Katara is eight and in third grade when it happens for the first time.

She's sitting in class exchanging drawings of unicorns and mermaids with Ty Lee, both girls occasionally mentioning how they wish Suki was there. Their other friend goes to an all girl's Catholic school on the other side of town.

Ms. Brown, Katara's teacher, stands up and begins to hand back their math tests that they took last week. Katara crosses her fingers over the top of her desk and squirms impatiently for her results.

When Ms. Brown reaches her she gives her a small smile and hands Katara her test.

Katara stares at the corner of the paper in utter shock.

There is no sticker. There is no smiley face.

She's gotten a 77%. Katara has never gotten less than an 85% on anything.

She quickly stuffs the test into her folder and looks at the chalkboard for the remainder of the day.


Sokka about tackles her when he sees her on the bus.

"Katara! KATARA!"

"What?" she snaps, still not in a good mood.

Sokka is grinning, completely oblivious to her frown. "My teacher pulled me outside of class today." He grabs her hand and drags her towards the section of the bus where Sokka and the rest of the fourth graders sit. "Guess what she told me?"

Katara shrugs, placing her pink Hunchback of Notre Dame backpack on her lap. "I don't know."

"He thinks that I'm super smart. He wants to bump me up to the fifth grade!" Sokka is drumming his hands on the bus seat in front of them in excitement.

Katara nearly bursts into tears. She always knew that Sokka was smarter than her since he was older, but she figured she's catch up to him intellectually soon enough.

But if he's going to be one of those smarty-pants who skips a grade…

She bows her head and sniffs. Sokka is too happy to notice.


The next week Katara gets a 100% on the book report she did on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. She performs better than everyone else in her class, but for some reason it still doesn't seem good enough.


Katara has a routine down for her Friday nights. Sometimes she has friends over, but for the weekends when she doesn't, like this weekend, she normally curls up on the couch and reads before watching television.

First she watches Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Then, when that's over, Sokka and Zuko walk in with snacks and they all watch Boy Meets World together.

"Pass the Twizzlers, fart breath," Zuko says from the bean bag chair on the floor. Since he's turned ten he's started calling her names in a really annoying, brotherly way.

Grumbling, Katara grabs the candy and throws it at his head. He catches it with ease. "Thanks, butthead."

Katara clenches her fists. "Yeah, well, you're ugly!"

Sokka snorts and Zuko grins at her.

Comebacks are not Katara's strength.


Summer is approaching. Mom has been gone for nearly a year.

To distract everyone from this fact, Dad announces that he's putting an inground pool in the backyard. Both Katara and Sokka freak out, throwing their arms around Hakoda before running around the kitchen shrieking in delight. Gran-Gran sits at the table and smiles at them.

It doesn't take too long for the pool to be put in, not when Dad has all the workers working overtime for it.

When it's finished Katara decides that it's the most beautiful thing in the world. The water almost seems to glow it's so clear and blue. Plus Dad put in a deep end and a diving board.

This summer is going to be fun.

Zuko is over for their first night swimming in it.

He and Sokka are jumping off the diving board while Katara swims around the shallow end, pretending she's some aquatic princess and making up stories in her head. Sometimes she pretends that there's a shark in the deep end and goes about hiding from it.

Then everyone decides to go inside for something to drink and a quick snack.

"Katara," Hakoda says from the side of the pool. "Don't swim into the deep end. We'll be back in a second." He starts to make his way inside the house before pausing and looking over his shoulder. "I mean it, Katara."

She nods, waves at her Dad and then goes back to her playing.

As soon as the door closes behind him she makes a beeline for the deep end.

Katara isn't a bad swimmer. She's just not a particularly good swimmer. Yet.

She grips the edges of the pool and makes her way into the deep end. She smiles smugly to herself. As long as she holds onto the edge she'll be fine. Adults worry too much.

She makes one trip around the deep end before deciding that she could probably handle swimming across. It's not all that far, and if she shoves herself off of this side using her feet and legs, she bets she'll make it to the other side off momentum alone.

It's too easy. Katara is so smart.

She ducks underwater, still keeping one hand on the edge, and pushes off the side of the pool with her feet. She cuts through the water, smoothly making it to the other side.

She pops up, smiling and wiping her wet brown hair away from her forehead and eyes.

She goes to do it again, but this time her hand slips away from the edge and she starts to go under. It happens so fast that Katara doesn't even have time to panic. She thrashes about in the water for a few seconds, head bobbing and occasionally breaking the surface, but her kicking limbs aren't enough and she sinks.

Her eyes are open and all she sees is the color blue and the sun.

Someone grabs her from under her arm and yanks her out of the water. Her back scrapes against the edge and she's sure she'll have scratches.

"How stupid can you get?" someone is snarling at her. She blinks her eyes rapidly and when her vision comes into focus she sees Zuko glaring down at her.

"Didn't your dad tell you not to swim in the deep end?" He looms above her, without a shirt and wearing black swim trunks.

"Shut up!" Katara snaps, half hysterical and on the verge of tears.

Zuko's eyes narrow a bit and he opens his mouth to say something when he's cut off.

"Katara, just what are you doing by the deep end?" Hakoda's tone is murderous. Katara looks up to see her Dad and brother staring at her from the other side of the pool. She probably looks ridiculous, with her soaking wet hair and deer-in-the-headlights expression.

"She's just putting her feet in the deep end, sir," Zuko lies casually. "I would've seen her if she was actually swimming in it." Then he plops down next to her and sticks his feet into the water.

Katara forces a smile and the look on Hakoda's face softens slightly. He sits down in one of their lawn chairs and frowns at her. "Be careful."

She nods quickly and folds her hands in her lap, attempting to be the picture of innocence.

She glances at Zuko to find him staring into the water with a pensive expression on his face. His black hair is damp and it sticks up at the back of his head.

That's when Katara notices that he's actually sort of cute. Well, for a boy with cooties.


It's a Sunday evening. Dad and Sokka are out seeing some silly looking action flick that Katara deemed uninteresting. She's currently sitting at the kitchen table and frowning down at a summer reading book. Gran-Gran is upstairs taking a nap.

Then someone is banging on the front door.

Katara gets up and quickly glances out the window, wary to open up the door to anyone who she doesn't know.

It's Zuko.

She rolls her eyes, marches over to the door and yanks it open. "Sokka isn't here," she says, putting her hands on her hips.

Zuko doesn't respond. That's when she notices that he looks like he's about to cry.

As much as this boy can get on her nerves, Katara can't help but feel alarmed. She's always been one to be moved by tears and this is Zuko for crying out loud. She's never seen him cry.

"Oh. Okay." He takes a step back into the rain and clutches something to his chest.

That's when Katara starts to really feel sorry for him.

She opens up the door. "You can come inside and wait for him if you want," she says quietly.

Zuko nods, and then walks into the house.

She makes her way upstairs and into her room and is surprised when he follows her.

"Er." She glances at him awkwardly, knowing that her bedroom isn't exactly boy friendly. There's pink and Barbies everywhere.

"Sorry," he mumbles. He moves and sits down at the edge of her bed and stares down at the carpet. Katara reasons the perhaps he doesn't want to be alone.

She goes to her closet, rummages around and pulls out her secret stash of Oreos. She's not sure how to cheer up boys, but cookies always make her happy.

"Don't tell my brother about these," she instructs, placing the package of cookies next to him on her bed.

He nods slowly but doesn't reach for any.

Katara sits on the ground and fumbles with a couple of her toys. That's when Zuko lets what is in his hand drop to the floor. Katara's eyes about pop out of her head when she sees it.

It's a brand new handheld gaming console, the one she had seen all the commercials for. Sokka had been begging Dad to get him one for weeks.

"When did you get that?" Katara asks. She moves to pick it up but then hesitates. It looks so shiny and pristine that she's scared she'll break it if she even touches it.

"My dad took me to the store and bought it for me today out of the blue." Zuko doesn't look up from the carpet. "Then he told me that my mom left."

Katara stills from where she's sitting on the floor. She knows all about mothers leaving.

"She's not coming back," Zuko whispers. He's not crying, but Katara can tell that he wants to. He bites his lip and ducks his head.

She taps her finger against her knee, thinking about how best to respond. "Well, I understand—"

"No, you don't," he cuts her off. Suddenly he's furious. "You have no idea, Katara."

She knows this is bad. He's not calling her any names.

"Your mom is dead." Zuko's voice is so harsh that Katara flinches. "But at least she didn't leave you on purpose."

Then he's standing up and storming out of her room. When Sokka and Dad come home fifteen minutes later she can't find the words to explain to them why she's crying.


Less than a week later Katara and Sokka find it.

It being a cat.

They're walking home together from the bus stop when the orange tabby trots right out in front of them. Katara immediately scoops it up. It's a kneejerk reaction.

She and Sokka instantly start arguing over names.

"We're calling it Gandalf."

"No," Katara snaps, stroking the top of the cat's head. "That sounds stupid."

Sokka looks offended. "How about Mr. Fuzzy Breeches?"

"That's stupider than the first one!"

"Nuh-uh! We could call it Fuzzy!"

The cat in Katara's arms starts to purr so loudly that Sokka grins. "See? It's purring so it must like the name."

Katara scowls.

When they reach the house Dad takes one look at them and rolls his eyes and refuses to let the cat inside.

"But lookie at how cute he is!" Sokka begs, his eyes going wide.

"She is," Katara corrects.

"You don't know for sure!"

"I bet I do—"

"No you don't!"

It's Gran-Gran who pulls the cat out of Katara's arms and confirms that it's a lady cat. Katara sticks her tongue out at her brother and takes the cat back.

It's also Gran-Gran who convinces Dad that they should keep the cat. When Katara looks back down at Ms. Fuzzy Breeches, she smiles.

That's how they discovered a new member of the family.


A/N:

So yeah, this chapter is short and sort of bounces all over the place. Admittedly, I'm trying to speed through their childhood since Jet doesn't get to come in until their teenage years, plus when they're older it'll be vastly more exciting for obvious reasons ;)

Sorry for not replying to the reviews from last chapter! I'll try to be good about getting back to you guys for this chapter, promise! One thing I would like to mention is that I had a lot of people ask me what Zuko gave Katara for her birthday. Answer is you guys have got a little while to find out. *is evil*

Anyway, thank you all for reading despite the delay in this update and leave me your thoughts pretty please! :D