Zutara Week- Found
AN: This is an AU where Zuko and Katara were raised together in the Fire nation, but she still wears her necklace.
…..
Ten-year-old Zuko wandered aimlessly through the palace garden, kicking flowers and tossing stones in the turtle-duck pond as he stumbled upon them. Stupid Azula and her stupid bending and her stupid cuteness that tricks everyone! He fumed inside his mind because he dares not say it out loud; he was caught once, and she burned his pants right off. He scanned the surrounding area for any prying eyes before continuing his rant.
"Haha! I beat you again Zuzu, and I'm older than you! Haha!" he imitates his sister's voice surprisingly well and begins to pluck petals off a red flower rimed with gold and a black centre that reminded him of Azula.
"Well guess what Azula? Soon I'll be bigger and stronger than you and beat you in a bending match! Then Katara won't have to be pushed around by you again!"
He kicked the flower beds with more force, the rim of his eyes turning red with the pollen attacking his eyes.
"Don't forget I'll be Fire Lord soon and-"A gorgeous blue flower stood out from the rest, stopping his foot from swinging mid-air. The petals had an illusion of a swirling pool of water and the centre held a rich brown and white mix of colours. He couldn't hurt it, this one reminded him so much of Katara. He dropped the torn Azula-flower in exchange for the Katara-flower, stroking the underside of the petals as if it were a fragile turtle-duck. She would love this! A blush blossomed on his cheek as he imagined her reaction, what would he say when she asked where he found it? He wasn't one to observe flowers, this is so girly!
Zuko sighed. Against his violently protesting masculinity, he trudged forward. He'll just shove the flower towards her and walk away, with as much dignity as he can muster.
She was sitting on the other side of the courtyard, squatting on the dirt and grovelling around it like a peasant, ignorant to the world around her, to Zuko's relief. On closer inspection, he realised she was planting seeds with her bare hands and watering the soil with a jug equally as dirt-ridden as her hands. If he was going to turn back, now would be the perfect opportunity, but his legs kept shuffling forward until he was standing by her side, two metres separating them from contact. There was no backing out of it now, she's about to reach for the jug, she's looking up…
"I found this flower!"
She fell back in surprise; this is a bad start.
Zuko shoved the flower in her direction and looked away, trying desperately to hide his reddening cheeks. Katara's mouth still hung out in surprise for a few more painfully awkward seconds.
"Well, are you going to take it or what?" Why did you snap at her, idiot?
"I mean, uh, you can take it if you want or not..."
"You don't normally give me flowers", she was teasing him now!
"It's pretty" He reassures himself he's not going to take the bait. He's going to give it to her and leave without making a clown of himself, full stop.
"All the flowers here are pretty"
"I just think this one is prettier" He was smug that he managed to evade the question, to Katara's dismay.
"You said that all flowers look the same to you before!" She was smirking like a monkey now.
"THIS ONE LOOKS LIKE YOU AND IT'S PRETTY LIKE YOU! PLEASE JUST TAKE IT!" Damnit.
"That's, uh, really sweet of you!" She stuttered as she grabbed the flower and inspected it. Now both of them were blushing, just great. She expecting a different answer, then. She broke the silence and began to dig another hole and bury the flower inside it, shocking Zuko.
Was she doing this on purpose? Does she hate me?
"I think this one is pretty too. I'm burying it so more flowers will grow, silly. This garden needs more blue flowers here anyway."
"Yeh, I like blue"
….
I might've been inspired just a LIL BIT by Boogum's Sun And Moon fanfic…just a teeny bit…
But srlsy. Go check her out, her Zutara is dope.