backdated to yesterday [dec 20]

[watertides.livejournal.com]

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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[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

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?"

[watertides.livejournal.com]

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.

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

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.

[watertides.livejournal.com]

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."

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

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.

[watertides.livejournal.com]

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.

[pyromatics.livejournal.com]

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.

[watertides.livejournal.com]

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.