Chapter 3

"KATARA!" Sokka yelled at his sister,"You're consorting with the enemy!!"

"WHAT ENEMY? THERE IS NO ENEMY!" Katara didn't need her brother's shit right now.

"UM, YEAH" Sokka looked annoyed, "ZUKO!"

"I thought you guys got along after a while" Katara tried to calm down.

"Not really" Sokka crossed his arms and looked away.

"He has always been too stubborn to be-friend anyone of the Fire Nation" Zuko mumbled.

"Damn straight" Sokka agreed.

"Such talk toward the Fire Lord will not be tolerated" Zuko was certainly not keeping a calm mind.

"But Zuko--" Katara put her hand on the Fire Lord's shoulder.

"Silence" Zuko was in no mood for this any longer. He grabbed Katara by her wrist and looked into her dark eyes. Zuko's firm grip startled Katara. She could see the dominence in his eyes. He was in control of the Fire Nation, and he wasn't going to let a minor freak-out from Sokka ruin his reign.

"You will not disrespect the Fire Lord" Zuko's eyes suddenly narrowed to Katara,"Escpecially if you're a resident of the Fire Nation"

"Let go of my sister, you ass" Sokka moved closer to Zuko.

"Make me"

"That is really pathetic. One minute, you are practically eating my sister's face off, and the next, you're holding her wrist. Not only threatening her, but her older brother as well" An expression of victory remained on Sokka's face.

Zuko looked at Sokka for just a moment before releasing Katara gently. He wanted to just drop his head in shame of his dishonorable actions. He couldn't believe that he actually stooped that low. But he had to keep his cool. He was Fire Lord, and had to look confident at all times.

"My apologies" Zuko maintained his composure as best he could.

"My deepest apologies as well" Iroh popped in, who actually was listening at the doorway,"I take full responsibility for my nephew's actions."

"Uncle" Zuko looked over to the man in dismay,"I am a man now...you dont have to take the fall for me"

"Your majesty, I insist" Iroh smiled,"If you dont mind, I'd like to invite our guests to stay the night"

Zuko gave the older man a cold glare and then rolled his eyes.
"Very well"

"Good" Then he gestured to the servants politley, "Show them to their rooms"

"Yes, General Iroh" the few servants in the room chimed in at different times. Once Iroh saw that they were each in their respective rooms, he sighed.

"I would have thought you'd be happier for their presence tonight" Iroh smirked,"After all, you did seem to develop a liking to Katara"

"What would give you that idea?!" Zuko scoffed.

"Nephew" Iroh put a hand on the Fire Lord's shoulder,"Correct me if i'm wrong, but I was under the impression that displays of affection, such as kissing, were at least administered to friends if not more"

"Damn it! Did everybody in the whole world see that?!" Zuko griped.

"Get a grip, Zuko" Iroh nudged his shoulder,"Love is nothing to be ashamed of"

"I AM NOT IN LOVE!" Zuko threw his hands in the air and then sat down in the nearest chair.

"Perhaps not yet...but soon"

"Uncle! I'm not even on good terms with the girl!"

"Then let me ask you this," Iroh paused,"Why did you bring her here? Why did you even bother to catch her if you didn't have some feeling for her in your heart. And even if it was for reasons unknown that you brought her in...why did you kiss her?"

Zuko buried his face in his hands. He didn't know how to answer these questions. Such easy questions. He could easily make up lies for all the answers just to prove his uncle wrong. But he didn't want to lie. He wanted to be truthful.

"Zuko, sometimes even Fire Lords need to show weakness or emotion" Iroh put an arm around his nephew,"Or else they will end up like your father...or Azula"

Zuko uncovered his face and looked at his uncle.

"Look, truthfully, I have no idea what I feel. Why I feel it or whatever. I dont know how I feel about Katara...I just know that she's important for some reason."

"Thank you for opening up, nephew..." Iroh gave Zuko a smile and took his arm from around his shoulders,"You know what you must do now, right?"

"Um, put this all behind me?" Zuko shrugged his shoulders.

"No." Iroh said promptly,"You must apologize to them"

"Must I?"

"Yes, Zuko"

"Damn it" Zuko trailed off to Katara's room first. He'd rather deal with an angry girl than the angry girl's older brother. He silently walked down the halls, dimming the lanterns that were hanging in the corridors a little bit. Finally, he got to that familiar door again. After hesitating for a second, he knocked on the dorr lightly.

"Come in" Katara's soft, but firm voice responded.

"Hey" Zuko addressed her very informally.

"Yes" Katara's voice sounded deep with anger and spite.

"Look, I'm--" Zuko bit his lip,"I'm sorry for earlier"

"Which part, you yelling at my brother, or torturing me?" It seemed as though she was not easy at forgiving.

"Both"

"Well, you should be" She turned her head away from him.

"I apologized! What the hell more do you want?!" Zuko sat on the bed next to her.

"I just--" Katara looked away,"I just didn't know what to think about you after you..."

"Kissed you?" Zuko finished the girl's sentence.

"Well, yeah"

"I'm that bad of a kisser, eh?" Zuko smirked.

"It's not that, it's just...just. I wasn't expecting it..."

"So...is that good or bad?" Zuko leaned a little closer.

"It's..." Katara couldn't find the words to say. She wanted to say that was the best kiss she ever had, but she wasn't ready to say that to his face. I mean, this was Zuko. But it just kind of of slipped out,"No, it wasn't bad...it was actually...kind of nice." She was just waiting for Zuko to burst out laughing and say that he tricked her. She dreaded that kind of reaction.

Zuko was speechless. He sat there in awe of Katara's words. Finally, he snapped back into reality and looked at Katara's face. He tried to sit there long enough to memorize every feature on her delicate face. Every hair on her head. He wanted a visual image of her.

He could only see a side-view of her face since she had turned her head away from him in embarrasment. He softly pulled her chin to make her face him. He gave her a smile that nearly no one had ever seen Zuko with. He looked into her dark eyes and drew their lips together once more. It was a fiery kiss, full of passion. His lips pressed against hers tightly. She swung her arms around his neck as he put his hands on her waist.

After a bit, their lips seperated and the both were breathing heavily. They looked into each others eyes deeply.

"So, what does this make us, then?" Zuko whispered into the water bender's ear.

"Dating?" She suggested.

"That works." Zuko smiled. Katara rested her head on his chest and he kept her in a firm embrace.

"Now...to tell my brother..." Katara whispered once again.

"Oh, shit, do we have to?"

"Either that, or we let him find us making out again" Katara mumbled.

"Lets go tell him, shall we?"

Author's notes:

Ah, that took a day or two write. I've been kinda lazy, but I definetly want to update every 1-3 days. Thats my goal, at least. Well I hope you like this chapter, and I hope it's not too terribly rushed this time.