Thank you so much for the patience. I don't know what I was thinking. The original story line for this entire update was so much longer. But when I open this up I start typing and typing and typing and I just go and all of a sudden it's nine pages and I haven't even touched the main plot of what I've planned. So I had to play around with where I was going. You know what else I notice when I get in those typing trances? It's mainly Zuko. Zuko is TOO much fun to write about. It should be illegal. That's how much fun it is. I think it's Dylan who keeps reminding me to put more Kataang in it. So I'm thinking that in my head. MORE KATAANG, MORE KATAANG. And what comes out? More Zuko. It's easier to write maybe. I think I have Kataang in mind for the overall storyline but what comes out in text is Zuko. So I apologize. After all, this is suppose to be a Kataang fic. Like see here? We begin with Zuko…
xOx
"Zuko! You better get the hell out of bed! I can't believe you're making us all get up this early!" Sokka screamed down to the basement. "ZUKO!"
"What's your problem?" Zuko asked standing at the front door.
"There you are." Sokka rolled his eyes. "Katara we're leaving!" Sokka called to his sister's room.
"Wait, my hair isn't done yet!" she screeched.
"Look, Aang doesn't care, and Zuko has to be there in twenty minutes or Gyatso's going to go nuclear or something. We need to leave!" Sokka rolled his eyes.
"Why are you even coming again? I'm the only one who has to be there." Zuko reminded Sokka.
"Well, I've got a date with Suki today. I told her I'd pick her up in an hour or so. I'll give you three guesses why Katara's going." Sokka rolled his eyes.
"I knew why she was going. But why do you have to go there if you have to pick up Suki in an hour?" Zuko asked.
"It's easier to get to her house from Aang's and I thought I'd stop by and say hello to Aang anyway since I'm there. Y'know, do a little Aang-Katara spyin' to make sure they aren't up to anything." Sokka grinned.
"I can do that for you." Zuko promised.
"While Gyatso is working you like a he's a slave driver? That's impossible. One time I made a mess with water balloons all over their yard one summer and Gyatso got so mad at me I had to go pick up all the balloons and do extra yard work. Don't get me wrong. Aang's uncle is the nicest man you'll ever meet, but if you do anything to that house it's scary. He'll work you to the bone just to get it cleaned up." Sokka told him.
"Thanks for the encouragement." Zuko sighed in defeat.
"Okay, I'm ready!" Katara exclaimed as she flew down the stairs and out the door. "I'm waiting on you guys!"
"Yeah, yeah." Sokka rolled his eyes.
"So we're taking your car?" Zuko asked.
"Yeah, I need to leave after a bit to go pick up Suki. How am I supposed to do that if we take yours?" Sokka asked as he unlocked his car.
"But how are we supposed to get home?" Zuko asked.
"Walk home." Sokka shrugged.
"What?" Katara furrowed her brows.
"Have Gyatso give you guys a ride home." Sokka suggested. "Unless you're there until seven tonight."
"You're spending that much time with Suki?" Katara asked.
"I haven't spent that much time with her lately except for at school and at your party. She always has martial arts practice, I always have you people to babysit…I owe her." Sokka shrugged as he backed out of the driveway.
"Oh, come on Sokka you could have invited her any time to anything." Katara told him.
"Like I said she's been busy." Sokka replied. "So we're going to hang out today for a while. Maybe if we're nice we'll come pick you up."
"Whatever."
In another fifteen minutes they arrived at Aang and Gyatso's residence. Katara rang the doorbell and they could hear Appa bark happily as he ran to the door.
"I'm coming, Appa!" Aang shouted. "Hey, guys." Aang smiled sleepily as he opened the door.
"Good morning, Aang!" Katara lightly kissed him on the way in.
"I didn't know all of you guys were coming!" Aang yawned. "Uncle Gyatso's inside." Aang prompted Zuko.
"Of course, Aang! I wouldn't miss a chance to see you!" Katara grinned.
"Of course, she wouldn't." Sokka rolled his eyes.
"And what about you?" Aang asked Sokka.
"I have to pick up Suki in an hour, I thought I'd come along and say hi." Sokka grinned.
"He really just wants to supervise you and the girlfriend." Zuko told him as he ventured inside.
"Zuko, why'd you have to tell'em?!" Sokka hissed.
"I thought I'd give them a fair warning." Zuko shrugged.
"Like it's going to stop us." Katara shrugged.
"I'm so going to hurt you." Sokka growled.
"Zuko! In here! Now!" Gyatso demanded.
"Yes, sir." Zuko nodded.
The house was still a wreck from the party. Zuko was getting no help here.
"You will start in the room with the cake. Then you can move on to the kitchen and clean up dishes." Gyatso explained.
"Wait, I have to clean up the whole place? Not just the cake?" Zuko whined.
"Yes, that serves as a suitable punishment for me." Gyatso nodded. "Better get to work!" Gyatso handed him a bottle of cleaner and a rag. "This should get the frosting out of the carpet and furniture."
By now, Sokka had migrated to the kitchen to see what leftovers he could find. Pizza always seemed better cold on the second day.
Katara and Aang tried to sneak off to Aang's room however Sokka shouted at them to get back downstairs where Sokka could keep an eye on them and graze on the stale chips. So Aang and Katara sat at the kitchen table, which was still littered with party mess, as Sokka feasted like vulture.
Zuko scrubbed his hardest, but the weird brown frosting was a tough stain to get out. Of course, Aang's cat, Momo wasn't helping a whole lot. As Zuko would scrub Momo would chase the rag back and forth. And as Momo 'helped' Zuko, Appa wanted to be just as helpful. He jumped around the teenager scrubbing stains on the couch, and licking the side of his face.
"Stupid dog." Zuko growled.
x
Soon it was only Katara, Aang, and Zuko left in the house. Gyatso had to leave to do some errands and Zuko was told to continue working diligently because if he got back and no progress had been made he'd know no work had been done and Zuko's Uncle would be notified. Sokka had disappeared too, and left Katara and Aang with a stern warning that even though he wasn't there he'd still know everything that happened. Zuko promised Sokka he'd watch the two, but he was so absorbed in his work and making sure everything he did was perfect so Gyatso couldn't nail him for it, that Aang and Katara were able to sneak away without to much notice. As Zuko was getting close Gyatso returned home and inspected Zuko's work. He made Zuko go over a spot or two, but for the most part approved of Zuko's scrubbing and cleaning. It was only twelve thirty and Sokka wouldn't want to come pick up he or Katara for a long time. Besides, Zuko hated waiting for people anyway. He got out his cell phone and found Mai in his 'recent calls' list and called the number.
"What do you want Zuko?" Mai answered the phone.
"You wanna come pick me up?" Zuko asked.
"From jail?" Mai teased him.
"No, not from jail! I'm stuck at Aang's house cause I had to come clean up after that party and we had to take Sokka's car cause he had to meet his date in an hour and he had to come cause he had to spy on Katara and Aang or whatever."
"Why didn't you just take your car separately so you could drive home later?" Mai asked.
"And deny the free ride I was getting?" Zuko asked. "No! I'm wasn't paying for gas. It's all good." Zuko shrugged.
"Okay, okay. I'll come pick you up. Yes, I remember where it is." Mai told him.
"Okay, thanks, Mai. You're the best!" Zuko grinned.
"Whatever." Mai hung up.
Zuko decided he should go find the two he promised Sokka he'd baby-sit. First, he should check the little munchkin freshman's room. He should tell Katara he was getting a ride home too if she wanted it. Like that was going to happen. She'd live with Aang if she could.
"Yo, my bitch, where are you?" Zuko called. He opened the door to Aang's room to find Katara and Aang kissing passionately. "Hey, hey, hey! Break it up! I told your brother I'd be watching you, so cut it out! Jeez, is there tongue in there?" Zuko grimaced at the two. "I SAID STOP! Or I'll go get Old Man Gyatso!"
"I hate you." Katara eventually acknowledged Zuko's existence. Aang evilly glared at the older boy.
"I love you, too, my bitch. So, I'm getting a ride and she'll be here in five or ten minutes. So if you want to hitch a ride home with us than we're leaving then. If not you're on your own." Zuko explained.
"Of course, I'm staying here. You don't even have to ask." Katara scoffed.
"Okay, then see you whenever." Zuko left. He headed downstairs and told Gyatso he was departing and leaving Katara there. Zuko figured he'd head down the driveway to meet Mai down there so she didn't have to drive all the way up. Besides, it'd take at least five minutes to get down the drive. He stood at the bottom of the driveway for a couple of minutes, every now and again checking his watch. Eventually he saw Mai pull up in her ancient black dinged up car.
"What, did they kick you out?" Mai asked.
"Nah, I just didn't want you to drive all the way up there. Remember? His driveway is deadly." Zuko reminded her as he clicked his seatbelt.
"Yeah, yeah." Mai rolled her eyes.
"So, you want to go grab lunch or something? I'm starved." Zuko asked her.
"I can't. I'm babysitting Tom Tom today while my parents go to visit some family somewhere." Mai told him. Mai's family was just as rich as Zuko's was, but just like Zuko she was just as deprived as he was. Most of their extra funds went to Mai's baby brother Tom Tom who was a couple of years old. He was spoiled rotten and Mai was left with whatever was left. Like the car she was driving now. If it weren't for Tom Tom, Mai would have a much nicer car than the crappy car she drove now.
"I don't see the kid. Did you leave him home alone?" Zuko couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Mai just leaving a little toddler home alone to come pick him up.
"Of course not, Ty Lee is watching him. She ran over while I came to pick you up." Mai told him.
"I would have just left him home alone. I don't see how you put up with it. If I were you and Tom Tom was Azula I would have killed her a long time ago. In fact if I knew better when I was younger, I would have killed her while she was still little."
"And have to go to jail for murdering my younger brother? I really don't want the attention." Mai shrugged.
"And instead put up with shit?" Zuko demanded.
"Zuko it doesn't matter. I turn here, right?"
"No, you turn left."
"Yeah, but I turn, yes?"
"Yes."
"So are we still on for Sunday…tomorrow?" Mai asked.
"Oh, yeah. I really haven't asked my Uncle but he never minds when I show up. And he won't mind if you come either. Maybe I'll see if Sokka, Aang and Katara want to come. If you don't mind. They probably don't want to come anyway. They all hate me." Zuko joked.
"Oh, Zuko. They do not hate you. They live with you for now anyway." Mai rolled her eyes. "And I don't mind, but you should probably warn your uncle if you're going to bring all those people over."
"I'll call him tonight, regardless of what's going on." Zuko shrugged. "That house there." Zuko pointed.
"Alright," Mai pulled up to the side of the street. "Let me know what's going on tomorrow."
"I'll call you tonight!" Zuko jumped out of the car. He came around to the other side of the car and kissed Mai through the open window.
"See you."
x
"KATARA, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?" Sokka shouted into the phone as he paced up and down in the living room.
"Dude, she's at Aang's still." Zuko explained, surfacing from digging through the fridge looking for a drink to go with the bag of chips in his hand.
"You could have told me that!" Sokka shouted at Zuko. "Y'know when I was asking where she was and you weren't responding—?"
"My mouth was full!" Zuko exclaimed as he continued shoving chips in his mouth.
"Okay, okay, Katara! Just get home soon! A HALF AN HOUR THAT'S ALL I'M GIVING YOU. AND IF YOU'RE NOT HOME BY THEN I'M COMING UP THERE AND DRAGGING YOU HOME. NO BUTS." Sokka angrily hung up the phone.
"Why are you not there?" Sokka scolded Zuko as if he were his parent.
"Because it was boring and I was done with the work."
"I told you to watch Katara and Aang."
"Look, I got a ride—"
"I meant that if you got a ride from someone else, Katara had to come with you. I didn't want her there alone!"
"She wasn't alone! Gyatso was there."
"Gyatso is clueless to all that goes on between the two!"
"Whatever it's not like she's missing or murdered, it's just Aang right?" Zuko asked.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND."
"Whatever, whatever."
"So are you guys doing anything tomorrow?" Zuko asked.
"No, why? Are you going to drag us into one of your crazy ideas or something? I don't want to end up in jail." Sokka eyed Zuko carefully.
"Why does eve—? Never mind. I'm going to my uncle's house I was wondering if you guys wanted to come or something."
"Wait, you're inviting us to go with you to do something?" Sokka asked incredulously.
"Yeah, why not?" Zuko asked. "I was just asking if you wanted something to do. My uncle loves—"
"I just thought you thought we were annoying little pests."
"I live with you don't I?"
"And that's why I thought you thought that."
"Well, I could have gone and lived somewhere else."
"Like where?" Sokka interrogated.
"Like Mai's." Zuko replied smartly.
"You think her strict parents would let you?" Sokka asked.
"Okay, okay." Zuko scratched his head. "Well, I could have gone and gotten my own place and gotten a job for rent."
They both looked at each other for a brief moment and then started to laugh.
"You. Working." Sokka wiped away a tear.
The next moment the door swung open. And Katara appeared as she waved goodbye to Aang as their car disappeared.
"That was fast." Sokka remarked.
"I told you I was already driving home with Aang and Gyatso!" Katara shouted at him. "I can't believe you had to act like that!"
"Oi, why don't you go call Aang and ask him what he's doing tomorrow!" Zuko told her.
"Why?" both siblings asked.
"You already know." Zuko told Sokka.
"She just saw him!"
"I'm going to my Uncle's and I was wondering if you guy's wanted to go."
"Okay!" Katara exclaimed. "Sounds like fun!" Katara headed towards the kitchen to see what there was to eat.
"What about blind girl next door?" Zuko asked Sokka.
"You mean Toph?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah, the Gay Thongs."
"Dude…" Sokka smacked his forehead. "They aren't going to let her out of the house."
"They let her out all the other times I see her." Zuko shrugged.
"That's because she sneaks out. The last time you dragged her from the premise and you got arrested or she sprained her ankle." Sokka explained.
"Whatever. Just call her and tell her what's going on." Zuko told him. "Where's your cell?" Zuko asked.
"I ate it." Sokka rolled his eyes.
"Seriously! Call her! We're going to make a party out of tomorrow!"
"Does your Uncle know you're bringing that many people? Shouldn't you call him first?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah, yeah." Zuko pulled out his cell phone. He found his uncle's number and hit the dial button. It rang only twice.
"Hello!" his uncle's cheery voice sang.
"Hey, Uncle Iroh. It's Zuko."
"Zuko! When are you going to visit your old Uncle? It's been a while!"
"I was hoping to come over tomorrow."
"You're welcome to come over whenever you want." Iroh told him.
"Well, I was hoping to bring some friends too." Zuko put the idea in front of his Uncle.
"Excellent! Should I get out the big tea pot?"
"The biggest."
"Wonderful! I will see you tomorrow then. What time tomorrow should I be expecting you?"
"Sometime. I don't know. I'll call you when we are headed that way since it takes at least an hour." Zuko replies.
"I'll be waiting for your call!"
"See you tomorrow, Uncle."
"So he's cool with it?" Sokka asked as Zuko hung up the phone.
"Yeah, I knew he would be." Zuko shrugged. "Now give me Toph's number!"
"Zuko! You can't do that! Her parents really would get a restraining order." Sokka reminded him.
"Just to let you know I talked to Toph the other night. Her parents are out of town." Katara reminded the two boys.
"What is with people and being out of town this weekend? Mai's parents are out of town today too. Is there some freak-a-zoid parent convention somewhere?" Zuko rolled his eyes.
"Okay, her parents are out of town. But that always goes wrong! What if her parents come home early?" Sokka asked.
"Sokka, you're never a worry wart. Chill out. She said they're both not coming back for another week." Katara told them.
"So they left their little precious blind daughter at home alone for a week?" Sokka asked.
"Of course not. They have a family friend over. She's like ancient though. Toph said she could tell the old lady she was going to the bathroom and be gone for two days and she wouldn't notice." Katara explained.
"Still it doesn't sound like a good idea." Sokka told them, skeptical.
"Whatever, I'm still gonna tell her we're going." Zuko shrugged. "Katara, what's her number?"
"Hang on. It's right here. Just use my cell phone." Katara pulled out her cell phone. She found the number, selected it and dialed it before handing it to Zuko.
"Yeah, what's up?" Toph's bored voice picked up.
"Toph, it's Zuko. Tomorrow we're going to my Uncle's house."
"Sweet! Sounds like fun!"
"Rumor has it that you have a clueless old lady watching you and that you may be able to come with us."
"Hell yeah!"
"TOPH DON'T LISTEN THEY ARE BAD PEOPLE WITH BAD INFLUENCES!" Sokka shouted into the phone.
"Since when is Sokka a goody-two shoes?" Toph asked.
"He's been like that since we've been discussing this." Zuko replied. "We'll come pick you up tomorrow and call you beforehand to warn you were coming over."
"Okay!" Toph exclaimed.
"See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, bye."
"Easy as cake!" Zuko declared.
"Yeah, yeah." Sokka rolled his eyes. "Just make sure I have no part of this when you all get in major trouble."
"Katara! Get up!" Sokka shouted.
x
"KATARA GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BED. WE ARE GOING TO BE LATE." Zuko yelled from downstairs.
"Wow, doesn't this seem familiar? Dude, you didn't even tell your Uncle a time." Sokka shrugged as he left his sisters room.
"Yes, but we still have to go pick up Mai and Aang and get Toph out of her prison. Plus Katara time THAT'S ALMOST LUNCH TIME. I WANT TO BE THERE BY LUNCH TIME." Zuko shouted.
"Okay, okay." Sokka shrugged.
"I know how to get her out of bed." Zuko grinned.
"Katara! Aang decided to meet us here. He's downstairs! He came early! Just for you! He has a big kiss waiting for you!" Zuko called into the room.
"Aang?" Katara called as she jumped out of bed.
"Katara, he was joking." Sokka stopped her before her heart was completely ripped in two.
"YOU SON OF A—"
"Katara, Katara…please. Stop! Get out of bed. Get dressed. Meet us downstairs. We're going over to Toph's house while you're getting ready. Okay?" Sokka told her.
"Okay." Katara rubbed her eyes and stretched.
"Alright, Katara's getting ready. Let's go over to Toph's and see if we can get her out." Sokka suggested. They walked out the front door and cut across the front yard and across to Toph's perfectly manicured lawn. The two teenage boys approached the front door and rung the doorbell.
"Okay, so we're going to tell the lady that we're here to…uhm…" Sokka scratched his head. Toph answered the door.
"Hey, let's go." Toph was already out the door.
"Okay…" Zuko shrugged. "That was easy."
"HEY, I'M GOING OUT FOR A WALK." Toph yelled.
"Are you sure you don't want to look at more pictures of my Miyuki?" an old woman's voice called from inside the house.
"No, that's okay!" Toph called as she slammed the door.
"Miyuki?" Sokka asked.
"Her cat. She has a ton of them. Miyuki's her favorite. And she smells like cabbage. Rotten cabbage. She runs some pharmacy or apothecary something or other downtown."
"A walk?" Zuko asked.
"She has no sense of time. When I get back she'll have thought that I was gone for five minutes."
"Okay, let's go see if Katara's ready." Sokka told the two.
x
"Let's pick up Aang! Please!" Katara begged from the back seat.
"Katara for the last time, Mai is on the way to Aang's house. And then we'll go pick up your pretty little boyfriend."
Katara folded her arms.
"Did you call Aang pretty?" Katara asked confused.
"Yeah," Zuko shrugged. "Did you want me to call him ugly?"
"You just made it sound like…" Katara furrowed her brows. Sokka turned up the radio, which was currently on a commercial break.
"YOU CAN GET ZERO PERCENT INTREST ON ANY USED CARS!" it announced.
"Sokka turn it down!" Zuko yelled.
"I am just so sick of hearing you and Katara argue over the stupidest things." Sokka growled.
"Okay, then. You go back you your nice little used car ads." Zuko turned the radio back up. They got to Mai's in another five minutes.
Mai came out immediately and jumped in the back of the car.
"Let's get out of this shithole." Mai growled.
"Not having a good day Mai?" Zuko asked.
"No!" Mai exclaimed as she clicked her seatbelt. "Just go."
"What's up?" Zuko asked.
"My parents found out I left TomTom alone for five minutes yesterday with Ty Lee to come pick you up and they flipped. I wasn't sure if I'd be alive in time for you to get here."
"Well, it looks like its Zuko to the rescue." Zuko grinned.
After picking up Aang, and shoving all six people into Zuko's car (the front seat had a small seat in the middle with a lap belt just big enough for Aang to fit) they headed off for Zuko's uncle's house. They switched everyone around at Aang's house so now everyone fit with Zuko in the driver's seat, Mai in the passenger seat and Aang in the middle. In the back Toph sat in between Sokka and Katara. Zuko kept concentrated on the road in front of him as Katara and Sokka argued in the back. The topic of conversation went from getting in trouble for yet again kidnapping Toph, to who did the dishes last night. Zuko continued to use Sokka's tactic to avoid arguments and turn up the radio. But soon the radio got so loud it was close to blasting out the car speakers and at stoplights they were getting stern looks.
"ZUKO! IT ISN'T WORKING!" Mai shouted.
"WHAT?!" Zuko yelled.
"IT ISN'T WORKING! TURN IT DOWN!"
"I CAN'T HEAR—"
Aang turned the radio down tired of being screamed at on both sides.
"—YOU." Zuko finished his statement, which sounded extremely loud now that the radio was off.
"God, Zuko why do you have to yell so much?" Katara laughed.
"I swear I'm going to kick you all out on the side of the road."
"Why'd you even invite us if you didn't want us?" Toph asked.
"Well, I thought we'd all be good little boys and girls and behave ourselves." Zuko grinded his teeth as his knuckles grew white on the wheel.
"Alright, alright. Let's all relax." Aang turned up the radio to midlevel. It was pretty quiet until they reached Uncle Iroh's a little while later.
"Come on," Zuko hissed as he got out of the car and didn't wait for the rest of the crowd to pile out of the car. He ran up to the door and rang the doorbell. Mai was the only one who reached Zuko before Iroh opened the door.
"Zuko! Mai! How nice of you to come by! I thought you said you were brining more people Zuko…" Iroh scratched his head.
"I did. They're just slow!" Zuko screamed at the four still arguing as they climbed out of the car and grabbed their things.
"You could wait, Zuko!" Katara screamed as she hurried up to the house.
"Well, come in, come in." Iroh smiled as he welcomed him into his front room and poured tea for them as they all sat down and thanked him for the tea.
"Okay, so Uncle let me take care of all the introductions here. The bitchy one here—"
"Zuko, don't use that language towards a pleasant young lady!" Iroh scolded him.
"Whatever. She's Katara. Her boyfriend is my little freshman buddy, Aang. That's Sokka, Katara's his sister. And then there's Toph. She's a little blind girl and so she's cool." Zuko shrugged.
"Being blind constitutes for being cool?" Toph asked.
"Uhm, you used a word larger than two syllables." Zuko scolded Toph.
"Technically, syllables is a word larger than two syllables." Toph reminded him.
"Syll-ables." Zuko folded his arms.
"Syll-ab-les." Toph argued.
"Well, I'd love to sit around and talk about how many syllables are in syllables but don't we have anything better to do?" Mai asked.
"Uncle, what are we doing?" Zuko asked.
"Currently you are sitting in my front room drinking tea." Iroh replied.
"No, I mean do we have plans? Y'know to entertain us?" Zuko asked.
"You're the one who just called your uncle on a whim and told him you were bringing a herd of people!" Katara exclaimed.
"A herd? You refer to us as a herd?" Sokka asked.
"Do you prefer a pack? Pride? A gaggle?" Katara asked.
"Gaggle?" Aang giggled.
"Like a gaggle of geese?" Katara tried to explain.
"Well, we aren't animals." Zuko groaned.
"I suppose we could go mini-golfing at that place that's five minutes away." Iroh suggested.
"Uncle, we did that last time I visited! Remember with Mai and I got a hole in one on the windmill hole and the snow cones?" Zuko tried to describe to his Uncle. Iroh scratched his head.
"That's right," Iroh finally nodded. "But Katara, Aang, Sokka and Toph haven't gone with us yet."
"You did say you enjoy mini golfing, Zuko." Katara prompted Zuko.
"I said I enjoy the snow cones." Zuko corrected. "You really want to go mini-golfing?"
"Come on it'll be fun!" Aang grinned as he excitedly grabbed Katara's hand.
"You'll enjoy it even though that's what we did last time, Zuko." Mai comforted him.
"Alright, mini-golfing it is." Zuko sighed.