Chapter Text
Katara felt his hands close around her wast, they were larger then hers. Zuko's smell seemed to rap around her, smoky and deep but as soft as the sunset, she laid her head on his shoulder and for that moment it felt like the world, and her were complete.
It only lasted for 10 seconds, as she hugged zuko katara felt aang's gray eyes on her back. She released zuko and felt ever thing fall back onto her.
Rushing back up to there camp katara felt her words bounce around the inside of her head,
But I am ready to forgive you
forgive you
You
Those words were the only thing in her head as she walked to her tent, truthfully zuko was the only thing on her mind. How she has had hugged him and more importantly how he had hugged her back. Pushing her minds wonderings down she headed in to her tent. The space was small, her sleeping bag was on one side, and a small satchel containing her fire nation outfit and a few small mementos from there groups travels around the world leaned on the opposite side of the tent.
Collapsing on the the floor she thought of everything she and well zuko had been through today, and every thing she would still have todo. From dinner, to telling sokka that she was alright and aang's inevitable questions. All she wanted to do was sleep.
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Zuko walked slowly to there camp, his mine was racing with the events of the day, part of him was still un sure if the last 5 minutes had truly happened or not. It seemed to him worlds away from reality that katara could ever forgive him, the Fire Lords son.
As he emerged from the rocks that hung close to the path sokka, suki, and toph looked towered him expectantly. He wasn't at all surprised to see that katara wasn't with them.
Zuko sat down on a rock and looked out over the sea, somewhere out there was his mother, he doubted he would ever get the type of closer katara has just gotten, but he was beyond happy for her, she had needed this zuko thought.
“Are you gonna tell us what happen with sugar queen or not?”
“Yeah y-yeah sorry, kinda got lost in my head” zuko muttered as he picked at his cuticle. “What do you want to know?”
As zuko recounted his and katara's past days he purposely left out the part about katara blood bending, that was for her to tell them. sokka's blue eyes widened till zuko thought is head might explode. “THATS MY BABY SISTER!” sokka said with a mix of pure pride and sadness. “I should go talk to her”
Suki put her and on his shoulder and quietly said “give her some space for a bit, she needs it” sokka smiled back at her and nodded
“I could help with dinner” zuko mumbled
“You can cook sparky?”
“Yeah toph, shocking I know” with a half smile. zuko walked towards to cooking supplies, muttering to him self about something know one could here.
“You know that was a nice thing you did for her, and to think from what sokka has told me a few months ago you would have tide her to a tree” suki says with a smile
“um , yeah i guess, i mean, l-lik-e, she, she needed that” cringing internally at his own self continuous, zuko looked up at suki and with only a little hesitation he asked “hey, you know how to cook?”
“Only,” grabbing the bag of fire flake, “if you don't put any of these in”
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Katara wasn't at dinner. Aang kept looking back toward here tent, zuko quietly watched aang as him watch katara (not so quietly).
“I think I should go check on her” aang said “i just think she should know that i'm here for her”
“Thats would be nice aang but she's gonna need some time”
“Suki” aang looks down to the ground as he talks “you don't know her like i do, i should talk to her.”
Sukis face gos a but flat, and her gray purple eyes dim for just a moment, sokka sees this but cant quite understand how she feels. Hes always been taken care of by his sister, he doesn't know what he would do with out her, but zuko understand, just an hour ago he hadn't been with in katars good graces. He still doesn't quite no where he lands with the water bender, he hopes she will just maybe hug him again. That thought makes zuko turn red and look down. This is not how he is meant to feel less then 24 hours ago she hates him, just a week ago she threatened to kill him, and all he can think is how warm she was, how soft her hair -
Shut up
His mind scream.
“Hey zuko” sokka says quietly, “you good buddy?”
Zuko all most flinches at the niceness in his voice. “yeah I think so”
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Katara opens her eyes slowly, and takes count of her surrounding,
I must of fallen a sleep on the ground, spirits i was sleepy, oh, wait, yeah that would make sense.
She thinks
The past days wash over katara like a dam braking. Her mothers killer, the southers raiders, her blood bending, and, zuko. Theres a bowl with some rice and what look like steamed vegetables right by the flap of the tents door, as she picks it up a piece of paper falls from the bottom of the bowl, it reads:
Katara,
hope your feeling better, i made dinner (don't worry about it) anyway hope you like. Suki said no fire flakes so hope its ok.
-Zuko
She almost grins when she sees his name, but before she can a light passes by her tent.
Katara sticks her head out of the tent and regrets doing so almost immediately. Sokka is not so quietly sneaking into suki's tent, she inwardly cringes and looks down blushing a bit in embarrassment. Hunched over about a foot away from her is zuko sleeping quietly.
“Hey” she whispers “why are you out her”
Zuko hears her voice before he sees her, as a result he almost jumps put of his skin when he sees her.
“Katara, hey, um, sorry, um,” his mind willing him to get out a sentence, he tries again. “Uh, I made dinner-”
“I saw you note, thanks”
“Oh. your welcome, i mean you cook all the time, its the lest i could do, after well, after all of this. Was it good?”
“Im not sure”
“Oh”
“No, not like that! I just haven't eaten yet”
“Oh, good” he feels better knowing that she hadn't dismissed his food. “Do you wanna talk about it?”
“Im not sure, some company would be nice..”
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The tent was small, it wasn't meant to fit two people that felt uncomfortable touching each other. The half foot between them was full of something nether of them understood.
Katara stared in to the bowl of rice, there was barley any left, the quietness that filled the air around them was almost suffocating, she could fell zuko's nerves, they were electrifying. She felt him looking at her, his coper eyes glancing down at her form a few seconds at a time, only to look away at the last second. She was done with this weighted silence between them.
“Zuko” she broached
“Yeah” his tone, was soft, open.
“Um, how are you..”
“Im ok.”
“Just ok?”
“Its kinda a weird time, its just the past few das have made me think a lot.”
“You cant just leave me with that, you have to tell me the hole story.”
And so he did, zuko explained the conversation he had with is father the day of the eclipse, and more importantly what his father had told him about his mother. Zuko didn't quite feel right unloading on katara, she had her own stuff to deal with, her own guilt surrounding her mothers death, guilt he hoped he had maybe just maybe helped to lessen. When he was done, she looked at him big sad blue eyes, that were full of pain, for him.
“Im so sorry zuko, I-I cant imagine what that feels like, just know, its not your fault.”
She was so good at helping other people, just not her self zuko thought.
“The thing is, it, it is my fault. She died to save me.”
“I know the feeling”'
“Kinda sucks right?”
“Yeah kinda does.” But he couldn't help but feel better.”what you did out there, out on that ship, was, well, amazing. Can i ask how?” he felt that maybe that was what she wanted, or needed to talk about.
“Its called blood bending, its hard, i've only done it twice.” she mumbled. “That kinda power over someones life, it makes you feel..”
“Dangerous” he finished.
“I don't think aang, and sokka would like it. But I also don't think they would understand.”
“Aang cant because he sees you as,” he struggled to find the right words to explain. “Only one side of a coin. He choses only to see you as what he, wants.” that sounded mean but he thought it might be right.
“I am what aang sees me as, but i mean I don't want to be defined by that.” she says hesitantly. "i'm not only that."
“Talk about not only being defined by how you seem.” he almost laughed. “Im the fire lords son, talking to a mater waterbender, and i'm not even gonna try and kidnap you. Your more then how any one person sees you.” your more then, then..”
“ A Sugar queen?” she offered.
“Definitely”
Katara could see no way see could hate zuko, no way she could want to kill him, the boy siting on her sleeping bag, was not the same person that came to her village to capture the avatar almost a year ago. Just then she lunged towered him, encircling his neck in her arm, grabbing his hair in her hand and puling him towered her. Zuko was at first shocked by what she had just done, the swiftness of her movement and in which she had grabbed him, he didn't mind. As she hugged him his ruff and almost velvety scar ran across her cheek, memories, mostly tinted green costed through her mind, glazed by hope she thought had been lost. Zuko's thoughts were more along the lines of she's touching my hair, oh wait SHES TOUCHING MY HAIR.
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Toph slept with her feet routed strongly on the ground, she wanted to know when someone was coming to disturb her sleeping. Tonight a lot of people were disturbing her sleep. First Aang couldn't stop walking, probably because Zuko was outside Katara's tent, that Sokka thought she wasn't sure Aang knew that. Sokka and Suki were till spirits know how late doing something she did not want to think about. And now this. At fist she thought it was sokka had woken suki up for some more, well she knew what.. But the two racing heart beats were not the same as the non bending couple. The two people with there arms rapped around each other were most definitely not sokka and suki.