Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. If I did, well lets just say, it would end with Zutara.

Change of Heart

Zuko was slapped hard, again. His, now ex-ex, girlfriend was beyond pissed. She really wanted to just slap him into a coma. He didn't blame her, but they both knew this day would come eventually.

They were drifting apart, even after the nations were united by Aang. Zuko didn't like her the way he used to, and neither did she. One night they both decided to clear the air of their emotions.

They were sitting opposite of each other, they were looking around awkwardly before they spoke at the same time.

"Zuko."

"Mai."

They chuckled, and Zuko let her go first.

"Zuko. I just want to come clean."

He let out a sigh of relief, "Good, me too."

Mai looked Zuko in the eye, "I really wouldn't like to, but I think we should break up."

Zuko stared at her in surprise, "That's…what I was going to say."

Mai gave a small smile, "I think we should keep quiet about this, for a little while. I don't want this to go public for a while, after all, you just became the Fire Lord."

Zuko nodded, "Yeah…so I'll be going now. I'll see you later Mai."

"Bye Zuko."

He quietly slipped out of her room, and headed to his uncle's for counseling.

It was sad to say, but Ty Lee had been listening in the whole time. She of course just had to gossip. So she did, and well that's pretty much how Zuko got into this situation. The gossip spread like a wild fire, and a few things were stretched far from the truth.

Mai had over heard one of the newer rumors and stormed into Zuko's chambers. She accused him and slapped him, he took it. The rumors were like cancer, but he didn't care because there was a sliver of truth in them.

"Zuko! I thought we agreed to keep this quiet!"

He stared at her blankly, his cheek was slightly puffy, "We did."

She glared at him, "Then why is everyone running around whispering behind my back? I didn't say one damn thing!"

He ran a hand through his hair, "Well, neither did I. Think about it Mai, who do we know that loves to gossip?"

Mai smirked, "Ty Lee."

"Exactly!"

"Zuko, you can't blame her for this." she crossed her arms in defiance.

Zuko stood, slightly shaking in anger, "…what? What do you mean? She's the one who went around blabbing!"

Mai waved her hand dismissively, "Oh that's just her, she does that."

Zuko was exasperated, "Listen, you sound a lot like a hypocrite."

Mai narrowed her eyes at him, "Excuse me?"

He crossed his arms, "Yeah. You said I can't blame her for this, even though she did it. Then you continue to blame me! I didn't say anything to anyone but you!"

"Well, then maybe we shouldn't have been talking about it!" she countered.

Zuko was close to setting his room on fire, "Why are you siding with her? This is both of our social lives being gossiped about!"

Mai slapped him, his eyebrow was twitching in anger, "Sorry Zuko, but us girls have this thing. She's practically a sister."

Zuko scoffed, "I had a sister, she a delusional maniac who was power-hungry and evil."

Mai crossed her arms, again, "You were one too."

Zuko face palmed, "Mai, I changed, she didn't."

"Well, us girls stick together. We have this little saying Fire Lord, 'Chicks before dicks.' Or maybe you'd prefer, 'Boys are whatever, but friends are forever.' The second one is more for kids though."

The Fire Lord smirked, "So maybe you've heard of 'Bros before hoes' before then, huh?"

She slapped him and started another round of arguing, and verbal abuse. It lasted for another twenty minutes. Zuko chose to just give up, he just couldn't win with this woman. She had probably worked with his sister too long.

He decided to let it blow over, he had bigger things to worry about than his social life being gossiped about. He let Mai finish her venting, before escorting her to the door and kindly asking her to leave. She obliged, slightly calm. Zuko walked to his balcony, overlooking his palace, which he converted into a bending school.

He watched as many students trained to master their elements, it was a beautiful sight to see the array of colors illuminating the walls. It often helped him relax his tense nerves when his uncle was busy to help him discuss his feelings.

Katara sighed, she too was looking at the same beauty that Zuko was. The splash of blue crisp water swirled with the heat of the fire. The silver color of air colliding with its opposite earth.

Aang was different now, he wasn't like he used to be. Before he was the sweet, quiet, gentle, peacemaker. Now he was slightly stoic, occasionally he would laugh and have that same twinkle in his eyes, but it wasn't common.

He just wasn't acting like himself. Aang was distanced, a month ago he was the same Avatar who united the four nations, he was still, well…Aang. He had proposed marriage to her, she had agreed enthusiastically, he gave her the option to drop it at anytime, because he didn't want to push her into something uncomfortable.

Now he wasn't acting like that, usually he'd spend his time in his usual chamber overlooking the students, he would meditate and revert back to his short time as a monk.

She leaned on her railing, cupping her face in her hands. Her eyes sparkled with the colors of the elements. She would teach water benders once a week, giving the rest of the week to them to practice their newfound skills and techniques.

Across the courtyard, her eyes locked on the golden eyes of the young Fire Lord. Instead of keeping his hair traditionally long, he trimmed it. It was the same style he had when he encountered them in Ba Sing Se. He said that instead of keeping it traditional, he was going to make it short, to make emphasis on a new age.

She smiled at him and sent a weak wave, he returned her gestures. Even Zuko was cheerful, and with those rumors of his break up with Mai swirling around the school. The water bender sighed, what was wrong with Aang? She needed to talk to someone.

Katara was startled when someone tapped her on the shoulder, she turned to see her brother. He was smiling at her, "Hey Katara."

She sighed in relief, "Sokka. Hey, where have you been?"

Sokka looked away, Suki had dumped him, and she was moving on with Jet. He was still dealing with the stress of it.

"Uh, well, you know how much of a stud I am. So, uh, Ty Lee has been showing me around…"

She raised her brow, "Hmm…I thought you didn't like Fire Nation girls?"

Sokka rubbed the back of his neck, "Hey…the war's over. Besides she's-."

Katara held her hand up, silencing him, "Yeah I don't want to hear about you 'fraternizing with the enemy', blah blah blah."

"Hey, they're good guys now, remember?"

"We tried telling you the same about Zuko before, remember?" she mimicked him.

Sokka's eyebrow twitched, "Fine."

He turned to leave, but she gripped his arm, "…Sokka, wait. I was actually glad you stopped by. I really need to talk to someone right now."

Sokka gave his baby sister his absolute attention, his voice laced with worry, "What's wrong Katara?"

"How do you know something's wrong?" she asked, alarmed.

He shook his head with a smirk, "You forget that I'm your older brother, and even though I can't bend, I try to look out for you in any way I can."

Katara looked up into his warm eyes, "Thanks Sokka. I guess I never really think about that…"

Sokka leaned against the railing, crossing his arms, "So…what's on your mind?"

She sighed, and collapsed next to her brother, "Well…it's Aang."

He raised his brow, his interest obviously piqued, "Aang?"

"Yes Aang."

"What happened?"

Katara paused, thinking about her choice of words, "He's just acting really strange…"

"How so?"

She gave him a look, "I think you're spending too much time with Ty Lee, I mean come on have you seen him?"

Sokka rubbed his neck, "Yeah he was a bit odd the other day, we were going to have a guy's day out, you know? Me, Aang and Fire Lord-."

Katara stood up, her hands held in front of her, she smirked, "Hold up. Did you just say you were planning on willingly spending time with Zuko? And did you just call him Fire Lord?"

Her brother sighed, "Yes, I called him Fire Lord, that's his title, besides he's not that bad of a guy. Would you like me to call him Master Pyro? Anyway, since he was part of the Gaang I was like, what the heck! Let him join in the fun, then there's three of us."

She smacked his arm playfully, "Oh just tell the story!"

Sokka rubbed his arm, "Pushy. So Zuko and I headed over to Aang's and we were going to ask him to join us. He barely opened his door, and his room was dark, from what we could see…"

Sokka threw his boomerang, looking around awkwardly, "So…Zuko. What sort of things do you know are fun to do?"

Zuko, too was looking around awkwardly, shrugged, "Well…I don't know. My uncle loves Pai Sho. I never really got into it, I always thought it was an old man's game."

Sokka sighed in agreement, "Yeah…so you ever go fishing?"

"No. Well…not really."

"Maybe we could do that."

"Alright…sounds like…fun."

They knocked on Aang's door, he opened it, after a few hasty knocks, only enough to see one eye.

Sokka grinned, and Zuko gave him a small smile, "Hey Aang! Guy's day out, come on we're going fishing!"

Aang slowly shook his head, "…Sorry guys, wish I could, but I can't. Have fun."

He quickly shut the door, leaving the new Fire Lord and Sokka thoroughly confused.

Sokka scratched his head, "Well, that was strange…Aang loves this kind of thing…"

Zuko shrugged, "Maybe he's getting used to responsibility, he's probably not used to not having his usual amount of free time."

"Good point, come lets go. This is the perfect time for the fish to start biting."

"Aaand, that's where my story ends." Sokka clapped his hands, with his chin boastfully in the air.

Katara looked at the marble floor, "Huh…"

Sokka placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "Now, what's your story?"

She took a breath, "Well, you know how Aang and I are engaged?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I'm having second thoughts." she looked at her brother, fearing his response.

"Why?"

Katara spread her arms dramatically, "He's acting so strange! It's so unlike Aang! I'm probably just overreacting, what Zuko said might be right. He's probably just adjusting to his new responsibilities, or his age is finally catching up with him…"

Sokka wrinkled his nose, "…Ew. If his age catches up with him, you'll be married to some shriveled old guy…"

Katara rolled her eyes, "Way to go Sokka, he's one of your best friends and you say something about his age."

Sokka held his hands up in defense, "Hey I'm not the one engaged to the Avatar, who is over a century old."

He started to walk away, "Listen, sis, if Aang doesn't change his behavior, I say go with your gut feeling. Even if it seems wrong, it's probably going to be right in the end."

Katara smiled warmly at her older brother, "Thanks Sokka, I'm really glad we had this talk."

She gave him a tight hug, and he gently kissed her on the forehead, "Anytime. If you ever need me, for anything, at all. I'll be here for you."

"Thanks, what would I do without you?"

Sokka shrugged as he walked out the door, "Well, we wouldn't be together now would we?"

Katara smiled while shaking her head, before returning her gaze back to the kids practicing their bending, and of course that piercing pair of golden eyes.

A/N: FirstZutara fic, right here! Let me know if I messed anything up, or butchered a loved character... whatever. It has been a while since I watched the series, more like the last time was two weeks ago? The last time I really remember sitting and planning to watch it was the finale in 2008...so its a long time, I still need to check some background stuff, 'til then REVIEW!