Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or 'Night Drive' by Jimmy Eat World.
A/N: I just finished my other Avatar story 'Dreamland' and am currently working on 'Enticement' and other fics from other categories, but in my ATLA-obsession phase plot bunnies keep popping up everywhere and insist I feed them posting-carrots. So, yeah. What you're about to read is a very complicatedly written fic, because I wrote it in two different times, two different moods. I was hyper in the first part, then stopped. A couple of days later I went on to continuing it and was pretty sober then, so, sorry if the change bothers you about halfway into it. Anyway, go, read, enjoy.
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Give me everything you got now
I don't feel a single thing
Drag me out into the cold rain
Let it hover over me…
"Aang, give me more firewood," Katara instructed, in her attempt to produce a campfire by rubbing two sticks together. She held out her hand, impatient. "Aang?"
"Sorry, Katara, we're all out," the Avatar mumbled sheepishly.
That only furthered her irritable mood, which was conceived at the very start of the day.
Firstly, they had been chased away from one of the only places in the Earth Kingdom that actually accommodated them by an army fleet from the Fire Nation, led by none other than their princess. And, while on the run, she had to tolerate Sokka's confessions that 'for a chick who's trying to kill us and all, she's pretty hot,' with the pun intended.
Shortly after that, Appa got a bad intestinal problem and crashed into the water, choosing a swampy river as his choice of landing location. Not to mention that a friendly housewife had just provided her with a new emerald green cloak the previous day, which was now soaking with marsh muck and forever stained with mud.
When the giant bison finally finished with his 'business,' they sought shelter in another nearby town, but Sokka just had to overturn the fruit vendor's cart, sending all the spherical produces rolling away in different directions, and the non-spherical ones to hit the ground with numerous 'SPLAT!' effects. They spent a precious forty minutes looking for all the missing fruit, but of course, when they made it back to the merchant, nearly all of his crop were spoiled and ruined. So, naturally, paying for 4/5 of all the fruit sucked all that was left of their meager amount of money dry like a fishpond in July. It would have been okay if the fruit were edible, but that would include saying that dirt-flavored bananas and squashed oranges were good enough to eat.
And then Toph had infuriated the town's blacksmith by calling his apron 'girly,' who also happened to be the owner of the only inn in town, extinguishing all their chances of sleeping somewhere decent for the nighttime. Katara didn't even know how Toph figured out that the apron was indeed sprinkled with spring flowers and colored fuchsia, but the blind earthbender was 'special' that way. And, speaking of Toph, she seemed to have vanished a while after they came upon the clearing, no doubt running around to cause havoc to random tourists.
Thusly, they returned to the forest, their oldest friend and home… which happened to house a vast array of mosquitoes and other creepy crawlies, numerous unnamable jungle beasts, and the ever-present scare of the occasional Fire Nation soldier.
And to top it all off, she had a nasty case of the runny nose.
Katara was not usually a picky person, but the day was all but going uphill for her, and it didn't help that the one person who was older than her (not including Aang's century-trapped-in-an-iceberg phase) was already snoring his stupid head off, leaving her to take care of everything else.
"Ugh. Fine. Let everything be against me today. UGH!" She stood up, brushed herself off, and, huffing mightily, stormed off into the distance.
"Um, okay. I'm gonna try to find some fruit…" Trailed Aang's voice behind her, who, at his own mention of fruit, began to emit puking sounds.
As she walked away, drowning in the calm peacefulness of the night, she sighed, glad to be free of the world's burdens for even just an instant. She looked up at the moon, which cast an eerie yet beautiful glow to the dark surroundings, and mused to herself.
"Oh Yue, I marvel at how it's like to be up there in the sky, watching all of us down here with all these troubles that might seem silly to you now. I wish that even for only twenty four hours that I could be like you and…"
She halted in the middle of her speech as something wet splattered on the top of her head. A betrayed expression crossed her face and nearly shook her fist at the heavens, a highly dramatic gesture with no purpose at all, if Saturday morning cartoons happened to be showing in that era. Seconds later, it began to rain.
"ACK!" She rushed to escape the downpour, but there was no safe place to hide. Only after a couple of minutes did she realize that she had been running aimlessly and was now lost amidst the bushy undergrowths and overhanging trees. The rain ahead of her put a haze on her vision, and the leaves and ground in the forest blurred together in the shower.
"I HATE THIS!" She yelled, her scream drowned in the blast of the storm, with the striking thunder and rumbling lightning… err, the other way around.
She wrapped her arms around herself as an icy wind blew by, chilling her drenched body and doing anything but wonders for her cold.
"Why, of all the people in the world, did the gods choose me to have this mother of all bad days…" her mumblings stopped when suddenly, the rain did too, as if having a spasm like a faucet being turned on and off and on and off and on and… you get the idea.
And all was silent again.
Then, out of nowhere, an anguished moan echoed throughout the forest. Katara would have frozen in place if she wasn't already frozen by the mood-swingy rain. The sound was nothing short of human, almost animal-like. She shivered. This was the stuff horror movies were made of…
"Hello? Is anyone out there?" See? A thriller in the making.
No answer. She tried again. "Hello?"
Now another tortured groan was the reply. Her interest bested all the warning bells that went off in her head, so she went on to investigate. As they say, curiosity killed the cat.
She went in the direction of the noise and upon stumbling upon the guilty scene, gasped in surprise and horror.
In the moonlight that now proved menacing, she saw the hunched outline of someone propped against a tree trunk, with a weird blue and white tribal mask covering his face and hands pressed to his side, and when one quickly grabbed the handle of the broadsword beside him upon seeing her, she saw that the fingers were red with blood.
The figure struggled to stand up, all the while waving the sword threateningly in her direction.
"Oh no, please, wait, I came to…" Before she could finish, his grip on the sword loosened, hands clamoring to where they formerly were, making the sword clatter on the ground, and she rushed forward to catch him as he staggered and crashed down as well.
The man tried to keep away from her, but her grasp on him was viselike.
"Oh no you don't, mister. Not until I take care of you. That 'cut' on your under your ribs looks serious," she reprimanded him.
"Why…?" His voice was haggard; no doubt, it hurt him to talk. "For all you know… I could… be an enemy… who'll slit your throat right after you…"
"That doesn't matter." The events of the day must've taken a toll on her sanity; what if he was right and she should just leave him here all alone to die…? She shook her head. For her, that wasn't even an option.
"You are a fool, girl." Was his only curt response, in a tone that seemed achingly familiar. Where had she heard it before? Maybe it was just her imagination again.
"And you're in pain, whoever you are." She snapped back. "That means I can't just ignore you. Not like this." He paused in his struggle. "So, Mr. Mystery, I suggest you lean back and let me do my work so we can both go back on our separate paths and pretend none of this ever happened, okay?"
His answer cam in form of him followed her orders. Unscrewing the lid on her sealskin flask, which she filled up earlier as a defense if ever they came up against 'unpleasant encounters' such as the entire Fire Nation paraphernalia, she summoned the water in a thin crystal stream, which she noted he watched with rapt fascination.
"You should take off your shirt," she said, and blushed in spite of herself. He started to untie his enigmatic mask when he impeded, as if remembering something. He motioned to her.
"Oh, right." She turned her head as he removed his mask, then his shirt, and placed the mask back on to conceal his identity.
"Is it alright now?"
He grunted. Now this was really memorable to her. Who of her acquaintance does that?
"I guess it is."
Now that his torso was bare, she could visibly see the wound, which was worse than she thought. Even in all the time they spent interacting the bleeding hadn't discontinued, so that was her first priority. The abrasion was cut deep and clearly infected, making her wonder where he had gotten it in the first place.
As she performed the healing process, he spoke suddenly.
"It's Blue Spirit."
She stared dumbly at the painted markings on his visor. "Huh?"
"That's my name, what they call me."
"Oh." Blue Spirit. "It has a nice ring to it," she uttered aloud. He stayed quiet but she imagined the corners of his lips tugging into a smile.
As she closed up the gash, she proceeded to tearing up the cloak that had been given to her yesterday to use for bandages. As she began to bind him up, she couldn't help but admire the athletic physique of the Blue Spirit, and her cheeks reddened yet again. Guess who's got a crush…?
Then she noticed him wince ever-so slightly, maybe from the contact of the cloth on the lesion that was still fresh.
"Sorry." She muttered, striving to be more sensitive and careful.
When her hands trailed softer on his skin, she heard him mutter something under his breath.
"What did you say?" she wanted to know.
"Nothing."
"If it's really nothing, you wouldn't mind telling me."
He breathed deeply in defeat.
"Your touch. It's comforting."
"Oh." A hush swept over them, but who could be blamed? What could she have said to that?
"You are the Avatar's traveling companion," as a statement and not a question, with an air of righteous confidence.
"Yes. How did you know?"
"Hard to keep a low profile if you're a shadow of the most famous person in this century."
"Oh yeah, I forgot. Hehe." She chuckled dryly, feeling like an utter imbecile. Why does she keep saying the wrong thing?
"Well, there you go. Might still sting a bit, but it's better than you bleeding to death," she remarked as she finished dressing the injury.
The Blue Spirit nodded. "Thank you," barely above a whisper.
"So, um… what happened anyway?"
"I will only say that I've been stealing food. Anything else might be incriminating."
"So, you're a freedom fighter, huh?" The term brought back unpleasant memories of a certain boy named Jet…
"No. A solitary traveler. You can suggest I'm a rebel, but that isn't exactly correct." He seemed to be warming up to her.
"Huh. Okay. Well, who are you?" She blurted before she could think about it.
He tensed immediately. "If I wanted anyone to know, would I have worn a mask?"
She imagined herself shrinking in size. "I-I w-wasn't thinking a-about…" She stammered uselessly. Surely she had provoked him now.
He calmed down a bit. "Pardon my manners. My temper is untamed. Unfortunately, this is one of those times." He sighed. Somehow, that made the human she imagined dwelled behind that mask more real, if the blood hadn't already done that.
"Having a bad day, aren't you?"
"You could say that."
"That makes the both of us." She sympathized, scooting closer to him as she rested her back on the tree as well.
"So," she coughed into her hand. "What ruined your day?"
He seemed surprised when she spoke again, but considering that she did heal him, felt entitled to reply.
"A run-in with the townsfolk. Particularly the violent ones. They don't appreciate firebenders."
"So… you're an ally of the firebenders?" Only slightly bitter, mind you.
He turned to her. "No." He snapped his fingers, and instantly a burst of flame burnt through the cloth of his rough gloves and danced on his fingertip.
"I am one."
Her eyes widened in panic, and she scrambled backwards in apprehension, taking the cap off her flask only to remember that she had used up all her water to seal his injury.
He stood up as well, drawing nearer with only a vague limping from one hand still pressed under his chest. Katara noted this, not that it mattered. A newly-healed wound paired with firebending and an obvious knowledge of sword fighting was more than the advantage he needed.
He laughed wryly as she swirled her hands into the air, trying to beckon any available condensation from the aftereffects of the rain. She assumed he could hear the pounding of her heart beneath her breast, which she cursed to high heaven.
"I suppose it had been rather mindless of you…" One step. "…to extinguish your only weapon…" Two steps. "…to put an edge over someone…" Three steps and he's there. "…who might be a deadly adversary, but…"
What he said next couldn't have caught her more off guard.
"… I suppose I owe you a favor," breathlessly.
Her eyes were still twice as big as lotus tiles. "A-alright."
Amused, amused, amused. "So, what do you ask of me? I'll do anything."
"I-I…" Just one thing. "I want to know who you are."
He must have looked stricken, mortified, for he lost his teasing composure. "Honor is something I wouldn't worry about losing now, but…
"Fine. I am in your debt."
Two hands go behind the mask, and then it falls, falls, falls to the ground…
"Zu-zuko?"
His expression was calm, impassive as the moon beamed on it. "Are you afraid of my face now that you've seen it?"
Speechless, but no one can blame her. She had thought the man she just healed was a stranger; a stranger that turned out to be one of her greatest enemies. She turned around, hugging herself, shoulders trembling.
"I'm sorry our meeting had to end this way…" Footsteps, then her braid being lifted. Warm breaths on her neck, then something smooth brushing the skin below her ear ever-so-softly…
Her breath hitched, and her heart stopped beating for just a moment. Did he just kiss her…!
"But I'll be seeing you again."
However, when she risked a glance back at him, he was gone, with only an ocean foam mask in his wake.
No need for pretenses when the truth is far more damning.
But three fingers point back to you
We could stay here, stay here all night
No one will know us and the moonlight…
Fin
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A/N: Yeah, I know it was weird and I only half-understand the line as well. I know the plot is cliché but as a Zutara fan I felt obligated to contribute my take on the storyline. Before you leave with a question mark over your head, if you have time on your hands please do check out my other ATLA fics (three are completely Zutara, one is slightly Zutara and Kataang, the other is Mai/Zuko, and the last is a general AU) but before you do, please, please
REVIEW!
PS Zuko fans, you gotta check out this video (just remove the spaces): www. youtube. com/ watch? vAZawdwBkkFA&NR
PS on a completely unrelated side note, watch the part in Shrek where Robin Hood and his men are doing a dance number. Yeah, it just cracks me up. Haha. I think I win the award for most spontaneous yet sensible author's note of the year. :)