Alright, thank you to all who reviewed my first fic! I'm considering writing more, but I'd like your opinion on where you would like to go. Obviously, I'm not going to write a zuko-kidnaps-katara-to-capture-Avatar-and-falls-in-love fic. I believe there are enough of those. But anyway, I'd love to hear from you. One thing before I start, Pai Gow is the name of the game in Avatar where they use those tiles on the checker-like looking board (A little bit of information for later on in the fic.)
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters From Avatar: The Last Air Bender or the show. I wish I did…but I don't, so on with the fic
"Tell me Uncle…Why are we stopping and not searching for the Avatar?" Zuko and his Uncle were walking through a town near its dock were their ship was docked. "Ah, Zuko, I'm so glad you asked. I am in search of a tile for my Pai Gow technique. It is used with the Lotus tile." Iroh had not noticed that Zuko had stopped walking.
Zuko stood rooted to the ground with terror-filled eyes. "Another tile! What are…Why the…Last time you were looking for a title, I ended up losing a ship!" Iroh turned around and smiled at his nephew. "And I lost my Lotus tile, but it's a good thing I had my extra Lotus tile in my other sleeve." Zuko sighed and walked past his Uncle and towards the store-covered walkway. "Let's just find that stupid tile so we can get going!"
Just then, Zuko spotted a moving shadow on the ground in front of him. He looked up and saw the Avatar's flying bison fly and disappear in the forest a short way from the village. "Uncle, look! I bet the Avatar is coming here to get supplies. If we stay here, we might be able to ambush him." Zuko ushered his Uncle into a near-by store and smiled. He was very pleased with his change of fortunes and went inside the store to wait for the Avatar's arrival.
"I'm so hungry! Why can't we stop and eat!" Sakka was holding his stomach as it too rumbled in complaint. "Sakka, we ate an hour ago! How can you possibly still be hungry! It's not like you've been doing any hard work lately." Katara smiled T her semi-serious yet semi-insulting answer to his question.
"Hey! Collecting nuts is harder than it sounds. I had to wrestle one away from a squirrel once. It wasn't a pretty sight." Sakka kept on talking about his nut hunts, and since she had stopped listening awhile ago, Katara rolled her eyes and started walking towards Aang, who was ahead of the group looking at the toys on display. After all, Aang was still only 12…or 120 depending on how you look at it. As she was walking towards Aang, she thought she saw a glint of red to her left. She stopped and looked, but she didn't see anything. But Sakka was still walking and bumped right into Katara.
"Hey! Why'd you stop!" Katara moved her eyes over the alley that was to her left in between a few stores. "I thought…I saw…never mind. Let's just get some supplies and get out of here." Aang turned around and noticed they both stopped and walked back to see what they were looking at. "Hey guys. Why did you stop?" Katara was still looking to her left when she answered him.
"I thought I saw something down there." Katara pointed towards the alley. Aang turned to look. The walls that lined the alley in front of him were covered with barrels that were apparently filled with fresh drinking water. It also led straight to the port where a few ships were docked, including a ship that, to Aang, reminded him of Zuko's ship. "Hey Sakka…Katara…Isn't that-"
"My ship? Yes. Quite the observation Avatar." Aang, Katara and Sakka turned to see Zuko and his Uncle standing behind them. Zuko was wearing the smirk that he always greeted them with. Katara glared at him, while Aang and Sakka got ready to fight. Katara was the first one to talk. "What are you doing here Zuko." Zuko smirked and looked at Katara. "It's a free nation…for now."
This had Katara fuming. "The only nation that needs to worry about anything is the Fire Nation. We have the Avatar on our side." She smiled in victory, but she also knew that Zuko would never take the insult lying down. Iroh knew how Zuko had a short temper and the Water bender just crossed Zuko's line. Zuko stepped closer to Katara and scowled. "You need the Avatar because you can't fight your own battles. All three nations combined can't be the Fire Nation back. You're weak." Aang and Sakka look at each other. They both knew what was coming. "Can't fight! You don't think I can fight!" Katara was really mad now.
Zuko's scowl formed into a smile. "I don't think you can't fight. I know you can't fight." At this point, Iroh, Sakka and Aang all stared to slip away from the two bickering teenagers. All three of them knew it was about to get ugly, so they moved away slowly and continued to watch from a safe distance.
Katara was furious. She could fight! She didn't train in the North Pole for nothing! In fact, before she completed her training, her mentor said that she was the best student he had ever taught. "Alright then Zuko. I'll prove you wrong. Let's go. Right here. Right now."
Zuko looked at her in amusement. No one was stupid enough on his ship to challenge him, and frankly, he needed a good fight. Being a prince had its perks. He was trained by the best fire bender in the nation. No fire bender, besides his father, could beat him. There was no way he would let a girl water bender be the first to beat him. Zuko smirked and toke his fighting stance. "You're on!" Katara smiled and also got into her fighting stance, preparing herself to extract water from the nearest barrel.
"Well Avatar, I never knew you played Pai Gow! You prove to be a worthy adversary." Iroh had challenged Aang to a game of Pai Gow, since he was bored. Zuko and Katara were still fighting and it had already been an hour. Since they haven't shown any signs of stopping yet, Sakka decided to take their supplies back to camp and feed Momo and Appa. "It is also a surprise, young Avatar that you use the same technique I do. Where did you find that Lotus tile? They are very hard to come by." Aang smiled as he moved his Lotus tile three spaces.
"Oh, that? I found it on the riverbed the night that Zuko kidnapped Katara." To Aang's surprise, Iroh laughed. Aang looked at him quizzically. Iroh shook his head and smiled. "Don't worry about it. It's a long story." Aang just shrugged as he moved another tile on the board.
After being hit with another water whip, Zuko recovered his footing. He couldn't believe it but the water bender was actually a pretty decent fighter. They matched each other move for move. He hit her with a fireball and she would return the favor with a waterball. He was in awe of her determination and commitment. She was different than all the other girls he had met. She voiced her opinion and almost never took no for an answer. She reminded him of someone, but he just couldn't figure out who.
As Katara withdrew her water whip, she was surprised at how fast he picked himself up and prepared for another attack. It was amazing to see how graceful he was in his fire bending movements and how his movements flowed together. Katara never knew that a fire bender could be graceful. She always thought they were just ruthless killers and self-absorbed. Amazingly, Zuko was the one to prove her thoughts wrong. Just through his movements alone, she could sense that he wasn't all bad inside. He actually reminded her of someone she knew, but the name was lost in her thoughts of the fight.
Zuko straightened up as he prepared to throw another fireball. "You're actually a pretty good fighter…for a girl." He smirked as she too smirked at him. "You're not too bad yourself." Zuko threw the fireball as she used water from the nearest barrel to create a water barrier. She then formed the water from the barrier into a water whip and whipped it at him, but he was too fast and dodged the whip. She recoiled the water and left it in a floating ball above her hand. Zuko admired the way she held herself and her attitude; he then realized that he didn't even know her name.
"What's your name?" Zuko was straight to the point. Katara played with the waterball and wondered if she should tell him her name. After all, he was still hunting the Avatar. She looked up at him, or rather into his eyes. It was in that moment that she realized that Zuko reminded her of herself. They had a lot of things in common. From being determined to being blunt. They say that the eyes are like windows the soul and Katara definitely couldn't believe what she was seeing. She saw kindness and the care for others in his eyes. She smiled at her new discovery. She decided that he wasn't so bad after and to tell him her name. "Katara."
Zuko heard her speak, but he was lost in a world of his own. He found her eyes so captivating. He found peace and serenity shining through her eyes. It hit him hard, but he realized that the water bender Katara reminded him of himself. He saw her smile and he couldn't help but smile back. "You're a worthy adversary Katara, but I believe my crew is waiting for me on my ship. Would you care to call it a temporary draw until we can find time to continue our little skirmish?" Katara nodded as they both walked back to the opening of the alley. Katara and Zuko were both shocked at what they saw when the came out.
"You've beaten me again Avatar. You must tell me your technique." Iroh was staring curiously at the board as he tried to figure his own question out. Aang only smiled and turned to see Katara. "So, you ready to go now Katara? Sakka is already waiting with Appa and Momo." Aang hopped off his chair and walked over to Katara as Zuko walked over to his puzzled Uncle.
"Yah, I'm ready. Let's go." Katara and Aang started walking away, but before Katara left, she turned and smiled at Zuko. Zuko saw this and gave her a little nod as he smiled back. Katara smiled widened before she turned to catch up with Aang.
"So, Zuko, who won?" His Uncle said that a little too curiously as he picked up his tiles. Zuko started walking towards his ship, but stopped at a small booth. He picked something up and threw it at his Uncle. "Were you looking for this Uncle?" Iroh looked at what his nephew threw at him and saw it was the tile he was looking for. Iroh smiled. He never knew how his nephew did it, but he always finished what he started out. "Why yes, Zuko. Now if you and the water bender ever decide to 'fight' again, I'll be able to give the Avatar a run for his money!"
Zuko caught his Uncle's sarcasm and rolled his eyes. He saw Katara and Aang walk away towards the forest. He smiled to himself. If someone would have told him a year ago that he would fall for a water bender, he would have taken their head, but now that he thought about it, it wouldn't be as bad as he thought it would. Zuko turned to his Uncle and smirked. "At least this time I didn't lose a ship."
So, what do you think? Good? Bad? I'd love to hear from you. Please review and check out my other story, Walking in a Winter Wonderland. Thanks for reading!