Chapter 2. The Golden Shell
Katara yawned and stretched as she awoke with the afternoon light shining down on her face. She looked around and then noticed that Zuko was already awake making them both some food, as well as tea. She smiled when she saw him pouring the tea into a small handle-less cup. Zuko turned to her with a blink, " oh you're awake", he said, looking away from her , "I made tea", his mouth curved into a small smile.
Katara rubbed her eye, " I see that", she replied in a sleepy voice. He handed her one of the cups of warm tea and she thanked him enjoying the warmth in her hands. She blew on it a couple times before taking a sip, it was hot but not enough to burn her mouth. She winced slightly because it wasn't the best tea but she appreciated his effort.
Katara smiled, " thanks Zuko this is great", she exaggerated, not wanting to disappoint him. Zuko nodded, " anytime" , he replied as he took a sip from his own cup.
She noticed he was acting a little strangely today, like he was more reserved then usual.
" Are you alright?" she broke the silence with a frown. Zuko gave a guilty look, " sure why wouldn't I be", he said looking a little flustered. " Are you sure?", she tilted her head, " you're acting strange.. I hope I didn't do anything wrong", she said with big blue eyes and he grimaced.
Zuko sighed, "no…it's not you", he shook his head," its me", he confessed, looking in her concerned eyes. Katara's eyebrows raised," what do you mean? " she put down her cup of tea.
Zuko gave her a funny look, " you …uh..make me nervous…", his face was red as he wasn't telling her the whole truth. Katara blushed and then let out a little laugh, " me? Making you nervous? ", she asked, " since when?" Katara smirked.
Zuko looked away," ever since I joined the group.." ,he slouched, " I have been trying my hardest to redeem myself to you..", he said with a serious look then closed his eyes.
Katara's eyes widened, then she walked over to him putting her hand on his as he sat cross legged. Zuko looked up at her with a surprised look as she gazed down at him, " you already have Zuko", she said with a sweet smile.
Zuko blushed with his mouth open then a small smile crept on his face. " Thank you ", he said with a sigh of relief. Katara nodded as she went back to her sleeping bag, she brought out her comb and brushed her slightly tangled hair.
It was still silky from the salt water last night and it smelled so fresh like the ocean, and Katara loved that smell. Zuko watched her comb her beautiful hair for a bit and then smiled as he turned back to cutting up some island mango.
Mango was his favorite fruit, apart from strawberries and passion fruit. The mango that grew here was particularly delicious. It almost melted into your mouth and it had a rich, buttery taste.
He handed her a leaf with some fruit on it and he saw her face light up, " thanks! Where did you find this?" ,she asked.
Zuko smiled, " I know where a secret tree is ", he admitted, " it always has the best fruit at this time of year", he said to her.
Katara bit into the juicy flesh and made a delighted noise, " wow!" , she said cheerfully, " it's perfect!". Zuko nodded with agreement as he took a bite from his own piece with his eyes closed in delight.
She glanced over as she saw that his shirt was slightly open, showing the scar where he was stuck. Katara gulped with a sad look, "how is your scar?" , her heart skipped as she asked.
Zuko was just about to take another bite when he looked down at his chest, " it's alright", he said with a nonchalant tone. " It still hurts sometimes but it's not that bad", he said as he opened his shirt a little to look at the scar.
Katara blushed slightly, "would you like me to give you another healing session? " ,she asked him, sitting up straighter with a concerned look.
Zuko nodded," actually, yes please", he said, " that would be great, thanks", he mused.
She nodded as he accepted her request, then she scooted towards him with her water skin on her side. They both sat cross legged and their knees touched. Zuko felt his heart quicken as he saw her bend some of the crystal water out of her pouch, swirling it around her hands and bringing them to his chest.
Katara's heart beat nervously and she blushed slightly as she focused her healing powers on his scar. Zuko sighed and closed his eyes as he felt the water benders cold hands touch his skin and felt the soothing sensation melt away the pain. She concentrated her eyes on his chest and blushed a little more as her eyes began to trail down a little, admiring his abdominal muscles peaking out of his red button up shirt.
She sighed with a flustered look and then brought her eyes back to his chest. Zuko opened his eyes and looked at her and then she looked up as well meeting his golden eyes. His pupils dilated slightly as he was engulfed by her blue gaze. They both blushed and then Katara looked back down at the scar, breaking the awkward stare and pulling her hands away slowly, careful not to drop the water.
Zuko cleared his throat, " thank you that felt really nice", he sighed with a small blush on his pale skin. She smiled nervously, " anytime", she stroked the back of her head awkwardly after putting the water away into her pouch. " Uh..so what are we going to do today? ", she asked, trying to change the subject. Zuko blinked, " I'm not really sure, there aren't any plays going on", he smiled, " oh what a shame", she said sarcastically and he smirked.
" Well, did you want to go to my beach house?" , he asked, buttoning up his open shirt. Katara shrugged, looking off into the forest, " I guess so, I did really enjoy staying their with the others," she replied.
Zuko smiled, " alright", he got up and stretched.
The door creaked as they opened it slowly, " Katara gazed around the holiday home, " it's so…abandoned", she said in a quiet voice. Zuko nodded with a sad look, " yeah, it is", he said walking in front of her.
" There used to be pictures hung up over there", he pointed to the bare wall, " but I burned them not too long ago." Katara's mouth opened, " what? Why?", she asked with a surprised tone. He looked at the wooden floor, " I just felt like I needed to.. " , he confessed. She frowned, " oh..I see", she blinked, looking away.
The room was large and had many windows. It was quite the beach house, Katara thought, no surprise that it belonged to their royal family. Last time they were here they were mostly in the court yard and this room. She hadn't really bothered to take a tour around the house.
" I want to show you something ", be said as he walked forwards signaling her to follow him. Katara's eyes widened and she nodded. He took her to his parents room which was quite the room with a beautiful bed. She gasped at all the beautiful decorations that most of them had dust covering them.
He took her to the bedside mirror table and on top there was a large golden conch shell. Katara blinked as he picked it up and placed it into her hands and she looked at it in awe.
" My mother found that in the beach years ago", he said with a smile. Katara nodded," it's beautiful Zuko! I have never seen such a shell! ", she said with fascination.
Zuko nodded," you can hear the ocean, and when you blow it, it makes a wonderful sound", he told her.
Katara grinned, " I want you to have it", he said to her and she gasped.
"Oh no I couldn't", she handed him the shell with a guilty look, " no really", he said, putting his hands around hers.
Katara smiled with wide eyes, " are you sure?" , its sounds like it's important to you, " she blushed.
He shook his head, taking his hands away, " not really, it is special but I want you to have it", he said turning away. Katara blinked with surprise, " wow.. Well thank you, I love it", she said as she looked down at the shell with admiring eyes.
She followed him as he walked down a narrow hall, he pointed to a room near the middle saying it was him and Azula's room, then near the end of the hall he stopped again.
" that room over there is the bath house", he said, motioning to the room in front of them, " you have your own bathhouse? ", Katara's eyes went wide.
Zuko nodded, " yeah, it's pretty nice", he said dully. They walked into the room and Katara gaped in awe, " are you kidding it's beautiful in here!", she said and he shrugged. She had never been in a bathhouse before and this place was beautiful. Even better then the fancy bathroom in Ba Sing Se, she had to admit.
There was a divider in the middle of the room with watercolor painted sakura blossoms on it and on each side was a large empty stone tub, one must have been for men's and the other, woman's, she figured. Their was also a large wooden bucket beside both tub and a cupboard in the corner of the room, slightly open with old towels inside. The floor was wooden and smooth and there were a couple slim windows that had foggy glass.
"Why did you not show is this before?" she laughed, "I could have really used a proper bath a couple times", she crossed her arms. Zuko smirked, rubbing the back of his head, " Um..you never asked?", he said and she chuckled, shoving him a little, Zuko shuffled nervously.
"So speaking of baths I could actually use one ", he admitted with a bashful look. Katara turned and eyed him.
"Would you like to join me?" , he asked and she gave him a funny look, "UH I mean as in you go in the uh..girls tub and I go in that one?" be said awkwardly as he pointed at the tubs with a flustered face.
Katara giggled, with her hand to her mouth, " sure I would love to ", she said with a smirk.
Katara stood nervously as she waited for the water to warm and then began to drop her clothes to the floor placing the shell with them as the tub was filling up. She sunk in with a light sigh, the water felt amazing.
Zuko blushed with an embarrassed look as he stumbled out of his clothes and got into the hot water. Smoke escaped his mouth as he sighed with relief and put his arms along the edges. He grabbed the jar of salts on the small shelf across from him and poured some into the water. The pink herbal salt was a perfect bath additive and he left the water running a little longer to stir the salt in the water.
"This is great!" Katara burst out, not feeling this happy in a long time.
Zuko sighed with his eyes closed, " it is..", he said with a groggy voice, sinking in a little deeper.
Katara smirked as she got a sneaky idea, she snuck out the tub quietly, and then peaked around the paper divider at Zuko. Taking advantage of his closed eyes while she still could she ran and then jumped suddenly into the tub with a a rather big splash.
"AHH! Katara!?", Zuko let out a surprised noise. Katara laughed with her mouth wide open, "what? I thought you wanted me to join you?" ,she said in a cheeky voice.
Zuko blushed hard with his eyes shut, " Katara! Get out of here!", he covered his eyes with his arm even though the water covered her body out of sight he was still embarrassed. Katara thought it was rather cute how shy he was acting, when she was usually the one who was shy but being in a playful mood, she didn't care all that much at the moment.
"What's the big deal?", she rolled her eyes, Zuko slowly put his arm down and slowly opened his eyes. Across the tub she was looking at him with a wide smile and he sighed, " nothing its just…-", he huffed, " what?", she asked, " I have never bathed with a girl before?!", he said with a grumpy look, crossing his arms. " Well.. other then my mother and sister.. but that was when I was really young", he mumbled.
Katara gave him a surprised look and then his mouth opened as he was worried he had upset her, but then she broke out in another laugh.
"Hey loosen up would you?", she blushed, looking away from him. Trying to ignore the fact that she was naked, in a tub, with an older, and attractive teen, and that this was probably the most daring thing she had ever done. Zuko sighed, " fine you can stay…", he gave in with an embarrassed look. It's not that he didn't want her there he just felt embarrassed about it.
Katara smirked, sinking into the water all the way and then coming up with soaked hair. Zuko winced as he saw her wet hair just covering her chest. He blushed harder as he splashed some water onto his hair, messing it up a bit and she giggled because his hair looked even cuter all wet and spikey.
"What?" ,he asked in a grumpy tone, some of his hair almost covering his golden eyes.
Katara laughed, " your hair looks cute like that ", she said and he smirked finally loosening up a little.
He then turned his back to her and Katara's eyes widened as he brought his torso out if the water reaching for something outside the tub and Katara's face went red as she saw part of his bum. She dunked her head under the water before he could turn to see her face and when she came back up she began to pretend like she was washing her hair . She hummed, running her fingers through her hair.
She looked up to see he had grabbed soap, ah, she sighed. He took the soap and washed his chest and his arms, trying not to look at her. Katara looked at the ceiling and sunk in a little more, trying not to look at him as well.
She began to think this was not the best idea. Adventurous, yes, but not the best idea. At least the tub was more then big enough for both of them, so it wasn't that bad and the foggy water made her feel a little more relieved. Katara tried to soothe the tense mood, " so uh…", she hesitated, " could I borrow some of that?", she blushed, meaning the soap he was holding. Zuko looked up at her, pretty much done with it, " oh uh sure", he flung it at her awkwardly and she had to splash about to catch it. Zuko turned off the water and then tried to relax, and he put his head against the edge of the stone with his eyes closed.
Katara smiled and began to wash her arms and then her chest under water and her stomach. The soap was obviously made out of some sort of natural oil and herbs, it smelled minty and it felt great on her skin. When she was done she threw it back with a chuckle and it landed on Zuko's resting face, " hey!", he made a surprising noise and she laughed loudly. He thought she looked so beautiful when she laughed like that so he smiled, splashing some of the soap off his face. He didn't notice it had sunk to the bottom of the tub.
He splashed her and she gasped at the hot soapy water on her face, " don't start!", she said, " beaming as she retaliated with a waterbend to the face. Zuko dunked under water to escape it but then had some water to his eyes when he came back up. Katara laughed as Zuko groaned, " Ugh, you got some in my eye!", he said, rubbing his one irritated eye. He then lunged and used both of his arms to splash her, the wooden floor was getting soaked with water.
When Zuko stepped to the side to escape her upcoming splash he had stepped on the sunken bar of soap, he gasped out a breath of air as he stumbled over. His legs gave out from under him and to make things worse he had slipped right onto the poor waterbender with a big splash, who let out a short scream.
Zuko groaned as he looked up from on her shoulder to her flustered gaze, she was too shocked to speak. His chest was almost against hers and he felt his heart beat quicken, blushing hard, " I'm so sorry!", he gasped. He struggled to get his balance again, with a splash, " don't worry about it, just..uh..get off me", she said in a flustered voice. She winced at the water splashing near her face and she grabbed his arms to try and help steady him.
She had him held up above her with her hands on his chest, and he gazed into her eyes with his wide, golden eyes and they couldn't help but stare. She panted slightly, with a flustered face and she felt the water drip from his hair onto her. She looked back with huge eyes filled with emotion and question, she could felt a feeling rise in her chest and almost an energy between them. Zuko then blinked out of his trance and stood back up in front of her and her arms came off his chest. He looked to the side abruptly, droplets coming off his hair and he grimaced with embarrassment.
"Sorry…", he muttered and she blushed with a bashful smile, moving a piece of wet hair away from her face, " I said don't worry about, you clumsy idiot…", she huffed. He gave her a shocked look but then smiled sweetly, looking to the side, Katara suddenly missed his closeness.
"come sit next to me", she asked him, grabbing his arm.
wow so this didn't go exactly how I wanted it to but I kind of like it. XDD
looks like there will be one more chapter, don't feel like making it too long because I honestly do not have the patience :/ or ideas for that matter, haha. This is just kind of a random fluffy zutara fic so I can get my shipping feels out. There isn't really a plot? Like it is just going to be kind of random and cute I guess. ^w^
Either way, I hope you guys enjoy it and I hope the characters aren't too out of character. ;)
