Rizen kept her company throughout the next couple days whenever he was off duty, walking with her around the ship, Aika joining them occasionally. At times, Zuko would pass them, his gold eyes always catching Katara's briefly as he stormed through the halls, his expression always bitter enough to keep Katara from speaking to him. Something had changed in how he was acting, and Katara couldn't figure what had happened. At night, when he would finally come back to his room, he'd refuse to speak with her, answering her questions with grunts or silence depending on how bad his mood seemed.
Thankfully, Katara was now trusted enough to practice her waterbending on deck, usually sparring with Aika to tone her skills. Every day, as their sparring matches would draw to an end, the idea of escaping would feed through Katara's mind, her eyes gazing across the ocean as if waiting to see Aang and Sokka appear on Appa any moment. She wondered how far she could make it on her own if she simply hopped overboard, taking off before anyone could stop her.
It had happened several times, where
Katara's hand had been on the railing of the ship, skin itching in anticipation to her finally taking action, then Zuko would appear somewhere, and Katara's feelings of wanting to run would dim. Her curiosity over the banished prince was growing each day, holding her back as she wondered what could've made him become the person he was today. She'd hoped with their growing friendship and trust she'd be able to learn more about his past, but for some reason, he'd closed himself off to her.
"Katara, focus," Aika's sharp voice cut into Katara's thoughts, prompting the waterbender to leap to the side, barely avoiding Aika's attack.
"Are you alright?" Aika asked, coming to Katara's side where she'd collapsed to the ground after her wild dodge. "What's going on in your head to make you lose focus in the middle of a match?"
Shaking her head, Katara took Aika's offered hand and stood back up, eyes finding the reason for her sudden loss of attention.
Prince Zuko had been coming out during the times she'd been sparring more often recently, and though she could never catch him looking at her, she constantly felt as if his eyes were on her.
Aika's gaze followed hers, her expression changing as she realized why Katara had become distracted.
"Hey," she said, smacking the back of Katara's head with a smirk. "Are you going to let an attractive man distract you every time you're in a fight? If I had been a real enemy, you'd be dead right now!"
Katara flushed red, pushing Aika's hand away as the girl laughed.
"Who said anything about attractive?" Katara muttered.
"Your face," Aika whispered back.
Katara's blush deepened in response, ducking her head to avoid Zuko's detection.
"Alright, but honestly," Aika continued, turning serious again. "What about the prince has your head out of line? Did something happen between the two of you again?"
"I'm trying to figure that out myself," Katara admitted with a sigh. "He's been ignoring me for the past few days, and I have no idea what I did to make him irritated this time."
"Katara!"
The two of them turned as Rizen appeared on deck, grinning at the both of them.
"Ahh," Katara heard Aika say quietly.
Giving Aika a confused look, Katara braved herself for the hug Rizen was charging to give the both of them.
"I just got off shift, did you want to try sparring with me now?" Rizen asked as he released the two of them.
"What's she going to do sparring with a common soldier like you?" Aika scoffed. "It wouldn't even be a challenge."
"Just because my bending skills aren't as good as yours, Aika," Rizen started off before pausing. "Yeah, I actually can't say much about that. But at least it would benefit me!"
"No, you're not sparring with Katara," Aika insisted, crossing her arms.
"Why not?" Rizen whinned.
"Because you need to go get me something to eat," Aika ordered.
Rizen's expression brightened at the thought of food.
"Ok," he responded cheerfully. "Will you two keep sparring for now then?"
Katara looked to Aika to find her shaking her head.
"Tired," Aika explained, apologetic. "But you should definitely keep going," she said to Katara. "You need to work on your focus again."
Katara rolled her eyes with a smile.
"Well if you're too tired, and I'm too busy with food," Rizen cut in, "who's going to work with her?"
Aika's expression turned slightly mischievous.
"Your highness," she called, looking towards the prince.
Katara startled, rounding on Aika with wide eyes.
"If you have a moment, Katara needs a partner to spar with," she requested of Zuko, the prince narrowing his gaze at the three of them.
"I'm still happy to try if no one's available," Rizen reminded them when Zuko remained silent.
"I can do it," Zuko growled, Katara's eyebrows shooting up at the tone in his voice.
The prince stalked forward, hitting Rizen with his shoulder as he passed, glaring at Katara the entire time. He stopped in front of her, head cocked to the side, waiting for her response.
Giving Aika one last confused look, Katara shrugged. She could use the practice after all, and maybe this would help her figure out what had happened between them.
"Let's do this," she agreed.
Soldiers backed to the edges of the ship, giving the two benders as much space as possible.
Zuko and Katara bowed to each other before taking a few steps back, settling into their bending stances. Katara watched him carefully, trying to read his expression as he gazed at her, muscles tensed.
"Begin," Aika called.
Fire blazed forward, Zuko's right fist punching out. Ducking below the blaze, Katara threw her arm towards the ocean, water streaming over the side of the ship and swirling around her. Spreading her fingers wide, Katara slashed her hands through the air, the water separating into streams that shot towards Zuko.
Zuko spun halfway around, arm outstretched, a wall of fire flowing from his hand, blasting her water to stream.
The two of them paused, staring at each other, waiting for the other person to make a move.
They attacked at the same time, the two of them spinning with their elements as they stepped closer together. Raising both hands up, Katara pulled a wave up beneath her, lifting herself above Zuko to leap behind him, blasting her wave at his back as she landed. Zuko dropped to his knees, circling his arms to form a shield of fire that broke her wave apart before he was rushing towards her, leaping with a twist in the air, fire blasting from his foot in an arch.
Managing to pull a stream of water from the ocean, Katara was thrown back by the power of his blast, hitting the railing of the ship.
Zuko smirked as she pulled herself upright.
A smile broke across Katara's face unconsciously, relief spreading through her as she saw the old Zuko she'd come to be friends with resurface.
She brought her two arms upwards sharply, water rushing up the side of the ship in a giant wave that she sent crashing down onto the deck, drenching all the soldiers watching.
Zuko defended himself with an umbrella of fire that washed over her wave, flames rolling towards the sides of the ship. She sent a curtain of water into the air, fire and water hissing as they met once again.
"Reminds me of the North Pole," Katara joked as Zuko swiped a length of fire through the air to avoid getting doused by her waves.
"You mean the part where I knocked you out in one blow?" he shot back, smirk growing as he saw the glare Katara shot him, punching his fist into the jet of water she sent at him.
"That will never happen again," Katara promised, bringing her leg up in a circular motion to create a wall of ice to protect her from the rapid punches of fire blasts he sent her way.
With each blast, cracks appeared in her shield. Before the ice could shatter completely, Katara pulled the wall down, changing the ice back to its liquid form and bringing it in to envelope her arms, sprinting towards Zuko from the side, her feet splashing in the water left over from her wave.
When he realized what she'd done, Zuko changed his attack to streams of fire that he shot off in multiple directions, forcing Katara off course as she dove into a roll to avoid the fire. Her roll brought her to her knees, whisking the water into a sphere around her to block the rest of Zuko's attacks, standing inside her protective orb to continue her run.
She was drawing close, hands whipping forwards to direct daggers of ice to shoot at Zuko. Zuko retaliated with an enormous blast of fire that turned all the water on the deck around him to steam, clouding Katara's vision for a moment, causing her to come to a halt as she was unwilling to attack blindly.
Her eyes widened in surprise when Zuko landed directly in front of her, apparently having leaped into the air with another powerful blast while she was unable to see. He looked delighted to have surprised her as he leaned towards her, Katara blinking in shock before remembering what they were doing, her eyes narrowing as she realized Zuko was raising of fist full of fire towards her face.
She swept her leg out, knocking the prince to the ground, only to be startled once again when he grabbed her by her arms to pull her down with him. He twisted as they fell so that they landed on their sides, both of them huffing in pain as they landed.
Zuko was quicker to recover, flipping away from her and getting to his knees, spreading his arms out and sending a ring of fire around the two of them, flames jumping high as Katara gasped from the sudden heat, flinching closer to Zuko instinctively.
"Told you, waterbender," he gloated, pulling the fire in closer. "I rise with the sun."
Katara huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms tightly as she stood, bending over him.
"I held my own, Zuko," she retorted. "Even in the middle of the day. Let's see how well you fare at midnight next time."
"Most battles don't happen in the middle of the night, Katara," he replied, standing but keeping the fire blazing around them.
"Which is why I'm practicing now," Katara pointed out. "And besides, I'm still in recovery after everything I've had to go through while being on this ship. If I'd been at full power…"
"You honestly think I wasn't holding back?" Zuko cut her off, taking a step closer to her.
His gold eyes were lit by the flames, making them shine as Katara stared into them. She watched long enough to notice when his eyes dropped from hers to look down her face before he hastily returned his gaze to hers. Katara's blue eyes widened in surprise at what she'd seen, wondering if she'd been mistaken.
Then she registered what he'd said.
Her expression turned to a scowl, anger rising once again.
"Don't you ever hold back when we're fighting, Zuko," she ordered.
It was Zuko's turn to be surprised, his arms finally dropping, the fire going out.
"Not exactly what I thought you were going to say," he confessed.
"I mean it, Zuko," Katara pressed, jabbing at his chest with a finger. "I don't fight for people to take it easy on me. I fight to get better, become stronger."
At the end of Katara's statement, the two of them stayed staring at each other for a moment. Katara watched as Zuko's expression slowly became unguarded, understanding for what she was saying growing as he began to nod.
"That was incredible!"
At Rizen's words, any change Katara had seen in Zuko during their battle and just now vanished, replaced by the same scowl she'd been seeing for the past few days.
"Really," Rizen continued, walking up to them. "I've never seen a sparring match that looked so beautiful and deadly at the same time. I honestly hoped you two would never stop!"
Zuko lurched forward as Rizen slapped his back in congratulations, the prince's face turning red as he straightened, stepping out of Rizen's reach. Katara noticed his scowl deepen as Rizen then turned to Katara, beaming at her.
"That's enough practice for today," Zuko barked, pushing Rizen to the side and snagging Katara's wrist.
He began pulling her towards the door that led back inside the ship, Katara too stunned to do anything but follow.
"You should be resting anyways," Zuko added, throwing the door open so hard it changed against the wall behind it and nearly bounced back into his face before he could catch it.
"I've had plenty of rest, Zuko," Katara tried to insist, beginning to twist her arm in an effort to escape his steel-like grip.
"You need more," Zuko snapped.
"I don't get you," Katara exclaimed, frustratedly, forcing them to a stop as she pulled against him.
"I wouldn't expect you too," Zuko muttered, trying to yank her forward.
Katara grabbed the railing beside her, keeping the two of them in place.
"Why wouldn't you expect me to?" Katara asked.
"Don't pretend to know me."
"You said that before. You said that and then you nearly died for your soldiers, you saved your ship. I won't pretend to know you," Katara told him. "But stop trying to hide yourself from me! I've seen the other side you have, Zuko. You can't hide it anymore. I know you care about your soldiers, your uncle, even me."
"Don't be ridiculous," he snorted.
"You held me up during that storm, Zuko," Katara pushed. "You could've left me, let me get washed overboard. I saw you that night, how worried you were for everyone on your ship. So if it wasn't because you cared what happened to all of us, what was it for?"
"I'm not going to explain myself to someone like you."
"Well you should," she replied.
"Why should I?"
"Because aren't I your friend?"
Zuko went still, his eyes narrowing into slits.
"Friend," he repeated, voice dangerously low.
"Friend," Katara confirmed, finally managing to pull herself from his grip. She released the railing behind her and crossed her arms. "Or is another word you have for two people who keep saving each other?"
Zuko closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. He turned around as if to start walking away. Katara grabbed his wrist to stop him.
The next moment, she found herself slammed against the wall, Zuko's eyes directly in front of hers. His hands moved from her shoulders to the wall, trapping her on all sides.
"I have another word," he growled, face leaning towards hers. "I just don't think you'd like it as much."
Then Katara's mouth was burning as his lips pressed against hers, her head hitting the wall behind her.