fingers rubbed the nape of her pale, turning red, skin, clicking the necklace in place on her. Removing his hands, he admired how the necklace looked on Azula, sitting above her growing bosom.

"Happy eleventh birthday Azula-chan," He said quietly, "You like it?" Azula traced her fingertips above the gem, smiling unconsciously.

"Yeah, I-I love it." She truly did. Utterly touched by the gift, she hugged Naruto and Ty Lee cheered, whooping loudly. Mai snorted, but still smiled. She knew what her 'fraternal twin' had gone through in her life so far: losing her mother that she had recently reconnected with. She supposed that Azula could have her moment.

Losing Ursa was a huge blow to the girl, her father apparently feeling that Ursa had gotten much too close to her had finally banished her for treason and assassination of the previous Fire Lord, Azulon. Of course, none of them knew that he had really done so due to Azula and Ursa's bridges being rebuilt, not to mention the fact that she could poison him like she did his father.

Azula hadn't been awake when Ursa left, but was sure that she had stopped by her room seeing as her door was slightly ajar. Ursa had also been to Naruto's room briefly before moving on to Zuko's room, and she had awoken him. She reminded him of her true, strong motherly love and told him to always remember who he was, no matter how things seemed to change. Then she fled from the Fire Nation, branded as a traitor.

Ozai had known that Ursa had been sending letters to her old hometown, Hira'a, trying to contact her old childhood sweetheart Ikem. It was a pity that none of them ever reached the place. Ursa's trusted messenger had betrayed her, giving the letters to Ozai, whom she feared greatly. Ozai's assassin for Ikem had lost the man in the Forgetful Valley, where he was assumed to have perished on his own.

But Ursa had also known that Ozai was intercepting her letters, and when she was banished for killing Azulon, had informed Naruto after visiting her daughter that she was leaving and had given him an idea on who betrayed her, the old woman Elua, and she had even begged that he take care of her babies. He promised he would and the woman thanked him with a motherly hug. He assured the

Naruto had ensured that Elua had been rightly punished for betraying the First Lady of the Fire Nation before she was cast out.

It was technically treason, considering Elua had betrayed her whilst she was still part of the Royal Family, despite the woman working on Ozai's order. Betrayal was betrayal, no matter who allowed it.

If Ursa leaving wasn't bad enough, it got even worse for Azula. After months of helping their relationship get better, the old woman had broken Ursa's bridge from connecting to Azula's. The girl was stricken with grief, looking very detached from the world of the living when she awoke to find her mother missing, retreating back into her room, hiding under her sheets. It had taken a lot of coaxing to bring Azula out from under the blankets, and even more hugs and comforting words to get her to release her sadness.

Well, to Naruto it was. And seeing as how the boy saw the kind woman as family, and how the old traitor hurt his family, he made sure that Elua took an... indefinite vacation.


Flashback


The night was young, moonbeams breaking through the slightly ajar window of the upper floors to the servant's quarters, illuminating the bookshelf that was currently missing a book and the stool beside it. A figure sat in it, back leaned against the bookshelf, a book in his hand, reading it. He flicked a page slowly, the sound of paper rubbing against paper filled the room. Looking away as he heard the rushed footsteps going up the stone steps, fear in every step as they headed straight for the room they were currently in, hoping to get a good night's sleep, he assumed. He snapped the book shut like a clam with one hand and slid the book back into the shelf where he had originally taken it from. He didn't want to move things from their original places,would be rather suspicious that something she had no reason to touch was out of place was there? The burst open and an old woman stumbled inside.

Ah. Just the person he was looking for.

"Hello, Elua." He spoke politely and smiled, "Pleasant night isn't it?" The old woman spun around fast for her age, staring in shock at the teen boy in her room.

"Na-Naruto? What are you doing in my room?!" The old woman asked rather irritably. Her emotions were haywire right now, frayed from betraying the woman that trusted her and from being afraid of the man who now held the title of Fire Lord, everything at the moment was really getting to the old woman.

"Well, a mama bird told me a little secret... And I want to know some things."

She gulped heavily, hoping that he wasn't implying what he was implying, "W-What do you mean?" His eyes lost the mirth they usually held.

"Why, exactly, did you betray Ursa?"

"I-I have n-no idea what you're talking about." She mumbled to the boy sitting in the stool, "Now if you'd please-"

"Why do you insist on lying to me? You know the truth, so tell me alllll about it, would you?"

"You-You don't understand!" She protested, giving herself away to him before he had even spoken out what he wanted to do, "I-I was ordered to do so! I have to listen to Lord Ozai! H-He's the king, but I'd ne-never willingly betray Lady Ursa!"

"True. He might be the king, but the thing is... I never voted for him." He stood up slowly, like a panther, ready to seize his prey. His teeth were unnerving, his canine fangs looking like those of a fox with the sickening smile he had on his face. He continued, slowly stalking towards the wide eyed and wrinkled woman. He waved his hand as she tried talking, an annoyed look on his face.

"Everything else you have to say is inconsequential to me, all of them unimportant. Lady Ursa already informed me of everything. She didn't specifically say that it was you who had betrayed her or asked for your punishment, but it was very obvious-" He gestured to the pile of opened letters on the table. "-that you had done it."

He paused before looking at her shaking form, "And can you guess what the cost for treason is? Here's the answer: Capital punishment, death."

"No!" She begged, "Please, you have to understand. Ozai would have-"

"You fear Ozai?" Naruto spat at the woman, "Tch, you should have feared me more." His fists lit up, but instead of the orange she had seen him bend before, ebony began rippling out from under his pores, a glow of darkness covering the room. Fatigue kicked her in the face and her knees buckled from the aura his flames radiated.

"Come now, don't you want to run?" He cackled, "The door's right there! Go! Run free! Run from the monster!" Abruptly, his laughter stopped as he stared emptily at her quivering form, "No? Well, alright, suit yourself."

"Wh-W-What?-" The woman stuttered at the sight of the boy's black flames. What she had felt from Ozai hadn't been fear.

This was fear.

"As someone who never had a family, as an orphan, do you know how much I absolutely hate people that were the ones to break them apart in the first place? A lot. A whole fuckin' lot. You're not the first, and you won't be the last."

Unable to move, eyes glued to his flickering forearms. It was pure evil in a physical state, licking the very air in the room. Breathing was made ten times difficult, from either the flames or the fact that the woman was hyperventilating very fast. As the stygian fire travelled up his wrists, he continued talking, undeterred by the fact that black flames were in his possession.

"Don't worry though," He spoke in a placating voice, her hopes going up as they heard his next words, "Since you wished it so badly, I can assure you that you're not in any form of trouble with Ozai." Then he began walking again, her rasping gasps getting louder and louder as the charcoal coloured flames neared.

"Unfortunately, you're in trouble with me," At this point, they were up to his shoulders, flames that made her sweat cold, "And this is just for taking away the mother of the heir, Crown Prince Zuko and the next in line for the throne, Princess Azula." His voice echoed in her head as his immolated fingertips neared her forehead.

The fingertip touched her forehead, sizzling as it breached her wrinkled skin. She couldn't scream, the agony overwhelming her body from just a single touch. The pain caused her eyes to roll to the back of her head, but she was still alive and conscious, able to feel every second of her brain being set alight, unable to just die.

If she wasn't feeling the guilt already, she certainly was feeling the guilt from betraying Ursa now.

"I'll wash your guilt away." He met bone, her ivory skull blackening beneath his immolated fingertip. "This should put your mind at... ease."

And then his finger pierced her skull.


Ozai stared at the tower that was engulfed in orange flames, his soldiers doing their best to put it out by sucking the energy it produced into their bodies. Soon enough, the fire was out, but it was much too late. Elua was missing and everything she had in the tower was scorched. Ozai supposed that she had tried to escape from the nation due to the guilt of betraying Ursa, burning everything to get rid of the evidence. But to him, she was just another loose end that needed to be taken care of without him having to dirty his hands.

"Commander," The man beside him saluted, "Get me General Shinu, I want one of the Yuyuan Archers to hunt for someone."


Naruto tossed the woman's body into the ditch he had made and began burying the lifeless body up. Muttering softly to himself, he gave the corpse one last parting statement.

"And eye for an eye, a life destroyed for a destroyed life." He sniffed uncaringly, shovelling more dirt into the quickly filling pit. "Perhaps you'll learn something in the next life."

"Never fuck with my family." He tossed the last shovelful of dirt onto the burial ground, patting it down with the face of the shovel. There, good as new. Whistling, he walked back to the palace, shovel on his shoulder.

As Azula once said to him, 'Whoever said revenge wasn't sweet, was probably an Air Bender'. He'd have to agree with that statement.


FLASHBACK END


"-Ruuuutoooo~! Naaaarutoooo~!"

He blinked, breaking out of the memory. Ty Lee was right in his face, smiling happily as she called out to him in cheerful whispers.

"So? So? So? Are you coming with? Pleeeaaase, come with! Come with!" She grinned and Naruto chuckled at her adorableness. What people would find annoying and irritating about Ty Lee after being with her for a while never occurred with Naruto. He truly did enjoy her presence, much like she enjoyed his.

"Go wher-?" A ticket was shoved into his face, his blue eyes crossing to look at it. It was Ty Lee's present for Azula, and each of the girls held onto a ticket, his being the final one, "Oh, okay. Sure, I thought you'd want to bring Zuko along instead of me." Azula snorted.

"Zuko's... preoccupied right now." She jabbed her manicured thumb to the incoming boy who was being followed, harassed, by crowds of girls. The boy sped past Azula's clique screaming, looking very terrified as he passed them. The guests separated for the boy and the horde of girls chasing him, looking very amused. Luckily Ozai wasn't here right now, or else he would have given the boy a good dressing down for acting so improper.

"Will you marry me, Zuko?"

"AAAAAHHHHH! NARUTO, SAVE MEEEEEEE!" His voice slowly faded away as he ran down a deserted pathway, out of the ballroom, his fan girls in tow.

"Zuko, show us your Firebending skills!"

"Zuko! Will you sign my-" They vanished down the hallway, the girls laughing at various levels while Naruto chuckled at the Prince's predicament.

"Alright ladies, if we want to get to this place, let's get packing."

Azula held her hand out, stopping him in his tracks. "Wait, father hasn't allowed us to go at all." She spoke, an eyebrow raised as she waited for his answer to that.

Naruto paused, a thoughtful look on his face while the girls looked at him, awaiting his answer. Finally, he shrugged, "Eh, we'll just say Zhao gave us permission to go."

Ty Lee grinned, "Fine by me!" She put her hands on her hips, pointing at Naruto's face, "You'd best beware Naruto, 'cos I'm going to bring my cutest bikini!" Her face was set into a determined one, wanting to make her crush bleed furiously from his nose when he got a sight of her cute Fire-Ferret bikini.

"I'll be the judge of that." He joked, chuckling, not knowing that that the other two girls had taken him seriously. Azula and Mai's eyes both twitched together as they glared at Ty Lee then at each other.

They would be the ones bringing the cutest/sexiest bikinis!


Er, notes: I will be expanding on Azula's reaction to Ursa leaving in the next chapter. And maybe I'll touch up on either one of these, you tell me which one you want to see.

2) Naruto's backstory, time he spends with Piandao and Fat in isolation from society.

3) Maybe a date? For either Mai or Ty Lee. Azula has too much screen time in the story so far, IMO.

4) Other stuff.

If you pick one, but the other isn't picked, it'll eventually happen in the chapters to come.

Thanks once again for all the reviews and support you've given me, I sincerely hope you enjoyed the chapter.

- Urethane