Chapter 23

Morning

Katara woke up feeling incredibly warm and comfortable. She smiled snuggling her face into her pillow and a soft sigh escaped her as she rolled over onto her back. Her eyes fluttered open and she took a deep breath in. A breath which she nearly choke on as she suddenly sat violently upright. Gold sheets! Her sheets were red! This wasn't her room! Her first reaction was to panic, nearly falling out of bed as she scrambled to her feet and as far from the bed as possible. She was mid freak out when it occurred to her that she was still fully dressed in her outfit from the night before. Yes her hair was a mess and the cloth was slightly skewed off of her right shoulder but beyond that she was essentially untouched. 'What the heck am I doing in Zuko's room?' At what point had the kissing moved from her room to his and when exactly had she fallen asleep in his bed?!

Unfortunately fate was still against her and her time to ponder these things was cut short as the en suite bathroom door opened and in came Zuko with nothing but a gold towel wrapped loosely around his lean hips.

Katara's jaw hit the floor as a blush lit up her entire face. Katara couldn't stop her eyes from traveling down from his face, over his muscular chest and stomach, to finally stop on the towel.

"Are you naked beneath that towel?" She asked stupidly and then wanted to smack herself for asking it. If Kami had any kindness in his being he would open up the floor and swallow her whole, right now.

"Uh…yeah. I didn't think you'd be awake yet." Zuko blushed.

She was just frozen, staring at his body until his chuckling brought her eyes back up to his face.

"Don't you think you should put some clothes on?" She snapped, turning her blushing face away from him.

"I have every intention to put some clothes on. I just forgot you were in here, not that it really matters."

"What do you mean it doesn't matter? It matters a whole lot. You're prancing around practically naked."

"And?"

"I'm in the room!" She shouted.

"You'll probably be in the room every morning once we're married, Katara."

Her mouth snapped open but the shock of reminder of what lay ahead in her future robbed her of her speech. Her mouth snapped shut again as she covered her cheeks to try to hide her embarrassment.

"This is going to be so weird." She muttered to herself.

"It doesn't have to be." She nearly jumped out of her skin when his voice was so close to her. When had he walked over here?

"Don't stand that close to me without any clothes on." She shrieked, flinching away from him.

He just laughed at this. "Come here Katara."

"Absolutely not." She countered, shaking her head and holding her hands up as if to keep him at more of a distance.

"What are you so afraid of?"

"What? I'm not afraid. I'm just….I'm just…"

"You're just what?"

"Incredibly uncomfortable. So could you please put some clothes on?" She begged.

He shrugged. "If it'll make you feel better."

"Loads better."

"I suppose, you'll want to be leaving the room now."

"Why?"

"So that I can change…Unless you want me to change in front of you." He smirked, placing a hand on the bunched section of the towel that kept it from falling.

"No thank you!" She squeaked before quickly high tailing it out of his room and back into the safety of her own.

"The nerve of him. Stupid, arrogant, crazy, naked boy!" She grumbled, as she stomped into her own bathroom for a long hot bath. Akira and the girls were giving her knowing looks as she stormed in. She scowled at them, they probably thought they knew why she didn't come back last night but they were dead wrong. She felt so mortified at her reaction, he was going to be her husband, she was going to have to see him naked at some point and she'd freaked out just because he was in a towel. How on earth was she supposed to consummate her marriage when she couldn't even bear the sight of him in a towel without losing her mind.

She stripped herself and sank into the water contemplating suicide. Drowning looked far better than facing Zuko again anytime soon but tonight was the ball and seeing him was unavoidable.

- -

"Trust doesn't come easy, Azula. It must be earned through hard work and dedication. I can see you are dedicated to this but your temper could destroy you. A ball is a huge event to try to come in on, perhaps you should wait." Iroh advised.

"You said you believe me and my brother said I could come back when you deemed me ready. I will go to the ball. They will see how good I am." Azula snapped in response.

"And if no one believes you?"

"I'll make them believe me. I'll be so good it'll make them sick."

Iroh chuckled at this. "Then you have my permission to go. I will talk to Zuko. I'm sure he will be glad."

Azula turned away from him. It was one thing to be good, another to get swept up by your emotions. She had to hide the smile that came to her face at the thought of someone being glad she was coming. She had spent years striving to see pride in her father's eyes whenever she accomplished something and at times he was proud of her but the image was so fleeting she'd driven herself to madness to maintain that look in his eyes. Zuko wouldn't be that way with her, he wore his heart on his sleeve in most cases and she'd know when he was proud of her.

- -

"Today will be your first day as the official fiancée to the Fire Lord. How exciting is that?" Natsumi gushed as she brushed Katara's hair.

'More like insanely terrifying.' Katara thought. 'That also means in exactly 7 days, one week, I'll be getting married.'

"The ball will be wonderful. You'll be the most elegant and beautiful lady there, we promise." Akira said as she placed gold hair clips with an array of rubies and diamonds before Katara for her inspection. Katara didn't much care which one was chosen, she felt there were all too flamboyant for her. She was actually beginning to see the light in the whole idea of being seen and not heard, if she didn't have to talk she couldn't say anything stupid that the entire fire nation would remember her for. She hoped the ball would go well and that the nervous anticipation beforehand wouldn't kill her.

- -

(A/N: Noche de Estrellas is officially my hero. Thank you for correcting me when I miss important parts of the characters' cultures. I combined all your suggestions for the picture, btw, so thanks again.)

Aang and Haru inched slowly back from Sokka. He had carving tools and a maniac expression in his eye.

"This is going to be perfect!" He announced, sounding a lot like Toph when she was pretending to be melon lord.

Teo was the only one brave enough to inch close enough to peer around Sokka to see what he was working on. On the table lay a beautiful round creamy light green jade stone connected to twisted sheer strips of blue and green silk.

"That's pretty." Teo commented.

"You think? It's for Suki. I hope she likes it." Sokka paused to gaze off into space with a lovesick smile.

"Yeah, it's really pretty but what are you doing to it?" Teo continued.

"I am carving a boomerang and fan crisscrossing over water in front of a mountain, obviously." Sokka said, holding up his messy drawing that lay beside the piece of jade.

"Um…That's exactly what it looks like, yeah…" Teo tried to contain the laughter as he looked at Sokka's drawing.

"As long as it's from the heart, right?" Haru added, trying to hold in laughter as well now that he was leaning over Sokka's should gazing at the drawing as well.

"What? Doesn't that look like a boomerang, fan, mountain, over water to you?" Sokka cried.

"Um…" The three guys exchanged looks.

"Of course it does." Aang said as reassuringly as possible. "It's definitely a boomerang, fan, mountain, over water blob. Suki will love it."

Sokka narrowed his eyes trying to decide if he believed them or not. 'Well it is from the heart, so…' He decided to ignore them and turned back to his carving. Picking up his tools, he began chipping away at the jade stone trying to recreate his drawing.

He felt really official as he etched his picture into the stone. He hoped to finish it either tonight or tomorrow night. Zuko had promised when he finished he would help him melt some gold to pour into the grooves.

His friends inched away again as his delightfully crazed smile took over again and he threw himself into his work.

(A/N: Please keep reviewing, it really does boost moral and as always if you have any suggestions or scenes you want to see done, I will try to work them in if I can make them fit. So even if I don't ask for specific types of suggestions feel free to tell me what's on your mind, I'm writing this for your enjoyment as much as mine.)