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[benevolently.livejournal.com]

A pre-masquerade log! Just catching up on posting these. XD;

Who: Katara & Zuko~
What: Katara asks Zuko to the masquerade.
When: After this!
Where: Outside.
Rating: PG.



It was now or never. Katara had finally taken the first step in asking Zuko to go to the dance.. But he was honestly the last person she expected to be interested in. That was, before she found him in Paradisa. And she was surprised at how much she grew to like him.

That was the easiest part, though, she realized, as she waited for him outside the castle. She paced around a little, thinking about exactly how she wanted to word it. He would be here in any moment now, and the thought made her very nervous.

Zuko had more than his share of nerves when Katara had asked him to meet her outside the Castle. He had complied, but he was exceedingly nervous about the prospect. He had...attained a soft-spot for her since they had been trapped in Ba Sing Se...but for some odd reason, he couldn't remember why she had left. Wasn't it...Aang? But that didn't make sense.

He shrugged it off, and continued out. Uncle had been attempting to coerce him into asking Katara to the dance for some time now, he knew it, even if he had pretended like he didn't. He didn't really like being forced into things, but he knew he was a bit shy to actually do this himself...so he followed Katara's request, giving her a shy grin when he neared her outside.

Katara couldn't help but blush when he gave that shy grin, and she smiled back as he approached her. "Hey. Thanks.. for meeting me out here," she said, wondering if he probably knew why she asked in the first place. His uncle didn't try to cover the fact that he wanted them to be together. She never liked being forced into anything either, but she started to like Zuko before all of this even started. When or how that happened .. She couldn't even tell.

"Um.. How have you been?" she asked. The last time she saw him was that night Jet insisted on fighting. Oh, she hoped that would never happen again. But with Jet around, she wasn't too sure about that possibility.

He nodded to her greeting, and shrugged nonchalantly. "I've been okay, the injuries healed themselves relatively quickly," he explained, giving her a reassuring grin. Zuko was a man, and he was going to act all tough about the fight between Jet. That boy was...stubborn, and driven. Zuko could have appreciated that, had he remembered what it was like to be so driven. No, in his mind, he had meandered throughout the world attempting to regain his honor for almost 3 years, with no avail. Of course, he couldn't remember how he had been expected to do so.

"So..." he began, looking at her through his 'good' eye shyly. "Er...so..." he stuttered, trying to figure out what to say, without being...rude.

"I'm glad to hear that." Katara gave an earnest nod, and was she relieved about his answer. She wasn't too worried about their injuries, but rather, how they both felt. There was just .. so much anger, she couldn't help it.

"Oh, um, " she smiled again when he attempted to move on with the subject, and glanced down to her feet for a moment before she looked back to him. Tilting her head, she began to walk a little, and took in a breath. She had to get out with it already.

"You know how.. that masquerade is coming up, right?" Of course he did! She avoided looking at him. "Well, I was just wondering if .."

She stopped then, bringing her gaze to his eyes. "If .. you'd like to go with me." Her heart was definitely pounding ten times faster.

Zuko took a step back, and almost seemed to flounder as he searched for air. His mind moved in a whirlwind of confusion as he looked at her with widened eyes, well...a widened eye and another eye attempting to widen, which really didn't work out since he was so heavily scarred.

Instead, he looked at her trying to figure out what to say. Yes, he wanted to go with her, he was...debating asking her, but how would he say it without sounding like a total moron? 'Sure' sounded way too casual, and 'yes!' sounded too much like a blushing bride being proposed too.

He pondered the idea. How could he say it?

He swallowed, and gave her a shy grin. "I'd like that alot," he admitted, a faint tinge of red on his cheeks.

Although she knew Iroh pressed the idea of them going together, she was surprised that Zuko accepted. ".. r-really?" she asked quietly, her cheeks turning red as well. It made her happy that he felt the same way she did. The hardest part was over now!

"I've.. been meaning to ask you since we got the invitations. I wasn't sure what you'd say," she admitted with a sheepish grin.

Zuko blushed furiously, and looked down at his feet shyly. "I-I was thinking about asking you," he mumbled, admitting his original intent shyly, before looking back up at Katara. He didn't know what else to say. He felt really...awkward around her, but he did like her, alot.

Katara laughed softly and just nodded, reaching out to take his hands into her own. "Well, I'm glad I asked you then." She wondered if Zuko was always this shy, especially back in their world, when he wasn't chasing them around.

"So, um... Have you ever been to a masquerade? I imagine you've been to dances before," she asked out of curiosity, gently encouraging him to open upto her more. She didn't know much about his life, but she wanted to change that.

Zuko shook his head slowly, and gave her a grin. "No, never a masquerade," he admitted, before shrugging just slightly. "Although all the balls I had ever been to were...boring," he emphasized the word. "The last one I went to was when I was 14, though," he admitted, shaking his head. He had been completely bored with the prospect of dancing with the boring girls in the fire nation, especially that creepy Mai.

"Heh, I always thought that balls were suppose to be fun, until Toph explained otherwise," she grinned at his choice of wording, and continued to listen to him.

"There are so many different people here, I bet this one will be fun." As long as they didn't want to start any fights, Katara was pretty certain about it.

"Would you mind if.. we hung out with Aang, Sokka and Toph?" she asked then, realizing that they had to work out their plans soon. Aang and Sokka were probably still waiting to hear from her.

Zuko nodded, tipping his head in mild thought. "That is true, although I would hope that they wouldn't start any fights," he grimaced, remembering his own with Jet. That was stupid. He should have just ignored the taunts of the boy, like his uncle would have preferred. He was starting to realize that his uncle was far wiser than he ever gave credit for.

It was a stunning realization that he really hadn't realized.

He listened to more of Katara's words, but then shook his head. "I...I don't mind," he admitted softly. "As long as I don't cause any problems being there," he admitted.

"It's not going to cause any trouble at all," Katara offered him a reassuring smile, and gave his hands a light squeeze before she finally let them go.

"I've seen your conversations with Aang. You guys.. get along, and, Sokka actually agreed to work with you," she said, quite pleased that things were working out. With the exception of Jet. Getting him to work with them and play nicely would take a while.

Zuko swallowed as she pulled her hands away...the sensation had been...nice, if he had to admit something. He liked it. What was he talking about, he liked...her.

Grinning slightly, he nodded. "Your brother didn't kill me, and I do remember that he was hardly my biggest fan before," he admitted with a wry grin and a shrug. He didn't know why, but this hadn't just started with Paradisa. He did remember being trapped with Katara beneath the Earth Kingdom, although the abrupt ending to their conversation was murky, and a figure he couldn't place wouldn't surface in his mind. Regardless...he sighed, and nodded. "Then I don't mind," he said with finality.

Katara blinked once or twice, nearly frowning at Zuko's sigh. There were times where he got so lost in thought, she wasn't sure just what was going through his head. When he finally spoked up, she grinned slightly and started to walk again. They were headed for that same open field from that night, she realized.

"Great! So, do you know if your Uncle has any plans for that night?" She had to ask. Iroh had been.. so kind to her, and he seemed to be very wise. She was sure he'd probably find some good company for tea, and attend the feast. Katara wasn't sure if she wanted him to know that they were going to the dance together, though. They would never hear the end of it!

Zuko blinked, and shook his head wryly at the mention of his uncle. "He mentioned the feast, although I don't think he has any interest in the ball," other than to torment us, he admitted to himself. His uncle would at the very least try and peak his head in, in the interest of catching a view of Zuko and Katara getting along. He wondered sometimes about the sanity of his uncle. Sometimes Iroh was far too obvious with what he wanted from Zuko, or even Katara. It had been quite obvious what he wanted the other day when they had tea...and the other day when he mentioned grand nieces and grand nephews. He would not mention that to Katara.

As they walked, he managed to look up into the sky, admiring the view of the twilight, and wondered if it would ever rain here, or snow, or do anything that wasn't...perfect weather.

Grand nieces and nephews? Katara would've denied any interest at all in having children if she heard it. And would've agreed with Zuko that his uncle was .. crazy. While she loved and cherished the watertribe, her people lived strictly under their customs. The women were meant to bare children and heal, and the men were fighters. She was lucky when Master Pakku agreed to further teaching her about waterbending. Katara wanted to fight and live the way she desired to.

She nodded to Zuko's words with a small "oh," and continued to walk alongside him. She fell quiet and glanced over to Zuko, noticing his gaze into the sky. She looked up as well, in awe about the beauty and perfection of this place. "Pretty, hm? I'm surprised it hasn't rained or anything since I got here," she thought aloud.

Zuko released a soft laugh, and nodded. "I was just thinking that," he admitted, giving her a reassuring grin. "Its so...serene," he admitted with a sigh, still looking up. He didn't want to tell her of the more...macarbe thoughts that touched his mind, thinking of the fact that such beauty had to come at a price that none of them should have been made to pay.

Mind...Zuko honestly...didn't mind this place as much...other than the fact that it had taken something from both him and his uncle...he...he enjoyed getting this chance to try again with Katara. When they had been trapped underneath the Earth Kingdom...there had been...problems...they had been trapped...they had been unable to escape...but it was good to know that here they could...let things run their course a bit more naturally.

Katara's cheeks flushed a bit when she realized they were both thinking the same thing. She nodded a little to his grin, and looked back up into the sky. She was finally getting to see a softer side to Zuko. It was.. really nice. She was thankful for it. It only further proved her belief that everyone in the Fire Nation wasn't evil, as most people assumed. It was just.. the sad truth of war and politics.

"Yeah, it is," she said softly, sighing to herself. She crossed her arms and looked ahead then, seeing faint lights in the distance.

"Oh, the village is not too far ahead. I didn't realize we walked so far already," she pointed out.

Zuko blinked as they walked, following her indication, and nodded with amusement. "So we have..." he mentioned, continuing to walk...slowly starting to feel more and more at ease around the waterbender.

He was feeling a bit...thirsty...but if he wanted to be honest with himself, he didn't quite want to turn back to the castle yet. He wanted to keep walking, and he looked over to Katara with a faint blush and a mismatched gaze as he swallowed visibly. "Er...are you thirsty?" he asked, gripping the side of his clothing tightly. Was it supposed to be this hard to ask a girl to do anything?

Katara had paused in her footsteps for a moment, and gently bit down on her lip. She wasn't sure what to do. Turn around? Keep going? She didn't want to return to the castle so quickly yet either. She wanted to talk outside for a reason. Just .. for a chance to get away. Noticing that he was suddenly ahead of her, Katara quickened her pace to catch up and smiled at his suggestion.

"Mm, let's get something to drink before we head back then?" She tried to make it easy for him. Zuko was just as nervous as she was about this whole this. Luckily Katara wasn't as shy, though. She could easily be herself around him.

Zuko bit back a wide grin that threatened to spread across his face, and instead smiled at her lighly, feeling his heartbeat quicken a few beats. Wh-how was it that her acceptance could do this to him, he wondered.

He decided to lead her to a teashop that he had seen a sign for as they walked into the village in mild camaderie, and he wondered how he was supposed to walk or talk to her. He had...very little experience with women, except for that girl that his uncle had attempted to coerce him into going on a date with.

Following Zuko's lead, Katara walked along with him into the village. She blinked, also unsure of what to say. The silence didn't last very long though as they approached the teashop.

"I saw this the last time I walked out here. Hope it's as good as your Uncle's," she grinned, reaching out to pull open the door. She waved her hand for him to go in first. Traveling with Aang, Sokka and Toph, the waterbender was quite use to doing things for herself after all.

Zuko looked at her weakly, and entered, hesitating to wait for her to enter. He wasn't so bold as to force her to enter before him. He could be a gentleman, but he knew when a companion didn't want such help. Instead, he was willing to concede.

"I don't know if it will be as good as Uncle's," he answered her with a wry smile. "He does have the best tea," he admitted with a faint blush. He rarely admitted that.

Before Katara could agree with him, she noticed the waitress headed in their direction, and she nodded slightly at the woman. "Ah, yes. We need a table for two, please." She only just realized how weird it was to say that. It use to be a table for three or a four. And two, that one time with Momo. But now .. it was for Zuko and herself.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when they were pointed to a table, and she followed the waitress. Not before glancing back to make sure Zuko was following, though.

Zuko followed, albiet shyly. He was...used to 'tables for two', but normally the other person would his uncle, who would chat and flirt with any woman that would come by, and it always made Zuko feel exceedingly ashamed. He just didn't understand the reasoning behind it...but Katara...Katara was quiet...and a good conversationalist, at least to Zuko.

Of course, that might be the problem. Zuko wasn't much of a conversationalist. He followed, and when given a table, he sat down into the seat gingerly.

"Thanks," Katara smiled as they were passed a small menu of tea and snacks that they served. All she did was glance down the list, quickly put hers back down. Jasmine and milk tea were both her favorites, so she immediately knew what she wanted. Looking over to Zuko, she tilted her head curiously at him and decided to spark up some conversation. She remembered him to be.. angry, usually, and watching him be so quiet still surprised her.

"Your uncle mentioned you know how to make tea too, right? When did you learn?" She barely had time to ask about it that night when Iroh was focused on other... things.

Zuko had continued to look at the menu after Katara had set hers down, still surveying the options. "Oh, er..." he almost shrunk down into his chair.

"I don't really know," he admitted. "I just kind of...made up how to do it," he grumbled. He really didn't know how, and he knew his uncle really didn't like his tea. He expected it tasted really bad. Finally, his eye caught a good tea. Ginger tea looked the best to him.

"Oh," Katara had to bite down on her lower lip to stop herself from laughing. She wasn't laughing at him, just ... he made it up? She couldn't help at least cracking a grin, but she immediately covered it up with a hand.

"Oh. That's okay. It's the thought that counts, right?" Dropping her hand back into her lap, she gave him a reassuring smile. Even if the tea was bad, his uncle must've appreciated it, she imagined.

Zuko noticed the slight upturn of her lips, and grinned with embarassment. "Yeah, I think he did," he admitted, folding up his menu gingerly, and it wasn't long at all before the waitress had made her way over, and he placed his order slowly, avoiding eye-contact with her.

"Black tea with milk for me. Thank you," she picked up both of their menus and passed it to the waitress, watching her scribble down their orders. Katara then turned her attention back to Zuko, and laughed a little this time.

"You could ask him to teach you along with the firebending. We have time," she suggested gently. No matter how much they all wanted to go home, they couldn't exhaust themselves by thinking about it everyday.

Zuko nodded. "I was planning on it," he admitted with a slight shrug. "Uncle had been training me before we arrived in Ba Sing Se," he admitted with a light shrug. They had given up those plans for the while, since living in a city was hardly the place to work on training firebending. Especially in the middle of the earth kingdom.

If someone had known that the infamous "Dragon of the West" was actually in the impenetrable walls, then there would have been far more problems than either would have wanted to put up with.

"You were in Ba Sing Se too? I was there just before..." Katara's eyes had widened in surprise at that, and she trailed off her words. She didn't remember seeing either him or his Uncle there. But the city was so big, there was a possibility that they may have never run into each other.

"Wow, um. We were there to see the Earth King. About you guys?" she asked, though the answer might've been unclear to even him. Without memories of Aang, the real reason was probably fuzzy.

"Do you remember.. ever seeing us?"

He nodded slowly. Details were fuzzy regarding the avatar, but the majority of the night spent below the city with Katara was clear as crystal. "Yeah, I remember most of Ba Sing Se," he admitted. Most of it had been spent away from the Avatar anyways.

"Uncle and I worked in a tea shop, and eventually opened our own," he admitted, frowning at the memory of his illness and the eventual 'invitation' to serve tea for the Earth King. What a fool he had been. His sister had tricked them. He was...angry about it, yes, but more angry at himself for going along with her proposal. There had been a reason. Why had he gone along with her?

He remembered Jealousy, pain, and anger, but nothing more. What had caused it? Without the catalyst for these feelings, he seemed to be lost onto the cause.

Working in a tea shop... Katara almost couldn't imagine it for a moment. But it was easier when she thought about their lives here, and how different Zuko was. A part of him had to change back in their world though, right? Because the way he put it, it sounded like they were there for a while, living peaceful lives.

"So, was that where you met Jet?" she asked. Jet mentioned that he was in Ba Sing Se, helping them find Appa. It was the only place the two boys could've met, she realized.

Zuko scoffed bitterly, and nodded. "He had decided that Uncle and I were firebending spies from the fire nation, and that we would certainly hand the entire city over," he growled, and lowered his voice exponentially when the waitress came by with their drinks. "He was taken off by the Dai Lee," he explained, shrugging simply.

He hadn't known what they had done with him, and he honestly didn't care too much. Jet had threatened what little peace he and Uncle had managed to acrue. It was annoying.

Katara carefully picked up her cup and blew over it as she listened on. The missing pieces were starting to make sense. Somewhat. Before she decided to take a sip, she set the cup down and looked straight into Zuko's eyes.

"I just want to know. Why were you guys really in Ba Sing Se?" All she wanted was an honest answer. To build more trust. If he couldn't remember, she'd let it go.

Zuko blinked, and realized that the meaning was almost perfectly clear. "To get away," he said simply. It wasn't anything to do with the Avatar, or even their honour. The reason had been simple. They had to get away.

"Uncle and I had been living as refugees, and...things were getting complicated," he admitted, feeling rather ashamed for his weakness. If he had been stronger, and more willing to accept his uncle's teachings, then perhaps he wouldn't have been a burden. "Uncle knew how strong the walls of Ba Sing Se were, and we decided it was the safest place to hide," he admitted.

The waterbender's compassion had always been very strong. Katara nodded, looking down at her tea for a moment, idly stirring it with a spoon. She felt sorry for them, but she couldn't tell him that. It's probably not what he wanted to hear. Instead, she eventually brought her gaze back to him with a grateful smile.

"Hey, thanks for telling me. I didn't want to assume anything, that's why I asked," she explained, then finally took a few sips of her tea and sighed.

Zuko nodded. "I expected as much," he admitted, taking a long sip of the tea. Definitely not as good as Uncle's, but that was to be expected. It was then that he pondered...how much did Katara remember?

"What do you remember last?" he asked shyly, finally taking the plunge and starting to involve himself into deeper conversation. He should be nervous, but he wasn't. He could trust Katara, he knew that much. He could.

Katara blinked, surprised that he returned the same question to her. She remembered pretty much everything up until they supposedly found Appa. "Well," she started, taking one last sip of tea before she put the cup down. "we wanted to form an alliance with the Earth King, to help us with the war. So we went to Ba Sing Se and requested a meeting with him. But we were told by this.." she frowned, thinking about how weird she was ".. girl named Joo Dee that it would take months to even see him!" She was annoyed just from thinking about it.

"So the last I remember, we were still waiting around to see him. Before that, Appa was kidnapped, and we were also searching for him. There was so much going on," she said softly, tapping her fingers against the table.

Zuko grinned rougishly, and for a moment, was actually quite pleased that he had taken his Uncle's advice, and had made the right decision. "Appa was underneath the city," he mentioned with hesitant roughness to his voice. Would she think he captured the Bison? He didn't want to brag about his exploits, but...he would if she suspected him. "I remember hearing that he was released by...a blue spirit," he said the name of his former "alter" ego, and the words sounded so odd to him.

At least then he could use his swords, his mind scoffed with disdain as he finished off the last, very potent drops of his tea, before gingerly setting the cup down

"How did you know about that?" She asked, tilting her head a little. Jet mentioned that a "secret organization" took Appa to keep the war hidden from the people. Did Zuko somehow overhear about it in the tea shop? Or sometime during his stay in Ba Sing Se? Hearing about the blue spirit afterwards, Katara's eyes lit up and she smiled. It was nice to hear people still did good things in the world.

"Really? Aang kept saying that we found Appa, but never how. I'll have to tell him about the Blue Spirit so we can thank him. I'm sure it's something Aang would do," she said, also finishing her tea just in time for the waitress when she came back for the cups.

Zuko scratched along the edge of his scar, giving her a weak smile. "Because I found him," he admitted weakly, staring down into his hands as he shifted slightly. He worked to get where he was, but he wasn't going to just throw things around to curb favour. He had tried that tactic at sea several times, and his men had been less than happy with it, but when he was humble like his Uncle had told him to be, they listened to his word.

Funny...he was starting to realize just how much his uncle really knew, and how much he should have listened to him from the beginning.

"Y-You did?" He helped them back in their world.. and they didn't even realize it. It made sense why he knew of Appa's whereabouts then. Katara felt guilty with this realization. She wished she could remember them finding Appa now. A lot of important things seemed to happen around that.

"Thanks, Zuko. Even though I don't remember, Aang got him back because of you," she smiled a little. Her trust in him strengthened, and it made her feel a lot better about everything.