Zuko's adventures with Miss smarty pants bossy boots.
Katara wasn’t perving, She was observing. And they were two very different things- no matter what Toph had to say about it. Okay, so she had taken to watching Zuko and Aang train with great fascination. She’d watched Aang learn earthbending too and that didn’t have anything to do with seeing Toph all sweaty. Not that she watched Zuko train Aang to see him all sweaty. And shirtless. And muscular. Not at all. That wasn’t the reason. It was observing! Not perving. And she had a…a medical interest in the whole proceedings. Zuko had been severely injured and she was observing him to make sure he had healed properly and for Toph to suggest otherwise was just..just..SO WRONG.
Where did Toph get these ideas from anyway. She said she could sense these things. What did that mean? Katara could sense that Toph was obviously spending too much time in the sun and getting sunstroke and hallucinating. It didn’t mean what Toph thought it meant that Katara had insisted on more healing sessions, even though Zuko’s lightening scar had healed as best it could. Or that she perv-Observed him firebending with Aang, or that they always sat together at dinner. Katara liked talking to him, but that didn’t mean anything.
It didn’t mean anything that the first time she was able to make him smile it gave her a feeling like really really good indigestion. Could indigestion be good? Whatever, that’s what this feeling was like. His blink-and-you’ll-miss-it smile had for a brief moment completely transformed his face. It was still his face, obviously, but it looked…sweeter and nicer. He looked handsome. Not that Katara would spend her time thinking about how handsome he was. Pfft. As if. Katara had better things to do.
The war had ended a couple of months ago and an era of reconstruction and rebuilding was in full swing. All the Gaang had stayed in the firenation with Zuko. The firenation was like the naughty kid at school, you couldn’t turn your back on it! You had to watch them, but with the right guidance and discipline, they could come good. Aang wanted to stay and help Zuko and heal the world and all that other stuff that Aang liked doing. And the Gaang as a general rule, followed where Aang led.
Even though he’d been able to beat Ozai, he still hadn’t completely mastered firebending. Firebending teachers had literally fallen over themselves volunteering to teach him, but Aang had, loyally, wanted to keep Zuko as his Sifu. Zuko had seemed oddly touched that someone would stick with him out of something other than necessity. Every morning a little after sunrise, they practiced. Every morning a little after that, Katara found a reason to be in the courtyard. What? That doesn’t mean anything.
Every second day, in the middle of the afternoon, Katara healed Zuko’s lightening scar. It was healing slower than Aang’s because Katara hadn’t had the aid of spirit water in the initial healing. She really was doing her best, but it was going to be an ugly scar. She hadn’t seen any noticeable improvement for the last two sessions but she still kept insisting on it. Zuko insisted that it didn’t pain him, but he was always so stoic about things so Katara didn’t put much stock in what he said pained him. She could still feel a tight bundle of negative energy around the scar, over his heart. She wanted to ease it a little. She never imagined anyone would take a bolt of lightening for her. She didn’t like to think on it too much, on what could’ve happened if Zuko hadn’t been able to deflect some of the lightening. No, she couldn’t think about that. It was too overwhelming. Instead she’d do everything she could to heal Zuko. It didn’t hurt Katara’s determination that every second day she got to run her hands all over Zuko’s chest. For healing purposes of course.
Toph thought all this meant something. But really it just meant that she was being a good friend to the new Firelord. That all there was between them. They were just friendly friends who were friendly a lot. She was getting to know him so much better and she liked what she saw underneath the brash, brave exterior he presented to the world. She was getting to know the shy, dorky dude that Zuko could be when he thought no one was watching and it was just the two of them. They talked a lot, when it was just the two of them…And his abs (she may have named them in her head). She noticed him now, in a friendly way of course.
She noticed when he snuck ever-so-sneakily out in the middle of the night. Katara had learned all she knew about being a sneaky ninja from Zuko. She knew all his tricks. She knew he was up to something. Katara had never been one to stand idly by. She was actually physically unable not to be a nosy-parker and but her nose in. nosily. It was her thing. It was what she did. She got dressed quickly and silently and followed Zuko out into the night.
******
What was Zuko doing? This was his most ridiculous ill-thought plan ever! Zuko, as the veteran of many a ridiculous ill-thought out plans thought that achieving a plan more stupid was a significant achievement. He was so embarrassed by the plan that he didn’t tell anybody what he was up to. He wrote a long (blathering, excuse filled) note for his uncle that he thought would be sufficient. He just couldn’t imagine getting up in front of all his friends and announcing that he was going on an old fashioned Quest to find a legendary Oracle that might not exist at all. Sokka would tease him forever! And they’d all definitely any respect they previously had in him. Zuko didn’t want to lose that.
This was just so stupid. Who got their advice from Oracles anyway? Zuko wouldn’t even attempt this if the situation was so hopeless with his Mother. His father just laughed in his face every time he asked about her. He wasn’t going back to visit that man again. And his Uncle had seemed so optimistic at first. “Don’t worry Zuko, I’m sure she’ll find her way back by my Birthday Feast.” Uncle’s birthday feast had rolled around and no mother had arrived. “Don’t worry Zuko, It is probably just taking her a while to travel from wherever she ended up.” He said after that, but still no word from Mother. Uncle had been sure that she would definitely arrive by All Souls Day (a firenation holiday that is held on the second full moon of Autumn). That had been two weeks ago and when she hadn’t come, Zuko felt the little bit of optimism he still had die a little. Uncle had, tactfully, kindly, stopped mentioning her at all.
If she was never coming back for him, which was seeming more and more likely, Zuko had to know what had happened to her. If she was alive, he wanted to know so he could find her and hold her and tell her how much he missed her. If she was dead he wanted to know for sure so that he could mourn her and hold a funeral and say goodbye properly. The not-knowing was the worst thing possible. The Oracle was said to know all. The Oracle would answer one question of an applicant, if they had proved themselves worthy. Zuko was the Avatar’s firebending teacher, and been judged by the dragons and helps defeat and evil overlord and win a centuries old war. He was feeling worthy! He was ready! Bring it on Oracle. If this oracle could tell him what had happened to his mother then anything that was involved in ‘proving himself’ would be worth it. And then he’d know, once and for all.
The only snag in his plan was that the oracle hadn’t been seen for a hundred years.
But Zuko wasn’t one to let a little fact like that get him down. No way. Aang hadn’t been seen for a hundred years and look at him now! He felt a little bad for bailing on the kid after he’d chosen Zuko, over Jeong Jeong and His Uncle as his firebending Sifu. The kid could defeat Ozai but still hadn’t mastered the phoenix form. Zuko liked teaching Aang and he’d been oddly touched when Aang wanted to keep him as a teacher when he had the option of other, better teachers. He’d left detailed explanations of what he wanted his Uncle to teach Aang in his absence and he knew his Uncle would be a better teacher and then Aang would want to keep his uncle over him and then he’d never get to show off for Katara in the mornings. Not that he was showing off, he was just trying to be extra impressive for her.
She just had a weird effect on him. Kinda like indigestion, but good indigestion and she was just there and watching with her big blue eyes, almost every morning. He knew she came to watch Aang and he knew he wasn’t meant to think about her the way he had been thinking about her. The indigestion feeling normally gave way to these thoughts that were completely inappropriate. He knew that Aang fancied her and Zuko was too honorable to make a move on anybody that Aang fancied. This did not stop Zuko from hoping that Aang would start fancying someone else soon, so that it would be appropriate for Zuko to have indigestion thoughts about Katara.
She was just always there! Watching him in the mornings, sitting with him at dinner, smiling at him and the healing sessions. Oh spirits the healing sessions! Zuko didn’t even want to start thinking about the healing sessions because they quickly gave was to extremely inappropriate thoughts. A good part about this little quest would be that he could have a quick break from her. He didn’t want a long break- he’d miss her too much. Just a quick break to get his thoughts together and his composure back. After this he could go back and watch her be with Aang and not be jealous. at . all. Totally not jealous. It wouldn’t even faze him.
He might even find a nice floozy on the road who would give him the indigestion feeling even more than Katara. And then Katara and Aang would see how happy he and his Floozy were together and they’d be jealous. That was a lie. What was wrong with him, thinking these thoughts. He wasn’t the floozy attracting type. Not that he blamed the floozies, what with his face and everything. Katara, well the whole group really, didn’t seem bothered by his scar. But Zuko still noticed the slight gasp, the flinch, that occurred when people met him for the first time and noticed the scar. So no floozies for him.
Maybe Mai would like to get back together. They’d broken up over a big misunderstanding with a fruit tart. But maybe they could give it another go. No, that was a bad idea, he and Mai were just getting friendly again and he didn’t want to lead her along. She just didn’t give him the indigestion feeling. And she knew it too. He could lie to himself but he couldn’t fool Mai.
Suddenly Zuko heard it again. The faintest trace, the softest footstep behind him.
He stopped, the footsteps stopped.
He started walking to the left. The footsteps followed.
He was concentrating so hard on the footsteps that he stumbled over a rock in the path and nearly fell. The voice belonging to the footsteps muffled a laugh.
He felt his heart sink. Of course she would follow him. He knew Katara’s graceful gait anywhere. He knew her muffled laugh. Even when she was trying to be sneaky, he knew it was her.
“I know you’re there Katara.” He said in a resigned fashion.
“Damn. How did you know?” Katara answered, abandoning all sneaky pretense and walking toward him. Zuko gulped. She looked very beautiful in the moonlight. The breeze softly blew a few strands back from her face and her eyes were so blue and she was wearing her midriff baring Firenation outfit and she…
FOCUS Zuko!
“You’re not as sly as you think.” Zuko said as evenly as he could. Though really she was a bit sneakier. She’d followed him for a long time before he’d noticed. This was what you got for thinking about floozies. If Zuko had been concentrating more on his surroundings and less on future floozies she never could have snuck up on him like this.
“What are you doing here?” the both asked each other in unison.
Where did Toph get these ideas from anyway. She said she could sense these things. What did that mean? Katara could sense that Toph was obviously spending too much time in the sun and getting sunstroke and hallucinating. It didn’t mean what Toph thought it meant that Katara had insisted on more healing sessions, even though Zuko’s lightening scar had healed as best it could. Or that she perv-Observed him firebending with Aang, or that they always sat together at dinner. Katara liked talking to him, but that didn’t mean anything.
It didn’t mean anything that the first time she was able to make him smile it gave her a feeling like really really good indigestion. Could indigestion be good? Whatever, that’s what this feeling was like. His blink-and-you’ll-miss-it smile had for a brief moment completely transformed his face. It was still his face, obviously, but it looked…sweeter and nicer. He looked handsome. Not that Katara would spend her time thinking about how handsome he was. Pfft. As if. Katara had better things to do.
The war had ended a couple of months ago and an era of reconstruction and rebuilding was in full swing. All the Gaang had stayed in the firenation with Zuko. The firenation was like the naughty kid at school, you couldn’t turn your back on it! You had to watch them, but with the right guidance and discipline, they could come good. Aang wanted to stay and help Zuko and heal the world and all that other stuff that Aang liked doing. And the Gaang as a general rule, followed where Aang led.
Even though he’d been able to beat Ozai, he still hadn’t completely mastered firebending. Firebending teachers had literally fallen over themselves volunteering to teach him, but Aang had, loyally, wanted to keep Zuko as his Sifu. Zuko had seemed oddly touched that someone would stick with him out of something other than necessity. Every morning a little after sunrise, they practiced. Every morning a little after that, Katara found a reason to be in the courtyard. What? That doesn’t mean anything.
Every second day, in the middle of the afternoon, Katara healed Zuko’s lightening scar. It was healing slower than Aang’s because Katara hadn’t had the aid of spirit water in the initial healing. She really was doing her best, but it was going to be an ugly scar. She hadn’t seen any noticeable improvement for the last two sessions but she still kept insisting on it. Zuko insisted that it didn’t pain him, but he was always so stoic about things so Katara didn’t put much stock in what he said pained him. She could still feel a tight bundle of negative energy around the scar, over his heart. She wanted to ease it a little. She never imagined anyone would take a bolt of lightening for her. She didn’t like to think on it too much, on what could’ve happened if Zuko hadn’t been able to deflect some of the lightening. No, she couldn’t think about that. It was too overwhelming. Instead she’d do everything she could to heal Zuko. It didn’t hurt Katara’s determination that every second day she got to run her hands all over Zuko’s chest. For healing purposes of course.
Toph thought all this meant something. But really it just meant that she was being a good friend to the new Firelord. That all there was between them. They were just friendly friends who were friendly a lot. She was getting to know him so much better and she liked what she saw underneath the brash, brave exterior he presented to the world. She was getting to know the shy, dorky dude that Zuko could be when he thought no one was watching and it was just the two of them. They talked a lot, when it was just the two of them…And his abs (she may have named them in her head). She noticed him now, in a friendly way of course.
She noticed when he snuck ever-so-sneakily out in the middle of the night. Katara had learned all she knew about being a sneaky ninja from Zuko. She knew all his tricks. She knew he was up to something. Katara had never been one to stand idly by. She was actually physically unable not to be a nosy-parker and but her nose in. nosily. It was her thing. It was what she did. She got dressed quickly and silently and followed Zuko out into the night.
******
What was Zuko doing? This was his most ridiculous ill-thought plan ever! Zuko, as the veteran of many a ridiculous ill-thought out plans thought that achieving a plan more stupid was a significant achievement. He was so embarrassed by the plan that he didn’t tell anybody what he was up to. He wrote a long (blathering, excuse filled) note for his uncle that he thought would be sufficient. He just couldn’t imagine getting up in front of all his friends and announcing that he was going on an old fashioned Quest to find a legendary Oracle that might not exist at all. Sokka would tease him forever! And they’d all definitely any respect they previously had in him. Zuko didn’t want to lose that.
This was just so stupid. Who got their advice from Oracles anyway? Zuko wouldn’t even attempt this if the situation was so hopeless with his Mother. His father just laughed in his face every time he asked about her. He wasn’t going back to visit that man again. And his Uncle had seemed so optimistic at first. “Don’t worry Zuko, I’m sure she’ll find her way back by my Birthday Feast.” Uncle’s birthday feast had rolled around and no mother had arrived. “Don’t worry Zuko, It is probably just taking her a while to travel from wherever she ended up.” He said after that, but still no word from Mother. Uncle had been sure that she would definitely arrive by All Souls Day (a firenation holiday that is held on the second full moon of Autumn). That had been two weeks ago and when she hadn’t come, Zuko felt the little bit of optimism he still had die a little. Uncle had, tactfully, kindly, stopped mentioning her at all.
If she was never coming back for him, which was seeming more and more likely, Zuko had to know what had happened to her. If she was alive, he wanted to know so he could find her and hold her and tell her how much he missed her. If she was dead he wanted to know for sure so that he could mourn her and hold a funeral and say goodbye properly. The not-knowing was the worst thing possible. The Oracle was said to know all. The Oracle would answer one question of an applicant, if they had proved themselves worthy. Zuko was the Avatar’s firebending teacher, and been judged by the dragons and helps defeat and evil overlord and win a centuries old war. He was feeling worthy! He was ready! Bring it on Oracle. If this oracle could tell him what had happened to his mother then anything that was involved in ‘proving himself’ would be worth it. And then he’d know, once and for all.
The only snag in his plan was that the oracle hadn’t been seen for a hundred years.
But Zuko wasn’t one to let a little fact like that get him down. No way. Aang hadn’t been seen for a hundred years and look at him now! He felt a little bad for bailing on the kid after he’d chosen Zuko, over Jeong Jeong and His Uncle as his firebending Sifu. The kid could defeat Ozai but still hadn’t mastered the phoenix form. Zuko liked teaching Aang and he’d been oddly touched when Aang wanted to keep him as a teacher when he had the option of other, better teachers. He’d left detailed explanations of what he wanted his Uncle to teach Aang in his absence and he knew his Uncle would be a better teacher and then Aang would want to keep his uncle over him and then he’d never get to show off for Katara in the mornings. Not that he was showing off, he was just trying to be extra impressive for her.
She just had a weird effect on him. Kinda like indigestion, but good indigestion and she was just there and watching with her big blue eyes, almost every morning. He knew she came to watch Aang and he knew he wasn’t meant to think about her the way he had been thinking about her. The indigestion feeling normally gave way to these thoughts that were completely inappropriate. He knew that Aang fancied her and Zuko was too honorable to make a move on anybody that Aang fancied. This did not stop Zuko from hoping that Aang would start fancying someone else soon, so that it would be appropriate for Zuko to have indigestion thoughts about Katara.
She was just always there! Watching him in the mornings, sitting with him at dinner, smiling at him and the healing sessions. Oh spirits the healing sessions! Zuko didn’t even want to start thinking about the healing sessions because they quickly gave was to extremely inappropriate thoughts. A good part about this little quest would be that he could have a quick break from her. He didn’t want a long break- he’d miss her too much. Just a quick break to get his thoughts together and his composure back. After this he could go back and watch her be with Aang and not be jealous. at . all. Totally not jealous. It wouldn’t even faze him.
He might even find a nice floozy on the road who would give him the indigestion feeling even more than Katara. And then Katara and Aang would see how happy he and his Floozy were together and they’d be jealous. That was a lie. What was wrong with him, thinking these thoughts. He wasn’t the floozy attracting type. Not that he blamed the floozies, what with his face and everything. Katara, well the whole group really, didn’t seem bothered by his scar. But Zuko still noticed the slight gasp, the flinch, that occurred when people met him for the first time and noticed the scar. So no floozies for him.
Maybe Mai would like to get back together. They’d broken up over a big misunderstanding with a fruit tart. But maybe they could give it another go. No, that was a bad idea, he and Mai were just getting friendly again and he didn’t want to lead her along. She just didn’t give him the indigestion feeling. And she knew it too. He could lie to himself but he couldn’t fool Mai.
Suddenly Zuko heard it again. The faintest trace, the softest footstep behind him.
He stopped, the footsteps stopped.
He started walking to the left. The footsteps followed.
He was concentrating so hard on the footsteps that he stumbled over a rock in the path and nearly fell. The voice belonging to the footsteps muffled a laugh.
He felt his heart sink. Of course she would follow him. He knew Katara’s graceful gait anywhere. He knew her muffled laugh. Even when she was trying to be sneaky, he knew it was her.
“I know you’re there Katara.” He said in a resigned fashion.
“Damn. How did you know?” Katara answered, abandoning all sneaky pretense and walking toward him. Zuko gulped. She looked very beautiful in the moonlight. The breeze softly blew a few strands back from her face and her eyes were so blue and she was wearing her midriff baring Firenation outfit and she…
FOCUS Zuko!
“You’re not as sly as you think.” Zuko said as evenly as he could. Though really she was a bit sneakier. She’d followed him for a long time before he’d noticed. This was what you got for thinking about floozies. If Zuko had been concentrating more on his surroundings and less on future floozies she never could have snuck up on him like this.
“What are you doing here?” the both asked each other in unison.