A/N: It's amazing to me to know that this fic still gets as many hits and reviews as it does, especially since it hasn't been updated in over 4 years! So this is my official notice to all of you that this fic is dead and sadly unfinished. I don't know if I will ever return to writing fanfiction. I really wish I had the time because I sincerely miss doing it. Thank you all for still reading and reviewing my little stories. :) Maybe if anyone is interested I'll re-upload the first Zutara fic I ever did on here. It's multi-chapter and super old, but I still like it. Again thank you all!
A/N:So this was the follow-up to my one-shot story The Kiss. You should read that first before you read this! :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar.
The sun shone brightly upon the field of flowers. They were in full bloom and a deep golden yellow. The flowers swayed gently in the breeze as Zuko walked through them. He stopped for a moment to pick a few, knowing that Katara would put them in her hair. He continued walking toward the laughter in the distance knowing that the woman behind the laughter belonged to him. He stood for a moment to watch her. She looked so beautiful amongst all the flowers.
"Zuko stop standing there and come sit with me" She beckoned from amongst the sea of golden flowers.
As he began to move toward her, she began to move away. He reached fro her, but the distance between them began to grow. She was floating further from his reach and he couldn't keep up. The sky suddenly turned gray and he could run no longer. He fell to his knees as the heavens opened up and rain began to fall. He looked up to see her figure floating away and then vanish on the horizon.
Zuko woke with a start as a bolt of lightning illuminated the night sky. He had been hiding in the cave for a few days now; trying to recover from his last encounter with his sister. Azula had severely injured him and slowed down his search for Katara. He often had dreams of her, all ending with her leaving him in some way. If Zuko were superstitious, he would've taken his dreams to be bad omens; signs that he would never be with Katara. It pained his heart to think of such things, so he shook all his bad thoughts away and lay back down. He thought of the one time he had seen her in the weeks following their kiss.
The day was calm and the scene at the lake was so serene. Zuko had gone off to pick some berries while Katara lay peacefully amongst the wildflowers. The breeze was light and calming and Katara picked a purple flower that was swaying nearby.
She plucked a petal from the beautiful flower. "He loves me" A beautiful smile graced her face and then she plucked another "He loves me not" She frowned at this sentiment. She continued with this age old ritual until Zuko returned.
"Who loves you?" he was teasing her.
"Oh…just my beloved." Katara smirked.
"And who might he be?" Zuko made his way toward Katara.
"Oh just this guy, he's a little bit of a hot-head." Katara continued to playfully tease him.
"Oh a hot-head, you say?" Zuko was now face to face with Katara. She leaned in to kiss him, but he suddenly vanished.
Katara had been dreaming of Zuko lately. After their kiss in the forest, she had mixed feelings. Wasn't she supposed to hate him? Weren't they enemies? Her heart and her head were so torn. She had often thought that the kiss was all a dream, but she knew deep in her heart that it had all been real. Katara often felt Zuko's lips lingering on her own. She touched her lips and sighed.
"Aang we need to stop at that town up ahead. We're running really low on supplies" Katara was worried. They hadn't stopped in weeks. Aang refused to stop often, for fear that they were already behind on his training.
"Alright, we'll stop for an hour and only and hour. And don't run off without me, Sokka, or Toph." Ever since they had found Katara with Zuko Aang refused to let her out of his sight. He had tried to convince Katara to tell what happened in the forest, but she refused to tell. Since her encounter she had seemed so distant.
"Okay I promise I won't run off without someone at my side" Katara hated being babysat wherever they stopped, but she knew that after the forest incident they were all afraid to let her go out on her own, especially Aang.
"Well I want to go into town and do some shopping and I think that Toph should come with me" Although Toph and Katara had had a rocky start, they were now good friends. Katara liked having another girl around and someone to confide in. There were just some things that she couldn't tell her brother or Aang. After her kiss with Zuko, Katara told Toph everything. Toph understood and always agreed to "watch" Katara so that Katara could wander around on her own.
Zuko had been tracking Katara for a few weeks now. He had been traveling non-stop just to keep up with them. The bison was too fast for him to rest. He was exhausted and was elated to see the bison dive down toward the forest up ahead. Zuko knew that this was his chance to see her again.
He spurred his ostrich-horse on. Zuko was excited that the bison had finally come to a stop. Uncertainty lay ahead, but Zuko knew that he had to at least try. He promised himself that he would never rest until Katara was his.
Katara and Toph parted ways upon entering the small Earth Kingdom village.
"Meet me back here in an hour. We don't want to be gone from camp too long." Toph made sure that their secret outings would remain secret.
"Uh-huh...okay" Katara had already started wondering off and had barely heard what Toph had said.
Toph sighed "'Here we go again"' she thought to herself. Toph raised a pile of earth into a chair. She slumped into it and waited.
Zuko decided to make camp in a little cave a that was far enough from the Avatar's camp for him to stay hidden, but close enough for him to easily spy on them. He made his way toward their camp, making sure not to make any unwanted noise. He found a bush near the outskirts of their camp to hide in. No one was around. He decided to wait a couple of minutes just in case someone would show up and after a couple of minutes he heard voices.
"...All I'm saying is that I think it's weird how Katara always wants Toph to escort her around. I'm sure that those two are definitely hiding something from us" Sokka was ranting to Aang about his sister's lack of variation.
"Well maybe it's just easier for Katara to have Toph escort her because they're both girls. They probably just talk about girl stuff all the time and Toph is definitely tough enough to protect Katara" Aang not only said this to reassure Sokka, but also to reassure himself that they weren't keeping secrets from the two of them.
Sokka mulled over Aang's words for a moment "You can believe whatever you want to Aang, but I still think they're hiding something from us"
Zuko thought this bit of information was amusing. "'Of course they're keeping secrets from you two"' Zuko couldn't help but smirk. While Aang and Sokka continued their rabble of arbitrary things, Zuko noticed that Katara and Toph did not return to the camp. "'So they must be in town"' Zuko hurried off with a grin on his face. He knew that finding Katara without the Avatar and her stupid brother in the way would be easy. Unbeknownst to Zuko, however, was the fact that Toph had been the one to knock him out.
Katara headed for the food stalls. She always made sure to get the supplies before wandering about in the other shops. She hurriedly bought the food they needed and moved on. She made her way toward a fabric shop. The shop was filled to the brim with fabrics of every color and texture. Katara browsed every aisle, wishing that she had the money to buy everything. The shop's clerk made his way toward her.
"May I help you with something?"
"Oh, no thank you, I'm just looking." Katara gave the clerk a warm smile.
He noticed that there was a bit of sadness in her eyes. He could from the state of her clothes that she didn't have much money. She was such a lovely girl and decided that he would give her some fabric for free. "Well a girl as lovely as you ldeserves something nice" He gave her a very kind smile and grabbed her hand. "My dear girl you may have a few yards of whatever fabric you want"
Katara's eyes grew wide. She could make something lovely with a few yards of fabric. She didn't know how to thank the kind man, so she hugged him. "Thank you so much!"
The man was happy to see that he could bring some joy into this young lady's life. Katara left the shop with a few blue fabrics and a yard of red silk. Katara was so happy that she didn't notice that someone was following her as she left the shop.
Zuko hated passing through towns. There were too many curious onlookers and there was always a chance that he would be recognized. He couldn't afford to get caught. Zuko browsed various stalls and shops to remain unsuspicious. As he walked out of a trinket shop he spotted Katara through the window of the shop across the street. He noticed that she was alone and he let a smile grace his face. "This is going to be easy" Zuko hurried to the alley next to the shop Katara was in and waited. After a few minutes he heard the ringing of the bell on the shop's door. Just as Katara passed the alleyway he crept behind her.
The one hour time limit that Toph had given Katara was about to expire so Katara headed toward the established meeting point. She saw Toph in the distance. "Hey Toph, you'll never guess what..." Katara was startled by Toph's sudden movements. Toph came hurtling toward Katara and pushed her out of the way.
"Hey what's going on?" Katara shouted in Toph's direction and it was then that she noticed that Zuko was what Toph had been running toward. Apparently Toph had sensed Zuko's vibrations following closely behind Katara's footsteps.
Zuko was surprised to see that the little girl knew that he was following Katara. She sent rocks flying toward him, but he easily dodged them all. She continued her volley of rocks, but Zuko continued to dodge them. As Toph continued her attack Zuko was making his way toward Katara. She was too dumbfounded by the fact that Zuko had been following her, that she hadn't moved from her spot on the ground. Toph continued to launch rocks at the virbrations Zuko was sending and she almost hit Katara. The rock whizzed past Katara's head and it snapped her out of her stupor. She looked up, only to find that Zuko was just a few steps away from her. She suddenly sprang to life, but she didn't know which way to run and whether or not to drop all the fabric. Zuko noticed her sudden panic and closed the gap between them.
Toph was conflicted; after Katara had sprang to life she noticed that the vibrations she was pursuing suddenly overlapped with another set of vibrations. Toph knew she had to stop her attacks before she hurt an innocent bystander.
Zuko had successfully closed the gap and grabbed Katara. She flailed around and knew that she couldn't do anything with all the fabrics in her hand. After much self-debate Katara let go of everything and bent a snake of water with her free hand. She whacked Zuko in the head with it and he instinctively released her. Katara used Zuko's momentary incapacity as an opportunity to freeze Zuko's feet to the ground. She knew that the ice wouldn't hold him for long, but it gave her time to grab the stuff and Toph and make a run for it.
Zuko suddenly noticed his mistake and abruptly set his body aflame. He screamed in frustration and ran after them.
In her state of panic Katara didn't know where to go. "Toph. You've gotta get us back to camp. I don't know where it is" Katara pleaded.
Toph pulled Katara to a stop. "Alright, but we have to stop for a moment" Toph used her ability to sense vibrations to feel out Appa. She sensed a large creature moving in the distance to the left. "Hurry, we have to go this way and that man is gaining on us"
As the girls picked up their speed, so did Zuko. "I won't let you get away from me again" Zuko hissed.
"Toph, I see the clearing up ahead. Hurry we're almost there"
Zuko saw that they were close to the camp. This only spurred him on more and his forced himself to push harder.
The girls burst through the clearing, out of breath. "Aang! Sokka! We have to leave, Zuko's after us!" Katara spoke in short bursts for she was out of breath.
Sokka and Aang sprang to life and didn't bother to gather the stuff that lay around their camp. They grabbed Toph and Katara and hopped onto Appa's back.
"Yip! Yip!" Aang screamed out in earnest.
Just as they left the ground Zuko burst through the clearing. He let out a bone-chilling scream and sent a burst of fire into the air.
Katara shivered at the sound of Zuko's desperation. She tightly clutched the fabrics as they ascended into the clouds.
That had been the only time that they had seen each other after the kiss. Three weeks had gone by since that encounter, but Zuko and Katara couldn't stop thinking about it.
The sound of utter frustration and hopelessness that filled Zuko's scream haunted Katara. It scared her to think that Zuko wanted her that bad. She sighed again, it seemed like all she ever did now was sigh. If Zuko had been able to hang on to her, would she have eventually given into the desires of her heart. She didn't like to think of the fact that perhaps if Zuko ever did catch her, she'd fall in love with him. Katara was tired and let sleep overcome her.
The bitter taste of failure lingered with Zuko. He had been so close, but she still managed to escape his grasp. He was starting to grow tired of always failing and his current state of incapacity was only making matters worse. He could only afford to rest for a day, so he let sleep overcome him.