Part 11
The unbroken silence hadn't been disturbed in hours and in one second, the peace was ruined by a certain princess. Azula shot upwards breathing heavily as she tossed the covers off her. She ran over to the window and pulled back the thick crimson curtains. Letting out a breath of relief as she saw it was barely sunrise. She still had time. Calming down she allowed the weariness to return to her eyelids, she hated waking up like this. But as she turned around and spotted the water bender turning over, still trapped in a dream, she knew it was worth it.
She dragged her feet over the frozen iron floor used to walking on such a cold surface by now, she crawled back into the bed and lay on her back. The princess had to fight to keep her tuckered out eyes from shutting again. Her gazed found Katara once more in the darkness. Only a hint of the pale light glazed over Katara but it was enough to let her eyes remember every detail of that symmetrical face.
"You're staring again." the water bender's drowsy whisper disturbed the dead air of the room. The tan girl yawned widely trying to wake up and let out a deep breath before parting her eyelids. A delighted grin stretched over the girl's face as Azula came into focus. A small chuckle escaped the princess.
"Darn, I thought I could get away with it that time." She replied in a low-pitched tone. Switching positions so that she stared up at the ceiling she shrugged closing her eyes for a moment. "I have to teach him again don't I?" she complained. "I hate you." The princess said sarcastically and sat up realizing she'd probably better leave while she still had a chance.
"You have to go already?" Katara whined. "You just got here."
"Mmm…don't remind me." Azula rubbed her forehead. "Tell me again why I come in here if I'm not getting anything special in return?" she teased. Katara slapped her back, she just laughed.
"You have a got a long way to go princess if that's what you're trying to accomplish." The water bender slithered over to the princess and encased Azula with her arms running her lips down the fire bender's neck.
Azula leaned back closing her eyes losing herself. "You're trying to distract me, I can tell." She mumbled.
A smirk sprang across Katara's features. "Maaayyybbeee…" the water bender vexed. Becoming a bit bold she slipped her hands into Azula's shirt and slid her hands over the warm skin.
"Hey." Azula grabbed Katara's hands and pulled them out of her shirt. "I didn't give you permission little missy." The princess stood up and walked over to her closet to get dressed, when she spotted a familiar bright red ribbon. Out of curiosity she picked it up and ran it through her fingers a few times before she peeked over her shoulder at Katara. "Could I ask you a favor?"
The tan girl's blue eyes came over to her. "Sure." Katara answered honestly.
"I want you wear this today." The princess handed the red ribbon to the girl and Katara became puzzled.
"Why?" The tan girl laughed lightly as she took the bright ribbon from Azula.
"Oh no reason." The fire bender responded.
Azula came out onto the deck to find the Avatar had fallen asleep out here. She forgot to tell him to stop his breathing exercise. Oh well she wouldn't let that stop them from training today. The sound of her boots clinking against the deck warned the Avatar she was approaching. He came onto his feet quickly and he rubbed his eyes.
"Good morning Avatar, I hope you slept well." She grinned devilishly. While he slept on the hard iron floor she slept next to the girl he cared for the most. She loved taking things from others. If only Aang was aware of it…she let the thought go, knowing it would jeopardize everything if he found out the truth.
The Avatar waited for instructions but she pretended to be thinking critically about something and eyed Katara on purpose. "Is something bothering you Sifu Azula?" Aang asked not sure why the princess was just standing there.
"Why yes now that you ask Avatar Aang." She lied and continued to stare at Katara. Aang studied Azula for a second before following her eyesight and found the princess was looking at the Water Tribe girl. Katara was talking happily with Toph. He noticed a bright red ribbon in Katara's hair, red was such an alien color to see on the tan girl it caught him off guard at first. "I don't like this Katara girl."
"Why?" Aang whipped around to see Azula's upset expression. "She's a good person, I trust her a lot."
"Which is why I don't like her, everyone trusts her so easily." Azula answered.
"What's so wrong about that?"
"To me if you really look close, she's a bit a suspicious." The princess said planting the seeds of manipulation into the Avatar's clueless mind. "A red ribbon? The Katara I kidnapped a few weeks ago wouldn't be caught dead in red even if it was a disguise. And look, she's flaunts the color with pride."
"I'm sure it's nothing to be concerned about." Aang said dismissing the thought.
"Oh sure but that's just one of piece of evidence. Haven't you noticed she's been getting along with me rather well?" Azula crossed her arms and Aang thought deeply. The princess was right, Katara had treated the fire bender a bit better. "Me, who kidnapped and tortured her? I don't know about you but I would certainly never be able to get along with the person who tortured me."
"She's just trying to get along with everybody since we have to work together now." Aang replied trying up come up with a reasonable explanation. But just as the princess wanted, there was ounce of doubt in his voice.
"If I were you, I'd keep a close eye on her." Azula whispered firmly. "But anyway…back to fire bending."
Katara sat down next to Toph, the butterflies in her stomach refused to stop fluttering as she watched Azula instruct Aang. She looked over at Toph who was beaming with a wide grin. "What?" she wondered. Toph just giggled. "Seriously what?"
"So…" The earth bender's grin widened ever more. "…how good did you sleep last night?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Katara leaned away from Toph crossing her arms and her eyebrow rose.
"I think you know exactly what it means Ms. I love fire benders." Toph teased.
"Hi guys." Sokka said as he came over to them. Katara swallowed deeply in surprise. Wow she must've been really distracted by Azula lately because she forgot Sokka and her dad were on the ship. She bit down on her tongue the air becoming awkward. Great now she couldn't enjoy watching Azula because her brother would notice her dumb smile.
"What're you doing out here?" she asked.
"I came to see how it was going with the psycho." Sokka explained and watched Azula talk to Aang.
"Are you sure you didn't come up here to check out the princess, cause my friend over here can give you some helpful pointers." Toph elbowed Katara's arm lightly.
"Huh?" Sokka wondered.
"Nothing Sokka, Toph," she rammed her fist into Toph's thigh. "-was just making a joke. Wasn't she?" Toph's teeth grinded together in pain.
"Why are you wearing a red ribbon?" Sokka asked bewildered because he couldn't find a reason why his sister was wearing something red. It wasn't like a ship would try and attack them. There were on the princess' ship after all.
"Maybe she has a Fire Nation luv'va." Toph teased.
"Maybe Toph has a thing for Twinkle Toes." Katara said her eyes narrowing at Toph even though earth bender couldn't see her.
"Girls." Sokka muttered under his breath as he shook his head and stood up to leave them alone.
With Sokka gone she was able to relax, and maybe the earth bender would keep her mouth shut! She let out a deep sigh trying to keep calm. Turning her attention back to Azula who was doing a breathing exercise with Aang at the moment, she was able to collect herself again. As watched Azula stand there next to Aang breathing slowly, she was reminded of when they were in the woods and she had spied on the princess.
She sat there with anticipation, she finally got a front row seat to see Azula fire bend. Before she only got to see the princess in action when they were fighting or if she did get a chance to see, Azula was usually a blur. Normally she wouldn't want to see fire bending, the very element that killed her mother. But red fire was her enemy, blue fire was friendly, or that was what she thought. She knew Azula would never hurt her, scratch that, knew Azula would never burn her.
She watched Aang who still wasn't sure whether he wanted to learn fire bending or not. He didn't really have a choice now. She hoped that he would be able to control fire a bit better so that she could avoid being burned. It was the worst experience to feel and she sure wasn't looking forward to going through it again. Just to be sure she kept her hand at the ready to bend the water out of sea incase Aang did something wrong.
"Hey Katara, I need your help putting Appa's saddle on." Sokka hollered over to her and she hissed in frustration. Why did she have to be interrupted constantly?
"What for?" She shouted angrily and Sokka took a few steps back.
"We're gonna be taking Appa and going through the Fire Nation in disguise until the day of black sun." Sokka told her. "So it's kind of important." A hopeful smile came over his face wishing she wouldn't yell again.
"Fine." She pouted and got her feet. "If it's sooo important."