— the date/the dai li.
earth.
"sooo..." senna began, as the two stood in the streets of ba sing se, "what would you like to do?"
zuko stayed silent for a moment before speaking, "we could go for dinner. uncle sai-" he stopped short.
"nevermind..." he mumbled, blushing.
senna smiled and grabbed his hand, their hands interlocking. she felt him tense up but immediately relaxed.
the two walked around the city looking for a restaurant. finally they found a small noodle place that looked promising.
"table for two please." senna kindly told the man at the front.
he looked senna up and down and brought them to a table all the way in the back. it had a bunch of flowers and scented candles. senna felt a little uncomfortable when the man did that but said nothing.
zuko noticed and noted in his head to give that guy a message later to stay away from senna.
after a moment, a waiter came over to take their orders.
"what would you two like for today?"
"i'll take the noodle soup." senna said, reading it directly off the menu.
he nodded, "and for you sir?"
"what she said."
"anything else?" he asked.
"yeah, we'll share the spicy pickled kelp." zuko added, earning a nod from the waiter and left.
leaving the two alone.
zuko cleared his throat, "how have you been?"
"im doing okay. besides trying to get over a break up but that doesn't matter, how are you doing?"
zukos face dropped at the mention of 'break up.'
he had no idea she was dating someone when he last saw her.
"who was he?" he asked, his eyes filling up with rage.
oh no, what will he do?
"sokka, the one with the ponytail." she responded, slowly. zukos jaw clenched, he was so going to go kill that ponytail dick for hurting her.
"don't do anything." she said, placing a hand on his arm, immediately calming him down, "i forgave him and were friends now."
zuko nodded and sat back in his seat.
moments later, the waiter came with their food. senna thanked the man and he sent her a wink then walked away.
the food looked delicious and senna couldn't wait to dig in and eat it.
"looks good." zuko spoke up.
senna nodded, agreeing with him, "you never answered my question. how have you been?"
zuko sighed, "im in ba sing se working in a tea shop, pretending to be someone named lee, how good do you think im doing?"
the tone in his voice shut the girl up immediately. she didn't bother to answer and continued with eating her food.
zuko noticed it and mentally slapped himself. he didn't mean to snap at her, he really didn't.
"sorry." he said, "just got a lot on my mind."
senna took a sip of water and nodded, "same with me."
zuko could sense she was down. probably about the break up with water boy or something happened that she's not telling him.
"senna....i have something to say that i've been meaning to get off my chest."
senna looked up at him and placed down her chopsticks, "what's up?"
zuko took a deep breath, "i lied. i didn't need a waterbender to help find the avatar. i just...wanted to get to know you because your mother, yanmei, talked so much about you and i needed to know you. like something inside me was telling me that i needed you in my life..."
senna was shocked. she wanted to feel angry at him for taking her away from her home for no reason but she was also happy he did. she would've never met him or iroh or the gaang.
"and im glad you did." she smiled, zuko looking up at her, his face relieved that she wasn't mad at him.
"i never saw you as the villain, zuko. i saw you as a regular person who was hurting a lot on the inside."
hearing this, made zuko feel way better about himself. he's been struggling with his demons lately about who he has become.
"i love you."
his heart skipped a beat as those words left the girls mouth. his once very sad frown was slowly turning into a small smile, "i love you too."
[xxxxxxxxxx]
after their dinner and talking some more, the two decided to go on a walk around the town. it was very beautiful at night.
zuko then stopped, "i'll be right back."
senna nodded and watched the boy quickly walk away. moments later, he came back with a handful of flowers.
senna gasped as he handed them to her, "they're beautiful, zuko. thank you."
his small smile from before came back and he nodded, "you're welcome."
they're as beautiful as you...he wanted to tell her but felt like it was too soon, he'll tell her eventually.
the two walked toward a fountain with unlit torches all around it. senna and zuko shared one look and then sprung into action.
he took the left side while she took the right side. they lit up every torch with their fire and the effect was magnificent. the light from the fire danced across the water, making it glow.
when the two stopped, their faces were inches away from each other's and they were breathing heavily.
"you're amazing, senna." he grinned at the girl who blushed at the complement, "i learned from the best."
they then noticed it was getting late and zuko insisted on walking senna home but they figured it would be a big risk if the gaang were to find out about him. so he dropped her off a few streets away from the home but before he could leave, she quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek.
zukos cheeks turned into a rosie color and senna smiled, "see you later, zuzu."
he stood there and watched her walk away, "yeah........later."
——
senna walked home with a grin on her face. she couldn't stop smiling. the date with zuko went well and she couldn't be happier.
when she turned a corner, she suddenly crashed into something hard causing her to fly back onto the ground.
"you must be senna, im long feng." the girl stood back up cautiously as the man stared at her with a smirk.
"yeah, im senna. how do you know my name?" she asked, secretly undoing the small cap that was on her water pouch.
"i know everyone's name in ba sing se and your name happens to be very famous around these parts."
she didn't like the way this man talked.
"now, you're under arrest for being out past crewfew and for firebending when firebending is forbidden in ba sing se."
sennas eyes widened as a bunch of earthbender soldiers arose out of the shadows, "hands where i can seem them, dual bender."
senna raised her hands with a grin, she wasn't going to go down without a fight. as two men grabbed her arms, she threw them against the wall and used her bending water to freeze their hands to the wall.
long feng growled, "get her!"
more men came after her and she used both her bending abilities to fight them off. either freezing them or hitting them with a fire lasso.
she didn't even notice more soldiers behind her and they slammed their feet down on the ground causing a huge piece of rock to hit senna on the back and knock her down.
she groaned at the pain and tried to stand up but the dai li trapped her hands and feet with stone gloves making her unable to move.
she tried with all her strength to break free but it was no use, "let me go!"
long feng chuckled at the girl and knelt down to her level, "now why would i do that? you would probably spread around that secret soldiers attacked you..."
senna gulped as one of the dai li soldiers snatched her bending pouch leaving her bending less.
"grab her." the men grabbed her arms and trapped her hands again with stone gloves. she screamed as the men dragged her into an underground facility...
it was dark and cold and creepy. long feng opened a door to a room and two other dai li soldiers stepped out, roughly grabbing senna and pulling her into the room.
"what is this place?" she asked, looking around as the men sat her down on a chair, using more stone gloves to hold her arms down, "hey! im asking you something let me g-"
her mouth was covered by a headband of rock and so was her forehead. her talking now coming out as harsh breaths.
there was only one man now and he shut the door and stood in front of her, "you're safe now." he assured her, a light now spinning around the room on some kind of ramp.
"there's no war in ba sing se." he began, sennas eyes watching the light each time it passes by her, "there is no war within the walls. here, we are seeing. here, we are free."
[xxxxxxxxxxx]
the gaang had went to bed beside sokka. he sat in the living room of their house waiting for senna who should've been home already.
the door opened and sokka stood up. the girl walked in, walked right past him and slammed her bedroom door shut.
ummm....did something go wrong?
he walked toward her door and softly knocked, "hey, it's me, can i come in?"
the door opened immediately and sokka nearly fell into the room but caught himself. she stood their with a smile but sokka noticed it was a fake one.
"what's up?" she asked, her fingers tapping against the door. she looked roughed up like she was just in a fight or something.
sokka opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. he just sighed and walked away. the girl shrugged and slammed the door.
sokka could tell something was wrong and he needed to get to the bottom of it.