As a treat after dealing with a buggy TWO chapters! (the next one is a bit short, but hey, so sue me.)
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Zuko woke up with Katara on the same bedroll. Dimly he recalled that, upon returning to camp, the two teens had discovered that they were short one sleeping bag or bedroll.
"I'll sleep on Appa, you can use the bedroll," Katara had offered. Zuko refused, insisting that she take it. Finally, after about ten minutes of that, they had decided to share it on the far side of Appa, just in case anyone woke up before Zuko and saw them.
Good thing, too. He had Katara in his arms, pressed firmly against his body. She had been shivering last night and Zuko, feeling sorry for her, had taken her in his arms. They must have fallen asleep like that.
Not that he minded. Sometime in the course of the night, Zuko had accepted the fact that he was attracted to Katara. It wasn't wrong or anything; she was beautiful both physically and in personality and (no matter how hard he tried to deny it) he was a typical teenaged male.
Before his train of thought continued, Katara woke up and turned to face him. "Did we fall asleep like this?" she asked, motioning to their positions. Zuko nodded. "Please tell me Sokka didn't see us," she muttered, closing her eyes.
"He's probably still asleep, Katara," Zuko pointed out.
"Good point. You're really hot, you know that?" Zuko looked at the girl; Katara blushed as the comment she had said registered. "I didn't mean it that way. I mean your body temperature."
"Oh." They looked at each other for a minute, then sat up, detangling themselves. Katara climbed off Appa and went around to the other side. Zuko watched her, then followed.
A groggy Ty Lee and a typical Toph were already up. "How long have you two been awake?" Katara asked.
"About five minutes. Twinkle Toes went to take a well-needed bath. He stunk. After you two left last night, we decided that, until we get to the Temple, you, Scarface, and Old Tea Guy get Appa while the rest of us will ride the horses. Appa can find the way to the temple easily, but the horses can't," Toph said, lounging against a log.
"My uncle's name is Iroh, so don't call him 'Old Tea Guy," Zuko warned. Toph shrugged and nodded.
"Fine. So…what's for breakfast?"
"Fruit," Ty Lee and Katara answered in unison.
"I'm tired of cooking all the time," Ty Lee said. Katara nodded her agreement.
"Besides, Sokka's getting fat."
"Am not!" came the sleep-muffled cry from Sokka's form.
"Are too, brother dear." With that, Katara walked over and kicked Sokka lightly in the stomach. Sokka groaned and rolled over on his stomach.
"Go 'way, Kata," he muttered, using his sister's baby name. Katara stuck her tongue out at her big brother and sauntered away.
Zuko watched as Katara dug through the numerous bags of supplies and brought out various fruits. "Zuko, do you want a peach or an apple?"
"Is that all?"
"Well, there are mangoes, papaya, several small melons (I'll probably eat half of one), oranges, and Momo's bananas." With that, the small lemur jumped and took a banana. Katara looked at the Firebender.
"Did Lakai give us a whole orchard?" he muttered as he took the other half of Katara's melon.
"Pretty much," Toph quipped. "I counted. Fifty each of various peaches, twenty-three apples, ten melons, thirty mangoes, fifteen papaya, twenty-two bananas, and ten oranges. And meat jerky. Lots of jerky."
"Oh, you're up Katara." Everyone turned to see Aang drying off his head. "Where were you last night?"
Katara gulped. Zuko could tell she didn't want to tell Aang that she had been alone with him the previous night and him get the wrong idea.
"She was with me," said Zuko. "We talked, that's all." Aang looked at Katara, who nodded.
"Oh. Well, did Toph tell you about the travel plan?"
"Yeah. Iroh, Zuko, and I ride Appa, you guys ride the horses," Katara said. "Sounds good to me."
Ty Lee, now more awake, nodded. "Yeah. Now, as soon as Sokka and Iroh wake up, we can decide on the next meeting place!"
It wasn't long before the last two woke up. Iroh insisted that everyone tried a new tea Lakai had introduced, naturally stronger that regular tea and darker. "It gives you an energy boost that most teas won't."
At that, the two Water siblings took Aang's tea away from him. "Hey!"
"Remember what happened last time you drank something energy increasing?" Katara asked.
"You were bouncing off the walls. Well, more so than usual," her brother pointed out. "And I do not want to have to deal with an Airbender with a hyperactive problem."
Toph giggled, causing the tea to go up her nose. That caused everyone else to laugh, until Sokka fell over.
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Five days later…
Katara sat on Appa's head, wrapped in her parka. They were close to the temple and the air was colder at the higher altitudes.
Zuko, who was sitting in the saddle, a black cloak and his hood on, watched as Katara shivered slightly. As he had done the day before, he slid down and sat next to her. Katara smiled at him and moved slightly closer.
"With this huge thing on, you'd think I'd be the warmest," she muttered. Zuko rolled his eyes.
"You're not a Firebender. You can't heat yourself up like I can." He said this with the air of having repeated in multiple times. (He had.)
Katara laughed as she collapsed against Zuko's arm. "You'd best not say that around Sokka. He'd start getting ideas."
"It's not like you'd be helping to disprove them. Always coming right to me if you're cold," Zuko pointed out.
"You're fault. You're warm and I get cold easily!"
"You lived in the South Pole for fourteen years."
"Yeah, but I've spent several months away from cold and I haven't gotten re-used to it yet," Katara pouted. Her eyes said she knew it was a lame excuse.
Zuko merely rolled his eyes and looked down. "Isn't that where we said we'd meet the others?" Katara looked down to the river he was pointing at.
"Yup. Appa, down." The bison groaned and descended. Upon landing, Katara scrambled off. "If the others show up, I'm taking a well deserved bath," she informed Zuko and Iroh, grabbing some of the soap Lakai had given them and dashing further down the river.
Iroh slowly climbed down and looked at his nephew, who was watching Katara's retreating back.
"So…how long?" Zuko looked at his uncle.
"How long what?" he asked, oblivious. Iroh smirked.
"How long have you been, what's the word, smitten with Miss Katara?" Iroh teased. Zuko held his hands up.
"What makes you say I'm 'smitten', as you put it?"
"Zuko, I'm old and senile but I'm not blind. I was young once, and I was in love. I've seen the looks you give the girl, the way you purposely raise your body temperature to attract her to her when she's cold. I did the same thing with your Aunt Lian during our courtship. Of course, I had the benefits that came with being the eldest son of Azulon, so I was also able to spoil her," he added as an afterthought.
"I don't need to be reminded that I have nothing, Uncle," Zuko muttered.
"No, being the heir apparent to Azulon was a lot better than being heir apparent to my brother would be," Iroh explained. "And you only have nothing if you deny what's right in front of you." Zuko sighed and went off to get firewood.
He was only gone fifteen minutes but the others had caught up by the time he returned. "Where's my sister?" Sokka asked, suspicious. Zuko sighed. He may have been traveling with them for almost a month now, but Sokka was still distrustful.
"Bathing. She should be back soon." With that, Zuko deposited the firewood. Ty Lee set up a fire pit and Aang, under Iroh's supervision, lit it.
"I did it! And I didn't burn anything this time!" Aang cried, breaking into a huge grin. Toph smiled and punched Aang on the arm.
"Good job, Aang." The young Avatar blushed at any compliment from his teacher. Ty Lee giggled and set about dinner in the absence of Katara.
"How long can one girl take to bathe?" Sokka muttered as he took his dinner (jerky and fruit, again) from Ty Lee about ten minutes later.
"Hours, if she thinks she smells bad enough," Ty Lee said. "Trust me. Some of the other acrobats would take half the day to get ready for an hour performance." Sokka groaned.
"Someone go get Katara. I'm too tired to deal with her." Aang jumped up to go, but Iroh stopped him.
"Not so fast, young Avatar. It's time for your practice," the older bender said. Aang groaned and followed Iroh. Ty Lee giggled and Toph snorted.
"Zuko, go get Sugar Queen," Toph ordered.
"Why can't you or Ty Lee?"
"Because my butt's sore from being in a saddle all day and Ty Lee is cooking. Please?" Toph actually pulled a puppy face pout on Zuko.
"I'll go only because you just pulled the most pathetic face I have ever seen," Zuko said, standing. Toph grinned and waved him out of the camp.
After he had left, Ty Lee turned to Toph. "No more of that. If they kiss because of that, I still win."
Toph shrugged. "Fine."