Finding a Sabertoothmooselion cub (While Looking For Love)
Katara was lonely. Sure, she had everyone that she was traveling with, but she wasn't that kind of lonely. It wasn't that she didn't want to be alone; she wanted human attention. The kind that most teenage girls want. Katara wanted a relationship. And not want one of those one-week relationships. She wanted a long one. One like Sokka and Suki had. So, she made a list. A list that would help her in the future. A list of all the boys that she knew.
Well, there was Sokka, but he was her brother. Aang, but he was 12. Or 112. Either way, she considered him her little brother, which would be awkward in a relationship. Jet. Jet was dead... Bato was basically her uncle. Haru had a weird mustache.
And then there was Zuko. The Banished Prince of the Fire Nation. It shocked Katara to have him on her mental list of boys, but there was just something about Zuko that made her stomach fill with butterflies. A little part of Katara liked the bad boy in him. The sense of danger around him, never knowing exactly how or when he was going to react, his firebending, not to mention his scar, all somehow (for lack of a better term) turned her on. No one else could do that to her. Unfortunately for her, Zuko was still looking for Aang, therefore he was still an enemy. Although, his uncle could be very convincing at times. If Iroh ever felt that he wanted to join them, Katara was sure that he could convince Zuko to go as well, somehow.
Now that she knew this information about herself and her feelings, Katara went to the only who could help her: Suki. Suki knew so much about being a girl because she was with the Kyoshi Warriors for so long, and because she was in a relationship with Sokka. Katara considered her the master of the group about girly stuff. The only flaw in the plan was that Suki could randomly spill the beans to Sokka about Katara's crush at any point in time, so Katara made her swear that she wouldn't tell him lest she want to be subject to Katara's bending.
So, she told Suki everything. Down to the smallest detail. What she felt, how she felt, what she wanted to DO to him when he was around (get your heads out of the gutter!). Suki listened closely, nodding and making noises at the right times, and then Katara finished. After a few moments of silence, Suki burst into laughter. Katara was gaping at her, and Suki finally got her breath back.
"Oh my goodness Katara! That is the funniest thing that I have heard in a while," Suki said. When she saw Katara's confused expression, she continued on. "You are obviously lusting over Zuko. I mean, all of the signs are there. The butterflies, the speechlessness, even the wanting to beat him into the ground whenever you see him (once again, heads outta the gutter!), classic! My dear, I am sorry to tell you that the only way to get out of this little predicament is to do what you really want to do to him. Even if that means that the rest of us have to be nice to him in the long run. Or, you can try to find someone more attractive, which will be hard. When I first saw Zuko, I was like 'Dang!' I had to remember very hard that I was dating Sokka to shake him off. He's not one of those guys that you can just overlook in your plans for your future. Some girls can dream about him, but few can grab him while they can. You can! Do it girl! If you don't do it, I might have to do it for you."
Katara took Suki's words to heart and tried to make a scenario where she could do something that she wanted to do to Zuko, but failed. "Suki," she said, "Get ready to do some grabbing for me."
"So, Zuko, have you thought about who you want to settle down with?" Out came the tea that Zuko was drinking.
After wiping his face off, he said, "Excuse me?"
"Well, you know, you are getting to that age when you need to be thinking about this sort of thing. Why, when I was your age, I had a bride picked out and she knew it." Iroh smiled fondly at his old memories.
"If you haven't noticed yet, Uncle, we are kind of in the middle of a giant war here. I don't think that I should be doing that right now. Besides, when you were younger, you were accepted by your country, not shoved out. I'm pretty sure that, when I was younger, mother and father already picked out my future wife. Or were deciding between two. What other reason would they have let Mai and Ty Lee there so much? Azula couldn't have found them by herself. And, it only makes sense to have her be friends with my future fiancee so that one doesn't kill the other. That would make so much turmoil amongst the Royal Family. Oh, the drama!" Here, Zuko put a hand to his forehead and pretended to faint. Iroh was not amused.
"Now, I understand that you think it is not important right now, but it is. Admit it Zuko, you know that I won't be here forever. This war may last longer than I will. I want you to be settled down by the time that it happens. No more being a bachelor for you. We should start looking right away if I want to see some great-nieces and -nephews. And I want to see them." Zuko turned green at the thought while Iroh winked at him.
"Well, you obviously have thought about this a lot. I'm guessing that you have more than a few choices for me already. Since it is coming, just shoot them at me. I doubt that you could surprise me because we've been basically everywhere together." Zuko braced himself for the embarrassment that was coming.
"Where to start, where to start? What about that girl that you met in the Earth Kingdom?" Zuko shook his head. "The girl from the North Pole. What was her name, Yue or something?"
"Uncle, she's kind of the moon now, remember?"
"Oh yes. Um, Mai?" Zuko shuddered. "Ty Lee?" Zuko stuck out his tongue. "Toph. The short girl with black hair."
"I'm pretty sure she is the Avatar's girl."
"The Kyoshi Warrior! She was a good match against you in a fight."
"She is the Water Tribe Sokka's girlfriend. They're pretty much engaged."
"I only have one left then. All those poor other girls. Rejected by you. Whatever will they do? Will they be able to sleep?"
"Just hurry up and tell me!"
"Well, well, well, getting a little impatient, aren't we? Katara, Sokka's sister. She is a waterbender, I know, your opposite. But, it could work. She could whip you into shape, literally, you'd always be on your toes, never be able to back down, and imagine the se-"
"UNCLE!"
"Well, I am just saying. So, those are your only choices. I will give you until tomorrow morning to tell me who you pick. While I leave you to be an angst-ridden teenager while you figure this out, I will go to sleep. Less than 8 hours. Better choose fast if you want to get any sleep."
Uncle left to go to his tent, while Zuko stayed near the fire to think. He stared into it, musing over the things that Uncle left with him. Mai wasn't so bad. But, she was with his crazy sister. As was Ty Lee. He had forgotten about the Earth Kingdom girl, who was nice. She did live in the Earth Kingdom. The girls that went with the Avatar. Now THERE was a good choice for him. Those girls could keep him on his toes. But Suki was taken, Toph was basically taken, and then there was Katara.
Katara was a whole other thing. She was smart, pretty, and fierce. Also, she was a waterbender. That was the only bad thing that Zuko could find in his equation for finding "the one". Fire and water were natural opposites. She enjoyed things that he didn't, thought things he didn't, did things that he thought were morally wrong. Not to mention that he got power at a completely different time of day than she did. It was a challenge. A challenge that he was willing to take. All he had to do know was tell Uncle in the morning, and then he had to find her.
Zuko woke up to hear Iroh making tea while singing very off-key. He shoved a pillow around his head to attempt to block out the hideous noise. Iroh proceeded to rip the pillow off and sing straight into his ear. Zuko grudgingly got up.
"So, Zuko, do you have a decision for me yet? I told you to have one ready, because if you don't, then I will just choose one for you. And I know how much you will probably value my input in-"
"KATARA! I choose Katara, okay? Just, be quiet. It's early."
"Good, that was the girl I was going to choose for you. Now that we are on the same page, how are we going to get you to this girl?"
"The same way that we tried to get the Avatar. Track her down and have a big showdown."
Katara woke up refreshed that next day. She had a plan developing in her head that only an extreme natural disaster could stop. The last time that they had seen Zuko was when they had the big showdown with Azula in the old, abandoned town. They had gone one way while Zuko and Iroh had gone the other. All they had to do was back track a little. Just that simple. Well, things are always easier said then done.
Sokka needed to take a bath, Suki slept in, Aang and Toph wanted to practice earthbending, and Appa had to be fed. Katara's plan went from being plausible to downright unimportant.
After everything was done, Katara managed to convince everyone that she had left something at the place they had last camped, where Aang learned how to earthbend. It was a step in the right direction. A small step, but one nonetheless.
"So, here is where we last saw them. They probably haven't made it very far considering how many people they have. If we walk a little further, there is a canyon."
"Are you sure that you want to go in there? I've heard that there are Sabertoothmooselions in there. Those can be very dangerous if you don't know how to handle them," Iroh said. "You are dead if you ever find a cub, because the mothers don't hesitate to attack."
"Well, if the Avatar can handle them, we can too. Come on, we can do this thing!"
They had made it back to the canyon. Sokka and Suki were with Aang and Toph, finding food while Katara set up the campsite. When she was making the fire pit, a sabertoothmooselion cub wandered into their camp.
"Aww! You're so cute! Where's your momma little guy?" Katara picked it up and walked in the direction that it came from. She found herself in an empty canyon, near some bushes that surrounded it. Down the fluffy little animal went, and it scampered into the bushes. It reappeared when a loud booming sound cracked across the sky. The sound was close, too close for Katara's comfort.
"Gah! Zuko, that is NOT how you make tea, FOR THE LAST TIME!"
Katara ran towards the sound of Iroh's voice, which was in the bushes. The sabertoothmooselion cub, which Katara dubbed Cute-pants, followed her. She whipped her pouch open when she turned the final corner towards the commotion. There, she nearly fell to the ground laughing.
Zuko had tried to zap cook their tea by shooting lightning at it. Because he was still unable to produce it, his plan backfired when the tea pot exploded when the mass fire ball hit it. Their heads snapped up when they heard Katara's laugh.
"Oh! Look at the time! I have to go feed myself now. You two have fun." Iroh inconspicuously left them alone. They were too busy staring into each other's eyes to notice him leaving.
"So, Zuko. Nice to see you here." Katara winked at him unconsciously and he smirked at her back. It was going better than planned.
"Nice to see you to. What have you been doing since I last saw you?" He asked, taking a couple steps closer to her.
"Well, I found this sabertoothmooselion cub. And I've trying to help it find its -" A loud roar interrupted Katara as Cute-pants' mother came running out. They freaked out and dove to the side, the sabertoothmooselion not seeing them. Katara ended up falling onto Zuko's chest.
"I thought that we were going to get to know each other a little more before this step in our relationship." Zuko winked at Katara when she blushed. Their position was very awkward. In response, she leaned down and kissed him.