Kiss THIS!

zutara drabbles. (Plot, what plot? Have you ever heard of this strange thing they call plot?) A series of drabbles concerning a certain fire prince and water peasant and an authoress' many ways to get them to kiss.

Taken from the sixteen zutara prompts on lj. This is the third one. Expect at least thirteen more. (I plan to finish) I don't know for sure if all of them will have a kiss, but I'm going to try. This one is a modern day/AU/reincarnation one, just so you aren't confused.

And yes, Katrina and Zane were the closest modern-day names I could think of for Katara and Zuko.

"The world is full of people running." –Elizabeth Swados

She ran along the dirty streets of New York City, a book tucked neatly under her arm as she ran. Katrina knew it was wrong to steal from the local gang, not to mention stupid, but she needed this book, more than the gang ever would.

"STOP, THIEF!"

(She's running again, but it's different this time. Rather than the gang it's pirates who are chasing her, and instead of a book it's a scoll tucked under her arms. She think's they're going to catch when this man, her enemy, with rough, calisosed hands, grabs her wrist and smiles. "I'll save you from the pirates.")

She runs, keeps running—it's all she has left that she knows how to do. These professional criminals will start shooting at her soon, so she has to run. She doesn't remember how to fight—

("Aren't you a big girl now?" It's that same man from before, only he's different. He's tired and desperate but oh-so-determined to capture…something. (Katrina can't remember.) But she can't let him get it so she'll fight him, if she needs to.)

--but she'll fight them, if she needs to. She isn't just going to give in without a fight, she's too strong to do something like that.

Just a little farther, she tells herself, and then you are home free—

(She's with him again, that same man, only now it's different. She's different—older, wiser, and so is he—taller, more desperate…She doesn't remember their conversation, only a kiss. But it's just a kiss between enemies…friends…lovers, perhaps? She doesn't remember the full extent of their relationship, only the kiss, the warmth of his lips on her's and--)

She jumps over a knocked trash can and looks over her shoulders. With luck she's lost them, and she can go home, back to her brother…

Someone grabs her wrist and she jumps. Zane! The Governor's son…What was he doing here, holding onto her wrist like this. She's his enemy—he's never liked her, she's never liked him, and he picks on her in school. What's he doing here, with her, like this?

…Even still, she can't help but shake the vague familarity of this scene in front of her…

He smiles, and a forgotten memory flashes before her eyes.

("I'll save you from the pirates.")

"I'll save you from the gang." Zane says, holding onto her wrists tightly. "Follow me."

The world is full of people running—so why do I always run into you?

XXX
END

Hope you were able to follow that…:squirms: I'm not really fond of modern day-AU's, but I can make an exception if they're reincarnation fics. If you can't tell (and I've completely and utterly failed as an authoress) Zane and Katrina are the reincarnation of Zuko and Katara. They don't remember being Zuko and Katara, but they sometimes have flashes when things begin to feel vaguely familiar. I'll like the idea of Zuko/Zane saving her again in future years, too, so I had to do that.