A/N: Just a cute little Zutara one-shot.
-.-.-
"Well, what story do you want to hear tonight?" A young woman asked her little girl lightly as she pulled the covers over the small child's head. She could not have been over four, while her mother was not a day over twenty-five. They lived in a small house on Kiyoshi Island right next to the house of her brother and his new wife. The life they lead was peaceful, and everyone was happy for the end of the war, less than five years ago…
"Mommy, I want to hear the story of how the Avatar beat the Fire Nation!" said the little girl excitedly.
"Oh, Ayden. I must've told you that story a hundred times!" said the tired woman, her bright blue eyes sparkling. Her cinnamon skin looking paler in the moonlight. The child thought her mother looked like an angel and couldn't help but smile.
"But mommy, it's my favorite! Prince Zuko is my favorite character though! But I like Katara too!" The woman stiffened at her daughter's words before she straightened back up and looked lovingly at her child.
"Alright, I'll tell you, but you have to go to sleep." The girl nodded her head and snuggled under the covers and the woman began to stroke her little child's forehead and she swept the black hair out of her eyes before beginning.
"Once upon a time, not so long ago there was an air bender named Aang. He was no ordinary air bender, he was the avatar, and he was the last one…" she said the last part rather sadly.
"Go on mommy! Skip to the part after the library and Ba Sing Se! The next part is where it gets good!" Said the little girl impatiently.
"You're just like your father, impatient, stubborn, and you love fighting. And to let you in on a little secret," the woman said, and the child drew closer so that her ear was right by her mother's mouth, "I love you both." She said quietly, and the girl looked up at her mother with playful eyes.
"Well, Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph began their journey to the Fire Nation before the comet that would render the fire benders useless so they could stand a chance of winning the war. But Aang and Katara were still anxious. He still needed to learn fire bending and they both knew it would take time. They soon meet up with the Kiyoshi Warriors who joined them in their quest along with many Earth Kingdom refugees, mainly earth benders." The woman looked down at her child to see the girl's eyes still wide open. She sighed before continuing…
"When they reached the shores where they would head towards the fire nation and Aang and Katara began to bend the water and Toph along with the other earth benders began to bend the earth to their will to grant themselves with a good passage when they saw them. Katara's father along with all of the remaining water benders were sailing over towards them, waving them to stop. The boats would be much more subtle than a big glob of moving Earth. But what they found next surprised them the most-" she was cut off by Ayden.
"Ohh! This is my favorite part!" said the girl.
"Shh Ayden, if you want me to finish my story." The girl nodded her head and the woman continued.
-.-.-
"Come on! I've found where she is, move your royal butt! I know you want to see her and you are just scared! I've spent four years trying to track her down, and now that I've found her I want you to come with me!" Said a young man with wisdom beyond his years – well maybe not technically since he was born but… The arrow on his head caught the light and the guards in the king's rooms stiffened.
"But what if she doesn't want to ever see me again?" said the distressed lord, hanging his head in his hands – defeated.
"But what if she DOES and she thinks you've given up on her, or abandoned her?" Asked the visitor and the lord looked into the man's hazel-grey eyes. He couldn't help but trust him – his old enemy, his old ally, his old friend.
"Alright, I'll come." Said the lord shortly, motioning with his fingers to the guards who went to tell his uncle of his departure.
"I'll get Appa!" said the monk excitedly before the other man followed behind him much slower. What have I gotten myself into? He asked himself before sighing and speeding up to get to his friend.
-.-.-
"Well, go ahead mommy! Tell me the rest of the story!" said the little girl irritably, her mother had been staring out the window for a few seconds now, and little children have a very short attention span as we all know.
Her mother shook her head to clear the thoughts from her brain. That was ridiculous… what would he be doing here? "Sorry honey, I thought I saw something." Then she continued with the story at hand.
"So as they were boarding the ships out from the shadows came one of Aang's worst enemies since the beginning of the war, his name was Prince Zuko, and he was accompanied by his uncle Iroh of the fire nation. They came offering peace and many did not trust them, but they all knew the two benders were outnumbered so they gave them their own choice."
The woman looked down at her child, whose eyes were drooping slightly and gently kissed both of her eyelids before continuing. "Over the weeks it took to get to the Fire Nation capitol unnoticed – it was a long time for they could only travel by night – Zuko and Iroh earned the trust of those around them, Zuko taught Aang fire bending and Iroh taught him how to channel the energy of lightning. But he did not only earn trust-"
"Ohh! THIS is my favorite part!" said the little girl.
"The whole story is your favorite part you silly child," said the mother lovingly before continuing. "He found love in those weeks before the final battle. Katara, best friend of the avatar himself, had found love with the one man the world would have thought impossible, she found love with the son of the fire lord. And he loved her in return."
Suddenly the two of them heard the door bang open in front of them and the child looked on in wonder as the mother sat rooted to the spot.
-.-.-
"If you're so worried, I'll go in first all right? You can go… see Sokka or something!" said the monk angrily.
"Pfft. Like that is going to happen. Kiyoshi makes me nervous, that's all. You know with the whole town hating me and all? Yeah, that." Said the King indignantly.
"Whatever, just stay with Appa until I come back." Before the other man could retort he was gone, but the man said something anyway.
"yeah right…" she said into the wind before once again following his friend, slowly, up and over the hill towards the village.
-.-.-
"KATARA!" The young man yelled before running over and enveloping his lost friend in a hug. The boy seemed to only have eyes for her and did not notice the little girl beside her.
"Mommy, who's that and why'd he call you 'Katara' like in your story?" said the little girl frightened.
"Aang?" The woman asked at the same moment that the man said "Mommy?"
"I think we have a lot to discuss." Said the air bender. The little girl was now visibly shaking and Katara went over to comfort her.
"It's alright Ayden, everything's fine." She cooed.
"Ayden huh?" asked the man with an arrow on his forehead, "Translates to 'little fire' very fitting." He said before sitting down on the side of the bed and looking concerned down at the little girl.
"A-are you the avatar?" the girl asked weakly, and in the moonlight he nodded his head. She looked wide-eyed between the two people around her as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Mommy – does that mean that my daddy is…" said the little girl, her voice trailing off.
"The Fire Lord, yes, yes it does." Said a deep male voice from behind the three. They turned around to see Zuko standing right behind them in all his glory.
The girl's eyes popped out of her skull before she ripped the covers off of herself and flew into her father's arms. Not used to the affection he went rigid before seeing the amusement in Katara's eyes and he relaxed.
"Gee thanks guys, now she'll be up for HOURS! You couldn't have waited until morning?" She said, jokingly.
But only Aang heard her, Ayden had now engaged her father into a deep conversation.
"-And daddy! I can bend fire AND water! Isn't that great? Mommy said it's a first probably because most water benders weren't st-"
"Okay, you can stop now, right honey? Daddy doesn't wanna hear everything mommy says." Katara said quickly, covering her daughter's mouth with her hand.
"Go on, what was she going to say?" Said Aang, instantly interested. The little girl went over to his ear and whispered something. He burst out laughing before saying, "Good one Katara."
Catching a glance from Zuko he grabbed the little girl's hand before taking her outside and saying something along the lines of, "Have you ever seen a flying Bison?"
Katara's eyes narrowed and she ran to the porch before Zuko caught her hand in his. She felt the electricity flow through their fingers and she could tell he felt it too.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, hurt evident in his eyes.
"I didn't know at the time." She said simply, referring to when she left directly after the battle.
"Well then tell me why you left." He said, squeezing her hands, offering her support.
"I didn't want to be a burden to you. Think about it Zuko, most of them would have been prejudice after the battle, then to find that their King was going to marry a peasant from the Water Tribe? I thought it'd be better this way and I always hoped… hoped that if you loved me enough you'd come back." She replied, her voice cracking slightly.
Zuko looked lovingly into her eyes before bringing his head down to her level (god she was short) and saying, knowing that they had to let go of the past, "So what exactly did you say to our daughter that you did not want her to repeat to me?"
She looked into his eyes before saying, "I told her that she was probably the first person to ever master both water and fire because I was the first water tribe member stupid enough to fall in love with a hotheaded, arrogant fire bender."
She looked at him, laughter in her eyes and a smile tugging at her lips and he knew he wasn't mad. "Well, let me tell you, this fire bender is extremely glad you fell in love with him, hotheadedness, arrogance, and all of it."
And with that he bend down and the two way-ward lovers were reconnected with the first kiss they had shared in over four years.
-.-.-
"I told you it would work." a woman whispered from the window of her's and her husband's room.
"You truly are an amazing woman, Ty Lee. Thinking to give Aang the information of where she was living…" the man trailed off, opening his arms for her to curl up in.
"I know Sokka, she was just hurting so much. I couldn't stand to see her like that."
"Me neither, me neither…" he said as he looked at his sister and the Fire Lord one last time before blowing out the candle next to him and slipping into a fitful sleep.
-.-.-
A/N: So, did you guys like it or not:/
Ha! You thought Sokka was with Suki didn't you? Well I like him with Ty Lee better, sorry guys.