A/N: The response to this story is still really good, so I guess this is a thing now. No warnings in this chapter either, but I promise the adult-rated stuff is coming. Soon.
Rain was odd here. As it poured down over the side of the cliff, systems of tubes funneled the fresh rainwater into the fountains and bathhouses. Yet the position of the structures underneath the cliffs created the strange effect of keeping everything dry, for the most part, only the cracks in the ancient buildings allowing drops of water to intrude upon the stone.
It's a powerful storm, and the torrents of water bring Katara a sort of inner peace as she listens to the rainfall. She was literally surrounded by her element on all sides, the serenity of it calling to her until lighting interrupted it.
She jumps at the sound, seeing the bolt of energy strike the ground in the distance. She scowls, the pattern of light burned into her retinas as she tries to blink the image away. The peace of the moment had been shattered by the opposing element clashing against the earth, and for some reason it drags Zuko to the forefront of her mind again. The same raw power and fury that lived in lightning inhabited the firebender, and she feels the instinctual pull of hatred towards him at the thought of it.
He was the embodiment of the Fire Nation. His pale, nearly porcelain-like skin, his slick, dark hair, and his piercing golden eyes—if it weren't for the twisted scar tissue across the left half of his face, he would be the poster boy for what a firebender was supposed to be. Even his scar looked like a flame, licking up erratically across his forehead. Still, she can't hate him the way she wants to, her anger stopping short of her core.
Every time he looks at her she thinks of his voice as he'd admitted the loss of his mother in those caves. In that moment, he'd been nothing but a boy, a scared child—just like them—trying to survive this war. And that tone had returned once again when he'd admitted the struggle he'd faced over the years since his banishment. It was the moments when he looked at her with those tired, almost broken, eyes that she found her hatred waning and an odd feeling twisting in her gut that she refused to call butterflies.
"Katara?" Aang's voice barely carries over the torrent of rain, "There you are." He walks over, his face more grim than she expected it to be.
"Is everything alright?" She asks, frowning. He was even more tense now than he was before the Day of the Black Sun, but there's something different in his frown now.
"I'm not really sure." He says, "It's…well, it's Zuko." She tenses, the rain closest to her seeming to slow in its descent.
"What did he do?"
"No—he didn't do anything. I was just thinking." He lets out a long breath, the struggle clearly showing on his face, "Now that we don't have the advantage of the eclipse to take away the Fire Lord's bending, I need to learn firebending. Being able to bend his element will help me predict what he's going to do before he does it. It's an advantage I can't give up." Katara knows where this is going, and she eyes him warily, "I need Zuko to teach me firebending."
"We can find another way, Aang. We don't have to resort to that."
"Yes, we do. I don't like it any more than you do, Katara, but we're running out of options. I need every leg up on the Fire Lord that I can get—and we have his son right here. Maybe he knows some kind of weakness his father might have." His logic makes sense, and she hates that it does. Ringing her hands nervously, she sighs out her agreement.
"Fine. But how are we supposed to make sure that he doesn't attack you? If he uses lightning against you like Azula did, I…" She trails off, her jaw clenching tightly. Aang subtly cringes before he shakes his head.
"I don't think Zuko can bend lightning. If he could, he would've used it before." The rain seems to only get heavier, obscuring the view of the other wall of the canyon completely, "And if he tries to use firebending against me, I can take him. I have before." There's nothing else for Katara to say, only studying Aang for a moment before relenting.
"If this is what you think is right, I'll go along with it. But if I think there's even a chance that he'll hurt you, I won't hold back on him." He smiles at her, affection and thanks all wrapped into one silent reply. She returns the smile, resting a hand on his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"I'll go talk to him about this. I was going to go check on him anyway." She had been frequenting his cell more often as of late, Toph's stunt with the door putting her on edge. It soothed her restless mind to reassure herself that he was still locked away, and as she walks down the hall towards his room, she breathes easier when she sees the solid wall of rock.
"Get your panties out of a bunch, I didn't do anything." Toph huffs, arms crossed over her chest and a dower expression on her lips.
"I need to see him." Katara replies, "And I didn't say you did anything. It just makes me nervous, thinking about what Zuko could do if he gets loose."
"Yeah, wouldn't want him getting out and teaching Aang firebending. What a tragedy that'd be." She punctuates her sentence by lowering the rock from Zuko's doorway, fists coming to rest at her sides as she finishes the move. Katara can think of quite a few ways to respond to the earthbender, but she takes a deep breath instead. She needs to control herself and her temper. She won't let Zuko's presence make her a worse person.
She pauses mid-step when she sees Zuko. He's settled on the edge of his bed, hunched over slightly with his hair falling into his eyes and shielding his face from her. His hands rest in his lap, fingers twitching painfully and she quickly realizes why. Coming closer, she sees the raw, inflamed skin of his wrists underneath the abrasive rope tying them together. He looks up at her, and she can see the restrained pain just behind his façade.
He raises a questioning brow, not saying anything but doing his best to hide his wrists between his knees. Men. She chides internally. Too proud to admit they're in pain.
"Your wrists." She says, her tone being far softer than it had any right to be.
"I…have wrists, yes." Zuko deflects, shoulders shifting uncomfortably.
"Let me see them." Her tone shifts into something short, demanding.
"They're fine. What do you want?" He doesn't stand, instead pressing his knees together so they close over his forearms and block his wrists from her completely.
"Oh for the love of—" She reaches forward, her hands clasping his elbows and yanking to try to free his arms of his legs. He holds his arms firmly, though, eyes meeting hers tensely. It almost reads as a challenge, his jaw setting tightly as her brows furrow inwards, "Just let me see your wrists, Zuko!"
"Why do you care?" He spits back, bearing his teeth as he speaks.
"Because I can heal you and—unlike your people—we take care of others, even if they are monsters." She yanks again, her feet sliding along the floor until the toes of her shoes meet his.
"Oh, but you're fine with starving people. That's different?" Indignant rage and guilt pool in her stomach, and she feels a sudden embarrassing heat on her cheeks.
"I already apologized for that!" She's less pulling on Zuko's arms now and more holding his elbows, her fingers pressing into the firm mass where his biceps join his forearms.
"I don't remember ever saying I forgave you." She lets out an aggravated sigh before she sees the slight smirk pulling up a corner of his mouth. Was he teasing her?
The fight suddenly abandons her, leaving her to truly understand the position she was in. Quite literally toe to toe with him, the upturned point of his nose nearly brushing hers as she grasps at his arms, their position is nearly an embrace. He seems to realize this at the same moment she does, his jaw suddenly going slack and eyes widening. She blinks, forcing herself to scowl and shove away from him. She can practically still feel his heated skin under her fingers and repeatedly clenches her fists.
"Fine. I don't need you to forgive me." She takes a large step back, perhaps giving him more space than necessary, "But I still need to see your wrists. You're not any good to Aang if you die from some infection." Zuko seems to still be in some kind of shock, watching her with a mix of bemusement and disbelief. She swears she can see pink tinting his cheek, but he quickly turns his head so only the impassive skin of his scar is visible to her.
"Does Aang want me to teach him?" He asks, taking a sudden interest in the opposite wall. His knees have gone slack, and she uses the opportunity to push his hands up.
"Yes. He's decided to let you mentor him in firebending, despite what I think." He tilts his head back to face her, watching her study his wrists. She purposefully refuses to meet his gaze.
"What do you think?"
"I think you've got an infection." He tugs his hands away from her, clenching his fists.
"I meant about the firebending. What do you think?" He finds it infinitely harder to read her when she won't look him in the eyes.
"I think you're going to hurt Aang." She says bluntly, grabbing his hands again and holding them in between them. She uncaps the canteen at her hip, bending a thin stream of water out of it. Her eyes return to his for the first time since the awkward pseudo-embrace and he swallows heavily. Her gaze is a warning, and he realizes why she's giving him one when she flicks her fingers upward and cuts the ropes with a precise jet of water.
The relief he feels shows on his face, his hands separating and his arms stretching over his head as he regains full range of movement. She gathers the water back into her hands, forming a small ball of liquid.
"Hold your hands still in front of you." She instructs, "And don't try to make any moves. I still won't hold back on you just because I'm trying to heal you." He offers his hands, sighing.
"I could've gotten out of the ropes at any time, you know." The water between her hands starts to glow, illuminating the space between them, "I could've burned them off." She brings her hands forward, coating them in the glowing water before gently encircling his wrists. The heat of infection combined with his high body temperature makes her nearly lose her grip on the water.
"Then why didn't you?" She asks, only partially focused on speaking. Healing was always taxing, requiring a large amount of her attention and power as she tried to use her chi to heal others. Zuko's chi seems to rise up to meet hers, though, sending an unfamiliar shiver through her.
"I wanted you to trust me. If I just burned off the restraints, you would've thought I was trying to escape." He's right, she knows he is, but she refuses to admit that. She changes the subject entirely.
"You're taking to healing a lot better than I thought you would." She says, feeling as if she's reaching into Zuko's very core as his chi works with hers to kill the infection and close the weeping wounds on his wrists. Perhaps this was something that occurred with all firebenders, she wouldn't know, but it's far too intimate for her comfort.
"I guess I am." He answers, seeming to pick up on the shift in his chi and his tone becomes equally distracted. The water enveloping her hands seems to raise a few degrees, his fingers absently brushing against her arms and sending an entirely different shiver through her.
Amber clashes with sapphire, and she can't look away. His eyes were that of the enemy, but beyond that, they were incredibly soulful and deep in a way she'd never noticed before. So much so that she feels she could spend the rest of her life looking into them and never quite reach the bottom. But the trance is broken when lightning crashes outside, and she feels the reflection of Zuko's firebending in her hands. She can feel the lightning in the atmosphere. She can feel the pull of the sun the way she normally felt the pull of the moon. As his brow climbs his forehead, she knows he can feel the opposite, the torrential downpour suddenly drawing him and the moon announcing its presence.
She drops the water and it soaks into his lap. He doesn't seem to notice, frozen with his hands held limply in front of him.
This was too much.
It was all too much.
Neither of them knows how to respond to things they've felt, their respective elements returning to them the moment contact is broken, and they each try to say something but find words clogged in their throats. She staggers away from him, getting to her feet hurriedly. She doesn't find more rope to bind his hands with, instead choosing to hurry from the room without so much as a glance backwards, thunder rolling in the distance.
Firebending calls to Zuko like an old friend, easing the tension out of his muscles and his mind as he finally uses his conflict for something constructive. Trailing the flame along behind his hand, he shifts his weight into his forward facing foot and flicks his wrist outwards. The heat plumes from his fist before it withers and dies in the air, and he lets out a calm breath. The fire feels symbolic, as if he's releasing something dangerous within himself with it, and he feels physically lighter. That is, until Aang interrupts him for the third time in the space of half of a minute.
"That kind of looked like waterbending." Zuko looks over at him, unable to hold back an indignant huff.
"It's not." That one moment of being able to sense the moon and the rain and even the tiny particles of water in the air had been intense and almost terrifying in how alien it was to him, "Firebending and waterbending are nothing alike." Aang doesn't seem to want to fight him on it, letting the subject drop, but Zuko's impromptu guard speaks up.
"Yeah, I mean it's not like splashing water around is anything like burning down buildings for fun." Sokka says, sword held at his side leisurely.
"I didn't burn them down for fun!" Zuko snaps, trying to convince himself that the way he stomps his foot in frustration is not akin to that of an inconvenienced child. Sokka raises a brow, watching the display with more amusement than Zuko would like.
"It was a joke. I do those sometimes. It's kind of my thing." Zuko feels an embarrassed flush rise to his cheeks, rubbing his neck.
"Oh. Sorry." He'd never been very good with jokes, "Funny." It's all he can think to say, clearing his throat in the awkward silence, "A-Anyway, that's probably one of the simplest firebending forms you can do. It's just creating the fire and moving it from one place to another." Despite his reassurance, Aang looks just as doubtful as he had when they'd started at dawn.
"It's the creating fire part I'm having trouble with." He says, looking down at his hands and flexing them, frowning deeply, "I've never actually made it from nothing. The one time I've done firebending, I ignited something else to make it."
"That's how most firebenders start off, but you need to be able to make it yourself. Fire is the only element that you have to create. Earth, water and air are things that exist already, and that you're just using." Zuko says, reciting the words calmly, "But fire is something personal. It's a piece of yourself that you're creating from nothing."
"I never thought of it that way." Aang says softly, watching as Zuko ignites a small flame over his palms.
"I didn't either until recently." Zuko replies, rolling his wrist in one practiced move that sends the flame curling outwards delicately, "I used to think of it like my father does, as a reflection of power, and that's when it's dangerous. That's when firebenders become a threat to everyone around them. But as long as you keep in mind that fire has less to do with power, and more to do with harmony, you won't hurt anyone, or yourself, accidentally." He could practically hear when Iroh had told him these exact words. He'd been little more than a petulant child at the time, only interested in learning his sister's far more advanced forms and had refused to listen to his Uncle, but he was thankful to remember these words. Now that he repeated them out loud, he could truly appreciate their wisdom.
"Is that why you burned Toph 'accidentally?'" Katara's voice suddenly chimes in, and it makes Zuko's insides twist in an unfamiliar way. He sees her as she stands beside her brother, crossing her arms. They lock eyes for a long moment before he looks away and kills the fire midair.
"Accidents still happen." He murmurs, "I was alone in the middle of the woods at night and couldn't see whoever was sneaking up on me. Are you saying you wouldn't have done the same thing?"
"You're asking if I would've burned her? Probably not." She says snidely, and despite the usual venom in her voice, it sounds manufactured. He studies her closely, eyes roaming her entire form as he tries to decipher her. He doesn't come away with much, her face being too impassive for him to gain anything substantial from, so he finds himself just truly taking in the entirety of her. He recalls the first time he'd ever seen her, having barely paid her any mind as he demanded her tribe hand over the Avatar, but he recalls just how young she'd looked. In the relatively short time since then, she'd grown into an entirely different woman. Powerful and terrifying, she'd become a woman with enough fire and spirit to rival any firebender. It was really quite beautiful. She was beautiful.
A hand waves in front of his eyes, breaking his train of thought, and he realizes he's been silently staring at Katara for several unbroken minutes.
"Do you want me to try making fire again, or…" Aang trails off, eying Zuko skeptically. The Prince clears his throat once again, but he can't seem to dislodge the choked feeling there as his mind refuses to move past thoughts of the waterbender.
"What? Oh—Yes. Just uh—concentrate. Focus. Harmony and…firebending." He's barely coherent, he realizes, stumbling over his words without trying to form them into a proper sentence, "I-I mean—" Aang, along with Sokka and Katara, seem to be confused by his sudden inability to speak properly, but Aang moves past it.
"Yeah, I get it. I think." Zuko tries to refocus, forcing his eyes to stay on Aang's hands as he attempts to create fire, but once again his mind wanders. Katara's hands had been deceptively soft on his wrists, hiding the raw power that existed within them that he'd experienced firsthand on more than one occasion. He wondered if the rest of her skin was that soft, and if it was all the same deep mocha color, or if it had darkened from the sun. His thoughts start spiraling in a direction that was certainly not safe, especially when the subject of his suddenly lewd thoughts a mere ten feet away.
This had to stop. He was here to help Aang, not fulfill some twisted fantasy that he shouldn't even be having.
"I think we need to take a break." Zuko says, trying to convince himself that he didn't sound as desperate as he did, "We'll continue training after lunch." Aang agrees, or at least Zuko thinks he does, not really listening as he practically runs from the three of them. He knows he wasn't supposed to go anywhere unaccompanied, but he'll face the consequences for this later. He needed to be alone now, away from Katara's searing gaze on him that forced his mind into places it definitely shouldn't be and had certainly never been before.
It was just his luck that Katara was the one who chased after him, cornering him in what must be a forgotten room for meditation with its high ceiling and gaping glassless windows that let the crisp air rush in. Despite the spacious airiness of the room, Zuko feels like he can't breathe.
"Where do you think you're going?" She demands, "Just because you're teaching Aang doesn't mean you get free roam now." It was bad enough that she wouldn't leave his head, could she at least not constantly pester him physically?
"I just need a minute. Do you mind?" Zuko says sharply, his back turned to her as he clenches his fists at his sides.
"Yes." She doesn't move, if anything, drawing closer to him. Why couldn't she leave him alone? In his mind or physically, she was unraveling him in a way that terrified him to his core.
"Leave." He says, his tone a clear warning. He feels familiar heat prickle at his fingertips, itching to be released.
"You don't get to order me around." She's closer still, barely a foot from him. He wants to both grab her and push her away.
"I need time to think. Just give me that." Her hand clasps his shoulder, sending a bolt of something through him that makes his entire body go stiff. It's the final tipping point, something in him snapping as flame ignites around his fists. Before he can even process what his body is doing, he's spinning to face her and whipping the fire in front of him in one devastating motion.
She hits the ground with a solid thud, and the fire around his hands dies as his blood runs cold.
A/N: ZUTARA INTESIFIES.
Jesus lord this chapter got really long, but I covered everything I wanted to in it and the action is starting to pick up finally. Also, I'm loving all of these reviews, they're so encouraging, you guys are great, keep it up. I don't think I've had a story get this much attention in a long time. ~ Jiggle