It didn't take Hyo very long to realise that Kouji had grown inexplicably uncomfortable around him.  The boy jumped at the slightest unexpected noise — which was pretty much all the time; Hyo had been given the nickname noisebender because he made no sound when he moved — and watched him suspiciously during training. Finally, after three nights of this, Hyo held up his hand to stop Kouji's latest exercise.

"This has gone on long enough," the Dai Li agent said.  "What in the world is bothering you, boy?"

The young colonist blinked, staring up at him.  The silence dragged on for awhile, then the boy said softly, "I was talking to Zuko…"

Instantly Hyo got a sinking feeling.  What had the princess told her brother?

…slag.

He waited, however, for the boy to be willing to tell him.

A minute became two minutes, and two four, until finally Kouji whispered, "He said you brainwash people.  That you might have brainwashed him."

Hyo said a very rude word then, one he had chastised his nephew for using a number of times.  Kouji just stared at him, waiting for a reply.

Finally, the man said, "What do you want me to tell you?  Did we brainwash him?  I don't know.  I refuse to have anything to do with—"

"But you do brainwash people!" Kouji accused.

Hyo rubbed his forehead.  "Yes, but—"

That was all the boy needed to hear.  Before Hyo could finish his sentence, the boy fled.

Hyo repeated his earlier blasphemy.

*          *          *

Zuko glared out the window at the lightning. Since the storm started, he'd begun and given up on four scrolls and a card game, put out and relit every candle in the room six times, and worn a path across the carpet from pacing.

Kouji, curled up in a corner across the room from the prince, just watched him bleakly.  He hadn't seen Hyo since running out on him two nights before, and he was afraid to so much as look at a rock lest the Dai Li agent out him as an earthbender.  A scroll lay open on the floor in front of him, but he'd given up on that several minutes ago.

A few seconds more of snarling at nature, then Zuko took up making his path again.

Kouji shook his head and stared at his scroll again, then rolled it up.  At least the literature in Ba Sing Se had been more interesting, even if Iroh had had to get them for him.

Uncle…

The boy curled even tighter and closed his eyes, wishing fervently that he could see the old man, ask him for advice about his current situation.  Impossible; Zuko had already told him why he couldn't. 

From the faint snap-hiss noises, the prince was going through the candles again. After less than five seconds of this, Kouji heard a very vulgar muffled word from the older boy.  That's a new one, Kouji thought, and memorised it.

"Is there anything we could do?" he asked, to try and distract Zuko.

"Other than what we've done already? Not without either getting into trouble or looking like idiots. Or both," Zuko replied sullenly, peeling fast-cooling wax off his hand.

"And I've already seen as much of the palace as I'm permitted," Kouji sighed.  He tugged his hair free of the phoenix tail, letting it fall loose past his shoulders.  He would need to get it trimmed soon, if only to keep his tutors from sniping at him.

"Yeah." Zuko threw himself into one of the chairs and tried to re-interest himself in one of the scrolls he'd dropped. Less than thirty seconds later, he threw it at the wall. "Forgot how much I hate that story…"

With a sigh, Kouji fell to one side and let himself sprawl on the floor.  It was weird how Zuko's moods seemed to influence his own lately.  The prince didn't seem aware of that. He fidgeted in his chair a few more seconds, then started going through the candles again.

Kouji watched the candles light again, and his mind drifted back to his first day in his homeland.

You'll do.

The boy sat up.  "Zu?"

"What?"

"I…"  Kouji hesitated.  What if Zuko thought he was stupid for worrying about this?  No help for it now.  He took a deep breath and went on, "When I first came here.  And I w-was presented to the Firelord…"

"Yeah?" Zuko looked up from the candle he was in the middle of putting back, frowning a little.

"He… said something.  And it's been really bothering me, and I don't know why."

Zuko started to say something, then it turned into another muffled swearword as he dropped the candle. "Fucking wax… what did he say?"

"'You'll do'," Kouji replied softly, looking over at him.

The prince frowned, picking off more wax. "No idea what that means. Sorry."

"Fuck," Kouji declared.  Now I may never figure it out…

Zuko threw a scroll at him. "Don't curse like that."

"You did!" the boy protested after ducking.

"I'm sixteen. You're eleven. You don't get to use that word 'til you're thirteen," the teenager shot back, then stalked over to the window to glare at the lightning some more.

Sulking, Kouji flopped onto his back again, his arms splayed wide.  After awhile, he started to count softly.  "One, one, two, three, five, eight…"

"…I'm going up onto the roof," Zuko announced a couple minutes later. Thunder rumbled as if to punctuate his statement.

Kouji immediately rolled to his feet and grabbed his hair tie, pulling the mass back into a tail at the nape of his neck.  "Okay."  The teenager didn't object, just opened the window and climbed out.  Kouji followed suit, keeping quiet now and shadowing his prince eagerly.

Zuko climbed up the wall, using hand- and foot-holds that had likely been carved in by generations of restless princes and princesses pulling the same trick. As they climbed higher, he had a little more trouble staying on the wall, the way the winds were picking up.

A particularly strong gust nearly blew Kouji off, but he dug his fingers in and held tight, then when the wind had subsided he followed again, not realising that he had left five curved holes in the stone.  Eventually, they reached the top. The prince tersely ordered Kouji to stay by the tower, don't even think of letting go of it, then made his careful way out into a more open part of the roof.

Kouji sulked, but obeyed, watching the older boy worriedly.  What is he doing?

It didn't look like even Zuko was entirely sure of the answer to that question. Swaying in the wind, he inched closer to the edge of the roof.  The colonist bit his bottom lip, then crouched low against the tower so that his hands and knees were pressed against the roof.  If something happened, he'd be there to protect his prince.

Zuko stumbled a bit farther forward, less than a foot from the edge now. He looked back to make sure Kouji was still where he was supposed to be, and the boy waved from his lower, theoretically safer position.  Zuko nodded, turned around, and inched closer to the edge.

Kouji blinked water from his eyes, keeping a close eye on Zuko.  As he clung to the roof, he noticed that he could feel every move Zuko made now.  Was it the heightened danger that had improved his earth-senses?  The training with Hyo?   The increased contact?  Whatever it was, he was grateful.

The prince was teetering on the edge itself now, swaying in the wind. He was going to fall any second if he didn't back up now.

And then the lightning came.

Grey eyes flew wide.  "ZUKO!" Kouji screamed as it struck—

For a second, the prince was illuminated, blue light blazing in his hands, and then he was gone, over the edge, the lightning streaming back up into the sky.

But Kouji had reacted the second Zuko's feet left the roof; his hands had gone up and then slammed down, forcing a portion of the wall to jut out and catch the teenager.  He felt the impact of Zuko's body against stone and sagged in relief.

After a long moment of silence, the teenager still hadn't reappeared above the lip of the roof.

Panting, scared, Kouji carefully dragged himself to where Zuko had been, huddled close against the roof so he wouldn't be blown off.  "Zu!" he cried, peeking over the edge at the makeshift platform that had caught him.

The prince's eyes were a little unfocused, and he was crackling with static. "Tol' you t'stay by th't-tower," he slurred.

"Sometimes orders must be disobeyed," Kouji told him, carefully climbing down to get out of the wind.

Zuko sat up woozily, more static sparks leaping from him with every move.  "Careful," Kouji cautioned him, frowning.  "You shouldn't overdo it…"  Oh spirits, how will we explain this?

"M'fine," he answered. "Need t'go back down, someone prolly saw th'lightshow..."

"You think?" Kouji asked.  Not waiting for an answer, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and curved his hands upward over his head.  As he let that breath out, he pushed his hands back down, and the platform gently moved towards the ground.  Once they were there, he put the platform back in the wall and sagged a little.

"You 'kay?" Zuko mumbled, worried and still slightly unfocused.

"Fine," Kouji assured him.  "Just glad nobody saw…"

"Sure?"

"Yeah, I…," the boy's voice trailed off as something occurred to him.  If Zuko was this worried about him just because he'd misinterpreted going limp in relief as exhaustion…

I need to start my training again.

"Le's go 'side again?" Zuko suggested, dragging himself to his feet. He steadied himself against the wall.

Kouji nodded and slipped under the prince's arm, stifling a yelp when this produced static shock.  "Before someone comes looking…"

"Don' touch me, static," the prince slurred, pulling away and wobbling even more. He started stumbling towards the closest entrance.  Kouji shook  his head and ran to catch up.

Luckily, they made it back to Zuko's room without exciting too much comment; even dazed, the prince knew the back ways around the palace better than just about anyone.  Relieved, Kouji closed the door and found a basin to wring his hair out in.  He kept one eye on the older boy as he did so.  Zuko slumped onto a couch, flinching at the still-constant static. At least it was keeping him awake.

Kouji sighed and did his shirt next, wincing as the water level in the basin jumped from just covering the bottom to a quarter full.  "Zu, gimme your shirt?"

"Huh?"

The boy frowned and moved closer.  "Your shirt.  Give it to me," he said slowly.

"Oh. 'Kay." The teenager wriggled out of the shirt, shooting off more sparks, and handed it to Kouji.

More static flared, but the boy didn't even flinch at the shock, moving promptly to the basin to wring it out too before returning it.  Kouji then sighed.  "You should probably change for bed."

"'ll jus' sleep here t'night," Zuko slurred in response, curling up tighter, ignoring his own static.

"Not in wet clothes," Kouji insisted, moving closer.

"Don' wanna move..."

The colonist made a frustrated noise and found Zuko's clothespress.  Digging further, he found pyjamas and brought them over to him.  "Here."  After staring at the clothes for a dazed minute, Zuko changed into them with as little movement as possible. The number of sparks he was shooting was decreasing, but they were still coming.

The boy frowned, but took the rest of Zuko's clothes and went to wring them out too.  When he was done with that, he moved back to check on him.  The teenager was half asleep, curled up as still as possible on the couch.

Kouji smiled and started to head back to his own room, but paused at the door and looked back at Zuko again.  He hadn't moved, not wanting to spark again.

…

"Oh, hell," Kouji sighed, turning away from the door and padding back to the clothespress.  He dug through until he found an older shirt and pulled it on, then went to finish wringing out his own clothes.  By the time he was finished, Zuko had mostly stopped sparking and had dozed off.  The boy felt a smile pull at the corner of his mouth as he hung their clothes to finish drying.  After he finished that, he pulled the top blanket off Zuko's bed and draped it over him.

The teenager twitched a little, then settled deeper in.

Kouji hesitated, then joined Zuko on the couch, barely blinking at the tiny shock that passed between them.  Carefully he snuggled against Zuko so he wouldn't fall on the floor and closed his eyes.  "G'night, niisan," he whispered.

The older boy twitched again, but didn't wake or respond.

*          *          *

When Kouji woke, Zuko was already awake, watching him with a slightly boggled expression.  Still sleepy, the boy blinked lazily at him.  "Wha…?"

"Um. Hi?"

"Hi."  Kouji yawned.

Still slightly boggled, Zuko sat up.  The young colonist moved further down the couch to help create a little more room.  "Sleep good?" he asked.

"Okay, I guess. You?"

Kouji nodded and smiled.  "yeah…"

"Good."

The boy tipped his head at Zuko curiously.  "Why do you look so surprised?" he wanted to know.

"Um. No reason. Just… nevermind."

Kouji blinked a couple times.  "…okay?"

Zuko ran a hand through his hair. "Okay."

Kouji sighed and looked down at himself.  "… I should get dressed."  He claimed his now-dry clothes and disappeared briefly.

When he got back, Zuko had also taken the time to make himself presentable for the day.

"So… back to the old stand, then?" Kouji asked.

"Yeah, okay," Zuko replied, then bent over to gather up his hair into a topknot.

The boy did the same, only replacing topknot with a phoenix tail, then preceded his prince out of the room.

*          *          *

Eleven-thirty.

Hyo wasn't sure why he continued to come out where he had met the colony boy for training, except possibly his hatred of admitting defeat.  He just needs to cool off a little, he thought, not for the first time.  There was no real belief behind that thought, though.  After all, when he had found out about the mindbending…

When did the guardians of Ba Sing Se's cultural heritage turn into secret police? he wondered, also not for the first time.  That question had bothered him for almost five years now, since attaining the rank of Long Feng's second-in-command and learning the truth of what went on under Lake Laogai.

"Hyo."

The voice speaking his name was young, and cracked midway through, causing the word to come out in two separate octaves.  Hyo let a small smile tug at the corner of his mouth as he turned around; behind him, Kouji was clutching his throat and looking utterly mortified.  Young men are all the same when their voices break, he thought, amused.

"Kouji," he greeted the child.  He would have said more, but Kouji seated himself on the ground and settled in to do his meditation.  The Dai Li agent let out a noiseless sigh. It seemed that though the boy had returned for more training, he still wasn't happy about what he had learned.

Hyo couldn't blame him.

After the requisite thirty minutes, Hyo touched Kouji's shoulder, the signal that time was up.  The boy rose immediately and turned to face him, his grey eyes full of wariness and mistrust.

The older man watched him for a moment, then nodded slightly.  "Come with me, boy."

Confusion entered the mix of emotions, and no small amount of fear.  Hyo somehow managed to refrain from putting his head in his hands.  "I won't touch you, boy; I had nothing to do with mindbending and in any case the facility under Lake Laogai was destroyed."

His honesty confused Kouji, he could see that, but the boy did follow him now.  Hyo lead Kouji to one of the walls surrounding the palace and then leapt up top.  Kouji tilted his head, regarding him for a moment, then backed up a bit.  Taking a running start, the boy jumped and managed to make it almost halfway up the wall.  Hyo was impressed; not many that child's size could have made it that high up.  He was even more impressed when Kouji didn't fall back down; instead, the boy began working his way up.

It wasn't until Kouji had nearly reached the top that he saw what the boy was doing: sinking his fingers into the stone itself.  Clever, he thought, then reached down to pull Kouji up with him.

"Now," he said quietly.  "Let me explain a few things to you."

Current Location: ARC Cafeteria
Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Digital Love - Daft Punk
Tags: au, avatar, fanfic, sf zukoline, small flame

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