Zuko

The next morning, Azula and I set out into the city to look for the water bender my father thinks is going to try to kill him. I see uncle Iroh smile and nod to me as we leave, and he follows close behind, likely going to Ana's tea shop.

We go around the city and look. We enter every store, and every home just as my father asks us to. Azula begged him to allow her to bring Mai and Ty Lee with us, so when he agreed, I suggested I bring Kuzon as well.

The five of us walk around, and soon, Aang and I fall back from the girls.

"I know who the water bender is." My words are quiet enough that only he can hear and his head snaps to look at me.

"What do you mean?" His face is full of worry and concern as he speaks.

I take a deep breath and look at the girls in front of us. They stopped walking and turned around to wait for us to catch up. "I'll tell you when we're away from them."

He nods his head and we keep walking. We catch up to the girls and Mai puts her arm around mine, causing me to roll my eyes and sigh internally.

"Hey, Zuko, there's a tea shop around the corner. Would you like to go there with me and take a break?"

I look at my surroundings and realize that the tea shop around the corner is none other than Ana's, which means I'll get to see Katara. I quietly nod my head so I don't seem too eager to go. I don't want Mai to think I'm excited to be going with her when I'm really just excited to see Katara.

We all walk toward the shop, and Mai won't get off of me no matter what I do. I keep looking at Aang, hoping he'll help me, but he's never looking. He keeps looking at Azula and Ty Lee, almost as if he's admiring them. Weird.

We walk into the tea shop and I immediately spot my uncle at a table with Katara. My breath hitches in my throat as I look over at Azula who's smirking at me. Uncle stands up when he sees us, and smiles.

"Ah! My family! Please, come sit with us. We will go to a bigger table, right Katara?'

Katara turns around and sees Mai on my arm and narrows her eyes slightly, but almost immediately goes back to looking happy and unbothered. She stands as well, and walks over to another table and gestures for us to take a seat there.

"Actually, sir, I should probably get back to work. Ana will likely need the help. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I had a lovely time." She turns to the rest of us as we sit down before continuing. "Ana will be over to help you shortly."

I watch her as she turns to leave. Before she turns away completely, I see her face drop slightly. She goes to the back to get Ana, and then returns to the table that she and uncle were sitting at to clear it off. Ana comes out and speaks mainly to uncle the entire time, and he orders some weird sounding tea for all of us. Then as Ana starts to walk away, he gets her attention once again.

"Oh, Ana! I almost forgot. Would you please ask Katara to make it? I was talking to her about a trick I use to make it more flavorful just now, and I'd love for her to have the opportunity to try it out." He smiles up at Ana who nods happily before walking away.

"Who was that girl you were speaking to?" Ty Lee spoke up and as soon as she did, Mai and Azula perked up as well, obviously interested.

"Oh, that was Katara. She just came to the capitol not that long ago. She's a lovely young lady. Great tea maker. I've been coming to Ana's shop for as long as I can remember, but the tea has never been as good as it is when Katara makes it. Don't tell Ana, though. She may not invite me back once Katara decides to leave."

I narrow my eyes at his comment and speak up, gaining a glare from Mai and a smirk from Azula. "What do you mean once she decides to leave?'

Kuzon looks puzzled as well, and stares at uncle in confusion. "Yeah, when we met her the other day, she said she just got here and she plans on staying for a long time. Why would she be leaving?"

Uncle Iroh smiles softly at the two of us sitting next to each other. "Ah, it seems young Katara was not entirely honest with you two about her intentions here. Likely because you were so kind to her, Kuzon, and well, Zuko… since you two did not have the best introduction." Mai smiles softly at his words, clearly happy about the fact that Katara did not like me when we first met. "But, children, Katara is simply passing through. She is here to complete a job, and once that is done, she will be leaving. I do not foresee this job being completed anytime soon, though, and she has made quite a few friends here that she may not be willing to leave behind." He makes eye contact with me and smiles softly when he says his last sentence.

Suddenly, Azula speaks up. "What job would that be? Killing father? The Fire Lord. Is she the water bender we're looking for?"

Uncle simply laughs at her question. "Azula, dear, Katara is not a bender. And even if she was, she is from the Fire Nation, so she would be a fire bender like we are. No, her job is more personal. Something to make amends for her family that has passed on. It is not my place to say anything more on the matter, however. Katara is a loyal Fire Nationer, though."

Azula narrows her eyes at uncle, but begins to talk to Ty Lee, who looks quite distracted. Her eyes keep finding their way over to the other side of the table where Kuzon is sitting. Even weirder. Mai tries to talk to me, but I ignore her and speak to Kuzon instead.

Soon, Ana and Katara come to our table carrying a teapot and seven cups. Seven. Maybe Katara is going to sit with us after all. I watch as they set all of the cups down, and Katara pulls over a chair. Instead of sitting with us, though, she bows to uncle and speaks as Ana takes a seat.

"I tried my best to do what you had been telling me about. I would love any feedback on the tea, sir."

"Oh, of course, Brave One. I will tell you how it is. I promise." Katara's eyes go wide for a moment when uncle calls her Brave One. I remember my conversation with her when she told me about how she bears The Mark of the Brave in her tribe, and I narrowed my eyes at uncle, wondering if he's trying to get her caught.

Katara simply just nodded her head and smiled before returning to the kitchen to make more tea for other customers. Ana smiled at everyone and turned to uncle to speak.

"I feel quite bad for the girl. Hasn't seen her parents since she was ten, lived with a stranger for nine years, and is now living with another stranger. She is quite brave, Iroh." Ana's words piqued Ty Lee's interest.

"Her parents died when she was ten? Doesn't she have any siblings?" Her voice was filled with worry and sadness as she spoke, but Ana just smiled back at her.

"Yes, darling, she has an older brother. He's actually the same age as Prince Zuko. Unfortunately, she doesn't talk about him much. All I know from the woman who looked after her before me is that her brother would write to her, and she could never bring herself to read the letters. I don't know what happened between them when they were young, but she hasn't seen him since she was ten either." Ana looked down at her hands. She's not completely lying.

Ty Lee just sighed and looked down at her hands as well. Mai didn't speak, and neither did Kuzon. I looked at my uncle with a sad expression, and he returned the look. The only one who didn't seem to care was Azula, and she let us know that.

"Well, personally, I would be ecstatic if I hadn't seen Zuko for nine years!" I shoot a glare at her and suddenly stand from the table.

"Excuse me. May I go into the kitchen, Ana?" She nods her head at me, and I walk towards the kitchen. I open the door and step in, while feeling Mai staring daggers at the back of my head.

I see Katara far away from the door with her back to me. She doesn't turn around as she bends the water for tea into the teapots, and squeezes the leaves dry, to get all of the flavor out. I can't help but stop and stare at her. I admire her in her art and feel myself start to smile.

She picks up a cup and turns around. She jumps when she sees me and drops the cup, causing it to shatter on the floor. A second later, Ana comes running into the kitchen.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Ana's face is flushed with fear.

"It's okay, Ana! We're both okay. I just got startled and dropped a cup. I'm sorry, take it out of my paycheck. I'll clean it up." Katara immediately kneels down on the ground and starts cleaning up the glass. Ana just nods and leaves the room.

I kneel down and put my hand on her shoulder to get her to stop. "Let me. It was my fault." She takes a deep breath and steps back. I kneel down and clean up the glass. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, no, it's fine. I was in my own world. I should've been paying more attention. I mean, what if it wasn't you and it was someone who wants to kill me for being a water bender? I was being careless." Her voice is quiet, barely above a whisper.

I finish cleaning up the glass, and I throw it out. I walk back over to her and put my hand on her cheek. She moves away from me and doesn't look at me.

"I should get back to work, and you should get back to your family." She turns away from me and continues what she was doing.

I take a deep breath and say what I came in here to say. "Do you miss your brother?"

She freezes and looks down and whispers. "You already know that I do. Why do you ask?"

"Uncle Iroh was talking about you and he was telling us about how you haven't seen him for nine years. I just… had an idea. Maybe I can bring him here somehow? Would you like that?"

She sighs and looks at me with sad eyes. "I would love that, Zuko. I really would, but he can't come here. He's very busy with the tribe at home."

"How would you know that? Apparently you ignored his letters for years."

She snapped her head up at me and stared daggers. "Get out, Zuko."

I don't move. If anything, I get slightly closer to her. "No. I'm just trying to help, Katara."

"I don't want your help. Leave." She pushes me back away from her and I stumble a bit.

"Why not? I just want to help you. Why won't you let me?"

"Leave, Zuko."

"I'm not leaving." I walk up to her again and cup her face in my hands. I lean towards her, and try to kiss her, but she pushes me away again.

"You have a girlfriend, Zuko. Get out."

"What? I don't hav-"

"Get out." She cuts me off and I see tears forming in her eyes.

I take a deep breath and nod my head. I leave the kitchen and instead of going back to the table with everyone, I leave the shop altogether.

I return to the palace alone and burn some stuff along the way. I go into my room and lay down for a while. I fall asleep, and I'm woken up hours later by a knock on the door.

I force myself to stand up and I walk to the door. When I open it, I see uncle Iroh.

"Uncle? What are you doing here?"

He smiles at me and motions for me to come out into the hallway. I do, and when I look to the left down the hallway, I see Katara.

"I thought you two should talk. I'll be going now." He smiles at me and walks away.

I look at Katara and sigh. I motion for her to come into my room and she does. I walk in behind her and close the door.

I walk over to my bed and lay down, and she stays standing by the door. I hear the door lock and look up at her.

"What are you doing?"

She smiles and comes closer to me as I sit up. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that. I got scared. Sokka shouldn't come here."

I stand up and walk over to her. "I shouldn't have suggested it. I know why you're here. I know you left your family because of your… uh, job here. It was dumb of me to suggest. And it was even dumber of me to try to kiss you when you told me to leave."

"Yeah… I, uh, didn't know you had a girlfriend. If I had known, I wouldn't have tried to kiss you last night." She looks down at her feet, and I put my hand under her chin to lift her face. I look into her beautiful blue eyes and smile at her.

"I don't have a girlfriend, Katara. The girl who was clinging to my arm is Mai. She's been trying to get me to fall for her since we were children, and it's never gonna happen."

Her eyes brighten up a little bit and I feel her relax. I lean in and go to kiss her. Third time's a charm, right? Evidently not.

Right as I was about to kiss her, someone bangs on my door.

"Zuko. War room. NOW!" My father screams from the other side of the door.

"Stay here, okay?" I smile at her and leave my room, heading toward the war room for a meeting with my father.

XXXXX

"You left the search?" My father has his back to me.

"Father, I-"

"I don't care why you left, Zuko. I really don't care at all. What I do care about is why you think your little temper tantrum was more important than my life."

"Father-"

"You will speak when I ask you to, Zuko!" My father screams at me as he turns around. "You will never be the Fire Lord if you cannot get your emotions in check. You will learn to put the important things first. Get out."

I turn and walk out of the room. I make my way through the palace with a scowl on my face. As I'm heading back toward my room, I see Mai walking toward me.

"Zuko, I was wondering if yo-"

"No. Not now, Mai."

I walk right past her and go into my room. Once inside, I lock the door behind me, and take a deep breath. I turn away from the door and see Katara sitting on my bed.

"I take it the meeting didn't go well?"

I force a small smile on my face and walk over to the bed. I fall face first into the pillows and groan out a no. I feel her hand on the back of my head, playing with my hair.

"Hey, Zuko?"

I roll over and look at her. She smiles down at me and pulls me to sit up next to her.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you… for trying to make me feel better about Sokka."

I narrow my eyes at her then smile and chuckle. "You know, Katara, I don't know why, but I feel like I would do anything to make you happy."

She smiles back at me and places her hand on my cheek, tracing my scar. She leans in close to me, and hesitates. I reach my hand up to her cheek and put my forehead on hers. I tilt her chin up and press my lips to hers. The kiss is simple and sweet. After a moment, we pull away, and I see her face flush red.

"I… that was my first kiss…" She looks up at me and gives me a small smile, so I smile back.

"Well, it was mine, too." She giggles at my words and smiles again.

"I'm sorry if it wasn't what you wanted."

"it was exactly what I wanted because it was with you, Katara." She smiles up at me and kisses me again. This time a deep kiss. One that tells me exactly how she feels. I wrap my arms around her and pull her close to me.

Hey besties, once again, sorry for the shorter chapter. I've had a busy couple of days, so I also apologize for not updating until now. I think I'm going to start updates on Saturdays and Wednesdays only so I can get some longer chapters for you guys.

I hope you enjoyed!