KATARA'S POV:
Who did he think he was? Getting inside her head like that? Getting inside her heart? He knew she could never actually be his. She was a water bender and he was a fire bender, they opposed each other. But they said opposites attract. No. She needed to stop thinking like there was an ACTUAL chance of her being with him. Besides, she was with Aang. But was she really happy? No, she was content. There was a difference in being content with a person and being happy with a person.
"Katara?" There was that voice.
"What do you want Zuko?" She asked, letting her irritation color her tone.
"I - I just wanted to say… Umm… I'm sorry. That was out of line. I shouldn't have-"
"No, it's fine."
"Then why are you crying?" She could feel him step closer to her inside her small room.
She wiped her hand across her cheek, surprised to find tears there. Had she really been crying?
"Katara, are you okay?" he put his hand on her shoulder, but she left her back facing him.
"I'm fine." But even she could hear the small hitch in the word. She was the only one who could feel how the word had made her heart hurt. She was absolutely NOT fine.
"Are you sure? I feel like what I did back there… I mean, I know I shouldn't have, you're not mine and… I mean, not like I think of you like you could be! No, that would be weird… right? I mean, you're with Aang. Even a touch on the cheek is kind of awkward. I shouldn't have done that. But… It feels like it hurt you a little more than just me touching your cheek."
She thought it was cute when he stammered and so she couldn't help smiling a little.
"I don't know, I just… There's a lot going on right now. With Aang and the war and confusion about you and-"
"Wait," Zuko's sudden request made her turn. "Confusion? About me?"
Katara felt her face turn a very unattractive shade of red. "I mean, umm… Confusion. About whether or not I should trust you. I mean, you almost tried to kill us… A lot."
Zuko seemed suspicious still, but Katara hoped he would just forget about it and move on. Of course, Zuko never did what she hoped he would. In fact, just the opposite…
But, just at that moment, he was too tired and his head hurt too much to prod further.
"Well, I'm sorry about what I did earlier."
Katara chuckled a short little laugh and then waved it off, still wiping her eyes and saying, "Forget about it."
But, walking out of her room, Zuko knew he would never forget. He had finally given into the urge to caress her smooth skin, to cradle her cheek in his palm. It was everything he had hoped it would be and more. Now he had a new wish. To hold her, to let her weep in his arms, to feel her curl into him and say his name. Not Aang's.
After Zuko was gone, Katara plopped herself down on her bed and stared at the ceiling, trying to decipher the strange mixed messages she was getting from the banished fire prince.
His frustrating moves on her made it impossible to tell if he was interested in her or just in toying with her emotions. Only one thing she knew for sure. She felt something for him. That something scared her.
Maybe she should try staying away from him for a while? Yeah, she would keep her distance. But even the thought of it made something funny happen inside her chest.
ZUKO'S POV:
Zuko was laying in bed thinking about Katara when the Avatar walked in.
"Aang?" Zuko asked, surprised he would be here at this time of night. It was close to midnight and he had training in the morning. "What are you doing up? You should be asleep, you have to train tomorrow."
"You were with Katara." he sure didn't waste any time getting to the point, did he?
"Wh- uh… What do you mean, Aang?" Zuko asked, knowing exactly what he meant.
"Out there. On the side of the temple." Aang said, his voice hiding any emotion he might be feeling.
"Uh… Yeah, I was talking to her about her mother." Zuko answered, pushing away the thought of Katara closing her eyes and leaning her soft face into his palm.
"You touched her." Aang said.
"Yes." Zuko answered, though he knew it wasn't a question.
Aang nodded and then walked out. Zuko waited until he was absolutely sure Aang had gotten away before he dared even thinking about what had just happened.
Aang hadn't even seemed mad about what had happened between Katara and Zuko. He hadn't seemed like he even cared actually, only curious. Was Aang trying to mess with Zuko's head? Trying to get Zuko to think that he and Katara could actually maybe be together so that he could spring some sort of trap?
No, he was the Avatar he wouldn't plot against people like that. Especially not his own comrades. Zuko was too used to being in the fire nation still.
So maybe, if he was lucky and played his cards right, he could be with Katara. But that was only if she actually felt anything for him. He thought for sure that tonight when she leaned into his hand like that, she was definitely interested in him. But then she had cried. Maybe because she still saw him as the enemy and maybe because she really did have feelings for him. Maybe she was sad because she had known that they could not be together.
Or maybe Zuko was just spinning tales to appease his mind.
AANG'S POV:
Aang had loved her. And he had seen her with Zuko. Zuko had touched her face and she had seemed to give in to the temptation to lay her head in his hand. Aang had thought that if he caught someone with Katara like this, he would be infuriated. His rage would know no bounds. Yes, he had loved her.
So why wasn't he angry? Why did he feel almost… Happy for them?
KATARA'S POV:
The next morning was very awkward. Katara had decided that she didn't need to avoid Zuko. If she avoided him, he would think she was doing it because he was getting to her. She couldn't let him know he was getting to her.
So that morning at breakfast, she ate her breakfast in silence. Nobody noticed because everyone had seemed tired and so they were quiet. But Aang kept looking between Katara and Zuko.
'Oh no,' Katara thought, 'Aang didn't see, did he?'
When all the chores were done after breakfast, Zuko walked up to Katara with Aang trailing right behind him and asked if she wanted to come with them and the others to watch Aang practice fire bending. He had lots of training to do in the little time before the comet.
"Sure, I'll go," Katara said, trying to show Aang through her eyes that she was really only going to support him. But she wasn't and she knew that.
They all walked out into the courtyard architecture of the upside down temple and Aang and Zuko began taking their shirts off.
Katara's breath caught when the first of Zuko's chiseled muscles peeked out from under his shirt. His body was sculpted perfectly and why shouldn't it be? He was a prince. Katara had never really thought of Zuko as an actual prince.
"Okay, time to start," Zuko began, his muscles rippling each time he let fire lose.
ZUKO'S POV:
So what if he was showing off for her? It was natural that when a beautiful girl was watching you shirtless, you would show off a little bit. Or at least that was what Zuko kept telling himself, trying to justify what he was doing.
"Keep your head up, Aang!" Zuko yelled over the roar of their flames being tossed and forced into the chilly afternoon air.
Aang held his head up and kept his eyes trained straight ahead. He hadn't looked at Katara once but usually he was constantly sneaking peeks at her to check to see if she was watching him (but usually she was watching Zuko's muscles tense and release as he bended fire).
'Maybe he feels bad about last night. I should probably talk to him and let him know that nothing is going on between me and Katara.' Zuko thought as he watched the Avatar's every move.
But secretly, Zuko wished something WAS going on between he and Katara. Maybe there already was. If not, he wanted to make something happen. But he would still be in between the Avatar and his girl. He couldn't do that if he was going to be good. So he would talk to Katara first and then reassure Aang of his position with Katara.
KATARA'S POV:
After training that day, Katara found it even harder than normal to keep her eyes from straying to the beautiful ex-prince of the fire nation.
It was lunch time and everyone was talking about how Aang needed to really buckle down and train with every element. So Katara would be next and then Toph. As Katara ate the soup she had made, she shyly stared over the edge of her wooden bowl at Zuko from across the fire.
When Zuko noticed her odd gaze, he looked around and then, seeing that nobody was behind him, looked back at Katara with a look that said that he thought maybe she had lost her mind.
She looked startled and then looked back down at her bowl as if she was suddenly very interested in the message her soup was trying to convey. Why was it moving? Maybe she should take some cooking lessons after the war.
After everyone was done eating, they all made their way back to the practice area and everyone watched as Aang took his shirt off and Katara slipped off her blue dress. Zuko felt his face practically burst into flame. Under the dress she always wore, she had on what looked like white tape wrapped around her chest and hips like a skirt, exposing her stomach and most of her legs.
"Okay, lets get started." Katara said, extremely self-aware with Zuko gawking at her very tan body.
They twisted and turned fluidly like they themselves were becoming the water they bent. Their arms moved together in harmony and they looked almost like they were dancing together. The water obeyed them loyally and moved with their bodies.
Zuko was in awe.
Katara was even more beautiful than he had ever seen her. She had a fierce determination in her eyes, her jaw was set tight, and her body moved fluidly, like water.
Only when Sokka started staring at him like he was going to knock his head clear off his shoulders for eyeing his little sister did Zuko realize that he had been staring un-blinkingly at Katara. He shuffled his feet and blushed, staring at the ground.
SOKKA'S POV:
Sokka knew something was going on between Zuko and Katara. There seemed to be some kind of tension building between them. Sokka may look dumb and clueless but he knew what was going on.
They liked each other. Like, LIKE liked each other.
Sokka was going to have to do something. Zuko may have turned good but he was still thought of as the face of the enemy in many minds. Not because they didn't like him. Just because they had grown used to the idea.
But Katara was his baby sister, no matter how old they got. It was his job to protect her.
'So I'll talk to Zuko later tonight,' Sokka thought, turning his attention back to Aang and Katara.