Chapter 7: Training with Jet
Most of the group was sitting at their campfire, the stars lit up above them. Katara said, "I'm gonna go practice my bending." At Aang's hopeful expression, she clarified, "Alone." She stood and walked away toward the ocean. Aang's face had fallen.
"What's got you happy, Sparky?" Toph said, turning to Zuko.
"You seem so self-satisfied," Jet said, staring at him with narrowed eyes. "You enjoy your little trip with Katara?"
"Yeah, we had so much fun together confronting her mother's killer," Zuko said dryly.
Jet's expression turned sour and he said, "I bet you're fun at parties."
"I hate parties," Zuko said. Jet sighed, his shoulders slumping. Toph chuckled in amusement at the interaction.
"We should throw a welcome party for Zuko joining the group!" Sokka said. Suki looked amused at Sokka's excitement.
"What part of 'I hate parties' don't you understand?" Zuko said with irritation. "Besides, I've already been with you guys for weeks now."
"What about me?" Jet said. "I didn't get a welcome party." The group went silent and Jet frowned.
Suddenly Katara walked up to the group saying, "I forgot my …" she paused, noticing the awkward tension of the group. "Did I interrupt something?" She grabbed her waterskin that was leaning against the rock she had been sitting on. Everyone was still silent.
"Since this conversation is obviously not going anywhere, I'll go with you Katara," Jet said, sidling up beside her. "We never got to train earlier today," Jet smiled charmingly at her.
"I said I wanted to waterbend. And I want to be alone," Katara said, turning from him, annoyed. She stormed off, Jet watching with a hurt expression.
"Ouch," Toph said.
After walking a few paces from the group, Katara sighed, turning back to Jet. "We can train tomorrow," she said.
Zuko didn't understand why he was so irritated at Jet's self-satisfied smirk.
ooo
Katara woke up early the next day to prepare for training with Jet. She wasn't surprised to see Zuko awake as well. "You're up early," he said as she sat, tying up her hair.
She rolled her eyes and with a sigh said, "Yeah, I promised Jet I would practice with him around sunrise. I don't know what I was thinking," she said with a yawn.
Zuko smiled almost too sweetly as he said, "You wouldn't mind if I watched would you? I'm curious as to what Jet's been teaching you."
Katara wasn't sure why the idea of Zuko watching her train with Jet made her nervous. "Oh," she said with surprise, "sure, I guess."
"Unless you don't want me to watch?" Zuko said. "I understand if you wanted a … private lesson," he said.
Katara's face flushed from embarrassment. "I don't want to be anywhere private with Jet!" she said.
"Wow Katara," Jet said suddenly, walking up to them from his tent. Katara jumped, his presence catching her off guard. "I didn't realize being alone with me was so horrible," he said, his eyes narrowing and shifting to Zuko. "On the other hand, you just spent several days alone with Zuko."
Katara wanted to die. She wasn't usually made speechless by anything, but she found her mind blank. Thankfully, Zuko answered for her.
"Anywhere without you, Jet, is paradise," Zuko said, then added slyly, "but it was especially nice being with Katara." Katara looked at Zuko with shock to see him nod to Jet with a smirk. She looked at Jet and felt a bit amused at the fury on his face, realizing Zuko was trying to get a rise out of him. "I promise you Jet, I kept her warm on our trip."
Katara's face heated up again, and she lightly hit Zuko's arm with a laugh. "Stop it! Jet, come on, we should get started with some stretches." Of course, it couldn't be so simple.
"Sure," Jet said, "I'll help stretch you out Katara."
Katara was about to retort at his innuendo, but Zuko surprised her by irritably saying, "Typical Earth Kingdom ruffian."
"Oh, glorious prince of nothing," Jet sarcastically said, "why don't you teach me your classy ways?" Both boys seemed to be getting more and more angry at one another.
"Hey!" Katara said. As amused as she was by their bickering, she didn't want it to turn into uncontrolled violence. She scrambled trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation. "Save the rough talk for training. Maybe you two can have a little match yourselves."
"Hell yeah," Jet said. "I'd love to beat the other side of your ugly face in."
Zuko was looking at Jet murderously again, so Katara placed a hand on his shoulder. As Zuko's gaze shifted to her, it was as if he came out of a dream, blinking in surprise at the physical contact. He stared at her hand like it was an alien appendage. "I'd like to see you try," Zuko said to Jet simply, returning her smile.
oo
Jet was a surprisingly patient teacher. After their warm up, he started their training by showing her knife throwing. "No," he said, putting his hands on her stiff shoulders. "You want to relax your stance a bit," he said, softly patting her arms. She loosened up a bit. "Good," Jet said. Zuko let out a deep huff of air. "Got something to say Hot Pants?" Jet said.
"No," Zuko said, "carry on." He waved his hand in dismissal.
"You want your spine a bit straighter," Jet said, poking the middle of her back. She straightened her posture. "You're right-handed, right?" Katara nodded, and Jet continued. "Then when you throw, you want your right foot forward, and your left slightly behind it." She moved her feet as he said. "Opposite if you throw with your left hand," he moved his feet in position, the knife in his left hand.
Jet proceeded to show her a half spin throw and one spin throw. On her third try, Katara hit the center of the tree. "Nice hit Katara!" Jet praised her, and Katara smiled. As she slowly got better at hitting her target, Jet showed her a couple of increasingly more difficult throws. After half an hour of this, Jet said, "I think that's enough of throwing for now. You can practice anytime, as long a you have a clear target and a knife of course."
"Or just aim for Jet," Zuko said sarcastically. "Give him some dodging practice."
"Ha, ha," Jet said sarcastically. "Lovely commentary from the peanut gallery." Katara couldn't stop a giggle that came out of her. Their bickering was amusing to her, but it was too bad that they couldn't get along. Katara was noticing that both teens were very similar. She imagined they could be good friends if they tried to set aside their differences. "Come on Kat," Jet said, tapping her arm. "We're gonna move on to basic self-defense techniques."
Katara returned her focus to their training. "Right," she said. Suddenly Jet moved and grabbed her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist. "What …?" she quickly went into defensive mode, trying to get away. She noticed Zuko stand up in alarm.
"This is called …" Jet started saying, but Katara's mind went blank and she wanted his hands off of her. She suddenly side stepped and shifted a leg behind one of his, causing his grip on her to be strained. She grabbed his other leg and pulled it up, Jet gasping as he lost his balance. They both fell and she landed heavily on him, her elbow hitting him hard in the gut. His grip loosened completely and she stood, moving away from him. Jet was grasping his stomach, wincing with his breaths.
Zuko was full on laughing. "Who's teaching who now?" Zuko said mocking Jet. Sokka was guffawing, Toph was laughing, Aang was cheering, and Suki gave her a big smile and a thumbs up.
Katara looked up in surprise. "When did you guys get here?" she said, blushing at their praise.
"I was trying to show you the bear hug attack," Jet said from the ground. "Ugh," he mumbled, sitting up.
"Sorry," Katara said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "You caught me off guard when you started manhandling me." Her eyebrows knit together in irritation.
"You have some strong natural defense instincts," Jet said in praise as he stood up. "Another good way out of a bear hug attack is a shoulder throw. Will you let me walk you through it?"
"Sure," Katara rolled her eyes and moved in front of him.
He put his arms around her front and Toph snickered, saying, "I thought this was a training session, not a dance class." Katara blushed. She felt really awkward with everyone, especially Zuko watching.
"First," Jet murmured in her ear, "spread your legs in a wide stance." Katara widened her stance, and Jet nodded. "Now move your elbows up quickly to release some of the pressure of the bear hug. Good. Now grab my left hand with your right hand. Now pull me hard and throw me over …! Ooof!" Katara had pulled Jet over her back with her shoulder, and he had landed roughly on the ground. "Maybe not that hard," he grumbled.
The wheat in Jet's mouth was bent at a funny angle, his arms and legs splayed out from his rough tumble. His hair was wild, some leaves and dirt sticking to it from hitting his head on the ground twice now. Katara couldn't help the laugh that came out of her.
"I don't know about you guys, but this is making me feel better," Sokka said. Katara noticed Zuko grinning with amusement. Sokka and Katara definitely weren't the only ones to have enjoyment at Jet's expense.
"I'm ready to see this match with Zuko," Toph said.
Katara walked up to the tree Zuko was sitting against, playfully nudging his leg with hers as she sat next to him.
"I guess training is over Sugar Queen?" Jet pouted at her as he sat up from the ground. The way he said 'Sugar Queen' was much different than the way Toph said it.
"You were right about training with you making me feel better," Katara smiled. "Maybe next time I can use waterbending too."
"You murderous woman," Jet said, like it was an amazing compliment.
ooo
"Is this gonna be a non-bending match?" Katara said.
Zuko stood, and Katara noticed his dual dao swords strapped to his back. "Definitely no bending. Just like in Ba Sing Se," Zuko said, his eyes focused on Jet.
Jet stood in a defensive stance, pulling his twin hooks from his belt. "It's on, Hot Pants," Jet said. Zuko ran at him head on, their swords connecting with a clang. For a while, all Zuko knew was steel, shaggy black hair, and mocking eyes. They danced with their swords, trading blow after blow. Each stumbled a few times, but quickly recovered. They darted around each other, block, parry, block parry. Then Jet tried twisting one of Zuko's swords with his own, but Zuko used the momentum to pull on Jet's hooks. One hook clattered to the ground, and Zuko went back into the offensive. At the pressure Zuko put on him, Jet had to duck, and Zuko felt deja vu as his sword nearly took Jet's head off, cutting the wheat sticking out of his mouth instead.
Jet darted to grab his other sword, and Zuko stepped on it, surprising Jet by hitting his other hook sword away as well. Zuko held his sword up to Jet's neck, and Jet swallowed nervously, holding his hands up in a truce. It felt like the match lasted mere seconds, but it had been at least ten minutes. "You win," Jet grumbled. Team Avatar was cheering for Zuko. Zuko noticed Katara smiling, her arms crossed over her chest as she sat sprawled against the tree he had been sitting at. It had warmed his heart that she chose to sit with him.
"Maybe Katara should train with me instead," Zuko said teasingly.
"Sure!" Katara blurted out. Everyone turned to look at her in surprise. "I mean … I would train with anyone who wants to. Like Suki too!" she gestured toward the Kyoshi warrior.
"Riiiiight," Toph said. "Wanna train with me?" she grinned.
"Anyone except Toph," Katara said jokingly. Aang looked up excitedly at her and Katara said, "Aang we already train together allllll the time."
Aang pouted, "But I like training with you."
Zuko rolled his eyes, saying, "You just like her praising you all the time for the littlest things."
"Somebody sounds jealous," Toph teased in a sing-song voice.
"I'm not jealous!" Zuko said, embarrassed.
"Calm down, Sparky," Toph said, "I'm just teasing you. I know you're the only one who's not quite in love with Sugar Queen yet."
Sokka let out a strangled yell. Katara stood up and said, "I'm tired of my love life being the butt of every joke!" Then she turned away from the group and started walking toward the ocean. Everyone stared after her dramatic exit for a moment.
Zuko went after her. "I just barely made things better with her!" he yelled back at the group. He wasn't sure why he was following her, or if he even should, but it felt like the right thing to do. He slowly approached Katara. She sat on the beach, holding the tops of her knees as she stared into the horizon, the waves lapping against her ankles. "Mind if I sit?" Zuko said. Katara shook her head in response. They sat like that for a long time. Slowly, Katara shifted, her head moving onto his shoulder.
ooo
Slowly, Katara shifted, her head moving onto Zuko's shoulder. She froze in shock as she realized what she had done, then she sat up murmuring, "Sorry." Zuko turned toward her, staring at her. She turned her head and their eyes met for one, two, three seconds.
"It's ok," he said quietly.
She blushed and looked away. "I'm always a pretty affectionate person, but sometimes I forget myself, forget who I'm with."
"Ah, I see," Zuko said, his voice turning bitter.
"I-I didn't mean it like that," Katara said. She grabbed her face and covered it in embarrassment. "I mean I'm used to being around children, my brother, my girl friends, Aang. People I'm always affectionate with, people who aren't you or Jet or Haru." She said gloomily. "People who don't have knife throwing, scary girl-friends."
"You know, Mai isn't my girlfriend. We never dated. She actually probably hates me for locking her in that prison cell and being a 'traitor'," Zuko said grumpily.
"You really did lock her in a prison cell?" Katara said, her eyes widening. She already knew it from Sokka, but it was different to hear the story from him.
"Yeah," Zuko sighed. "I did it because I thought she was going to try to stop us, but then she ended up helping us. I still don't understand why."
"She must still care about you. You were friends right?" Katara said. Zuko nodded. As they sat together for a while, Katara was lost in her thoughts. "Zuko, why are you here?" she said suddenly.
Zuko stared at her in confusion for a few seconds. "To train Aang of course," he said dumbly.
Katara frowned, "I mean right here. With me." She pointed to the sand they sat on.
Zuko shrugged. "It felt like the right thing to do?" he said. It was clearly the wrong thing to say.
Katara suddenly stood up, visibly upset again. "Thanks so much," she said, quickly moving away from him. "I guess you've done your good deed for the day."
"I'm just trying to be a friend to you!" Zuko said, also the wrong thing to say apparently.
Katara walked away toward a large rock cliff yelling back at him, "I'm soooo glad we're friends Zuko! Now please take your friendship back to camp, because I need some time alone."
ooo
Zuko kicked sand angrily. "Stupid, stupid!" he said. "Why am I so bad at this?"
ooo
The group was eating a light breakfast before packing up to move on. Jet set a moon peach down where he was sitting to go grab his bag from his tent. When he walked back to his rock seat at the center of camp, his peach was gone. Jet stared around the area searching for it.
He spotted a guilty looking Momo holding a moon peach at the edge of the tree-line. "Momo, give it back!" Jet said, running at the winged lemur. They darted around, Momo jumping from tree to tree as Jet chased him from below.
ooo
"He could just have another one," Katara said to the rest of the group.
"Shhhh," Toph said, darting her arm out to stop Katara from going after him. "How could you take this away from us," Toph motioned to Jet, who was running around yelling at the winged lemur.
Katara sighed, "Ok, whatever. Just don't come to me when Jet actually murders Momo for this." As Katara said this, Jet pulled out his hook swords, starting to hack at the trees to get to Momo.
Aang shot up suddenly and ran off after Jet, his arms waving around as he explained that he could have another moon peach.
"No, this is personal!" Jet said, running after Momo again.
Zuko smirked as he bit into his own peach, a line of juice running down his chin. Katara turned slightly to face him and rubbed the juice off of his chin, then licked the finger with the juice on it. He stared at her in shock, and her face turned red as she realized what she had done. Maybe she should not have done that. "Sorry," she mumbled at the same time Zuko said, "thanks." They both blushed, then turned back to continue watching Jet run around chasing Momo.
"Did something just happen?" Toph said, turning to face Zuko and Katara.
"What?" Zuko said.
"Your heart rate just dramatically increased, Sparky," Toph said slyly.
Zuko stiffened and his face flushed. Katara cleared her throat awkwardly. The group turned in concern to a choking Sokka.
"You're like a child," Suki said, hitting Sokka's back. "Chew your food!"
"What did I miss," Jet said, running back up to the group with moon peach in hand, holding it up to show them. Everyone stared at him. Suddenly, Jet gasped. Momo sat on his shoulder, taking a huge bite out of his peach. They looked at each other for a moment, Momo's huge wide eyes innocently staring back at Jet's murderous glare. Momo squeaked and flew off, Jet throwing the peach after him. Momo grabbed the peach in the air with a triumphal squeal, flying over to Zuko's shoulder. Momo happily ate his peach, juice dripping down from him onto Zuko's cheek. Momo leaned down and licked it off of Zuko's face. Katara laughed, Jet grimaced, and Zuko hid a small smile.
Author's Note: No Katara hasn't found out about Jet's lie yet. Yes, she will find out and there will be repercussions, don't worry. All in due time. I hope you're all doing well, thank you for reading and reviewing! See you next week!