Sorry this took so long to come out. I had something happen in my personal life for the past few days. I had less time to work on the story. I also really disliked every draft I wrote and this is the only draft that I thought was enjoyable.
Please review.
Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA.
Chapter 15
Team Avatar headed toward their school, 'Turtle Duck Academy'. 'Kuzon' and 'Lee' had walked ahead of the rest of the team once again. When they walked in through the main entrance they were greeted by many students. On Ji ran up to Aang.
"Hey Kuzon, I was wondering if you would like to go to the 'Jasmine Dragon' with me after school? It-It's not a date... or anything," she stammered. "Some of my friends will be there," she reassured 'Kuzon'.
Katara watched as On Ji practically asked Aang to go out.
"Uhm..." he looked over at Katara, who turned away.
"Should I really do this?" he thought. "This might hurt Katara, but this will help me keep cover."
"Sure, I'll see you there," Aang blurted.
Katara walked away. She was a little hurt and jealous. She knew she was overreacting, but it still felt terrible.
A couple of periods had gone by and Aang and Zuko had headed to the courtyard. This was the bending period. Aang and Zuko were getting ready for their firebending class. They had taken off their shirts so their clothing was less likely to catch fire.
The non-benders had a training class that took place very close to the firebending class. They started and did some firebending drills with others. Nonbenders watched the shirtless firebenders. It had become a very common thing. Aang had ignored it but Zuko was getting self-conscious.
"Why do these girls have to come here to see us shirtless? If only they knew we had girlfriends then they wouldn't be so forward," he thought.
As they finished their warm-ups they waited for their instructor. Aang's eyes wandered and they ended up looking at the girls. They giggled at him while he instantly turned to look at his instructor.
"Good job on the work-outs students. Yao you could improve on your breathing," he said. "You have a five-minute break."
The class started walking over to the benches.
"Kuzon, Lee, come over here," their instructor, Sifu Mei Tan said.
"Yes, Sifu?" Aang asked.
"You two have quickly become my prize students. I would like you two to perform a practice Agni Kai tomorrow to demonstrate what you have learned. The headmaster is coming to watch and I want to impress him. Now listen, I don't want you to hurt each other, BUT I don't want any holding back either." he told them sternly.
"Sounds good, master," Aang said.
Zuko turned to Aang. "You're going down."
Mei Tan walked over to some kids who were fooling around and started scolding them.
"Earth King Kuei didn't tell the staff that we would be enrolled here?" Aang asked.
"I guess not. Let's just try to hide our identities, maybe there's a reason that the Earth King didn't tell them," Zuko responded.
"Possibly, but I still think it would've been better for them to know."
The class continued their training. Aang had improved his firebending by the end of the period. The rest of the school day sailed smoothly.
"So, how was your day?" Katara asked.
"It was pretty good. Our instructor told us that I have an Agni Kai with Zuko tomorrow," Aang said.
"What?" Katara said in disbelief.
"Our instructor wants us to duel to show off to the headmaster," Zuko said.
"Everyone was talking about it during last period, this is gonna be awesome," Sokka said.
"There's no way I'm going to class, I can't miss it," Toph said.
"It's during my free period. I'm able to go," Suki said.
"I'll be there too, I'll probably skip waterbending," Katara said. A couple of minutes went by and the Gaang were walking home.
"Hey, Aang. I was wondering if you-" Katara said.
"Hey Kuzon, are you ready to go?" On Ji called.
"Where are you going?" Katara asked, a little bit of jealousy and anger in her voice.
"Uh… we're meeting some friends to get tea at the Jasmine Dragon," Aang said.
"Oh, okay," she replied calmly. Aang was in shock. He thought she would be angry.
"You can come if you want," he said.
"Oh, I can't. I just remembered that I actually have to meet with my waterbending teacher," she said before running off.
"She's lying," Toph thought to herself.
Aang walked off with On Ji and they arrived at Iroh's teahouse.
"They said they were going to meet us here. I hope they didn't blow us off," On Ji said.
"Yeah, hopefully they didn't." Aang awkwardly laughed.
They waited a few more minutes.
"I guess they decided to not show," On Ji said.
"Oh well, we can still enjoy some tea," Aang replied.
"Oh no, this is like a date. I can't be going on dates. This might hurt Katara," he thought.
They ordered their tea and started to drink. They talked about school and the upcoming Agni Kai. Aang had tried to keep it simple and tried not to dive into romantic stuff. A few minutes later, Katara walked in. She was followed by a water tribe boy.
"Hey Katara," Aang said. His face fell when he saw him with her.
"Hi Kuzon," she responded.
"So, who's your friend?" he asked, passive-aggressively.
"This is Bo, a friend of mine from waterbending class. We just came to get some tea," she said casually.
"Oh hey," Aang said.
"Hey dude."
They shared tea as Aang was crumbling inside. He managed to save face but he left a few minutes later. Katara joined him on the couch back at the house.
"Hey Aang," Katara said. He didn't respond. "Aang..?" she asked.
"I'm-I'm sorry," he whispered. "I thought that accepting her invitation would throw people off my track. I've been trying so hard to hide my identity but I haven't even consider your feelings when making that choice."
There was a short silence.
"Aang, I think I should be apologizing." She looked up at the ceiling. "I just got so jealous. I just don't like sharing you with other girls, no girl does! But I need to realize that having to share you is for your safety and wellbeing."
"Well, the school can have 'Kuzon' and the world can have 'the Avatar', but you can have Aang all to yourself," he replied.
She giggled. "That's so cheesy, but I love cheesy." Katara pecked him on the lips.
"How about this? What if I take you someplace soon? Doesn't have to be tomorrow, but I want to spend some time with you, alone. Even though we've been in school for a couple of days, it's been hard on our relationship."
"We've been pretty unlucky. Ember Island, and now this? It's been difficult, but some of the best moments of my life have been shared with you and I want to keep creating those moments."
Another short silence.
"After school tomorrow, I'll take you someplace nice. Where we can just enjoy being together, being us," Aang said.
"I'd like that," she said.
They pulled each other into a long embrace which evolved into a long, passionate kiss.
The next morning, Aang got up early in anticipation. He was going duel Zuko really wanted to show how everyone how far he has come as a bender. He left early and headed to school. Katara woke up to find all of her friends in the main room except for Aang.
"Where's Aang?" she asked.
"He went to school early," Zuko replied.
"Oh," she said, disappointed.
"He left a note that's just for you," Sokka added.
Katara glared at Sokka, suspicious that he went through it.
"I didn't read it!" he tried explaining himself. Katara had a hard time believing him.
"He's telling the truth, Sugar Queen, BUT he left something out." Toph smirked. "He WAS going to read it until Suki snatched it from him."
Katara stared at Sokka more intensely. Sokka tried hiding behind Suki.
"Don't worry about it, Katara. I've got your back," Suki said. "I'll make sure he doesn't steal anymore of your notes or letters," Suki whispered.
Katara nodded as they shared a smile. Sokka removed his face from Suki's back to glance at Katara. She sent another death glare at him. He hid behind Suki again as Katara started reading the note:
Sorry I had to leave early. I'm just so excited for my Agni Kai with Zuko, that I wanted to get some training in. I've been thinking about our date ever since we first talked about it last night. I thought about where we should go, but I feel like it's better if we planned it in person. I'll be waiting in the courtyard. Love you!'
-Aang
Her heart fluttered. Katara was thankful to have such a sweet and thoughtful boyfriend.
Team Avatar got to the school. People were betting on the winner of the Agni Kai and some had visited 'Kuzon' to wish him good luck. Aang saw them and waved them over.
"Hey Zuko! Are you ready for the Agni Kai later today?" Aang asked.
"You know I am," Zuko grinned.
Katara walked closer to Aang. "I read through the note and-"
"Hey Kuzon, I'm here to let you know that I'm rooting for you," a girl said. Katara rolled her eyes.
"Uh... thanks?" Aang said awkwardly.
The girl giggled and blew him a kiss. Aang turned to Katara once again. She looked a tad bit disgusted, but other than that, she handled it well.
"Well, as I was saying, I got your note and I've been wondering where are we going?" she asked.
"I was thinking about going to Iroh's, we can grab some tea and maybe grab some of his advice too," Aang answered.
"Yeah, I'd like that. We'll be all alone and maybe he can give us some guidance through the issues we've been having," Katara said. She hugged him.
"Katara... we're not supposed to be this close in public, remember?" Aang asked.
"Shhh... don't spoil the moment."
It was third period. Aang and Sokka were walking to their history class. They had been talking about the Agni Kai later that day.
"Everyone is talking about the duel," Sokka said.
"It's pretty much everything anyone is talking about," Aang replied.
As they walked through the hallway, some girls started giggling. "We're rooting for you, Kuzon!" they all said.
"I wish they would just leave me alone," Aang said, frustrated.
"Why is all the worship bothering you?" Sokka asked.
"I've never really liked being worshipped, but Katara seems most affected by it. We talked and she's calmed down about it, but I know it's still getting to her and I know she still doesn't like it," he said.
"Maybe you should do something with her. To prove that she's the only girl on your mind and to get these insecurities out of her head," Sokka said.
"Yeah, you're right," Aang replied. Thinking about his date later that day.
Aang's history class went by quickly and he headed out to the fields for the duel. Most of the kids, teachers, and staff were there watching the duel. The headmaster was watching them. He wanted to see why everyone was so excited for this duel. Aang was turned away from Zuko. Aang turned around and his towel came off his shoulders. The two stood bare-chested one hundred feet away from each other. Aang shot fire out of his mouth and fists with a giant roar. The crowd cheered for 'Kuzon'.
"I can do this. I need to show everyone how far I've come from being stuck in that iceberg."
Zuko punched his fist forward and flames shot out at Aang. Aang twirled around it and shot his own blast. The two exchanged blast for a while without tiring. Then Aang decided to mix it up by kicking a larger blast at Zuko who just blocked them away. They were both using moves that were similar to the Dancing Dragon. Each had integrated the dance into their basic firebending move-set. One of the teachers commented on how elegantly they moved. The crowd cheered the whole time enjoying the fight.
"C'mon Zuko, just create some lightning for me to redirect and this will be over," Aang thought.
Zuko started moving in quickly. He formed fire daggers and attempted to fight Aang in a more hand to hand combat. Aang dodged all his moves and evaded him. Then he breathed fire at Zuko who was right in front of him and about to stab him with a flame dagger. Zuko hit the ground but shot fire out of his feet and knocked Aang down. Aang rolled over toward one of the buildings.
"Maybe having the high-ground will help me."
He climbed on the roof and attempted to fight Zuko with projectiles. The roof had tons of scorch marks on it as they dueled. Zuko started shooting large blasts at the roof to get Aang to fall off.
"Oh man, he's gonna knock me right off this roof." Aang thought to himself.
Aang jumped in the air and avoided getting scorched by a fast attack. He was falling and he knew he couldn't just airbend himself to safety. He shot flames out of his hands and feet like Ozai and Azula had done hoping it would slow him down. He started to slow down as he fell and landed harder than he would've hoped.
"Since Zuko isn't using lightning, maybe I will."
"Hey Lee, wanna see my ultimate move?" Aang said out loud.
Zuko smirked. "Whatever it is I will block it or redirect it."
"Redirect this," Aang said. He took his stance and started the motions.
The kids' faces turned to shock as Aang formed lightning around him. Team Avatar looked worried but Zuko and Aang were completely calm.
Aang shot his fingers forward and the lightning blasted toward Zuko. He took it in his two fingers and started to guide it. The other kids watched in amazement. None of them, even Team Avatar had ever seen lightning redirection. Aang started using the lightning technique again. Zuko and Aang both sent lightning at each other. The strike collided, knocking both of them over. The battlefield was now covered in smoke.
Aang went back on the ground. He couldn't see anything in the smoke. He stomped his feet and started to sense the vibrations for Zuko. Aang sent fireballs at Zuko. He could only block as he couldn't tell where Aang was.
Eventually, the fireballs stopped. Zuko started searching for Aang through the darkness. He felt his neck getting hot, and he looked up. A huge fireball was coming down. Aang had used the smoke to his advantage. He started sending fireballs, but they wouldn't stop the Aang's monstrous fireball from hitting him. Zuko's eyes widened as he realized that he couldn't dodge or stop it. He accepted the loss and got hit with the fireball.
Zuko passed out for a minute and Aang helped him up. The smoke settled while Zuko was out. They smiled at each other before a gong was hit.
"Kuzon has won the duel!" Aang heard his instructor say.
The crowd roared in a huge cheer. Aang was surrounded by fans while healers surrounded Zuko asking him if he was alright. He assured them that he didn't need healing and his injuries were very minor.
That day alone, Aang was asked out fourteen times and rejected every single girl. The only thing on his mind was his date. Even though he's already gone on a lot of dates with her, he still gets excited when thinking about it. Zuko had become extremely popular too. The Agni Kai helped greatly in boosting their publicity.