Soft giggles could be heard if one listened closely, drifting down the hall. Toph, of coursed, listened closely and a smirk danced upon her lips. “Toph? Is something up?” Aang asked. Toph turned her sightless eyes on her friend.
“Yeah, earthbending practice,” she said, grabbing his hand in hers. Aang felt the warm callous hand of his earthbending teacher, and a small blush spread across his cheeks. He glanced back at Zuko’s door before allowing himself to be dragged by Toph.




                                                                    ***




Inside the room, the self-exiled prince of the Fire Nation was lying on his back, his wearing on his pants and vest. Snuggled next to him was his waterbender, and she wore her usual garments. “Aren’t you hot?” he whispered.
“No,” Katara whispered resting her head in the crook of his neck. “I’m not,” she sighed closing her eyes, just enjoying the closeness. She absentmindedly traced little circles and a few hearts on his stomach, which was smooth and muscular and very warm. Katara sighed.
“How long to do you think it’ll take Sokka to find us?” Zuko asked.
“Depends, if he’s with Suki or not,” Katara whispered, tilting her head to look up at Zuko. “If he’s with Suki, I say we have plenty of time,” she smiled, tossing her head back gently to get some of her coffee colored hair out of her face. “They are probably doing the same thing we are doing,” she smiled.
Zuko smirked as he gently grabbed her chin. “What? Confessing their undying love for each other?” he chuckled.
“We aren’t doing that!” Katara protested.
“Ah, but we should,” he leaned in, his lips brushing against hers, “because…I have a confession to make.”
Katara shivered against him when she felt his lips move against her lips and his warm breath against her face. “Oh,” she breathed, her body growing warm. “And what would that be?” she asked.
Zuko closed his eyes with a sigh. “That I —”
“RISE AND SHINE SLEEPY HEADS!” Sokka burst the door open, startling both Zuko and Katara. Zuko realized that Sokka might not like his sister being in the same bed as the firebender; so, Zuko pushed Katara off of his bed.
“Ow!” she rubbed her back. “That hurt!” she glared at him.
“So,” Sokka drawled. “What were you two doing, hmm?”
“Talking,” Zuko said, standing up. “About defeating my father,” he grumbled.
“I didn’t realize that it called for…pushing my sister off the bed,” Sokka rubbed his chin. “Were you putting the moves on my sister?”
“If anyone is putting the moves on your sister its Aang,” Zuko grumbled, pulling his vest off and putting on his shirt. “That kid needs to grow up if he wants to save the world.”
“Aang is doing a fine job!” Katara shouted.
“Sure he is,” Zuko rolled his eyes. “Doing a fine job of saving you!”
“So, he cares about me?” Katar huffed. “Nothing wrong with that!”
“I’ll go see where Toph and Aang are,” Sokka said meekly slipping out of the room. He turned around and looked at Suki.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Lover’s feud,” Sokka shrugged, as they walked down the hall.

“There is something wrong with it when its begins to distract him from his destiny!” Zuko shot back.
“So, its wrong for him to care about me, its that it?”
“No! Its just…he loves you! And that’s wrong! He’s always doing stuff for you! He’s doing things he wants to do, instead of doing things he needs to do!” Zuko shouted.
“Like saving the world? Zuko! He’s twelve-years-old! Let him be a kid!”
“There is no time for him to be a kid! The comet is coming! My father is marshalling his forces; my sister is psychotic and hell bent on killing me! I’m confused about my feelings for you, I’m a traitor to my country, I need to find my mother, I need to find my uncle, I love you, I need to finish Aang’s training! I need to teach him how to redirect lightning, and there is no time for me to do all of it!” he shouted. Katara stared at him in shock. He looked at her, cocking his head to the side. “Um…what?”
“You love me?” she whispered. Zuko’s eyes widened when he realized he had rambled that off with the list of other things. Realizing that he couldn’t take back what he said, not that he wanted to anyways, he nodded with a sigh.
“Yep,” he looked at her with a half-smile. “I do.”
Katara frowned. “So, its okay for you to love me but not Aang?”
“Well, yes…I mean…it’s complicated!” he stuttered.
“What’s so complicated about it, Zuko?” Katara huffed, she was angry and he knew it.
“Well…um…I’m not the Avatar for one,” he muttered meekly.
“Avatar Roku got married! And he was an Avatar!”
“Well, that was different! He didn’t have to save the world!”
“Oh, so if the Avatar has to save the world, he can’t find love?”
“Not when he does everything for the girl he loves, he can’t! Not until he’s finished saving the world!”
“And what about you?” Katara asked, her blue eyes narrowing. “Aren’t you saving you’re country?”
“That’s different,” Zuko muttered, looking away.
“How is it different?”
“It just is!”
“Well,” Katara folded her arms over her chest. “From where I’m standing it isn’t very different!” she frowned. “I hope you live a lonely miserable life Zuko,” she spat causing Zuko’s blood to run cold and his heart to race. “Because I don’t want to ever see your ugly hideous face again!” she marched up to him and muttered the three words that he hated. “I hate you!” with that said, Katara turned and left.
“Katara! Wait!” he shouted, running after her. “Katara! Wait! Please! Let me explain!”
“No!” Katara rounded on him. “You’ve done enough explain! I don’t even know what I saw in you anyways!” Katara shouted. Zuko bit his lip, trying to remain strong. “I thought you were the one a fortuneteller predicted to be my future husband! I even started daydreaming about being your wife!” Katara got in his face. “But, you are such an idiot and a jerk! I hate you! Just leave me alone! Teach Aang what you know, then leave!” she snarled, walking off. Zuko stood there, hurt and heartbroken.
He heaved a great sigh, as Momo flew down on his shoulder. “I’m such an idiot,” he muttered.






                                                                ***




Katara refused to talk to Zuko since then. When he was attacked by Azula and badly wounded, she had to fight the urge to heal him. Needless to say Zuko nearly died. Aang was able to destroy Ozai; the charred remains of the former Fire Lord were dumped into the ocean for the dragon-sharks to feed on. Zuko was promptly crowned Fire Lord and then promptly engaged to Mai.  Katara was due to leave for the South Pole in a month.
Zuko found her, a week before she was due to leave, in her room, writing. “Can…can I talk to you?” he whispered.
“What do you want?” Katara snapped. Zuko looked at the floor, before looking back up at her. The expression on his face nearly broke her heart.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “For…what I said back at the Air Temple,” he sighed. “I love you,” he bit his lip. “I never stopped loving you…I wish…I don’t know, I wish I didn’t say what I said…and now…now, I have to be trapped in an engagement I don’t want, and have the girl of my dreams slip through my fingers like sand,” he sighed.
“Zuko,” Katara stood up.
“No, I don’t want you to saying that you hate me and that you’ll never love me,” he sighed, touching his scar. “Or that I’m ugly and hideous. Believe me,” he smirked. “I get it,” before frowning again. “I just want to say…I love you, and I wish things could be different.”
“Zuko, I…” she opened her mouth to say something, but stopped.
“Goodnight,” he whispered before leaving. Katara hung her head in sadness.
“I love you too, Zuko,” she whispered.




                                                               ***





Katara looked at the ship, Suki sadly didn’t make it during the final battle, and Ty Lee ironically, saved Sokka’s life and helped him through Suki’s death. He had chosen to stay behind with the acrobat. “He’s going to miss you,” Iroh said.
“I know, but he has Ty Lee,” Katara whispered.
“I wasn’t talking about your brother,” Iroh informed her.
“Zuko is better off without me,” Katara said, even though those words pained her to say. “He’s getting married to Mai.”
“He loves you,” Iroh told her. “Don’t break your heart and his by leaving,” Iroh placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Iroh, he broke my heart that day at the Air Temple,” Katara said. “There is no future for us,” she looked at the ship. “It would have never lasted.”
“Katara,” Iroh whispered.
“No!” Katara shouted and walked onto the deck. Iroh sighed and told the soldier next to him to get the Fire Lord. Iroh then went on to buy Zuko sometime by engaging the captain of the ship in a sporting game of Pai Sho.

Katara went to her room and cried her eyes out. She didn’t realize how long she was crying or that a pair of strong warm arms soon embraced her, that made her felt safe and loved. “Dad…I love him…I love him so much,” Katara sobbed.
“What’s his name?” the owner of the arms asked.
“Zuko, I love Zuko…I love him so much. I hated telling him those awful things that day at the Air Temple. I hated forcing myself not to save him when he was attacked by Azula…and I hate leaving, I love him so much, its breaking my heart leaving,” Katara sobbed burying her face in the stranger’s chest. The stranger hugged her back.
“I’m not your dad,” he said. Katara looked up into the scarred face of the Fire Lord. “But I do love you and want to know if everything you said was true?”
“Of course!” she looked at him. “I…I’m sorry,” she kissed him. “I love you.”
“Stay with me,” he whispered.
“Zuko, what about Mai?”
“I’ll cancel the engagement! I love you,” he laid against the bed, his arms firmly around Katara’s waist. “I love you and only you,” he sighed, eyes drifting close.
“Zuko?” Katara whispered.
“I’m here,” he whispered, he closed his eyes again. “I’ll always be here,” he smiled.
“You aren’t going to die on me?”
“Why would I do that?”
“Dramatic effect?”
He chuckled. “You’re funny,” he smiled at her. “That’s why I love you.”
“I’ll stay Zuko…after…after I see my home…again,” she snuggled against him. Like they did back at the Air Temple. “I want to see the snow,” she sighed.
“Snow, got it,” he smiled, feeling the ship more. “I want to see snow again too, its nice,” he babbled.
“Zuko,” she giggled, rubbing her forehead against his.
“Maybe to some penguin sledding and ice dodging,” he smiled.
“Yes to the penguin sledding, no to the ice dodging,” she kissed his cheek.
“Ah,” he looked at her a smirk on his lips. “I didn’t say what type of ice dodging. I was hoping it would be the pissed-off-waterbender-throwing-ice-daggers-at-her-boyfriend ice dodging,” Zuko chuckled.
“You’re either suicidal or hilarious!” Katara laughed.
“I’ll take the latter for five hundred gold pieces please,” he turned her head towards him. “And a kiss from my girlfriend for free,” he pressed his lips against hers. He pulled away. “You do realize you just kidnapped the Fire Lord.”
“What?” Katara sat up to look at him. “When did that happen?”
“We are going to the South Pole, and I am on your ship, I didn’t pack or anything, so, you did kidnap me,” he looked at her.
“We need to turn around!”
“No,” he pulled her back down to the bed. “My uncle will handle everything. In fact, it was his idea. I wanted to kidnap you, but he thought it be better if you ‘kidnap’ me,” he nuzzled her neck, drinking in her scent of vanillin and lavender and the salty ocean.
“Are you sure about this Zuko?”
“Nope,” he smiled, “but what’s a little spontaneity going to hurt? After all? Don’t you want a guy that can be a bit romantic?”
“Zuko,” Katara whispered.
“What?”
“I love you.”