Zutara Week. Day Six. Legendary.

I own nothing! Zuko, Katara, Toph, Iroh, and anything else recognizable belong Mike/Bryan/Nickelodeon/Viacom!

Zutara Week 2011 is, of course, run by the lovely trishna87, senbo-sama, AnimantX, and Irrel on deviantART. Best wishes to GreenifyME, who unfortunately couldn't participate in ZW this year.

Roar Like A Dragon

Delicate hands wove into his shirt. She leaned against him, resting her head in the crook of his neck. She loved these days where Zuko didn't have anything planned and she could get him to do anything she wanted.

"Go," she whispered. The scent of his hair was thick around her, the familiar smell of him and smoke and outside. He began to move slowly, quietly. He pushed the heavy doors open with his hip, hitching her legs around his waist.

"Are you ready?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," she said, her voice equally low.

With her consent, he began to move, muscles sliding under her weight. "On the count of three," he prepared her, taking careful steps toward the canopied bed. Under his breath, he counted off the numbers and at "three," he surged forward.

Six-year-old princess Kya roared with everything she had as Zuko pounced on the bed, startling a previously-napping Fire Lady Katara. The little girl hung on to Zuko's shoulders the best she could as the bed bounced from the added weight.

"Roar!" the princess snarled, her nose scrunching as she tried not to smile.

Katara took her cue to act terrified as Zuko trapped her against the mattress with his forearms. He growled too, the sound blossoming from deep within his throat and escaping menacingly.

"Oh, no!" the Fire Lady cried in faux distress. "I'm being attacked!"

Kya shimmied up her father's back a little more to peek above the top of his head. She bared her teeth and snickered.

"We are the legendary two-headed dragon!" Zuko rumbled, fighting his own grin. "With our combined skill, our power increases tenfold! We are masters of fire and no one can defeat us!"

Kya's continuous roars and snarls hushed as he ended, and she threw up her hands, curling her fingers like claws. "We challenge you to defeat us in a duel!"

"A duel!" Katara exclaimed. She pretended to weigh her options. "Fine then. I hope you're not afraid to lose!" Zuko kissed her briefly as she laughed, then rose to his feet with the little girl still clinging to his shoulders. Kya giggled hysterically as Zuko took off running, glancing back through her streaming black hair at her mother.

Guards lining the hall grinned as the Fire Lord raced past with the Princess on his back, trailed a few seconds later by the Lady, all three of which were acting as royalty shouldn't. It was a pleasant change.

They scrambled out into the courtyard, roaring like dragons and bounding through open air. Kya slid to the ground and stood battle-ready at her father's side, waiting impatiently for their duel to begin.

Katara, on the other side of the field, smiled gently. The little girl looked so much like Zuko, just with slightly darker skin and wider eyes. It made her ridiculously happy as she looked at both her husband and her daughter, who was trying to mimic the Lord's effortless defensive stance.

"Oh, mighty Legends, conquerors of fire and sky, I insist you take the first move," Katara said, sweeping into a mock bow for her dragons. Kya looked pleased and stepped forward, lines of concentration forming on her forehead. Smoke unfurled from her knuckles, and Zuko whispered bits of encouragement to her. After a few seconds, a short blast of fire erupted from her clenched fist.

That initial ignition was all she needed, and Kya sent sputtering spheres of flames at her mother. The waterbender drew a stream of water from the surrounding pools, knocking aside the attacks with ease. Water deflected small orbs of fire, and Kya advanced on Katara with every assault.

Katara waved a thin sheet of water across the courtyard when the firebender-in-training got close enough, freezing it underneath them, and the ice caught at the soles of Kya's shoes. The little girl panicked when she couldn't move, sending a wide-eyed stare at Zuko.

"Come on, think!" he coaxed. "Fire has the advantage over ice."

The Princess nodded soundly then, focusing very hard on melting away the ice at her feet without burning herself. Katara could have let her figure it out, but that was what lessons were for; Kya had asked to spar. Sparring didn't allow one time to think things through.

Katara whipped up a light fog, using the cover to sneak around behind her daughter. With a simple wave of her fingers, she melted the ice and quickly scooped her up. Kya shrieked with laughter as her mother blew raspberries into her little belly.

Zuko strode over and kissed both of his girls on their foreheads. "Good work, my little salamander. We'll practice again later." He took hold of the little girl then, barely letting her catch her breath before swinging her upside-down and taking her to her favorite rock, the one with a seat carved into the top of it, courtesy of Auntie Toph.

"Now who's ready to see daddy get his butt kicked?" Katara teased.

"You cannot beat me!" Zuko continued, keeping up the dragon charade. "I am a legend!"

"Oh yeah? The legend of what, ponytails?"

Zuko rolled his eyes at her lame joke. "Seems like you're all bark and no bite."

Katara planted her hands on her hips. "So he wants biting now," she said, half to herself. "Well, if that's what he wants."

He flushed lightly at her retort. "Err," he stammered. "Just go!"

"My pleasure," Katara murmured. With that, she took off without any hesitation. She spun a tight cone of ice around him, weaving her element through itself and creating a sturdy lattice. He kicked his way free of her trap then copied Katara's tidal wave move, pouring sheets of fire across the field. Katara sliced a path through the inferno with the pond water.

She used the same technique she had used while dueling with her daughter, summoning plumes of fog around her and spreading the thick blanket of condensation over the entire courtyard. She heard the quietest curse from aggravated lips.

On any other day, the fog wouldn't have been too much of a problem. This time though, disoriented and unsure where his target was, he wouldn't be able to bend without the fear of accidentally burning his daughter with askew flames. He'd have to resort to close combat fighting.

Katara smirked to herself and started swirling the fog in hopes of confusing Zuko more. It worked beautifully, and his hard eyes darted around, looking for some sign of her. She let him ponder and concentrate until all at once, she rushed a stiff whip straight at his chest, knocking him off his feet and onto his back. In the same fluid motion, she used the fog around them to create sharp ice spears. They dug into his shirt with frightening accuracy, piercing through the light cotton without so much as touching his pale skin. The short, solid spikes were the result of years of sparring with Zuko: short enough so he couldn't pull them out, far enough from his skin so it would take too long to melt them, deep enough into the ground that he couldn't easily wiggle them out.

He had learned from battling her as well, and he knew he was in quite a predicament, especially as she sent two more annoying spikes to secure his pant legs. No time to think things through. He jerked one arm up, tearing the sleeve of the shirt. The seamstresses wouldn't be pleased, but then again, they never were.

Zuko was working on melting the corresponding spear when she stood over him. She planted one foot between his legs and the other on his chest. "All bark, you say?" she smirked, brushing her ankle along the inside of his thigh. He wouldn't be that easily distracted though, and he grabbed her calf, flipping her around so she slid across the ground.

"You play dirty," he grumbled, melting the remaining ice spikes and rolling up to his feet as soon as he could. Now that the fog was gone, he'd be able to bend again. He charged her while she was still regaining her footing, twin daggers of flames sprouting from his fists. Katara barely managed to bring up her water whip to defend herself in time. She caught his wrist with a rope of water, reeling him closer.

Even though Zuko was more suited for hand-to-hand fighting, being trained in such skills and having more raw strength than his wife, she was smarter.

Katara blocked his punches with some difficulty but managed to knock him off balance for a second when she blocked a kick by twisting his leg. That second was just what she needed to duck around under a swinging arm, jab the backs of his knees with her foot, and send him flopping face-down into the dirt. She scurried on top of his back, cuffed his wrists in ice, and gripped his neck to insure her win.

The Princess laughed in delight as she scampered over to her parents. Katara moved her hand as the little girl plopped down between Zuko's shoulder blades. "Mommy won," Kya said pointedly, poking his cheek.

Zuko snorted. "Of course she did, kiddo. We might be dragons, but she's a master waterbender. And you don't mess with master waterbenders."

"That's right," a new voice came, and three heads turned to see a real legend—the Dragon of the West—stroll across the courtyard. "They are a force to be reckoned with."

"Grandpa!" The Princess exclaimed, running toward the old man and almost kicking Zuko in the head in the process.

"Hello, my dear one. It looks like you had a splendid time out here today."

She nodded vehemently and started chattering about all the cool stunts mommy and daddy did and how she hopes to be as good as them some day.

Iroh hushed the child for a moment, looking at his nephew. "You two look like you could use a bath. I will take the Princess while you clean up. No need to rush."

Katara watched as Kya took Iroh's hand in hers, her wide, gold eyes illuminating at the promise of tea and cookies. "Was that his way of asking for more grandchildren?"

Zuko rolled his eyes, kissed her, and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Probably."

Well. This turned out cuter than I hoped it would be. Yeah, yeah, I know that the beginning was kind of a tease. But if you know how I write, you'd know that I don't write lemon for this fandom, nor do I open up a story with lemon.

Inspired by my six year old neighbor, who loves when I wear my Renaissance-style dress while I baby sit. She'll dig out her Sleeping Beauty dress and we'll hold balls and tea parties and contests to see who is the best princess ever. xD

Also, this was my first time actually writing a full-fledged fight scene, and even though it's only a spar, it's not half-bad for a first.

Review, please?
Tchao, Zutarians.
Erika
xoxo