"I Needed Her First." Zuko X OC

The Date...? (Part 5)

Shiloh's <POV>

Living on the firenation ship has been calmer then I thought. Most days I would go unbothered, with the occasional flustered angry comments from Zuko.

I spent a lot of time drawing, I was a bit rusty at first since it was the first time in 100 years. When I was molding more charcoal into art utensils, I got an unexpected knock on the door. It was Iroh.

"My nephew wanted me to ask you if you wanted to have dinner with him tonight." Iroh said with a smirk.

"Zuko? Why—" I said very confused. 'Zuko hates me' I thought.

"No time to explain, you need to get dressed. He'll be waiting in his room." Iroh said pushed me into my closet and then left my room.

'Zuko, huh? Why would he want to see me?' I thought as I began to look through the dresses Iroh has bought me, then I see one that really caught my eye.

It was a knee length dark sage green dress, with a falling sweetheart neckline. From the bottom it fell smoothly and elegantly, accents of silk layered around the waist.

It was a very traditional earthkindom formal dress, made for dinner parties and art shows. Once I put it on, I curled my hair's ends using hot metal.

I walked out into the hallway, and into the fire prince's room. Zuko was sitting at his desk. He looked concentrated on something, as always.

Instead of alerting him of my presence, I started sneaking behind him. I moved my lips close to his ear and whispered.

"Boo." Suddenly he jumped up from his desk making all the candle's flames in the room jump too.

"What are you doing here?" He snarled towards me in a raspy annoyed voice as he scanned my body suprised when he saw how I formal appeared.

"Iroh told me you were waiting for me." I bickered.
He looked suprised but then came to terms.

"I need to ask you about the Avatar." he said now composed. I sighed, as I sat down on his bed.

"I thought it was a date." I pouted disappointingly.

He looked at me shocked, then he turned his head away blushing ferociously.

Now realizing what his uncle must've hinted when Iroh left the room giggling and smirking when he told him to go get me.

"So are we not going on a date...?" I asked him confused by his reaction.

He began to get even more flustered, it looked like he was about to explode from embarrassment.

Seeing that he wasn't going to give a response, I grabbed his hand and pulled him through the hallway.

I felt his warm hand, and how tense he was. I'm no stranger to going on dates, I went on many back in the earth kingdom.

Dates aren't special or new to me, just a way to have fun. I slowed down out of breath and shocked when there was a dead end. He looked confused.

"Where are you trying to take me?" He asked.
"I dunno, I might be lost." I mumbed "Where's the front deck"

"Its back the way we came." He pointed out. With a look of determination I grabbed his hand again and started running back.

I realized I don't have much stamina, I collapsed panting as I tried to get back up.

"Haa, this is why I failed school track." I said looking over to him.

He looked fine now, it looks like the running actually helped him gather his thoughts unlike mine which are all mixed now.

I sat down lying my back onto the bolted wall. Suprisingly, he sat down next to me.

"Im sorry for being such a pain.." I said still trying to compose my breath.

"Your not, this is actually the most fun i've had in a while." he stated showing a slight smile.

I looked kinda shocked, If he thinks running is fun I'm horrified for what he's been doing.

"For the past few years I've just been flooding myself in trying to find the avatar." He confided in me.

"That's no childhood." I said sympathetically. I lifted my cold hand up to his face and caressed his scar.

"Who did this to you?" I asked hesitant for his answer. He looked at me, skeptical if he should tell me.

He paused, and then opened his mouth.
"My father.." he mumbled ashamed.

I quickly pulled him into a tight hug and started bawling tears on his shoulder.

"W-What— what's the matter??" he asked panicked.

My tiny body leaned calmly onto his shaking. I shifted my body so we were in a more comfortable position.

I straddled my legs wrapped around his waist, my body leaned on his from his lap as I continued to whimper.

"Why are you crying?" he asked as he gave an adoring chuckle.

"T-That's s-suc-such a sad story!!" I sobbed. "Im
so s-ssorryyy" he looked shocked.

I don't tend to give off a sensitive aura. Me being this weak in front of someone other then myself made my stomach spin.

"You don't need to cry for me, It isn't your fault."
He said placing his heated hand on my cold face, wiping off the tears.

"Come on, let's get off of this floor. Your already dressed so let me treat you to dinner." he said cordially helping me up.

The only response I gave was a nod. We walked down the corridor into a small dining room, a chef brought out grilled fish and other rich appetizers.

It was a quiet dinner, we were both still processing what happened back in the hallway.

I was too embarrassed to look at him, because of my vulnerable breakdown caused by a lot of buildup that just happened to break in the most awkward situation.

And him feeling too weak about the fact that he confided in me. As dessert was being served the waiter said something that reminded both of us about where we stood in this world.

"The avatars on Kyoshi Island."