Chapter 3 - At the Diner

Because Zuko had spent a long time trying to hide half his face from everyone, he could instantly recognize when someone else did it.

Katara was leaning against the wall beside him, talking towards the fire escape. She hadn't looked straight at him once that night, and her hood was pulled forward over the head. Every so often she would reach up to tug it lower.

It had been a little over two weeks since they'd become 'friends,' and Zuko had become alarming familiar with their little routine in such a short amount of time.

He'd take his break and walk over to the alleyway, where Katara was invariably waiting for him and then they'd talk.

Katara told Zuko about spending holidays at the South Pole visiting her gran-gran, eating sea-prunes, and going penguin sledding. It was her Gran-Gran who taught her how to play the pipa. She had loved the cold, loved the snow, loved wearing all her layer of fur, and loved watching her brother try to catch ice fish.

Zuko told Katara about going on family vacations to Ember Island, where he made sand castles and ate fire flakes until he was sick. His mother taught him how to play Pai Sho on Ember Island. He loved the sun, loved the ocean, and loved all the colors of native firenation flowers in bloom.

They didn't talk about Katara's 'Guardians' or Zuko's scar.

"Have you read the newspaper lately? Did you see that story about that masked vigilante that's going around-"

"Is there something wrong with your face? What are you hiding?" Zuko blurted out bluntly, cutting her off.

Katara didn't say anything for a moment as she reached up and pulled her hood lower over her face.

"What? No I'm not." She offered weakly. Frowning, Zuko pulled away from the wall and moved to stand directly in front of her. She turned her head away to avoid looking straight at him. Zuko sidestepped around her, and she turned her head the other way.

"You are hiding something. What is it?" said Zuko standing directly in front of her with his arms crossed.

"It's nothing, really…" she said in an unnaturally high pitched voice, staring at the ground.

"Katara…" said Zuko more softly, "Look at me." He said firmly. She shook her head, and Zuko signed.

She didn't resist as he pushed back her hood.

Her left cheek was bruised. Badly bruised, and there were scratches all over her face. Zuko didn't speak for a moment. He felt like if he opened his mouth he would spit fire, he was so angry.

"What the hell happened?" he asked in a carefully controlled voice.

"Nothing! It was stupid-"

"Well it doesn't look like nothing! Just tell me what happened!" he yelled. She flinched away from him, and then Zuko realized there were flames licking his fingertips.

He immediately extinguished them and took a quick step away from her, murmuring a low 'Sorry.' He covered his face with his hands and counted down from three slowly before turning around again.

"Tell me what happened Katara." he said much more calmly. She just looked at the ground and didn't offer a response.

He stepped closer to her and placed a hand lightly on each of her shoulders,

"Katara, who did that to you?" he said softly.

The only warning he had was a slight tremble of her lower lip, and then there were tears slipping down her face.

She was crying again, but it was because of him and Zuko felt horrible.

Panicking a little he quickly backtracked,

"Katara, look I'm sorry! Please don't cry. You don't have to tell me anything! I'm sorry I upset you, I'll go-"

Then suddenly she threw her arms around his neck.

She mumbled a quiet "Don't go," and then she was sobbing against his chest.

Zuko froze.

And then slowly, because he was afraid to break the moment, he let his arms snake around her waist.

When was the last time he hugged another human being? He couldn't remember. He tightened his gripe around her and rested his chin on top of her head. Her hair smelled nice.

Idly he rubbed soothing circles with one hand against Katara's back, like he remembered his mother doing for him when he was little and upset.

She felt so small and breakable in his arms. He could feel how skinny she was through her sweater; he could almost count her ribs.

Zuko waited until the sobs stopped, and her breathing evened out.

"Katara?" she sniffed and pulled back to look at him with tears clinging to her eyelashes.

"Want to go get something to eat?"

"Don't you have to go back to work-"

"I insist, on me." He said wryly. With one hand on the small of her back he firmly led her out of the alleyway.

They stopped at the bar on the way so Zuko could ask his boss for an extra hour of break. His boss did him one better, and gave him the rest if the night off. It was a Wednesday anyway so it wasn't very busy.

They walked to the nearby 24/7 diner and took a booth tucked away in a corner.

Zuko ordered pancakes for them both with a hot chocolate for Katara and a black coffee for himself. They sat in a heavily loaded silence for a few minutes, Zuko with his hands clasped in front of him patiently, Katara with her arms crossed stubbornly.

Suddenly, as if she couldn't take the tension any longer, Katara took a deep breath, and started talking.

"There was a new girl at school today." She said, staring at the salt and pepper shakers.

"Her name is Toph and she's blind. She's only fifteen, but she's really smart so she was put up into our year level. There's this group of kids in our class that are just… they're mean, and they're bullies. They're all benders and they think they're so much better than everyone else. They were going to trip her up because they thought it would be funny. They were going to trip up a blind girl." Katara finally looked up into Zuko's eyes.

"So I stopped them, and this happened to my face in the process." She said gesturing to her bruised cheek, her eyes flashing, challenging.

"Do you have any other injuries?" asked Zuko calmly.

"No, I'm fine. It's just so frustrating because everybody's so afraid of them, and that's what gives them their power. Non-benders outnumber them ten to one, but they tip-toe around them, afraid that if they so much as breathe too loudly they'll get beat up. I've had enough, and I don't care what happens to me. I'm going to stand up for myself and my classmates." That fierce look was back in her eyes and Zuko felt oddly proud of her.

"What you did for that girl was very honorable, but it isn't wise for you do go around picking fights with groups of people." Katara rolled her eyes,

"So I was meant to just stand there and watch?" she retorted.

"I don't know Katara, I just don't like you getting hurt." said Zuko gruffly. There was silence again for a moment.

"I got in a lot of trouble…"said Katara almost apologetically.

"What about those other kids?"

"Everyone who was there told the headmaster that I started it, probably because they were afraid of what would happen to them if they told the truth. They got off scot-free" Said Katara with an annoyed huff.

"What about the blind girl you stood up for?"

"She didn't say anything. Not that I blame her, she's tiny. Plus, she is blind. Technically she didn't actually see what was going on."

"So they were fine with you defending them, but they won't back you up?" said Zuko angrily.

Katara just shrugged.

The waitress bought them their food on a wide tray. Zuko watched as Katara sat up straight suddenly and inhaled deeply, her eyes never leaving her steaming pile of pancakes as the waitress carefully picked up the plate and placed it in front of her. She was almost shaking in anticipation.

Zuko frowned. It wasn't good for her to be so hungry…

The waitress stumbled a little as she went to place Zuko's coffee down in front of him, and the cup came down on the table with a loud thud. Zuko thought for sure it was going to spill onto his lap, but miraculously, curiously, the liquid stilled and stayed in the mug.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so clumsy! Sorry, I'm so sorry!" said the poor girl blushing deeply.

"Relax, it didn't spill." Said Zuko dismissively as Katara covertly tugged her hood lower over the face.

They ate their pancakes in silence, or rather, Zuko ate his pancakes and Katara inhaled her.

"I'm sorry about… before." Said Katara after she'd finished, staring down at her empty plate as though she was debating whether it was acceptable to lick the extra maple syrup off it or not.

"What are you sorry for?" asked Zuko, genuinely confused, before putting his last bit of pancake in his mouth. Katara looked up at him before continuing. Evidently she'd decided not to lick her plate clean. Zuko was tempted to order her another serving...

"I'm sorry for getting all worked up. It's just that for a second you really reminded me of my brother Sokka, and I guess I just really miss him. I haven't seen him in a really really long time." Zuko chewed and swallowed slowly, thinking.

"Katara…" he started. What he wanted to ask her went against their unspoken agreement of not asking question about certain touchy subjects, but he was sick of being in the dark. He put down his knife and fork decisively.

"What's your deal?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Katara, with impossibly wide-eyed. She took a sip of her hot chocolate.

"I mean, who are these 'guardians' that you live with? You obviously don't like them. Where's your brother?"

Katara sighed softly.

"I'm just going to warn you, the story is a bit of a downer. You sure you want to hear it?" she asked.

Privately Zuko thought there was no way her story had anything on his. Out loud he simply said,

"Tell me."

"I'll keep it short. My parents are both deceased. I'm a ward of the state. My brother is older than me so he's already out of the system. I have to live with my legally appointed guardians until I turn eighteen."

"That's rough."

Katara shrugged.

"Sokka's really smart. He got this fancy scholarship to go to Ba Sing Se University, a completely free ride, so at least there's that… What about your parents?"

"My mother died when I was thirteen."

"I'm sorry… How about your father?"

"We're… estranged." Said Zuko bitterly. He was sure another adjective didn't exist that so concisely summed up his relationship with his father.

Katara seemed to take the hint and changed the subject,

"So… Have you ever tried sea prunes?"

A few nights later Katara told him more details about her family.

"I was really little when my mother died, I can barely remember her. My brother Sokka's only a couple years older than me and he has all these memories of her and I just… don't. I was always a little jealous of him for that."

She sat with her knees pulled up to her chin on top of an overturned crate. Zuko leaned against his spot on the wall.

"What about your father?" he asked, finding himself genuinely curious.

"My father was a policeman. He was… a great man. I miss him every day."

Zuko cracked the bar of chocolate that he'd brought with him in half and wordlessly handed half to Katara.

"Thank you." She said with a smile that made the corners of her eyes crinkle.

"What happened to him?"

"He died in the line of duty when I was nine."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It's not your fault." Said Katara taking a generous bite of chocolate.

"So what happened to you and your brother after that?"

"Well, we moved to the South Pole and lived with our Gran-Gran for a bit, and then she passed away a few years later."

"And then what happened?"

"Sokka and I became wards of the state. We were separated. He was put into a home for boys and I was sent to live with this old lady who owned an Inn on the edge of the city."

"What was she like?"

"Mental. Absolutely crazy. I lived with her for about two year and it was horrible. Actually I should amend that, her cooking was good, she was horrible." Zuko chuckled.

"She must have been some cook for you to mention that, despite her being 'horrible mental crazy.'" Said Zuko.

"She was; her sea prunes were almost as good as Gran-Gran's. Almost. After her, I lived with a few different foster families, and now I've ended up here. When I turn eighteen I'll finally be able to find my brother and make my own way. What about you? Have you got any plans for the future?"

"I plan to stay out of trouble."

"What?! That's lame! C'mon Zuko, what do you want to do when you grow up?"

"I am grown up, and I'm a bartender." Said Zuko, amused. Katara snorted disbelievingly and jumped off her crate to stand in front of him.

Zuko idly noticed that her face had healed up remarkably quickly. She was wearing her hood down again.

"You're no more a bartender than I'm the Avatar Zuko. Don't sell yourself short. I know you're smart, and you're a firebender. Why don't you try for one of those apprenticeships as a glass welder? Or you could try and get into pro-bending or-"

"Well what do you want to be when you grow up?" asked Zuko, cutting her off. Her words made his chest feel uncomfortably tight somehow. Katara was quiet for a moment, considering his question.

"I think I'd like to go to medical school one day you know? Become a doctor… or maybe a nurse…" she said nervously, twirling a piece of dark hair between her fingertips. Zuko nodded.

"I think that would suit you Katara." She beamed at him, and Zuko felt his chest tightening up again.

"Here, have the rest," said Zuko thrusting his uneaten half of the chocolate bar towards her, "I'm due back. See you later."

"Okay, bye."

As Zuko made his way back to the bar the tightness in his chest disappeared and was replaced by the familiar aching chasm in the pit of his stomach.

He couldn't decide which feeling was worse.