A/N: Hey everybody! Thanks for reading. This is just a cute little Zutara oneshot that I came up with in a lightning bolt of inspiration. (Azula would be proud.) Anyway, it's an AU story set in modern day high school. No bending in this case.
And yeah, I hate it when the stories set today are bender free, but it's only a oneshot, so bending isn't really important here. Oh, and Toph is blind. Just so you know. Aang and Toph are in tenth grade, Katara is in eleventh, and Sokka, Suki, and Zuko are in twelfth.
This little story just happens to be based on a song by Thousand Foot Krutch called "This Is a Call". The song is a Christian one, and my story will touch on the subject of Jesus, but very briefly. If that's not your thing, you can still read this. The story isn't based on religion, but the song is. You can find it on YouTube, it's really great.
So here it goes, hope you all enjoy.
Katara walked over to her locker, Aang and Toph already standing there, waiting for her. "Hey guys," she called smiling brightly.
"Hi Katara." Aang grinned happily, his arm wrapped around Toph's shoulders.
Katara sighed. They were the perfect couple. Ever since she had entered high school and they were left in the middle school, alone together, they had been dating. Though Toph would never admit it, Katara could tell that she really loved Aang. It made Katara glad that her two friends were so happy together.
"What up sugar queen?" Toph asked, grinning as well.
"Oh, nothing much," Katara said. She forced another smile, even though Toph couldn't see it.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Aang asked, his face suddenly looking concerned.
"Of course Aang. I'm fine." Katara had been feeding that line, I'm fine, I'm fine, to anyone who asked. But it was a lie.
"Do you ever want to talk about it?" Aang continued, still seeming worried. Katara didn't want him to be troubled for her sake.
"No Aang. I told you, I'm fine." Another lie. How many times would she put on a strong face in front of her friends?
Toph looked unsure about this. "Katara," she said, her blurry eyes wide. "I can tell you don't mean that."
Katara sighed heavily. Toph could always tell when she lied. The little blind girl saw everything. "I'm fine," Katara snapped, repeating her fake mantra and storming away. She didn't even bother to get her books from her locker. That didn't seem important anymore.
oOoOoOoOoOo
"So, your father gave you that scar, huh?"
Zuko turned around to see Jet, captain of the football team, standing behind him with his other thug-like teammates. Zuko smirked and walked up to him.
"What's it to you?" he asked, trying to sound tougher than he was.
"I've heard some stories and thought I'd come and ask if they were true." Jet pulled the toothpick he always seemed to carry out of his mouth and turned to his buddies. "We thought we should just find out from the source."
Zuko knew that Jet was an idiot. Everyone did. Ever since his sabotage of the opposing team at championships last year, he had been given a bad reputation. Zuko hated Jet and tried to avoid him. Still, Zuko kind of liked the attention he was now getting. At seeing their confrontation, some of the kids in the lower grades had come to watch.
"Yeah, it's true." Zuko smirked some more when one of the freshman girls gasped at that. He went on. "My father almost killed me with his lighter. So, I left the house. But only after I kicked his ass."
That wasn't entirely true. Zuko's father had burned him; his father was an abusive one. He beat Zuko's own mother and then forced her out of the house. Everyone said that she was dead now. When Zuko was younger, his father burned his face with a cigarette lighter and then kicked Zuko out of the house after their fight. Now, Zuko lived with his Uncle Iroh on the other side of town.
"If you're such a good fighter, than let's see some proof," Jet said, leaning over him. Jet was taller, built bigger, and Zuko had never really fought anyone in his whole life. "Unless you're afraid." He laughed.
Zuko turned away. It seemed like half the school had come to watch the show. Many of their faces looked disappointed at the fact that no punches had been thrown. Suddenly, a familiar face caught his eye.
Katara was walking past the crowd, her blue eyes sad. Zuko remembered the days that their crew had still been together. It was back in middle school and they had all been inseparable best friends. But that was before her mother had gotten the cancer. And just recently, Kya had died. Katara and her brother Sokka were taking it hard. But Sokka had his girlfriend, Suki. Katara had no one.
She looked up and saw Zuko. Her face was expressionless as she looked at him. Then she shut her eyes and turned away.
A rage began to well inside of Zuko. He had loved Katara once, and now he was being ignored. That was always his biggest fear. Zuko had been ignored by his father, by his sister, and now by the girl who was once a friend. A very good friend.
Behind him, Jet still laughed. Zuko turned around and punched him, square in the face. Jet gaped and touched his cheek, but grinned menacingly and stepped toward Zuko. "You shouldn't have done that."
The fight began, with Zuko taking hit after hit, trying to swing one at Jet, but failing miserably. He could hear his sister Azula in the crowd, laughing at him. He was pathetic.
oOoOoOoOoOo
"Katara," Sokka knocked on her door. "You should go to sleep, it's almost midnight."
"I am going to sleep," she sighed, turning over in her bed to face him as he stood in the doorway.
"Then why is your light still on?" His face showed no emotion as he stared at her.
She groaned. "Just go away Sokka."
Thankfully, he did. And without another word, her brother left her room, turning off the light as he went. Katara sighed and got up, turning the light back on. She fell back on her bed and sniffled. Having the light on made Katara more comfortable. She felt safe in a way that she hadn't since…
Since mom died, she thought.
After her mother was diagnosed with cancer, Katara's whole life had fallen apart. She stopped talking to all of her old friends and stayed home to help her mother. Katara's father, Hakoda, was a soldier fighting in Iraq and couldn't get leave to come home and help. Her grandmother, Kana, had instead come to their aid. But still, Katara did most of the housework.
With high school, taking care of her family, and the stress of her mother's death, Katara had been a mess. Sometimes she felt like falling apart.
And her friends weren't much help. Aang and Toph didn't understand her. Even Sokka was taking it better than she had. Sokka was used to loss though. His first girlfriend, Yue, had died in a car crash. And now, Sokka had Suki to help him through it. Suki was the love of his life, but neither one of them could fully understand Katara either.
And then there was Zuko.
Katara almost cried at the memories of him. They had dated right when they got into high school, but she broke it off. Katara just couldn't take having a boyfriend when she had to be the head of her house.
Zuko had never told her about how horrible his father was. She knew that he had kicked out his own wife, Zuko's mother, but Katara never knew what Ozai really did to Zuko. That is, not until him came back to school after a month of absences with a scar covering the whole left side of his face.
Katara had broken up with him right before that. Before Zuko's fight with his father and before the scar. She had always felt guilty in some way. Like, if she had known what was going on, that she could have stopped it. Or that she could have given Zuko solace after the accident. But he never talked to her anymore.
She began to feel like a question without answers, and she tortured herself with that fact. And then Katara had a strange idea. All those years, when she needed someone to call, who had it been?
She picked up her phone and dialed the last number on her contacts list, praying that he would answer.
oOoOoOoOoOo
"Fighting in school? I'm very disappointed Zuko." Uncle Iroh had chastised Zuko since he had gotten home. "And now you've been suspended. I hope that you learn a lesson from this."
Zuko didn't answer, but just sat on the couch, hugging his knees to his chest.
"So, was it worth it? You have to sit at home for three days straight staring at the walls. Why did you do it? Fighting is never the answer." Uncle went on, trying to spread his tea-flavored wisdom, but Zuko ignored him.
He pulled out his iPod and began to listen to the music, loud and full of screaming. He didn't really like it, but it was a way to hide. The music helped him cover up his feelings. Zuko liked it this way.
He thought he could make out Uncle saying something like "You're wasting your life and my time", but Zuko couldn't be sure. He just sat on the couch, his headphone blasting away. With that, Uncle left Zuko alone to his own devices.
Without wanting them to, Zuko's thoughts trailed back to when he had seen Katara that morning. She had looked so sad. Then again, she always looked sad now. Some days Zuko wanted to just walk up and hug her. He wanted to be the one to tell her that everything was going to be alright.
Tears began streaming down Zuko's scarred face. He wiped them off of the rough skin before anyone could see, even though he was alone in his uncle's living room. Katara's life was beginning to remind Zuko of his own. He knew all too well what it was like to lose your mother forever.
Zuko had loved his mother. He had also loved Katara. But now, he didn't love anyone. Not even his uncle, who treated him more like a wonderful son than a failed nephew. He knew that he wasn't incapable of love. The truth was Zuko was scared to love anyone.
He walked over to the old phone that sat on the table and picked it up, wanting to call Katara. He needed to talk to somebody. He had always called out to her when he used to need a friend. Now, it seemed like they needed each other.
Suddenly, as he picked up the phone to dial Katara's unforgotten number, the phone rang in his hands. He let it keep ringing and go to voicemail, so that he could call his old friend.
His uncle's voice began to speak on the answering machine. "Hello, this is Iroh and Zuko, please leave a message."
*Beep!*
"Um, hi Zuko," a timid voice said from the other line. "It's Katara. You probably don't want to talk to me but- ."
Zuko immediately answered the phone. "Katara," he breathed.
"Hey," she said, sounding nervous. "Um, I just wanted to talk to someone."
"Me too," he answered, his voice quiet.
"So, uh…" Katara's voice trailed off and her line was silent. She was at a loss for words.
"I'll meet you at the beach," Zuko said suddenly, gaining an unknown confidence. The beach was his friends' old hangout. It was where they would go to get away. A place where nothing was wrong. "Can you get there in ten minutes?"
"Five," she replied, a smile to her tone.
"See you in five," Zuko said.
oOoOoOoOoOo
She saw his figure, glowing in the moonlight, seated on the hood of his uncle's old car. "Zuko!" she cried, running over to him in a rush. For some unknown reason, she hugged him, holding on to the boy tightly.
He hugged back. "Hey Katara." She broke off their embrace and saw Zuko's body relax, breathing in the scent of her hair. They sat on the car roof in silence.
"The stars are beautiful," she said, breaking through the awkward wall between them.
"Yeah," he said, sounding disinterested.
"You know, they say that there's someone out there who sees us. Watching all the time." Katara smiled feeling the warm sea breeze on her face.
"Well then, if you're out there, save me Jesus!" Zuko shouted in a sarcastic tone, holding out his arms to the endless sky.
"I don't think it works that way," Katara giggled, seeing the half smile on Zuko's scarred face. "I believe that my mother is out there somewhere. I think she watches me and my brother." There was a calm pause between them. "I miss her."
"I miss my mom too."
Katara had never heard Zuko talk about his mother. Of course she knew the story, but he never told her about it. She couldn't even imagine.
"I'm so sorry," she said, whispering now.
"I'm sorry too." He looked away from Katara, out into the calming ocean, but he gave a small smile.
She hugged him again, wanting to let him know that she was there. That she was sorry for not always being there. She wanted to make up for that. He smiled at her and moved a stray hair from her face.
"Do you ever feel like you've lost all control?" he asked her. "Like you're just a worthless piece of your own life?"
"Yes," she nodded, still pressing her face to his chest. She could feel his heartbeat.
"I don't think I want to hide anymore."
Katara looked up at Zuko, his face sad, but hopeful. She smiled and cupped a hand to the scarred side of his face, smoothing over his features with her thumb. "Neither do I."
He leaned down and kissed her. It was a soft, gentle kiss, but there was true passion and feeling behind it. Katara wrapped the hand that wasn't on Zuko's face around his neck, lacing her fingers with his black hair. He put both of his arms around her waist, pulling her closer.
They broke apart. "Do you think your mother saw that?" he asked her, grinning.
She laughed and playfully hit him on the arm. "You're so stupid."
He laughed once and kissed her again. They stayed like that, in the light of the moon, on the hood of an old, beat-up car, on the sands of a beach, surrounded by each other's love, learning what life was really about.