CW: Attempted non consensual sexual congress. Well, that came out of nowhere, did it.
Chapter 20
Azula arrived for the U18 finals in Ba Sing Se as the odds on favorite to win the title. She wondered whether these supposedly knowledgeable bookmakers would still consider her the favorite if they actually knew just how out of sorts and unprepared she was at the start of the tournament.
It wasn't that she hadn't prepared. Azula had spent just as much time at the Pai Sho board as prior to all the other big tournaments in the past. It just hadn't been a time well spent. Ozai had taken an increased interest in her training, but with their relationship having worsened over the past few months, it had been an unwelcome and harrowing experience. Every little mistake she had made during their practice games had been magnified and blown out of proportion. She had been belittled and berated for every perceived flaw, and there had been physical abuse on top of it all. Not as severe as when she had crashed the car and tried to hide it, but still, there had been the occasional slap or heavy squeezing that left bruises, especially after Ozai had sampled a drink or two. Pai Sho practice became more about frantically trying to figure out what to do to avoid punishment, instead of actually opening her mind and trying to learn new things. This wasn't the way to get ready for the finals, and Azula didn't understand how her father could not see that.
Azula thought that she would be kept under tight supervision by her father during the actual tournament in Ba Sing Se. She was reasonably sure that had been the intended plan, but once again, something had come up at the last moment and Ozai had left Caldera City a day early, promising Azula to meet her in Ba Sing Se a week into the tournament and warning her not to disappoint him. Azula had then learned at the last moment that she would be flying to Ba Sing Se together with Zhao. That had been an unpleasant experience by itself. If she had known it in advance, she probably would have chosen to wear one of her snazzy pantsuits, because all throughout the flight, she constantly caught Zhao creepily checking out her legs. Azula had been incredibly relieved to learn that Zhao was only supposed to bring her to the Bosco Plaza Hotel which hosted both the tournament and its contestants.
Just being in Ba Sing Se felt a little nerve wracking for Azula. The estranged part of her family lived there, Iroh, Ursa and Zuko. Azula sincerely hoped that she wouldn't run into any of them. She didn't have to worry about Ursa and Zuko, they would be staying well away, but Iroh would probably show his know-it-all face at some point. As a grandmaster and former world champion, he was expected to make an appearance at the tournament, and Azula did not look forward to it because she was certain that her uncle would try to reach out to her, especially when he saw that Ozai was absent.
As if all these distracting thoughts weren't enough, being in Ba Sing Se also made Azula think of Ty Lee. It was possible that her first crush was still somewhere in the city, living in squalor. Azula desperately tried her best not to think about it, but the thoughts always returned unbidden, at the worst possible moment. Also, Azula couldn't stop thinking about meeting Katara Enuaraq again. A part of her was looking forward to seeing the Water Tribe girl, but the other part of Azula was worried whether Katara would even want to be friends anymore. Azula had promised to call, but then she hadn't, and a year had passed. Who really needed a friend that went absent for an entire year?
In short, Azula was not in a good and healthy frame of mind at the start of the tournament, definitely not in a shape required to perform well. Still, the draw had been kind to her and she was scheduled to play Joo Dee and Teo in the first two rounds, two of the weaker players and her regular victims. Azula firmly believed that she could defeat Joo Dee and Teo even when not at her best, and then gradually ease into tournament shape and be ready for the more dangerous opponents.
But then, a disaster had struck. She had lost her first round match to Joo Dee. She had lost to the fucking Joo Dee. It had been a humiliating disgrace and Azula thought she had heard the entire hall of spectators and other contestants laughing and openly mocking her as she made her escape as fast as she could. Azula also thought she had seen Katara trying to approach and intercept her, but Azula had been too ashamed to face anyone in the wake of such an embarrassment. She had fled to her penthouse suite to spend the rest of her day in seclusion, trying to get her head back into functional order before the next round.
And then she had gone and suffered the same embarrassing outcome against Teo Guyuk. It was almost like a mirror image of her defeat to Joo Dee. Azula could not summon any of the flair and confidence that was usually a part of her game. She just wasn't herself at the Pai Sho board right now. She had tried to force the right frame of mind to come back, but it just wasn't something that could be forced. Azula was simply not feeling it at the moment and she didn't know what to do about it.
Obviously, the disastrous start to her tournament had put Azula in a very dark place mentally, making it even harder for her to attempt a comeback. Azula knew that in order to win the tournament she would have to win the rest of her remaining nine games, and she just wasn't in that sort of shape to achieve such a feat. She had hit the self-destruct button before even arriving in Ba Sing Se. Now, all she could do was to await her father's arrival and the brutal punishment that would inevitably follow. He would probably wait for them to get back home to Caldera City before unleashing on her, but once he did… this was probably the greatest shame Azula had ever inflicted upon the Nakamura family name, so she was expecting Ozai to do terrible things to her. She seriously considered that he might actually go as far as to killing her. And then she became disturbed by her own lack of reaction to that thought, merely a meek acceptance of her fate.
That was when Azula had thought of something ingenuous. Her father was already mad at her and was going to beat her senseless. Nothing she did now could possibly make her punishment any worse, right? So… this seemed like the perfect opportunity to go out and enjoy all the things which Azula had denied herself in fear of her father's wrath, things like staying out late, enjoying booze and the company of boys. She was already in trouble. Azula figured that she might as well go all the way, living it up and going on a partying and drinking binge before her father showed up.
As soon as darkness of the evening fell, Azula headed out, making sure to wear the sexiest outfit she could put together, including her red cuissardes – ultra tall boots that went way above the knee – together with a matching red mini skirt. It didn't take her long to find a nightclub right next to the hotel. The bouncer looked very dubious about her claims of being eighteen, but with a smirk on his face he still allowed her to enter. Hot girls like Azula just didn't get turned away, even if they were clearly still minors. The bartender was a slightly different story from the bouncer, however, because selling booze to minors carried with it steep penalties, such a losing one's alcohol license. That was why five minutes after entering the club, Azula found herself sitting at the bar and trying to persuade the man behind the counter that she definitely was eighteen and not sixteen and a half, but so far neither making eyes at the bartender or straight up namedropping had worked.
"What's all this arguing about?" Azula's bickering with the bartender was suddenly interrupted by someone walking up behind them, Azula finding a hand landing on her shoulder. She whirled around to look up into the face of Chan Takahashi, his friend Ruon-Jian standing next to him, grinning.
"This child wants me to believe that she's of the legal age to drink," the bartender rolled his eyes. "It's hilarious."
"Don't say that, Ruon and I know the young lady," Chan smiled sweetly at her. "She's eighteen, just as we are," he added, giving Ruon–Jian a subtle nod of the head. "Here, we'll vouch for her," Chan said as Ruon discreetly slipped the bartender a couple of rolled up hundred yuan bills.
"Now, how about some goddamn drinks," Ruon winked at the bartender.
"Sure, perfectly legal eighteen year olds, what would you like to have?" the man behind the counter asked.
"Azula, baby, what would you like?" Chan asked as he and Ruon sat down on either side of her.
Azula was vaguely aware that getting drunk with Chan and Ruon was a terrible idea. However, she was done giving a fuck about the best behavior expected of her. Her father was on his way to either kill her or make her wish she was dead. And she was going to do all the stupid and ill-advised things that she could manage to do before Ozai arrived. "Recommend something, big boy," she chuckled at Chan.
"How about some absinthe?" Ruon-Jian suggested.
"Fuck no," the bartender shook his head. "I am not giving her absinthe. You don't have enough money to bribe me to do crazy shit like that."
"I think I want some of this absinthe, whatever it is," Azula insisted. This seemed like a stupid and dangerous idea, so of course, she was now determined to try it.
"Forget it," the bartender shook his head. "You want to get fucked up? I'll mix you some Shuhon Island Iced Teas. At least those won't kill you."
"You're offering me tea? What is this, a tea room for the elderly?" Azula rolled her eyes, making the others burst into laughter.
"Baby, this iced tea will make you feel really warm and really good, trust me," Chan grinned at her. "Also, it's incredibly delicious… just as delicious as you."
"Yeah, you're going to love it, Azula," Ruon-Jian nodded. Azula was perfectly aware of his hand occasionally landing on her knee or her thigh, just as Chan's hand moved between her shoulder and all the way down to her lower back.
When she had thought about hanging out with some boys, Chan and Ruon-Jian hadn't exactly been at the top of her list. However, she was determined to make as many idiotic and terrible choices as she could manage, and for that purpose, hanging out with Chan and Ruon shot right up to the top of said list. "All I'm hearing so far are promises," Azula snorted, then facing the two guys with a sultry smile. "Let's hope you can actually deliver on them."
The Jasmine Dragon teahouse directly next to the Bosco Plaza Hotel had almost instantly become something of a regular hangout for Katara and her friends. With Jasmine Dragon teahouses becoming a thriving international chain (there were no less than eleven of them in Ba Sing Se alone!), obviously, they could not expect to run into Iroh Nakamura himself at one of his many teahouses. However, Uncle Iroh was scheduled to attend the tournament as a guest of honor at some point towards its conclusion, and all of them were looking forward to it.
Every afternoon following the conclusion of their tournament games, Katara, Yue, Toph and Aang would come to the teahouse, whip out their Pai Sho boards and go over their games, analyzing them together. It was a great way to learn from their mistakes, improve their game and prepare for the upcoming matches. Sokka was hanging out with them, although he faced a hard time hiding his boredom, and Katara often had to tell him off for trying to distract Yue or for trying to steal his girlfriend away for a few making out sessions.
The tournament had started very confusingly. Everyone was in shock about the pre-tournament favorite Azula Nakamura playing atrociously and losing her first two games. At the same time, the others were failing to capitalize on this opportunity. For the first time in the tournament's history, nobody had managed to win their first two games. Four of the participants were on 1.5 points out of 2, Katara, Aang, Yue and Kori Morishita. Katara was slightly disappointed with herself for failing to beat Aang in their game. Once again, she had been let down by her lack of killer instinct when facing her two younger friends. She had no trouble defeating Yue, the girl she was in love with. But when Katara faced Aang or Toph, her mothering instincts seemed to kick in and she just couldn't deliver the killing blow.
Despite getting off to a reasonable start in the tournament and being able to finally spend time with her amazing friends, Katara felt frustrated, worried and unhappy, and it all had to do with Azula Nakamura. Coming to Ba Sing Se, Katara had hoped to rekindle the friendship she thought they had established the year before in Caldera City. However, Azula's tournament was off to a terrible start and she had all but fled the game hall following her two embarrassing defeats, ignoring Katara's attempts to reach out to her. Katara just didn't know what to do or how to help the other girl. At least Katara would be facing Azula in the next round. Azula would have no way to avoid communicating with her then.
"Hey, Sugar Queen? Have you gone deaf or something?" Katara suddenly found Toph's hand roughly shaking her shoulder, the Water Tribe girl having drifted off to her thoughts. "We all keep asking what you thought about my last move!"
"Oh… sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you," Katara blushed, trying to focus on the position of tiles on the Pai Sho board. Focusing was easier said and done, however, when she was this distracted. Whatever was going on with Azula Nakamura was starting to spread and affect her as well, threatening to throw Katara off her game. "Let me see…"
"I think I know what you were thinking about, Katara," Yue gave her a cheeky smile, making Katara blush even harder. "Honestly, though, I'm just as perplexed as everyone else. It's like someone has replaced Azula Nakamura with a clone that sucks at Pai Sho."
"Something clearly is wrong with her," Toph nodded. "Not that I really care," she hastened to add. "If the favorite shoots herself in the foot like that… well, she's doing a massive favor for the rest of us."
"Forget about Pai Sho, I'm just worried about what's going on in her head," Katara sighed. "I wish she'd talk to me. Something serious must have happened for it to have affected her like this."
"I agree with Katara," Aang nodded in agreement. "Azula doesn't even look herself right now."
"You've been… studying her a lot, Twinkletoes?" Toph asked innocently.
"Oh, shut up!" Aang grumbled, playfully punching Toph in the shoulder. Toph shoved him right back so hard that she nearly knocked Aang out of his seat. The Air Nation kid quickly recomposed himself. "I meant that she looks timid and frightened. Not her confident self at all."
"Well, I'm not letting her flee after our game tomorrow," Katara said with determination. "I'm prepared to tackle her if that's what it takes to get to the bottom of what's going on with her."
"You're really invested in her well-being, Kat," Yue remarked, in a slightly odd tone of voice that Katara couldn't immediately place. It almost sounded as if she was a little jealous? Surely that couldn't be, though, so Katara quickly dismissed the thought.
"Well, yes, because ever since I've learned what her father is capable of, I can't help but feel worried about her," Katara sighed. "She's playing just awful right now. I am terrified from simply thinking about what her father might do to her if she doesn't pull herself together. She's not a bad person whatever any of you might think. She's just a kid, like the rest of us. That her father would be beating her senseless, the thought of it sickens me. Of course I'm determined to help her!" she finished passionately.
"You're right," Yue nodded, smiling in agreement. "It is sick. And if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know. Maybe you can talk Azula into hanging out with our little group. That might cheer her up. I think we'd all be fine with that, yes?" she looked around expectantly.
"Of course!" Aang nodded quickly. "I'm always happy to make new friends, no matter how prickly they seem at first," he added, winking at Toph.
"Hey! Don't you compare me to that prissy 'I'm better than everyone else' bitch!" Toph glared back at Aang. "And yeah, I'm not really all that excited about hanging out with her."
"Come on, Toph, drop that tough girl act for once," Yue said, unusually sternly for her. "You have to admit that the way Ozai Nakamura treats his daughter is not right."
"Ugh… well, sure. Obviously," Toph rolled her eyes. "Well, fine, since you're all for it, I'm not going to be the lone dissenter. Bring her along if you want. But if she says stupid shit, I'm so going to call her out on it."
"She actually doesn't mind that," Katara smiled. "Azula is ignorant about a lot of things, but when you point them out to her, she doesn't dismiss them and she actually considers your arguments. That's kind of why I enjoyed hanging out with her." She then glanced at her brother. "Sokka, you haven't said anything. Are you alright with the plan?"
"Of course, sis," Sokka nodded. "Listen, I was kind of an insensitive dick when I first told you about Azula getting pummeled by her father. But after hanging out with her at the after-party last year… yeah, Azula is alright. I mean, she can't be that bad, she actually laughed at one of my awesome jokes."
"I think that was more of a sad pity laugh, Sokka," Yue quipped.
"Oh no! Cruelly betrayed by my own girlfriend!" Sokka exclaimed dramatically.
"What a pair of dorks," Toph chuckled. "Hey, Twinkletoes?" she turned towards Aang. "We're running low on tea, go get some more for us. Oh, and more of those awesome little butter cookies," Toph commanded, handing Aang a handful of yuan. Aang looked a little miffed at being ordered around, but then just grinned irrepressibly and walked off.
With Sokka and Yue having stepped a little aside for a subtle session of smooching, Toph and Katara were left at the table all by themselves. "Sugar Queen?" Toph spoke up eventually. "Twinkletoes finally asked me out. You know, like… on a real date."
"Oh, he did? That's wonderful!" Katara clapped her hands excitedly. "About time, too! Where is Aang taking you?"
"Nowhere," Toph shrugged. "I told him that I just wanted to be friends with him and nothing more than that."
Katara felt her eyes bulging from shock and surprise. "What? But I thought you really liked Aang! Why would you turn him down? Isn't this what you wanted?"
"Yeah, I thought I wanted it, but…" Toph looked uncertain. "I don't know. I definitely wanted it two years, maybe even a year ago. But we've spent so much time being best buds that I'm having a hard time seeing Aang as anything else but a friend. I think he actually feels the same way. He was probably asking me out from a sense of duty or something stupid like that. I think he was relieved when I said no."
"Aww, and I was hoping that you two would end up being an item," Katara sighed. "Well, as long as you're sure that this is what you want."
"I'm reasonably sure," Toph nodded. "I mean, I was crushing on Aang when I was twelve. That's like being a total child. What kind of loser ends up with the guy or girl they were crushing on at twelve?"
"Uh, I guess so, Toph," Katara shrugged, then subtly nodding towards Aang, approaching with the tray and bringing with him a pair of steaming teapots, a little jug of milk, and three bowls full of Toph's favorite butter cookies. Sokka and Yue rejoined them shortly and they then spent the next hour analyzing Katara's win over Ruon-Jian and Yue's drawn game with Chan Takahashi. It was getting past eight in the evening by the time they all felt they had done enough preparation for the next round of play.
"So, tomorrow I'm playing Chan, and Katara has a date with Azula," Toph stated, her words making Katara spill a few drops of her tea. "Aang, Yue, remind me who you're up against?"
"I'm playing Kori," Aang said. "She seems to be playing really well this year, so I need to be careful."
"And I'm up against Joo Dee," Yue added. "She did defeat Azula, although… I think it was more a case of Azula defeating herself, really."
"So, tomorrow should be four wins out of four for the team," Toph nodded with certainty. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm done with Pai Sho for tonight. Another look at that board and I'm going to puke out all those cookies I've eaten. Are we ready to head back to the hotel?"
"Feel free to do that, Yue and I are going to see a late night showing of 'Night of the Living Dead'," Sokka said.
"Oooh, I've been meaning to see that!" Toph exclaimed eagerly. "C'mon, Twinkletoes, you're coming with me." Aang blinked, but then seemed to resign himself to his fate.
"Toph, you should be aware that Sokka and Yue will want to sit in the back row and spend most of the movie making out," Katara said, aware that she was failing to keep a pang of jealousy out of her voice. Yue shot her a guilty and apologetic look that instantly made Katara feel horrible. Yes, she was jealous of her brother's relationship with Yue, but she didn't want to make Yue feel guilty.
"Well, Aang and I won't be doing that," Toph nodded with certainty. "Besides, I can't do the back row, my eyesight isn't good enough even with the spectacles. Anyway, you coming, Sugar Queen?"
"Oh, no… no, I think I'll head back to the hotel and turn in early," Katara shook her head. "But I hope the rest of you have a great time at the movies."
Soon afterwards, Katara parted ways with the rest of the group outside of the Jasmine Dragon teahouse, herself heading back towards the nearby Bosco Plaza Hotel. Katara smiled and greeted the receptionist as she made her way towards the elevator, then sighing as the elevator doors closed almost right in her face. The light indicator above the doors showed that the elevator was heading all the way up to the penultimate eleventh floor. Considering that it would be a long wait and she only needed to get up to the fourth floor, Katara decided to quickly jog up the stairs.
When she emerged in the otherwise empty hallway, Katara was immediately alerted by the voices coming from around the corner. "C'mon, Chan, stop making out with her, let's just get her to my room fast." The voice seemed to belong to Ruon-Jian Ogawa.
"This is harder than it looks, dumbass, she can't even stand up anymore," Chan chuckled back at his buddy.
Feeling both concerned and alarmed by what was going on Katara rounded the corner and froze. Chan had Azula up against the wall, pushing tightly against her and kissing her, while Ruon-Jian was standing close by, leaning in to run his hand up Azula's thigh and under her skirt.
Katara felt blood hitting her temples in a maddening rush of anger as she stepped forth to intervene. "What do you two think you're doing?" she exclaimed angrily, forcing the two boys to pull away from Azula. Without their support, the Fire Nation girl slid down to floor, remaining slumped, completely out of it.
"Well, Chan, look who turned up just at the right time," Ruon-Jian slowly began to approach Katara, a sleazy, drunken grin on his face. "I mean, a threesome was going to be awesome, but a foursome? That's even better."
"Hell, yeah!" Chan cheered drunkenly. "Grab her!"
Ruon-Jian made a move to seize her, but Katara pulled back at just the right moment. She wanted to scream for help, hoping that someone in the nearby rooms would come to their aid, but overcome by panic, Katara instead simply froze, unable to act. Ruon-Jian was about to grab her when much to Katara's relief, there was the familiar jingle of the arriving elevator right behind her. The sound alerted the two Fire Nation delinquents and they snapped out of their momentary bout of insanity, suddenly looking frightened. Moments later, they dashed off to hide in their respective rooms, leaving Katara to stand over a drunk and passed out Azula.
"My goodness! What happened here?" a male voice spoke up as the hotel guests emerging from the elevator rounded the corner and spotted them. Katara was relieved to see that it was Teo Guyuk and his scientist father accompanying him. It was the elder man who now rushed forward to check up on them. "Is your friend alright, young miss?" he asked in concern.
"Oh… is that Azula?" Teo asked, pulling closer in his wheelchair. "Katara, what happened to her?"
"I think she has enjoyed one drink too many," Katara replied. "She probably made a poor choice of company for the evening. I only just came across her here." She briefly pondered whether to mention what Chan and Ruon-Jian had clearly intended, then deciding to keep quiet for now. She didn't want to create a scandal involving Azula. Who could say how her father would react to that? Ozai Nakamura could easily be that type of man who thought that women invited these sorts of unwelcome advances against themselves by dressing or acting inappropriately.
"Should we get a doctor?" Teo's father asked, sounding concerned.
"I don't think so, Mr. Guyuk," Katara shook her head. "But I would appreciate your help getting her to safety. I think dragging Azula up to the penthouse would be too much work. My room is close by. I can watch over her."
"That's very kind of you, Miss Katara," Teo's father smiled. Together with Katara, they managed to somehow propel Azula up to her feet and then they stumbled all the way to Katara's room. Mr. Guyuk helped Katara lower Azula on the bed, ensuring that she was resting comfortably before leaving.
"Thank you so much for helping, Mr. Guyuk, I don't think I could have managed that without your assistance," Katara once again thanked the kind man. Teo was really taking after his father in that regard. As a general rule, people of the Earth Kingdom, at least in the major cities like Ba Sing Se, were rarely as kind and helpful as Teo and his father. Then again, they came from a small village so far up north that they might as well consider themselves to be culturally Water Tribe.
"If you notice her condition worsening, please don't hesitate to ask the receptionist to send for a doctor," Mr. Guyuk told her. "Hopefully it won't be necessary and the worst she'll have to deal with will be a terrible hangover in the morning."
"Oh…" Katara didn't know anything about hangovers. She was way too proper. "What can I do to help her with that?"
"Have her drink plenty of water. Juice of any citrus fruit is good, too. And a couple of Tylenol pills for the headache should work wonders," Teo's father explained.
"Good, I have some orange juice and a bottle of Tylenol," Katara nodded, bidding farewell to Teo and his father, then closing the door to her room and making sure that it was properly locked. Chan and Ruon had appeared spooked, but she didn't want to take any chances. Then Katara turned on the small lamp on the nightstand and spent the next twenty minutes trying to pull off Azula's ridiculously massive boots. While Katara definitely appreciated the aesthetic of Azula's boots, they had to be the most impractical footwear she had ever come across. When Katara had finally managed to pull the cuissardes off, she was drenched in sweat.
Katara then considered her next steps. When it came to the rest of Azula's clothing, Katara wasn't going to touch it, uncomfortable as sleeping in it might be. However, there was one thing that she wanted to do before turning in and that was to remove Azula's makeup, before repeating the procedure with her own makeup. Azula didn't make a single sound throughout the whole ordeal, remaining passed out. Katara then made sure to find the carton of orange juice and a bottle of Tylenol pills, leaving them on the table in case they would be required in the morning.
Having done all that, Katara quickly shucked her clothes and slipped into her blue pajamas with white stars before crawling into the bed. It was large enough to leave plenty of room for both her and Azula. Katara leaned back onto her pillow and stared up at the ceiling, wondering about the absurdity of the situation and feeling relieved to hear the steadiness of Azula's breathing. Suddenly, Katara began to remember something she had read in the papers recently, about some celebrity who had died in their sleep after overdosing on some drugs… was it barbiturates or something like that? What if Azula wasn't just drunk, what if those idiots had also drugged her?
Katara became frantic from worry, wondering what she should do. Perhaps she ought to have called for the doctor after all. Maybe Azula should have her stomach pumped. Then again, she seemed to be breathing freely and calmly, so perhaps everything was fine. Still, just to be completely sure, Katara decided to quickly dash into the bathroom and fill a glass of water. Returning to the bed, she managed to get Azula awake enough to force her to empty the glass of water. Some of the liquid ended up getting spilled, but Azula managed to swallow most of it. Then, remembering what she had read about overdosing victims suffocating on their own vomit, Katara rolled Azula onto her side to prevent this from happening. To make sure that Azula wouldn't roll over again in her sleep, Katara ended up trapping the other girl between the wall and her body.
And that was how Katara ended up falling asleep several hours later, with the help of a Librium pill and with her left side pressing up tightly against the back of a softly snoring Azula…
Next chapter: Katara helps Azula deal with a massive hangover and all sorts of fallout as they sit down for a Serious Conversation.