32 Teacher

Madara stared at Zuko with a poker face and answered swiftly,

"No.."

Zuko refused to stand back up and stayed in the same position "Please reconsider, I understand that we don't know each other and you owe me nothing but I really need you to teach me firebending!"

Madara kept silent for a few seconds "Why do you need to learn firebending from me, exactly? Your uncle is a legend, he can teach you better than I can."

Zuko shook his head "My uncle doesn't understand me! He doesn't try to help me improve my strength, it's all about his philosophies and nothing about actual firebending!"

"But why me?"

"You are strong, probably the strongest firebender I will meet that won't try to attack me on sight considering my…. Circumstances…" sigh.

'To think this angsty hot-headed kid calmed down and came here to ask my help with such humbleness'

"And what is your goal?"

Zuko was kind of caught off guard "What?"

"Don't 'what' me, tell me what you want."

Zuko clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes "I want my honor back."

Madara stood up and stood in front of Zuko, "Explain."

Zuko stared deep into Madara's eyes and answered "I committed a sin against my nation and I'm being punished, I need to capture the Avatar to regain my honor."

Madara raised his hand and swiftly caught Zuko's hairband, pulling it and letting his lonely ponytail fall loose.

"G-give that back!" Zuko tried to grab it from Madara, that hairband was important to him, it was a gift from his mother.

Madara kept dodging Zuko's attempts and spoke, "You speak of honor like it's this little thing here… an item that was taken and must be given back by the person who took it…"

Zuko stopped in his tracks.

Madara tossed the hairband back to Zuko, "You behave like honor is something that can be taken when convenient and given back when desired… you know nothing about honor, kid."

Zuko caught it but didn't tie his ponytail right away, he kept staring at Madara for several seconds in silence until his anger got the best of him.

"And what do YOU know about honor?! You … a criminal!?" He shouted in anger.

Madara kept a calm serene face "Was Zhao's honor ever 'removed' from him after he got back to the Fire Nation, the way it happened to you?"

Zuko raised an eyebrow "Not that I'm aware of, why?" he calmed down a bit.

"He brought over 100 soldiers, he attacked an innocent blind girl, he surrounded me and lost most of his soldiers and ran away with his tail between his legs instead of fighting me to the death while I was alone… tell me kid… does this kind of person have any honor?"

Zuko's eyes widened along with his mouth, he couldn't find an answer to that.

"His honor was never taken from him because honor is not something that can be taken… he just never had it in the first place." Madara just shrugged.

"B-but… my honor was taken from me!" Zuko tried to shout but his words came out weak.

Madara shook his head "No, your honor is within you… what was taken from you was your dignity." After saying his words Madara turned his back and walked back to his chair "And dignity cannot be given back, it needs to be taken back… by your own efforts."

Zuko couldn't say anything, part of him understood and agreed with Madara, but the other part of him couldn't accept it, because if he did… it would mean …. He didn't even want to think about it!

After closing his eyes and clenching his teeth Zuko pleaded, "And what's the difference?"

Madara smiled "When you figure that out, come to me, and I will teach you firebending."

Zuko turned and started leaving but was interrupted.

"Tomorrow at dawn, come to my place," Madara said.

Zuko was confused "But you said-"

Madara raised his hand and interrupted "I won't teach you firebending, but I will teach you how to fight but be warned … it won't be pleasant, it won't be comfortable… and if you dare to cry in pain or complain in front of me, I will kick you out and never teach you anything ever again!" then he displayed his classic sinister smirk.

GULP.

Zuko gulped and nodded and left the place in a hurry, that smirk scared the shit out of him!

Iroh who was outside the place listening to the whole conversation while waiting for his nephew smiled and nodded in satisfaction. 'Perhaps all that Zuko needs is an outside perspective from someone whose power he respects… it's even better that their age is so close.'

Once Zuko came out Iroh walked closer to him.

"So, how did it go?"

Zuko looked at Iroh "Since when was the Ghost this scary?"

Iroh shrugged "If you saw the aftermath of the swamp battle you wouldn't ask that question." He chuckled "But how about we go and check out these new games that they are making? Mr. Uchiha's accountant, Lei, told me that we can go and test the games without having to worry about actually betting money since they are still teaching the employees."

Zuko's eyebrow was raised "Who is Lei?"

Iroh looked at his nephew with a weirded out expression "That man that followed Mr. Uchiha yesterday to meet us."

"Wasn't his name Jackie? Mr. Uchiha calls him that…"

Iroh shrugged "Perhaps they are just weird."

Zuko couldn't help but chuckle and nod, which made Iroh even happier 'Good to see you smiling again little Zuko, perhaps stopping here was the best plan that I ever came up with…'

As the duo walked through the fancy 'village' near the Uchiha Manor they spotted a well-decorated medium pond with what seemed to be a small ice platform right in the middle, but what made Zuko stop in his tracks was the woman that was sitting there with her eyes closed.

The moment Zuko saw her he instantly touched the burned part of his face.

"Who is she?" asked Zuko.

"Lei.. or.. Jackie?... told me she is Mr. Uchiha's second in command, some of the workers said they have an ambiguous relationship." Iroh then shrugged "The only thing I know about her is that she is a powerful waterbender that once lost against Mr. Uchiha and then decided to join him."

Zuko nodded "Do you know what she is doing there?"

Iroh shook his head "No, I can feel that she is trying to find peace within herself… but it seems that it's not going smoothly… judging by how her muscles are twitching every now and then."

"Finding peace within…" mumbled Zuko as he turned away and started walking… thinking of those words as the duo went towards the Koei Tower.

Iroh noticed that and kept silent but he saw something in his nephew's eyes and nodded satisfied.'Yes, it was indeed the best plan that I have ever come up with!'

Once they arrived, they were surprised by how fancy and expensive this place looked, everything was carved by professionals, the walls, the chairs, the curtains, even the gaming tables, and the employee's uniforms were of the highest quality!

"Hello there Mr. Iroh, Prince Zuko," said a lovely woman with long robes and yellow eyes.

"Oh, what a lovely young lady, what should I call you?" Asked Iroh politely.

The woman smiled "My name is Nari, Mr. Uchiha requested for me to give you these," she gave them a small wooden box, which, when opened showed what looked like coins, but they were made of wood and had fancy carvings and different drawings with numbers on them.

"What are these?" asked Iroh.

"These are betting chips, the currency used inside the Koei Tower, clients will have to exchange their money for these coins and once they are done with games they can exchange back when they leave the place."

Iroh whistled "Smart! That way, it'll be hard to actually rob this place, since these chips have no value outside and all of the actual money remains secure inside."

Nari smiled "Yes, Mr. Uchiha came up with very interesting ideas… come…" she turned and led them through the place, they spotted several different tables with unique designs and weird trinkets on them.

They stopped by one that had a well-carved spinning plate with painted numbers.

"What is this one?" asked Iroh, Zuko was just tagging along at this point since he didn't actually care for games like his uncle.

Nari smiled and explained "This one is called Roulette a player may bet on single numbers, rows of numbers, or on adjacent numbers. A player also may play colors, odd or even numbers, among others. A bet on a single number pays 35 to 1, including the 0 and 00. Bets on red or black, odd or even pay 1 for 1…" she proceeded to explain the different bets and payouts and how everything worked.

"Ohhh, what an interesting game Mr. Uchiha came up with! We should try it a little bit!" Said Iroh excitedly, which made Zuko sigh with an exhausted expression 'this will be a long day…'

Initially, Iroh was mildly excited, then he started to win quite a bit and asked Nari if they could exchange the free chips for actual money, to which she nodded and said that it is courtesy of Mr. Uchiha.

After that, all hell broke loose, and Iroh went on a mad gambling spree. They easily multiplied the chips they started with by 10, which was enough to even make Zuko interested and excited.

But Iroh didn't know when to stop and eventually burned every single chip and lost everything, which led the duo to be quite depressed as they walked outside.

"I can't believe I lost it… everything was going so well…." Sighed Iroh with a sad expression.

"You wanted to bet everything on a single number…" said Zuko facepalming.

"Of course! It pays 35 to 1! With that amount of money, we wouldn't have to worry about buying tea for the foreseeable future!" Exclaimed Iroh.

"We already have enough to buy you enough tea for a while…" said Zuko.

"Well… the more tea the merrier!" Concluded Iroh with a sage nod.

The next morning Zuko woke up pretty early, he wore his training outfit (the one he wore during the Agni Kai vs Zhao scene from the series) and walked outside his room.

The sun was barely visible, it was a cloudy day and the whole sky seemed to be painted white and grey today.

He walked towards the training grounds but in mid-walk, he spotted Lei, who was talking to the lady they met last night, Nari.

Zuko was actually surprised that they were a couple, he saw them display their affection before going separate ways, probably going to their jobs.

Lei spotted Zuko and stopped "Prince Zuko? Are you doing your morning workout?" he said staring at the very classic Fire Nation training/combat outfit.

Zuko shook his head "No… Mr. Uchiha agreed to train me today and I was on my way to his house to start my first day…"

Lei stopped and sweat dropped, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck going stiff like he saw a ghost, even his face went pale "Y-you actually asked to be trained by Mr. Uchiha?!" he asked.

Zuko nodded and became suspicious "Yes…?"

Lei gave him a knowing nod and patted his shoulder "My condolences … your highness.."