The following night was a long one. Zuko stayed in his old room while Katalina stayed in Azula's old room. She didn't sleep, though. She couldn't. All she could think about was the kiss. Then Zuko came into the room before daybreak.
"Lina?" he whispered.
"I'm awake," she replied.
"C'mon, let's head out now," he said.
She nodded and crawled out of bed. The two of them then made their way through the Fire Nation and to the ship. Everything was quiet and so were they. She kept sneaking glances at the young man beside her, but he was looking straight ahead with a blank look on his face.
"Did you sleep well?" she spoke up.
"Fine," he answered shortly.
"Zuko, please don't be like this."
"Like what?"
She folded her arms across her chest. "Never mind."
He sighed. "I just don't know what to do."
"Let's do what I do best, then," she replied. "Pretend that it never even happened to begin with."
"No," he denied. "Did it mean anything to you?"
"What?"
"Did the kiss mean anything to you?"
"Did it mean anything to you?"
"I'm serious, Lina!"
"So am I!"
He let out another heavy sigh. "Please, just cooperate with me this one frigging time."
She paused. "I didn't feel anything."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing."
He nodded. "Very well, then."
"What about you?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters!"
"Let's just drop it now," he stated.
"Zuko, please, I thought you valued honesty."
"I am being honest."
"Then you should be honest with Mai."
"And ruin my relationship?"
"I thought you said she was already doing that."
"Lina!" he shouted. "I am so done talking about this!"
"Maybe I'm not!"
"Maybe I don't give a shit!"
"What the hell is your problem all of a sudden?"
"My problem is this whole frigging trip!" he admitted. He then shook his head. "I should have never asked you to come with me."
"Well, that's your own damn fault! I told you it would be a bad idea for me to come back with you! But you insisted!"
"Don't try to turn this around on me!"
"Why? I'm not the one to blame! You invited me! You kissed me! You kept telling me to let everyone else think whatever they want! You acted like you didn't give a shit! And now you're trying to pin it all on me!"
"Know what? Let's just get back to the ship and back to Ba Sing Se. Then we can pretend this whole trip never even happened."
"Could've sworn that was the original plan."
And with that, Katalina and Zuko heatedly made the rest of the trek to the ship. They both knew the time it would take to travel back to the city would be dreadful, but they also knew they were good at avoiding each other.
Just like they were good at telling lies and keeping secrets.