A/N: this is my first Zutara story that isn't a one shot. I have the basic idea in my head and I'm warning you now the Zutaraness comes in pretty slowly since I have to set it up first. I hope you like it and sorry for any mistakes. Reviews are appreciated!

Yours and Mine

Six Months Later

Zuko awoke to the familiar warm tingle in his veins, a surge of energy washing over him. It was sunrise. Being a firebender he always rose when the sun did, but today it was not just the suns golden rays that coaxed him out of bed. Today his friends were coming. He hadn't seen them since the end of the war six months ago. They had all stayed for a few days after the war had ended, but eventually they had to return to their homes and help rebuild what the war had so maliciously destroyed. He had to stay and restore the honor his nation had once held so dear.

It was easier said than done.

The last six months had been grueling at best. Even with his uncle's guidance, there was still so much to be done and reviewed and planned and revised. At first it was so overwhelming, with the rebellions and corrupt officials still loyal to Ozai. It was a challenge just to keep the Fire Nation from going completely bankrupt from war reparations, but through a lot of convincing from the Avatar the other nations generously decided to give the Fire Nation more time and only charge minimun interest. Things had started to quiet down from the post-war calamity, at least for now. At the moment stacks of paperwork were his biggest rival. But not this week; this week was the first annual Peace Summit. Though the days would be spent reviewing treaties and negotiating, the nights would be spent laughing and joking amongst his friends. It would start tonight with the grand Peace Celebration.

Zuko turned over to face the empty side of his bed. Empty. He wasn't really sad, he and Mai were still friends and the decision to end their relationship was mutual. They both realized they were childhood sweethearts, first crushes and nothing more. They loved each other, but were not lovers and had come to terms with that. Still he wondered when the day would come when he'd wake up and see someone beside him.

It was lonely times like these when Zuko missed traveling with the Gaang. He missed the colorful people that were his friends, though he didn't show it that much, they meant a lot to him.

He pushed himself up on his elbows and surveyed his room. It was basked in a soft golden light coming in from the balcony on his right. The chamber was decorated in shades of red and gold, complimented by the glossy black marble floor. His bed was huge, with ornate carvings delicately weaving through the cherry wood and sheets made of the finest silk. The room itself was sight to behold, with its gilded furniture and priceless artwork, but Zuko's favorite part was the balcony.

He rose from his bed and opened the grand doors, welcoming the cool morning breeze that tousled his hair and the warmth of the sun on his skin. This was his favorite time of day, watching the sun rise from the ocean and bring a new day. It was a breath taking sight.

After a few minutes, Zuko peeled his eyes away from the sight and went to his bathroom to get ready for the eventful day ahead.

Katara could not wait; she was beaming with excitement. Today she would finally get to see all her friends again.

She leaned against the rails of the ship, squinting to make out the sliver of land that was the Fire Nation. Her stomach coiled with anticipation as she thought about the last few months. Being back home was amazing, she had missed the South Pole, and she was happy rebuilding her tribe alongside her family, but some nights she would think back longingly to nights around the campfire with her friends, playful banter and sarcastic remarks (mostly from Sokka) filling the night. It would be like old times again.

She always saw Sokka (sometimes a little too much). She had seen Toph and Haru a few times when she had gone to the Earth Kingdom or they had come to visit. Aang visited often when he didn't have Avatar duties to attend to. Thankfully the awkwardness between that had finally faded and they went back to their former friendship. Her and Aang had tried the dating thing, but she soon realized that their hugs were purely platonic and she kissed him out of duty. She realized she loved him, but not as a lover. When she told Aang about this, he had taken it surprisingly well. He said that during recent trips to the Spirit World he too began to realize that their love was a companionable love, one shared by friends, not lovers.

It had been a little awkward after that, but they had soon gotten over it and were back to being great friends.

She was happy to be seeing all of them again, but she was most excited about seeing Zuko. She hadn't seen the firebender since the end of the war, his nation needed him to stay and and her tribe needed her to come back. Plus they were half way around the world which made visits even more difficult. They had still kept in touch though, sending letters back and forth. They started as enemies, but now he was truly one of her best friends.

They finally docked at the port.

"Sokka we're here!" she squealed.

"It's about time! I'm so ready to get off this boat." He replied.

When she got off the boat she saw Zuko, his uncle, and their entourage of guards and servants on the docks.

"Zuko!" she cried excitedly as she ran and attacked him with a hug. He was just like she remembered, strong and sturdy with the smell of sandalwood and jasmine clinging to him. It was a comforting yet foreign scent. The guards had stepped forward when they saw the young woman running towards their Fire Lord, ready to defend their leader. But stepped back when the saw the rare smile on their lord's face as he returned the girl's embrace.

He chuckled, "It's great to see you too, Katara."

"Don't I get a hug too?" Iroh asked causing Katara to giggle. "Of course you do," she said as she embraced the aging man.

"Zuko! Long time no see. How've you been buddy?" Sokka exclaimed as he came off the ship and embraced Zuko in a handshake turned hug.

"Hey, Sokka. I've been good, just running a country, no big deal," he said with a smirk.

"When are the others coming?" asked Katara, eager to see the rest of her friends.

"Toph and Haru should be coming with other representatives from the Earth Kingdom in a few hours. Aang said he'd meet us at the palace since he has Appa. And Suki said she's coming late at night during the celebration," he informed.

Katara saw the gleam in Sokka's eyes and the excited look on his face at the mere mention of Suki's name. She laughed mentally; her brother was truly in love. At the very back of her mind, the place that held things she would never admit to herself, she was a little envious. She was ecstatic that her brother had found his other half, but still wondered when she would find hers.

Sokka, Katara, and Iroh spoke for a few minutes as Zuko greeted Chief Hakoda, Chief Arnook, and other representatives from the Water Tribes. After the formalities, the large group made its way back to the palace, telling stories and sharing memories along the way.

At the palace, the servants showed everyone to their rooms and the entire palace was filled with commotion, which turned into chaos when the Earth Kingdom representatives arrived. Servants scurried about with bed sheets and extra pillows as the representatives conversed with one another, laughing and shaking hands. Katara, Toph, Sokka, and Haru had had their own heartfelt greeting after which they proceeded to joke about how Haru had finally shaved and gotten a decent haircut.

"I think his hair looks good short" Katara stated. It did look better; she always liked the short, scruffy look.

"Thank you, Katara. See some people like my knew look," he said triumphantly to Toph.

"I didn't say I didn't like it! I'm blind, I don't even know how it looks", she said exasperated, "I just said you should have told me you cut you're hair so I wouldn't have gone up to that lady and punched her thinking it was you. You had long hair and walk like a girl, its not my fault I mistook you for a woman!"

"I do not walk like a girl," he huffed.

"You did kind of look like one though," Katara teased.

"Well at least you finally look like a guy now." Sokka interrupted, laughing and wrapping an arm around Haru's neck. Haru was about to reply but was cut short by Toph.

"Way to show up, Twinkletoes," Toph smirked and punched Aang in the arm.

He laughed, "Hey Toph, nice to see you again too" he said as he rubbed the already forming bruise on his arm.

"What took you so long Aang?" asked Sokka.

The young Avatar just shrugged, "Appa got hungry."

The group chatted for a while and went back to teasing Haru before Aang was pulled aside by a few Earth Kingdom representatives. He gave a parting smile before he bounced away to greet the other nation representatives.

Zuko stepped out from the conference room with the Earth Kingdom representative.

"Thank you, General Ten Jee. I will take your requests into consideration and we will discuss it further in the upcoming peace meetings." The general had just arrived and within twenty minutes he had requested and audience with the Fire Lord to discuss trade negotiations. Zuko had listened and found it in himself to not tell the man off. They had briefly discussed the issue (not briefly enough in Zuko's opinion) until Zuko had had enough and told the man they would talk about it later, his tone was polite and the man was about to say something more until he saw the barely concealed annoyance in Zuko's eyes and wisely kept his mouth shut.

He watched the man walk away and gave a mental sigh. Finally.

The young lord scanned the room and saw his friends talking. Aang was now there. Zuko smiled, he hadn't seen the monk in a long time. Aang stayed for a little while after the end of the war to help him, but had to leave soon after. The world had needed the Avatar elsewhere.

Zuko looked at his friends. They were so diverse, each one of them had such different personalities, yet they were still friends. That's what made their friendship stronger. If anything good came of the war it was that he had gotten the chance to meet these people. His thoughts lingered as he made his way over to the group, the Gaang.

"Zuko, it's great to see you again." Aang said, shaking Zuko's hand. The younger boy looked a little tired, they were all tired. Rebuilding the world was not an easy task, but he could see the glint in the monk's eyes and knew his friend was happy. Tired, but happy, that's how they all were.

"You too, Aang." He replied with a smile, something he realized he was doing quite often today.

"Zuko, you didn't comment on Haru's new haircut" Sokka said as he tousled Haru's hair. Haru rolled his eyes, "Okay next year I'm definitely not cutting my hair before coming. Don't want a repeat incident of this." The group laughed and continued with their idle chatter about Haru's hair and other little things until they went to their rooms to get ready for the celebration.

But before Zuko could leave, Sokka had pulled him and Haru aside saying he needed to talk to them. Zuko gave Haru a questioning look. What's this about? Haru just shrugged. I have no clue.

They made their way to a secluded corner of the huge room before Sokka turned to them, a grin plastered on his face. "I'm going to propose to Suki!" he exclaimed as if he had kept that bottled up for too long. "On the last day of the meetings, during the festival." Surprise and happiness covered Zuko's face and he turned to see that Haru mirrored his look.

"Congratulations, Sokka," Haru said first, patting his friend's back. "Yeah, good for you," Zuko added, gripping the warrior on the shoulder.

"Here's the engagement necklace" Sokka pulled out a teal colored band with an emerald stone in the middle. From a distance it was stunning, but looking closely it was easy to see it was Sokka who had done the carvings. Zuko and Haru stared at the necklace for a while, their faces contorted in confusion trying to decipher the drawings. A T-shaped figure and a half-circle with lines inside were surrounded by zigzag lines. "It's a fan and a sword, representing Suki and I, surrounded by waves of water." Both the earthbender and the firebender oh-ed in realization.

"Do you think she'll like it?" Sokka asked with a hint of insecurity in his voice.

"Um... of course she will," said Zuko, "especially because you made with your own two hands," he added more sincerely. Haru smiled and nodded in agreement.

Relief washed over Sokka's face. "She will, won't she."

"Are we the only ones who know," asked Haru.

"No, Katara found out when she found the necklace under my bed and told Aang and Toph. I had to force her to keep her mouth shut for long enough so I could be the one to tell you guys."

Zuko smiled, he could just imagine Katara blabbing to the whole tribe that her brother was getting married before he even proposed. Sokka continued complaining about how his sister had a big mouth and shouldn't have been snooping through his stuff anyway before his father called him over.

Haru and Zuko watched the soon-to-be engaged man walk away. "Wow, Sokka's getting married," Haru said, still looking at the man in question.

Zuko snorted, "Poor Suki." They laughed as they watched Sokka chase down a servant carrying a platter of beef kabobs.

A/N: I own nothing and make no profit.