Burnt Out - Zuko x OC

The Assassin Network

She turned her nose up and continued to stare straight ahead, as if she was bored at his attempt to court her. "Maybe stupid girls."

Zuko tossed the shell down the beach and stormed off. He needed time to simmer down before his anger and resentment caused him to lash out.. again.

KAI

They slept at the foot of a bluff that night. Summer was winding down, it was noticeable in the way that the evening brought a chill into their bones. They couldn't risk building a campfire, it might give away their position to nearby Fire Nation troops. So they huddled up in pairs, Katara snuggling up next to Aang and Kai lying back to back with Toph. Sokka settled on wrapping his arms around Momo for the night, but he couldn't stop from tossing and turning with restlessness.

His scooting around to get comfortable caused Kai to keep waking up every time she got close to slumber. She peeked one eye open just in time to see Sokka huff and toss his arms down against his palette, staring up into the stars.

"You cold?" Kai whispered, though she didn't risk waking Toph by moving.

Sokka glanced over at her before looking back up at the sky. "It's the ocean water. It makes the wind feel colder than it actually is."

That was true. But there were other things at play, too. All of them were changing. They were coming into themselves both together and individually. The seasons were moving along as planned with no regards to their mission or timeline and they had to find a way to make things line up perfectly, fast.

"We've got tons of room over here, y'know. You're welcome to borrow some body heat."

A small, lonely smile finally began to show on Sokka's face, but it faded soon after. "I don't wanna.. make you, uh.. uncomfortable."

Kai huffed and extended her arm across the dirt, her fingers made a slight "come here" motion and the ground immediately underneath Sokka began crawling. It delivered him, his sword, and his sleeping mat directly to Kai. He turned on his side to face her.

"I hate this!" She whispered sternly. "Why are you punishing me? Because I didn't let you kiss me a few nights ago?"

"Punishing you??" Sokka said a bit too loud. Kai shushed him and peeked over her shoulder at the others, they didn't stir. "I'm punishing myself, Kai! I feel like the biggest asshole on the planet!"

Kai opened her mouth to speak, but this time she was the one being shushed. Sokka gently smacked his hand over her mouth and continued. "No, let me get this out! I was wrong to try to kiss you. I don't know what came over me, I guess I was just feeling pretty ballsy that day because of Master Piandao and my training and whatever, but I shouldn't have pressed your boundaries like that." He sighed and looked away from her as pain bubbled up in his chest. "I guess I just keep waiting for that day to come.. the one you talked about when you came home from your date. When we won't always be traveling and fighting and strategizing, when everything slows down and we can all just enjoy the things that teenagers are supposed to enjoy.. but those things seem so far off. You were right, it is hard not having Suki around. But if I'm being completely honest.."

Sokka paused and his pained expression turned to guilt. "Suki and I haven't even spent that much time together. A few days, tops. I like her a lot, really, but... Ugh! I guess what I'm trying to say is that I realized I can't wait around for someone that I don't even really know, but that doesn't make it okay for me to project my feelings onto you just because you're here. So to summarize all of that, I'm just sorry, okay? I shouldn't have tried to kiss you and I'm sorry."