(A/N: Aaah! I am so so so so so sorry this took so freaking long to update… School started a month ago and, what with the IB classes and homework load, its been tough. The updates will be few and far between from now on, but hopefully they'll be longer, too. Thanks again for your consistent reads/reviews, and I hope you stick around! I love hearing from you. LOVE it. Also, I meant to have the second part of this chapter be an entirely separate chapter called 'Warm', but I epic failed, so you all get a two-in-one jackpot! Woo! Now I have to figure out the next chapter... Bah!)

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, nor do I make profit off it.

Chapter 10: Relative Normalcy

Zuko stormed off, grunting and throwing his fists in the air angrily. Katara poked Toph, who just smiled.

"Relax, Sugar Queen, he's just angry 'cause his uncle ate like half our food supply," the earthbender snickered, "and put those mushrooms in there."

"WHAT!?"

"Yeah, I dunno, Katara. You should ask Gramps about it." Katara nodded. How strange! Why would General Iroh place those mushrooms in our food supply, especially knowing that no one would eat them but Zuko?

Katara sighed and shook her head. She feared she would never know what went on in Zuko's family, that is, if she really wanted to know. She and Toph walked back to the fountain flat together, where they split ways. The earthbender went back to her room to sleep until dawn broke, and Katara stayed in the makeshift kitchen to cook breakfast. She scrounged a few pea-potatoes and turkey-goose eggs for the gang, and an over-ripened FireDragon fruit for Aang. She was about to start cooking the eggs when Iroh's footsteps sounded across the hall.

"Good morning, Uncle," she said quaintly, breaking an egg and letting its yolk drop into the pan.

"Good morning, Miss Katara," he responded tiredly.

"Are you alright? You seem kind of down."

"Oh, ah, I'm fine. Zuko and I just had a long talk, that's all. Do you mind if I make some tea?" He waved a hand toward the burnt out campfire. She shook her head and leant down, pulling out an old teapot. She extended it to him, but did not let it go when he placed his hands around it.

"I have a question, if you don't mind, before you do that." Iroh nodded. "Why did you make Zuko sick?"

Iroh sighed (which lead into a half-yawn) and scratched at his ear. "Well," he started, avoiding Katara's gaze entirely, "my nephew is very complicated." To this, Katara nodded profusely. "He's been on his own for quite a while, and has been under a lot of pressure. He needs someone to look over him, to watch out for him and care for him when I am not around. Do you understand?" Katara narrowed her eyes, but nodded slowly. "Good then. I've always seen friendship as a relationship, be it good or bad, that lasts through all time, no matter what. According to this, you and my nephew have been good friends since the Avatar was awakened."

Katara canted her head to the side. "What are you getting at, old man?"

Spirits, she certainly behaved like Zuko when it came down to it. "My nephew, my son, he has a connection with you that he lacks with the rest of your group. You seem like a very smart girl, and I thought you would be the best one among your group to trust with his wellbeing." He sat down on the floor, crossing his legs, and pulled out a white lotus tile. He flipped it over his knuckles. "I've known for quite a while that the two of you had… something going on, I've just waited until now to do anything. Does that make sense?"

Katara, whose jaw had dropped and whose eyes were now wide with shock, was only able to respond with a dull 'guh'.

"All right, I can accept that. Those mushrooms… in adults, or in this case young adults, bring out the hidden desires, the secret wishes, of those who eat them. Your own wishes would be better off free," the retired general hinted mysteriously, pulling the tea kettle from her slacked fingers. Her jaw dropped again.

—Avatar: The Last Airbender—

When Katara had finally composed herself and finished breakfast, one-by-one the gang would grab their earthenware dishes and sit clear at the other side of the hall, Sokka, Aang, Toph, Hakoda and Suki all watching her intently. The rest of the gang seemed uninterested, more focused on Iroh's war stories than on anything else. When Zuko walked in, the room seemed to shift, and he was at the center of it. Katara would have been blind not to notice that Zuko ignored her entirely: instead, he sat by himself on the ledge by the southern wing. She huffed, and grabbed her own plate, sitting down beside her brother without a word. They watched Zuko now, silent as ever, Sokka being the only one to bother actually eating anything. Even now he managed to get his food all over himself! She laughed.

Again, the focus of the room shifted: this time, back to her. She sighed.

"Come on, guys, what's going on?" she pressed, setting her plate on the ground beside her. She leant forward.

Aang shook his head.

Toph sniffed.

Hakoda blinked.

Sokka shrugged.

Suki stood, put her plate atop Katara's, and walked away.

"We're getting low on firewood," Iroh's voice sounded from a few feet behind her. Aang nodded, and Sokka cracked his neck to the side. "We should send someone out to get some."

"Sorry, Gramps, but Aang has to practice his bending today. I'm trying to teach him metalbending," she said with a shrug.

"Uh, yeah, Suki and I are gonna be busy today. Y-you know, uh, feeding Appa," he stuttered, his gaze sliding back over to his girlfriend, who blushed furiously and stomped on the ground. She grabbed his arm and trotted out of the main.

"I'll be scavenging today, I'm afraid, Iroh," said Hakoda.

"That's fine," said Iroh, a wise smile playing on his lips. "Katara and Zuko should go." At least he's not being too inconspicuous, she thought bitterly. Zuko, who was still seated with his legs over the edge of the canyon, was suddenly up and standing beside her. "Well, think about it, nephew. I know we talked earlier, but still. It's the middle of the summer, and there'll be very little water out in the woods, so if something were to happen, she would be defenseless. If you were to go alone, we would never know what happened, and there would be no one there to help. You see?"

The two bobbed their heads, but avoided looking at each other.

"Good, now go, but be back before dark." He winked at Katara, and patted Zuko on the back. "Be good." He left without finishing his meal, and skipped a bit on his way back. It's never too early to think about grandchildren, he thought deviously.

Katara looked up. Zuko's features were set, and his teeth were ground against each other. She stood. "Uh…" She didn't know what to say! What was there to say? 'Hi, Zuko. I've just found out that you really do like me that much, and now we're to spend the entire afternoon ignoring each other. Sounds like fun!'

"Just…" Zuko sighed. "Just wait here, I've got to get something." Katara did as he asked, standing there, under the watchful eyes of her father, her best friends, and the rest of the gang. She fingered her necklace nervously, eyes focused on something particularly uninteresting at the ground.

"Let's go," a tired voice demanded. She nodded and followed close behind him.

—Avatar: The Last Airbender—

It had been at least three hours. There was nothing actually close to the Western Air Temple, spare a dirty, slow little creek and a few grazing emu-bison, but they continued moving southward. Neither had spoken a word after they left the temple, and Katara was growing tired.

"Zuko." He stopped, and turned around. His eyes were glazed as if his thoughts were too far away to fathom, and had turned a fierce gold color. "I-I th-thin-think…" She sighed. "Ithinkweshouldstopforabit," she blurted.

Zuko nodded, motioning to the ground for her to sit. She was angry at this, but why, she couldn't exactly say. She did sit, though, and pulled out a small sack of food from her pocket. She had remembered from the last time one of the gang had gone to get firewood that it was a long way away, so she packed a small meal for both herself and Zuko.

"What's that?" He sat down beside her.

"Hog-rooster sandwich on rye," she said, handing him a rice-paper wrapped lump.

"Um, thanks," he mumbled, unwrapping the package slowly. For a moment she watched him eat, and she felt an odd pride that she had been the one to feed him. His groan of happiness when he had finished made her heart swell, so she handed him her sandwich. He gave her a look, but she shrugged, and pushed it at his chest.

"Go on. I'm not that hungry, really, you eat it." She smiled shyly, forcing herself to look away when he smiled back. Her toes tingled a little, and it frightened her. After a moment, he handed her the unfinished half of her sandwich, and after having seen the satisfied look on his face, she couldn't help but oblige him in eating the rest of her own meal. It was better than she had expected it would be, but a bit too spicy for her. She fanned at her tongue when she was finished, and he gave her a confused look.

"Too thpithy," she lisped, and laughed at herself a bit. He pulled a calfskin of water from his side and handed it to her. She took it gratefully and took a greedy swig, handing it back only when she had a very satisfied smile on her own face.

"You don't like spicy food?"

She shook her head. "We don't have peppers at the South Pole," she said with a shrug.

"How come you put them in the sandwiches then?"

"Um, well, I figured, being Fire Nation, you would like them…" she scratched at the back of her neck self-consciously.

"I do," he said simply. After a moment, he looked back over to her. "Thank you, Katara."

She smiled to him and nodded. "You're welcome." She yawned.

"Are you tired?"

"Yes. After what happened last night, I'm afraid I didn't get much sleep." A/N: That's what she said.

"You should take a nap. When it's this hot outside, you could get heat exhaustion if you work yourself too hard."

"What about you? You stayed up to talk to your uncle, you must be very tired."

"Yes, but I can't get heat exhaustion. I am heat," he said simply, his glance shifting to a rock at his left leg.

"Oh, right," she amended. "You'll take a nap with me, then, won't you? I mean, as long as we're both stopped anyway."

"Well, I was going to see if I could find the closest way to some campfire wood, but a nap does sound good…" he yawned then, and chuckled. "Yeah, okay, it sounds really good."

Katara giggled. "The sun," she pointed. "It's setting." Zuko nodded. "And it's starting to get cold," she hinted.

"It is? I hadn't noticed." She nodded.

"I guess we lost track of the time while we were walking… But, uhm, I didn't bring a jacket with me," she admitted. She watched Zuko's eyes as they wandered over her outfit: the cropped top and cutoff skirt of her fire nation uniform did little to keep her warm. Under his gaze, though, her skin heated quickly. She hoped that the red tint of the setting sun would hide her blush.

"Neither did I," Zuko said with a chuckle. For the first time that day, she noticed that Zuko hadn't gotten fully dressed. He was wearing a pair of pants that tied at his calves, and nothing more. In fact, at the angle at which he sat, she could just make out the tiny black hairs that, starting just at his naval, led down into his pants. She blushed again, and cleared her throat.

"Maybe we should go back."

"No, we still need firewood. There's enough to last them for tonight and for food tomorrow, but we'll need more for a campfire for tomorrow night."

"Okay, I guess we'll continue on tomorrow." Zuko nodded.

"If you get too cold…" his words dropped off.

"What?"

"Well, you can always sleep with me," he said softly. Katara gulped and took a sharp intake of air through her teeth. "I-I mean, since I'm a firebender, my inner fire always keeps me warm, so if you lay with me- I mean if you lay next to me, I can keep you warm…" He scratched at the back of his neck, biting his lip nervously though he looked away.

Katara shivered. His comment had made her colder, if anything. He had been warm, though, she remembered from when she hugged him a while back. Even so, the muscular planes of his chest seemed strangely inviting. She pictured them to be like iron wrapped in silk to the touch, as she had the urge to run her fingers over him, let them linger in the dips of his defined muscles. She blushed again. "Um, okay… but no funny stuff, you got that?" She put a hand on the left side of his face and moved it so he looked her in the eyes. His skin is warm…

"Y-yes," he gulped. "Got it." Zuko lay on his back, his head inclined to the sky as he watched the moon with amber eyes. Katara watched him for a moment, but soon shifted onto her knees to crawl toward him. His gaze drifted back to her, and he watched as she made her way to his side. She pulled her hair out of the topknot and pulled her hair loopies out, taking her sandals off and setting them aside. She snuggled, then, between his arm and the side of his chest, laying on her back though her head rested on his shoulder, turned away from him. After she had stopped moving, she spoke.

"Thank you, Zuko," she said softly, and yawned a bit. He shifted a bit, turning his body sideways so that he lay on his hip, and the crook of his elbow lay beneath her head. She groggily reached her hands up to his and nuzzled her head into the scarred but still soft and, of course, warm skin of his arm. After a few moments, she felt his free hand stroke her hair softly, his fingers intertwining with her loosened tresses as he made lazy patterns on the back of her neck. She shivered, and he shifted closer, his body now flush beside hers. After another few moments, he tilted his head toward hers, but then lay still until her breathing evened.

"Thank you," he whispered, and nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck before falling asleep. She smiled to herself and relished the contact of skin on skin, the even puffs of hot air his breath brought to her goose-bumped flesh. She fell asleep soon after, and dreamt of turtle-ducks and an almost overwhelming peace. She did not want to wake up…

The sound of elk-bat hooves did that for her.

(A/N: Thank you for reading! Now please, please, PLEASE press that cute little button at your bottom left-hand corner, you know, the one that says 'Submit Review'? Yes! That one! CLICK IT! I won't post the next chapter until I have, say, 10 reviews for this one. You can do it! I KNOW you can! :D All my love, Khepri.)