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Push and Pull	By : AngelaBlythe Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Katara/Zuko Views: 19400 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
PUSH AND PULL
CHAPTER 10: The Solar Eclipse
Part I
Katara watched the Northern Fleet do something it had not done in close to eighty years. The Northern Water Tribe was moving to the offensive. There were a few times in the history of their tribe that the Northern Water Tribe had been the aggressor. About twenty years after the appearance of Sozin’s Comet, the Northern Water Tribe had joined the then-powerful Southern Water Tribe on a direct assault on the Fire Nation. It had been unsuccessful, bloody, and horrific. It left the Northern Water Tribe on a constant defensive mode, and led to the Fire Nation’s focus on the Southern Water Tribe, the People of the Wolf. That had been when they were still known as the People of the Wolf.
The fleet was not grand like the hundreds of ships under the control of the Fire Nation admirals. The ships were not large, nor did they carry any catapults or weapons. The crews were not made of many men – only ten or twelve per ship. But this was not the point of Water Tribe ships. The ships of the Water Tribe were not made for power; they were made for speed, agility, and waterbending. The Northern Water Tribe was heavy with benders, and each ship had at least three benders per crew. With the dexterity of the ships and the power of the benders, one or two Water Tribe ships could easily capsize a Fire Nation ship.
These ships, however, were not going to be raiding Fire Nation ships per se. There would probably be a few sea battles, but their main objective was the raid the coast, attacking Fire Nation strongholds, supply buildings, and encampments of soldiers stationed on the shore. This attack would take place in exactly five days, when the solar eclipse shaded the planet from the sun’s rays, and the firebenders had no power.
Zuko moved beside her on the Great Ice Wall of the Northern Water Tribe. His eyes scanned the same horizon Katara’s did. “Where are the warships? Where are the weapons?”
“We don’t have any,” she replied softly.
“How can you have any hope of winning? Even with the solar eclipse…” his voice drowned out, as if remembering something horrible and painful.
Katara licked her lips. Zuko’s face was etched with worry, his eyes hard and cold as they looked at the ships reseeding over the horizon. “Zuko…” she said finally, putting her hand on his forearm.
He pulled away his arm – though not angrily. “We stay until they return,” he said in a harsh voice. “I…” He paused, looking at his own hands. “I have to see it for myself.”
Then he swiftly turned to walk back to the palace. Katara had no choice but to follow him – he was her prisoner after all.
The next few days were difficult. The waiting – not only for the return of the Water Tribe warriors, but for the solar eclipse – was excruciating. Katara noticed Zuko, and how he became more cold and quiet. He wouldn’t look at her, and ate sparingly. Katara did her best to try to talk to him, to try to help in any way she could. But all of her efforts were coldly rebuffed. Zuko took to sitting and meditating through the day and night, and would not join Katara for walks or for visits to the hot springs.
Katara was on the verge of tears when Iroh finally approached her. He had been making a splendid use of his time by drinking tea and playing Pai Sho with folks that could not go to war. Master Ullo – as principal waterbending master of the North Pole – had been obligated to go. But there was still a variety of older men and serving girls to tempt into games.
She was sitting at the table, trying her best to occupy her time with studying waterbending scrolls and not cry. Zuko was sitting in the corner of the room, his back to her encircled with gently rising and falling candles. Every time Katara looked at him she felt a stab of pain and the tears just settled on the rims of her eyes.
Had she done something? Was he so disgusted with her that he couldn’t look at her? Why was he doing this? How could he do this…? Just days ago he had said he didn’t want to hurt her. Stay with me forever… So WHY was he pushing her away? WHY was he hurting her? Tears pricked in her eyes as she returned her watery eyes to the scroll in front of her.
“Katara,” Iroh said in a soft voice, resting his hand on her shoulder.
She felt ashamed. She hadn’t even heard him come in the door. His face was full of kindness and compassion. “It’s the eclipse,” Iroh told her kindly. “It doesn’t have anything to do with you. He’s wrestling with his own demons…it’s not your fault…”
Katara opened her mouth, and felt the first tear fall down her cheek. “Why…?” she began, voice catching. “Why won’t he let me help him?”
Iroh smiled wanly. “He’ll need your help soon enough,” he whispered.
Lunch was served soon afterwards, and they had no guests. Katara was grateful, she wasn’t sure if she could face people in her state. She was on the very last thread of self-control. If Zuko didn’t at least speak to her soon she was going to lose her mind. It wasn’t as if she lived and breathed for his words, for his touches. Oh, yes, they were nice. But it was the fact that he was obviously torn and fighting, and the fact that she could do nothing – he would let her do nothing – to help him that was really eating her up. Those cryptic words of Iroh’s made her worry, too. Was Zuko in trouble? Was he going to be okay?
She had finally been able to get in a good hour of study when she felt a warm presence at her back. She looked up at saw Zuko, his eyes hard and his arms crossed. “Come outside with me,” he commanded in a hard voice.
Katara scrambled to put on her anorak and followed him – practically jogging after him – to the large courtyard before the fountain. The sun was sparkling through the streams of water erupting form the fountain, and everything seemed to shimmer. It always seemed to shimmer in the sunset.
She stood beside him as the sun fell over the horizon, saw the hard look on his face and decided not to speak. Tomorrow was the day of the solar eclipse, and the day the raids on Fire Nation strongholds would begin. The sun sunk under the waves of the ocean, turning the sky purple and pink and navy all at once. When it had fully disappeared Zuko turned on a heel and walked swiftly back to their rooms. Katara went to sleep nervously as Zuko sat in his meditation corner.
Part II
Like the previous four days, Katara treated herself to a lovely lay-in because of Master Ullo’s absence. Strictly speaking, she should have been able to take over instruction of the class – she WAS the only waterbending master in the North Pole, after all. But whom would she teach? Besides, it was nice to sleep in once in a while. It wasn’t something she got to enjoy too often. She rose from the skins that served as a bed and stretched languidly. The cold air hit her and she shivered. With a smile she scratched the back of her scalp, yawning the sleep away. It was probably mid-morning, and breakfast should be soon.
When her eyes turned to Zuko’s bed she saw it empty. Iroh – uncharacteristically – was still asleep. She didn’t know Iroh snored… Of course she was never awake as the older man slept. She looked for Zuko in his little corner – the one he obstinately never left – and gasped in horror.
“ZUKO!” she screamed, leaping out of her skins and rushing to his side. She was in nothing more than a night shift, and the cold ground bit at her feet, but she didn’t care. “Oh, GODS! Zuko!” she cried, kneeling by his side.
He’d collapsed sometime during the night in the middle of his little candle circle in the corner. All the candles were melted to the wick and harmless. Katara pulled at Zuko. He was much heavier than she anticipated – all dead weight. When she turned him over she saw his lips were blue, and his face was dreadfully pale.
“Zuko!” she shouted, putting her hands on his face and neck. They were cold as death! What’d happened?! She tried to wake up, warming his face with her hands, and then finally pulling him manually into the furs. He didn’t wake, or make a noise. What could be wrong?!
It dawned on her as she rushed down the hall to find help. The eclipse! Her mind worked in overdrive as she tried to think of ways to get Zuko warm. Whatever she was going to do she needed help.
“You!” she shouted hysterically at three serving girls who were entering a room down the hall.
They were startled by her state of undress, and the tears she pushed away from her face. “I need help! NOW!”
They ran to keep up with her as she entered her room. “I have to get them to the hot springs,” she said urgently to the three girls.
“General Iroh is freezing!” one of the maids said worriedly as she knelt by the man nestled in furs. “His hands are always warm!” Then her eyes widened at what she’d said and she blushed.
“I think they’re hypothermic,” Katara tried to explain calmly. “We have to get them into the springs and get their blood warmed. Normally they would be able to do this themselves…but the eclipse takes their firebending away.”
The three serving girls nodded. They managed to rig a system where two of them were pulling a firebender at a time, the process made easier when they put them on furs. With considerable effort, they made it down the hall. Katara felt her lungs heave with the effort of pulling Zuko – even if she was assisted by another girl. She couldn’t imagine how the other two were doing it! Thankfully, about halfway to the hot springs, they ran into a group of guards who were left behind as a skeleton crew. They each took a corner of the furs and were able to jog to the hot springs. Two of the girls stayed with Katara – the two that seemed to know Iroh – and the third went to find a healer.
“Well!” Katara said impatiently as they entered the warm dome of the springs. “Help me get them into the water!”
Mindless of the thin shift or who would see what, Katara heaved Zuko – made lighter by the buoyancy of water – into the springs. The two girls did the same with Iroh, careful to keep their heads above water. She held Zuko up under the shoulders, hoping and praying.
“He’s not moving!” one of the girls cried wildly. Katara looked over at the two girls and Iroh, saw that they were supporting him between them. Both Zuko and Iroh were unmoving in the water.
Katara thought swiftly. “Use your bodies!” she replied. Neither of the girls moved. “Just hug him! The warmth will soak through your bodies. And pour water over his head.”
Though they looked uncomfortable – at least they’re fully dressed, Katara thought to herself – the girls did as she said. Katara moved to wind her arms around Zuko’s chest, pressing him close to her and pinning him – similarly to the way he’d pinned her – against a rock. She made sure to hold his head over the water, but she cupped water over his face and back of his neck to warm those areas.
Katara could barely think to enjoy the sensation of holding Zuko so close, but in the back of her mind she realized how this must look. The color was beginning to return to his lips and face, and Katara calmed herself a bit. His breathing was becoming deeper as well – where it had been shallow and quiet. She hugged him a bit tighter then – just because she could, because he couldn’t do anything about it.
With her cheek pressed tightly against his, Katara could hear him moan, and feel his body twitch as he woke up. “Ka…tara…” he groaned, his head lolling backwards. Her hand shot out quickly to buffer the impact of his head on the rock behind them.
“Zuko,” she breathed in relief, smoothing his wet hair away from his face and warming his cheeks with her palms. “I was so afraid…”
His eyes focused briefly on her. “I can’t feel my hands,” he told her weakly.
Katara was frightened at his tone of voice. She had never seen Zuko like this, heard the desperateness of his voice or the pain. She’d never seen him vulnerable or defenseless or helpless. She had never seen him weak.
Without a second thought she pushed his hands between their chests, the warmest part of the body. She held onto him tightly, despite the fact that he was trying to stand, that he was trying to be strong through his time of weakness.
“Ladies,” she heard a broken croak nearby. She turned her head and saw Iroh was semi-awake as well. The serving girls had wrapped their arms around Iroh’s generous middle, and were warming him quite admirably. “My hands are cold, too.”
The girls giggled in high voices, and Katara jumped when an old woman barked, her voice like a whip, “WHAT is going on here?”
Though everyone (possibly with the exception of Katara in her night shift) was fully clothed, she realized this must look like some kind of orgy to a person who just happened upon the group of young girls and firebenders. Especially since Zuko’s hands were firmly pressed on Katara’s breasts. Katara saw the blush rising on Zuko’s face. Despite his weakened condition, he could do this. Katara knew she should take this as a good sign. If blood could rush to his face it meant it could rush other places, too.
Katara removed his hands with a heated face and helped Zuko into the shallows of the hot springs. As the other two girls did the same with a vaguely smiling Iroh, Katara began to explain the situation to an amused-looking Ugota. “It’s really not what it looks like,” she said in a hurried voice. “They were practically hypothermic, and I couldn’t think of anything else. And they can’t heat themselves because of the solar eclipse, and I was so worried, and –”
But Ugota cut her off with a look. “You did the right thing, Katara,” she said softly. “A little unorthodox with the hand warming technique,” she mused with a hint of a smile. “But the right thing.”
The assistants Ugota brought with her helped Katara and the other girls drag Zuko and Iroh back to the surface. Someone handed Katara a robe, which she gratefully accepted, and Zuko and Iroh were moved into the healing facilities.
After Katara had dried and changed she went to see Zuko and Iroh in the healer’s area. They were both bundled up warmly, and Ugota was in the process of checking them for any tissue damage they might have suffered because of the cold. Katara sat on the skins next to Zuko, smoothing his hair away from his forehead and resting her hand on his cheek. He was unconscious, but it comforted her to touch him. His skin was warm, but not so much as it always was.
“Katara,” Ugota said softly from behind her.
“They’ll be okay, won’t they?” Katara asked, standing and wrapping her arms around her waist.
“Yes, yes, they will,” Ugota replied sympathetically. “It really was your quick thinking that saved them, Katara,” she added. “No frostbite or anything…as far as I can tell it’s only the eclipse that’s affecting them.”
Katara breathed a sigh of relief.
“I must say I was a little startled to see…” the old woman quieted at Katara’s intense blush. “I mean, doing those things in private is one thing…” she teased again. After a chuckle she put a hand on Katara’s shoulder. “I won’t tell anyone,” she promised.
After that Katara stayed by Zuko’s side. He tossed and turned constantly, but Katara was always there with a warm, comforting hand. The two girls that had assisted Katara with Iroh made several visits to see if the older general was awake, but neither Zuko nor Iroh had been conscious very often since the incident. Katara was thankful for their concern, however, and their help. And also the dinner they brought her later on that day. She’d forgotten about eating. She’d forgotten about anything that wasn’t Zuko.
It was just so unnatural to see him so helpless. It really disturbed her, and she could understand if he’d been a little standoffish and cold about it. It must be really awful for him to be so vulnerable, she thought to herself.
“Zuko,” she murmured softly, her fingers tracing the scar on his cheek. For no other reason than he couldn’t stop her, Katara ran her fingers over all of his features – the sharp bridge of his nose, the strong curve of his jaw, and his smooth, closed lips. She’d been so horribly worried when she’d seen his pale, blue-tinted face that morning. She’d never seen anything so terrifying in her life.
She tenderly kissed his forehead, resting a hand on his cheek as her lips brushed his nose and his scar. She knew it made him uncomfortable for her to kiss his scar. He didn’t like people looking at it, much less touching it. Kissing was out of the question. But he couldn’t really stop her. She kissed his closed eyelid, the curve of his brow, all the way down to his ear. When she finally kissed his full lower lip, his hand reached up and took hold of her wrist. It was not as firm or as warm as it normally was.
“No more,” he with a flat, frail moan. “I can’t take it.” He turned her hand and kissed the back of it lightly. “I’m sick, woman, and you’re taking advantage of me.”
Katara laughed lightly, brushing a tear away from her eye before he could see it. She cupped his cheek softly, running her thumb over his high cheekbone. “I was so worried,” she finally choked out.
Then, swiftly and out of the blue, an unreasonable wave of anger washed over her. “Why did you…how could you do something so unbelievably stupid?!” she whispered harshly, eyes filling with tears. She drew her hand away from his face and clenched her fists in her lap. “Don’t you know I –” she began, the tears falling in earnest. “You jerk!”
Then, standing and drawing her arms around her waist, she turned away from him.
“Katara,” she heard him whisper feebly.
“Do you have any idea what I thought when I saw you – cold and blue – on the ground?!” she continued.
“Katara…”
“I thought you were dead!”
“Katara…”
“I was so damned scared!”
“Katara…” he repeated, his voice cracking.
Katara whirled on him, ready to yell again until she saw the look in his eye.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly.
Katara’s chin shook with the effort not to cry out in tears. She dropped down next to him and buried her face in his chest. “You unbelievably stupid jerk…” she sobbed into his chest. She felt his hand rise to caress her hair, but it was so soft she could barely believe it was him. When her tears subsided she kissed his lips softly.
She was too tired and too upset to care how it looked in the morning. She crawled under the skins with Zuko and pressed her body close to his. The warmth radiated between the two of them, and Katara sighed gratefully when sleep took her.
Part III
If Zuko had been a cat, he was sure he would have been purring. Katara’s lithe body was pressed so close to his he could feel her heart beating slowly inside her chest. One of her legs was wrapped around his, and she was resting on his chest with an arm about his waist. Sure, she was fully clothed, but just laying with her like this, her soft breath caressing his neck. It was torture. Sweet, horrible torture.
His whole body ached, and he was rather ravenous. Yesterday had been some kind of hellish nightmare. It began soon after sunrise. He’d been meditating all night, trying to steal himself against the monstrous affects of the eclipse. He hadn’t really expected that to work, but he would have tried anything not to feel like he had. He’d never been so weak, so utterly helpless in his life. How could anyone live through something like that?
And Katara…how could he put Katara through something like that again? This time it hadn’t really been his fault, but if he got injured in battle, or something unforeseeable happened…then what? Katara wouldn’t be able to handle it. He couldn’t do something like that to her. …So that settled it. He would have to be invincible. Forever. That way he could protect her and keep her from worrying.
With a great sigh, Zuko moved his sore arm to cradle Katara comfortably against his chest. She moaned and pressed closer to him (if that was even possible) but continued to sleep. She was such a heavy sleeper, and she hated rising with the sun. For now, though, Zuko thought he could stay in bed. If just to watch her sleep…so soft…so sweet…right next to him. He closed his eyes and recalled with a smile when he had woken with her arms around him in the hot springs. He was almost delirious with cold and shock, but he had gotten a lot less delirious when she’d pressed his hands against the warmth of her breasts. He couldn’t believe she’d done that! He would have to remember to have cold hands more often…
And the way she’d touched him later that day… He’d been awake the whole time. Perhaps a bit groggy and feverish, but awake. She’d caressed his whole face, kissed his cheeks, his nose, his whole disgusting, repulsive scar… She’d done it without any hesitation, as if she actually liked it. When she pressed her lips against his he was at his breaking point. If she kissed him any more he might have cried. She was so careful, so amazing, so beautiful and wondrous…how could he…how could he ever leave her?
With that thought he leaned over and kissed her forehead firmly, pulling her against him and attempting to wake her. He had to see her eyes. She nuzzled against him, placing passionate kisses on his neck as she woke. Great Agni, she was wonderful! As she stretched against him, Zuko couldn’t help running his hand up her stomach. She smiled, opening her eyes. They were so tender, so blue; he thought he might drown.
“Zuko,” she murmured, giggling girlishly as his fingers skimmed her ribs. “Good morning,” she said softly with a small smile.
“Yes, it is,” he replied, raising his body heat almost imperceptibly. She moaned and fell deeper into his embrace – had she noticed the increase in temperature? He would have to remember this, because body heat seemed to make her particularly amorous. She kissed his neck softly, lashes fluttering against him.
“My hands are cold,” he murmured into her ear. She giggled wildly at this, wrapping her arms around his chest and resting her head on his shoulder with a sigh. “I could get used to this,” he told her softly.
She hummed at this. “I could, too.”
“I’m finding it a little difficult,” a slightly amused Iroh said from across the room.
Zuko groaned in disappointment as Katara cried out, tumbling out of the furs and scrambling to straighten her clothes and hair. She gave Zuko a quick, pink-faced look and walked swiftly out of the room. She paused at the door, however, and murmured, “He was cold,” and then left.
Zuko frowned when his uncle began laughing. He sat up and began pulling his shoes on. He was totally going after Katara. And he was hungry, besides. His uncle, however, was not going to let him off the hook so lightly as that. “Since your done snuggling with your girlfriend, do you think you can bring an old man breakfast? I’m awfully hungry…”
With a glare, Zuko began to say something nasty until he noticed something that was sure to scar him even more horribly than the burn on his eye. Hair. Dark brown hair was peeking out the top of his uncle’s furs. Zuko’s eyes widened in horror. “Uncle…you didn’t…”
Not one, but two dark-haired serving girls (the fact that they were fully clothed only lessened the horror minimally) emerged from the top of the furs. “What? I was cold,” his uncle said lightly.
Zuko dashed out of the room faster than he’d ever moved in his life, furious tittering haunting him down the halls as he sought out Katara.
- 9
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- 11
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Push and Pull