Disclaimer: I own nothing except the concept of this story.

Hey! Well this story is a result of my boredom and brilliance. ;)

Before you start reading:

This story is set in modern day.

Katara is 21, Zuko is 23.

Azula is not evil in this fic. She is just independent and blunt. Besides, I like her better as an irritating, but loyal sister.

Ozai is not evil either, but stern and harsh. You'll find out why eventually...

This is a Zutara fic, so if you don't like, then don't read.

Now that that's over with, you may begin!

Since childhood, we have been inseperable. We talked together, played together, hung out together, fought together, and even slept together. (Not like that, sickos. You know who you are...) Even to this day, we do everything together. We always have each other's back. Always.

When we first met, it was an instant connection. A friendship before words. He was ten, and I was eight. I had just moved into the new neighborhood and knew no other kids besides Sokka. Being a naturally shy little girl, it took some persuasion from my parents before I finally had enough courage to meet the family across the street. I still remember that frightening walk to his house with Sokka and my parents, clutching my ten year old brother's hand in nervousness. My hair was done in two french braids, and I had on a light blue dress. My favorite one. Giving each other a look of uncertainty, Sokka rang the doorbell and we waited on the porch quietly.

A woman answered us, and I may not have been the most articulate of toddlers, but I knew enough to say that she was very pretty. And she was. She had dark, long hair, golden honey eyes, and a kind smile. I remembered she laughed at my compliment and introduced herself as Mrs. Taiyou. My parents informed her that they were the new neighbors down the street, and she ushered us inside.

I hid behind Dad when I saw the boy and girl inside. They were peering at us curiously from the couch in the living room, undoubtedly wondering what these strangers were doing in their house. The girl was around my age, and her hair was drawn into pigtails. She seemed nice enough. The boy looked older and more intimidating. I hid behind Dad, digging my fingers into his dark jeans and refusing to make eye contact.

A man soon came in to greet us after Mrs. Taiyou called him. He had sharp facial features and ramrod straight posture. His pitch black hair was slicked back and his golden eyes seemed much sharper than his wife's. In other words, he was scary. When his gaze reached me, I shrunk back, using my Dad as a shield from unwanted eyes. Instead of ignoring me though, the man squatted down, hunching his back to see me. He was smiling slightly and held out a hand, saying he was Mr. Taiyou and asking my name. I remember feeling slightly embarrassed for acting so childish, and tentatively inched out from behind my Dad. I stuck out my tiny hand and he shook it with his much larger one. I introduced my name boldly, and Sokka, not wanting to be outdone by his younger sister, quickly stated his name as well.

The rest of the meeting is a blur, but I distinctly recall Sokka and I being left alone with the other siblings as our parents went to talk in the dining room. Twenty minutes later, the four of us were playing together as if we had known one another our whole life. As children, looks, social status, race, or gender is forgotten in the excitement of gaining a new friend. I wish it was always like that, free of bias or judgement.

Needless to say, our group of four was tightly bonded from the beginning. When I had first met the Taiyou siblings, I had thought Zuko was the more intimidating of the two, but as I got to know them better, it proved as the opposite. Azula was bold, intelligent, and unafraid to speak her mind. Zuko though was awkward, shy, and slightly impulsive.

As kids, we were content. Years passed and we continued to grow closer and closer. The siblings even introduced us to their other friends, Mai and Ty Lee. They were included within our posse and we became the "Terrible Six," as our parents deemed us. Elementary was easy, simple, and fun. We wreaked havoc on our families, and created all sorts of trouble at school, which we attended together. Azula, Ty Lee, and I were technically supposed to be a grade below my brother, Zuko, and Mai, but after some begging and assessment, our parents bumped us up so we could all be together. We didn't have care in the world.

Middle school came and went. It was full of crushes, awkward phases, and of course the usual mischief. These years is when Zuko and I really began to become close friends. Especially when the incident happened.

I won't delve to far into it, though. No use opening old wounds. To put it short, both of our families lost a loved one in an accident, in which Zuko and I were the only children present. Because we both experienced it, we were the only ones who understood each other's trauma. It was also the accident that gave Zuko his scar. He wouldn't talk to anyone but me for weeks, and even then, I spent days attempting to coax him into letting me into his room. On top of all this, his father went through a drastic change, becoming harsh, detached, and demanding. He wasn't the same man I had introduced myself to all those years ago.

It was a hard year.

Eventually, everyone moved on. I mean, the grief was still there, especially for Zuko and I, but we realized that nothing can change the past. We needed to move ahead. But our posse wasn't the same after it.

High School years were a drag. Our group of five was still best friends and all, but not nearly as close as we used to be. Sokka said they were growing up. Azula said they needed to branch out. Mai said it was getting boring. Ty Lee said everything was changing.

Zuko said he was still the little kid from before. I was too.

I guess that's why we stayed tight when everyone else grew distant. Sokka met Suki in sophmore year when she transferred, and it was 'love at first sight.' Or so he claims. The other girls had their own friends, mostly the popular preps of the school. Zuko and I had each other.

I mean, we all still hung out every week and talked often, but that familiar connection of family had been lost for the most part. I ended up meeting some of the freshman, Aang and Toph, and we all became pretty good friends. Nothing even remotely close to my old group, but it was nice nonetheless. I guess Ty Lee was right, everything changes.

Junior year, Zuko and Mai got together. It was probably the most bizarre thing I had ever seen. It's not that they weren't a cute couple or anything. It was just so weird to see two members of the "Terrible Six" holding hands out of something rather than just friendship. I guess a part of me was also afraid of losing Zuko's friendship, but even after months of their relationship, we stayed as strong as ever.

That year is also the year I 'hooked up' with Aang. I had suspected that he had a crush on me for a while, but I wasn't quite sure whether or not I returned the feelings. Zuko often teased me for dating a lower-classman, but a punch to the arm usually shut him up pretty quickly. The fifteen year old was sweet and kind. He always treated me with respect, and never strayed farther than a quick kiss on the lips. The relationship was safe, secure, comfortable. And after a year of it, I couldn't stand it any longer. We broke up, and I felt guilty for crushing the kid's heart, but I was a Senior now, and that's exactly what he was. A kid.

Although it was somewhat of a nasty breakup, Toph forced him out of his little stage of depression, and withing a month, the two of us were friends once again. It was a bit awkward after what had happened, but there were no longer any hard feelings.

Senior year was a blast. Nothing super significant really happened, and we all just partied and had fun. A little alcohol might have been involved, but nothing too serious. Once we had graduated, our group sort of fell apart. All of us attended seperate colleges. They were all in the same state, and the farthest was Ty Lee who was about two hours away, but it was still a challenge to get together. Once again, the only ones who stayed faithful to the weekly hangouts were Zuko and I.

We met every Friday at the Jasmine Dragon, owned by Zuko's kind Uncle Iroh, and we talked about everything from college classes, to the latest episode of our favorite sitcom. Uncle (he insists I call him that) always let us stay past closing time and we usually helped him clean up the popular tea shop. If we were lucky, we'd catch a movie and some dinner afterwards. Throughout the hardships of college, those were the nights I cherished most.

They were also the nights that caused quite a fight between Mai and Zuko.

Over the next years, she grew more and more jealous of my time spent with her boyfriend. She herself was the second farthest from us, so she rarely got to talk with him besides over the phone. I think she suspected Zuko of cheating on her, which was totally ridiculous since he was probably the most honorable guy I know, and they remained on and off for the next couple of months.

I didn't know anything of their spats until Zuko confided in me one night. He was tired of me being left in the dark and asked my advice, which was pretty ironic considering I was the one she was accusing him of cheating on her with. Unfortunately, I was stumped on how to fix this. He was looking pretty upset those days, and seeing him like this made me upset.

In my second year of college, when I was nineteen, I met a guy named Jet. He was suave, handsome, charming, and totally into me. We started going out, and I found that I really like this guy. He was respectful, like Aang had always been, but at the same time, he was edgy and daring. Me, being the good girl, was inevitably attracted to his 'bad-boy' type. How cliche.

Our relationship also seemed to fix Zuko's problem. Mai saw that I now had a boyfriend and deduced that Zuko and I weren't messing around behind her back. On the downside, the more time I spent with Jet, also meant the less time I spent with Zuko. I could've always just hung out with both of them, I mean, they liked each other just fine, but there was a difference between hanging out with your boyfriend, and hanging out with your best friend. It was just plain wrong to mix those two up.

After graduating college, I got an apartment, which I shared with Toph, and started looking for opportunities to land a job. Eventually I became an office assistant for an insurance agent named Jade. The job actually paid well, too. In my free time, I painted and sketched. Art had always been a kind of journal or diary for me.

Zuko and I hadn't spoken much the past couple of months due to my job, and his as a real estate agent. By the time I turned twenty-one, however, we had gotten back in touch. Everything was looking great. I had a great boyfriend, I was still talking to my best friend, my roomate was fun to be around, and our "Terrible Six" group was actually getting back together. It couldn't have been more perfect.

...That was until I found out how utterly douchey Jet really was.

My 'perfect' boyfriend turned out to be a lying, dirty, player. I had been planning on grabbing some lunch with him before going to my job, and had stopped by his apartment downtown. He wasn't answering his phone so I took the liberty of using his spare key hidden on top of the doorpost in order to get in. From then on, everything went downhill.

Immediately upon entry, my eyes caught on the high heeled black shoes in his doorway. I was almost positive I had never seen those in my life. Wary, I made my way through his house, noticing his cell phone on the kitchen counter. Three missed calls, all from me. When I got to his room and opened the door, the cat got out of the bag.

Jet was in bed, bare except for his boxers, and straddling a blonde whose face I couldn't quite see. He jumped out of the bed, looking guilty while I just stared in shock. The girl frantically clutched sheets to her chest in a lame attempt to cover herself up, hair smothering her facial features. Within seconds, Jet was in front of me, explaining how this was all a misunderstanding, that I was the only one he really loved. I still didn't know what to do, but then I saw who exactly was in his bed.

Yup. Jet had been cheating on me with Jade. My boss. That over everything else snapped me out of my frozen state. I had glared at my former boyfriend with so much hatred and anger that he had actually flinched away. But apparently that wasn't enough of a warning, cause he just continued his excuses, saying over and over how, 'She had seduced me,' and 'I only love you.'

I promptly punched him in the face, shouting something along the lines of, 'Kiss this, dipshit.' Let's just say that he suffered from a concussion, a black eye, and a chipped tooth.

After that, I had called Zuko and told him everything. He met up with me at my apartment. Luckily, Toph wasn't home to embarrass me in my utter humiliation.

Despite my angry front with Jet in his room, I was broken inside. That relationship had lasted two years. It felt like someone had ripped out my heart and stomped on it with metal cleats. I cried for all my time wasted on Jet, for the total failure of my first real relationship, and for my swollen and bruised fist, because even if it was satisfying, that punch had friggin hurt. The rest of the day was spent sobbing in Zuko's arms and eating Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

That incident was two months ago.

I still feel terrible and humilated, but things have gotten a lot better. Mainly because of Zuko. He stayed with me for three days after the breakup, sleeping on the couch in my apartment and rocking me to sleep when I cried. Don't get me wrong, I'm no pathetic loser, but I'm also not a brick wall. Being betrayed like that hurt far more than I had ever expected. Zuko knew just how to get my mind off of it. He told cheesy jokes that made me smile, quoted movies that had me rolling my eyes, and telling me over and over that I deserved better than him. I'm fairly certain he would still be here comforting me except for the fact that Toph was getting quite annoyed with his constant worrying and had kicked him out, declaring that 'Sugar Queen would be fine.'

I'm so lucky he's my best friend. I honestly don't know what I would do without him. I also can't deny that little tug in my newly repaired heart. The one that whispered his name in my ear at night. The one that had me smiling whenever he called. The one that made me blush whenever he would compliment me. It was always there.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that a small part of me had always had a crush on Zuko. I mean, who wouldn't? He was kind, funny, and definitely attractive. I had always expected it to go away with time, but after all these years, it was still there. Even though my heart had been broken only a couple months ago, and even though I know it's completely off the scale, I think I was falling for my best friend.

I was falling in love with Zuko.

But who was I kidding? Zuko was Zuko, and I was me. I was his best friend in his eyes, nothing more. In fact, I bet he saw me more as a sister than anything else. He was the model for a flawless man. I was a jaded and used teenager stuck in the body of a young woman. Secondly, it would be plain weird to be in love with your best friend. What if this ruined our friendship? I'd never be able to forgive myself. Everything screamed at my head to stop this little heart-throb before it became an infatuation. Everything yelled for me to cut this off before it began. And everything in my cracked and faded heart knew that turning this off wasn't a solution, it wasn't an option one could even consider.

Oh yeah... I should probably tell you one more little detail I forgot to mention...

Zuko is getting married tomorrow.

Author's Note: Well chapter one has now been posted! It's pretty long...

This chapter had like no dialogue, mostly because I wanted to use it as an intro. I promise the next chapter will be more interaction between characters and not just Katara telling you about what happened!

Also, Zuko's last name, Taiyou, means 'sun' in Japanese... It's pretty boring and unimaginitave, but hey, I'm writing this at 3 in the morning! Give me a break!

I have a really good idea for the next chapter, so please stick with me here!

Please review if you're feeling generous enough! And be blunt. It can only make me a better writer!

Thanks!

MI3