A/N: Gah. It seems my brain is just unwilling to go in order! Ah, well. I guess it's a good thing that I never officially enter into the competition. =) Also, I'll be stepping up the ETA on these prompts: they will be completed…eventually. *Grin*
Here now is Chapter 2, Change, which should have come AFTER Family, but…blagh. It doesn't seem to want to get written. Curse you, my personal muse!
Again, enjoy or don't enjoy. =) If you like these stories, cool, if not, that's okay too. And yeah; I don't own Avatar. At all. I would not have allowed that ending.
Chapter 2 - Change
It wasn't supposed to change anything.
It was just one, little kiss. The most unassuming, insignificant, tiniest kiss in all of the known universe - …okay, well maybe not. Maybe it was, in honesty, the best kiss she had ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Maybe she had been dreaming about the tingling sensation that reached all the way down to her toes at the contact for hours afterwards. Maybe it was the exact opposite of unassuming or insignificant. But it still wasn't supposed to change anything.
Stupid kiss.
It had started, of course, with a fight. Everything between Katara and Zuko started with a fight; the popular theory among their friends was that the pair of them only woke up in the morning just so they could start fighting. It certainly seemed that way. Katara couldn't remember exactly what had set it off, but they had eventually decided to 'just spar' which very quickly turned into them actively trying to kill one another. Blood was drawn, curses spat, and tensions released. Water and fire hissed into steam above their heads. And just when she had him pinned, just as she was about to win their little duel, something in the back of her mind (her stupid, stupid mind!) had decided it might be a good idea to kiss him. Apparently, Zuko's mind had been just as stupid, and he kissed back with fervor.
After they had parted, Katara had begun convincing herself that it was just one little kiss. It couldn't possibly change anything. Zuko was still Zuko, the cranky Fire Nation brat, and the next day he would do some little thing to tick her off and they'd be back to that comfortable love/hate relationship again.
But she was wrong.
The Waterbender was struck with an uncharacteristic shyness as soon as she laid eyes on the Fire Lord. It was ridiculous; it had her ducking around corners and sneaking through hallways like some love-sick teenager who was avoiding her crush…which, actually…was exactly what she was doing, now that she thought about it. She needed to talk to someone, to ask what she could possibly do to un-do this awful change. She needed advice, and she had a good idea of who to talk to. Suki. Because when it came to boneheaded decisions in the field of love, Suki had committed the all-time grand master; she was consciously choosing to date Sokka.
Katara slid across the carpeting of the Fire Nation Palace and poked her head around a corner to check if it was clear. She heard the voice before she saw the figure of the very man she was avoiding; Zuko. He had paused to ask Aang something, though she could not hear what, and the waterbender quickly seized the opportunity. She sprinted down the long hall, not looking back to see if either of them noticed her. Katara rounded a corner to another hall, lunged at the handle to Suki's door, flung it open, and rushed inside, slamming the door shut and pressing her back to it. "Oh, yeah, Katara…" she thought bitterly to herself, "that was real mature."
"Sis?"
The voice that greeted her was not the one she was expecting. Katara looked to the figure lounging haphazardly across Suki's borrowed bed, and it was not the graceful Kiyoshi warrior. It was her older brother, looking startled and confused at her sudden entrance, idly - Ugh! Oh by the spirits… - picking the dirt from his toes with the dull end of the new boomerang he had cried about getting. Katara made a face of disgust, "Why are you here?"
"I'm always here." Sokka shrugged, and his sister had to fight hard to push the mental image of that admittance from her brain before her stomach turned over, "Why are you here?"
"I was hoping to talk to Suki." the waterbender eased herself away from the door.
"Oh. Well, she's not here." that much was obvious. Much to his sister's revulsion, Sokka brought his boomerang to his head and proceeded to pick his ear clean, "Something about being all sweaty after warrior training. I think she went to take a bath."
Katara's gaze fell, "Oh."
The Water Tribe warrior caught the deflated look on his younger sister's face and straightened himself up, "Something on your mind?"
"I guess you could say that." her shoulders gave a light shrug.
"Here." he patted the bed next to him, signaling for her to come over, "Talk to your big brother."
It was that hopelessly optimistic, goofy grin of his, the same one she had seen just about every day of her life since birth, that had her relaxing with a sigh. Katara crossed the room, but, eyeing the filth on his boomerang warily, opted to just stand at the bedside. "Something's…changed.""Change is good!" his voice rose a millimeter and cracked on the last word.
"No. No, this is definitely not good." Katara's head shook, tossing her mess of chocolate curls, "It's not good at all."
"So what is it?" he shifted on the bed, waiting for her to explain. His sister couldn't help but notice, and almost smacked him for it, that his muddy boots were very clearly on the clean bed sheets. She made a mental note to tattle on him to Suki later."It's, well…" the waterbender gnawed at her bottom lip a moment, weighing the possibilities. There was a good chance that Sokka, with his track record, would fully understand the heart's fickle nature. But there was an equally good chance that he would storm out to find Zuko and bludgeon him to death for ever touching his little sister. "I, uhm…I think I like Zuko."
By now, she really should have been prepared for his answer, but his stupidity still had a way of surprising her from time to time, "Yeah, I like Zuko too, Katara."
"Sokka." she scowled at his dimwittedness.
"He's a really good guy, y'know? Who would've ever thought. Dependable. Responsible." he continued on undaunted, "His jokes could use some work, though."
"Sokka!" she tried to draw his attention, arms folding hastily across her chest.
He missed the hint. The warrior cocked his head aside and glanced up crookedly at his sister, "Remember when you hated him? Well, I mean, we all used to. With the chasing us around the world thing. And that pony-tail, heh. But, man. You gave him such a hard time when he finally came around to our side."
Guiltily, her mind cast itself back to those times. The glares, the distrust, the death-threats, "Yeah. I remember."
"A really hard time!" her brother sprawled fully across the bed, "I thought for sure one of you were gonna kill the other in their sleep!"
"Sokka! You're not helping!" she shouted, fists at her side. Sokka was exceptionally lucky that she did not have any water with her.
He held up his hands defensively, "Okay, okay. I'm just saying, that changed, didn't it?"
He had no idea. "…yeah."
"And that's a good thing." his grin spread across his face, "Isn't it? You don't need to worry about things changing. Change can be for the best."
It was remarkable. Sometimes, without saying all that much, her brother was able to speak volumes. Katara stood there for a moment, thinking it over. Maybe…it was an okay thing. More than okay, if that first kiss was any indication. But things between her and Zuko had always been so black and white, so clear and uncomplicated - either they hated each other, tolerated each other, or fought alongside each other. Very simple. This change threatened to make it much more convoluted, more thorny, and she found something about that very…intimidating. And somehow…exciting. "Change…can be for the best, huh?"
Sokka noted her thoughtful expression, and decided to interrupt, "Does that help?"
The waterbender found a small patch of bed that was uninhabited by her brother's limbs and lowered herself to kneel on it, "…yeah, actually. I guess it does."
He was all smiles, "Yep, yep. I do what I can."
Despite herself, Katara smiled, "Thanks, Sokka. You usually know just what to say." She reached over and ruffled half of his hair free from that 'warrior's wolf-tail' he was so proud of.
"Yeah, well." with a smirk, he reclined further against the bed sheets, "Some things just never change, huh?"
A/N: Ending coulda been better, but I liked it. =)Shameless sibling cuteness with a dose of Zutara!
