Thank you for your reviews!!!! I think I would draw a picture about the fight between Zuko and Katara. If anyone wants to see it I'll put the link to the picture on my profile when I'm finished with it. Sorry it took so long. I had trouble with uplaoding my documents.
Disclaimer: Don't own Avatar, so please do not sue me.
Chapter 9 You're our family now.
"And then Katara send him flying trough the air and landing him in the ocean. It was so awesome!!" Sokka waved his arms in the air as he tried to mimic Katara's poses. He was so happy that his baby sister had almost drown the ex-prince. When he, Aang and Toph had come back to the house, after buying breakfast at the small village market, they had find Iroh sitting at the table drinking tea with the Earth King. Sokka was so proud at his sister that, once they entered the house, he had started to tell the whole fight between Katara and Zuko to anyone who wanted to listen. And if they didn't, they still got to hear it.
"It is good that my nephew found someone who would stand up to him." Iroh said as he sat his empty tea cup down.
"But the best part was when the Unagi showed up." Sokka went on. "It was so funny. That angry jerk didn't know what hit him."
"I don't thought it was funny, though." Aang said. "He could've seriously gotten hurt or worse…"
"Yeah, that is something I didn't figure out just yet." Sokka said as her frowned his eyebrows, making a thoughtful look and put his hand under his chin. "Why didn't Katara just let him drown?" Sokka looked up when four faces starred at him.
"What?"
"Because he is with us now." Katara said as she walked in the house. "And I don't think Iroh would be pleased to hear his nephew had drowned." She smiled at Iroh.
Katara would have gladly drowned Zuko or let the Unagi eat him, but something had stopped her. There were mixed feelings once she saw the Unagi grab the fire bender. A part of her wanted to help the Unagi kill Zuko, after all, he had betrayed them back in the crystal catacombs and Katara wanted to see Zuko pay for his actions back then. An other part of her wanted to safe the ex-prince. She knew that if Zuko got killed, Iroh would been too depressed to teach fire bending to Aang. This was the reason she decided to help the teenager, she thought.
Iroh nodded his head. "I know Zuko can be an 'angry jerk' sometimes." He looked in Sokka's direction and saw Sokka blush when he quoted him. "But he is all I have left of my family." Iroh closed his eyes and bowed his head.
There was an awkward license upon the group. Toph walked over to Iroh and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"If it makes you feel better, I see you as my family." She said trying to make Iroh feel better.
With a smile, the retired general looked at Toph.
"And so do I." Katara said smiling warmly at Iroh.
Aang and Sokka nodded their heads as a sing, that they too, saw Iroh as their family.
"Thank you." Iroh said with a smile on his face. "Speaking of family? Where is my nephew?"
"I don't know." Katara said. "Once we've gotten of the beach, he just disappeared in the forest."
"Maybe his ego got hurt." Sokka replied.
"Please Katara, would you tell me, why you have gotten in a fight with Zuko in the first place?" Iroh asked the water bender.
Katara sat down and told Iroh about their little duel.
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Not far from the village, in the forest, Zuko had sat himself down. He leaned against a tree. He tried to meditate but his toughts wadered of to the fight. If he hadn't hold back, he would have won but he wanted to gain Katara's trust, so he had to act weaker than he really was. Zuko had liked the fight between him and the water bender. If Katara thought that she could defeat Zuko she wouldn't be scarred of him, making it easier for him to gain Katara's trust. Once the water bender would trust him, the rest would follow her soon. Only her brother, that Sokka guy, he would be a problem. Zuko didn't thought he could gain his trust just like that. No, Zuko had to be careful around Sokka.
'If he is too much of a pain in the ass, I would simply get rid of him, some how.' Zuko thought.
A sound from an all to familiar bird in the sky made Zuko forgot his thoughts and looking up to where he heard the birds shriek. A black dot was coming his way and it kept growing larger, until Zuko could tell that Azula's messenger raven had found him.
The bird had spotted Zuko and landed on his knee. Spreading his wings once, the bird waited for the prince to relieve him from the heavy cylinder around his paw.
"Lets see what my sister wants." Zuko said as he stroke the black creature's feathers. He took the cylinder and opened it. He got the letter out of it and rolled it open.
Dear Zuzu,
To help you on your mission to gain the imbecile's trust, I've decided to sent Ty Lee, Mai and the Dai Lee agents to attack you. You will battle them and they will lose. Once the Avatar and his friends see you fighting my troops, they will trust you more.
Now send me your coordinates and stay where you are, until my troops have found you.
Singed,
Princes Azula.
'What? Who does she think she is? I am able to gain their trust on my own.' Zuko thought once he had read the letter. He was pissed, he didn't need help, not from Azula. If he had trouble earning trust, he would ask help from his uncle, not from his power sick sister.
Displeased, Zuko was looking for something to write with. He checked the ground and then the cylinder were the letter had been in. He shook it a couple of times and a small pencil fell out of it. On the back of Azula's letter, he wrote his coordinates and slipped the paper back in the cylinder. Zuko attached it to the raven's paw and threw the bird in the sky. The raven spread his wings and flew a few circles around Zuko's head before he landed back on Zuko's knee. He blinked his eye's as if he tried to tell Zuko that he wanted to rest.
"Stupid bird," Zuko growled. "Go, before I'll kill you." Zuko moved his knee roughly and the bird, getting the hint, flew off.
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Katara sat in front of the house and watched Toph and Aang bending earth. They had been training for a few hours now and Katara couldn't help to let her mind wander off to the fight with the fire bender. She knew he had hold back.
'The sun was out, not high in the sky, but still. He should have been much stronger. Why did he hold back? He'd better not be toying with me.'
"Katara, did you see that?" Aang yelled happily as he showed a new move he had mastered.
Katara didn't respond.
'Maybe he didn't want to hurt me. Humph, I can take more than that.' She thought and angry expression came upon her face.
"Katara." Aang said as he stood in front of the water bender waving his hand trying to catch Katara's attention.
Toph walked to the two and stomped her foot as she stood next to Aang.
"Yo, Sugar Queen, wake up!" Toph yelled.
"Hmm?" Katara asked absently, still lost in her thoughts.
"Did you saw my new move?" Aang asked.
"Yeah, that was great Aang." Katara said as she now was beginning to come back to the real world.
"Liar," Toph said. "What's wrong? You seemed like brain dead a few seconds ago."
Katara looked into Toph's green eyes. She sighed.
"Nothing." Katara answered.
That was still a lie and Toph knew it. There was a good reason if Katara didn't want to talk about what's on her mind, so Toph didn't ask further.
"You sure?" Aang asked.
"Yeah." Katara replied and smiled at the younger boy.
"Come on Aang, you still need to improve some moves." Grabbing his arm, Toph dragged Aang away from Katara and back to where they were bending.
Katara put her hand under her chin and let her elbow rest on her knee. A sighed slipped past her lips.
"Are you tired or something?" Katara heard a voice behind her. She turned her head and saw her brother walking outside of the house.
"No, yes, maybe." She answered.
"Which one is it?" Sokka said as he walked off the porch.
"Maybe I am just a little tiered from battling Zuko." Katara replied. She was a little tiered, but not that bad. She didn't want to tell her brother her thoughts about Zuko, somehow. She wanted them for herself, why, she didn't know. Katara knew that Toph knew that something was on her mind, but she hadn't asked any more questions. That was something she liked about Toph. Perhaps Katara could talk to Toph about Zuko someday. It was good to have a woman in the gang sometimes.
"Maybe you would like to stretch your legs and go for a walk with me." Katara heard Iroh's voice next to her. She looked up and saw him smiling down at her.
"I don't feel like walking too far." She answered Iroh. Actually Katara wanted to walk but she didn't want to go into the forest and risk the chance of bumping into Zuko.
"That is okay. We could walk to the market. Maybe they sell a Pai Sho game here. Mine is still back in Ba Sing Se and I miss playing it. When we get back I will teach you how to play the game of Pai Sho." Iroh said and placed a hand on Katara's shoulder.
"That sound like a good idea." Katara nodded her head.
"I am coming with you guys." Sokka said. "I'm going to pay Suki a visit. I hope she is doing better than yesterday." A sad look came upon his face but was soon disappeared when Katara spoke.
"Sure she is doing better. Suki is strong."
Sokka nodded his head and the three walked to the market.
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The door of Suki's room slowly opened and Sokka peaked his head around the corner. When he saw Suki sitting up in her bed her walked inside.
"Hey Suki." He greeted her and took her hand in his. "How are you feeling?" Sokka starred in her eyes as Suki starred back. He saw a lot of pain in her eyes. Suki pulled the warrior down on the bed.
"Well, physically I'm fine. But mentally…" Suki sighed and tears welled up in her eyes.
Trying to fight the tears, Suki tried to hold back, but she burst out in sobs. Sokka knew what Suki wanted to say, he had read it in her eyes. He laid her head on his shoulder and let her cry all of her pain out of her. He stroke Suki's hair and tried to comfort her.
"I know, Azula has hurt you. But I'll swear I'll make her pay for what she did to you." Sokka said.
Suki lifted her head up from Sokka's shoulder, looked into his eyes and forced a smile on her lips.
"And how are you planning on doing so?" She asked as she whipped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her sleeve.
"As you know Aang needs to master all four elements by the end of the summer. He now knows air, water and earth. We have found a great, non-evil, fire bender who is willing to teach Aang fire bending." Sokka told Suki.
"Really? Who?" She asked.
"His name is Iroh. He is Azula's uncle." Sokka said soft knowing that the princes name would hurt Suki.
"Her uncle? But…"
"He has saved my sister and Aang when they were fighting Azula back in Ba Sing Se. She had taken her own uncle as a prisoner, but Zuko had freed him and they are now running from Azula." Sokka explained to Suki.
She starred him back almost in disbelieve. Zuko? The same one who once burned her village to ashes?
"I know what you are thinking, and I don't like the idea of Zuko traveling with us as well, but it seems the others don't have a problem with it." Sokka said when he spotted the disbelieve in Suki's eyes.
"Do you think Aang will be ready by the end of this summer?" Suki asked Sokka, she laid her head against his chest.
For a moment it got silent. "Yeah. I think so. But we still need all the help we can get." Sokka replied.
"I will help you guy's." Suki said determined.
"What, no I will not let you get hurt again. If anything happens to you, then…" Sokka said, not finishing his sentence.
"Then what?" Suki said.
"Then, I… I don't know what to do." Sokka said almost blushing. Suki smiled and kissed Sokka on the lips. She pulled back and looked in his eyes.
"Don't worry. I won't let her hurt me again." She whispered. Sokka smiled back at her and kissed her.
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It was getting dark as Zuko walked back to the house. After the bird had left he had tried to meditate but his thought didn't let him. It was aggravating him to no end. He had gotten up and practices his fire bending moves. If he couldn't train his mind he could train his body, at least that was what Zuko thought. The note from Azula had angered him so much, that it overtook the power to think clearly. When he started his training Zuko was able to push his angry thoughts to the back of his mind. Only, when his training got intensive, so did his anger thoughts and, when he couldn't take it any more he accidentally hurt himself by his own attack. It wasn't as bad as his face had been after the Agni Kai almost three years ago, but it would leave a mark on his arm.
Zuko had tried to ignore the pain in his arm and proceeded the training but after several of minutes he had to admit he couldn't take it anymore, so he gave up the training for today and went back to the group. Looking at the sky, he guessed they already had eaten. Being nauseous from the pain or hunger or a combination of those two, he didn't want to think about food. And with that buffoon of a Sokka he was sure that there wasn't any left.
Zuko let out a small groan as he walked up the porch, hearing laughter coming out of the small house.
"Please Agni, don't let him…" Zuko prayed to the sky. He pushed the door open with his not injured arm and saw something that was, to him, the most horrible thing he had ever seen.
"Uncle!!" Zuko yelled.
His uncle and Katara looked up and Iroh smiled at him.
"What is it, nephew?" Iroh asked him.
"I can deal with your obsession with tea, but this…" Zuko said as he pointed to the Pai Sho game.
"A man needs to relax now and then. And this is the way I relax." Iroh said as he made his final move defeating Katara for the fourth time this day.
"Good game, Katara. Do you want to play again?" Iroh said as he placed his pieces back on the game board.
"No thank you Iroh. Maybe Zuko wants to play." Katara said as she got up and grinned at Zuko.
"No I don't." Zuko crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Toph would you like to play a game of Pai Sho?" Iroh asked.
"Yeah I would like to, but I can't see the board." She answered.
"I will play the game." Aang said.
Katara spotted something red on Zuko's arm as he had folded his arms.
"What?" Zuko hissed at Katara, he saw her starring at something on his arms, following her gaze he figured out Katara was looking at his wound. Trying to hide his burn wound he unfolded his arms.
"Zuko? What was that?" She said softly not wanting for the rest to hear their conversation.
"Nothing." Zuko said trying to avoid explaining to Katara why he got burnt.
"It didn't seem like nothing." Katara said.
Zuko didn't answered Katara but walked back to the door. He felt her eyes burning in his back.
"It's non of your business." Zuko almost whispered before walking out the door, closing it behind him.
Katara looked at the door and then to the rest of the gang. It had seemed that everybody had missed their conversation and Katara was glad they had. She didn't know why, though. Looking back at the door she decided to find Zuko and… Well she would see what she would do once she found the ex-prince.
"I am going for a walk." Katara said to the rest of the group. They were in the middle of a Pai Sho game and didn't pay much attention to her. Not caring the lack of attention Katara walked out the door, in search for Zuko. It had gotten dark and cold outside, the sky was clear of clouds and the moon was full and hang low in the sky, making it seem larger than usual. The light from the moon made it easy to see in the dark. Katara hadn't seen Zuko and figured he had gone in the forest. As she moved forward she heard someone to the left of her speak.
"Looking for me?"
Katara looked to the face which the voice belonged to. Zuko was sitting on the porch, his back leaning against the wall of the house and his eyes gazed into the forest.
"No I was planning on taking a walk." Katara lied. Zuko turned his head and narrowed his good eye.
"No you aren't. Not by yourself." Zuko replied, getting up.
"And why not?" Katara demanded to know, putting her hands on her hips. She looked directly in Zuko's eyes. Who does he think he his, telling her what to do or not.
"Because," Zuko began, starring back in Katara's eyes. "It is to dangerous to go for a walk all by yourself, when it is dark. You might run into a crazy man, or worse… Azula."
"And why do you care?" Katara questioned.
"Like it or not, we are a team now and we should be looking out for one and an other." Zuko said, not liking every word he just said, but still he hadn't the feeling that Katara trusted him completely. He needed to say this, so she would think that he wanted to be in the 'gaang'.
There was a silence as Katara let Zuko's words go over in her mind one more time. Had she really heard him right? Had he actually said that they were a team now? The silence stopped when laughter erupted from inside the house.
'Iroh must have beaten Aang in a Pai Sho game.'
"I guess you are right." Katara said. "But still I'm going for a walk. So, show me how good you are as a team player, and walk with me to protect me from 'crazy men'."
"Fine." Zuko said. 'At this rate, I'll have her trust soon.' A evil grin appeared on his face as he followed Katara into the forest.
Back in the house Iroh had looked out the window as he was getting some more tea. He had seen his nephew and Katara walk to wards the forest and smiled to himself.
"Iroh, are you coming? I think I will win this time!" A happy Aang shouted from the other side of the room.
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She had been standing there all evening. Out on the balcony of the Earth Kingdom Palace. Looking at the horizon expecting some thing important. And when it was almost midnight her patience was rewarded. He came, tired, but still flying, her beloved raven. The bird landed on her hand as she had held it out for him. She stroke his black feathers and whispered to him.
"Good Kiru. You are quick. Nothing like the messenger hawks. Now lets see what my useless brother has responded."
Walking inside, she took the cylinder from her pet's paw and opened it. Rolling out the paper she began to read.
Azula,
I don't need your help. But if you must know, we are at Kyoshi Island. We'll stay for a couple of days then we'll head for the south pole.
Singed
Prince Zuko.
As Azula had read the note she began to laugh softly. As she began to laugh it got harder and uncontrollably. "Prince…" She said to her self between her laughs, making her laugh even harder.
"Zuzu, you really make me laugh. I am going to miss that once your dead."
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Sorry for the Sokka Suki part. I suffered from writhers block, so I had to type something. It surprised me that I actually enjoyed writing Soki. Maybe I will write more about them but they will be a side pairing. This is still Zutara. I'll try not to rush it but I just can't wait to type one chapter I have in mind. It is one of the last chapters and is full with sadness, love, hate, hurt, trust and everything that is needed for… Ah well you will read it once I get to the chapter.
