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ATLA: Sacrfice LovDes Ch.10

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Chapter 10


- Previously -


Zuko wasn’t even paying attention anymore because it seemed foolish to hold and touch a baby. It seemed like there wasn’t really an outcome from it, so it was basically pointless to him. A small shadow started to become bigger as a small creaking noise came from the floor.

“Lee,” Katara called out.
Zuko looked over his shoulder to see the baby right in front him and freaked out and tried to avoid it, “w-what dang it?” He watched his language in front of the adults.
“Hold Hope,” she smiled.
“I don’t want to,” he huffed.
“You don’t want to, or you don’t know how?”
“…”
The water bender smiled, “cradle your arms like I am.”

He rolled his eyes and cradled his arms so she wouldn’t nag at him, and she began placing the little child in his arms. Zuko began rejecting the child and not wanting to hold it, but Katara only said to watch her head. His body was completely stiff as he held the small infant in his arms while it giggled happily.

Hope had a big smile on her face as she reached for Zuko’s face towards his scar. Eventually, she reached long enough for her tiny hand to touch it and Zuko looked at the child’s reaction, only to see her look so curious. He took notice of how small and light a baby was, which made it seem almost amazing.

Out of nowhere, Hope grabbed a few strands of his hair and began pulling on it to get him out of his thoughts. Katara laughed lightly and helped Zuko by taking the little one away from his so his head would have all his hair intact. As Zuko mumbled out his thanks, he saw Katara and everyone else smiling at him, including Than and Ying.

Hope soon began to cry after being taken away from her interesting friend, and so, Katara hummed to her a soft melody that put everyone in a relaxing feeling as she sat down against the wall. The little one started to stop crying to listen to the soft melody and Iroh sat down next to Hope’s parents while Zuko leaned against the door frame.

They all enjoyed listening to the humming emitted from the water benders mouth, but one of them would deny it. Iroh looked over to his nephew to see a blush on his face, and it made him want to snicker a little, but held it in. After Katara finished her humming, Hope was fast asleep against her chest.


- Now -


After an hour or so of talking with Than and Ying, Katara decided that it was time to go because Zuko was getting a little annoyed. When they left, Iroh whined and begged to Katara if they could go to the tea shop. Zuko was now embarrassed more than ever to be related to him.

“If you want to go, then fine, but only two cups; we have to be in the inner walls before nightfall.” Katara sighed.
“Thank you Miss Katara,” Iroh smiled and practically lead the way to the shop.
Zuko shook his head, “I don’t even know why he bothered to ask for permission.”
“We’re going to our house, and you guys don’t know where it is.” She answered.
“Let me guess, you guys have the ‘royal’ treatment?” He glared.
“Nope, we declined the servants; they smiled too much,” the water bender laughed and a two people walking across the street. “…Smeller-bee… Long-shot…?”
Zuko heard those two names and whipped around to the direction she was looking at, “where?!”
The water bender lightly shoved him aside, “that must mean Jet’s alive!”

He grabbed her by the forearm, “let’s go.”
Katara turned around and looked at him, then at her arm, “let go of me Zuko.”
“Then don’t follow them,” Zuko glared.
“You’re hurting me,” she winced.
“Don’t follow them,” he wanted her to agree.
“Let go!” The water bender slapped him.

SLAP!!!

Everything grew quiet as Zuko released her and placed his hand on the side of his face with no scar while she knelt to the ground. He looked at the woman before him to see her holding her forearm in pain from his grasp on her. It was by accident; he didn’t mean to hurt her, but that wasn't a really good excuse to tell her.

“I’m… sorry…” Zuko hesitated.
“What was that for?” She hissed at him.
“I’ll tell you later, alright?”
“…” Katara glared.

Zuko was nervous about his assault on her, and didn’t know exactly how to get out of it because he hadn’t felt so guilty from hurting someone before. Still, thinking that he knew what he was doing, he held out his hand to her while looking away. It took a while, but Katara grabbed his hand, and he helped her up.

“Come on, I’ll take you to the shop.” Zuko mumbled quietly to her.
“I’m going to have a bruise tomorrow morning now,” the water bender frowned.
“I said I was sorry,” he frowned to show that he was apologetic.
“Yeah I know, but it still hurts,” she laughed.
“Can’t you heal it?”
“I’ve bended too much water today.” Katara answered.

“LEEEEEEEE” A girl cheered happily as she hugged him from behind.
“Ack! Get off me!” Zuko whipped around and went into an attacking mode to find out it was a girl he did not want to see.
“What’s wrong Lee, don’t you remember me?” She frowned.
“No… I remember you.”  He replied quietly.
“Oh I get it, so she was your little date?” Katara asked amusedly.
“Uh… yeah…” Poor Zuko was getting nervous now.

“Who’s she?” The girl asked.
“Hi, I’m Katara,” the water bender smiled.
“I’m Jin, nice to meet you.” She smiled back but looked back to Zuko, “who is she?”
“She’s just a person… I met her today…” Zuko replied.
Katara heard that gave him an annoyed side glance, “you’re so lame.”
“…” He didn’t reply.
“Well fine, Lee,” she patted his shoulder then began walking off, “I’ll see you later.”
“No-! Wait!” The fire bender didn’t want to be stuck with this girl.

Iroh slapped his head at his nephew’s stupidity of demoting Katara from friend to a person he just met. Either way, he slipped away from his hiding place, and quickly rushed to catch up with Katara; saying that he had some tea and they could wait for Zuko at the inner wall entrance. She didn’t even reply since she was so angry.

--

Three hours passed and Zuko was running towards the inner wall of Ba Sing Se and saw Katara with his uncle. After getting to five feet in distance with them, Iroh raised his hand to motion Zuko to stop, so he did. The banished prince was confused as to why he couldn’t get any closer to them until Iroh tilted his head to Katara’s direction, and she looked pissed.

“K-” Zuko was interrupted.
“Open the door.” Katara said to the Dai Li next to them.
“Yes ma’am,” the Dai Li earth bended a door for her to pass through but stopped the two guys, “you two can’t go in-”
“Let them pass, they’re with the avatar as well.” She said annoyed.
“Y-yes Lady Katara, my apologies.”

The two men then caught up with the angry water bender but kept their distance, and Iroh whispered, “I suggest you apologize to her.”
“I don’t even know what I did!” Zuko yelled in a whisper.
“You made her second rate and you know it,” he snorted.
“Were you spying on us?!”
“Is she your friend?” Iroh questioned.
“Yes…” Zuko replied blankly.
“Then the key to keeping a friend is to not lie, especially to women! They are very sensitive I’ll have you know!”
“…”

Katara turned her head around and glared at the two of them, “be quiet.”

The two had ice cold chills down their back that not even their fire bending could unfreeze. She then turned away and walked up the steps to a big house and they followed her slowly. Katara was greeted by a happy Aang and Momo, but she didn’t reply and slammed the door to her room.

“Looks like someone’s in a bad mood again,” Toph chuckled.
Zuko rolled his eyes, ‘you’re telling me.’
“That is why Prince Zuko will go apologize.” Iroh stated.
The prince whipped his head towards his uncle, “since when?!”
“…” His uncle scowled at him.
“Fine,” he then thought about something, “when she calms down first that is.”

Aang looked towards Toph, “the last time I’ve seen her that mad was when you two kept arguing all night.”
“Now THAT time was a pain in the butt,” Toph sighed and rubbed her head, “just thinking about it gives me a headache.”
“You slammed the door in her face.”
“Yeah and I remember her yelling at you.” She retorted.
Aang shivered, “that was scary.”

“She’s been mad at you loads of times, like when you burned her.” Sokka glared as he yawned, “What’s the subject?”
The avatar frowned, “it was an accident!”
“Yeah, an accident you’re probably not going to learn from.” He scowled.
“…” he then thought of an idea, “Katara! Sokka’s picking on me about the cave!”
“What? You liar-!”

The water inside the water fountain in the backyard literally shot out and turned into dozens of pointed daggers. Everyone’s face became paled because they looked a lot sharper than normal, and they were pointed at everything. Okay, Sokka understood now; his little sister was really pissed off now.

“Okay Aang, I’m sorry.” Sokka said loudly so Katara would here him, and the daggers turned into water then went back into the fountain. “Could’ve told me she was angry…”
“I would have if you didn’t have to hurt my feelings.” Aang scowled.

He rolled his eyes and knocked on Katara’s door then peeped his head in, “hey, are you okay?”
Everyone tried to listen in but couldn’t.
“Alright, do you want Aang to go to bed?”
They all tried to get closer.
“Okay,” he closed the door and everyone quickly returned to the spot.

“I’m surprised she didn’t lop off your head.” Toph chuckled.
“What ever,” he looked to the avatar, “Aang, Katara’s going to sleep now, and so if you’re going in there late, you better be quiet.”
Aang got up by his air bending, “okay, I’ll go pet Appa good night and go to bed so I don’t annoy her.”
“That’s probably the best thing to do.”
“Yeah, I think I’ll go to sleep too; I don’t want my head whipped off of my shoulders.” Toph stated and went to her room.

“Where do we sleep?” Iroh asked nicely.
“Unless you guys a wanna ask Aang to borrow his room, you’ll sleep out here,” Sokka pointed down the hall, “the bathroom and stuff is down there.” He then left.
“Stupid peasant…” Zuko mumbled and set his stuff out on the floor to sleep.
“Avatar, may I sleep in your chambers?” Iroh asked nicely so he could.
“Sure, Zuko can too if he wants-” Aang was interrupted.
“There’s no way I’m sleeping in the avatars quarters!” Zuko roared.
“…” The avatar frowned and went into Katara’s room to sleep.
“Something you can learn for future reference,” Iroh spoke out, “you should try to control your temper.”
“I hate the avatar.” Zuko stated angrily.
“I know, but, he is Miss Katara’s friend as well. If you hate him, she will think less of you.”
He lied down, “I wish to retire.”

“Good night Prince Zuko.” Iroh bowed and went to Aang room.
“Night…” He replied and tried to sleep.

--

Hours passed as they did minutes, and Zuko was tossing and turning; trying to find a good position to sleep in with his guilty conscious even if he barely understood it. He heard one of the doors slide open and closed his eyes in case it was the peasant; Sokka. A gentle hand went to his shoulder and shook him lightly, but he didn’t budge in order to keep pretending.

“I know you’re not asleep Zuko.” Katara said in a tired yet annoyed tone.
Zuko heard her voice and opened his eyes, “what are you still doing up?”
“Come on, you can sleep with me and Aang tonight; sleeping on this flooring can irritate your back.” She stated.
He sat up slowly and looked at her, “aren’t you mad though? You seemed like you could destroy this house with one whip.”
Her face looked blank for the minute, but gave him a tired smile and stood up while walking to her room, “my offer still stands.”
“The avatars in there, you know I don’t like him.” The fire bender frowned.
“You can just sleep on my other side; there’s enough room.”

Zuko quietly got up from his little bed and dusted himself off. When he looked up to see Katara, she wasn’t there, but instead behind him while taking care of the little sheets and blankets and placed them against the wall. He felt a little bit embarrassed when she decided to do that for him; as if she was a servant.

“Thank you,” Zuko scratched the back of his head.
“You’re welcome, now then, let’s go to sleep.” Katara led the way to her room.
“Why don’t you care if you sleep with the opposite gender? Is it a Water Tribe thing?” He questioned.
“No, it’s more of a ‘trust’ thing,” She smiled lightly as she opened the door for him, “go in.”

The prince slowly walked in and looked around to see it look very nice, not to mention a bit big. There were a lot of lit candles formed in a circle, and the avatar was awake in the middle. Katara a slid the door close quietly and passed Zuko and to a small dresser to undo her hair.

“Aang, you can stop meditating now,” Katara said quietly.
Aang opened his eyes and exhaled before turning his head to her, “okay,” he then saw Zuko, “is he going to be in here too?”
“Yeah, just for tonight though.” She answered.
“…” the avatar nodded and got up to put the candles back to where they were before moved, “can I do fire bending tomorrow?”
“Ask Iroh, Zuko still needs time to recover from being sick like I did.”
“Okay.”

After Aang placed the candles back around the room, he removed almost all of the clothing except his undergarment as he would when swimming, and jumped into bed while snuggling into one of the pillows that Katara had for him. The water bender removed the all of the hair accessories to have it down and a tad curly from the braids, and then began to pull off her clothing as Aang did. When she passed a glance at Zuko, she saw that he was blushing insanely while trying to look away from her body.

“You can undress some if you want,” Katara stated quietly, “it isn’t like we’re going to jump you in your sleep.”
“…” Zuko nodded slowly.
“Go to sleep when you want to, good night.” She walked to the bed and got in next to Aang while leaving plenty of room for Zuko.
“Yeah… night…” he replied.

Zuko sighed and only removed his upper clothing and left on his pants. He peeped out the back window out of curiosity and found a small porch to view the fountain. Beginning to get tired, he turned his attention to the bed that both the avatar and water bender were snuggled in, and slowly walked to it.

Lifting up the covers quietly, he pulled them away a little and sat down on the edge while thinking to him self about many things. He heard shifting from beneath the covers, and he tried to ignore it some. Little did that help him though because they were moving around in bed, and began talking to him.

“If you feel uncomfortable sleeping with us, you can make a bed in here instead and sleep next to us.” Katara whispered.
Zuko turned around a little, “are you sure you’re not mad at me?”
“Yes, why?”
“…it’s nothing,” he turned away, “I was just curious.”
She nodded tiredly, “go to sleep, you need it.”
“Alright…”

He rubbed his forehead tiredly as he looked at the lit candle in front of him for while as he raised his hand to manipulate it. His hand stopped, and closed it self into a fist, then lowered back against the bed then turned to see the water bender and avatar. Katara looked as if she was sound asleep, he didn’t know about the avatar though; his body was turned the other way.

Zuko gave up in defeat to his tired aching body, and lied down with the other two sleepers, then pulled up the covers and turned on his side to view the candle for a little longer. The prince didn’t feel comfortable sleeping with the opposite gender tonight for some reason, like she would try to kill him in his sleep type way. Turning the other way under the covers, he quietly looked at his friend to see her frowning in her sleep which turned his stomach into a knot.

His hand went to her tanned cheek and lightly caressed it with his thumb while trying to see if he could comfort her. Katara’s head moved away slightly and then covered her face up with the blankets after a soft groan. Sighing in dissatisfaction, he placed his hand under the covers and to him self as he turned to lie on his back quietly while looking at the ceiling.

‘She’s still mad at me,’ Zuko told himself in an emotional way that he hadn’t felt before, ‘I don’t even know how to apologize when I’m not entirely sure of what I’ve done.’

Katara sighed in her sleep as she turned over on to her stomach to continue inside her dreamland. Zuko’s head turned to her; wandering if she awoken or something, but she didn’t. His eyes trailed down her body and could see some factors that he hadn’t seen in a while.

When she was sick a while back, there was nothing he could do except look around, and his eyes once landed on her form. It was amusing how women could have such curves and yet be a mere teenager. His gaze would snap out of it when she would move in her sleep.

Shaking his head at those thoughts, he felt his face heat up a little and forced himself to look at the ceiling. Being around his friend gave him unwanted dreams of her; they were about him self and the water bender being together, and already that was strange enough for him. Again he turned to his side for the last time for the night; he looked to the candle, and then heard a dripping noise outside.

He looked to the window and saw water starting to fall from the sky, ‘rain?’

The candles’ flame began flickering quickly, and then died out for some odd reason that he didn’t know of. Thoughts of the war passed his mind because of it, and mentally shook that away as violently as possible. When did fall come? Zuko remembered the leaves surrendered their green color to the orange and yellow, but he didn’t pay attention to anything else; only to the things that could remind him of home.
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Nilikeye's avatar
YEAH! SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!