concoursec | backdated to yesterday [dec 20]

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backdated to yesterday [dec 20]

Character(s): Katara, Zuko
Location: Katara's dormitory
Rating: PG
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: Unbeknownst to Katara, it's the night of the lunar eclipse-- and her body isn't responding well.

Katara, to put it lightly, was feeling horrible.

She wasn't sure what had happened to make her fall into such a state-- she had been perfectly fine just the day before, showing absolutely no symptoms of sickness. When she woke this morning, though, she couldn't even manage to muster enough energy to get out of bed, her body completely drained of energy. She'd grown up in the cold so the change in setting to the northern continent certainly couldn't have contributed to the change in her physical well-being. But at the moment, she was curled up in her bed with the covers drawn up to her chin, her body shivering with fever-chills and limbs aching from fatigue. But as tired as she was feeling and as much as she closed her eyes to try and rest herself to recover from her illness, sleep wouldn't claim her.

Katara shifted onto her side to try and find a more comfortable position, her hands drawing the blankets up over her head completely in a futile attempt to warm her freezing body.

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But panic suddenly overtook her as she saw Zuko begin to rise from the bed; she hadn't realized how severe her condition was, and after fainting she didn't particularly want to be alone. So her hand shot out from beneath the covers as quickly as she could, her fingers curling around his wrist to hold him back.

"Where are you going?" She tried to sound casual about it, though there was a note of anxiety in her voice.

Surprised by the sudden grip at his wrist Zuko sat back down, eyes lowered to stare at where her fingers could barely wrap around. "I uh was going to get a cold cloth for your forehead." The words came out slowly, hesitantly, his gaze lifting to meet hers.

"And to run the milk down to my room for the cats. Uh- and to check on the chicobo."

"Oh-- right." Katara relaxed then, the grip on his wrist slackening as she dropped her hand down to the mattress. "Yeah, you should go feed the kittens; I feel horrible that I forgot. I hope they're not too hungry..."

Her hands slipped back under the blanket then, before she drew the covers up over her chin, covering the lower portion of her face until only her eyes could be seen over the edge of the blankets. Her blue eyes peered up at Zuko for several silent moments before she finally mumbled, albeit hesitantly and with mild embarrassment, "You'll come back?"

Once her hand had fallen away from his wrist, Zuko had stood up. He'd turned to look down at her and then went still, blinking rather stupidly at the question. "...Yes, I'll come back," he answered slowly, feeling just as embarrassed for whatever reason. "I'll uh... I'll just take one of your keycards with me. I shouldn't be more than five minutes."

Zuko moved away from the edge of the bed only to stop and turn around again. "Uh. Where's one of your key cards?"

She tilted her head in the direction of her desk, where her keycard was sitting on top of the surface. "On the desk-- you can take mine. Take your time, I'll just... be here."

Katara pulled the covers all the way over her head then, hiding the flush of her cheeks beneath the blankets as she waited for him to leave.

"...Right. Uh, five minutes. I'll be as fast as I can," he promised her, moving towards the table to snag up one of the keys and grab up the container of milk.

Zuko sent one last glance over his shoulder, noticing that she'd hidden herself beneath the blankets and said nothing about it, leaving the room and her. He set off in a brisk walk to his dormitory wing to take care of the kittens before anything else before seeing to the chicobo.

Should he go and find the Avatar? Maybe Katara would want Aang there with her and not him. They were friends, weren't they? Zuko felt that she'd probably feel more comfortable with Aang there at her bedside now with Toph and Sokka gone back home...

Edited 2010-12-23 08:56 (UTC)

The moment that the soft 'swoosh' of the door indicated that Zuko had left the room, Katara immediately pulled the edge of her covers down from her eyes to look past her own door to peer out into the common area, now deserted with Zuko's departure. She wasn't sure why she was feeling so nervous all of a sudden, a slight fluttering in her stomach-- probably just from the illness.

Right?

Regardless, she found herself feeling a bit anxious even with Zuko's promise of his return. She was left laying in her bed, blue eyes hooded with fatigue yet she still couldn't sleep a wink; she simply remained still and waited, her eyes shifting to stare up at the bare ceiling.

As promised, it'd only taken Zuko five minutes. He was a man of his word after all, a man of honor and such. Honor, of course, was a big thing to him and to the Fire Nation, something to be revered.

Zuko returned with two items; a potted plant of vibrant red, and the little chicobo sitting perched on the top of his head, nestled in the thick, shaggy hair. He'd left the milk with the kittens, covered and on the table where they hopefully wouldn't be able to reach it.

The door opened with a soft 'swoosh' and he re-entered her room, pressing the key lock behind him.

"Here..." He set the plant down on her nightstand, lips pressing together, his expression unreadable. Really - plants were a 'girl thing', he had no need for it in his room and figured she'd appreciate it more.

Her head instinctively snapped over to look out the opening of her door and into the common area the moment she heard the door open; she couldn't help her reaction. But what she saw had her momentarily stunned, the potted plant with the red flowers in full bloom a vivid contrast to everything else within the dormitory.

Had he brought her... flowers?

She was completely stunned, her blue eyes wide and round as she stared at the plant once he set it onto her nightstand. After a few more moments of oogling, her gaze shifted to the Firebender, her expression still one of slight shock though there was now a small knit in her brow.

"You brought me flowers?"

"I thought girls liked flowers!" Zuko frowned down at her, his cheeks warming. "They're just sitting in my room, I don't need them." He shrugged a shoulder, jerked his attention elsewhere to the side to escape the way she stared up at him with such round eyes.

"Fine. If you don't want them I'll throw them out." His hands reached down to take up the plant again, leaning forward to the nightstand. Awkwardness had begun to settle in, making him edgy, uncomfortable.

Was she rejecting his friendly gesture?

The chicobo peeped and hopped off the top of his head, fluttering little wings and landing on the bed next to Katara.

Edited 2010-12-23 09:34 (UTC)

"No!" The protest was nearly a shout as she sat up quickly, or as quickly as she could with the way she was cocooned in blankets and sweaters. She looked between Zuko and the plant he was holding within his hands again, her cheeks warming all the more when she realized just how she reacted. "That's not-- that's not what I meant. I'm just surprised... I didn't expect you to be so nice."

She gave a small shrug then, feeling a bit awkward. Almost in an attempt to escape the odd atmosphere that had formed between them, she eased herself back onto the mattress, sliding beneath the covers some more to draw the blankets over her face, up to her eyes.

"... Thanks."

Both Zuko and the chicobo started at Katara's outburst, the former whipping his head around to stare at her, golden eyes widening while the latter cheeped and flew back off the bed to burrow itself into the front pocket of Zuko's hoodie, hiding.

There was a tense moment of silence as the exiled prince grit his teeth and glanced away. "Being the son of a tyrant, it's expected that you would think of me as some sort of monster and nothing more," he spoke quietly, almost cynically, leaving the plant of red flowers on her nightstand.

"Anyways... you're welcome."

Zuko straightened up to his full height and kept his gaze averted, his shoulders and entire posture stiff.

Edited 2010-12-23 10:13 (UTC)

After hearing his words her expression softened, and she tugged the blanket back down to her chin so that her voice could be heard.

"That's not what I mean... I just--" Katara was looking a bit uneasy now, a small pause as she flushed at what she was trying to tell him. "I just-- No one's ever really given me flowers before. We don't have them in the Water Tribe because it's too cold for plants to grow there, so I was ... surprised."

Her gaze shifted over to the plotted plant then, her eyes taking in the bright red petals as most of the flowers were in full bloom. "They're really pretty... you took pretty good care of them."

Again his cheeks warmed. This thing called 'praise', from her of all people, why did it make him feel like this, like a fool fumbling over his tongue? Tongue tied and anxious?

Zuko bit into the inside of his cheek, glancing at her. "I didn't exactly have a choice, remember?"

And it was the truth seeing as it was his plant from their Home Economics that he'd had to grow and care for as a project.

Something then dawned on him, however, and he couldn't believe he blurted the question out, curious and yet surprised, "S-so the Avatar... he never gave you uh flowers before either?"

Edited 2010-12-23 17:58 (UTC)

The question startled her-- she hadn't expected it at all. But her hand lifted to touch the necklace which had finally found its rightful place at her collarbone after having properly received it back from Zuko weeks prior, and there was a thoughtful expression as the considered his question.

"He made me a necklace out of flowers, the first time you had my necklace. I guess he could really tell how distressed I was over it, so he made it for me." There was a small smile then as she remembered just how considerate Aang had been, and how he still was; the bracelet he had given her was still encircled around her wrist as she hadn't taken it off once since he had presented it to her months ago.

It hadn't been her words or tone that led him to staring at her, but more so the movement that led to the bracelet being revealed with the slip of her sleeve, his gaze shifting down to take it in. Or perhaps it was the way her lips curved into that little smile, the sight of it tugging at something in his chest. Oddly enough, disappointment was the one emotion that weighed in on him, as fleeting as it was. She said necklace, not bracelet, you idiot...

"...I see. And that?" Zuko gave a jerk of his head to her lifted wrist.

Katara hadn't been aware that her wrist had slipped above the blankets, causing the bracelet to be in plain sight. Her eyes drifted down to were the piece of jewelry encircled her tiny wrist, and for some strange reason she felt the urge to tug the sleeve of her sweater down to hide it again, especially with the way Zuko had questioned it.

"Aang made it for me when my necklace went missing here-- I guess he thought it'd make me feel better about losing my necklace."

The chicobo peeped from its hiding place and decided then that it was safe to emerge. Zuko said nothing at first to the information, reaching down to help the little bird out, placing it on the bed again. It cheeped with a 'breeeeeee!' sound and hopped its way to Katara.

Already Zuko was looking too much into it, disappointment now replaced with a twinge of jealousy. No one could ever do anything better than the Avatar. Zuko gives her his flowers and Aang makes her jewelry. No, no one could ever amount to him. But why should he even care? Why did it matter?

Turning away after the silence dragged uncomfortably between them, Zuko made a noncommittal sound in his throat, beginning to cross the room to the common room.

Edited 2010-12-23 19:09 (UTC)

The Chicobo's reappearance had Katara lighting up despite her sickly state, and it took her a few struggling moments to sit up so that she could properly address the tiny bird. Her hands were held out then so that the small animal could hop into her palms, the yellow fluff letting out a happy little 'kweh!' before cuddling against her fingers. The action drew out a small (but slightly wheezy) giggle from the waterbender, which immediately ceased the moment she saw Zuko turn and head back into the common room.

Just as curious as Katara was, the chicobo cocked its head as it watches its' other owner leave the room, the large eyes of the bird then turning up to Katara in question. Katara could only shrug in response, a finger gently stroking the small Chicobo as she waited for Zuko to return... the only reason she could explain her anxiousness, she decided, was because of her earlier fainting spell. That was the only reason why she wanted him to be somewhere near her because certainly the strange twisting in her stomach couldn't be from anything else.

If Zuko were ever asked why he'd stuck around, he would tell whoever had posed the question that she'd fainted on him, nothing more; he couldn't just leave her by herself after that, not until he was sure that she would be okay in the end. He would claim that he'd remained with her due to his honor. Yeah - always with the honor, he could get away with that, right? Now while his conscience questioned him and that same nauseating twist of unease he, too, was experiencing, the exiled prince wasn't going to address it. Why should he?

The sound of water running from the other room was unmistakable, especially to a waterbender no less. It was followed by the sound of rummaging and a cupboard door snapping shut. Zuko returned minutes later with a bowl of cold water from the small sink in the common room, two face cloths in hand. Still he said nothing, setting the bowl down on the nightstand, dropping one of the cloths into it to soak.

"I guess he cares a lot about you, then."

The situation surrounding her necklace and the bracelet replacement, he was the one to blame for that. Maybe if he had given her back her stupid necklace, she wouldn't be wearing something the Avatar had made for her.

Edited 2010-12-23 22:53 (UTC)

Katara gave a small shrug in response, her fingers still idly stroking the baby bird as she watched him prepare the washcloth. She would have never expected the Exiled Fire Prince of the nation she loathed the most to be tending to her while she was sick-- yet here he was, in her room, preparing a cool cloth to help with her fever.

"Well, of course-- he's my friend. Friends care each other, so it's nothing strange that he would do something nice for me when I was feeling down. I mean..." She made a small gesture with her hand to the bowl of water sitting on the nightstand. "You're being nice to me now while I'm sick because... because we're friends, right?"

It felt strange to say that out loud, defining the unspoken truce that had formed between them out of necessity to cooperate with caring for the kittens and now the chicobo.

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backdated to yesterday [dec 20]

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