Gah...sooooooooooo sorry. Cold set in, I collapsed in the school clinic, I was out for three days, school work piled up...yuk.

And to Nyx, see? I updated!

Katara was up a few hours before Zuko, so when he finally woke up, the Waterbender had gone. Finally…

Zuko made sure Katara wasn't coming back and crept over to her side of the room. Carefully, he dug around until he found that handbag that had started this whole mess.

He felt dirty for doing this, but last night before the lantern had gone out, Zuko had seen Katara's silhouette take out the bag and put something in. And after that question, Zuko was buzzing to find out what it was.

The hairpin Zuko remembered her wearing fell out, along with a piece of gold silk that looked for all the work like part of his training outfit, small conch, and a carving of a yin yang symbol, most of the things Momo had found. Taking the piece of silk, the faint, smoky smell that accompanied any Firebender's training outfit reached Zuko's nose. It was part of his old training outfit. He dimly remembered stopping in the middle of his training to go after Aang and tearing his outfit on a branch right before they ran away. Katara must have taken it…but why? At the time, they hated everything about each other…right?

He put that down and found what Katara had added to the eclectic bunch. It was a piece of parchment, folded up. Now that he noticed it, Zuko realized there were many such parchments. "A diary of some sorts…" he muttered.

Take one and read it!

No. I'm not going to invade Katara's privacy.

You are already.

I'm not going to read her private thoughts. That's something her brother would do.

At that, Zuko put everything back into the handbag carefully; it didn't take him long. He stashed it back in its hiding place and left.

Katara was with Toph and Suki, talking over a pot of tea Iroh (who else?) had made.

"Come on, Toph, you picked truth. Who do you like?" Katara egged. Suki laughed at Toph's pout.

"Well, I had a stupid crush on Snoozles, but Fan Girl over here blew that out of the water," she muttered. "If you tell anyone, I'll kill you, but I've always kinda had a crush on Twinkles."

Katara and Suki roared with laughter. "Now there's a match I wouldn't mind seeing a matchmaker attempt!" Suki teased. "Gods, Hin would have a heyday."

"Hin?"

"My grandmother, the Kyoshi Island matchmaker. Everyone calls her Hin," Suki explained. Katara giggled some more.

"Okay, Suki, your turn."

"Dare."

Toph paused. "Kiss the next mammal that passes by, whether it's Sokka or Momo."

"Fine." Suki never backed down from a dare.

The girls sat around, waiting for a mammal. Finally, someone came up behind them.

"Have any of you seen my boomer-" Sokka was cut off as Suki's lips crashed into his. As they parted, Sokka looked confused. "Uh…never mind…" He walked off, dazed. Toph and Katara cracked up.

"You had that planned, Fan Girl," Toph accused. Suki smirked.

"Not saying I did, not saying I didn't. Katara, truth or dare?"

Zuko happened to come across them as Katara replied, "Truth."

Some girl thing, he thought, hiding so he could listen without getting caught.

"Hmm…biggest secret," Toph demanded. Zuko snorted silently. He knew that. It was that handbag. Or so he thought.

Katara blushed, oblivious to Zuko's presence. "Um…well…geez Toph, why this one?"

"'Cuz I can."

"Mean, that's what you are. Well…promise not to tell anyone?"

"Of course, Katara."

"Duh, Sugar Queen."

"I bought this handbag in Ba Sing Se, which you know about Toph. But, inside that bag are things that remind me of a certain someone I'm not mentioning since someone close to him made the tea," she added in a whisper.

"Scarface?" Toph whispered.

"Who else do you know that has an uncle makes tea?" Suki asked. Then she giggled like a silly little girl. "Katara has an illegal crush!"

"Do not!"

"Why else would you keep things that remind you of him?" For that, Katara had no answer.

Zuko, on the other hand, wanted to go out there and tell her, "I'm glad we feel the same way, Katara", or some other such lame statement. She has a crush on me? Isn't Mai still infatuated with me? Zuko's head was swimming. Girls were most certainly weird, and they just got weirder.

The hiding prince came out into the open. "Do I want to know?" he asked, acting as if he had no interest in the girls (not anymore, at least).

"We were just finishing up, actually," Toph said. "Suki, let's go help Snoozles find his boomerang. He's still fumbling around in your room." Suki rolled her eyes and stood.

"Okay. See ya, Katara. See ya, Zuko."

"Ditcher," Katara muttered as Zuko shook his head and sat down. He waited a minute, then started talking.

"Do you still have that handbag?" Katara gulped and nodded.

"Yeah. It's hidden in a niche in the room that I covered with my stuff," she said. "Don't going digging, though. Please?" Zuko nodded. He didn't intend to go digging again.

Katara smiled in thanks. Making sure no one was around, Zuko placed his hand on the hand Katara had resting on the table. Katara jumped at the unexpected contact, but didn't say anything.

"About last night…" she started. Zuko shook his head.

"I'd really rather not go there again. It was too awkward," he reminded her. Katara laughed softly.

"Point." There was brief silence. "When it comes down to it, who will you fight with? Us, or your father?"

"I'm staying on the side I've picked. I don't want my fat…I don't want Lord Ozai to win the war," Zuko said. Katara looked at him.

"He's not your father anymore?"

"He never was, and I'm not addressing him as such." Zuko's eyes went cold, like they had before he had joined the group. Katara squeezed his hand.

"Who needs him when you have a great family right now? Iroh really is related to you, and Aang's like the annoying little brother that everyone knows. Toph's the little sister, Suki is the sensible one, and Sokka's just…well, Sokka." Zuko laughed, then turned to Katara.

"What about you?" Katara shook her head.

"I'm fourteen. I'm too confused about stupid things right now to be much," she said. Zuko thought about it.

"Girlfriend…" he muttered softly.

"What?" Katara turned to him. Had he just said what she thought he just said?

Zuko gulped. Might as well explain. "If this were a real family (albeit a dysfunctional one), you'd be the mother, or the girlfriend." Could Zuko be anymore embarrassed? Well, if Azula showed up and heard that part…

"Really? And who would be the boyfriend?" Katara asked coyly. Zuko looked her in the eyes.

"Well…there's no one left but me," he whispered. Katara blushed slightly. She scooted closer to Zuko's side.

"That's true. Just like there's no one here right now but us. Which is very odd; I'm so used to Aang being around," added Katara. Zuko smirked.

"So his training also gives us some more peace and quiet. That's good." He took a deep breath. "Katara, I need to-"

"Katara! Sokka jammed his finger in a door!" Suki sound both exasperated and worried. "We need you!" Katara shook her head, exasperated for two reasons. One was because her imbecile brother couldn't be trusted alone. The second reason was that she never got more than…seven and a half minutes alone with Zuko, and she desperately needed to get the courage to tell him something.

"Coming, Suki." Katara stood up and left, leaving Zuko as fed up as she.

Getting a love life is hard when Sokka's your brother, huh?