Burnt Out - Zuko x OC

Roots In The Forest

"Missed you." She mumbled. Zuko understood her clearly that time and his heart thumped wildly in response.

He heard Kai scoff, she could feel the erratic pounding.

"Took you long enough. Aang and I have been back since this morning."

Kai kissed his chin, completely neglecting the fact that they were surrounded by the others. "It's okay to admit that you missed me too, y'know."

Every nerve in Zuko's body was set ablaze, he was sure that the only thing stopping him from bursting into flames was the icy stare Sokka shot him from across the room.

"Come on, you need sleep. You're gonna hate yourself in the morning." He wrangled her away from the edge of the cliff, where she was bound to stumble off accidentally, and steered her toward the hallway that led to the housing area.

"Wait, what are we supposed to do with Toph?!" Aang shouted, and his voice already sounded a million miles away to Kai. In her inebriated mind, she was nowhere near this temple, she was back in Palace City or Ba Sing Se or that hot spring in the middle of the forest. She was at all of the places that she'd stopped along the path to falling so deeply in love with Zuko.

"Put her to bed and roll her on her side so she doesn't choke on her own vomit!" Zuko shouted back.

After that, the others were both out of sight and out of mind. Sokka watched with loneliness ripping at his chest after the pair disappeared into the privacy that nighttime provided.

*****

Kai let the heavy steel door slam behind her and she was swallowed up by total darkness, save the moonlight that she was learning to appreciate all over again.

"Did you get your fire bending back?" She asked.

Twin flames shot from Zuko's fingertips, igniting the lanterns that sat in either corner of his room. There was nothing there besides an old bed and the small bag he'd packed before running away, and to Kai, it felt like they were back at their roots.

He pulled off his shirt to get ready for bed, his lean muscles and pale skin seeming sharper in the darkness. Zuko hadn't been so thin when she'd first seen him undressed, back at the hot spring. The Royal life had caused him to lose muscle mass, but she was thinner too from weeks of self loathing and malnutrition.

Zuko tossed his tunic to Kai and she began changing into it for the night, giving him the chance to catch a glance at the flesh on her back. Her skin hugged her ribs and spine like a thick blanket, just close enough that she didn't look ghastly but still not healthy either.

He touched the stone sized mark on her shoulder, the same one that'd sent an electric shock through her body many moons ago, before she knew his name. It had the same effect now. Energy jolted through Kai and she could feel the new found source of fire inside him.

"You didn't scar." He said. The wounds that he'd nursed against her will were barely visible, they were nothing compared to her other marks.

Kai dropped the bottom of his shirt and it covered her completely, falling past her waistline, giving the appearance that she was wearing a very skimpy dress instead of an oversized tunic. She turned in his grasp, eyes glimmering with liveliness that one only has when they've managed to forget about all the terrors this world holds.

"I had a very skilled, very handsome nurse taking care of me."

She pressed her body to his and kissed his collar, nuzzling the cold tip of her nose into his neck for warmth. Zuko felt her lips against his skin and his heart lurched. He lifted his hand and held her chin between his thumb and forefinger and it felt as if the universe was pulling them together.