The Hard Way

Chapter Four- The First Move

Katara walked up the stone stairs onto the balcony of the ceremony. She hoped this would be quick. She hadn't minded the other announcements but this one bothered her. In some way she felt as if she had betrayed someone. She just wasn't sure exactly who.

She reached the top stair to see Aang there waiting for her. He smiled like he always did and held out his hand for her to take, which she did. She put on a smile as well and they faced the end of the balcony where Zuko had walked out to "introduce" them.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Fire Nation," He spoke loudly, above all chatter below. "As you know we have special guests staying with us tonight. After the past war, things have been settled, nations rejoined. We have our guests to thank for that." He paused and looked back at them, mainly Katara. He gave a cunning smirk before turning back to the crowd. There was something in his voice that wasn't there earlier that day. He actually sounded happy for them. It didn't make sense to her. She had a feeling he was up to something. "I am pleased to present to you The Avatar and his new wife Katara from the Southern Water Tribe."

Cheering broke out among the crowd as Aang pulled Katara out of her thoughts and into the view of everyone. He immediately started waving and bowing, having fun with it. Katara on the other hand still had a confused look on her face and looked back at Zuko who was slowly clapping with that same smirk on his face. He motioned out to Katara, silently telling her to acknowledge her admirers below. She turned back warily before putting on a sweet smile and waving to the crowd.

"Hello everyone!" Aang shouted to calm the crowd and silence them. "I come to you today to formally announce my marriage to the lovely Katara. Our marriage is not just a move of political status as some may think, but a move of love as well." Katara remained silent as he spoke trying to keep her mind on what he was saying but it was hard when she knew Zuko was staring directly at her. She just held onto Aang's hand and waited for her turn to speak.

"Unfortunately we will only be here for one night," She started. "As we want to get settled into the life of marriage and then come back to help in the ways we can." She kept her voice from shaking and kept her eyes from moving to the very side to see if she could see any hint of Zuko and where he was. She nodded to Aang to signal him to carry on the rest of the planned out speech. She knew it wasn't exactly smart to stay quiet through the announcement but at the moment she didn't really care.

Zuko kept staring at her from behind. He was happy with how things were going. She was finally showing the slightest hint of being uncomfortable with him around and that's what he needed to see right now. He wanted to know she still felt something while around him.

As Aang ended the full announcement of their plans, the crowd applauded again and the couple waved out before walking to the back of the balcony, hand in hand. Zuko nodded to his uncle to tell him to go out and close up the announcements as he followed Aang and Katara back down the stone steps.

"You were more quiet than normal." Aang noted as they walked. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked squeezing her hand.

"I don't know." Katara decided it might be easier just to lie this time. "Maybe I'm coming down with a slight cold or something." She told him softly. Unknowing to her, Zuko had heard her lie and his smirk reformed on his lips.

At dinner that night, Zuko ran through his first move in his head. Nearly the entire palace was in the dining hall at that moment, servants and all. It would be the perfect.

Katara sat next to Zuko and Aang, Zuko being on her right, at the head of the table. Her brother and Suki were out on a date somewhere in the city and Toph decided to eat in her room tonight. She didn't find any of this surprising really. She wasn't really expecting them to join the group dinner.

All of a sudden, she saw Zuko stand up from the corner of her eye.

"I have a proposal to make tonight." He announced, speaking loudly. "I know you two must have things to do," He motioned to his guests. "But perhaps you should spend a few more nights here." Katara and Zuko's eyes met. Hers held surprise and the slightest fright while his remained emotionless.

"I think that's a wonderful idea, Zuko!" His uncle shouted in approval. "What do you two say?"

"We wouldn't want to intrude." Katara spat out before Aang could manage a word.

"Nonsense! We have plenty of room." Iroh smiled motioning around the large room.

"And with you getting sick, you should rest and stay in one place." Zuko said in a teasing tone as he smirked at Katara, knowing she was perfectly healthy.

"It would be nice to stay." Aang chimed in. "And Zuko's right. You should rest if you're not feeling well." Katara looked around nervously.

By now the entire room was looking at Katara, waiting for an answer. They all knew the history between the Fire Lord and The Avatar's new wife and they were quite interested in it all.

"Only for a few days." Katara said quietly. Zuko smiled before sitting back down. She didn't understand it. There was no logical reason he would want her there unless he just wanted to watch her squirm. That was a possibility.

"We'll set up to get you more clothes tomorrow." Iroh informed them. "You guys will enjoy yourselves while here. You should stay long enough for the festival coming up." He mentioned.

"Festival?" Aang got excited over the idea.

"Yes there's a small festival coming up in about two days." Iroh informed him. "It's nothing really big but it will be a good time."

"We'll definitely have to stay for that." Aang laughed. He really liked the whole idea of staying.

Katara, on the other hand, wasn't sure it was a good idea.

After dinner, Katara claimed she wasn't feeling very well and retired to her room. She was hoping that would help her avoid Zuko the whole time she was here.

Shortly after she got comfortable in bed, Aang walked in. He walked over to her and sat beside her.

"Can't you heal yourself?" He asked sympathetically.

"Yes but I can still get sick." She sighed. "You should go out tonight." She offered. "Go have fun. I think Sokka's going out to some club or something. Why don't you go with him?" She smiled.

"Are you sure? I feel bad if you're just sitting here." He told her taking her hand.

"Just go and have fun. No sense in us both just sitting here bored. I'll find something to do." She kissed him on the cheek and smiled again. "Go on."

"Feel better though." He laughed as he stood up. "Promise?"

"I promise." She laughed as he shut the door.

Zuko was in the library, putting a hidden book back in place when he heard moving outside the door. He adjusted his books then went to find out what it was. But as he rounded the corner, he bumped into someone. He held onto the person for support before looking at them.

"I'm so sorry. I should have-" The voice stopped apologizing when she saw it was him.

"Still clumsy Katara?" He smirked still holding onto her arms. He looked at her and saw she was dressed for bed in a large t-shirt and pants made out of a light fabric. She saw him looking at her and flushed as she looked away.

His hands loosened but didn't move from her arms. She could feel the heat coming off his body and that's when she realized how close they were. Her mind told her to move but her body made no attempt to do so.

"You must be feeling better if you're moving around." He told her teasingly.

"You know damn well that I'm not sick." She snapped at him.

"But you told your husband you are." He said the word as a tool to mock her with. His fingers gently started moving up and down her arms. "Why would you lie to him?" He asked with a softer tone, but still mockingly.

"Why would you ask us to stay?" She finally hit his hands off her arms but remained close to him. Zuko leaned down just slightly but didn't answer. They stayed like that a moment. His eyes were too masked to read and she couldn't tell what he was trying to do.

Her eyes fell to his lips and they twisted into that smirk when he saw her gaze. His hands went to her waist and he leaned forward a little more.

"Is there something you want?" He whispered.

Katara shook her head out of any thoughts that skipped on her mind. She broke away from him and walked back to her room.

Zuko stayed there, rethinking how he should be going about this. He shouldn't be rushing it. If he even wanted a chance to do this right, he'd have to do this slow.

Katara went back to her room and let out a heavy sigh. When Zuko had run his fingers up and down her arms, she felt a warm feeling run through her and a familiar tingle in her stomach. It reminded her of how she felt three years ago right before they started a relationship.

That probably wasn't a good thing. She was supposed to act like there was nothing between them. If that "nothing" had even the slightest chance of coming back, it made this nearly impossible for her. She would just have to work harder to stay away from him while they were there.

But he wasn't going to make that easy and the worst part was… a little part of her didn't want to stay away from him.

Okay I have most of the next chptr written and I forgot that I didn't even post this one yet! I'm sorry guys. A few things get revealed in the next chptr, very small things though for right now. I hope you guys still like it. I've been having a little bit of writer's block lately. Well please review and hopefully I'll have the next one up soon.