Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Thanks to all of my reviewers who have been really patient with me, not only with this story, but with "The Hurt Remains" and "The Masquerade". I'm going to try and use this summer to update and/or finish them. Reviews are always helpful in keeping me motivated, so if you like this story and would like me to continue, please leave a note. My motivation is a monster that sometimes solely relies on reviews, and without them, it will starve and die! Thanks very much for those of you who have followed, favorited, or reviewed already!
An hour later, Zuko and Katara were quietly sitting atop plump pillows at General Iroh's townhouse in the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se. They both sipped hot tea carefully though their lips, as Iroh busily hurried around them, quickly pouring more as soon as they'd finished each cup. The carriage ride over had been strangely silent between the two teenagers, and even now, the little effort they made towards conversation seemed awkward.
"I can't believe they thought that I was your wife," Katara murmured suddenly as she sipped delicately from her cup.
Zuko glanced at her thoughtfully. "Why? I think it could have been an honest mistake," he replied optimistically, but he knew he was just in denial.
The waterbender made a face. "That you and I were—never mind, Zuko—we've spent too much time talking about it anyway."
"What? No, now I'm interested." Zuko grinned, the expression sliding slowly across his features. He was curious about the waterbender's thoughts. Ever since this morning she'd kept them locked up tightly behind her lips. The Fire Lord wanted to find some way to coax them out.
"Never mind, Zuko!" Katara slammed the tea cup down on the table.
Iroh shuffled over, dressed appropriately in an apron, a fresh pot of tea in his hands. "Zuko, are you being impolite?"
"Please, uncle," Zuko brushed aside the old man's curious inquiry. "Come on, Katara."
"No."
Zuko extended a hand towards her in a dramatic gesture. "Katara—those idiots in the Upper Ring don't know who we really are. They saw us together and they assumed something. I don't know why you're taking it so personally."
Katara glanced up and glared at the young Fire Lord, and Zuko thought he caught a glimpse of something troublesome behind those blue eyes of hers. "I'm not taking it personally, Zuko," Katara said, placing her words carefully at first. "I just can't believe…they were so forward…I mean—think about it! It's you and me—we're just not…compatible."
Zuko's brow furrowed, and Katara almost began to regret what she had said to him. But then Zuko raised his cup. "I suppose you're right."
He drank his tea, but his eyes never left the surprised waterbender. Uncle Iroh stood there and looked thoroughly confused. "I don't know what you're both talking about—but I think you're perfectly compatible!" The old man insisted. "Look at what you two have achieved!"
"Utter failure and extreme embarrassment?" Zuko guessed.
"No," Iroh leaned close between the two teenagers. "You two infiltrated the Southern Raiders, you invaded the Fire Nation Palace, and you defeated Azula! And all of that you did together. I think you two are an excellent team combatively—we'll just have to work a bit on your political diplomacy."
The old General stood up and hurried off with his pot of tea. Katara and Zuko exchanged awkward glances, and then cast their eyes elsewhere. Suddenly they heard a knocking echoing throughout the house. Both teens turned their heads in the direction of the sound.
"Visitors?" They heard Iroh wonder aloud, and he shuffled out of sight. Zuko stood up, but stayed where he was, his eyes reflecting curiosity and alarm.
Katara heard the wooden door creak open, and many voices echoed into the house. They sounded loud and inquiring, but she could hear Iroh's booming voice over the din.
"The Fire Lord? Yes, he's here. Yes, Lady Katara too. No, no, no. I don't think so. Please…I'm sorry—I didn't get your name?"
Katara and Zuko looked towards each other with questioning looks. Zuko's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You think the Dai Li have decided to pay us a visit?" he asked.
Katara made a disapproving sound with her lips. "Zuko, I don't think Dai Li agents would bother to knock on the door!" Then the waterbender quickly got up and jogged across the room and around the corner towards the door. Zuko was quick to follow behind her.
Outside the door was a herd of bodies, each jostling one another to get closer to the entryway. One in particular seemed to take the lead, and that person—a short, strange looking woman with an ridiculously flamboyant hairdo—was speaking to Iroh.
"My name is Ling Ling Dao. I'm the chief reporter and editor-in-chief of the Ba Sing Se Press Star Gazette, and I simply must get an interview with the Fire Lord and his fiancé." The woman told Iroh matter-of-factly. She then glanced past the old man's bulk and spotted the two teenagers glancing curiously around the corner. "Ah, there are the young lovers now—may I come in?"
"Fiancé? Lovers?" Zuko wondered aloud in disbelief. "What?"
Katara immediately marched forward, shoved Iroh aside and shoved an authoritative finger in the woman's face. "Listen—I don't know who you are or why you're here, but you all have to get something straight—Zuko and I are not dating!"
Zuko pressed forward. "Uncle, who are these people?"
Iroh gave the young Fire Lord a sympathetic look. "They're the press. Tabloids. News must get around fast in the Upper Ring."
"Oh, extremely," Ling Ling Dao agreed with a wide, ridiculous smile, turning towards Zuko. She looked at him in a disturbing way—her smile was pleasant but it looked like a smile a cat might give a mouse just before it tried to catch and eat it. "Ling Ling Dao from the Ba Sing Se Press Star Gazette, Fire Lord Zuko. It's drippingly marvelous to see you."
"Thanks…?" Zuko breathed.
"The young Fire Lord is a very young and strapping individual," Ling Ling began to say.
At first, Zuko was baffled at her odd narrative, but then he looked past the tiny woman. Behind her, there was a crowd of goggle-eyed reporters, and as soon as she began speaking, they scribbled frantically into dozens of notebooks. When she paused, they paused. Others pulled out sketchbooks and ink, and began doodling the likenesses of Iroh, Katara, and Zuko while they stood there, staring rudely into their faces, studying them as if they were spectacles at a circus of some sort.
"He is in modest but tasteful Fire Nation dress and boasts a most interesting but mysterious-looking scar on his chiseled face," Ling Ling continued, ignoring the looks she was getting from the trio inside. "His lovely fiancé is in similar garb, and is an exotic beauty with flowing dark tresses and stunning blue eyes."
Katara looked at the crowd outside the door in disbelief. "Didn't you hear anything I just said?" She shouted. "I said Zuko and I are not dating!"
The woman's thin, wrinkled lips crinkled into an 'o' quizzically. "Oh, but we were told by a very reliable source that the Fire Lord was touring the city with his fiancé."
"I'm afraid their relationship was slightly exaggerated," Iroh offered with a smirk.
Zuko glanced at the woman reporter. "Why did you come here?"
"Why, to interview you, of course!"
"Please print in your paper that I'm here only to help restore balance to the city after my father's unfortunate and costly war," Zuko requested politely, and then, glancing at a still fuming Katara, he added: "And also print this—that Katara is a representative of the Southern Water Tribe here to help me—and she is nothing more than a good friend."
"Haven't you any romantic attachments, Fire Lord Zuko?" Persisted the old woman, desperate for some juicy gossip to put in her tabloid.
Zuko shook his head adamantly. "Please—I came here for diplomacy only, not to have my personal life made public. Let your audience know that."
With that being said, Zuko gently shoved the woman out the door and closed the crowd of people out. He could hear their loud, irritable voices shouting through the door. He could hear their feet scraping and scuffling the pavement outside. They were leaving. Katara, Iroh, and Zuko all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"Oh my, they are persistent around here aren't they?" Iroh cut through the silence. Then, noticing that both teens were giving him a look, he asked: "What?"
"You didn't know they were going to show up?" Zuko asked, his tone somewhat angry.
The old man shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I've never seen any of them before," he excused. "I suppose an old General making tea in his home is not newsworthy."
As the General walked off, Katara crossed her arms, bit her lip, and shook her head. "I can't believe it; I just can't believe it—"
"Katara, don't start it up again," Zuko interrupted. She shot him a dagger-like look, and he added: "Listen…I already have this to deal with on top of restoring order to this city. I don't need you mad at me too."
"I'm not mad at you," Katara insisted. "I'm mad at them—them and all their assumptions!"
"What they assumed doesn't matter now! Besides, I took care of it."
"It still makes me angry!"
"They said you were beautiful," Zuko offered, earning himself an eye-roll from Katara.
"So what?" she asked.
"Well…It's true…and I don't think it's worth getting enraged about," the young Fire Lord said with a smile, and he walked away.
The waterbender stood there next to the door, surprised but unexpectedly flattered by Zuko's comment. Then she tore after him. "Zuko!" She shouted as she chased after the boy. "I can't stay here. I know they'll come back."
"Who?"
"The tabloid lady and her goonies!"
"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" Zuko inquired.
"I don't know," Katara began to pace in frustration. "Just take me somewhere away where they can't follow."
Zuko nodded, taking in the waterbender's words for a moment. Then a smile slowly creased across his features. "I know exactly the place. Follow me."
PERSONAL THINGY:
Yes, I know. It was a terribly short chapter. But the story needed a break right here Riiight here. Right here was perfect. The next chapter should be longer (9,000+ words, people!) and definitely more interesting. Wait till you see where Zuko will take Katara!