Not So Different
AkaiChaos
Summary: Set in S3 after FBM. Zuko fights for acceptance from the Gaang and really starts to feel the heat as Katara gets moodier. But when a miscalculation allows Azula to separate the Gaang, will Zuko and Katara be able to work together to get back to Aang?
Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM and Nickelodeon. No profit is made by this story.
Katara was having trouble sleeping that night, although if she was being truthful she hadn't been sleeping well for awhile. Not since he came, she thought as she rolled over. But honestly, how could she be expected to sleep with that monster just down the hall. She blew out a sigh as she got up. If she was going to be up she might as well be useful. The last few nights she had stood guard in front of Aang's room, just in case.
She left her shoes off so she could move more stealthily. Her water pouch wasn't necessary either. This temple had so many canals running beside the hallways that she was never far from water. She stepped out into the hallway quietly and sat down near Aang's room.
She sat there for a while, just staring at the wall. She couldn't relax with Zuko here and no one seemed to understand why. After Zuko started teaching Aang how to firebend they just accepted him like a long lost family member. He will never be family.
Footsteps echoed down the hall and she jumped up into a fighting stance, pulling water up from the ground.
"Relax Sweetness, It's just me," Toph said as she turned the corner. "I know you've been coming here lately."
"Can't sleep," Katara sighed as she slid down the wall to the floor.
"Well you're not lying but that's not the only reason is it?" Toph plopped down on the floor across from Katara.
Katara tried to ignore her.
"You still don't trust him do you?" Toph said.
"Why should I?" she muttered. "Just because he's teaching Aang doesn't mean he's good. It just means he's gotten better at pretending." She wrapped her arms around her legs.
"I would know if he was lying. He's not!" Katara had heard this all before, she couldn't hear it again. She stood up and turned away from Toph, walking back to her room. She heard Toph shout just before Katara shut her door "You're just being stubborn."
Katara didn't so much as wake up that morning as she did just leave her room. She waited an hour after Toph went to sleep before leaving to the kitchen. She didn't want to run into Toph again. Toph just didn't understand. She wasn't there when he betrayed me—us. Not me but Aang, everyone. He betrayed us all at Ba Sing Se.
She stepped into the kitchen Toph had set up for her. She had used earthbending to make countertops and cupboards that aligned the left wall. She even put in a bar separating the cooking area from the dining room. The room opened up into a large balcony that had its own fountain in the middle. There were fifteen buildings total hanging off the cliff top. They were joined together by multiple bridges and each building had at least three floors. In short the temple was massive. They had been here for a week now and they still hadn't explored everything. Katara barely ever ventured outside the main building everyone slept in. It was in the center with five stories instead of three. That had all the bedrooms, the kitchen, the room Katara used for laundry, and two bathing rooms.
Katara had been hoping to start off the day with some organized cleaning but was thrown off by a dull glowing light on the balcony next to the kitchen. She stopped moving to keep from making any noise. It was still dark out but the lighter colors of dawn were beginning stretch across the little bit of sky that was visible from the temple. She could see a small fire burning behind the silhouette of a man sitting on the floor. Zuko.
He must have got his flame back, which she supposed was good for Aang's sake but she had secretly rejoiced in his poor luck. It served him right to lose his bending. He didn't deserve this gift. Then again, no firebender deserved to bend. Katara stood there silently for a moment, watching Zuko meditate. The flame grew slightly as he exhaled and softened on the inhale. She was relaxing slightly just by watching him but then she remembered who he was.
Just as her familiar hatred settled back she saw him twitch. He turned around and stared at her blankly.
"Do you mind?" He asked sarcastically.
She looked around hastily for an excuse and found a gurgling fountain in between the kitchen and the balcony. She smiled deviously. "No, just up for some early morning cleaning." She moved to a waterbending stance and flew a stream of water at Zuko. He rolled with the water and then moved to his feet. His stance was rigid, he looked like he wanted to hit something. No, he looked like he wanted to hit her, but instead he blew out a small puff of fire and walked past her, out of the kitchen. She could see the water vapor off him as he turned out of sight.
Her morning was considerably better after Zuko left her alone and when she saw he didn't return for breakfast she was practically bouncing. She had served everyone's porridge and sat down to her own warm bowl when Aang noticed his newest teacher was missing.
"Where's Zuko? He usually gets up at dawn." Sokka glanced around quickly before shrugging and turning his attention to his breakfast.
"He's probably out burning some helpless village for sport," Katara scoffed as she spooned in a mouthful. Aang gave her a reproving look but didn't say anything.
"Maybe Katara pushed him off the balcony," Toph added helpfully.
Sokka roared with laughter.
"Stop it, Katara wouldn't do that." Aang said.
"Not that it would matter." Katara mumbled, "Zuko always comes back."
And he did too. Just as everyone had finished eating he stepped into their kitchen area.
"Ready Aang?" He asked as he leaned up against a pillar.
"You missed breakfast." Katara said matter of fact.
"I didn't think I was invited." He said dryly.
"Of course you were invited, Zuko. We always eat breakfast together." Aang stood up and turned to Zuko. Aang saw him looking at Katara and turned to her, "Right Katara?"
"Of course," Katara feigned surprise and then glared at Zuko. "Why wouldn't he be welcome to join us? In fact why don't we invite Azula and Daddy over too? Then the whole family can come." She stood up, causing her chair to fall backwards, and strode out of the room.
"Katara, wait!" Aang started to go after her but Sokka stopped him.
"Let her cool off, Aang." He turned to Zuko, "Look Zuko, don't worry about her, she's just having trouble adjusting. She'll come around eventually."
Toph scoffed, "Yeah, eventually."
Zuko was not surprised to see Aang pick up the firebending so quickly. He had imagined Aang would learn the way Azula had, mastering techniques after only seeing them once or twice. Zuko remembered when he was young and training constantly to master the new forms. Before anyone knew Azula could firebend, she walked onto the training yard and watched Zuko's lesson as she had before, then without any warning she stood up and administered the technique perfectly, on her first try.
He had always been jealous of her power as well as Aang's in the beginning. When Zuko had first started chasing after Aang he found that Aang reminded him too much of his sister. But he didn't hold any grudges against Aang for learning so quickly. Aang needed to learn fast, or they weren't going to defeat the Fire Lord on time.
"Remember, fire comes from the breath, not your strength. And widen your stance."
Aang blew out a sigh as he did what Zuko instructed and then repeated the form. "How was that?"
"Good."
The boy smiled, he was obviously proud of himself. Zuko was about to tell him to do it again when part of the balcony above them crashed down. Zuko rolled to the side while Aang used his airbending to push himself backwards. Both of them where ready to attack as the dust settled around them.
"Hey Zuko," Toph said as she stepped down from her platform. "I'm hungry."
Zuko's eyebrows rose. "Then go get something to eat. You don't have to interrupt our training for that."
"You destroyed part of an ancient and holy building!" Aang stood, mouth agape, and stared at what was left of the old balcony.
"Relax Twinkletoes! What is all this made out of anyways? Rocks, clay? It's all earth."
She spread her legs apart and after a deep breath, began stomping her feet into the ground. She moved around a bit, like she was dancing, but every time her foot it the ground a huge chunk of rock would fly into the air. She moved her hands up as if she was carrying something heavy and all the little pebbles went up as well. She held them in the air while she took another deep breath and then slid into a deeper stance. When she moved her arms down and extended them quickly away from her, all the rocks came together again. She moved it up to where it was supposed to connect to the rest of the temple and then brought her hands down.
"There see? All new. Now back to more important things. Like my stomach."
"Maybe Katara can get you something to eat," Aang suggested absent-mindedly as he examined the new balcony.
"No way am I going to the Sugar Queen. I can still feel her angry walking downstairs. All that stomping around is giving me a headache."
"I can go gather some fruit for you."
"No," Toph grinned deviously. "I want Sparky to find me something to eat. It's part of my pay back for burning my feet."
Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. He just couldn't deny her what she wanted. After all he did burn her and he knew he would have to make it up to her. "Oh okay," he sighed again. "What do you want?"
"Something sweet."
Katara stomped around her small room before finally submitting to her tired feet. She sighed as she flopped back on her bed. She hated feeling so angry all the time, but she just couldn't help it. It was too hard to think about anything else but the anger inside her with Zuko around. Not only had she been having a bad week but in a few days she knew it was going to get worse. In a few days it would be the day her mother died.
Tears started to come to her eyes but she shook them away. She couldn't think about that right now. She could tell it was going to be worse than the other years. There was too much stress going on. Her father was a prisoner, she was thousands of miles from Gran-Gran, and to top all that, one of the people she hated most in this world was sleeping just down the hall from her.
The fact that she hadn't slept in so long certainly didn't help either. She had probably gotten a total to four hours in the last week, even less before that, what with all the stress from the Day of Black Sun. Despite herself, Katara started crying. She wouldn't let herself cry full on. That was too weak. Waterbenders didn't cry. They were stronger than that. She was stronger than that. But even with her fighting she could feel a steady stream of tears escape her eyes.
A warm breeze came in through the window. It was cooler than it had been, though still incredibly warm. It was just warm enough to make her sleepy without making it uncomfortable. Katara had just started to slip away when a large explosion shook her from her bed.
She rolled off ungracefully but bounced up quickly and started to sprint down the hall. It sounded like it had come from upstairs. She prayed that Aang would be safe while she pulled some water out of one of the troughs. She ran straight into the dust cloud that covered the balcony.
"What's happened?" She shouted when she recognized Haru and Sokka. As the smoke cleared she saw The Duke and Teo as well. It didn't take her long to put the details together.
Haru coughed as he waved the smoke away from him face, "We had a problem with the explosive peanuts."
"You're making explosives?" She dropped her water and moved towards the smaller children to see if anyone was hurt. She glanced at the explosion spot and saw a piece of her once nice cooking pot. "My pot!" Sokka ducked his head behind Haru. "Sokka! What happened to my pot?"
"Well we needed something to mix the peanuts in."
"This was my only large pot! How am I supposed to cook now? It's completely ruined," she could hear her voice was very near shrieking, but she couldn't tone her furry down.
"It would have been fine if it hadn't exploded," he rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding Katara's glare.
"But it did explode didn't it! Not only are you endangering everyone here, but you're destroying my cookware too," she turned to Haru, who immediately shrunk away. She stopped and looked at the others in the group, all were avoiding her gaze with shoulders slumped. They were afraid of her. It was then she realized that regardless of how needed she was to all of them, none of them wanted her here. She absent-mindedly picked up the remains of her pan and left the room.
After mindlessly wandering the temples for a while, she decided to start cleaning something. When she focused on her chores, she didn't think so much about her current situation. She decided to start on lunch, making a mental innovatory as she went. After going through what storages of food they had left she realized it was not a lot. They would either have to go hunting soon, or go into the town and buy food. She preferred the latter. After all it was hard to cook with just meat. They still had some money left over from the heist her and Toph had pulled off. Well tried to pull off anyways. She knew deep down that part of her motivation was to get out of the temple more than the actual need for food. Although they did need it, Katara was anxious to keep busy and there never seemed to be enough to do in the temple.
The boys all came around the table Toph had made for the kitchen and started sitting down, waiting for her to finish all the work. Sokka was arguing with Haru over which weapons would be best to accompany which bending skill. Aang flew into the room from the balcony with a small bag with him, shortly after Zuko followed on foot with a similar bag. Katara felt her jaw tighten at the sight of Zuko. A part of her had been angry when he didn't show up for breakfast this morning. Another, much stronger part was angry that he would come to eat now.
"We have moon-peaches everyone!" Aang announced as he opened his bag. Zuko started cutting one of the peaches in to pieces and handing them to Toph.
"It's about time!" Toph began shoving her mouth full of peach slices. "I thought I was gonna starve waiting for Sweetness to finish up lunch."
The other kids gathered around to collect their own peach. Aang came over to Katara with her peach, "Here you go Katara, this one is for you."
She looked up from the cooking food for a minute to smile at the young monk. "That's okay, Aang. Why don't you eat it?"
His face fell at the small rejection, "but…"
"If you won't eat it, I will," Toph shouted as she swallowed her last piece.
"But this one is for Katara."
"We have plenty extra," Zuko handed Toph another whole peach.
"Just set it on the counter, I'll eat it later okay?" Katara turned back to her cooking, which was proving to be more difficult without her pot. She was trying to make stew with the left over rabbit and the last of the carrots. The rabbit wouldn't be very good cooked by itself. But she had to cook it all separately on the skillet. After managing to finally make enough broth for everyone, she tried to cook the rest of it. By the time she was ready to add the meat to the soup, the broth had gone cold.
She blew a puff of hair out of her face and clenched her fists in frustration. After a deep breath, she leaned over the counter separating the kitchen and the dining area, "Aang, can you help me with something?" She tried to sound calm, but from the way Zuko looked away from her, she guessed it wasn't successful.
Aang jumped up eagerly regardless, "What is it Katara?"
"Can you warm up the soup for me?"
"Sure!" he quickly bounded over, excited to show Katara what he could do. He put his fingers in each of the bowls until they were all steaming pleasantly. "Is that good?" He asked, looking for approval from one of his first bending teachers.
"Yes Aang, you did splendidly. Thanks," she picked up two bowls and carried them to the table, Aang quickly followed with bowls of his own.
"I think it would be a good idea to go into town tomorrow," Katara said as she set down the last bowl. She looked around to gauge the reaction. Not many of them seemed all that interested in what she had to say. Sokka was looking at his food distastefully, but Aang's ears perked up a little. Zuko was looking away from her, seemingly ignoring her all together. Jerkbender.
"What for?" Sokka asked before he remembered the incident with her pot earlier.
"We need some more supplies and food," she said as she sat down. She purposefully left out the pot. Getting angry wouldn't make her pot come back and she was trying hard not to be so angry anymore.
"We haven't been in hiding for very long. Is it a good idea to leave so soon?" Haru asked.
Toph bent a wall behind her, leaning against as she put her feet on the table. "We don't need anything, Sugar Queen, we got Zuko." Zuko smiled slightly to himself.
"Yeah, I don't like the idea of leaving so soon after the invasion. They will be looking for us. It's too dangerous Katara." Sokka shook his head.
"We need more than just moon-peaches. We need real food: fish, meat, bread, rice. Not to mention clothes and soap."
"You wouldn't be able to leave for two or three days anyways; there's a storm coming." Zuko said as he glanced out through the balcony door.
"Fine, then I'll leave in three days," Katara argued back.
"I still don't like it." Sokka said, still shaking his head.
"Katara and I can go," Aang smiled at me and then looked at Sokka, "We'll be careful."
"No," Zuko and Katara said at the same time. She glared at him until he looked away. "You need to stay hidden more than any of us. And I'm the one who knows what we are missing. If Sokka goes we'll just end up with another animal to feed."
"That was only one time! And Hawky has been very useful!"
"It has to be me."
"Absolutely not!" Sokka all but yelled at her.
She stood up defensively, "Why not! I'm perfectly able to do this."
"Perfectly able? Katara, you get into more trouble than any of us." She started to argue but Sokka cut her off. "Remember the pirates? Or the Fire Nation prison ships? Not to mention your little stunt with the Painted Lady and that isn't even half of it! You need to be on a tighter leash than Aang."
"Painted Lady?" Zuko looked up from his food with curiosity written all over his face. So he was familiar with the legend. Perfect.
Katara ignored him and stood very still, trying to calm her frustrated thoughts into coherent screams at the very least. The anger coming from her body was so apparent that Zuko had leaned away, Aang was watching her carefully and even Toph had silently pulled her feet off the table. Sokka was the only one blissfully unaware of what she was about to do.
"You know Katara," Sokka said in a normal tone. He was pulling the meat distastefully apart with his fingers, "This meat's kinda dry."
In less time it took her heart to beat she pulled the water from her glass and shot it at Sokka's face. He fell backwards with his feet swinging over his head with an "Umph."
"It wouldn't have been dry if you hadn't blown up my pot!" She screamed at him. Losing all control completely, she took the rest of the group's drinking water, mixed in with the soup from their bowls, and flooded it all on Sokka while he tried to get up. Then as a final touch, she froze his feet to the ground and stomped off.
Katara didn't know where she wanted to go but ended up in the room she needed to be in the most; The Bathing room. Quickly barricading herself in with ice and then collapsed in the cool pool. The troughs leading the water out had been blocked, allowing it to build up to her thighs. Now was not the first time she wished she could heat it up like a firebender. She didn't mind too much though. After all, she was from the South Pole. She'd never had a warm bath until she traveled to the Earth Kingdom.
A sigh escaped her lips as she thought of the good days they spent traveling throughout the Earth Kingdom. Everything was simpler back then, just the three of them. They could go anywhere they wanted to. Back then she hadn't had so many responsibilities.
She floated there for what seemed like hours. Letting all her anger melt into the water until she felt normal again.
So much for not being angry, she thought. She probably over reacted a little, but she didn't need Sokka throwing all her mistakes in her face like that. The food was just too much. After all, she had next to no supplies to work with and what seasoning they did have was all Fire Nation and she didn't know how to cook with that. She thought dinner had turned out well considering everything.
She moved the water above her, creating a bubble of air around her head and pushing herself to the bottom of the little pool. The water felt soothing, like it was healing her emotional wounds instead of physical ones. She was under the water for a while but not quite as long as she had wanted. She felt someone yank her shoulders out of the water and drag her hastily to the side of the pool.
The movement disorientated Katara. She gasped for air and flew her arms at whatever was moving. She tried to waterbend but couldn't get her footing down so the most she did was splash water at the person until he stopped. Whoever it was let go and she was on her feet in seconds. Katara immediately started throwing ice and water at the figure in front of her before she could see who it was.
Flames came up and melted the icicles. She pulled more water around her, ready for his next attack. The flames simmered down and Zuko stood in its place.
"Katara, it's just me." He threw his hands up in the air surrendering.
She didn't put her hands down. "What are you doing?" She glanced back at her ice door to see half of it was melted.
Zuko searched around the room as if he could find his answer there. "I- I thought you were drowning," he looked down and his face reddened.
Katara laughed aloud, not a happy laugh but an angry, cynical one. "Yeah, sure, that's what you were doing. I'm a Master waterbender." She kept her hands up.
He looked at her then, utterly defeated for just a minute and then his face became unreadable. "I was trying to help."
Katara studied him for a minute, not sure what to think. She didn't trust him as far as she could throw him but he sounded like he was telling the truth. Don't be stupid! She thought furiously, Zuko always lies. She had had enough of this game; she dropped the water down and turned to leave.
"Wait, I need to know what you needed." She stopped and turned around, not sure what he was talking about.
"What I needed?" She asked stupidly.
"From the town. I told Aang I would go."
"Oh, no you're not." She said instantly. "There is no way you're leaving here. You'll bring the army back with you."
"Why can't you just trust me? I'm doing this for you!" He shouted back at me.
"Why should I believe that? You've never done anything but try to hurt us, to hurt Aang." Then, right on cue, Aang ran into the room.
"What's wrong Katara?" Aang had his staff ready but he lowered it once he saw it was only Zuko.
"Did you know about this?" She shrieked at him.
"About what?" Aang looked back and forth from Zuko and Katara.
"That he's planning on leaving!" She pointed at Zuko angrily.
"Katara," Aang sighed. "He's one of us now, can't you see that? He's good."
She glared at Zuko, "He's Fire Nation!" And with that as her last word she stormed out of the room.
A/N: My first story! Wooo! I have had this done for months. I just needed to get it out here before I talked myself out of it. Let me know what you guys think of it, I'd appreciate the feedback. (o_O) (O_o)