A/N: First of all, I want to thank you guys so much. The only thing that makes this story possible is the support of readers like you. I cannot thank you all enough. This story has blow up completely into something I never would have expected. So a huge thank you goes out to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story. I love you all so much and your wonderful support means more to me than anything. To my foreign readers, thank you as well. It's always a good day when you see that someone from a country you've never even heard of is reading your stories. It makes me so happy to know that my story is reaching international readers that I never would have expected. And to the lurkers, even if you don't review, just knowing that someone is reading my story means the world to me. Thank you all so much.
Now back to the story. As a refresher, Katara just montaged her way to victory, but Zuko's still being a jerk. How will she take it? What's gonna happen next? Well, that's why you're here! Read and find out! ;D
The entire camp looked about as taken aback as Katara felt. Her blue eyes turned to slits and she marched after Zuko.
"What do you mean no?" she asked. Zuko ignored her, but she grabbed his shirt and forced him to face her. "Why not?" she yelled loud enough for the whole camp to hear. Everyone stared at her in shock, but Katara didn't even notice.
"You may have gotten that arrow down, but you're still not suited for war," Zuko said, his eyes burning into hers. Her face flushed with anger as well as attraction as she stared back at him, not taking away her gaze. "You'll never beat a firebender," he said firmly, taking her hands off of him and turning away.
She watched him go and felt the stares of a hundred eyes on the back of her neck. The soldiers were all muttering and gossiping worse than the girls in her village did. She clenched her fists in rage. Zuko wasn't getting rid of her this easily.
"Then fight me!" she yelled.
Her demand echoed off of the surrounding mountains and Zuko stopped in his tracks, his shoulders tensed. Everyone instantly stopped talking and waited for their captain's reaction. For a moment, Zuko stood still and unmoving, like he was thinking. And then, he lunged.
Kicking a blast of fire at Katara, she yelped and backed up. She crowd gasped and watched in awe as Katara fought back. She ran over to the river and created a huge water whip, hitting Zuko in the side and sending him crashing into the river. She splashed the waves around, making him noticeably uncomfortable, but not actually hurting him.
Cheers from the soldiers reached Katara's ears and she heard some of them egging her on. "Yeah! Get him Li!" shouted Sokka, pumping a fist into the air. She grinned and turned back to her opponent.
She then sent him towards the sky in a giant spray of water. Freezing the entire arch, with Zuko in it, she sent it crashing back down to earth. Shards of ice flew everywhere and the crowd gasped once more, covering their faces from the sharp miniscule daggers. Zuko hit the ground with a thud, hitting his head hard.
He got up quickly though and went back to Katara. Sending more flames her way and getting close enough for hand to hand fighting, one of his jets of fire grazed her.
"Ah!" Katara cringed and sank a little, holding her arm. The skin was slightly burned, but it was nothing she couldn't heal. Angrier now than she had been before, Katara threw out her fist, hitting Zuko in the shoulder and sending him backward, waves crashing over him in the process.
She slowly walked over to where he lay sputtering and leaned over him. Katara decided that she liked this new role reversal. "Can I stay now, firebender?" she growled, standing over him with a ball of water floating in her left hand.
He pulled himself up to a sitting position and looked her over, nodding. "Yes," he said.
Katara let out a breath and let her water ball fall to the ground. Still clutching her arm, she began to walk away, towards her own tent. Zuko got to his feet and followed her.
"Wait," he said, reaching for her burned arm. "Did I hurt you?"
Katara shook her head. "No," but she winced loudly when he touched it.
"Are you going to be okay?" he asked, his golden eyes concerned. "Should I get some help?"
"No," Katara shook her head again. "I can heal it. Just get me some water."
Zuko ran over to the river and filled a pouch with some of its water. He brought it back to her and watched as she bent the water into her hands and onto the wound. The crowd of soldiers had disappeared now that the fight was over. Katara and Zuko were incredibly alone.
He watched in wonder as Katara's hands began to glow and the burn mark went away as quickly as it had come. Zuko was amazed. He looked up at her and smiled. "Maybe you will be useful," he said, almost to himself.
Katara wanted to look away. She knew that she should, but Zuko's golden eyes held her gaze and it seemed like the whole world was melting around the two of them. "Zuko, I- ," she began, but stopped, unsure what to say next. She couldn't tell him that she was really a girl. But she also couldn't keep all of these feelings to herself. What was happening to her? Where was the girl who swore to die in combat before falling in love? What would Suki say when Katara told her about all this?
Oh spirits! Katara knew exactly what Suki would say. Is he cute? What was happening to her?
"So why are you here?" The familiar voice of Zuko caught Katara off guard and brought her away from her thoughts of home.
"What?" Katara asked. Did he know? Was that why he had refused to let her stay?
"You came in place of your father, right?" he asked, his forehead furrowed in slight confusion at Katara's alarm. "He was the one Zhao sent the summon to, wasn't he?"
"Oh." Katara let out a panicked breath of relief. "Yes, my father was supposed to come here to war."
"Well, why did you come instead?" Zuko asked again. His eyes were focused on her, but they had a softness to them that she had never noticed.
"He got injured years ago in a fight for this country," Katara explained. "We all used to live in the South Pole before coming here and we were raided when I was just a baby." She glanced up at Zuko to see if he would try and comment, but he merely looked back at her, unmoving. She went on.
"Before the Emperor Gyatso unified the nations, firebenders were still ruthlessly trying to take over the world." Zuko gave a soft chuckle at that. He, after all, should know more about that than Katara should. "They decided to start with the Water Tribes at the Poles in the hopes that their power would be strong enough to destroy us. My father was the chief of the Southern Water Tribe and led the fight against them. We won, but at a great cost. In securing our victory, my father's leg was savagely burned by the raiders. He can hardly walk on it without a cane now."
"Why did your family come here?" he asked. "Why not just stay in the South Pole?" Katara was pleased by the question. It meant he had been truly listening to her.
"Well," she began. "My father's leg was not the only price we had to pay in that fight. During this time, women were still allowed to fight for their nation. Since the nations were not unified yet, the Emperor had not passed the laws that forbid women from becoming soldiers. The raid on my tribe is one of the reasons why it started."
"My mother was killed by firebenders. She and many other women and wives and mothers of the tribe lost their lives to keep us all safe." Katara got quiet then, reminiscing in thoughts of her mother's sacrifice.
Her mother's death in combat was the reason for her father's refusal to let her fight. Emperor Gyatso had passed the law against female soldiers so no more tragedies like that of the Southern Water Tribe would ever happen again. Suki, who was supposed to be a warrior, was only allowed to fight because she had trained her whole life in the art of defense and staying safe. And still, no Kyoshi warriors were allowed to do any fighting other than defending the cities they were sworn to protect.
Zuko sighed and made Katara jump. She had been so involved in her thoughts that she forgot Zuko was even sitting there. "You could say that my mother was killed by firebenders as well."
"What do you mean?" Katara asked, sensing that there was more to Zuko than she ever could have expected.
"Well, I don't know if my mother was killed," he began. "But I am sure that my father did something to her. Whether he ordered her death or sent her away to a prison somewhere, I don't know. But I know that the firebenders took care of her."
"That's horrible! But who are your parents?" Katara asked. "I've never heard any mention of your family. Is your father one of Ozai's firebenders?"
Zuko gritted his teeth in what Katara assumed was frustration. "You could say that."
"But then General Iroh made the perfect decision in making you our captain. Besides Ozai's brother, who would be better to have insider information on him than the son of one of his men?" Katara knew she was being a bit insensitive as she could see Zuko become visibly uncomfortable, but she couldn't help rambling on. If Zuko's father was one of Ozai's firebenders, they could gain information on how to defeat him. Maybe Katara and her small group of comrades would be the ones to finally kill Ozai. And she could come home to her family with honor.
Zuko's shout brought her back from day dreaming. "That's enough!" he said. His golden eyes were no longer soft. They had been replaced with the searing, molten glare that Katara had become accustomed to. "We have a war to prepare for. We can't just sit out here and talk anymore. Get back to your tent and be here at first light in the morning."
Without another word, he turned around and left Katara. She was still sitting by the river and her formerly burned arm was still wet from being healed. Toph flew up next to her on Momo.
"Man, what's his problem?" she asked.
"There's something wrong," Katara said, her voice filled with worry. "I think he's hiding something."
"Aw well," Toph shrugged. "Maybe he's just worried that he's gay or something."
"Toph!" she shouted.
"Hey, at least you get to stay Sweetness. Isn't that great news?"
"Yeah." But Katara wasn't thinking about staying, or fighting in a war, or anything else she should be thinking about. She was wondering what Zuko was hiding from her.
So everyone, I hope you liked my deviation from the plot of Mulan. This plot is thickening and no one knows what'll happen next. But anyway, I've been getting a lot of questions about this story so I wrote up and FAQ a few days ago to answer your questions! Here it is.
Just to clear some things up, I know a lot of people have been asking questions about Mulan Zutara. There are some things that are not explained very well as well as some things that have not been mentioned at all. So here it is, a quick Mulan: Zutara Version FAQ.
Why are some firebenders trusted and others not? Years ago, Gyatso became the Emperor and united all four nations. But Ozai was unhappy about his title of Firelord being taken away, so he rebelled. A large group of firebenders under Ozai's control now fight a war against Emperor Gyatso and his unified kingdom in order to get the world under the control of Ozai instead. However, firebenders like Iroh decided not to go along with Ozai's plans and are still loyal to the Emperor.
Is Aang the Avatar? That's kind of for you to decide. Aang being Avatar is never addressed in this fic, so it really doesn't matter. I'll give you two choices. Either 1) he is not the Avatar at all or 2) he is the Avatar, but is still too young for the council or whatever to have told him about it. That doesn't make much sense though, considering that the world is in such turmoil.
Is Aang still an airbender? Are there other airbenders around? Yes! Aang is still an airbender and there are still many airbenders around. Gyatso is one of them. Sozin never wiped them out. And Gyatso and Aang are alive at the same time as everyone else because... they are timelords? Meh, it doesn't really matter does it? Creative lisence. However, Aang is the only airbender at Katara's camp. That makes him special.
How big is Toph? Toph is as big as Mushu from the movie. She can fit in the back of Katara's shirt, ride on Momo's back, and hide from the sight of most other soldiers.
Is Toph dead? No, not really. Toph was never alive. Toph is a spirit guardian. She's a sort of cross between Avatar's spirits and Mulan's ancestors. But she "comes to life" in a way whenever she is needed to protect someone.
Why are Sokka and Katara not related? I really wanted them to be. But if they were related, then Katara would have no reason to go to war in place of her dad. Sokka could have gone instead. So let's just say they're distant cousins or something.
Why can't Katara fight? Before the nations were unified, firebenders raided her village in the South Pole. Both of her parents fought. Hakoda was injured, but Kya was killed along with many other women. When Gyatso became emperor, he outlawed the ability for women to become soldiers because of the death of all the Water Tribe women. He wanted to prevent that from ever happening again.
How old is everyone? For the purposes of this fic, everyone is aged four years from their AtLA ages. That makes Katara 18, Zuko 20, Sokka 19, and Aang 16. Toph is a spirit, so her age is irrelevant.
Do people know that Zuko is Ozai's son? It's still a secret. Everyone in power knows, like Zhao, the emperor, and other nobles. But his soldiers still have no idea who he really is.
What's a horcrux? Where did you learn that word?
So, that's it. Hope it cleared up a lot of your questions. If you have any more questions about the story, just leave a comment or send me a message. I'll try to clear it up soon. And don't forget to review!