Previously on Superstition:

Iroh gets Katara and Zuko drunk, and they retreat to their room for a bit off kissing and maybe a little more? (No sex, though.) The next morning they both wake up with a hangover, though Katara is unsure if it was all a dream or not. Zuko accidentally sees her naked in the bathtub. A new voice from the depths of Zuko's subconscious, Horny Zuko makes his debut. Zuko sets off to go to port that the ship has just anchored at after decided that he needs serious therapy.


Chapter 9 – Hold Your Breath


Bandages, fresh water, bread, fruit, and corn meal, Zuko recited in his head as he stepped off the small ferry boat and onto the shore. He was trying to recall the list of things that he needed to buy for his ship in the port. Why does it feel like I'm forgetting something?

Oh yeah, he remembered as he passed a small cloth shop. I need to buy clothes for Katara.

"You men, listen up!" Zuko commanded his small group of about ten men. "I need you to buy enough bandages, water, bread, fruit, and corn meal to tide us over until we reach the next port. I need to go take care of some private business." The men saluted, and as soon as they were out of site Zuko proceeded to enter the small clothing store.

A small bell rang loudly as he opened the door to the shop. Everywhere he looked, there were shirts, dresses, pants, and other assorted articles of clothing. Only one wall of the shop was devoted to unshaped sheets of plain cloth. No one appeared to be working in the shop at the moment, so Zuko took a look around. The front of the small shop contained mostly cheaper and lower quality clothing, so he moved on towards the back of the shop, which had softer and more expensive fabrics, including silks and satins. Lightly fingering a soft blue dress, he noticed something colorful from the corner of his eye. Intrigued, he went over to inspect it. It appeared to be some sort of skintight one-piece article for women, but it was completely transparent? What was the point?

Don't touch that, Sensible Zuko said. You wouldn't want someone catching you looking at that. People might get some ideas.

I'd like to see Katara in that, Horny Zuko suggested. Why don't you buy it for her as a present?

I don't think Miss Katara would like that too much, Compassionate Zuko observed.

"Like it?" Asked a man's voice from behind Zuko. He jumped slightly, spun around to face the speaker. "Although you look a little young for lingerie to me…"

"I'm here to buy some girl's clothing," Zuko told the man, assuming he was the shopkeeper. The man squinted and gave Zuko a funny look. "It's not for me, you idiot! It's for a girl!"

"Ah, a girlfriend, no?" The man said, winking at him.

"Well, sort of…" Zuko said truthfully. "She's staying with me for awhile, but I have no women's clothing, for obvious reasons."

"I can fix that!" The man said excitedly. "Now, let's start with… dresses. What color would you prefer to see her in?"

Zuko considered for a moment, then reached into his pocket. Fumbling around with the money, he found what he was looking for and pulled it out. "Do you have anything that would match this?" He asked, handing the shopkeeper a necklace. The man inspected it for a few seconds before strolling towards the soft blue dress that Zuko had been looking at just minutes before.

"This would match it quite well, I believe. That is, of course, if it's in your price range. How much are you willing to spend on this girl?"

"Money is no objective. I just want to buy her some nice clothes," Zuko answered. The shopkeeper's eyes got a bit bright at this, and when he turned around Zuko could practically see the stars in the man's eyes.

"Is that so?" He said cheerfully. "In that case, I have some wonderful things that I think you should see—"

"She likes simple clothing," Zuko interrupted. "Nothing extravagant. Simple and plain."

"Fiiiine," the shopkeeper pouted. He whirled around the shop picking out a few other dresses in various colors for Prince Zuko, who agreed to all of them, save for the pink frilly one. He figured that even if he did buy it, Katara would refuse to wear it. Zuko tried to imagine her in a frilly pink dress, but it just didn't look good, no matter how he tried to look at it.

"Now, what about underclothes?" The shopkeeper asked, snapping Zuko out of his trance.

"U-underclothes?" Zuko stammered. "Do I need those?"

"Well, unless you expect your girlfriend to wear your boxers, yes!" The man exclaimed as if the whole idea were rather obvious. In retrospect, Zuko considered that it really was obvious. But then again, hindsight is always 20/20.

"Uh, yes, I guess I'll be needing some of those," Zuko said, unsure. What kind of underclothes was this man suggesting, exactly?

"So are you looking for something sexy or something colorful? Maybe something a little more versatile, so to speak?" The shopkeeper asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Zuko growled, confused and a bit angry at being left out of the loop.

"Panties, of course!" The man said cheerily, holding up a few pairs of panties for Zuko to take a look at. "I have many wonderful colors here for you to choose from!" The man threw a few pairs of panties in various colors at Zuko, who caught them on instinct. And promptly turned cherry-red for the third time that day.


Zuko knocked on the door to his room, praying that Katara wasn't mad at him for his little (though accidental!) Peeking Tom stunt earlier.

"Yes?" Came a timid voice from inside the room.

"It's Zuko. Are you decent?" He called, hoping she was.

I hope she isn't! Horny Zuko said hopefully, earning some disgruntled complaints from Compassionate Zuko and Sensible Zuko.

"Y-yes," she called back. He opened the door slowly, just in case she decided to throw anything at him. Deciding it was safe, he stepped into the room and saw Katara sitting in his chair, looking out the window.

At least she's not angry with you, Sensible Zuko said happily.

Too bad! Then you could have hot make-up sex! Horny Zuko sobbed.

"Is something wrong? You're blushing pretty badly," Katara pointed out, staring funnily at him.

That's four for today's blush count, Compassionate Zuko observed sadly.

"I, uh, bought you some clothes in the town today," Zuko stammered. "I wasn't really sure what you liked, so I just… well… yeah."

Smooth, Zuko, smooth, Compassionate Zuko laughed.

Shut up! He threw back as he pulled Katara's clothes out of the bag and onto the bed. She got up out of the chair, looking interested as she went through the clothes.

"These must have been expensive, they're so soft!" She exclaimed, rubbing a dress against her cheek to feel the soft fabric. "It feels like silk!"

"It is," Zuko informed her. She looked surprised, but very happy.

"Thank you very much, Prince Zuko," Katara said thankfully, bowing deeply. "Wait—what's this?" Katara had picked up a pair of the panties. "Uh… Did you pick these out yourself?" She asked in a very small voice, blushing slightly.

Suddenly Zuko felt very, very red. "Er, yes. I have to speak to Uncle now!" He said quickly, practically flying from the room. True to his word, Zuko headed straight towards Uncle Iroh's residence. He had just one question for the old man as he entered the room and joined him for tea.

"Uncle, what is 'lingerie'?"