A/N-Well, there isn't much to say other than, I hope you enjoy it and please review!!
Pairings- Zutara
((By the way, I am writing this as a future kind of thing, like a few years after the war, so here are the ages-
Zuko-18
Aang- 14
Katara-16
Sokka-17
Toph 14
Remember some of the ages, might be important if I want to change this from a oneshot, to a full story.))
Oh how she hated this day! Sure it was sweet to have the new Fire Lord Zuko, to invite her, Sokka, Toph, and Aang to the Fire Nation for the week, considering that it was a very beautiful place. Still, this day was at the top of her least favorite days list. First off, it seemed like every couple on the planet was under some spell and thought today was the right day for flowers and chocolate or a nice card or something along those lines.
Sure, at one time when she was younger, she had thought that it was a wonderful holiday, and she would day dream of her prince in shining armor ride up to her on a mongoose dragon, or an ostrich horse, or some other animal, and then so on so forth, he would give her a kiss and give her flowers, etc, etc. Then, she had traveled with Aang, Toph, and Sokka, and had her heart broken by a few boys and now she thought of her past day dreams as only foolish, and wonder how anyone could like today.
As she continued to think on this, she didn't notice the Fire Nation slowly coming into view, closer and closer, until Appa finally landed and that made Katara aware of her surroundings. As she did take in her surroundings, she could help but let an irked groan. The capitol city of the Fire Nation was decorated for Valentine's day and she suddenly wished she could trade places with Toph, so she wouldn't be able to see all of the decorations. 'Finally!' shouted Toph as she jumped off Appa and let out a satisfied sigh. 'Agreed!' said Sokka as he soon hoped down from Appa, then finally Aang and Katara.
'Welcome once again to the Fire Nation!' said a thrilled voice, that could only belong to Iroh, 'How was your trip?'
Aang bowed his head towards the retired general and opened his mouth to speak but Sokka spoke up first, 'Good, now where can we get something to eat? Momo ate everything on the way here!' Katara let out a 'phft' at this and said, 'Yeah, and it just so happens that Momo is an earthbending master.' Aang and Iroh let out a soft chuckle while Sokka only stared at his sister.
'Well, then follow me back to the palace, and I'll make sure there will be refreshments for all of you.' said Iroh, his voice as happy as ever.
'So where is the Fire Lord?' asked a slightly arid Toph, as she walked along with a soft smile on her face, glad to be able to 'see' again and stretch her legs.
'Oh, he will be meeting up with us later today. He had some things to take care of, nothing he shouldn't be able to handle though.' said Iroh with a smile on his face.
'For the last time I don't care what kind of tea you are debating about to serve! So long as it is tea!' shouted, the now irked, Fire Lord, as a cook continued to ramble on about how different kinds of tea where better than others. 'If you don't care then why was there a note sent to the kitchen asking for a cook to tell you about different kinds of tea, so you could decide on one for dinner tonight?' asked the placid cook, raising an eyebrow.
Zuko's left eyebrow began to twitch and the cook took this as a sign to leave, and did so quickly. As soon as the cook opened the door, General Iroh stood there, and the cook bowed his head slightly and whispered, 'The Fire Lord isn't in a good mood today.' And the old general let out a soft chuckle and whispered back, 'I'll see what I can do about that.'
Soon the cook was gone and only Iroh and Zuko were left.
'What do you want now Uncle?' asked the Fire Lord, becoming more vexed.
'Well I just thought you might like to know that Avatar Aang, and his friends Sokka,Toph, and Katara. They have been asking when they would get a chance to talk to you again, and I told them that you would very soon. So, nephew, I don't think you should keep your guests waiting.' said Iroh hiding a grin.
Zuko let out a sigh and stood up and started to walk towards the doors and his Uncle followed him.
'How can anyone live here?' asked Toph as she paced the parlor, 'There is nothing to do!'
'Toph! Stop pacing you are giving me a headache!' said Aang wishing he could see her placid again, 'I'm sure Iroh and Zuko will be here soon'
Toph let out a loud snort. 'Yeah, and...' she was interupted by the door opening to reveal, what Aang had said was true, because there stood Zuko and Iroh.
Zuko look at all of them, they had all seemed to mature more than the last time he had seen them, and especailly one in particular. That one just so happend to be staring out the window and seemed to be day dreaming, and had let her dark colored mahogony hair down, for the first time. The Fire Lord's gaze stayed on that girl, for a few seconds before he muttered a greeting to everyone.
'It's nice to see you again Fire Lord Zuko.' said Aang bowing his head respectfully to the young Fire Lord. Sokka seemed to have noticed Zuko staring at his sister for a those few seconds and only sent Zuko a death glare in reply.
Toph finally happy that there might be something to do, piped up cheerfully, 'So how have you been Fire Lord Zuko?' before he had a chance to reply she piped up again, 'So what can you do around here? Is there anything fun to do? Other than sitting around and staring out the window like Sugar Queen is doing?' At this everyone but Sokka and Katara let out a soft chuckle. This seemed to wake Katara up and a soft blush went across her face as she looked up to see General Iroh and Fire Lord Zuko. She said hello to them and an apology.
'Thats quite alright, besides Zuko and I just got here' said Iroh with a smile on his face, 'and seeing that young Toph here would like to have something to do, I think it would be a good time for everyone to go shopping!' Everyone stared at Iroh, although Toph had a smile on her face and jumped at the chance to get out of the palace. 'Oh! I want to go!' Toph almost shouted, making almost everyone cover their ears.
Iroh laughed at her cheerfullness, 'Alright then, does anyone not want to go?' he said making sure that no one would have to be dragged along.
Katara spoke up, 'I'm sorry but I don't think I want to go, if you don't mind I'll just stay right here.' her gaze met his and she had a slight apologetic look on her face.
'And the same goes for me.' said Zuko, glad that he wouldn't be the only one here that used common sense.
'Alright, then I guess we'll see you two later.' said Aang, dissappointed that Katara wasn't interested in going. He got up out of his chair and walked towards Iroh and Sokka and Toph followed.
'I think we should be back before sunset, so have fun you two!' said Iroh cheerfully as he and the three others exited, although Sokka hesitated at first, hearing how long Iroh had predicted it would take.
After everyone had left and left Zuko and Katara alone, there was a moment of silence before Katara spoke up. 'On the way to the palace I noticed a garden nearby, so do you think I could go see it? I mean if thats not to much to ask, if you aren't to busy with Fire Lord duties and what not.' something about being in the parlor alone with the young Fire Lord made her nervous, and yet she felt vibrant and didn't want to leave the room just yet.
'Um, sure. I'll show you where it is, there's a small pond there that you might like, since you are a waterbender...' his voice trailed, feeling like he was making a fool out of himself, so he just opened the door again and waited for her to stand up and walk towards him. As she did, he noticed she had grown taller, and that instead of the top of her head reaching his shoulders, it reached his lips.
'So here is the garden, it wasn't decorated for today but I didn't think it had to be so, sorry if you were expecting some thing Valentine Day related out here, well other than the roses...' once again he let his voice trail off but this time for a different reason, Katara had visably stiffen, and he wasn't sure why.
'Thats alright, besides I don't care much for Valentine's Day anyways.' she said slightly relaxing a little, as her azure eyes fell upon the clear curlean pond in the middle of the garden.
Zuko raised an eyebrow at this, remembering how it seemed almost all of the girls he had seen in the past, on this day, were excited and falling in love and what not, and he had thought that every girl, exculding his sister, were that way. Then Katara proved him wrong, leaving only one question on his mind that he soon said softly, 'Why?' his golden eyes locked on Katara.
'Because, it seems like today is the only day that boys find it appropriate to give a girl flowers, chocolate or a card or anything related to that. Plus, it gets annoying sometimes to watch other girls just turn into a puddle of mush in front of a boy they like, or try and act cool like the boy isn't there or vice-versa with the boys and I think that some of that just might be my thoughts just because of events in the past...' this time Katara let her voice trail off, and she finally looked up at Zuko, just noticing how close the two of them were. His warm breath on her face gave comfort, and made her feel calm, and looking into his eyes, made her feel that the fact that the two of them were close to the other wasn't unnatural, and that it was so right.
Zuko only let out a soft 'Oh' in response to her answer and felt his stomach churn as she turned to look up into his eyes. Seeing her clear azure colored eyes, made him feel the same way his eyes made Katara feel, and for some reason unknown to him, he put his arms around her pulling her closer, until she was being held tightly, but not crushing her or making her uncomfortable.
Then, surprising Zuko, Katara responded to this and wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her toes, and kissed Zuko. Not expecting him to really respond to it, she was surprised when she felt him kiss her back and tilt his head down, letting Katara go back to her normal height. It seemed to them as soon as the kiss had happend, it was over, but they kept their hold on each other, giving Zuko some of his witt back he let out a soft chuckle and spoke softly in a teasing kind of voice, 'So is the reason you are still holding me, because you are turning into a pile of mush?'
Katara's eyes locked onto his, and she let out a soft laugh too. 'Well, is that the reason you are too?' she asked, her voice mimicking his, and they both let out a soft laugh, and suddenly Katara didn't mind Valentine's Day so much, and was glad that it exsisted, or else she may not have had a reason to kiss Zuko.
'So, do you think Katara and Zuko will be surprised we are back early?' asked Aang, seeing that there was nothing better to talk about.
'Who knows, but if I find that he has touched my sister at all I am going to...' Sokka never got to finish because what he had said, had come true, because on the other side of the garden stood Zuko and Katara kissing. Seeing this made Sokka light-headed but he grabbed for his boomerang, but Aang stopped him. 'Aang! What are you doing?' asked Sokka, irked that Aang wasn't going to let him kill that firebending creep, who was touching his little sister.
'She looks happy, isn't that what matters? Besides would you want someone to split you and Suki up after you two kissed?' asked Aang, trying to hold back a smirk, because he knew Sokka would have to agree.
'But...still...I mean come on! He is the Fire Lord!...King of firebenders! The people that killed many people!...' Sokka's voice trailed off as he watched Zuko and Katara pull away and saw that they were speaking to each other and laughing, making Sokka sigh, 'I guess you are right Aang, as long as she is happy, I guess it doesn't matter, besides if he does something to hurt her it'll give me an excuse to kill him, right?'
'I guess so, but I think we should just go back inside the palace and take a nap or something, just to give them some privacy.' said Aang turning around with Sokka at his side, leaving Katara and Zuko alone, and in each others arms for a few more minutes, before Iroh spotted them and started laughing.
Hearing the sound of laughter, the two teens jumped apart and Zuko glared at his Uncle, while Katara seemed to find an interest in the grass below her feet and her face turned crimson.
'What is so funny, Uncle?' asked Zuko, who clearly wasn't amused.
'That Sokka and Aang were telling the truth, and that Sokka hasn't killed you yet.' said Iroh with a laugh here and there.
If Katara's cheeks were crimson before, they reached a whole new level of red, scarlet. As Iroh continued to laugh Zuko stormed off, leaving an embarrased Katara and a laughing Iroh behind him.
Alright, sorry that I didn't post this yesterday when it was actually Valentine's Day, but I had some writer's block here and there and I couldn't think of ways to keep everyone in character, but still, I hope everyone liked it! Please review!