The world was silent as Katara crept through the corridor. She'd made it this far without a sound and didn't expect anything less of herself. She prided herself on her stealth capabilities to swiftly and confidently get the job done. On this night, though, a touch of paranoia lingered at the back of her mind. She technically wasn't supposed to be using her skills for this. Actually her superiors didn't have a clue that their resources were being used on this mission. The dangers associated with this disobedience made her nervous, but she was determined not to fail.
Coming up on the door marked 218, Katara bent to pick the lock. It took no longer than 10 seconds, as expected when she heard the satisfying click of the now unlocked door. Katara startled at a shiver down her spine. She thought she had seen something in the corner of her eye, a shadow of sorts. With a frustrated sigh, she rolled her eyes at her own paranoia. She knew better not to be jumpy, but going against her superiors put her nerves on edge.
Katara entered the room silently, spotting the computer she was here to hack. She chanced a sigh of relief. You're almost done, Katara. She closed the door behind her, letting it lock as she made her way around the desk to face the computer.
Hacking the computer wasn't an issue. She was past the firewalls within minutes. Sweat beaded on her forehead. For the second time that night Katara startled. A shadow had definitely passed the door.
Finishing her business, she hurriedly closed all of the programs and silently plead with the machine to shut down faster. Finally, it was done. Climbing onto the desk, she removed a ceiling tile.
A clicking noise from the door made her freeze. Her heart hammered in her chest. Someone else was trying to get in here. At this time of night? Ugh, people!
Just as the door clicked unlocked, Katara pulled herself through the ceiling. She could only hope that the intruder hadn't seen, or heard, the ceiling tile slipping back into place. As careful as she could, Katara navigated the ceiling area, careful to balance her weight on the support beams that held the ceiling grid up. As she maneuvered, she silently thanked the spirits for being so small.
According to the blueprints she had, she was now over the room next to her. Katara carefully removed the tile and let herself drop onto the floor below. Behind her, there was a window, just as she expected. And just outside that window was a marvelous oak tree. The window didn't open far, but it was enough. Katara squeezed herself through and shimmied down the tree the all the training of a government spy. Reaching the ground, she took off at a sprint to get off the property as fast as she could before the shadow realized he wasn't alone.
Mission complete.
`~.~_-_~.~'
"I don't believe it! Not one class?" Mai's usually composed face wore an expression of frustration as she observed her class schedule.
Ty Lee peered over her shoulder, as bubbly as ever. "Oh, that's too bad. I have like three classes with Zuko!" At Mai's glare, she backed off. It was a miracle these two were even friends with how vastly different their personalities were.
"But we signed up for our classes together!" she growled. Then, spotting Zuko down the hall, she said, "There's the traitor."
Ty Lee looked until she spotted him. "Zuko! Over here!"
"Hey," he said conversationally.
"Don't 'hey' me. What's the deal?" Mai slammed her schedule against his chest and he winced.
"What's wrong with you?" He took the paper and looked at it. Having just read his own schedule, he realized why she was upset. "Oh. You know they don't always give you what you sign up for, right?"
Mai seethed. "Whatever." She crossed her arms and walked away.
"Oh, you're in for it now Zuko." Ty Lee said in the happiest way possible. What was with this girl? She must be on something to be so happy all the time. Ty Lee turned on her heal and followed after Mai.
Nearby at her locker, Katara eavesdropped letting herself feel smug.
Zuko ran a hand through his hair, bewildered by his little sister's friend's behavior. He backtracked down the hall to get to his locker. He smiled when noticed who his locker neighbor was.
"Hey Katara." He effortlessly opened the lock and swung the locker open.
"Oh Zuko! Hey. How was your holiday?" Katara had just finished up at her locker, but decided to re-arrange her newly placed text books. The layout wasn't working for her, she decided.
"It was boring." He said, thinking back to the long days of training in an underground camp. "And mildly productive, you might say. And yours?"
"Oh, nothing special," she lied. Top secret government meetings were a hassle and lately she was beginning to wonder if she was on the right side. "What was that all about?" she asked, gesturing to the empty space where Mai and Ty Lee had previously been.
Zuko rubbed the back of his neck, "I don't know. Lately Mai has been acting… weird."
Katara nodded her head supportively. "What do you think it is?"
"Maybe she's feeling left out or something. I don't know. She was upset because we didn't have any classes together this semester."
Katara beamed, proud of herself. She was glad Zuko wasn't looking at her face because her entire demeanor was completely inappropriate for how the conversation was going. "Huh, that's odd," she said conversationally. Zuko closed his locker and looked at her.
"Yeah. We did sign up for our classes at the same time though. I wonder how it worked out that way." The tone of his voice seemed to imply that Katara knew something about it.
"I don't know." There was no way Zuko could know about her secret. He had been acting suspicious of her towards the end of last semester, but she was certain he didn't know or else he wouldn't be so pleasant to her.
"Oh speaking of schedules, what's yours look like?" Zuko asked.
She pulled her schedule from the folder she had just pulled out of her locker to put into her binder and held it next to Zuko's for comparison. She was surprised to find that they were on the exact same schedule. Suspicion sparked in her mind like a red flag. "Wow, we have the same schedule."
"Oh do we?" He didn't sound surprised at all. "Strange coincidence."
"Strange coincidence indeed," she muttered as the bell rang, signaling everyone to homeroom.
Katara closed her locker. Their eyes met in a moment of uncertainty.
"After you." Zuko held his hands out to the side.
Katara bit her lip, eyebrows furrowed, as she contemplated his gesture. Making a decision, she smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes. "Well thank you."
They walked to homeroom without another word.