11/21 (the docks) - Katara, Prince Zuko. [PART 2] WHO: Katara, Prince Zuko WHERE: the docks WHEN: November 21st, morning WHAT: confusion, lots of confusion RATING: TBA STATUS: COMPLETE
Katara felt her mouth drop slightly in shock as she watched Zuko have a perfectly pleasant conversation with the woman. It was... odd, seeing him act so poised when she'd seen him act anything but, in times past. She managed to compose herself by the time he returned, flashing him a smile that was a little more sincere than the ones she'd given him thus far.
"You're not so bad with people yourself, when you put your mind to it," she replied lightly, then glanced over her shoulder in the direction he'd pointed. That was the direction they'd come from, where the man with the taxi and the whatever it had been had tried to attack them. Not the exact same area, but close. She swallowed and adopted a determined expression.
"Okay," she nodded, looking back to Zuko. "I guess we should go that way, then." And she slowly turned and began trudging back in the direction they'd fled from less than twenty minutes earlier. As they walked, she grew contemplative, before asking, "I wonder why it is we can speak their language, but not read their writing?" Katara knew, with everything else strange that had taken place, that really shouldn't be something she was worrying about. But somehow, it seemed perhaps one of the strangest developments thus far... and a rather important one, too. Not being able to read the things posted in this society was going to make things extremely difficult, at best. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
"They probably developed alternative means of writing down the dialect," Zuko told her as they walked towards their destination. "It's like the ancients, how their method of writing was slightly different from ours - the loops in their characters were more elaborate and they used mostly characters that represented words, rather than using letter characters to spell them out. It's like--"
Zuko halted his words upon realizing that he had been rambling in a very uncharacteristic way. He didn't consider himself to be brilliant, but he did think that he was at least knowledgeable. After all, he'd sat through years upon years of strict Fire Nation tutelage, having the histories drilled into him so on the off chance that he got to rule, he'd be able to recall past happenings to be used in reference to current situations.
He frowned a bit as a group of teenage girls they past first eyed him as if he was the most fascinating thing they'd ever seen, throwing angry, jealous glares at the waterbender walking beside him, then gasped and looked away as they caught sight of his scar. Zuko pulled his hood over his head to help hide the wound, looking down some. waterbender KATARA
Katara hadn't noticed the girls, or at least not paid much attention to them, until she heard the gasp. Looking away from the building she'd been studying in the distance, she noticed Zuko pulling up his hood and looking downward. It didn't take a genius to figure out what must have happened and she felt a surge of anger on his behalf.
Turning to watch as the girls passed, she waited until they were far enough away and then reacted. An almost casual movement of her arm in a large circular motion and, as the grass beside them wilted then died, an enormous downpour of water fell upon the group's heads. There were shrieks of surprise, then outrage, as well as complaints of their hair and make-up being ruined. One girl even began to cry, something about her dress not being allowed to get wet and how her mother was going to kill her.
Katara, however, hadn't even broken her stride throughout the entire situation so she was too far away to hear much more than mutters of indignation after that point. A small, satisfied sort of smile curved her lips upward then turned into a downright enormous grin as she spotted the building about a half a block or so ahead. "I think that's it!" she exclaimed, motioning to the sign sticking out of the side. The lettering looked the same as it had on the card, at least.
Quickly she looked to Zuko. "May I see the card?" she asked, blue eyes alight with excitement. She couldn't believe they had actually found the place. That alone felt like a pretty large victory, to her at least. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko lifted his head, handing the card over to Katara. He didn't wait for her though, merely pulled his hood down and strolled inside. He looked around, glaring harshly at the curious stares that seemed to be glued onto his scar from the room full of teenagers. They had various skin tones and even more shockingly, hair. Yellow hair, red hair, even one with purple hair.
Yeah, he was going to guess and say that they were a long, long way from home.
He glanced over his shoulder to see if Katara was behind him or not, when an older woman approached him.
"Ahh," she said, "I see you're one of the more unfortunate ones."
His eyes narrowed. "Unfortunate?"
She gave him a soft smile and waved her hand at him. "Oh, no, never mind that, deary. Let's see to getting you accommodated. You're practically screaming newcomer." Turning, the woman reached for a clipboard on the counter, but Zuko interjected.
"Wait," he said, "my...uh...friend is coming." Zuko pointed to Katara.
"Ahh, I see. Well, it's probably for the best that you room with your girlfriend. We don't have many rooms to spare, so you might as well share."
Zuko's eyes went wide, he flushed, then groaned, then smacked his hand to his forehead with a loud smack. And here comes the part where I drown, he thought, hand still covering his face. waterbender KATARA
Katara was so busy marvelling at the fact that she'd actually recognized the markings as the same ones from the card that she didn't realize Zuko had gone inside already. Once she finally noticed she hurried in after him, her face set in a light frown for a second before turning into a shell-shocked type of expression. She had seen a lot of things during her travels with Aang but never before had she encountered so many different-looking sorts of people in one room before.
Making her way to Zuko, she noticed he had his hand to his forehead and the frown returned. "Thanks for waiting," she couldn't help but snip, before asking, "What's wrong now?"
The woman whom he had been speaking to interjected first, her smile warm and welcoming. "Hello, my dear. I'm glad you decided to join us. If I could just have your names, I'll see about getting that room ready for you," she stated.
Katara blinked. "Room?" she echoed. "Don't you mean rooms?"
The woman laughed lightly and shook her head. "No, I meant room. As I was telling your boyfriend, we only have a few to spare so it makes sense if you're together. Besides," her voice dropped lower and she leaned closer. "I'm sure you'd much rather bunk with him than on your own anyway, hmm? Don't worry, we don't judge that sort of thing." And with a little wink that made Katara's jaw drop slightly, she looked back down to her clipboard. "Now... names?"
"I'm Katara, he's Zuko, and could you give us just a moment please?" the Waterbender quickly replied, grabbing Zuko by the arm and practically dragging him to a corner of the room, away from everyone else. Once they were alone, she fixed him with a glare. "I left you alone for less than a minute and now we're not only sharing a room, but dating?!?" she demanded, spots of color appearing high on her cheeks and her hands clenched at her sides. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
"I didn't tell her we were dating, waterbender!" He shouted at her, hints of his old personality filtering back in. "She assumed. Before I had a chance to correct her, you came waltzing in and she cut me off. Besides, why would I want to date you, when I have a girl--"
His expression softened, melting into an almost sad one as he turned away from her. No, he didn't have a girlfriend. Not anymore. Mai had left him when he'd decided to help the Avatar. It hurt that she did. Not much because he had liked her, even though he thought he had, but because someone whom he thought liked him turned her back on him when he perhaps needed her the most.
The woman approached them. "Zuko, Katara? We found you a room, if you would just follow me."
Zuko let out a heavy sigh, casting a look at Katara as he past her, following the woman down a long hallway. "Let's just go to the room." waterbender KATARA
Katara narrowed her eyes, not believing him for one second. Why should she? He'd already proven time and again that he couldn't be trusted and she was sure that this latest bit of anger aimed at her was all some part of some nefarious plot he was hatching. A bit of a stretch, she would admit if she weren't so furious and frightened all at the same time, but for now she went with it.
"Fine," she snapped, catching up and then brushing past him with her head held high and her attention focused on the woman she was following.
"Here we are. It's one of our larger rooms, with a full-sized bed to sleep in," the woman stated brightly as she opened the door and stepped inside, turning on the light. She grinned at them. "That should give you both plenty of room without making you feel like you're on seperate sides of the planet." Another one of those jaw-dropping, slightly uncomfortable winks was tossed their way and Katara quickly turned her attention to somewhere, anywhere else in the room besides the bed itself.
"Now, breakfast is at eight in the morning and dinner is at seven at night. We sometimes provide a lunch but lately most of the group has been heading into town to help with the reconstruction. The city offers food and beverages for anyone who chips in, and their food tends to be much better than ours." She handed each of them a key - presumably to the room - and pointed to one of the closed doors. "There's your closet, with blankets and sheets for the bed." She pointed to the other door. "And there's the bathroom. It has a door on the other side that leads to another room, but the young man staying there is a little... cranky, so it's probably best if you just leave him be."
Katara examined the key then gave the woman a hesitant look. "You wouldn't happen to know where we might get a change in clothing, would you?" she asked quietly.
"Oh, of course!" came the jovial reply. "We have several boxes full of donated clothing. I'm sure we can find you something. For now, though, why don't you two get settled in and I'll send someone to come get you when I have a bit of time to look, all right? There's so much to do after all and..."
Katara smoothly cut her off with a kind smile. "Yes, of course. Whenever is best for you. Thank you, really."
The woman patted her arm and gave a slight squeeze. "You'll be all right, my dear," she assured her. "You both will. I'll see you soon!" And then she was out the door, pulling it closed behind her, and Katara was left with nobody to speak to but Zuko.
All of a sudden the once fairly large-sized room became far too small for her tastes. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Granted, the bed was big enough for the both of them to sleep in without so much as coming close to touching each other, but he didn't like that idea and assumed that she didn't either. A firebender, former prince of the Fire Nation, sleeping beside a waterbending peasant who was once his mortal enemy? No. He didn't think so.
And while he had gotten used to sleeping in the warm, comfortable bed in his room at the palace, he would gladly sleep on the floor and let her have the bed. The less reminders he had of the palace, the better. Oh, how ironic it was that when he got what he wanted, when he got his father to accept him and was once more able to live like the prince he was, he was absolutely miserable. Trying so hard to be happy in a dull relationship with a girl who barely cracked a smile and pretended to care for him, to not be stuck in the shadow of his powerful little sister, to not be seen as a traitor.
But, that's what he was. A traitor. No matter what he did, from some angle, he was always treacherous.
With a heavy sigh, he undid the clasps of his robe, letting it hang open so that his bare chest - he'd thrown the robe on on top of his sleeping pants as to avoid getting fully dressed - and went to the closet, drawing out the various sheets and pillows that were held up within it. Silently, he put the sheets on the bed, spreading the blanket over it and placing the pillows at the headboard. He left one pillow and a single sheet sitting on a chair near the closet for his own use. He would just lay on the sheet and use his robe to cover himself.
"You can have the bed," he told her, as he turned around, fully shrugging his robe off, feeling a bit too warm within it's thick fabric. He draped it across the bed post and moved to where a mirror was at on a nearby wall. The dark red bands were still clinging to his upper arms, a sign of the title he once had. With a frown, he pulled them off, dropping them into the waist basket. waterbender KATARA
Katara watched him, her eyes widening slightly at his bare chest. She'd been running around this city with a half-naked Zuko? She'd been crammed into a small, dark crevice with a half-naked Zuko? Feeling a little faint, she slowly sat upon the bed and tried to wrap her mind around that fact. Then she remembered the predicament they were in and decided, in the grand scheme of things, this wasn't nearly as important as the other obstacles they were facing.
Sleeping arrangements being at the top of the list, currently.
"No," she objected firmly, finding her voice and standing back up once more. Turning to face him - or at least his reflection in the mirror since his back was currently to her, she added, "You can have the bed. I'll take the floor."
She didn't know why she offered, exactly. She didn't want to sleep on the floor when faced with the option of a comfortable bed. But she also didn't want to give him anything he could later use against her. Allowing him to play the martyr in this case would do exactly that. So she would rather sleep on the floor knowing he had nothing to dangle over her head come morning.
"At least we'll have a change of clothes soon," she added after a second, trying very hard to be positive when all she really wanted to do was fume at him for shouting at her earlier and somehow blame him for the woman's belief that they were a couple. She could be the bigger person, though. As much as it may eat her up inside to do so. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko was perfectly comfortable in the clothing he was in, but it suddenly dawned on him that she might not be so comfortable with it. He had only the pair of pants he'd slept in the previous night on, leaving his upper half bare for the whole world to see. Not only did he have the scar on his face, but also little cuts and bruises from the numerous battles he'd been in dotting his skin. Agni, he must be horrible to look at.
Pushing his hurt aside, Zuko raised an eyebrow at her statement. "No, you take the bed and I'll sleep on the floor. Just because I was a prince doesn't mean I need to sleep in something cushion and furnished. I'm fine on the floor." waterbender KATARA
Katara shook her head, a stubborn expression filling her face. She wasn't going to back down from this one. "No," she responded. "You're sleeping in the bed. I'm taking the floor."
Considering the discussion closed, she headed toward the window and peered outside, frowning lightly at the view of what looked to be some kind of alley. Remembering the creature they'd encountered she shivered and let the curtains fall closed once more. Then she turned back to Zuko.
"Did you hear what that woman said? Reconstruction. I wonder what happened here?" Now she was going for idle conversation. Hanging around in a room with her nerves on edge and nowhere else to go to escape wasn't sitting well with her. She'd rather talk than be stuck with her own thoughts for company. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Frankly, Zuko didn't really give a damn about the state of this city. He felt like he should, but with the mood he was currently in? It could be flooding outside those windows for all he cared. He decided it was best not to voice his thoughts, though, as the ever-compassionate waterbender would more than likely give him a vocal licking for being so pesssimistic. Not to mention accuse him of being the same person he was a year ago.
That, was a lecture Zuko didn't need to hear. Not after everything that had went down at the palace prior to his coming here.
"No," he said, standing and moving so that he was barely a foot away from her. "You are sleeping on the bed. I can sleep on the floor - if you think I'm going up and kill you in the middle of the night, I won't sleep. I'll stay awake and wait until you're up to go to sleep myself. To which, if I wanted you dead, don't you think I would've done it already?" waterbender KATARA
Katara sighed in frustration and glanced toward the ceiling. "I don't think you're going to kill me in my sleep, Zuko," she replied in a weary tone. "I just... I want to sleep on the floor." There. It wasn't entirely true, but sometimes you had to bend the truth a little. This was one of those times.
Returning his gaze to him, she opened her mouth to say something else but her voice didn't seem to want to work. Not when all she could see what Zuko's bare chest. Eyes wide, she slowly looked up the expanse of naked flesh until her blue gaze met his golden one. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally snapped it shut and tried to focus on something - anything - besides how very close he was.
"I..." Great. Now she was making sounds but not forming actual, coherent sentences. Could this get any worse? Clearing her throat, she tried again. "I'm not used to a bed," she pointed out, keeping her gaze locked on his face and refusing to look below his neck. "I've spent most of my time sleeping on the ground, under the stars. I want to sleep on the floor."
There. Now her lie didn't sound quite as unconvincing as it had. Hopefully this would settle the dispute and he'd find something else to do. Like go find a shirt to put on. Or another room to sleep in. Or take a shower. Or... As images of Zuko, in the shower, assaulted her mind's eyes, Katara let out a soft whimper and quickly turned back to the window.
"Maybe we should just explain to the woman that we aren't together and see if we can get seperate rooms," she proposed in a slightly strained voice. She didn't know what was wrong with her, or why she was suddenly seeing Zuko in such a strange, new light, but she didn't like the feeling whatsoever. It made her feel stupid around him. Slow. She needed to focus, not start daydreaming about how he might look wearing nothing but a towel around his lean waist with droplets of water sticking to his chest...
Another muffled whimper and Kaatara decided, if he didn't get some clothes on and soon, she'd be the one taking the shower. A very cold shower, in fact. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko caught on to the stuttering and the glances to his exposed flesh and couldn't help but grin. It was...nice, to be noticed, especially when he felt so ugly and blinding to the eyes. Especially after Mai's shunning of him, even if the attention was from a former enemy, it was enough to give his damaged ego a little boost.
He moved in behind her, close behind her, so that he was lightly pressing himself against her back, resting one palm on the wall beside the window. Craning his head down, he whispered into her ear: "It's not nice to oggle." waterbender KATARA
Katara gasped when he pressed himself against her back, her eyes wide and her entire body going completely still. She could feel the heat his body gave off, feel his breath against her ear as he whispered. Swallowing audibly, her body gave a great tremble.
"I wasn't ogling," she objected, trying for the tone she used when Sokka accused her of doing something just to shift the focus off what he had been doing. She came up sorely lacking, however, her voice sounding airy and strained.
That same damned flush climbed even higher up her cheeks and Katara closed her eyes in embarrassment. "Just... leave me alone, Zuko," she finally said in a small voice, re-opening her eyes and staring, unseeing, at the blinds covering the window. "Just leave me alone." At that point, she sounded like she might cry. She felt like she might cry. Hell, she wanted to cry. She just wouldn't dare give Zuko the satisfaction of doing so. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Now, Zuko felt like an asshole. He'd been trying to make a joke, a joke he found rather amusing in his mind, as his former enemy had been looking at him in a way she probably shouldn't have, but it had seemingly backfired on him, as his attempt at humor had made her upset. The sound of her voice told him that much and he frowned, remembering his uncle's lectures about thinking things through before acting upon his ideas. Zuko had a bad habit of acting first and thinking later. Perhaps if he'd played his words and actions out in his head before hand, he wouldn't seen how inappropriate he was being.
Yes, very in appropriate. He was standing half-naked, with his back pressed against a girl who was wearing clothes that were rather revealing in some areas, as he could feel the skin of her back touching his stomach. That alone made him blush (apparently just realizing that the waterbender was in fact a girl) and brought up the arm that wasn't supporting him against the wall and gently wrapped it around her shoulders.
"I'm sorry," he told her. "I was trying to be funny, but my sense of humor...is really...off," he admitted awkwardly.
Zuko then drew away from her, moving to sit in a chair on the opposite side of the room and play with a small flame that he was making dance across the fingers of his left hand. waterbender KATARA
Had he just hugged her? Katara's eyes widened slightly and she realized, before she'd even had time to wrap her mind around such a concept as him actually hugging her, that he had moved away from her as well. Releasing a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, the Waterbender slowly turned around and found Zuko seated in a chair that was, quite possibly, the furthest point from her that he could get without physically leaving the room.
Now she felt bad. She'd been so convinced he was being mean to her, taunting her reaction to his state of undress, that it had never crossed her mind that he might just be joking. Truthfully, she'd never really considered the fact that Zuko was even capable of making a joke.
Sighing softly, she moved to the bed and perched upon the edge of it, looking anywhere in the room that she could besides him. It was as her gaze was sweeping over the nightstand that she spotted it. A small card that was shaped in the form of a triangle, with lettering upon it. And one of those lines of lettering she could actually read.
With a gasp, Katara snatched the card up and studied it. "Welcome to the East Hills Teen Centre. If you require any assistance, the staff will be happy to help you, day or night," she read quietly, flipping the triangular shaped pamphlet over so she could see if there was anything else. There was, but it wasn't anything she could read. In fact, it looked as though there were several different languages printed upon the paper. With a furrowed brow she flipped it back over and studied the only print that she could make heads or tails of.
Slowly, she looked to Zuko. "Chinese," she stated suddenly. "We read what they call Chinese. Clearly, the people of Los Angeles, don't." firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko stood, closing his hand around the flame he was playing with the extinguish it. Moving over to her, he took the pamphlet out of her hands, finding that she was correct - they could indeed read the language the pamphlet named as Chinese. It was still odd, like Katara said, that they could speak and understand the language spoke here, but could not read the way the wrote it down. It was yet another one of those strange quirks about this place.
Just as he went to set the pamphlet down, a small device with flashing digits began to give off a shrieking high pitched noise that made Zuko drop the paper and jump back, igniting his hands and arms with bright, hot fire.
"What in Agni's name is that accursed noise!?" He demanded, looking to the device, then around it, clearly confused as to WHY or HOW it was making that dreadful sound. waterbender KATARA
Katara was on her feet the second the sound filled the room, her eyes wide and the water that remained in her pouch instantly covering both hands. She followed the same line of sight Zuko did, the water returning to her pouch as she hesitantly reached for the small device that was making such a loud, grating noise. There were buttons on top and a few knobs on the side and Katara quickly touched one and drew her hand back, as though afraid it might hurt her. When it didn't do any good, but she also didn't get hurt, she tried another one. A few seconds of hitting various buttons and she'd finally had enough. She slammed her palm down on top of the thing, going for as many buttons as she could at one time.
And the noise stopped.
The silence that filled the room afterward was a blessing. Exhaling in relief, the Waterbender pulled her hand slowly away from the noisemaker. There was something sticking out the back of it - some sort of rope made with material she'd never before seen - and with a quick, nervous glance toward Zuko she grabbed the cord and yanked hard. Something gave way on the other side and the flashing digits went away. Dropping the cord she backed away.
"This place is horrible," she announced, turning her wide-eyed gaze to Zuko. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
"This place needs therapy," Zuko commented, sneering at the device that had been trying to burst his eardrums.
With a shake of his head and a sigh, Zuko sat down on the bed...only to stand straight back up when he realized that that might hint to her that he'd caved in and was indeed going to take the bed. To which, he wasn't. He would sleep on the floor, and she'd take the bed. Instead, he simply crossed his arms over his bare chest and stared at an odd picture of a night sky on the opposite wall.
"I will never complain about Ba Sing Se again." waterbender KATARA
Deciding that she wanted to make absolutely sure there wasn't anything else in the room that could scare either of them to death at any given moment, Katara began opening the drawers in the dresser and peering inside. "Ba Sing Se wasn't so bad," she replied, glancing over her shoulder at him. "It was better than some of the outer-lying villages, at least." Which was true. Then again, her view of the Earth Kindom city had probably been different than Zuko's. Her view of most things were different than his.
Crouching down to investigate the bottom drawers she found them empty and slowly stood back up again. "I wonder when that woman is going to send for us," she commented idly, glancing toward the closed door. She would rather get out of the clothes she was wearing sooner instead of later. The fact that they were Fire Nation was bad enough, but copeable. It was how they fit her, and the fact that she stuck out like a sore thumb when wearing them here, that had her the most bothered. Although considering some of the clothes she'd seen the girls wearing so far, Katara had to admit that she might end up wishing she were back in the Fire Nation ensemble before all was said and done.
Her blue-eyed gaze went to the bed then flickered to Zuko. They never had really settled that debate, but she had ended up getting in the last word so she assumed that meant she won. Which meant she wasn't going back to sit on the bed that was now his. Instead she opted for the chair he'd been in earlier, drumming her fingers against her thighs in nervous anticipation. Of what, however, she couldn't say for sure. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko caught her gaze moving between him and the bed and gave a roll of his golden eyes. "Oh please, don't tell me you're still stuck on the bed issue? I told said you could have it. I'm not sleeping on it. Either you can sleep on it, or you can sleep on the floor with me."
As if to emphasize his point, Zuko sat down cross-legged on the floor, arms still folded over his chest and he peered at her, silently challenging her. He didn't understand why she just didn't say thank you and accept his offer, for he was trying to do the right thing and let the female among the two of them have the bed. He could've been a prick and claimed the bed for himself, but he imagined that even that way, it would've ruffled the waterbender's feathers.
There was just no pleasing her. He didn't know how the Avatar put up with her.
"I hate this place," he muttered. waterbender KATARA
Katara gave an exasperated sigh and rose to her feet. "Would you stop it?" she replied, eying him with a disdainful expression.
"You're acting like a spoiled child," she continued in frustration. "I said I didn't want to sleep on the bed. It doesn't make any sense for both of us to sleep on the floor. Just take the bed and stop arguing with me!" She wasn't going to change her mind, especially not now that the proverbial line had been drawn. If she gave in to his demands, he'd think he could order her around from here on out. She might be wearing Fire Nation clothing but she was Waterbender through and through. She was not going to cater to his demands just because he expected her to.
"Honestly," she muttered, turning toward the artwork on the walls rather than continuing to glare at him. "I don't see why you have to be so stubborn about this." firebender PRINCE ZUKO
"I am not a spoiled child! Just because I spent part of my childhood within the confining walls of a palace, does not make me spoiled! I am trying to be nice to you, waterbender. Trying to make what I had originally planned work by being the stereotypical nice guy who lets the girl have the bed and sleeps on the floor. It's called being a gentleman!"
Zuko stood then, taking hold of her shoulders in an attempt to make her sit down on the bed. waterbender KATARA
Katara had turned toward him when he began defending herself, intent on pointing out (rather heatedly, of course) that she'd said nothing about his heritage but was merely commenting on his current actions. Instead he grabbed her and she stiffened, her blue eyes narrowing in anger.
"Don't touch me!" she all but shrieked, adding on a livid, "I don't take orders from you!" Bringing both hands up, she shoved against his chest with as much strength as she could muster in an attempt to get him away from her. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
Zuko wasn't really sure how it happened, but he somehow ended up on the bed, lying atop the protesting waterbender. When she had started pushing against him, his anger built up even further and his instincts kicked in, 'causing him to grab her and use her own strength against her. It resulted in her going to the bed and taking him along with her, a roll or two in attempt to gain dominance, and him pinning her to the mattress with his body, wearing a smug grin to show that he had won.
And he would've vocalized his victory, if not for the sound of the door creaking as it was swung open.
"Oh my!" The woman, a bit younger than the one who had shown them in, exclaimed. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt! I'll come back if it's a bad time..." waterbender KATARA
One minute they were fighting, the next Zuko had her pinned and someone was coming into the room. Katara opened her mouth to object but, before she could even so much as try to explain that it was not what it looked like, the woman had already closed the door.
Under normal circumstances, Katara might have laughed the incident off. There would have been a lot of blushing, a lot of stammering, and no amount of mortification at the fact that he was half-nude and on top of her. Given the situation, though, she wasn't amused. She was angry. Very angry.
"You nut-brained, sexist, narrow-minded, hot-headed FIREBENDER!" she all but roared, turning all of her embarrassment and anger to the man on top of her. Yanking one of her hands free, Katara balled it up into a fist and, using as much strength as she could muster, punched Zuko as hard as she could.
Then, she promptly burst into tears. firebender PRINCE ZUKO
This was one of those moments in which Zuko should've thought things through. For he should've gotten off of her and apologized instead of looking at her like a smug bastard who'd just won some glorious victory. Oh, sometimes there was so much of Ozai in him that it made the rest of him want to scream. Yes, he partly deserved the punch to the face, but it didn't mean he was happy about it.
Practically jumping off her, Zuko clutched the side of his throbbing face for a moment, glaring angrily at her. He didn't say a word, though, merely grabbed his robe and yanked it on, pushing past the woman at the door as he stormed out of the building, resisting the urge to set the place on fire.
"Lovers quarrel?" The woman asked Katara innocently.