~7 months later
Zuko walked through the corridors of the palace to return to his quarters. He sighed heavily as he pushed the loose hairs escaping from his top knot away from his face. It had been an exhaustingly long day and he was ready for it to be over. He reached his hand back to rub his neck as he passed by the courtyard. Suddenly he stopped walking, hearing a quite noise coming from the courtyard he looked out into it and spotted a figure sitting by the pond. He smirked to himself and quietly jumped the wall. He padded softly out to figure taking care not to make any noise. He crouched down to spring into an attack.
"I was wondering when I would see you, Zuko." a soft voice told him.
He took a surprised intake of breath and then smiled as he quickly sat down beside her. "How did you know I was there?" he asked. He heard her laugh and it made him realize how much he had missed the sound of it.
"The turleducks." she told him simply with a smile, "They suddenly got very excited and when I didn't really hear anyone walking up I figured it must be you." she shrugged her shoulders and smiled at him.
He smiled back at her and then quickly reached his hand out and cupped the back of her head pulling her to him as he pressed his lips to hers. He kissed her hungrily with a sudden raging need that she eagerly meet. He pulled his lips away to take a gasp of air and leaned his forehead onto hers. He closed his eyes, "Agni, I missed you."
She laughed "So I can tell!"
"When did you get here?" he asked her pulling his head away from hers, running his hand through her hair.
"Later in the morning." she told him.
He looked at her confused, "Then why didn't you come find me sooner?" he asked her.
She laughed again as she reached a hand forward to touch his face softly. "Because I knew you had meetings today and I knew how eager you would be to see me and I don't think the council would've appreciated your greeting too much. Beside it gave me a chance to relax from the trip." she finished as she caressed his check
"How are things going in the Earth Kingdom?" he asked her.
"They are going well. Hopefully I won't have to go back over there much more expect to check up on things a few more times. I have assigned some one to watch over things and let me know if there are any problems." she told him.
He nodded, "That's good. You were gone too long this time." he said as turned his head to kiss the palm of her hand.
She slowly pulled her hand away "Yes well now that I hopefully won't and to travel so much to the Earth Kingdom I can spend more time with you." she laughed softly, "but I am going to need find something else to do while I am here…I found myself starting to get a little bored today…" she told him with a small smirk.
He looked at her in surprise and then his eyes narrowed in a glare. He growled at her menacingly as he leaned forward to meet her gaze.
She chuckled as she meet his glare bravely, "Did anyone ever tell you how cute you can be when your angry, Zuko?"
"Katara…." he growled her name in warning as his eyes flashed fire.
She laughed again and quickly leaned forward and give him a quick kiss on his lips, which succeed in surprising him. "Zuko, I am completely capable of entertaining myself besides I do still have a job to do while I am here." she told him gently.
"And that would be…?" he asked her with a small tinge of anger still in his voice.
"You mean besides irritating you?" she asked him in return with a giggle and glint of mischievousness in her eyes.
He shot her an irritated glare, which just caused her to laugh harder. He glared at her for a moment and then slowly a smile started to return to his face. Then he sighed as he reached his hand over to grasp hers. "I really did miss you." he told her softly.
She leaned forward again and gently kissed him on his scarred cheek. "I missed you too. More than I thought possible."
He sighed leaning into her kiss and then pulled her into his arms.
"How was you day?" she asked as she settled into the crook of his arms.
He groaned, "Is it bad to say that I am looking forward to having you back in the meetings with me?" she chuckled in response. " I'm serious" he continued, " those old men drive me crazy."
"Their not all old men, Zuko." she told him with a smile.
He rolled his eyes, "They might as well be."
"I don't know from the reports I've been getting you have made a lot of progress and seemed to have gotten them out of the habit of wanting to do things just for the sake of tradition." she told him trying to cheer him up.
"I guess so but most of that was your doing" he said moodily as he reached up to rub at his hair that was pulled taut by his topknot.
Noticing the small movement, Katara turned in his arms and raised up on her knees. Quietly she reached out and carefully undid his headpiece and then his topknot. When she had freed his hair she ran her fingers through it relishing the feel of it. He leaned forward and kissed the soft spot of her neck causing her giggle and duck away from him. She didn't make it far since he was holding onto her waist and he took advantage of that fact by nipping at her bare shoulder causing her to squeal. She squirmed in his arms, slapping playfully at his arms. He laughed and pulled her into a tighter hug with one arm and moved his other hand to gently grab her chin. He pulled her chin down to his head and kissed her until she stopped squirming. He continued kissing her until she draped her arms around his neck and sighed into his kiss.
He reluctantly pulled away and leaned his head back to look into her face, that was wearing a silly satisfied grin. He gave her smile in return, "Thanks." he told her, shaking his head enjoying the feeling of the freedom of his hair out of its constraints.
She chuckled to herself at the sight of his hair in disarray and moved a hand up to tug on a silken strand of his hair. He kissed her nose lightly and relaxed his hold on her. She sat back down in front of him and leaned into his chest again.
After a few quiet moments he finally spoke. "So do you really think you won't need to go back to the Earth Kingdom anymore?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Most of the colonist that have decided to stay are doing quite well and have integrated into the Earth Kingdom ways with a few fire Nation traditions thrown in. The Fire Days Festival have gained a lot of popularity in the Earth Kingdoms. Of course they had to change the puppet shows some" she laughed quietly as she continued, "in fact the last Festival I saw they had even had a Earth Rumble competition traveling with them. But things are going well. I think given a few more years the colonies won't really be considered Fire Nation anymore. There are still a few prejudices to work out but for the most part even the colonists are considering themselves more Earth nation than Fire now. Like I said in each town I set up someone who could serve as a contact for any concerns the town had and if it is something that is not manageable with help from the earth kingdom then send a message here. So hopefully I wont need to go over much anymore. But that was why it took so long this time. Getting the right people assigned and making sure their was an acting ambassadors in each area" she explained.
"I could set someone else to do that part of the job so you don't have to travel so much if you want." Zuko told her.
She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Sometimes I like the travel. It reminds of those days when I was running around with Aang before the war and after but it would be nice to just stay somewhere for a while."
She felt him nod behind but he remind quiet. She stayed quiet for a few minutes more. "I saw Aang while I was over there." she told him quietly. She felt him sit up a little straighter.
"Oh?" he asked trying not to sound to eager.
"Yeah him and Toph were at the Fire Day Festival that was happening while I was there, she wanted to see the Earth Rumble. Well, it was more that she wanted her and Aang to compete. They actually did pretty well together." she told him.
"Okay and….?" he asked, starting to sound a little more impatient.
"And….?" she asked him back, "Just what do want me to tell you Zuko?" she asked turning to look back at him.
He huffed out an aggravated breath, "Did you talk to him? Tell him?" he asked trying to control his temper.
The corner of her mouth tugged up slightly. "I may have mentioned it…..why?" she asked.
He grimaced and looked off to the side. "So do I have to worry about the Avatar hunting me down this time?" he asked, half joking half serious.
She snorted, "No. He was a little surprised but he took it fairly well. Not to mention I think he might be over it somewhat."
He looked back at her. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I think that perhaps he may have developed a bit of a crush on Toph." she told him with a amused look on her face.
"Really? Well, I guess I could see that but what about Toph?" Zuko asked.
"I think she might feel the same but I think Aang is going a little slow about it. She seemed to be a little frustrated with him." she chuckled at the memory. Then she stopped and the look on her face turned concerned. "You don't think that would have anything to do with me, do you?" she asked Zuko.
He shrugged his shoulders. "It might be." he told her softly, "But remember I was a still unsure myself as were you. I am sure that he will get over it. If not then you know Toph will let him know the hard way if he waits too long." he gave her a smile.
She smiled back at him softly, "I guess she would." she turned back away from him and leaned back against him again. "He had told me he was sorry that he missed my birthday but he wasn't ready to go back to the south pole at that time. I told him it was fine that it was really more of a family get together." She heard him make a soft noise behind him.
"I wish I could have gone with you." he whispered in her ear.
She smiled to herself, "I know Zuko but you do have a country to run, sometimes it comes first. I got to celebrate with you here. Not to mention Dad and GranGran would have harassed you about marriage issue too." she told him, rolling her eyes.
"Well, they are within their rights. I have practically taken you captive." he said.
She laughed lightly, "No, you offered me a job. We just happened to start a relationship at the same time."
"So the job is the only reason you stay here?" he asked her in mock hurt.
She elbowed him in response.
He chuckled, "What if I didn't want you to that job anymore?" he asked her.
"What do you mean?" she asked pulling away from him and turning to look at him fully.
"Well you just said you would like to stay somewhere for a while." he told her.
She gave him an unsure look, "Yeah…..?
"What if I wanted to offer you a new job in a way?" he asked, acting suspicious.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him but she didn't say anything.
"Okay look, you know I really don't care what the council thinks about my personal life but their approval is still a good thing to have. It is something I was going to do without their approval anyway but they have basically given it. And while you were gone this time they have been practically demanding it, it seems they like have you in the meetings just as much as I do." he told her. He took a deep breath and took a hold of her hands.
She gave him a confused look before it quickly turned to surprise.
"Katara I know you might think it is a little soon and I know you are unsure about it but I love you and I know that I always will. You make me a better person in every way even if you do drive me a little crazy in the process. I am willing to give you the time you need. We can have a long engagement if you want but I know that I want to marry you. " he gave her a semi worried smile. "Would you? I mean do you want to? Marry me?"
"Gee Zuko, you must have really missed me this time." she told him with a sly smile on her face.
His face turned a light shade of red, "Katara…" the tone of his voice a little hurt and frustrated.
"Oh Zuko." she said her smile turning soft as she leaned forward to kiss his lips lightly. "I'm only picking on you."
He didn't kiss her in return but continued to look at her with a concerned look.
"What would you say if I told you I don't want a long engagement?" she asked him quietly.
His face suddenly looked very hopeful. "Really?"
"Zuko, I've known since we started this that I loved you. I knew you would ask in your own time and yes even though I know you didn't care what the council thought there was some part of you that did want their approval." she told him. "I guess I am a little surprised at the timing but I'm not unhappy about it." she stopped and gave him a big smile. "Zuko, I would love to marry you."
He gave her a big smile back his golden eyes full of joy. She laughed happily at the sight and leaned forward again to kiss him. This time his lips eagerly met hers. They kissed each other until they were both gasping for breath and giggling like children.
"I guess since the council already knows we should perhaps send a message to my family." she told him still laughing in her happiness. He nodded in agreement. "I will let you know that I didn't make a big deal about us to Sokka when I saw him last. So while you don't have to worry about Aang hunting you down you might have to worry about Sokka." she told him, the laughter in her blue eyes making them sparkle.
He shook his head at her in laughter. "I'm pretty sure I can handle Sokka. I will just throw him a feast that should keep him busy until he calms down."
She laughed in agreement and then pulled his head down to hers to kiss him again. "I love you" she whispered to him as his lips collide with hers.
AN: I thought after dragging you guys around for 12 chapters a little fluff was deserved. ^_^ I hope you liked it.
I have got one more chapter planned and just so you know it is not the marriage ceremony, just thought I would inform so I don't have to battle to much disappointment when it doesn't happen. But it will have to wait until after I get back from my short trip to NYC.
Once again sorry for the delay in publishing. It was Thanksgiving last week here and that equals family madness for me before and after because half of my family does Christmas at the same time since we don't get together that often.