Chapter 10: Head Over Feet
Ok so the ideas I wanted in chapters ago, but I got delayed with explanations, are in now. Zutara moments hehe. OK and for my bizarre rant of the chapter, which I doubt anyone pays much attention to, but whatever. I was going to the mall and I saw this sign and it said "Ginseng Restaurant and Bar" and I was like "OMG UNCLE IROH!" so yeah. I'm a little bit crazy, but by now you should know that.
They were all several hundred feet in the sky aboard Appa. Katara was exhausted. She'd been up all night, seeing to Crin's arm, which hadn't been clotting very well. Katara had finally decided to try stitches and Crin was doing much better.
"Katara, sit down. You're exhausted and you're giving me a headache!" Zuko shouted at her, getting sick of her worried pacing.
Katara plopped down next to him. She had never stitched human flesh before. She was worried it would break or something. "I'll just rest my eyes for a minute." She collapsed onto Zuko's lap and he covered her with a blanket.
"Finally," he whispered.
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Katara was stretched out flat on her stomach on a beach. She could feel warm hands massaging her back and shoulders. It felt so good. A soft voice whispered in her ear. "I love you."
"I love you too," she mumbled back.
The dream changed. Katara was in the waterfall pond again with Zuko. They were splashing each other and then he kissed her. That soft, light kiss. His arms were wrapped around her waist like they were always meant to be there. His hand braced her back. It was the same soft voice. It came from Zuko. "I love you."
"I love you more."
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Katara woke up a few hours later. They were camped out on a beach. It was a cold, dark night. Neither of those two things had woken her. It was the painful singing of an out of tune voice:
'It's a long, long way,
To Ba Sing Se,
But the girls in the city,
They look so pretty,
And they kiss so sweet,
That you really want to meet,
The girls from Ba Sing Se!'
Katara opened her eyes in displeasure. It was Iroh who had been singing. He was grinning as if he had given a superstar performance. Everyone stared at him, not knowing what to say. They were in shock.
Zuko saw that Katara was awake and leaned over to whisper in her ear, "Whatever you do, don't let him start a music night."
Katara laughed.
"What's so funny?" Iroh asked.
"Nothing."
The comical air dissipated as everyone grew silent. Katara got up and went to once again, try to teach Aang how to cook. They rest were talking to Crin.
"So, Miss Crin," Iroh began, "how far is your village from here?"
"Konashi is about two days down the coast," she said, pointing down the beach. "Judging by the speed of your bison, I think we'd get there by tomorrow."
"We can't fly too close or we'll lose the element of surprise," Sokka piped in.
"That's true," Crin said thoughtfully, turning her gorgeous smile on Sokka and causing him to blush.
Iroh smiled knowingly. Those two would be cute. He looked towards his nephew, who looked ready to gag. Iroh knew he had taken a liking to Katara. Who wouldn't? He hoped the waterbender would see the kinder, gentler Zuko.
Iroh smiled to himself. He loved playing matchmaker.
"I did it!" came a shout from Aang.
Everyone swiveled around. "What?"
"I made rice!"
Woohoo. Comic relief. I think we needed some comic relief after all the seriousness. Yeah so my friend was reading this in her study period. And we both sing Iroh's song a lot, so she started cracking up and people were like "Huh?" So yeah. That's my favorite comedy scene, but I do have some more humor later on. You know when everything gets serious, you just gotta laugh. Anyway, this is where I start hinting my secret surprise that will occur in later chapters, but much later. So go ahead and guess. And no, it's not going to be that Katara gets preggers, I'm trying to be original here. Oh and if I messed up Iroh's song, because I'm not sure I have the words exact, let me know.