Hi everyone! Here is a new chapter! It starts directly where the last one ended.
I hope you like it! And if you do, then please review!:D
I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender, nor its characters.
Chapter Five
Jet obviously could read his thoughts (or more likely his facial expression), because he leaned to Sokka and put on an innocent smile. "Tell me, Sokka, what are you two doing for a living? Are you still living on your family's money?" Jet grinned at Zuko for a moment, who was actually glad that he didn't need to ask himself. It would be good to know how much money Katara earned, if he was going to pay her for pretending to be his girlfriend.
Sokka scoffed and crossed his arms. "Of course not. Besides, we're not richy rich like other people here." He looked pointedly at Zuko, who admittedly didn't do anything for a living. "I'm working in an engineering company as a phone consultant. Fourteen hours a week and so damn well paid!" His eyes almost formed yuan-signs. "I want to get there a job later in the development section. And Katara, she uh..., is looking for a job right now."
Jet pulled a sad face. "Aw, that's bad for her."
Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Why are you asking?" Sokka wanted to know and reached for the menu.
Zuko raised an eyebrow. Hadn't he just eaten like six waffles?
Jet shrugged. "I'm just currently looking for work, since I cannot let Zuko pay for our apartment the whole time."
Sokka gaped at Zuko.
What? Had he thought he wouldn't do this for friends?
"Jet, it's my dad's money. And the apartment is mine. It was a gift. You don't need to pay rent!" he said, probably for the hundredth time. Did Jet even know that Zuko always used this money from Jet to buy food, homewares and sometimes electronic folderol which Jet liked, for example the PS4 or Alexa from Amazon.
Jet rolled his eyes. "Of course I need to. Like you said, the apartment is yours. And I also need money to buy food and all the other stuff we need."
"I'm the one doing all the shopping!" Zuko objected, putting a scowl on his face.
Jet looked thoughtful. "Yeah, you're right. But I still need a job."
This was what confused Zuko even more. Jet did not need a job. He earned money from his apprenticeship. And he got his gigs as DJ. Zuko had no idea why Jet got those. In his opinion this music was awful and it did make him want to dance less than any other music. This was not just about Jet's music, just about techno and house in general. Zuko preferred the old rock or pop music. He liked to hear the instruments, to be able to distinguish them, and not just some sounds which form an awful melody with even more awful and uncreative lyrics.
But Jet made this face which showed Zuko that something had just happened that he hadn't understood at all. For his lack of understanding subtle tones in voices or hints in talks or expressions in faces, Jet had very often made fun of him. And developed certain very clear facial expressions, which showed Zuko if and what he had just missed. It had been life saving at the academy. Or at least saving his unit from extra rounds or himself from cleaning duty.
Zuko shrugged. "If you think so."
Jet gave him a pleased look and Zuko tried to hide his confusion.
"But Zuko, does that mean your dad is paying for everything you have?" Sokka asked with fully perceptible disgust in his voice.
This was just the moment when Katara came back with his tea and sat next to him. Great, now she would probably start to contempt him again, because he didn't have a job. He was not embarrassed at not having a job, since pleasing his father was already a full time job. Not that these people here would understand it. Not even Jet understood it. But his family took care of him and since they had a lot of money, he didn't see any problem with this. He would earn his own money later, after all. And he had had a job in high school at his uncle's tea shop. So he knew how work could be like.
"Yes," he said, hoping he didn't sound arrogant. He put the small sieve with the tea leaves into his mug.
"That's how Kasaishi is controlling him. If he behaves, he still gets money. He wouldn't even be able to get a job, because Kasaishi would just make sure he would get fired in a matter of days," Jet added, drawling.
Zuko looked at him, his expression saying "What the f**k?"
"Really?" Katara asked, sounding compassionate.
Zuko's head whipped around, staring at her frowning face.
But however great it was that Katara was showing compassion to him, he still needed to save some of his dignity. "It's not like I wouldn't behave if he wouldn't give me money. He's just providing for his children. For Azula, too. Besides, when my father was young they had very little money and he and his brother needed to work, too, since high school. I think dad just doesn't want Azula and me to have to do this, too. What's more, I'm already doing little things for the company, even if I'm not officially appointed. And not getting money for this would be unfair," he stated and almost sniffed.
Jet grinned. "Wow, I'm really a good influence on you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, feeling irritated.
"You just reached your maximum of words to say in one day in high school. Now you said it at once, within a minute!" Jet took a spoon and pretended it to be a microphone. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please allow me to introduce to you Kasaishi Zuko, the chatterbox!"
Katara chuckled and Sokka snorted, but had an amused expression on his face.
"Ha ha," Zuko said deadpan. "Very funny."
"And there he goes again, four more words!"
"I don't think 'ha' is actually a word," Katara interjected.
Sokka grinned. "It is, if it annoys Zuko."
Zuko glared at him, imagining to burn Sokka's stupid grin off his face.
"Sokka, stop it," Katara scolded her brother. "We agreed on peace, there is no need to get on his nerves anymore."
Sokka grimaced. "I never agreed on peace, besides, getting on someone's nerves is one of my favourite activities, so it doesn't actually have to do with the fact that I still don't like him."
Zuko wasn't hurt by this at all. He couldn't care less about what Sokka thought of him, but if he needed Katara to agree to become his girlfriend, then maybe he should try to get on Sokka's good side.
"What was it I did to you?" he asked and couldn't hide his annoyance.
"Being an roogant jerk like the whole time!" Sokka exclaimed. "In any class, everywhere! Whenever I said something in class you objected it, even if you actually thought the same! You said everything I said again, only in different and more academic words! You always wanted to be better, for no reason! And whenever I tried to talk to you you seemed so bored, as if I was wasting the precious little prince's time. And then Katara started not liking you, too, because you insulted her and nobody insults my sister but me!"
Zuko felt really taken aback by this rant. He hadn't expected Sokka to fall in a rant at all and he also hadn 't expected him to say what he said.
"Uh... Sorry? I didn't mean to do that. And for the record, it was Katara doing the insulting," he explained and took a sip of his tea.
Sokka raised an eyebrow at his sister. "You said he had behaved like a jerk! And that he had been mean to you!"
"Well, yeah, but I also did insult him and apart from showing me his middle finger I'm pretty sure Zuko didn't insult me," Katara said, blushing in embarrassment.
"That's because I didn't want to really be a jerk. I already made a twelve year old cry, I didn't want to insult a girl, too," he said.
"That's just sexist," Katara snarled. "You can insult boys, but no girls?"
Zuko frowned at her. "Am I getting this right, you want me to insult you?"
She shook her head. "No, but you shouldn't make a difference."
Why shouldn't he? It's not like cuss words for females were okay by moral standards. Bad words for men were way simpler in his opinion.
"Okay," he relented.
Sokka stared at him, his mouth twisted and his chin between index finger and thumb.
"What? I know I was an idiot in high school, okay? Every teenager is an idiot sometimes," Zuko started his last defence.
Sokka nodded. "You're right there. I'm glad you finally say it openly that you agree to what I said."
Zuko answered with a nod and drank from his tea again, glancing at Katara, because he wanted to know how she perceived all of this.
She still looked calm and friendly and he hoped he could keep it that way from now on. Although he feared her wrath would come upon him the moment he would ask her what he needed to ask her.
They sat together for the next half an hour and talked about what they had done after high school. Zuko was particularly impressed by Katara's social year, although he frowned, when he heard that it had been Aang's idea. Katara talked a lot about Aang in general and it seemed that he had been a big part of her life after high school, but Zuko didn't want to ask her if they were a couple or not. But Jet understood Zuko's raised eyebrows and just asked whether or not they were a couple. Zuko didn't manage to hide his pleased smile well, when Katara told them that she had broken up with Aang a couple of weeks ago. Jet kicked Zuko under the table to make him grimace. He almost hissed at Jet, but could still restrain himself. Jet did a lot of the talking, which seemed to bother Sokka pretty much.
Although Zuko had apologised to him, Sokka still didn't like him, and definitely not Jet. Jet had always been too smarmy for him and he felt like everything people got from Jet was fake. Sokka's mood only got worse when the girls in the sports gear left and the one with the short auburn hair didn't even look at him.
Jet did his best to drive Sokka away and tried to be everything that Sokka hated about him.
Katara and Zuko were mostly rather quiet, both thinking about the person sitting next to them. Zuko couldn't wait to get a moment alone with her, in which he could explain his situation to her and ask her, if she'd be interested in helping him.
A few minutes later Sokka finally left. Katara felt like she needed to go now, too, but part of her actually had fun listening to Jet's exaggerated stories and Zuko's incomprehensible grumbling responses. Sokka didn't expect Katara to come with him. She was an adult, after all. She lived with her ex-boyfriend and they would see each other the next day for lunch at their parents' house anyway, so there was no need to play overprotective brother. Besides, he knew Katara could handle herself and even if Jet would still want something from her, Sokka knew that Katara would never want to be with him again. And Zuko? He was probably as much of a threat to Katara as a butterfly. He seemed to be a rather serious and taciturn person, who would not flirt with a girl who had hated him in high school. So feeling assured that he wasn't needed Sokka left, hoping Katara would do something to make Jet choke or trip or slip, something that would shut him up.
Zuko was really surprised that Sokka left just like that. He had thought he would insist on Katara coming with him, but he didn't even mention it. Katara seemed to want to go with him, but she remained seated. Zuko wondered why that was and he looked at her, how she took a few sips from her tea and listened to Jet. What if... What if Katara still wanted Jet? What if she had still feelings for him? He couldn't ask her to pretend to be his girlfriend if that was the case, could he?
Jet yawned and stretched his arms in the air. "Oh, wow, look how late it got. I guess I'm calling it a day. Hope to see you soon, Katara. See you tomorrow, Zuko." With a few bills tucked under his saucer he stood, grabbed his coat and left, putting his coat on.
Zuko had noticed the pleased grin in Jet's eyes, though. His friend had given him an opportunity. He had to use it!
His heart pounded faster and his hands sweated. If he messed that up he would disappoint his father and he could never do that again. He basically didn't think about what happened nine years ago, often suppressing those feelings or thinking that he was different now, and his father, too, so that it would not ever happen again. But deep down he wasn't sure of that. That's why he felt this deep and dark fear behind his nervousness.
"Sooo... uh...," he rubbed his neck. "What do you have planned for tonight?"
Katara shot him a strange look, but replaced it with a thoughtful one. She shrugged. "I guess I'll go back to packing. I'm moving out tomorrow, and I still haven't prepared everything."
"Do you... have to leave right now?" he asked, sounding a bit self-consciously.
"I guess not." Katara looked curiously at him, playing with the necklace around her neck.
Zuko remembered how he had kept it once, just to annoy her for making Haru hate him, too. He had liked Haru, although he had never talked to him, but then Haru had become friends with Katara. And then there had been another person shooting him glares everywhere he went and bumping into his shoulder on purpose.
"I'm sorry, by the way. For, uh... not returning your necklace that one time," he said.
Katara gave him a surprised look and then glared at him. "I knew it was you! Why the hell did you steal my necklace?"
Zuko frowned. "You really can't take a guess? I had a lot of reasons the way you behaved. Besides, you started stealing my stuff!"
Katara laughed dryly. "I only stole your lunch! You had enough money to eat in the cafeteria! This necklace is something personal!"
"I didn't steal it! I found it on the floor of the gym and... well, kept it for a few weeks, because... Well, to annoy you. And I did return it!"
"Wow! What a great feat, thank you so much!" she said sarcastically.
"What's your problem now?" Zuko snapped, getting annoyed pretty quickly. This had happened years ago and in his opinion Katara had been way meaner to him than he to her.
She shook her head. "Never mind. Anyway, I should go. Cartons are waiting for me," she said curtly and Zuko just knew he had screwed this up. Again.
He tried to calm his temper, because he didn't want to shout out loud in this coffee shop. "Please tell me what has made you so angry now."
Katara's eyes narrowed for a moment, while she glared at him, but for some reason her face softened a moment later. "I never wanted to move to Ba Sing Se," She admitted a moment later, her voice quieter and thoughtful. "I hated it there. Even with getting friends it was still totally putting me off. So when we visited our home during the holidays my mother had this necklace made for me. She said that this way a part of the south would always be with me. When I thought it was lost I felt like my connection to my home was gone," she told him, her voice a little bit accusatory. "I know you didn't know what the necklace meant to me. And it happened years ago. You were an idiot and I... wasn't exactly the nicest person either." She sighed. "I accept your apology." Suddenly she looked up at him and smiled brightly. Zuko was close to being shocked how her mood changed so quickly again. "It's really nice of you to apologise. And to admit that it was you who took it. So, thanks, I guess. For finding and keeping it. You could've just kept it or thrown it away..."
Frowning Zuko shook his head. "I would never do that. This would be just as bad as stealing. The necklace belongs to you and I respected that. I had always planned on returning it."
She chuckled a bit. "It's kind of embarrassing now, actually. The way we behaved. It's like we were kindergarten children!"
Zuko smiled. "Yes, a bit."
"So... do you wanna sit here all night or are we going somewhere else?" Katara asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Somewhere else," he said, deciding that he could maybe be on the safer side if Katara would have a few drinks.
But luck was never on his side and it didn't change now. Just because he had found a girl who matched his father's wishes didn't mean it would be easy to convince her to do that.
Katara wanted to get dinner, not drinks. He was fine with that, too, since he really was hungry.
They just had to walk to the other side of the square, where there was a restaurant with local food. Katara complained a bit about the food, though, saying it was too spicy and too many things were fried. He just raised an eyebrow and told her she could just ask for the food not to be spicy or fried. She blushed and looked at the ground, telling him that this normally upset or annoyed the waiters, which she didn't like.
Rolling his eyes he took off his coat and sat down in front of her, this time. "So what? Why does their opinion bother you?"
Katara bit on her lower lip. "It's just... You know I'm not looking the way people do here. People always see where I come from and I just feel as if they would think less of me. You know, 'a girl from the south wanting to explore the big city and then she doesn't even appreciate the food!'", she said in an annoyed manner.
Zuko tried hard not to chuckle, since she faked a tired, exhausted and annoyed waiter who only wanted his or her shift to end rather well.
He shook his head. "It is still not important what they think. You don't like hot spices or crunchy food. That's all to that."
She frowned in confusion. "I never said I didn't like it. I just think there's too much of it."
He twisted his mouth and nodded finally in agreement. "You're probably right. But it's super popular, so you basically don't get anything else here, except for sweets, desserts and sushi."
"Well, the sushi from the capital is still not the same than this from the south. You can order sushi with fried fish here! With fried spicy fish!"
Zuko chuckled this time for real. It was funny that she got upset over something like that, when she had only got like this, whenever he had annoyed her back in high school. "I love that sushi. It's not so plain."
"Of course you would," Katara murmured and reached for the menu. "Oh gods, where did you bring me? They have chili signs next to every meal!" she exclaimed in horror.
Zuko was pretty sure that wasn't true, but she was right. There was only one meal with no chili next to it. Fried Maniok with fried chicken. That sounded actually quite good. But he would want his food to be spicy.
"So, you don't find anything?" Zuko asked in a concerned way.
Katara looked up at him, probably hearing the concern in his voice, too, and being surprised. "No, no it's okay. I guess I just miss food from the south. I don't mind this here. It reminds me of the voluntary year in Ethiopia. They eat a lot of maniok and chicken, too, although it wasn't fried," she told him, "but they sure loved spicy food, too. Aang and I were lucky to be with a group of mostly foreigners, so the food was kept rather mild."
"Was this the only time you've been outside of Elementia?" he asked, while his eyes settled on a spicy noodlesoop with vegetables, egg and beef.
"Yes, it was," she answered and looked at him curiously. "What about you? Have you ever been outside of Elementia?"
He nodded. "Yes. My father has friends in France and when I was little we spent the summers at the French Riviera. And when I lived in Ba Sing Se my uncle dragged me every holiday to some other far away place on Earth. I've been to many big cities and a few nature reservoirs."
"How was it?"
He shrugged. "Okay, I guess. It was interesting to see something else and be in a different country, but all the time I just wished I could be here."
She frowned. "Really? You had the luck to be out there and you couldn't appreciate it?"
He glowered at her. "You just said you miss being in the south! What's so wrong with wanting to be home?"
She kept his gaze, then she sighed and looked away. "Nothing. You're right, I'm sorry. Home is important and I understand why you want to be there. Although I don't understand why you want to be here. You probably also don't understand why I would want to be in a place where there is only one place in the village, where you can actually access the internet."
Zuko stared at her, mortified. "Seriously?!"
She grinned slightly. "Yeah. Most people just don't care about this there. Only the younger ones go to the internet café. Not every household has a landline. You'd think I'm used to all this noise and technology around me by now, wouldn't you?"
He shook his head. No. There were some things no one could ever get used to. "But why are you here then, if you'd rather be in the south?"
"I wanted to go back after high school. I thought my mother and grandmother would... Uh, wait. So, my dad is in the army and that's why we first left the south. It's also why I'm here now, instead of in the south. My mum rather wanted to move with him, and not return home, and my grandma and Sokka agreed. And I didn't want to go back on my own. I miss the south, but I don't think I could ever stand being separated from my family."
Zuko blinked, feeling bewildered at her openness and at what she had just freely shared with him. "I understand that," he said, his voice raspy. "When I was in Ba Sing Se, I only wanted to come back here. I missed my family so much, I would have gone everywhere, if they would have just been with me," he confessed, but didn't feel uncomfortable at all. This was strange, that of all people he felt relaxed with it had to be Katara. He mostly felt wary, when people asked him personal things and he never knew how to respond to them. In high school he had just snarled that it was none of their business. But he later understood that he couldn't treat people like that all the time. He hated lying, but it wasn't always so easy to be open. First of all, he had to pay attention to what he was saying. He couldn't just tell anyone his life story, and second, he felt uncomfortable with a lot of attention focused on him.
But it was just the two of them, so having all of Katara's attention was probably normal.
"Why didn't you just go back then? Was your uncle holding you prisoner or something?" she asked, a grin in her voice and one eyebrow raised, her face amused.
He paled immediately, knowing he had said too much. That happened when he became too comfortable. "Well, uh, no. I didn't hate Ba Sing Se...," lie, "and Azula was also there, soooo I just, erm, missed my parents. That's all. I probably exaggerated a bit," he quickly said, rubbing his back and trying to force his embarrassment away.
Shortly after that their waiter appeared next to them and asked for their orders. Zuko had decided on the noodle soup and Katara took the fried maniok although she did ask if her chicken could be simply fried in a pan, instead of being deep fried. Zuko saw for himself that she was right. The waiter wrinkled his nose, raised an eyebrow and stared at her for a few seconds before rolling his eyes and noting everything down. With a short nod he walked away. Zuko grimaced and hoped that this was an exception. Surely not everyone in the capital treated her like this. He chose to ask her.
"What? No! It's just because of my extra wishes and if I'd behave correctly they also would be friendlier, like they are to anyone else. In general the people here have always been really nice. They are curious about the south and compliment me a lot on my darker skin, since I also look tanned in winter." She chuckled. "It's funny that we have very little sun in the south, but our skin is still darker than yours and this here is basically the tropics. Anyway, I think I like the capital way better than Ba Sing Se. It's smaller. It's still a big city, but there is an end to it which feels not too far away. In Ba Sing Se I always had the impression as if the whole world was just a city. But here I'd say it's perfectly sized. Though I still don't understand why someone builds a city at the foot of a volcano."
"Fruitful ground. Hardened lava is way more fruitful than any other soil. Besides, I think this place is great. There is the huge mountain at our back, the valley in front is us, and all the way out there is the lake." The lake was very broad and even longer and in the middle of Elementia it seperated the west from the east.
Katara relented. "Okay, fine. But what if it explodes?"
"It's been inactive for the last thousand years. Besides, there are people checking on the volcano several times a month, so I think we would have enough time to evacuate the whole area, if it ever comes to an eruption," he explained, sounding a bit offended.
Katara just raised an eyebrow, not liking this sniff, since it made him look arrogant again. And she wanted to stop thinking about him that way. "Uhuh," she murmured, looking around if their food was already coming.
Zuko felt again as if he had said something wrong and became a bit angry. How was it that she could make him feel like this all the time? He felt guilty for something he didn't even know! Why was she always reacting to him like that? This fake relationship (if she agreed to it) would surely still be horrible, even if he had decided not to hate her anymore. He thought he could stand her, but he would definitely yell a lot at her if she kept being like this. His temper would just snap. He could already see how he yelled at her later for being such an annoying person. So he gritted his teeth and tried to ask her nicely what her problem was, instead of keeping all his emotions locked, and yelling later at her.
"What? I was just telling you some facts," he defended himself, trying to sound nice and friendly.
Katara twisted her mouth and sighed. "Alright. Well, okay, you did, but the way you said that just sounded way too arrogant."
Zuko frowned. "I didn't intend to!"
She shrugged. "Okay, then maybe you didn't, but you made me feel as if I was stupid for even considering an eruption."
He shook his head. "I clearly didn't want to do that. I just wanted to calm you and reassure you that people won't die here because of an explosion."
"Oh," she said, looking surprised. She wanted to apologise, but their food was being served by a friendlier waitress, who smiled.
At least Zuko thought she was friendlier. Katara thought she was trying to flirt with Zuko. Did she maybe recognise him? Did women want Zuko because of who he was? If the revolution hadn't happened then Zuko would be... a prince, Katara noticed, feeling the urge to laugh hysterically.
After the waitress was gone, she started eating and thought that it was actually really good. There were vegetables served with her maniok, which she really liked.
"Does it taste good?" Zuko asked, looking worried.
Katara's eyes widened and she quickly nodded. "Yes, of course! Don't get me wrong. The food here always tastes good. I'm just not used to spices and deep fried food."
Zuko nodded and took a few noodles between his chopsticks, putting them into his mouth.
They ate mostly in silence, dwelling on their own thoughts. Katara observed the other people in the restaurant, the friends and couples and families. It still hurt a bit that she broke up with Aang, but mostly, because she caused him pain, not because she still wanted to be with him. Her gaze fell on Zuko who concentrated mostly on his food and glanced around sometimes. Was he observing the people, too? Did he feel jealous of the couples, too? Or did he have a girlfriend? She quickly shook her head, not allowing herself to ponder about such things.
Instead she tried to focus on this "new" Zuko, or the Zuko she had never seen. How could she have been so wrong about him? Or why hadn't they tried to get past their difficulties earlier? She had seen him several times a week after school, while she had been together with Jet, but she had never even tried to like him. Sometimes he had provoked her, though, but mostly he had been civil and friendly around her. Now that was the only thing she saw. A friendly, nice and polite Zuko. Someone who lent her his coat, someone who apologised and wanted her to feel safe from volcano eruptions.
Zuko, meanwhile, was thinking along similar lines. It still surprised him that Katara and he had managed for over an hour now not to argue and yell at each other. He didn't even feel the urge to provoke her anymore. He thought it would be quite okay to have her as his fake girlfriend, if she kept behaving like this. But should he speak to her about that now or later? Maybe after dinner? Or should he ask her if she wanted to meet with him again and then ask her about his situation? He would do anything to make her agree to become his fake girlfriend. He knew no one else and he didn't want to imagine what his father would do, if he disappointed him. Failure was not an option.
He looked up from his soup and saw that Katara was watching him. He raised an eyebrow and she smiled at him, which surprised him.
Katara smiling at him was really strange. He straightened himself and stared at her, feeling a bit curious.
Katara's smile grew wider, her eyes larger and her eyebrows lifted at the same time. Now Zuko felt confused. But then Katara giggled and shook her head, drinking some water.
"Oh my gods, Zuko, are you anotomically not capable of smiling?" she giggled.
He frowned at her. "Of course I can smile."
She raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because I just smiled at you and you stared, as if you saw a ghost. Usually, people smile back, when they are smiled at."
He stirred his soup with his chopsticks. "Well, I haven't exactly seen you smile at me before, so this is still strange. Besides, your smile went creepy later."
"I wanted to make you laugh! Or smile at least!" she complained.
He twisted his mouth, and Katara sighed. "What does it take to make you smile?"
His frown deepened. "I think..."
But her question had apparently been rhetorical, since she kept talking. "Do I have to make you compliments? Or do you smile when you see puppies and babies? I always smile when I see them, they are just so cute!"
Without noticing he lifted one corner of his mouth, not because if the puppies and babies, but because of how Katara behaved. She sounded as if she was babbling, but somehow… he liked that.
Suddenly she pointed a finger at him. "Ha!"
He leaned back, feeling bewildered. "What?!
"You just smiled!"
"No, I didn't!"
"You did, too!"
"No, I did not smile!"
"Your left mouth corner lifted. It's called a lopsided smile," she told him, feeling very pleased with herself, as she smirked and put a piece of manioc in her mouth.
Zuko considered arguing, but he sighed and let it be. Maybe it was a good thing that he had smiled, even if it had only been lopsided.
Oh my god, I just figured out how to make this horizontal line appear! I've seen it in a lot of other fan fictions, but never knew how to do it. I don't have time now, since I have to get up early tomorrow, but when I have the time I'll update every chapter of every story and will replace '/' with the line.
I have also just noticed that I made a huge mistake with editing the chapters. I always saved the changes and thought that'll be it, but I didn't get that those changes weren't shown in the story if I didn't replace the old document with the edited one. So I did just that and now you can read answers to the reviews, which have been part of the document, but I was just too dumb to... Arrgghhhh! This is embarrassing and I'm frustrated with myself. Anyway...
For Love of Fire and Water readers: I'm sorry to make you wait so long, but this chapter takes longer than I thought, it's really difficutlt to write.
Answers to reviews:
IDidn'tSignUp4This: Wow, thanks! That is really nice of you! I actually didn't even think of arranged marriage when I had this idea... But you're right, Ozai is kind of doing that to his son.
uchihaNaruto247: Thank you! It's not really easy to write about their interaction, since they are not exactly the same people as in the series. Their life was different, so they are different, too. It is great to know that you're still reading this and that I didn't drive you away with my reply to your last review. A friend of mine read what I wrote and told me I sounded mean, which was totally not my intention! I really hope you didn't preceive it that way. And if you did, I'm really sorry then!
