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Thanks to JazzStar2104, Guest, PB, Ravynne Queene, JourneyRocks13, and Guest for reviewing:)
I changed the summary.
"Katara, what happened to the money we had before?"
"The what?" Katara yawns from being awake to early in the morning.
This is what she had woken up to, Zuko standing over her sleeping mat, with his ever present scowl spreading across his face. This is who she has been traveling with, a firebender who thinks that when dawn comes everyone should be up. Even a waterbender who stays up late with the moon. Stupid firebender.
He goes to kneel by her mat as she sits up to get a proper look at him. "You know what I'm talking about."
"I'm afraid I don't. It's too early for this Zuko go back to sleep." She goes to turn over wanting to close her eyes, but a harsh tug on her blanket stops her.
"Katara, what happened to the money?"
"The money you stole or the money we originally had?"
"The one we originally had."
"Oh that one, I left it back at the house." She lets her secret slip as it is too early to come up with an excuse. Katara purses her lips at her slip up and mentally hits herself in the head. If one good thing is to come out of this, it's that she's awake now.
His eyes twitch; his hands clench into fists. "You what!?"
"They had a child Zuko. I couldn't leave them with nothing. Unlike you, I have a conscience."
Zuko pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out a sigh. "Great...This is just fantastic. Now we have less money than we started with."
Katara blinks as his words sink in. "What?"
"There wasn't much in the box, Katara. Less than what we had in the pouch; I know it was wrong of me to take it, but I had to." A small chuckle releases from his lips. "We are probably the best thing that has happened to them. They get robbed, but they still end up with more money than they started with."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"So how much money do we have left?" He still stole their money, Katara thinks, she shouldn't feel bad. But did she act to rationally back in the house?
"A silver and twelve copper pieces. At least you screwed up this time."
"I wouldn't say I screwed up..," but Katara did and there is no proper way to finish the sentence.
"You're right, you fucked up."
Her mouth falls open, but she sees light behind his eyes and realizes he's joking even though he is not smiling. Katara punches him in the shoulder anyways.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"To teach you to control your language. I did not 'fuck up'; I made a slight error that we can deal with. You still have the track record for the worst decisions 'mister I'll fight a waterbender in the snow.'"
Zuko still rubs his shoulder. "Hypocrite. Well I wasn't the one who stole from pirates."
"I was furthering my waterbending training so I could whoop your ass next time we met."
Zuko makes an outraged sound. "How come you get to swear but I can't?"
"Because I appropriately use these words unlike you. You stub your toe on a rock and you're cursing like a sailor."
"I was on a ship for three years. You pick up the language." Zuko thinks for a second and then quirks an eyebrow. "Am..am I rubbing off on you?" he says with a sly smirk.
"No.. I knew these words before I met you."
"Really?" he says in a disbelieving tone. "But did you use them before?"
"Not particularly, and definitely not in front of Aang."
"Then I rest my case, I am rubbing off on you."
For better or for worse Katara did not know, but she still allows herself to give him a goofy smile in return.
"Calm down Twinkle Toes! I'm sure we'll find her soon," Toph says while grinding her teeth together.
Honestly, both boys were being ridiculous. Even though she has only known Katara for a couple of days, Toph knows she can handle herself.
Toph's hand grips the side of Appa's saddle when the beast suddenly drops.
"Sorry," Aang says. "I thought I saw her."
Toph's blind and even she knows there is no way Aang could have spotted Katara from the height they are at.
"Is that her?" Sokka's voice rings in her ear.
"I don't know. Why don't you jump off of Appa and go check. Then maybe one of us would get some sleep around here."
If Sokka is glaring at her, she can't tell. "I'm sorry my concern for my baby sister is disrupting your sleep. If anything this is your fault."
Sokka's fingers poke her in the chest. "My fault!? I don't think so. If anything it is her fault for running off and not coming back before the Fire Nation attacked."
Toph has a feeling Sokka's face has paled as he mulls over her words.
"W-what if the reason why we can't find her is because the Fire Nation has already captured her? What if Zuko has her?" Toph senses his heart beat rising as he finishes his thought.
"Who's Zu-" but Toph lets the question die out when she realizes the boys aren't listening to her.
"Don't be ridiculous Sokka. We haven't seen Zuko since the North Pole; he probably went home... I hope." Toph's ears pick up the desperation in Aang's voice, and she frowns.
"Look," she says, not caring what direction she is speaking in, "we all know Katara can handle herself. If anything, she would want you Aang to start learning earthbending."
"Bu-"
"And in the mean time we can search the area for Katara. I'm sure wherever she is, she can handle herself."
Katara stares at him with her hands on her hips. He has been meditating for an hour, and it is starting to bother her. Not only has she been on her own for an hour, but she has had no one to talk to.
Not that Zuko is great company, but it is better than talking to herself. And, if she was honest with herself, she had fun with him this morning, just bantering back and forth. It was almost friendly, and it felt...natural.
Katara decides she is in the mood for a story, a story that she has never heard before. More specifically, a true story about the man she has been traveling with for awhile now.
Katara stand closer to him now, deciding it is time for him to stop mediating.
"You haven't told me anything about yourself." If her voice startles Zuko, he doesn't show.
He turns her head and, with his golden eyes narrowed, sends her a piercing glare. Katara's eyes glance at his scar, and her cheeks turn pink as she amends her statement.
"Well maybe you did, but I don't know the simple facts about you. For instance, when were you born?"
Zuko's hands clench onto his knees as he tries to continue to mediate, but ends up letting out a sigh when he feels the grass beside him shift as the waterbender sits down. He turns his head again to find blue eyes staring at him, waiting.
"I was born in the summer months of my tribe," she prompts
Zuko says nothing, his stare blank and unamused.
Katara scoots closer to him; their legs brush, causing him to stiffen and her to back up slightly.
"My brother was one year old, still wrapped up in my father's arms. The other women of my tribe helped my mother while my father tried to calm my screaming brother. My father said the minute he saw me, he knew I would do great things."
Her hands play with the jagged hem of her shirt, pulling at loose threads when she comes across them; her eyes cloud over with memories. Zuko's voice surprises Katara, breaking her hold on the past.
"I was lucky to have been born. I was born on the coldest winter day of that year, a bad omen apparently. I almost didn't survive the birth, and I almost took my mother with me. My heart was weak, but my mother pleaded with my father to give me a chance and to not cast me off. He refused to believe that I would be a firebender; no proper firebender could be born in winter. He was disgusted by how weak I was. He told me how embarrassing it would have been to have his first child be a non bender."
"But eventually you showed signs of being a firebender."
"Not until I was six or seven, I think. The Fire Sages told my father it was a miracle, that I must have been blessed by Agni himself. He didn't even care. He didn't teach me; that burden was thrusted upon my Uncle before he went to war."
Katara stays silent; she wants to hug him, to make him feel wanted as it seems for his whole life he was made not to believe that. But she stays sitting with her hands in her lap, knowing she can't do anything because Zuko won't accept it from her.
Zuko stands up, running a hand through his short hair. He picks up his dao blades he kept beside him while meditating and starts to practice, not caring if Katara watches.
"Is that why you know how to wielded a sword- swords?"
His dao blades slice through the air as he practices a combination of moves. Fire appears on the blades as he continues to furiously practice by swinging them through the air, wishing he had an opponent.
It takes a moment for him to responded.
"I started practicing a couple of weeks before they realized I was a firebender. I never gave it up. I practiced in secret if I had to."
Katara watches him in silent. She watches the curve of his body as he moves through his steps, the way his muscles bulge when he brings down his broadswords for what would be a final blow on the wind if it had a physical form.
Her eyes break contact and glance down to her wrists, thinking of those cold metal clamps. Thinking of the loss of her bending that has been happening more and more frequently, though she tells herself over and over again that she is fine.
"Will you teach me how to fight with them?"
He stops mid swing; his head turns to place a cold golden glare on her. "No."
"Why not? Is it because I'm a girl?" She stands up suddenly with her hands balled into a fist.
"What? No! I just don't want to teach you."
"Would you rather have me be a liability? You know something is wrong with my bending. So what will happen when I lose it in a fight that actually matters? I need a new way to protect myself."
"At least you admit it now." It is all he says, but Katara can tell that he agrees to her logic.
Zuko walks over to her and hesitantly gives her the blades with the hilts facing her and the sharp tips facing his body.
He folds his arms across his chest after Katara takes the blades. She tests the weight in her hands. They're heavier than expected, but she should remember this from the first time she met the Blue Spirit.
How does one fight with two swords? It seems like Katara would automatically use the right one more as that is her dominant hand.
She tries to recall the moves Zuko was practicing just minutes before.
She holds both swords out in front of her and looks up to find Zuko staring at her, but not giving her any hints on how to start.
He stands there, waiting for her to make the first move.
With a huff, she starts to swing both swords widely hoping she doesn't look like a lunatic from Zuko's viewpoint. Katara grunts as she tries to figure out how to use both simultaneously.
Zuko's eyes go wide, and he struggles to keep his face set in a neutral expression. Is he trying not to laugh?
"Stop before you kill yourself, or me."
She lowers the swords so the tips are pointing to the ground; her lips turn up in a snarl. But Zuko does something surprising, something that did not include ridiculing Katara.
He steps behind her, and his hands find hers on the hilts. Katara's own hands are small enough to be covered by his.
"Ready?" he says into her ear.
She is glad for once that she can not see Zuko's face since that means he won't be able to see her cheeks stained red. Katara nods in response, not trusting her voice to sound anything other than a squeak because of his very close contact.
"They're two halves of the same sword," he tells her while he lifts her arms into the proper position.
Zuko guides her through basic movements until Katara gets into the rhythm of block with one attack with the other, attack with both, and block with both. He teaches her basic movements to keep her alive if the situation ever arose.
Then when she feels like she can do it without his hands on her, he starts to add in a little flare. A little twirl of the blades that feels natural in her hands almost like she is-
"It's like waterbending," Zuko says suddenly. "Think of it like your water whips; they're an extension of your arms."
As soon as he says those words, something clicks inside Katara's head. She controls the blades' movements now. Zuko has to follow her lead. She thinks of her water wips, and the movements flow beneath her hands.
Soon Katara is guiding Zuko in a dance he didn't know he was a part of. She hears a small chuckle and realizes he is enjoying himself as much as she is.
He tries to trick her though, sometimes with a quick jerk of his hand or a step backwards. Each time she adjusts, and they just begin their dance with a new technique.
Then he says those words. "Katara, what happened to your mother?"
It's the one trick she can't overcome. Her feet miss a beat, and she stumbles back into him allowing the blades to clatter onto the ground.
She rips her hands out of his grasp and whirls around to face him with anger clouding her vision. How dare he ask her that!
But the red falls from her eyes when she sees his expression. There is no cruel remark behind his question, no snide comment waiting to protrude from his lips. Instead he looks curious and sad like he knows how she'll answer, knows exactly how she feels.
Katara allows herself to crumple to the ground and to not look at Zuko when he comes to kneel in front of her and tilts her head upwards.
"I'm sorry. It's something we have in common."
It's the look in his eyes when she realizes that he too knows the pain of losing a mother.
"How old were you?" he asks quietly.
"Eight, and you?"
"Ten."
Katara doesn't know why the tears don't threaten to fall. Maybe it's because she has cried too many times over this subject, or maybe it is because Zuko isn't crying and she doesn't want to seem weak.
"It was the Fire Nation, a raid."
He nods, and his shoulders sag a little more.
"H-how d-did she die?" Katara doesn't know if she should be asking him this, but she does; she's curious.
"I guess you could say it was the Fire Nation, but I'm not really sure what happened to her. She was there one day and gone the next."
"I'm sorry for what I said," She winces as she thinks about it. "in the cave that night."
"You didn't know. It was my fault for snapping at you when you were just being kind."
Zuko just apologized, and she smiles for a moment. "I think we should start over."
"Hi, I'm Zuko." He holds out a hand for her to shake.
"I'm Katara," and she realizes when she takes his hand that this is what she has been waiting for all along.
"I'll probably mess this up in a few days and then you'll hate me again, but I want you to have this for now."
Zuko reaches into his boot and hands her a pearl dagger still in its sheath. Katara slides the blade out carefully, slowly reading the inscription on the side.
"Made in the Earth Kingdom?" She raises an eyebrow.
"The other side."
"Never give up without a fight." Katara smiles as she reads the words.
"If I mess up again, I want you to remember this moment and try to fight for it back because I want us to stay like this. Plus you need something to defend yourself with. I can teach you how to properly use it tomorrow... if you'd like," he says hesitantly.
"That would be perfect."
He stands up to walk away.
"Zuko, are we friends now?"
He stops in mid step, his heal just starting to lift off of the ground. Zuko turns around and there is a different look in his golden eyes, a look Katara can not name. "I don't know what friendship feels like; I've never had a friend before. But I would like to be your friend."
Katara gives him a grin. "I'd like to be your friend too."
I want to thank The Congressman for giving me the idea of Zuko asking about Katara's mother. It was the ice breaker I was looking for.
Did you like the little part with the rest of the gaang? I probably won't have many of those (I really want to focus on Zutara) but I thought that this was a good point in the story to show what they've been doing.
And now the Zutara can start!
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