Reversal of Fortunes

Avatar: The Last Airbender fic by yanocchi

THE STORY SO FAR: After some ups and downs, Zuko (finally!) admits he's friends with his companions. Having learned of Zuko's past, Aang has started to worry about how to deal with the Fire Lord...

Standard disclaimer applies.

CHAPTER SIX: In which a challenge is issued and an understanding reached.


The next day Katara awoke late. The sun was still behind the low hills in the east, but the sky was already light. The washed-out grays and blues, so pale they were nearly white, seemed to be mirroring how she felt herself. Her eyes were hot and puffy from crying the day before. She suspected it also had something to do with lying in her sleeping bag, wide awake, thinking half the night through.

'I can take a break from training every now and then,' she told herself, sitting up with a yawn. She ran a hand over her head and grimaced at the state of her hair. Her restless night would be obvious to the others if she didn't take care of that.

Katara rose softly, glancing at Aang and Sokka who were still peacefully asleep. On the other side of the fire Katara saw Iroh's sleeping form but noted Zuko's blankets were already folded up and put aside. She wasn't worried or startled by this, assuming the young man had risen and was already meditating. As she tiptoed over to the packs Momo uncurled and looked at her with a curious chirp.

"Hush, Momo," Katara whispered, holding a finger to her lips. The lemur blinked his outrageously large eyes at her, then sat up and stretched before beginning to groom himself. Sokka, who happened to be Momo's favorite bed, groaned and frowned in his sleep as his guest's weight shifted.

"I dinnit mean it, Gran-Gran..." he mumbled. "Not the earsss...!"

Katara stifled a laugh, remembering the way their grandmother would use the ears of troublemakers as handles. Katara herself had been dragged more than once, howling in pain, to face the victims of whatever delinquency she had been a part of. She hurried over and scooped up the lemur and set him on her shoulder, rescuing Sokka from his nightmare, before fishing a comb out of her pack.

With Momo cooing in her ear and clambering from one shoulder to the other, Katara headed towards what she had come to think of as "her stream." Following the sound of tumbling water she reached the small brook. At its deepest point the water barely covered her hips, and it was too fast and narrow to provide for the sort of bending location Katara was fond of, but it was better than nothing.

Today, though, Katara wasn't training. Humming, she kicked off her shoes and rolled up her leggings. She sat down on a log that spanned the stream and pulled her braid over her shoulder. While Momo chased insects and explored the trees, Katara undid her braid and began to brush it out. Her toes dangled in the water and as she worked the comb through her hair. It was cold and gave her goose bumps but she enjoyed the feel of the water as it eddied around her feet.

Setting her comb down, her hair trailing loose and wavy down her back, she bent a small flow of water up to her and splashed it over her face. It was snowmelt and made her gasp, but it helped clear her head. Katara drew her feet back and forth through the water as she thought.

She thought about Zuko. After hearing the story of his banishment and scarring she had realized she had to adjust her image of him. She had seen him as a spoiled, selfish, bratty, arrogant, violent, cruel... He had seemed to be everything a prince of the fire nation was suppost to be. Really, though, what was he like? More importantly, how was she suppost to talk to him now?

'I can't keep acting like nothing's changed,' she thought in frustration. 'But what should I say? "Sorry?" "Don't worry about it?" "Look on the bright side?" Ugh, that's pitiful... WHAT bright side?'

Katara realized suddenly that she couldn't say just anything; she had to say the RIGHT thing. And not just because she was stuck with Zuko and he was stuck with her, but because she cared. The thought was startling and confusing. Why did she care? Maybe it was because over the past few months she and the former prince had crossed paths so many times she had developed some kind of respect for him, the way rivals admired each other. He was a powerful firebender, and upstanding, and dedicated, and handsome, and honorable, and courageous— 'Wait,' she said to herself, sitting up straighter and furrowing her brows. 'How did "handsome" get on that list!'

Not that she didn't think he was handsome. Even his scar added to his good looks, she thought. Without the flame-shaped scar Zuko was just... not Zuko. It wasn't just that she had never see him when he was still unscarred. Something about the scar conveyed his personality; his focus and dedication to his goals, the power and solidarity that she had come to think of as part of him. Actually, if it weren't for his bad attitude, Zuko was pretty likable, Katara realized.

She sighed and looked heavenward pleadingly. Thinking back over all the things he'd done to her and her friends (not counting the numerous fights, he had attacked her village, kidnapped her, kidnapped Aang, attacked those poor nuns...) she couldn't understand why she didn't dislike him less.

"Why does everything have to be so complicated?" she asked the world at large.

A sudden noise from the opposite bank drove thoughts of Zuko from her mind. She jumped off the log and stood knee-deep in the stream, preparing herself for an attack. Katara stood like that for what seemed like an eternity, her feet and legs going numb from the cold. The sounds approached through the heavy bushes that lined the banks.

Suddenly Zuko himself burst through the underbrush, hands held up in front of him at the ready. The two teens blinked at each other for a moment before relaxing out of their respective bending stances.

"Tsk, it was only you," Katara remarked, hopping back onto the log.

Zuko scowled at her. "What are you doing here?"

Katara gave him a withering look. "I'm the waterbender." Zuko didn't reply, but she saw him dodge her eyes in embarrassment, realizing how stupid his question had been. "That's what I should be asking you. And what are you doing on THAT side? Camp is on THIS side."

Zuko jerked his head upstream. "I was getting a drink and saw water scorpions. I thought I could catch some."

Katara's eyes lit up at the thought of water scorpions. They would be a tasty addition to what was becoming a very fishy diet. "Any luck?" she asked eagerly.

Zuko looked at her oddly and hesitated just a beat before replying. "No, they got under the rocks," he told her, slightly defensively.

Katara smirked a little as she stood up. Retrieving her shoes, she trotted swiftly and surely across the log and joined Zuko. "That's the fun part," she said challengingly.

"What's so fun about it?" Zuko grumbled. Katara noticed his fingers were very red, and looked oddly pinched.

"You wouldn't know," she replied with gleeful superiority. "It's only fun if you know how to catch them."

"I could catch them if I knew how!" Zuko insisted. Katara noticed that odd expression and hesitation again.

She slipped her shoes back on and started heading upstream. "I'll show you how it's done. You just tell me where you found them." She had gone a few yards before she realized Zuko hadn't moved. "What are you doing? If you don't show me where they are I can't catch them and we'll have fish again." She looked at him impatiently, hands on her hips. At the mention of fish he roused himself from whatever daze he had been in and caught up.

"It's not far, I haven't been walking long," he said authoritatively. They walked in silence for a few minutes, both of them eying the stream. Finally Katara could take no more of the oppressive quiet.

"You know," she began abruptly. Zuko glanced down at her from his greater height. Katara faced straight ahead, avoiding his eyes. "Don't think that I've forgiven you." Zuko was silent, so she continued. "I mean, just because Uncle Iroh said all that stuff doesn't mean I'm suddenly going to say 'Oh, poor Zuko! And I treated him so badly!'" She said this last part in an exaggerated falsetto.

"That's not—!"

"But I think I understand now," Katara said loudly, drowning out Zuko's voice until he gave up trying to be heard. "Well, a little bit," she added. "And I guess I kind of forgive you for what you said about Yue, since you said something nice about her later."

Zuko stumbled over his own feet. She had heard! It wasn't that he was trying to apologize. He just hadn't meant for it sound so cruel. He just wanted to try to even things out a bit... 'I guess that's kinda what an apology is,' he admitted silently.

His stumble had slowed him down and Katara was pulling ahead. As he increased his pace to catch up his eye was drawn once again by her hair. It was a pleasant brown color and fell well past her hips. Keeping it in a braid had given it a wave and somehow Zuko found the way the light changed as it touched those waves totally engrossing. With her hair down Katara looked older and more mature. Thinking of his own hair, which had been fairly coarse when it was long, he couldn't help but marvel at how soft her hair looked.

"Why isn't your hair in a braid?" he heard himself ask suddenly. Even to his own ears it sounded strange and oddly accusing.

Katara put a hand to the back of her head and spun suddenly when she didn't feel her braid, as though it had somehow fallen off and she'd see it lying on the ground behind her. "I just forgot to rebraid it," she said simply. Retrieving her hairpin from where she'd tucked it in her belt, she ran her fingers through her hair a few times before gathering it into a rope and securing it into a bun with the pin.

Suddenly embarrassed and shy at having seen Katara in what felt like a state of undress, Zuko turned away. "Oh! Here," he said with mild surprise. They had arrived while he was busy ogling Katara. He pointed down the bank of the stream into a small rocky pool. The stream dropped, following the contour of the land, and the power of the faster water had created a deep lagoon. It was like a miniature version of the cauldron at the base of a waterfall. "They're down there."

Katara swiftly finished braiding her hair and jumped down the slope. Zuko followed and glanced into the stream. "They've stopped hiding," he commented.

"Good," was Katara's muffled reply. Zuko glanced over his shoulder and fell back a step (into the water which immediately turned his boot into a wet and squishy mess) in surprise. Katara had pulled her shift off over her head and was now standing in nothing but her leggings and a scanty undershirt. While it was far from exotic or even revealing, Zuko found himself feeling hot in the face. Noticing his gaze Katara turned her back.

"You don't need to stare!" she snapped.

"Who'd want to stare?" Zuko retorted. With both of them angry again it suddenly became a lot easier to communicate.

"All you have to do to catch water scorpions is grab them quick," Katara told Zuko, eyes already on the small purplish crustaceans. She took a few steps into the water. "Don't grab the tails, otherwise they'll pinch you."

"I noticed," Zuko said under his breath. There was a sudden splash as Katara dropped under the water in pursuit of one of the creatures. Shucking off his shirt and boots and leaving them next to Katara's clothes, Zuko gritted his teeth and plunged in.

'COLD!' his body screamed at him as the icy water closed around him. Zuko ignored it and kept swimming, confident the fire that was part of him would keep him from freezing. In the strangely-lit underwater landscape (or would that be streamscape?) he spotted several water scorpions. Before they could dart under a rock Zuko's hand shot out and captured it.

Zuko kicked to the surface and shook the excess water from his face. "I got one," he called to Katara who surfaced a few feet away. She grinned and held up her hand, fisted in which was a struggling water scorpion.

"Me too." Their eyes met across the water and there was an expectant pause.

"BET I CAN CATCH MORE THAN YOU!" they shouted at each other simultaneously. "YOU'RE ON!" they also said in unison. Before the echoes of the challenge had died away both teens were under water again, snatching up the tasty little creatures.

A few splashy minutes later the two of them swam to the bank. "F-f-f-five!" Katara said proudly through her chattering teeth. She tossed them on the pebbled bank well away from the water where the water scorpions promptly began wandering in confused circles.

"Eight." Zuko grinned smugly and added his catch to the pile.

"No f-f-fair!" Katara protested. "Y-you have b-b-bigger hands! And th-they're all t-t-t-tiny ones." Holding her elbows close to her body she squatted down to scrutinize the leggy things she was coming to think of as "boiled," "baked," "stew," and collectively "dinner."

"Don't be picky! All you said was "more," not how big they had to be!" Zuko pointed out. He frowned at her and scrubbed a hand over his bristly hair, glad that he wouldn't have his ponytail dripping down his back for the rest of the day. Katara looked up at him with an argumentative expression but broke off.

She noticed quite suddenly that Zuko was topless. The sight of a naked man, or at least naked boy around her own age, was not startling to Katara. After all, she and her brother had grown up together, and she wasn't ignorant of male anatomy. Sokka, however, was not nearly as muscular as Zuko. The prince was tall and broad shouldered, the muscles in his arms well defined. When Zuko bent to the side to shake the water out of his ear, unaware of the delicious way the muscles across his chest and stomach moved, Katara realized she had been holding her breath.

She snapped her head away so quickly her neck gave a twinge of protest. Examining the squirming collection of water scorpions, Katara selected the smallest and tossed it back into the water with a flick of her wrist.

"Hey! What'd you do that for!" Zuko demanded.

"We shouldn't take more than we need," she explained. "Besides, that one will get bigger someday."

"Were you planning on coming back here?" he asked caustically.

"No, but somebody else will be glad I left that one someday." Katara drew the water off her clothes with her bending before pulling her shift back on. When she turned around again Zuko had gathered the water scorpions up in his shirt.

"Hurry up, I'm hungry," he said petulantly. Katara was about to reply that he ought to cook his own meals if he wanted to eat at his leisure. Before she could even open her mouth, however, she noticed the way he waited instead of striding off without her.

'I think I'm starting to understand this boy,' she said to herself, bemused. 'In other words, "Let's go, the others will be waking up and wanting breakfast,"' she translated. Katara stepped into her shoes and headed back downstream, Zuko a few paces ahead of her.

"Sorry," Zuko said suddenly. Katara looked up at his back in mild surprise. She noted that the back of his neck was slightly pink. "...your friend..." he added.

"You already made up for that one," Katara replied lightly. They walked in silence for a few more minutes.

"And... thanks."

Katara smiled at his clumsy and awkward manner. "No problem."

By then they had reached the log where Katara had crossed. Zuko paused. By his expression Katara could see he was struggling with something he wanted to say. He would open his mouth, then close it again with an even darker scowl before trying again.

Katara was torn between a nasty glee at seeing the prince so frustrated and sympathetic amusement at his poor communication skills. Sympathy won out. She silently took the bundle of water scorpions from him and walked across the log. Zuko followed after a moment and Katara led the way back to camp.


ATOGAKI: Long chapter covering a short period of time... Too long? Too senselessly verbose? Too OOC? Let me know Honestly, I spoil you guys updating this often...

Water scorpions are crawdads, if you didn't figure that one out. If you don't know what a crawdad is, think of a miniature lobster. I actually don't go crawdadding (yes, it is a verb!) so I don't know how accurate I was in describing it. I was just remembering catching the little buggers with my friend when I was younger. The location is modeled after the forest around my hometown, complete with freezing water. I SO rock the polar bear club!

How was the fluff? (READERS: "Wait, there was fluff? I think I missed it, what with the blinking...") Not much, I know, but ooh it'll be so much fun when they finally get around to it!

In case you were wondering, I have roughly planned out a total of 20 chapters. However one of those chapters doesn't equal one post. In other words, hang on for the long haul, kiddies!

R'n'R because I want more attention XD Seriously, R'n'R cuz it makes me happy.


Now, let me tell you a short story about how fanfiction ruined my life: Once there was a girl who had a cool job and went to a cool university. Then she started writing fanfiction. Because she spent all her time writing fanfiction she didn't do the projects for her job, so she got fired. Because she worked on fanfiction more than homework, she failed all her classes and lost her scholarships and got kicked out of school. THE END! (Well, not exactly, but if I keep this up that'll be what happens...)