Disclaimer: I own Koima
Ya'll's reviews were awesome! Thank you so much! Confusion mucho in this chapter.
Chapter14
Meditation and confusing feelings
Later that night there was a knock on Zuko's door, disturbing his meditation. Zuko opened an eye, if it was Uncle he would 'lose his temper.' The door opened and Zuko turned to see who the unlucky intruder was. Wasn't it enough that he had lost again to the Avatar and have to wait until next time to capture him? Zuko's irritation burned out when he saw who it was. Koima stood in the doorway, meekly looking in at him, a small tray in her hands with a bowl set atop of it. She looked hesitant, but stepped in when she saw Zuko relax.
"Your Uncle thinks that you might be hungry." She said quietly and sat the tray on the nightstand beside Zuko's bed. Zuko got up from his cross-legged position on the floor and went up to her. "Thank you, but I'm not hungry." He lied, in fact, he was starving but he didn't feel like eating. Koima looked down, unsure how to respond but an , "Oh."
(Awkward silence)…………..
"What were you doing?" Koima asked, breaking the silence as she pointed at his meditation table, "You know…just sitting there."
'She doesn't know what meditating is?' Zuko explained what he was doing, "I was meditating, trying to clear my head and relax. Don't you ever meditate?"
Koi shook her head, "I didn't even know what it was until now. How often do you do it? How long?"
Zuko shrugged, "As much as I need to I guess….. maybe a couple times a day?" Zuko didn't even know. He spent a lot of time in his room enough as it is. It's where he felt the most comfortable, the lease stressed and irritable. Zuko had an idea, "Would you like to meditate with me?" He asked her, trying to sound as bored and indifferent as he could, "It's easy."
Koima blinked and looked at the table, "Um……..sure." She hesitated. Zuko beckoned her to sit with him at the table, she did and waited for further instructions like a little pupil. Zuko crossed his legs and Koima copied him to the best of her abilities.
"Close your eyes , breath in and out slowly…and just think."
Koi frowned, "That it?"
Zuko nodded, a smile twitching the corners of his mouth as he watched the girl beside him breath in and out, trying her best to do what he was doing. Zuko closed his eyes, and joined her.
;Iroh;
Uncle Iroh looked in Koi's room, but her could not see her. Where was she? She had been missing for the past hour! Iroh checked in the infirmary, Col bowed to him and said that he had not seen Koi all day. Iroh frowned, he thought back to earlier… He had sent her to Zuko's room to give him the food she had prepared for him, her own recipe……Zuko's room…..Oh Spirits! Uncle Iroh cursed his foolishness, why in Agni's name did he do it? He knew his nephew liked Koima, even I he did keep it a secret, Iroh hobbled to his nephew's door and pressed his ear to the door and listened, fearing the worst.
Silence greeted his pressed ear, 'What was going on?' Iroh opened the door and peered in. What he saw made him sigh in relief and also made him wonder…. Zuko and Koi had their backs to him, both sitting at Zuko's small meditation table and were still and quiet. The expansion of their chests giving him the only sign that they were alive. Uncle Iroh smiled, his nephew had found a way to connect with Koi. They had both found a common interest he believed. 'Things will be a little different around here,' Iroh predicted. Seeing the to young ones so close together and meditating with one another filled Iroh with a strange sense of accomplishment.
Iroh pulled his head back and closed the door quietly and chuckled to himself, "I wonder what they're thinking about right now…"
:;:; Koima:;:;
I opened my eyes and looked beside me at Zuko, he stayed in his pose; eyes closed, face bare of any expression, breathing in and out slowly through his nose. It was right them that it struck me that he was handsome. Edge chiseled features, smooth pale skin… I was on his right side, I couldn't see the scar that his father had given him two years ago. He looked calm, serene…flawless. My heart quickened in my chest, what was I thinking? Why am I thinking like this? I had never felt this way before, what was it?
I looked back at the dragon image above the meditation table and closed my eyes, trying in vain to calm my rapid beating heart. Could he hear it? I breathed easy, trying to think of something else other than Zuko.
;Zuko;
Zuko wanted his heart to stop beating as if he run a marathon! 'Good spirits! Could she hear it?' He heard Koi shift in her position, he staid still and made himself appear calm when, in fact, he felt as if his heart was going to explode out of his chest. He felt Koima looking at him, he cracked an eyelid the moment she had turned away to look at the dragon positioned over the table. She closed her eyes and went back to meditating. Zuko opened his eyes and looked, she appeared to be frowning slightly. Why? Yes…she was frowning, her lips turned down at the edges, making her look as if she was concentrating very hard about a troubling matter.
He went back to meditating but found that he couldn't concentrate anymore. Careful not to bother Koima, he got up.
"Did I disturb you?"
Zuko turned, Koi was looking up at him. Zuko shook his head. Koima stood up and straightened her kimono.
"I'll leave you then. Goodnight." Koi bowed and before Zuko could say anything she left, closing the door behind her. Zuko stared at the door for a moment before he realized what had happened. He sighed, falling onto his bed and groaned. The one time he's around her for more then ten minutes she leaves. Was it him? Zuko rubbed his eyes, muttering curses.
A rumble in his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten since midday. Ten hours ago! He looked at the soup that Koi had brought for him to eat. He picked it up, discovering that it was cold. He heated it up in his hand and took a sip of the soup. He paused, rolling the flavor around his mouth a moment before swallowing. It was an odd taste, good, but odd. He tasted ginger and…shrimp? He took another sip, getting a piece of meat in his mouth. Yes, Shrimp. Shrimp in soup? 'The cooks had never made this before…' Zuko ate it all, savoring the taste. He dipped his bread in the soup, getting little chunks of shrimp on the bread amd munched on it, hoping that the cooks would make it more often.
:;:Koima:;:
'Why does my stomach hurt…' I laid in bed staring at the ceiling, was this ache in my stomach a sign that my moon time was coming? I shook my head, no, that was a week ago. I tossed and turned in my bed, finally settling on my side, facing the door to my room. My mind was a cyclone of thoughts and feelings. Most of them I couldn't understand. I groaned, covering my face with the pillow, "What is wrong with me?" Of course, no answer came, just silence that couldn't have been more annoying.
Another port in a few days…part of the Earth nation I was told by the helmsman. Not a very populated one at that. Mostly it was forest and mountains. The Avatar was reported being near there. I didn't want to see the Avat- Aang. If he recognized me and said something, Zuko would know and he wouldn't talk to me ever again. Why couldn't I just have stayed on the ship? But I knew that I couldn't, I had to get my doll and see my village. Why was life so confusing and cruel? I turned my back to the door and fell asleep.
Not very long. But all I could do at the moment. I got a new haircut! It looks awesome. MY MOM DID IT! Instead of halfway down my bck, it is now at my shoulders. "My head feels so light, like it's about to float away." Who ever can tell me who said that and in what chapter, wins a box of cookies. You pick the type. I gotta go! R&R please!
