Confrontation of the Spirits
A Zutara Modern Day AU
By smartcheer917

Click

Click

Click

"Would you stop!"

"No."

Click

Click

Click

"This has to be illegal in some way." Zuko mumbled, "Or against the code of conduct." Katara clicked the pen a few more times. Zuko got up form his chair and searched for the copy of the code of conduct. The desk was completely empty.

"What kind of teacher is she?" He mumbled and kicked the desk. Katara stopped clicking the pen and absentmindedly ran the closed tip of the pen along the carpet. Her mind flashed back to the previous day.

"What was that smell?" She asked, looking up at him in Aunt. Wu's desk. He blinked and looked down at her.

"What are you talking about?" He asked her.

"When you took me home yesterday.' She craned her neck to look up at him, "Your car... could you come down here?"

"Why should I come down there? What smell?"

"So I can talk to you!" he rolled his eyes and joined her on the floor. She looked over at him and fiddled with the pen..

'Well? What smell?" she sighed.

"When you pulled up. There was this scent flying form your car. It was amazing. What was it?" she asked, twirling the pen between her fingers.

"Are talking about deodorant?" He asked.

"That's what that stuff was?" She said, "It smelled good."

"That stuff will make you high." Zuko pointed out.

"All good things do." She said, looking down at the pen she was twirling. Zuko looked at the device.

"What are your 'issues?'" Katara asked. Zuko blinked

"I'm stuck in a room with a very annoying girl, that's my issue." Zuko said. Katara wrinkled up her face.

"You're no walk in the park either big boy. I was just thinking maybe we could do what the woman asked and maybe we won't have to come back on Monday. I need to go to class." Katara said, poking Zuko with her pen. He shut his eyes.

"Don't touch me." He said.

"Why? Afraid of a tad bit of human contact?' Katara said, humoring her voice and poking him with her pen. "Huh, huh, huh?" she said, poking him all over and giggling.

Zuko grabbed her wrists in a fraction of a second and flipped himself over on top of her. Her pen was dropped.

"Don't touchme." He growled into her face. She stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Okay." She managed to stammer out. He released her and stalked to the other side of he room and sat down in a chair. Katara rubbed her wrists. Zuko put his face in his hands.

"My mother died recently." She said, curling up into a ball and putting her chin to her knees. Zuko lifted his face from his hands slightly as she spoke.

"Hit and run". She said, sniffling slightly, "Its funny how big of chickens people are. They don't stick around to clean up the mess." She buried her head into her knees and silently watered her kneecaps. Zuko lifted his head all the way and looked over and the crying girl in the corner.

Flashback

Zuko came in the door to his uncle's house in the early evening and dropped his car keys on the table. He was reaching for the old light-switch when he was assaulted from behind He flung his right elbow back and hit the man on his back's head with his elbow. He heard this two hunks of flash connect and tossed him over his head and into his uncles old lamp. Zuko felt another guy charge to the front of him.

"Take it now boy or we'll get you like the Inuit woman we got yesterday"...

He got up and walked over to her, sitting down to her right. He watched her for a few moments, debating about what to do.

"Do..." He stopped himself, "Do you know who did it?" Zuko asked her. She shook her head and looked up.

"I think that's what hurts the most." Katara said, picking the last of some pink polish off over her nail beds. Zuko looked at the ground.

"I heard some of my fathers goons talking about taking out an Inuit woman last month..." Katara looked at him, "Maybe there's a connection?"

He felt a hand connect with his face. He grabbed his jaw and looked at the girl who had jumped to her feet.

"You bastard. I should have known it was someone of your being that did this." Her eyes could have frozen the center of the earth in a glance.

"Of my being?' He said, standing up and looking down at her.

"Yes," She said, the water works having stopped fully and her face taking on a red shade similar to that of mars, "People of your being. You and everyone else that follow your father around like a lost puppy." She moved herself closer to his face and flung her arms around in a wild arm-dance.

"Get your facts straight." He hissed at her.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She yelled. She started to walk away, exaggerating the obvious rant she was about to start when he grabbed her and rammed her into he wall behind her,

"It means that I don't follow my father anymore." He hissed into her face as her eyes started to soften, "It means don't associate me with those people. It means don't make assumptions about my life unless you're in it." He pushed her into the wall harder. She barley noticed.

"And what would make you, the doting son of the richest man in the town, leave him? And don't say 'None of your business' because you brought it up." She snapped with less hatred than before. He turned his face to the side so she could get a close up of the burn.

"Take a wild guess." He said softly, releasing him. Katara gasped.

"Zuko..." She said, taking a step towards him with no idea what she was going to do from there,

"Okay!" Aunt Wu said, opening up the door, "I think that's enough for today. Katara, you may go, school's about to let out. Zuko, can I speak with you?" He nodded faintly, not lifting his head. Katara collected her things and looked at him worriedly before she exited the room.

"Zuko," Aunt Wu said, coming to his side and placing a hand on his shoulder, "Thing will not get better unless you will it. I wasn't sure if you knew this. You may go." She said. He turned and left.

Katara wondered the halls aimlessly after the bell had rung and all of the sports people disappeared, leaving halls open for the claiming. The drug addicts had taken over all of the stairwells for hustling, and the stairwells that were not used in that way were being used for a substitute for a hotel room.

It was late fall and the fall sports would be ending soon. It was too chilly to go wander outside, and she wasn't exactly ready to head home. Suki would be at practice, and so would Sokka. Aang had Avatar duties and Toph was being taught against her will to use a Seeing Eye dog. It was Friday, and it was cloudy. All of her friends were busy. Nobody had time for her. They would make time if she asked for it, but she wouldn't. She wouldn't want the to mess up they're lives for hers.

"Maybe I'll go see a movie." She said to herself, "Or creep in the library." She headed for the library.

The library was the oldest part of the school, dating a couple hundred years farther back then the school. It wasn't a part of the school, technically. It was the town's library, but it was on the school campus and used mainly by school students so it was considered a part of the school. The building was extremely old-fashioned looking inside and out, filled with tables that would survive a nuclear bomb along with Styrofoam peanuts and cockroaches and a permanent smell of old, mildewing paper. It towered the school in its 8 full stories plus basement. It was old, creepy, and easy to get lost in, of course it was loved by middle school students and up. To get to the library from the school, you had to cross the wide drive and walk across the path. Katara set her sights for there and hurried out an exit. She looked at the fading clouded sky and started walking towards the library.

Zuko sat in his car. Her didn't know what else to do. He didn't have any friends. If he wandered around the school Mai would find him and be all creepy like normal. He decided to go and see a movie. It was Friday, so he might as well. He dug for his keys and shoved them into the ignition. She listened to the machine purr while he buckled his seatbelt. He pulled out of the student parking lot and cruised down the road towards the schools only exit.

It was nearing dusk, but Zuko didn't click on his low beams until almost too late. As he came up the road and clicked the beams on, he spotted the figure halfway across the road and stopped the car. The figure fell.

"Shit." He mumbled and pulled the keys out of the ignition and unbuckling his seatbelt, "this is just what I need today." He opened his door and walked around to see who (or what) he hit.

Katara rubbed her arm slightly. Luckily, she fell most of the time anyway and that didn't hurt as much as it could have. The car didn't hit her. It just startled her.

"Does anyone else fall when they get startled?" She mumbled and tried to find a spot on the asphalt not covered in annoying little rocks that stab into your palms, "No, nobody else falls when they get startled. They just jump. Nobody else says 'I'm itching my pocket' when a teacher asks them if they're texting in class." She huffed and blew a hair out of her face.

"Well, you're right about that," Zuko said, looking down at the girl he had almost hit (startling her again) and stuck his hand out. She looked at his hand hesitantly, then took it. He pulled her to her feet and she brushed herself off.

"Hi," She said, diverting her eyes and feeling unable to look him in the eye. His eyes joined her on the ground.

"I'm sorry." They both said at the same time, still not making eye contact.

"I should have been looking where I was going." Katara said,

"I should have had my headlights on." Zuko admitted. It was awkwardly silent, and the pair just kind of looked around. Katara looked both ways.

"Awkward turtle." Katara said, placing her hands on top of each other and spinning her thumbs in opposite directions. Zuko looked at her hands and shook his head.

"I was headed for the library to just poke around. I guess I'll... see you around?" Katara said, looking up at his collarbone area. "Well, uh... bye?" She said and started to back away. She was about to turn around when he called her back.

'Wait," He said, "do you want to go to a movie with me instead?"

"I don't have any..." Katara started

"My treat?" Zuko said. She smiled

"I'd like that." She said.

Thanks for all the reviews! I seriously wasn't expecting that much positive feedback. Sorry ti took so long, I kept getting grounded... because apparently laughing at the gym teacher isn't something you're supposed to do out loud. And using words that they can't understand to explain why you're laughing. Oh well.

So this host site is being dumb and not including some of the last-minute fixes I made, things like bold and italics and the websites name. So if you think they should be there, pretend they're there.

So who else thinks Zuko's joining of that avatar is opening the door for Zutara so far it wams into the wall and leaves a mark to be painted over?