Uuuuuuuuugh, sooooo tired...my brother had a sleepover with his friend and they were SOOOOOOO LOUD...Well, here's another little drabble that I made...it might not be the best, since I just read it over and I'm half asleep...but So. Cal Girl is wide awake (I hope) and said it was pretty good. So here it is!
Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, Jin and Song would be dead, Aang would give up on Katara and go to Toph, Zuko would realie what an IDIOT he's been for chasing the Avatar and join him, and after the war, be happily married to Katara. So no; I don't own avatar.
Zuko had gotten up early that day, trying to get a head start on different meetings and treaties that needed signing. How his father had handled being the Fire Lord, he never knew. But things must have been relatively easier when all you needed to do was burn anyone who disagreed to a crisp and leave it at that. Zuko shuddered. Never would he resort to that; that was a promise he had made the day he had wed Katara in front of hundreds.
Wondering if his beloved was still sleeping, he walked down the hall leading to his chamber, smiling as he heard her ending a brief conversation with Ty Lee. "Well if you see Iroh, tell him I'll talk to him about that later. I'm not feeling my best today."
As the acrobat walked away, Zuko entered the room. "Aang, Toph, Sokka and Suki are going to be heading over in a few days. I just got the letter from that lemur today. Katara?"
Katara had gone to staring out the window, but turned around as she heard his voice. "Oh, hey. Sorry, did you say something?"
Zuko embraced her from behind. "You alright? You look tired."
"I'm fine, don't worry. I just…..don't feel good today. Actually, I haven't felt good at all this week."
Passing a hand over her neck and forehead, he tried to find out what was wrong. "You do feel a little warmer. Maybe you should just relax for a while."
"But there's still so much to do, so many people to meet with and deals to sign, and then the others will be here in a few weeks!"
Touched by her wanting to help him run the Fire Nation, Zuko shook his head. "It'll be fine, don't worry. Rest is the only thing you can do right now. Besides, if everyone sees you exhausted, what will they think? Knowing your brother, he might come to the conclusion that I've been abusing you or something."
After a few minutes, Katara sighed. "….Alright. But only for today."
"I'm not promising you that, Katara. You've been working yourself way too hard lately."
Katara nodded, too tired to speak as she slipped off the soft robe she had been wearing over her nightclothes and nestled deep into the red silk sheets. "Wake me if I can help with anything," she murmured before falling asleep.
Zuko sat there, stroking the brown hair from her face for a while, then kissed her forehead and went out, closing the door gently behind him and heading for the vast center room in the tower.
Iroh was there already with Ty Lee, who was staring off into the fire with that usual happy, yet distant look, and Mai, who was amusing herself by twirling a knife around her finger, bored. Zuko sat down, unrolling a scroll on the table. "The Northern Water Tribe accepts your offer to form a treaty. We ask you to meet us at the North Pole, where we will end our part of this war."
He looked up. "That's good. We can start dealing with the Earth Kingdom and the Southern Water Tribe, too."
His uncle nodded, smiling. "One at a time, Zuko, one at a time. Don't rush things."
Mai gave a small "Tch. If we hadn't gone 'one at a time', it might've been a bit more interesting. It's so dull now without a war."
Zuko sighed. "I wish things could go faster, but I don't want to start a whole new war on accident. That makes me just as bad as my father in the eyes of others. Ty Lee, what do you think?"
Ty Lee was still staring at the flames, and she pointed at it. "Doesn't that one little part of the fire look kinda like a flying lemur?"
The rest of the week passed uneventfully, but Katara's condition grew steadily worse. Zuko began to worry about her, and almost rejoiced when Aang, Toph, Sokka and his wife Suki showed up. Aang looked around. "Where's Katara, Zuko? It's great to see you, but…"
Sokka was immediately up in the young Fire Lord's face. "What did you do to my sister, you fire-breathing freak?"
He wilted as Zuko's glare came down on him. "Katara hasn't been feeling well lately…I think she's caught something bad; she's been down for a whole week. You don't have any truly deadly diseases in the South Pole, do you?"
Suki spoke up. "Let's go see her; maybe I know what it is."
Going up to the room, they all went in. Katara sat up, and gave a small cough. "Oh, hey, guys….sorry, I don't exactly look my best right now."
Aang pulled her into a hug anyway, taking extra care with her. "You'll get better soon. You're probably just tired."
Sokka, still suspicious, began interrogating his little sister. "What's he done to you, Katara? Has he mistreated you? What kind of pressure has he put you under?"
"Sokka, relax. I'm just a little sick, that's all."
Toph snorted. "A little sick? According to Scarface, you've been like this for a week. Quit lying."
Zuko, not exactly happy about being called "Scarface", was about to make a snappy retort, but Suki stopped him by adding her own two cents. She sat down on the bed next to Katara. "You say you've been like this for a whole week?"
Katara nodded.
"How bad has it been? And be truthful."
"I've had these massive headaches, and my stomach won't hold anything anymore. I get really dizzy when I stand up, and Zuko said that I might have a bit of a fever."
Suki listened intently, then closed her eyes. "Zuko, she is sick."
Zuko couldn't stand it anymore. "Thanks for stating the obvious, doctor. Can you tell me a bit more?"
"I can tell you it's incurable."
The room went silent. Aang's eyes were wide, and Sokka looked horrified. Toph wiggled a finger in her ear. "Wait, I think I had some earth in my ear. Did you say it's incurable?"
Suki nodded slowly. Katara looked around, scared. "You mean…I can't do anything about it?"
"Last time I checked, yes, that's what it means."
Zuko was shaking. He had married Katara no more than six months ago and now she was dying. Suki's voice barely made its way to him. "It's incurable for at least nine months, but after that, she'll be perfectly normal again."
The atmosphere became mixed. Some were quick to understand, like Sokka, who had a younger son waiting for him at home, and Toph, who grinned happily, and Katara, who clapped her hands over her mouth.
Then it hit Zuko like a thunderbolt. "You mean she's…that I…."
Suki nodded, beaming. "Congratulations, Zuko. You'll be a father soon."
Aang, who had been left in the dark with the "nine months disease", understood at the word "father". "Cool! So I'll be an uncle to two now?"
Sokka, who was overjoyed at the news, tried to keep indifferent. "Great. Now I'll have to deal with two women chattering away while they go over baby clothes. Just great."
Toph punched him hard on the arm. "Oh, shut up, Snoozles. This is great, Katara!"
Suki stood up, still smiling. "Cummon, guys. Let's leave Katara to get some rest now. It's been a kind of dramatic day for her. Lunch sounds good right now, too."
At the sound of lunch, Aang grinned one last time and bolted out of the room. "Last one to the kitchen is bison dung!"
A few minutes later, Zuko sat alone with Katara, he couldn't take his eyes off her, now. He kissed her lips. "It's kind of my fault you're like this, isn't it?"
Katara smiled. "You said you wanted kids, didn't you? I can put up with it just fine. Don't worry."
Zuko kissed her again. "I love you, Katara. I really do."
She returned his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I know. I love you too."
Why did I write a piece like this? Because we all know that this is sooooooooo going to happen one day...Well, we all know the drill: Read and Review, kudasai!
Ja ne!
Kitsune no Tsuki