Chapter 5! Its a tincy tiny boring... and if it feels like I repeated things more than once, I'm sorry:)

I do not own ATLA or any of the characters
But Salji's mine! :)

As they walked downstairs Katara replayed what Zuko just told her in her mind.

His mom disappeared, he lost the love of his life, and his father banished him all in one year of his life. No wonder he had always seemed older than he really was.

They held hands until they reached the end of the stairs. Katara knew why he let go of her hand, and she let go of his too. She knew that if her brother saw them holding hands, his imagination would get the best of him.

When they entered the kitchen everyone was sitting around the table eagerly waiting for dinner to be served.

"Where have you been Katara? I was about to eat my belt!" Sokka exclaimed from his seat at the table.

"I had to… uh… help Zuko fold some of his cloths" she said trying to lie smoothly.

Katara looked over at Toph expecting her to call her out on her lying, but Toph had her head down, and her face was covered by her hair. Katara knew that she and Zuko would have to tell Toph something, even if it wasn't the truth.

"Well, are we going to eat or what?" Sokka said pulling Katara out of her thoughts.

Soon everyone was full and contempt. Sokka, Suki, and Aang went into the living room after dinner, but Toph lingered in the kitchen as Katara and Zuko cleaned the dishes. Katara knew that she had chosen to stay behind because she expected either Katara or Zuko to tell her what was going on.

"Are one of you going to tell me what the heck is going on with Zuko?" Toph asked as if she had read Katara's mind.

"Nothing's wrong with-"

"Don't lie to me Zuko. I know there is something going on with you and I wish you would just tell me." She said with tears streaming silently down her cheeks.

Katara hated to see Toph like this. She hated seeing her so weak and not being able to help her. If Zuko hadn't made her swore not to tell Toph, she would have told her in a heartbeat to save her from this pain.

"Toph, trust me, there is nothing wrong with Zuko." Katara said trying to make herself sound believable.

"Sweetness, I can tell that you're lying to me! Just tell me what in the world is wrong with Zuko!" she yelled through her sobs.

Zuko walked over to Toph with his arms held out for a hug, but pushed her palm in his chest holding him back from her.

"Zuko, how could you tell her and not me? I thought we were friends. Heck, I think of you as my own brother, and yet you can't tell me what's going on?" she said as she dropped her hand from his chest. "I thought we could tell each other anything" she finished in a whisper.

Katara couldn't help but to cry. It was tearing her up inside to see Toph so sad, she couldn't even imagine what it was doing to Zuko.

Zuko took Toph's hands in his and looked her in the eyes. "Toph, I wasn't planning on telling anyone what's been the matter with me, but you know how pushy Katara can be. I just don't want everyone to feel sorry for me."

"But-" she started, but Zuko's index finger covered her mouth.

"I wasn't finished Toph. I'm going to tell you what happened, but you've got to promise not to tell a soul." He turned to look at Katara. "And I don't want to discuss anything about this after tomorrow."

"Ok, I promise Sparky." Toph replied, and Katara nodded her head.

Zuko told Toph the whole story that he had just told Katara not a few hours before. Katara watched and saw every facial expression that Toph had as she heard the story. Toph rarely had questions through the story. Most of the small questions she asked were similar to Katara's and Zuko answered them. The only thing different from when he told the story to Katara and now was that he wasn't as emotional. Sure he did tear up, but it wasn't like it was earlier. Katara assumed that it was because he had already explained it once tonight so he had already gotten out a lot of his emotions. After he finished the story his arms were full of Toph.

"Why couldn't you have just told me? Why did you have to keep all of this from me? It's not like I would have loved you any less." She said as she hugged him tighter.

"I don't know, I really didn't want to tell anyone at all. I don't want people to treat me differently because of what happened to me in the past." He answered in a thick voice. "I don't want to be weak."

"You're not weak Zuko" Katara interjected. "You're one of the strongest people I know, besides Toph." She ended with a chuckle.

"Sweetness is right, you are not weak, heck, you telling me that story made me think you are way tougher than I ever thought you were" Toph said as she wiped tears from her eyes.

Zuko gave a little smile and helped Toph finish wiping the tears from her face. Katara couldn't help but smile. If she didn't know Toph and Zuko and saw them walking on the street, she would have believed that they were true brother and sister. It was amazing how much they loved each other in that brotherly sisterly way even though they weren't related in anyway, or the fact that they were from two different nations.

"I love you Zuko" Toph said as she grabbed in another hug.

"I love you too" he said as he buried his face in her shoulder.

Katara felt a little out of place at the moment, so she slowly exited the kitchen so they could have some time alone. As she walked to her room she thought about her and Zuko's talk earlier. He had been so vulnerable and emotional. Then she thought about what she had just witnessed in the kitchen with him and Toph. Tonight she realized for the second time that Zuko was a human being. The first time was underneath Ba Sing Se, but soon after that he betrayed her. This time, she knew that he wouldn't betray her. He had become a part of their family, and she knew that he wouldn't turn his back on them.

As she walked in her room and plopped on her bed her thoughts flowed back to her and Zuko holding hands as they walked down stairs. His hand was rough but also had a softness to them. They were warm, and sent a tingling sensation up her arm and down her spine. She really didn't know how to explain this feeling.

At one point she contemplated herself having feelings for Zuko, but pushed it out of her head. There was no way she had feelings for Zuko that were beyond friendship. They really just formed a real friendship tonight, so there was no possible way she could like Zuko as more than a friend. Or could she…

She huffed and turned over on her side. She could feel sleep trying to overcome her, but she was to wound up from today's events. Her mind started to wonder and somehow she ended up thinking about kissing Zuko. How would his lips feel against mine? He probably would never even think about kissing me. Does he think about kissing me? Then she caught herself. You can't kiss Zuko! He's in love with a dead girl! You can't have feelings for him!

She pushed all of these thoughts out of her head and thought about Aang. She loved him, and he loved her. Point blank. There was nothing that was going to change that. She had to remember this.

Zuko isn't the one for you, Aang isshe thought to herself. And with this thought she fell asleep.