Chapter 5: Important
Author's Note: Hello my lovely readers! I woke up this morning to 4 new reviews which made me really happy. I try to post up new chapters quickly, so I'm trying really hard to finish this one before tonight. I'm feeling a bit under the weather, so I apologize for any mistakes that may occur.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these wonderful characters.
Zuko was visibly upset and he did not care if people saw him sulking in the corner. No one said that the Fire Lord couldn't have feelings... than again, somebody once told him that the Fire Lord couldn't expressed it.
"I was so close," he thought as he replayed the entire scene in his mind, "and she wasn't moving away..."
Zuko looked up to see his blushing bride walking around with Uncle Iroh. He was introducing her to all the ship mates. The girls who had not met her yet was raving over the unique color of the water bender's eyes. The men on the ship complimented her beauty, but did not dare to go any further than that. He could tell that she was out of her elements and was stumbling over how she should act. Smiling, he felt a little better.
"Urg, I'm acting like a teenager!" Zuko mumbled as he forgot that he was only 20.
"Hello, Lady Katara," A voice suddenly called out that caught his attention.
"General Tai," Uncle Iroh said as he patted the man on his back, "You decided to come to music night!"
"Well, I would not miss it for the world," He responded smiling.
"You missed it last week when we did that cargo trade,"
"I was sick that week, General,"
"You were the one who loaded the ship," Iroh answered skeptically, "It must not have been too bad,"
"Well, The air was drafty..." Tai answered.
"Are you sure you didn't want to see our future Fire Lady?" Iroh teased, "Isn't she a vision in red?"
"Uncle Iroh, please stop joking," Katara laughed.
"Lady Katara, I must apologize for earlier today. I had yet inform the men of your stay, but rest assure, they now know who you are."
"Oh, it's fine, and please call me Katara," She answered, trying to get use to the formalities, "I wasn't really bothered by it at all. The Fire Nation's customs are different than ours and I must learn to get use to them."
The General smiled and suddenly yelled in a loud, booming voice, "Haru!"
Katara slightly jumped. They were only standing an arm length away and felt that screaming at the top of his lungs was unnecessary. A moment passed before a young man ran toward the group. He had brown hair and was about Zuko's size. He didn't seem like a person who would join an army, but everyone had their reasons for doing something.
"Apologize," Tai said, his friendly demeanor disappearing quickly.
"Lady Katara, I am so sorry," Haru said bowing his head down low, "I did not know you were the Fire Lord's fiance. I promise it won't happen again!"
Katara felt like a broken record, repeating once again that it was okay.
"Does Zuko always have to deal with this kind of thing..." She thought as she rubbed the back of her head.
"Oh! What a lovely necklace!" Haru said, looking up for his low bow.
"Why yes, is it a gift from Fire Lord Zuko?" Tai asked.
Iroh looked at the girl who was now slightly blushing. She gave them a small nod and told them that he had previously given it to her before they came to the Music Festival.
"It's a water tribe custom for the male to create a necklace for the lady. It shows their devotion and love for the relationship."
"What a creative look!" Haru exclaimed as he reached up to touch the stone.
Zuko had just arrived to greet the pair when his hand caught Haru's arm. His eyes sharpened as he gave a warning look to the teenager.
"Don't touch," He growled as he threw the recruit's arm back.
Haru had looked at the Fire Lord and fear ran through his eyes and back. General Tai, who was having a friendly conversation with Iroh was now furious at the recruit once more.
"HARU, WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT MESSING UP?!"
"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking sir!"
Tai was about to hit Haru on the head before Katara reacted. She bended a small stream of water and caught the general's arm. Everyone at the party turned to look and the band suddenly stopped playing. The air that was filled with laughter and noise had vanished.
"A mistake," Katara spoke, "Is just a mistake. What will hitting him do?"
"They must learn discipline, Lady-"
"What they must learn is how to do their job, not be abused by a man who needs violence to control others!"
Everyone was quiet for a moment as Katara and Tai faced off. The man looked as though he was about to burn the very arm that was binding him. As he raised his fist, he could see the golden eyes of the Fire Lord. Taking a deep breathe to cool down, he regained his composure.
"You are right, my lady," He spoke softly and slowly, "I will make sure I take this lesson... and apply it later on."
Katara dropped the water stream and freed the General. The people who were watching before turned away after being glared at by Zuko. Uncle Iroh indicated for the band to play again so that the friendly atmosphere returns to the ship.
"Well, no need to ruin the festivities!" Iroh yelled, trying to erase the negative air that was showing up, "Just a small dispute between friends!"
"And You!" The water bender yelled pointing at the Fire Lord, "I am not an object that you can demand rights over!"
"You're my fiance, I can tell people to not look at you if I wanted to and they would be expected to do so!" Zuko yelled
"I don't belong to you," The water bender remarked.
"You are mines! I am the Fire Lord, I will not have people touching what's mines,"
"I'M NOT YOURS!" Katara screamed as she walked away.
Zuko grabbed her arm without thinking. As he tightened his grip, Katara created a stream of water to knock him down, but he quickly counter attacked the move with his own flames. Quickly, almost as though it was a reflex, Zuko fired a fireball at Katara, her dress making it impossible for her to react in time. As the flame approached rapidly to her face, it got burnt out and disappeared.
"Zuko," Uncle Iroh said as he clapped his hands.
Iroh had stopped the attack before it could hurt the water bender. He stood in between the two of them and his friendly appearance turned serious, "You do not attack a lady."
Zuko's eyes widen. Did he just do what he thought he did? The two of the them looked at one another as they turned around to face opposite directions.
"I'm.. going to the office," The fire bender said as he walked away.
"What was I thinking..." Zuko screamed as he paced back and forth.
He had grown so angry at Haru touching Katara that he took it out on her. He was stupid moron. Uncle Iroh said he had to control his anger and he thought he was making such progress.
"How did it end up like this..." He thought as he remembered the dinner they had before, "I knew I shouldn't have went to that stupid music festival."
As Zuko was blowing steam in the room, he heard a knock at the door.
"Nephew, let me in," Iroh said.
The fire lord let out a loud sigh as he went to open the steel door. As he greeted his uncle, the old man walked into the office.
"Zuko, sit down," Iroh demanded.
"What happened tonight, Uncle?" he asked as he buried his hand into his face.
"You lost your temper again."
"I wasn't trying to hurt her," he said, "I just wanted her to understand that I care about her!"
"Well Zuzu, if you care so much... why are you sitting here in the dark?"
"Because I can't face Katara, she's probably going to kill me... and then after she's done she's going to kill me again!"
"You can't run away from something you find important, Nephew," Iroh said, "Remember the trip to the south pole?"
"Uncle, that was only a day ago, of course I remember."
"Remember how I stopped the ship at Ba Thao?"
"Yes, I remember," Zuko replied as he recalled being angry at the old man for throwing his time calculation off.
"I wanted to get some tea that I heard was good there because tea is important to me," Iroh spoke.
Zuko could tell where this was going. He had spend enough time with Iroh to know when he was going to lecture him or give him a life lesson. Yet, no matter what the story was, he always found it useful.
"When something is important, even if it seems unreasonable, you have to try to go for it. You care for Katara and she does not know that yet, but she could... only if you go out there. The longer you stay in here fighting over your mistake, the quicker you will lose her."
As Zuko contemplated over what the elder said, Iroh got up, "Well, there's only an hour of fun left for the night... might as well go enjoy my youth!"
As The Fire Lord heard the door close he pushed all the documents off his table, "Stupid Uncle," he said as he realize Iroh was once again right. He set his head on the table and groaned.
"fight for what's important..." he whispered as he suddenly drifted off to sleep.
Zuko woke up confused. The entire ship seemed quiet as he walked out of the office. Heading down the halls he could see the servants had resume their normal duties and were currently avoiding his stare. As he walked up to the deck, he wondered where Katara was.
It was already dark. The moon light was the only light that existed. Zuko could feel the presence of someone near him, but couldn't tell where they were.
"A water bender," he thought, "would most lately be..."
Looking over the deck, the fire lord saw Katara in the water. She was sitting on a water bubble as the moon glistened across her body. He couldn't say anything because he was mesmerize by her beauty. The red dress fanned out around the water and created an illusion of her floating. It wasn't long until he realized that the bender in front of him was important and he had to fight for her.
"Katara," he said, hoping she would hear him out.
The Music Festival had ended an hour ago and Katara did not want to go back to Zuko's room. Both of them haven't talked to one another since the incident and frankly, she didn't want to start now. As she heard her name being called, she recognized the voice to be the young fire lord.
"Katara," He said again, "I'm sorry... can you just come back up here?"
"What am I suppose to do," Katara thought as she debated her options.
She could ignore him, bend the water and head back to the water tribe, but then her father would be disappointed in her. She had agree to do this for the world and could not back out of it now. She sigh. She could also just man up, head back , forgive the prick for being an ass and listen to the man. She could accept that she needs to calm down and change, but she didn't want to. There was a lot of things that she didn't want to start doing.
"I'm sorry, I can't hear you," She called out.
"You obviously can, you just answered me!" The fire bender responded.
Katara secretly smiled. Zuko had no childhood, so he always took everything seriously, even sarcasm. However, she was still upset with him. He had to learn that she is a person with her own mind and life. A marriage is something that strengthens that bond, not make her private property.
"But we don't technically have a bond yet, do we..." She thought as she started to feel a pinch of guilt run through her mind, "Maybe I was too hard on him..."
She had gotten mad at Zuko for simply telling someone not to touch her. In some cases, she should be glad that he cared so much to say that. She knew that Zuko was a hot head, but this entire thing was a new environment for her. He had to consider her feelings! Yet, shouldn't she consider his then...?
"I know I messed up, okay. I can't say the right things and I yell at people because I'm a hot-head," He said quietly.
"You're not really that bad..." She whispered.
Zuko heard her small voice, but couldn't make out the words. He tried to lean a little further, but realized it was impossible with the crashing waves. All he knew was that she wasn't yelling, which was a good sign to him.
"Can you just come up?" He said pleading with the water bender.
"I don't feel like it," Katara responded.
"I know you're not an object, Katara," Zuko said, "This is the first time I'm in a relationship with someone who knew me before I was the Fire Lord or Prince Zuko..."
Katara could hear a small pain in his voice. She had remembered that earlier the fire bender mentioned the fact that he couldn't tell who loves him for him, or for his title. Maybe there was some sort of connection. They were mail buddies for so long and before that, they were adventure buddies. She wasn't use to being an adult buddy with him.
"But I'm still learning, what can I do to make it up to you?"
"Learn to trust me!" Katara screamed, "Learn to accept that I can take care of myself, Zuko. I told you I fear no man!"
"You need to trust me first, instead of lashing out at me!" Zuko yelled, "I was just doing this for you. I Just wanted to protect you, your my fiance! Even when we were younger you never heard me out, Tara. I had to risk my life, steal a bison, and take you across the country to earn your trust! You had mines with just a simple hug."
"If you trust me so much, jump down! See if I even want to save you!" She yelled, realizing that she was only trying to cover up her own mistake.
Katara's fist tightened. There was three things in the world that she could not stand: One, she hated when someone was picking on her family and friends, two, she hated when Sokka ate the food she left for herself and three, she hated being wrong. This time, she was wrong.
She refused to look up, guilt overcoming her mind as she tried to paste together the words to say sorry. Zuko was always saving her. When they traveled together he protected her from Azula. He saved her from being crushed by rocks in the temple and he rescued her from the pirates. The water bender sat there looking at her knees. She supposed it was stupid to stay mad at him when he was trying so hard to get her attention. Somewhere in between her debating, she had miss Zuko's last words.
"All I want is for you to fall for me..."
Just as Katara looked up, she saw something come down. Zuko jumped off the boat and landed right into the water. All the crewmen on deck ran over, screaming for help as the Fire Lord fell overboard. As Katara couldn't think, she drove into the sea, forgetting that she could have bend her way through quicker. As she went down, she could see Zuko sinking away from her, his last breathe running out.
"I trust you, Tara." he thought, "I trust you with my life. Maybe I was a little kid, but you were always special to me. I had to protect you tonight, just like I protected you before. Is that so wrong..?"
The last thing he could see was Katara's arm reaching for him, but he couldn't get himself to move. As he closed his eyes his vision went black. He could have sworn he saw tears in her eyes... or was it simply just the water from the ocean?
Katara reached for Zuko, her mind racing as she bend an air bubble around them to close the distance. She could hear the muffle screams onboard as they were beginning to fade away. Everything in that moment froze. Katara's vision blurred as she felt a tear fall down her cheek. She touched Zuko's face as he laid there in her arms. Slowly, she leaned down, capturing his lips with hers as she kissed her future fiance.
"I was just joking about jumping down..." She whispered as she pulled away, "You stupid fire bender..."
Author's Note: I decided to leave it as that ~ I May not have the next chapter up for a day or two, it depends on how much work I can get done after work... But I hope you all stay with me. I'm hoping by the time they reach the fire nation they'll fall in love a little more...and maybe within a few chapters the wedding can happen with a bit of lemon ~ It's sad that Zuko wanted the kiss so much and had to experience it asleep. Anyways, Thank you for reading.(:
