Disclaimer: I lack ownership of Avatar.

A/N: This was one of my prompts that got out of hand.

For anyone interested, yes the story is already completed.

Its just in need of editing. And I do happen to be the only one doing so.

Which reminds me: This story has no Beta, sorry for mistakes.

I really hope that the people who take the time to read this story enjoy it.

The moment Zuko walked into the office, he could tell by the grin on Mai's face that she was going to make his life a nightmare. Her grin stated that she not only was the cat that ate the canary, she cousin to the Cheshire. It was a look he often wondered if she had some how managed to pick up from his sister.

"I just got off the phone with your next job," Mai informed him, sounding far too happy for Zuko's health.

Zuko tried not to visibly cringe as he took a seat across from her desk waiting to hear about his next mission. After separating from his father's company, Zuko had been forced to figuring out working on his own. He had the school record and what work experience he had from his father's company to get him any office job he could ever want. However, Zuko found from working part time in his uncle's tea shop, he liked doing things better then sitting behind a desk. Selling tea wasn't his thing either, but after Zuko had managed a few rough customers, his uncle had suggested something in a defense field. Zuko had grown up taking self defense and martial arts lessons. It felt good to finally put them to use. Eventually, he had found himself doing bodyguard work. It took only nine months before Zuko realized that he hated long term work on a single client.

Long term safeguarding meant getting to know a person. More often then not, the people that needed long term guards were the ones that were more like his father then he cared for. It had almost ended his short career in a field he found himself growing rapidly attached to. Thanks to a lot of help from his childhood friend Mai and a bit of help he had grudgingly taken from the willing Azula, he managed to get his own place set up.

The only thing Azula had asked in return was a job for Ty Lee. She was another girl he had grown up with since childhood. He quickly dismissed her as nothing, but air headed. After a month behind a desk, the girl had attacked him. He talked to her about a full time body guard position as he waited for feeling to return to his legs. Azula was kind enough to remind him after that, that she did not keep useless people around her. Zuko however, refused to believe it was more then she had the element of surprise. Either way, she always kept work interesting.

Work now meant taking on several short term clients. They often had repeat clients that needed an extra guard for a night or two during big parties or special meetings. His business had an upstanding reputation now, but it hadn't started that way. Zuko felt like the four years the company had been up, he now had done a bit of everything. They now had four full time body guards and Mai who ran the office. It hadn't been easy, but it was well worth the wait.

There were on occasions some jobs that simply were not worth it. After one too many jobs to guard someone's daughter, Zuko found himself permanently leaving Ty Lee open for those. She seemed to like them better then most of the jobs he was willing to take. He found his closet stocked and set for party and banquet guarding events. No one believed hims to be a people person for even a moment, but people seemed to like him as a black suit in the background. Zuko had plenty of experience blending into the background, he certainly didn't mind doing it for work.

He had a feeling that whatever job Mai was about to set him up for, it wasn't going to be his typical job. Her smirk assured him that she had something special she was sitting on just for him. He looked at her expectantly.

"Your client for today paid from noon today to noon tomorrow. There is the chance that he may refresh and add further to his payment. However, you should know there is a chance he may cancel the arrangement all together," Mai warned.

Zuko nodded. The only thing he had gathered so far was that his client was male. That always seemed to make things easier.

"He comes in from a flight at noon that you need to pick him up from. You will then take him to his hotel room. He will instruct you from there. The most important thing in this is taking your orders from him seriously, no matter how silly they might seem. I don't need to remind you that your job goes beyond just guarding, you are to help him in any way you can."

Something was off. Zuko could tell from what she was pointing out to him. His job was usually to break up fighting and some times start a few. There was a lot of crowd control and some times, even with some cases he was risking his life and didn't mind, but here she was telling him he was supposed to do more then stick his neck out. What sort of silly orders would the person have and just why would they need his help?

"What's the name the client left?"

"Aang."

"That's it? No last name?"

"That was all he left. He was trying to be discreet," Mai told him.

"Are you sure about this? What else do you know about this person? Someone that leaves only a first name is suspicious," Zuko expressed.

Mai tired not to smile and Zuko knew she was hiding information. He stared at her. His glare saying only too clearly, I know there is something your not telling me.

"There is nothing to be suspicious about in this case," Mai said.

"How can you say that so securely. What is he, a priest?"

"No, he is a monk. Is that close enough?"

Zuko gaped at her like she had lost her mind.

"A monk?"

"Yes, a monk. Your duty will be to take him around and show him everything for the next twenty four hours. He is on his pilgrimage, if that is what you want to call it. He is considering taking vows and becoming someone actually really important in his order, but his elders felt it would be a good idea to make sure he went out into the world and saw what it had to offer to make sure he wasn't planning to change his mind," Mai explained.

Zuko struggled to get words out, but as much as his mouth worked repeatedly to find them, nothing actually formed. He knew he must look like a landed fish.

After a few moments, words seemed to gather properly again in his mind and he nearly yelled, "He doesn't need a body guard, he needs a tourist guide!"

Mai gave him a flat look and pointed out, "He is a monk. He knows nothing of this world and he is about to be let loose in a city. I'm pretty sure, he needs a body guard."

There was logic in there that Zuko couldn't fight, but he would be damned if he went down without one.

"Sokka! Surely, this is a perfect job for Sokka," Zuko tried.

"Sokka is busy guarding the heiress, Toph. Before you ask, Ty Lee is out on duty too. The daughter of the Governor has her birthday this evening and will be having all her friends in."

Zuko shuddered. Guarding a monk was far better than guarding a bunch of screaming teenage girls that always seemed to get drunk some way or another and more often than not found him to be the best thing to throw themselves at.

"Suki?"

"She is still out on maternity leave."

Trying his last ditch effort, Zuko said, "You said this job wasn't even guaranteed for the night. Is there any jobs we would be turning down tonight to take this up then?"

The same evil grin crossed Mai's face and he knew he wasn't going to like the answer.

"The only other option for tonight was that Jet called and was looking for a guard this evening."

Swearing to himself, Zuko ran his hand through his short cropped hair. The last thing he ever wanted to do again in his life was guard Jet. Ty Lee was the only one that seemed to have little issue guarding him. Zuko suspected it was mostly, because she ignored what he said and when the jerk tried to get hands-on she would pressure point him into numbness.

"I don't really have a choice in this, do I?"

"Nope, you better start heading toward the air port, with the lunch traffic at this time, you should just be able to make it."

Mai passed him the standard envelope of information that came with every client. Zuko took it and fished his car keys out of his pocket.

"Good luck," Mai called after him.

Zuko tried hard not to slam the office door as he left, but he blamed it on slipping out of his fingers with a forceful shove.

AN: Prompt that got way far out of hand: #49: Dream Job for one night.

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