(A/N: Hi! This is my first Zutara fic, so bear with me. Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome, of course, but really I wouldn't be terribly surprised if anyone begged me not to continue this story... Anyway, I might even draw som FanFic art for this story in the future, now that I've got a scanner at my fingertips. If you'd like to do the same, send me the link and I'll post it here and on my profile. Thanks a bunch!)

NOTE: I altered this a little, to make it a smidge more, eh, plausible. It won't effect the plot as a whole, but it will make this chapter about 200-300 words longer. Thanks for your patience, people, and I'll try and have the next chappie up as soon as I can.

Also: the bits in italics are flashbacks.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, nor do I make profit off its use.

Spoilers: Up to Book 3, Chapter 16: The Boiling Rock Part II

Chapter 1: Home

It was late afternoon in the Western Air Temple again, and Toph was practicing earthbending with Aang in one of the many open spaces in the temple. Katara's brother Sokka and his girlfriend Suki were supposedly off gathering firewood, but she knew better than that. She smirked to herself as she used her waterbending to wash off the dishes from breakfast. Admittedly, it was a lot quicker when she only had Toph, Aang, Sokka and herself to cook for and clean up after, but now they had company.

Now they had Teo, Pipsqueak, The Duke, Suki, Hakoda (not that Katara minded having her father around), and that new guy (though she could never remember his name), along with the rest of the original Gaang.

There was also the matter of the exiled Fire Prince, Zuko. The thought of him on their side sent Katara's mind reeling.

"Hi, uh, Zuko here... I think it's time I was part of your group."

How could anyone trust him? He had hunted them for months, and now everyone had just accepted him into their daily routine as if he was always meant to be there. She finished washing the dishes and put them away as quickly as she could, relishing the thought of a bit of free time. She let out a deep breath and ran a hand over her hair backwards, casually checking the tied hair at the top of her head.

"What are you doing!? Those mushrooms are poisonous!"

"Well, you would know, wouldn't you? You've done everything to capture the avatar, and now you expect us to believe that you've just given it up to work with your enemy?" Katara was obviously furious, and was willing to take every possible opportunity to bring up his past.

"Come on! You can't honestly think that after all the time I've spent here, everything I've taught the Avatar, all we" -Katara did her best to suppress a laugh- "have accomplished as a team, that I would just throw it all away so easily! Please, Katara, you have to believe me. This, you, all of you are the only things I have left. My father would never allow me even near the center of the city, if he even cares at all about me anymore, positively or not." She swore she could almost see the pain reflected in his eyes. "Anyway, other than Uncle Iroh, I have nothing. If," he corrected himself, "when the avatar defeats my father (and my sister is out of the picture), I'll take over as Fire Lord and help Aang with the rest of, well, everything. All I want is to make up for what my father has done, and if this is the way, then so be it."

"So... you've really thought this all out, haven't you?"

"Well, joining in a fight against my own father, with the child I've been hunting for years would call for some deep thinking." A corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk, and Katara nodded.

"I guess you're right." As much as it pained her to admit, Zuko must really have changed. It was all she could hope for, at this point. After all, Aang now knew at least the basics of the last element. If Zuko was going to betray them, he'd already sealed his fate. He would have to be really stupid to try anything, well, stupid. Katara nodded. "I guess I should thank you then. You brought back my brother safe from your little 'fishing trip' and rescued our father and Sokka's girlfriend, so... Thanks."

Zuko nodded and plucked the mushrooms from her hand. "I hope this means we can at least get along, for Aang's sake."

"For Aang's sake."

A rumble sounded from across the temple, and she heard Toph yell something incomprehensible. She giggled and walked out toward the cliff at the outer edge. They had stayed on this layer of the temple for a while, and Katara had found the best places for meditation and calming herself down after a long day of work.

A figure sat silhouetted against the afternoon sun. At Katara's cliff. Well, she admitted, it wasn't really her cliff, but she was the only one who ever meditated there. She stopped, crossing her arms and stepping behind a column. If this person thought they could just take over her spot, they had another thing coming! The figure was just about to stand when she heard another bang.

This time, however, she didn't hear any yelling from Toph (generally a bad sign), so she composed herself quickly. She ran across the main floor, bending a watersnake out of the fountain before continuing forward to the open meadow up the hill. Toph and Aang had adopted it as their battleground, and Toph now stood in the middle of it, clapping her hands slowly and nodding. Katara relaxed a bit.

Aang was in the corner, bending a stone dragon in the air around the Blind Bandit (who was looking a bit disconcerted, unable to feel where it was). An ecstatic grin was plastered on the Avatar's face, but he stopped the dragon momentarily to wave at Katara. She waved back before running over to him. The water she left behind sunk into the ground.

"Wow, Aang! That's so impressive! Congratulations!" His grin widened, and he let the boulder-dragon fall back onto the ground with another loud clatter and a jolt through the ground.

"Thanks! It took me all day to master, but I think I've finally got the hang of it."

Toph interjected with a foot driven onto the ground, effectively driving a column of rock a few feet into the air: with the Avatar struggling for balance (though compensating quickly for it with his airbending) at its top. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," she said with a wave of her hand, "good job. We're all very proud of you, now get to juggling those boulders, Twinkletoes. No Firelord is going to be swayed by a pretty little rock-lizard." She thumped her foot again, and the column withdrew into the ground, depositing Aang safely on a leftover pile of dirt.

"Actually, it was a dragon. Dragons have no feet." Toph crossed her arms. "Oh. Right. Sorry about that, I forgot." He blushed, and rubbed a hand at the back of his neck."

"Whatever. Get to it, Twinkletoes, Ozai's not gonna wait forever." Toph pointed to a life-sized rock figurine of the Firelord that looked faguely like Zuko, if a little fuzzy, taller, and lacking hair and a scar. Katara thought about saying something about it, but decided against it for reasons of self-preservation. She smiled, and took a step toward the earthbender before she heard someone clearing their throat at the outer edge of the clearing.

It was Zuko, dressed in full armor with both swords unsheathed at his sides. "Rather than a rock statue of my father, it would be wiser for training purposes if you fought me." He pulled off nonchalant well, even if it did make him seem a little younger. She raised an eyebrow and turned back to Aang.

"Sounds good to me! What do you think, Toph?"

"Just try not to hurt him too bad, Sparky." Katara snickered, watching intently as Toph moved toward Zuko to poke at his swords. She saw the earthbender's devious smile just before she yanked the swords from his hands.

"What're you-"

"How do you use these things?" Toph interrupted.

Zuko sighed. "You should really give those back, you could hurt yourself." Toph responded by jabbing one of the points at his chestplate a few times (the girl's blind accuracy stunning Katara for a moment), knocking him back a step. He sighed, and caved in. The two had been near inseparable since she had decided Zuko owed her for burning the bottoms of her feet.

Katara watched with an entertained smile as the Master Firebender stepped behind the twelve year-old Earthbending Master, bringing his hands to grip hers over the hilts of the swords, swinging them a few times. The smile on Toph's face was evidence: Zuko was trying (and succeeding, in a few cases) to be better, to be more human. Of course, Katara would never know what he had gone through in his life, apart from the stories he would tell around the campfire.

She had the feeling she was being watched. Turning, she caught Aang staring at her before he shifted and poked Zuko in the shoulder. "Come on, you've gotta help me practice!" Zuko nodded and slipped his swords out of Toph's hands with a deft sweep of his wrists. He straightened and nodded again to Aang.

"Let's get to it."

She knew Aang had a crush on him. It would be natural after spending 100 years cooped up in an iceberg, but it was just a harmless crush, right? He would get over her after a short while. Aang was, well, he was her brother, and he owed everything to her. She had taken him under her wing, with the help of his brother, and that was it. That was the whole story. The few times he had kissed her, she passed them off as either friendly (in which case, Katara couldn't help but worry for her sanity), or his hormones.

All things aside, Katara wasn't the least bit surprised when the battle ended with Zuko, back on the ground, and Aang standing above him with a satisfied grin on his face. She had sat on a rock bench that Toph had bent, the two watching the fight intently and yelling cheers for alternating men.

She pondered, for a moment, the validity of referring to Aang as a man. Male? Of course. Fully grown? She didn't know, but it sounded like a stretch. Zuko was, as much as it pained her to admit, as physically grown up as he was going to get. This was obvious by his sculpted chest, muscled arms and precise/measured movements.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she was jealous of Toph because of her closeness with Zuko. It was nothing personal, of course, she just knew that having a bender as strong as Zuko would come in handy, especially with his skills beyond Firebending.

But that didn't mean she would show it, or even allow herself to think such things again. She smirked, crossed her arms over her chest, and walked away.

(A/N: Okay, guys, thanks for reading! This chapter is meant to just be an introduction to the time (it should follow canon, but if I left something out, let me know), character and Katara's feelings about a number of things (including Chit Sang's name, which she really did forget). This time, though, I'm really looking for responses and reviews so that I can improve my writing. Soo just click that button over there (you know, down and to the left) and show me the looooove. :D Thanks a bunch, and I'll be updating "The Long and Winding Road" later tonight. All my love, Khepri.)