Sketches

Day 1

Denim

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Some girls, Zuko thought to himself as a blush warmed his cheeks, should not be allowed to wear tight jeans.

You could say that Zuko had a thing for waitresses. There was the cute girl, Song, who served at the local "Roast Duck" before it shut down.

Then it was the nice and slightly forward teen, Jin, who he had risked a date with and had almost received his first kiss if he had not fallen into the fountain.

Finally his last crush, Mai. She had worked at the local coffee shop. Everyday he would go in there and be enchanted by her monotone and quirky, if somewhat dark, sense of humour.

Yes, you could say Zuko had a thing for waitresses, but they only resulted in awkward flirting and almost-but-not-quite-serious-enough dates.

Then he meets his new crush. He doesn't know when he started noticing her. He had always been a regular at the coffee shop on the corner, always going in for his usual latte and pastry of the day while he worked on his latest piece, sketching ideas and people he saw in the shop. He even got discounts because he went there so often. So today, on a cold December morning he sat at the bar, large sketchpad out and sketching, he finally noticed the New Girl.

She was very cute, he mused as she pulled her long chocolate hair into a ponytail, her bright blue eyes complimenting her dark skin. Glancing at her brass nametag he read the name 'Katara.'

Katara looked over at him and he quickly went back to drawing a man that was talking angrily on his phone while sitting on a beanbag chair a few feet away. He seemed to be struggling to get out of his chair while trying to keep yelling at his bumbling employee through the phone.

"What are you sketching?" A voice asked right beside his ear. He jumped and turned to see Katara standing right behind him. She smelled like the sea, he noted.

"Nothing!" He said, closing the sketchbook. He's never been comfortable with people looking at my work until it was finished. "Shouldn't you be working?" Zuko asked coldly.

Katara smiled at him, the kind of smile that's says she really didn't care what he said. "I'm on break."

"Shouldn't you be in the back or something?"

"No. I can go wherever I want. It's break time, and you know what." She looks around at the few people in the shop. "I might be able to get off early."

"Fantastic." Zuko stands up and stuffs his sketchbook into his black messenger bag, pulls it over his shoulder and wraps a red scarf around his neck. "Have fun."

"Hey, where are you going?" Zuko turned to look at Katara who was pulling on her jacket.

"I'm going home." He said, making his way to the door.

In a second Katara is beside him, smiling. "You're the first person I've met. You have the lucky privilege of showing me around town."

"Are you kidding? I have a life! Stuff to do!"

"Like what?"

In all honesty Zuko just wanted to go home and read, sketch and maybe get a little GTA IV in before bed. "Important stuff. Now leave me alone."

"That's not a very good way to treat a girl."

"Gah. I've only known you for five minutes and you're on my nerves! You don't even know my name!"

"Well, I'm Katara Kirima." She held out a hand.

Zuko stared at the end, then seeming to break down under her polite smile and twinkling eyes, and took her hand. "Zuko Sozin."

So Zuko spent his day with Katara. She wasn't that bad he decided after the day turned into more days and soon when he went to the coffee shop he found himself immersed in conversation with Katara.

But everyday, no matter how many times he said no Katara asked, "What are you drawing? Can I see?"

"No Katara. You can't see." She didn't seem bother by his secretiveness about his sketchbook, she seemed to just accept that he didn't want to show her.

In truth he would've loved to show her his sketches, he somehow knew she would like them, her eyes growing big as she turned each page but something was holding him back. There was an unfinished sketch, currently, it was a just a pair of jeans. Every time he sat down to finish in, he could, he just stared at them for hours on end, unable to find an owner to suit them.

Today was not that special, it was April but snow –a downfall of living in the mountains- was still falling. Yet as he opened the door to the café he felt something. There Katara was, leaning on the bar in a tight pair of jeans.

The inspiration hit him like a speeding truck. Katara shifted slightly and Zuko practically screamed, "DON'T YOU DARE MOVE!" Katara turned and Zuko gave her a scathing look with wrestling his sketchbook out of his bag. "What did I just say? Hold. Still."

Scowling Katara turned back to the bar and didn't move. She was the perfect model. She didn't complain, she didn't fidget and she didn't talk the whole time. Quiet, still and completely concentrating on being a statue Zuko wished he could sketch her all day. As this thought passed through his head he blushed a horrible splotchy red.

Zuko was never one for blushing. It made him look like a unripe tomato.

His attention slowly began to drift as he started last minute details. Katara was definitely curvy, he'd admit it in a flash. Her hair was always clean, not clean like Azula's -a perfect, unnatural, hospital-like clean- but a casual clean.

But those jeans. Fitting oh-so tightly... And as the thought of tight jeans and how some girls shouldn't wear them Katara said, "You're blushing...something wrong?"

"No. Nothing's wrong."

Author's Note

Yes, it's Zutara Week everyone mild applause

So, enjoy the Zutaraness (and I swear that Tokka will be squeezed in there somehow.)