A kick to the teeth is good for some
A kiss with a fist is better than none
-"Kiss With a Fist" by Florence + The Machine
Katara stares at the blank sheets of parchment, ink and brush with a nervous look in her one visible blue eye.
Zuko is looking forward to teaching her about as much as she is looking to learning from him. In truth, he probably could've hired someone to teach her for him, but Zuko is a firm believer that if you want something done correctly then you might as well do it yourself.
They're in his office, she on the other side of his desk. Zuko clears his throat, sits up straight and prepares himself for a lot of speaking.
The waterbender eyes him warily.
"How many years of schooling have you had?" he asks, making eye contact.
She shrinks back slightly and bites her lip. "Um, well, a couple."
"A couple?"
Katara shifts a bit in her seat, clearly uncomfortable. "We didn't really have 'school' back home in the tribe. My Gran-Gran—" She instantly hushes up, as if she's already revealed much more then she would have liked.
"Your Gran-Gran?" Zuko prompts, leaning forward slightly.
She sighs. "I was being taught what I needed to know," is all she says before turning her head away and staring at the wall.
Zuko resists the urge to groan. She's already being difficult. "All right. When was the last time you received any sort of education?"
"I was seven."
Zuko nearly gets up and leaves the room. Instead he lets out a huff of dissatisfaction. "So essentially you're completely uneducated. Fantastic." He doesn't have the time or the desire to start teaching the girl other important things, like math, science, and history. Zuko is not a tutor.
The half of Katara's face that's visible looks furious. "I don't see why you're bothering to do this. I've made it seventeen years of my life without knowing how to read. I don't see the point in starting now."
Zuko can tell she's lying simply by the curious way she looks at the parchment and ink brush. But he decides not to comment on that in particular. "Really?" he drawls. "You don't think knowing how to read could have gotten you out of some unnecessarily sticky situations?" He gestures to the both of them casually.
"I resent that," she snaps before kicking the front of his desk in anger.
He smirks in amusement. "Knowing how to read is a useful ability." He taps a sheet of parchment. "Write down your name."
She looks at him for a long moment before leaning forward and picking up the ink brush. She draws out the characters for her name with ease, as if she's done it a million times before. When she's finished she looks up at him for reassurance.
Zuko just nods. "What else can you write?"
Then Katara shocks him by starting to write out numbers.
"You understand math?" he asks, trying hard and failing to hide his surprise.
She gives him a somewhat irritated look before shrugging. "I learned at a young age how to handle pricing. Money," she clarifies at the expression on his face. She crosses her arms and looks at him expectantly, but not before tucking her ink brush behind her right ear.
For a brief moment Zuko finds this action vaguely endearing but then he's clearing his throat and moving on.
"So you understand money," he says, more for his own confirmation.
"Yes. I wouldn't be alive if I didn't."
"But not the alphabet."
She pauses and then shakes her head.
Zuko nods once, then he's picking up his own ink brush and parchment. He writes out the alphabet for her, and occasionally he glances up to see Katara watching the paper and the movements of his hand with rapt attention.
At least, Zuko thinks, he has a willing learner.
She's growing frustrated.
He can tell by the way her pink tongue starts to jut out between her lips, and by the she leans so far over the desk that her hair starts to trail in and smear the ink.
Zuko is starting to understand that Katara doesn't like to fail, that she doesn't like not knowing what's going on.
For the past ten minutes he's been watching her. She's supposed to be copying down the alphabet for memorization and then writing out a couple of words he's given her. She got through copying the alphabet with flying colors, but the words are giving her trouble.
Then she does something that surprises him.
(He's starting to notice that she does that a lot. Surprise him.)
She sweeps her chocolate hair over her shoulder so that her entire face is revealed. Zuko's eyes immediately fixate on her scars; he can't help it.
But she doesn't seem to notice his staring. She taps the edge of the ink brush against her chin and then leans forward again. Now that her hair isn't blocking half of her face, Zuko can see that she's more distressed then frustrated.
She brushes the ink brush over the parchment a few more times; trying to correctly create the words he's given her, but to no avail.
She finally looks up at him and says something softly under her breath, so softly that he can't actually hear her.
"Come again?"
"I don't—I'm not getting it."
"I can see that."
The ink brush drops from her hand and lands onto the desk with a light splatter. Both of Katara's blue eyes are half lidded with disappointment. "You're wasting your time," she murmurs, unable to make eye contact.
Zuko sighs. This is going to be more difficult then he'd thought. He's confident in her abilities to learn (she doesn't seem completely dense), but Katara obviously isn't.
He stands up swiftly, causing the waterbender to jump slightly.
"Come on," he instructs, walking towards the door.
"Where?" she asks, and he can hear the suspicion in her voice.
"You need a break."
In reality, he needs one too, but he decides not to mention this.
He shakes his head when her guards try to follow. He can easily handle her in a physical confrontation and he can only imagine what a joke her bending must be.
When they entire the courtyard that leads to the palace gates she trots up from behind him in order to walk beside him.
"You know that I could escape, right?" She looks bewildered, and Zuko notes that she's covered the scarred side of her face with her hair again.
"I dare you to try," he says coolly. The visible side of her mouth lowers in a frown.
When they reach the marketplace in the Upper Ring, the way the visible part of her face lights up is almost comical. She takes a few tentative steps ahead of him and then, after realizing that he's not going to restrain her, she nearly sprints toward a vendor selling odd hair trinkets.
Zuko has no idea what she'd want with them, but no matter. She already seems cheered up, which is good. When they return to his office in about half an hour, she'll be in a much better mood.
He watches as she trails her dusky fingertips over the hair clips on display. Then, at the precise moment that the vendor isn't looking, she flicks a blue one up her sleeve. She crosses her arms over her chest and pretends to looks disinterested when the vendor glances back at her.
She has a small smile on her face as she walks back over to him.
"In the Fire Nation, thieves are punished by having their hands cut off."
She doesn't answer him, but her smile spreads into a full blown arrogant smirk.
"Don't get caught," he advises. "I won't help you if you do."
She shrugs indifferently and wanders over to a vendor selling crystals.
Keeping an eye on her, Zuko heads over to the only vendor he cares about.
"Good afternoon, Prince Zuko," a scruffy twelve year old boy greets.
"Noodles," Zuko nods his head in return.
"You're usual?" Noodles is already turning around.
"No. Give me the Southern stuff."
Noodles raises an eyebrow. "The Southern stuff? Has it been that kind of day?"
"I have to teach a volunteer how to read."
Noodles makes a face, then turns around and begins rummaging about. A couple of minutes later, he turns around holding Zuko's favorite pipe with the tobacco already prepared for him.
Zuko takes it and lights it with his finger without a word, bringing it to his lips.
Smoking to a firebender is sort of like bathing to a waterbender. Zuko is, quite literally, inhaling an essential part of his element.
He exhales slowly and contentedly. Noodles grins up at him. "Good?"
Zuko nods and turns around and faces the street. The waterbender has moved on to a jeweler.
Zuko thinks that maybe he should warn her, that the jeweler is notorious for catching and disposing of thieves.
But he doesn't. A part of him is curious to see if she can pull a fast one on the jeweler. The other part just doesn't care.
He focuses on enjoying his pipe, finally feeling relaxed. He closes his eyes, satisfied.
Then he hears a shout and, sighing out smoke, he opens his eyes again.
The jeweler has the waterbender by her hair.
"Thief! Thief!" he cries, and a moment later several other vendors quickly dart out from behind their booths and grab hold of the waterbender. This particular marketplace doesn't take thievery lightly.
Two burly men grab hold of Katara's hands. Punishment is dealt quickly for thieves.
But then, and Zuko isn't quite sure how she does it, Katara manages to slide from their hold and take off toward the palace gates.
Zuko wonders how she thinks she'd going to get past the gate guards without him accompanying her.
But the jeweler is fast, and when Katara gets trapped in a slow moving group of noblewomen heading to the bathhouse, he catches her and jerks her up into his arms. He drags her kicking and punching back to his booth.
Zuko and Noodles watch calmly where they're standing.
The men grab Katara and drag her into the ground, but not before she kicks the jeweler in the face. Blood spurts out of his now broken nose.
He retaliates by kicking her in the ribs. A couple of the other men follow his example.
Zuko has to hand it to her, not once does she cry out in pain. She just keeps struggling.
Two men grab hold of her right hand and hold it up while the jeweler pulls out a knife.
Katara shrieks in panic. Her legs thrash on the ground and her back arches as she tries to break out of their grip.
Zuko decides to finally call them off when the edge of the knife reaches her wrist. He hands the still burning pipe back to Noodles.
"Stop," he commands, voice ringing through the area. The men freeze and drop the waterbender. She's on her feet and behind the prince in a matter of seconds.
Zuko gives her a slight push in the direction of the palace gates and she stumbles forward.
"Prince Zuko, sir, that water tribe thing tried to steal from me!" the jeweler calls out, clearly outraged.
"I'm aware," Zuko says, starting to walk behind Katara.
"But sir! You're letting her—"
"Are you questioning my decisions?" Zuko snaps.
The jeweler immediately ducks his head, cheeks reddening.
"I didn't think so."
Katara whirls on him when the palace gates come into view.
"Why didn't you stop them?" she shouts, standing defiantly in front of him. Zuko notices a cut under her eye.
He sighs, growing annoyed. "I told you that if you got caught I wasn't going to help you."
"So you were just going to stand by and watch them cut off my hand?" Her visible blue eye fills with furious tears. For a moment Zuko pities her.
"Obviously I didn't, as both of your hands are still intact."
She shoves him. Hard. It's not powerful enough to make him fall, but it makes him take an involuntary step backward.
"You barbarian," she seethes. "No one in the water tribe or the earth kingdom would ever stand by and casually watch multiple men overtake a woman like you just did! I thought princes were supposed to be chivalrous! That they—"
"—walk about in a cloud of exceptional morality? That they save fair maidens who are in distress?" Zuko walks past the waterbender, his shoulder hitting hers with more force than necessary.
He turns back and gives Katara an unfazed look. "Perhaps that's true. But the thing is, you're neither a maiden nor are you fair."
The viewable half of her face falls, and as Zuko turns and walks through the palace gates and into the courtyard, he thinks that that might be one of the meanest things he's ever said.
Instead of heading back to his office, Zuko sends Katara back to her room under guard and head towards his own room.
Now in a piss poor mood, he closes his bedroom door shut behind him and sits down on the edge of his bed.
Azula chooses that exact moment to come sauntering in.
"Go away," he growls, glaring at the floor.
He'd bet that she'd started to smile. "What's got you in a foul mood?" she says, voice too sweet to be innocent. She's after something.
"Nothing in particular," he answers, straightening up and looking at her.
She's already dressed for dinner, with her armor on and her hair pulled back into a topknot. "I hear that you're teaching the waterbender how to read."
"It'll be difficult placing her with a suitable match if she's uneducated."
Azula quirks an eyebrow. "This stage of the Project is mostly about finding a match, Zuzu. She doesn't need to be literate."
He shrugs one shoulder and glowers. "I don't want any of the volunteers to not be able to do something as simple as reading. I'm head of the Project now."
His sister's lips curve down into a snarl, but just like that it's gone, replaced by a more neutral expression. "Out of curiosity, when are you starting the matchmaking process, Zuzu?"
Zuko falls back onto his bed and stares at the ceiling. He's silent.
"You're not going to answer me?" He can hear the irritation in her question. He smiles slightly.
"No."
There's a sharp intake of breath and then footsteps.
When Zuko hears her opening his door he says, "You don't need to worry about the Project anymore, Azula. You're no longer in control over it."
She slams the door so hard that the walls shudder.
When he walks up to her room later that evening, scrolls and parchment in hand, the guards visibly straighten. They open the door for him and he walks in. "You can take a five minute break," he commands, and the guards quietly walk away.
Katara sits on her bed, an assortment of items neatly arranged in front of her.
"Is that everything you managed to nick today?" he asks pointedly, eyes narrowing. Stealing is a bad habit. He'd have to break her of it.
She doesn't answer him, choosing instead to cross her arms over her chest and glare in another direction.
He puts the parchment and scrolls on top of a table by her door. "Here is some work for you to do over the next couple of days until I see you next. Keep writing down the alphabet until it's memorized—I'll test you to make sure you've done it. And here are a list of vocabulary words you'll need to be writing down as well—"
"I still don't see why you're bothering," she interrupts, head still turned away from him.
Zuko lets out a breath and rolls his eyes. "I don't want any of the volunteers to be unnecessarily stupid."
Four ice needles imbed themselves into the wall, right next to his head. Zuko isn't sure if she missed on purpose.
He puts a heated hand against the ice needles and watches them melt until all that's left are four little holes in the wall.
He sighs, turns back to her and opens his mouth to say something belligerent, but she's on him before he can make a sound.
Zuko has never been in a physical fight with a girl before; Azula doesn't count. All of his other fights have been with bending, or with other men.
Zuko learns very quickly that this annoying, scarred, and female waterbender can throw a punch like nobody's business.
She pummels into him, and he lets her because she'll be better off if she gets out all of this aggression.
But then she aims for below the belt. Zuko reaches his snapping point.
He shoves a hand into her shoulder, forcing her to stagger backward. She looks surprised, as if she had gotten used to him not fighting back. Then her face hardens in resolve. She darts forward, nearly a blur, and kicks him squarely in the stomach.
He gasps, the wind knocked out of him, but forces himself to recover quickly. He ducks a punch and barrels into her, knocking both of them onto the floor.
In the back of his mind he realizes that this is very un-princely behavior.
She catches him in the jaw, in the shoulder and the rib on his right side. Her fists are small, but her punches are forceful and Zuko knows he'll have bruises in the morning.
He knees her in the stomach. Her hair has fallen back from her face and both of her eyes fill with tears as she pants from the pain. He pulls his right fist back, prepared to give her one good punch in the head and knock her out. Then he'll put her on her bed and send for a physician to make sure he hasn't given her a concussion.
Her eyes widen in realization at what he's about to do and she blindly starts reaching for something on the floor. Zuko readies his fist, but then Katara swings her arm out and hits him on the head. Hard. With a blunt object.
His eyes roll into the back of his head and he's out.
When he comes to, he's on a bed. Her bed.
He stares blearily at the ceiling for a moment before he tilts his head up. Katara is sitting in a chair across the room, inspecting a dagger.
His dagger.
"Where'd you get that?" he rasps, sitting up on the bed despite his pounding headache.
She eyes him sharply. Her hair is neatly covering the scarred half of her face again. "Your boot."
He looks at his feet and, sure enough, his boots are gone. They're sitting by the bed.
Zuko sits silently for a long moment, slowly letting his mind recall the events that had happened up until he had blackened out.
"What did you hit me with?"
Katara motions to an ornate vase sitting on the floor by her window. It's not large, but it's bulky enough to do some damage.
Zuko lets out a breath. Now he'll have to be the one to go to the physician and have himself checked out for a concussion.
"The guards?"
Katara shrugs. "Outside the door. You were out by the time they got back, so they probably thought you'd left."
Zuko takes his time climbing out of the bed (he vaguely wonders how she was able to get him on it) and puts on his boots. Then he stands in front of the waterbender and leans back against the bedpost.
"What were you going to do with my dagger, put it through my heart?"
She surprises him by nodding.
He blinks, slightly uncomfortable. "And why didn't you?"
She lifts a shoulder nonchalantly and looks him in the eye. "Well, I realized that you don't have a heart, so stabbing you there would've been pointless, wouldn't it?"
Zuko almost smiles. "How thoughtful of you." He holds out a hand and gestures for the dagger. She hands it to him wordlessly.
He's almost at the door when she speaks again. "I won, by the way. The fight. I beat you."
Zuko doesn't answer her; instead he dumps all of the scrolls and parchment he had brought in onto her bed. "I wasn't kidding earlier. Have the alphabet memorized along with the words I gave you."
He places a hand on the doorknob. "Why should I?" she asks, voice quiet. She's not trying to be insolent, he can tell. She sounds unsure.
He turns back around. "You'll do it, because I know you can."
She bites her lip and then turns her head away, but he can tell that she was trying not to smile.
As he walks from her room back to his he can't help but roll his eyes at himself.
Zuko hates being sentimental in any way, shape, or form.
And yet he manages to fall asleep in peace.
A/N:
Sometimes getting out one's aggression can make one more civil. *blink* I wouldn't know from experience or anything…
Just wanted to thank everyone once again for the reviews on the last chapter! You guys are super insightful and I really enjoy seeing what you guys have to say. :)
Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Review and let me know what your thoughts!