Hey Guys! Well here is the next chapter of A Little Push. I hope you like it and I am sooo sorry for the long wait...
Enjoy!
Katara and Zuko had arrived the day after Kyla's "revelation" and both seemed to be happier than when they had left. Kyla secretly hoped that perhaps she was no longer needed and that the trip together was the little push they needed. However, that hope quickly faded when she realised that she was still very much present in the past.
"Kei!" Sokka called pulling Kyla out of her thoughts. As she walked over to him from the camp fire, she tried her best too look as aloof and non suspicious as possible. If any of the other members of the group noticed Kei behaviour they didn't show it. "So you remember the plan right? Sokka whispered.
"Yeah. Talk to Zuko for a while and then tell him that you want to meet him by the lake. At the same time you'll be doing the same with Katara. Then we'll meet up at the bushes not too far from the lake for phase two. I got it Uncle Sokka."
"Ok, we'll wait until Zuko goes off to find firewood; he always goes off around this time anyway. You can go with him then. I'll time it so that Katara will be there by the time he gets back."
"Ok, I'll see you at our meeting point." Kyla said nodding. She was feeling optimistic about Sokka's plan and whatever phase two might be. "It's so nice to have someone finally know and help me" she thought to herself as she walked back to the campfire. As the group talked about nothing in particular, Zuko stood and announced he was going to get more firewood before it got too dark. "I'll come with you. It's about time I stretched my legs". Kyla said looking at Sokka knowingly.
"Errr... Alright." Zuko replied. As the two walked through the surrounding woodland, Kyla couldn't help but notice that this was the first time she had spent time alone with her father since travelling to the past. The thought made her feel a lot more nervous than it should.
"Come on, it's just dad." She thought to herself. "I've known him my whole life!"
"You're not picking up any firewood." Zuko said without looking at Kyla.
"Errr... I'm just watching to see the types of sticks that you pick up so I can copy. I've never done this before." Kyla replied scratching her head nervously before picking up random twigs.
"I'm no fool, there's a reason you wanted to come with me just spit it out."
"This is bad" Kyla thought to herself. "What am I supposed to say, 'I want you to fall in love with my mom so that I can go home please? Thanks.' Not likely. But if I don't say anything, he'll know that something isn't right. Why do you have to be so smart dad?"
"Well." Zuko said facing her now. Suddenly a thought popped into her head.
"I... Well, Zuko I just wanted to thank you... For bring Katara back safely." Kyla said smiling sincerely.
"I didn't."
"What? I don't understand."
"Katara's safe return is all due to Katara herself. I simply came on her journey with her. You know, Katara's stronger than you give her credit for. Stronger than anyone gives her credit for, even Aang. What I'm saying is, there is no need to thank me for something I didn't do. If you want to thank anyone, thank Katara." Though shocked, Kyla smiled at Zuko's reply. It was that kind of respect that she assumed helped her mother fall for her father.
"Zuko, have you told Katara this? Or at least that this is how you see her?"
"No."
"You should. I think she'd like to hear it."
"We should head back. We've..." Zuko stopped and looked at the few twigs that Kei had managed to collect. "I have enough firewood to last for the night."
"Hey! I tried and a lot of the wood here is wet!"
"Right." Zuko said walking back towards camp.
"Was that sarcasm? Because you know that's like a joke right?" Kyla smirked following him.
"You're starting to remind me of Sokka."
"I'll take that as a complement. Speaking of Sokka, he told me to tell you to meet him near the lake when you get back."
"Did he say why?" asked Zuko. Kei only shrugged.
oOo oOo
"Sokka. Sokka. Where are you?" Kyla whispered.
"Over here!" Sokka replied.
"Did you do it? Did you tell Katara?" Kyla said crouching besides Sokka.
"Yeah I did. Look." He said pointing towards the lake. "Zuko's already here and Katara should be here any minute." The two waited in silence, hoping that Zuko didn't notice their spying. Not long afterwards Katara arrived.
"Look, Katara's here." Kyla whispered. "Ok Sokka, what's phase two?"
"Ok, phase two is... We wait."
"Wait? Wait for what?" Kyla asked suddenly worried about the success of her uncle's plan.
"For nature to do its job. They're at a lake, with moonlight and everything. It's romantic."
"Sokka!" Kyla exclaimed.
"Shhhh! They'll here us."
"This was your plan, to get them by the lake together. I could have done that myself!"
"Stop complaining and look." Sokka said point to the two figures. "See... They're talking."
"They're probably asking where each of us is."
"It doesn't matter, they're still talking." Kyla opened her mouth to reply but then stopped. He was right, with so many people making up the group, giving her parents the chance to speak and speak alone was something hard to come by.
"Sokka, you're a genius."
"That's Uncle Genius Sokka. Look, they're still talking. I wonder what they're saying."
"Maybe they're talking about the trip."
"Or who's going to make breakfast tomorrow."
"I don't think so." Kyla replied chuckling. "Well, at least they're not arguing."
"Well, at least with this done, we can move onto phase 3."
"What's phase 3?"
"We have to show them what they like in each other before they know they like it."
"I don't get it." Kyla whispered confused.
"What does your Katara like about your Zuko and vice versa and whatever it is, we get them to do that."
"Isn't that, I dunno... Cheating?"
"No." Sokka replied grinning mischievously. "It's pushing things along."
"Hmmm. I think I know what Katara should do, but Zuko, I'm not too sure..." Kyla said pondering how to go about phase 3. "Perhaps he could..."
"Look!" Sokka whispered.
"What?"
"They're leaving... Or at least Zuko is."
"We should split up. I'll go and quickly meet Katara and tell Zuko that you changed your mind and you can meet Zuko back at camp. We can talk about phase 3 tomorrow."
"Right. See you then Kei." As the two went their separate ways as quickly and quietly as possible, Kei couldn't help but feel that things were finally going in the right direction. Her parents were talking to each other and soon things would become better once phase 3 began.
"Katara!" Kyla called out walking up to the pair. "Sorry I'm so late, I got sidetracked."
"That's Ok."
"Where's Sokka? You told me he wanted to meet me here." interrupted Zuko.
"He changed his mind. He said he'll meet you back at camp seeing as Katara and I are going to practice our bending now."
"Ugh."
"Hey." Katara said softly whilst placing her hand on Zuko's shoulders. "Don't be too hard on him when you see him. I'm sure he didn't mean it in a bad way." Zuko smiled and Katara, who smiled warmly in return.
"Bye." He said leaving Katara and Kyla alone.
"Bye." Katara replied. Kyla looked back and forth between the two of them. It was working. They may not "like" each other yet, but something was there. Something that wasn't there before. They were heading in the right direction.
"So..." Kyla said when Zuko was out of sight and earshot. "Things seem to be getting better between you and Zuko."
"Zuko and I have...An understanding."
"Well I'm glad. It wasn't fun watching you guys argue. So, what were you talking about?"
"Not much really."
"Really? For the long time you were out here you spoke about "not much" hmmm." Kyla said suggestively.
"How do you know how long we were out here for?" Katara asked suspiciously.
"Errrr... I... Well I'm only going by how late I was. I assumed that Zuko had been here for a while really."
"Oh well alright. And we really weren't talking about much. He told me you were worried about me whilst I was on the trip."
"Of course I was, you're my friend."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it."
"No problem. We should start training before it gets too late. I don't want to wake up at midday again". Kyla joked.
oOo oOo
Morning arrived quickly and though she had hoped otherwise, the strenuous nature of the previous training session had made Kyla wake up later than she'd like. As she sat up groggily, she opened the flaps of her and Katara's shared tent. It was around mid morning she guessed and based on the level of activity around camp she assumed that everyone else had been awake for quite a while. Kyla left the tent and walked over towards the campfire where Katara, Sokka, Suki and Zuko were sitting.
"Where's Aang and Toph?" she asked taking a bowl from the centre.
"They're practising their earthbending. How did you sleep?" Katara asked.
"Like a log, but at least it's not midday! So what's on the agenda for today?"
"We have to leave." Sokka said seriously. "Zuko and I talked about it yesterday and we both agreed that we can't stay here any longer. It's not safe, and it's a miracle that Azula hasn't found us already."
"We need to move somewhere more strategically beneficial." Zuko added. "We wanted to talk to you guys about if you had any ideas as to where we could go." Katara, Suki and Kyla shock their heads. Planning and all the things it involved usually fell in Sokka's department.
"Do either of you have any ideas?" asked Katara.
"I have one." Zuko replied. "But I think I'll wait until Aang and Toph get back to see if they might have any others.
"We should start packing now and leave in the evening so we're less likely to be seen." stated Sokka. The rest of the group agreed and after breakfast, started packing the few items and belongings they had. As the day went on and in the midst of all the packing, Kyla slipped away to find Sokka who was overlooking the groups supplies.
"I don't think we're going to have enough meat?" Sokka grumbled.
" I don't think that's the worst of our problems Uncle Sokka." joked Kyla. "So, phase three?"
"Right. We need to show them what they like about each other. What does your Zuko and Katara do?"
"Well, Dad...Zuko...Dadko..."
"Yeah let's stick to Zuko for now..."
"Hey this is hard! Anyway, Zuko, he just does nice thing for mom. Little things that no one would expect. I don't know how to explain it."
"Hmmmm... Ok... I think I can work with that. And you said you had an idea for Katara."
"Yeah. If you can, try and keep Zuko in the area outside my tent for as long as possible. I won't be long."
"Ok, see you then." And with that, Kyla went back her tent only to find Katara already rolling blankets in order to be placed on Appa.
"You know what we should do?" Kyla said innocently.
"What?"
"Well, not so much "we" but more "me for you". I could do your hair."
"Errr... Why?"
"As a thank you of course. For being so nice to me and helping me with my water bending yesterday."
"You really don't need to Kei. And besides, a makeover is the last thing we should be doing today."
"Aw come on Katara. We're already half packed and we won't be able to do much more until Aang and Toph come back from training which could take ages. I promise I won't take long. Pleeeeeease."
"Fine. " Katara said defeated. She knew that Kyla would go on until she had her way. "You know you're starting to remind me of Sokka."
"You know, you're not the first person to tell me that." Kyla giggled. The two of them entered their tent and Kyla quickly started brushing Katara's hair.
"My mom use to do this for me all the time when I was little." Kyla said absentmindedly. "She used to say, 'We water Tribe women have so much hair that sometimes it's just nice to put it all up and show our faces'. I didn't use to understand, but now I do."
"Your mom sounds nice." Katara replied enjoying the feeling of her hair being brushed.
"She is." Kyla replied knowingly. After Katara's hair was brushed through, Kyla took a ribbon and gathered all the hair into a ponytail.
"Are you doing a Fire Nation top knot because there is an easier way..."
"No, I'm putting it in a bun see." Kyla replied wrapping the hair around itself. After she was done, Kyla looked back at her handy work with a questioning look.
"What is it?" Katara asked.
"Hmmm. It's missing something." Kyla replied. Suddenly a though came into her head. "Wait. Stay here." She said to Katara before darting out of the tent quickly. While she was gone, Katara took a bowl of water that was resting in the corner of the tent and froze it to make a mirror. What she saw in turn caused her to freeze. This hairstyle made her look completely different. Or at least that was what she told herself. The truth was that Katara hadn't really looked at herself in a long time. The childlike face she had grown accustom too was all of a sudden gone, and in its place that of a more grown up and womanly face. She liked it. The hairstyle, the change, everything. But Kei was right, something was missing. Before she could ponder on that thought for any longer Kei rushed in carrying a bunch of flowers. "I got it." Kei said excitedly.
"Flowers?"
"Yeah, watch and you'll see." Soon afterwards, Kyla gently weaved each of the flowers around the bun so that they formed a floral crown. "There. Perfect. You look beautiful Katara."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Have a look and you'll see." Katara looked into the frozen water, and though beautiful seemed a bit much in her opinion, she couldn't help but agree that the flowers were exactly what it needed.
"Thank you Kei, it's lovely."
"You should show Zuki ... I mean Suki." Kyla said cursing her excitement for her little slip up.
"You think?"
"Well sure, you can't sit in here all day." joked Kyla.
"You're right. Let's go!" Katara replied excitedly as she made her way out of the tent. Kyla followed close behind hoping that this would work. Her father had always said that he loved seeing Katara's hair up like this and she just hoped that his younger self felt the same way. As she got out of the tent, she noticed that Katara had stopped and was fixed in place staring at something. A she walked up beside her she realised that Katara was staring at Zuko who was staring intensely back at Katara. The two neither spoke nor moved but seemed fixed in place just looking at each other. Zuko looked as though he had just seen Katara for the first time in a whole new light; A look Kyla had never seen before, whilst Katara seemed to look like it was the look on Zuko's face that had her transfixed.
"It's working." Kyla thought to herself happily.
"Have you guys seen Sokka?" Suki said interrupting the moment. Zuko hurridly turned away whilst Kyla swore she saw Katara blush slightly. "Wow Katara, you look amazing. That hair style really suits you.
"Thanks Suki, and no I haven't"
"Hey, guys... Nice hair Katara... Has Aang and Toph come back yet?" Sokka said walking in nonchalantly.
"Sokka, I've been everywhere looking for you, where have you been?" Suki said folding her arms over her chest.
"I was checking our supplies. I didn't mean to worry you Suki." He replied putting his arm around her while pecking her lightly.
"Get a room you two." Toph said entering the campsite.
"What's going on, why is everyone packing?" asked Aang who followed close behind.
"We have to leave." Zuko said, his previous embarrassment now gone. "It not safe staying here and we wondered if you or Toph had any ideas about where we should go." Both Toph and Aang shook their heads.
"Do you have any ideas Zuko?" asked Aang.
"Ember Island."
"Ember Island? Isn't that in the heart of the Fire Nation?" Asked Toph.
"Yeah, doesn't that seem counterintuitive? Shouldn't we be trying to get as far away from the Fire Nation as possible?" Suki suggested.
"No, I think Zuko's right. It the last place anyone would think to look for us. The closer we are to danger, the further away we are from harm."
"That makes no sense Sokka." Katara said ruffling her brother's hair. "But what do you think Aang?"
"I'm with Zuko. I don't know why, but I have a feeling that the Fire Nation is the best place to be right now."
"Well then it's agreed. We leave tonight for Ember Island. Do you know where we could stay?" Sokka asked.
"I have a place in mind." Zuko replied.
"Alright. We should finish loading everything onto Appa and then leave as soon as it gets dark which won't be long." Sokka said finally. As the group continued to pack and load their items onto Appa Kyla noticed that Zuko had made his way towards Katara and was helping her load her bags onto Appa. She looked dumbfounded at Sokka who only winked in response.
"How did he get him to do that?" she thought to herself as she continued to look at the pair. Eventually her curiosity got the best of her and as inconspicuously as possible she made her way over to Sokka who was still making the final checks over their supplies.
"We are really not going to have enough meat." He grumbled to himself.
"Ok spill. How did you do it?" Kyla said with her hand on her hips.
"Shhhh someone will hear!" Sokka said pulling her close and hopefully out of earshot.
"I don't know how but you did so spill."
"Ok. I told Zuko that Katara had sprained her hand and that she'd find it difficult to do things..."
"Like carrying bags."
"Yeah like carrying bags. I also said she would be too proud to ask for help from anyone plus she didn't want anyone else to know so that no one made a big deal out of it and that with me carrying Suki's things it would be nice if someone could do the same for her. That's when he volunteered."
"Wow. So not only did you get him to help mom... I mean Katara out but you got him to think it was kind of his idea and stopped him from mentioning why he doing it to her..."
"Yep."
"Uncle Sokka..." Kyla said grinning widely. "You're a genius."
Mrs. Grint-Cozart-Felton-Horan: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! Hope you enjoyed this chapter too!
a123b: You predict rightly so! Hope you like this chapter!
17tangerines: Thanks! Sokka brain works in ways we'll never understand but he is one clever dude!
Aralys: Yeah, this is probably one of the fastest fics I've written when it comes to pacing, but then it was never meant to be very long. I'm glad you like it though!
E.C Silence: Sokka... He is one cool cat! And smarter than people give him credit for! But thanks for your review! Not too sure about Zuko's temper, but perhaps you'll see a few of some of Zuko's other traits in Kyla in the next chapter...*giggity*
missycole23: Thanks! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. (and sorry for the wait!)
ROXY1830: Yep. Sokka has five amazing little girls in the future and he loves them to bits! (You can read about them in my other fic The Way Things Are) Thanks for the review and I hope you liked this chapter!
Crystal1998: Thanks. Sokka is one awesome guy!
MaddyTheFangirl: Thanks! That line is one of my favourites too! Sokka is so much fun to write! I hope you like this chapter and I'm sooooo sorry for the long break. The next chapter will come sooner, I promise!
goodybags: Thanks. I've always thought it'd be cool if your future kids could come from the future to see you without knowing... Wait wait if they do do that... O_O Anyway, I hope you like this chapter!
demonic angel23: Yep, that's typical Sokka! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
FloraIrmaTylee: Sokka adores flattery, but then don't we all!
Guest: Here you go!
Hotaru Vie Jaegerjaquez: Here's your answer! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
harrypotterlover2398: Thanks. I really appreciate it and hope you liked this chapter!
ZutaraLuva2013: Uncle Sokka is awesome... Thanks for the comment!
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