Hotel Omashu: Chapter 1
Whoa, thanks for all the reviews! I am very happy to see such enthusiastic readers!
Now that finals are OVER, thank god, I can finally update more often. I hope it pleases.
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After a nice trip down the fascinating elevator and a little walk a couple blocks down the street, the group arrived at a restaurant called 'Sumi's'. It was more like a café then a restaurant, but Katara was NOT complaining. As they were sitting down at a table-cloth draped booth, she was positioned so she wasn't next to Zuko. She tried not to let her disappointment show as she sat next to Song and Suki.
"This place is so cute." Suki gushed. Song nodded.
"It's been here ever since Mom opened the hotel. I go here all the time!" she smiled. Katara took out her little menu and glanced at it. A bigger portion of it was filled with coffee drinks and pastries.
"Is there actually dinner food here?" Katara asked.
"Well, not really." Song shook her head apologetically. "Just get some coffee or something; that way we can stay up late." She giggled.
"Now that sounds suggestive." Zuko rolled his eyes. Katara blushed slightly, even though she didn't know why.
After ordering five coffees and a tray of delicate croissants, everyone settled in to wait for their food. Katara didn't really pay much attention to what Song, Suki, or Sokka were conversing about, and absentmindedly swung her legs. Suddenly, she brushed someone's foot accidentally.
She was about to apologize when she felt that person's foot gently brush hers in return, almost shyly.
She looked up to see who it was. Sokka? Nope, he was too busy with Suki. Suki or Song? That would just have been weird.
Cautiously, she looked over at Zuko, who was for some reason blushing furiously while he tried to look bored.
Getting an idea, she slid her shoes off with her feet and poked Zuko gently in the leg. In turn, Zuko put his foot over hers, almost possessively. Katara felt her face burn, but she grinned insanely as she felt a warm feeling spread from her toes to her belly.
She looked over at him and smiled as she took her foot and put it over top of his.
He took his out from under and gently pushed her leg. She pushed back a little harder, and before long it was an all out battle between Zuko and Katara's feet, with no clear winner.
Katara tried hard to keep from bursting out laughing. Zuko was obviously trying to win their war without hurting her, and she found it adorable. She pulled back her leg in an attempt to end their battle once and for all, and brought it swinging forward.
Her foot made contact with something, it just wasn't Zuko's leg. Katara jumped back as her foot crunched into the leg of the table, and it lurched forward, spilling Suki's water all over Sokka.
As Katara righted herself, she looked up to see three pairs of eyes staring at her in surprise. The other pair was averted.
"Katara? Are you ok?" Suki raised an eyebrow, handing Sokka a napkin as he whimpered about his favorite shirt.
"Fine….fine! Just a reflex, I don't know what I was doing…heheh, sorry." She blathered on as she tried to come up with a logical explanation. She took a deep breath to explain, but before letting it out she glanced at Zuko, who was trying to hold in a laugh. His shoulders lightly shook as he put a hand over his mouth.
It was then that Katara lost it. Her breath came out as a belly laugh before she even knew what she was laughing about. Zuko took one look at her and began laughing as well while the others stared.
"You know what, I don't even want to ask." Song grinned as she realized what had happened.
"Excuse me." Katara got and went towards the restroom, wincing slightly as her bruised toes were pushed into motion.
She went inside and relieved herself, washing her hands and following her normal toiletry routine. She opened the door to go back out, and found Zuko waiting for her with a sly smile on his face. His eyes glinted as he saw her, and she felt her heart rise in her chest.
He grabbed her in his arms as she rushed towards him.
"I missed you." Katara simply whispered before her mouth was covered with his.
He kissed her passionately, but not lustfully. Her hands wound their way to his shoulders before she pulled away.
"I missed you too. Our little skirmishes were always amusing." He said in his grating voice.
"You can say that again. Why do I always manage to make a fool of myself?" she shook her head playfully.
"It's cute. You're a magnet for accidents." He smirked.
"Are you calling me clumsy?" Katara's eyes burned flirtatiously.
"Why, I just said you seemed to have a lot of mishaps."
"Most of them are because of you!" Katara snorted.
"You keep telling yourself that." Zuko laughed softly.
"You're just bad at footsie!" Katara blurted. Her eyes widened and she took her hands away from his shoulders to cover her mouth. Zuko laughed harder at her slip.
"My apologies. I'll do better next time." He grinned before going into the men's restroom, leaving Katara in the foyer between the two restrooms, actually hoping there was a next time.
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"Here ya'll go, enjoy!" a waitress brought their coffee and croissants as Zuko finally joined them at the table.
"Thank you." Song graciously handed out the food before taking a sip of her chai latte.
"So Sokka, what have you been up to?" Suki asked as she leaned forward.
"I've been working out a lot, going out, hanging out." Sokka shrugged nonchalantly while Katara rolled her eyes toward Zuko at his mention of working out. Sometimes Sokka merely thought he was working out while his skinny arms begged to differ.
"What about you?" He asked Suki.
"I'm training to get my second black belt in Gatka. It's actually been really intense." Zuko looked at her.
"You take Gatka? With traditional weapons?" He asked, puzzled.
"Yep. I've been doing it for years." Suki restrained herself from subconsciously puffing her chest out as she said this.
"I've studied that martial style before. I use broadswords." Zuko nodded seriously while Katara wondered what they were talking about. In the corner of her mind she felt left out, but she quickly pushed that feeling away.
"Whoa, I'm impressed. We should spar sometime." Suki said innocently. Zuko nodded before Sokka jumped back into the conversation
"You'll do great." He beamed at his girlfriend.
"Katara, what have you been doing?" Song asked. Katara paused, considering her answer.
"I've been swimming a lot. I want to make the varsity team so bad!" she said.
"I also got a babysitting job." She continued.
"I could never do that. I mean, watching someone else's bratty kids? It's never really worked for me." Suki admitted.
"What? I could totally see you being great with little kids. You're too friendly for kids not to like you." Katara said.
"Ha! Nope." Suki grinned.
"This has been such a busy summer." Zuko ran his hand through his hair.
"Well, it is the summer before senior year. Just think, this time next year we'll be going to college." Song sighed. Everyone fell quiet as they contemplated the impending future.
"The thought scares me." Katara broke the silence. Everyone nodded and simultaneously took a sip of coffee at the same time, then laughed.
"I think that's enough thinking about the future. We're teenagers who are currently staying in a fabulous hotel; we don't need worries right now!" Sokka put on his best snobby accent.
Katara laughed along with the others again, but stopped when she noticed Zuko wasn't laughing. She sent him a questioning look, but he responded with a glance that she interpreted to mean "later."
She raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
"Let's go back to the hotel and order room service." Suki said. She grabbed Sokka's arm and pulled him up, motioning for everyone else to follow. Katara and Zuko got up and trailed behind a little bit.
"Are you okay?" she asked him. They walked side-by-side out the café and onto the completely dark streets.
"I don't want to burden you or anything…….especially on our vacation." He looked at Katara seriously, causing her to giggle.
"You're being to serious! Tell me what's wrong." She hooked her arm in his, causing him to turn his head in surprise.
"I don't know if I am going to college." He said suddenly, no pain in his voice. Katara's eyes widened in shock.
"Wha...what?" she asked, completely taken aback. She had not been expecting this.
"After my mom died…..let's just say money is a little tight."
Katara tightened her grip a little.
"I'm sorry. No one really knew….."
"I know." He sighed.
"There are so many things you can do to get money! We could try to make some this weekend instead of lazing around and taking advantage of Song's mom." Zuko grinned at the last statement.
"What could I do? We're only going to be here for a few days." He suppressed an eye roll.
"Come on Zuko, you're smarter then this. We're in the business district! Surely we can sell something or another and make a little money."
"Katara, listen to what you are saying. I mean it." Zuko tried to convince Katara out of her crazy idea, but she wouldn't listen to anything else. Her eyes had a determined glint in them, and she carried herself a little higher.
"No Zuko. Don't try to talk me out of this! We are going to make some extra money for you. I'm sure we can come up with a great idea to do….er….something! Please, can we at least try?" She stopped, not caring that the other were completely out of sight by now.
One look at Katara, and Zuko knew he couldn't refuse anything that she asked. No matter how stupid or crazy it sounded.
"You're insane. If you want to make money this weekend, be my guest." Katara tackled him in a hug.
"Come on, let's go brainstorm." They continued down the street and went back to the hotel, ideas blossoming inside Katara's head.
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Okay reviewers, here is my lame attempt at an actual plotline. There will be plenty of comedy as Katara and Zuko actually bring their schemes to the streets. Please review and tell me what you think! If it is lame, I will COMPLETELY rewrite the entire chapter.
BTW – I got this idea from watching "The Apprentice", a business reality show.