When her father-in-law is slaughtered in his sleep, Princess Ursa of the Fire Nation escapes the tyranny of the palace with her 13-year-old son Zuko, the victim of a burn to his left eye at the hands of his father, and her brother-in-law, the retired General Iroh. They plan to take refuge in the Southern Water Tribe with the aid of Chief Hakoda. However, when an illness takes Ursa's life and Iroh is called back to the Fire Nation, Zuko is left to grow up under the watchful eye of Chief Hakoda.
Years pass and Zuko finds that he has unintentionally caught the eye of the chief's daughter, Katara, a beautiful and sassy waterbender reluctantly being pursued by a childhood friend. Suddenly caught up in an unorthodox romance, Zuko finds that maybe love isn't so bad…if not a little messy.
Ships: Zutara, one-sided Kataang, Sukka, possible Taang
Rating: T
Genre: Romance
A/N: So, it should be pretty evident in this chapter that I'm not a huge fan of Aang. I find him to be whiny and childish. He always gets what he wants and things always work out in his favor. I think it's high time he was disappointed. I really like how this chapter turned out; I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Zuko might be a little OOC, but I think that if he grew up with the gang, he might have turned out a little different.
Matters of the Heart
By RupertLover09
Zuko cast her a crooked smile. "I think we should be friends," he said.
Katara nodded. "Me, too."
Chapter I
"Love is friendship set on fire." - Jeremy Taylor
Five Years Later…
Laughter swirled up into the sky on the tendrils of smoke curling out of chimneys and the breeze that whirled gently through the air. Snow wafted down onto the village, mingling with the youthful laughter and floating into the hair of three teens dashing through the wooden streets and walkways of the tribe.
"You guys are so slow," one of the boys called over his shoulder as he raced ahead. "If you don't hurry up, we're gonna be late!" He was tall and lanky with tan skin and laughing blue eyes. Beneath his winter parka, the boy was thin but surprisingly strong. A warrior's heart beat strongly in his chest.
"Sokka," said the only girl of the group, placing her hands on her hips. "Aren't we all a little old to go penguin sledding?"
"C'mon, Katara! It's your birthday!"
The girl rolled eyes the exact shade Sokka's and flipped her chestnut colored hair over her shoulder. "Exactly. I'm seventeen now. That's too old to be sledding down hills on penguins, right, Zuko?"
The third member of the group looked at her with golden eyes; one of them was marred by a scar and was half-hidden by his jet black hair. Amusement flashed across his pale face as he moved to stand next to the slightly shorter boy so as to get a better look at his waterbending friend. "Your brother's right, Katara."
She scowled at him. "You're supposed to be on my side, Zuko."
His only response was to grin crookedly at her, an action that made her turn away abruptly as her heart jolted in her chest. Instead of looking at her brother or her friend, she stared resolutely at a group of small children building a snowman. The scene made her smile. The snowman was disproportional and small, but the kids were adorable. Katara's blue eyes alit on the figure of someone too tall and much too old to be playing with four- and five-year-olds. The hood of his handmade parka was pulled up over his bald head, but the tip of a blue arrow peeked out beneath the fur lined edge. He grinned and waved when he saw her.
"Happy birthday, Katara!"
"Thanks, Aang," she called back, returning his wave.
"I'll stop by your house later, alright?" Aang's voice carried through the air on the wind which almost snatched his sentence away with a sudden gust.
Katara nodded and turned back to her brother and Zuko. Sokka was smirking at her with his arms folded over his chest. Zuko suddenly looked stony and sullen. "What?" she asked innocently.
"Would you look at that, Zuko?" Sokka said to Zuko instead of answering his sister. "Our little Katara's all grown up and she has a boyfriend!"
"Sok-kaaa!" Katara whined. "Aang is not my boyfriend! You know that."
"Well," the warrior said, "I might, but I doubt that he does. I mean, with the way you keep leading him on, I'm surprised the kid hasn't gone to Dad yet."
Katara groaned. "I am not leading him on, Sokka. And don't even joke about him going to Dad. It's the furthest thing from funny since one of your jokes." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zuko smirk. She fixed her eyes resolutely upon her older brother. Now was not the time for her to be focusing on her best friend and how the way he smirked made her heart stutter.
The trio began to make their way toward the hills again, their boots crunching in the snow and ice.
"I'm not joking about it," Sokka said. "Seriously, ever since you came of age, the only guy in not our family who hasn't come on to you is Zuko." He turned to look at the other boy who was bending a small flame in his hands. "Dude, you're not docking your ship on the other side of the harbor, are you?"
The flame in the palm of Zuko's hand went out and he stopped walking to glower at his friend. "What does that even mean?"
"Suki taught it to me!" Sokka exclaimed, sounding insulted.
Katara and Zuko laughed, their faces contorted with mirth. The waterbender leaned against her firebending friend as she laughed, her hand placed on one of his broad shoulders to keep her balance. "Your make believe girlfriend? The one you met when you were on that trip with Dad to Kyoshi island?" she teased her brother.
Sokka scowled. "Suki is very much real, Katara."
"Right," Katara drawled, amusement ringing in her voice. "And I'm a polar bear dog!"
Zuko snorted, the smirk on his face growing. "If Katara's a polar bear dog, then I'm a two-headed fish."
"I don't get why the two of you always have to pick on me! Suki's real, and one day you're gonna meet her. Then, you'll regret not believing me."
Katara shook her head, her playful smile never leaving her face. "Okay, Sokka. Whatever you say. But the last one to the top of the hill is a rotten dragon egg!"
She took off running, her long brown hair streaming behind her in silky ribbons. The boys stared after her, one admiring his only female friend, the other sulking that he had just been made fun of by his sister…again.
"To answer your question," Zuko stated dryly, "I am not 'docking my ship on the other side of the harbor.'" He glowered at Sokka. "I think Katara's pretty and that she's a great girl; but we're friends. That's all."
The firebender took off like an arrow from a bow suddenly, quickly catching up with Katara. Sokka gaped after them before running after them clumsily. He'd never had the lightness of feet his sister seemed to posses and he was nowhere near as agile as his friend so he lost the race to the top of the hill by a significant amount. Immediately, the warrior found himself pelted with a snowball. It hit him in the side of the head and the snow slid down the collar of his parka.
Katara laughed as she watched her brother leaping about, whimpering as the powdery substance invaded his clothing. "Stop dancing around and grab a penguin, Sokka," she grinned.
"Easy for you to say," he groused under his breath as he watched his sister disappear down the steep hill on the back of a penguin, followed soon after by the Fire Nation boy on another of the feathery creatures. Sokka looked around, his blue eyes landing on a penguin that seemed to be eyeing him suspiciously. "He-ey there, lil' guy," Sokka cooed, holding out a hand to the penguin. "You mind if I-"
The penguin lunged forward, nipping at Sokka's outstretched, glove-covered hand. Sokka shrieked in a very unmanly way and toppled over into the snow, glad that neither his sister nor Zuko was around to witness it. All of a sudden, the penguin had hopped onto Sokka's chest and seemed to be glaring at him with beady, black eyes. Sokka gulped and stared back at the penguin as he began to slip backwards down the hill, the tuxedo-clad creature still perched proudly on his chest and glaring into his eyes. The Water Tribe swordsman began to panic. Why was he sliding backwards? Why was he going down the hill headfirst and on his back? Was this beady-eyed penguin determined to do him in for no apparent reason?
Sokka screeched as he slid down the hill on his back, the penguin still standing on his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut, praying to the spirits that if he had to leave the world this way, that they would make it quick and painless. A never ending mantra of 'shit' repeatedly marched its way through his mind. If he lived through this, Katara would never let him live it down. He'd set out with Katara's best friend to take her penguin sledding for her birthday. Katara and Zuko had completed the mission while Sokka was currently being surfed down the suddenly terrifyingly steep hill by a penguin!
The stupid, evil, flightless bird was Sokka sledding!
Katara squinted at the sight before her. Sokka was zooming down the hill at top speed, but he wasn't using a penguin. The birthday girl looked harder. Something was sitting on her brother's chest, but she wasn't quite sure what. The thing was black and white and…
"What in the name of Agni is he doing?" Zuko muttered next to her.
"I think…that there's a penguin sitting on him," Katara replied, a fit of giggles coursing through her system.
Zuko grinned as he looked at her. "Please tell me you're never going to let him live this down."
"KATARAAAAA!…HELP MEEEEEE!"
She returned Zuko's grin with an equally mischievous one of her own. "Oh, I think it's pretty much a guarantee that I won't." She brought her arms forward in an exceedingly forceful movement that contained so much grace and beauty that Zuko was momentarily rendered catatonic. He'd always had a somewhat soft spot when it came to Katara since the day they'd agreed to be friends, and her waterbending always made him somewhat more aware that she was a girl than he was comfortable with. He didn't know exactly why that was, but he thought it had something to do with the fact that it made her look…different.
Sokka thumped into the wall of snow Katara had created with a loud "Oomph!" and the penguin on his chest let out an angry squawk before waddling away, it's feathers rumpled. Katara roared with laughter and Zuko chuckled along with her as Sokka stood, slightly dazed.
"I don't know if you know how penguin sledding is supposed to work, Sokka," the boy's sister said, "but usually one slides down a snow covered hill on a penguin. In fact, I don't think that you're supposed to let the penguin use you as a sled."
Sokka frowned at her. "You're mean."
Katara stuck out her tongue childishly in response to his immature remark. "What's next on your list of things to do, oh great party planner?"
"What? You don't want to go for another run?"
She frowned. "Sokka, we're not exactly twelve and thirteen years old anymore. I think the penguins would appreciate it if we didn't slide down hills on their backs now. One run was good enough for me. We're not exactly as small as we once were."
"You callin' me fat?" Sokka joked.
"The next place we were going to go was your grandmother's for the party," Zuko cut in. "But we don't have to be there for a while. I suppose we could-"
"Oooh! I've got an idea!" Sokka's face lit up and he looked at his sister. "We could go fishing!"
Katara wrinkled her nose. "Ew. I don't want to go fishing on my birthday, Sokka."
"Why not? You could catch fish with your magic waterbending. It would be fun!"
"Apparently our definitions of fun aren't exactly the same," Katara said. "And, for the last time, waterbending isn't magic!"
Sokka pouted. "Fine. I have to be at Gran-gran's anyway to help set up for your stupid party. Remember to wear something nice. It's some sort of formal thing and she would be mad if you showed up all informal or whatever." He turned to Zuko. "Be nice to my sister, jerkbender, or I'll kick your ass."
Zuko rolled his eyes. "Sure, Sokka."
The warrior nodded and ran off clumsily through the snow, tripping himself up every few feet. Katara and Zuko turned in the opposite direction, walking slowly towards the rocky shore of the land, enjoying each other's company. They paused where the waves lapped up onto the icy rocks and Katara picked up one of the smooth stones, skipping it out far into the water where it disappeared from view.
Zuko stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Are you excited for your party?"
Katara sighed, flinging another rock out into the waves. "I probably should be, but… Well, it's like now that I've come of age, all the parties that Dad and Gran-gran throw are formal. I feel like they're parading me around for every eligible guy in the village to see. It's kind of like I'm on display," she said. She paused before adding, "And I always get stuck dancing with Aang."
"You don't like him?" Zuko asked, wondering why he was hoping Katara would say no.
"He's alright, I suppose. But he's more like a little brother. We grew up together and I don't want to hurt his feelings, but I just could never see him the way he sees me." Katara bent down and scooped up another rock, turning it over and over in her hands before speaking up again. "I kind of wish my mom was here sometimes. She'd know the right thing to do."
Zuko pondered his response to her statement before saying it. "Well…I mean, I know I'm not your mom and I'm not great at the whole advice thing," he scratched his head, ruffling his raven locks, "but if you want me to, I'd gladly escort you tonight so Aang leaves you alone."
"Really?" She flung the rock out into the ocean and looked up at him.
"Yeah. We're friends, right? I'll do it as a favor to you."
Katara grinned and threw her arms around her best friend. "You're the best, Zuko!"
Zuko laughed and hugged her back, wrapping his arms tightly around her lithe body. "I wouldn't say that, but thanks."
Katara stared at the rack of dresses in the dressing area off of her room. The bedroom itself was large and open with a grouping of chairs and a couch that sat before a steadily burning fire and a large bed on top of a raised platform. The bed was covered in fine blue silks and warm furs. There was a canopy that hung above it made of yard upon yard of shimmering blue fabric that changed shades when the light hit it correctly. Large, wooden beams crossed the icy ceiling and stood in the corners of the room. Plush blue, purple, and teal rugs covered the snowy floors and a spiraling staircase in one corner led to Katara's own private library and study.
The dressing room in which Katara stood pondering the evening's dress possibilities held a vanity and stool and rack upon rack of clothes. The vanity held a small amount of makeup and a hairbrush; Katara had never been one for using more than the necessary amount of face paints. A changing screen stood in one corner. It was painted elaborately with a picture of the sun setting over the ocean.
Katara plucked a blue dress from one of the rods and then, making a face, stuffed it back. Before Zuko had offered to escort her to her party, she had been concerned very little about what she was going to wear, but now here she sat agonizing about it. The blue dress was one of her favorites and she had been planning on wearing it, but for some reason it didn't seem very fitting now. Her blue eyes alit on the only white dress in her closet and she sighed. The dress stood on a mannequin near the center of the room, the color of a new snowfall. It was a beautiful creation, all white silk and fur trim with an equally white cloak draped around it. When worn, the dress fell gracefully from the wearer's shoulders and the sleeves hugged the arms intimately as did the bodice of the dress. The dress flowed straight to the ground where it pooled around the feet of whoever wore it and a short train trailed from the back. Draped about the waist of the dress was a fur belt that was held together by a small, round brooch with the Water Tribe insignia on it. The sleeves, the top of the dress, and the bottom of the dress were all trimmed with the same white fur that made up the belt.
The cloak was lined with more white fur and the outside was made of the same white silk as the dress. It was held together with a clasp exactly like the one on the belt near where the wearer's left collarbone would sit. A hood adorned the back of the cloak and it, too, was trimmed in white fur.
It was Katara's mother's wedding dress.
Katara sighed wistfully as she looked at the dress. How many times had she imagined wearing that dress? How many times had she imagined herself floating down an aisle draped in the flowing gown on her father's arm to an altar where Zuko stood waiting for her-
Katara started and backed away from the dress slowly.
Since when had the faceless man waiting at the altar become Zuko? The man had been faceless ever since she had come of marriageable age two years ago at the age of fifteen when her father presented her with the dress! How had Zuko suddenly fit into the picture? Sure, he was handsome in a dark and brooding sort of way, but he was her best friend! She shouldn't be thinking those kinds of thoughts about him!
Shoving the images out of her mind, Katara turned away from the wedding finery and towards the racks of dresses she had been looking at previously. Her eyes landed on a lilac and violet ensemble and she grinned, immediately tugging it off the hanger it had been hung on. It wasn't her favorite dress (it ranked as number two), but it definitely was the nicest in her closet and Gran-gran would probably be happy if she wore it.
Plus, Katara thought, eyeing the beribboned box on her vanity with a smile, it'll match Zuko's birthday present.
Zuko stared. He probably shouldn't have been, but he was.
Katara had just swept down the stairs, all grace and poise in a purple dress and looking the exact role of the chief's daughter. Which, he had to remind himself, she was. Zuko shifted uncomfortably, suddenly very much aware that he was all alone in Hakoda's mansion of an ice house with his best friend who was looking very much like the young woman she had come to be. She was looking up at him shyly and biting her bottom lip.
"Well?" she said. "How do I look?"
Zuko stared some more, taking in the strapless purple silk dress. It hugged her curves (since when did Katara have curves?!) and flared gently at her hips, brushing the floor when she moved. It was trimmed in a lighter purple silk and seemed to shimmer in the dying light. He noticed, as he raised his golden eyes to her throat, that she had discarded her mother's necklace for the evening in favor of the one he had presented to her when they'd come back from penguin sledding. He had had a hard time finding that necklace. It was nothing more than a purple satin ribbon with a silver chain sewn on from which a series of sapphires and amethysts shaped like drops of rain had been hung, but the piece had reminded him so strongly of his friend that he'd bought it on the spot, not minding the cost in the least.
Katara had pulled her hair up halfway and she had fixed the hair loopies he'd remembered from their younger years into the hairstyle.
Zuko continued to stare, completely lost for words. "Are-aren't you going to be cold?" he finally managed to stammer out. Katara's face fell and he groaned inwardly. Here she was, looking the prettiest he had ever seen her, and all he could do was ask if she was going to be cold. Never mind saying, 'You look fantastic!' or, 'That color really suits you.' or even, 'Hey, did you know that for my best friend, you're pretty hot right now?'
No. Zuko preferred to ask the girl he was escorting to her seventeenth birthday party if she was going to be cold. He wanted nothing more to sink into the floor right then and there.
"Does it really look that bad?" Katara asked, stepping back and looking down at her outfit. "I thought it looked okay…"
"No, that didn't come out right," Zuko interrupted her. "It's just…you look…different." Her face fell even more. Zuko slapped a hand to his forehead and let it slide down his face. "I mean…you…I… Look. I'm no good at this."
Katara frowned. "That's obvious." She sounded amused.
"Hey, this is new territory for me, alright? I'm not good with the compliment thing. You look do nice, though." Relief washed through the firebender as his elemental opposite's face lit up.
"See?" She said, a smile spreading across her face. "That's all you needed to say. And as for the cold thing," she added, slinging a matching, fur-lined cloak around her shoulders and fastening it, "I'm good."
Katara laughed at the sarcastic comments Zuko was muttering in her ear about various guests at the party as he twirled her around the dance floor. Though he was closed off to those he didn't know, Katara decided that her friend was a very funny person when he chose to be. Her grandparents' mansion was filled to the brim with people from every corner of the village, most of whom she had never met. Those were the people Zuko was making remarks on. She knew this wasn't so much a birthday party as it was yet another chance for her father to show her off to the many eligible boys of her age group. Katara, however, only had eyes for her best friend tonight.
Tonight he looked like the Fire Nation prince she knew him to be. Gran-gran had fashioned him a black and silver robe for the evening in the traditional Fire Nation style. Black hair hung messily in his face as per his usual style. Katara glared at a group of giggling girls who were eyeing Zuko from across the room. The girls immediately turned somber and looked away.
Katara and Zuko whirled past a confused Sokka and a sulking Aang. She flashed them both a brilliant smile as she swirled past. Sokka returned the smile tentatively, but Aang scowled and looked away. The waterbender paid the boys no mind. Nothing, not even her brother's suddenly angry at Zuko expression nor her childhood friend's sullen attitude, was going to bring her down from the cloud she was on.
"I think I might have to hand you off to Aang here soon," Zuko whispered in her ear.
Except for that.
"What?" Katara snapped, looking up into his face with a frown.
Zuko shrugged. "He looks really upset."
"But you're my escort to this thing," Katara hissed. "You're supposed to be the one dancing with me; not Aang!"
"Katara, I've been dancing with you all night. If I dance with you anymore, people are going to talk."
"People always talk. Besides, if I dance with him, I'll just be stringing him along, won't I?"
"You're being unreasonable."
"No I'm not!"
"Katara. There are two dances left before you open your presents. Two. If you dance the next one with Aang, I'll find you for the last one."
"I'll get you back for this, Zuko."
"I'll take that as a yes."
Kanna smiled as she watched her granddaughter sweep fluidly across the floor with the young firebender. Truth be told, she had a soft spot for the boy and had taken a shine to him from the moment she had first met him. Zuko was a tough person to get to know, but for reasons unknown to the grandmother, he had opened his heart willingly to Katara soon after Iroh had gone. They were a dynamic and beautiful pair, the fire prince and Kanna's granddaughter, and whispers were circulating the room as people observed them moving about the floor. Occasionally, Katara would throw her head back with a joyous laugh and Zuko would smile down at her in an adoring manner.
The elderly woman shuffled to her son's side. "Have you seen your daughter and Zuko tonight, Hakoda?"
"I have," the chief replied, folding his arms across his chest. "They've never left each other's sight."
"Aren't you pleased with that?"
Hakoda shrugged and snagged a flute of champagne off a tray a servant was making his way through the throngs of people with. "He's her escort, Mother."
Kanna hummed thoughtfully. "They are quite lovely together."
Her son grunted in response.
"You know, Hakoda, if you don't want your daughter married off, then maybe you should stop throwing her such elaborate parties. I'm sure Katara would have been many times happier with a small gathering of her closest friends and family."
Hakoda frowned. "I enjoy giving my daughter the best."
"Yes. You do. But have you ever stopped to consider what she truly wants? Katara is not a greedy girl; she asks for nothing, but you give her everything. She says nothing against what you provide her with, but have you ever stopped to consider she is nothing like the other girls in the village?"
"I know my own daughter, Mother. I have been her father since the day of her conception. I do what is best for her. This is what's best for her."
Kanna sighed and patted her son's arm. "Very well, Son. If you absolutely believe so."
The band struck up a new song and Kanna watched as Katara reluctantly allowed Zuko to hand her off to Aang, the airbending orphan the tribe had taken in when his caretakers drowned in a shipwreck. Katara's once-laughing face turned into a carefully crafted mask, somber and slightly disinterested. Kanna watched on as the young boy chattered away to Katara. The waterbender nodded every so often and sometimes offered her young friend a terse smile, but she said nothing. Frowning, Kanna turned away. She had seen the gray-eyed boy throw himself at Katara for two years, and for two years she had witnessed Katara trying to shrug off her friend's advances. If something didn't change soon, Kanna would have to sit down with the little airbender for a talk.
"So, jerkbender," Sokka said, leaning his back against the wall in the same fashion as Zuko. "Since when do you escort my little sister to parties? I thought the two of you were 'just friends.'"
Zuko frowned. "We are. I was doing her a favor." His eyes followed Katara and Aang around the ballroom floor. Katara looked hideously bored and she kept wincing. She was taller than Aang by a good four or five inches and they made an awkward couple.
"Since when do you do people favors?"
"She needed me to help her keep Aang out of her hair for one night. So I did." The firebender punctuated his sentence with a nonchalant shrug.
"Doesn't look that way to me. They're dancing with each other right now."
Zuko watched Katara wince again. "Actually, I think he's stepping all over her feet. I told her she had to dance with him one time, otherwise people would talk."
"Man, people are already talking," Sokka said, snorting as he laughed. "Yeah, Gran-gran was talking to Dad about it, and I swear I heard these two old guys betting on when the two of you would sneak out together."
"Fantastic," Zuko muttered sarcastically.
"For the record," Sokka stated, "if you ever get it into your Fire Nation mind to sneak anywhere with my sister for any amount of time, I will fully invoke my right as her older brother to kick your ass."
Zuko stared at his friend's brother. "What is it with you and kicking my ass all of a sudden? I'm just barely interested in Katara as more than a friend. Shouldn't you be threatening Aang?"
Sokka shrugged. "Eh. He'd probably tell on me. 'Sides, the kid's so used to getting what he wants that if someone told him to keep his hands off Katara he might actually cry."
Katara stumbled by awkwardly with Aang, glaring darkly at Zuko over the top of the younger boy's head. The effectiveness of the glare was cut off when Aang stepped on her foot again and she let out a yelp of pain.
"S-sorry!" Aang stuttered.
Zuko chuckled quietly and stepped away from the wall. "I think I'm going to go rescue your sister from her tormenter now."
Sokka nodded and watched as his friend cut into the dance. Katara took the pale boy's proffered hand and the pair spun away, leaving a depressed looking Aang behind them. Fire and water wove about the dance floor as Aang shuffled up to Sokka's side, his shoulders hunched and his head bowed.
"I kept stepping on her feet," he whined.
The swordsman nodded, not really paying attention to his sister's young suitor. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever. Did Zuko just say to me that he's just barely interested in Katara as more than a friend?"
Aang shrugged. "I dunno. What do you think it means that Katara didn't say anything when I was talking to her?"
Sokka pushed himself away from the wall. "I've gotta go talk to Dad and Gran-gran. I'll see you around, Aang." He pushed his way clumsily through the crowds of people in search of his father and grandmother. If Zuko was just barely interested in Katara that meant Aang was going to have some serious competition if this little escort thingy between Katara and Zuko turned into anything. Not that it would be much of a competition. Sokka had a feeling Katara would rather marry a gigantic skunk bear than spend the rest of her life with Aang. The path Sokka had taken led him right to his grandmother's side.
"Gran-gran!"
The old woman turned to face him and smiled. "There you are, Sokka. How are you enjoying the party?"
Sokka shrugged. "The food was good, but I'm not really one for all this formal dancing," he replied. "Anyway, you've seen Katara and Zuko tonight, right?"
"Yes, I have," Kanna replied, nodding to the floor where the pair was garnering what Sokka would assume was unwanted attention that they seemed unusually oblivious to. Katara was smiling again. "They look lovely."
"Yeah, what is with that?" Sokka said, waving his arms through the air dramatically and nearly upsetting a tray of drinks that a servant was carrying. "I mean, Katara's all smiley and happy when she's dancing with Zuko, but then he passes her off to Aang for barely half a dance and she looks borderline suicidal. Then, Mister Jerkbender tells me that he 'just barely' sees Katara as more than a friend and starts dancing with her again! I don't understand!"
"Well," Kanna said, her eyes never leaving the dancing friends, "it seems to me that Zuko offered to escort your sister to her party so her evening wouldn't be quite so unbearable and the whole situation ended up bringing about some hidden feelings."
"Hidden feelings?!" Sokka spluttered, feeling his eyes grow wide. Since when did his baby sister have hidden feelings for Zuko and vice-versa?!
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Sokka. They don't seem to have realized it yet."
"Oh." Sokka relaxed, watching his sister and friend for a moment before turning back to his grandmother. "What do you mean 'yet'?!"
Katara unhooked the necklace from around her neck and examined it, enjoying the way the stones glittered in the torchlight. Smiling to herself, she placed the necklace back in its box and exited her dressing room, padding across the rug-covered floor to her bed. Before she could do so much as pull the covers back, there was a quiet knock at her door. Pulling the belt of her sleeping robes tighter around her waist, Katara crossed over to her door and opened it, startled to find Zuko waiting outside.
"…Hi," he said.
Katara felt a thrill go up her spine at the sound of his voice and she beat it back, forcing away the blush that accompanied it. "Hi."
"I know you wanted to just come home and go to bed, but do you want to go for a walk with me instead?"
Okay! Please, please, please review! If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask. And if any of you want to do some sort of art for this story and you have a deviantart account, let me know that you've done a drawing via email or PM and I'll check it out and post it on my profile. Also, if you have any ideas for the story, let me know and I'll try to work them in.
Anywho! Review, please!