Scars and Ashes (Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfic)

Crashing

Zuko lost track of the number of times Katara visited him in the cave, but she only showed up when he was by himself or Birmaq.

"I'm glad Yuminio liked my gift," she told him when he relayed the delight in the child's eyes.

"Hey?" Zuko glanced away. "Are you aware, regarding your necklace, that if there is any cultural significance to the necklace you gave me, maybe I shouldn't have it?"

"No. I'm unaware of any traditions or significance tied to my necklace beyond the fact it belonged to my mother, and I feel it's given me luck, and now I will give you luck."

"Maybe," Zuko said, twisting the necklace and working harder to hide it. He felt comfortable bending with her, observing her movements as she did his, feeling as if he grew from watching her bed.

"Don't laugh," she laughed after he started losing track of the number of times. "But do you think we could somehow combine our bending?"

"That would—how?"

"I'm not sure. Could your fire boil the water I'm bending?"

"I'm not sure," Zuko said, only because of their multiple attempts at Lee boiling the water. She tried bending and failing, and the necklace was forgotten for a long time.

And then—

The kiss caught him off guard, making him look away, his cheeks flushing.

"Hey? Why are you looking away, covering your mouth?" Katara said.

"We shouldn't," Zuko muttered, covering his mouth, trying to hide how the kiss flustered him behind his hand. He remembered what Hama had said, yet he did not feel that much was right. "Our circumstances."

"What about them?" Katara asked.

"Perhaps if not for our circumstances," Zuko said, still not looking at her.

"Oh, yeah." She sighed, which indicated Katara looked away and allowed him to look up and see her face. Katara is also flustered.

"What got into her, to think..." Zuko took a deep breath. "It's not as if you didn't..."

"You mean, if our circumstances were different, one thing could lead to another and marriage?"

"What?" Zuko's face flushed, his ears turning red, his cheeks. "That. I wasn't—I mean."

"If our circumstances were different, could we have?"

He swallowed. "I've not thought—to be honest." He took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his head. "Ever thought that was an option for me, given my circumstances, but it hurts thinking of what could be. I'm not saying I don't want to, but we can't."

"Sorry. I didn't mean..."

"And as much as I'd love to think, see, how this would go," Zuko closed his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck. "I think it's best our meeting up like this ends. Things have gotten a bit too, I don't know." He let out a sigh, hand reaching for the necklace. "I should really return this."

"No, no," Katara sighed. "I get it. I made things really awkward between us, but don't you dare give that back to me, Lee, even if we have to end things here. I don't want to..."

"It's for the best. There are things I you don't know about me." Zuko took a deep breath. He startled, removing the necklace. "So, you should..."

"Don't." Katara shook her head. "Don't return it. If—you're the one I want to have my mother's necklace, but I feel strongly about it, as if—well, I think the spirits meant it to be, just as they meant for us to cross paths, but I don't think this will be the last we see each other, alright?"

"I wish it wasn't," Zuko said. "Does that mean we can no longer be friends?"

"Of course not! We're still friends. We were almost..." She shook her head. "Ignore me!"

"I'm really going to miss our bending sessions." Zuko gripped his wrist. "Are you sure you want me to keep this? Are you still sure there isn't any cultural significance to..."

"If there is, nobodies filled me in on it," Katara said. She got up to leave, then stopped, turning, her smile resulting in him flustering again. "Oh! Wait. I do remember something!"

"Oh?" Zuko looked away, rubbing his neck nervously.

"When my father gave me my mother's necklace, he said I should give it to someone I like and trust a lot, so please don't forget that. Alright?"

"You still don't know," Zuko took a deep breath. "I can't let this go." His eyes closed. "Before you go?"

"Yes?"

"My real name."

"You don't have to."

"Someone you trust wouldn't lie about that, but my real name is Zuko."

"Thank you, Zuko," Katara smiled. "I'll be going."

And then—

He felt nauseous, didn't want to get out of bed for the next few days, and was frustrated with the way he felt; the way he felt built up without him even noticing it, and Hama turned out to be right as well as his Uncle regarding him having taken an interest in the girl.

"The frustrating part is, they both should have said no, done something more? Told me how I'd feel if things went south like this." Zuko sighed, staring at the wall when a hot water bottle hit him in the back of his head. "Ow!"

Hama sighed as he turned over. "You need to get out of bed. You've been moping around her as if a girl dumped you or something."

"It was mutual," Zuko said.

Hama sighed. "So then, you did take an interest in the girl?"

"Not that it matters," Zuko said, reaching into his sleeve to twist the necklace around his arm, feeling frustrated. "I could ask her. About the significance, but if it's trouble like Chejo's wife says, I don't want to drag the ones I care about into the matter."

"Get some fresh air. It will do you some good."

"Sorry for always being so much trouble," Zuko said.

Hama turned, frowning. "I'm not sure why you think that, but you aren't. You being alive, it's actually a good thing."

"I wasn't." Zuko's eyes blinked. "I wasn't thinking along those lines. Honest. Just that I feel like I cause the people I care about a lot of trouble."

"Family, Lee," Hama said. "Is worth the trouble, though I understand that's hard for you to process when your father never considered you worth the trouble. So don't think about it as you are."

"Yes, ma'am," Zuko said, letting out a sigh, sliding from the house, heading through the market, wishing—

Someone grabbed his wrist and held onto it hard, but when Zuko looked down—

His teeth gritted together, realizing he'd made some kind of mistake, that he'd forgotten to keep Katara's necklace hidden, his mouth opening while his mind tried thinking of something—

But—

"Where did you get that?"

"I—a friend," Zuko said, reaching out to try and hide the necklace while keeping his hood low.

"I'm sure of that," the person said, tugging them away, resulting in Zuko stumbling as the merchants looked up, doing nothing.

Zuko—he existed as an outsider even here, the strange child who'd shown up in a place only adults did, a scar on his face, a scar that frightened the other children. His hand clenched, knowing a member of the Water Tribe held his wrist so tightly.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yuminio move through the crowd, the beads Katara carved proudly on her head. "Lee!"

"What—stay out of this," the Water Tribe person is.

"Yuminio, get..." Zuko stumbled slightly, painfully. "Don't bend! Get my uncle! Or..."

Everything went black before he could. As for Dun, the routine he'd run through many times, he should request the intermediary.