The docks were just as they always were when Katara arrived, a dark cloak wrapped over her pale blue dress that looked almost gray in the dim light. It was just before dawn when she sat down and huddled herself up under her large skirt and cloak, watching as the dock came to life. Workers arrived, ships pulled in and Katara could only smile as she watched; she couldn't draw until later anyway.
Zuko arrived before Jet did, she watched as he came from the direction of one of the poorer districts of town; it wasn't surprising, most of the workers here were from those districts but he didn't seem like he belonged there. Hunkering down a little when he headed towards the office to check in, she kinda hoped that he didn't notice her so that she could continue to watch him. The longer he didn't notice her, the longer she would be able to draw him without him realizing what she was doing.
"Well if it isn't the girl from yesterday!", Katara fought away a cringe as Jet's very loud declaration brought the attention of any and every passerby that was within hearing range, "Come to continue drawing?", he asked curiously. The girl gave him the same forced smile that she used when she was forced to sit through her mother's luncheons with Aang and his family; odds were he wouldn't be able to see through it, most couldn't.
"Well, if it isn't the man who drops crates on his co workers.", she greeted lightly earning an embarrassed grin from the brunette above her.
"You know, I almost expected you not to show up again after Zuko yelled at you like that", Katara kept her fake smile pasted.
"Well it takes a bit more than yelling to scare me off; I get that trait from my mother.", there was a sourness in her voice that Jet didn't seem to pick up on because he just went on grinning and talking.
"Well that's good, be glad she gave you that trait", he said, Katara nodded lightly and Jet made a big deal of checking his watch before stating that he had to go check in to his shift. She scooted a little further against the wall as he made his way around her and sighed slightly; she supposed it was both a blessing and a curse that she'd gotten her mother's stubbornness when it came to things that she wanted.
The morning air was heavy with moisture from the sea. The slight mist was cool and it felt good against Zuko's face. Mornings had to be his favorite part of the work day, except for when he got to leave of course. He strode out to where the pier met the water without any other thought than how he wanted to see the dawn on the water before he went to check in with Zhao.
However, this peace proved volatile. Before Zuko even got a chance to sit down, Jet's voice coming faintly over the moist air reminded him of their visitor. The Asian youth turned around to see Jet greeting a sort of flustered Lady Katara. But she was smiling though. Maybe Jet just caught her by surprise. It wouldn't be the first time.
Zuko made as if to take a step towards her, but stopped himself. Should he greet her? After yesterday's incident would it be smart to address her? His experience with girls was that they were unpredictably finicky. They were hard to please and they typically made life more difficult. He could simply leave Katara to draw on her stoop. It hadn't been a problem until yesterday. Of course, if he didn't at least greet her, she might take offense. Uncle would recommend a greeting, if not just to be polite. Why the heck was it so hard to make a decision?
In the end, he bit down his pride and went over, but only after Jet had left to check in. Katara seemed relieved to see Jet go. Her blue eyes looked down at her open drawing pad as she pushed her back against the stoop. She looked a little depressed. Should he say anything? Why should he care, after all? What is it that the docks give her that she can't get anywhere else? That question really bugged Zuko, and it provided him enough motive to inquire after why she looked so down.
"Um, Hey," He spoke up, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. She looked up, slightly started by his greeting. Almost as if on cue, the two looked away, avoiding eye contact. "Nice morning, huh?"
"Nice morning"? Really? That's what Zuko got for not thinking about what to say before speaking. He was pretty much flying blind.
Katara felt her heart jump a little at the sound of Zuko's voice and immediately looked up just as he looked away from her; she attributed her heart's abnormal rhythm to surprise and looked him over. He looked clean, as though he'd taken a shower the night before, the dirt smears and sweat that usually marked his face when she saw him on the docks were gone and she found herself staring. Though unlike most people she wasn't staring at the scar, but the handsome young man beneath it; and he was handsome, gruff and mean yes, but handsome as well.
Catching herself, she looked away as he looked back at her, staring silently at the sunrise whose light was peeking over the ships and shipping crates that were stacked about the dock.
"Yeah...nice morning...", she smiled gently, not the same smile that she gave Jet but a true smile brought on by the peacefulness of the dock, she looked up at him her eyes catching the light just as his skin caught it. "You know...I would love to draw you up close...", she opened her sketch book to the half done drawing of him that was already there, it wasn't really a portrait, she had been only guessing on most of what was already in the picture from what she could see of him from far away. Right now...she wanted to capture the version of him that she was seeing right now; the young man above her that she was sure few saw. "Would you be against that? I would be able to pay you if you would let me..."
"Yeah...nice morning..." Katara's voice brought his eyes back to her. She sounded strangely happy. Zuko followed her line of sight and found that she'd noticed the sunrise. He smiled. Dawn on an ocean horizon really was gorgeous. His eyes went back to Katara; the smile on her face was unlike any he'd seen her give Jet. That's when he noticed that her gaze had transferred to him.
"You know...I would love to draw you up close..." She took out her sketchbook and opened to the page he'd seen yesterday, the page with the drawing of him. "Would you be against that? I would be able to pay you if you would let me..."
His eyes shot up from the drawing to her face, then back again, then away. He hadn't expected this at all, and was at a total loss of words. Zuko had figured that if she wanted to finish it, then she'd just draw the rest while he was working like she drew the rest. He hadn't expected her to ask him like this. Running his fingers through his hair, he thought about how to answer.
Katara's eyes seemed to beg him to answer yes. Zuko didn't actually see why he shouldn't oblige her. She'd offered to pay him, after all, so it would be to his benefit. And he actually did kind of want to see the picture finished…
"Umm, sure, I guess." He replied, though his face truly said just how awkward he felt about being asked to model.
Katara half expected the boy to say no, in fact she was to the point of waiting for it when his hand came up and ruffled his hair as he looked away from her, thus his words surprised her.
Umm, sure, I guess.", Katara's blue eyes widened to the point where it seemed they would pop right out of her head, her heart beat quickened and her fingers were to the point of shaking; she was glad that she had something to hold on to because it steadied them. Very slowly she stood, her skirt hiding her legs which she was sure were going to collapse right out from under her.
"Y-you mean it?", the small part of her that wasn't over taken by her elation was hoping that she didn't seem too much like a stalker; as well as pondering where she could take him to draw him. Certainly not to her home, her mother would have had a fit as Katara had met the boy while she'd been at the docks.
The rest of her was running purely on impulse and when he gave her a slow nod, she leaped on him and threw her arms around his neck in a grateful hug that she only thought twice of after she'd done it. Pulling back after a moment, she gave him an apologetic smile and hugged her sketchbook to her, blushing slightly.
"Sorry...", stepping back, she pretended to busy herself to hide the embarrassment that was rising in her; though why she was embarrassed, she wasn't sure. It didn't occur to her that there might have been some merit to the argument that TyLee had been getting at yesterday. Though if her friend had been watching her, she probably would have had more fodder for her argument by now, whether Katara realized it or not.
"Y-you mean it?" Zuko brought his eyes back to the young woman to find that she was once again standing. He nearly jumped when he saw the look of joyous shock on her face. When he glanced at her hands he noticed their shaking. Zuko, taken aback by just how happy his agreement made her, just nodded slowly.
The next thing he knew, her arms were linked around his neck and he could have sworn she let out a slight squeal of glee. He just tensed and stood there in her moment of elation. His eyes were wide in shock; the Asian was dumbfounded. He was speechless. Was getting to finish that picture so important to her? The last time a girl had hugged him like that was when he was with Mei. Simply put, he was beginning to form questions of his own, and one small part of him was asking whether she was excited, or had feelings for him.
A moment later, she was a few feet away, her slightly darkened face rosy with the heat of embarassment. She clutched her notebook close to herself as she muttered an apology. The striking blue eyes that were so eager to meet his only moments ago were now avoiding his gaze. Perhaps her outburst had surprised her as much as it had him.
"Umm..." Zuko didn't know what to say to that, but he suddenly realized that his cheeks were warm as well. Regardless, he needed to end this awkward silence. "It's alright, I mean, y'know, no harm done, and yeah..." He hated his tendency to ramble-
"Uh, Zuko, you'd better go check in," Zuko turned quickly on his heels to see Jet. He'd obviously seen Katara's little outburst, but he had that expression on his face that was indiscernable. Despite the danger this potentially presented, Jet had a point. Katara had delayed him for too long.
"He's right, I kinda have to go." He rubbed the back of his head a bit before quickly adding, "I'll plan a time with you later, alright?" and running off.
After signing in, and baring the perturbed glare of Zhao for him being a bit late, he and Jet went about their business. However, it took Jet awhile to speak at all. It took him awhile for his expression to even change. It put Zuko on edge. He didn't know whether to be scared of having Jet drop a crate on his head or irritated that his relations with girls should be determine by his co-worker. Finally he spoke up.
"Okay, spit it out!" Zuko dropped the small box he had been unloading from boat that had come in during the night. "You've been acting weird since this morning!"
Jet gave him a cool look and answered, "Nothing."
"Come on, don't lie to me? I know you saw Katara's...what-ever-that-was?"
"A hug," Jet corrected him, shaking his head and putting down his own box.
"Well..."
"It was a hug, Zuko," Jet gave him a know-it-all look,"You're so clueless."
"Seriously, what's your problem?" Zuko asked in response.
"Fine," Jet shrugged, "You asked her out. You asked her out, when you knew I had my eyes on her and she was more than happy to oblige."
That's what he thought? "No, that's not it! I didn't ask her out!"
"Really, then what will you be planning a time for?" Jet looked at him incredulously.
"She...asked me to pose so she could finish that picture," Zuko muttered, almost as if he was uncomfortable to say it out loud.
"So she asked you out."
"No! Augh!" He groaned in frustration, "She offered to pay me! It's a job, not a date."
Jet gave the flustered Zuko a long look and finally let out a chuckle while shaking his head at how clueless the Asian was with girls.
"Fine," Jet resigned, "A job. But I call the first date."
Zuko looked in the direction of Katara and thought of the genuine smile she gave him instead of Jet that morning. "Right, you have fun with that."
"Ummm...It's alright, I mean, y'know, no harm done, and yeah...", Katara finally tore her gaze from the ground-where it had been anchored since she'd pulled away from the dock hand-when he spoke; he was looking right at her and when their eyes met she wasn't sure if she was seeing things correctly in the now almost half strength sunlight. It looked like he was blushing, probably as much as she was if the heat of her cheeks were anything to judge by.
"Uh, Zuko, you'd better go check in", the blue eyed brunette was snapped out of her wonderings by the cool voice of reason-which incidentally belonged to Jet. Zuko's eyes widened marginally and he turned to see Jet standing behind him, an expressionless look on his face; a look much different from the look that he'd been giving her this morning when he'd spoken to her. The change over Zuko was instant.
"He's right, I kinda have to go", he said lightly, rubbing the back of his head a bit before quickly adding, "I'll plan a time with you later, alright?", then he ran off, leaving her with the other boy. Jet watched him go, as did she, then they both looked back at one another; the look on his face hadn't changed but somehow his eyes had. They were darker, looking her over and summing her up as though he'd misjudged her in some way before he turned and went back to work without saying a word. He didn't have to though, she could already feel the tension as she sat down and pulled a small parcel of charcoals from her bag.
"What on earth was that about?", she asked out loud, her gaze training on the loading dock and the two mens' backs briefly before turning back to her slowly developing image of the ship that they were unloading.
Jet was boiling, he could feel his anger spreading just under his skin as he watched from the moment that Katara nearly leaped onto Zuko to the moment she pulled away and they spoke again softly. Why was he so angry? That was a simple question to answer, it was because he wanted the girl for himself and, as it seemed, Zuko did too. Finally he wasn't able to watch anymore and his feet started carrying him towards them, his face glazing over with an expressionless mask that he had to concentrate to keep in place.
It was hours later when Zuko finally got the balls to say anything, a fact that he was rather proud of given the circumstances.
"Okay, spit it out!" Jet heard the soft thunk of the box that Zuko was holding hit the dock but didn't look at him, instead pretending to concentrate on what he was doing. "You've been acting weird since this morning!"
"Nothing", he answered in a cool tone, the look on his face hopefully matching; Zuko wasn't going to buy that so easily though.
"Come on, don't lie to me? I know you saw Katara's...what-ever-that-was?"
"A hug," Jet corrected, feeling his control deserting him, as though trying to keep it in place and distract himself from what was peeling it away from him, he shook his head and put down his own box before reaching for another.
"Well..."
"It was a hug, Zuko", another slip of control and Jet put down his box before giving Zuko a look that stated he knew what he was talking about and was not to be questioned. "You're so clueless."
"Seriously, what's your problem?" Zuko asked.
"Fine," Jet shrugged, trying to hold on to the single thread of composure that he had left- "You asked her out. You asked her out, when you knew I had my eyes on her and she was more than happy to oblige" -it deserted him by the end of the statement.
"No, that's not it! I didn't ask her out!"
"Really, then what will you be planning a time for?" Jet looked at him incredulously, feeling the anger dripping from his words.
"She...asked me to pose so she could finish that picture," Zuko muttered, Jet went back to unloading boxes.
"So she asked you out", potato, potahto.
"No! Augh! She offered to pay me! It's a job, not a date!"
Jet gave Zuko a long look, observing that he looked flustered and finally let out a chuckle while shaking his head at how clueless the Asian was with girls. He supposed it wasn't surprising though because as far as he could tell, the boy had never had more than one girlfriend in his entire life.
"Fine", Jet resigned, "A job. But I call the first date", then he went back to work, his anger slightly lower thanks to the slight argument but still present below his skin.
"Right, you have fun with that", they didn't speak again that day, when lunch time rolled around, Jet wandered off to his favorite sandwich stand and Zuko was left on his own.
Katara's stomach grumbled as she finished her sketch of the ships that were docked, she was trying to ignore it as she hadn't brought any food, nor had she money with her to buy food. In her mind she was telling herself that if she could just hold out, she could get out of leaving before she was needed at her archery lesson with Mei and TyLee.
Turning back to the page with the half finished picture of Zuko on it, she started to work on it once more, darkening some of the lines and adding more from her memory that she realized she'd forgotten.
This day was going much better than yesterday. Zuko had managed this new Katara business without incurring the wrath of neither young woman nor jealous coworker. He could breathe a well-deserved sigh of relief. Honestly, he hadn't had to deal with something like this since his relationship with Mei, and he was kind of glad to be rid of all of the drama. It really didn't suite him.
The Asian began to head back towards the office. Just inside its doors were a set of shelves on which the workers could leave their lunches while they were working. Of course, inside that office was also Zhao, but nothing had happened today. That usually meant Zuko could peek in, grab the lunch Uncle made for him and duck back out without consequence. Today, he had even better luck. His employer was already out for lunch himself.
When he looked around for a good place to sit and eat, it occurred to him that Katara hadn't left to eat. She hadn't even packed a lunch. It struck him as odd. It was the first time he'd noticed her there, still drawing, during lunch break. So was she going to go eat later? Or did she forget to bring food? It really wasn't good for a girl to go without, but it was even worse for a guy to let her starve when he could help her. But if Zuko helped her out it could get Jet mad again. But what if he just gave her his lunch? Uncle Iroh's food was a lot better than some of the stuff you could get down here, anyways. He pondered on it a moment and let out a sigh. As much as he was looking forward to the coming food, he'd skip it. Somehow the thought of letting Katara go without lunch had suddenly become wrong, and he just couldn't manage to convince himself otherwise.
So he headed over. With Jet at the sandwich place, he didn't really have to worry about prying eyes, but it was always better to tread lightly.
"Katara," He called her name to get her attention. Once again she seemed surprised to see him standing over her.
"Um, Zuko?"
"You haven't moved," Zuko pointed out.
"Do I normally?" Such a sarcastic response from the lady.
"Well, it's lunch time." He prodded, "Do you not have a lunch or something?"
"I was, uh…just finishing something up before going to buy something!" She spoke quickly, followed by a somewhat nervous chuckle. Zuko shook his head a bit. He sounded the same way when he was making up a lame excuse; she really had forgotten. He tossed his lunch bag over to Katara, who, startled, caught it just before it landed on the drawing pad on her lap.
"Can't fool me," He smirked a bit. "I feel bad letting a girl go hungry, so take it,"
Katara looked at the lunch briefly with a look on her face as though she wondered if it were something particularly foul before peeking inside the bag to see that it was, in fact, a myriad of delicious looking foods. He'd said he felt bad about letting a girl go hungry, but didn't that mean that he would go without now?
"Do you have money for lunch?", she asked curiously, blue eyes watching as he shook his head at her question. She smiled at the response and held up the bag, "Then rather than give me your food, why don't we share it?" It made sense to her, if they shared then neither of them would go hungry, "Besides, it will give us the opportunity to set up a time when I can draw you", she said sweetly.
She was almost sure he was going to refuse, the look on his face stated that he was going to but to her surprise-after many a minute-he relented towards her and made his way to sit down against the wall beside her. As he did, she set the food in his lap and the sketchbook she had been working out of on the ground with the small parcel that held her charcoal and pencils atop it so that the wind didn't rifle through it too much. The last thing she needed was her sketchbook being raped and all her drawings scattering to the wind and sea.
"Now then...", she began, having had given the possible places for them to meet so she could draw him some serious thought over the last few hours, "Did you have any time or day that would work best for you?" The only thing she had been able to think of was sneaking him in during her archery lesson with Mei and TyLee; Mei loved her enough she might let her, though the prospect brought with it it's own set of drawbacks such as the fact that TyLee wouldn't let her live it down for ages or might tell Suki who would in turn tell Sokka who might confront her about it or worse tell her parents.
She was pretty sure that she could find some way to buy off TyLee's silence, whether that payment be letting her torture her about her mythical like of the young man or letting her have that dress that she always liked out of her chifferobe.
"Do you have money for lunch?" Katara asked after looking into the bag he'd just passed her. Zuko honestly shook his head. She smiled and suggested, "Then rather than give me your food, why don't we share it? Besides, it will give us the opportunity to set up a time when I can draw you."
He couldn't deny her logic, and if it was just up to him, then he wouldn't be so worried. But he had Jet to consider. If Jet found him here sharing his food with Katara then he'd flip. Zuko looked at Katara, eyeing him sweetly, not wanting him to go hungry just like he'd not wanted her to go hungry. His eyes darted in the direction of the sandwich stand, and then back to Katara. Even though he figured he'd regret it later, he sat down next to her.
The moment he did she put the food in his lap and set her sketchpad and charcoal down on the ground beside her. "Now then, did you have any time or day that would work best for you?"
Zuko peered into the bag in his lap and began pulling out the containers of rice, vegetables and morsels of chicken. Uncle had a habit of separating the various meal components into different containers. Zuko said it was a waste of water to wash all of them, but the old man insisted that it was therapeutic. Zuko would never believe him.
"Umm," He mumbled as he thought about time for the first time. "I guess and day after work…And just about any Saturday. I don't work on Saturdays, and I figure Uncle won't mind too much if I actually plan something on my day off for once."
Katara smiled at his statement, vaguely wondering why he'd said "uncle" and not "father" before she spoke.
"You don't live with your mother and father?", it was a rather unusual circumstance so she supposed that he couldn't hate her for her curiosity but the moment she said it she regretted it. The look that came over him at the mention of them somehow told her that it was not a subject to be tread lightly on. Maybe his mother and father were dead, maybe he'd never had any, that was very possible. Who was she to ask these questions anyway? She wasn't his friend, the only reason he was even sitting with her and sharing his lunch with her was because she was paying him to let her draw him. Now she wanted to apologize but she didn't have the opening; so she changed the subject.
"Um, I have archery lessons every day, you could come with me and I could draw you there, if you want…", she said quickly, accepting the chicken he had offered to her before she'd asked the offending question and looking away. "Or the carnival that's coming to town next week, we could arrange a time during that…unless you were going to it with someone because if you are I would never dream of ruining your evening." She couldn't imagine that this boy didn't have some form of date for the spectacle, as much of a jerk as he was. He could be nice, if he couldn't he wouldn't have been sharing his food with her. She was sure that he had a few local girls lined up to go with him, and it wasn't like she was asking him there on a date or anything...so why did she feel so awkward about it?
Chancing another glance at him out of the corner of her eye, she looked away quickly but not before he realized she was looking at him.
"Sorry…", she mumbled softly looking out towards the ship only to catch sight of Jet glaring at her. But why was he glaring at her? What had she done? He looked her over from where he was standing, half a stride back to the ship with a napkin and a sandwich; his eyes somehow cold. "I'm sorry", she repeated quickly, putting the still untouched chicken down on the remains of the paper bag and moving to get up only to be stopped by a hand grasping her own.
"You don't live with your mother and father?" Katara asked lightly. She had no idea the gravity of the question she'd just asked. Zuko's whole expression sobered just thinking about it. The memories of his circumstances made him feel like his scar stood out more than ever. It was just a psychological trick of the mind, but it made him lower his head a bit anyways. Now he fought with himself about whether or not he wanted to tell her any stretch of the painful story.
"Um, I have archery lessons every day, you could come with me and I could draw you there, if you want…", She'd obviously seen the effects of the question and had decided to change the subject, "Or the carnival that's coming to town next week, we could arrange a time during that…unless you were going to it with someone because if you are I would never dream of ruining your evening."
Why would he have a date? Sure, his Uncle might make him go with him to this silly little carnival, but he hadn't had any sort of girlfriend for awhile. These surfacing thoughts of Mei didn't help with the dour mood brought on by Katara's earlier question.
Trying to shake this off, he looked back up at Katara to answer, but her eyes darted away before they'd made eye contact for more than a second. The Asian was confused even further when she appeared somewhat shocked at what she saw and said "I'm sorry,".
He followed her line of sight to find the source of her unhappiness. As Zuko had feared, Jet had caught them. He glared at Zuko for taking the 'first date', who was just close enough to the young woman for him to appear to be glaring at her. For someone who preached kindness towards women, he sure wasn't being so considerate right now.
Katara began to get up, muttering another apology. Without thinking, Zuko reached out and took her hand, forcing her to look back. Those icy eyes of hers showed both worry and shock. Zuko stood and looked somewhat defiantly over in Jet's direction before replying to one of Katara's earlier questions.
"I don't have plans. Either one of those sounds good," He answered honestly. And honestly, Zuko had never felt this kind of need to defy the whims of his jealous coworker. Katara wasn't the first girl to take interest in him since Mei, but she was the first one to want to actually see him. And he was tempted to let her.
Katara absorbed his reply, noting that he seemed to be speaking more to the boy that was glaring at them than to her, before giving a penchant grin and looking at the ground. She had a feeling that this was his way of defending her against the other boy's sudden disapproval of her; and for that she was thankful.
"Um...alright, well you can come to my archery lesson today..." Taking her hand back she bent and flipped through her sketch book for a blank piece of paper and scribbled down the address. Her lessons were at a training field that Mei's family owned and that was the address that she scribbled down in loopy cursive in charcoal on the paper before handing it off to him. Her hand brushed his during the exchage, her soft fingers brushing from his wrist halfway down his hand; they were rougher than hers, calloused and weathered. "You're welcome to walk with me if you're off work before I have to go, but if you're not that's the address."
She looked up at him, her eyes connecting with his golden ones briefly, her smile slowly fading into a blank look as realization came over her. This young man had to work for everything that he had, he had to work harder than she ever had or ever would and for some reason that got to her. She'd always known that he'd had to work, everyone at the docks had to work, she was a rarity here; perhaps she'd just been taking that for granted.
He probably needed the money that she offered him much more than she did. Perhaps for bills that needed to be payed or for the food and water that was essential for him to survive. Glancing down at her sketchpad she noted mentally that it had cost three dollars for the set, quite a bit of money for something so small. Zuko probably didn't have the spare money for things like archery lessons or drawing pads and she knew he didn't have the free time to sit on a dock and draw all day like she did. Even being signed away she would never want for anything; she would always be in the world of riches and lavish that she'd been born in. But Zuko-as far as she knew-hadn't been born to that world, he had to fight to survive and that had made him strong.
Biting her lip, she smiled and leaned around so that she could whisper into his burnt ear, breathing softly into it and half wondering if the melted flesh could feel it.
"Thank you" she whispered.
"Um...alright, well you can come to my archery lesson today..." Katara seemed grateful for his interjection. Zuko shot a glance over at Jet whose glare intensified while the young woman bent down to write down an address. He turned back to her when she straightened up to pass him the address. "You're welcome to walk with me if you're off work before I have to go, but if you're not that's the address."
He looked briefly at the address she'd scrawled in cursive. Being cursive, he had a hard time reading it, so he'd look it over in a bit. Zuko lifted his eyes to meet with her's again. Once more, her eyes darted away, and her excited smile faded. However, they didn't completely avoid him.
Her sudden pensive look brought to mind again the question presented by his uncle the night before. What could she possibly get here that she couldn't get at home? Dirty? He gave a mental facepalm at the joke he'd made. It was a rather lame one. Discontinuing this train of thought, he looked at the words scrawled on the paper Katara had handed him. Slowly, he read through the cursive. Hadn't he seen this address before? The familiarity was definitely going to bug him.
By this time, Katara had snapped out of her thoughts and looked back at him. The youth met her gaze and saw her bite her lower lip as she smiled at him. Finally, quite thoroughly startling him, she leaned forward to whisper into his left ear.
"Thank you," Her voice dripped with soothing sincerity, falling on his ear like a beautiful song. And as she pulled away, her cheek brushed the smooth skin of his scar and the feeling of her unblemished skin upon his lingered much longer than it should have. The oddity of the feeling left in the wake of this whisper struck a chord with Zuko. He'd wanted her touch to stay. He'd wanted her to be so close. What did that mean? He'd barely known her for more than a day. How could he cherish her so much already?
The peculiarity of these feelings made him brush them aside and take on a more collected persona. He gave her a businesslike smile and nodded to her in way of answer.
"We'll see what happens, but I've oughta go back to work now," He gestured to the barely touched food, "Feel free to finish the food,"
And he began to walk back to the loading area. He felt kinda bad for just leaving her there, but she was starting to make him feel odd. But honestly, he kinda hoped he could get off work in time to walk with her regardless of what Jet would think.
The smile that Zuko gave her reminded her of the one that she'd given Jet earlier that day, it was the kind of smile that you would only see through if you knew what it looked like. Why did it bother her so that he was directing it on her?
"We'll see what happens", he said lightly, "but I've oughta go back to work now. Feel free to finish the food." And then he was gone, heading back to work and leaving her there.
Katara watched him go, slightly put off by the sudden withdrawn attitude that he gave her. She tried not to let it bother her-which was a tad difficult because her mind was telling her it was because she'd done something wrong; something that had offended him in some way. But she hadn't had she? She hoped not.
Looking down at the barely touched food that sat on the ground almost forgotten, she sat down and brought her sketchpad back into her lap. She sketched in a few lines of Jet the way he'd been standing and looking at them before looking at the food again, tearing the piece of paper out of the little book, she folded it up and set it on her lap to use as a napkin. Then she set her sketchpad down again and returned to the food that Zuko had said she could finish.
The chicken was delicious, even if it was cold. In fact everything was delicious and she smiled at the irony, this food was better than anything that the cooks at her home had ever made. She enjoyed it with fervor and let her mind wander as she ate, recounting the events that had preceded Zuko's sudden withdrawal.
Unconsciously bringing her hand up to the side of her face that had touched his, she focused on remembering the way his skin had felt against hers. It had been very smooth, and surprisingly soft; what had happened for him to get such a scar? She was curious but with the way her questions and statements always seemed to upset him, she decided not to ask the next time she was confronted with him.
Jet openly glared at Zuko as he returned to work but didn't say anything, instead electing to do his work with an attitude. That bastard had taken the first date, he'd moved in and what was worse was that Katara seemed to be accepting him becomingly; she wasn't put off by the Asian's grotesque scar or antisocial attitude or even his temper that she'd witnessed the day before. But she rejected Jet when he was nice to her, handsome and very personable; what was wrong with him? What was wrong with her?
Shoving a crate onto the stack, he swore as he caught his finger between it and the one beside it. Zuko asked him if he was okay but the brunette wouldn't accept any quarter, especially from him.
"I'm fine!"
Zuko didn't like where his mind kept going. He didn't like that his eyes kept wandering in the direction of the young woman and that he smiled when she seemed to be enjoying Uncle's food. As for why, it was probably because he couldn't stop himself from looking or smiling, even if he wanted to. Instead, he reminded himself that he'd seen her again later, and that he had a job to do, and an angry gaze to avoid.
A cry of pain soaked with frustration reached Zuko's ear. Jet had caught his finger between two crates.
"Are you okay?" He asked without thinking. He always asked; pinches happened, and had caused some nasty damage to the fingers of more than one dock hand.
"I'm fine!" Jet shouted, his anger clear in his voice. He kicked the nearest crate and started back towards the boat they were unloading.
"Jet," Zuko thought he needed to resolve this, but no sooner than Jet glared back at him did his nerve fade. It would just lead to a fight.
"What?" He asked irately.
"Never mind," Zuko shook his head, trying to drop the conversation.
"No, tell me," Zuko shut his eyes at Jet's reply. He heard the angry young man take a few steps towards him. "If you've got something to say, say it,"
"It's nothing, Jet," Zuko looked back at him with his signature 'back off' look.
"No, it's something." His eyes narrowed, "You wanted to brag about your date with the princess, didn't you?"
"No, I-"
"Don't lie. You've done enough of that today,"
The comment hurt. And telling him that Katara had insisted wouldn't help the situation either. When would Jet learned to back off.
"Back off of it, Jet." He glared at the young man.
"Why? She your girlfriend, yet? I thought she was fair game." Jet kept going, "You said she was this morning,"
"Shut up, all right!" Zuko slammed his hand into the crate for the same unknown reason any frustrated person slams their hand into a solid surface. "I know I told you I'd let you have the first date, but things happen!"
"Things like being a lying, sad excuse for a friend?" Jet teased, a smug look on his face. Zuko let out a cry of frustration and ball his fists. He really wanted to punch Jet.
"She forgot her lunch and I was being nice!"
"You? You've never done a chivalrous act in your life!"
"What about you? You hit on every pretty girl who dares show her face on the docks!"
"At least I have the kind of face that deserves a girl like that!"
"Raargh!" Zuko's policy of trying not to get irritated by comments like that was thrown out of the window. His balled fist slammed into Jet's face. He lay on the ground for a moment and gave a slight laugh before launching himself back at Zuko. His back slammed into a large pile of crates directly behind him, and Jet held him there while he threw a few punches at his face. The Asian gripped Jet's shirt and threw him off and into another stack of crates.
"Zuko!" The young man heard the voice faintly, as if they were running towards the fight. However, the voice barely registered, as Jet jumped back up and threw a kick at his gut. The impact sent him stumbling backwards, and was soon followed by Jet's shadow looming over him.
"You're a horrible person, and a filthy liar!" He shouted insults as he proceeded to kick Zuko before he had time to recover. "A face like that isn't wanted here! You should go back to freaking China!"
"Jet! Stop it!" The voice yelled, it was distraught this time.
Zuko finally managed to get his arms below his body and he launched himself up into Jet's gut with an angry yell. Before much else happened, the two were rolling around on the ground, flurries of punches being passed between them.
"Shut up, you narcissistic drama queen!"
"At least I'm not a disfigured loser!"
"Stop it, you two!"
"Shut up! Just shut up!" Zuko finally managed to get the upper hand and slammed Jet into the ground below him. He brought his fist back to hit the sneering face below him when a different voice was heard.
"What's all this racket!" He recognized the voice of Zhao. The Asian then looked up to see that the other workers had circled around to watch, as was usually done when fights started up. He looked at their faces, some of disappointment that the fight was ending, some of approval for it ending- or for Jet getting what was coming to him. None of them mattered until he caught sight of a female face- one with ice blue eyes.
It then dawned on him who had been yelling at him and Jet to stop all of this time. He looked down at Jet, whose glare dared him to bring his fist down. Zuko defied that and shoved himself up. He stepped back, still breathing heavily from the fight, and looked from face to face. His eyes kept going back to Katara. He felt that, for some reason, that he had let her down.
