The Burning Rose
Chapter Eight: The Aftermath
I have nothing to say.
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Katara stomped down the brightly torch lit hallways as she thought about him. 'How could he call me a peasant!? Of all of the stupid things the spoiled prince had said before I have never heard him…'
"Katara!" a voice rang out from the hallway in front of her, which broke her thoughts about Zuko.
"Aang?" she said as she saw the particular tattooed boy quickly stride up to her.
"Where were you?" he said as he pulled her into a hug and his arms wrapped around her back. "I was worried."
"You are never going to believe this, Aang," she said as she hesitantly pulled him out of the hug, settled her arms on his shoulders, and stared into his grey eyes, his hands hanging like limp noodles at his sides. "Zuko tried to attack me."
"What?" Aang said, disbelief clearly showing in his face. He let go of Katara and stood in shock. "Zuko wouldn't do anything like that, would he?"
"He did," she said, trying persuade him that she was telling the truth as Aang began to pace in front of her. "Go ask him yourself. He wouldn't deny it!"
"I don't know, Katara," Aang said, periodically moving his eyes to look at Katara's and the floor while still pacing. His right index finger had moved up, between his lips and his thumb under his chin with all of the rest of the fingers curled up beside his palm. "I couldn't imagine Zuko to attack you, unless you wanted to fight him. He usually doesn't lose his temper like that anymore."
"Well, I didn't ask him to fight me, if that is what you are implying!" she yelled at him. She quietly calmed her temper, took a few deep breaths, then continued. "He would send fire blasts from the trees, and I didn't know it was him till I knocked him out. He was wearing a black cape that covered his face, and he stuck to the shadows, almost like he was making sure I couldn't see him, or where he was going. He wasn't as good as he was when he was before the comet. Actually, it was like he had just learned his first firebending lesson.
"Anyways, I took him out with a water whip to the head, but even Momo could have dodged it!" she explained as Aang continually paced and thought, staying silent. She could feel herself get mad as she began to describe their verbal fight, but she didn't mention when he had gotten so close, she could feel his breath on her skin and it made goosebumps raise on her skin. It warmed her whole body when his breath touched her skin. She had enjoyed the feeling of a shiver running down her spine, but she chastised herself for thinking things like that, and continued the tale.
Finally, when she was done, she stood with her left foot out, tapping it impatiently as Aang stopped moving and stared at Katara with a knowing look. He opened his mouth once, then closed it, looking like a gaping fish, then he opened his mouth once more.
"Hm," Aang said as he began to rub his chin. After a few seconds, his face brightened and he stuck his index finger up. "I know! I will go ask Zuko!"
"Well, I don't want to see anymore of that arrogant Fire Lord!" She harrumphed, and spun on her heel, fuming as she stomped down the hallway, standing right before her door, before Aang's voice rang out again.
"Are you sure, Katara?" He called from the opposite side of the hallway.
"YES!" she yelled back as she walked into the open door and slammed it shut, instantly falling onto her bed. She grabbed one of her small yellow pillows off the bed and stuck her face into it before screaming. The prince, no, Fire Lord, would make her so angry sometimes. She screamed a few more times, each time renewed as the fight replayed in her head. Finally, she flopped on the bed and threw the pillow against the opposing wall, staring out her window to the balcony.
She had the blue curtains drawn, but the moon, high in the sky, could still be seen through the slightly transparent fabric. The moon always helped calm her nerves as she could hear the far-off people scuttle around the town. 'What were they doing out at this late at night? Maybe they were going out to....'
"Katara..."a familiar, light voice hesitantly spoke from the doorway of her room. She turned her head around and saw Suki standing in the doorway. "What happened?" She wasn't wearing her warrior uniform on. Now, she was in an green Earth Nation nightgown. Suki hastily walked over to her bed, and sat down next to Katara, who was flopped onto the bed. Her hands were under her chin, but they slipped out and her head fell to the blankets below.
"Nothing," she said through the blankets, trying to tell Suki that she didn't want to talk through her tone in her voice.
"I can tell you have something troubling you. What is it?" Suki put a reassuring hand on Katara's arm. Katara's blazing blue eyes popped up, contrasting the red sheets and blankets strewn around everywhere on the bed.
"Nothing, Suki." She shrugged her hand off of her shoulder and plopped her head back onto the bed. "I am just very tired. Can I go to bed?"
"All right," Suki said as she walked to the doorway and delayed a little longer, "but you owe me tomorrow!"
Katara smiled into the bed as Suki laughed. "All right," she said playfully. "Now, get out of here you dirty beggar!" Katara turned around to throw a pillow at her while she stood in the doorway, and Suki dodged it effortlessly.
"Tomorrow," she whispered as she pointed at Katara and flung the pillow back at her. It hit her square in the face and Suki ran off, laughing hard.
Katara laughed as well, then flipped back over to look out the window, trying to sort out her jumbled thoughts before she tried to go to bed. She couldn't make any headway, so she wriggled underneath the blankets and collected the small pillow that was flung around the room to place underneath her head. She stared at the wall opposite her, and she could hear a little muffled shouting. She didn't know what was going on, so she let the pounding on the door in the room next to her quietly lull her to sleep.
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His heart clenched tightly as his body, in order to let all of the stress he had accumulated come out, automatically fought an invisible enemy. He was battering him with many fire attacks feeling the fire flow from his feet and hands out to the person, but couldn't understand, or comprehend, anything else in his body or in the world around him. He was stuck in his past, one memory replaying over and over in his head:
Three years ago...
He walked out of the green tea shop, leaving the rumble of laughter, from everyone but Mai, behind him. The sun cast an orange glow over the ever-darkening sky, making an orange reflection on the dark-teal ocean, which was also darkening at an alarming rate. Zuko suddenly became aware of the time passing by, feeling it fly past. Another rumble of laughter, cast from the tea house, boomed in Zuko's ears. He just ignored the merry laughter, trying not to get jealous of the fun they were having without him there.
He looked out, against the sliver of the yellow ball left, and saw two shadows being projected onto the stone floor, standing very close together. They looked like their upper halves of their bodies were connected, but their legs were apart, the shadow looking like conjoined twins. He squinted his eyes, trying to see past the fading light to see who it was, but could not.
Once the sun dipped over the horizon, it instantly became dark, except for the light flooding in from the tea shop, and his heart skipped a beat. There, on a balcony, was Katara kissing Aang, and it didn't look like either would let go of each other's lips for a long time. His heart almost seemed to shatter at the sight. His hand closed around the object in his hand, that he was going to give to Katara. The smooth, silky band slowly began to slip out of his hand, and he could feel the cold metal pendant move down his hand. Some of the sunlight went through the cracks in his hands, and hit the waves on the necklace, making a multi-color rainbow shine on its surface and land on his hand. A single tear made its way down his face, the blue band slowly making its way to the ground. Finally, he grabbed onto the end of her necklace, and let it hang there. The tear washed down his face and landed on the palm of his hand. He looked out at Katara, his heart broken. He wanted to march down there and yell at the two, but a voice stopped him.
"Zuko," a female voice called from the shop. "What are you doing out here?"
"Nothing, Mai. Just looking at the sunset." he called out to her, still looking at Katara. Now, Katara had heard voices and broke from Aang. When she looked at Zuko, she instantly paled and muttered something about Appa before going around to the front of the tea shop. He had noticed that she tried not to make eye contact with him, and that shattered his already broken heart a little more. Aang quickly followed after her, calling her name and trying to grab for her arm. "Why are you so worried about me?" He croaked to Mai, then cringed at the sound of his voice.
"What is this?" she said, ignoring his question. She walked out in front of him and touched his cheek. She lifted her fingers, and looked into his eyes. He expected compassion in her eyes. He was wrong. "You were crying? Over that... peasant?" He looked down at her, his amber eyes wide, and shook his head from side to side, violently, his hair whipping around his head.
"No! I wasn't," he answered a little too quickly. He couldn't think of an excuse that quickly, and under Mai's intense stare, he stuttered a bit. "I mean, I... I had... I... I got something in my eye! I mean, I got something in my eye. I don't have any feelings for that peasant." He tried to put as much spite in his sentences as he could, but it didn't work out so well. He was about as hateful and scary as a bunny-cat. His emotions had to get in the way, now of all times.
"What is wrong, Zuko?" He opened his mouth, but Mai spoke before he could even get a breath out. "And don't give me any lies. I am sick and tired of lies coming out of your mouth."
"Nothing, Mai. Nothing is wrong." He looked down at her with as much truth and sincerity he could muster. She fell for his plot faster than he thought.
"All right," she said as she shrugged and walked back into the tea shop, grabbing his hand and pulled him in with her. Zuko followed, looking back over his shoulder where Katara had been earlier with the Avatar. Every time he looked over at the balcony, he could feel the immense hole in his heart, getting bigger with every second that Katara spent with the monk. He turned his head to face Mai's, and she began to speak.
The image of Mai's face was instantly replaced by Aang's face and Zuko unconsciously swung his hand, which was full of fire, over the monk's face. Aang quickly made fire appear over his hands and blocked Zuko's unintentional attack. Zuko's foot started to climb up, it, again, had fire trailing after it.
"Zuko!" Aang shouted, quickly pulling Zuko out of his firebending trance. "Stop!" His foot froze in mid-swing and he set it back on the ground.
"What are you doing here?" Zuko shouted in Aang's face. He had accepted him as a friend, but when his memories resurfaced, he could feel all of his pent up anger flood up at the Avatar. He walked closer toAang, using his height against the younger boy to try to make him look bigger.
"I wanted to talk to you, peacefully," Aang said, cowering down lower, then stood up straight and almost hit Zuko in the nose. Zuko recoiled, started to rub his nose, and stared at the boy, as he continued, "like mature adults."
Zuko glared at the boy. "About what?"
"Your fight with Katara!" he said, too happily. Zuko's anger flared, but he fought to keep control of it. He clenched his thumb and first finger to the bridge of his nose and took a few rapid, successive breaths.
"I don't want to talk about that right now. Go away." Zuko closed his eyes, clenching his other hand as the one pinching the bridge of his nose crushed the skin between his fingers. He decided, since Aang just sat in front of him in complete silence, to go to his room. He was tired, and he wasn't about to put up with this boy. He quickly clambered around Aang and ran to his room, Aang following on his heels.
"Zuko! Wait up for me! Hold on! I can't run that fast!" Zuko just ignored the boy and continued to walk as fast as he could, walking into the hallway of the temple.
Once Aang had finally gotten a hold of some of his common sense and tried to airbend himself forward, Zuko was already in his room, his door shut and locked. He swung around so his back was facing the door as Aang pounded on it. He took a few deep breaths before falling onto his bed, his red and blue mask, black suit, and his dao swords in their sheaths still laying on the bed, a jumble with the blankets everywhere on the bed.
"Zuko! Let me in!" Aang yelled into the door. Zuko tried to ignore the airbender and, instead, stared at the wall Katara had stared at before. He slowly let his head fall to the bed with the pillow underneath it. Now, Aang was gone and it was silent in the house. Slowly, his eyes closed as the wearyness from the day before drifted into his eyes, and he fell asleep.
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I am very sorry for not updating. I have had a hard time with this chapter. I feel so sorry. I had some writer's block, and I couldn't get anything typed. Thank you for hanging on and reading my story! Please review and keep reading!