A/N: So! As a celebration of the fact that I officially reached over twenty thousand words last chapter, I made this one extra long! It's ten pages long, so I expect a lot of reviews for my hard work! At nearly five thousand words, it is the longest chapter I have posted for this story so far. In fact, I think it's the longest chapter I've posted ever. So enjoy and please review!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but any original characters you might run across.

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 Eight: Arguments

Katara was walking back to the palace with Zuko (and the guards that never seemed too far now that the pair was back from their unsuccessful excursion) hand-in-hand when she saw the familiar form of Appa passing the setting sun. Her heart plummeted and she put some distance between her body and Zuko's. He looked between her and the few feet separating them, confusion etched across his handsome features. Katara pointed to the shadow of the flying bison.

"Wherever Appa is, Aang is sure to be," she explained, hoping he saw the pain in her eyes. She did not want to do this; she did not want to separate herself from Zuko, especially not when he needed her.

The young Fire Lord nodded, a wry smile twisting his mouth. "We have to pretend now."

"I wish we didn't have to. It's only for a few days; just give me time to talk to him about it, okay?"

He shrugged and Katara saw him become the detached and indifferent yet troubled and hurt boy he had been when he joined the gang. His face became impassive; his eyes glanced around their surroundings coolly.

"Zuko…"

"What?" he snapped.

Katara stopped walking and Zuko did too. He looked at her, his eyes narrowed in hurt and anger.

"Don't be like that again," Katara said, crossing her arms.

"Don't be like what?"

"Indifferent and closed off like you used to be!" she exclaimed, glancing at the guards to make sure they were keeping their distance. "Don't act like I'm doing this on purpose when you know I'm not!"

"You're making this more complicated than it has to be!" Zuko hissed, stepping closer to her. "You're making it seem like we can't even act like friends around him."

"I'm trying to spare his feelings, Zuko! He's just a kid!"

"Aang's not even here right now, Katara! Do you realize that?"

"What do you want from me, Zuko? Do you want me to prance around here holding your hand and making out with you, because I think he might notice that and figure out that I haven't exactly been faithful to him!"

"He's not exactly the sharpest sword in the weaponry when it comes to seeing what's right in front of him, Katara."

"What do you want me to do, Zuko? In case you didn't think about it, this whole situation is hard on me."

"How do you think I feel, Katara? Do you think it's been easy for me to know that I'm the one whose fault this is?"

Katara froze. "Your fault?" she whispered. Tears pricked at her eyes, but she blinked them back. Now it was his fault? What was there about their relationship that Zuko would find was his fault?

She watched as the other teen's face fell when realization of his words finally washed over him.

"Th-that's not what I meant," Zuko stammered out.

Katara stared at him, anger washing over her mind. The waterbender was not in the mood for stupid explanations. He could not undo what he had just said. Like her, Zuko had spoken his mind, his true feelings. She did the only rational thing she could think of: she turned and walked away.

And he did not come after her.

Zuko drummed his fingers on the dark wood of his desktop. His head lay propped up on his left hand and he stared unseeingly at the document before him. He did not know where Katara was. Even after years of tracking Katara and the Avatar, he still had not been able to find her during his very thorough search of the palace grounds. Hours later, the firebender had entered the palace, all kinds of forest debris stuck in his hair and clothes. He had slammed the door of his study behind himself, a note to anyone less foolish than his uncle Iroh to leave him be.

Uncle Iroh was sitting on the couch under the window, of course, having come to see what was bothering the Fire Lord.

Zuko did not tell Iroh what was going on. For the first time since the end of the war, Zuko did not feel like seeking Uncle's advice, especially since it was about his current situation with the waterbending girl. Uncle Iroh was full of old sayings and proverbs that Zuko never understood; and it wasn't for lack of trying.

Finally giving up on the treaty or request for supplies or whatever the document was, Zuko rolled the scroll back up and massaged his temples. He could feel a headache coming on and he had just returned. Feeling his uncle's eyes upon him, Zuko left his chair stiffly and walked to the door that led to his room, wrenching it open with a surprising amount of strength he had not known he possessed.

A startled, but bored-looking maid glowered at him when the door slammed open, immediately changing her face to a perfectly blank mask, and went back to cleaning the already immaculate room. Zuko stared at her.

"You!" he barked.

The maid pointed at herself questioningly.

"Who else?"

The girl shrugged and Zuko was reminded distinctly of Mai and her indifference.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Yes, my lord."

Zuko scowled. She talked like Mai, he decided. If he squinted his right eye and tilted his head to the left, she probably looked like Mai, too. "Find Katara."

The girl arched a thin, black eyebrow. "Who?"

A growl left his throat. Indifferent, improper little… "Lady Katara of the Southern Water Tribe," he hissed.

"Oh."

"You find her and you tell her to come here. Immediately. After you've done that, report back to me."

"…Where will I find her?"

"Do I look like someone who knows?"

"No. I suppose not, my lord." Zuko could hear the amusement in her voice.

"You would do well to respect me."

She nodded and bowed, then turned to leave.

Zuko was about to retreat into the confines of his darkening study when the maid suddenly turned back around. He glared pointedly at her.

"If I may, my lord, who shall finish cleaning your chambers?"

"The room is clean enough!"

The impudent maid nodded and bowed yet again and Zuko stayed at the door to his study long enough to see her leave. The bored look never left her Mai-like face, but Zuko saw the mirth in her eyes. He would have to have a word with the girl's boss about her training, or lack thereof. Weren't maids supposed to be respectful and submissive?

"Nephew, perhaps you should treat your staff with more respect," Iroh said from his seat on the couch cushions.

Zuko frowned at his uncle and sat back down at his desk chair. The smooth, black leather was cool beneath his hands. "She was being impudent, Uncle."

"That as may be, Zuko, but perhaps if you had treated her with respect and talked with her rationally, she would have treated you in kind."

"She needs to be retrained."

Uncle Iroh made a noise of disagreement.

Zuko sighed and closed his eyes, resting his head against the high back of the chair. His head was pounding. He wondered when the maid would find Katara, where she would find Katara. He had looked everywhere. Everywhere! A waterbender could not just disappear, especially in the Fire Nation on the palace grounds in the capitol city. Zuko heard the creak of Uncle's knees as the aging man stood. The teen cracked open a golden eye to see his uncle walking toward the door.

"Leaving so soon, Uncle?"

"Yes, Zuko. I have people to talk to, ladies to woo… The work of a White Lotus member is never done."

Zuko nearly gagged when Uncle said he had ladies to woo. Uncle Iroh was far too old to be wooing people!

"I request that we talk soon, Nephew. Much has happened since you left and I do not wish for you to find out from the wrong sources."

Zuko straightened in his chair. "What?"

Uncle Iroh raised a hand to wave the issue away. "Another time. Now, you must resolve your problem with Katara. She is a young lady I would not wish to be on the bad side of."

"Uncle-"

But Uncle Iroh was already shutting the door behind himself.

Zuko scowled and flopped back into the chair, resuming his slouched position. He was really starting to wonder when Uncle had gotten to be so difficult. It must be old age kicking in. But what would Zuko hear from the wrong sources? Had there been another uprising? A much stronger, larger one?

Thinking was starting to make Zuko's headache worse, so he settled for resting his eyes in the dim room, not bothering to light the candles and torches as the sun sank below the horizon.

Katara sat on the small outcropping of rocks with her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin resting on her knees. The sun was nothing but a faint sliver on the horizon. She had calmed down when she had reached the rocky shores of her element. The sound of the sea had calmed her mind and helped her to relax. But calm and relaxed did not mean she wasn't sad.

It had been her first fight with Zuko since the beginning of whatever this was they had started. Their first fight and she had not even had the guts to tough it out; she had just walked away.

She didn't know which was worse: the fact that they had had their first fight or that he hadn't even come after her. The latter made her heart ache and Katara buried her face in her hands, sobbing into them for a few moments. It was unusual for her to cry over something so trivial. Little more than a year ago she would have been angry if Zuko had come after her while she was in one of her tempers; but now… Now she just wished he was around.

"Um…hi. Lady Katara?"

Katara raised her head to see a girl standing before her. At first glance, the girl looked distinctly like Mai, setting Katara immediately on her guard. Upon further inspection, however, Katara saw that the girl was wearing a maid's robes and her hairstyle was just a bit different. But the girl's voice…it was thin, raspy, and unemotional, not unlike Zuko's former girlfriend. Katara looked warily at the girl through watery eyes. "Yes?"

"Fire Lord Zuko wishes to have an audience with you."

The waterbender stood slowly, brushing the seat of her skirt off. "Oh. I…uh…yeah. Okay. Now?"

In the dim light, Katara saw the maid roll her eyes. Well that's rude…

"Yes. He said he wished to see you immediately in the study off of his bed chambers. If you'll excuse me," the girl bowed, her black hair swinging to hide her face, and she was gone when Katara looked back.

Katara looked wildly around the suddenly empty area. How did a maid just vanish like that?! How did anyone just vanish like that?! Shuddering at the thought of the girl's stealth, Katara dashed back to the palace, completing the short run in a few minutes' time. The guards exchanged glances as she passed, probably taking in her dishelmed appearance and tear stained cheeks, but the blue-eyed girl paid them no mind.

Her feet slapped the cool, black marble of the palace halls as she ran for her room, determined to make herself presentable before showing up in Zuko's study. The cold stone felt fantastic under her feet, a welcome presence during the heart of the Fire Nation summer. She was rounding the last corner to her room when something stopped her dead in her tracks. Stumbling to a halt, Katara stared at the small person waiting outside the door to her chambers.

He held a small bouquet of blue flowers in his hands and he looked at her with hopeful gray eyes.

"Aang…"

"Hey, Katara!"

Sokka scanned the shore as the ship he was aboard docked in the harbor on Kyoshi Island. There was a cluster of green-clad girls waiting on the dock, Suki at the forefront. Or at least it looked like Suki. Sokka wasn't too sure. It was hard to tell with the identical makeup and uniform ensembles.

The warrior swallowed forcefully. He had been expecting Suki but all of the Kyoshi Warriors? Sokka grimaced. Ty Lee was probably waiting there on the dock, too.

Shouldering his bag, squaring his shoulders, and patting his pocket to make sure the necklace he had crafted was still in his pocket, Sokka traipsed down the gangplank.

"Sokka!"

Said boy found himself with an armful of an auburn-haired Kyoshi Warrior. Off to the side a few of the other girls giggled and cooed. Sokka felt his ears turn pink.

"Hey, Suki!"

Suki pulled away, her green eyes bright. "You were gone a really long time," she said accusingly, poking him in the chest with one of her fans. Sokka rubbed the spot, knowing it was going to bruise. He let his face grow somber.

"I know. And I'm really sorry. I know I was supposed to be back a few weeks ago, but there was this ginormous hurricane that set us off course when we were helping to transfer Zuko's troops. Then the Mechanist wrote and asked me to design this top-secret project he's got going on. And then Aang showed up and-"

"It's okay, Sokka," Suki interrupted. "You're here now." There was a collective giggle from the other female warriors and Suki rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "You remember the girls."

"Yeah. Hey, ladies." Sokka waved at Suki's friends.

"Hi, Sokka!" Ty Lee chirped. She was waving at him from the center of the group and she appeared to be bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Sokka grimaced and returned the gesture halfheartedly. "…Hey, Ty Lee."

Suki smiled. "Play nice, Sokka," she teased.

"Easy for you to say," he muttered.

"Oh, quit being a baby and come back to the village with us. We have some new moves we wanna show you."

Sokka stayed rooted to his spot when Suki tried to pull him along, his strength winning out over hers. "Actually, I was kinda hoping I could talk to you, ya know, privately."

"Alright." Eyeing Sokka curiously, Suki turned toward her fellow warriors with a rustle of her uniform and asked that they go on ahead. The group of girls did so, glancing back every few steps in curiosity.

Once Sokka was certain they were not coming back, he tugged Suki toward the beach, a man on a mission.

"Sokka, what's going on?" Suki asked after a few minutes as she halted. Sokka stumbled to a halt in front of her, their hands still entwined.

Sokka took a deep breath and turned to face his girlfriend, his heartbeat hammering loudly in his ears. "Alright, well…" he dropped his bag on the ground and stuffed his hands casually into his pockets, grasping the delicate necklace in his right fist. "I know I've been gone a lot recently and I know I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with you; and I'm really sorry about that."

"I told you, Sokka: it's okay. You had a job to do, I understand." Suki cast him a small smile, but he could see the confusion in her green eyes.

"No. It's not okay. I want to fix it." Sokka took Suki's hand and placed the necklace in the palm, holding his breath.

"You're…fixing it with a necklace?"

The air the Water Tribe warrior had been holding in escaped his lungs with a loud whoosh as he turned scarlet. "Well I-I made it," he stammered out. "It-it's this tradition in my…in my tribe."

Suki was examining the necklace, a large smile on her painted face. "It's really pretty."

"I'm glad you like it; I kinda hoped you would. It's an engagement necklace," Sokka blurted out, mentally kicking himself for losing his cool so quickly. "I…well, I was kinda hoping you might marry me. Ya know if you want to." He shrugged nonchalantly with the last sentence, regaining his lost composure.

Suki stared at him for a few moments, her mouth hanging open in surprise; and in those few moments, Sokka's grip on his cool slipped again.

"We-we could live h-here." He had started to stammer again, his tongue felt too large for his mouth. Why wasn't Suki saying anything?! "You w-wouldn't have to leave the warriors! And-and we could-"

"Sokka."

He clamped his mouth shut, sobering up.

"Can't you let a girl speak?"

He nodded, not trusting himself to say anything. His brain had gone to mush. His heart was beating so fast he thought he might go into cardiac arrest. Or possibly even throw up what little food he had eaten for breakfast. Neither option was very appealing to the warrior.

There's a story, he thought wryly. 'Oh, yeah, so I proposed to Suki and then I tossed my cookies! And then I went into cardiac arrest because my heart was beating so fast! Isn't that fantastic?!

"First off-"

Sokka's rapidly beating heart sank into the pit of his stomach. This would not be good. She had started with a "first off." Nothing that started that way ever turned out well.

"-this necklace is beautiful; I can tell you spent a lot of time on it and I absolutely love it. Secondly, we don't have to stay here."

Sokka stared at her with wide eyes, his heart resuming its usual place in his chest and gradually beginning to pick up speed.

"I would go anywhere with you, Sokka. I don't care if we live in Zuko's palace or the coldest point in the South Pole or even if we live under a tarp in the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se. If you're there, it's enough for me."

Sokka gaped at her. "Are-are you saying yes?"

Suki smirked and held out the necklace. "Only if you help me put this on."

Aang stared at Katara with wide, apologetic eyes. Or what he hoped were wide, apologetic eyes. She was standing a few feet away from him, her clothes askew, her hair mussed, and her blue eyes narrowed with something he could only describe as hurt and distrust. Her arms were crossed across her chest and she was wearing Fire Nation clothing.

Beautiful though she was, Aang found it a little odd that his heart had not picked up speed like it usually had when he had seen Katara every other day of his life. He brushed this little fact away and held out the bouquet of blue flowers to her.

"These are for you. They match your eyes."

Katara didn't move. She just glowered at him.

Aang sighed and hung his head, an action that he knew had once tugged at her heart strings. Now, however, the action only served to make her snort and brush past him in the direction of her room.

"Katara-"

The waterbender whirled around to face him, her eyes ablaze with something akin to fury. "What?"

"I-I wanted to apologize," Aang mumbled. This certainly was not the Katara he remembered. What had happened to the sweet, nurturing Katara who would listen to him when he talked? What had happened to the trusting waterbender who had freed him from the ice berg two years ago? Aang suddenly remembered the hurt and angry look that had manifested on Sokka's face on the ship. That look was now being worn by Katara. The airbender realized what that look was now; it was the look of someone whose trust he had lost.

"Apologize," she repeated, anger still reverberating in her voice. It wasn't a question or a demand; it was a statement filled with disbelief.

Aang wondered who it was Katara trusted now. He winced and hoped it wasn't Zuko like Toph and Sokka thought.

"Yes. I wanted to apologize."

"For not writing," she assumed.

"No!"

"How nice." The remark was sarcastic, biting.

Aang stared at her. He couldn't see what her problem was. So he hadn't written; big whoop. He would much rather talk to her in person…at least, on most days. Now he was kind of regretting it. "I wanted to apologize for what happened before I left," he said.

Katara frowned and opened one of the two giant, wooden doors to her room, the cold look never leaving her face. "I'm glad you apologized, but I can't accept."

Aang gaped at her, his mouth moving with soundless, half formed words. She couldn't accept? How could she not accept? Katara always accepted apologies, always forgave. The big exception to that rule had been Zuko for when he had first joined the group, but Aang wasn't Zuko.

"Katara-"

Sadness swept over her pretty face and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she entered the room and made to close the door. "Go away, Aang."

"Can't I come in and talk to you?"

"No."

"Why not?" He knew he sounded whiny, but he didn't really care. Why wasn't she doing what he asked, giving him what he wanted? Since when had Katara become so cold?

She sighed and looked down at her feet. When she looked back up at him, her face was completely clear of any emotions at all. Her blue eyes gave no hint as to how she was feeling, but when Aang looked closer, he could see the dried tears on her cheeks. What had she been crying about?

"We're not the same people we were a year ago. Things change. People change. And I just can't trust or be around you right now."

And then the door was shut softly in Aang's face. He stood there for a minute or two, his mind numb and his feet rooted to the floor before a gentle but calloused hand began leading him away.

"You okay, Twinkle Toes?"

Zuko was pacing the study off of his chambers when Katara slipped into the room, shutting the door firmly behind her. She gave him a sheepish smile when he looked up at her, curious as to what had taken her so long. The servant girl had been back a while ago, reporting that she had found Katara just outside of the thinnest part of the woods hardly a hundred yards from the window of Zuko's study on the outcropping of rocks overlooking the sea. He frowned, wondering why he hadn't seen Katara when he had looked out the window or when he was searching for her.

"Sorry," she said. "Aang wanted to talk."

The Fire Lord watched as the waterbender entered the study completely, shutting the door softly behind her. She crossed her arms over her chest and Zuko paused by the large, ornate desk, resting his hand on it.

"You talked to him already?"

This surprised Zuko. She had said a few days, not a few hours.

Katara frowned at him and stalked past him to the window, staring past the open shutters and into the night. "Not about us."

"Oh." Zuko frowned, too. Stupid, stupid, stupid! He thought to himself. Of course she wouldn't talk to him yet. She's not ready. She implied that much. At least she wasn't angry anymore, that much Zuko could thank the spirits for. An irate Katara wasn't his most favorite thing to encounter. "Well, I just wanted to apologize…for earlier."

"It's okay. You really don't have to. I blew up at you."

"I tried looking for you," Zuko said, staring at his feet even though she wasn't looking at him.

"You did?"

"Of course I did. We had a fight, Katara. Did you honestly think I wouldn't try to work things out with you?"

Katara muttered something that Zuko didn't hear.

"What did Aang want?" he questioned her after a slight pause.

"He…wanted to apologize for what happened the night before he left."

"The night we talked in my mother's garden?" he asked.

Katara nodded and turned to face him, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. She didn't meet his eyes when she said, "That night, after you left, he… Well, he was there in my room and he…tried to, um, further his relationship with me."

Zuko's brain went into automatic panic mode after a few prolonged moments of silence so heavy the firebender thought he would eventually suffocate. Katara had…done it? With Aang? His panic had obviously written itself across his face because, suddenly, Katara was shaking her head furiously.

"Ew! Zuko! No, no, no, no, no. No way! Not with Aang. Never with Aang," she protested. "I kicked him out of my room. That's why he left."

"…That's…why…left…," Zuko's voice sounded distant to his own ears. He couldn't move and his brain seemed to be frozen. Katara hadn't heard him.

"And he came back to apologize to me, but I just couldn't forgive him. I didn't expect to still be so angry with him, but it's like it got worse! Especially when he mentioned that Sokka told him to apologize, which implies he never planned on apologizing which is just plain rude. And… Zuko, where are you going?"

Zuko had started walking to the door of his study during Katara's rant, intent on completing a new mission. "I'm going to get you some clothes. You're staying here tonight."

Katara turned scarlet and she gaped at him in a very excellent impression of a fish. "I can't stay here, Zuko! People would talk!"

"Then I'm staying with you in your room."

It was a very reasonable plan, he thought. He could be like her bodyguard. No disrespectful Avatars would get past him. He would stay up all night if he had to.

"Don't be stupid! People would still talk!"

"How are they going to find out?!" Zuko spluttered. "Are you going to tell them?"

"No, but the maids might."

Zuko paused with his hand on the doorknob. Oh.

Then, the solution to Katara's hypothetical problem hit him like the train in Ba Sing Se when it was running at top speed.

"They can be removed from the palace," he said proudly.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Well, that's a fantastic solution! Why didn't I think of that? You could just fire them and let them spread rumors all over the Fire Nation! Wouldn't it just be wonderful to have people thinking we're sleeping with each other when we're clearly not? Wouldn't it be great to have that sort of scandal surrounding your reign? You'd be known as Fire Lord Zuko: the Fire Lord who kept a waterbender around for the fantastic sex!"

Zuko smirked. "You think it would be fantastic?"

Katara threw her hands up in the air and let out and angry screech, storming past him and out the door. "I can protect myself, thank you very much!"

The smile on her face told Zuko that she wasn't really mad.

This is a CELEBRATION!

Whoa! Okay. So. With over 20,000 words (5,000 this chapter alone!), this is the longest story I have ever posted here on ffn! I've got nearly 4,000 hits, as well! So we're celebrating! During the course of this celebration (the last day will be my 17th birthday on September 10th) I will be trying to update more despite the fact that I am taking three AP courses and am in my final year of high school. I will also be writing a one-shot for my 95th reviewer and starting a short drabble series for my 100th reviewer. They'll be Zutara-centric and the winning reviewer can choose the topic. So review, people! Review like your lives depend upon it! Or, you know, like a one-shot and drabble series dedicated to you depend on it. Haha.

Matters of the Heart

MotH is my brand-new Avatar fic! It's a Zutara fic, and it's going to be amazing, so check it out! I think you'll really like it. I've only got the prologue posted right now, but the chapters are a lot longer than the ones for this story, so I need more time to update it. Both of these Avatar stories have captured my interest and sucked me into their vortexes. I can't escape. They are of equal importance to me, so they will both be updated. Neither story will be neglected.

Preview

Aang looked at Katara and Zuko. They looked entirely too close. Not just in the way they were standing, but in how they were acting, as well. Something was going on, and he was not entirely sure he wanted to know what it was.

"You guys wanted to talk to me?"

His friends exchanged a look that Aang did not fully understand. Zuko nodded toward the waterbender and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked at Aang, anxiety painting itself over her face.

"Aang…Zuko and I have something we need to tell you."

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
7. "Lovebug" by Jonas Brothers
8. "You Had Me from Hello" by Kenny Chesney
9. "A Little Bit Longer" by Jonas Brothers