Lost In Your Eyes
7/12/08
Normal
"Talking"
Thinking
"You know, you don't have to do this," Zuko stated, trailing slightly behind the small teenager.
"Yes I do," Toph retorted smoothly. "You're new, you don't have any friends, and you're an angry, emo freak. So, no matter how you look at it, you need all the help you can get."
He hated to admit it, but Zuko knew that what Toph had said was at least partially true. He had recently moved in with his uncle, which put him in a new school district and even at his old school he had been far from popular. So when he was ordered to sit next to the blunt young woman in Study Hall, he had settled into the mindset that he would stay a loner. Toph obviously had different ideas.
She had poked, teased, and prodded Zuko till he broke down and begrudgingly replied. And when lunch rolled around, he blissfully thought he would be able to get away from the girl who had dubbed him Sparky. However, she proceeded to haul him her table to meet her friends, saying that he needed to socialize or he really would be a geek. Then, she had somehow convinced him to meet another friend after school. So here he was, off to see some stranger, when he could be at home, doing…
Anything but this, he mentally grumbled. Zuko wasn't social. In fact, Iroh had scolded him for being anti-social on many occasions. It wasn't that he didn't like people; it was that…well, okay. He didn't like people.
"Here," Toph said, stopping near a few soccer fields. A group of girls were gathered to the side of one for what seemed to be a water break.
Great, the friend's a girl. Zuko quickly scanned the cluster for someone who looked like they would be friends with Toph, but no one stood out. On a second sweep he spied someone and his eyes were caught.
She wasn't what most would find extraordinary. She was of medium height, with dark, thick, chocolate brown hair, rich cinnamon skin, and was dressed like the other girls to the point anyone else wouldn't be able to pick her out. Yet, despite that, Zuko couldn't look away from her.
I wonder who she is.
"Found her. Karata!" Toph yelled, catching the attention of everyone on to the field. To Zuko's amazement, the girl he was gaping at looked turned and waved. She then smiled, causing her face to light up and his mind to be taken in by her deep blue eyes. He stood there, just watching, until Toph pulled him out of his reverie. "Zuko," she practically sang.
"What?"
"You're staring."
A few weeks later Zuko found himself at one of the biggest social events of any high school life; a football game. It turned out that Katara's older brother, Sokka, was a player and it was a tradition for everyone in their gang to go to all the home games and cheer him on.
Tradition my foot; this is torture. At his previous school, Zuko had made his own tradition of never going to any of the games, and had been planning to carry it on until a certain blue-eyed female convinced him otherwise. And, though he would never admit it, the fact that Katara was there did ebb the seas of agony.
Zuko's captivation for the young woman had not diminished in the time span of their short friendship. In truth, it had grown into something he couldn't explain. He knew he found her attractive, that was obvious, yet there was more to it than that.
The two hadn't gotten along at first and fought constantly, but he had wished to be on her good side and tried to win her over. It took a week of repetitive apologies and what seemed like a thousand favors to get her to give him that dazzling smile of hers, and since then things had gone fairly well. They still fought, but more in the friendly, teasing way.
Who would want to be on her bad side anyways? She has a glare that could destroy mountains.
"Zuko!" the girl of his thoughts shouted. For a half a second, Zuko almost feared Katara could read his mind and was coming to kill him. However, when he turned his gaze to her he found a huge smile plastered to her face. "So…Are you enjoying the game?"
It took him a moment to figure out what she was talking about. "Uh, yeah," he lied. A game full of teenage boys glomping each other while trying to catch an oddly shaped ball. My favorite!
"Good," Katara sighed, looking relived. She sat down beside Zuko and straddled the bleacher seat to face him. "I sort of felt bad for forcing you to come."
He was shocked. "You didn't force me," he reassured her. He let a small smile form on his lips. "I don't think you could have forced me if I didn't want to come." Zuko watched her eyes sparkled with mirth as she laughed. As he gazed at her, a soft heat enveloped his body and made his minute grin grow.
"What?" Katara asked, catching his stare. "Is something on my face?"
"No," he almost laughed," you're perfect."
Zuko hadn't wanted this for her. He had warned her of the rumors circulating around Jet, of the trouble she could be walking blindly into, but she ignored him. They had fought and she had left angry and screaming that he had no right to tell her what to do.
Finally, the night of the date reared its ugly head and left him antsy. The entire afternoon he had watched the clock while waiting tables, hoping that she would change her mind and stay home. However, secretly, in his heart of hearts, Zuko had wished that she would go, and that Jet would make a wrong move, making her leave him broken on the sidewalk. That was what Zuko wanted to happen. What he didn't want was Katara bursting into his uncle's teashop drenched from the rain and sobbing.
I love her too much for that.
Yes, he could finally admit it. After knowing Katara for almost five months, he had become painfully obvious of his feelings for the volatile, kind, beautiful girl.
"Zuko," Iroh called, wrenching the adolescent from his inner turmoil. "Take Katara to the office." He then rushed into the kitchen, mumbling something about calming tea.
Zuko hesitantly walked toward his distraught friend. "Katara," he softly called. Gently, he grabbed her shoulders and steered her to the back of the shop. "You need to dry off."
What happened? Why is she crying? What did he do? I'll kill him!
After they reached the room, Zuko left her inside and went to get some towels. When he got back, he was greeted with the sight of Katara angrily beating her fists against the desk, chanting, "Stupid, stupid, stupid…" over and over.
Moving faster than he thought he could, Zuko rushed up to her, grasped her wrists, and swung her around to face him. "Stop that!"
Katara stared at him in shock before dropping her gaze to the floor, looking almost ashamed. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"What?" he asked confused.
"I'm sorry!" she sobbed. She tried to break away, but Zuko held fast. "I shouldn't have gone! I should have listened to you!" She was on the brink of hysterics and he didn't know what to do. "H-he tried to-and I ran and-I shouldn't have come he-"
Zuko pulled Katara to his chest and wrapped his arms around her, effectively stopping her tirade. I'm going to kill him. "You didn't do anything wrong," he whispered into her shaking head. "It's alright. I'm here."
Katara crushed him to her and buried her face in his chest. From there he heard her whisper a small, choked, "Thank you."
A soft smile adorned Zuko's face, and with more courage than he knew he had, he took a risk and kissed the top of Katara's head. "You're welcome," he answered, staring past her at nothing.
A.N. There! Goodness that was hard to write. This turned out much better than the last. Now let's just hope I can actually write the next one. It's not that the next one is going to be hard, it's that I'm leaving the house at 9 in the morning and I'm not getting back until 10 or 11. :'( I has a sad. However! I'm going to prewrite the next one so all I'll have to do is proofread and type it. Easy…right?
I noticed something interesting. The story for 'Mythology' was one I actually thought out and was excited to do, and yet I don't really like it. On the other hand, 'Manipulation' was one I made up on the spot and was worried about, and I really like it! Weird.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar, and all you Avatars should be happy, because with my world renowned procrastination skills, we'd still be waiting for the beginning of season 3.
O.O You will review. O.O You will review. O.O You will review.