A/N: Well, I still haven't heard back from Scribbles. So, once again, we will post without her guidance. So, I apologize once more for the mistakes.
Healed and Hunted
The Truth About Affection
Chapter 24
Her Studio
Kat
The last time she had seen him without a shirt, she had been more focused on the rib sticking out of his skin and the blood spilling on to the pit. But now, as he's sitting down on her couch, pulling his shirt off at her behest, she couldn't help but stare.
It was more than desire that brought her eyes to his chest. There were lot of tattoos to study on his skin. It was an artists eye that made her stare. Honest.
"So... is this the part where you dress to match?" He had his eyebrow up and a smirk on his face. Kat tried not to smile back. It would do her no good to be caught in another of his little traps.
"I just wanted to see, is all. I didn't get a good look at-"
"At me?" Lee interrupted.
Kat was unamused, "Your tattoos. Do they mean anything?"
She crossed her legs and sat, Indian style, next to him.
He took her hand and led her fingers across him, "Well, this one here was for my mom."
It was the portrait of a woman with long dark hair, her face mostly covered by the locks. Kat could just make out a grin on her face.
"And these," he lead her hand to his shoulder, "were because dragons are cool."
A red dragon and blue dragon twisting down the muscle of his arm. One's mouth was open, breathing fire and the other had its mouth closed.
"This here on my back," he twisted to show her, "Was the first time I was wrongly incarcerated."
She studied the drawing, trying to figure out what exactly it was. Her nail traced the lines.
"What did they arrest you for?" She wondered.
Lee had been wincing from her nails, "Well, they thought I had been planning to burn down a church."
"And why would they think that?"
He righted himself in the seat, "I was trying out religion. The band on my arm gave them the creeps."
She nodded, though the idea of him in a church was odd.
"You don't exactly strike me as the religious type." Kat said.
"I tried it. It didn't exactly agree with me." He answered, smiling.
Kat laughed, "You make it sound as if it were some kind of food that upset your stomach."
"I forget you pray." He said off-handedly.
It kind of surprised her, that he had noticed. As far as she could remember, she had only prayed once in front of him, and they hadn't been close. They were, in fact, enemies at the time.
"You remember?" It was interesting to think about.
Lee blinked, "It surprised me, was all. You seemed sincere about it."
"I was asking for courage. And..." she stopped talking.
"And what?"
Kat pulled her hands away, "Nothing."
"And what, Katara?" Lee grabbed her hands back.
She looked down, "I was afraid to fight you."
Lee blinked and watched her. She handed him his shirt, a little sad to say good-bye to the view. He tugged the shirt on without speaking.
"You were afraid of me?"
"Afraid of hurting you." Kat said seriously.
"Hey. We only have a few more hours, right?" He asked, tired of talking about it.
She nodded, "Yep. We leave tomorrow morning."
"Then we should really make it count. Here, we are alone and I feel no shame for kissing you like I want to."
Before she could ask, he launched at her, laughing. She fell backwards, though Lee was careful about her head, and he moved on top of her. His hands moved around her and she didn't know how to handle it. It was crazy how her body reacted to the attention, but she did her best to be good.
Dorm Room
Toph
"So, how was it?" She asked.
Kat was unpacking from the weekend, and had yet to say a word. But the air around the room seemed...happy. Toph could only assume.
"It was nice. Swapped stories and stuff." Kat's voice was even and misty.
Toph laughed, "Not that."
"Then what?" Kat asked. Toph heard a dresser open.
The blind girl waited for a moment, "You know. It."
Kat fumbled with the drawer, slamming it closed.
"It...We didn't, Toph." Her sister sounded...embarrassed. Mission accomplished.
The girls went on in silence. It was enough for Toph that she had made things awkward. It was sisterly teasing, and Kat understood. It was how they worked.
Suddenly, Kat's lips were at her ear.
"But we should have."
Her sister skipped out of the room. Toph heard the door open and shut.
The blind girl kept unloading her things, tossing her clothes near the hamper. Kat would pick them up later, if she missed. It wasn't a big deal.
"Probably." Toph snorted, very belatedly.
The Pit
Aang
"I don't get it." There was nothing more to it. Fire wasn't going to work with him. For whatever reason, the connection wasn't happening.
"I can see that." Lee said, rubbing his hands together. Aang watched him pulled his palms apart, flames following so naturally. He hated the man.
"I can't find it, anywhere. You, the books.. keep talking about this...thing inside, where the fire is. It's just not there for me!" He shouted, frustrated with himself. And Lee, who made flames dance.
"Alright. Look, there's a secret to it. I'm going to teach it to you, but there's a cost." Lee pointed to his heart.
"What kind of cost?" Aang wanted to know.
"You have to promise that, once you find your fire, you will access it in another way. The way I'm going to teach you is easy. But dangerous. And, if you use it too much, someone you love is going to pay the price." Lee was very serious, grave even.
Aang nodded, intrigued.
"Alright. Tell me something," Aang nodded when Lee paused. The scarred man continued on, "What makes you angry?"
Aang didn't understand. He watched Lee for a moment, trying to think of an answer. Lee turned around, looking up at the ceiling.
"Kat's scars, the ones on her back? Those make me angry. The idea that someone hurt her..." Lee was saying quietly. Aang could hear the rage in the other man's voice.
"She showed you her scars?" That was a surprise. Kat hadn't even told him. He had discovered them on accident, nearly a year after her receiving of them.
"Focus. I want you to tell me what makes you angry." Lee snapped.
"I don't know. Ah... back taxes? Airplanes. The color taupe and people who like it..." He listed, trying his best to think. It was an odd question that he didn't know the answer to.
"No. Not that crap. Stuff that makes you want to hurt someone." Lee told him.
"There isn't anyone I want to hurt." Aang said, meaning it. His people were non-violent by nature. Or, at least, they made themselves that way. Anger was a bad emotion, to be released and forgotten.
"Aren't you prepping for war?"
Aang shook his head, "Sort of. Preparing for war, praying for peace. Even if war does break out, I won't be fighting to hurt anyone. Only to defend my people."
Lee looked at him incredulously.
"Look, I was a monk, four hundred years ago. I learned not to be angry."
"Bullshit," Lee objected, "Everyone has something."
Aang closed his eyes.
"I really... don't know, Lee. I'm sorry."
The sound of roaring fire startled the monk. His body reacted instantly, before his mind could think about it, and threw a gust of air to defend himself. Lee was throwing another ball of heat before Aang could yell.
"Quit using air!" Lee ordered, moving again on the offensive.
Aang shook his head, "I can't bend fire, or weren't you paying attention?"
Lee kept at it for a good few minutes, until the other man stopped.
"Can't teach those who don't want to learn." Lee said, sighing.
Aang tried to object- of course he wanted to learn!- but Lee was done. Lee climbed out of the pit without looking back. The bald man fell on the ground, exhausted and defeated. He was never going to learn.
Dorm Room
Toph
Kat had been gone all day, though she didn't know where. She assumed Kat was with Lee, though when she answered the door and he introduced himself, she began to have her doubts.
"She's not here." Toph said, after he said hello.
Lee laughed, "I know, she's with Aang."
"Then what are you doing here?" She sagged against the door frame. It was two in the afternoon, and she had just gotten back from her history class. She was tired.
"I need your help."
That was new. They weren't friends, or anything. They had barely spoken.
"I've been trying to teach Aang how to fire-bend. But it isn't working."
"He starts out as a bad student. But he'll learn, eventually." Toph said, hoping this was the kind of thing Lee was after. She had no other help to offer.
"I'm sure. But, he needs to learn now so he can practice."
With a sigh and a rub of her face, "How can I help?"
When he told her how, she knew that she was going to regret it. But, Lee was right. They really needed Aang to learn this. It didn't matter what they had to do. She was on board for that.
"Alright, sign me up." She put out her hand, accidentally punching him in the chest. Lee grunted, but took the offered hand.
"Great. Four o' clock, right? Do you need me to come get you?" He asked politely.
She shook her head, "No. I'll be there."
"Thanks again, Toph."
Toph was left alone after that to think on this plan. It was stupid, really. Lee didn't know just how stupid, but hopefully he wouldn't have to find out. With any luck, this plan would work with little to no injury to any party.
But, when had they ever been lucky?
Hallway D
Kat
Things between Aang and Lee had been tense for days. She was afraid to ask why, so she didn't. She hoped it wasn't something so petty as brotherly protection. It seemed to be more than that, by the way they wouldn't even speak at lunch, but she had no guesses.
As she was walking, the hall shook. She hit her forehead on the wall and her bag fell to the ground. Something glass inside- maybe her mirror- shattered on the contact.
It wasn't an explosion, that much she was sure. There was no smoke or heat. And the only thing around her was the pit.
Kat took off, hoping no one was injured. If so, she was probably the only one who was going to help. The heat then made its presence known.
The door to the pit was off its hinges and falling inward. The sight she saw was not one she expected.
"The hell is your problem?" Toph was shouting at Lee.
Lee's hands were on fire, as was most of the pit. Kat tried to explain it to herself, but justifying the burn on Toph's arm wasn't something she was exactly prepared to do. There was little sleeve left of Toph's shirt.
Aang was in between his fiance and Lee, holding his hands out passively.
"Enough, Lee." Aang shouted. Kat was pleased there was no double-edge to the monk's voice. For now, it was just Aang. It wasn't a thousand angry souls.
"Not even close." Lee said, and moved again on Toph.
Kat watched, horrified. Lee wasn't holding back. Toph wasn't even fighting. Neither was Aang, come to think of it. Aang was keeping the heat off of Toph, but nothing more. He kept shouting, telling Lee to cut it out.
None of this made any sense.
"Lee, enough! If you don't stop I'll-"
"You'll what? Throw a gust my way? Gonna have to do better than that." Lee interrupted. He added, "Or Toph is going end up hurt."
The threat was enough for Kat. She dropped down into the pit, avoiding all the flames she could. She had to roll her pants up to keep them from catching.
"Quit!" She heard Aang yell.
Katara moved around the edges, trying to find the right position. She couldn't very well go gallivanting through the flames. Lee would see her before then.
The air in the place suddenly rushed to one place. For a few seconds, Kat couldn't breathe. A few flames died.
"C'mon, Aang, that isn't going to work!" Lee shouted.
From where she was, she couldn't see what was happening. But she could hear the sound of battle, an old and familiar sound. They were fighting now, and she didn't know what she was going to do. Toph knew she was here, but her sister hadn't said anything.
Then another wave of heat burst out, and Kat had to duck.
"Hah! You did it!" Lee sounded elated.
Aang shouted something obscene (that rhymed with the words luck and few), and Kat made her move.
She popped out of cover and tackled Lee to the ground. She pulled water out from behind her and wrapped it around his limbs before he could fight back.
"Kat!" Lee breathed. She tightened the ice on his chest and straddled him.
"The hell, Lee?" Kat slammed his head into the ground, none too gently.
"Teaching." Lee was struggling beneath her. The more air he let out, the tighter she made the sheet of ice.
"Sugar Queen, get off of him." Toph said.
Katara turned around, eyes livid and hands shaking. Her family was her first priority. Lee had violated that unspoken rule.
"Toph, your arm." Aang said, sounding more tired than angry.
Toph threw off the Ava's probing, tentative hand, and shook her head. Aang tried once more to examine the injury, but his fiance just shrugged him off. Toph then pulled on the wound.
It separated from her skin, and Kat saw it was nothing more than a piece of rubber. Like movie make-up.
"You're not hurt." Aang smiled, relieved.
Kat looked back to Lee, who had yet to say a word in his defense. Could have been that he couldn't breathe, but Kat wasn't so sure. She didn't ease up on him.
"No. He asked me to help you find your fire. And, you did. So, can you two please calm down?" Toph was looking in Kat's general direction, and Kat did her best to look ashamed.
"This was some ploy to get me to-"Aang tried to rationalize, but Toph had other things to say.
"Kat, you're suffocating him." The blind woman said, motioning to Lee.
She saw his lips were blue. Kat took the ice away and watched the air fill Lee's lungs. The man didn't move. Instead, he stared her in the eyes until she looked away.
"I didn't know." She said simply, getting off of Lee.
Lee coughed and took another deep breath, "I was getting a little nervous there."
"Shut the hell up." Kat snapped. Lee flinched a little.
"Kat, it's fine." Toph started, but Kat was finished with this place.
She stormed off and jumped out of the pit. Ridiculous, it was. First that Lee would even... and then that Toph would go along for it...and then... this was so stupid.
She didn't know whether or not she was ashamed of her behavior. Lee had crossed the line first. Then, there was the fact that she had so quickly believed him a traitor. So quick to attack and forget all the smiles and kisses and whispers.
She had thought herself repaired. She had thought the mistrust would fade.
But it didn't, and it was there and there was nothing to do about it.
Nothing to do but hide it away, like she always had. She didn't cry about it until she was alone in the room. Lee had been such a wonderful guy. Even in the beginning, when he wasn't looking for anything special, he had still been so kind.
And she, as always, was the broken one.
It didn't matter how much she liked him. Or how much she almost loved him. It wasn't enough to break past the walls she'd spent ten years erecting. And it never would be.
And it broke her heart.