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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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A/N: I really enjoyed writing this chapter, mostly because now that Katara is healed she can have a little fight in her. I think you’ll all like this.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed – some of them were particularly lovely. And a special thanks to my beta, TANTELIZ, who may or may not be psychic.
PUSH AND PULL
CHAPTER 03: Watching Out
Part I
Katara gasped in pain as she tried to sit up. It was considerably more tolerable than it had been over the past few…days? Weeks? The agony had erased her grasp of time. She was fairly certain she had been Azula’s captive for three days. Maybe as many as five. But she didn’t really know how long she’d been with Zuko and his uncle. It was only a few hours ago that she really began to understand her surroundings. She was in a large-mouthed cave with about fifteen men – Jeong Jeong’s Deserters. She didn’t know how she’d come to be there, only that every so often Zuko or Iroh or Jeong Jeong would come by and check on her, wipe the fever’s sweat away from her face, and say something comforting. Well, Zuko tended just to look at her with confused eyes.
She could count the events she was certain of on one hand. Being captured and tortured by Azula, asking Zuko to kill her as he and his uncle rescued her, a long journey full of unimaginable pain, instinctively healing herself before passing out in Zuko’s arms – half-naked no less – and sobbing horribly as she confessed the deaths of her companions in Zuko’s embrace. Since then she had been absolutely glued to her sleeping skin. The pain was considerably less, but the depression she was entertaining was almost more agonizing than torture at the hands of that sadist-princess.
After refusing food for two days she became lethargic, dwelling in all the pain and agony of the loss of her friends. She hadn’t ‘seen’ any of them die, but Azula had produced Aang’s bloodied shoulder cape…and no one had come to her rescue. We all promised… No…Zuko had come to her rescue.
Her face always grew a bit warm at the thought of Zuko. It wasn’t only because he had seen her without her robes at least once (probably more since someone would have needed to wrap her wounds). His eyes always followed her, and the way he looked at her – sometimes hungry, sometimes confused, sometimes even…tenderly? She had caught him, on several occasions, reaching towards her as she slept. The way he caressed her neck, the way he held her…these were the things that brought the blush to her face.
At the same time, these things confused her. Zuko showing emotion (other than anger and hate and rage) was something Katara thought she couldn’t believe – unless she saw it with her own eyes, of course. And through this whole ordeal, he had been nothing but kind and caring. Did he feel pity for her? It was a possibility. After all, he knew what his sister was capable of. And now, Katara was sure she knew almost as well as Zuko.
She got the feeling that Zuko felt a little responsible for her and her condition. He could have left her tied to that tree. He could have left her in the forest, injured and immobile. He could have done a thousand things, but he chose to save her from Azula and try to get her to safety. Granted she had not seen Zuko since the incident with Azula in that deserted town, but had he changed so much? Was he capable of change like this? Or was this some kind of freakish, elaborate plot to find Aang?
Katara honestly couldn’t be sure. She wasn’t really sure of anything except that she was safe now. Jeong Jeong wouldn’t let anything happen to her. She was pretty sure that he even liked her a little – as much as a firebender could like a waterbender anyway. With Jeong Jeong she didn’t have to worry about Zuko kidnapping her and all sorts of horrible things. He was probably one of the most powerful firebenders alive, and he was on Aang’s side.
Katara sighed heavily. Perhaps it was because she never spoke, but for some reason everyone seemed to think she was deaf, too. Or maybe they just didn’t care if she heard…
“She has to eat,” the man that had done her stitches said softly. Katara had her eyes closed, but she could hear his voice and Jeong Jeong’s as they discussed her in whispers. “Her body is trying to heal…but if she refuses to eat she will have no energy. Her body can’t go much longer without food.”
“We have all tried to coax her to eat,” Jeong Jeong muttered. “It is no longer her wounds that keep her from healing. It is her heart.”
She heard their retreating footsteps and let a tear seep from her closed eyes. If they only knew…if they could only have seen the look on Azula’s face, the manic glint as she wiped a clot of blood from Aang’s robes and licked it. Katara shivered. She cried all the time. When she woke up she could feel the dampness on her face. She would only have to recall the faces of Aang and Toph and Sokka and the tears would return. It was all she ever had energy for.
Whispers and low angry voices echoed from the entrance of the cave. Katara let the tears slip down her face as she listed. Zuko was angry for some reason – she supposed he didn’t really need a reason. He was always angry. His uncle was arguing with him, telling him it was a bad idea, that she needed rest.
The angry footsteps approached and the candle at her head flared dangerously. “Just what the hell do you think you’re doing? I know you’re awake!”
Katara opened her eyes slowly, unmoved by his display of temper. She focused for a moment, though even that was more difficult than it should have been. Zuko’s face was dangerous, shadows stretching over his sharp features as the candle danced.
“Well!?” he barked. “Do you think starving yourself is going to solve anything? What the hell is wrong with you?”
Katara looked at him blankly for a moment. Then she turned her head away to the wall of the cave. A large flame pelted the wall of the cave near her face and Katara tensed with fear.
“Now, Zuko,” the prince’s uncle said calmly. “Please, try –”
“LEAVE US!” Zuko barked angrily. Katara noticed the lack of shuffling feet. “NOW!!!” he raged. The cave lit up blindingly at the prince’s blast of fire.
Katara closed her eyes tightly in pain as the prince flipped her over on her back. “Oh, so you still feel pain?” he asked darkly, angrily. “Good. It’ll make it easier for me to force you eat.” Then he forced her into a sitting position, pushing her back against the wall. Katara cringed in pain. And fear.
“Eat this,” he commanded, his golden eyes angry and glittering. He held a spoonful of food before her lips. Obstinate as ever, Katara turned her head away and stared out at the entrance of the cave. There was a group of onlookers who seemed to find this both terrifying and entertaining. They were probably only hanging around to make sure he didn’t hurt her.
“Quit that!” he barked at her, turning her head with a sharp jerk on her chin. The spoon was in front of her lips, and he took the opportunity to shove it in her mouth as her jaw dropped in surprise.
The stew was good and thick, but it almost made her sick to have it in her mouth. She hadn’t eaten real food in quite a while. A small, stale loaf of bread that one of Azula’s friends had tossed to her. Some water. Nothing substantial. Zuko’s eyes were soft by the time she swallowed.
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” he said softly, putting another spoonful in front of her lips. “But the sooner you’re better the sooner we can move. We can’t afford to have you holding us up any more.”
Did Katara imagine it…or did that sound suspiciously like an apology? She tried to shift her weight away from the cave wall, but she brushed the tender cuts on her back and winced. The pain made her absolutely lose her appetite. “I can’t eat anymore,” she said softly, turning away from the next spoonful.
Zuko growled and put the food down. “I’ll be back if you refuse to eat tomorrow morning. I’m serious.”
Katara nodded. “Can I have some water?” she asked.
Katara thought he looked at her a little strangely, but he handed her the water skin anyway. She drunk a little and then looked at him. Had he been fighting? He had bruises on his face, and his left arm was burned. It seemed as though someone cleaned it, but it was still painful looking. With a heavy sigh she set the water skin in her lap and took his arm. It was hot because of the burn; she could feel the heat as she ran her fingers around the edges of it.
“What are you doing?” he murmured, his voice low.
With her spare hand she bent the water out of the skin and let it rest in her palm. Instantly the shimmering glove of healing formed in her hand, and she held it on the prince’s burn. When the glowing light was gone, water dripped off his forearm and onto the floor of the cave. A wave of nausea hit Katara and she swayed.
When she met his eyes, finally able to focus, they were angry and hard. “What did you do that for? Are you stupid? Are you trying to kill yourself?”
She let out a light, distant laugh. “Oh, you’re welcome, Prince Zuko.”
Zuko growled. “It would have healed on its own. I’ve had hundreds of burns and they’ve healed on their own.”
She felt sleep calling to her, but for some reason the prospect of waking up again wasn’t so daunting. Sleep had been her escape…but maybe now… She smiled tiredly at him, the glow of the candle glittering and shifting so it was hard for her to distinguish color and shape. “A simple ‘thank you’ will do next time, Zuko,” she murmured, crawling under the covers.
She saw his hand reaching out as she closed her eyes. And heard him say ‘thank you’ very, very softly, as if she had imagined it.
She was right, however, about the prospect of waking up. It was probably mid-morning and the cave was empty. For the first time in several days her stomach growled for food, and looking around she saw some fruit next to her, and a full skin of water. This was good, because she didn’t think she could handle anything more substantial that fruit. She forced herself into a sitting position and drank more than half the water in the skin. No one else was in the cave; she imagined people had things to do… training… hunting… burning… something…
She surprised herself by eating not only the sweet pears, but one of the slices of bread as well. Her hand went to her hair and she cringed. It had been a long time since she’d had a bath – and she wasn’t counting falling face first into a viciously cold stream. Not only that, her robes were absolutely filthy, and her leggings were ripped in several areas. She smelled rancid.
When Zuko and his uncle walked in around noon (she could see the shadows shrink under the trees outside the cave) she was running her fingers through her hair, trying her best to sort through the tangles.
“I ate,” she said simply, noting the uncle’s sly grin. Zuko raised an eyebrow and she looked away.
He sat across from her on the other side of a small fire he started. His uncle had set a kettle over the fire, and asked her if she wanted any tea. “Please,” she replied, eyeing Zuko curiously as he ate. He had…impeccable manners. He sat straight-backed with his legs folded beneath him, and, unlike Sokka (who just shoveled food inside of his huge gaping abyss of a mouth), took small bites and actually chewed and swallowed before taking another.
“What?” he barked, finally meeting her eyes (after he was obviously trying to avoid them).
“Where are we?” she asked, changing the subject.
“The Eastern Forest, about four days away from Ba Sing Se,” the uncle replied, handing her a cup of tea. It was intensely hot in her hands.
“And where are we going?” she asked.
“Admiral Jeong Jeong seeks the Avatar,” the older man answered quietly.
Katara looked deep into the darkness of the cave, tears stinging in her eyes. “Aang is dead.”
At this, the older man, Zuko’s uncle, sighed heavily, setting down his tea. “I am not convinced.”
“And how would you know?” she spat harshly, hands clenching on her knees. The tears fell from her face en masse, soaking her cheeks.
There was a tense silence in the cave. “Neither Jeong Jeong nor I have sensed the Avatar’s death. Besides, I do not think Azula would kill the Avatar, as he would simply be reborn into the Water Tribes and escape her father’s grasp.”
Katara swallowed harshly, so hoping that the words were true. They rang with truth, but she couldn’t escape the memory of Azula’s bloody fingers…the bloody cape… She bit her lip harshly. But what about Toph and Sokka? Could they be alive as well? She shook her head. It hardly mattered what she thought – they were going to go anyway.
“When do we leave?” she asked with an air of defeat, feeling her energy leave her.
“As soon as you can travel,” the uncle responded.
Katara slumped to the ground, lying on her side and turning her back to the two firebenders. “Tomorrow,” she said softly.
“When the healer says your ready,” the prince snapped at her. Katara shot him a chilly glance, but upon seeing his harsh eyes, she turned away again, pulling the covers over her shoulder to sleep.
She didn’t wake until late the next morning, when she found another pile of fruit and an empty cave. She ate her fruit in silence and solitude, frowning and forming her plan. They would never see this coming…
Part II
If Zuko could have been any angrier, he didn’t see how. When he returned to the cave it was empty – no silly little waterbender that wouldn’t eat and did stupid things like heal his arm when she was weak and cried and slept all the time. She was gone. His uncle tried to say something sensible to calm him down, but Zuko’s rage was blinding him and deafening him to reason. How dare she? She put not only herself, but also their company, in danger. She couldn’t traipse about the woods like a child – or worse, try to escape – when Azula and Fire Nation soldiers were actively hunting them. She could get captured. She could get dead.
Thankfully, her Water Tribe boots left distinctive patterns in the dirt, and her small feet were easily distinguishable from the deserters’ tracks. He hunted her down, noting broken branches or trodden ground. She was heading for the river, perhaps hoping it would lead her out of the forest.
Zuko stopped dead and saw how wrong he was. He dove behind a tree trunk, his anger immediately dampened. She was kneeling in the river and washing her blue, Water Tribe robes forcefully. She wore her black leggings and had a wrap around her chest, but her hair was pinned on top of her head, allowing Zuko to see the slender column of her neck and back. As Zuko peered around the trunk of the tree, he saw her hold up her robes and then dunk them into the stream once more. She held them up again, apparently satisfied as she bent the water off of them, streaming it down to the river and folding her robes.
His eyes were glued to the scene, addicted to her skin. She slid off her black leggings and washed them as well, folding them next to her robes before sliding down into the river. Zuko lowered his eyes when her hands reached around to her back, fingers feeling out her scars. She hung her head for a moment, as if reliving the memory. Then she let her hair down and washed it vigorously.
Turning away, Zuko leaned against the trunk of the tree – out of her line of sight – and crossed his arms. He wasn’t sure if he was staying because he wanted to see more, or because he wanted to make sure she was safe, but either way it sounded suspiciously like caring. He bit the inside of his mouth in consternation. He most certainly couldn’t afford to care about anyone right now. He had enough to worry about with just him and his uncle. He was seventeen, practically a man, and men had urges. But there was a difference between urges…and feelings.
Katara confused him. She needed him. Not emotionally, but physically. She would not have survived without him; she was powerless when he saved her. Helplessness and weakness was a conflicted subject for him. Whenever he saw weakness he saw himself, mirrored within another person or thing. He couldn’t stand that his father had labeled him weak. He hated it. He loathed it. Weakness was something he’d strived to purge from himself – no feelings, no emotions, no pity, and no weakness.
However, time and time again he had come to the aid of people that needed his help. That little boy, Lee, had hated him when he found out Zuko was Fire Nation. But he had helped the boy and his family. They were weak and helpless… He had to help them – just like he had to help Katara.
There was a snapping of twigs, and Zuko wheeled around. Katara was looking up at him with her large, blue eyes, head cocked to the side in question. “Zuko?” Her hair wound in slight waves around her face, and she looked clean and sweet. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” he returned harshly and accusingly, narrowing his eyes at her.
She frowned and glanced back at the stream. “I was washing my clothes…they smelled rancid…” Her frown deepened. “Hey, were you watching me?” she asked darkly.
“I was watching out for you,” Zuko clarified, crossing his arms.
Her eyes widened in disbelief. “I can’t believe it – you were watching me!” She gave him a hard look and stomped off and away from him towards the cave.
“I wasn’t, either!” Zuko barked, taking off after her. “Why would I? You’re just a kid,” he said viciously as he caught up to her.
“Oh, I see,” she said, sounding sensible. “So you were just making sure no one else was looking. Making sure that no one snuck up on me or something.”
“Yes,” Zuko replied, satisfied that she understood. But when she turned to him and glared he suddenly felt rather…uncomfortable.
“What a relief,” she ground out. “Pervert,” she spat, turning away again to stomp through the woods.
Zuko was halted in his steps. Well, at least she still had that uncanny ability to make him pissed as hell. “Hey, I’m not the one that flung myself – half-naked – at a pervert!” She laughed at this. “I mean me!” he growled as he caught up with her. “Oh, Zuko, I’m cold!” he taunted in a high falsetto voice.
She glared darkly. “I was delirious,” she argued. “Any girl would be delirious after what your psychopath sister did to me.” Zuko flinched as her hand went subconsciously to her back. Perhaps that had been a little low.
“Hey,” he said a little more sharply than he meant.
She turned to him, her arms crossed and lips pursed.
“I was just watching out for you,” he said seriously. Her eyes softened a bit. “Next time tell someone when you wander off like that. We really can’t afford to be found – especially because of some silly girl that wants to take a bath,” he added with a smirk.
She glared and walked away, muttering. She glanced back at him. “Well?” she said sharply.
“Well, what?” he replied sarcastically.
She shook her head. “Well, guard me, or whatever. I’m walking back to the camp.”
He smirked and followed her. She began breathing heavily about halfway back to cave – apparently it was still a strain to move, and he’d kind of riled her up a bit. She paused, putting her hand against a tree to steady herself. When he got in front of her he saw her face was pale and her hands were shaking. “You didn’t have to make me so angry, you know,” she said softly, her breath quick.
Was she guilting him? Zuko exhaled sharply. “You need to rest. Sit down.”
She looked at him with half-angry, half-tired eyes. Then she slumped against the tree and slid down on her knees. She took a large breath and shuddered as she let it out, rubbing her shoulder with her other arm. Was she cold? Hurt? He hadn’t noticed any bruises on her shoulder…
He silently offered her his water skin, and after looking up at him doubtfully she took it. After a few shallow drinks, she handed it back and sighed. “Do you really think Aang is alive?” she asked gently, searching his face with her innocent blue eyes.
“I don’t know about Uncle and Master Jeong Jeong’s ‘senses,’ but I’m fairly sure my sister wouldn’t kill the Avatar,” he said sensibly.
“Aang,” she said with a hard voice. “His name is Aang.” She paused and seemed to let go of her anger. “I can’t go with you to find him,” she said softly.
“What?” Zuko asked, completely surprised.
She looked away, her eyes distant. “I have…something else I have to do.”
“What the hell could be more important than finding your friend?” Zuko barked, looking at her in disbelief. Had he misread their little group? Wasn’t she the Avatar’s girlfriend or something?
“We all promised…” she said softly so that Zuko almost couldn’t hear it. Then she glared up at him, rising to her feet. “I don’t expect you to understand. I expect you to let me go.” Then she started walking off.
Zuko stared at her in disbelief – after all he’d done for her! “Well, I don’t care what you expect, Little Miss Water Tribe, you’re coming with us!”
“No, I’m not,” she replied simply, not looking back at him.
“Hey!” Zuko yelled, catching up with her and turning her shoulder harshly. She flinched, but Zuko didn’t relent. “You think I saved you for my health – you’re my captive!”
She looked up at him with doubtful eyes. “Sure.” She continued walking.
“I’m using you as bait for the Avatar,” he asserted himself, following her.
“Okay,” she responded, not even bothering to look at him.
“You can’t leave,” he insisted, furious that she rebuffed him so…lightly.
She threw him a sideways glance. “What are you even doing here? Jeong Jeong wants to help, Aang – not capture him.” Katara stopped and gave him an appraising sort of look. “Why didn’t you and your uncle just leave me with Jeong Jeong? It’s not like you really sympathize with their cause.”
“Of course, I don’t ‘sympathize with their cause,’” he spat back.
Then, after a silent pause, “Well,” she asked curiously. “Why are you here?”
It was Zuko’s turn to look away. “It’s an honor to study under Master Jeong Jeong.”
She moved around in front of his face, peering into his eyes innocently. “I’m sure it is, Zuko…but he’s not going to help you capture Aang. Avatar Roku himself instructed Jeong Jeong to aid Aang.”
“I know that,” he barked, finding it really hard to resist her soft face. “It’s a little more complicated.” He sighed, throwing his arms over his head. “I’m his captive, okay?! If I don’t help him find Aang he’s just going to take me along anyway. Uncle and I couldn’t escape even if we wanted!”
She gazed up at him with large, disbelieving eyes. Then she frowned. “Well, that won’t do at all…” she said softly. Then, with confidence, she put a small hand on his shoulder. “He can’t make you help him if you don’t want to. I’ll just talk to him.”
And for some reason, when she smiled, he found that the last thing he wanted her to do was tell Jeong Jeong to release him. Bitterly, he pulled away from her and glared. “We don’t need your help.”
Her smile faltered, and she looked a little sad. Then she turned her head hotly and began walking towards the cave’s mouth. “Fine,” she said rather nonchalantly.
Zuko watched her enter the cave from a distance. Trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. But all he could come up with was she had turned about thirteen different emotions in about thirteen minutes. Comforting and angry and concerned and sad and probably more that he hadn’t even noticed. His very first assessment of girls was proving more correct that he could have imagined. Girls were crazy.
Taking a brisk walk to clear his head, Zuko returned to the campsite near dark to find Katara was already asleep, a half empty-bowl of stew at her side. She faced the wall, breathing evenly and softly.
“She’s pretty exhausted,” his uncle commented, drinking his damnable tea with his damnable good humor. “Did you have a nice walk?”
Zuko grunted and started eating, his eyes pinned on Katara’s back. He missed it, but his uncle shared a relatively significant look with the former-lieutenant, Jee, and former-admiral, Jeong Jeong.
“We’re going to start moving tomorrow,” his uncle said, breaking the stiff silence Zuko’s mood had caused.
“Hn,” Zuko grunted, eyes still locked on Katara’s back.
There was a brief pause. “Any ideas?” Uncle Iroh asked pleasantly.
They were just the most subtle of hints. They barely meant anything. But if there was one thing Zuko was good at, it was deciphering clues – whether it was with plots or tracking his prey. He was sure he would have heard if his sister had the Avatar. Not only that, he probably would have SEEN the Avatar as he and his uncle escaped Ba Sing Se and accidentally ran into Azula’s camp. That’s where he’d seen Katara, anyway.
And then there was Katara herself. He KNEW she would want to go after her friend unless there was something absolutely essential she had to do – something to help the Avatar. Her whispered words – we all promised – and steadfast refusal to go with them to the Avatar made him suspect something rather devious was going on. The Avatar hadn’t mastered firebending, and unless he just happened to run into another deserter firebender, no one could teach it to him. He only knew of Jeong Jeong and his deserters. There was no one else – and he HAD to master firebending.
With a dark look at the fire, Zuko cleared his throat. “He’s looking for us right now – at least he’s looking for you, Master Jeong Jeong. I believe he and his friends have split up for some reason…but he still needs to find a master to teach him firebending. You’re the only one.” He paused and looked at Katara again. She didn’t know how much she’d told him. “He’ll go to the last place you saw each other, looking for clues.”
Jeong Jeong nodded. “We go south…and towards to coast. We had several encampments that he might be able to find.”
“That is right into Fire Nation territory,” Iroh said quietly, drinking out of his small teacup.
Zuko didn’t speak for the rest of the night, and when he fell asleep it was uneasy and plagued with blue eyes. Damn her blue eyes. Damn her.
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Push and Pull