Okay, so hi guys. yeah, I know I promised you guys a soon update for Steel Magnolia, and a couple more Naruto oneshots, but I couldn't resist this. Yes, I'm kind of a die-hard Zutara fan. Even when I was a youngin and didn't even know what fandom was (appalling, I know), I watched a couple of Avatar episodes and rooted for them to be a couple. The finale disappointed me, so I spawned this.
Just picture this as a Zuko-joins-the-gaang 30sentencefic, except I had my playlist on shuffle while I wrote it, so I based it on the songs. enjoy!
oh, and by the way, this is a tad bit AU in the sense that zuko and katara get together while he's training aang—which means no Maiko, and no Kataang. ^^ some of these are sappy, completely unoriginal, and hilariously corny, but that's the risk you take reading my stuff.
(and yes, I left the sentences uncapitalized for fun. stfu.)
if i'm drowning
zuko almost hates her; the way she affects him with her soft, cool skin, the icy eyes he could get lost in, drowning him in her addictive scent. she's walking all over his heart, and he almost hates her for making him allow it.
mr. brightside
when he watches the way aang's fingers linger over her wrist, there is a tightening in his throat, but he swallows it down; aang is his friend, and he will not violate that friendship just to rip those fingers right off that arrowed hand.
she was never even his to begin with.
take me out
the first time katara beats him after he joins the avatar, he is awestruck—not only by her power, but by the fascinating way her chest is heaving beneath the shirt sicking closely to her skin.
perfect skin
katara is evil, he thinks, teasing him so—with her flawless mocha skin, the devilish grins she sends his way when she knows he's looking, her eyes shining mischievously whenever she catches him...dammit, she'll be his downfall someday.
muscle museum
little does the exiled prince know, katara herself is similarly affected—when he's not paying attention to her, she will watch him spar with aang, noting the way his muscles ripple beneath that glorious pale skin, and a gleam will develop in her eyes that would make sokka want to lock her out of sight forever..at least, until zuko goes back to the fire nation.
signs of life
sometimes, katara wants to believe zuko is asexual...she actually does sometimes, but that's until she announces she's going to go bathe in the river, and turns her head to see the red, red blush decorate his face.
strictly physical
once zuko finally stopped swimming in that stupid egyptian river and acknowledged his attraction to katara, he pledged to make it only that: a simple physical attraction. but when she's hovering worriedly over him when aang gets in a hit during training, or fighting her heart out against an enemy, he can't help but begin to break his own promise.
tick tick boom
zuko never thought he would be afraid of katara, until sokka left his empty bowl on the log for her to pick up and clean. from that moment on, zuko (and everyone else, for that matter) made sure to clean up after themselves very thoroughly.
my curse
zuko hates his scar. that ugly, disfiguring mark on his left eye was a reminder of his father and all the pain his family put him through. katara knows this; she also knows that he wouldn't be their zuko any other way.
god's gonna cut you down
one of the most puzzling things about katara, zuko finds, is that she rarely kills an enemy. she'll merely incapacitate them while she goes off to help her friends. he's asked her about this strange trait, and she tells him, "I prefer to let destiny catch up with them. their antics will get them killed someday, but I don't want be the one to do it." zuko grows a new respect.
think twice
even before he knows the attraction is mutual, zuko sort of inwardly claims katara for his own. escorting her into town, going with her to get supplies, fighting battles alongside her, anything—he must always make sure he is there when other males are around...he can't have them pulling her out from under him, after all.
hum hallelujah
even though he likes to grumble about how troublesome she is sometimes, zuko can't help but thank any deity who's listening for katara's presence in his life.
feeling good
zuko was always a morning person (katara never really would know how serious he was about rising with the sun), and of course, the smell of breakfast wafting into his tent and the sight of a deliciously tousled watertribeswoman still in her underclothes only served to make his mornings even better.
be still my soul
he always did think katara was even prettier when she was with water, her natural element—but when they were at his old vacation house and she was relaxing on the beach, bending water in that hot little bathing suit and just looking so happy, it made his heart jump to his throat and made him choke on his watermelon juice.
what you waiting for
don't get him wrong, zuko secretly adored toph, he really did, but sometimes, she really did notice too much, and she made just too much sense.
golden
zuko and katara have taken to watching the sunsets together—one of the rare quiet moments they can enjoy. there were many things about katara that zuko truly loved, but almost none of them ranked as high as the dying sunlight kissing her skin and reflected in her eyes.
taking back control
azula is so smug, he seethes; so confident in her abilities, she'll be surprised when he brings her to her knees. his rage is calmed when the soft, small hand of his girl slides into his, and all that's left is a warm feeling in his chest and a solid resolution to defeat his sister so that when katara lives by his side, she'll get silk sheets instead of the same old sealskin and fur.
out of line
back in the early days, he hits another man for touching her; she hits him right back. "YOU IDIOT!" she screams, while he is holding his red cheek and staring at her with horribly bewildered eyes.
she crosses her arms and huffs. "you could have let me do it myself."
daydreaming
katara has this habit of drifting off sometimes, resting her elbows on appa's back and looking off into the sky. she has a few different dreams—dreams of cold snow, igloos, and penguin sledding, and another of royal gardens and silk banners and golden thrones. little does she know zuko has the same.
temper temper
as much as he loves her, zuko can't help but push her buttons sometimes, with pet names and banter and just being generally rude. he learns exactly how unhealthy this hobby is when she water-whips him in the behind—painfully.
seize the day
zuko learns to appreciate the time he has with katara as the final battle grows nearer—he has no intentions of failing, but with azula and ozai, the unexpected usually finds a way of happening.
teenagers
every day, almost like clockwork, zuko cursed his hormones. if it weren't for them, he wouldn't be so...tempted by that watertribe girl (katarakatarakatarakataraaa!), wouldn't be forced to look away every time she sharpened her bending skills with aang in their underclothes, wouldn't have to stay in his sleeping bag for zuko jr. to calm down every time she awoke before him—really, it was getting ridiculous! why couldn't he just be thirty already?
dance tonight
when the gaang came upon yet another festival (it seemed to be a habit with these people), katara was overjoyed (for some reason) to find the people dancing. seeing as sokka and aang were busy stuffing their faces, and toph was a female, she dragged zuko out to the dance floor with her. he should have known, with her being a waterbender and all, but even of the dance floor katara was so graceful, swaying and swishing and swirling and laughing like a happy little child. it brought a rare smile to his face, and it surprised her so much she halted; the smile disappeared, and she resumed.
mama
"you're not everyone's mother!" toph screamed. she was right, zuko thought, but it was no crime to imagine katara as a mother, was it? he brought this up to the blind girl, and she smacked him and said he only thought that because he wanted her to 'spawn his brats'. the next few seconds were full of silence and sokka's fist in zuko's face.
fighter
when katara's opponent called her a whore had slammed a large boulder into her stomach, zuko was already scorching the face of the man in front of him and on his way to her, when a small hand on his stomach stopped him.
"let her handle it," toph told him. "she'll take care of the bastard herself. she's too pissed off to let him go now."
zuko conceded, and sure enough, she was right; the next moment found the opponent's face slammed into the boulder he himself had commanded and a large dagger of ice sticking out from his back and between his legs. zuko winces, and decides to always be on her good side.
i wanna be adored
these days, katara is rarely open with people about her innermost wants and needs. when zuko finally gets the opportunity one night, over a bottle of sake and beneath a bright moon, she tells him all she wants is a man who will really love her; zuko thinks that is a wish he could very easily grant.
blackbird
one of the things katara really, really loves about zuko is his persistence and pure inability to give up; no matter what life throws at him, he will always rise from the ashes, and he will never quit. she used to hate it, when he was set on capturing aang, but now she adores it, when he is set on teaching teaching the airbender to defeat his father.
mad world
sometimes, zuko feels his life is so hectic, so crazy in the palace—and he takes a page out of aang's book, reveling in the peaceful moments of life. it's why his favorite time is night, when he can lay in his bed with katara in his arms, soaking up her beautiful eyes and her smooth skin and the simple quiet.
remember the name
once upon a time, katara was a nobody—the last bender in a village of about twenty people, in the middle of nowhere buried in ice and snow. now, she is a somebody; a right-hand woman of avatar aang, the best waterbender in the southern hemisphere, fire lady, katara.
makedamnsure
zuko is happy, truly happy, now that he's found the love of his life—he may not be royalty anymore, and he might never be, but now that he's got katara, he's taking her and never letting her go...he's waited too long for a chance like this to let it slip by now.
and there you have it. hilariously stupid, wasn't it? review if you wish.