concoursec | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Character(s):

watertides
Location: Zuko's dorm
Rating: Uh. PG?
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: Hours after this. Katara goes to speak with Zuko about what was left unfinished in Home EC.

It was just after dinnertime. Zuko had left the Home Ec. class early with permission from his Instructor. He had finished his gardening project and had promised his teacher he would revise his notes after his physical therapy session with Dr. Kadowaki. His schedule had looked something like this: Home Ec, physical therapy with the doctor for an hour and a half, a walk to the showers and then to the Cafeteria to grab some food, then a walk back to his room where his tray of food sat untouched on the table.

The words exchanged with the waterbender earlier had left a sour taste in his mouth and his stomach churning. He had practically accused her of being no better than Ozai, something he shouldn't have done. Zuko knew she was a good person deep down. Well, he didn't know but he had a pretty good feeling considering she'd been there to take care of him and help with the pain most of the beginning he was on the mend.

It wasn't easy to find the words to explain his thoughts properly. Not to her.

Golden eyes opened to glare at the five thick candles that sat in front of him on a low table. He was trying to meditate, a towel rolled up to hang around his neck, his hair still wet from his shower. It was frustrating, how his thoughts were distracting him from being able to find peace in the simple act of meditation.

"Why isn't this working...?!" he then growled out, jaw clenching. The flames on each of them rose a little higher, flickered, and then lowered again.

Zuko exhaled, irritated, and closed his eyes to try again.

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Zuko shook his head and his eyes met hers. She looked horrified. He didn't blame her.

"My father and I are completely different people. He believes to show emotion is to show weakness. In the Fire Nation, there's no room for either. I know him - he would have been more than willing to use the soldiers as bait to further his plans."

"Well, I'm glad you're different from your father-- he sounds like a cruel man." But then a thought crosses her mind, one that she's hesitant to vocalize but she can't help. "And even after all that, you still want to go back? You still want to capture Aang for his approval?"

Of course he hadn't expected her to understand.

"When my father stripped me of my title, he also stripped me of my honor. In order for me to regain it all back, the Avatar was needed. I give my father the Avatar and in return he gives me back all that he'd taken from me."

"And the next time your father has plans to kill off his troops for a meaningless war, you'll just stand by and watch it happen? You won't stand up to him again? You'll let your people die?" Her fingers were curling to fists at her side. Why was it so hard to him understand the right thing to do?

Because he's confused. He's mad about being confused, and it's all because he doesn't know what's right from wrong anymore. It's something his father's to blame for, again, having pushed Zuko to such boundaries by turning against him and forcing him into exile, making him the impression that everything cruel and wrong is, in reality, right.

"Of course not!" he suddenly shouts at her, her words striking a nerve. The flames at the candles spike dangerously high behind him. "You think because I look like this- because I look like a monster- that I am one?"

Zuko points to his left cheek, nostrils flaring with his heavy breathing.

"I am not my father, Katara."

And for once, Zuko's shouting didn't anger her-- in fact, Katara seemed rather pleased with his reaction. Her expression softened and her fingers uncurled at her sides as her anger slowly dissipated, the tension in her shoulders evaporating as they slumped down.

"I know." Katara said quietly. Her eyes shifted downward for a moment as she tried to find the right words to say. "But your words can only mean so much. You need to show me-- show us that you really mean it."

Her gaze rose to meet his.

"You have to stop hunting after Aang."

The flames wavered then lowered.

Zuko closed his eyes and brought his good arm up, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. "If you haven't noticed," he then spoke up, that hand lowering to gesture to his right arm, "I'm a little broken right now."

Her eyes followed the movement and she couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Right, right." She returned her gaze to him, and as much as she tried to suppress it, the hopeful look on her face wouldn't fade.

"Does that mean you'll stop? Because I swear," Katara took a step closer to Zuko, her expression hardening to a look of utmost seriousness, "You make one step backward, one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang... and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends right then and there... permanently. "

His eyes narrowed slowly.

Normally people take one step back when someone stepped closer, but not Zuko. She stepped towards him as if to emphasize on her threat; Zuko stepped towards her, their torsos nearly brushing, they were that close.

"Is that a threat?" he wondered out loud, not taking his eyes from hers.

Katara tilted her head up due to his towering height and her attempt to look menacing-- he didn't intimidate her. The defiant look in her eyes never faded as she stared up at him.

"It's a promise." Her words were calm, showing just how serious she was about the matter.

Out of nowhere his left arm came up, fingers firmly grasping her by her chin. "You shouldn't make promises you might not be able to keep," he warned in a low tone, leaning down.

Their faces were close, his nose brushing hers.

It wasn't until Katara felt his fingers curl around her chin did she realize just how close they were. There was an involuntary intake of breath when his nose brushed hers, and she willed the pounding in her chest to stop.

"You shouldn't underestimate me." She was surprised that her voice came out clear and strong, no hint of the fluttering that her stomach was currently experiencing.

It was tempting. So tempting. And by Agni, Zuko wanted nothing more than to give in, in spite of the past week's events, all the frustration, the confusion he felt whenever around her, and the hurt from his injury. The dream-like memory he'd had of her had given him a glimpse of her childhood, of her home and part of the devastation caused by the war. Also - it wasn't the right moment. Of course no one ever knew when the 'right moment' was, but he knew that it wasn't right now. No matter how good she smelled or how ... pretty she could be at times~~all the time~~.

...This moment wasn't it.

If Zuko ever got the chance to look back on this moment, he would wonder to himself how he had resisted the urge not to close the small gap between them, feeling her breath play over his lips and chin, her lips there and too close for comfort.

"I'm hardly scared of a little girl," he returned the clear, strong tone, although quieter and raspier than hers.

Zuko reluctantly released her chin, reaching down to take her hand as he straightened somewhat. "Next time you feel the need to hit my face-" He brought her hand up to lightly press her fingers to the lower portion of his scar. "-hit the other cheek. Got it?"

Edited 2010-09-08 03:14 (UTC)

Her head was practically in a daze when Zuko released her chin, and she didn't realize what he was doing until she felt him bring her hand to rest her fingers against his scarred cheek. The simple gesture was enough to remind her of the first time she had ever touched his scar in the Catacombs beneath Ba Sing Se.

Hesitantly, she let her fingers brush against the scar tissue, feeling the glossy, rigid texture beneath her fingertips. Her thumbed brush the area where the darker scar tissue around his eye met the pinker flesh of the cheek until she let her palm rest against the majority of the scar that covered the side of his face.

"I'm sorry."

Katara wasn't sure what she was apologizing for, but it felt like the right thing to say at the moment.

While her fingers explored the uneven skin Zuko slid his hand to lightly rest at the crook of her wrist. Her skin was soft, his hand nothing but calluses and skin roughened and dried by the many years of firebending. His lashes lowered at the feel of her thumb beneath his eye. The candles extinguished completely, the same scent from earlier drifting along the air.

Katara was a waterbender; her abilities were capable of creating and restoring life. The memory of the healing water against his shoulder had been soothing, relaxing. It had put him at ease when it should have done the exact opposite considering their opposing elements. Not only that, it didn't matter whether their tempers flared - she was still able to calm him in the end no matter how mad he got.

"After I had woken up and realized what had happened," he started to speak, "I was infuriated. I remembered what you had done and then I had remembered what I had said." His eyes opened and he shook his head, looking down at her. "It didn't matter in the end. I was too incensed by the sheer fact alone that what you'd served as 'punishment', intentional or not, had made you no better than him."

Zuko paused, looking a little sheepish, lips quirking briefly into a small smile. "Uh- though I wouldn't exactly call you a monster."

Katara remained quiet as he spoke, though there was a flicker of surprise in her eyes when she saw the slight lift in the corners of his lips. A smile? This night was just getting stranger and stranger.

But as he talked about his feelings after waking up in the infirmary, another thought popped into her mind. "You didn't smash the plant in anger or anything, did you?" Her eyes swept over the common area, her stomach dropping a bit when she couldn't find the pot. "It took me a long time to sift through all those seeds to try and remember which ones you planted, you know."

"No. If I 'smashed' anything in anger, it was more like crumpling your apology note." Zuko shrugged a shoulder.

"The plant's in my room." Another slight pause, fingers pressing in on reflex against the back of her hand. "...Thanks. I mean for redoing it for me."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Well, I guess that's better than knowing all my time spent potting your plant was spent for nothing."

His thanks made her feel slightly uncomfortable, but she tried to appear nonchalant with a small shrug of her shoulders. "It was the least I could do for knocking you out like that."

"...Yeah."

Zuko gradually let his hand slip away from hers at his cheek. It was weird because her hand and fingers felt cold against the side of his face.

What was even weirder was the fact that she hadn't pulled her hand away.

So Zuko sent a glance to his dorm room where his plant sat and then re-focused his attention back on her in front of him.

His hand slipping away from her wrist made Katara realize that her own fingers were still pressed against the scar tissue of Zuko's cheek. Reddening slightly, she quickly pulled her hand back and smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles in her skirt, taking a step back from him.

"Well, I guess that's all I really came here to talk about." She shifted the weight from one leg to the other, eyes lowering to look at the ground.

He didn't step back, he stayed where he was feeling just as awkward now that they were just standing around. He was never good at this stuff, never when it came to girls and never when it came to 'friendship'. And being alone with her didn't exactly help either.

"All right..." Zuko watched her while her eyes were lowered to the ground, quietly studying what he could see of her face.

It was weird; they should have been at each others necks this entire time. His room should have been completely burnt and flooded by now. Why weren't they locked in a struggle to the death? Why wasn't he drowning on the water in his body and why wasn't she screaming in agony while frying on the floor next to him?

Comforting... As awkward as it was at that moment, having her around was, believe it or not, a comfort. But Zuko wasn't going to believe that shit, he was going to believe that because his roommate was long gone, he was just lonely for some company.

Yeah. Yeah, that had to be it.

It couldn't be any other reason-- but maybe that was just a lie his mind had made up. All those years searching for the Avatar at sea, Zuko had been alone minus the company of his uncle and the crew members on the ship. Although one wouldn't exactly be alone then if they'd had his uncle talking nonstop about tea and the weather and 'music night' and Pai Sho, and there being no one his age. Everyone had been much older than he.

Remembering his times with his uncle, a part of him really wished that his Uncle Iroh were here to help with this. He cringed then as he thought about it and then realized that maybe ... maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all.

Zuko glanced away for a moment, coughing to himself, and then back at her. "Sh-should I--" But he trailed off and gestured helplessly to the door.

Edited 2010-09-08 21:33 (UTC)

Katara was equally surprised at how relatively civil they had been towards one another during the duration of her visit. The last time they had been remotely calm towards when conversing ended with a heated argument that lead to Zuko storming out of dance class; needless to say, this was a vast improvement. Katara was even a bit proud, in combination with being extremely confused, that she didn't particularly have the urge to encase the firebender in a pillar of ice, the automatic reaction to his presence for the longest time. And besides, wasn't this what Sokka and Toph had asked of her? To not pick anymore fights with Zuko and give him another chance?

She couldn't forgive him just yet, though-- no matter what, his betrayal had hit her hard. Trust was something extremely important to Katara, and she wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Perhaps later if Zuko proved that his words were true, that he was different, that he had changed for the better honestly this time-- maybe then she'll be able to bury the hatchet. But for now, all she had were empty words that had nothing to back his sincerity, if he had even been sincere in the first place.

His stuttering managed to break her out of her thoughts, and with wide eyes she glanced over to the door before understanding what exactly he was asking. "Oh, no-- I think I know my way out." All the dorms were designed the same, after all. Making her way to the keypad, she pressed the button which let the door slide open. Stepping through the opening, there was an awkward pause as she stood on the other side, her eyes glancing up at Zuko. Perhaps she should actually say something?

"So... don't forget to water your plant. It needs lots of sunlight and water or else it'll wither."

Zuko had followed her anyways to the door to see her out. The moment she moved towards the door, his feet were on auto-pilot and guiding him into following her regardless. He watched her the entire time, eyes meeting hers when she looked up at him.

Ironically he had been wondering the same thing; should he actually say something?

"Ye-yeah... Sunlight and water." Awkwardly now he brought up a hand to rub at the back of his neck. "I'll remember." He nodded.

"I'll uh. See you later...?"

Katara was surprised he'd even bothered to follow her to the door-- she had expected that he'd remain in place and let her leave without another word. His obvious uneasiness with the situation didn't go unnoticed by her either, and she found that her own uncertainty with the situation matched his.

She gave a quick nod, before holding a hand up in a small wave. "Right. See you later." They did have an several classes together, and first thing next morning would be dance class.

Deciding not to linger any further, Katara began to make her way down the corridor, careful to keep her pace even and measured despite how much she wanted to just scurry back to her room.

Edited 2010-09-09 01:09 (UTC)

Right. Dance class. Insert groaning here.

Zuko hesitated before peeking out of his door to watch her go. The first hing he noticed was how her skirt swayed. His brows furrowed and he stepped back into the room, door sliding shut.

What the hell was wrong with him?

Muttering he went to the table and stared down at his tray of food. He should probably eat and then meditate and then get to work on his notes.

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