AN: Hey guys today is the tomorrow we wanted yesterday! You know why? Cause this is chapter four! Thanks so much for the reviews!
Disclaimer: I own very little. One of the things I own is my obbsession with Avatar:The Last Airbender. Why would I be so obbsessed if I had owned it? I don't.
Katara's Cinderella Story
Chapter Four: The Masked Ball
"Yip, yip!" Sokka shouted, and Appa obediently flew faster.
Thanks to the map Sokka had bought, they were flying out of sight of any towns. They had only left an hour ago.
"Sozun shouldn't be much farther." Sokka told his sister.
Katara was sitting on the back of the bison, practicing her waterbending. She bent it through the air, mostly to calm her nerves and ease her complete boredom. When Appa started losing altitude she bent the water back into her canteen and set it aside. She wouldn't be taking it with her to avoid any suspicion. She then looked over the side. Trees. Nothing but large, green and brown, trees.
"We had to land pretty far away from Sozun where no one would be able to see us land." Sokka explained.
The whole walk there Sokka held aside tree branches, helped her around mud puddles, and over roots. Finally, there was a small clearing between the forest and the city of Sozun.
"Listen Katara, I want you back at Appa by midnight. I'll be waiting there for you. If your not back there by then I'm coming in after you, got it?" Sokka's face was stern and worried.
"I have it Sokka, I'll be back at Appa by midnight."
"Have fun and remember your plan."
"I will."
Sokka couldn't tell if if she meant the fun or the plan. She gave him a hug and walked steadily to the palace, with her back straight and head held high like all of the other women were doing. The sun was beginning to set, and her questions were answered by a clock tower in the middle of the capitol.
Gong!
Gong!
Gong!
Gong!
Gong!
Gong!
Gong!
Seven gongs. Seven o' clock. She should have plenty of time.
XXXX
Zuko kept a straight face as the women crowded around him, but truly, he was mortified.
Go away. Please! I don't want to dance with you just go away!
Zula smirked as her brother stepped back, away from the crowding women.
He's scared to dance with those pompous fools! This is going to be a rather entertaining night.
Zula was actually standing beside her father and mother. All of them were watching Zuko. He knew they expected him to dance with one of them, but they were all just so - giggly and expecting . . .
This is going to be a long night . . .
XXXX
Katara noted that Sokka had picked an exellent kimono for the occasion. Everyone was wearing black, red, orange, or yellow. She imagined that from above the ballroom might have looked like one giant flame.
Katara silently thanked the gods that she knew how to dance, for at that moment a man came up from behind. She took the hand he offered her and they made their way to the dance floor. They hadn't dance for long when another man wished to dance with her. Did she really look that good? Also, nearly everyone was wearing their masks, except for this one crowd of girls crowding around what she expected was Prince Zuko. After a while she began to tire of the dancong and silently made her way to the door to the garden.
XXXX
Zuko had agreed to dance with some of them, and he had, but this was ridiculus! He finally stopped and all of the girls crowded around him again. He couldn't take it anymore.
"Look, it's my twin!" He said to the bumbling girls as he pointed in the opposite direction and as they turned around to look, he slipped into the safety of the garden.
He could tell that his mother didn't approve of this. He could also tell that Zula and Ozai thought it rather amuzing. Just as he slipped outside he caught a glance of Admiral Zhao asking his sister to dance.
Pft. As sick and wrong as that is - they go together.
There was only one person outside - a girl in a red kimono. She sat on a bench next to the entrance to the garden maze, gazing at the moon. She really didn't seem to notice him. . .
XXXX
Katara had heard someone come outside, and she was quite sure it was Prince Zuko trying to escape from the giggly girls, but she didn't look away from the moon.
AN: Ha ha I'm gonna keep you waiting! The Zutara-y stuff will begin in the next chapter which I will post ASAP so as not to keep you guys waiting too long.
I suppose this was a pretty could cliffhanger, but just think how much more of a real cliffhanger I could have made it. This is a fun story to write, and I'm glad you guys are liking it too. Personly, I like Zula and Zhao as a couple. I'm writing this as though he hadn't been an idiot and allowed himself to die like in The Siege of the North. He's a idiot, and part of me - a tiny, ittie, bittie, part! - is only upset that he died cause it ruined so many of my fanfiction ideas.
Until next I update...