Burnt Out - Zuko x OC

Nobody Was Looking For Me

"Ugh, why are we even here?" Sokka complained while holding his grumbling belly. "We only have two silver coins left and I'm STARVING!"

She swiped a ripe red apple from the trough, tucking it close to her side. Sokka saw the thievery and he assumed everyone else did, too. "What are you doing?!" He whispered through a clenched jaw, grabbing her wrist. His fingers fit completely around it.

She turned to face him and pulled their hands between the two of them, keeping the stolen goods concealed. "You're hungry. We're broke. I'm feeding you. What issue could you possibly have with that?" She mumbled, watching Sokka's eyes glance over her shoulder at the merchant.

Kai knew that he hadn't noticed. No one had. She could see that just with the bump of her bare foot against the ground. He reluctantly let go of her wrist and she swiped another, along with a pineapple just to test her luck.

"How are you so good at this?" Sokka asked as he continued to stroll along beside her, keeping a close eye on her sneaky fingers. Not a single soul noticed all the things she slipped into her dress. A bag of jerky, raspberries, she even pickpocketed the switchblade from some unsuspecting man's trousers.

She smiled up at him. "I was homeless for three years, Sokka. Petty crimes paid for what petty jobs couldn't."

Sokka'd almost forgotten about that portion of her life — about the fact that she had an entire existence before their friendship started, really. Even after a year of traveling on the back of a bison and sleeping on the ground, he still had never really considered himself "homeless". He'd always had somewhere to lay his head at night, even if that place was just a travel pillow.

"What was that like?" He inquired. "If you don't mind talking about it."

Kai dipped between two produce stands, leading him toward the trimmed grass behind the market where they could picnic. "It was.. an adjustment, for a while." She said.

Truth be told, Kai loved her days after being dismissed by her father. It'd been tough at first, making friends when the only one she'd ever had was also being hidden from the world. It was hard not knowing if your next meal would come from a kitchen or a compost pile. But she'd met so many generous people along the way that'd shown her the kindness that her father lacked. And then others taught her more useful skills, like how to survive when the generous people were few and far between.

"But it was so much fun." She said. They sat in the grass and Kai unloaded all of the stolen goods. She tossed the bag of jerky to Sokka and his greedy little fingers scooped it up in a pinch.

"Fun?" He asked. "Fun how?"

It was a hard feeling to explain, the way she thought about those years now that she was looking back on them. It almost made her feel almost nostalgic, like she was missing out by tagging along with the avatar and his gang. But she hadn't really been doing anything in particular besides wasting time until the universe told her what to do next. Maybe that was why she'd enjoyed it so, because back then, the universe rarely had orders for her.

"I was free for the first time. No rules to follow, no invisible boundaries that I wasn't allowed to cross, no training schedule." And then there was the darker side to her freedom, the things that most people didn't consider a privilege. "When someone hit me, I was finally allowed to hit back. I could cry when I was sad and lash out when I was angry without having the life beat out of me for it afterwards." She laughed and shook her head. "I remember the first time a boy looked me in the eyes and said hello. Spirits, I thought that's what love felt like."