Chapter 16: is it love?


After a few days, Katara find Zuko trying to bend fire.

"Careful there, you are still unhealed." She warns.

"It doesn't hurt." He raises his fist, straightens his fingers, then curls them again.

"You still have to be careful." She turns her back and walks to the door. "When you're done, come change the bandages, okay? Just don't try to overdo your training, I'll watch you from the window."

And she goes inside the house. Zuko looks for a second to the side where she stood before. The day looks hot, he stands shirtless, a warm breeze caresses his chest and tousles his hair, long bangs fall on his eyes. The boy walks a few steps away, so he can get the bigger flames without any risk of burning the house. He hasn't trained for a very long time, he doesn't want to lose his form and skills. Also, there is nothing more to do in this distant rural area.

Zuko can't see, but Katara already watches him through the kitchen window. At first he starts with very little flames, with swift fire jabs from his fists, then he gets bolder, his fire gradually grows bigger, more menacing, as if he's fighting an invisible opponent. After that, the Firebender firmly presses his bare feet on the ground and begins to make circular motions with both his hands. It enhances his flames even more, they swirl around like a vortex, he controls their size and continues to make circular motions.

The fire surrounds his muscular body and Katara can't turn her eyes away. She has never seen firebending so agile and graceful, emphasizing long range movements and stances combined with speed and power. Looking at the fire, somehow she feels calm, it reminds her of waterbending in some way, and at the same time it surprises her. The girl often goes to the river and engages in her waterbending workouts to calm her mind, but she never thought that firebending can do the same effect. She always thought that fire comes from rage, but Zuko looks completely calm, no anger. And the fire in his hands looks so controlled and powerful that it hypnotizes her.

The respectful power and serenity...

That merges into harmony...

The body that perfectly controls it altogether...

Now Zuko spins around, his body rises from the ground and he makes whirling kicks and sweeping arm movements that create fiery rings and arches to cut through an invisible target. He again uses a circular motion with his feet to create an expanding ring in the air, his shaggy hair moves with every sweep and kick, and Katara thinks he looks... handsome. His golden eyes are sharp, focused only on training, as if he can't see anything else around.

It continues for a while, with Katara staring at him without blinking or moving until he finally stops. For a minute he stands in one place catching his breath, then he wipes the sweat from his forehead and walks inside the house. Only then the girl draws away from the window and goes to the door to meet him.

"What?" He asks, seeing her in the hallway as she doesn't even try to turn her gaze away from him. "Did I overdo it?"

"No. You did well."

"You watched it all the time?"

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Your firebending. It was so clean and powerful."

"I don't know." He shrugs his shoulders. "I just did what I always do."

"No. It was different than always. You looked so peaceful controlling your fire. I saw only anger in your eyes before, when you were our enemy."

"Well... Maybe you don't know everything about firebending?" The boy looks at her for a minute. "Do you have a place where I can wash up? I have no desire to go to the river."

"We have a well in the yard, but you can do it in the kitchen, we have enough water, we take some every morning. I mean, mostly me and Sokka."

"I guess I can't help you yet because you haven't told me before." He shrugs again. "But I wish I could. Really. It would distract me from my negative thoughts. If you need something, I'm able to do. As you can see, I'm no longer in bed, feeling sorry for myself."

"Are you making fun of yourself now?"

He sighs deeply. "You know it's very hard for me. I'm still thinking about my Uncle, I want to know what happened to him and where he is, even if he's dead now..." Suddenly upset, Zuko turns his back and goes to the kitchen. "I know you said I should talk to you, but..."

Katara rushes after him. She wants to help him pour water into a large metal bowl, but he takes it from her, places the bowl on a wooden bench and pours water from the bucket himself.

"See, I can do it myself. You don't have to help me."

"I know. But I'm trying to be... nice." She is embarrassed, rubbing her neck with her hand.

"Yeah. I really appreciate it, don't get me wrong. But I don't want to be a burden. I have been a burden for too long." He stands for a moment with a bucket in his hands, thinking about something. "Sorry if I'm too rude, I just... I always do everything myself, I feel uncomfortable when someone helps me. I can't get used to it so simply."

Katara is surprised. "Did Uncle never helped you?"

"Yeah, he did, but basically I decided what to do by myself, and he accompanied me even if he disagreed with almost everyhing." Zuko sighs. "The day... when he told me he thinks of me as his son... then things changed. Then I started looking at him with even more respect. I loved him, but I never told him that. And now when he isn't here... I would do anything to just... see him again."

"I'm so sorry, Zuko..."

"It's not your fault but mine. I can't even communicate with you properly. But I hope you understand. Every time I attach to a person... that person leaves me for some reason. It's like a curse. You said I can trust you, and yes, I do, but... I can't help but think that maybe somehow I'll be forced to separate from you or something will happen to you and..."

Katara sees Zuko blush. Feeling this, he begins to untie torn bandage from his left hand. The girl looks at him and tries to understand what he wanted to say. His behavior seems strange to her. Before they got to know each other a bit more, he was very sullen and cold, but now he is sullen and somewhat unsettled, as if he's about to say something but hesitates. She takes it very personally, and smile appears on her face.

"Do you... love me?" Suddenly she asks, feeling her burning cheeks.

"WHAT?!" Zuko turns to the window so she can't see his red face, his fingers dawdling the bandage, unable to remove it as agitation overwhelms him. "Why do you think so?"

"Well... the way you talk passionately about not wanting anything to happen to me and not wanting to separate with me. It's so sweet of you."

"It doesn't mean I love you!" The Prince yells, but immediately holds himself together. "I mean... not the way you think. But I don't hate you. You have saved my life and I'm very grateful to you. That's what I mean."

"Oh." The girl tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, visibly embarrassed. "I'd better do the dishes, just do what you do."

Zuko finally overcomes the last remains of the bandage and bends over to the water. Katara starts washing dishes at the basin using her waterbending, but her eyes keep turning to Zuko. He draws water with his handfuls and washes his face, arms and chest. Katara had never thought of him in a romantic way before, but now when she is trying, she thinks his future girlfriend will be lucky to have a boyfriend like him. She can admit that he is well build and attractive. His form is now much better than it was when he was lying motionless in his bed and eating nothing.

"Hey, Katara?"

The girl flinches after hearing her name. "What?"

"Wouldn't you mind if I made dinner today?"

"You know how to cook?" She raises her eyebrows.

"Well, I'm kinda a fugitive, I had to learn. Uncle taught me new recipes every day, I memorized some of them very clearly."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." He assures and nods. "I can make miso soup since Aang doesn't eat meat."

"Miso soup? What kind of food is this?"

Zuko inhales, dives his hairy head in the water, then pulls it out. Streams of water flow from his head to the wooden floor. "You Water Tribe people have probably never eaten such food?" He guesses. "It's a traditional Fire Nation soup. Haven't you tried anything from the Fire Nation?"

"I guess we spent too little time in your homeland." Katara caresses her braid, not even realizing what makes her so nervous. "Here, take a towel."

With a sudden move, she grabs the towel from the counter and hands it to him. Zuko takes it and starts wiping his head. Katara vividly turns around to continue washing the dishes but hears the silent 'ouch' and turns to him again.

"It's nothing." He says quickly. "You know... my hands aren't completely healed yet."

"Let me dry you." The girl goes to him with firm steps, her hands instantly find themselves on the rim of the towel and she starts to wipe his hair with rough movements. Katara knows he hates it, but she doesn't care.

"Hey, hold on a minute!" He grumbles, obviously unhappy.

"What is it? Can't bear a little roughness?" She smirks.

"You want to rip my hair off or what?!"

Katara just smiles and looks at him from under the towel. He looks grumpy, but then their eyes meet and he flinches, his mouth opens in surprise. She can feel his whole body tense, but she can't take her eyes away from him, her heart is pounding so hard in her chest. She draws her hands to his firm shoulders, very slowly, her whole body leans so close to him that she feels his frequent breathing, and she finally closes her eyes...

"HELLO THERE, WOOERS!" The door opens with the loudest bang as Toph storms into the kitchen. Her feet hits the floor so hard that it causes a menacing quake. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Katara screaming pulls away from Zuko, but slips and falls flat on wet wooden floor. "What are YOU doing here?" She manages to ask, though her bum hurts. "You suppose to train Aang!"

Toph smirks and blows a strand of her hair from her face. "Yeah, I should. But I find out something interesting. The Earth Kingdom soldiers are looking for someone called the Blue Spirit!"

"So what? What does this have to do with us?" Katara gets up and uses her waterbending to dry the floor, and puts the water back in the metal bowl where Zuko washed himself up.

"Sure, it does have!" She laughs out loud, but teasingly delays to tell the details. "You can't even imagine how it relates to us!"

"What do you mean?" Katara frowns, placing her hands on her hips.

"Over here!" The girl stretches both hands, pointing clearly at Zuko as if he is the best item on the sale, the widest possible smile is shining on her face. "IT'S HIM!"

"You are kidding!"

"NO, SPARKY'S THE BLUE SPIRIT." She spills, still laughing crazily. "He's the Fire Nation traitor, the one who saved Twinkletoes from this Zhao guy!"

"Zuko? You misunderstood something. Zuko can't be some kind of spirit." Katara objects. "And how did you find out all of this?"

"Twinkletoes! He told me everything! Isn't that awesome? He found a poster on and I felt something isn't right. You know, I'm a lie detector, you won't hide anything from me, he had to tell me!"

"Is it true?" The Waterbender turns her gaze to silent Zuko.

"Well... yes, it's true." He nods, still with towel on his head.

"Then why didn't you tell us?" She asks in a soft voice. "And most importantly, why did Aang never revealed to us that you are his savior?"

"Because it's not as cool as you think it is." He mutters. "I saved him from Zhao's Stronghold just so I could take him to my Father myself, and Aang knows that." His hands helplessly falls down. "I'm sorry, okay? I was still your enemy!"

"There's nothing to be sorry about!" Toph giggles. "You still saved him! I knew from the beginning that you weren't bad, but no one believed me, and now everyone can clearly see that I was right. A blind girl can see much more than you guys, isn't that funny?"

"Okay, okay, we get it." Katara rolls her eyes. "But it doesn't explain why Zuko is wanted by the Earth Kingdom soldiers. Shouldn't the Fire Nation look for him?"

"Good point." Toph scratches her chin, thinking.

"Well... I kinda robbed a few people when Uncle and I became fugitives." Zuko smiles innocently. "But we were starving, I had to do something."

"Well, at least we're safe, nobody knows you're the Blue Spirit." Toph states.

"Nobody but Zhao." Zuko corrects. "But he refused my help and now he's dead."

His voice is cold and strong, but Katara knows that the sense of guilt lies behind that strength. "I'm sure you did everything you could." She says.

"Yeah, I know." He whispers and drops the towel on the counter. "I'd better go put new bandages." And quickly comes out of the kitchen.

"Leave it to me, Toph." Katara rushes after him, and when she enters the room, she sees him delving into the chest next to the window. She can't see his face, but feel the sadness emanating from him. He hears her approaching, but doesn't turn to look at her.

"Zuko, let me help you." She offers.

"Yeah, sure." Zuko puts a roll of bandage on the floor and sits down next to it. "How long will I have to wear this?"

"Until your hands are completely healed." The girl sits in front of him, her left leg presses to his right leg. "I can do a healing session for you if you want, although it won't help much, I've already done what I could, everything else has to heal naturally. Don't worry, you heal unusually fast, it will be fine."

"Thank you. It wasn't that bad, I can handle much more."

Katara unwraps the bandage and starts taking care of his hands. Zuko waits patiently for her to finish. Although she is focused on her job, she clearly feels some tension between them. Zuko is on the verge of saying something, but something makes him nervous and he doesn't dare to look at her.

"Do you want to talk about what happened in the North Pole?" She asks, trying to break the silence.

"There is nothing to talk about." Zuko sighs. "I tried to save Zhao when that huge Koi Fish grabbed him, but he refused to take my hand, and then I was forced to watch that creature drown him."

"But you got upset so quickly, I thought you might want to talk about it."

"Zhao was never my friend." He sputters, still not looking at her. "We were always rivals when it came to the Avatar, but I never wished him dead. I'm not the one of those scumbags who are proud of killing. I have never killed anyone, and I very much hope I'll never be forced to."

"I know who you are, Zuko." Katara blushes, stops bandaging his hand and raises her eyes to him. "I know you're a different person. You showed this so many times, I don't need any proof anymore."

Zuko doesn't answer, she can't see his eyes as he sits with his head lowered and his face covered with long bangs. And for some reason it makes her so uncomfortable. He is shy, especially around her. Before she got to know about Zuko, she only saw an angry uncontrollable teenager following them all over the world and throwing an even angrier fire at them. Oh Spirits, how wrong she was!

This different side of him fascinates Katara, she can't stop thinking about it. Her hand travels from his wrist to his elbow, but stops halfway. The girl herself doesn't understand what she's doing, she feels dizzy, and when Zuko grabs her by the wrist, she gasps. For a moment, she thinks she has crossed the line, but the Prince doesn't let her hand off his grip and finally raises his head. Their eyes lock, hers azure blue, and his rich gold. He looks nervous, Katara can feel his tense body, like back then in the kitchen. He is still shirtless. Her heart is pounding. What is he thinking about? Is he in love? And is she? And what should she do now?

Zuko makes the first move and tugs her. She pushes her legs closer to him, thus gracefully pushing her entire lower body, her one hand presses to the floor and the other finds itself on Zuko's jaw. His nose gently rubs her cheek as they both close their eyes.

And she can swear she can feel his soft lips kissing her...


To be continued...