Story Title: Fire and Water
Rating: T for language
Pairings: Zutara Mush
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Avatar: The Last Airbender themes or characters. That is all owned by Nickelodeon.
A/N: Its been a while since I've written. Not to mention how different this fic is! It really is different. Short, choppy sentences. Mainly because its Katara thinking. Now, everyone should thank Cold Static (my dear friend) for writing in my school planner once again to remind me to update my drabble series. While she wanted a Zutara song-fic, this will just have to do. I did, however, write this while listening to What's Left of Me by Nick Lachey, Over My Head by The Fray, and For You I Will by Teddy Greiger (over and over again, I might add, until I finished the fic!). I do not own any of those songs. They just inspired me.
This fiction is dedicated to Cold Static. Sorry its not a song-fic.
-Solar Beam
Fire and Water:
She lay next to him.
She rested her head on his bare chest.
She let out a cool, icy breath and shut her eyes, listening to his heart beat in a soft pattern.
She wondered how she got there.
She wondered why she hadn't tried to escape.
She remembered and softly touched one, sensitive, purple-blue eye with a cool fingertip.
That's why.
She lowered her hand back onto his chest.
Why did she not try to escape after that?
He abused her if she did.
He yelled at her if she did.
The old man said she was healing him.
Her eyes traveled up his bare chest to his calm face.
She could not be healing such a man.
He was too hard.
She was too brittle.
She was like porcelain; she could last for a long time, but she was easily breakable.
He stifled a sigh and pulled his head away from her peering eyes.
Her eyes softened.
She was slowly healing him.
Every shard that had been broken.
Every wound that had been made.
It was all being healed.
All being healed very slowly.
Slowly she rolled over, her back facing him.
She stared at the metal walls.
The old man had said that his nephew had a strange way of showing he cared.
The girl stifled a snort.
A strange way, indeed.
If yelling, storming, and cursing were a way of showing he cared.
Well, then, he must care a lot.
She slowly pulled her head around and looked at him, his back now facing hers.
She turned back to the wall.
The wall with the fire emblem on the red tapestry.
Its so red.
So red and gold.
So red and gold and…royal.
She could have tried harder to run away.
She could be back with her brother.
And her friend.
She could be back to saving the world.
She could escape right now.
She glanced back at the man.
She could grab that knife over there.
She could grab that knife and sink it into his skin and kill him.
Make him pay for hurting her.
For abusing her.
Her eyes saddened.
She could never do that.
She was Water; Water healed.
Fire was the element that hurt.
It hurt others around it, and it hurt those who wielded it.
Water could put out Fire.
But Fire could also put out Water.
It was a hopeless cause.
Water could never hurt someone.
Never.
She sighed again and the noise caused the man to turn and wrap one arm around her waist.
She stiffened.
He did this in his sleep.
He did this often when he was unconscious.
It was the only sign of emotion from him.
The only sign that he truly cared.
He mumbled something quietly in her ear, his breath tickling her neck.
He was so warm.
She was so cold.
Differences of Water and Fire.
They didn't balance each other out.
They merely destroyed one another.
He was so warm.
And he made her relax.
It was his intoxicating presence.
So full and bold when he was awake.
When he was asleep, it was soft spoken.
Easy on the eyes.
He was almost Human.
Asleep he was like any other mortal.
Awake, he was immortal.
Commanding.
Decisive.
Determined.
Angry.
He was so many things at once that he did not try to be what he truly was.
A teenager.
She stifled a yawn.
She made her way to stand.
His arm tightened around her.
She leaned against his chest, a sad expression mirrored in her cerulean eyes.
She was trapped.
Water was always surrounded by Fire.
When a meadow was alight in Fire, it always circled around the nearest Water source.
Unable to truly touch it.
Always able to hug it.
Creatures sought out safety during these times.
They always sought out Water.
Water was a beacon.
Water relaxed those who were unable to relax.
Water called out to those who needed help.
Water called to Fire.
In this case, she had called out to him in a very illiberal since.
She hadn't meant to.
But she had.
She intoxicated him.
Made him drunk.
Made him think things he didn't want to think.
Like about the war.
Was it the right thing?
Was it the only choice of action?
Was there a better way?
The old man told her these things.
It always made her consider her own choices.
It always made her…frightened.
Frightened of the choices she was making.
Frightened of the feelings she was feeling.
Frightened of herself.
Would she be able to stop next time he pecked her lips?
Would she be able to stop next time she found herself caught between the wall and his body?
Would she be able to stop when they began to say things.
She bit her lip.
She was falling hard.
Stuck on this metal cage.
Stuck on this ship that was floating on Water.
This hard, metal, cold ship.
And she was falling hard.
Too hard.
She'd break somewhere.
She'd break and never be able to repair herself.
Eventually, she'd break and all of her little glass pieces wouldn't be able to connect.
He'd do that to her.
He would break her.
Then he would be sorry.
She touched her eyelid once more.
He'd already bruised her.
But she was falling too hard.
She was scared of the feelings she felt.
She didn't want them.
She was Water.
He was Fire.
She glanced back at him, and slowly turned under his arm and wrapped her own around his waist.
But she couldn't stop.
She was falling in love.