Zutara Week Day 2! Here you go, folks! Kazu is pronounced Ka-zoo, and Akiya is Ah-key-yah.
Day 2: History
Xxxxxxoxxxxxx
"Mommy! Daddy! Are you guys still awake?" Kazu and Akiya, twins, swiftly knocked on their parent's office door. Kazu took a peek inside and spotted their parents, who were half-awake. Zuko was resting his head on one hand and looking down, reading a letter. Katara was trying to write a letter to Chief Arnook about their shipment of fuel.
At the sound of their children's voices, both of them were alert. Their heads snapped to the door.
"Kazu? I thought I told you to go to bed twenty minutes ago, sweetheart. What's the problem?" Katara stated.
"Akiya and I can't go to sleep, Mommy. We tried but it's not working," Kazu said with a very serious expression. His tone was also very serious and it made his parents smile.
"Come on in, you two," Zuko said.
They scurried inside, softly shutting the door behind them. Kazu jumped onto his mother's lap while Akiya jumped onto her father's. Katara stroked her son's black hair out of his blue eyes. He grinned at her.
"You're going to need a haircut soon," she commented.
"No!" His hands went up to protect his hair, "I don't like haircuts. They're weird."
Katara looked across to Zuko. "You get that from your father. He hates them, too."
Zuko grinned at her innocently. Akiya clutched her father's hair and tugged.
"Don't move, Daddy! I want to give you pretty hair." She began to braid Zuko's hair, her golden eyes gleaming in happiness. Zuko began to tickle her, trying to distract her from his hair.
"Stop it, Daddy! Hahaha! Daddy!" Akiya gasped in between laughs. He quit when she almost fell off of his lap. His robes were wrinkled from all her thrashing.
"I'm sleepy, Mommy," Kazu said to his mother, his voice barely reaching her ears.
"Zuko," she said. The Fire Lord turned to look at his wife. She tilted her head in the direction of the doors, signaling that their kids needed to be put to bed. He nodded and rose with Akiya in his arms. Katara followed suit with Kazu.
Zuko and Katara tucked their children into bed, kissing them on their foreheads gently. As they turned, Akiya spoke up.
"Can you tell us a story?" She pleaded.
Katara turned back around. Now, Kazu was staring at her as well.
"If I do, you have to promise to go to bed."
"I promise." Akiya swore.
"I promise." Kazu nodded, eager for the story to begin.
Katara smiled and took Zuko's hand, walking across the room and pulling up two chairs to sit on for her and her husband.
"Many, many years ago, there lived a single waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe. Her and her brother took care of the tribe since the men were off fighting in The Hundred Year War. Since no one could teach her, she often wandered around the village, practicing out of sight with her brother watching, somehow managing to always get wet. One day, she and her brother went off to fish, but wound up finding the Avatar instead. They took him back to the village, where he was welcomed.
"But then, a very angry, crazy, and psychotic prince," she smirked in Zuko's direction and he blushed, "found them and almost killed everyone. But he took the Avatar instead. The Water Tribe siblings wanted peace, so they rescued the Avatar with his flying bison, and began flying to the North Pole, where the waterbender and the Avatar could learn waterbending and continue to learn the rest of the elements. Along the way, they helped a few towns and went on some pretty crazy adventures. They went to places like Kyoshi Island, where the boy met a girl, the Avatar reunited with the odd King of Omashu, they freed a massive group of Earth Benders, the girl stole and was nearly captured by the prince by being too distracted, they met some hateful people, brought peace between two villages, met with friends and discovered much help.
"They finally reached the North Pole. A Master there taught the Avatar, but refused to teach a woman, so they battled. He finally agreed to teach her and she became a Master in a matter of weeks. But then the Fire Nation army came and attacked. The Prince made it inside, where he tried to hurt the Avatar, but the girl fought to stop him. She was hurt pretty badly and nearly burned, but the prince managed to get the Avatar away when the Avatar could have died.
"The Avatar managed to escape, but felt bad leaving the prince. So he helped. Then, he entered the Avatar State, where he was filled with knowledge of all the past Avatar's and the Fire Nation was defeated and the Avatar, along with the girl and boy, managed to leave, to continue on their journey."
The kids' expressions were thoroughly interested and amazed. But when Katara stopped speaking, it was like a light went out. They became immediately dazed and tired once more.
"This is all for tonight. Tomorrow, I'll continue the story. But you need to go to bed. Goodnight, my darlings."
Katara followed Zuko out and shut the door quietly.
"I can't wait until you get to the part after the war," Zuko grinned.
Katara blushed and hit his chest lightly. "Come on, Fire Lord. You need to get to bed, too."
"Do we have to sleep?"
"Zuko! Stop," she giggled, "We are going to go to bed and sleep. No discussion."
The Fire Lord pouted, sticking his lower lip out. "But, Katara…"
"No."
"So nothing I do will make you change your mind?"
"Nope."
"Not-even-a-few kisses?" He kissed her in between words.
"Zuko…" she reprimanded lightly.
"Yes?" he asked innocently.
"Nu-uh!" And with that she broke into a run towards their chambers, giggling and leaving a startled Zuko to stare after her. A few seconds later, he chased after her.
Xxxxxxoxxxxxx
The nights continued like this: Katara would begin to tell the story, but the kids would start asking so many questions and she would divulge into details until they were off topic. Zuko always listened and smiled. Much of this he had not known. Of course, he had joined the group at a much later point, so it was to be expected. But the Ember Island Players did seem to have a few facts correct. Yet, he enjoyed his wife's storytelling. She would get so wrapped up in memories that she would use her arms to demonstrate some things.
Work piled on. They were writing letters quicker than ever before, and with them now telling the kids their story, they had to finish things sooner. Some nights they would both collapse in bed, still in their formal clothing.
Finally, the night came of the end of the story. Katara told them of how the girl and the prince went off to fight the evil princess, the warrior, the boy, and the earthbender went to stop airships, and how the Avatar defeated the Phoenix King.
"And now, I'll tell you who those people were. The Avatar is your Uncle Aang, the earthbender is your Aunt Toph, the boy from the Southern Water Tribe is your Uncle Sokka, the girl from the Tribe is me, the warrior is your Aunt Suki, and the prince is your father."
The children stared at them in awe. Their parents were heroes!
Then Akiya asked:
"How did you and Daddy fall in love and marry, Mommy?"
"I'll begin that story tomorrow. Right now, you two need to go to bed. Sleep well, sweetlings," she said, kissing them each on the cheeks.
She followed Zuko to their bedchambers.
"What part in our love story are you going to start?" Zuko asked as he changed into his night pants. He stripped himself of his shirt, throwing it across the room.
"I hope you're going to pick that up," Katara said, walking into the washroom, carrying her nightgown, "but I was going to start right after your coronation," she called. He heard the tub turn on.
"Why not before? Like the battle with Azula?"
"I think they're too young to hear about that."
"I disagree. Kazu loves battles and Akiya would think that I saving you was romantic."
"Hmmm," she hummed, "Maybe you're right."
"I know I'm right," he said, cheekily, grinning. She smiled and turned off the tub before undressing and sinking into the water.
"Ahhh," she sighed. Now this was relaxing. Being completely surrounded by her element was bliss.
After minutes of just lying there, she washed up quickly and dressed. Pulling the water from her hair, she flung it back in the tub and drained it. Zuko was lying on the bed with his hands behind his head, eyes closed. She snuck closer and was just about to shout when he grabbed her hands and pulled her down onto the bed with him. She shrieked.
"Zuko, don't scare me like that!"
"And what were you trying to do?" He had her there.
"I-I, um, was, uh…checking if you were awake or not." She said, lamely.
"Right. And I suppose trying to remain quiet was so you wouldn't wake me if I was?"
"Yup."
"You're impossible. You'll never admit it, will you?"
"No. I'm just as stubborn as you are," she pecked his cheek lightly.
"Yeah, well, if I'm stubborn, you're hardheaded."
"Whatever you say," she agreed as he began to kiss her more passionately.
They talked no more that night.
Xxxxxxoxxxxxx
Katara sat next to Zuko. He had his arms wrapped around her and was holding her close. Their children lay in their beds, waiting for the love story.
"Well, before your father became Fire Lord, we resided in the Western Air Temple, as I told you before. But I didn't tell you about how your father and I were sneaking around. Back in Ba Sing Se, when he betrayed me, a part of me forgave him because I knew he was genuinely confused. But another part of me was still angry. So I took it out on him. He would follow me around, when he was not teaching your Uncle Aang, trying to help a bit, and I would yell at him. Then, he helped me face someone who had…hurt me in a personal way.
"My anger eventually faded. I apologized profusely to him, but he swore it was okay. But that didn't stop me from apologizing. One night, we were alone on the beach and the fire was beginning to die out. Everyone had gone to bed. We were staring out at the ocean, and I felt guilty again, and began to say I was sorry. I couldn't even get a second syllable out when he yanked me close to him and kissed me. "
"That's so cool of you, Daddy!"
"Daddy, that was sweet!"
Katara hushed them and continued while Zuko grinned proudly.
"I was shocked. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. Your Uncle Aang loved me and had kissed me not too long before that. But I didn't like your Uncle Aang the way I liked your father. So I kissed your father back. He was gentle and caring, kissing me softly. Afterwards, he just held me," Zuko smirked at her, knowing it was a lie, "We watched the ocean's waves on the sea shore for a very long time. Eventually, we fell asleep out there.
"In the morning, Zuko woke before anyone else. He went to meditate before his lesson with Uncle Aang. I woke up on the beach alone. I was scared your father regretted it, so I avoided him for days. In those days, I also avoided Aang. Now that I'd kissed Zuko, I knew it wasn't Aang that I wanted to be with.
"Sokka returned from a shopping trip and wanted us all to attend a play about ourselves. We agreed to; we thought it would be a relatively good one. Zuko kept complaining, saying it was horrible. I will always listen to him about that now.
"It was the worst play ever. Aang was played by a girl, my actress preached stories about hope, and Sokka's actor kept saying he was hungry, Toph's actor was a guy, and Zuko's actor was weird. Suki had a pretty decent actress. As the play continued, it got worse and worse. Besides the fact that the worst actors ever were performing, Zuko sat next to me. It was quite awkward at first. We kept trying not to glance at each other. At the intermission, your Uncle Aang kissed me. I told him I didn't feel the same way and it wasn't him whom I loved. He was disappointed and mad. He said some very rude things to me, so I slapped him. That snapped some sense into him. He apologized and went inside to join the others.
"Although the intermission was over, I stayed outside, looking out at the waves. I couldn't help but feel guilty that Aang had kissed me. I cried silently, not wanting to bother anyone. This was how your father found me."
The kids were smiling in anticipation.
"And I'll continue tomorrow. You two have to get to bed. Goodnight."
"But you can't stop there! It was just getting good!"
"Yeah!"
Their faces pleaded. She couldn't resist. She sat back down and leaned back, getting lost in memories.
"Okay, but you need to get to bed afterwards."
The children nodded feverishly.
"He came up from behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me back against his chest. I was slightly surprised at that, since we hadn't really spoken, but didn't care at the time. I needed the comfort. He softly asked me what was wrong. I couldn't talk, so I just turned around and threw my arms around his neck, crying into his chest. Everything was beginning to get to me. I missed my father, I was worried if we would have enough to eat for everyone, or if we would get caught, or if we would win.
"Your father led us to the beach and we sat down on the sand. I was calming down a bit, but I still clutched him to me. I slowly stopped crying. He spoke to me in the softest of voices.
"'What's wrong, Katara?' he asked. I shook my head and let go of him abruptly. I wrapped my arms around my knees, keeping my head down. I couldn't bear to tell him. I didn't know how he felt yet. So I didn't say anything. He took that as my answer and gathered me up in his arms again, ignoring my weak protests."
Zuko now spoke. "I knew she needed someone to be with her, to help her through her feelings. She was going to try and bury her feelings. But it gets worse when you do that repeatedly, and she needed to let it out. I loved her. I warmed my body, so we wouldn't get cold, and let her rest against me. She fell asleep from the sheer exhaustion of crying. I carried her back to camp and bundled her up in bed. I left before the others got back and went into my own room.
"The next morning, I awoke to another body next to me, hugging me. She whispered a 'good morning' to me and I asked her what she was doing there.
"'Admitting the truth,' she said. She kissed me boldly, grasping my head and gluing it to her. I responded, wrapping my arms around her waist. We broke apart and whispered sweet nothings to each other, and saying we loved each other. But it was getting too late. Aang would be up soon and Toph was probably already awake because of us. She told me that we couldn't say anything because a) Sokka would go crazy, and b) Aang would be upset and he didn't need to be preoccupied about another thing. I agreed, but told her we would tell everyone after Sozin's Comet. She agreed and left, kissing me goodbye one last time.
"Now, I needed to deal with Toph. No doubt she'd blackmail me to do something. I confronted her and asked her some questions to see if she knew, just to be sure I didn't accidentally tell her. She knew, of course, and told me she wouldn't say anything if Katara and I told Aang. I told her we'd tell him after the comet and she reluctantly agreed. Time passed quickly from then on. We would train all day and I would sneak into your mother's tent at night to tell her I loved her and kiss her goodnight."
Katara spoke quickly. "It's time for you to go to bed now, my sweets. Goodnight. I love you."
Zuko kissed them goodnight as well, and they immediately went to their quarters, thoroughly exhausted from the day's work.
"I still can't believe you left me alone to deal with the governor of Muzochi. He thinks all women can't do anything significant and belong in the kitchen. He's as sexist as they get. I expected you there, to back me up. Anyhow, I got the treaty," she said as she was changing into her nightgown and removing the pins from her hair. The chocolate tresses fell softly and she let out a sigh of relief at the stop of pressure on her head. She left her hair down.
"You're amazing. You did it, didn't you? And what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
"Yes, but that's not a particular strength I want."
She crawled into bed and watched Zuko change. He removed his armor, piece by piece, grunting as he removed the shoulder pads. Those were the heaviest. Then he removed his royal robes, throwing them over the back of the chair nearby. He put on some simple pants and remained shirtless, crawling into bed with Katara. It was too hot in the Fire Nation, even at night, and with the extra body heat he gave off, he would scorch himself if he wore a shirt.
"Hey." She said simply, once he'd wrestled under the sheets.
"Hey." He responded.
She stared at him and he moved closer to pull her to him. She complied and lazily slipped a leg over his.
"I'm tired. Cuddle with me?" she asked timidly.
He nodded and sighed in relief. "Good, because I'm tired as well and I don't think I would've stayed awake long enough."
They fell into deep slumbers quickly.
Xxxxxxoxxxxxx
The next night, the children laid below their blankets eager and waiting for their parents.
Katara sat with Zuko and began again.
"The comet was quickly approaching. Toph would sit and I would watch Aang and Zuko firebend in the courtyard. It's too bad they couldn't wear shirts," she grinned smugly and Zuko's mouth dropped in shock, "because it was too hot on Ember Island. We practiced a lot and trained. We strengthened every weak spot we had and toughened up. We spent the last few days relaxing and building up our energy.
"Then your father decided to attack Aang. But Aang stopped him. Zuko went off on a rampage, saying that the Fire Lord was planning to burn the world to the ground. We were shell-shocked. Who knew the man was so evil that he could do such a thing? But Aang was upset because he didn't want to have to kill the Fire Lord. It went against everything the monks taught him. So he fled. In the morning, we searched everywhere looking for him. He wasn't on the island. Zuko led us to the Earth Kingdom, where a bounty hunter, named June, helped us look for Aang. She was a bit moody and assumed Zuko and I were dating, which we weren't at the time. She had her pet mole or whatever it is, smell Aang's scent. It didn't pick up anything. So she told us he didn't exist.
"So we tried to find your grandpa Iroh. She led us to the wall of Ba Sing Se and told us he was somewhere beyond the wall. We set up camp for that night. We were found by the Masters. Master Waterbender Pakku, Master Firebender Jeong-Jeong, Master Swordsman Piandio, and Master Earthbender King Bumi led us back to their camp and explained everything. They were a part of a secret society that transcended generation. It's called The Order of The White Lotus. It's always been about philosophy, beauty, and truth. Grand Lotus Iroh had sent out a call, alerting members that he needed them for something important. As they led us, Bumi told us of how he took back his city on the Day of Black Sun. When he asked us, we shrugged it off nonchalantly. We camped there for a few days and fretted over Aang and his disappearance. We weren't sure he would come back. Then Zuko asked me if I wanted to help him defeat Azula. I agreed. The Comet drew nearer and we departed to where we were needed. Appa took Zuko and I to the Fire Nation Palace.
"The Comet arrived. We arrived in time, just before Azula was officially crowned. Zuko, your stubborn father, agreed to an Agni Kai with her. Blue flames licked at orange fire. They kicked, punched, jumped and avoided. Azula pelted him repeatedly. I stood in fear. Then Zuko taunted her about lightning. He just had to open his mouth. She shot lightning, aiming for Zuko but then changing course, hoping to distract Zuko. She shot at me. Zuko ran as fast as he could and jumped in front of the bolt. The blue uncontrollable lightning seemed to jerk around a lot. I watched in anger. She was not going to take Zuko from me. I tried to get to Zuko, but she kept trying to harm me. In a fit of rage, I attacked. I lured her close to a large source of water and froze both of us. I chained her while still in the ice, and let her go once she was under control. I hurried to heal Zuko as much as I could. I couldn't lose him. I willed the tissues close to his heart to heal and they did. I kissed him so deeply, so passionately, that I didn't even notice Azula go crazy. He was all that mattered.
"Zuko was crowned as the rightful Fire Lord. He led the Fire Nation into an era of peace and love. We were allowed to date and be happy. We told Aang and Mai of our new developments with each other. Aang was furious. He fled the Fire Nation. I was saddened at this, but if he didn't accept it, it was his decision. I was happy. We were happy. It was only two short years before we were married. But before that, I had slowly begun picking up duties as Fire Lady. Schools, charities, orphanages, and such were my responsibility. I also dealt with a few stubborn governors. Aang dated Toph and I was ecstatic. Opposites attracted. Just like fire and water. I was crowned Fire Lady, and a year later, you both came into this world. Zuko chose Kazu's name and I chose Akiya's. They were beautiful and fit your personalities perfectly.
"I never let the nannies spend time with you because you were my children and only I got the privilege of raising you. Zuko and I raised you as best we could and I say we did a pretty good job."
The kids glowed with pride and went to bed when they were told.
Back in their chambers, Katara pulled Zuko down next to her on the bed and they sat.
"What is it?" he asked.
She was overcome with emotion suddenly and pulled his hand over her stomach. He felt along there for a moment and finally got the hint.
"You're pregnant." He grinned.
She nodded and they embraced.
"I'm positive. I wasn't sure before and had to make sure."
He lifted her up and kissed her passionately.
"I love you." Those words expressed so little of the love he really felt for her.
"I love you, too."
Xxxxxxxxxoxxxxxxxxxx
Eight and a half months later, a cry wailed from the west side of the palace. The Fire Lord stood outside the door, waiting to be let in. Finally, he was, and he ran to his wife. She cradled their newborn child in her arms. He called the other children in. They sheepishly came in from where they were hiding and gazed at their little sister.
"Aratuz," Katara whispered softly.
Zuko nodded. It was a beautiful name for their beautiful little girl.
Xxxxxxxxxoxxxxxxxxxx
Years later, when Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Katara had passed and were idols, their children sat down together and all shared the history of their parents love story.
Am I on a roll or what? Two good stories in two days? Who am I? Please Review. XD