A/N Here it is guys :D the big one, where I'm getting our brooding fire lord and our beautiful water bending master together :) have fun, favourite, follow and review xx

Chapter 7

The large stone doors of the council room slammed shut, and Zuko lowered the fire in the pit around his throne. Katara remained sat in her chair at the council table and waited for her friend to speak. It had been another day of accusations of Zuko's careless attitude to the safety of his throne, and Katara knew he would need her, but he had to calm down first. His head hit the stone floor in front of him with a resounding thud.

"Feel better?"

"No, I didn't get memory loss or concussion, so that whole meeting is still in my head"

"I know what will relieve you of some of this stress"

Zuko's mind wandered back to what had been said by Toph and Aang, and wondered what she meant by that. Katara laughed at the confusion on his face.

"Come on"

She rose from the table and Zuko came down from his throne, and they both headed out the stone doors and into the corridor. Zuko didn't know where he was going, but Katara stopped him as they reached his room; his mind was really wandering now, after all, he was a teenager.

"Change into something more comfortable and meet me outside my room"

Katara went off to her room, leaving the somewhat flustered Fire Lord gaping outside his own bedroom. He hurried inside and changed into a simple dark red tunic and trouser set, and his training shoes, and went off to Katara's apartment.

As he was Fire Lord, Katara's guards had no need to stop him as he approached the door and knocked. He got no reply and assumed she was still in a back room getting changed. He stood awkwardly between the guards, who towered above him. The guard to his right had a smirk upon his face. The Fire Lord wondered why he had hired such large guards for Katara; he guessed he just worried about her, despite the fact she was well equipped to care for herself.

The door behind him creaked open, and as Zuko turned, Katara stood before him in an outfit mirroring his own, except in dark blue.

"So, ready to have your fire doused?"

Zuko just gulped and followed her to the training arena that he had trained in since he was child. Over the last year, the friends had battled each other many times, and many times before then as enemies, and each knew the other's strengths and weaknesses, and could often anticipate the move the other would do before they did it, but something in Katara's face today told Zuko he was in for an intense fight. The servants had obviously overheard Katara telling Zuko to change, and had gathered a crowd in the arena to watch; the training fights between the Fire Lord and his best friend were a sight for anyone to see, and were often followed by gossip about the teenagers, and comments on how powerful they each were despite their ages. Zuko walked to the far side of the arena and took up a firebending stance, while Katara too took up a stance, and waited while the maids brought in cauldrons of water and surrounded the arena, before taking their seats with the other servants, and a handful of nobles who had been around the castle. Katara drew the water to herself and the fight began.

Zuko knew Katara's movements and power so well, and her his; each took shots and watched as the other dodged their moves. Sometimes one of the teenagers would wait just a second too long before dodging the move of the other, and within 10 minutes of the fight beginning, Katara's trousers had slight singe marks upon them, and Zuko had removed his shirt because he had been got with a jet of water. Katara was trying very hard not to be distracted by the well toned chest of the Fire Lord, which was glistening with sweat and water she had shot at him. Zuko too was trying not to be distracted by the beauty of Katara as she commanded her element around her, and her clothes clung to her curves as she spun...

Zuko was not as good as Katara at keeping himself from being distracted, and he drifted into a small day dream about lying on the grass of his gardens with Katara lying across him, as more than best friends, and when he snapped out of it, Katara had disappeared from in front of him. He looked up just in time to see a wall of water drop on top of him, and Katara jump on him, and knock him to the ground.

The crowd in the arena burst into applause, as Katara just lay on top of Zuko, holding herself above him with her arms on the ground. She looked deep into his golden eyes, and he into her blue ones, and each seemed to hold their breath.

"I win." She whispered before springing up from on top of him, and offering a hand to him.

He took her hand and stood up, and turned to the still applauding crowd;

"Thank you all for coming to watch our training, as you have seen, Master Katara is not a woman to mess with, and is quite capable of beating any person who crosses her path. I advise you all to be careful of what you do and say around her" the crowd laughed and clapped again, before beginning to disperse. Zuko breathed in and closed his eyes, and raised his body temperature, quickly drying off from the drenching he had just experienced. When he reopened his eyes, the crowd had gone and the arena was empty, with one exception.

Katara was pulling the water out of her hair and clothes and returning it to the cauldrons as Zuko closed the space between them. She looked up at him, a small stream of water at her fingertips;

"I think you let me win"

"A Fire Lord would never give up so easily" Katara flicked the water at his arm, where it instantly turned to steam.

"Well, you just stopped fighting, it's like you weren't even concentrating"

"I was thinking about how best to beat you" Zuko lied

"You completely glazed over; I passed right over the top of you to get to the ceiling"

Zuko blushed and dropped his head. Katara put a finger under his chin and raised his head again;

"Zuko, I..." She was cut off by Zuko's lips crashing down on hers. The shock quickly wore off and she deepened the kiss, running her hand that had been under his chin around his face, up his neck and into his hair. Zuko's hands came to rest of her hips, and her other hand joined up with her occupied hand on his neck. Katara relished in the warmth and closeness of the Fire Lord, and she had to resist the urge to run her hands down his bare chest.

The kiss broke, as each of the teens took a breath; Zuko looked down at Katara, who was looking up at him, with the biggest smile on her face. Neither of their hands moved.

"So, Toph and Aang got to you too?" Katara asked

"I think they just kicked my butt into actually doing something about it"

Katara laughed and leaned up on her toes to kiss him again. Before she could, a small cough from the doorway drew her attention. Kumi stood, eyes wide at the teenagers, as she held a letter.

"Master Katara, your brother has sent a letter"

Katara broke away from Zuko, and walked over to Kumi to retrieve the letter. Kumi handed it to her, and shot back through the doorway.

"How long until all the staff know?" Katara asked, while opening the letter

"Minutes" said Zuko