Chapter 10-Sunday Morning

"Wakey-Waky Zuzu."

Zuko opened his eyes to see Azula standing over. He got scared and jump a little, causing him to almost fall off the bed. "Christ Azula..."

"Uh-Uh Uh!" Azula said waving her finger, "Not a nice thing to say on a Sunday. So what happen to your eye?"

"It's still black and blue?"

"Yea. You look like a raccoon."

"Your so witty."

"So what happen?"

Zuko sighed, "I got into a fight with that Sokka kid."

Azula gave a little laugh "Dad's going to flip when he hears that you know."Azula smiled. She turned on her heels and left the room. She closed the door behind her. She closed her eyes for a second, and walked back to her room.

Zuko came down stairs a bit after his talk with Azula. He braced himself for the worst. And sure enough, there at the end of the stairs, was Ozai. His arms were crossed and he had not a pretty look on his face. Zuko walked right past him and straight into the living room.

"What time did yo come home last night?" Ozai demanded, Zuko didn't answer. "Zuko! What time did you come home last night?"

"11:30." Zuko grumbled.

"And what happen with your eye?"

Zuko had to almost force the next words out of his mouth, "I got into a fight."

Ozai groaned, "What am I going to do with you Zuko?" He sat down in a chair facing Zuko."How many fights has this been?"

"I haven't been in a fight since high school." Zuko grumbled again, "If you count that, then one."

"Your sister was never like this."

"That's because people are too scared of her."

"Don't talk about your sister like that!"

"Do you yell at her with what she says about me!"

"Azula never came home late at night," Ozai started to say as he got up and slowly moved to Zuko. "Smelling of cigarettes and beer with black eyes."

"I'm 21 years old," Zuko said standing his ground, "Why do you insist on treating me like a child!"

"You sure act like one."

Azula sat at the top of the stairs listening to her brother and father argue. She could have let it gone on all morning, but she knew if they did something was bad was going to happen. She knew her father had a temper, a really bad one at that. And she didn't want to see anything happen again. She stood up, and walked down. She stood at the landing a cleared her throat. Both Ozai and Zuko snapped there heads around. "Don't we have to get going?" She said.

Ozai turned back to Zuko, "We'll talk about this when we get home."

As Zuko and his family walked into the church, all heads turned. Some faces were disgusted,others were surprised. Zuko walked past a row and he caught a quick glance at Katara. She looked up, and gave a small smile. Right next to her was Sokka. He had a bandage going across his nose, and had an ice pack in his hand. He glared at Zuko, Zuko's head snapped looking forward again.

Katara looked back to Sokka." Put the ice pack on your nose."

Sokka sighed as he placed the pack on his nose. "This is so stupid. Why'd you make me bring this to church?"

"Because until Gran-Gran takes you to the doctor, we have to keep the swelling down." Katara said, "And you're still not going to tell what happen?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Put the pack on" Katara snapped. Katara looked toward Zuko. He was sitting besides his father, his arms were crossed. But she noticed something. She looked at his right eye and noticed that it was black and blue. She sat there for a while trying to think if Zuko's black eye could be involved with Sokka's nose.She turned to her brother, "So, what did you and Suki do last night?"

"We dropped off Charles, then went to the bar. Nothing much."

"And was anyone there?"

Sokka eyes narrowed, "Why."

"I'm trying to make pleasant conversation with my big brother."

Sokka cocked his head as Katara smiled, " We saw some people there."

"And did anything happen between you and said person."

"No" Sokka said, getting defensive, "What are you talking about! Nothing happen last night between me and Zuko."

"You did see Zuko at the bar last night."

Sokka went to open his mouth, the closed it. He sat forward and crossed his arms, "Crap"

"Shhhh" Gran-Gran hushed

"I can't believe it!" Katara whispered. "You got into a fight with Zuko! How old are you 12!"

"Ok he punched me first."Sokka whispered back, taking the ice pack off his nose.

"Ice pack on nose!" Katara sad through her teeth and she pushed the ice back on his nose.

"Jesus Christ!" Sokka said loudly. Everyone in the church turned around.

"Sokka, be quiet!" Gran-Gran hushed him again

"Not my fault" Sokka said. He turned to Katara who's arms were crossed

"You're apologizing to Zuko."She said

"Why do I have to apologize?!?" Sokka said in a very loud whisper. "He punched me first. I am not going to apologize because you feel sorry for the kid."

"Well what did you do?"

"He was out with some girl..."

"Girl?" Katara perked up

"Yeah, a girl." Sokka said, "Well I might have been a little drunk, and said somethings.

"Who was the girl?"

Sokka shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. She's not from around here."

Katara's mind raced. Zuko was with another girl,but then why should she care. Zuko was not her concern anymore. She had wasted to much of her time on Zuko. Why would she care if Zuko was going out with another girl. Why should she care about Zuko! Zuko meant nothing to her! Then, Katara thought as she looked toward him, Why can't I stop thinking about him.

The service went on, and the temperature went up. The town's church was built many years ago and had no air conditioning. This made it brutal in the summer months. Every sunday Reverend Gyatso would ask to please donate for a air conditioning. However with many of the citizens out of work, and low on cash, no one was able to donate enough. So everyone had to suffer. And when service ended, it couldn't have come faster.

Katara walked outside and met up with Toph and Aang. Sokka rushed off with Gran-Gran to the doctors. It was surprisingly cooler outside then it was in the church. Katara started to explain to her friends what Sokka told her.

"Ha!" Toph laughed, "Sokka got beat up by Emo-Boy."

"Well apparently Zuko got a good does of his own medicine too." Aang said, "Did you see his eye?"

"No." Toph said

"Sokka gave him a black eye!" Aang said

Toph started to laugh again.

Aang closed his eyes and shook his head, "I'm sure after they saw each other yesterday at the garage, it was building up." Aang opened his eyes, to see Katara with her hands on her hips looking down. "Katara what it is?"

Katara looked up quickly, "Oh, uhhh, Nothing."

Aang stared at Katara for a moment. Then he took a breath, "Hey guys. Since I'm gonna drive you home Katara, how about we go out for breakfast?"

"I'm up for it Twinkle Toes." Toph shrugged, "Sugar Queen?"

"What? Oh sure." Katara said

Aang and Toph went to go to Aang's car. However Katara stood there, still hands on her hips, in thought. "Hey, Katara! You coming?" Aang called

"What!" Katara spoke up, "Uhh, You guys get the car and bring it up here. Ok?"

Toph seemed to know why, she sighed and began to walk away with Aang, "Come on Twinkle Toes."

Katara waited till they were a good distance away. She looked around to see Azula talking to Ty Lee. While it seemed Ozai was busy talking to Ty Lee's parents. Zuko stood off to the side. Katara began to walk over to him. This was the first time she had seem his, beside at the White Lotus. She walked up to him slowly.

"Hey Zuko." She said.

Zuko looked up and saw her. His eye looked pretty bad. He turned back away, "Hey" He said softly.

"How are you?"

"Fine."

This was so awkward, and Katara had to wrap this up quickly before Aang and Toph came back. She sighed, "Ok first off, I want to apologize for my brother. He was a complete jerk to you last night. And to top it all off, I think he said he was drunk." Zuko said nothing. "Second of all, Sokka said you were with a girl last night."

Zuko looked up. He brushed his hair out of his face. "She was no one." He said, "Just a friend from work."

"Just a friend." Katara repeated, "That's nice, I actually wanted to know how it went with you two last night."

"Was ok."

"Thats..."Katara swallowed hard, "That's great." She said out loud, although she was yelling at herself inside. "So, well I know that it's only 3 days into summer but we should definitely try and catch up. I just would like to know what you've been up to."

"Whatever" He said.

A car honked from behind them. Katara turned around to see Aang's car. Toph sat in the fount seat with her arm folded, Aang seemed not to happy. Katara turned to Zuko, and smiled, "Well, I guess I'll see yo around." She walked to the car, then turned around quickly, "Please call me tonight." She got in the car, leaving Zuko there by himself. He watched the car speed off out of the parking lot. Zuko sighed then quietly said, "Bye, Katara."