THESE one-shot-things are so much fun to write, lol. No, seriously, like...I just grin whenever I'm writing it or finishing it, and then I can't wait to update it. They're coming out once-a-day, it seems. At this rate I'll be finished with the entire Dealing with Women edition by next week -cough- I haven't actually decided how many 'Lessons' there will be. Any suggestions? I was thinking 11. But that's just a random number. And I'm not sure if Sokka has that much advice on girls...Lol

THANKS to everyone who has thus far read/reviewed/enjoyed/alerted/favorited...you guys are the reason these chapters keep coming out at all! The encouragement is wonderful...and thanks also to all those phantom readers. I know you're there! The number of hits keeps going up, and I'd like to thank you for bringing it past 1500 C: yay.

NOW, here's the latest installment of Dealing With Women.

LESSON FOUR: COMPLIMENTS

'Just as the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so is the way to a woman's heart through flattery. Let's face it, girls like being showered with compliments. Some like the traditional 'you have beautiful eyes' and others the more poetic 'your eyes sparkle like the stars.' Alright, so I suck at poetry, that's not the point here.

Stop laughing!'

— Sokka's Field Guide

"Why are you so down on him, anyways?"

"I'm not down on him, everyone is just up."

"You're being silly."

"That coming from the girl who enjoys picking dirt from between her toes."

"Hey! Don't knock it 'till you've tried it."

Katara rolled her eyes at the young earthbender currently perched on a smooth stone by the banks, staunchly not wading through the water. Her pale eyes were bored if not the slightest bit irritated, and she released a breath of air between her teeth, disinterestedly twirling a reed about her finger. For the past month and a half it's been nothing but hostilities on Katara's end whenever a certain firebender was concerned (no, not Iroh) and Toph wasn't the only one in the merry band of vagabonds who was fed up with the waterbender's behavior.

"He hasn't done anything bad," Toph reasoned, unseeing eyes studying the reed wrapped about her pinky, "Actually, he's been really nice. Why can't you just bury the hatchet and get over it, Sweetness, 'cause Sparky ain't goin' anywhere."

Katara dipped her foot into the rushing water, feeling the silvery trickles run over her toes, and lifted her leg, trying to maintain her balance on one foot. "He's been…nice," she agreed. He's been a perfect gentleman, her traitorous mind whispered, a thought that the bender resolutely ignored. "I just…I've got this feeling about him…"

Toph glanced up from the coiled grass, letting it spring away from her finger. "What kind of feeling?"

"A gut feeling," the older girl explained, lowering her withdrawn foot back into the water. She stood on the shallow banks of the riverside, just ankle-deep. "My stomach just drops when he comes around, and I start feeling jittery and paranoid." Katara shivered at the thought of it, despite the hot summer evening. "I don't like it." Silence met her words and Katara glanced over at Toph who sported a mysterious and knowing sort of smile that greatly unnerved her. "Why're you grinning like that? What's so funny?"

The earthbender shook her head dismissively, returning her attention to the unwound reed. "Nothing, nothing…it's just…" She trailed off, making sure that Katara was hanging on every word, "Nevermind. You'll only get angry."

"Angry?" Oh, well now Katara wanted to know! "What is it? I promise not to get angry."

"I don't know…" Toph baited, going for a nonchalant shrug.

"Tell me," her friend implored, dragging her toes through the muddy shores of the riverbank. "I won't get mad, I promise."

Toph arched a cynical brow, "Promise?"

"Promise."

"Promise, promise?"

"Toph!"

The earthbender laughed, tossing the reed aside, and folded her legs beneath her, leaning forward just enough to show her interest. "You only think that you hate him."

Katara blinked, jerking her gaze over to Toph, wearing an expression that the earthbender would have wished to see. "What?" She asked, bewildered. She thought she hated Zuko? What kind of a statement was that? What did that even mean? "That made absolutely no sense," Katara concluded matter-of-factly, returning her attention to more important things (wading in the water, for one) "You've been hanging around Sokka too much, haven't you?"

It was meant to be a joke, something like teasing, but Toph scowled, hiding a creeping blush and dismissed the quip at once. "No--"

"You haven't been hanging around him enough?" Katara asked suddenly, giving her companion a knowing look she couldn't even see.

The earthbender flushed and pointed an accusing finger her way, "Stop changing the subject!"

Katara only chuckled, lifting her eyes up to the starry night, eyeing the moon that was already half full. Last she remembered, it was only a fading crescent…on the eve of her birth. "The subject before was already over, there's nothing more to say about it," she said resolutely, more to herself than her earthbending friend.

Toph snorted, folding her arms over her chest and muttered an inarticulate, "Except for the fact that you actually don't hate Zuko."

"What?"

But Toph was gone.

—

—

Zuko glanced up from his tea as a red-faced Toph approached the campfire. She appeared to be quite flustered, but said nothing as she sat down at the circle between Sokka and Aang, collapsing onto the earth with a comfortable 'thud' and pointed at the old man across the way. "She's impossible!"

Iroh raised his brows, grinning amusedly at the earthbender. "I suppose it's safe to assume you mean Katara," he said patiently as he poured a cup of herbal tea for the newest comer.

Toph accepted it, flailing an arm towards where she came (and thus spraying the freshly brewed tea all over Sokka, resulting in his leaping up into the air and yelling out in surprise) "She's more stubborn than anyone I've ever met!"

The eldest attendant only shrugged, "And how does her resoluteness connect with me?"

"Because—" Toph began, but Sokka not-so-gracefully slammed a bag into her face. The girl fell backwards, the back of her head hitting the dirt, and she glared up into the darkness, knowing full-well who it was. "Weren't you ever taught manners, Snot-face?" She cracked sarcastically.

Sokka scowled down at her, at the way her blind eyes could express so much emotion and yet see nothing. "I'll practice my manners when you practice yours!" He countered sagely.

Toph only smirked in reply.

"What's wrong with Katara?" Aang piped up from Toph's other side, curiously peering over his shoulder at the trees.

The earthbender scoffed, sitting up as if she wasn't just hit in the face with a bag full of…leaves, was it? Sokka's pillow. "Pfft – the same thing that's been wrong with her for the past month and a half."

An uncomfortable silence rose amongst the circle.

Without a word, Zuko stood, setting his tea aside, and excused himself with a polite bow before striding away.

. . .

"Is he going to the bathroom? Because someone should really warn him about the snake-pigeons around this area—"

Toph promptly smacked him upside the head.

—

—

The waterbender scowled into the disrupted stream, arguing with herself over what Toph could have meant. Really, none of it made sense to her. It was all so ludicrous that she couldn't even begin to comprehend what the girl could have been trying to get across. Katara sighed, kicking up the water and watching it rise with the motion, following an elegant arc, before cascading back down onto the river's surface, sending ripples every which way.

Why were people so bothered with her contempt for Zuko, anyways? What did it matter? They could all be friends; she didn't care – as long as he stayed away from her. She didn't want to get hurt again. She didn't want to invest any sort of trust in someone she was convinced would only betray it in the end.

And of course she believed that Zuko was capable of doing such a thing.

He's done it once, done it to her, to his uncle, to his father…

How many other times has he taken the role of traitor?

Katara frowned at her distorted reflection.

She was not being immature or childish or silly about this!

Zuko could not be trusted, and once he proved her right, the others would only be agreeing, seeing themselves as the fools, wondering why they didn't listen to smart, perfect, wonderful, know-it-all Katara. And she'd balk at them, lording it over their heads that she was (once again) right, and that they were hopelessly wrong.

Because she was.

And they were.

Or you're just incredibly narrow-minded and can't accept the fact that Zuko is now an integral part of your group, her treacherous mind whispered.

Katara's frown deepened as she tried to shut out that voice, the voice she's been ignoring for the past couple of months, the voice that spoke volumes of her own self doubt.

The voice of reason.

"Katara?"

Oh spirits, not that voice.

She rolled her eyes, paying no mind to the intruder.

Zuko stepped nearer to the stream, hesitant. She was surrounded by her element; there was nothing to gain from angering her, or provoking her in anyway. Not that he ever did, but she seemed to live in an alternate universe where everything he said or did held I-am-actually-evil-and-want-to-plot-your-death! undertones. And hey, maybe they did, but no one else seemed to think so.

"Katara?" He tried again, not daring to come any closer than he already was.

She glanced over at him, eyebrows raised expectantly. "Hmm?"

The Fire Prince fiddled awkwardly with his hands, feeling out-of-place and increasingly uncomfortable. "Toph said something was bothering you…"

"So they sent you over to deal with me?" She scoffed, swirling around to stare him down.

"No, no one sent me," Zuko said with a slight frown.

Katara waited a moment, and shrugged, fingers curling into the fabrics of her skirts as she tried to control the twisting of her stomach. "Then what are you doing here?"

He lifted a single shoulder in casual motion, glancing around the area with practiced nonchalance. "I just thought I'd drop by," he said coolly.

"Oh good, for a second I thought you were hoping for a conversation."

"That, too," he answered, settling his wandering gaze on her face.

Katara fidgeted under his eyes and looked away. "What could have possibly led you to believe that I'd want to talk—"

"It looks nice."

Her gaze flicked to him, "What?"

Zuko cleared his throat, feeling the heat raise along his neck, carefully making its way up to color his cheeks. "The…the outfit," he said noncommittally, "It looks nice."

"Oh." It took her a moment to realize what he was talking about, and Katara's eyes widened, "Oh…" Her gaze fell to the royal blue garments she wore, and her own face began to color. "Er…yes, Iroh…gave it to me," she recited the lie so as to spare Zuko's dignity, "For my birthday."

The fire prince nodded, a soft and pensive frown on his features, "It fits well?"

"Perfectly."

"It's comfortable?"

"Incredibly."

"You…like it?"

Katara nodded once, slowly. "Yes," she answered, "Very much. Thank you."

Something passed between them then, something that Katara had been trying to convince herself was hatred and dislike and scorn – but obviously wasn't – before Zuko realized what she said. "I didn't give it to you," he replied, brows furrowing just slightly.

The waterbender only nodded, "Right, tell your uncle thanks again, for me."

"Sure," He turned away, suddenly very uncomfortable, "I'll tell him."

And he had to force himself not to run.

But had he stayed, he would have seen the beginnings of a genuine smile cross the waterbender's lips as she returned her attention to the stream, taking particular care not to get her clothes wet.

'But if you're anything like me, saying that to a girl could result in a punch in the arm or perhaps being drop-kicked.

Compliments...results may vary.'

— Sokka's Field Guide