Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing, I definitely appreciate the feed-back (and the praise -shot-) it's very encouraging, really it is, and I am grateful for every review I get. I'm sorry I didn't get to reply to them this time around - I just wanted to get this chapter out as soon as possible, so here it is and I hope you all ike it!
Oh, it was rushed, yes rushed - moreso than the previous chapter, and I'm afraid I couldn't really get into it despite all that was happening. But I promise there is much in store plot-wise and quite a bit of character development still to be done. I apologize if some of it might seem OOC, it certainly struck me as OOC D: but as I said, this chapter, for some inexplicable reason, was hard to get down on paper.
There is also some Kataang, but as I said, I want this to be a realistic merge of the actual Avatar series, and I think in canon it's implied that Katara does have feelings for Aang and such - but don't worry. This is definitely a Zutara, Lol.
Anyway, without further stalling, here's Chapter Four C:
A C Q U I E S E N C E
Nevertheless, as they reached the lip of the gorge and she had to struggle to right herself, turning to see an irritable Zuko dusting himself off.
It was hard not to glare.
Chivalry was so dead.
Chapter IV
The Recent Ghosts
The village was small and secluded, with primitive huts and friendly-looking people. Katara scanned the area, walking at a quicker pace than her friends (and Zuko). Someone had to scope out the perimeters before letting the Avatar and a banished prince walk through the streets, after all. She still didn't think this was a very good idea, but Sokka insisted that they come. It was a risk, one that she doubted was worth their lives, but Aang agreed and she would travel to the ends of the earth with him - they all would. It was a special sort of friendship they shared, unbreakable bonds and trust. Katara felt her lips burn just a smidge at the little white lie. Yes, she would follow Aang to the ends of the earth, but blaming such devotion on mere friendship was evidently a false notion. What she didn't understand was, since when? When did she start seeing Aang as more than a friend? When did she admit to herself that despite their age difference (be it the one hundred years' gap or the measly two) Aang had burrowed himself into a special place in her heart? A place that no one else could reach, could even hope to find?
She inconspicuously brushed the back of her hand over her lips, tingling at the mere memory of his kiss. At how spontaneous yet welcome it was, at the sensations it sent reeling through her system, at how it felt so right and comforting. Katara lowered her hand to her side, patting the pouch of coins tied about her waist. Thinking of Aang and his kiss was a distraction and when dealing with a dangerous situation it wasn't good to have distractions. She'd mull over what shift might be in their relationship later, maybe she could finally bring herself about to face Aang about it.
It was obvious that he's been wanting to talk to her, whether to apologize or perhaps try to advance their relationship, she had no idea - but the fact still remained that she's held off any conversation about the kiss and the potential that suddenly bloomed between them. Of course, she's known all along that Aang carried a torch for her - anyone with eyes could see that. What she didn't know was the extent of her own affections for him. It took a kiss, that sweet and sudden gesture, for her to realize that her feelings for Aang ran much deeper than she could have ever imagined.
And it was still a stirring thought, one that unsettled her and made her feel at home all the same - it was inexplicable...
"Hey, Katara!"
The waterbender paused, glancing around to find the inhabitant of her thoughts hastening to catch up. He wore a bandana and pulled a hood over his head to hide his arrows, but the fact that he was using their names was highly dangerous. She tugged his arm firmly, pulling him closer so as not to be overheard. "Be careful, Aang," she whispered, "You shouldn't shouting our names out like that. The Fire Nation are definitely out looking for us, remember?"
He gave her a sheepish grin, "Oh, right," and flushed a brilliant shade of red.
Katara hesitated for a moment, unsure of why his cheeks lit on fire. A shot at Zuko was ready at the tip of her tongue, but this rouge tint was not due to any sort of physical heat...and the waterbender's eyes widened just slightly before she loosened her grip on his wrist, eventually letting him go altogether. His arm swung away from her and she watched as it hung limply at his side. Heat was creeping slowly across her cheeks, she could feel it, and the girl turned away, letting out a cough to break the silence.
"Er, yeah," she prompted, "Just, be careful when you use our names."
Sokka watched the duo from a fair enough distance, a knowing smirk glazing over his lips in amusement. He was well aware of Aang's feelings towards his sister, he might be a dunce when it came to emotions and girls, but he wasn't stupid (alright, so what if a few blunt statements from Toph helped him reach his conclusion? It was the principle of the matter!)
"Wow, are Twinkletoes and Sugarqueen going at it or something? 'Cause they're both pretty excited - what's going on?"
Zuko tried not to gag at the mental images.
Even Sokka couldn't seem to hide his apparent disgust with the thought of Aang and his sister--"Toph, I want you to promise me never to allude to anything like that ever again," he choked out, a grimace etched into his dark features. It was one thing to see and know a romance that was so obvious it might as well have socked him in the face, and it was another to know the details. Were there even details? Sokka told himself not to think about that and made a mental note of keeping a closer eye on his sister and best friend.
The earthbender beside him was laughing of course, "Their hearts are beating so fast, it's like they're reproducing like rabbits--!"
"Toph!"
His hand slapped itself over the girl's mouth and he scowled at her, into those haunting, translucent eyes. He glared at her for a long second, during which time seemed to just stop altogether. Toph's breathing was jagged against his palm, her lips pursed together, eyebrows furrowed to express her anger at his act. It hit him then that she couldn't see his scathing glower. "Didn't I just tell you not to ever say anything like that?" Sokka asked.
"Since when do I listen to you?" Toph barely managed to mutter against his skin. Her own face was flushed now, a hint of color brighter than her skin-tone suggesting that either the weather was too hot or she was blushing, but the prospect of a blushing Toph was so ridiculous that Sokka dismissed it at once.
He backed off, straightening himself up, "Do us all a favor and stop talking about my sister and Aang that way, will you?"
"Maybe you're the only one who has a problem with it--?" Toph challenged, but that was nipped in the bud by a pale Zuko who appeared to be recovering from seasickness.
"He's not," the prince supplied at once, thoroughly revolted by the subject at hand, "Can you just drop it?"
"Thank you!" Sokka proclaimed, "Stop talking about it!"
"Stop talking about what?" Katara voiced as she and Aang turned to greet the trio following behind. Her brother looked guilty at once and laughed, scratching the back of his head. It was clear that Sokka was not the lying type, Zuko rolled his eyes at the pathetic attempt. He almost felt bad for the swordsman.
"Um--I..."
In Sokka's fumbling reply, Toph opted to speak for him, "You and--"
But he only wrapped an arm around her so that her lips met the skin of his arm, and he chuckled as Toph flailed in his sleep hold. "Nothing, nothing at all, sis!" Sokka answered with a questionable smile.
Katara didn't look convinced (which wasn't at all surprising), but she let it go, dismissing the subject as irrelevant. It probably wasn't important, anyways. She smiled at a few passers-by who nodded in turn. The village was small and remote, did these people even know a war was going on? "Keep it down whatever you're talking about," she ordered, "we shouldn't be drawing attention to ourselves."
"Yeah, Toph," Sokka muttered, earning a stomp from the earthbender. He yelped, hopping on one foot and nursing the other, cursing under his breath.
"Alright guys, Katara's right, stop playing around," Aang piped up, "We're here for a reason." His eyes jumped over to Sokka who lowered his foot onto the ground and took a noticeable step away from the earthbender. "Right, Sokka?" The swordsman nodded in affirmation, and Aang clapped his hands together. "We should split up, it'll be less conspicuous."
Split up?
Zuko...rather liked the sound of that.
"Sokka, you have to go by yourself, don't you?" The Avatar queried, at which said warrior nodded.
"Remember to whistle if you're in trouble," Katara said quietly, eyeing her brother with a grim scowl. It was difficult to breathe, difficult not to call this entire plan off, but they were already in the village, being as obvious as can be...and besides, Sokka was determined to do this and she wouldn't stand in his way. He was the militant genius here, the tactician of their band. The gain was much too large not to go after, but even so, it was hard to think of what could happen if everything went wrong.
If he was wrong.
Sokka gave his younger sibling a reassuring smile. "No need to worry about me," he said earnestly, "I'll be fine."
"You have your sword with you?" Chimed in the earthbender.
"Tucked underneath the robes," Sokka murmured.
Zuko was lost - what the hell was going on here? Why did they need to split up? Why was Sokka going alone? Why did he need his sword and why would he be in any sort of trouble? "I don't think buying food would be too complicated," Zuko pointed out with cynicism that surpassed Toph's. "What's the worst that could happen? Getting the wrong change back?"
Katara shot him a scathing glare. "Mind your own business," she snapped.
"This is my business!" The firebender insisted impatiently, his fingers curling into fists once more.
Toph's hand reached out to grab the cloth of his sleeve and she yanked him down to her height. "Just shut up and follow my lead, Flints," she demanded quietly, before letting him go. "I'll go with Sparky here," the girl offered, gesturing to him with an inclination of her head. "You two lovebirds," --a reprimanding cough came from Sokka's direction and was dully ignored-- "can go off on your own and Sokka can go about with his business fine and dandy, how's that?"
"That sounds good," Aang agreed at once, blushing just a little bit at the eagerness in his tone.
Zuko couldn't overlook the embarrassed but flattered expression on the waterbender's face and hid a scoff. "Fine, whatever, let's go," and he walked away without bothering to wait for the youngest of the group.
Toph quickened her speed to catch up with him and lifted her hands behind her head, walking in an easy gate to match his pace. "Is it just me or are you particularly annoyed with Aang and Katara?"
"I'm annoyed with everyone," the prince deadpanned.
"I mean especially annoyed," Toph amended knowingly.
Zuko groaned inwardly - maybe he should have gone with the Avatar? He opted not to answer, instead leaving the girl in silence. She was bearable when her mouth was shut.
But Toph wasn't so accommodating. "So I bet you're wondering just what we're doing here, aren't'cha?" She baited, and this time she was much more successful. Zuko peered over at his companion, a girl shorter than himself, younger than himself, but just as skilled a bender. A grin laced her lips at his curiosity, his heartbeat revealed all. "You've figured out by now it's not really for food."
"Hn," the fire prince grunted noncommittally. Of course he had! He wasn't stupid.
"Well...I can't tell you," she said simply. Zuko was about to go on a tirade about how she couldn't just let him on like that to shut him down, but it seemed Toph wasn't finished. The earthbender shrugged, staring straight ahead of her into nothing and yet everything all the same. She led them through the village and Zuko was amazed with her enhanced sense of direction and feeling (though he would never admit it). "Not yet, anyway," Toph elaborated, "Not until I'm sure."
Sure about what? Zuko was desperate to ask, but he kept silent, "I see." And he did. Being a (former) prince, he understood the concept of confidentialities and working on a need-to-know basis. Though that didn't ease the irritation he felt - he's been with these people for about a week, he's been training the Avatar in firebending, but he supposed that wasn't good enough to fully earn their trust, and he could bear no grudge against their decision to keep him in the dark.
"You really surprised me, you know," Toph ventured.
"Oh?" Zuko replied disinterestedly.
She nodded, taking idle steps towards nowhere in particular. "I thought you'd be some arrogant brat, to be honest. You're not so bad. I mean, you're pretty bad, but nothing we can't handle."
How was he to answer that?
Toph laughed then, shaking her head. "You need to stop trying so hard to impress us, believe me, we know what you can do. We're already impressed--"
"I'm not trying to impress anyone," Zuko's voice was soft but determined, "I'm trying to help the Avatar."
Just a quick glance. Their eyes meet, then looked away, twin blushes crossed their cheeks. Such was the procedure of what most would classify as young love, and where such things were concerned, this was the youngest and the strongest the village had ever witnessed. Men and women, young and old, were smiling so encouragingly at the pair that Katara couldn't help but direct her gaze shyly to the ground disappearing beneath their feet at a snail's pace. Aang trekked beside her, just as awkwardly returning the friendly smiles, but otherwise saying nothing. They walked in what would have been a comfortable silence had it not been for Sokka's bid of farewell. Katara made a mental note of pummeling him later. Was his You kids better behave! really necessary?
"So..." Aang spoke up, fidgeting with his hands, "How did you sleep last night?"
Katara looked his way, giving him an amused smile. He always asked that question when he didn't know what to say, whenever there was an awkward tension between them - except this wasn't tension, it was something new and exciting. She shrugged, trying to keep from letting her smile get any larger. "Fine," the waterbender answered simply, "And you?"
"Well, really well," he replied eagerly.
Another passing silence.
"Look Katara--"
"--Aang--"
They blinked at the simultaneous outburst before continuing with a unified, "Oh, no, you go first," and a predictable laugh. Katara shook her head, tucking back a strand of her hair behind her ear and stopped walking in the middle of what seemed to be a bazaar. "What was it that you were saying?" She opened, looking at her counterpart expectantly.
Aang took one glance at her face, at the way her crystalline eyes were so sincere and beautiful and light, at the way her skin was dark and unblemished - oh so soft - at the way the thick waves of her hair framed her face, the way her lips curled into that wonderful smile...
And totally lost his nerve.
"I...I forgot," he stammered, avoiding her eyes and cursing himself inwardly for backing out. But how was one to declare his love for a girl that was the very essence of perfection and beauty? It only bothered him all the more that he shouldn't be proclaiming his love for her, but that couldn't be helped. He couldn't force himself to not love someone, just as he couldn't force himself to love someone.
Emotions were emotions, something not to be tampered with.
Something so sacred that not even the elements could alter their course.
"Aang...about that--"
"Well if it ain't Sugarqueen and Twinkletoes!" Toph called over, laughing to herself as if enjoying her own private joke. Their heartbeats were pounding rapidly, the vibrations loud and clear through the mostly healed soles of her feet. "What're you guys up to?"
"Nothing!"
The Avatar was evidently not one for lying either.
Zuko would have preferred to stay apart from the rest of the group, even if that meant putting up with Toph's snide remarks and teases. He let his attention drift from the duo who looked much too guilty to have been up to 'nothing' (not that he cared) and spanned the area around them with a lazy gaze. His golden eyes perceived nothing of great importance or interest - nothing that is, until they rounded over the shadowed face of a young woman sitting by herself at a nearby gate. The prince scowled at her - he was certain she had been watching them. She was a curious attraction in this quaint little village (with far less to do than there was at the air temple) but it wasn't her mere existence that intrigued Zuko, oh no, it was the fact that she seemed so interested in them.
And why should she be? They were nothing more than a band of travelers passing through. Or so they claimed. What reason did she have not to believe them? The moment he spotted her she dared not spare a glance, and Zuko looked in the opposite direction, eyeing the glass figurines a vendor was selling.
Waiting, waiting - aha!
Her reflection turned to watch them once more and this time Zuko walked off, away from the group, down the road as if headed for where they came.
"Hey Flintzy, where ya headed?"
Zuko only ducked beneath his flattened hair, making sure that his scar was fully covered, and waved a lazy hand back at the trio. "I'll be back," he answered impassively.
Sokka wandered through the dirt roads, past the charming huts and the small families watching him pass by. He smiled at them, and they returned the affable gesture with smiles of their own, genuine human expressions that weren't practiced or deceiving. These people were so content, seemingly unaware of the encroaching war, of the Fire Nation's intent and growing power. It hurt him to even think of how they might react when the first of many attacks finally reaches their isolated haven. He made sure to keep an even pace so as not to promote suspicion as he waltzed right up to what could be seen as the smallest hut of the cluster.
"Um, excuse me," Sokka began tentatively, feeling quite stupid talking to no one in particular.
"Who goes?" The voice of an elderly man emerged from the hut, but the door didn't open.
He jumped at the sudden bark. Despite the tremors of old age in the man's tone, his voice was still commanding and, somehow, intimidating. Full of authority that was not to be questioned. Sokka cleared his throat, suddenly feeling incredibly silly and insignificant, but his hand felt the hilt of his precious sword through the robes, and he nodded at the entryway. " 'The way of the sword doesn't belong to any one nation. Knowledge of the arts belongs to us all.' " He recited confidently, quietly.
There was a hesitance within the hut before the curtain was pushed aside and the smiling face of a man Sokka didn't know greeted the young warrior. The man appeared friendly enough, his smile was wide, years of hard work and experience carved into his pale face. His hair was thinning but still dark, and even through his clothes Sokka could tell he was physically fit, especially for an old geezer.
The elderly man let out a booming chuckle, "A pupil of Piandao's, eh?"
Zuko slipped into the small clustered crowd, walking with haste and making his way around the village so as to catch the hooded girl off-guard. He cut through the stands, past the huts, and found her already on the run. She was aware of him, was she? Well...that was all fine and dandy, it didn't matter. The prince followed after her, trying to remain inconspicuous, until she broke into a run. And the chase began. He left his group, left Aang and Katara and Toph and Sokka (wherever that guy was) to hunt down this girl who could be a potential danger to them (and probably was, considering her obvious attempt at escape). Zuko could capture her easily, if he was allowed to bend...but that would risk blowing their (already poor) cover. They were still in the village and there were too many civilians around to witness it. The only viable choice was to follow her until they were at a safe enough distance for him to firebend. But she had other plans in mind.
A slender hand lifted out from beneath her cloak and shurikenjutsu came soaring at him, thin and long, catching the light and flashing with an almost teasing glint. Zuko dodged the needles with relative ease, but his eyes narrowed at the figure up ahead who only quickened her pace. Well, if she found it fitting to resort to offense, then it was only fair for him to as well. She drew the playing field - screw covers, their cover was already blown anyway. Someone knew and this someone could very well be the hair's difference between life and death, balance and chaos.
Zuko rushed after her, conjuring a flame in the palm of his hand and firing it at the cloaked form. She stumbled, immediately throwing off the robe, but he caught up with her then and stood in her way, blocking her route of escape. His dark locks were brushed away from his face, revealing him as the banished prince, but it didn't matter - she knew all along who he was.
"What are you doing here, Mai?"
The pale girl stood there, her bored expression decorating her features. She didn't appear at all distressed in being caught, nor did she show any signs of sorrow or anger or any emotion whatsoever. What did she think of him? Did she hate him for leaving? Did she want to kill him? Did she...possibly still love him? It was a challenge not to feel anything for her, not to want to be with her, to reach out and hold her, to feel her lips and hear her voice. He had to remain vigilant, had to remain stoic. They stood on different sides of the boundary now. They were enemies.
"Where's Azula?" He demanded, willing himself to sound angry, threatening.
She didn't answer and only stared at him, her cloak burning between them, the blazes leaping and dancing, as if drawing them both towards it, together. But no, that was over, they were over. He ended it when he up and left. The girl reached into her robes.
"Mai--"
She stepped back and hands grabbed at his arms, pinning them down. A sack was violently thrown over his head, casting him into a familiar and unsettling darkness. "What--get off!" He growled, struggling against the strong holds, "Let go! What's going on?" A blunt object rammed into the back of his head and for a moment everything spun. He stumbled, the hands caught him, holding him still, and he grasped on to the vestiges of consciousness, but to no avail. He was spiraling, spiraling--
"Don't worry, Zuko, everything will be fine."
--And then there was nothing.
And there is this chapter, unfortunately, I'm not sure when I can update next
Depending on how the week rolls by and with homework and such
I'll try to update soon, by Friday most definitely.
On another Note: If you have no idea what's going on in the village
Good! Lol, you're not supposed to. ;D
Everything will be revealed in the next chapter.
Chapter V -- Tea Leaves and Tiles Excerpt
"What is this, some kind of sick joke?"
Katara gave him a severe look, one that told him to shut up lest they get killed. But she said nothing, letting her eyes drift around the dark chamber. She would never have guessed that the peaceful and quaint little village would have such dungeons - what did these people possibly need prisons for? "Why don't you make yourself useful and get some more light in here?" She suggested, lifting up a hand to brush against the cool walls of their cell.
The prince grimaced as he struggled to sit up, numbly touching the back of his head. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Appreciate your concern."
