"I can't believe this," said Katara. "I can't believe this is happening to me."
Zuko opened his eyes to the blazing heat and prickly, uncomfortable feeling of sand in his clothes. He dimly noticed he was on his back, limbs splayed out in every which direction, soggy wet cloth clinging to his body. He could feel the waves lapping at his feet.
Then he realized he wasn't breathing. There was something in his lungs, sloshing about in his rib cage.
"I can't believe it," she repeated.
He squinted, and could see her standing above him, her head blocking out the sun. He still couldn't breathe. This was quickly becoming quite worrisome.
"I can't believe I'm stuck on this island with nobody but you."
Zuko rolled over onto his stomach, and threw up.
----
"What do you mean, there's nobody else on this island?"
She looked straight in the eye. "I mean, there's nobody else on this island."
"You're lying," he snarled, and stalked off, pushing through low brushes and firmly disbelieving her words.
"Fine," Katara called from behind him. "You're wasting your energy. I've already searched this miniscule lump of rock, and I've found nothing."
"I don't believe you." His voiced faded as he disappeared into the trees.
She sighed and slumped back down on the sand, back against a prickly trunk. Pig-headed idiot. See if she cared what he did.
----
Two hours later, he was back, a menacing glare plastered on his face. He pressed closer.
"What did you do?"
"You think I put us here?"
"What did you do?" he repeated, not backing down.
"You think I want to be stuck here with you?"
"It's a trick," he spat. "You brought me here to—to distract me from the Avatar. To prevent me from regaining my honor."
"I may care about Aang," she replied coldly, "but I care about your honor less than I care about where my shit goes once I'm through with it."
He backed away, and she felt a slight sense of relief when their respectable proximities were established once again.
"You threw that statue at my head," he narrowed his eyes, trying to remember. "And then something exploded, and now we're here."
"I was trying to protect myself! You threw one of your fire-whatchamacallits at the weird statue, and that's what got us here."
"Are you implying that this is all my fault?"
"Well it certainly isn't mine!"
He snorted. "You're flattering yourself if you think I purposely chose to come to this island with you."
She bristled. "I think all that seawater in your lungs somehow migrated to your brain, causing a breakdown of what little reasoning skills you do possess."
"I am perfectly sane."
"That's debatable."
He glared. She glared.
The sun's harsh noon light beat down on the two sole inhabitants of the island.
----
Something hard cracked onto Zuko's skull and he jumped up, swearing profusely. A round, fuzzy brown thing lay at his feet. He picked it up, staring at it suspiciously.
"Sorry," said Katara, high in the tree above him. He thought she didn't sound particularly apologetic.
"What the heck is this?" he asked, rubbing his head.
"A coconut."
"What?"
"Food."
That he could understand. He turned it around in his hands, trying to find an opening. It didn't look edible.
She leapt from the tree, landing next to him before taking the 'coconut' from his hands. "Like this, idiot," and she cracked the coconut against a stony rock. It split into uneven halves, dripping milky-white liquid onto the sand. She handed one half to him.
He took it gingerly, watching the white milk from inside spill onto the ground.
Katara grabbed it from him furiously. "You're wasting it! You're supposed to drink the inside!" And proceeded to demonstrate with her own.
Zuko looked at the juice suspiciously. It didn't look very appetizing, but the Waterbender girl had drank it too, so she probably wasn't trying to poison him.
He took a small sip, and was delighted to find the thin, sweet taste good on his tongue. Not so bad. He was disappointed when he finished, since he'd dumped more than half of his onto the sand during his previous confusion with the 'coconut'.
Then she proceeded to begin chewing on the inside.
How barbaric, he thought. He took out his own knife, and carved out chunks of the white fruit.
"Can I borrow that?" she asked, pointing at his knife.
"No," he answered readily, intent on his own dinner.
"What?"
"I said no."
"Why not?" her tone was one of extreme annoyance.
"Because I don't trust you with it."
"You think I'm going to stab you to death as soon as I have it in my hands?" she said, sarcasm obvious.
"Yes." His answer was plain and simple.
She recoiled and stared at him. "Are you serious?"
He nodded. "Besides, my uncle gave me this knife for my birthday. It's made of the finest quality metal, and crafted by a master artisan."
Katara continued to gape. "So you can use a special knife to carve up coconut, and I can't?"
"Yes."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and with one swipe, she knocked his coconut out of his hands and onto the sand. Zuko stared helplessly as the white chunks he'd so painstakingly carved out rolled across the grainy sand, turning brown and inedible.
"What the hell?" he hissed.
Katara stomped away, back towards the waterfront.
"Hey!" he yelled after her angrily. "Hey! You owe me another one!"
"Get your own damn coconut!" was her parting call.
A/N: Yay reviews!
This sort of has a plot but not really. Just interaction, character relationship development. The usual good stuff.