Have another kitsune!Azula-snippet :) This takes place years later around the time Izumi is around 6-7 years old.
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It was early in the morning, earlier than usual that Izumi was woken up, which was weird in itself. But the strangest thing though was, that instead of her nurse maid it was a strange woman who had woken her up. Her hair was white and... she had fox ears and two tails in the same color as her hair, the tails were tipped with blue flames.
Izumi's eyes widened in recognition.
"Auntie!" Of course her dad had told stories of her, had shown pictures of her. Her aunt, the kitsune. But she had never met her, until today.
"Hush, little fire cracker! Your dad does not now I'm here, yet. What do you say? Do you want to surprise him?"
A big grin on her face Izumi nodded. A grin Azula returned, though hers was much more mischievous.
"Then let's go!"
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The moment the nurse maid had entered the Fire Lord's bedroom and told Mai and Zuko that little Izumi was missing the Fire Lord nearly got a heart attack.
Minutes later all the guards were on high alert, searching every room in the palace and every street surrounding it. Of course, Mai and Zuko being worried for their child, joined them in the search.
And it was Ty Lee and another of the Kyoshi Warriors who found her.
"Thank Agni! Where is she?" Mai and Zuko asked in unison.
"Oh, she's by the pond and. safe. But..." Ty Lee said smiling slightly.
"But what Ty?" Mai asked being slightly annoyed by her friend.
"Well! Look for yourself!"
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Izumi was squealing out of joy. She and auntie's little siblings were chasing dragonfly-moths created out of blue flames by her aunt. When ever she, Yuki or Hito caught one another one popped up elsewhere and zipped through the garden.
"Be careful, little one!" she heard her aunt calling. As she turned around, Izumi saw that Hito nearly jumped into the pond to catch one of the fiery insects, her aunt barely able to catch him in time.
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As soon as Ty Lee had lead him and his wife to the garden with the turtleduck pond Zuko let out a breath of relieve. But soon after that annoyance and maybe a bit of anger replaced it.
His daughter was safe and sound. And obviously had a lot of fun catching insects made out of blue fire by Azula. And she was obviously not alone. Two kitsune-cub's, a boy with orange hair and similar colored foxe's tail and ears and a girl with silver hair, ears and tail were doing the same. Both were around Izumi's age, it looked like. The boy nearly jumped in to the pond while trying to catch one of the insects. Azula just caught him in time.
He took a deep breath, dismissed the squad of guards that had been following him. Then he turned his attention back to Azula.
"Azula!" Zuko shouted and her ears twitched at the sound of his voice, while the children stopped playing.
"Hello, Zuzu! How nice of you to join us!" she called back, a smug smirk on her face. "And hello to you, too, Mai."
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Oh, Zuzu was angry, she could feel it. If looks alone could kill she would have been dead by now. But teasing him was way too much fun, he being the Fire Lord or not.
"Why don't you relax a bit, Zuzu?" Azula said, still smirking. "Your little fire cracker is safe. Nothing bad has happened."
"Are you kidding me?" Now he was getting really loud. Izumi and Azula's siblings flinched visibly.
"Zuko!" Mai now chimed in, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Calm down. Nothing bad has happened! And you know very well how Azula is. This might be just another of her pranks."
Azula grinned. Oh, Mai knew her so well. Of course Zuko would say, she could have written a letter or let Aang tell him, that she's going to visit. But where's the fun in that. Causing some turmoil was much more exciting. Especially if it got everybody up and running early in the morning.
"Auntie, am I in trouble?" she heard her niece say, the little fire cracker pulling at the hem of her robe. Azula sighed, leaned down and picked her up, her niece's little arms instantly wrapping around her neck, holding tight on to her.
"No, Izumi you're not." Azula answered, sighing. "Your dad was just worried."
As Azula carried the girl towards her parents, her little siblings followed in her shadow, still laughing and playing with each other, utterly unconcerned with everything and everyone.
"These two are my siblings, the boy's name is Hito, the girl's called Yuki." she said, as she reached Zuko and Mai, the latter one instantly taking Izumi from Azula. "Sooooo..... how does breakfast sound?"
Mai just shook her head laughing, while Zuko deflated visibly, as if someone opened a valve an him, letting out all his steaming anger.