Takes place right after The Southern Raiders, before Ember Island Players, but it may continue to after Ember Island. Katara overhears Zuko's question to Aang and now has some thinking of her own to do.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters or settings. The belong to Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.
"Then I have a question for you, what are you going to do when you face my father?" Zukos words still rung in Kataras ears. She had been walking away from them when Zuko had asked Aang that question, but she still heard it. The only problem was that she hadn't heard Aangs answer, which was something all of them needed to know. This was the thought keeping her up tonight, that and there was a full moon. So instead of being in bed like she probably should have been, she slipped quietly though the house and out to the beach. She was sitting at the waters edge letting the gentle waves slowly lap against her feet while trying to guess what Aangs answer to Zukos question might have been.
She sighed, frustrated at herself that there was nothing she could really do to help Aang or defeat the Fire Lord. Katara was also frustrated that she kept thinking about Aang, she knew is was the wrong time, but the boy made no attempt to hide his feelings from her. She knew she would have to face him sooner or later, she had hoped it was later. Aang liked her, he really liked her, and he had made that clear at the invasion. Only he hadn't noticed that she had stiffened and not responded to his kiss. And he had not seen the fact that it had left her flustered in the worst way. She hadn't been her normal fighting self and it had gotten people hurt, gotten her father hurt. She blamed herself for that mostly, but there was a small part that still wanted to blame Aang.
Katara threw her hands up and brought them down, pounding the sand next to her, all while creating two decent sized water funnels that mimicked her hands. "Ugh! Why can't he see…see that I don't like him like that." What had started as an almost scream, died in her throat and simply became a whisper. She brought her knees up to her chest, and rested her chin on them, watching the tides and trying to calm down.
Zuko couldn't sleep, he was a firebender and a "rise with the sun" kind of guy, but something about the moon pulled at him too. Maybe it was because of his time spent as the Blue Spirit, maybe he was just different. He didn't know what it was, but he did know that he wasn't getting any sleep tonight. The fact that Aang hadn't answered his question earlier was bugging him as well, the boy needed to know exactly what he was going to do. Or Ozai would kill him. Zuko knew that much for sure. His father wasn't the type that would just lock Aang up and deal with him later, no, he would deal with Aang when he had the perfect chance, and the comet was that chance.
Zuko kicked his sheets off and walked silently through the house and made his way down to the beach. As he got closer he noticed that Katara was also out here. 'Stupid,' he thought to himself, 'it's a full moon, of course she would be out here.' He thought about going back but just then he saw her throw her hands up then slam them back to the ground. He watched as the water followed her hand movements, even though he guessed she probably hadn't willed it too, it just did.
"Ugh! Why can't he see…don't….him." Katara yelled.
Zuko managed to catch the first part, partially because she almost screamed it, but as she faded off he had trouble catching her words. He thought it would be best to go back up to the house, but something inside of him wouldn't let him turn around. He felt compelled to go and sit by Katara, and hopefully find out what was wrong with her. And a small part of him wanted to know which 'him' she was talking about. After all, she had only just forgiven him today, and he really hoped that she wasn't talking about him. So he cleared this throat, letting Katara know he was there, and slowly started making his way across the beach to where she sat.