Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters, so please do not sue me!
Thanks for all the reviews! I hope you enjoy the next chapter.
(On With The Story!)
Zuko felt her arms around him as he fought the desire to push her away from him. The answers she gave for her behavior still confused the Prince, but the more he thought about it, what she said was somewhat right. Most of the anger and spite between two people could last for years until the point both forgot what started the argument and in this war, where hundreds and even thousands die daily, it was typically too late to apologize.
'It's never too late…' were the words that were still lingering in the Prince's mind. Zuko knew that since he had been banished, his father's tactics of deceit and hunger for power made Zuko cruel to the point he was so desperate to capture the Avatar that he didn't care who would be destroyed in the process. Zuko had self-control and usually found a way to stop a bloody situation before it happened, but nearly killing the waterbender just moments before was a line he hadn't crossed and was a situation where he allowed his anger and resentment to get the best of him.
Katara's warm body was against his and her arms were wrapped around his neck while her head leaning against his neck was a feeling he never imagined would come from her. They were enemies. Still were, but at this moment, it didn't seem that way. She expressed that she cared about him but Zuko was still having conflicting thoughts about her and if she was telling the truth. If she was being serious about these allegations of caring for him, wouldn't it be clearer?
Katara sighed gently before her reddened eyes slipped opened. Her right hand was resting on his back after she adjusted her arms to wrap around his torso and she began to feel the continuing pulsating pound of his heartbeat against her delicate fingertips and palm. Katara remembered the feeling of his stopped heart before she held Zuko a little tighter. He could have died. Well, in fact, he did die momentarily and if she attempted to heal him just seconds later, the healing wouldn't have worked and he would have stayed that way.
Feeling Zuko against her now made her rearrange her priorities. The reality of him lying dead in her arms was too much for the girl to take. She had lost many people in the course of her life. Her grandfather when she was just a three-year old child, babies being still-born during the birthing process, her mother when the Fire Nation attacked their shores -- Her mother…
That cold morning when the Fire Nation attacked still played out like a production in her head was something Katara would never forget. The captain of that ship was firebending and stabbing her mother to death because she didn't give them the location of her children was a sight Katara couldn't forget. Katara and Sokka stood behind a snow fort Sokka built behind a large pile of firewood while they watched in horror as their mother was murdered right before their young eyes.
Sokka held his sister as tears ran down his cheeks as he tried to control Katara's sobbing and screaming after they had to turn away from the gory sight. Just moments later, the Fire Nation ship left the small community covered in bloodstained snow and dead bodies. Katara vividly remembered walking up to her mother and pulled her to lie in her lap with strength she didn't know she even possessed. After she cried her mother's name a few times, her mother opened her eyes and smiled at her children.
Sokka stood still as he tried to be strong in front of his mother and sister. A few minutes later, their mother was dead and Katara held the necklace in her hand after her mother handed it to her. Katara gripped the necklace tightly with tears streaming silently and quickly down her swollen eyes. Her dry screams echoed across the camp and when her grandmother heard them, she ran out of the nearby tent in tears to embrace the young waterbender as Sokka watched in silence as his sister fell apart.
Katara let out a shaky sigh making Zuko's hair sway gently in the direction of her breath. Her dried tears were still apparent on her face as the memories swept through her mind. The remembrance of her mother lying dead in her arms was something that Katara had hoped she would never have to relive again. Katara realized it had though. The feeling of the Prince's limp body lying in her shaky arms as the blood from his head wound stained the floor beneath her.
The thought of losing someone had plagued her to the point she had a hard time letting anyone important to her leave her sight. The overwhelming thoughts of losing Zuko made more tears form then finally slip down her cheeks. She didn't know why she was crying for this man. His harsh words and critical judgments of her and her tribe made him someone whom she should hate despite her caring nature. That's if chasing them halfway around the world and threatening to capture Aang and destroying the one chance of peace wasn't enough of a reason to despise him.
The weighing thought of losing this man that she was still holding close made the familiar pain of losing her mother come back. Why would she feel the same pain for the man who swore she hated compared to the woman who gave her birth and loved her to the end? Was it because her love for everyone or was it because she viewed the Prince as something more then she told herself he was worth? She didn't know, and at this second, she didn't want to think about it anymore.
After what seemed like only seconds to Katara, Zuko gently moved away and looked away from her questioning eyes. No words were exchanged between the two and the waterbender was fine with that. She told Zuko she cared and that's all that mattered to her. Zuko's eyes were directed toward the floor. He didn't know if he was waiting for an explanation or if he already understood the answer. Her kindness toward him was one of the many things that were strange to him.
The fact that she hugged him was still there and Zuko still didn't understand if she embraced him for the spur of the moment or otherwise. She hugged him. There was no denying that, but any motive behind her actions was something he didn't quite comprehend, but asking her was unnecessary and if there was an answer, Zuko thought it would be best if it was left unstated.
"You hungry?" Zuko asked desperately hoping the subject matter would change from the tense and confusing moment to something uncomplicated like food.
Katara gazed at the Prince in confusion. Hungry? The subject of him dying and the frightening reflection of her mother's death were still weighing on her mind but it was quickly broken with the thought of food that Zuko suggested. The change of topic was very unexpected, but she was glad about it. The tears in her eyes were still lingering, so she hoped taking her mind off of all of this would make them disappear.
"Yeah." Katara replied. It had been a while since she last ate and the food that Iroh gave her the morning after she woke up on the ship had just been picked at. The taste of it was good, but the suppressing thought of being stuck on a Fire Nation vessel with one of her greatest enemies for an unspecific and perhaps elongated time was too much for her to think about to the point food became a distraction.
"Then let's go find something." Zuko stated before quickly rising to his feet and walking over to the door. Once he was at the door, he looked back at the waterbender who was still kneeling on the floor. Katara stood up a few seconds afterward and strode over to him. Zuko opened the door and allowed her to exit first before he closed the door after they were out of the room.
Katara followed silently behind the Prince as she tried her hardest to keep quiet about her thoughts and questions of what occurred. The dark hallway was lit with torches that were found about every twenty feet along the blackened steel walls. Katara looked up to the back of the Prince's head as she wondered if he was just as confused as she was. The spur of the moment and the crushing thought of him dead in her arms was the supposed reason she hugged him, but she still didn't understand why he didn't push her away.
Katara thought it might have been something she said or the actuality that she saved his life. She didn't know and reading the Prince's mind about it was an impossible undertaking. Asking him about it was something to consider, but his anger was something Katara feared. She was fearful to cross that line, and if that meant she'd never know what his thoughts were, she'd have to live with that.
"Here we are." Zuko said as he stopped at a door and opened the door to reveal a pitch-black room. A flame quickly flickered in his hand before he cascaded it along an unlit wooden torch to bring light into the room. Katara looked around the small room that held one small table that you had to kneel at with a small tea set placed upon the dark wood that was painted with dark red to make a flame inscribed border around the edges. The golden color was also apparent along the outskirts of the siding.
Zuko didn't stop in the small dining area. He walked around the table to another doorway on the adjoining wall and walked through it. Katara quickly followed the Prince into the supposed kitchen. Zuko sighed deeply when he walked into the kitchen seeing nothing that was already prepared but quickly realized his uncle readily finished anything that was leftover from dinner.
Katara noticed the polished black marble covering most of the large food preparing space. The countertops were embellished with specks of gold in the black stone and the cooking utensils and a few knives were still laid out along the counters. Fresh fruit and vegetables were laid in baskets along a few wooden tables and small metal compartments were marked with black ink that read names of spices and herbs that it must have contained. Glass containers near the spices held rice and other grains Katara didn't recognize as glass bottles next to them held oils.
Zuko walked over toward a wooden chest where the cook kept most of the fish and poultry. Once he opened the compartment that was layered in ice, he pulled out a small package that was plainly marked 'fish'. With the so many variations and species of fish, the chef never marked anything specifically and as long as it wasn't poisonous, no one really cared. "You want fish?" Zuko asked plainly after closing the lid to the cold confinement. Zuko considered calling the chef, but if he knew he cared about the girl enough to make him cook this late, rumors would start to spread.
"Uh. Sure." Katara asked turning back to the Prince with a puzzled gaze. Katara wondered if Zuko was about to call one of his crewmembers to cook, but when she watched the Prince beginning to unwrap the fish that was confined in white paper and finding a pan to cook it in, it was apparent he planned to cook.
"What?" Zuko asked with a small hint of anger in his voice when he felt the waterbender's eyes boring a hole through him.
"Nothing. It's just -- I didn't know men knew how to cook." Katara said with a slight smile.
"The chef on my ship is a male." Zuko replied plainly as he furrowed his brows at her comment.
"Oh. Well, I mean… Oh, never mind." Katara said before she shook her head and tried to avoid further eye contact with the Prince.
"What? You think a man can't cook? Are you sexist or something?" Zuko asked as he crossed his arms.
"No. It's just that's how it always was in my tribe. The guys hunted, the women cooked, the men trained, the women had babies, and so on." Katara explained.
"So, you're just saying all a man is good for is hunting and training?" Zuko asked sternly.
"No! I, I didn't mean that! All I'm saying, well, trying to say is that seeing a man cook is a bit strange." Katara stuttered.
"Fine. Then you cook." Zuko said before tossing her the wok he picked out. Katara clumsily caught it before she shot Zuko a shocked look.
"What did I say?" Katara asked as she held the heavy pan firmly in her hands.
"You said women are more likely to cook, so go right ahead. Let's see a true master make dinner." Zuko said before sitting at one of the wooden tables. Katara was standing at the same spot as her eyes still stared at Zuko with a strange look upon her face. "Oh, don't mind me. Just… cook. I mean, if women are so good at it. I'm just here to observe." Zuko continued in a slight mocking voice.
"I didn't mean I wanted to cook!" Katara said in her defense.
"Nah, you're right. Guys are only good at hunting and training. Only women belong over a hot stove, so go right ahead." Zuko said before he leaned back in his chair and continued to watch her.
Katara sighed knowing there was no way to talk herself out of this one, so she decided she better start to prove herself before Zuko made more of a mockery about her gender. With that, she walked over to the supposed cooking area and seen wood, but no striking rocks to make a spark and cook the food. Zuko quickly took notice to her distraction and smirked at her stupidity. What Fire Nation ship needed rocks to make a spark when every single man on this ship was a firebender? The funniest part to him was that she didn't even remember that fact.
"We're all firebenders, remember?" Zuko said in an attempt to embarrass her more. Katara heard those mocking words and felt the red begin to form on her cheeks.
"Damn…" Katara muttered under her breath before she placed her hand on one of the counters to keep her balance. She knew that without the Prince's help, a fire would be impossible since the wood used to contain the fire was not the wood that could catch fire even with friction. It could only be ignited with a fire source.
The second the word fire went through her head, she smirked before she quickly ran out of the room and grabbed the torch in the dining room. Once she made it back in the kitchen and the wood was lit, Katara placed the torch in the metal slot in the dining room before heading back into the kitchen and started to cook now that she had a fire to cook on.
Zuko watched the waterbender as she grabbed the torch and quickly lit the wood with barely any hesitation. She was smarter then he gave her credit. Zuko gazed at her while she reached over for the wok he tossed at her and placed it on the fire. Zuko silently watched her as she continued to cook with few mistakes and wondered if having her here was such as bad as he may have made it out to be.
(To Be Continued…)