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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
- 5
- 6
- 7
A/N: Happy Halloween, everyone!
PUSH AND PULL
CHAPTER 06: Grateful Prey
Part I
Zuko had awoken with his uncle shaking him. The older man had a sad look on his face.
“Where’s Katara?” Zuko asked, half-angry…half-hurt. Yes, his head hurt. But it was something more than that.
His uncle looked away from him. “She’s gone.”
He knew he should be angry. In fact, he should be enraged. But right now he felt…well, it was something akin to disappointment. Sadness, maybe? He felt the back of his head and winced when his had hit the lump. He looked at his hand and saw there was crusty blood on his fingers.
Back at the camp the healer tried to pin Zuko down to look at him, but only after warnings from his uncle did he sit still long enough for the healer to examine his injury. Boy, had she gotten the best of him. She sure had him fooled… Zuko shook his head – until it began to ache again at least.
“We lost her tracks about a mile to the north of here,” Zuko heard a man telling Jeong Jeong. “I can’t really say where she’s heading, but my guess is that she’d meet up with the river and travel along it for protection.”
Zuko nodded his silent agreement. She’d been rather adamant about not going with them. In fact, Zuko was kind of expecting her to try and run away. He wasn’t expecting a concussion, but it’s hard to be picky…
Jeong Jeong sighed and shook his head. “I believe we must let her go her own way. We do not have time to go and fetch her…”
“What?” Zuko growled. They weren’t…going after her?! “With Azula and half the Fire Nation knocking on Ba Sing Se’s doors, you’re going to let her go out there herself? Azula could kill her!”
His uncle put a hand on his shoulder. “Zuko –”
“No! I’m going after her!” Zuko barked, throwing off his uncle’s hand.
With a heavy sigh, Zuko’s uncle looked at him with hard eyes. “If she had wanted you to accompany her, what reason would she have to bash you over the head?”
Zuko glared and said in dangerous, low tones. “I don’t care what she wants. She can’t take care of herself. Stupid waterbender…”
Everyone was silent after Zuko’s outburst. Jeong Jeong looked as if he were trying to make a monumental decision. Finally, his face pained, “First the Avatar. Then you can run off on your rescue mission.”
A savage smile broke out on Zuko’s face. “No. You broke your half of the deal. I said I’d do anything you wanted, as long as you didn’t harm the girl. You failed your part – she’s clearly in harm’s way. The deal is off.”
At this, Iroh began to stroke his beard. “Technically, my nephew is correct. Katara is in harm’s way…he’s within his rights to break off the deal.”
Zuko could see Jeong Jeong measuring the situation in his mind. Zuko was playing a dirty game. He was calling Jeong Jeong’s honor into question. Jeong Jeong had made a deal, but it wasn’t because he HAD to. He could just have taken Zuko and Iroh captive as he’d originally intended in case of their resistance. There wasn’t anything but his honor stopping him. Zuko knew this. What Jeong Jeong was weighing was his honor and his duty to find the Avatar. He was trying to decide if he had enough information to find the Avatar himself.
With a sigh, Jeong Jeong hung his head. “Yes. You may go.” Zuko smirked. “But, I am hoping you will return to finish your training, Prince Zuko. Your potential is great, and I believe the Avatar could use a good sparing partner.”
When Zuko took leave of his master, he was glad their parting had not gone badly. Jeong Jeong was an excellent firebender, and Zuko knew he was his best chance to defeat Azula…and his father… Zuko opted to follow Katara on foot. Since Jeong Jeong’s Deserters had lost track of her tracks so easily, Zuko knew it would be difficult to locate the waterbender. He wanted to be able to be close as possible to her tracks.
Zuko didn’t know where she was, and he didn’t know what she was doing, but he was going to find her. What possessed him with such a manic obsession he wasn’t quite sure. What he did know was he HAD to find her, if for nothing else than to repay her so nicely for her stunt the night before. She had about a half a day on Zuko and his uncle, but he was confident. Zuko was a hunter, above all else. The waterbender would prove to be elusive prey, but Zuko had never failed to locate something he was tracking.
When Zuko and Iroh reached the spot where Katara’s tracks ended, he crouched low to the ground. They were definitely hers…small with distinct tracings of her boots. They were heading north to meet the river. He didn’t know its name, but it fed one of Ba Sing Se’s lakes. He was fairly sure the headwaters were somewhere in the mountains to the east of the city, in the mountains that Zuko had been ‘captured’ by Jeong Jeong and his deserters.
“She might have used waterbending to wash away signs of her tracks,” his uncle said sensibly.
Zuko shook his head. “I think that would have left more than her footprints.” Then he squinted his eyes and looked out into the forested area. “This place is little traveled, but it’s not good for tracking. I think she began to cover them herself…” He stood. “We’ll head towards the river, see if she left any tracks along the shore. She’ll have followed it for protection.”
When they met up with the river it took Zuko over an hour to find her tracks. She had made sure to avoid mud, which would have made it ridiculously easy to track her. He found he was right, however, about her sticking close to the river. He was able to find imprints of her boots every once in a while. Zuko knew he was moving at speeds that were uncomfortable for his uncle, but Iroh hadn’t complained yet. They were walking for hours when Zuko realized he’d not run upon any campsites. This caused him to frown.
“How long have we been walking?” he asked his uncle.
Iroh shrugged, looking up at the sky. “Oh, we set off midmorning…it’s a little after noon…I’d say five hours.”
Zuko frowned. Soon they should be approaching a campsite. Despite her resiliency, Zuko wasn’t sure how long she could travel on foot. She wasn’t out of shape…but she wasn’t exactly used to traveling for long periods of time on foot. Zuko had found it necessary to train both his mind and body. Firebending was a very physically stressful style of bending…it required intense physical fitness. Unless you were an absolute prodigy – like Azula – hours and hours of training a day was required to keep every muscle in perfect working shape.
He knew the same to be true with earthbending, but waterbending seemed to be more of a mental discipline. Katara wasn’t very strong physically…she was rather petite and…almost fragile. Like his sister, Katara seemed to be somewhat of a prodigy in her discipline. Zuko didn’t like prodigies that didn’t have to train as hard as normal benders. They seemed to just ‘get’ everything, and even challenging techniques were like child’s play. They were weak…yet blessedly gifted and strong…
He ran across a spot where Katara had stopped for a while. There were knee imprints along the side of the river. After studying them for a moment and allowing his uncle some rest, Zuko gazed off into the forest. He was slightly worried about firebenders…but there were other treacherous things in forests… This one was deep and dark.
They continued traveling until dark, still not finding Katara’s first campsite. He began to wonder if they were even on the right path at all as he and his uncle set up camp and lit a fire.
Part II
Captain Fong woke her with a gentle shake. It was still dark, but the sun was beginning to rise over the trees, giving the sky a pink tint. He and the other earthbenders were packing up their meager campsite, preparing the ostrich horses for riding. Katara packed her things and ate the remaining peach-berries she’d saved. Captain Fong made no move to bind her hands, which Katara thought meant he almost trusted her. However, like the day before, she rode behind him on his ostrich horse. Only this time she wasn’t flung over the back like a sack of potatoes.
He’d replaced his armor, and was much, much more distant than he’d been the night before. In fact, he didn’t even give her a second glance. Wanting to conserve the ostrich horses’ energy in case of an attack, the small troupe of earthbenders (and Katara) were moving at a brisk walk. They rode in silence, and an air of fear permeated the soldiers. They were alert as they rode through the woods, no doubt afraid of stumbling upon more firebenders. It was a distinct possibility, Katara thought. They were heading west to Ba Sing Se…slightly southward, but nothing major. She realized she must not have been as far north as she thought, perhaps along the same longitude as Ba Sing Se.
Around midday they stopped to rest for a while. The sun was high, and there was no need for a campfire as no one had found meat. If Sokka were here, he would have found meat. Katara sighed and pushed the thoughts away. Sokka was with Aang, searching for Jeong Jeong. They had probably even begun training already. She sighed as she remounted behind Captain Fong.
It was late afternoon when Katara first began to feel it. Being so close to the full moon, she was already supersensitive to water. She closed her eyes and concentrated. It was still a good distance off…but there was a river ahead. She smiled wanly. This was probably going to be her only chance to escape. Once they hit the river she would have to make a break for it. If she could get in the river she might be able escape. She didn’t want to hurt these men; they weren’t the enemy. But she had to get away, and if that meant freezing some people to trees…well, it wouldn’t be the first time it happened.
Katara was a straightforward girl, but she was not without guile. With a soft sigh, she leaned against Captain Fong’s back and pretended to sleep. He would be less apt to worry about her once they met the river if she was asleep. Even beneath his armor Katara could feel the young captain stiffen as she rested her cheek between his shoulder blades. For a moment, Katara wondered if the captain had a girlfriend…was married…had children! It wasn’t as if she was trying to seduce him. She wasn’t sure she KNEW how to seduce someone.
Nevertheless, Katara regulated her breathing until it felt like sleeping. She could feel the pull of the water as night descended. The moon was rising as the sun was setting. It wasn’t quite full – not for at least two more days. But it was enough to give her the advantage.
When they stopped for the night they were close to the river – close enough so that Katara could smell it. She was still feigning sleep, but she could tell Captain Fong was debating what he was going to do with her. Despite everything, Katara was fairly sure he liked her. Not romantically, of course. She’d not been cruel to him, though she had been a bit feisty. And she hadn’t REALLY lied to him. And she’d healed his soldiers. And they’d spoken like equals the night before.
And truth be told, Katara liked Captain Fong, too. Katara knew he wasn’t a bad person. If nothing else, he was genuinely conflicted over what Katara said and what he’d been told by the Dai Li and his uncle. He wasn’t like any other Dai Li agent she’d met…and she was almost sure that he wanted to take part in the war. She could see the fire in his eyes when she’d accused him of not being a true warrior.
So when he picked her up and set her down on her sleeping furs, Katara felt terrible about what she was going to do. It wasn’t really much of a choice, though. She seemed to hurt the people she cared about to fulfill her mission. She paused. The people she cared about? Why did Zuko’s face come up when she thought that? Why did the whispers of his kisses echo on her skin…why did she feel his hot breath on her neck?
She felt the light weight of a blanket covering her, and she continued to feign sleep as the fire cracked and the earthbenders spoke in hushed tones. Katara began to meditate quietly, feeling the pull of the moon and the rhythm of the water. It was perhaps two hundred feet away. There was little she could do, save wait for the earthbenders to tire and finally sleep. She didn’t want to have to fight them, especially since she now had the upper hand. If she made it to the river, of course. With the night and the moon and the river, she had a few things that might give her advantage over the eight earthbenders. At least enough of one to escape.
It was over an hour after the chatter had died that she opened her eyes. The moon was dead between its zenith and the horizon, and the fire had died down to slow embers. It had been small to begin with to avoid attracting attention. Silent as a fox, Katara rolled up her sleeping furs and tucked them into her pack. After she flung it over her shoulder she took a last glance at the sleeping earthbenders. It was good that she was leaving this way. They wouldn’t follow her because their true mission was to go home, not capture her.
She made it to the river on silent feet before she heard the twigs crack behind her. Slumping her shoulders, Katara turned to face the moonlit features of Captain Fong. He had a hard, disappointed look on his face. “I trusted you,” he accused.
Katara sighed, her eyes rather sad. “You can’t keep me here, Captain Fong. I’m not a prisoner, and I haven’t done anything wrong.”
His jaw clenched. “It’s my duty to bring you back to Ba Sing Se.”
“I don’t want to fight you, Captain,” she said quietly. “I have the advantage…it’s night…and I’m near a large source of water… Just let me go.”
His stone ‘hands’ flew out at her as Katara dropped her pack at her feet. With a quick movement of her hands she summoned enough water to deflect the ‘hands’ and send them into the river. She backed up so that her boots were in the water, sinking into shallow water of the shore.
Punching the ground, he used a technique she’d seen a thousand times before and kicked the rock directly at her. The principal technique of earthbending was to be direct and strong. In this way, Katara knew she had somewhat of an advantage. Captain Fong’s strength was obviously great. Waterbenders were experts at defensive maneuvers, and also at using their opponent’s strength against them. With a quick roll, Katara managed to summon a good-sized water whip to divert Captain Fong’s fists from hitting the ground solidly. Unable to get solid contact with the ground, Captain Fong rushed her, thinking that physical strength could overcome her if not earthbending.
Katara was able to divert his first movement with the back of her wrist, forcing him into the water with a strong waterbending move and freezing his feet within the river. There she paused as he tried to hack at his feet.
“Please, Captain Fong,” she said softly. “Just let me go.”
He gave her an angry look. Then his eyes brightened. Katara turned slightly to see the other seven earthbenders. With a sigh, she dodged several rock ‘hands’ and froze a shield to block against a propelled rock. Reaching into the river, Katara summoned a wave of water, spun, and threw it at her opponents, freezing them in place.
Captain Fong had gotten loose during the brief distraction and she managed to divert a rock before he pinned her to the ground, grapping her wrists and trapping them between his chest and hers. “I trusted you,” he repeated, his voice a little more hurt than angry. “You’ll be safe in Ba Sing Se,” he said coldly. “Everyone is safe in Ba Sing Se.”
Katara frowned. “Captain Fong,” she said acidly. “You should have covered my fingers.”
With a deep inhalation, Katara blew ice in his face, directing it with wiggling fingers. He gasped, disoriented. Katara used this moment to roll out from beneath him and form a sharp icicle in her hand, posing it above his chest. He growled at her. “Are you going to kill me now, Water Tribe?”
Katara shook her head. “No.” She made two strong motions and the water rushed around her, pushing Captain Fong into the branches of a tree, frozen all except his face. Katara glanced at the frozen earthbenders, coating them with a stronger layer of ice. She tossed her pack over her shoulder and stood before the frozen Captain Fong.
“Are you really going to leave us frozen like this, Water Tribe?” he asked in a hard, shivering voice. “With the Fire Nation out there…”
Katara raised an eyebrow. “I guess I hadn’t thought about that.” She considered for a moment. “I’ll unfreeze the hands of one of your officers when I’m far enough away. He’ll figure something out. It’s night…and I don’t really expect any firebenders will be out until sunrise.”
She began walking off, finally free to tackle the larger problem of getting to the North Pole. After she crossed the frozen soldiers – many of who gave her vicious looks – she looked back at Captain Fong. She unfroze the hands of one of the officers. “Captain Fong! My real name’s Katara! Say hello to your uncle for me the next time you see him!”
He didn’t respond, but Katara headed off into the dark, east towards the campsite. She could see the glimmer of fire as she approached. They’d made camp in a nice clearing with thick trees and high bushes on all sides. When she pushed through the bushes however, she laid her eyes on the last thing she’d thought to see.
“Zuko?”
Part III
Zuko picked his way around the broken ground. There had been a skirmish here…he was sure Katara was involved. The earth was cleared with the telltale marks of waterbending – whip-like scores on the ground. He paced around, determining that Katara had been ‘ambushed’ by a group of seven to ten mounted men. The tracks were made by ostrich horses – seeming to point at the Earth Kingdom.
Frowning, Zuko stood up from his crouched position. “Does that girl go a week without being captured?” he asked his uncle with a sarcastic tone.
His uncle raised an eyebrow. “Why would the Earth Kingdom want to capture Katara?”
Zuko didn’t know. All he knew was that she had steadfastly been traveling north and east. She had even split from the river to do so. And now there were ostrich horse tracks leading away in the opposite direction, and Katara’s tracks absolutely stopped. Why would the Earth Kingdom care about some wandering waterbender? Why do I, he asked himself darkly.
Shaking clear his head, Zuko and his uncle picked up the pace as they followed the distinct tracks of the ostrich horses. Travel was much faster when they weren’t constantly trying to find signs of Katara, and they made good time until they found a campsite. I was long deserted, but there had been a fire, and Katara’s footprints appeared again, going off into the woods and a little around the camp. They stayed there for the night and set off in the morning.
For a day and a half they followed the tracks of the ostrich horses. The animals were moving slowly, Zuko could tell by the short steps. When running, an ostrich horse’s footprints had a distance of eight to ten feet between. These were much shorter. Night was beginning to fall again, but Zuko didn’t want to give up until they found the second campsite.
They stumbled upon it haphazardly. They saw the fire in the distance, and Zuko’s heart leapt with an adrenaline rush. Telling his uncle to wait where he was, Zuko made stealthy movements towards camp. It was late, and they might be asleep. He could steal Katara right from under their noses. And then throttle her. But the closer he came, he began hearing raised voices and loud noises. He made his way around the campsite, checking for anyone. It was empty. Zuko frowned, searching the campsite. There were places eight bedrolls folded out, and an empty space where a ninth could rest.
Zuko frowned. Had…had Katara escaped somehow? If that was the case, the soldiers were probably following her as he spoke. Just as he was about to move towards where he’d heard the loud noises, a rustling from the bushes caught his attention. Fearing Earth Kingdom soldiers, Zuko began to sink into the shadows.
Zuko’s head spun as Katara – and Katara alone – emerged from the bushes, not looking at him as she swiped away a twig and some leaves from her skirt. Her hair was loose about her face, and there was sweat on her brow as if she’d been fighting. When she looked up her face registered her surprise immediately. Her lips split slightly, and her eyes were bright with…what was that in her eyes? Was it…could he have imagined…was she glad to see him?
“Zuko?” she said in a soft, surprised voice, taking a halting step towards him.
Then she looked away, her face turning downwards and her lower lip quivering. Zuko couldn’t say a word. He’d planned a thousand things he could say to her once he found her. But none of them seemed appropriate. Instead he grasped her harshly and drew her to him. Her breaths were quick and her body shuddered as Zuko held the waterbender to his chest. He closed his eyes, relieved that she was safe…that she was in his arms…that she wasn’t harmed…
She didn’t respond to his embrace, but Zuko barely noticed until she began shaking. “Zuko,” she said in a heartbreaking, shivering voice. He could feel she was on the verge of tears. “What are you doing here?” she asked with a hiccup.
As ungrateful as the question sounded, when Zuko drew away to snarl a sarcastic reply, he saw tears shining in her eyes and the words were stilled on his lips. “I’m here to rescue you,” he replied to her unappreciative question.
With that answer, Katara dropped to her knees, sitting back on her heels. Zuko dipped down to her level, trying to get her to look at him. “Oh,” she said simply.
“Oh?” he asked incredulously. “Oh? That’s it? Oh?”
Tears leaked from her eyes as she looked up at him during his tirade. “Well, what do you expect me to say, Zuko?” she asked brokenly, her voice hitching slightly with tears. “I hit you on the back of the head with an ice club! I ran away!
And Zuko didn’t really know how to respond to this either. She stood after a long silence, straightening her pack on her shoulders as she brushed the tears off her cheeks. She was flushed with tears, and her lips were swollen.
“I have to leave, Zuko,” she said softly.
“You can’t,” he replied simply.
He saw her shake. He did not think it was in anger. “I have to do this, Zuko. I promised. If I don’t…I fail everyone…”
He tried to explain it to her. “It’s too dangerous. Try to understand…I can’t…” And he couldn’t continue. She paused and then turned away from him, her hands rubbing up and down her arms.
“We promised,” she said softly. “The four of us…no matter if we were putting one another in danger, that no matter what we would get the message through. Even if inaction killed one, another would survive…and maybe that would be enough…”
Rage filled him as she spoke in riddles. “What are you talking about?!”
“The solar eclipse,” she whispered, her eyes dark with tears.
Zuko frowned.
“Firebenders…they lose all their powers on the solar eclipse,” she explained, unable to look at him. “I was supposed to tell the Northern Water Tribe when it is…so they can attack the Fire Nation.”
Zuko didn’t really know why, but he felt his fists ball in anger and…apprehension? She let out a brief sob and took a step towards him. “It’s only…I can’t!” she confessed. “I feel like I’m betraying you!” Scared tears fell from her eyes. “But if I don’t I’m betraying the rest of the world…”
She was crying on her knees, her arms wrapped around her stomach as if she were in pain. Zuko looked down on her as fresh tears fell from her eyes. “Tell me what I should do,” she said to him, her voice filled with pain and confusion. Her eyes were bright. “I don’t know anymore. Just tell me what I should do. I’ll do anything you say.”
And Zuko didn’t know what he wanted her to do. Half of him was so angry! He was angry because she left, because he had to feel this way, because she had enchanted him, because she was changing him, because she confused him, because she was at his mercy and he couldn’t even react to strike back at her. And yet she said she would do anything he said. She would go back to Jeong Jeong and the Deserters with him. She would stay with him. I’ll do anything you say.
“Zuko,” she whispered quietly, refusing to look at him. “Please know that I can’t stand to betray you. I…I…I would die inside! I really will do anything you say.”
He looked down on her harshly.
“But I can’t…I won’t stop Aang from fulfilling his destiny. He’s going to fight your father… My entire message is…is a way for less people to die. In the end there will be a battle…there’s no way around it. Your father will attack with the comet and thousands of innocent people will die. If the Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom attack on the eclipse they will only strike military targets on Earth Kingdom soil.”
She paused. “I don’t…I don’t like the idea of firebenders being slaughtered. And it will be a slaughter. But…they will do the same thing to everyone else when the comet comes…” She finally looked up at him. “So just tell me what to do.”
How could she just…put this on his shoulders! With a raging fury, the campfire roared to life for the first time. Zuko turned his back on her. He was unable to look at her. He was…torn. He couldn’t believe what she was saying…what she was asking. It meant the slaughter of his people if the Water Tribe learned of the solar eclipse. And it meant the slaughter of everyone else if the Water Tribe remained in the dark.
Zuko very nearly groaned when he felt her small, cool hands wrap around his chest. She curled her arms to hold his shoulders, her face and chest pressed against his back. She was shivering slightly, but her breathing was strong and slow. “Please don’t hate me, Zuko,” she pled with him, her voice soft and low. “I couldn’t live with myself if I thought you hated me…”
Her cheek was between his shoulder blades, as it had been when she was riding injured behind him weeks ago. She just held him, her body warming to his. Zuko found it very difficult to be angry with her like this…he wondered sullenly if she was better at those ‘games’ than she had previously thought…
Zuko found himself looking out into the woods. He frowned when he saw the silent, observant face of his uncle. How long had the man been there? With a glare he let his uncle know he was aware of him. For a moment his uncle actually looked sheepish.
“Katara,” Zuko said quietly. Her body tensed for rejection, her nails biting into his shoulders slightly, but not painfully. He turned around to see her wide, hopeful, cerulean eyes. With a stone jaw, he pulled her against him, unwilling to become lost, grow soft in those eyes. “Let’s just get away from here. We’ll talk about this later.”
She looked up at him and nodded, then followed him into the darkness of the forest. Zuko could have kicked himself for feeling this way, but all he really wanted to do was kiss her and hold her and tell her everything was going to be all right.
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