"I Needed Her First." Zuko X OC

Comfort & Guilt (Part 19)

Shiloh's <POV>

I awake in warmth, a sweet sensation of comfort. A secure sense of protection by being in his arms. I drowsily open my dark red eyes to be met with a mess of black hair nuzzled into the crook of my neck. I hear a slight muffled snore as blush creeps onto my cheeks, and adore floods my eyes.

"Your so cute..." I mutter silently afraid to wake the sleeping boy up. I hug his hefty form closer to me as I give his a peck on his head. My eyes sparkle as he holds on to me tighter.

Listening to his warm breath, my eyes started to close before his body suddenly tenses up in blush. I open my eyes to find the scarred boy, now awake, looking away from me in sudden embarrassment.

I giggle at this reaction as I lean up from the bed, taking steps onto the metal but quickly falling to my knees as my eyes black a little.

"Shiloh!!" I hear a panicked Zuko scream as he runs to help me up. Refusing his worry, I slowly craw back onto my feet.

"I'm fine, just got up to fast." I laugh as I hear him sigh in relief. We stand staring at each other, and I really get a closer look at his height. I've never been one to consider myself short or tiny, but next to him...

He's so tall, and muscular. With that shiny black hair, and his perfect jawline. I can't even kiss him without him leaning down. I sulk at my thoughts. He quickly catches on to my focused face as he stands puzzled at my deep thinking.

"What's on your mind?" He asks nearing closer to me as he lifts my chin up to face him.

"Am I short?" I respond in my head, which obviously was not in my head. I stare at his expression which remained serious for a few seconds before he burst out laughing. My face begins to fluster.

I start (playfully) hitting his chest in embarrassment as he continues laughing at my cluelessness. He manages to get a sentence out between his breaks of laughter.

"I'm not even short!! I'm average height!!" I yell my face full with embarrassment.

"Y-You are tiny." Zuko spits out with a raspy laugh. I turn away from him annoyed and flustered.

His face full of embarrassment leans closer to me connecting our lips. My embarrassment gets cut off as I close my eyes and kiss back. His warm hands run through my hair as my heart beats louder.

We pulled apart, leaving my face full of blush and my heartbeat racing.

"Your beautiful." He clarifies whispering into my ear leaving me speechless. "Your just tall..." I speak softly giggling as I pull him into an innocent hug.

Aangs <POV>

I sit in a fur coated room, listening in on Katara's and Sokka's voices thrilled with excitement aimed at Bato. I can't help but feel like an outsider. Annoyance hit through my skull with every word of their conversation.

"No way!! Stewed sea prunes!" Katara says with happiness reaching every corner of her voice. She immediately grabbed a bowl, and Sokka followed. Curious, I did the same. But I gagged in disgust.

They continued with their conversation as my mind drifted away. Something brought my soul back to alert.

"If you wait here until the message arrives..." my body tensed up as I stared in shock "You can come with me, to see your father again." My eyes widen in fear.

I look over to them panicked but their attention was elsewhere. The sudden way their eyes beamed when they heard his reaction left a bitter taste in my soul. I clenched my fist, furrowing my brows as I left the tent, walking into the night in hopes of soothing my anger. I leaned onto surface as my mind raced in unknown anger.

"I can't believe they would leave me." I spat out in disgust lowering my head in a grunt. I clutched my shirt as I felt my head spinning. Suddenly I hear galloping and was quickly faced with a earthkingdom man, dressed in uniform.

"I'm looking for Bato for the water tribe." The man stated, stopping in his tracks. I stare at him blanked faced. He awaited my answer intentively.

"Uh... I know Bato." I say nervously accepting the note he shoved to me.

"Make sure he gets this." The man says quickly hurrying back into the darkness. I glared at the note, as I invaded it.

"Its the map to Katara's and Sokka's dad." I gasped before clenching my fists and crumbling the paper. I shoved it in my pocket before bringing my knees to my chest and closing my eyes harshly.

'I won't let them leave me." my thoughts ran like daggers through my mind before I decided to head back. I walked drowsily, expecting them to be worried about me when I walked in.

"Hey guys, i'm back!" I said as I painted on a smile and shoved the sea prunes into my mouth gagging with each bite.

"Oh hi Aang, we didn't notice you left." Sokka says before turning away, directing his attention once again to Bato. All notices of guilt left as annoyance boiled again. I sighed and turned my head away.

Time skip 2 days later

Aang got laced with guilt as Bato carelessly remained Aang of trust through traditional watertribe activities.

Bato stands in front of us, holding a bowl of ink. I look at Katara and Sokka in confusion but they seem very understanding.

"The spirits of the water bear witness to these marks." Bato announces before dipping his finger in and leaving symbols on Sokka's head. Then he moves on to Katara's. Suddenly his hand reaches mine, and paints a streak of ink before turning to me with a serious look in his eyes.

"And for Aang, the mark of the trusted." My eyes widen at the guilt that plauged me. I turn away avoiding certain eye contact before rubbing it off. They stared in confusion and shock.

"I can't be trusted." I stated before throwing the map at Sokka. I look up to see Sokka's eyes go dark with disgust, Katara shocked beside him.

"This is the map to our father!!" Sokka screams stepping closer to me, making me back my head away. "You had it the whole time?!"

"I was afraid--" I begin but Sokka cuts me off.

"No! You were selfish!" Sokka screams pure hatred infecting his voice "That's why Shiloh's gone, and that's why we are leaving!!" Katara glared at me before hurrying off, leaving me alone.

My heart broke at her name. Tears flooded my eyes completely. I fell down onto my knees as I clutched my head. Remembering all the memories of Shiloh I blocked out.

"I've always been selfish..." I attempt to mutter as my vision blurs and my heart shatters.