So ya I had a lot of fun writing this one, I know it isn't quite as fluffy but it's building up to the next big scene.
Just so all of you know the next few chapters will be shorter because they aren't actually interacting, so it will just be checking up on them. I'm REALLY excited to do The Guru/Crossroads of Destiny; I have tons of ideas for it, that'll be a loong one:)
Enjoy!
Katara and the gang were flying toward a clearing that they picked for their campsite.
Aang sat in his place on Appa's head, Sokka sat at the edge of the saddle closest to Aang as he was asking about a few new jokes he'd come up with, and the newest member of their group, Toph, sat next to the boys, laughing along with sat at the back of the saddle, bending the clouds that trailed behind them. She tried not to worry, but it'd been over a month since they'd seen Zuko.
When they parted, back at the cave, Zuko had said he'd go back the way he came so that no one was suspicious of them coming out together. He'd gone his way and Katara had gone hers, both wishing they could have stayed there together forever.
Zuko, where are you?
She'd made it out of the tunnel to an empty clearing and everyone else came crashing through the wall less then a minute after. Aang had run to her and embraced her, muttering about how he thought he'd never see her again, and Sokka followed suit. She'd assured them that she was completely unharmed and after they parted with the nomads they'd finished their journey to Omashu. But when they got there they found that it'd been taken by the Fire Nation; so they began hunting for a different Earth Bending teacher for Aang. They'd found Toph in a bending match and Aang had decided that she was perfect.
They landed in the clearing and they jumped off and began unloading.
"Hey," Toph started "You guys picked a great campsite, the grass is so soft here." The blind girl said with a smile plastered to her face.
"That's not grass, Appa's shedding." Sokka informed her. Katara's eyes widened as she realized that she was also standing on the animals discarded fur.
"Oh, gross!" She complained.
"That's not gross," Aang said from the saddle, "It's just a part of Spring. You know, rebirth, flowers blooming and Appa get a new coat." He said with a smile.
"Ah, the beauty of Spring," Katara added sarcastically. She didn't care how natural it was, as far as she was concerned, it was disgusting. Appa sneezed on his own fur, releasing loads of fur into the air and then shaking to try to get the rest off.
"Stop! Appa stop!" Katara choked, coughing on Appa's blizzard like fur. As it settled on the ground Sokka turned to her.
"It's not that bad, Katara," he said bending over to scoop up some of the fur from the ground and forming it on his head, "It makes a great wig!" He finished presenting his conclusion to her. She rolled her eyes as Aang jumped down to join him.
"Or a great mustache!" The airbender added. Katara gagged. She couldn't believe that they were putting that stuff on themselves.
"I'm just glad we have another girl in the group because you two are disgusting." She said brushing the fur off her clothes. She said it too soon apparently, because not a second later Toph walked over.
"Excuse me, does anyone have a razor?"She started with a smirk on her face, "Because I have some hairy pitts!" She finished raising her arms to show that she'd stuffed Appa's fur under her arms. Both of the boys fell on the ground laughing and even Katara couldn't suppress a giggle.
"Ok guys, come on we'd better set up camp before dark," She said still smiling.
It was nearly dawn when the rumbling woke him. Zuko's eyes snapped open to the ground shaking beneath him. He jumped to his feet and held his hands in front of himself in a fighting stance while turning, looking for the source of the sound. He saw none and grabbed the reigns of his ostrich horse and jumping on, he rode toward his best guess of the source. As the sun peeked over the mountains Zuko spotted tracks in the ground a few yards ahead of him; he directed his beast over to them and studied them.
A Fire Nation machine.
It was headed in the direction of the trail he was following, the Avatar's trail. He decided that he couldn't waste any time and urged the ostrich horse into a run.
I can't lose them.
Zuko wasn't just thinking about the Avatar, he was worried about what would happen to Katara if they were caught. He had been tracking them since Omashu, and he was closer now then he'd been in weeks. He bit his lower lip, remembering the taste of hers. He missed the feeling of her in his arms. He closed his eyes and shook her out of his head; he needed to focus if he was going to be able to help her.
"Come on Appa!" Katara yelled, urging him on. Her and Sokka were riding him alone trying to make it across a river. Then they'd be safe from the two deadly women chasing them. Toph had wandered off after both Aang and herself blamed her for their situation. None of them had gotten any sleep and the sun had already risen. They were all exhausted and at each others throats, Katara and Sokka had gone alone on Appa to tried to find her, and Aang had left with his glider and a bag of Appa's fur to lead the three women off their trail. But two of them were now chasing them again.
"You can make it!" Sokka screamed through the wind. And they did; Appa crashed through the trees and landed in a groan. Katara and Sokka were thrown off with the impact, but Katara jumped up despite the sharp pain in her hip and ran over to embrace her brother in joy. But when she glanced upward she saw something that wasn't cause for celebration, the lizards that the two teens were riding were running across the top of the water. Katara released her brother and ran forward, bending a large wave of water at them. It knocked down one of the creatures but the girl riding it flipped off it before the wave connected and leaped down through the trees.
She could only manage small attacks on the girl as she dodged her punches. She'd felt them in Omashu and they did something that had temporarily taken away her bending. Out of the corner of her eye she saw arrows whizzing toward her but Sokka came to her rescue and sliced them away with his boomerang.
Katara found the taller girl clad in dark red robes chasing after her now as the smaller one went after her brother, she stopped directly next to the water and started to bend it out but the girl pinned her wrists to a nearby tree, by her clothes, with her daggers. Katara gasped at how helpless she was before Sokka hopped over and fell in front of her.
"How you doin'?" he asked.
"Well, you know," she replied worriedly. Both of the older teens stood in victory over them now.
"I thought that when Ty Lee and I finally caught you guys, it would be more exciting," the taller one said in a drab tone, "Oh well, victory is boring." Just then Katara saw Appa turn around and raise him tail, and smiled despite herself. The two girls flew into the river and were washed downstream.
"Thanks, Appa. I don't know what we'd do without you," She heard her brother say to the bison, who replied by slobbering his paralyzed form with his tongue. Katara giggled at her brothers irritated face before turning and pulling at the blades that held her hands to the tree. They wouldn't budge and Katara pulling her hands away instead, the fabric at her wrists tore and the blades sliced them lightly; Katara winced at the pain but didn't have time to heal them at the moment. She went to her brother and helped him walk over to the water so she could help him regain some feeling with her bending.
Once Sokka was moving on his own again Katara stood with determination.
"We have to find Aang."
"Do you really want to fight me?"
"Yes I really do," Zuko had finally caught up to the tank to find that his evil sister was the one driving it; and that she was now standing opposite to the Avatar.
"I was wondering when you where going show up, ZuZu," Zuko heard the child behind him snort with laughter at the nickname, but ignored it.
"Back off, Azula. He's mine," Zuko threatened getting into a fighting stance.
"I'm not going any where," replied his sister who also got into a stance. They all stood there for a few moments, each one waiting for the other to make the first move. Zuko glanced back and forth from the Avatar to his sister; then with a start he realized that the boy was alone.
Where's Katara?
Zuko kept his gaze turned away from his sister for too long and he turned to see a large blue fire ball racing towards him, he brought up a wall as a defense, but it wasn't soon enough and he was thrown through the side of an old building. He waited a minute to allow his blurry vision to clear before racing back into the street and sending a few blasts at his sister. She deflected the blasts but other then that made no move to really attack him, keeping her focus of fire on the boy who was trying to dodge her blasts.
You will NOT ignore me.
Zuko flipped towards her bringing his foot down as he landed forcing Azula to turn away from her prey and fight him. They exchanged a few blasts before his sister noticed the Avatar racing up into the top floor of one of the buildings. She sent another blast at Zuko before pursuing the boy.
He diminished the flame and ran full speed after them, and through the door he'd seen them disappear through; he realized too late the the room he was running into didn't have a floor and he fell into a piled of old wood. Soon enough his sister landed next to him and came at him with full force, he deflected a few of her shots before she brought her fist covered in flames up to meet his face. He was blasted through the wall and when he landed his hand snapped again the ground. The last thing he saw before his vision completely faded was a flash of blue fabric.
Tara
Katara ran past the unconscious Zuko even though all she wanted was to stop and see if he was ok. She ran to the last place she saw Aang and found him pinned beneath a board and the third teenage girl standing over him, hand raised to strike. Katara unleashed a tentacle of water at the girl, wrapping it around her hand and whipping it to the side. The girl stumbled over and Katara used the time to slice the board restricting Aang in half.
"Katara!" Her friend shouted in relief, she offered him a small smile before running away from the barrage of fire that was coming at her. She ran past the door that she knew Sokka was hiding behind and he sliced his machete at the oncoming threat. The young women jumped into the street to avoid the sudden attacks only to find that the Avatar and both Water Tribe teens were facing her and ready to fight.
Katara began advancing on her, feeling far more confident that they could win this then she had when she first arrived on the scene.
They all surrounded Azula. His uncle, the Avatar, the Water Tribe teen, Katara, and an earth bender he'd never met. There was no way for her to get away this time.
"Well, look at this enemies and traitors all working together," Azula purred, "I'm done, I know when I'm beaten. You got me, a princess surrenders with honor."
Since when?
Just then Azula spun around, shooting a blast at Zuko's Uncle Iroh. Zuko gaped in horror before unleashing all of his fire power at his sister. The other benders did the same and a huge explosion was the result. Zuko didn't bother looking for his now missing sister, but knelt at the side of his uncle grabbing fistfuls of his hair in frustration. He felt the others behind him and turned on them.
"Get away from us!" He yelled in fury.
"Zuko, I can help!" Katara said beginning to approach him.
"Leave!" Zuko flung a wave of fire over their heads in anger, not thinking about what she'd said. He turned back to his uncle and tears filled his vision. He was the only person who ever believed in him besides his mother and now he was dying.
"Please, please Uncle, don't leave me."
"Go, I'll be fine." Katara and her brother were arguing behind a building.
"No way! Forget it, Katara." Sokka yelled at her, she glared at him and glanced at Aang who wore a concerned expression.
"Sokka, I think you should let her do it," Katara was surprised to hear the young earth bender speak up.
"What?!" Sokka yelled, his mouth agape.
"Knock it off, Snoozles. I don't care what he's done to you guys, he obviously cares about that guy. He isn't going to hurt Katara if he knows she can help. Katara mentally sneered.
He wouldn't hurt me anyway.
"I'm going, Sokka take the others to Appa. If I'm not there by noon tomorrow, then I give you permission to worry about me," Sokka furrowed his eyebrows and stared at her for a moment and she lifted her chin defiantly.
"Fine," he said shortly, "Come on you guys, let's go," he finished offering a hand to help Aang up from were he was sitting. Katara stood up from the crate she was sitting on and turned to go to Zuko.
"Katara," she turned to see Aang looking up at her with fearful eyes, "be careful, okay?" She offered the boy a smile and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I'll be fine Aang, you guys go take care of Appa and get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow for lunch." He nodded to her and turned and ran to catch up to the others. Katara waited until they were out of eyesight before she turn and ran to the last place she saw Zuko. When he came into sight she slowed to a walk and slowly approached him, when she was just behind him she stopped. His form was shaking with sobs.
"Zuko?" He turned, startled and she saw the pain and fear in his eyes.
"Tara?" She could here the disbelief in his voice, "I'm so sorry."
"Don't worry about it," she said going to kneel next to him. With Zuko's help she removed the man's shirt and set to work on the wound. Zuko moved to the other side of his uncle so she would have room to work.
"Thank you for coming back, Tara," he said in hushed tones. she glanced up to see him staring at her intently, she felt a blush spread across her cheeks as she remembered their last encounter.
"There was no way I was going to just leave you," she said shaking her head and disposing of the dirty water, "we need to bandage the wound." She watched Zuko's eyebrows furrow in frustration.
"We don't have any medical supplies," Katara thought for a moment before standing up. She took the bottom hem of her dress and swiftly tore it off; she took off just enough of the dress for the wound and cleansed it with the rest of her water. Then she had the still startled Zuko sit up his uncle and she wrapped the cloth around him. When Katara was satisfied with her work she and Zuko used a large, sturdy, piece of wood to move the elderly man to a building on the outskirts of the town.
When Katara set down her end of the board she was sweating and panting, he could definitely lose a few pounds. She moved to an old crate in the corner and pulled off the lid.
"This is perfect," she said smiling.
"What is it?" Zuko questioned from his uncle's side; in response Katara took out two large blankets and a few dishes. She took one of the blankets outside and beat the dust off of it before she went back in a draped it over the still unconscious man.
"Keeping him warm will help prevent fever," she muttered to herself while she sat down next to Zuko; She knew how fearful he was that the man would die, "Zuko, he's going to be ok," she whispered. He took her hand in his and she looked up to meet his tender gaze.
"I know," she gave him a small smile and touched the side of his face with her free hand, "I've missed you, Tara," he whispered as he leaned into her touch.
"I missed you too," she whispered back, then looking up she took notice of something that made her smile, "I like your hair," she said reaching up to run her fingers through the silky black mess," Zuko smiled at this and nodded.
"Me too," Katara wrapped her arms around him. The man she loved. He pulled her closer and she rested her head on his chest. A yawn escaped from her lips and exhaustion hit her like a wave; before she knew it she was beginning to doze, with him still holding her. The last thing she was aware of was Zuko placing a gentle kiss on her head.
And she felt it, the completeness that filled her being. She was no longer alone.
Zuko carried her over to a corner and covered her slim form with the other blanket, then he leaned up against the wall next to her. She looked so peaceful while she slept, so carefree with no worries. Why couldn't he be like that? She was so optimistic and saw the best in everything, she saw the best in him.
He reached over to brush his knuckles against her cheek and she shuddered slightly against his touch. Zuko smiled to himself before getting under the blanket himself.
There's nothing wrong with this.
He reasoned.
Just trying to keep warm.
But he knew that his logic failed when Katara snuggled close to him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head delicately.
"I love you, Tara," and he meant it. With her he felt so complete and like he could be a better man. With her he was no longer alone.
Yay! Finally another chapter! I'm sorry it took so long but I've really been focusing on my other Zutara story "A fighters heart" (Check it out!)
Please do leave a review if you feel so inclined.
Love you guys!
Kmsitterley