Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters, nor do I profit from this in any way.
A/N: Thank you everyone for your comments! Keep them coming!! All the suggestions and critiques have been fabulous! I hope that this chapter lives up to the other. If it doesn't, let me know what changes should be made and I can garuntee you that it will be changed and revised until I get it right. Enjoy Amy.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Chapter 2 – All We Are
Morning painted the sky with shades of gold and orange that stretched across the long clear sky. Another day, completely cloudless had just started to dawn. The smell of fresh cut fruit and the clank of nuts falling in wooden bowls caught the attention of the sleepy. One by one they slipped from their beds and wandered down the hall. Haru handed each a bowl as they slumped down on their usual rock or in the typical corner, against the same wall.
It took a moment for slumber stung eyes to refresh and minds to kick back into working mode. Sokka looked around the group, an eyebrow raised as he picked at the bits of fruits and nuts. Something was different. He counted. Same number of people as usual, but it was strikingly strange from any other morning. Lifting his finger, he counted slower, pointing to each person, sucking on a soggy fruit hanging from his mouth. Zuko paused for only a moment, "What are you doing?"
"Counting…" Sokka said as his extended finger bobbed as it passed each person in the circle.
"Why?" Zuko asked as the tan finger passed him and started around again.
"Something's different." He squinted; still too tired to rationalize what might be amiss.
Aang looked around, dawdling at first but then turned slightly frantic as he swung his head back and forth as he realized Sokka was right. He started to count too. Haru and Teo looked at each other and shrugged as though some mysterious counting phenomena were spreading. Toph let out a groan as the two boys started counting out loud and in unison. Setting the bowl down, she cleared her throat, "Zuko's here." Her voice was strung with that tone suggesting they should have noticed without it having been said.
The boys looked at each other, nodded and sat back down to their breakfast, as they seemingly innocently accepting the oldest boy's presence. Aang reached down into his bowl, and it hit hard. Katara was missing. The young Avatar looked up, "Where's Katara?"
"She's probably still asleep." Sokka shrugged, collecting a handful of breakfast and immediately shoveling it into his gapping mouth.
Toph looked up from her empty gaze at the ground. Then the sound of footsteps came slowly behind Aang and stopped. Katara yawned, stretching her arms out. Haru held up a bowl with a bright morning smile with the gold and orange reflecting on his face and in his long brown hair. She returned the smile and took the food, sitting down slowly next to Aang, "Sorry I'm late." Katara apologized quickly. Zuko looked up, a weak smile as though to say good morning tugged at the corner of his lips. She glanced around the group, seeing his apparent satisfaction with her presence she quickly looked away, snubbing him as she always did. Toph let out a curious hum and sat up straight.
Sokka gnawed on the last bit of his morning meal and set the bowl aside. He put a hand on his knee and leaned forward, "Alright, since we're all together right now, we should think about what we need to do next. The invasion didn't work out as well as I planned," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully reflecting on how it went and what he'd imagined, "but that doesn't mean the second one will be a flop too. Besides, we have to do this before the comet comes—
"Sokka," Aang interrupted him and threw him into a curious silence, "We all agreed not to talk about the invasion plans during meals. Last time we did, there were maps everywhere," Aang tossed his arms out motioning as to how it unfolded, "Momo was crawling all over them and then that tea spilled and the squished fruit." He stuck out his tongue remembering the disgusting mess, "Then we had to buy all new maps and we completely forgot that plan because of everything else going on!" He tossed his arms in the air, exasperated, "Besides, I still need to finish mastering all four elements and master the Avatar State! I have a lot to do before we can start making plans for the next invasion!" Aang squished his eyebrows down and hugged his little bowl, scooping food into his mouth, irritated by the war talk. Of all the things in the world that got on his nerves, it was war talk when he was trying to eat.
"Okay, okay, calm down." Sokka held out his hands, "I get it, sorry Aang."
Zuko set his bowl between himself and the Water Tribe warrior, "We should work on Firebending before the sun finishes coming up."
Aang's ears perked and he looked up, snapping back to his usually cheerful mood, "Why's that, Sifu Hotman?"
The older boy groaned, hating the nickname even though a little part of him was amused by it as if it were a pet name between just them, "Its harder to control firebending when the suns coming up. It gets stronger and fast so you have to know how to control it." He explained.
"Hm, I never thought about that." Aang looked over in an attempt to break the bitter feelings that had become glaringly obvious between his two masters, "So, Katara does your waterbending get stronger when the sun goes down?"
"Aang, you already know it changes with the moon." She said in a near joking way.
"Oh yeah, I guess I do." He rubbed the back of his head blushing and everyone laughed a little.
"Toph and I are going to work on some earthbending techniques, once you're done with firebending, you should join us." Haru tossed in an offer.
"I do need to work on my earthbending…" Aang replied sheepishly.
Zuko stood up, Aang did the same and they walked off to practice. Katara glanced up as they departed; she looked at Aang and then stared for a lingering moment at Zuko's back with little waves of the previous night crashing on edge of her mind. Toph looked up again, now noticing a peculiar pattern. Aang turned around to wave, and Zuko simply gave a slight nod, Katara snapped back around with crossed arms, and then they disappeared around the corner. Teo looked down at The Duke, reclining on his arms, "Hey, The Duke, do you want to help me finish those extra gliders?"
"Sure!" He said joyfully.
"Great!" He said, backing up his wheelchair and spinning around. Teo lifted a hand in the air, "See you guys later!" His friends waved back as he and The Duke headed for one of the hallways.
Haru picked up his bowl and then started around, gathering up the others as Momo searched them desperately for scraps of food. One by one they clacked together in his arms. The lemur flew up in the air with great disappointment. Haru chuckled as he picked up the bowl beside Katara, "I guess you were getting some beauty rest this morning."
"I was just tired." She shrugged. Sokka unfolded a map, the paper rustling obnoxiously as he pinned it down with his open palms.
"Were you up late?" Toph handed him her bowl as he asked.
She sighed, "I couldn't get to sleep, so I went for a walk and I guess I was out a lot later than I thought."
Haru smiled at her as he gathered up the last of the soiled dishes, "It was a nice night."
"Yeah…it was nice." She said, grabbing her arm and looking down as she tried to restrain a wild blush.
Toph stood up, having had enough of whatever was going on. She walked over to Katara and stared blankly at her before grabbing her arm and yanking in a different direction from everyone else, "Come on Katara, we should talk…privately." Sokka glanced up to see his sister stumbling close behind the blind girl. He rolled his eyes assuming it was more girly things and returned to his plans. Toph's hand squeezed tight around the older girl's arm as she pulled her into the bed chamber hallway.
Without warning, she stopped and let go. Katara rubbed her sore arm and before she could complain or question her friend, the blind girl hopped up on the window sill and crossed her legs, "So, are you going to tell me what's going on or do we have to do this the hard way?"
"What are you talking about?" She tended to the red mark on her forearm.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Katara." She hopped down and held up her index finger to start counting, "First you were late to breakfast."
"I overslept." She explained away.
"Then you were pretending like he didn't even exist." Toph held up another finger.
"Who…?" Katara knew the answer but also knew she didn't want to put words in the girl's mouth in case she was wrong.
Ignoring the question, Toph continued, "And then when Haru brought up last night you got all twittered and your heart started racing. I don't know what happened, but you better start talking."
"Nothing happened last night." She put a hand on her hip.
"You're lying." Toph's empty stare locked onto Katara's face.
She swallowed hard; there was no use in trying to cover up the truth to a girl who could tell. Letting out a deep sigh, she let her shoulders shrink down, "I was at the pool last night…" It hadn't crossed her mind until just then that she didn't know why the firebender was there. Her pause grew for a moment and then she hesitantly continued her story, "…with Zuko."
Toph snorted as though somehow expecting it, "So what happened?" An odd smile seemed to creep across her case.
"I don't want to talk about it." Katara folded her arms, thinking over the night.
"Why not…?" Toph asked quizzically.
She looked over at her blind friend and irritatingly barked, "I just don't want to talk about it, Toph!"
She turned around and stormed down the hall. Toph sighed and let her go, knowing all too well how she could be when she was provoked. Katara gradually slowed her pace to a familiar one from that night. She glanced at the wall, reached up and touched it with her fingertips. A small grin found her as she dropped into reminiscence. The words echoed silently:
'It probably hates me.' The breeze sifted through his long dark hair but his expression didn't change as though it was fact.
'The water doesn't hate anyone.' She hadn't been sure if he knew what she meant but something in his response told her that he had understood.
'It tried to kill me.' He spoke shrewdly.
'You probably deserved it.' Her bitterness returned in an instant.
Katara cringed at the thought of having said something so cold. Her fingers curled under, pressing into her palm before opening again and resting flat against the wall.
'So do you hate the water?' The question was begging to be asked.
'No.' He hadn't hesitated even a second in his reply, but it was unclear as to what he meant. She only hoped it meant that he didn't hate her because even though she acted like it, she didn't hate him as much as she wanted.
With a half-smile, she sighed and continued down the hall. The clanking of dishes bounced up and down the walls, catching her attention. Katara followed the sound for a while and discovered Haru next to a wash tub, scrubbing the last few bowls. He hummed quietly as he washed. Katara walked over to the stack and bended the excess water off and trailed it back into the wash tub. The earthbender looked over, delighted to see her, "Katara, did you come to help me finish up with these?" He joked lightly. Her lips turned up weakly. Pausing in the circular scrubbing he set the bowl back into the water and looked over at his friend, "Is something wrong?"
"Toph thinks I'm hiding something." She confessed.
"Are you?" His eyebrow lifted. That feeling crossed him earlier when they spoke but he decided not to mention anything.
"No!" She snapped defensively.
"Then there's nothing to worry about." Haru said calmly.
"I guess…" Katara trailed off, her eyes shifting off to the side and to the ground.
The earthbender returned to the dishes. She stood quietly bending the water from the cleaned dishes and sending it back to the small tub. He set one more down and then smiled to himself at the job he'd done. Katara sent one last stream back to the dirty wash tub water. He looked over at her, "Thank you that helped a lot."
"You're welcome." She said in a melancholy tone.
"Could you do one more favor for me?" Haru dried his hands on a rag.
"Sure, what is it?" Katara shrugged, happy to help her friends.
"Could you go tell Aang to meet me and Toph on the upper level? He's probably with Zuko still." He picked up the stack of dishes and slipped them into the travel bag and glanced back to her. She nodded and left the kitchen.
Aang took a step forward, crossing his ankles with a low posture, threw his fist forward and shot a fireball. Zuko beamed with pride, "You're doing good, now try that one you did earlier again."
"Two steps, right?" Aang asked as he backed up a few feet. The older boy gave a confirming nod. The young Avatar took two quick steps forward and jumped up in an aerial, dropped back down on his feet with a tail of fire coming down to his heal as he pushed the front foot forward, forcing the tail to shoot up in wave of flames. Aang glowed with delight at the accomplishment.
Zuko stepped next to him, taking the same position, "Now, you take your back foot and swing it forward. This is supposed to trip someone if they get too close." He demonstrated turning quickly and dragging his heal. Another wave of fire followed his heal in an arch form. Zuko stood up and turned to the younger boy. His eyebrow rose with pleasant surprise. Katara walked slowly to where they were practicing. Aang, noticing the distracted look, peered back over his shoulder to see the waterbender stop not too far away.
"Hey Katara!" He said with great enthusiasm.
"How's the practice going?" She kept her eyes focused on her young friend.
"Great! I learned how to make fire daggers and these long whips…" He waved his arms around to the motion he would use the rope like flames, "I'll have to show you some time." He said smugly.
She smiled while a little giggle escaped. Zuko stared at her unmoved by her motherly way of humoring him. Katara recomposed herself, "Haru wants you to meet him and Toph on the upper level to practice earthbending now."
"Oh phooey," Aang whined with his natural rebellion against his opposite element. He looked back at Zuko, "I guess we can finish later."
"We'll practice more tomorrow." He said flatly.
"Flameo, Sifu Hotman!" Aang hurried off to the upper level as Zuko just side to the ridiculous statement and let his head drop down. There was no point in arguing with him about it. He'd tried before to get the young Avatar to stop calling him that but he had little success. The more Aang said it, the less it bothered him but that didn't mean he liked it.
Katara stared at him blankly, folded her arms and glanced around. He looked up, watched her and then let his face change from a pleased glow to a disapproving scowl. She winced once she caught another look at him. "Hey…" She muttered.
"Hi." Zuko said colder than before.
"I should go; I have to make lunch…" Her voice trailed away as she turned back to where she'd come.
"Wait." He'd hesitated just as he did during the night. She stopped, staring ahead. Zuko stayed silent for a moment to make sure she was going to listen. He watched her still back and decided to proceed, "We need to talk."
Katara looked back at him and then slowly turned back around, "Zuko, I have chores to do. We can talk later."
He closed the gap between them, but left himself arm's distance from her, "They can wait." He insisted.
"I'm really busy, I have to go." She turned around and took a few steps forward. A strong grip wrapped around her wrist and pulled her backwards. Katara looked down to see a hand, followed it up and saw Zuko attached. Her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth opened to speak in protest.
"No. We need to talk. Now." His said with a serious stare.
They glared at each other for a while but then Katara broke first and shifted her eyes towards the ground. Zuko's grip loosened and her wrist fell to her side. With a sigh she thought over where they could talk, "There's a town near by, and I need to get more food. We could talk on the way." Her voice was low and he knew she'd given in against her will. He gave a small nod and they left the Western Air Temple.
They walked in silence for most of the journey. Every now and again there was a sigh or hum of thought but conversation stayed null until they reached the town. "Why have you been ignoring me?" He finally spit the words out; relieved to have them leave his mouth and linger in the open air.
"I'm sorry; I didn't know how to act after last night." She admitted as she glanced around the crowded market place. The people wore clothes of every nation and looked nothing short of poor. It was a reflection of every other town she'd ever seen.
"I'm not going to pretend like nothing happened." Zuko crossed his arms as they walked along.
Katara stopped on that note and turned to face him, "What did happen last night, Zuko?"
He blinked, surprised by the return of her aggression towards him. Calming down, he took in the question and finally admitted, "I don't know."
"See, nothing happened!" She threw her arms in the air, "There's no need to pretend like anything happened or say that anything did happen if nothing happened."
His brow furrowed, "I thought we were starting to be friends." Zuko's voice was harsh.
"Friends…? We've been enemies for a long time and you think that one conversation makes us friends?" She burst into emotions. He bit back on a strange smile trying to break through and the anger that wanted him to snap. She was stubborn and he had to remember that at all times. Katara's eyes began to well up, "You have no idea how hard it is for me to even think I could be friends with you after everything that's happened!"
Zuko's eyes narrowed with the sting of her rejection, "I thought you said you didn't hate me!"
"Well, I'm not sure about that any more." She turned away.
He groan, furious as ever and threw his hands down, "What's your problem?" His voice rose, unaware of how much attention they were drawing to themselves as their fight ensued.
"If you think last night changes anything, you're wrong!" She said bitterly before storming away.
With another angry groan he put his palm to his forehead. His uncle never warned him of this type of woman, one that couldn't bottle anything up even if she tried. For some reason he felt as frustrated as Iroh must have felt dealing with him. A merchant nudged him, "What'd you do to make your girlfriend so mad at you?"
Zuko sighed, ignoring the man's assumption, "I don't know."
The old man hummed and scratched his face, "This doesn't help business much, but she seems like the kind of girl you need to be patient with and give her some space."
He stared off in the direction she'd gone, "She's so stubborn." He nearly whined.
"Maybe you should just talk to her, tell her how you feel." The old merchant man stepped away and returned to his little shop. Zuko thought about it for a moment. Perhaps telling her how he felt would help but then he realized that he wasn't sure. He didn't know for certain what his feelings were about the previous night and was less in tune with how he felt about her all together. The old man looked up from dusting a pot, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He assured the merchant and went to take a step forward.
"Alright, well, good luck with your girlfriend." He said casually.
Zuko put his face in his palm with a sigh. The old man raised an eyebrow, confused by the gesture. Shrugging, he let it go without further conversation. Zuko walked down the street, carefully looking for her in the most logical places. The search heeded no results and so he wandered around near aimlessly.
Katara sat down with her back to the wall of a merchant stand. She wrapped her arms around her knees and released a deep sigh. What she said was wrong and she didn't mean it. Thoughts and reflections tumbled through her mind. The image of him sitting next to her, staring out at the water, more concerned with her being awake than his own insomnia was inerasable. She shut her eyes and felt the tears work their way out from under her lashes and litter her face with salty wet trails. When she'd cried, he'd comforted her and kept her safe until the tears stopped and even then he didn't leave or assume she was okay again. He just stayed by her until she was ready to leave. Her sobs turned heavy. Katara gripped her knees tighter and buried her face. She cried because he'd hurt her time and again but also he brought her comfort and happiness. Though Zuko had done so much wrong, she still couldn't let go of the feeling she had welled in her chest. The beating grew louder and ached the longer she wondered if he hated her now.
Zuko's pace slowed, dreading she'd left without him. A familiar sound suddenly found him. The quivering sob rang in his ears and twisted his insides tight. It was different from the prior night where it was weak and mournful; this was a sound that seemed to stab him. Without any more thought, he rounded the corner. She sat there, deep in tears and unaware of him looming over her. His straight face drooped as a sadness swept over. He hated to see girls cry, especially when they were hurt because of him. The only thing he wanted to do was apologize but the words caught in his throat as his knees wobbled. No other girl he'd ever known made him feel so guilty and yet so happy. She would wait for him to say what he needed to say and cared no matter what it was he said. Zuko sat down next to Katara and put one arm across her shoulders and the other arm around her knees, and then pulled her close.
Her eyes shot open and breath stopped short as she looked up at the person next to her. A sad smile peeked on Zuko's face; a guilty feeling seemed to consume him, he felt responsible for provoking her and just wanted her to stop crying. Katara shut her eyes again as the tears continued, and leaned against him the way she had before. There was a strange comfort in the sound of his rhythmic heartbeats. After a few gasps she dried her eyes and sat back up. He brought one arm back but the one behind her remained there, keeping her pressed against his side.
Katara looked down at her tear covered hands, "I'm sorry for what I said. It was mean and it wasn't true." He sat quietly staring at the ground, forgetting the place of his arm, something he didn't do normally. She sniffled, "It's so hard for me to trust you. A part of me keeps saying I shouldn't after everything that's happened, but another part of me says I should give you a second chance."
Zuko glanced from the corner of his eyes at her, "Doing the right thing always seems harder than doing what's wrong." He thought about the words. The merchant was right, she needed her space but there was something more she needed and that was him. Zuko smiled a bit, "My uncle used to tell me that a lot. I guess it took a long time for me to listen."
Katara smiled as well and finally looked over at him, "Thanks, Zuko."
"You're welcome." His smile didn't fade and his stare didn't avert this time. Something had changed. Zuko stood up, his hand brushed down along her back and then rested in the air, open and waiting, "We need to get back to the Temple." Katara grinned and took his hand. He pulled her up, close to his chest, and much closer than he'd expected. They both took a step back and looked away. He rubbed the back of his neck, hiding the pink of his face behind his long hair as he fumbled for words, "uh, I—I'm, um…sorry."
"Don't worry about it." She said coolly trying to avoid eye contact as the red blush receded.
They quickly bought some food and hurried back. Aang and Toph were playing 'dodge boulder' with Haru and Sokka had fallen asleep on the maps. Teo and The Duke zipped through the sky on gliders and hooted the whole way down the ravine. They walked to the room they were using as a kitchen and set down the few baskets of rice and fish. Zuko leaned against the wall. Katara looked around to see what she had to work with and then turned her attention to the firebender as he watched her every move.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" She raised an eyebrow.
"I was just thinking…" His heart raced and he took a deep breath, "…if you can't sleep again, we could talk…or something." He blundered over every word, trying to keep calm.
Katara smiled brightly; just barely restraining a pink glow that crept up her cheeks. She wasn't sure as to what caused it but she had a slight idea. Zuko smiled back; a familiar warmth filled his face as well. Both, though not willing to admit it, were hoping that the other wouldn't be able to sleep that night. They wanted to try to be friends, not because of Aang, but because it's what they wanted.
A/N: Woah, wait. Did he just ask her on a date like event? AMY! BAD!! (Sarah)
AMY: Hey! Get out of my A/N!!! You're not the Author!
SARAH: -shrugs-
(Amy) And to answer your burning question and Sarah's: No. He did not ask her on a date-like event. He just said that if she couldn't sleep again, then they could talk or something. Yeah, sure they both hope the other won't be able to sleep but can you blame them? They're finally starting to get along and understand each other. Would you really want to go: yeah I'm finally getting to know you. Good night! ... NO! especially if you suspected possible feelings for the other person floating around somewhere either in your spleen or in your chest...take your pick.
As Han Solo once said about Liea, "Either I'm going to kill her or I'm starting to like her."
And remember - this is a Zutara fic so there has to be some sort of feelings fluttering about...or are there? hahahaha...Stay Tuned!
Amy.