Chapter 10: Fights

Zuko had only read up to the word 'I' before the rest was suddenly ripped out. He exclaimed, "What?!" Looking, up Zuko jumped up.

Kaara glared angrily at Zuko; she had just ripped out the last end of the sentence with ice shards. "What are you doing in MY room, reading MY diary, on MY bed?" she demanded angrily, arms crossed.

"Well, you see… I was just looking for Mai… Then I went here… Then found your diary…" Zuko tried to explain, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh let me guess, it jumped into your hands, and unrolled!" said Kaara, angrily. She was showing a side of her that she revealed to anybody who decided to touch her possessions.

"Kaara, I'm sorry… I didn't know…" Zuko looked down at his feet, and then continued, "Anyway, why did you have to rip out the last sentence? It's not like your secret is that major, that you had to rip that out!"

Stomping towards him, Kaara glared angrily, as she jabbed a finger at him. "I have my rights, Zuko! It's personal! You have no right!" she hissed.

"Well, why did you look through mine?!" asked Zuko as he stood up, and exchanged stares.

Crossing her arms, and looking in the air, Kaara hurriedly replied, "This is different Zuko! It's about mine, not yours!"

Grabbing the diary, Zuko ripped it in half. "Yes it's different. Yours is just a scroll," he said flatly, enjoying Kaara's gasp of astonishment.

With out any warning, Kaara used water to slice Zuko's cloak, which was in her hands, into bits. "You'll pay for that…" uttered Zuko. He saw the choker around her neck, and grabbed it. It ripped in half, and he dropped it on the ground. Expecting Kaara to rip something of his, he saw Kaara fall to the floor. He noticed that she was staring into space, as she held the ripped choker in her hands.

"Zuko, how could you?" Came Kaara's voice meekly, a faint note of anger in her voice. "How could you? This was given to me by my mother!" Kaara's voice went louder, anger more pronounced. Before he could say anything, Kaara stood up, and punched him squarely in the chest.

"Kaara, I'm sorry! I didn't know!" said Zuko, as he tried to fend off the rest of her punches. She ignored him, and tried to punch him anywhere she could. "Kaara, please, stop!" yelled Zuko, grabbing her wrists.

"Let go of me!!" shrieked Kaara, as she kicked Zuko. Feeling numb in his legs, Zuko let go, and felt Kaara punch him in his face.

Panting, Kaara felt a bit guilty, but not much. She started the fight by reading Zuko's diary, but he shouldn't have just torn her diary and her choker. Walking into her parents, room, Kaara found her mother's sewing kit. Sewing with the smallest thread, Kaara started to mend the choker back together. After ten minutes, it was finally put together. It was a bit obvious it ripped when looked at the inner edge, but looked perfect on the outside. Putting it on, Kaara sighed, and walked back into the courtyard.

Zuko rubbed his face; it hurt so much. Never did he realize Kaara could punch hard. Sure she could waterbend, but her punches… Picking up his cloak, Zuko thought, "I wonder why Kaara had to rip that last sentence… I realize that she wanted to keep that secret, but why was it so important?" Scuffling back to the courtyard, Zuko winced at the pain in his chest.

Sokka announced to everyone in the square, "You know what guys, we should take a break from all this hiding. We should have a beach party!" Most of the group agreed eagerly, except for Kaara. She was too annoyed to care.

Zuko rolled his eyes, and asked Aang, "Aang, have you seen Mai?" Aang shook his head, and left Zuko to talk to himself. "Where in the world is Mai? At least I can relax and enjoy-" Glaring at him with pure hatred, Kaara stared at him. Sighing, Zuko went to the beach down the trail. Sokka and Suki were already in their beach clothes, swimming in the salty waters. Frowning, Zuko sat on the sand, and thought, 'I wonder where Mai went…'

Kaara went to the beach, in her bandage undergarments, along with Katara. She said, "Then Zuko ripped my choker." Katara had just listened about the previous half hour, between Kaara and Zuko. "Well, Kaara, you should understand, that maybe Zuko wanted revenge, for us reading his diary… You should say sorry for reading his diary, and Zuko should say sorry for ripping your choker and your diary," suggested Katara. Pouting, Kaara replied, "But it's more than that, Katara. Zuko just almost learned me liking him." They continued to discuss the secret.

Watching the waves lap against the sand, Zuko decided to swim for a change. He took off his shirt, and walked into the water. Never had he really swam before; Zuko just preferred to sit on the beach hidden by a beach umbrella. When he looked down at the water, Zuko noticed large bruises everywhere on his body; his legs, his arms, and his chest. 'Darn it… Now I know Kaara's a force to reckon with.' Deciding to ignore the little pains in his body, as he walked deeper into the water. Finally in water that reached his neck, Zuko started to swim around.

Kaara glared angrily at Zuko, watching him swim around. Katara didn't like the look on her face, and said, "Kaara, if you're planning to do anything dangerous, I'd advise you not to do it." Paying no attention to her best friend, Kaara walked into the water. She made an ice board, and jumped onto it. Bending her way across the water, Kaara carefully made sure Zuko wasn't going to make any big movements in the next few minutes. Surfing closer, Kaara jumped over Zuko, barely missing his head.

"Watch where you're going!" snapped Zuko, shaking a fist angrily at her. Smirking, Kaara went back to shore, and turned the ice back into seawater. "So do you think Zuko's pissed off now?" asked Kaara as she took a piece of string from the sand and tied her hair in a messy bun. Giggling Katara answered, "Yes, and I congratulate you. We should practice on our waterbending quick, since we're kinda near the sea." Shrugging, Kaara agreed. Katara took water from the waves, and sent it towards Kaara in the form of a water whip. Kaara got water from the air, and used it to cut the water whip in half. She asked, "I thought this was a teaching lesson, not a-" An ice disk just missed Kaara's face, as she bent down, countering the attack at the same time, but using a bending formation not at all like waterbending. Katara tried to move, but she felt her arms and legs were frozen. "Wait, what's happening? Kaara what did you do?" demanded Katara. "I don't really know," mumbled Kaara, as she stepped up to see Katara's arms. Tiny droplets practically too small to see, were dotted all over Katara. They were frozen and so close to each other, Katara couldn't move. Unfreezing all the droplets, Kaara said, "I just froze tiny droplets all over you to freeze you." Katara asked, "When did you know how to do this?"

"Umm… I guess it came from a bending move I made up when I was little. My mom didn't know a lot of bending forms, so sometimes we would try to make up bending formations on our own. Lot's of times we copied it from Dad's Firebending. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't," replied Kaara, as she bended some more water from the sea into her hands. "Wow…" said Katara, amazed.

Zuko swam back towards the beach, wading through the clear water when it was shallow enough. He retorted, "Kaara what's up with you, trying to slice off my head with ice."

Kaara dropped the water in her hands into the sand, and responded, "Well, you were in the way, so don't blame me."

Pointing his finger at her, Zuko declared, "Don't act innocent! You missed me on purpose. If this is still about the choker, I'm sorry, and if it's also about the diary, I'm sorry too." Yawning exaggeratedly, Kaara started to walk away. 'Why do I like Kaara again?' "Kaara, I'm not joking. After I read your diary, you just suddenly changed. Instead of the person who was extremely happy, you've turned obnoxious."

She scoffed, "Aww… Poor Zuko, he's whining." Her voice turned normal, as she continued, "Zuko, so what? Just leave me alone." Trudging away, Kaara crossed her arms, and thought silently, 'Zuko's right… But I'm just worried that Zuko will find about me liking him… And if I don't want to be hurt, I just have to either ignore him or treat him like a friend…'

Grimacing, Zuko yelled to Aang, "Aang, come over here!" Aang stopped earth bending with Toph, and immediately came over to Zuko. Zuko said, "Aang, we haven't been training enough. You need to master Firebending before the Comet arrives." "Um… okay," replied Aang, looking at the sand.

Kaara sighed softly, as she noticed the sun was already setting. She slid on her pants, boots, and shirt. "How long were we at the beach?" she asked to herself. "Well, hello Kaara," said a very familiar voice. Turning around sharply, Kaara snapped, "What do you want this time, Mai? If it's about Zuko, I can assure you that I'm over him now. He loves you, not me. So leave me alone." Surprised, Mai replied, "Okay, Kaara… I hope he does…" Her voice was barely heard, but Kaara thought, 'What!? Mai thinks that Zuko doesn't love her? That's impossible! Zuko just hangs around Mai all the time, he talks with her all day long and junk.' Pacing around Appa, she noticed lights coming from the beach; Aang and Zuko were Firebending. Humming quietly to herself, she sat on the steps of the front door of the house, facing the beach. Slowly, the sun was falling from the sky, the sky a deep red. Katara, Sokka, and Suki were walking up the steps to Kaara's house, tired from swimming. They gave a quick hi to Kaara, and Kaara smiled at each 'Hi'. A few minutes later, the sun had completely set, yet it wasn't dark yet. Deciding to go and see if Aang and Zuko were done yet, Kaara jumped from step to step.

Zuko looked at Aang, and instructed, "Aang, do that formation again, with power. You're not going to dance the Fire Lord to death." Aang redid the formation, trying to make the fire longer and more powerful. "That was better," admitted Zuko, as he noticed the sun was gone, "We should go back. It's going to be night time soon." The Firebenders started up the steps, until a certain someone ran into Zuko.

Kaara had turned around, to look into something, and didn't see Zuko and Aang coming. Zuko said, "Do you have a certain fascination with bonking into me?" She tried to keep her temper down, as Kaara stammered, "Sorry, Zuko. I was just going to check on you and Aang…" Looking at her suspiciously, Zuko asked, "Kaara, are you okay? You seem… Nicer now." Aang laughed, "You two are acting weird!"

0

Katara said, "You three took a long time to get up here," as Zuko, Kaara, and Aang went into the courtyard. "We only a few bowls of rice right now, so there's not much to eat." Kaara nodded, and passed two of the last three bowls of rice to Aang and Zuko. She silently ate, watching everyone. Toph was hidden in her earth tent, snoring. Suki and Sokka were already in their sleeping bags. After they had finished eating, everyone went to bed. Zuko saw Mai in her sleeping bag, and scowled. He didn't like the fact he didn't see Mai for most of the day. Before his head hit the pillow, he was already asleep.

Kaara went into her sleeping bag, and closed her eyes. For two hours straight, Kaara pretended to sleep. Making sure everyone was asleep, Kaara got out of her sleeping bag, and grabbed Zuko's cloak; it was the only cloak with a hood big enough to cover her face.

Walking back into town, Kaara put the cloak on. She smiled, looking at the very familiar town. It was crowded at daytime, as well as nighttime. Fire lit up the city, and storekeepers were keeping up with the rush of teens going into the stores. A carnival was currently in town, adding more people to the crowd, mostly young children. Going to the boardwalk, Kaara leaned against the wooden railing, separating the town from the ocean. Slowly removing the hood of the robe, Kaara felt the ripped hole in the top. Seeing a small busy store nearby that probably had everything from Fire Flakes to thread and needles, Kaara went inside. Finding a red similar to the color of the hood, and a needle, she went to the cash register and paid. Leaning back against the wooden railing again, Kaara stitched the hole in hood together again.

"What is a good looking girl like you doing all alone?" said a very confident voice next to her. Not turning her head, Kaara looked at him in a glance. It was a teenager probably around 17, who was try to flirt with her. When she looked closer, she saw that he was swaying slightly, as if he was drunk. "Leave me alone," Kaara replied flatly, as she pretended to continue to sew. "My name's Chang, and I'm having a party tonight," said Chang scooting a bit closer. In response Kaara started to walk farther away, to one of the corners in the fence. Chang looked dissatisfied, as he moved nearer, "You know, you're pretty. You're pretty enough to be my girlfriend." He leaned toward her to kiss her. Kaara knew she couldn't use waterbending at all, so she leaned back. Realizing she couldn't move back anymore, she closed her mouth and her eyes. Instead of feeling Chang's breath upon her, she heard somebody falling. Opening one eye, Kaara saw Zuko glaring intensely at the fallen man. "Zuko!" exclaimed Kaara, as she stood up straight.

Chang looked up at the looming Prince above him, and hiccupped, "You're the guy who wrecked up my house! I'm going to-" Zuko kicked Chang's arm, and asked fiercely, "Kaara what are you doing here in town? Something could have happened to you."

"Zuko… I… Uh… Just wanted to get some air. And I wanted to see… How much the town changed…" muttered Kaara; she didn't really know why she went to town. Zuko said, "Kaara, next time. Don't go out in the middle of the night. You're lucky I woke up to get something to drink." He grabbed Kaara's hand, much to her surprise, and dragged her through the mass. Pulling her to the one of the railings, Zuko asked quietly, "Kaara, I've just want to ask you this question before we go back to your house. You don't have to answer… But, what was the secret in you diary?"

Kaara thought, 'I should tell him… I can finally clear my mind… But what if he doesn't like me? Well, at least he will know…' Taking in a deep breath, Kaara said, "Zuko, I'll tell you… But I have to tell you a few things first, and you have to promise me something." Solemnly, Zuko nodded, before she continued, "Zuko, what I'm going to tell you now, started from the first time I met you, to this very minute. You have to promise me that you won't ever bring this up again, and you'll forget everything about this, okay?" Sighing, Zuko promised, "I will, Kaara…" She looked down, and said, "The secret is… that… that…" Realizing she couldn't say it yet, Kaara breathed out, and said…

"I love you."

-

Or maybe NOT so obvious what was going to happen.

I just checked on Word how long this thing is... And it's 61 pages...

Ooh, and I changed the rating. Drunk plus almost forced kiss is T rated for me.