A/N: I'm posting this a few days earlier than I expected. My grandmother passed away over the weekend and I was very surprised that I got this chapter out ahead of schedule. I will be out of town for a week so I can go to her funeral and see some of my family (I haven't seen anyone in nearly three years). Hopefully I will get a chance to work on chapter six while I am gone. I won't get it posted until I get home because I won't have my trusty laptop with me, but I will attempt to work on it.

This chapter is a lot longer than the last one, though the verdict was that most of you wanted me to keep chapter lengths as they usually are. However, MizJoely and Rice Bunny both pointed out very good things: chapters end where they end and quality is better than quantity. Therefore, (thanks to their words of wisdom) chapters will end where they end for the sake of quality (and my sanity. I'm tired of trying and failing to make chapters longer).

Also, you can thank Saucebender for the kindest review I've gotten for this story so far. Because of that review, this chapter was a lot longer than I originally planned it to be and I am very pleased with it. I sincerely hope I didn't disappoint you this chapter, Saucebender; it's not quite as good as the last one… But I hope you enjoy it just the same.

Shaping Destiny

By: RupertLover09

Summary: Destiny is a funny thing, you never know how things are going to work out… Things change and people change.

Chapter Five: Love

Kanna watched with open interest as her granddaughter set about preparing the evening's meal. It pained her to see how grown-up Katara had become; the war had reached her in so many ways. She could see wisdom in the girl's eyes that no one coming upon the age of seventeen should hold; she was tense and her eyes continuously darted in their sockets, never staying on one thing for long. The only thing-or person, rather-Katara ever looked at for a prolonged period of time was the Fire Lord who was seated on a log talking to Pakku. Kanna smiled to herself. Of all things that should come out of such a war, love was the best and most rare; especially between two people from two feuding nations.

Confusion snaked into the elderly woman's mind. This was not the boy she had been expecting. Fire Lord Zuko was a young man with more wisdom in his eyes than Katara. Last she had seen him, the Firebender was attacking the tribe and now here he was, acting as though he was ready to throw himself in the way of any danger heading for Katara. But that was not what confused Kanna, after all, people were susceptible to change. What confused her was that Sokka had claimed his sister was involved with Avatar Aang when he had visited a few months ago. Sokka had been proud and boasting about it, saying that he had never seen someone so devoted to his baby sister. Kanna had been expecting the boy she had met only once, the young Avatar. Not the Fire Lord.

She had decided she liked Zuko, though. He and Katara seemed like pieces of a puzzle: broken and shaped to fit each other. Their very movements were centered around each other; one would move and the other would move with them, seemingly without thinking. It struck her how very much like yin and yang they were, one needing the other to survive.

"You're not wearing gloves, Katara," Kanna reprimanded her granddaughter, watching as the girl diced vegetables for the stew. "It's very cold, perhaps you should put them on."

"I'm fine, Gran Gran," Katara replied, pressing a soft kiss to her grandmother's cheek as she walked by to dump the vegetables in the large, black cauldron that hung over a fire. "The cold doesn't really bother me and if I need some warmth, I've got Zuko."

Kanna noticed the secretive smile Katara had not meant her to see. "You and the Fire Lord are very close," she observed, "with the way Sokka was talking when he was here a while ago, I would have thought you would have brought the Avatar with you."

The Waterbender stiffened and her smile disappeared in a split second. "Aang is out trying to keep peace in the world. I'm not very high on his list of obligations right now."

"As his girlfriend you shouldn't be an obligation, Katara. Even if he is the Avatar," Kanna said. "You deserve to be more than that, dear. You are not just some girl. You are a master Waterbender, you helped put an end to the war, you are strong woman. Do not let him push you to the side if you truly love him."

"It's complicated, Gran Gran."

Kanna heard the finality in her granddaughter's voice but pushed a little more. "I hope you know, Katara, that not following your heart could be a very bad decision. I have seen the way you watch the Fire Lord-"

"Gran Gran!" Katara sent a furtive glance in Zuko's direction, a blush stealing over her cheeks.

Kanna waved it away with her hand. "He can't hear us, child."

Katara frowned. "I told you, Gran Gran, it's complicated."

"You are very much like your mother, Katara. Beautiful, talented, self-sacrificing, and you have a very nasty stubborn streak. Being stubborn isn't always helpful."

The Waterbender chanced another glance at Zuko. "I'm not being stubborn, Gran Gran," she hissed, "I'm doing the right thing."

"Well, that's the biggest load of dragon dung I've ever heard."

"Gran Gran!"

"Oh, don't act so scandalized, Katara! I can't imagine that you keeping yourself from that young man-who loves you as much as you love him, by the way-is doing the right thing in any way!"

Katara frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "It is. I'm keeping people from getting hurt."

"Oh, Katara," Kanna sighed and hugged her granddaughter tightly, "in the end, you are hurting people: you and that devilishly handsome Fire Lord of yours over there."

"Gran Gran, I can't let Aang get hurt like that. He'd never get over it."

"You feel guilty right now because you're making yourself feel that way, but in the end Aang will be okay and you won't regret following your heart, dear. Aang is little more than a child, he isn't emotionally ready for the relationship you need, Katara." Kanna let go of Katara and stepped back, sighing as she fingered the ends of Katara's hair. "You've grown up so much, Katara. I can't believe Sokka finally let you wear your hair down. I'll have to tell the boys that they shouldn't bother trying to win your heart when it's clearly taken."

Katara frowned. "I don't know why you're pushing this so much, Gran Gran. I've got the situation completely under control."

Kanna decided to switch topics-only just a little bit. "Does the Fire Lord know what it means now that you're wearing your hair down?"

"No," Katara said sharply. "Not unless he was educated on our tribe when he was younger. And I don't really plan on telling him either."

"There is nothing wrong with being of marriageable age, Katara."

"We are not going to talk about this right now, Gran Gran," the girl said. Then she stalked off to sit next to her Firebending companion on the log he had claimed, seeming very interested in the conversation that was taking place between Zuko and Pakku. Kanna did not miss the way the Fire Lord took her granddaughter's hands up in his to warm them up. She also did not miss the loathing glares that several boys of Katara's age sent Zuko. Kanna just smiled to herself and set about stirring the stew. Only time would tell what was to happen.

Sokka held the little pendant up to the light, a pleased smile crossing his face. Pure silver was not easy to come by and Sokka was not necessarily a master craftsman when it came to carving things (the fact that he was on a ship and was not very much of an artist did not help much either), but he had finally gotten the carving on the round, flat piece of silver just right. The carving was of a lotus flower floating in water. The purple lotus was Suki's favorite, but Sokka didn't have paint and it was really pretty just silver anyway. Sokka was proud of his work, and he knew that Suki wouldn't make fun of him if it was actually a really bad carving.

Well…she wouldn't make fun of him much.

"Sokka!"

The warrior grimaced and tried to ignore the Airbender that had just waltzed into his tiny little room. Aang and Toph had landed on the ship with Appa hardly two hours ago, and the little punk that was the Avatar had been trying to talk to Sokka every half hour.

"Sokka, I was knocking on your door for ten minutes."

"Yeah, I know," Sokka grit out, trying to keep his focus on the necklace. Every last shred of his focus had to be on the parts of the necklace before him. Every. Last. Shred.

"Sokka!"

Snap! went Sokka's patience.

"Sokka!"

"Not now, Aang," the warrior exclaimed, waving a turquoise ribbon through the air. "I'm busy!"

"But it's important, Sokka!"

"As important as this, Aang?!" Sokka brandished the ribbon in Aang's face, wishing he he could kick the little Avatar's butt off of the ship for being so annoying. Kicking Aang's butt off the ship might cause some sort of international incident, though, and Sokka really did not feel like being the cause of it at this point in his life.

"It's more important than some ribbon!" Aang screeched.

"This is not just some ribbon, Aang!" Sokka hollered at his friend. "It's part of a necklace for Suki. Do you know what that means, Aang? Do you know what the fact that I am making a necklace for Suki means? No! I didn't think so!" He turned to slam the door of the cabin in Aang's face.

"It's Katara, Sokka!"

The warrior's heart plummeted to his stomach and he almost dropped the ribbon to the floor as his jaw slackened. "W-what?"

"Zuko took her!"

Katara clomped tiredly through the snow. She had stealthily sneaked out of the communal igloo after everyone had fallen asleep, too awake and restless to lay there in her bed and pretend to be asleep. The Waterbender sighed. She did not understand why her grandmother had pushed the Zuko situation so much, though she supposed it was because Gran Gran had not been given much of an explanation. But Katara hardly understood what was going on, and she couldn't reason through it. She wanted so badly to be with Zuko that her heart actually hurt. But she could not hurt Aang. It simply was not in Katara's genetic code to hurt the feelings of people she cared about. But a year of pretending was wearing on her emotions.

At first, Katara had thought she could make herself fall in love with Aang, that she could simply tell herself how to feel and she would feel it. She should have known better. Just like trusting Zuko again after his betrayal under Ba Sing Se, Katara should have known that she could not force her feelings. But she didn't know, and it confused her when she simply could not drill it into her head that she loved Aang.

Once, Katara had talked to Uncle Iroh about it and he had replied with a mystical, "The heart does things for reasons that reason cannot understand, Katara."

She eventually learned that Uncle had been saying she could not force her feelings.

So then, she tried to wait it out a few weeks. However, a few weeks had turned into a few months, a few months into a year, and, now, here she was on the cusp of seventeen and in a relationship with a fourteen-year-old who still acted like he was about ten and was never around to be with her. Of course, Katara never told Aang she loved him. He would say he loved her and she would reply with something like, "I know," or, "Me too." Sometimes she would change the subject all together. She was rather surprised he had not noticed by now.

Aang had asked Zuko to watch over Katara in the Fire Nation about two months into his relationship with her (it was never their relationship. She didn't really consider herself a part of it since she knew she didn't reel the same). Zuko had seemed eager for the companionship, and it didn't really bother her when Aang left. Toward the beginning of his extensively long trips, Aang had visited her often, always seeming eager to pick up where they had left off.

Then, one night, he had gone too far. Katara had spent the evening after dinner keeping Zuko company in the gardens of the palace. Mai had gone to visit Ty Lee who was in the capitol with the Kyoshi Warriors for a short time. Mai had not wanted to miss the limited amount of time with her friend, so she had left rather abruptly. Zuko had asked Aang's permission for Katara's company for the duration of the evening (Always the gentleman, Katara reminisced with a smile). Aang had agreed, saying he had a few pressing engagements to take care of and that he would be back at the palace late at night.

Katara and Zuko had taken to the gardens, though neither really had had a place to go in mind. That was the first time she and Zuko had ever really bonded, he told her of his failing relationship with Mai, and she told him of her failing relationship with the Avatar. Katara remembered the shock she had felt when Zuko had said he was of the mind that he could never feel the way for Mai that she did for him. They had always seemed like the perfect dark and gloomy couple. Then again, she was sure that she and Aang seemed like the perfect eternally happy couple.

Somewhere near midnight he had escorted her back to her room, hesitantly pressing a kiss to the knuckles of her left hand and thanking her for listening to his troubles. Katara smiled as she recalled trying to beat back the blush that painted her face when his lips made contact with her skin. Looking back on that night, Katara thought that it was probably the first night her feelings of friendship (and long-hidden crush) for Zuko had turned into something that remotely resembled love.

She had retreated into her room with a content sigh as he left for his own chambers, her heart still beating erratically and the skin of her hand still tingling where he had kissed it. Katara had taken off her dress and was looking for something to sleep in under the assumption that she was alone in her room, when two arrow-covered hands started snaking their way around her stomach.

"You look really pretty like this," Aang had whispered.

Katara had turned in his arms with a startled gasp, a reprimand on the tip of her tongue, when his lips met hers rather violently. She gave in reluctantly, knowing she had to keep up her little charade so she would not hurt him. Long before then, she had decided that kissing Aang would be like kissing her own brother: if she didn't think about the ick factor, then she could put up with it (although, kissing Sokka would be a thousand times more disgusting).

And then Aang had gotten a little too insistent. Katara had booted him out of her room without so much as a second thought, feeling just a little more than violated. How dare he touch her like that? Just who did he think he was trying to pressure her into taking his relationship with her to the next level?

Katara grimaced at the memory of his hands on her, thankful that he had decided to stay away for good, communicating only through letters. Despite her dislike of Aang's feelings for her, Katara still worried about him in a motherly fashion; so she considered the letters a good thing.

The sound of footsteps matching hers with ease and the feel of a warm, pale hand meeting up with her own tanned one, long fingers entwining with hers with ease, knocked the deep frown right off Katara's face. So much for stealthy, she thought as she looked up at Zuko with a smile. He was staring off into the distance, a small smile playing around his lips. His hair was tumbling around his face in a devastatingly handsome way. Katara felt her breath hitch in her throat. He was so perfect.

"So, princess," Zuko started teasingly, dragging the title out unnecessarily in Katara's eyes, "not exactly the water peasant you pretend to be, are you?"

Katara felt her face flush, but she pressed closer to his side as the walked, allowing him to wrap his arm around her waist. "You only assumed that I was a peasant," she reminded him. "And really I'm no different than any other person in the village. My father just happens to be the chief. I don't set much store by titles anyway. They're completely unnecessary and only cause problems."

"Hm… So I guess I don't have to worry about you chasing after me because of my title as Fire Lord, huh?"

The Waterbender laughed and pushed him playfully into a bank of snow, tumbling after him as his arm was still secure around her slim waist. She landed on top of him, her laughter increasing as he started to chuckle too. "I am not chasing after you," she said through her giggles. "If anything, I think you seduced me."

"I seduced you?!" he said incredulously.

"Of course. Didn't you know you're ridiculously charming, Mr. 'Let-Me-Walk-Around-the-Ship-in-a-Towel?'"

"That was an accident," Zuko insisted with a playful growl, and Katara was startled to find her body pinned beneath his hardly a second later. "It was an accident and you weren't supposed to see me like that. At least," and, here, his voice turned even more rough and low than it usually was, mischievous and sensual as he lowered his lips to her ear, "not quite so soon."

A thrill went up Katara's spine. Being pinned beneath Zuko there in the snow bank was nothing like being trapped beneath Aang and his wandering hands. Respect and honor practically radiated off of Zuko while Aang…well, Aang had just wanted to get in her pants, a fact that Katara had not appreciated in the slightest.

Now, at this moment in time, Katara reached up to drag Zuko's face down to hers, letting their lips crash together in a fervent kiss. His lips were warm, soft, and insistent on hers and the pair sank further into the snow, the cause of him pressing his body closer to hers. She pushed away the thought that this would hurt Aang if he ever found out into a corner in the very back of her mind and locked it away, quite eager to continue her secret relationship with Zuko. It was a relationship she wished she didn't have to hide. Why was it that she had to hide the relationship and the love that meant everything to her and show off the little charade she had kept up for far too long?

Katara quit thinking all together when Zuko bit down on her lower lip slightly, ripping a startled gasp from her throat. He pulled back almost instantly, fear that he had done something wrong showing in his eyes.

"Katara! I-I didn't mean-"

Katara grinned and rolled her eyes. "You didn't do anything wrong, Zuko. You just…startled me is all."

Zuko laughed and ducked his head in slight shame before looking back up at her, seeming just the tiniest bit shy. "Wanna try that again?"

She made no response but to press her lips to his again. Each teen smiled into the kiss, and in that moment they were regular teenagers who had stolen a few brief moments away from prying eyes and whispers, the real world and the guilt about their relationship nothing but a couple of faint specks in the backs of their minds.

Preview

Aang was brandishing a scroll in Sokka's amused face.

"What's so funny about Zuko taking Katara?" the Airbender snapped.

"The only thing that's funny is that you're blowing this way out of proportion," Sokka replied with a nochalant shrug.

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"Sure, I believe you-"

Aang, looking relieved, made an attempt at a reply, but Sokka continued to speak.

"-I just think you're looking at this entirely wrong and blowing it out of proportion."

The Shaping Destiny Playlist

Theme Song: "Everything" by Lifehouse
1. "All You Wanted" by Michelle Branch
2. "The Diary of Jane" by Breaking Benjamin
3. "So Close" by Jon McLaughlin
4. "So I Thought" by Flyleaf
5. "Faint" by Linkin Park
6. "Just Friends" by Jonas Brothers

Please review! I'm sure you could spare the time for even one word of praise or even just to tell me you hated it (no flames though…).