Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or rights from the Avatar the last airbender series. I'm just a really big fan.~
Kitsu sat on the edge of her bed in the dark staring into the nothingness. More than once she rubbed her tired eyes but there was no hope of falling asleep. For the first time in three years she was not alone in her sanctuary. She trusted Iroh, even if he had lied to her in the beginning, but that didn't stop her mind from spouting hundreds of horrifying scenarios where something went terribly wrong.
Zuko and Iroh made up their sleeping quarters inside her stable until she could provide a better solution. She'd done this to herself by forcing them to stay. No matter how much she feared the outcome she couldn't allow that asshole to destroy his ability to bend. Not after what Iroh did for her family.
The grey morning light was beginning to filter through her rice paper window. Her eyelids drooped as she crossed her arms. Kitsu was up all night trying to decide what to do with her guests and fighting a useless battle against her own paranoia.
"Remember, Kitsu, never give up your base location, and never give up without a fight." Ogodei's words, nothing more than distant memory, drifted through his daughter's mind. Her entire childhood had been spent in hiding, running from her own family and training for the worst scenario. She'd recited her family tree as a list of enemies rather than as a list of those she was bound to by blood. It was all a never ending cycle of disaster and detachment. No matter how much she resented Zuko she felt he was a kindred spirit. He was asleep in her barn because he was running from his sister after all.
As Kitsu gazed at her window an orange flash illuminated the frame and was followed by a loud yelp of agony. Time seemed to freeze and then lurch forward faster than before. Kitsu was out of her door and into the courtyard in what felt like an instant. She found Zuko on the ground clutching his wounded arm and gasping. She leapt and slammed into the ground next to him, sending pillars of rock shooting from the ground and blocking their position from attack on all sides.
"What happened, where are they?" She snapped as she tried to pry his arm away from his grasp so she could see it. Zuko looked at her in furious confusion as he fought her off.
"Who? There's no one out here but me!" Zuko growled back through the pain that was raking up his arm.
Kitsu's brows knit together and the pillars of rock disappeared into the ground from whence they came. "You weren't attacked?" If there were no assailants why was he writhing in pain on her lawn?
"No!" Zuko snapped as he attempted to sit up with the use of only one hand. Zuko felt a pang of guilt as he watched Kitsu deflate and sit back on her heels. Did she come rushing out to defend him because she thought there was an attack?
"Then what hurt you?" The urgency in her voice ebbed into uncertainty that was heavily laced with sleep deprivation. Her question only made Zuko feel like more of a prick. She was wearing nothing but a pale green nightgown and her long braid was frizzy in spots. He looked away the moment his eyes fell on the jagged scar that stretched over her collarbone and up her neck. Zuko almost forgot he saw it the day before. Up close he could see without a doubt that she had suffered terrible burns at some point. The sight of her so off guard almost made Zuko flush in embarrassment. He hadn't spent much time around girls his own age in a very long time.
Kitsu watched as Zuko fought an internal battle while glaring at the ground. Why wouldn't he look at her?
"I… I practice my form every morning. This morning should be no different, but my arm..." Zuko mumbled in shame as he lifted the charred limb. Kitsu groaned internally as she took in the sight of her bandages crumpled, singed, and falling off of his wound. The realization that he was shirtless barely crossed her mind. Kitsu stood up and gave a heavy sigh.
"Come on, I'll patch you up and make breakfast." She held out her hand to Zuko who blinked at her in confusion. "What?" That shocked look on his face made her want to slap him again.
"No one has made me breakfast in a long time." He murmured as he looked at the stubborn earth bender anew. She was full of surprises.
"Yeah well don't get used to it." She grumbled as he gave her his good hand and she hauled him to his feet. "I'm not your maid." With that she turned on her heel and walked back through her door.
Kitsu kicked out the stool for him to sit on and began to set about preparing wood for a fire in her clay oven.
Zuko sat on the offered stool and watched as Kitsune puttered drowsily around her kitchen. He thought girls were supposed to be modest and shy but Kitsu showed no hesitation at their peculiar state of undress. Her thin nightgown was only a few stitches past a piece of negligee and yet she appeared completely comfortable that way. Had he ever seen a girl's lower thigh in person until now?
Before Kitsu could even find her tinder box and flint Zuko tossed a small flame into the belly of the stove and started a crackling fire that caused Kitsu to jump and gasp.
"My father used to do that." Nostalgia overwhelmed Kitsune as she watched the flames lick at the wood and clay. Zuko didn't know how to respond to that. Hell, Zuko didn't even know how to respond to her when she wasn't hitting him let alone when she said shit like that. He watched as she resumed her work and placed a pot on the flat rock surface of the oven.
"How did they die?" The words spilled out of his mouth before he could stop them. Kitsune visibly tensed at the question but continued to cook. She spun around the kitchen dropping dried mushrooms and other vegetables into the pot before adding water to the mix and stirring it with the same stone spheres she used to make the salve for Zuko's wounds. So much time lapsed in silence that he almost thought she was going to pretend he hadn't said anything.
"When the Fire Nation Army came to colonize our village my parents fought back. They tried to protect the people of the town… but they were outnumbered. I barely escaped the attack alive…" Kitsu's hand ghosted to the scar on her shoulder. Zuko didn't miss that little gesture but he thought better than to ask her about it.
"I'm sorry." Zuko knew exactly how useless an apology was. He'd lived his entire life on the receiving end of apologies and condolences, but for once he found himself in the trap of not knowing what else to say.
"Thank you… Zuko." Kitsu watched the contents of her pot as she stirred it. "You're the first person who's ever apologized to me for the loss of my parents." Kitsu didn't understand why Zuko was suddenly being so cordial, but she didn't want to break the spell with questions.
Once Kitsu put a lid on her clay pot and set her spoon aside she crossed the room to her bed and took a seat. "I'll make you a sling so it will be easier to rest your arm. For the time being you will have to avoid using your injured hand while bending. The chakra in your arm is in chaos. You'll only make the wounds worse if you use it."
Zuko watched silently as she leaned over her bed and rummaged through her stores. He would be damned if he let this injury slow him down, but for the time being this confusing woman was holding him as a hostage patient. The view certainly wasn't bad while he convalessed though was it?
"Have you ever studied waterbending forms?" Kitsu asked as she carried a heap of items to the table and set them down.
"Of course not, why would I?" Zuko responded haughtily. Kitsu rolled her eyes and began removing the old dressings from his arm. The swelling lessened slightly but the skin was still very inflamed. She set the spent supplies aside to feed to her pig-sheep later. She'd skipped her meals the entire day before and she wouldn't have many scraps to give them.
"Their forms are smooth and much less… passionate... than fire bending forms. They won't help you fire bend but my mother believed they could help rehabilitate injured muscle." Kitsu hadn't spoken about her parents since their death. She'd devoted hours of thought each day to their memory, but she'd never had anyone to tell about them. Somehow it made her feel relief and renewed loss all at once. "My mother was an accomplished healer. She loved to study medicine more than anything."
Zuko watched Kitsu's small, rough hands as she delicately painted his skin with her salve. Thank Agni for the damn salve. As stubborn as he was, Zuko was thankful for her help.
"She taught you how to take care of banished princes, huh?" Zuko almost groaned at his lame attempt to make a joke. Kitsu cracked a smile at him despite herself but her eyes never left her work. The awkward familiarity of the whole situation was almost more than Zuko could take. To any uninformed eye they would look like a young couple having an intimate early morning conversation. Zuko's mind revolted against the thought, but he was too weary to fight. If she wasn't going to start an argument, he wouldn't either.
"More like how to look after cocky fire benders." Kitsu answered teasingly. Zuko gave his own small grin. It was weak, and he was exhausted, but it was a smile nonetheless. Kitsu finished wrapping his arm in a bandage and tied off the end. As soon as she was done she was up and on her feet again tending to their breakfast.
"You don't sit still much do you?" Zuko asked absently as he looked at the neat wrappings on his arm. Kitsune's hands weren't anything like Mai's soft hands, no, they were rough and capable. Zuko's memories of his sister's monotone friend were blurry at best. There was something deeply appealing about a woman who refused to shrug away from hard work.
"Is the pot calling the kettle black?" Kitsu shot back as she removed the roiling pot from the stove using a rag and set it aside. The ease of conversation was so foreign to Zuko. Nobody ever dared to speak to him as plainly as she did, excluding his family of course, but his father and sister exhibited a level of malicious intent that Kitsu was utterly lacking.
"No." It was barely a murmur as he watched Kitsu toss her braid over her shoulder and prepare them each a bowl of the soup she made. Distantly his mind wondered if this was what it was like to have a wife. Someone to joke with, to care for him, and enjoy his company. This was a sort of feeling that Zuko didn't get to have. It would be nice for a time, but when it came time to move on he could already tell it would hurt.
Kitsu placed a bowl in front of Zuko and offered him a pair of chopsticks before sitting on the edge of her bed. They were both so hungry they fell into a silence interrupted by the sound of chopstick clinking against pottery and slurping.
In Guong Shi
Azula examined her fingernails as she stood in front of the healer of Guong Shi. The little old man by the name of Shuo was kneeling at her feet and shaking with fear. His gnarled old hands wrung his hat as his eyes darted two and fro.
"So you say the fugitives went East to meet an herbalist, but you can't tell me exactly where they are because this person, known as Fox, lives in an unknown location." Azula gave a rueful sigh. "I'm just not sure why I don't believe you." The sickly sweetness of her voice only twisted her words further. At Azula's signal the soldier behind Shuo gave him another hard blow to his lower back sending the old man sprawling in pain.
"Please! I swear that is all I know! Fox is eccentric, she's obsessed with privacy. I only know where you can look for her!" Shuo begged as he scrambled to his knees and clung to Azula's boot. She gave a firm kick and sent the old man sliding across his dingy little shop floor. "If this information leads to their capture you will be handsomely rewarded, if not I will obliterate your entire bloodline. Understood?" Azula smiled wickedly as the old man began to blubber unintelligibly. The sheer power of having human life at her mercy was nothing short of ecstasy. She would have to thank Zuzu for providing her with so many opportunities for interrogation.
"Captain, send your men into the forest to the east and report back. Don't engage, reconnaissance only. I want to be there when he sees the trap closing around him." Azula flipped a stray hair out of her face and exited the shop, leaving her men to handle the dirty work. All of this traveling had her famished.
Compound
After breakfast Zuko slipped away as he insisted on practicing his forms and Kitsu got dressed for a day of catch up. Her plans couldn't just come to a grinding halt because she had guests. She decided to go to the far corner of the compound and work on irrigation from the pond to her new vegetable patch.
Using earth bending as a construction method was a tricky business; one wrong move and she would be forced to start all over again. Kitsu stood knee deep in the pond with her skirts hiked up around her waist exposing the shorts she wore beneath her dress. Her hands and face were covered in smatterings of mud. Each movement punctuated a delicate dance that kept her in constant motion. Not only could she manipulate the rock, but years of practice gave her the ability to morph it into any shape she could imagine. She was in the middle of moving a large boulder to raise the water level in the pond when she noticed Zuko sitting at the edge of the pond with his bare feet dangling into the water. In her concentration she completely forgot about Iroh and his feisty nephew. The shock of seeing him there broke her focus and sent the massive boulder crashing into the water. Zuko barely had time to shout before he was hit by a wall of pond water.
"Hey watch it!" Zuko shouted angrily. Kitsu froze in surprise but upon seeing Zuko soaked to the bone she burst out into uncontrollable laughter. Zuko clenched his fists in frustration and before he knew what he'd done he slapped his left hand across the top of the water sending a large spray right at her. For a moment they both froze, unsure of how the other would react, but then a wicked smile spread across Kitsu's face and she forced a boulder out of the ground and into the air. Zuko's face went blank with shock as the boulder crashed into the water next to him, drenching him once again.
"That's what you deserve for sneaking up on me!" Kitsu answered through a fit of laughter. Zuko, abandoning his hopes of staying dry, sat in the pond and looked at Kitsu with one of his weary smiles. Memories of playing at the beach with his sister and their friends drifted to the forefront of his mind.
"I was trying to watch, genius. I've never gotten to see earthbending used this way." Zuko snapped back. Even with a smile he was always quick with a sharp response. Kitsu was beginning to realize that witty comebacks were a part of Zuko's personal charm. It hadn't occurred to her that what she was doing would be abnormal to a fire nation boy.
"Oh, well, you could have announced yourself. Kitsu retorted as she flipped her braid back over her shoulder.
The day was hot, and the pond water was soothing on Zuko's skin. In the cool depths he could almost forget the searing pain. Almost. Zuko closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The smell of algae and jasmine filled his head and the constant splashing of water against rock made him feel at peace. Was this what it felt like to relax. He felt like he could almost reach back and relive his childhood in that moment. The sound of water moving told Zuko that Kitsu had taken up her work once more and prompted him to open his eyes.
He settled for watching her work silently partially because he didn't know what to say, and partially because he needed time to think. He'd only come to the pond in an attempt to escape his uncle's constant supervision. As he watched her work he was impressed by the precision and fluidity of her movements. He'd always thought earthbending looked rough and choppy, but the way she moved through her forms made it look more like an aggressive dance. Every movement exuded power and confidence that was skillfully mastered. Zuko could see her muscles moving as she worked, the sweat and pond water dripping off of her shoulders. It was clear that Kitsu was a force to be reckoned with. Kitsu didn't stop to pester him or throw anymore stones, she simply allowed him to observe her as she developed an irrigation system bit by bit.
It occurred to Zuko how rarely he got to observe people without fear of being judged or ridiculed. When he lived at home people were so eager to attend to his every need that no one ever spoke to him beyond asking how they could serve him. Similarly, since his exile his face had become reviled in his homeland. He could never go home.
The way Kitsu spoke to him and looked him in the eye without any sign of revulsion made him feel almost… normal. As though he were any normal young man in any small village. His mood soured as he reminded himself not to get too comfortable. But still, if being on the run had taught him anything it was that he had to enjoy what he had while he had it.
"Kitsune?" Zuko called out and watched the earthbender and look at him.
"Yeah?" It had been a really long time since anyone had called her by her full name, and now she'd heard it a number of times in less than 24 hours. What should have made her feel nervous only made her feel human again.
"What is your husband going to think when he shows up and finds two strange men on your compound?" The question had been eating at him. Could she really live in such an isolated place all by herself?
Whatever Kitsu was expecting it wasn't that. "I'm not married. I live alone." She didn't particularly enjoy the way his eyebrows shot up in surprise when she answered him. Kitsu waded the few paces between them and began to wring out her braid. "You can call me Kitsu, you know. Only my mother ever really used my whole name." Kitsu watched as Zuko nodded and plopped down next to him in the pond. She couldn't help but laugh.
"What is it?" Zuko thought she was laughing at him.
"A firebender, and an earthbender just had a water fight." As she spoke her laughter became more contagious and even Zuko had to chuckle at the absurdity. If anyone had told him the day before that he would be splashin in a pond with an earthbender he would have called them insane.
From a discreet distance Iroh watched the two young adults banter and play like a pair of children. Though he smiled warmly he was dismayed by the knowledge that the peace and tranquility of the compound was on borrowed time. Zuko so rarely had the luxury to behave like a young man, and to see the boy laughing so soon after a tragedy made Iroh feel deeply blessed. With a sigh he picked up a picnic basket he had found stowed away in the house and went to join the young folk.
Kitsu waved at Iroh as he approached and stood up out of the water nearly giving Zuko a heart attack as he looked anywhere but at her. Kitsu was an attractive girl, any man who said otherwise was an idiot or a liar in Zuko's opinion, but he was determined to act as the gentleman he was raised to be. No matter how oblivious she seemed to be of her affect on him.
"I see you have been working hard. How about a nice picnic?" Iroh suggested as he chose a sunny spot in the grass. "I made tea!"
Zuko and Kitsu waded out of the pond and took a seat next to Iroh as he set out their lunch. Iroh served up a beautiful stir fry from Kitsu's drystores and some boiled jerky. Both Kitsu and Zuko dug in immediately.
"I haven't done this since mom and dad were alive." Kitsu mused as she took another bite of food. It suddenly occurred to her that she hadn't done much of anything except scrape a solitary existence out of a mountainside. Was this really the life her parents envisioned for her? Was it the life she wanted? The day before she was so sure of her path and her purpose, but already Zuko and Iroh were complicating things.
Author's Note:
Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading this so far! If you like it or even if you don't please leave me a review so I can keep improving and like or follow the story so you get updates when I post!