A few of you may have noticed that this story was up before, so I put up a note at the bottom explaining that issue. Thank you, and please Fav, comment(uhhh I mean review) :)
This feeling of missing something, was… bothersome. It was all the fault of the waterbending peasant. From the moment he first saw her trembling, then scarcely a month later when she'd bent him into a tower of ice was the first time he felt this dumbstruck, as if perhaps he had made a slight overstep. Zuko hadn't even paid her any heed when he'd first 'seen' her. Then again, he hadn't really looked at her, he'd been searching for the coveted Avatar. Of course there had been that incident with the pirates where he'd been up close and personal, to personal, for her at least. At that time Zuko hadn't been paying attention either, and it was at this time, that Zuko sat ruminating by the pond, that it dawned on him. Never had he noticed.
Zuko could recall with perfect clarity the fear on her face now, six years after the first time he saw her. As he had roughly snatched her grandmother from her grasp and demanded the location of the Avatar he now called one of his closest friends. He pictured her face with panic rising in the depths of her blue, blue eyes as he waved her most precious possession just out of reach. His thoughts then had been pure, sadistic, amusement. It made Zuko slightly sick to remember his twisted thoughts from a violent past he was still trying to move past.
Zuko watched koi swim in lazy loops through clear water dotted with bright red leaves of fall. They were all traditionally, overpriced, pure bred koi. White without a spot of the vibrant fire that Zuko admired. Save for one, though this koi was not red at all, but ebony. Watching the black koi amongst it's white peers brought back another unpleasant memory. The north pole on the night of the blizzard. When he thought of it he thought of the blizzard most vividly because of the suddenness, clear sky had given way in scarcely ten minutes to a fierce storm the likes of which before that day Zuko couldn't have imagined.
But at least he could understand the snowstorm. The storm of water, ice, and snow, that rained down on him in a furious barrage from the eyes of the dark skinned waterbender was harder to comprehend. She wasn't even from the north pole, and by all means, she shouldn't have been able to bend. This was the first time that Zuko felt he missed something. He'd seen her bend before, though most of those attempts that he'd seen had been laughable failures. Indeed, he had laughed at her. However her bending in the north pole had not been that of an amateur but of a prodigal student, by then Zuko was positive he had underestimated the waterbender. But still, she continued to shock him.
Alongside her brother, she had rebuilt the Southern Water Tribe and ended the public partition of women in the Northern Water tribe, by traveling north for several months after the war to build a school were both sexes could learn to fight or heal with waterbending. Nevermind how much she had assisted the fire nation after Aang had officially left to deal with the internal problems of the Earth Kingdom, after all the Avatar could only remain in one place for so long, before duty called. But Katara seemed to have an unofficial duty to assist humankind where ever possible. After his coronation she had remained for a month in the Fire Nation capital healing wounded soldiers and un-knowingly spreading her fame as a respected woman.
Though she was only fourteen by the end of the war. She was seventeen when she came back for his twentieth birthday.
He remembered that day well, the early part of the day had been spent with his real friends. Aang and Toph were already in the Fire Nation, while Suki and Sokka traveled from the Southern Water Tribe. Mai had been unable to come for some family issue, he had learned from her later that she was being engaged, and it had been a day of great sadness for her. Tai Lee had not showed up but chosen to visit and console Mai. And finally, Katara had showed up, around nine, after everyone had eaten breakfast and was lounging in one of the inner gardens of the palace. No one had known where she'd been, but her arrival had caused quite a disturbance. Those who recognized her at the gates had allowed her entry, but she was famous after all, and well liked. And subsequently it was the Fire Lords birthday. She had fought through flooded streets to get there. So by the time she arrived in the courtyard everyone was on their feet and swarming to hug her.
Zuko faintly remembered standing back, and watching her. After excited and joyful greetings, her eyes had found him. She seemed to cock her head curiously, as if wondering why he hadn't run to greet her. Katara had walked up to him in such grace and thrown her arms around him he'd been momentarily shocked. And then had proceeded admit that he still didn't fully understand Katara or her motives.
And now Zuko was drawn back to the present. His mind was so bogged up by ministerial meetings, negotiations, nation statuses that he'd merely come to the garden today as a means to escape it all, not to reminisce about Katara. Who was currently staying in the palace as an ambassador for the Southern Water Tribe. Most probably wondering why he wasn't in the meeting right now. Zuko sighed deeply and kicked a pebble into the pond scaring a few koi away from the edge. Perhaps the reason he was unable to focus in the meetings, the reason he was now forgetting minor and important facts, the reason he kept scaring his ministers out of their wits was the fact that Katara was here. What was his problem? Did he still feel indebted to her? He owed her nothing. Then, a small light flickered on the back of his thoughts.
And it was finally at that very moment, as Zuko stared into the pond, the very thing he'd been missing for six years. A white fish and a black fish. The great and powerful Fire Lord had fallen for a Water Tribe princess.
I apologize for having to delete and re-upload, but Doc-mangaer for fanfiction is being stupid, half the features are gone, and it removed all my spacing, italics ect. Thank you