While Zuko was changing, Katara smirked as she looked down to her handbag. Thank goodness I brought a dress for the date that I've been waiting for ages for. As quickly as she could, she dashed into the nearest lavatory and threw on her dress. After she came out, she heard her date's loud footsteps going down the stairs. Thump Thump Thump.
"WAIT!" She exclaimed, she heard him suddenly halt abruptly. "Close your eyes and slowly walk downstairs." Katara ordered.
"But why? You know this is a SPIRAL staircase, Katara-"
"Just do it!" She demanded. Zuko shrugged his shoulders (let's just get this over with), closed his eyes, and carefully walked down with one hand on the railing ever so slowly.
Katara gasped at the sight of Zuko and covered her mouth with her left hand as her eyes lit up like candles. Zuko came downstairs looking dashing as ever.
"How do I look?" Zuko asked as Katara admired him in his black trousers, red collared button up, and tailored black blazer.
"You look handsome." She answered. The well dressed woman inhaled and told the sharp looking man, "Okay, you may open your eyes now." She said exhaling. Like she did before...he gasped. I swear we constantly mimic each other's actions! Katara thought as she closed her eyes.
"What about me?" she asked, holding her breath.
Zuko was speechless; he looked at her up and down repeatedly. The patiently waiting lady was glowing in a dazzling deep crimson red. She wore a tube dress with a sweetheart neckline that flowed ever so elegantly to the floor. Her dress accentuated her lovely curves and with every movement, the fabric sparkles like rubies. Katara's hair was tucked behind one ear and swept to one side. Of course, she kept her signature hair loopies. She smiled as if she could see the breathless look on Zuko's flushed face.
"So?" she asked again. It took a while for Zuko to find words, he kept blinking rapidly and wondering if he was in a dream. Her beauty was that magnificent.
"Um..." Zuko stuttered, feeling his mouth run dry.
"Well?"
"You look...fantastic!"
"Thank you-"
"NO!" That caught both of them off guard. "It's more than that! It's-"
"Yes...?"
"Words cannot describe the way you look tonight." He dug his hands in his pockets, praying that he didn't mess up anything.
"You're so sweet!" Katara complimented as she opened her eyes.
He grabbed Katara's hand to give it a squeeze.
"You can open your eyes now." he said sweetly. She smiled when she and his eyes finally met again, she most of all enjoyed the feeling that came along with it. She liked being able to see his sincere face the first thing when she opened her eyes. Before they left to walk to Zhang's Desserts, Zuko brought the young waterbender's hand to his brought and kissed it. That night, he made sure Katara was treated like a princess of the Fire Nation.
10 minutes later...
It was here.
She had been waiting for this for days.
She'd been hinting at him for a while.
It was finally here.
Katara was going on a date with Zuko.
And the night was gonna be perfect.
Katara has been on dates before - her last date took place years ago. Most of her past dates were a little too casual but weren't informal enough to be considered "hangouts". And she wasn't going on some random date to a boring play with some desperate, clingy guy. She was attending a date with the Lord of the Fire Nation.
Zuko courteously opened the door for Katara like the young gentleman he was. "After you, m'lady."
"Thank you, your majesty." She teased. The fire bender rolled eyes and chuckled at her.
"Tonight, just call me Zuko." Which reminded Katara of the times when she was 14 and he was 16. After being assigned a table, Zuko politely pulled out Katara's chair as she seated herself.
"Thank you...Zuko." Katara playfully said wide-eyed.
"You're welcome...miss." He replied giving her a silly facial expression.
After ordering the chocolate trifle, Zuko mentioned,
"Well I'm glad I'm spending my night with you." Awwww!
"Same here." Katara said blushing. "What is a typical day in the Fire Lord like?"
"One word: Exhausting."
"Why is that?" she questioned.
"First and foremost, every morning I wake up with hundreds of letters to reply to. Then my advisors inform me about countless complaints from my people before I can even eat breakfast. Secondly all of all, I have an abundance of appointments with my citizens, usually about their personal problems in hopes that I could make everything perfect. Even with many government workers, taking care of my palace and nation is extremely hard. I'm pressured to do about everything."
"Like what?"
"I'm told that I have to Fire Lord until I die. I'm told that I must visit the other nations more often despite the fact that my schedule is always very tight. I'm told that I need to create and take away certain laws which is very time consuming. I'm told that I must find myself a Fire Lady and have heirs to the thrones soon just in case." If I could just come clean to him...
"I feel silly talking about marrying and having offspring." Zuko admitted shaking his head.
"It's okay." His date quickly assured, "You can tell me, I'm all ears."
"To me, it seems...absurd that people are expecting me to marry at only twenty years of age." The Fire Lord confessed. "I think I'm too young."
"You think you're qualified to be a dependable leader of an entire nation but you're not ready for marriage?" Katara asked curiously.
"It's not like that!" Zuko protested, "Actually, the truth is-"
"I'm just kidding you, Zuko." Katara said smiling, "Smile at bit, it's good for you." He couldn't help but smirk at that comment. "Anyways, go on." she motioned with her hand.
"It's like-" Now he was becoming more passionate in what he was saying, "It's like, nobody asks me about my opinion. They just...think if they tell me about another problem relating to my politics, I'll change just for them the next day. Most of the time, people expect me to respond to complaints shortly afterwards. I am a hard working man! But...I can't respond to the millions of letters my palace recieves every week! Even though many people work for me, it takes time to respond to each and every one. Nobody cares about how I feel about things!" he ranted.
"But I care about how you feel." Katara certified.
"Thank you, Katara." the frustrated man thanked.
"That's the last thing you said to me after you saved my life." Katara reminded.
"The response will always be the same...I think I'm the one who should be thanking you." Zuko joked.
"How about we saved each other's lives that day?" the kind water bender offered.
"Sure." he answered reminiscing the memory. "But I'm still very stressed about everything most of the time."
Katara reached over the table to place her hands over his sore, strained ones. He accepted them by giving them a squeeze and he looked up to Katara nodding her head, as if saying that, for the moment, he could let his troubles go.
"I'll always be here for you. As of right now, you don't have to worry about anything." said Katara. He smiled, appreciating the attempt to cheer him up and caressed her thumbs.
"In fact...I can relate to you verbatim." Katara disclosed.
"How would you know what I'm going through?"
"I used to be the last water bender of the southern water tribe. My mother passed away and my dad left to go to war many years before I started became...the doctor of the entire tribe." She said shrugging her shoulders because she and Zuko were still subconsciously holding hands.
"Since I was the only water bender, I had to always be present or rush as quickly as possible whenever someone was injured. Whether a toddler was bruised and crying or someone was giving birth. I was busy twenty four hours a day."
"So that's what it's like to be the world's best healer in the world." Zuko inferred.
"Yes, it's not what most people think at first. But then again, it'd be rare for someone to think twice about me." the healer confirmed.
"But I think about you." Zuko pointed out.
"You're very candid." Katara thanked, "I also know what's it like to be in the position where people expect you to commit to something you're still confused about."
"You know, from time to time, I find myself still surprised to the fact that I lead an entire nation." Zuko spoke truthfully.
"When Aang still had feelings for me...he was only 12 and I was 14. It was in the middle of the hundred year war." She explained. "During the intermission of that play of us on Ember Island four years ago, I told Aang that I didn't want to be a relationship with him but then, out of the blue, he kissed me." Zuko now had a puzzled expression, Katara didn't know what to think until he spoke up again.
"What was it that clearly declared all romantic feelings between you two over?" Zuko asked knowing he just took a big risk. The first date is probably the worst time to ask one about those in their past love life...he realized.
"No." Katara answered looking away.
"Then what did?"
