Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender.
"Zuko, look! Look there!" Katara yelled as she grabbed her best friend's arm excitedly and pointed at the rare and magnificent bird they had been meaning to see; or rather she had been meaning to see for so long. Zuko blushed slightly and nodded seriously, moving quietly toward it while Toph just rolled her unseeing eyes.
Without a word, Zuko cautiously tossed some sunflower seeds at it. He and Katara waited patiently for it to react to their offering and it did. Katara held her breath as the bird examined the seeds briefly moving them with its digits and finally pecking at them, eating them with what Katara imagined to be satisfaction. Katara heaved a sigh of relief. Holding her breath again, she made her way toward the colorful bird one careful step at a time, trying to be as quiet a possible so she could get a closer look.
"What's the big deal? It's just a stupid bird!" Toph yelled.
"Shhh! You'll scare it!" Katara whispered rather loudly and turned sharply to Toph who merely rolled her eyes at Katara's… enthusiasm. Frowning, Katara slowly turned back to the face the bird, clearly relieved it hadn't flown away and continued her journey toward it.
"Isn't it beautiful Toph?" she asked.
"I'm sure it is", Toph replied dramatically, waving her hand in front of her to emphasize her blindness.
"I was… talking to Zuko. Right Zuko?"
"Yup, it's absolutely gorgeous." Zuko replied, never taking his eyes off Katara.
"Told you so" Katara said her expression and tone totally matching her words.
"I thought you were talking to Zuko." Toph mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." Toph replied through clenched teeth and stuck her tongue out at Katara when she thought Katara wasn't looking. Fortunately for her, Katara wasn't looking.
Zuko watched as Katara knelt down and gently stroked the back of the bird. He smiled again as he observed her gentleness.
After feeding the bird with one last handful of seeds, Katara finally stood up and motioned for them to go back to the palace.
"Finally", Toph remarked and threw her arms in the air for emphasis. Katara rolled her eyes and the three powerful benders walked back to the palace with the Waterbender and the Earthbender bickering like children.
Zuko massaged his left temple as he reached out and randomly grabbed a document from the large pile in front of him with his free hand. Only a day of rest and he was up to his chin in paper work. Being Fire Lord could be so tiring at times.
As he started reading the proposal sent from the southern regions of the Fire Nation, he had a bad headache and struggled to concentrate. He tried to ignore the pain but it was persistent. Sighing, he put down the document and walked toward the large window of his study.
Upon looking out, he saw Katara, sitting next to the turtle duck pond, feeding them with bread just like his mother always did before she was banished. He smiled and continued admiring the Waterbender as she fed the turtle ducks by hand and giggled softly as they began picking the pieces of bread off her hand. He smiled and found that he was mesmerized by her child like innocence.
He soon stopped watching what she was doing and turned his keen attention to her. Whenever she was near, which was very often since the gang lived periodically at the palace, he felt warm inside. And he was certain it wasn't because he was a Firebender. He was puzzled at his new reaction towards Katara but tried not to allow any inappropriate thoughts about the Waterbender enter his mind.
Time seemed to slow as he continued his surveillance on Katara and through his keen observation, he noticed, not for the first time that she was very beautiful with her dazzling blue eyes and her dark, wavy hair but most of all, he found her beautiful because of her kind, forgiving heart.
Back in Ba Sing Se all those years ago, despite his shameless attempts to capture Aang, she trusted him and yet he betrayed her. He was such a fool. Fortunately, she found it in herself to forgive him and they had become best friends ever since.
He continued his observation of her, lost in thought. Then abruptly, the Avatar came and sat beside Katara. He draped his right arm around her and pulled her closer to him. Katara didn't pull away. Instead, she turned to kiss him.
Zuko looked away. He felt his heart ache more badly than ever before. Puzzled, he walked away from the window and continued with his exhausting work. He made a mental note that he would have to visit the royal physician sometime that evening.
"No!" Katara screamed just before running into the gardens and falling onto the soft grass, hurt and broken.
"Katara?" he whispered as he cautiously sat beside her. She was silent, obviously trying and failing to accept what she had just read.
Seeing her so broken pained him. She needed a shoulder to cry on and he decided that it would be his since the others were away. So he gently pulled her into his arms and held her as she sobbed into his chest. She sobbed for hours until she could sob no more.
She didn't explain why she was so upset after that and he decided not to ask her. So they just sat there in complete silence until night fall when she dosed off.
"Katara?", no response. It was late and she looked so peaceful sleeping like that and he couldn't bear to wake her but he couldn't leave her out here. He had to bring her in. So he held her closer and slowly lifted her. She was very light and he had no problem carrying her at all.
Once he was on his feet, he gently shifted her so she was comfortable and started his journey towards her room.
He soon reached his destination and lightly placed her under her warm covers. He was about to leave when he turned to look at Katara again. That familiar feeling came over him once more so he could not longer leave her and so sat on her bed beside her sleeping form.
He watched as her breathing began to stabilize and her sleep began to deepen. She was beautiful, even in her moments of sorrow and despair; there was a profound beauty about her that he could not even begin to describe.
He slowly and hesitantly reached out to stroke her hair. He was shy and when his fingertips finally made contact with her brown locks, he smiled and blushed because the contact sent a bolt of lightning down to his stomach.
"Aang", she whispered and smiled gently. 'Aang', the name of her boyfriend, he reminded himself and was suddenly painfully thrown back into reality. He stopped breathing for a moment, turned away and sighed. He looked back at her once more and then after a moment, stood up and left her chambers.
As he walked back to his own quarters, he wondered what had upset her so deeply.
He was later told by a very distraught Sokka that their beloved grandmother had passed away peacefully in her sleep due to an unknown cause at the age of 85.
Katara never spoke of that night and neither did he; it was too painful for the both of them.
It had been a long day of reading and approving proposals and Zuko was tired. All he wanted now was to have his dinner and go straight to bed.
Dinner, as usual was with the Gang. Normally, he didn't mind their jokes and noises but today, he was particularly tired and the last thing he needed was to hear Sokka and Toph's endless bickering so just after the first course was served, he excused himself and went into the gardens.
He just couldn't stand the noise they created any longer and that's why he left the dinner hall; or so he reasoned. But at the back of his mind were Katara and Aang. He felt uneasy every time he saw them together.
Although Aang and Katara weren't the most matching of couples, they seemed happy together and they were no doubt in love with each other so why this feeling came over him whenever he spotted them together, he did not want to admit.
Similar to earlier on in the day, his thoughts drifted subconsciously to Katara. He smiled as he remembered her beauty and her grace. She was a fierce fighter and yet, there were times when he wondered if this was the same person he had fought against so many times before.
He smiled as he ran every fight they ever had through his mind and remembered how equally matched they were every time. Katara was truly a great bender and an even greater friend. Her strength even at the young age of 14 was really admirable.
"Zuko?" he found himself staring into two large blue eyes when he turned around at the sound of that familiar voice.
"Katara, what are you doing here?"
"Checking on you."
"Oh come on Katara. I'm not Sokka; you don't have to check on me. And you know you can't control me." Zuko told her with a very obvious tone of amusement in his voice.
"I never said I could." Katara defended, annoyed. Zuko continued smirking and Katara couldn't help but smile at her friend's seemingly relaxed behavior.
"I haven't seen you much around the palace lately; are you alright?"
Zuko stopped smiling and immediately adopted his moody demeanor again.
"I'm… fine. It's just that I've got a lot of work lately." He replied and smiled reassuringly at her.
Katara nodded but still seemed skeptical. However, she dismissed the matter all together and ordered Zuko back to dinner. She mentally registered that she was indeed capable of controlling even the mighty Fire Lord Zuko when he obeyed her instructions and headed back to the dinning hall without a single word of protest.
"Come in", she heard a deep voice call out and she opened the door slowly.
"Hey you workaholic," she teased, "want to go shopping?" Zuko smiled at her and nodded his head in agreement despite his mountain of paper work. He was a tough leader but somehow, he was always unable to turn down the waterbender's requests, no matter how ridiculous they were.
Zuko had always been a quiet man. He was content with just listening and Katara gave him a lot to listen to alright. She spoke nonstop! She talked about anything and everything- from waterbending forms to Fire Nation schools. She bought a lot too- from food to clothing to books and as much as Zuko was a workaholic, she was becoming something of a shopaholic.
"You know Zuko, I've said it once and I'll say it again. The Fire Nation has the best market place in the world. The shop keepers are friendly and very generous", she commented while gesturing to a bottle gourd made into a water bottle which she got for free from a shop keeper after buying practically his whole shop.
Zuko struggled to nod under the weight of what his friend had bought with his money. He didn't mind though; anything for his friends.
They continued with their shopping, discussing trivial matters such as why he was such a workaholic and how the Fire Nation managed to grow such tall trees.
As they walked, they came across a very elegantly decorated jewelry shop. A ruby bracelet caught Zuko's eye and he walked straight into the shop.
"Ah, good afternoon sir and ma'am. Here to buy something?" the shop keeper asked eagerly, rubbing her hands together, obviously aware that Zuko was keen on the bracelet in the window.
"How much is that bracelet in the window?"
"Ah, buying something for your girlfriend eh? It's made of the finest rubies and is worth nothing less than five gold pieces", the woman held out her hand to emphasize her point.
"But since you seem like a nice guy", she said and stroked her chin thoughtfully. "I'll sell it to you for four", the shop keeper said while taking the bracelet from the window display and putting it in a bag, ready for Zuko to take it, right after he paid of course.
"Hey! I'm not his..."
"I'll take it", Zuko said and handed the money to the shopkeeper who in exchange passed him the ruby bracelet.
"Well, it's dinner time. Why don't we find some place to eat?", he asked as he placed the bag in his pocket.
Katara nodded in agreement. It was getting late and she was getting hungry.
They journeyed north and soon arrived at a small eatery not too far away from the palace which specialized in both Water Tribe and Fire Nation cuisine.
They were seated in the upper floor of the restaurant and to Katara's delight, just next to the window. The waiter handed them a menu which Katara studied with interest.
"We'll have Broccoli with scallop, umm, Ma Po tofu and umm… Zuko, what would you like?"
He stared at her blankly for a moment before saying "We'll have the Stewed Sea Prunes and two bowls of steamed rice. Thank you." Zuko said with a warm smile and passed the waiter the menu. He bowed respectfully before disappearing into the kitchen.
Katara stared at Zuko skeptically, studying him as if he were some sort of specimen.
"What?"
"You hate sea prunes"
"But you love them. Anyway, I don't hate them I just don't like them. Want to see a trick?" Zuko asked nervously in an attempt to distract the Waterbender and with that, he took out a copper coin and spun it on the wooden table they sat at.
At least I'm not juggling. Zuko thought.
Katara giggled, clearly amused at her friend's feeble attempt at a trick. The food soon arrived and they ate silently for awhile, enjoying their evening meal.
"Tell me a story", Katara said suddenly, leaning in curiously and Zuko frowned at the mention of stories. Stories, he had lots to tell but they were all either told by his mother or about her. He had just heard of her death and he didn't need to be reminded of the pain.
"I don't have any", he said with an obvious tone of anger and his pain was suddenly apparent to Katara so that she dropped the subject of stories altogether and continued with her meal.
"I'm sorry", he whispered, ashamed of his sudden outburst.
"It's alright", she replied. He was the one hurt and he was apologizing? If there was something she saluted him for, it was his unbelievable patience with her.
They continued the next few moments of their dinner in silence until Katara started her endless chatting again and Zuko gave her his undivided attention just like before.