Thank You For All Of The Reviews! I Knew At Least Some Of You Would Pull Through! Anyway, Sorry I Haven't Updated Sooner, But I Was At Camp (And Other Assorted Places!)! But Before I Start The Chapter, I Have A Few Things To Say To A Few Of You:
Miss Elizabeth12, I Always Capitalize Every Word In My ANs. Even If It's 1 AM. And Thank You For Yelling At People With Me! XD
The Nature Of Randomness, I'm Thinking Of Extending It To Four Or Five, But It's Still Going To Be Short. Sorry. XD
readingKs, You May Be Right About The Street Credit Thing. But You Know What? I'm Working Toward It! Slowly But Surely, I'll Get There. And Thank You For Helping Out, It's VERY Appreciated! I Also Loved That Bit About Her Eyes, And I'm Sad I Didn't Expand On That A Little More. Also- Why Does That Fact Bother You? And You'll See Where It's Going In This Chapter!
All Right! Let's Go!
Katara's eyes widened, and she stumbled back, away from Zuko. A sob forced its way out of her chest, and she covered her mouth with a hand, gripping the trunk of a nearby tree to hold herself up. She squeezed her eyes shut.
How could he do this to me? Why would he come back- after all this time?
A bright spot of anger flared inside her, and she turned to glare at him as he took a step toward her. He looked shocked, and hurt- good. He deserved it.
"Get away from me," she snarled at him as he held his hands out to her. She turned, and tears dropped down her cheeks as she fled.
This time, he didn't follow her.
Zuko swore, watching Katara dash through the lightening forest. He needed a plan, and he needed it fast.
He turned, and trudged back to their makeshift campsite, the hard lump of anger in his chest making it harder to breathe.
She hates me. The anger in his heart took on an edge of despair, and he had to pause a moment to catch his breath.
So be it.
He reached the campsite then, feeling drained. Absently, he drew the struggling fire out from the pit and channeled the energy into himself, feeling it course through him. Slightly more energized, he walked over to his small pile of things and dropped into a sitting position, crossing his legs. He reached into his pack and pulled out another shirt, slipping it on. He slid the pack on then, his broadswords sheathed but ready.
He sighed, and let his head fall into his hands. What have I done?
Taking a deep breath, he looked up, and saw the mask of the Blue Spirit lying on the ground a few feet away. He stood and walked toward it, then bent to retrieve it. He looked at the leering face for a moment, expressionless, but then bounced it once in his palm.
I can fix this.
Dawn had just burned the mist from the ground when Katara arrived back at the gAang's latest campsite. With a sigh of relief, she saw that everyone was still asleep. As quickly and quietly as she could, she scrubbed the remaining paint from her face and changed back into her simple blue dress and leggings.
Playtime's over. Forget him. It never happened.
Exhausted as she was, she didn't try to go to sleep. Instead, she set about making breakfast, banking up the coals in the fire pit and putting water in the kettle to boil. She watched the sunrise as the bubbles rose, and she absently tossed in grain as she watched.
The sun still rises, she thought. Porridge is still porridge. Nothing's changed. But she couldn't shake the feeling that something had. Something had, and Katara couldn't shake the feeling of dread that was rising in her.
She snapped back to attention as Aang yawned, sitting up. "Katara?" he murmured, blinking away the sleep from his eyes.
She sighed, too soft for him to hear. "Good morning, Aang," she said. "How did you sleep?"
"Okay," he said. "How about you?"
She shrugged noncommitally. "All right, I guess."
He looked at her then, taking in the dark circles under her eyes, and it was then that she knew that he knew she was lying to him. But he said nothing, and turned away with a frown.
She sighed, a breathy sound that she knew he couldn't hear. "Breakfast's almost ready. Do you mind waking everybody up?"
It was his turn to shrug. "All right."
He was upset, she could tell, but what could she do about it? She couldn't just tell him what happened last night- then everyone would be upset.
Katara held in another sigh as she watched Aang walk slowly around the campsite and wake everybody up. He wasn't flying, or jumping, or propelling himself forward with jets of air- a sure sign that all was not right with him. She focused her attention somewhere else, grabbing a handful of wild berries from the bag of ones they had collected the day before. She tossed them in with the porridge as she stirred, hoping the rare treat of the berries would keep everyone cheerful.
She jumped as she felt Toph's hand on her shoulder, and blinked as she felt the other girl lean down to whisper in her ear. "I don't know why and I don't know where, but you went somewhere last night and didn't come back until dawn. I don't expect you to tell me anything, but I hope you don't do it again. For his sake." With a nod toward Aang she straightened, and let go of Katara's shoulder. "What's for breakfast, Queenie?" she said more audibly.
"Porridge," she replied around the rising fear in her chest. Does she- Has she known about all of them? Can I ever be the Painted Lady again?
"Yuck," Sokka said, sitting up. "Can't we have something different for once?"
"There're berries in it," she said irritably.
"Still." He stood and yawned, stretching his arms over his head. "Porridge is still porridge. Blech."
"Do you want food today?" Katara quipped, trying not to glare at her older brother.
Sokka's head snapped toward her, suddenly and fully awake, his eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare."
"Stop complaining." She grabbed a stack of bowls from another bag and began dishing out the porridge.
"Hey! I'll have you know that I'm the one that gathers all this food!"
"Guys," Toph said. She wasn't mediating, she was simply trying to get their attention.
"Not now, Toph!" the siblings shouted in unison.
"You know, Sokka, if you want better food, why don't you gather better food!"
"Gathering food is hard! You should be grateful I pay attention to what I gather so I don't poison you guys!"
"You should pay attention anyway! And you should be grateful that I bother to even cook! Next time, Sokka, if you want better food, make it yourself!"
"GUYS!" Toph shouted.
"WHAT?" Sokka and Katara shouted together, glaring at the blind girl.
"Something's coming." She turned to face the barely risen sun.
They both blinked, all anger at the other suddenly gone. "What?" Katara said.
"Something's co-" she broke off as a figure burst from the trees, seeming to fly at her. Even silhouetted against the sunlight, Katara recognized the figure, whose double broadswords glinted in the sunlight.
Zuko.
Toph couldn't see him, he was in the air and coming straight toward her. Katara did the first thing that came to mind- she tackled Toph, knocking her out of the way. They both tumbled to the ground. "Hey!" Toph cried.
Zuko landed behind them, and whirled to face them, poised to fight. As Katara lurched to her feet, she saw that he was once again wearing the mask of the Blue Spirit.
For a moment, nobody moved. Then, from behind Zuko, Aang launched a wave of air at him. Zuko jumped, the current of air barely grazing his feet.
With Zuko out of the way, the wave of air barreled forward, nearly knocking Katara and Toph back to the ground. Katara cried out and covered her face with her arms as flying bits of rock and dirt pelted her. Zuko's head snapped toward her, and the instant his feet hit the ground he rushed toward her.
Toph was faster. With a few precise movements, she earthbent pillars out of the ground where he was standing every time his feet touched the floor. It was all he could do to dodge the turbulent rocks underneath his feet as he tried unsuccessfully to reach Katara.
"Wait!" Katara couldn't stop herself from crying out, but she was almost horrified at herself for it. She really grew horrified when she couldn't stop herself from grabbing Toph's wrists, cutting off her bending. "I don't think he wants to hurt us!"
"Are you crazy?" Sokka called, his boomerang poised and ready.
Toph gave the other girl a look that was half-quizzical, but was beginning to fill with understanding. "All right, Queenie. If you trust him that much, you go see what he wants."
Katara nodded once. "Thank you," she whispered to the blind girl.
"But now you've made me curious," the other girl warned. "When this is all over, I want a detailed explanation."
Katara gulped, but nodded.
The earthbender turned her attention to the Avatar, who was firing miniature air missiles at his masked opponent. "Twinkletoes! Hold it!" She thrusted her arm, palm out, in Aang's direction, sending a wave of soil his way and knocking him off of his feet. The airbender protested, but the blind girl turned a deaf ear.
They all turned to face the masked intruder, and Katara took two steps forward, until she and Zuko were face-to-face. Trying to see his eyes under the mask, she said quietly, "What are you doing here?"
In response he grabbed her shoulders and spun her around, throwing a constricting arm around her stomach and holding a sword to her throat. She froze, and everyone tensed.
"Katara!" Aang cried, flashing to his feet.
Toph appeared slightly bemused. "Told you so, Queenie," she said dryly.
Katara shook her head numbly, carefully. "N-no," she said. "You've got it all wrong. He just wants me to follow him."
"At swordpoint?" Sokka shouted.
The waterbender shook her head again. "He can't speak, because he's afraid you'll recognize him. He's just saying that he doesn't wan't anyone to follow us." She reached up and put a hand over Zuko's sword hand, sliding her fingers down to his wrist and holding it. "He doesn't want to hurt me."
"Am I the only one noticing the sword pointed at Sugarqueen's throat?" Toph asked innocently.
"Just give me a little time, Toph," Katara said breathlessly. "If I'm not back by..." she looked around wildly for a moment, then caught sight of the sun. "If I'm not back by dawn tomorrow you can come after me. But I will be. He just wants to talk to me."
The earthbending girl folded her arms, narrowing her eyes at the pair, studying them. "Sundown."
The older girl shook her head. "Dawn."
Toph's eyes narrowed further, until they were mere slits. "Fine." She turned and stalked off, grabbing Aang and Sokka by their shirts and dragging them away with her.
Once they were gone, Zuko released his hold on Katara, sheathing his swords. He looked at her for a moment as he took her hand then turned away as he led her out of the camp.
A hard lump of something between panic and fear had settled into Zuko's chest as he'd listened to Katara speak. He led her away numbly as his thoughts tumbled and whizzed through his brain.
She- How did she-She knew exactly what I was thinking. I didn't have to say anything to her.
Why? How?
He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice she was trying to get his attention until she'd called his name twice.
He stopped, and turned toward her. "We're almost there," he said in response to the question she was about to ask. "Just trust me for a minute." He frowned under the mask as he realized the chances of her even beginning to trust him, and turned away, setting a slightly faster pace.
The waterbender fell silent, but gave his hand a squeeze.
A moment later they broke through the trees. The ground here was solid rock, and Zuko heard Katara inhale sharply as she took in the view from the sandstone cliff. The forest stretched out below them, and a river like a fine silken ribbon wound its way across the valley floor.
Still holding her hand, he sat on the cliff's edge, pulling her down to sit next to him and dangling his feet over the side. At last he let go of her, and put his face in his hands. The hard, painted wood of the mask bit into his palms, but the pain helped to clear his head a little.
"Zuko?" Katara said to his right. She looked concerned, but he couldn't see that. Still, he could hear it in her voice as she said, "Look at me?"
He sighed, but did as she asked.
She took one look at him and sighed as well. "I already know who you are," she said quietly, reaching for the ribbons that held his mask in place. "So I'd like to be able to see your face when I'm talking to you."
Zuko held his breath as he felt her smooth forearms brush his shoulders as she pulled off his mask. She gave a small smile as she gently pulled away the carved peice of wood.
"There," she said, "Much better."
He took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry," he murmured to her.
Her smile faded, and she looked down, turning to face the expanse before them. "Is that all you wanted to say?" she asked as she folded her hands in her lap, the mask underneath her fingers.
He blinked, and moved a little closer to her. "I'm an idiot," he whispered, brushing a strand of her hair back. "I've hurt you, a lot, and I shouldn't have."
She closed her eyes. "Why, Zuko?" she asked.
He understood what she was really asking. "I'm an idiot," he said again, putting his hand on the back of her neck. "I'd always thought that the only way to be happy was to regain my honor by capturing the Avatar." He looked away, putting his head in his hands. "But by the time I was back on a Fire Navy ship, I felt sick. It felt wrong." He took a deep breath."So now... I'm going to play along, gain favor with my father and my sister until they trust me. And when the time is right..." he pulled back, and turned away from her. "I'm going to kill them. For everyone's good."
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "You would do that to your own family?" she asked.
He didn't look at her. "That's what you plan on doing, isn't it? Killing my father, to save the world." He sighed. "We're not so different, you and I."
She blinked, and looked out over the valley. "I never really thought of it like that," she said. "I guess I just never really wanted to think about what waits for us."
He exhaled, and slowly turned to look at her. "I know," he said. "That's just how you are. It's a good thing, sometimes, your optimism. It keeps you from seeing the worst in people."
She looked at him then. "Is that why..." she trailed off, a hint of a blush staining her cheeks.
He understood. "Part of it," he said. "I didn't know you could be so... so kind... to me. There are only two people I can think of that were ever that kind to me, and they're both lost to me now. So... I guess I missed that."
Her blush grew more pronounced, and she wouldn't look at him.
"Katara?" he asked. She didn't look up until he gently placed his fingers underneath her chin and tilted her face toward him. "I don't regret it. I didn't mean to make you cry, but I don't regret kissing you." He moved his hand to her face, and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I'd even do it again, if you'd let me."
In response she put her hand on his cheek, turned him to face her, and kissed him first.
.
*Hides Behind Desk* I'm Sorry! I Know It's Been Forever, But I Had To Go To A Funeral In Another State, And I've Been UBER Busy, But This One's A Little Longer Than The Others, So I Hope You'll Forgive Me!
Next Chapter Rated T+, Not Quite M but Not Quite T Either... O.o I Hope You Can Guess Why.
Review!
