The Concubine's Apprentice (an Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfiction Zuko x OC)

Chapter 4: Yellow

Every day, Chiyo immersed herself into training with Suiren. She knew she had months before the 'Fire Lily Festival' but her rendition of Suiren's signature performance, the Dance of the Fans, is still lacking. The hours were long, and the work was hard, but she persevered. Occasionally, Azula would pop up, and command Chiyo to play with her, to which she happily obliged. Anything to get out of training, even if it meant being target practice for the princess. 

Every day, Zuko would come by and look for her, sometimes watch her train.

Fans in both hands, she spun on her heels. She brought her right hand up and made the fan spin on her finger.

"Don't avert your eyes from it, Chiyo." Suiren reprimanded as she sipped her tea. "It is a part of you as much as your head and hands." Just as she had said that, the fan spun out of her hand and across the room. "Aaaand you just lost your head right there."

"I'm sorry, Lady Suiren." Chiyo retrieved the fan and started again.

All the while she was dancing, Zuko watched. He had burnt a hole through the paper thin wall so he peek through it. He would cringe every time she would fall or hurt herself, and he tried his best to stifle his laughter every time she cussed out loud.

Unknown to him, the teacher had come out of the training room to look for a handmaiden. "Good afternoon, Prince Zuko!" Suiren smiled sweetly at the boy. "What brings you to our humble abode?"

"I-I was just... uhh... inspecting this hole on the wall!" He tried his best to look busy and innocent. "I wonder what could have made this..."

The lady knew exactly what he had been up to and she walked back into the training room. "Oh Chiyo! Someone's here to see you!"

Panicked, Zuko scrambled away, turned a sharp corner and hid. He didn't hear anything for a few seconds, so he took a deep breath to peek, only to come face to face with Chiyo. "Boo!" The Prince yelped and stumbled back, earning a laugh from her.

"What are you doing here, Prince Zuko?"

"Well... I... I just finished my training with Master Piandao for today so I have nothing else to do..."

"Do you want to watch me practice?" She smiled, hoping the prince would say yes. 

And he did.

He sat in the training room with Suiren as they watched Chiyo. He was amazed at how hard she worked to perfect her craft. Every turn, every step, every flick of the wrist, was essential. Even her mentor was very serious, inspecting to the littlest of details, the angle her feet were pointed, the expression on her face, even breathing.

After almost an hour, Chiyo was given rest and Zuko immediately took her to the gardens. It was one of the rare moments where they were alone together and he savored it.