A/N: Well hello there my lovelies :-) I have wonderful news! I was canceled one day this week so this chapter ended up being twice as long as it was going to be! :-D While I am sure some of you will still think it is short it is as good as it is gonna get it. :-P
Now after a very much one sided vote for those that reviewed, I will be posting every week with short updates. So I will do my best to get this done for you guys but please don't get upset if you think it is too short.
Remarks from last time. As some of you may have noticed I posted the last chapter twice. That was totally my fault. I used the wrong name in the entire chapter. So I had to go and change the name and then repost the chapter. The website wouldn't let me replace it so I had to delete and repost it. So for those of you who didn't reread it. I used Zack instead of the correct name Kyle. I have it right now. And I apologize for messing up so bad.
In this chapter it's a lot of information about what is going to happen next chapter on their trip. I tried to throw in some fluff and a little laughs so that it wasn't as boring :-D
Review time:
There have been a lot of new reviewers :-D I love them! Keep it coming people.
And I hit over 300 reviews! Think of an idea of what I should do for this one milestone and leave it to me in a review :-P
MissnobodyImportant: Thanks for the first time review! Aang and Toph. *Sigh* I am not a big fan of them. I feel like they are 10 and will always be 10. But I shall see what I can do for you. :-D
Red Chopsticks: That might just have to happen :-D Thanks Molliie
Renthead015: I still have plans for Neikan. Don't count him out yet. Lol.
EvolynnMae: Bahahaha everyone wants to know about the kiss. Its coming don't worry. We have to go on a trip first. And how could I forget bloodbending. That is a huge part of the story.
Mazarine: You crack me up. You always ramble on about something and I love it.
Samanya: Your character is in the next chapter. I have wrote some of it and I have to say you better not hate me for it :-P
Lazy to log in: Thanks! And it isn't a waste if you like it only if you hate it :-D
Patty Cake Rocks: I regret to tell you I haven't had time to read your short yet. I am getting off work early tomorrow so I will read it when I get home and let you know. I was hoping people would love that part! I am so glad someone laughed.
Kom'rk: Everyone will be in the next chapter. It is gonna be fun. Trust me. :-P
Cream-Pie 13: Thanks!
Irishwerewolf: I am getting to the Zutara action! It shall be shortly! :-P
Gazara: Mother died. Family is crazy! And I don't think he is in love with his sister he just wants to protect her.
Westdallasbutterfly: Done. :-D
KJun: Ok so I think I fixed it. I changed my spell check to Agni instead of Angi. So let me know if it happens again. :-D Thanks bunches!
Moonlightrurouni: lol I am so glad you liked a name I used. :-D
Justia: I LOVE all your ideas! Some of them might just have to come about :-P
Daughter of Zeus007: Bahahaha The white glove thing is amazing! I want to do that too.
Now on with the show!
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Avatar.
Katara stood in front of Iroh and Zuko. Who were fighting. Still.
Katara sighed from her seat in Zuko's office as May walked in with some tea followed by Jee.
"Are they still going at it?" May asked as she took a seat next to Katara.
"Yes." Katara sighed as she leaned forward to take some tea.
"What is it about?" Jee asked as he stood behind the couch.
"Zuko told Iroh what Neikan said. And then he said that we, meaning him and I, should go into the mountains and try to find this person who is sending the letters." Katara sighed before continuing. "I told him it wouldn't go over well but he said Uncle would understand."
"What is Uncle saying?" May asked as she sipped her tea.
"How Zuko should send the Yu Yan Archers to look for him instead of us going. That this man wants us dead and to have us go out and look for him is like sighing a death wish." Katara sighed again. "And then Zuko says something along the lines of how the archers wouldn't do as well as us. To which Uncle then says who will try to catch Ryuji."Katara fell back into the couch tilting her head back. "This is never going to end."
May and Jee chuckled lightly. "This is what we do when you two are fighting about something." May responded with a slight giggle.
"We have never been this bad. I mean this has been three hours." Katara said as she shot up from her position on the couch.
Jee and May looked at each other attempting to think of a time when their fight did last this long.
"See I told you." Katara said as she crossed her arms in triumph. "The longest fight we had like this lasted about ten minutes."
"True but it feels like it lasts forever." May said in a mocking tone.
Katara lightly hit her friend as she began to laugh.
The group sat there for another few minutes after their laughing stopped until Katara could no longer take it.
"Shut up!" Katara suddenly screamed.
Everyone's attention was suddenly on her, and she was livid.
"I have sat here for three hours now and all you guys have done is say the same thing over and over and over to each other. I am done. Uncle you, May and Jee will deal with Ryuji while Zuko and I go into the mountains. It's the easiest solution. People will not think that we have anything to do with it if we are not here and then they will not think it is a set up. Toph said she would help with the interrogation and I will contact Carmen again and have her come back and assist as well." Katara said from where she was sitting.
Everyone sat there with their mouth a gape. No one had seen her act like this since the war was going on. Sure she stood up for herself and her beliefs but she had never been this calm yet commanding. It never ended well for them.
Slowly she stood and began to walk away. "I am eating lunch with Patty Cake Rocks and Kammi tomorrow. I will see what they can do to help out as well. I will send a letter to Suki and see what she can do. I assume she cannot come because she is on her honeymoon, but I'm sure she can send us some of the warriors like Mika, Pixie Mini, and Sarah. They will assist you." Katara said looking at Iroh.
"And what do you think will happen when you are looking for this man who wants you dead? He will know." Iroh said as he went to sit down in a chair.
"So what if he does. He seems to not be able to do things on his own and always hires someone to do something for him. We will be fine. And if he does come after us Zuko and I are more than capable of taking care of ourselves. We have been training and we have more or less figured it out." Katara said talking evenly to him.
Iroh was surprised about how calm she was. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. We will train until we leave since it will take a few days to hear back from everyone. We will be ready." Katara said confidently.
Iroh smiled. "Ok."
"What just happened?" Zuko asked from his standing position next to his desk.
"Katara just told us all how to fix this problem that you idiots have been fighting over for hours." May said as she adjusted her position on the couch.
Zuko gave her a look that said smart ass. "Well I am glad that's settled."
"Now if everyone doesn't mind, I have some letters to write and a lunch to be had. Please let's get everything rolling so we can get this over with." Katara said as she walked towards the door before leaving.
May and Jee followed shortly behind her. Iroh got up to leave as well before stopping. "You two better be ready."
Once everyone was gone Zuko closed the door and sat down at his desk.
"Yeah you totally wanted her."
Zuko's head shot up when he heard the voice. "Dude not funny." Zuko relaxed.
"But it was true."
"Agni please don't read my mind." Zuko said in frustration.
"I wasn't reading your mind." Kyle laughed out loud.
"What?" Zuko seemed upset.
"It was just obvious that you wanted her when she went off." Kyle said with even more laughter in it.
Zuko looked pissed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What the hell do you want anyway?"
"Yue sent me to make sure that you are keeping up with your training. Apparently she has been pretty busy lately and hasn't seen you training in awhile." Kyle said as he took a seat in the chair.
Zuko began to crack an evil smile. "Yue sent you huh?"
"Yeah and?" Kyle said as he got comfortable.
"She has you wrapped pretty tight around that figure doesn't she?" Zuko said as he leaned back in his chair to relax.
Kyle jumped forward. "No she doesn't. We just do this together and she is busy so she asked me to do it."
Zuko gave him a look that easily read yeah freaking right.
"Ok so maybe a little." Kyle said as he leaned back against the couch.
"Called it!" Zuko said as he raised his hand in the air. "But yeah we have been training. We seem to have it down."
Kyle looked at him in a weird way. "What can you do?"
"Right now." Zuko thought about it for a moment. "If I concentrate I can easily use waterbending as is if it were my natural bending. My hand always glows blue when I use it but other than that I can interchange fire and water as I please. Katara on the other hand is having a little more trouble. She is having trouble controlling the fire. But she can create it as easily as I can. If she could control it she would be able to interchange them like I can. Her shoulder always glows red when she is using fire."
"So then you can't send something through each other?" Kyle asked as he picked up some tea.
"We haven't tried that yet. We have done it a few times on accident but we didn't know we were supposed to be able to do it." Zuko said as he placed his feet on his desk.
"Well I know that you can do it, but I don't know how long before that can happen. I don't even know what you have to do to get it to work." Kyle said as he took another drink of the tea.
"Well we have a few days before we are going on the trip, we will try to do it before then." Zuko said as he leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes.
"About the trip." Kyle said and Zuko opened one eye at him. "Be careful. There are a few people you can trust out there but most are not out for your best intentions. I suggest a disguise."
"We normally have fake names." Zuko said closing his eyes as if the issue was settled.
"No I meant I suggest covering your face and possibly changing the color of Katara's eyes." Kyle said as he stood finishing his tea. "If I recall Avril is working on an eye changing makeup currently. I would write her if I were you. And Char has developed a way to mash berries and some oils to dye hair for a few days."
Zuko nodded and stood as well. "I will write to her as soon as we are finished."
"Good." Kyle said before smiling. "Well I'm off. Enjoy your day and good luck."
"Wait!" Zuko called before Kyle could leave. "Just so I know. You and Yue. Is that possible? Are you dating?"
Kyle smiled at his friend. He would like to think that if he wasn't a spirit that him and Zuko would be friends. "We don't know yet."
Zuko nodded. He understood that answer all too well. They were doing something they shouldn't and were fighting with the people in charge of the rules. He and Katara had done that many times. He smiled at his friend. "I understand. Good luck."
Kyle smiled. "Thanks you too."
Katara walked into her room. It had been a long few days.
She received a letter from her father saying that Kurai wasn't happy about it and after a fight her father fired Kurai. To which she smiled that he father stood up to him after so many years. But then she frowned. He was receiving letters from the same person as Ryuji. What will this man do now? Would he hurt Kurai? Or would he send someone else to hinder them? All the questions were constantly running through her head.
Then on top of that she had written to everyone and they should be arriving within the day. They had all agreed instantly and had started their journey there. Carmen was already there. She and Toph were planning how to catch Ryuji when he sends a letter or receives one. Patty Cake Rocks and Kammi had never left so they just sent out letters to extend their stay. Mika, Pixie Mini, and Sarah. should be arriving around noon, while Avril and Char should be there around dinner. Their plan was coming together great. Iroh still was not too happy with it but he was starting to give in more and more.
Zuko and Katara had been practicing there bending together everyday more and more. Zuko had become very good at controlling water. Katara had become quite good as well. She could create it and now she could control it. She had even began to create a fire whip, which Iroh had said was dangerous but she tried it anyway.
They had tried sending powers to each other a few times but only water. They didn't want to burn each other. Katara could easily direct water bending through Zuko and had him doing master moves in no time. Zuko on the other hand had a little more trouble. He could do it but only with ice daggers. Today they were going to try fire and see what would happen. If they kept it up they could be greatly skilled in it before their planned trip next week.
One thing troubled Katara. She fell backwards onto her bed. What makes us be able to control this? Is it a connection we have like Yue said? But us controlling each other is more like blood bending. But I don't feel like I am blood bending. I just imagine moving Zuko to control water and it happens. No pulling or pushing their body's water. Just envisioning it.
"Those are some big questions."
Katara shot up in bed. "Yue you scared the crap out of me."
"Sorry didn't mean to." Yue said as she took a seat on a couch in the room. "So how are things going?"
"Well they are ok, I guess. We seem to be controlling each other's bending quiet well." Katara said as she leaned back into the bed.
"Yeah I've noticed." Yue said with a slight laugh. "What about with you and Zuko?"
Katara blushed. "What do you mean?"
"How are things going? Has he properly proposed yet?" Yue asked.
"No not yet." Katara said a little flustered. "I feel like he is waiting for a good time but at the same time, I feel like we are distracted from it by this ordeal."
"I know what you mean." Yue said going to stand. "I think everything will work itself out soon. Little side note. On this trip there will be a man."
"Ok?" Katara asked confused.
"He will be a great help to you." Yue said starting to walk to the window.
Katara gave her an are you serious look. "And? No information other than that?"
"Nope. Tecnically I shouldn't have even told you that. But I thought it might help you if you knew he was going to help you." Yue said with a smile.
Katara gave her another look.
"Look I am a spirit you know. We work in weird ways remember." Yue said with a slight laugh at her friend.
"Yeah. Yeah." Katara said with a laugh as well. "Get back to doing spirit things. See you later."
Katara watched as Yue disappeared in front of her eyes.
"Well that's one more thing to add to the list." Katara said closing her eyes in defeat.
"Are you planning on hiding in here all day?" Katara asked as she walking into Zuko's office. It was almost dinner and she had not seen him all day.
"Yeah that was the plan." Zuko said without looking up from his papers.
Katara looked at him a little depressed. "I was joking."
"Well that was the plan. I have a lot to do before we leave." Zuko responded again.
Katara was becoming more depressed. He was responding without any emotion. It was frustratingly depressing. She looked at him. Really looked at him. She hadn't done that since this entire must be married problem started. He looked tired. Exhausted. Like he needed a break. She thought to herself. It does take a lot to run a nation. She was tired and all she was doing was trying to plan the catching of a bad guy.
She use to come here and help him relax. That was her goal. Make him stop working and have fun. What happened? Katara sat there thinking about this question as if it would answer all the problems. I became concerned with this stupid ball thing. Zuko had been spending months preparing and working up the courage to ask me to marry him. Then we had to avoid all those people trying to kill us. And then we went on a trip to find his mother. And then we went on the trip to the South Pole and to the wedding. Zuko kind of proposed and then we came here and found out all that information about adasdas and asdasd. Since then it's been planning and training. Oh and how could I forget the little fact that we can use each other's bending. Katara paused in her thinking.
Standing she walked to the balcony door. Life caught up with us. And we weren't ready for it. Turning her gaze from the door to Zuko she looked at his tired face. Is this how it will always be?
Walking toward Zuko she stood behind his chair. He was reading what appeared to be a 20 page paper. Katara sighed. Yeah he needs a break. She leaned forward and put her arms around his neck resting her chin on his shoulder. "What do you say you take a break and we go for a walk?"
Zuko froze. Katara had never done this before. Sure she had come in and bothered him until he agreed to leave. But she had never hugged him and asked. How could he say no? Maybe that was the point. "Sure." He said as he stood and pushed his chair out. "Where do you want to go?"
"The beach sounds good to me." Katara said grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the door.
Zuko smiled as she pulled him. She was good for him.
When they reached the beach Katara finally stopped pulling and just held his hand. "So how is running the nation going for you?"
"It sucks." Zuko said with a sigh. "How is planning our trip going?"
"Pretty good. Everyone is almost here." Katara said as she nodded towards the palace.
A silence fell between them as they walked. Zuko was happy. He finally had everything he wanted. If he would just stop going on these stupid trips that stressed him out. Or if these stupid people would stop trying to kill him. Life would be amazing.
"So." Katara began. "Yue came and talked to me again."
Zuko gave her a look. He had yet to tell her about any of his visits from Agni. He always just suggested what the spirit had told him to do. He was praying that Yue didn't tell her about their visits. "What did she say?"
"She told me that I needed to be careful on our trip. That there was a man we meet that will help us." Katara stopped walking which in turn made Zuko stop. "She wouldn't tell me any other information than that. Just we will meet a man who will help us."
Zuko looked at Katara's depressed face as she looked down at the sand. "What is wrong?"
"Well I don't know." Katara looked up at the man she loved and somehow wanted to tell him everything. "Don't you feel like it shouldn't be our turn? I mean we ended the war we already fought our fight. We should be done with and yet the spirits still keep coming back to mess with us. First it was with these bending switches and now it is this horrible bad guy. What do we know about him? Is he going to destroy the world or does he just want us dead? And if he just wants us dead why is that an issue of the spirits? Do they have something else in mind for us that we can't die now? If that's true then when the hell is it going to be someone else's turn?"
Katara finished in frustration while Zuko looked at her shocked. He had never thought of that. Why was it them? "I am sure they have their reasons. It is better to not try and understand them. Uncle said the only time he understood why they did something he regretted it in the end."
Katara looked out at the sea. "When will it be someone else's turn?"
Zuko glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "What would you do with your life if it was someone else's turn?"
"What do you mean?" Katara was confused.
"What would you be doing right now if they weren't messing with your life? Wouldn't you be bored?" Zuko said as he took a seat on the sand.
Katara took a seat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder as she thought aloud. "Well I image that we would be doing the same thing as we are doing now just without the possibility of being killed on our trip to find a killer."
"But the only reason I had the courage to say anything to you is because of the bond we shared from our powers. And we constantly are gowning close together because of the problems we are facing with this. Do you think you would have ever said anything to me about getting together? I was having the worst time building up the courage to tell you. And without this I doubt I would have done it." Zuko looked down at his hand as it lightly glowed blue.
Katara thought again. It was true. She would have never said anything to Zuko. She in fact was trying to tell herself she wasn't in love with him so the thought of telling him was far from her mind. She sighed and pulled his arm into her lap to hug it. "You're right."
Zuko smiled. "So then is it ok that we have to do this for the spirits?"
"I guess. But only because they brought us together." Katara smiled as she hugged his arm tightly. "But I feel like we are getting a little old to be saving the world."
Zuko laughed at her before pulling his arm from her to wrap it around her. She laughed lightly as well before rest comfily into him.
An hour had passed since Toph had sensed the two leave the palace and go out to the beach. She figured that whatever they needed to talk about had been said. When she reached where they had been sitting they had passed out together. Toph laughed to herself. If the wrong person were to find them it could have been terrible. This was the perfect time to do something terrible to them and make her day.
Toph walked over to them and placed her feet deep into the sand. This is gonna be good. Toph took a deep breath and made Katara and Zuko go flying into the air covering them with sand.
Katara screamed as fire went flying from her hand. Zuko pulled her to him as he shot ice daggers all around them. Both landed on their feet and released each other instantly to take a stance. "Who is there?"
All they heard in response was Toph laughing hysterically. "You...should...have...seen...you're...faces...and your hair...is...ridiculous!"
Zuko and Katara released their stances and gave Toph an evil look. "That wasn't funny. You could have hurt us."
"Or we could have hurt you." Katara said as she crossed her arms.
"Yes...it...was." Toph managed to wheeze out in between laughs.
Zuko and Katara waited for her to compose herself.
"So why did you come out here?" Zuko asked when she finally stopped laughing.
Toph caught her breath before speaking. "Everyone is here. I thought maybe you would want to talk about the plan with everyone."
"Sounds good. Tell them all to meet me in my office." Zuko said as he dusted the last bit of sand from his hair.
Toph nodded before turning to leave. "And you two should really think about where you fall asleep in each other's arms." Toph finished as she began to laugh again.
"One day we need to figure out a way to get her back for all the times she does this to us." Katara said as they began to make their way up to the palace.
"But you know she would only get us back worse." Zuko said with a smile. He loved that little girl as much as he would love a sister. The things she would do to them for it brought chills to his spine. "Let's just go head to the office to go over the plan with everyone."
Katara and Zuko started to walk through the halls on their way to his office when they ran into Ryuji.
"Hey there young one." asdfasds said with as much disrespect as he could in those four words. "Where are you off to? Going to go try and run the country. It is something that someone older than you is normally good at."
Katara felt Zuko tense and could feel her shoulder begin to glow. Zuko was about to explode with anger at the man. But now was not a good time for that. Suppressing the urge to shoot fire at the man she spoke. "While it is always good to see you Ryuji we need to be going we are meeting our friends for dinner."
"Speaking of your friends. How long will they be staying?" Ryuji asked as he moved to block their path.
Zuko was about to spill over with anger. Katara didn't know how much longer she would be able to hold it back. "They will be staying at least a week. Zuko has asked them to assist him with something."
"What kind of something?" Ryuji asked with sudden interest.
"It's confidential." Zuko said before walking around him.
Ryuji gave their retreating forms a weird look.
A/N: So what did you think? Next chapter is going to be a meca of reviewers present. It should be pretty amazing. And there might just be a kiss. It depends on how much I have to work and how far I get into the chapter.
Also make sure you think of something for me to do for 300 reviews. 100 I made a super long chapter. 200 I started to put people into the story. So make sure its something good :-D
See you next week!
