Hello everyone! Here is chapter 13:) Again very slow moving in my oppinion, but I have to have some Zutara fluff! I hope you like it!
I do not own ATLA or any of the charcters, except for Salji!
As they walked along the beach holding hands, Zuko knew that everything was going to work out between, Katara, Aang, and himself. Or at least Aang wouldn't be mad at Katara anymore soon. But he really didn't care if the little monk was mad at him, as long as he had Katara.
He looked over at Katara and saw her smiling. It felt so good to see her smile. He felt like ever since he figured out that he had feelings for her he had taken away her smile.
"What are you thinking about?" he had to know what she was smiling at.
"About that kiss in the kitchen" she said as she blushed.
"Oh" he felt himself blush.
They walked in silence after this. They saw a figure in the distance waving at them. As they kept walking the figure came into focus. This was going to be awkward.
"Zuko, Katara!" Salji said as she embraced them both. She was happy that Zuko had finally realized that he loved Katara.
"Hey Salji" Zuko said a little embarrassed.
"It's so good to see you two together. I knew it would happen one day" she said with a smile.
"How did you know we would be together?" Katara asked.
"Oh I just had a feeling." She said with a smile.
"Oh" Katara said smiling back.
"Well I guess I'll let you two love birds get back to your walk." She turned to Zuko. "I just wanted to see if you finally made up your mind to tell her" she smiled.
"Do you want to come back to the house and meet everyone?" Katara asked.
Salji replied "I wouldn't want to intrude."
"You wouldn't be intruding at all Salji. I'm sure everyone would love to meet you." Zuko said with a smile.
"Well I wouldn't want to disappoint everyone" she said sarcastically.
As they walked back towards the house Katara and Zuko filled in Salji on who everyone was.
"Ok, let me see if I got this right. Sokka is the sarcastic one who is always stuffing his face. Suki is Sokka's girlfriend and the one who tends to wear a lot of makeup. Aang is the bald flying monk A.K.A the Avatar. And Toph is the rude, blind earthbender, and I shouldn't take anything she says to heart."
"Very good" Zuko said smiling at her. He forgot how easily she caught on to things.
At this point they were entering the house. Everyone was in the living room except Aang. Katara wondered if he was still flying around, it was starting to get dark out.
"Hey everyone" Zuko said, "this is my old friend Salji."
Everyone turned around to greet her, and Zuko saw all of their eyes widen, except for Toph's, and he knew he should have giving them some kind of warning.
"Hi" Salji said from beside him. She seemed so comfortable.
Suki got up and walked towards them. "Hi, my name is Suki" she said as she hugged Salji. Zuko always liked how Suki was so nonjudgmental.
"Nice to meet you Suki" Salji said with a wide grin.
Toph got up off the floor and walked over towards them. "The names Toph" she said bluntly and punched Salji on the arm.
"Nice to meet you Toph" she said as she slowly rubbed her arm.
"And that guy over there drooling over you is my brother Sokka" Katara said pointing at Sokka.
Her saying this snapped Sokka out of his thoughts. "I can introduce myself Katara. Hello I'm Sokka, a warrior of the Southern Water Tribe." she said with a sly grin.
"Well I've always wanted to meet a skilled warrior" Salji said making Sokka's head bigger.
Zuko hated to stop Sokka's from flirting with Salji, but he thought he might be saving him from Suki's wrath later.
"Where's Aang?"
"He got back after you two left for the beach and ran into the barn." Toph answered.
"I better go and check on him" Katara said with guilt thick in her voice.
She started to leave the room when Zuko grabbed her and kissed her. "Come back soon" he whispered in her ear.
She nodded and walked out the door. This was going to tough, but she had to get it over with. As she opened the barn door, she saw Aang lying on Appa's tail petting Momo. He didn't even move an inch when she sat beside him.
"Hey Aang" she said hesitantly.
He turned around and his eyes were puffy and red, and Katara saw where the tears had fallen on his face. She didn't even realize that she started crying herself.
"Aang, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to hurt you, I thought it was just a crush, I didn't know you loved me. I love you too, but not that way." She said as the hot tears streamed silently down her face.
He didn't respond. Katara didn't know what else to say, she wanted to tell him that everything was going to be ok, but she couldn't promise him that. She would never love him the way he wanted her to, and she didn't even know if any of them were going to live till the end of the summer. In all of this commotion with Zuko, Katara forgot about their mission, they had to bring down the Fire Lord and Azula before Sozin's Comet arrived.
"Katara, do you really love him?" Aang's question brought her out of her thoughts.
"Yes Aang, I do love him" she answered. She thought that her answer would upset him, but he had to know.
They sat in silence again. She didn't know how he was taking it. His face was turned away from her so she couldn't see his expression.
Then he finally spoke. "Well I guess if you love him and he loves you then there's nothing I can really do except say I'm happy for you" he said turning towards her to give her a hug.
"Thank you Aang" she said crying happily into his shoulder.
They sat there like that for the longest time, and then Katara remembered the gathering that was going on in the house.
"There's someone you need to meet" she said with a huge smile spreading across her face
I don't know when the next time I update is going to be. Between school and my parents renovating the house there's a lot going on. But who knows, I may update next weekend. Who knows:)
While you wait to see if I return soon, go and look at my oneshot "Almost Missed Out" :) I am also working on a songfic, so be on the look out!
Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed! You guys are the ones keeping this fanfic alive and I thank you!:)