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ATLA: Sacrice LovDes Ch.23

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Chapter 23


- Previously -


"I guess it was," Katara whispered, "but that doesn’t mean I’m not happy about it. There’s so much conflict on this journey that I’m scared to know the ending of it."
"Then why are you even on this journey?" Haru asked.
She leaned against a tree, "I have to help Aang…"
"You’ve done your part; Aang knows how to water bend."
"What are you getting at?"
He stroked her cheek, "why don’t you stay here?"
"What? But I can’t, this isn’t my home." Katara stated.
"You could stay with us," Haru chuckled.

Zuko watched and heard all of this and turned from completely depressed, to completely furious. Haru leaned forward and gave her a small kiss on the lips which made the fire bender’s blood boil. Katara was slowly bringing her lips back to kiss his in return, and Zuko held his breath.

She paused, and pulled away, "I can’t."
"Why not?" Haru frowned.
"I don’t want to do this to Zuko."
"He isn’t here though, it’s okay-"
"No it isn’t!" Katara yelled and removed herself from the tree, "I don’t want to hurt Zuko."
"But he doesn’t know anything but us from before, I know you liked me." He frowned.
"Haru, I used to like you, but I love Zuko, I like how things are right now."
"He abuses you mentally and physically; I’ve heard him say harsh words, and I’ve seen bruises on you."
Katara shook her head, "he doesn’t try to be abusive-"
"And how do you know this?" He asked sternly.
"I don’t question him!" She yelled and turned away, "I’m going back now, good bye."

Zuko watched Katara leave Haru at the scene and so he walked back to the others before she could return. After he arrived, Aang and Sokka had arrived too and then eventually so did Katara. She looked upset, and everyone looked at her while wondering what was wrong.

"We should leave now," Katara said quietly.
"…" Aang and Sokka looked at each other and nodded then looked at her, "we’ll get Appa so we can go."
Zuko stood up after they left and went to her, "are you alright."
"I don’t know…" she answered softly.
"Look at me," he demanded and she listened, "I don’t mean to be abusive to you."
Katara smiled lightly, "I can’t go anywhere without you getting curious, can I?"

He didn’t give her any words in response, but instead, he gave a soft kiss on the lips as his reply.


- Now -


It’s been a week their new spot was picked out even though there wasn’t any water nearby. Aang and Iroh were away from the campsite to fire bend while Toph purposely went with Sokka to find some food for dinner. Zuko and Katara were left at the campsite to do what they wanted, which wasn’t anything.

Zuko barely talked or touched her; hoping that he doesn’t want to abuse her in any way possible. Katara didn’t really talk to him much because she felt bad that he saw Haru kiss her. Neither knew what the other was thinking, and it made them both a little stressed out; this was why Iroh and Toph kept Sokka and Aang away, so that they could solve their problems.

Katara sighed as she shifted her body to lay on her side on Appa’s tail while looking at Zuko. Her Fire Nation prince looked so confused and deep in thought; it looked like he was mad at her. She felt bad, and desperately had to apologize to him no matter what the result would be from it.

Removing herself from Appa’s tail, she wrapped a blanket around her body and began walking slowly over to Zuko. He didn’t even realize that she was coming over until he saw her feet in his sight. Lifting his head up immediately to look at her, he saw a frown and assumed he caused it.

Katara averted her eyes, "are you still mad at me?"

Zuko looked at her confusedly, and stood up from his spot on the ground against the tree. Katara accidentally looked at Zuko’s eyes to find him searching hers already, and so she looked down in shame. His hand came up, and slowly caressed her cheek which made her turn her gaze to him once again to see him look at her softly.

"What are you talking about?" The prince asked in a whisper; trying to not sound or seem abusive to her.
"Are you still mad because I was with Haru, and, what he did?" She asked in more detail.
His head shook softly, "you didn’t kiss him back, and you didn’t hurt me in anyway."
"Then why are you acting different?"
"I don’t want to abuse you," he whispered.
"But being soft and kind isn’t really you."
"I have to learn somehow."
"No you don’t," she hugged him while wrapping him in the blanket too, "I like you as you are; don’t try changing anything just because someone says to."
"I’m doing it so I can protect you." He hugged back.

"You’re so difficult." She laughed lightly.
"Isn’t that what you love about me?"
"No."
"…" Zuko looked at her in a confused manner.
She smiled, "I love everything about you."
"Heh," he smiled in return and gave her a kiss.

As her words sank into him, he then remembered about her mother, and exactly who killed her; his cousin. He pulled away and went into thought; he had to tell her, if he didn’t, then he wouldn’t be able to be with her. Katara looked at him with a small frown as if he hurt her, so he gave her a kiss again.

"Katara, there’s something I have to tell you." Zuko said softly.
She didn’t like that tone, "what’s wrong?"
"…" He was silent.
"Zuko," Katara called to him, "what’s wrong?"

The sky began to cloud over with gray, and every five seconds you could see a small rain drop hit the earth. Zuko was going to take a big risk in telling her about her mother, and his cousin. Swallowing the large lump in his throat, and took in a deep breath before telling her anything.

"Do you remember how when you were yelling at your brother, about how Lu Ten killed your mother?" Zuko asked softly.
"Yes… why?" Katara looked a little saddened and confused.
"Well…"

While he tried to summon up the courage to tell her who Lu Ten was, Toph was coming back with Sokka, and Iroh was coming back with Aang. The sprinkling rain started to pour down now as everything else turned silent. All eyes were on Zuko and Katara, but Katara’s eyes were focused on Zuko who was looked at the ground.

"Lu Ten… he…" Zuko paused again.
"No Prince Zuko!" Iroh yelled.
The prince ignored him, "he was my cousin!"
"…" Katara stared at him.
Zuko looked up at her, "my cousin killed your mother, Katara."

The water bender took a step back to have a little distance away from him as his words sunk into her painfully. Zuko took a step towards her and she turned away and ran off quickly. Iroh tried to stop her, but it was too late, and there was nothing he could do.

Zuko’s head slumped down and heard running coming towards him, so when he turned his face slowly, his cheek met Sokka’s fist. He fell over easily because he didn’t put up a fight and so Sokka tried taking it to his advantage until Toph dealt with them. The blind earth bender formed a small prison cell made of earth and kept Zuko in it.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing?!" Sokka yelled at Toph.
"Katara should be the one beating him up, not you." She stated easily.
"His cousin killed our mother!" A thought came to his mind and turned to Iroh, "your son killed our mom?!"
"…" Iroh frowned, and didn’t reply.

Sokka began charging towards Iroh to now punch him in the face, but Toph placed a prison cell over the retired general as well. As Sokka began yelling at Toph, she also sealed him into a prison cell as well in hopes of him to shut up. Aang frowned and walked over to Toph to talk.

"I’m going to go look for Katara, you can watch these three." Aang stated.
Toph turned to his direction, "are you sure? I mean, she should probably get some space to her self right now, right?"
"I don’t want her to get hurt." He replied.
"Well it’s not like you can use your glider."
"I’ll fly with Appa…"
"If that’s what you want to do." She shrugged.
"You won’t find her." Zuko stated.

Aang came over and scowled at him, "you’ve been causing nothing but trouble."
Zuko didn’t like that threatening tone, and stood up while looked to Toph, "release me."
"…" Toph hesitated, but let him go.
"You are not going to go look for Miss Katara!" Iroh yelled.
"You better stay the hell away from my sister!" Sokka roared.
The avatar walked in front of him, "you’re staying away from her."

Zuko walked over dangerously over to the avatar and grabbed him by his collar, "I don’t plan to, because I prefer to watch you fail." He then threw him to the soaked grass angrily, "go ahead; find the water bender, we’re all waiting."

Aang looked at him and stood up with some pain in his body after being thrown down roughly. Glaring at Zuko angrily, he turned around and began running to Appa and hopped on his head yelling ‘yip-yip’ so they could take to the air. Demanding to his owner’s worried rage; Appa roared and quickly took to the air in search for the water bender.

The Fire Nation prince became infuriated and started to walk off, well, that is until he was once again placed into the prison cell of earth again. He turned around and held the dirt bars angrily while glaring at Toph who now released his uncle. Iroh came walking over to Zuko and began talking to him sternly.

"How could you be so reckless as to tell her about Lu Ten?" Iroh whispered dangerously.
Zuko sat down, and leaned against the clay wall, "she has the right to know."
"Yeah, but at the cost of your-!"
"I knew the consequences uncle," he stated, "but I had to risk them."
"Heaven only knows if you did the right thing or not." Iroh frowned.
"I shouldn’t keep things from her anyhow, isn’t that what you told me?"
"Yeah but that doesn’t mean you should break her spirit!"
"…"

--

Katara was walking quietly with her mind in disbelief of Zuko’s word, but it was so hard because she knew it was true if he was having such a hard time telling her. A loud roar came from the sky and Katara hid herself beneath a tree to not be seen. Why couldn’t guys understand that girls need their space sometimes?

She looked to the ground, ‘why didn’t he tell me that night?’

Memories flooded back to her of when she yelled at Sokka and ran off, Zuko came to comfort her, they confessed, and then they were one in the springs. Her head shook for those previous times and tried to think of now. About how Lu Ten was Zuko’s cousin, and how he killed her mother; it was all so confusing to her, and she couldn’t even imagine how Zuko must’ve felt.

‘He’s probably feeling as bad as I am…’ she frowned, ‘but why; why did he hide this from me?! Not to mention that even Iroh didn’t tell me.’

A faint voice was calling out Katara’s name, and instantly knew that it was Aang looking for her, but she still wasn’t ready to go back. Katara still wanted time to think, and also time to herself. There was so much running through her head that she began to cry the pain out.

‘I lost mom because of Lu Ten, and father had him executed; Zuko and Iroh lost Lu Ten because of it. This is all so confusing; I don’t know who’s even at fault anymore! All of this is killing my head right now…’ she cried.

Looking up to the pouring rain clouds, she saw Appa flying back towards the campsite, and she knew that he’d given up after thirty minutes of searching. Katara waited for three more hours till it turned dark; practically pitch black as it still rained. Getting up slowly, she turned her body around, and took her time on returning to the campsite where all the others waited for her.

The water bender paused, and looked up to the sky again to see lightning and heard the thunder rising. She smiled at the thought of the rain giving her a chance to water bend, but she didn’t. Katara grabbed her braided hair gently, and untied it to let it go freely on to her back.

--

Katara returned to the campsite so quietly that nobody noticed her coming from behind the in the distance. She saw the strange clay prison cell with bars, and knew who was in it, so she slowly came over. It had to be Zuko because the others four were sitting near a bonfire under a big tree to shade them from the rain.

She walked to the cell and looked at the darkest corner to see a small outline of a body, and whispered softly, "Zuko…"
The form shifted lightly at the name called out, but didn’t bother to get up, nor speak back in reply to her "…"
"Zuko, come here please," Katara asked softly as the rained continued to poor down.
He didn’t move still for any reason, "…no…"
"Will you at least look at me?"
"…" Zuko obeyed, and saw Katara look so tired and fragile.
"I-"
"I’m sorry." He interrupted.
"No," she whispered, "don’t apologize to me."
"What I said had upset you." Zuko stated.
"Zuko, come here."

Zuko hesitated before slowly getting up and walked towards her as slow as a walking turtle. Katara knew that he felt bad for telling her since she ran away from him, but she had to straighten things out. This fire bender was trying to change for her; she liked it a little, but he couldn’t be so soft all the time to her or anything else.

When he had finally gone to the clay bars of the cell, he didn’t try to look at her in hopes of keeping what shame he had left. Two hands went to his face, and they were freezing cold from the rain. Taking a long time to react, he eventually looked up at her with a frown, and she only gave him a weak smile.

"It’s not your fault." She whispered softly.
His hands grabbed hers and placed them down, "I placed you in more pain than needed."
"You’ve been in more pain because you had to think of it more then I did, Zuko."
"What kind of an excuse is that; my family member killed your-!" A finger went to his lips in order to keep him quiet.
"Don’t think of it Zuko, okay?"
He frowned, "why are you doing this?"
"You’re in as much pain as I am, we can’t blame each other for what happened."
"You have a right to blame me; I kept this from you."
Her head shook softly, "it doesn’t matter, because you’ve still told me anyhow; you just needed time to gather yourself."

Zuko looked away, "so you’re not upset?"
"No, I am," she answered and his head slumped down, "but we can’t keep thinking about the past; we have to deal with other things more important."
"The future…" he whispered.
She nodded, "mhmm…"
He looked at her, "damn you…"

Before Katara could ask why he said that, he grabbed her shoulders roughly through the bars, and smacked his lips against hers desperately. She slid her hands through the clay bars as well and wrapped her arms around his neck. He cursed at her for being too forgiving towards him, and she only replied with kisses.

As Zuko calmed down his rough lust on her, Katara looked at him softly while caressing his cheek softly while trying to give him a conversation. It accidentally led to him being cooped up in the prison cell of clay, which made her laugh. Toph came over and leaned against the side and the two stopped talking so she knew that she had their attention.

"Do you want me to let your boyfriend out now, or do you still have a score to settle with him?" The blind earth bender asked curiously.
Katara looked at Zuko, "I still have a score to settle with him."
"…" Zuko frowned.
"But release him anyways."
"Alright," Toph replied and removed the prison cell.
The fire bender looked to Katara, "what are you going to do to me?"
"You want to know too badly," she asked in a taunting voice as she began passing by him, "then too bad."
"…" He watched her walk past him and to the others.
Toph snorted, "feh, you two are way weird."
"Like you aren’t with the avatar?" Zuko retorted bitterly.
"…" She blushed faintly and followed Katara.
He shook his head, "…peasants…"

As Zuko began walking over, Sokka stood up and spoke bitterly, "what the hell do you think you’re doing coming over here?"
"Sokka," Katara said sternly, "enough."
"No, he’s cousin-," he pointed to Iroh, "his son killed our mother!"
"And our father killed his son! You have you’re revenge, now shut up and sit down!" She yelled.

Everyone became quiet as the bonfire snapped and crackled, so Aang slowly grabbed a stick and probed at it so that it would settle down. Their order of seating was in a circle; Toph, Aang, Sokka, Katara, Zuko, and then Iroh. Katara sighed tiredly and rubbed her head in annoyance.

"Katara…?" Aang called out quietly.
"…" Her gaze turned to him.
"Where’d you go; I mean I tried looking for you with Appa and…" he became quiet.
"I know Aang, but I wasn’t ready to come back just yet."
"Oh…"
"I’m sorry Aang," Katara smiled apologetically.
Aang smiled back, "don’t be; I was just worried."
‘Liar,’ Zuko rolled his eyes.

"If it’s all the same to you guys, I’m going to hit for the springs that I saw not long ago." Katara stated as she stood up.
"What? But it’s raining, so it’s completely pointless!" Sokka stated.
She pointed to herself, "hello, I’m a water bender; I don’t care because I like the rain."
"You can go on a head, I can barely ‘see’ through wet terrain, so I’m staying." Toph stated in a simple tone.
"Alright, I’ll see you guys later," she waved to them and gave a small glance towards Zuko before leaving.

Iroh smirked mentally and stretched, "I think I’ll sleep now; fire benders and rain don’t mix all too well."
"For once I’ll agree with the old guy," Toph stated and formed a rock tent over her self since she could feel that this was just a plot to get Zuko to come after her.
"But it’s so early!" Aang whined, not understanding why everyone was starting to go to sleep.
"Yeah, we haven’t even eaten yet!" Sokka complained.
"Oh shut up," Toph kicked the ground and the two went flying into the tree and were knocked unconscious.

Zuko hesitated for a while as he looked at the two in the tree to see them truly knocked out. Glancing over to his uncle, he stared nonstop to make sure that his uncle was actually asleep and not just faking it. Turning towards the rock tent made him on edge; he had no clue if she was awake or not.

Taking his chances, he slowly got up while again looking at the other four, and the bolted off into a full sprint to the end off the clearing in case he was being watched. After his three minute sprint, he stopped passed the brush and turned to look at the others to see that they haven’t moved, so he must’ve been safe. Passing out a soft sigh, he turned around and began to walk towards the direction he assumed that Katara walked through.

"Damn it," he cursed, ‘she could’ve at least given me a trail to follow or something.’

He heard something behind him and turned around, only to fall backwards in surprise at seeing himself as an ice sculpture. Laughing echoed through the area and Zuko scowled mentally and tried striking the ice form with his fire, but it didn’t work in the rain. He stood up and looked around to see if he could see Katara, and the ice sculpture turned into her form.

"What’s the matter, can’t see me?" Katara’s voice asked with echo.
"No shit… now where the hell are you?" he looked around more sharply.
"Oh… I’m around…" She taunted.

Zuko kept looking around and when his ears heard a crack, he looked towards the sculpture, and it turned into water and attacked him. It pushed him toward a tree and froze around him so he would be bound to it. Katara’s giggling echoed through the small area and Zuko didn’t know what the hell was going on.

"I think I should settle my score with you now," Katara whispered next to his ear.
Zuko whipped his head to see her, "let me go damn it, my fire bending is useless in the rain!"
"I know," she smiled and walked in front of him.
"…" He became silent, but his temper wasn’t going down.
His water bender came closer, and gave him a small kiss on the lips, "it’s about time."
"What?"

"Since I ran off earlier, you’ve been nothing but depressed, so I had to stir you up so that way you’d be your cocky fire bender self again." Katara grinned.
He snorted, "Then let me go already since you got what you wanted."
"Who said I did?"

"…" All he could do was stare as wondered what she would do to attack him.
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KimmyBoi's avatar
Love the story Emo-Shukun!!