Katara rested her fingertips on the black and white keys of the grand piano. The practice room was empty and quiet, as usual. The rest of the club boomed with laughter and conversation in the classroom outside, while Katara waited for Zuko to show up for practice.
She planned on just forgetting everything that went between them and start fresh. It seemed like the only way to get past whatever strange feud they had. As cheesy as it is, Katara was going to ask Zuko to pretend they never met.
Katara could see herself lamely telling the short-tempered teenager, “Let’s just forget the past and start over!” then she’d hold out her hand in a handshake and end it with, “Hi, I’m Katara.” The image made Katara bang her head on the keys, a series of off-key sounds booming from the piano. The sound was so loud it she could not hear the series of footsteps approaching her.
“What the hell are you doing?” Zuko asked with an estranged look on his face.
Katara, startled from Zuko’s presence, picked her head up from the piano. She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks in embarrassment.
“Nothing.” Katara said as she got up from the bench. She brushed herself off nervously then looked straight up at Zuko. Meeting his blazing amber eyes was always so hard for Katara, but she managed to muster up the courage.
“Zuko, before we..attempt..to work on our piece, we’ ve gotta talk.” Katara declared boldly.
The boy merely gave Katara a squinted look in confusion. Katara sighed, restraining herself from throwing an insult at the annoying teenager. She was definitely going to win the award for the world’s Most Cheesiest Speech after this was over.
“Look, your piece, its amazing. Its deep, its real, it speaks to people and only truly great music can do that. Music like that, it deserves to be heard by everyone.” Zuko’s critical look slowly diminished as he heard Katara’s kind words. A blank, almost shocked expression found its way on his face. He continued to listen attentively to Katara, intrigued by her change in behavior towards him.
Katara noted his new expression, and she mentally rolled her eyes. “I guess fueling his abnormally large ego gets him to listen, as I suspected”she thought to herself. Even though what she was saying about Zuko’s music was true, the words still tasted sour when they came out of her mouth. She went on anyway.
“And I really want to practice my music, and better myself too. I honestly don’t know if you give a flying turtle duck about this club but-.”
“I do.” Zuko said blatantly. Katara gave Zuko a questioning look.
“What?” Katara asked. Zuko went on.
“I admit, I don’t care about many things, but this is one of the few things I actually find important.” he continued. Katara was relieved to hear that from Zuko, that this wasn’t some one-sided assignment she’d have to work on all by herself.
“Then that’s all the more reason we need to take this thing seriously.” Katara said. “I just think, it would be best if we could just... start over.” That earned a raised eyebrow from Zuko.
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Set My Heart On Fire (UPDATED AND CONTINUING!)
FanfictionA Zutara Alternate Universe fan fiction. Her cerulean eyes watched in anticipation as his calloused fingers strummed the rustic guitar. Her mind quiet; her breath stilled. He began to sing. It was resonant. Beautiful. It set her heart on fire. Cover...
