Blazing Melting Blades Chapter 4
By: Animanganerd01
A/N: What's this? Two chapters at once? Wow, the world must be ending.
Disclaimer: Nope, still owns nothing.
"You know, you're not going to be here long enough to make it worth your effort," said Katara skating backwards away from Zuko as he stepped out onto the ice for their third practice.
"What, you don't think I can put up with your attitude?" he asked skating towards her, scowling. (A/N: note that there will be no cursing in this fanfic. I don't do it, so neither will the characters.)
"No I just don't think you can skate," she snapped. Really, this man was getting under her skin.
"Look, there are only a few things I'm really good at and skating is one of them," he said, his voice and temper rising.
"You are such a jerk," said Katara. Iroh hung his head in the background. Maybe it would be better if they could get this all out now.
"So are you." Zuko inhaled deeply, trying desperately to calm down before he melted the ice around him. "So, what do you do for fun, polish your daggers?"
"I'm sure nothing I find fun would interest you in the slightest. I don't open bottles with my toes, I don't sit on a couch watching television all day, hey I don't even enjoy taking a long drive for the heck of it." She slid to a stop in front of him after skating circles around him. "But I've gotten used to it."
"How pitiful," smirked Zuko. He slid up to her so they were only inches apart. "So you live for dinner parties, eh little ice princess?"
"You're infuriating."
"So are you."
"Enough," said Iroh, catching sight of his nephew's hands. They were beginning to glow with the telltale signs of his firebending. The ice around Katara was beginning to fracture too. "Let's get on with practice, shall we?"
BMB
A few days later, before practice started, Zuko brought out his hockey sticks to practice. Katara sat in an armchair reading a book as they both waited for Iroh. Every now and then she would glance up at Zuko. He looked like he was having fun. Unbidden, a small smile graced her lips.
"Score!" said Zuko proudly. He picked up the puck he had been using, and skated over to plop down in front of Katara's chair, sitting on the little ledge over the ice. He was overjoyed to be wearing hockey skates again.
"If you're so bored, why don't you read?" she asked quietly.
"What, like a book?" asked Zuko.
"That is the traditional format, yes," Katara said, closing her book, book-marking the page she was on.
"Is this the beginning of an actual conversation?" asked Zuko, amazed that she hadn't outright insulted him.
"I was only asking if you could read."
"Of course I can read." He scoffed at her. "I've been reading since grade school."
"What was the last book you read?" she asked, slightly amused. Silence. "You did go to college, didn't you?"
Zuko looked up at her. She was suddenly greeted with unfathomable golden eyes. "The last thing I read in college was the letter canceling my hockey scholarship. Even if I come from a rich family, my father disowned me and I've been living on my own since the ninth grade. I couldn't pay for my college, so I had to drop." He looked away. Katara was faced with the large scar over his left eye. She was suddenly curious as to how he got it. But before she could ask, he spoke again. "So where'd you matriculate from?"
Oops. Katara looked down at her lap. She was busted. Zuko looked back and smirked. "You did go to college, right?" he asked.
"I had tutors." She stood up from her chair and walked over to glide on the ice. "Lots of tutors." Even if she didn't say it, Zuko could see she had missed going to school with her peers. 'Learning with just your brother must be tough,' he thought. "Would you please find somewhere else to put your… clubs!" she snapped almost tripping over one of his sticks.
A sudden thought made him grin. "Man, would I love to see you play hockey."
"Any day," said Katara, no one to back down from anything.
Zuko's grin widened. He stood up and threw her a stick. "Here, catch." He skated out to the middle of the ice and dropped the puck in the center. "First one to ten goals wins."
"You're on." Katara immediately stole the puck and drove it to \what she supposed to be her side of the rink (the one behind Zuko's back). He had already set up two goals with coffee cans and Iroh's teapot. Zuko grinned took after her, quickly stealing the puck back.
"Come on, you can do better than that," he taunted. She scowled at him as he skated backwards in front of her, teasing her. Unknown to them, Iroh had slipped in and was watching this confrontation with interest. No one, not even Hakoda had seen Katara play anything in years, and he had never seen Zuko tease someone like this.
Katara tried to get past Zuko, once again in possession of the precious puck. He stole it back with ease. "Come on, princess. You'll have to do better than that." He was seriously enjoying this. He decided it was a good moment to get a score in. He whacked the puck between her feet and threw the goal. "That's one," he said, triumphant.
They dropped the puck between them again. "Come on, take it," teased Zuko. He stole it back as soon as she had, enraging her all the more.
"Cut it out!" She tried vainly to get the puck away from him, chopping down at the ice.
Zuko smirked and hit the puck through his goal again. "That's two." He raised his stick and blew the ice off of it.
So it continued: "Three"…"four"…"five"… up to nine.
Finally, Katara was roaring at him and he was starting to laugh. He couldn't help but notice she was kind of cute when she was mad. "You make me ill!" she said angrily. He smirked again. She glowered back at him. She was going to wipe that infuriating, albeit hot, smirk off his face. She finally had the puck. She raised the stick and slammed it down at the puck like a golf club. The puck flew into the air and Zuko's smirk faltered as it flew right at his face.
BMB
Katara watched apprehensively as a gurney was rolled by the waiting room chairs where she and Iroh were waiting for them to release Zuko. She glanced at Iroh, who was silently reading a magazine.
"It's not like his nose is perfect," she said, sullenly (even if I think it's perfect). "I mean, all I did was agree to play his game. Why am I even explaining this to you? I shouldn't even be feeling this guilty." (Even though I have every right to feel guilty)
"It's not guilt," said Iroh quietly. He looked over at her. "It's fear."
"Fear?" she asked. "Why should I be afraid?"
"Because you have finally found yourself a partner," he said, smiling wisely.
Just as she was about to argue, she caught sight of Zuko being wheeled out in a wheelchair by a doctor. He moaned in pain, a huge white bandage covering most his face. "Oh my gosh! I thought you said it was just his nose!" she gasped at the doctor.
He just shook his head. "He's all yours." He left, chuckling quietly. Iroh raised an eyebrow as his nephew moaned again.
"What?" said Katara. "What's wrong?" Zuko's mind registered that she was actually concerned and nearly smiled.
Zuko slowly pulled down the bandage, moaning again. Katara's eyes widened at the sight of a red scar running over the bridge of his nose down into the corner of his right eye. He had been faking the whole thing, she realized with a start. He looked up at her blearily. "Toe pick," he said smirking again; revenge was sweet. Iroh chuckled. He was happy to see his nephew was okay and still had a sense of humor.
Katara's face screwed up with rage. She spun on her heels and stormed toward the doors. "GRAW!" she growled pushing through the hospital doors.
"What's her problem?" asked Zuko, chuckling.
Iroh laughed. "I think she's nervous about the rematch," he said.
A/N: And that's it. There should be another update soon. I hope. And a big thank you to my reviewers! I really will get Sokka in here soon, promise. I decided to replace Hale (Kate's boyfriend) from the movie with Sokka. So it will be an over-protective brother thing, not a jealous boyfriend thing. And, Azula is mentioned, but doesn't, show up. Aang and Toph will also come in later, Mai too. They're a surprise. Bye 'til then.