Title: Midsummer Madness
Author: Burning_Ice
Rating: R
Summary: Katara learns that there are both advantages and drawbacks to being a female water bending master, and pays back a favor to an old friend.
Beta: MusicIsLove92, Sword_on_Fire
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Pairing: Zutara, and a little bit of Taang in this here chappy . . .oh, and some implied . . . MaiLee . . is it? TyMai Maybe? Ah well, ZUTARA is the important one.
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Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. If I did it would have been considerably less awesome, but Katara and Zuko would have totally gotten together, so I guess it's a toss up.
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Chapter 3: The Asylum
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Katara propped herself on an elbow, and rubbed her newly sore chest as she heard Zuko fiddling with mugs and ladles in the pantry. Peeking into her dress, she saw the skin was red and aggravated, but seemed to be returning to its normal color.
"Okay." Zuko walked back in with two hot cups of tea and a teapot, "Uncle wrote 'High Relaxation' under his drawing of the plant on the label." He handed her one, and watched as she knocked it back, much like taking a shot of fermented tiger berry juice, handing the cup back to him.
"Things stop spinning now?" He asked concerned, handing her another mug of it, only to have it pressed back into his fingers, empty, a moment later.
"I think I'm okay, lets just sit down for a while." She looked around, swallowing another mug full of tea. "Over there by the window, I need some fresh air."
Zuko put his mug down and slipped his arm around and under her shoulders, helping her stand. The room spun wildly for a minute and Katara grabbed onto his shirt, burying her face in his neck, reassuring herself that, although the room was spinning, Zuko would be stable.
The Fire Lord winced a bit as the water bender clutched him for dear life, her hands migrating from his shirt to wrap totally around him. Katara mentally scolded herself, clinging to him as though he were the last stable thing in the world.
"I don't think you're okay to stand yet," Zuko started, "maybe we should-"
"Shhh, shush! I need to concentrate on not falling." Katara squeezed her eyes shut, the floor seesawing wildly up and down, her stomach jumping up into her throat. "Don't move, don't breathe, don't talk, okay?"
After about thirty seconds, the room spun itself back into place, and she loosened her hold on the Lord. She didn't even feel up to protesting when he half led, half carried her to the chair, and gave her a scolding about overtaxing herself. It was a relief when he finally went and fetched the teapot and mugs, and began sipping his moodily.
After a long silence, he turned to her. "So, have you thought about my father?"
"Zuko!" Katara glared, then took another sip of her tea, Ugh! Why does he always brew this stuff so strong? She wondered, but mustered an "Mmm" sound and a quick forced smile.
"You said you would sleep on it, and technically, you did sleep for a little while there."
Katara put her head in her hands. "Look Zuko, I don't know if I CAN pull something out of someone's head. It's not exactly easy, I usually see things related to the injury the person got, so unless your mother gave Ozai a scar somewhere while she told him in detail where she was going to be for the next ten years, I can't help you!"
"You could find something though, I know you could! The Dai Li could with hypnosis and earth bending, and you're just as good as they are!!"
"I've only done it once before and the person wasn't fighting me. He was actually helping me."
Zuko leaned closer, "But you HAVE done it before."
"Yes Zuko, I have done it before . . . sort of." She poured herself more tea, and crossed her legs, wishing either that the moon would set or Zuko would call it a night and let her have some alone time with herself.
"Who did you . . . ?"
"Jet," Katara smiled, remembering the older boys scent, his touch, how he had made her heart race, and her hands and feet tingle. She figured the tea was starting to take effect as she was beginning to feel cheerful in spite of her discomfort. "Back in Ba Sing Se, after he was captured. I was trying to deprogram whatever they had done."
"Oh, I liked Jet . . . . when I first met him."
"Me too, he got stale with time."
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Aang hummed softly, he sat on one of the stone walls in the fortress of Omashu's garden, he had watched the sunset, and then the moonrise, his muscles aching from practice. He heard Toph coming down the walk, and sighed, turning to face her.
"What's wrong Aang?" Toph sat down next to him as he stared up at the moon from where he sat in the Omashu palace garden. The heaviness of his mood seemed to be rubbing off on her, as her voice lacked it's usual mischievous undertones.
"Nothing . . ."
"We just got a messenger hawk from the fire nation," she held up a rolled up paper, "Do you want me to read it to you?"
"That might work on Sokka, but not me."
"Oh come on!! I spent my whole walk down here making up what I was going to say to you! Don't take this away from me!" Toph told him, crossing her arms in mock annoyance.
"Okay Toph, what did it say."
"Forget it, I don't need your pity prank." Toph muttered, "and I can tell your lying about being okay, I don't even need bending."
"Something has been up with Katara lately; I'm worried about her all alone in Ba Sing Se." Aang reached out and took it, and, wincing as he moved his sore muscles, rubbed one of his shoulders.
"Sorry Twinkle Toes, did I go a little rough on you in training today?" She gave him a grin, staring blankly at something just above his ear.
"Yes- no, it was good, it was . . . distracting . . . but I think I may have pulled something."
Toph's smile faltered a little, and she looked a little guilty. "You know, you could have told me to stop, that you needed a break. I would have stopped."
"Really?" Aang made sure she could hear the incredulousness in his voice, sometimes, since she could not see his expressions, she misinterpreted what he was saying.
"Okay, so maybe not, but no pain no gain, right Twinkle Toes?" She affectionately punched him in the arm. Hard.
"Ow!" Aang yelped, recoiling and rubbing his now bruised and sore tricep.
Toph looked down, thinking, then swung her legs over to the other side and stood. She stepped behind Aang, who looked over his shoulder at her with a mixture of affection and fear, and placing her hands on his shoulders, felt him flinch and his heart rate jump.
"All right then Twinkle Toes, for obeying my orders to the point where you have actually hurt yourself, you've earned one of my coveted bandit back rubs."
"Is this going to hurt?" Aang asked nervously, trying to inch away.
Toph ignored him and began gently kneading the muscles of his shoulder. Her finger's traced along the ligaments and tendons, gently pressing. It was strange, her standing so close to him for such a long period of time. It made his blood begin to speed through his veins, and ignited a curious restlessness in his lower stomach. After a few delightful yet awkward minutes, she stepped back.
"I don't think you pulled anything, there isn't enough swelling, but you should probably rest your shoulders for a few days."
"Yeah." Aang was relieved she couldn't see his blush.
"So what does the letter say?" She plopped back down on the wall, her legs on the opposite side from his. "It's from Sparky, right? How is he?"
Aang unrolled the letter, and scanned it quickly. "It says he has gone to Ba Sing Se for a few days to visit his Uncle. That he hopes we are doing well, and he will say hello to Katara, Iroh, and the Earth King for us."
"That's it?! He didn't say anything about me? That jerk!" Toph crossed her arms, feigning offence.
"Oh, and he wrote P.S.: Toph is awesome, and that he has a big crush on her, and he wants to propose to her and have lots of little stubborn-"
Toph pushed him hard enough to knock him off balance and stood up, laughing, "You're making that up! I could tell who Zuko had a crush on, and it wasn't me!" Then her face fell, realizing that she had let slip something that she hadn't quite planned to tell Aang.
"You mean Mai?"
"Umm . . ."
"Not Mai!? Who?!"
"Er- Haru." Toph blurted out the first name that came to mind, then mocked him as he didn't speak, "Of course, Mai, who else would he like? Ty Lee? Opposites only attract in romance scrolls." With that, Toph turned in a way that she hoped communicated that he was to ask her no further questions, and clumped back up the path.
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Katara realized something was wrong when she stopped being able to accurately control where her head wanted to go. It kept lolling back, or lolling forward without her actually willing it to do either. Zuko had stretched out on one of the padded benches that Iroh had furnished the place with, and was sipping tea, looking both sulky and euphoric.
"Are you all right? You keep nodding." Zuko sat up, overestimating it a bit and catching himself on the arms of the couch. "I didn't ask any questions."
"I'm fine, I'm just tired." Katara lied.
"You're a water bender; you stay up practically all night! I remember, you and Sokka . . . you'd sleep till four if we let you."
"Maybe Sokka, but I am always up by noon! Anyway, in the South Pole it stays dark for months."
"You have a bad sleep cycle."
"I do not!"
"You know, you healers, you're the very worst patients. You never want to admit something's wrong with you, and you always think you know better than anyone else! You could let someone else try to help you, you know, you don't have to play team mom all the time. I bet you have been lost without anyone to mother!"
"That's not true! I can mother Aang!" Katara argued.
"That's kind of weird Katara, Do you always mother your boyfriends?"
"No!"
"Toph told me about Jet."
"You-"
"I bet you mothered Jet, didn't you?!" Zuko teased her gently, his words slurring faintly.
"Oh, like your relationship with Mai is perfect!" Katara jumped up, overturning her chair in the process. It had not been meant to offend her, but she seemed to be oblivious to the playfulness in his tone.
"I don't want to talk about it." Zuko was suddenly serious.
She marched over to where he sat and stood over him. "Well, maybe you should!" she pushed. She always found herself pushing Zuko. It infuriated her that he just pulled away and bottled things up.
"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Zuko looked away and down.
Katara tried a different tactic. "Come on, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," she suggested.
Zuko raised an eyebrow, interested in spite of himself. "You go first."
"Aang is so sweet, but most of the time I feel like he's... he's my little brother! He is so busy all the time, and so innocent! He was raised as a monk for goodness sake, and I . . . Well, we're just not on the same page . . . physically. I mean, Sokka says I like 'bad boys', and Aang, doesn't really fit the bill, he is as vanilla as they come!"
Zuko didn't say anything, only stared up at her, waiting.
"Well," Katara stammered after a few moments that felt like an eternity, "say something!"
"Mai never shows any emotion! She never cares how I feel or when I try to make her happy. She resents me for leaving her when I was banished, and she resents that I have been all over the world while she was stuck at home. She loves me, but hates being the Fire Lord's girlfriend. She is just so . . . emotionally unavailable. What can I do? I've done everything I can think of to get her to forgive me! What am I doing wrong?"
Zuko didn't look up, but felt Katara step forward, and place her hands on his head, pulling it gently forward to rest on her stomach. She pet his hair softly, and murmured, "Hey, none of that is your fault, you shouldn't be blaming yourself for your girlfriend's actions."
"It's true though! I left her, and I have to put the fire nation before her . . ." He leaned into her stomach, his hands moving to rest on the back of her knees.
"I understand, but it comes with being the Avatar or the Fire Lord, I can't expect him to put me before the rest of the world! I know he wants to, but he cant, I wouldn't let him if he tried." She ran her fingers through his hair, making her voice as reassuring as possible.
Zuko shook his head, not saying anything.
Katara found that once she had started touching his hair, she couldn't stop, her fingers twined through his strands, which were thinner, but coarser than her's. They were darker too, and growing, his shaggy hair was close to brushing his shoulders, another inch or two.
She suddenly had the urge to lean down and kiss him, to sit in his lap and pull him close, to smell him, to taste him. Her mouth actually began to water at the idea, and all sorts of places across her body began to throb.
Her fingers began to wander running through his hair and across his face, and she weighed the pros and cons of coming onto him right then and there. Then something occurred to her.
"Umm, Zuko . . ." she started, her voice quavering.
"Yes?"
"Which tea, exactly, did you brew?"
Zuko shrugged, "I don't know, it was sitting on Uncle's workbench, it said 'High Relaxation, Romantic, with a full body taste, but light enough to drink without sweetener.'"
"So, do you feel funny?"
Zuko shook his head, a motion that turned into a nod, that turned into a nuzzle that made her whole stomach stand up in goose bumps. She tilted her head back a bit, her fingers tightening in his hair, in her head she calculated just how much of the mixture they had drank, and didn't like the answer.
Zuko however seemed unconcerned, he tilted his head and began nuzzling her wrist, then pressed his unscarred cheek into her palm, "I feel like . . ." he closed his eyes, seeming to take an inventory of his body.
"Maybe a little funny. Relax, Katara, it's just the poppy . . ." he had raised his hands from the back of her knees to most of the way up her thighs, his fingers curling around and in between her legs. He didn't seem to realize he had moved them, or that he had pulled her a half a step closer.
"Hmm?" Katara was sure she had a more articulate question, but it was a little fuzzy. Her thumb had fallen across his lips, and they were so inviting.
"You know . . . the 'high' part of 'high relaxation'" Zuko replied, his lips brushing against her thumb with each syllable. The sudden clenching in her abdomen pulled her back to reality like a splash of cold water to the face.
Katara used her grip on his hair to force his head up to look at her, "Zuko! I . . . You . . . . YOU . . . ." Katara's mind blanked as she looked down at his face, "You come here, and you ask me a favor, and . . . and you won't take off your shirt, even though you have a sexy chest . . . . and you have the most beautiful gold eyes. . . ." Katara realized she was getting off track, "No! Stay focused Katara! You're mad at him! I'm mad at you!"
Zuko looked to either side, as though hoping that there was someone else in the room that maybe she was talking to. Once he verified he was alone, he looked up at her, totally bewildered.
"I'm already . . . . you know, and you pick the one tea, the ONE tea! It was an aphrodisiac!"
"Okay, I made a mistake, sorry! I ASKED you which tea you wanted, you should have said 'Any one but the one Iroh is working on, that one will make me friendlier than a Grasshopper Rabbit!'" Zuko stood up, his hands moving to her hips.
"I think you mean 'We'! You're a little handsy yourself!"
He moved his hands from her hips out, in a gesture of supplication. "And you say I'm moody! One minute you're petting me, the next you're yelling at me! You girls are crazy! Girls are CRAZY! YOU are crazy!"
Katara bit down on her lip hard, hoping some pain would make everything clear. She took a deep breath, and then let it out. "Okay, so, we had a powerful bending experience, we drank some tea that we shouldn't have, and now were both a little cranky."
"And your hands are still in my hair."
Katara pulled them out and deliberately made them into fists, keeping them straight at her side.
"I should go," Katara said, turning away from him.
Zuko didn't say anything, he didn't know whether he agreed or disagreed.
"I have . . . a meeting tomorrow morning . . . early . . . I should go." She walked back towards the kitchen to retrieve her scroll, "And I'm sure you'll want an audience with the Earth King too, to discuss . . . supply and demand . . . or something . . ." She picked it up and smoothed the wrinkles from her dress.
"Do you want me to . . ."
"No!" Katara said, and closing the back door in his face before he could argue.
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"He has gone again?" Mai asked the attendant as the woman laced her dress, "Again?! Where did he go this time?"
"Ba Sing Se, My Lady."
"How long will he be gone?"
"I don't know, My Lady."
"He didn't even ask if I wanted to come?"
"As I recall you both did not part on the most amicable of terms. Perhaps he thought you needed your space." The woman said, tying the laces and then stepping back.
"All he ever gives me is space." Mai walked across the room and checked herself in the mirror.
"You look lovely, My Lady."
Mai rolled her eyes, "Then what am I supposed to do today? Azula is in prison, Ty Lee is on Kyoshi Island, and my boyfriend has fled the continent."
The attendant looked uncomfortable, "It is my job to dress you, not amuse you. I don't know what My Lady likes to do. I have never actually seen her do anything she likes other than spend time with the Fire Lord."
Mai sighed loudly, picking up a dagger and polishing it with her sleeve.
"But if I might make a suggestion . . ." the attendant hurried on, "Perhaps My Lady would like to go to the asylum and visit her old friend Princess Azula . . . you know, for old time's sake."
Mai put the dagger down her sleeve, "I suppose I have nothing better to do." She admitted, "It still sounds rather dull."
In Mai's opinion, the balloon ride to the asylum was nice, she liked looking at the scenery, and the thought that at any moment she could fall to her death made it interesting. She always got a thrill out of doing something she wasn't supposed to, or anything that was dangerous. The endorphin rush she felt, however, was always short lived. Ty Lee always said that she used the danger high to replace an emotional need that was not being fulfilled, but, she doubted it. Between Zuko and Ty, any need she could ever have was met to excess.
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Azula was kept in a fireproof cell on the topmost floor of the asylum, and had taken up scratching 'Fire Lord Azula' on the walls with loose rocks. When that chore seemed too pointless, she would pace back and forth on the rock floor, bent over, her arms wrapped around herself. She swung her head this way and that, sometimes lucid, sometimes talking to people who were not there.
For a long time, Azula didn't notice her, and Mai took the opportunity to study her old fearless leader. The one time monarch looked pale and dilapidated, and stunk as though she hadn't bathed in a week. Mai guessed it was because she would scratch and bite and hit and kick and burn the guards that tried so badly that they had given up.
"Well well, look who has come to stare at me in my misery." Azula purred from the corner of her cell, her hair still half short and ragged from her haircut, "I thought I would be too boring for a socialite like yourself."
"Hello Azula," Mai ignored her insult, looking around the cage, "You look terrible. Are they treating you humanely?"
"Mai, I had a dream about you the other day." Azula stood up and swaggered over to the bars and grabbed them so hard her knuckles turned white. "The Avatar had decapitated you and was fucking the esophagus of your severed head. You just kept screaming and screaming, until his cum trickled out of your mouth. "
"I'll take that as a 'Yes, Mai, thank you for asking.'" Mai turned to leave, feeling cold disgust welling up inside her, and her stomach threatening to empty itself. The Princess had always been eloquent, able to instill into her audience exactly the feelings she wanted them to experience. It was funny watching a Dai Lee soldier almost piss himself, it was not funny when it was her who was about to leak fluids.
"Why isn't Zuzu here with you?" Azula asked innocently, "You have another fight with him?"
Mai said nothing, but stopped in her tracks.
"This is the third time huh?" Azula leaned against the bars, noting the sudden tenseness in the goth's shoulders, "The first time it was to look for the avatar, but you wanna know why he has REALLY left these last two times?"
Mai turned around. "He needs to find himself."
"No, it's that pretty dark skinned water bender, the Avatar's whore. He wants her, He wants her reeeeally bad." Azula made a lazy thrusting motion with her hips, her head rolling backwards in a slow circle on the leash of it's neck, "Opposites attract, don't they Mai? One always instinctively looks for someone who complements themselves in the hopes that together, they negate each other and become better than they once were."
Mai growled, "That was one time, ancient history, me and Ty Lee don't have feelings for each other."
"One time? Ha! You two were all over each other, don't lie to my face, Mai!" Azula chuckled to herself, then grinned, "Ty Lee still wants you, I saw all the excuses she would make to touch you . . . clumps of fur, makeup . . . girls don't make excuses to touch you unless they want you."
"Zuko isn't attracted to that Water Bender Katara. I have met her, she is not a threat to me." Mai insisted, ignoring the rambling.
"Then you have not seen the way they look at each other, how they are always fighting side by side, back to back . . . front to front. When they camped together, I bet he was always pitching his tent next to her, if you know what I mean." Azula put a hand in her lap and straightened one of her fingers, curling it up in a pseudo phallice.
"You don't know what you're talking about Azula." Mai huffed, "Zuko and I haven't always seen eye to eye, but he wouldn't leave me for a water bending peasant, no matter how big of a national hero she is."
Azula petted her chest. "He would DIE for her, did he tell you how he got that singe on his chest?"
"He said that YOU shot lightening at him, and he wasn't fast enough to redirect it."
"I shot lightening at that water heathen . . . not him. I saw his face, I saw hers. He didn't even think about it, he leapt between her and the blast. I saw the fear of losing one another, and after the bitch defeated me, I saw the love that brought him back. I saw them kiss when he revived."
"You're lying, Zuko wouldn't leave me." Mai sounded unconvincing, even to herself, "He wouldn't betray me and kiss a peasant . . . or anyone."
"Is it worse that she is a penniless rube from the south? Would you prefer she be a high ranking noble?" Azula went for the kill, "If she was from a wealthier family, you could always blame your social status . . . since she isn't . . . then, it must be your personality."
"Zuko loves my personality, and he isn't going to leave me."
"Just like he wouldn't leave you to 'Help the Avatar'? He broke up with you in a note, remember?"
Mai's voice raised a little in volume, the only sign she ever showed that she was angry. "No! The war is over, and now there is peace because of what he did! The Fire Nation may have lost the war, but at least now there is peace."
"The Fire Nation LOST because of him!" Azula's eyes rolled wildly.
"You think I don't know that!" Mai stepped back to the bars. "He has sullied the honor of the Fire Nation, he has betrayed our ancestors, the people are just waiting for one wrong move, one slip up, and they'll revolt, try to assassinate him."
"And you."
"I . . ."
Azula leaned through the bars, her pupils dilated, "And when they revolt, who will you stand beside, Fire Lord Zuko or Fire Lord Azula?"
Mai paled, but stammered out, "I will follow Zuko! I told you, I love him more than I fear you!!"
Azula grinned knowingly. "You'll follow him all right, you can follow him to the end of the world, but you'll never stand at his side as his Lady."
Mai wheeled around and ran out the door, Azula's cold, certain laugh echoing down the hallway after her. She rushed out onto the balcony and breathed a few lungfuls of the hot sea air and murmured over and over,
"Azula always lies, Azula always lies . . ."
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Wow, thanks for all the reviews everyone!! I hope you're all really enjoying the story!! It totally started because I was depressed over the finale, and Avatar being over, and I found that fan fiction was more compatible with sulking in the dark than fan art is. (Since you need light to draw and all)
Anyway, here is Chapter 3. The plot thickens, a little bit, you know, just to hold the fic together so I am not writing COMPLETELY pointless fluff. Not that I mind pointless fluff, fluff rocks.
Anyways, R&R, questions, comments, suggestions, mistakes, plot holes, fanart, thanks again for all the reviews!