Instincts

Zuko found himself in an odd position. He'd never been good with women. Mai had only thought he was "mysterious", and that he needed saving or something. As a preteen, he had never had any real friends, let alone female ones.

To put it bluntly, when Zuko was confronted with someone of the opposite sex, he came out looking like the village idiot.

As a prince, this hadn't mattered, but now, he knew that he had to deal with the problem at hand. That problem happened to be the waterbender... or, as the Avatar had called her, Katara.

Zuko put his head in his hands. He had been trying to find a solution to his problem for days now, but nothing came to mind. He groaned, and flopped back on his bed. It was almost lunch, and he had nothing.

"Hey, Zuko," Sokka said as he walked into his room, "Lunch will be ready in a sec..." Sokka trailed off, seeing that the firebender wasn't paying attention to him. "Hey," he said, waving a hand in front of Zuko's face, "C'mon, jerkbender, wakey-wakey!"

Zuko's only response was a groan. What could he do to mend the obvious hurt that Katara was feeling? It was pretty clear that whatever he was doing now was not working. Suddenly, an idea hit him. "Er, Sokka?" he said.

"What is it, jerkbender?" Sokka said, reluctantly listening. Zuko rolled his eyes at the term, but mentally told himself that he would have to tolerate the guy if he wanted his help.

"Listen, um... you know Katara?" said Zuko awkwardly.

"Uh, yeah, she's kind of my sister... Why?" said Sokka, his interest piqued. Why would the former prince ask about his sister?

"Well, you may have realized that she's... er... she's, um---"

"Ready to bite your head off at any opportunity?" finished Sokka dryly. Oh, he was definitely interested now.

"Er, yes, that. Well... um, do you have any suggestions on how to---"

"Stop her from being that way? Yes, I do!" Sokka didn't add that they had never worked for him. Of course, Katara had never been that downright cold to him... Oh well, Zuko didn't need to know that.

Zuko smiled. Maybe he could finally make things right with Katara.

Zuko paused at the entrance of the little room they had walled off as the kitchen. He had to remember exactly what Sokka had told him...

"Okay, my little apprentice, this is how you deal with an angry Katara." said Sokka, nodding gravely.

Zuko listened attentively, waiting for Sokka to give him the Rosetta Stone for the Language of Angry Girls.

"Trust your instincts." said Sokka, opening his arms wide and closing his eyes. "That is all you need to know."

Zuko stared at Sokka. "You're kidding... right?"

Sokka shook his head, the fake beard he had put on swaying with his motions. "No, I speak the truth. With Katara, she'll respect you if you say what you feel. Do what you feel is right, my young Pada--, I mean, my young apprentice. Now, go! She awaits!" Sokka gestured at the doorway, stroking his beard. It would be fun to watch what would happen to Zuko.

Zuko nodded to himself, silently mouthing to himself Sokka's words of wisdom. "Er, Katara?" he said. Thank Agni he had caught her alone... She must have been finishing making lunch for them all. "Oh, just a second, I'll be done with lu--" She cut herself off when she turned around and saw who it was.

"Oh. It's you." The words were completely devoid of emotion, and it was so frightening that Zuko actually backed up a step. He had faced down Zhao, his father; what was it about this girl that made him so damn awkward?

"Um..." Sokka had said to trust his instincts. So, he would say what he wanted to say.

"Why are you being so mean!" shouted Zuko, his eyes blazing. His instincts had told him to tell her what he really felt. "The Avatar's forgiven me, and I chased him halfway around the world! I thought you were supposed to be nice! What happened to that girl in the caves who offered to heal my scar, huh? Why can't you be like that again? I liked that girl! That girl was nice!" Zuko paused, taking a breath.

He glanced at Katara, who's face was slowly growing redder and redder. He blanched, but remembered Sokka's words. I guess I'll keep going...

"Look," he said, closing his eyes and preparing himself for the words he had to say. "I guess I'm trying to say that... I'm... sorry." Zuko paused, squirming at the fact that he had just apologized. "I know you're hurt... and I deserve to be shunned. But I've really changed, and though I don't expect you to believe me, if you could just be a little nicer---"

"What is wrong with you?!" hissed Katara, practically steaming. Zuko backed up a bit as she came towards him and grabbed his wrists. "You expect me to be nice when you betrayed us?? I'm not hurt, Zuko. 'Hurt' is a paltry word to describe what I feel."

Zuko could feel the ice creeping around his wrists, and though he could've firebended, he decided not to, in fear of her wrath. "I will forgive you when you've proven yourself to be a decent human being!"

Zuko backed away from her, his wrists encased in manacles of ice. "Uh..." he stammered, then gave up and rushed off to his room once more.

"Stupid waterbender," he muttered to himself as he melted the ice around his wrists. He was examining the red marks when Sokka came in.

"Oh, Zuko." said Sokka, still shaking a bit from the aftershock of his raucous laughter. Watching Zuko had been like listening to the stand up comedian in the South Pole. "I think she might like you."

With that, Sokka walked off, laughing at the memory of Zuko and Katara. The last time Katara had been betrayed by a guy, she'd frozen him to a tree. Maybe she did approve of Zuko, if only a bit.

Zuko groaned once more, and stared at his wrists. Well, at least he'd learned one thing from this mess.

Never trust Sokka, or his instincts.

A/N: If you read any of my other stories, I'm sorry for not updating. If you don't, hope you like this one-shot. I know it's probably supposed to be a drabble, but... oh well. Comments are love, of course.