Wow, it has been a reeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllllly loooong time since I've last updated. I'm really sorry for the wait guys. My computer was down for about two weeks and after it was back up, I had so much school work to do. Then when I did have free time I would get yelled at for being on the computer.But I'm home by myself today so I finally had time to type!!! Yay! Yada yada…anyway. This chapter is longer than the others. It was going to be two separate chapters but I just made it into one big one. So here you go!!!
Iroh dropped this dish he was holding and it shattered on the floor, Toph let out a frightened squeak and the others jumped. He stood there in shock, wide-eyed then his legs suddenly regained their usefulness and he ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs into his room. Zuko was sprawled on the floor, clutching his head and chest writhing in pain. Iroh stood in the doorway; huffing and puffing then knelt at his nephew's side, tears in his eyes.
"Zuko…" He breathed and somehow managed to lift his nephew into the bed again.
"Uncle…I fell…. I…I wanted…. to see you." He gasped in pain after each word.
Katara and the others arrived in the doorway. "Sh, now hush." Iroh said, placing a finger to his nephew's lips. He then clutched him to his chest and sobbed. The group slipped out and shut the door behind them, and then they walked back down the stairs and into the kitchen to clean up and explain to Genia what had happened. She stood over them like a hawk as they finished their meal and cleaned the mess of broken glass. Genia grumpily finished cooking the meal for the customers and the rest of the group slipped out of the kitchen, a few customers asked if everything was all right because they had heard screams. Katara told them that it was one of the guests practicing their opera singing and that the lady who did it wasn't very good. The customer said that it sounded like a man but what ever and he sat down.
Toph suggested they all get ready for bed but Aang wanted to go check on Appa so Sokka, Toph and Katara all slipped up the stairs and into their own rooms. Katara sat on the bed and didn't feel like going for a shower at the moment, it was just barely getting dark and she knocked next door. Iroh answered looking a surplus of happy and ushered her in, telling her to sit on the bed and he'd go downstairs to make some tea and something to eat.
Katara sat down and faced Zuko. "So, you feeling any better?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked suspiciously.
"What do you think? You don't have to be so rude you know." She retorted.
"I don't have to talk to you, you know." He fell backwards onto his pillow and rolled to face the window.
Katara frowned. "Fine by me." She grumbled. Zuko had a shirt on, one of Iroh's by the look of it and he kept massaging his lower back as if it pained him. Katara watched then stood up and went into the bathroom and turned on the spigot, filling the sink with water. Zuko watched her curiously and she sat down behind him but he didn't face her. She bent the water from the sink and formed a glove around her right hand then placed it on his lower back.
"What are you doing?!" He screeched when he felt her touch.
Katara grinned. "Feel better?"
"What are you talking about?" He scowled.
"Your lower back, does it hurt anymore?" She said as if it were plain as day.
He touched his back. "No." He looked at her warily. "What did you do?"
She held up her broken arm and bent the water around it with her left hand forming the water around it for healing. "I can heal with water. It's a special thing only very good water benders can do." She explained.
He looked at her in disbelief. "That's weird. Why don't you heal your broken arm instead of sniffling around begging for pity?"
Katara felt anger rise up inside her and the water in the sink sloshed up over the edges. Immediately she calmed herself and tried to calmly explain. "You see, I'm right handed so I can only heal with my right hand. Call it a gift, call it a curse." She smiled.
Zuko gawked at her then snapped out of it and rolled over. "What ever."
"You are the most frustrating person I've ever met!" She said and the water again sloshed around in the sink, spilling onto the floor.
"Calm down, you're getting everything wet." He mumbled, his face buried in a pillow.
Katara gritted her teeth and refrained herself from water-whipping him over the back of the head. Instead, she bent the water into a long strand over Zuko breathed on it to make it icy cold then, with a flick of the wrist, she dropped it on him. That got his attention, he shot straight up with a mighty gasp and shot her most vile, evil, disgusted look he could muster and tried to shake the water off his body. The look he gave her shot daggers and maybe a few samurai swords too, Katara laughed and Zuko threw a soaking wet pillow at her.
Iroh, always with the perfect timing, came in the door and was hit with the freezing wet pillow, it having been dodged gracefully by Katara. This caused all the tea to spill on the floor and on his arms and for the sandwiches and sliced moon peaches and various other fruits to crash to the floor. Katara jumped up and started to bend the scalding tea off Iroh who was trying to blow on it from the heat. Then she bent the cold water from the pillow and doused Iroh's arms and chest in it.
He let out a sigh of relief. "What have you two been doing in here?" He looked from a sopping wet Zuko, to the water covering the bathroom floor, and to a completely dry Katara who was grinning, her eyes twinkling.
"This water is freezing!" Zuko grumbled and started to take deep, calming breaths and slowly, a steam started to rise off him. The water was evaporating off his skin, Katara watched in fascination.
"How are you doing that?" She asked.
"I'm evaporating the cold water off my skin. I can raise my temperature at will. Something very few firebenders can do." He smirked.
Iroh chuckled, "Now, what were you doing, Miss Katara?"
"Zuko was being all grumpy and getting on my nerves so I doused him in freezing water so he would come to his senses." Katara told him proudly.
"Girls are crazy…" Zuko muttered under his breath.
Iroh bent down and picked up the fruit and broken china. "Looks like I'm breaking a lot of things today." He smiled and set the dirtied fruit and sandwiches back on the tray and walked back out. "I'll be right back."
Zuko couldn't lie on the bed because it was wet so he moved to Iroh's bed. Katara moved out of his way and he laid down the bed. "Why do you try and protect me from your brother?" He asked, facing the wall.
"Huh?" Katara stared at the back of his head. "Oh, I don't know. It's not like you were exactly in fighting form."
Zuko snorted. "Once I'm able to stand without falling over, I think we'll have a little duel. I'm getting sick of you acting like I'm so weak."
"I never said you were weak. I said that you weren't strong enough to move around yet." She retorted.
"Well, you implied it." He wheezed.
"How does Iroh possibly put up with you?" She threw her arms in the air.
Zuko rolled over and sat up. "He isn't annoying so I don't have to act mean to him." He smiled fiendishly.
Katara frowned. "Me? Annoying? Pfft! As if!"
"Think what you want." He shrugged and lie back down and faced the wall again. They were silent for a couple of minutes then Katara spoke up.
"Am I really annoying?"
Zuko laughed.
"What's so funny?" Katara asked grumpily.
"Nothing. It's just funny is all. If I weren't in such pain, you probably wouldn't be as annoying."
Katara folded her arms over her chest. "Gee, thanks." Again, they were silent for a while. Then Iroh came back in holding a fresh tray of tea and sandwiches, humming to himself.
"Here we go!" He said cheerfully. Katara stood up and ambled towards the door.
"I have things to do." She said and slipped out the door. Iroh turned back to Zuko.
"What's her problem?" He asked, Zuko shrugged and grabbed a sandwich off the tray, stuffing it hungrily into his mouth.
"I'm glad you've given up going after the Avatar." Iroh said happily as he watched his nephew eat.
Zuko paused with a sandwich halfway to his mouth. "What?"
Iroh looked worried. "You have given it up, right?"
"Says who? Why would I give up going after him?" He snapped. "I have to-"
"Zuko! Have you not realized it yet?" Zuko looked puzzled. "You can't go back! No matter if you capture the Avatar or not you will still be imprisoned and possibly killed!"
Zuko frowned. "You don't understand, my father will-"
"He will lock you up in a cell to die! You've let your ambition of "restoring your honor" cloud your view of reality, Zuko! That's your problem, you never want to accept the truth and that's why you are angry all of the time!" Iroh sighed. "Like what happened with your mother."
Zuko knocked the tray of food and tea off the nightstand sending it clattering to the floor. The china smashed on impact and their remnants scattered everywhere. "You know nothing about my mother!"
"Zuko, calm down! You can't be-"
He pointed a finger accusingly. "You told that stupid water tribe girl about my past! You had no right to do that!"
"She only asked me about what you were saying in your sleep while you were unconscious. You talked about your father, your mother and your sister."
Zuko stood up quickly. "I didn't."
Iroh looked sadly at his nephew. "You must have deep scars from the pain you went through after your mother's death and your abandonment by your father."
"My mother isn't dead! She's alive, waiting for me somewhere!" He looked at the ground. "I know she is."
"Zuko." Iroh stood beside his nephew and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You have to understand, your father murdered your mother."
Tears welled in Zuko's eyes, clenching his jaw; he tried to hold them back. He struggled against himself for a couple of minutes. "I know." He finally whispered. "I know, she's dead. She's dead because…because…"
"Don't say it, it's not true." Iroh said firmly
He torn away from Iroh and turned his tear-streaked face toward him. "I have to Uncle!" He took a deep breath as all the memories came flooding back.
Zuko sat in the middle of his bed with the covers pulled up to his chin, afraid of what he had witnessed earlier. Azula leaned against the doorframe with a malicious grin on her face.
"Dad's gonna kill you." She said in an evil singsong voice as she nonchalantly picked at her fingernails. Then with a smirk she looked up at her brother. "No really, he is."
"Liar!" Zuko shouted as his heart skipped a beat.
Azula shrugged. "Think what you want but I heard the whole thing. Grandfather said, 'You too must feel the pain of losing a first born son by sacrificing your own.'" She deepened her voice add emphasis as she twirled around on Zuko's bed frame.
"Liar!" He again shouted.
"What is going on in here?" Their mother demanded as she entered the room. Her curiosity aroused by Zuko's shouting.
Azula looked at her innocently. "Nothing." She said as she stood by Zuko's bedside.
Their mother looked from her son to her daughter and after studying Zuko's horrified face, grabbed Azula's wrist. "C'mon, we need to have a talk." She pulled the girl out of the room and shut the door.
Zuko's heart pounded wildly and he pulled the blankets of his bed up to his chin. "Azula always lies…Azula always lies…Azula always lies…" He told himself. But what if she wasn't lying this time? What if dad was really going to kill him? Mother would protect him; Dad would never hurt his own son. Dads just don't do that. After this bit of reassurement he fell asleep peacefully.
His mother woke him up in the middle of the night. A sleepy Zuko rubbed his eyes and sat up, not quite sure was happening.
"Zuko, remember, everything I ever did was to keep you safe."
Zuko's eyes were bleary and he didn't understand why she was telling him this.
"Always remember who you are." Her lips brushed his forehead quickly as heavy footsteps echoed up the hallway. Zuko's head fell forward into his chest then his eyes shut. The next morning's light shone through his room and he jumped out of bed. He was afraid, he had a dream last night where a woman was screaming and all Zuko wanted was to snuggle against his mother. Then he remembered what she had told him in the middle of the night and what Azula had said the day before.
He ran out into the courtyard, his heart felt like it might burst out of his chest because it was beating so hard and quick. A tall figure was standing by the turtleduck pond, Zuko smiled at first, thinking it was his mother. But as he got closer he saw that it was his father.
"Where is she?" He asked.
No response.
A tear slid down Zuko's face. "Where is she?!"
No response.
"Tell me where she is! Where's mom?!"
"Where is she? Where is she?" He mumbled to himself. "I knew the whole time she was dead. But I couldn't accept that she died." He le tout a small choking sound and Iroh put an arm around Zuko's shoulders.
"It's alright."
Zuko shook his head. "No it's not!" He pushed away from Iroh. "She died because of me! It's my fault she's dead!" He said, then he broke down and started to sob into his hands. "I-I'm sorry mother…I'm sorry…" He cried.
Iroh let a small tear trickle down his own face as he held his nephew to his side. He looked down at his nephew and rested his chin on his head. "It's alright, my son." He said without thinking.
Katara lay on her bed and tried to fall asleep, which was nearly impossible with all the racket from outside. She stood and went over to the window, slamming it shut. Then she flopped back down on her bed, but he sounds from outside still were loud. Angrily she stood up and opened the window, about to shout when she spotted Appa. People were swarming around him and clambering on him like ants on a Popsicle. Katara stared open mouthed out the window at all the people around him, a splash of orange among the sea of green and brown caught her eye.
"Aang! Hey! Aaaang!" She waved at him.
"What?" She called back, finally spotting her.
"What's going on?" She asked.
Aang airbent himself up to the window. "All these people heard about Appa and wanted to see him. Sokka is charging money for it too so we can pay for our stay." He grinned happily.
"We aren't leaving yet are we?" She asked.
Aang looked troubled. "Well, we have to get going if I want to defeat the Fire Lord before the comet arrives at the end of the summer."
Katara frowned. "I don't want to go yet."
"Why?"
Think fast Katara, you can't tell him about Zuko. "I have wanted to see this city for so long, can't we stay another week or so? Then we can make even more money off Appa to buy new supplies and actually stay in a really nice inn."
"What wrong with the supplies we have now?" He questioned.
Katara jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the condition of everybody's backpacks and sleeping bags.
Aang grinned sheepishly. "I guess you're right. I'll tell Sokka." And with that he jumped off the ledge and airbent himself onto Appa then down to Sokka who had a large pack strapped to his front where people were dumping large handfuls of money. Aang told Sokka something who nodded and shouted something to the crowd.
"Score one for Katara." She said to herself as she pushed away from the window.
"What?" Came a voice from behind her.
Katara spun around. "Who? Oh, it's you Toph."
"What were you saying?" She asked.
"Oh, nothing important." Katara was glad that Toph couldn't see the huge grin across her face.
Toph shrugged. "Alright." She plodded over and plopped down on her own bed.
Katara slipped out the door and pressed her ear to Zuko's door. She heard what she thought was sobbing so she backed off and sat against the wall in the hallway.
Yeah, yeah I know what you're thinking. "Where the hell is the Zutara stuff?!" Please don't hurt me, I promise there will be some in the next chapter. Cross my heart, there will be Zutara fluff in the next chapter. Next chapter will be good, lots of Zutara. I'm really am sooo sorry for not getting this up sooner. But even though you probably hate me right now, please review. They mean so much to me!
Thanks a bunch!
Peace!