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Memories from Western Airtemple	By : DarthAnimus Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality > Slash - Male/Male Views: 16187 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own "Avatar: the Last Airbender" or the characters. I don't make any profit out of writing this.

Chapter List
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Memories from Western Air Temple
Chapter 23
Perfecion

As the gang settled down for lunch, Katara found herself pleased with their new choice of housing. The last time she had had a real kitchen to work with had been in Ba Sing Se. Otherwise she had been forced to cook over a campfire. And they even had a dining room where everyone could eat and talk together. The waterbender had even found a proper pot and some dinner plates in the kitchen cupboards.
Despite her good mood over the successfully cooked lunch, Katara was not completely at peace. She was very troubled by some thoughts she had been having all day. And, since those thoughts were indirectly connected to one firebender, the girl found herself glancing across the table at Zuko more than once. She was unable to forget that smile Zuko had given her earlier that day, that beautiful smile that had made the waterbender realize just how much this new Zuko differed from the old one. Previously the fire prince had clearly been bitter about something and constantly angry, but now Zuko seemed to have reached some sort of peace.
Katara wanted to find peace of her own. The girl wished that she could perhaps learn from Zuko and be able to smile a similar open smile one day.
“Zuko”, Katara spoke out and golden eyes met her own blue ones expectantly. There was a nervous shift from beside Katara, where her brother was sitting, but the girl ignored it as she continued: “May I ask you something?”
“Go right ahead”, the firebender replied instantly and Katara noted with relief that the other’s tone lacked the hesitation that had been there during their stay in the Western Air Temple.
“I’ve been wondering about now and before”, Katara started as she stirred the stew on her plate. “You seem to have found some kind of peace within yourself, and I was wondering…”
“Hm?” Zuko urged on as he took a spoonful of stew.
“What did you do to let go of the past?” Katara blurted out and her cheeks flushed when she became aware of how everyone must have been looking at her at the moment, more or less knowing exactly what she was getting at.
A sigh came from Zuko, followed by the firebender giving Katara a surprisingly deep look as he spoke: “I don’t think that you can learn much from my experiences.”
“I would like to try”, Katara spoke pleadingly and surprisingly Suki’s voice from Sokka’s other side spoke in her defence: “We all would like to learn to know you better, Zuko. I think that is enough of a reason to tell us - as much as you are comfortable with, of course.” That last bit was added in hastily, as reassurance to Zuko, who had started to look jumpy. It seemed that Suki’s words calmed down any nearing panic, though, since the firebender nodded his head once before uttering: “I realized that I had something that I had thought my whole life to be missing.
“My mother was taken away from me while I was still a child and my father was…distant, to say the least. My relationship with my sister grew pretty twisted as years went by and my uncle was rarely at the palace, since my father did not get along well with him.” Zuko’s eyes lowered their gaze to the tabletop and the firebender was clearly reluctant to speak anything more. And still the teen managed to find it within himself to finish: “I never realized that what I had always wanted was right there all along. I wanted to be loved and completely disregarded the fact that my uncle did love me despite what a pain I could be.”
Zuko looked so very mournful after his speech that it was not hard to guess if the prince missed his uncle or not. Katara wanted to offer words of consolation; she had, after all, been the person to bring the topic up. The girl did not get a chance to utter a word, however, before Aang, who was sitting on Zuko’s right, grabbed the firebender’s attention by grasping onto his arm and speaking out: “Don’t worry, Zuko. I love you.”
Katara almost choked on nothing but air when she heard Aang speak those last three words, and she almost began hyperventilating when she saw the tender look Zuko gave the airbender. There was no doubt about how much those words meant to the prince and Katara found herself jealous of the maturity she could also see in that adoring gaze.
“Thank you, Aang”, Zuko spoke in a low voice as reached out his other hand to grasp the one holding onto him. But the gesture turned into a mere brush of fingers when Zuko’s left arm got grabbed by Toph, who yanked the firebender with enough strength to almost send Zuko tumbling out of his chair as she exclaimed: “What about me, Firecracker? I love you too!”
There was a snort from beside Katara and the girl chanced a look at Sokka and Suki, who were trying to hold back laughter at what they thought was a light hearted situation. After managing to calm down enough to speak Sokka spoke out: “We’re all made of love here, Zuko, just in case you didn’t notice.” And then the tan boy burst into laughter again.
Even when the spirits around her lightened, Katara’s own remained mellow as she was unable to find anything funny about the situation. Zuko was hopelessly in love with Aang. It was either that, or then the teen was unstoppably falling for the Avatar. Katara felt very conflicted at this revelation; she did not know how she should feel about the supposedly emotionally awkward prince being capable of more mature feelings than her, for she was certain that she would not be able to devote her heart so completely to someone.
Katara knew that Zuko was not the type to shy away or be crushed by unrequited love. Zuko seemed to be happy with simply loving Aang and being near the airbender as his friend, even if the other would never know how he truly felt. And as for how Aang might feel about Zuko’s affections, Katara did not know, for Aang had always been unreadable to her, even when Sokka constantly teased her about how he knew everything Aang thought of. Katara was guessing that it was either a lie or then one of those ‘guy things’. But, the waterbender thought that it was safe to assume that Aang would not have Zuko’s level of emotional maturity. At least, hopefully he did not.
But, if by some event, Aang was to return Zuko’s feeling, where would that leave Katara? She knew that she was nowhere as mature emotionally as Zuko; she could not love Aang like Zuko did. That thought actually made the girl feel unworthy, for she knew that Aang held some form of love for her. Would it be selfish of her to hold on to the airbender’s feelings even when her own heart might still be too fickle to truly love the boy? In the end Aang would be the one to choose and, as sad as it was, Zuko would hardly stand a chance if he continued to hide his feelings, even if they were truer than Katara’s own.
Katara found herself comparing the match between the two boys to fire and air, the respectable elements that seemed to describe the two boys perfectly. While Aang was the air that kept the fire alive, Zuko was that very same fire and would vanish if the air were to be taken away. It was frightening to imagine the prince having such intense feelings towards the young Avatar but it was also fitting, perfectly fitting.
Perfection, Katara mused then, was not something she wished to burn her hands on. She was far too confused by everything to try to interfere with what was going on. She only hoped that things would not progress into one direction or another while she was still trying to figure her own feelings out.
To be continued...
Ending Notes: Kairan expressed worry over the story nearing its end. No worries, I can assertain that this story isn't near over yet. Not by a long shot. ;)
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Memories from Western Airtemple