A/N: BEWARE! THIS WILL BE RATED "M" FOR MATURE!

"It's pricey, but I really do like it." Sokka drug out his words as he examined the expensive bag in front of him.

"Then you should get it, you deserve something nice." Katara assured, placing a hand gently onto her brothers shoulder.

"I do, don't I?" He asked, leaning in to take a closer look at the bag. "Plus, I never did get that bag I wanted from when we were in that sea port village... but, it's just so expensive." He breathed out, placing his hands on his hips as he tried to determine whether or not he wanted it that bad.

Zuko groaned and rolled his eyes in annoyance. He hated shopping and between Sokka and Iroh, they had stopped at nearly every store in the market of Gaoling whether they had intended on buying something or not. He wasn't feeling well and was very irritable. He was exhausted, despite it being rather early in the day, and his mouth was incredibly dry. All he wanted to do was lay on a nice, big, plush mattress with a nice, big picture of water next to him. Not stand here and swoon over a bunch of useless junk they didn't even need or plan to buy. They had enough bags to carry all their belongs perfectly, why buy another? But whatever.

"Here," He mumbled, digging out a gold piece from his pocket.

Sokka gasped and stared wide-eyed at the coin Zuko held out to him in the palm of his hand. "You've had gold pieces!" He asked, pointing to the firebender in front of him. "All this time!"

"Just get the stupid bag so we can get out of here!" He growled out, tossing the coin up into the air for the Water Tribe boy to catch as he turned away, making his way into the street beside his uncle.

"Pst, pst, hey, old man." A random, man asked, tapping Iroh on the shoulder to get his attention. "You like earthbending?" He asked, leaning over towards Iroh and Zuko to show them a pair of fliers he held in his hand.

"Well, sure." Iroh stated, smiling, interested in what the man was going to offer him.

"Uncle," Zuko scolded slowly. This was probably just going to be some scam the man was trying to pull in order to get some easy money.

"Check out Master Yu's Earthbending Academy." Iroh smiled and plucked the pieces of paper from the man's hand, examining the information they held. The man smiled and turned, leaving the group alone.

"We're not earthbenders," Zuko growled, annoyed by how many people were constantly bumping into him in the busy market streets.

"No, but the Avatar is." Iroh smiled, holding a flier out to the young monk. "There's a coupon on the back, the first lesson is free."

"This could be the teacher Aang's been looking for, Zuko." Katara suggested.

Zuko groaned, he was annoyed and irritated, but he of course went with them as they went to go check out this 'Master Yu's Earthbending Academy'.

!

"Yeah," Aang sighed as he walked out of the front gate of the school. "That's not the guy." He said, tilting his head in attempt to remove the sand that had gotten stuck inside his ears, before turning as he listened in on a conversation between two boys he had seen in the previous training session. They spoke of something called an 'Earth Rumble' and apparently it was the sixth one, with some of the best earthbenders in the world attending. A perfect place to look for someone who waits and listens to the earth before striking.

"Excuse me!" Aang called after the two boys, asking where the tournament was going to be held, only to be shot down with a sour joke.

"It's on the island of none ya, none ya business!" One of them teased before turning and walking away, his friend following not far behind with a large smirk on his face.

"Oh, I gotta remember that one!" Sokka exclaimed through his laughter, having thought the word play was rather funny, even if it had been used against Aang. As Katara assured the young monk that she would handle it for him and ran after the boys, Zuko turned towards Sokka, figuring he'd try to get on better terms with his girlfriend's brother by taking a shot at amusing him with a couple of jokes he had managed to remember from a couple of old Fire Nation friends he had in school. The annoyed firebender could use a good laugh himself as well, honestly.

"Sokka," Zuko piped up, getting his attention. "What do you call a cow hippo that only has two legs?"

Sokka composed himself, furrowing his brow and crossing his arms over his chest as he looked over to the young firebender questioningly. "I dunno," He shrugged. "What?" He asked dully, unimpressed with Zuko.

"Lean beef."

"Ha!" The warrior threw his head back and laughed. Zuko allowed the corners of his lips to curl upwards a tiny bit. 'Lighten up', his uncles voice rang in his ears.

"What do you call a cow hippo with no legs?"

"I dunno," Sokka admitted through his laughter, "Tell me." He snickered, ready to hear Zuko's answer.

"Ground beef." As Zuko smirked fully, watching as Sokka kneeled over laughing, Aang narrowed his eyes.

Sure it was funny, but with his strong love for animals, he didn't find it just as amusing as Sokka had. Zuko seemed to noticed this and thought of another joke he was sure everyone except Sokka would find funny.

"Sokka," He called, trying to get him to stop laughing for a second. Sokka looked up to the firebender and tried to hold back his laughter as he waited for the next joke. "Someone told me you looked like an owl." Knowing the joke and knowing how Sokka would react to it, Aang let out a snort before covering his mouth in attempt to hide his laughter. Sokka furrowed his brow and stood up straight, tilting his head at the young firebender before him.

"Who?" He asked seriously, not realizing the trap Zuko had set up for him. He caught the sound of a snicker behind him and turned towards Aang. "Who said that?" The monk pressed his hand harder up against his mouth, desperately trying not to let Sokka see him laugh. Sokka turned back around, hearing a small chuckle escaping from Iroh. "What? I don't get it." Sokka paused, shifting his weight onto one leg as he ran a hand over his mouth, wondering who Zuko would have heard that from.

Katara came running back towards them, happy she had managed to get the information she needed from the two jerks who had teased Aang. Her smile quickly faded, noticed both Iroh and Aang holding back laughter, Zuko smirking as Sokka stood still, obviously deep in thought, a confusing situation to walk into. "What's going on?" She asked, looking up towards Zuko.

"Zuko told me that someone said I looked like an owl," Sokka informed, turning towards his sister, only to see her bite her lip in attempt to hold back a laugh. Still not getting it, he became frustrated and leaned in towards his sister as he pointed towards her. "Who said that? Was it you?" Katara covered her mouth and shook her head. "Who!" Her brother cried out, strangling the air. "Who said that!"

"Don't worry about it, Sokka. Come on," She said, turning as she motioned for them to follow her. "We're going to Earth Rumble Six."

!

"Ugh," Zuko scoffed and rolled his eyes after watching Xin Fu lift himself up on a pillar of earth only to lower himself back down again. "What was the point of that?" He could already tell this wasn't going to be enjoyable.

After walking around aimlessly until the Earth Rumble, he was now completely and utterly annoyed, his head absolutely throbbing in pain. He was angry with everyone and then he'd turn around and get angry at himself for being so mad at everyone else for what seemed to be no reason. He hated becoming trapped in vicious cycles like this, and that just made him even more mad.

"Round one, The Boulder vs. The Big, Bad Hippo!" Xin Fu yelled out to the crowed.

"Eh," Katara wrinkled her nose at the sight of The Boulder. "You can work out all you want, Zuko," She started, realizing that he had been doing a lot of body exercises every chance he got to gain the muscle he had lost, and to make up for not being able to practice firebending out in the open. "But please don't get all gaudy like him." Zuko raised his brow at her.

They had fallen into their relationship due to their mental need of companionship from when they were prisoners. He hadn't even thought about their appearances. Apparently, Katara wasn't attracted to guys with ridiculously large muscles. He'd keep that in mind to keep her happy, but he would continue exercising for muscle until he felt secure again, and after being thrown around like a rag-doll and being man handled in the way he had, he was sure it'd be a while until he was satisfied with his amount of brute strength.

He took his attention from her and returned it to the fight in front of him. He watched as The Boulder nearly fell out of the ring, but earthbended himself a slab of rock to catch himself, then use the same slab against The Hippo, throwing it towards his back.

Katara sighed and turned, messing with her nails in a bored manor. "This is just going to be a bunch of guys throwing rocks at each other, isn't it?"

"That's what I paid for!" Sokka exclaimed, thrilled by the match.

"Great," Zuko huffed, rolling his eyes. His uncle had gotten lucky, he had managed to escape the teens, insisting that he'd be far more comfortable just taking a seat somewhere, having a nice, calming cup of tea. He should have gone with him, he didn't find these types of things to be very entertaining, even watching Agni Kai's in the Fire Nation hadn't been amusing for him. This was just making him even more annoyed than he already was.

Zuko shifted and slouched, resting his cheek upon his fist as he used his other hand to toy with Katara's hair, completely uninterested in the earthbenders in the ring. His uncle's voice rang out in his mind, telling him that he should be watching carefully, looking for new styles of fighting to use against unsuspecting enemies.

His main enemy was now Azula, a firebender. If he were to ever have to fight her, she'd know he was a firebender and would expect him to fight in such a way and easily out-do him as she always had. But if he fought in a different style, he'd catch her off guard and finally, for once in his life have an upper hand against her.

So he turned towards the ring, dropping his hand from Katara's hair to put all focus on carefully watching the earthbenders fight.

He watched as the champion, a young girl going by the stage name 'The Blind Bandit' taunted Aang, asking the crowd if they really wanted to watch two little girls fight. Wait, Aang? Zuko perked up, stretching his neck to get a better look, making sure it was really him. When had he gotten down there? What was he doing?

"What is he doing?" He asked to no one in particular, but knew Katara would answer him, Sokka being totally engulfed in the excitement of the match.

"Weren't you paying attention, Zuko? She waits and listens, Aang thinks she's the one who's supposed to teach him earthbending."

"So he's fighting her?"

"To try and see if he can talk to her." Zuko hummed and watched as Aang sent a strong gust of wind towards a hunk of rock the girl had sent his way, knocking the stone and the girl out of the ring. Great way to get someone to want to speak with you, much less teach you earthbending, showing her up like that, making her look like a fool in front of everyone.

'Idiot', Zuko thought.

Aang made his way back up them and informed that she hadn't spoken to him. He'd figure that tomorrow, they'd try to find out more about this girl.

!

"Come on, Zuko," Katara tugged on his arm in attempt to pull him away from the crowd as they left the arena. "It's not too late, let's go have a nice dinner together."

"No." He said, pulling his arm out of her grasp. Katara's face and shoulder's fell, an expression of hurt plastered onto her face and poured into her blue eyes.

"Why not?" She whined, giving him puppy polar-bear dog eyes as she wrapped her arms around his right one, resting her cheek onto his shoulder.

"Because I don't want to?" He scoffed and rolled his eyes, pulling away from her again as he began making his way towards the group, who were now a good set of paces in front of them, disappearing into the crowd.

She pouted and stomped, grabbing him by his upper arm before he got too far away. "Don't you want to spend time with me?" She hissed, walking fast to be able to stand in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

"I have been! All day!" The firebender snarled and side-stepped in attempt to go around her, but of course, she stepped in front of him, stopping him again.

"What is with you?" She asked, getting on her tip-toes to make him focus on her, and not the Gaang up ahead. He narrowed his eyes at her and watched as she stood back down, tilting her head at him. "Time with me, just me, Zuko." She whined, taking both of his hands and lacing their fingers together.

Zuko huffed and glared down at her. He shouldn't have to be putting up with this. He wouldn't be if he had chosen to reveal himself and the Avatar to his sister. He had the chance. He didn't take it. Why didn't he take it? Now he'd have to run all over the Earth, run from the Fire Nation, hide, sleep on the dirt, wonder when his next shower would be, put up with crowds of people, put up with Aang and Sokka both being dunces. Things couldn't get much worse than this -

Actually! Another voice scolded, asking if he had really rather be on ship back home with Mai. He imagined himself telling her what he had been through and her laughing or making a cruel joke as she usually did. She had an odd way of trying to comfort people, she always had. Would really be able to bear that? Would he be able to handle that after when he was put through?

No.

He needed someone who had much more compassion and understanding for what people have gone through and their feelings. Someone like Katara, the girl who was standing right in front him. This girl understood completely what he had gone through on that ship, she had been there with him herself. Why could he not get that through his thick skull? He had made the right choice, damn it, now why didn't he feel like it?

He had let Mai go a long time ago, coming to terms with the fact that they just weren't going to work out a long time ago. But had he honestly let go of The Fire Nation?

No.

That was his country, his home, his blood. He would never be able to let it go. He wanted the throne badly. But, in a different way than before. He wanted to over throw his father and surpass him, show him up. Prove to him that he was not a fool, that he was not weak. Now, if he would just accept the way he would have to do it, it'd be fine!

If he had returned to the Fire Nation now, he'd have sit next his father's side, aiding him in defeating the rest of the Earth Kingdom. Hadn't that been what had gotten him banished in the first place? He had tried to aid his father and his people, but was rejected horribly. He had gotten into this for trying to save lives, and he'd get out of this by trying to do the same thing again.

He had made the right choice. He was doing this the right way, everything would fine, he had made the right choice.

'Get that through your head, Zuko.' Just by telling himself that he could feel a pressure pushing up against his brain. A start on another terrible headache he'd have to deal with.

"I just," He started slowly, carefully choosing his words. "Don't feel like it. I'm tired." He gave her a small, fake smile and attempted to go around her again, only to feel her pull on him.

"But I haven't seen you eat anything all day," She whined, sliding a hand up his chest to rest it gently on his shoulder.

"I'm not hungry," He shrugged. She narrowed her eyes and wrinkled her nose.

"Zuko," She hissed. "I don't care if you're hungry or not," He sighed, knowing what she was going to say. "You need to eat." As she said it he mocked her, mouthing the words as they sounded from her lips. She snarled at him and glared, letting him silently know that he was in trouble. He shrugged her off with one shoulder and side-stepped once again, walking away from her. Just as his fingers were pulling out of hers, she proposed a new idea to him. "We could find a nice place to stay alone for the night afterwords," She suggested in a sing-song voice, giving him a smirk after saying it.

"No." Katara huffed and ran her fingers through her hair, frustrated with the fact her bait hadn't caught him. She rolled her eyes at him even if he couldn't see and followed him back to their camp, where the others had already began settling down for the night.

!

The next day, they made their way back to to Academy, in search of anyone who knew more about the Blind Bandit. The two young boys they had ran into the day before were there and informed that she was a mystery, that she would just show up to fight and then she'd disappear. No one knew who she really was or where she went after a match.

Katara suspected that they had been lying, but they assured her that they weren't. Aang then realized that they were asking about the wrong person. 'The Blind Bandit' was the girls stage name, the one she fought with, a cover up to hide her true identity. He informed the two boys that in his vision he had at the Foggy Swamp was that of a girl in a fancy dress with a flying boar at her side. The boys recognized the flying boar as the symbol of the Bei Fong family, the richest people in town, possibly the whole world, according to the two boys. But apparently, they hadn't had a daughter.

"It's worth a shot!" Aang exclaimed before thanking the boys as he turned, the group following not far behind.

!

The girls father introduced himself and his family, allowing the group to call him by his first name, Lao. He motioned over to his wife, Poppy, before introducing his daughter, Toph, before asking the Avatar his and his friends names.

"Well, I'm Aang, and this Sokka, and Katara, my waterbending teacher, and uhh..." Aang drifted off, not knowing how to introduce Iroh and Zuko, unsure if they wanted people knowing they were firebenders or not.

"I'm...Lee," Zuko lied, giving Lao a big, cheesy smile."And this is my uncle...Mushi... I'm training the Avatar in, uh, swordsmanship, just in case." Iroh narrowed his eyes at his nephew.

"Yes, but Lee was named after his father, so we just call him Junior." Zuko groaned as both Katara and Sokka snickered at him.

"I see," Lao said dimly, uninterested in them. He turned back to Aang, asking how long he thought the war would last. The young Avatar smirked, and stated he'd like to have it ended by the end of the summer, but he wouldn't be able to unless he had found an earthbending teacher, he said, grinning over to the young earthbender sitting on the opposite side of the table to him. "Master Yu is the best earthbending teacher around, he's been teaching Toph ever since she was very little." Lao informed, motioning over to Yu, who sat at the end of the table, next to Poppy.

"Then she must be a great earthbender," Everyone watched as an odd series of events occurred, ending with Toph and Aang both standing, yelling at one another, asking what the other's problem was.

"Perhaps we should move to the living from dessert, then?" Poppy proposed calmly.

!

"Relax!" Toph demanded as she leaned against the open door way after she had startled Aang. "Look, I'm sorry about dinner. Let's call a truce?" She asked kindly, waiting for Aang to agree. At his silence, she turned and walked away.

Zuko snarled and rolled his eyes at Aang. "Go follow her, idiot." He growled at him through clinched teeth. "See what she wants." He said, pushing Aang towards the door way. 'Yes,' He thought. 'More time with her, less with Katara.' Zuko smirked at his working plan and wrapped an arm Katara's waist, pulling her out of her sitting position and up, close to him.

Sokka groaned and rolled his eyes. Then, he let out a cry of disgust once catching the sight of the firebender pulling his baby sister into a kiss. "You know," He started, interrupting them. "I'm still trying accept this whole... thing! You've got going on with him," He grumbled, glaring over at Zuko. "And you're not making it any easier, giving me the oogies all the time!" He exclaimed, waving his arms out by his sides.

"Oogies?" Katara asked, furrowing her brow at her brother's choice of words.

"I'm going to go find uncle," Zuko growled, releasing Katara to go search for his uncle.

"Yes," Sokka informed, crossing his arms over his chest as he shifted his weight onto one leg. "Oogies. Whenever you and him...ugh!" Sokka stuck his tongue out and wrinkled his nose, grossed out at the thought of them kissing. "Oogies all over!" He exclaimed, waving his arms around, motioning towards his own body.

Katara wrinkled her nose back at her brother and crossed her arms, shifting her weight onto one leg, mimicking him. "Shut it, Sokka. I can kiss Zuko whenever I want," She hissed, glaring up at him, before allowing a grin to spread across her face, thinking of just what to say to get under his skin. "And he can kiss me whenever he wants!" She exclaimed, smiling in triumph at the sight of pure shock and utter disgust on her big brother's face. She 'hmph'ed and turned on her heel, strutting out of the door way in search of the two firebenders.

Sokka groaned and covered his mouth as he leaned over, having trouble keeping his food down.

!

"We're being ambushed!" Toph yelled out, warning Aang as he grabbed him by the arm, leading him back towards her house. Suddenly, The Gopher tunnels around them, bringing to a halt long enough for The Hippo to drop two metal cages over them before jumping onto them, stomping on them a couple of times.

"I think you kids owe me some money." Xin Fu growled.

!

" - Rosemary should help with hair growth," Iroh informed Katara before taking a sip of tea. Her hair hair barely grown since she had cut it, while Zuko now had a full head of hair. She wanted her long hair back desperately, and turned to Iroh for advice on which kind of tea she should drink to help it grow.

"Guys!" Sokka yelled, busting into the small sitting room they were in. "Did you guys hear all that?" He asked, taking a step into the room, leaning over to them.

"What noise?" Katara asked.

"I heard loud banging from outside! Aang and that girl are out there!"

"We'd better go check it out," Zuko sighed, reluctantly pushing himself off the plush pillows he had been laying on. He finally beginning to calm down. He still didn't feel exactly right, but he'd hide it, knowing the Avatar and the earthbending girl were everyone's top priority right now.

!

"Whoever took them left this," Sokka informed, holding up a dagger that had been pierces through a small scroll. Katara read it aloud for everyone. "I can't believe it," Sokka breathed out. "I have the The Boulder's autograph!" He exclaimed, snatching the scroll from his sisters hand.

"Sokka!" Zuko scolded, walking over to him, snatching the parchment from him. "He just helped a bunch of earthbending weirdo's kidnap these people's daughter! And the Avatar! You shouldn't be fangirling over some freak's autograph!" He yelled, scorching the paper. "You should be worried about getting their daughter and the Avatar back!" Sokka whimpered as he watched the scroll burst into flames.

"Master Yu, I need you to help me get my daughter back." Lao said solemnly, turning towards the master for help.

"We're going with you." Katara informed, turning to look at them.

Zuko and Iroh frowned as they watched Poppy worry over her beloved daughter.

!

"Hit it harder!" Aang yelled to Sokka through the face bars of the metal cage he was in. They had given Xin Fu the money he wanted, but he had stated that it was just for the girl, and that he was sure the Fire Nation would pay a far better price for the Avatar. Toph went after the earthbenders while Sokka, Katara, Zuko and Iroh went to the side to try and get Aang free.

"I'm trying!" He was frustrated, had there been a simple lock one of the firebenders could have melted it off and had Aang released easily, but this had to be opened in an odd way.

Toph had managed to take out three of the earthbenders before they finally got Aang free, and she continued to take them out single handedly. She even took out three of them by simple turning them, leaving the group watching, jaw-dropped, and after taking out Xin Fu with a single strike, Sokka fainted.

They returned back their estate, and Toph apologized to her father for having to see her in such a way, but she expressed to him about how she loved to fight, how she loved being an earthbender, and how she excelled at the art. He, stated that it made him realize that he had given her far too much freedom, and had the Avatar and his friends escorted out.

Aang was bummed and disappointed as he grabbed Appa's reins, but his frown quickly turned up into a smile as he saw Toph running towards him and the group.

The Avatar asked what she was doing, and she told them that her father had changed his mind and would allow her to join them and travel the world. Aang stated that he thought she would be a great earthbender, which reminded Toph a something.

"Speaking of which," She said, "I wanna show you something."

"Okay!" Zuko busted into laughter after the young girl sent the Avatar flying up into a tree, causing him to get stuck upside down in between some branches. He figured he'd enjoy having her around greatly.

"Now we're even! I'll take my belt back, now." She smirked, holding her hand up for Sokka to hand her. Sokka sighed and removed the belt, tossing it over the side of the saddle to her, only to have it knock her in the head.

"Sokka!" Zuko scolded, "She's blind!"

"Right," He breathed. "Sorry."

A/N: I don't know how many of you guys have read any of 'The Promise' trilogy, but whenever Aang and Katara are being all lovey dovey in front of him, Sokka says it gives him the 'oogies', so I figured it'd do the same if he saw Katara and Zuko doing it.

I can't tell you how long I've wanted to write the part with Zuko telling Sokka jokes and him busting into a fit of laughter because of them, and what makes it even better is that they're meat related. Now, I think we all know how Sokka is about food, meat specifically. It was supposed to happen in the Western Air Temple with Hakoda present, but it fit so perfectly, I couldn't resist.

Zuko is a Taang shipper.