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Rises with the Heart	By : AngelaBlythe Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Katara/Zuko Views: 11670 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- 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
- 1-PART I
- 2-PART II
- 3-PART III
- 4-PART IV
- 5-PART V
- 6-PART VI
- 7-PART VII
- 8-PART VIII
- 9-PART IX
- 10-PART X
- 11-PART XI
- 12-PART XII
- 13-PART XIII
- 14-PART XIV
- 15-PART XV
- 7
- 8
- 9
RISES WITH THE HEART
VIII.I
To Katara, Jeong Jeong had always looked kind of like a scarred catfish. His long, bleach white whiskers and tuft of hair did nothing to dissuade her from the slightly comical vision. But his serious, darkened face belied his enlightened status as a premier firebender. He was the infamous “First Deserter” of the Fire Nation army, a great admira,l and one of the finest tactical minds in history. Now he was a fugitive – like Zuko and Iroh. Katara’s heart had been softened towards him, as he revealed to her a certain envy of her waterbending ability to heal.
“Admiral Jeong Jeong?” General Iroh gasped in an awestruck whisper.
Toph had jumped to her feet, radiating anger and surprise. “Who are you?! How did you get here?!”
“Calm down, Toph,” Aang calmed her softly, standing as well. “This is Admiral Jeong Jeong. He’s a friend.” Aang gazed in awe at the elderly admiral, who strode brazenly into the large enclosure.
Toph sank sulkily into her seat. But Katara wondered, too. How had he found them? How did he get here without Toph’s extra-sensory detection?
“It’s been a long time, Iroh,” Admiral Jeong Jeong said with a bow.
“Yes,” Iroh replied, bowing in turn. “A very long time, Admiral. Though, if you don’t mind me asking,” he added, “what are you doing here? And how did you get here?”
Jeong Jeong snorted disdainfully and took a seat and a slice of meat from the fire. “I had a vision that I should come here,” he replied, taking a large bite of meat in his teeth and sighing. “So I flew.”
“You what?” Aang asked, his eyes darkening in question.
Jeong Jeong took another bite before answering. “I heard the only way to get to the Southern Air Temple was to fly. My glider is outside. An amazing contraption…”
“So how come I couldn’t sense your landing?” Toph grumbled in a low voice.
With an absent shrug, Jeong Jeong said, “Maybe it’s because you’re blind.”
Angrily, Katara saw the telltale signs of Toph’s earthbending when her foot smoothed over the ground. Jeong Jeong leapt to his feet as a chunk of earth erupted where he had been sitting.
“Toph!” Katara cried, knowing the blind girl’s short temper and Jeong Jeong’s superior abilities were sure way to spell disaster.
Jeong Jeong’s face contorted. “I guess you’re not as blind as you appear, girl,” he murmured. “Still, don’t start fights you can’t finish.”
Toph grinned dangerously, jutting out her chin. “Anytime, anywhere, old man,” she replied, hands poised for destruction in front of her.
“Oh, no, no, no,” Aang said, leaping to his feet. He stood in front of Toph and bowed profusely to Jeong Jeong. “She doesn’t mean that, Jeong Jeong.”
“Don’t I?” Toph growled under her breath.
“She’s just grumpy, that’s all!” Aang explained, trying to sound lighthearted. “It’s past her bedtime…she didn’t know who you were…um…” He foundered for words. “Let’s just start over again. Toph, this is Master Jeong Jeong,” Aang said in a rushed voice, pushing Toph in front of him and manhandling her arm out in a friendly gesture. “Jeong Jeong, this is Toph Bei Fong.”
Without offering Jeong Jeong a chance to shake her hand, Toph wrenched her arm from Aang and stormed away, enclosing herself within a stone teepee. Katara sighed, and the tense atmosphere of the cavern weighed down on the whole party.
Then, out of the blue in an easygoing voice, General Iroh asked, “Would you like some tea, Admiral?”
There was a brief moment of continued uncomfortable silence before Jeong Jeong nodded and sat again beside Iroh to take his tea. Katara breathed another sigh of relief. Eventually she fell into her sleeping furs after talking late into the night with Aang, Jeong Jeong, Iroh, and Zuko about what Jeong Jeong had heard over his travels. They spoke of the plan to get Zuko into good standing within the Fire Nation, and how he was to sneak Katara and Toph into the capitol. They also agreed that Jeong Jeong would accompany the girls into the Fire Nation, and assist with Aang’s escape. Between Jeong Jeong and Iroh’s knowledge of the Fire Nation, Katara was bursting with hope for their plan. Toph’s reaction to Jeong Jeong – and vice versa – was a little disturbing to her, but Toph could get used to it.
VIII.II
Sokka left the next day with ten destinations he had to reach within the next several weeks. If he didn’t get the Avatar’s message to Omashu, Ba Sing Se, and both Water Tribes they wouldn’t be able to ready their troops for the time when the Avatar would need them most. Katara hugged her older brother warmly before he left atop Appa. He had a long, important, solitary journey in front of him, and though Toph had diminished his importance, Sokka’s mission was invaluable. If the Earth and Water peoples could create a formidable force to oppose the Fire Nation, then it was possible for Aang to trap the Fire Nation army between him and his allies. Aang would be the hammer, and the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes would be the anvil.
Aang’s separation from Appa was just as touching as Katara’s from Sokka. Though the two were loath to part, Aang realized the necessity, and sent his friend away on the long journey. Katara noticed that Aang had taken on a more serious countenance since Jeong Jeong had spoken last night. He looked determined and solemn as he slunk down to the Air Ball arena with Momo chattering on his shoulder. Katara considered following him, but she decided to give the Avatar a few moments by himself.
Toph was still holed up in her stone teepee when Katara knocked. She hadn’t been able to get the girl to say goodbye to Sokka, and she was sure by now Toph regretted her anger.
“Go away!”
Or perhaps not. Katara sighed at Zuko’s chuckle. She had an idea that he had quite enjoyed the conflict between Toph and Jeong Jeong last night. He smirked at Katara as she attempted once again to talk to Toph.
“Come on, Toph,” Katara said gently. “You can’t stay in there forever.”
Katara knew that Toph needed someone to make an attempt to get her. Toph’s pride wouldn’t allow herself to come out voluntarily. Katara would keep on the blind girl until she came out. Katara could be just as stubborn as the earthbender if she wanted.
“Toph,” Katara continued, leaning against the girl’s teepee and sinking to the ground. “He landed in a tree. His glider landed in a tree, that’s why you didn’t sense him last night.”
The stone teepee zipped into the ground. Katara lost her balance and nearly fell on her companion. “He what?” Toph growled, her hands clenched into angry fists.
Katara smoothed the dirt off of her leggings and nodded. “He landed in the tree and listened to our conversation from there. He wasn’t on the ground until he spoke. No one can blame you for not sensing him,” Katara said in a soothing voice.
A brief smile flickered in the corners of Toph’s mouth. Then she put her usual frown on and said, “I should have sensed the tree’s weight shift.”
Katara smiled. She knew that Toph’s anger originated from her inability to forgive herself. She kept her pride and sanity with the fact that her senses were just as perfect – if not more so – as actual sight. Jeong Jeong’s appearance had jarred her universe, and his offhand comment had fueled her ire. When Katara had seen the weather-beaten glider in the tree that morning, she had understood Jeong Jeong’s cool demeanor. He was embarrassed to have landed in a tree, and snapping at Toph was only natural. No one had spoken of it after Iroh’s initial reaction.
“What a wonderful place to store your glider, Admiral Jeong Jeong,” he’d said humorously earlier that morning. Zuko let out a short bark of laughter before Jeong Jeong glared. Jeong Jeong’s aloof expression had said it all.
Katara took Toph with her down to the Air Ball arena. Aang sat on one of the raised poles with his head hanging low. Katara’s eyes lowered in compassion. Toph frowned uneasily when Katara leapt from pole to pole – nearly losing her balance once – to get to Aang. Toph milled about on the sidelines, unwilling to move onto the poles.
“Aang,” Katara said softly, sitting on a pole across the saddened Avatar. He looked up at her and managed a smile.
“Hey, Katara,” he sighed. “Wanna play some Air Ball?”
It was half-hearted, but Katara smiled anyway. “No,” she replied. “I’m afraid I won’t be much of a player.”
Aang shrugged.
“Aang,” Katara began again, putting her hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Aang replied untruthfully.
“Are you worried about Sokka?”
“Of course!” Aang replied. “But it’s not that.”
Katara’s eyes widened in realization. Though Aang himself had said it was the only way, even he was having second thoughts and fears about going into the Fire Nation with Zuko and Iroh. His first two imprisonments by the Fire Nation had been relatively short. But he would have to stay imprisoned for almost a month before Katara and Toph rescued him.
“Aang,” Katara whispered softly. “Zuko’s not like Azula. He’s not going to let anything happen to you.”
Pain filled Aang’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Katara.”
“For what?”
“For getting you into this…for attacking Azula… I never told you.”
Katara put her hand over her heart. “You don’t have to apologize to me, Aang.”
“I do,” he replied. “It’s my fault…but going with Zuko will make it right once and for all.”
Katara slept fitfully that night. The next morning they would come down from the temple and journey, one last time, to Kyoshi.
VIII.III
He could not think of Katara. No matter what, he could not think of Katara. But every time she brushed her hair away from her face, or knelt over the fire, or simply smiled, Zuko couldn’t help but think about Katara. About her smooth skin and forgiving eyes, her swaying hips and plump lips. Once he was tempted to accost her when she went down to a river to gather water. But he stayed in his seat and tried to think of everything that wasn’t Katara.
The problem was, even when she wasn’t touching him or near to him, she always offered him a special look, a kind look, or smiled demurely, secretively. He couldn’t ignore her and think about the problem at hand. She was always there in the background. In the foreground, however, were Jeong Jeong and Aang. Jeong Jeong had taken over Aang’s training, and the Avatar was improving firebending in leaps and bounds. Zuko took lessons with Jeong Jeong at times, and the training was strenuous even for him. The Avatar was an apt pupil, and seemed to have a natural knack for fire – despite his innate fear of it. Perhaps it was just Jeong Jeong’s expert tutelage.
Their pace to the port was far from leisurely, but they didn’t make as much haste as Zuko and Katara had. While it had taken Zuko and Katara only a few days, it would take the larger group a week. It was a valuable week, however, for Zuko learned many mannerisms that would help him to manipulate the Fire Lord’s council members. With Jeong Jeong’s assistance, Zuko would have them singing any tune he wanted.
“Appeal to their pride, appeal to their greed, and the Fire Council will give you whatever you want,” Jeong Jeong had said, traveling between Zuko and Iroh one afternoon.
Though Zuko had taken this advice to heart and thought about it for hours in terms of what the Fire Council would have to do for him, he had, at the same time, only half heard it. Katara and the Avatar were sharing a private moment on the road ahead of them. It was a private moment that somehow struck a chord of jealousy in Zuko.
It might not have bothered him – in fact, it might not have even occurred to him to think of the Avatar as competition – if it hadn’t been for the blind little earthbending wench. Oh, how he hated her blunt, vicious, relentless attitude. She steadfastly refused to call him anything but ‘Z,’ which made his blood boil almost as much as when Azula called him ‘Zuzu.’ She never took a moment’s respite from her snide, sarcastic remarks. What especially bothered him was her apparent bond with his uncle. Her rude comments made him laugh. She could be as vulgar and insensitive as humanly possible and still earn a chuckle out of Iroh.
One early morning, as Iroh and Jeong Jeong spoke in private, Zuko was glaring at Katara and the Avatar as they practiced waterbending. They were stripped down to their underclothes, pushing a large stream of water between them, and Katara had a content smile on her face as she and the Avatar laughed and joked. The blind, evil little earthbender raised a pillar of earth and sat next to him, a cruel smirk on her lips.
“He loves her you know,” she said lightly, twirling a trio of rocks over her fingers. “Madly.”
“Shut up, wench,” Zuko snapped, glaring uselessly at her. She might be a great earthbender, but she was still blind, and his hateful looks were lost on her.
She shrugged. “I mean, I guess it comes down to what you can offer her, Z. Aang is the Avatar. He can give her the world. You can’t even give her the Fire Nation.”
She raised a wall of rock to deflect his volcanic outburst of fire. She laughed, bending the earth beneath his feet to trip him up as he went after her again. However, her words struck a certain truth. Aang was the Avatar. He could give her the world. And Zuko couldn’t even give her the Fire Nation – not even if he reclaimed his birthright. The thought haunted him. The Avatar was free to love Katara. Zuko wasn’t even free to love himself.
But she had said the words. She said she loved him. She said she’d never leave him. She needed him, wanted him. Promises…she promised him. And he believed her. Or wanted to believe her. The truth was Zuko didn’t know what would happen when he reached the Fire Nation with Iroh and the Avatar. His father could kill him on sight. The Fire Council might not accept him as the traitor-turned-patriot. He could fail utterly, getting his uncle and the Avatar killed in the process. And then where would Katara be? Or he could succeed with the Fire Council and his father, but not be able to sneak Katara, Jeong Jeong, and Toph into the Fire Nation. The plan could go wrong so many ways; it relied so heavily on whether he succeeded or not, if he could pull it off at all.
Nevertheless, they would reach the port soon, and they would sail to Kyoshi Island. Once more to Kyoshi, and then to the Fire Nation after three years of exile. There he would die or succeed. In three days they would be on Kyoshi…he hoped they could find a ship with a gullible captain. He hoped Azula wouldn’t be there. He hoped he could pull this all off. He hoped…Katara would always stay with him as she promised.
Zuko closed his eyes to the sea breeze. He could smell the salt. He stole a glance at Katara, and saw her face was lit with anticipation. She always glowed at sea. She turned to him, and for a moment he held her gaze. Her face was unreadable, and her bottom lip trembled slightly. Then she looked back towards the sea, and the ragtag group of traitors and enemies boarded an Earth Kingdom trade ship to Kyoshi.
They had taken two cabins – the earthbender and Katara shared a room with two other women, while Jeong Jeong, Iroh, the Avatar, and Zuko himself took a cabin down the narrow halls of the Earth Kingdom ship. Trade was heavy due to the severe needs of western Kyoshi islanders after the hurricane weeks earlier. Food storehouses and granaries had been utterly destroyed. Passenger space was limited; otherwise, Zuko would have preferred not to be in such close confines with the Avatar. Though Aang spent most of his time with Katara and Toph on deck. The bratty little earthbender was easily seasick, and apparently completely blind on a wooden ship out at sea.
Zuko had taken to prowling the deck late at night, subconsciously hoping that Katara would show up. It was late in the night when she finally did, sneaking like a thief to the starboard railing. Her hair was feathery and loose in the sea breeze. She was quite picturesque. “You shouldn’t be out here,” he growled softly, taking an opportunity to surprise and frighten her.
She jumped, turning on him aggressively. Her hard eyes melted when she saw his face. “I know,” she said simply. Then, dangling her fingers over the side of the ship, she gave him a sidelong glance and asked, “Were you looking for me?”
Zuko stiffened. “No.”
She shrugged. “I was looking for you,” she replied softly.
Zuko closed his eyes and berated himself. How she could so easily expose herself to him, no shame in showing her feelings, he would never know. But her heart was bare to him if he cared to look. And he did, but sometimes he couldn’t force himself to face her. He was a traitor when he cared for her heart.
And he was a traitor when he touched her face. And he was a traitor when he pulled her softly to him. And he was a traitor when he kissed her, brushed her lips with infinite tenderness.
She turned her face from him, her bottom lip trembling. He’d never seen her cry, and she was trying her damnedest not to then. And to her credit she didn’t, though Zuko felt as if she had. “I hate it when you do that,” she murmured into his chest. “I hate it.”
Zuko felt his shoulders stiffen. She looked at him harshly, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “I imagine you care when you kiss me like that,” she told him. Then, bracing her hands against his chest, she stood on her toes and kissed his bottom lip, running her tongue along it softly, nibbling at it carefully. Zuko fought the urge to grab her, pull her against him and make her squirm. But this was how she wanted to say goodbye, so he let her. He never let her have anything; he was selfish. But he would give her this.
So he held her gently, like that night so long ago in the cave, and she kissed him like a butterfly. Her lips trailed down his neck, tickling him into a fever. Finally she hung limply against him, her body shivering like a fall leaf. Her arms clung around his neck as she breathed deeply into his chest. Zuko even allowed himself to run his hands through her loosened hair.
“Don’t die,” she whispered quietly, almost like the wind. “Don’t die. I don’t know what I’d do…”
He couldn’t even promise her that he wouldn’t. He just held her. Perhaps he needed it more than she did. He had this foreboding feeling that he wouldn’t be seeing her for a very long time. Maybe ever. But if he could give her just a few gentle kisses, then maybe it would be okay.
VIII.IV
Toph was miserable at sea, but it couldn’t be helped. It wasn’t as bad as flying, where she was completely blind. But at least she wasn’t sick to her stomach atop Appa. When they finally landed in Kyoshi, Toph vowed to never take the earth for granted again. There were dry, hopeful farewells all around – well, not all the way around – and the Avatar and Iroh left in chains in the direction of a heavy, battle class Fire Nation ship. Though Toph knew she would see Iroh, Aang, and even Prince Zuko again, she knew the next few weeks would be among the most difficult in her life.
Toph, Jeong Jeong, and Katara stayed as far away from the scene at the docks as possible. They couldn’t afford to be seen when Zuko made his move – in no way could they be connected with the young prince. So they hid in a cave on the outskirts of the port town where Aang, Sokka, and Katara had hidden before.
The past week had afforded Toph a chance to get used to the idea of traveling with Jeong Jeong and Katara. Katara and she had formed a tight bond as the only two girls in the group, but Jeong Jeong was only really known to Katara, though he was distant to her as well. Toph knew he’d been living in isolation with a few other Fire Nation refugees for several years, and that he was an intensely private and spiritual man. He seemed to have known Iroh from their time in the Fire Nation army, though Toph seemed to think the two might be distantly related. The lack of familiarity was a huge problem for Toph, who needed to trust implicitly her companions. As much as she was independent, she had become dependent on her friends.
Katara had seemed to work her magic on Aang once again, and when he finally left with Zuko, he seemed like Aang, though a bit more solemn. Toph didn’t know if Katara realized it, but Aang was deeply in love with her. If he ever found out about whatever relationship was between Zuko and Katara, he would be really hurt. It wasn’t Toph’s place to say anything, and she wasn’t sure she’d like to discuss it with Katara either. She wished she didn’t know, because she hated the responsibility. Quite frankly, Toph was glad that Aang didn’t know, but she hoped Katara would tell him one day.
However, it had been fun baiting Zuko all those times…
“I think Toph and I should get a job in town,” Katara said after a few hours of sitting in the cave. “That way we don’t look too suspicious camped out here…” She shifted on the ground and continued. “Jeong Jeong, you should pose as our grandfather, and we’ll be refugees from the mainland.” She paused. “I’ll have to find some Earth Kingdom clothes.”
Toph sighed. “I’m sure they’re all fine, Katara,” she said knowingly.
Katara straightened, then she slumped against one of the cave walls. “I hope so.”
Jeong Jeong didn’t say anything. As Toph would get to know, this was a Jeong Jeong staple.
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Rises with the Heart