DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN AVATAR THE LAST AIR BENDER; ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED FOR ITS RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

"Rain"

1.) water that is condensed from the aqueous vapor in the atmosphere

Mother had always told him that she found the answers to her most troubling and disturbing questions while standing in the rain.

It cleansed her, she would tell him, a little spark of mischievousness in her eyes. He had rolled his eyes dubiously, letting her words bounce off of him. They were meaningless anyway, he already knew everything….

"Why are you acting like this?" he asked the woman before him, rage building inside him. This was difficult for him too; couldn't she see that?

Rain clouds loomed overhead, threatening the two of them, glaring at them from above. Tiny diamonds fell to the earth in clusters until the amount of rain water drastically accelerated. The millions of tiny water droplets formed a veil between the two people, Zuko only being able to distinguish Katara's outline. He squinted in an attempt to better see her. He couldn't, so he stepped forward, closer to her.

Her body turned away from him, blocking him out… what else was new? Thin arms crossed over her chest, eyes poised away from him, lips drawn into a tight line.

Raindrops soaked their clothing all the way through to the bone, but they scarcely had the heart to notice. He begged her to understand where he was coming from, it was pleading for mercy from his father for all the good it was doing.

"Katara…"

She turned to him, looked straight into his heart for the first time since Ba Sing Se. Water gathered on her dark lashes, merging with her tears.

Zuko stopped cold; something inside of him broke at the sight of that look.

He had never seen Katara, not really; he had never particularly wanted to really see her. Now that was inevitable. That strange concoction of emotion in her eyes; potent, beautiful, distrustful, but still longing to be given the chance, tore at him, nagged at him.

His mother was right.

Sometimes you did find the answers to your most troubling problems in the rain.

That day, that day of revelation, he realized what it was that made Katara distrust him, what it was that made her love him. Both of these questions received the same answer: he was simply… him; arrogant, sophisticated, withdrawn, cold and even loving. Katara abhorred him, but still, somehow, she found it in herself to love him more deeply than thought possible.

*****Hate, hate, HATE this one. Written in haste, horribly organized. I've been reading some absolutely stunning pieces and I guess my self- motivation hasn't been that high this week.

Hope you thought it was suitable anyway.

~Moonlit- Silhouette