A/N BWHAHAHAHHA! I feel much better! I watched the SOTFN AGAIN! On Saturday and now I saw the "Kataang" moment and it seemed like a friendship moment rather than a "lovey-dovey" moment.

XD

So anyways, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar!

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Iroh stood smiling, when he cleared his throat, interrupting the two teens.

Zuko and Katara, both stood up faster than lightning, clearing their throats also and brushing themselves off, both blushing madly.

Iroh sighed and smiled, "Now, now Lord Zuko don't have too much fun now, your wedding's a month away, couldn't wait until then?"

Zuko stammered, "We….well…y….you…s…see…..I…she…Uncle! What were even doing spying on us anyways?"

Iroh laughed and replied, "I merely stumbled across you two, I never intended to spy on you."

Zuko groaned in frustration and embarrassment and buried his face in his hands.

Katara couldn't help but laugh at his reaction and gave him a reassuring rub on the back.

"You look so cute when you sulk." She giggled when he gave her a 'what in the world…?' face.

"So anyways, Zuko, the counsel wants to discuss any treaties with the Earth Kingdom, I swear, sometimes they are so stubborn and won't budge, like their element." Iroh shook his head and rushed out, leaving Katara and Zuko to follow him.

Once they were in counsel chambers, the whole counsel stood up and bowed as Zuko made his way towards his chair.

Katara just merely leaned on a stone pillar and watched the meeting.

"Fire Lord Zuko, do you wish to sign a treaty with the Earth Kingdom? The Bei Fong family will help with that, with the help of their daughter, Toph."

Katara mindlessly let her mind wander, looking up at the ceiling, counting the number of times the fire flickered, the number of times Zuko looked like he dozed off.

"Miss Katara."

She jolted away from her daydreams and gave a questionable, "Huh?"

"Do you think it is a good idea?"

"Sure, any treaty is fine with me." She replied.

The counsel members looked at one another with questionable faces.

"Lady Katara, we weren't asking about the treaty, we've already moved on, we were talking about the wedding between you and Fire Lord Zuko."

Katara stared disbelievingly and turned bright red. "Well, that works too, I mean whatever idea you had is fine with me!" She giggled nervously after that.

Zuko couldn't help but make snickering sounds. Katara glared at him from the other side of the room. He just simply shrugged and continued holding in laughs.

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"How was I suppose to know?" Katara folded her arms across her chest.

"Pay attention." Zuko stated, sighing.

"Well, those are extremely boring!" Katara pouted, frustration written all over her face.

Zuko chuckled and stopped at the doorway to his room. He leaned down and gave her light kiss before going into his room to depart for the night.

Once inside his room, he threw on his night clothes and plopped on the bed, sighing in relief. Right in the next minute, he was fast asleep, unknowing of the creaking of floorboards and the open window, signaling someone was inside.

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Katara hummed as she threw on the light fabric of her light blue nightgown. As she was getting ready for bed, she heard strange noises outside in the hallways, like someone whispering and shushing each other.

Her breaths turned ragged and cold as she trembled and grabbed the door handle, her other hand, making a motion to grab the knife laying on the table.

Swiftly, she opened it, but no one was there, like everything was just an illusion.

Quizzically, she stepped further down the hallway, listening intently.

Then, she heard the odd noises once more, this time much closer. Gripping the knife firmly, she breathed uneven breaths.

Before she could see what was in the other side of the corner, she gasped at the green and black masks the tall men wore, about three of them stood in front of her.

Katara screamed, dropping the knife in pure fear.

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Zuko jolted awake, hearing someone scream, sounding a lot like Katara. "Katara!" He breathed as he jumped out of bed.

Before he could reach the door, however, a glinting knife was thrown at the door, barely missing his head.

Zuko gritted his teeth and looked around and saw a frightening black mask arouse from the shadows.

The figure moved to stab him, but Zuko quickly grabbed his wrists and locked his arms in behind him.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Zuko asked the figure, still struggling in his grasp.

The figure didn't answer, instead, the door busted open and to Zuko's horror, Katara was thrown to the ground, apparently, she was unconscious. His hands shook as he saw various knife cuts and bruises here and there on her neck, back, and face.

"Jet, she was really hard to take down, but we did it." One of the figures, who was really big spoke up.

Jet?

The figure in Zuko grasps, tore out and joined the others across the room.

Zuko rushed towards Katara, but Jet beat him there. He held Katara by the neck and held a poison filled knife next to her neck.

"So, "Fire Lord Zuko" glad to see us?"

"Charmed." Zuko replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Jet, let the glinting knife touch her tan skin, Katara still knocked out cold.

"Wouldn't want anything to happen to your precious Katara, now would you?" Jet said, smugly.

"Let her go you bastard….." Zuko glared at him.

Jet clicked his tongue, "Now, now, we only want you, just turn yourself in and this here pretty will be safe."

Zuko growled silently and clenched his fists.

"What's it going to be?"

Quickly, he shot out flames, barely missing the group. Jet, surprised, dropped the knife.

Zuko swiftly grabbed the knife and pinned it into the ground next to him.

Jet growled and held onto Katara tighter. He pulled out another knife, although this time, it didn't have poison.

"Fine if that's the way you want it." Jet cut off the sleeve of the nightgown, exposing her bare shoulder and arm.

"Don't touch her!" He cried out, Jet pressing the glinting knife just enough so that a bead of red blood came out.

"Just give yourself up, then I won't hurt her." Jet replied.

Zuko swiftly ran up towards Jet and sweep kicked him, causing him to fall. He grabbed Katara and held her close.

Jet slowly got up and scoffed, "So, it looks like she pleased you well, caring for her that much."

"She's more then that! You just never got to see it! All you see is the outside!"

Jet scoffed and ordered the three others to take them down.

Zuko held Katara tighter as the three cornered him in the corner. Just as the three raised their weapons, Zuko closed his eyes.

Mom, help…..please….

Zuko kept his eyes closed, expecting them to lower the blow. But it never came, instead, he was in a dense, foggy area.

"Where are we?"

A figure appeared, Zuko narrowed his eyes and found out it was his mother, with Katara's.

"Mom?" He breathed.

The lady smiled, "Zuko, honey."

Zuko was visibly shaking, in shock and in confusion.

"Where….where are we?"

Katara's mother came up and kneeled in front of him, looking at her daughter's battered body.

"Katara….you always will do anything to protect the ones you love…."

Zuko's vision blurred with the threat of tears. "I tried to…..tried to protect her, but…"

Katara's mother calmed him down. "It wasn't your fault, nothing is." She gently laid a hand where Katara's heart is. Slowly, a blue light emitted from her heart, causing all the scars and damage she's gotten to disappear.

Zuko watched with awe as the blue light faded. He looked at Katara's mother, "Thank you."

She smiled. Zuko's mother came up towards them and kneeled down also.

"Zuko, you are in the sprit world, that was the only way we could've saved you, but you must get out as quick as possible, or it will be impossible to get back to the real world.

"How do we get back?" Zuko asked, wishing he could stay a bit longer.

"You will have to take three roads, after you survive the three roads, you will be transported back." Ursa replied.

Zuko nodded and watched as six pairs of doors popped out from the white, barren ground.

"Each of you will take one of the three doors and then you will face the test inside them. Good luck." Ursa tightly embraced her son.

Zuko nodded and whispered to Katara to wake up.

"Where are we?" She asked, looking at the dense fog covering the area.

"Katara, honey."

Katara opened her eyes more and saw her mother looking down at her.

"Mom?" Her eyes filled with tears.

"Katara!"

Katara got up from the ground and raced to hug her mother.

"Katara, it's so good to see you!"

"Same here mom." Katara let the tears spill from her eyes onto her mother's blue dress' sleeve.

"You have to go now Katara, or you won't be able to leave the sprit world."

Katara wiped her eyes and nodded. Giving one last hug, she turned towards Zuko, who was waiting for her.

"You ready?"

She nodded and looked back at their mothers once more.

Taking a deep breath, the two simultaneously touched the door knobs and twisted it, bring in a brilliant flash light.

A/N SPRIT WORLD! OHHH!

Ok that was weird, so anyways, of course Aang, he doesn't get to do those tests because he's the Avatar and they get special rights so to speak.

Anyways, the two will face their tests in the next chapter!

R&R!