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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
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- 3
A/N: Honestly, I make such a big deal about updating on Wednesdays…and then I go and be a big, dumb hypocrite and update on a Tuesdays. …Well, this is for all the girls and boys that told me they loved the first chapter with a burning passion…
Special thanks to my beta, TanteLiz. I really suggest reading Cruising. It’s on my favorites.
PUSH AND PULL
CHAPTER 02: With a Touch She Heals
Part I
Several hours after Zuko had been ‘captured’ by the Catfish and his band of deserters, the group that had gone in search of his uncle and Katara returned, carrying Katara on a makeshift stretcher. Zuko glared at his uncle, who was talking jovially with Lieutenant – with Jee. Leave it to his uncle to be completely oblivious to the situation.
“Admiral Jeong Jeong?!” Iroh exclaimed, breaking the murmur of voices in the cave. “Amazing! I thought you were dead for sure when we had you backed in that alley!”
The Catfish had an odd glint in his eye. “I escaped down the sewers, Iroh. I thought you knew. I have wanted posters all over the Earth Kingdom.”
“But I thought he was an impersonator,” Iroh said, scratching his head. “So why are you capturing us?”
With a serious look, the Catfish answered. “I need your nephew’s assistance finding the Avatar.”
Zuko wanted to kill his uncle with the next statement. “Why do you want his help?” he asked, thumbing in the direction of Zuko. “He’s horrible at capturing the Avatar.”
The Catfish shot Iroh a malevolent look. “I don’t need to capture the Avatar. I need to find him. He’s my pupil.”
His uncle’s mouth opened wide. “Oh, well, then he’s great at finding him. Glad we could assist you.”
“How generous of you, Iroh,” the older man said softly, sarcastically.
The men carrying Katara moved to the corner of the cave, and Zuko saw Jeong Jeong glance her way. The old admiral did a double take and rushed over to the girl’s side. Zuko was surprised to see the Catfish looking genuinely worried as he leaned over Katara’s unconscious form. “What happened to her?”
Zuko snorted. “My sister, that’s what.”
Jeong Jeong raised an eyebrow. Then he nodded, as if remembering the princess and her vicious cruelty. “I see.” Frowning, he summoned one of his followers.
Day was breaking on the mouth of the cave, and Zuko cringed when he saw the light hit Katara’s back. It was horrifically bruised, and looked worse than it had days earlier. The amateur stitches had gone black with infection, and her burns were tinged with green.
“Why didn’t you two just rub dirt and shit in it and call it a day?” an irritated man in his mid-thirties growled. He sent a glare at Zuko and Iroh, pulling medical supplies from his bag. “Who did these stitches? Atrocious!” he said, though to Zuko he didn’t seem too interested in who did the stitches. He took out a well-used mortar and pestle from his bags and crushed a series of herbs inside of it, making a thin, pulpy, green liquid. With a brush he dabbed it all over Katara’s back.
Then he stood and turned to Iroh and Zuko. “How long has she been running a fever?”
Zuko looked at his uncle. “I don’t know.”
The man pinched the bridge of his nose. “Warriors,” he muttered under his breath. “Okay, how long has she been unconscious?”
Zuko knew this one. “On and off for two days. She hasn’t been awake since sundown.”
The man grunted. “Okay, I want to give it to you straight, you might have killed her. That infection is vicious. I might be able to save her, but her scars are going to make your little ‘situation’ look like a bad make-up job in comparison.”
Zuko stole a glance at Katara. The green liquid glazed her back, and her arms were splayed over her head. There were dark circles around her eyes, and she was sweating and breathing raggedly. He might not have done her any favors saving her from Azula, if all he was going to do was kill her slowly with malpractice.
The shorter healer returned to Katara’s side. “The numbing pulp should have taken affect. I’m going to try to fix these stitches…do something about these burns… What’s her name?”
Zuko cleared his throat. “It’s Katara.”
The healer shook his head over Katara’s back. “Pretty thing, isn’t she? …Poor girl.”
Zuko’s eyes widened as the healer withdrew a sharp tool from his pouch and lowered it to Katara’s back. The healer was removing the stitches from her skin slowly. With all the pain she’d gone through the night before…it hardly seemed fair.
Zuko was left alone with the healer and Katara. Jeong Jeong the Catfish and his uncle were deep in the cave doing god-knows-what – probably playing Pai Sho – and the other deserters were either scouting the area or hunting for dinner. Considering everything, if he were going to be caught by Azula, he would rather have all these deserter-firebenders at his back than an injured waterbender and his uncle. Zuko sat at the mouth of the cave, raising his head as the healer walked out, wiping his bloodied hands on a bloodier cloth. He looked down at Zuko, eyes almost sad.
“She’ll make it,” the older healer said after a moment. “If we don’t move her for several days…keep her temperature down…keep her wounds clean…”
He wandered off, muttering something about washing his equipment. Hesitantly, Zuko entered the wide-mouthed cave and bent down beside Katara. Her burns glistened, and the new stitches were red, but clean. He couldn’t help but think she would be even more horrifically scarred than he. He was also glad that no one would see it…except her lovers…
Watching her face, Zuko ran his fingers over her brow, getting a damp cloth from the basin beside her, trying to cool her head. She murmured in her sleep, swallowing and sighing. Pushing her hair out of her face, his thumb lingered on the greenish bruise around her eye. He desperately wanted to know what happened to her – aside from the obvious. Why was she outside of Ba Sing Se? Where were the Avatar and her brother? Why did Azula want her so badly?
Her eyes fluttered open, and Zuko withdrew his hand quickly, as if burned. Her eyes focused slowly on the floor, then moved to his knees, then his chest, then his face. She didn’t seem to know what was going on, her eyes were confused. Finally she swallowed, shuddering a little. “Water,” she gasped. He gave her water in small amounts, though as much as she asked for. She passed out soon afterwards, sweating and shivering. Zuko did his best to cool her with the rags, but soon the healer came back and muttered a thing or two about bothering his ‘patient’ and Zuko sat again at the mouth of the cave.
Several hours later he was approached by his uncle, who offered him a cup of tea – which he declined – and pulled him aside. “Jeong Jeong has been looking for the Avatar for a little over a month, though it’s been difficult with his limited resources and need to stay hidden.”
“Good for him, I still don’t see why he needs us,” Zuko bit out, casting a look into the darkness of the cave.
Iroh shrugged. “You never had any problems finding the Avatar, and I’d say we’re just a little better than hostages. This is a powerful group of firebenders – high ranking officers like Jeong Jeong and Jee. I’m surprised you don’t recognize the healer; he used to work in the castle as a royal physician. They have two firemages, too. I don’t know if we could escape even if we wanted to.”
“What do you mean ‘if we wanted to’? I want to,” Zuko replied with a scowl.
“Jeong Jeong has said, in return for helping him locate the Avatar, he will take on a second pupil,” Iroh said after a long sip of tea. “You’d do well not to rebuff his offer, Prince Zuko.”
Zuko looked long and hard at his uncle. “You’re serious,” he said blandly.
“Jeong Jeong can teach you things that I haven’t even dreamed of. Including the secret of the blue flame…if you are apt enough to learn,” his uncle said calmly, reheated the tea in his hands. “And he seems to think you need a different teacher than me.”
“Well, he’s wrong,” Zuko growled.
With another shrug, Iroh sipped his tea. “There are things even I don’t know about firebending, Zuko. Jeong Jeong is a master among masters, the most powerful firebender in centuries. He was instructed by Avatar Roku’s star pupil. And he could beat Azula with his hands tied behind his back. As long as we’re here…why not learn from him?”
Zuko didn’t respond, and sat in silence. All he wanted to do was distance himself from Azula so he and his uncle could find a way to take her down. Then he could focus on the Avatar again. He had to stop being rash – it had almost gotten him killed more times than he’d like to remember. Would it be rash trying to escape from this group of deserters? Leave Katara? She would be safe at least. And out of his hair.
Iroh left him, and the guard changed, deserters meandered in and out of the cave, and the hunters came back. Sun was beginning to set and Zuko could smell food cooking over a fire. After he had eaten in silence, he looked over at Katara. There were light beads of sweat dotting her forehead, but she was no longer shivering. He knelt down beside her and took one of the rags from the water basin, smoothing it over her forehead and cheeks.
“She has an amazing gift,” Jeong Jeong the Catfish said from behind him, making Zuko tense with surprise. “I have always wished I was blessed like her.”
“What are you talking about?” Zuko asked doubtfully.
Jeong Jeong gave him a sideways look. “You travel with the woman, and you do not know her greatest gift?” Her gift before then had been an uncanny ability to annoy the crap out of him. Jeong Jeong shook his head, “With a touch she heals,” he murmured, hands floating over Katara’s injured back. “The great benders of the Water Tribe sometimes have this gift, this healing blessing.”
Standing swiftly, Jeong Jeong looked down on Zuko. “I did not expect her to be traveling with you. This will complicate things considerably.” Then he turned and left without another word.
Zuko was left with the distinct impression that Jeong Jeong was actually jealous of the little waterbender. Did she really have healing powers? So when Azula had attacked Iroh…she wasn’t just saying she could help…she really could have healed his uncle. Zuko watched her carefully. Katara was breathing evenly, and her wounds looked considerably better than they had in the early morning light. Zuko realized how tired he really was when he found his eyelids beginning to droop. He hadn’t slept in such a long time – not since yesterday morning. Propping himself up against the wall, Zuko crossed his arms and closed his eyes.
It was still very, very dark out when he opened his eyes again. As tired as he was, a shot of adrenaline and energy coursed through his veins when he saw the empty sleeping furs beside him. He jumped about three feet in the air, a ball of flame in his hand as he searched the cave. She was nowhere to be seen. However, in the light of the full moon, Zuko could clearly see the limping tracks she’d made on her way out of the cave.
Cursing himself – he SHOULD have been able to hear her, someone should have – he leapt into the darkness, following her tracks through the forest to a bloody tree where she must have rested. He ran until his lungs burned, faster than he had ever run in his life. Then he saw her, bathed in moonlight and kneeling before the river the deserters used as a water source. She had the top of her robe pulled down to her hips, and her wound shone brightly with the moonlight.
“Katara!” he shouted, though she didn’t seem to hear, for she put her hands in the river, shivering. Zuko stopped when she pulled her hands out, watched as they literally glowed like magical gloves. She reached awkwardly to press her palms behind her back. Then it seemed that her whole back glowed.
Finally, with a heavy shudder, Katara fell face-first into the small river, her hair floating downstream and her body unmoving. Growling fiercely, Zuko leapt into the river and pulled her out of it. He didn’t have time to be embarrassed at her nudity, because she smiled at him briefly, cold water dripping from her face and hair as she fell against his chest. Holding her up by her shoulders, Zuko’s eyes widened considerably as she leaned against him, teeth chattering. She looked up, meeting his eyes. Slowly her cerulean orbs came into focus.
“Zuko,” she whispered, her voice breaking with shivers. “I’m cold.”
It took all his control not to raise his body temperature to tremendous heights as her slender arms wound around his waist, her bare chest pressed against him. She shivered, soaking up his body heat and most of his control. Did she have any clue what she was doing to him? But Zuko’s eyes widened in amazement as he looked down on her bare back and found only three, long, raised scars crossing over her mid-back. The rest of her was completely healed. Gently, Zuko ran his fingers over the smooth skin around the scars, touching one briefly. She tensed when he did so, though he was unsure if it was pain or fear.
Closing his eyes and breathing deeply, Zuko helped her into her robes, noting her slightly heated face. “Can you walk?” Zuko asked, helping her stand.
She nodded, but took a step and faltered. Zuko grabbed her before she hit the ground. Her eyes fluttered a little bit, but she made no complaints as Zuko picked her up. Not wanting to touch her back – which obviously still pained her – Zuko held her like a young child, legs wrapped around his hips and arms falling down his back. Her head rested on his shoulder, her face buried in his neck. Fighting with his emotions, Zuko carried her back to the cave.
The deserters were awake and seemed to have been looking for them. His uncle and the old catfish were visibly relieved to see Zuko enter the cave and set Katara gently on the sleeping skins. The healer rushed over immediately, ignoring Zuko as he inspected Katara’s back.
“This is amazing,” he whispered. “It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!” He shook his head, covering Katara with warm blankets. “Great Agni, what an amazing thing…”
Truly, Zuko thought to himself as he watched Katara sleep, her back moving slowly and softly with every breath. He felt an irrational need to run away from her as fast as he could – he was more scared of her than Azula right now. How long had he thought she was beautiful? How long had he wanted to hold her like that? How long had he wanted to have her pressed against him?
He didn’t know. Months ago, before he was labeled a traitor and a fugitive, he had found her necklace. He’d tied her to a tree and taunted her with it in exchange for the location of the Avatar. What had she told him? ‘Go jump in the river.’ Zuko chuckled at the memory. It seemed a lifetime ago. He’d had his honor…his resources…his topknot. He supposed, even then, in the back of his mind, he’d registered that she was prettier than most girls – not that he’d seen a lot of girls. But later his thoughts would begin to drift towards her instead of the Avatar.
Their duel at the North Pole had been the same way. Somehow he registered her beauty, despite the fact that they were fighting for the Avatar. He remembered regaining consciousness on the back of the Avatar’s flying beast – the girl with white hair was huddled in the arms of Katara’s brother, and the Avatar was at the reigns. They had bound him with his own rope. He remembered looking over at Katara, who gave him a serious glance, her brows knitted together, her eyes quite confused.
“How are you feeling?” she’d asked.
He had made steam come out of his nose in response, and she just frowned at him. “Quit that!” she’d whispered harshly. “At least we didn’t leave you.” Then she turned away from him and huddled in her blue coat.
Later he had escaped, fighting Zhao and finally ‘borrowing’ a raft with his uncle. He was amazed they hadn’t left him. He might have left any of them. But he hadn’t left the Avatar when Zhao captured him. And he hadn’t left Katara when Azula had her. He supposed he wouldn’t feel too terrible about leaving that brother of hers, or that blind girl they traveled with now.
The sun crested the hill and began to light the cave. It again became busy as the deserters scouted and trained and hunted, but Zuko sought out the solitary entrance of the cave and sat there with his arms crossed. He rose with the sun in more ways than just solar sympathy to his firebending. It was an almost universal trait that firebenders were early risers. Perhaps with the glaring exception of his uncle. With the rising sun he felt the increase of his powers as he absorbed the heat.
“It is the first lesson firebenders must learn,” Jeong Jeong the Catfish said in a low voice, catching Zuko by surprise. It was as if the man could read his mind. The older man frowned. “Your uncle tells me you have yet to master the basics.” It was a statement, not a question. “Come with me,” he commanded. “I will judge how much you have mastered, Prince Zuko.”
Deeper in the woods there was an area cleared for training. About half of the deserters were training; Zuko assumed they switched shifts between training, hunting, and guard duty. Jeong Jeong made him go through all of the techniques he’d perfected, or felt competent in, and didn’t say a word. Iroh had come out to watch, a cup of steaming tea in hand. Though Jeong Jeong said little, when he spoke he did so with an air of command and confidence and knowledge. After a while, it became easy to see how much of a privilege it actually was to train under Jeong Jeong the Deserter. Zuko stopped calling him the Catfish in his mind.
Sometime around midday, when the sun was high and Zuko was pouring with sweat, Jeong Jeong glanced out into the woods. Zuko saw his master’s eyes soften a bit and turned. Katara was standing a safe distance away from the training area, a blanket wrapped over her shoulders and her hair loose and wavy around her face. She watched him for a moment, her face blank, then turned into the woods, back towards the cave. Her steps wavered and she staggered against a tree, her arms wrapping around it to keep her balance.
Without a second thought, Zuko ran to her, helping her stand. She jerked away from him, giving him an angry look as she stood by herself. Zuko growled. “Fine! If you –”
But he didn’t get to finish. He didn’t have time as she slumped against the tree again and he rushed to keep her from falling. “You’re not well,” he said in a hard voice.
She nodded, keeping her eyes on the ground. He squatted in front of her as she knelt, her shoulder resting on the strength of the tree. “Why,” she began in a strangled voice, “why didn’t you kill me as I asked?”
Completely taken aback at the question, and also at the huge tears that welled in her wide blue eyes. “What?” he asked harshly. “What are you talking about?”
She breathed slowly for a few moments. “I thought you would have…if I asked. Though maybe I should have tried to fight you, instead.” She paused, looked up at him with watery eyes. “They’re dead,” she whispered. “They’re all dead. Aang… Sokka… Toph… she killed them all. They’re dead.”
Then she did something that completely took Zuko by surprise. He fell backwards onto his behind as she flung her arms around his middle, burying her face in his chest and crying with violent shakes. Slowly, he closed his eyes and put a hand on the back of her head. “Azula always lies,” he told her softly, reassuringly. He was convinced Azula was lying – she always did. And he wasn’t sure she had it in her to kill. Yet. “Azula always lies,” he repeated. It had been his mantra, his protection against his sociopath sister since the very beginning. “Azula always lies.”
She shuddered against him, body wracked with tears and sobs. Softly, he threaded his fingers through her hair. It was silky, and Zuko couldn’t keep himself from leaning his forehead against the top of her head. “Azula always lies,” he told her again. Her shaking died to a soft tremble, and her tears eventually subsided. Zuko helped her up, and walked her to the cave
Zuko lowered her to the soft furs, and for a moment she breathed heavily as she knelt on the ground. It was obvious she was in a lot of pain. She gripped his forearm tightly, her eyes closed. “I never thanked you, Zuko,” she said softly, turning her face to his.
“Now we’re even,” he replied. It was true. At the North Pole, she had saved him, now he had saved her. He might not be an honorable son in the eyes of his father, but he still had honor. An eye for an eye. A life for a life.
She smiled. “No,” she said. “Thank you.”
Zuko frowned as she released his forearm and slunk down under the blankets, her eyes closing softly. He turned away from the waterbender, only to face his master. “A fire knows only to burn and consume, but water can change and heal and fill and flow. How magnificent such powers must be.” Jeong Jeong’s eyes were an orange color of brown that Zuko hadn’t seen on anyone from the Fire Nation. Normally hard and unforgiving, they looked on Katara with a certain softness. “It should not be up to men to manipulate the flame. It drives us on the edge between savagery and control, and eventually it rips us apart. Such a heavy burden…”
Jeong Jeong shook his head and retreated back into the depths of the cave. Apparently, training was done for the day. Zuko would rest and meditate, but as it turned out, he mostly just watched Katara sleep. She had such delicate features…soft, full lips, petite little nose, high cheekbones. It was hard to pin her in the peasantry unless you’d seen her home – a bunch of icebergs stuck together and some snow. She was sleeping restlessly, whimpering and turning in her blankets.
After a moment, Zuko rose and put a gentle hand on her forehead. It wasn’t too warm, so he wasn’t worried about a fever. She genuinely seemed to be doing better. Especially if she could walk out to the sparring arena. He ran his fingers down the soft curve of her neck.
That night, as Zuko slept, he had the most alluring sensations of soft hands on his chest, winding around his middle and hugging him gently.
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Push and Pull