This is a fanfiction, read and enjoy...
It had been many years since the fall of the old Firelord and the end of the war. The challenges that the new peace had provided had proven to be just as demanding as those of the old conflict. Time continued to march onwards as each new obstacle had been met and overcome, one after the other.
The young avatar and his friends had remained vigilant and active. Unfortunately, the many varied task that required their attention necessitated the reluctant dispersal of the group. The youngsters had stayed in touch and met together when they could. It seemed a cruel twist of fate that the same circumstances that had brought them all together, now seemed to be doing its best to keep them apart. The bonds of shared experience had proven sturdy, however, and their natural development into young adulthood had only served to strengthen these ties.
Thanks partly to their close friendships and their hectic schedules; puberty had been a mostly smooth transition for the youngsters. It was difficult to get into too much mischief when they were exhausted from all of the tasks expected of them.
These tasks they had been obliged to continue, even at the personal detriment to some individual relationships.
But as they say, "if you can't be with the one you love… love the one you're with."
Circumstance can not be denied… and for open hearted people, intimacy is always close at hand, emotional, or otherwise… if this is desirable or not, is a matter of perception.
The tale of Zuko and Katara -
Zuko looked at himself in the mirror. In front of him was a basin full of hair and shaving scum. He ran his hand over his smooth chin. It had been a while since he had been completely clean shaven.
He felt and looked younger. Zuko smiled for a moment, remembering freer times.
Reality soon returned, however, as he caught a glimpse of his desk out of the reflection of the mirror. On top of it was an unwritten letter to Mai… waiting for him like some sort of nasty medical pill.
Zuko frowned.
Straightening up, he moved across his small guest quarters to the desk. Looking down, he could see a small pile of letters from the beautiful, dark haired assassin.
He ran a finger down a folded letter. It had been almost two months since he had seen his girlfriend last, and that had only been for a short time after the long time apart before, and again before that.
Zuko was sick of writing and receiving letters, it had become so monotonous, even Mai had admitted as much in her own writings. There was only so much you could write, assuming you had the time, and that was a resource always in short supply.
Zuko was troubled, something he had been often lately. That he didn't know what was troubling him was a great source of frustration. But he did know this much, he was definitely not in the mood to write another letter.
Zuko walked out into the hall of the guest quarters, he was only clothed in loose pants and a shirt but there was no need for formalities. The only other diplomatic guest in this quarter was his constant travelling partner over these long months, a close friend and confidant, a master Waterbender by the name of Katara.
Zuko walked down the hall on the way to a larger balcony. Somehow, he just had to get out of his room.
Walking by Katara's door, the young Firelord noticed that it was open just a crack. The room was dark except for a single candle. Zuko stopped. He could see the long athletic legs that belonged to his close friend. She was obviously relaxing in the warm evening.
Hesitating a moment, Zuko was unsure about whether he should bother her or not. For some reason he felt uncomfortable entering her room This was despite often being alone with her many, many times before. There was almost nothing the two didn't share. This closeness was a good thing, wasn't it? Lately it had seemed as if it was too much of a good thing. Something in the back of Zuko's mind had begun to nag him. He had started to feel uncomfortable in her presence. This was one of the things that had been troubling him so.
Frowning further, Zuko decided to push his irritating doubts aside, if he wasn't able to talk to Katara about it, who was he meant to talk to?
Zuko moved over, gently knocking at the waterbender's door.
Zuko noticed that the legs didn't even flinch. Had she been expecting him?
"Come in Zuko" said Katara calmly.
Zuko gently opened the door a bit further and slipped in. Katara's room was as small as his and she was sitting close to the door.
"Hey" he said, a tired smile on his lips.
"Hey" she replied, smiling back.
The two wavered with their eye contact and then broke off awkwardly, as if embarrassed to look at each other. Whatever had begun to make Zuko nervous in the presence of Katara was obviously mutual, and it was building. If Zuko was honest with himself this was beginning to frustrate him more then Mai's absence, he couldn't figure out what had gone wrong.
"Mind if I come in?" he asked, a seemingly silly question, considering he was already inside the room.
"No, of course not" Katara replied, her shrewd smile indicating that she appreciated the absurdity of the request. Katara had obviously not registered in her tired mind that Zuko had shaved.
Zuko could read the amusement on her expression, and smiled himself, the two had spent so much time around each other that they knew every gesture.
Zuko noticed that Katara was only wearing some loose evening robes, it was too hot for anything else. The nagging sensation came back and he quickly walked past her to a small balcony behind the sitting girl, so as not to have to look at her.
"Finished your letter to Aang already?" he asked, looking out into the lush green hills and the star filled sky.
"No" replied the young woman, "I just couldn't bring myself to write another letter."
Katara frowned. She had been away from Aang, and the rest of the group for that matter, for as long as Zuko had been parted from Mai.
"I had the same problem" admitted Zuko, a frown once again on his face.
A slight breeze played with the transparent curtains that flanked the small balcony.
"I just don't know what to write anymore" Katara continued, "I might as well just send him the meeting minutes."
"Only if he's having trouble sleeping" said Zuko sarcastically.
This generated a slight smile from both young adults.
"Is he going to have a chance to visit any time soon?" asked Zuko with interest, knowing that they had both received letters that day.
"No" said Katara in a defeated voice, "he has too much to do with the new students."
Zuko frowned in sympathy
"What about Mai?" Katara asked, "will she be finished any time soon?"
"It doesn't look like it" replied Zuko looking far into the distance.
The sounds of a sleeping city murmured in the background.
"Strange how things work out" said Katara suddenly.
Zuko half turned around.
"I mean, all of the couples have been split up for so long… only my brother and Suki are still together most of the time."
Zuko didn't reply.
Katar seemed to think for a moment.
"I suppose" continued the young woman, "at least we aren't completely split up. Aang has Toph and we have each other… only Mai has no one…"
"She has Zahvon" interrupted Zuko pointedly.
Katara paused for a second.
"The trader you hired as an advisor for her?"
"The same" said Zuko.
There was a pause, which Zuko knew to mean that Katara expected him to elaborate.
Zuko sighed, knowing that he would have to be honest with his old friend.
"There is a drawback with being completely open and honest all the time, you occasionally hear things you know you can't be angry about, but are anyway."
"They've gotten close?" asked Katara.
"Yeah…" replied Zuko, "I suppose that's a good thing… at least she has someone to talk to, her task isn't any easier then ours."
Katara looked out of the window opposite her.
"You sound jealous."
"I am" the young Firelord admitted, "but no more jealous then you are of Toph."
Katara was taken aback for an instant but then calmed, knowing what Zuko meant.
"Or Aang of you, or Mai of I" she added eventually.
Silence returned.
"This will all be over soon enough" said Katara wisely, "then we'll all be back with the people we hold most dear."
Both Zuko and Katara instantly frowned, as if Katara's words had hit an invisible nerve.
Zuko turned around to lean back onto the railing.
Katara put her arm over the large comfortable chairs backrest so as to be able to turn back and look at the firebender.
The two held eye contact for a moment, seemingly communicating on a deeper level.
"You've shaved" said Katara, happy to find some topic to break the silence.
Zuko smiled, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Yeah, it was irritating me… it was time for a change."
Katara smiled, he did look a lot younger.
"Back to the young Zuko" she said, seemingly approvingly.
"If only it was that simple to go back… back to the time were we were all together, with the ones we care about."
Zuko held eye contact, his subconscious finding expression for his unheard thoughts.
Katara seemed to react, her eyes wavering and falling. She turned back in her seat.
"You shouldn't look at me like that" she said on instinct.
And there it was… that cat was out of the bag, it was the first time that either of them had admitted that something had changed between them.
Katara's heart instantly began to race, her subconscious was leaking out thoughts she had repressed.
Zuko's mind suddenly focused, as if an unknown chapter to his thoughts had suddenly been made available to him on mass… it was overwhelming.
"How am I looking at you?" he asked, getting back up.
Katara was unable to reply, her own thoughts overwhelmed with what was suddenly storming into her consciousness.
"You know what I mean" she replied.
Zuko took a step forward.
"I'm not sure that I do" he replied, "all I do know is that something between us has changed"
Katara remained silent, looking at the ground intently.
"Nothing has changed" the young woman mumbled, "everything has changed…"
Zuko's thoughts were a mess, he was trying to repress thoughts while seeking out others.
"What happened? We used to be able to talk about everything… and now its just, awkward."
Katara didn't reply, which frustrated Zuko further.
He turned to look out into the night's sky.
"I thought we were meant to be close friends"
"That's the problem" said Katara suddenly.
Zuko turned
"We've gotten too close" the girl continued, a silent tear rolling down one cheek, "and the people we are meant to be close with, are too far away."
Zuko blinked a few times. Looking at the back of the chair he seemingly knew on instinct that his close friend was hurting.
With a concerned frown on his face he walked between the chair and the door, closing the door while gently lifting Katara's chin with his other hand.
She looked into his concerned, honest eyes as he gently rubbed away the stray tear with his thumb.
The two exchanged a week smile.
"This is what I mean" Katara said honestly.
Zuko seemingly hesitated. At first it didn't seem odd to him at all that he was touching Katara's face, but now that he thought about it, the two had begun to exchange a lot of physical contact lately.
Seemingly coming to a conclusion he pushed on and stroked her hair with his hand as a kind gesture before removing it.
"There shouldn't be anything wrong with doing this…" he said, seemingly in an attempt to convince himself.
"It's more then that…" said Katara.
"I think I know what you mean" said Zuko, walking over to the window in front of Katara.
"When you said before… that we would soon be with the ones we hold dear. One of my first thoughts was possibly not having you near anymore, it hurt as much as missing Mai..."
Katara looked at the back of the young firebender, a frown on her face, she knew that she felt the same way with her conflicting emotions between Aang and Zuko.
"Is that wrong?" she asked, trying to defend her similar position.
"I'm not sure" he said, "I don't know…"
Katara got up, moving over to the young man by the window.
"It shouldn't be wrong to care for someone…" she offered as she walked up to his side.
"You're right… it shouldn't" he agreed.
Katara had moved quite close on instinct so that when Zuko turned to her there was only the smallest gap between them. Starlight illuminated their features as the looked deep into each others eyes.
Without hesitation, and on seeming command form their subconscious, the two leaned towards each other, embracing in a tender kiss. Tensions melted away as the two simply enjoyed the contact of the other. The two held the moment, breathing in the scent of the person who had been so close, but never this close.
On mutual consent the two broke off, turning to look out into the night sky. Both leaned against the windowsill. Katara's hand on Zuko's
"The problem is…" he began.
"When you care for two people…" Katara continued, finishing his sentence for him.
Zuko intertwined his fingers with Katara's, giving hers a reassuring squeeze.
"So where do we go from here?" he asked, still looking out at the horizon.
Katar moved so as to lean onto his shoulder, once again supporting each other.
"A good question" she said, "a good question."
End.
Next up... Toph and Aang