Hi, everyone, I'm back!

And I'm so so sorry for the wait! I got a very bad cold right after I came back from China, and I'm still coughing from time to time. My journey was wonderful, and the places I visited were astonishing! I certainly do miss the Chinese food, and in some places I could almost imagine to be in the Fire Nation or the Earth Kingdom. Mostly Fire Nation, though, since there is a lot of red in China.

Enough about me now, since you're here to read the new chapter, right? I hope you'll like it. Please review, if you do!:)

I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender, nor its charactes.


Chapter Nine

It was cursed.

Or she was cursed.

Either way, it started to get highly annoying and accepting Zuko's offer became a lot more tempting.

Katara's search for a job went nowhere.

She had tried everything in the next weeks, now even more determined to find a good job soon and on her own. It had shocked her that she would have considered accepting Zuko's offer, if his father wasn't who he was. She wasn't someone who did things like that. A fake relationship? What kind of sick idea was that? What was wrong with Zuko? She didn't need him anyway, and would be able to find work all by herself. Or that's what she had thought.

Reading through all the classified ads in the newspaper she had written to every e-mail, called every number, and had gone to every address of a job she was positive she could manage. She had felt relatively sure of herself, knowing that it could only be a matter of time until she found a new job. It couldn't be that difficult, right?

She knew she probably spent too much time trying to get a new job, since her studying suffered a bit. The first test she had to write, after Zuko had talked to her, seemed to be like a big fail to her. She hadn't had an easy time studying. She had tried for a few days, very constantly, actually, but finding a new job had somehow gotten in her way. Reading newspapers, scrolling through the internet, going out to a shop... And when she had had the time to just sit at her desk and read and take notes she always had had to think of Zuko and going through the pros and cons of his offer.

But she was no desperate bimbo, and would be fine without a man. She was a feminist, after all!

But she still hadn't been able to concentrate during the exam, hadn't known the answer to a few questions, although she was pretty sure she knew them somewhere in her brain.

Being alone with all her thoughts in her new apartment didn't help a lot. She was also unable to pack her things out of the cartons, and spent her time trying to study, trying to get a job, and trying not to think about Zuko's offer.

But somehow every shop or company told her they didn't need help anymore, that the classifieds she had seen were old, or that she wasn't fitting the job description. Sometimes they even said her character wasn't right, but they never became discriminating.

She really thought this search was cursed somehow, since she couldn't believe most of these people. Some of them had obviously been lying, or looking nervous, besides, she also couldn't believe that her character wasn't right. She had been friendly the whole time, only nice, smiling, polite, and had also restrained her sharp tongue from snapping quite several times. She knew she had been her best, her most perfect, but they still hadn't wanted her.

Did it have to do something with her? Was she just wrong? Was it maybe really her looks and personality which seemed so appalling? She couldn't understand it! She knew she was pretty! She knew she could be nice, and normally it was really easy to get people to do what she wanted them to, so why did this happen?

One week later her exams were over, and her first rent came closer. She still had some savings, but she didn't want to spend them on her rent. It was frustrating.

Lying in bed, she clutched a pillow to her chest, thinking about the interview she had tomorrow. What if this wouldn't work, then what would she do?

She caught herself more and more often thinking about what would happen if she accepted Zuko's offer. It couldn't be that bad, right? They would just go out, go to some events, he'd maybe buy her some new fancy clothes for those, but that would be all, right? This didn't sound too bad.

Although she cringed inside at the thought that her family would think she would fraternise with the enemy. Not that her family was very prejudiced, but a relationship with a descendent of people who had killed hers... She wasn't sure how they would react, since she clearly would never tell them that the relationship wasn't even real. What was more was that it would still be a moral dilemma. Katara would feel very bad for taking money for pretending something which wasn't real. Although, wasn't this what actors did, too? But people knew actors were acting, but she would be lying. She'd lie to her family, and friends, and worst of all, to everyone. Every stranger, almost every person in the whole country would know her if she agreed to this.

And what would happen afterwards? Would she forever be just Kasaishi Zuko's ex-girlfriend? Would she never be seen as Katara Qinu alone?

But it didn't do anything good to think about that. This was far ahead in the future, and if Kasaishi Ozai couldn't convince her that he'll be a good president, she would never agree to this. And she was sceptical from the beginning. He wouldn't have a simple job convincing her, so she was sure that she'd do the right thing. She knew this man could be a monster. And if there would be one hint to that she'll be out of there as soon as possible.

Don't do anything too hasty, Katara, she told herself. Wait until the interview tomorrow, and then you can text Zuko if necessary.

oOo

She did quite that, although it was hard not to think about this.

In the end she wondered if it was kind of destiny that she got no job. That somehow she was meant to be Zuko's fake girlfriend for the next year. Maybe by being close to his family she would uncover some of their evil plans and save the country from another era of tyranny.

Don't be ridiculous, Katara, she scolded herself. Her imagination was running rampant, but seeing herself as the saviour of a country? Riiight.

Although, it was worth thinking about. She'd do anything to stop the past from happening again to the Mountainers, to her people, or to anyone else in the world. And becoming Zuko's fake girlfriend, being close to his family, and pretending to be super in love with him, who would ever suspect that she did this to spy on and keep an eye on them? Someone had to do this, after all.

She cringed at how arrogant she was sounding in her head, but this was something she couldn't get rid of in her head. Being suspicious of any Kasaishis, of any rich and western province people. She didn't like it, but maybe her prejudices could be used for something good this way.

The interviewer had told her that he would contact her, but she was pretty sure it would be a negative answer anyway.

Walking outside the shop she stopped, and reached for her phone, scrolling through her contacts, only to realise that she didn't have Zuko's number.

Scowling she searched for Jet, but he probably didn't have the same phone number as in high school anyway.

Sighing she still decided to call it.

The call was answered a few moments later. "Hello?" a high pitched girl voice said.

Katara grimaced. Wow, Jet let some random girl answer his phone? Why was she not surprised?

"Uh, hi. My name is Katara. This number once belonged to Jet. Do you know him?" she asked, hoping for an affirmative answer.

"Yeah, hi Katara. This is Smellerbee. I've got Jet's old phone."

Katara blinked, feeling surprised. She hadn't thought about this possibility. "Hi Smellerbee! Wow, I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Yeah, so what do you want?"

Katara raised an eyebrow and grimaced in annoyance. She had just tried to be friendly! Sighing, she started to walk in the direction of her apartment. "I need Jet's number."

"What? Why? You don't plan on getting close to him again, do you?" Smellerbee asked suspiciously and slightly sounding pissed.

"No!" Katara snarled, feeling disgusted. "I need another number from another person from him. I don't know anyone else who has his number, only Jet," she explained.

"Wooow. So first you dump him and now you're going to call him, getting his hopes up, to ask for another guy's number?" Smellerbee snarled.

Katara lowered one of her eyebrows into a frown, feeling that her eye would soon start to twitch. "This was almost five years ago! And I lately met Jet, and we're fine, and he would not get his hopes up. He even tried to set me up with a friend of his, so can you just give me his damn number?!" she snapped. At first her voice had still sounded calm, but she had felt herself exploding pretty fast. She took a deep breath. "Please," she added, feeling proud that she had remembered to do so.

At the other end of the line there was silence for several seconds, and Katara already opened her mouth to snap something, when she heard Smellerbee sigh.

"Alright, drama queen. Got something to write on?"

She blinked, forgetting about the 'drama queen' comment, as she frantically began to look in her bag for a pencil and a piece of paper. "Wait..." she mumbled, but only found her curriculum vitae. Raising one eyebrow she decided she probably wouldn't need this anymore, besides she could always print out a new one. So she wrote Jet's number down on that sheet.

"Thanks Smellerbee. I promise I won't do anything bad to him. It's nice of you to worry, though. You're obviously a great friend," she said.

"Yeah, whatever. Bye." And she hung up.

Katara blinked then lowered her phone to glower and growl at it, feeling strong irritation towards that girl. But she quickly stopped treating her phone like a threat, since she was currently in public, and no one should see her acting strange on the street. It was bad enough that Sokka and Toph already always got quite confused looks, whenever they were out.

Smiling friendly around to no one in particular Katara typed Jet's number in her phone and pressed the green button. Waiting for him to pick up she started walking down the street towards her underground station. The sky was clear blue, as it often was in the capital, and a cool wind blew through the streets. It was a weather which Katara loved. Cold and sunny was the best mix in her opinion, and although her life kind of sucked right now she couldn't help but smile at feeling the sun's rays and the wind's cool caress on her face. She shortly closed her eyes to enjoy it more, when Jet picked up the phone.

"Hi, this is Jet!" his voice greeted her.

"Hey Jet, it's Katara!" she answered, putting a smile into her voice.

"Hi, Katara!" Jet exclaimed, sounding surprised. "Wh-what's up?"

"Uh... Not much. Well, listen, I wanted to ask you if you could please give me Zuko's phone number?" she asked, biting nervously on her lower lip.

"Yeah. You wanna talk to him right now? He's sitting next to me," he offered, and Katara actually face palmed.

Of course! How could she have forgotten that they were roommates and best friends? Of course they were together!

"No, thanks. His phone number would be enough, thanks."

"Okay, sure. I'll send you his contact," Jet told her.

"Great. Thank you, Jet. Gotta go. Bye."

"Bye, Katara!" Jet replied, before Katara ended the call.

Letting out a lot of air she waited for Jet's message, her hand clasped around her phone in the pocket of her coat to be able to feel her phone's vibration.

Her mind wandered off to the food she had to buy and what she would do in her holidays. Her wish had been to work a lot, but if she accepted Zuko's offer she'd have a lot more of free time. Maybe she could go to the Southern Province and visit her old village. She could take her grandmother with her, since she knew that Grangran didn't get a lot of opportunities to go to the southern province, and in her age she didn't want her grandmother to travel alone anymore.

Her phone vibrated and she quickly pulled it out, seeing Jet's text message. She didn't only have Zuko's phone number now, but also his address and e-mail. Sighing she stepped closer to the house wall to be out of the way of bike riders or pedestrians as she quickly tipped a text to Zuko.

Still need a fake girlfriend?

She wanted to slip her phone back into her pocket, but it already vibrated, indicating her a new text message had arrived.

Yes. Have you changed your mind?

She frowned for a moment, not liking this one bit more, but sighing she finally typed.

Kind of. I want to meet your father first. Alone.

She stared at the screen, waiting for the next message, when the phone buzzed and she noticed she was being called. Since she hadn't saved him as a contact yet, she only saw his number, when she pressed on the green button.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Zuko here," he answered, sounding nervous.

"Er... hey!" she greeted him, not knowing if she should keep up 'Try-being-nice-to-Zuko'.

"Listen, about that..."

Frowning she wondered if it had just been a lie that she could meet his father to see that he wasn't as evil as she had thought.

"When you meet my father... Could you pretend to really like me? I mean, like... er... as if..."

"As if I wanted to be your girlfriend, because I like you like that, but I still got doubts because of your family?" she interrupted him.

"Yeah, exactly!"

"So your dad shouldn't know that we would not really be together?" she probed.

For a moment he didn't reply, but then a "Yeah! Exactly!" sounded loudly and hurriedly through the speaker.

"Why would you lie to him about this?" she asked, feeling suspicious.

There was again a short silence, before she heard him sighing. "He asked me to get a girlfriend, and I figured he meant a real one. One that would like me. I just don't want to disappoint him by not bringing a real one."

Her frown deepened, since that sounded a bit odd, but she got that he didn't want to disappoint his father. She felt the same way towards hers, which was exactly why she wouldn't want her father to know that this would be a fake relationship she'd earn money for. Her father would have to think that they genuinely liked each other, too.

Sighing she relented, and noticed that without texting she could actually keep walking. "Okay. I'll act as if I liked you. Just send me the time and the place and please more than a day earlier!"

"Okay, thank you, Katara! I'm glad you reconsidered," he said, his voice sounding softer.

"I didn't really, I just need a job, that's all!"

"Erm... Right. But still... You're doing me a big favour, you know."

"Nothing's decided yet, Zuko. I'll make a decision only after I met your father. I want to have a good person for president. Someone whose visions and program I'd agree with," she made clear and stopped at the traffic light on a crossroad. Right on the other side there was the underground station she could take for getting home.

"I understand. I assure you my father would be a great president. You can already look his election program up, it's on his website. And Katara?"

"Yes?"

"Our ancestry does not define who we are. In this time we are raised completely differently from our ancestors. We know about such things as human rights and morality, you know."

She grimaced a bit, feeling a bit bad again at thinking so poorly of this family.

"Yeah, I know you know that. I'm just... I don't know. This is more difficult for me than you'd think, after what I've heard my entire life," she explained.

"I know, but I'm glad you try to see us in a different light," he said, his voice a bit quieter than before.

"Mhm, yes. I... gotta go now. The underground and my train leaves in a bit," she tried to end the call.

"Yeah, totally! Take your train! Uh, have a nice ride!"

She raised her eyebrows at his words, his awkwardness almost leaking through the line. "Thanks! Bye!"

"Bye."

oOo

Ozai raised an eyebrow at his son, who was stiffly sitting on the chair facing his father's desk.

"Is that so?" he asked, causing a shiver to run down Zuko's spine.

"Yes," he said. "It's because of our ancestry, and the fact that she's from the south, and she feels a bit unsettled about that, she told me. She was raised to think ill of us, and now that you're running for president..." Zuko bit on his lower lip.

"I see. She can meet me, of course. We could all have dinner tomorrow, if she'd like," he proposed, sounding unusually pleasant.

"Well, she told me she'd like to meet you alone. So that her impression of you won't be alternated by your interaction with other people," Zuko explained, feeling very grateful for asking for Jet's help to formulate this accurately. They hadn't talked about their fight those weeks ago, when Zuko had brought Jet a burger on his way home, and had agreed to be there, when Jet would throw a party at their apartment the next day. In situations like this Zuko was extremely grateful for his friend's carefree and not very complicated being.

Ozai's lips curved into a light smile. "Aha. You seem to have got yourself a smart girlfriend."

Zuko cringed. "Yeah, well... Would you mind not using this expression on her when you meet her?"

Ozai frowned, pressing his eyebrows together, and Zuko almost smelled the disappointment speech which would come, when he quickly said: "She only wants to be my girlfriend once she saw for herself that my family is... not crazy and power hungry like our ancestors. That you will make a good president. So, right now, the status would be dating," he explained, feeling very stupid at saying this to his father and also quite afraid.

But his father surprised him, because he sighed and chuckled. "You young people are really strange with all those names you give to things. Alright, I won't call her your girlfriend. It's a bit annoying, though, that I have to convince her to become your girlfriend. One should think that you could to that all on your own." Both his eyebrows raised and an unwanted wave of fear coursed through Zuko's body.

He let his head hang down. "I'm sorry, father. It's not that she doesn't like me, she just doesn't understand how I can be loyal to you in the campaign because of our ancestry. It kind of caused a fight," he mumbled, still looking down, because he knew he was a bad liar. His voice was deep and almost sounded sad, but his face and especially his eyes always betrayed him when he lied.

"Alright. But remember, this girl is there to increase my chances at winning the election. Don't you let yourself get caught in this relationship. I don't want you to end with such a person," Ozai warned, pointing with his glasses at him.

Zuko flinched and blinked, since he couldn't process what his father had said just yet. Had he really just been insulting southerners? Or was it because Katara wasn't rich? Either way it felt unfair to Zuko, since his father needed her, but couldn't value her, or people like her. He tensed a bit, his jaw clenched, since except for her character he didn't see anything about Katara which was appalling. Her being from the south or not rich would never stop him from wanting to be with her, or rather any girl. That just wasn't important to him. The urge to defend Katara was there...

But he only nodded. "Yes, father."


Answers to reviews:

To BumiCat (for chapter one): I'm very glad to read this, and to know that my fic makes you feel like that:) I know exactly how you're feeling. I was just thinking recently about things which make me happy and the only thing that does so on a regular basis which came to my mind was when one of the fics I'm following is updated.

To Smckoy929: Yep, he's desperate. I hope it became clear that he's doing this because he fears Ozai that much. Anyway, I would not like to spoil you, but it is kind of obvious, isn't it? After all, I don't write only from Katara's and Zuko's point of view to have them fall for their exes or some OCs...

To uchihaNaruto247: Yep. It is Zuko, so everything always blows up in his face (as he says in "Bitter Work", book two). And because it is kind of a canon rule I thought I could use it here, too. And on digging a hole, I honestly have no idea what Zuko would have all done in order to please his father. Imagine he hadn't been banished and had remained in the Fire Nation with Azula, he would have done worse and worse things to please his father (if we pretend he'd have no sense of justice). But Zuko already tried to do what's right in this fic and it got him nowhere, so he tries now everything to never disappoint his father again.

To IDidn'tSignUp4This: Hmmm... Well, it is an interesting country with an interesting culture and history, and maybe this author was also just an ATLA fan? I mean, that is not why I went to China. It was meant as an exchange for students, but with tourist activities, too. We had some courses and learned a lot about Chinese culture, language, history and also how to do business with Chinese people. Some of those rules reminded me of the rules in the Fire Nation War Council, though, e.g. "Never disagree with an elder out loud in front of everyone else." Anyway, all I can say is that China is definitely worth a visit, and that I had a great opportunity and just had to grab it, and I had a great time there as well, learining a lot of new things, eating a lot of delicious things, and buying a lot of cheap things :D...