Confrontation of the Spirits
A Zutara Modern Day AU
By smartcheer917
Disclaimer: I ate a cookie today, it wasn't even my cookie. I got it from science and the mineral-digging lab we were doing to convince us not to buy a gold mine... ever. Anyway I don't even eat my own cookie. Do you really think I own Avatar: the Last Airbender?
She saw the whole thing with her own eyes. Suki ran towards him, trying to stop her but she was too late and realized she was outnumbered and fell back. She couldn't go to the police, they would have been paid off. She would have to dot he unthinkable at the moment.
She would have to talk to an angry Katara.
Thank the gods she was a forgiving soul on a good day.
"Katara!" Suki called out, looking for her best friend. If only she could find her baby sister, she had a mysterious way with words. That little girl was bound to be a con artist, or a lawyer. She repeated her best friends name.
"Yo sis." He little sister came up to her. The freshman was fairly tall and nicely proportioned compared to her sister, and that was one thing Suki did regret. She had light hazel eyes and thick black hair. She was pale. She didn't look anything like Suki, but her parents insisted that she looked exactly like her great-great grandmother or something.
"Are you looking for your hoe?" Her sister asked
"Not right now Kanti." Suki said, pushing the little girl aside.
"I saw her necking with some hot guy on the east wall." Suki looked at her sister.
"How do you know these things?" She asked her with partial amazement.
"I make it my job to know everything that everyone does. I have to say I am quite good at it."
"You need a new job." Suki said and bolted. Her sister made a face at her before following at a safe distance. She had always had a knack at predicting what was to come, she never even bothered to watch more than the first 10 minutes of a movie anymore. The first 5 minutes of a TV show and she could tell you what the next episode would be and the entire plot that the writers had conceived to try and get ratings up. She knew this was going to get ugly, and she knew that someone would have to pick up the mess when it was over.
Good thing she liked getting dirty.
Suki raced through the crowd, checking all the walls before the east wall. The east wall had a reputation for being where everything went down. While no graffiti covered this wall, you could see evidence of violence. A blood stain from a terrible fight a score ago was embedded in the bricking. There was ash tucked along where it met the asphalt from all the smokers. More than usual you would find a condom taking a nap somewhere near by. She spotted movement up ahead against the wall. It looked more or less like a person. Hopefully it wouldn't be another small rodent looking for a warm place to nest. Suki hurried towards it.
"Do you hear that?" Zuko asked, pulling away from Katara for a second. "It sounded like someone calling you." Katara shrugged and moved back in for another kiss. She had just started to kiss him again when she spotted Suki running up behind Zuko looking angry. Katara closed her eyes and pretended not to see her coming. Then she felt herself shoved back into the wall and Zuko disappear. She opened her eyes to see Suki on his back, pulling his hair and yelling.
"Bastard, where is Sokka? I know you had something to do with this! Rapist, don't touch Katara!" Suki blinded him and tried to get him to the ground. She had no such luck.
"Suki! Get off of him!" Katara yelled, but not daring to get near to the pair.
"Get off of me you idiot!" Zuko yelled.
"Zuko!" Katara yelled
"Zuko!" Suki yelled after that
"Katara!" Zuko yelled
"Suki!" Katara yelled.
"Hi, I'm Kanti." Kanti said coming up behind the group and grabbing her sister, pulling her off the boy with ease and shoving her to the ground. Katara hurried to Suki's side on instinct.
"Kanti!" Suki cried, "I thought I told you to go away."
"Yeah, but when do I ever listen to you?" She pointed out and flipped out a cosmetics mirror. Suki looked at her sister with amazement before picking herself up. Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. Suki looked at the sky. The stars would look pretty tonight if the clouds would let up.
"Katara..." Suki began. Katara scrunched up her nose and marched herself ver to Zuko.
"I'm still mad at you." She said to Suki, "Go. Away." Suki narrowed her eyes.
"This isn't about you throwing a little hissy fit to get your way Katara. If Sokka and I like each other, which you already knew so you shouldn't be pissing about this, then we have the right to do whatever we damn well want to. This isn't about you this time Katara."
"It's never about me Suki." Katara yelled, moving towards her best friend. Zuko looked awkward. Kanti continued to observing herself while whispering comments to her self in the mirror, "You never leave me in your loop anymore. Every time I think I'm in, you throw me out, far to the curb like skipping stone. You never talk to me and you tell all of your life to all of your stupid sport team girls. They haven't known you since 2nd grade, but apparently they have more of a right to know about you and my brother getting somewhere than I do. I'm at your house. I'm there for the telling, but what do I get? Nothing. You haven't told me anything about you and my brother for months. That was when you told me you were getting over it."
"Katara!" Suki said, her voice dimming, "Do you even hear yourself? You're mad at me for not telling you anything? Have you wanted to hear anything? In any case, this isn't about an intervention of our friendship. This is about your brother."
"Where is the little man-whore? I don't see him looming over you like I usually do." Zuko said, deciding it was a safe time to come back into the conversation.
"Azula, I watched her snag him. I came here to tell you so we could figure out what to do." Katara looked around a bit, her mouth hanging open for the world to see, before fainting and dropping to the ground.
When in doubt, act like you know what you are doing. It had never failed him before, or anyone else for the matter. So now was the time to test and see if the same philosophy applied to being captured and held hostage in a broom closet, minus the broom. He could take a nap, but what if they came in? He had to stay strong.
"Can I have some food?' he yelled at the door.
"No" Came the bored voice of Mai.
"But everyone gets a last meal. Even electric chair sentenced...people...yeah."
"Do you want the chair, because I can arrange for that to happen." Azula's voice leaked into his brain.
"Actually, I think I'm good." Sokka said, "Actually I think I'm bloated."
Suki tapped on Katara's jaw a few more times as Zuko drove towards where Sokka was 'supposedly' being held. The plan was to park a block away and sneak in, grab Sokka, slap Azula, and take off. Kanti had disappeared a while ago, where the girl spent all of her time Suki would never know. Katara opened her eyes and rubbed her temples.
"What's going on? What's happening?" She asked, yawning.
"You fainted." Suki said, "We're on our way to rescue Sokka."
"Oh," Katara said, "Do we have a plan?" Katara asked
"Well..." Suki said, "I was kind of hoping to wing it."
"Ambush." Zuko said, "Me and Suki will come in from the left and right and distract. You can find your brother and get him out. You two will need to run back to the car and get it ready to go. Me and Suki will follow."
"Don't you mean Suki and I?" Suki said.
"Whatever," Zuko said, "Just stick to the plan.
After a while, Suki commented again.
"Where is this hide-a-way anyway?"
"In the basement of the school. Under the stage, its a backup dram room They use it for rising characters and moving large set items out of the way, but Azula managed to get it for her own use. The only way in is through the back steps in the band room, or in the front entrance. Suki can take the front and I'll go in the back with Katara."
"Then why are we driving somewhere if it's at the school? Katara asked
"So She thinks we left to go somewhere else. We'll park on a trail."
"This is bull-shit." Katara said as Zuko dragged her around the back of the school near the football field and the band room entrance, "How are we even going to get in? Band kids are vicious!"
"Hello?" Zuko pointed out as he came to the door, "Band kid, right here." He knocked on the door.
The music that seeped through the walls even at a late hour was beautiful. You could hear them figuring out how to play the parts of popular, mellow songs perfectly. You could taste the sugarplums when the older ensemble practiced. At this hour during re festival, the room was locked with some of the kids in it to hang. The director was leanent on his band kids on when they ere allowed in the room, but he was hardcore as a military man. The music stopped when Zuko's knocking was heard and the door was flung open to reveal a short, dark boy with a trumpet in hand as if her were to smack you with it.
"Go away you little... Oh, hi Zuko!" The kid said and stepped aside, letting Zuko into the room, "Who's the hot chick?" Zuko went into the small, dark hallway and Katara followed eyes wide.
"They put you in a hallway?" Katara said, appalled. Zuko and the dark boy looked at her.
"No." He said, "This is our hallway for our uniform storage." Katara 'oh'ed as they walked into the main room.
Then band room for Spirit Tu and La's Academy consisted of 7 off rooms and one main room. The main room was huge and the walls were coated with lockers and cubbies. The walls were covered in posters made by each section in that area. In the back corner a bunch of people sat holding instruments and one sitting at a keyboard connected to an amp. The girl at the keyboards looked up.
"Tuba!" She yelped, then turned back to fingering the keyboard over for a part. The other 6 or so band members were drawn across the floor like a 2-D cartoon, not moving. They didn't appear to be living or awake... or not intoxicated.
"So, Z, want to hear this girl belt?" The dark boy asked Zuko. He opened his mouth to respond, but Katara's voice came out.
'We're kind of in a hurry," She pointed out. The boy looked a t her.
"Well," he said, straightening an invisible vest, "Aren't we important." He trumped over to the girl and she nodded. The characters magically lifted themselves from the floor and moved to different instruments.
Where is the moment we needed the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to gray
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on
You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee you go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces every time
And I don't need no carryin' on
Because you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
"Come on," Zuko said, "Lets go." He grabbed her hand and led her to a closet with musicians' jokes poster on it and yanked it open. Behind the door was a set of swirled steps.
"Be careful." He said and started down the stairs almost silently. Katara followed closely behind.
If there was one this Suki hated, it was the dark.
It wasn't that she was scared of it, but the dark always held pain and it almost always brought an era of death whenever she crept through it.
It also was always needed to get through whatever it was that she wanted to get through.
She shuddered at the thought and moved on. She found the stairwell and proceeded down it slowly and silently, gripping the bar like it was her only tether back to the real world. She opened the door the basement and saw the light at then end of the hallway.
"There really is a light at each end of this tunnel." She said quietly and proceeded forward.
"Well girls." Azula said, prancing about in a pair of tight jeans and a subtle shirt in deep red, "I think we might have an interesting time on our hands. Not." She flung her wineglass at Suki as she opened the door. Suki barley missed it and sprung into action.
She improved for soccer balls and kicked a large mute across the floor at Azula. She dodged it and ran at Suki, intent on showing the field hockey girl how cheerleaders do.
Zuko stepped off the steps and was assaulted but Ty Lee and Mai. He shoved them forward and herded the two of them in the corner. He knocked out Mai with one swift punch in the jaw. Ty Lee swung her hands at him, trying to jab at his temple. Zuko concentrated at not getting smacked by her.
Katara ran out from behind him and ran at the third closet. Call it instinct, but she had a feeling Azula liked the number 3. She yanked the door opened and spotted her brother on the floor, tied up.
"Katara!" He exclaimed. She flipped out a small pocketknife Zuko had given her and slipped it through the ropes like butter. He got up and hugged her.
"Katara, I'm sorry I didn't tell you I liked your best friend."
"I'm sorry I over reacted." Katara said, holding her brother close.
"Awe, how touching." Azula said behind them. Katara turned to see her self staring down the barrel of the gun. She froze, "Unfortunately, I don't like touching. Forward now." Katara and Sokka did as she said and moved forward, sitting next to Suki. Ty Lee stood at Azula's side, Zuko bound at her feet. Mai was rubbing her head behind Ty Lee. Azula held the gun loosely.
"Well isn't this a funny picture, brother? Once again, I hold all the cards in your miserable life. It's kind of funny, you can't control your own life for well, your life." She clicked the gun into a ready position, "I think, I'll shoot the pale girl first. So the boy can suffer, and the sister can suffer watching her brother suffer. Then I'll get the boy of the girl can suffer and you can watch. Then I'll shoot the girl for you to watch. Then, my dearest brother, I'll shoot you. How does that sound?" Zuko glared daggers at his sister. She laughed and turned to Suki; "Have any last words?" Suki opened her mouth, "Over your time." Azula lifted the gun and aimed.
A single shot was fired before the sound of sirens filled the room.
Katara sat on the floor of her living room in her PJs', Zuko on her left and Suki on her right with Sokka next to her. The two couples snuggled down to watch a movie.
Kanti had managed to figure it all out before the rest of them did. She had bolted and bought a toy siren and her own gun, as well as a video camera. She set up the camera to send all signals to her laptop (hidden in a computer lab) and put it on a spot where it could see everything unfold and not be in the way. She had shot Azula's gun's handle right before she could shoot. The girl bolted shortly after. Zuko, Suki, Sokka, and Katara escaped with minimal damage. Ty Lee and Mai ran out of the room when the shot fired. Azula went to the hospital on the charge that she was holing a bottle of carbonated fruit drink with milk mixed in it and shook it and the container exploded in her hand. At least, that's what it says on the insurance form. It was later that night and the two couples were watching a movie at Katara's. Halfway through, the pairs were both asleep.
Zuko woke the next morning to the peculiar sight of Katara's ear, again. He blew on it lightly and when she didn't stir, he got up and watched her sleep for a moment. He turned towards the door and stepped outside into the light darkness that towered the city. It was near 7 a.m. He sigh and started back down the street to his uncle's house.
"Zuko?" He hard a voice behind him and spun around to see Kanti behind him. She approached him lightly and out a hand to his face, feeling the scarred tissue.
"What are you doing?" he asked and swatted her hand away. She shook her head and turned her face away from his.
"Nothing, I just... Nothing." She turned and walked in the other direction.
"This town is insane." He decided.
He arrived at school on Monday to find a note on his locker that he was to go to the counselor's office. He immediately went down there and found Katara sitting in a chair.
"Way to call me on Sunday." She said. He looked at her and shook his head, taking the seat nest to her. Katara looked hurt and down at the floor. Ms. Wu came into the room.
"Well, She said, sitting down and looking at the 2 of them, "I think you have almost done it. I'll leave the last step to you. I didn't think you would bond so well in that...way, but you did. My job here is done, you are free to go." Katara and Zuko got up and headed for the door. Katara was about halfway down the hallway when she turned around and called to Zuko, who was coming up behind her.
"Why didn't you call?" She said, "Why didn't you even try and let me know that you were okay?"
"I don't owe you anything."
"That's rich, coming from you." Katara said, "My best friends little sister saves our lives and you don't owe me anything?"
"That's what she said." Zuko said, holding his ground. Katara looked at the ground,
"So you used me?" She said. Zuko looked around a bit this started him.
"No... I... Katara..." He said and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Forget it." She said, "I don't want to hear it." She walked fast out a side door and found a nice little crevice to sit in and hide. She put her head on her knees and cried.
I came home today and wrote most of this. I am so sorry. Last week was crazy, I barely had time to get online. I think I got on twice. Today after testing we went on the computers to do an assignment. Our assignment was to go to freerice . com ( remove the spaces) and play the game. What the website does is every vocabulary question you right; they donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations to help feed hungry people in Africa. Its incredibly easy, we had one kid reach 9000. Its a good way to try and help people during the holiday season, and learn new words!
One Chapter left!
(later that day edit- I got a review stating that Kanti was a sue (and the very first thing I had to say was extremely nasty and foul and then I laughed while everyone else laughed at the comment. big 5-line phone conversations suck when you talk loud and to yourself), and that was because some of the stuff got deleted that was in the first copy (this was drafted many times today) of this because this site hates me. Kanti is really overweight and ugly. The 'nicely proportioned' is directing that it wasn't all in one area, you've seen those people where its all just shoved into their thighs and they look like of like a weird long balloon a few days later, you can move the bubble around but one end is always deflated and the other is fine. If she wasn't so fat (and it will come up in the last chapter) she would be nice looking. and her looks will be described eventually, in all of their horridness when Sokka meets her and opens his big fat mouth!)
Review?