Hey guys! This is my first Zutara fic, but I can't say I'm an all out Zutarian even though I GREATLY prefer Zuko to Aang. It's just…something holds me back…cause I still like Aang, and I don't want him to be unhappy. Well, Zutarians might say, "Well he can go with Toph!" But Taang…I don't like it…it doesn't seem…like it'd happen…I prefer Tokka.

IMPORTANT! READ THIS OR YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT'S HAPPENING: This story takes place after the Southern Raiders episode, so Katara has forgiven Zuko and their friends, but she still annoys him and he still annoys her.

Enough of my notorious jabbering. Please read and leave a review too…I'd greatly appreciate that!

Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA. Period.

It was about a week before Sozin's comet, and all was well at the Western Air Temple. A snowstorm had come, and Aang proposed a snowball fight. Luckily, Katara, being the responsible and motherly figure she was, had packed her and Sokka's parkas just in case.

"Count me out. I wouldn't be able to see a thing, seeing as I can't walk barefoot in snow or else my feet would fall off." Toph said reluctantly.

"Wait a minute! We can't have a snowball fight! We'd fall waaaaaay behind schedule!" Sokka argued, pulling out a long long long piece of parchment. Suki klonked him on the head.

"Well, I'm going to play!" she said. "Katara, could I borrow one of your parkas?" Katara nodded, and saying she'd love to participate too, went off to grab some Water Tribe coats.

"I guess if Suki's going, then I'll come too." Sokka relented.

"I'd love to have a snowball fight! But I'll need to borrow one of your coats, Sokka." Haru spoke up.

"Sure!"

"So what about you, Sifu Hotman?" Aang asked Zuko, who had been watching from a corner.

"I dunno…" he muttered.

"Aw, come on! You can even borrow one of my parkas!" Sokka flung an arm around Zuko's neck.

"Fine. But I have my own coat." With that, Zuko went to his room to get his coat and Sokka and Aang went to grab theirs.

After half an hour, everyone was ready and eager to start the fight. Aang was in a coat he had received from the Northern Water Tribe. Sokka and Haru were in matching parkas, as were Suki and Katara. Those four had Water Tribe mittens as well. Zuko was in a red and gold, albeit thinner, Fire Nation sweater, and his hands were bare.

"Won't you get cold in that?" Katara asked, eyeing the Fire Nation prince skeptically.

"I'm a firebender, Katara. I have a natural fire in me. Don't worry," he said, seeing her confused expression.

"Who cares?! If the man says he'll be fine, he'll be fine. Let's go already!" Sokka said, eager to leave. The group sweat dropped. He had been against the fight… they all thought. Aang took them to a large courtyard that was further away from the main temple, but had much more snow, seeing how it wasn't covered by a roof.

"Every person for themselves!" Sokka yelled, and quickly made a snowball, aiming it at Aang.

The fight progressed on, proving Katara and Aang the best, what, with their waterbending abilities, they were able to pick up large amounts of snow and dump it on each other.

"Hey, no fair!" Sokka whined, after being showered in snow by Aang. Suki and Haru silently agreed, but were determined not to let the benders get the best of them. Haru used his earth bending to shoot rocks into the sky, shaking off the snow from them as it fell down upon Katara.

"Tsk, tsk, you'll have to do better than that!" she cried, diverting the snow from her. While she was distracted, Zuko quickly threw a snowball at her back, hitting her.

"Hey!" she yelled turning around, feigning annoyance. Quickly gathering up a ball of snow bigger than Zuko's head, she hurled it toward him, confident she'd soak him.

Instead, he merely used his fire to melt the snow, as he made another snowball.

"Oh, no you don't!" Katara muttered, raising up a wall of snow, ramming it towards him.

"Whoa-" Zuko had to jump out of the way, while throwing his snowball at Katara. It flew through the air so fast, she didn't see it, and therefore couldn't deflect it as it hit her face.

"Oops." Zuko gulped as he was chased around by a furious waterbender. The rest of the group watched this in fascination, but Suki ended the show by throwing a snowball at a distracted Zuko. The fight resumed, and everyone was having so much fun, they didn't notice the incoming snowstorm.

Soon, the snow was falling so hard, no one could keep their eyes open.

"Can anyone hear me?" Sokka yelled, shielding his eyes and groping around in the howling blizzard.

"Here!" Suki collided into him, and Haru fell on top of them.

"We need to head back!" Aang cried, stumbling into Haru. The four agreed and headed back, and it wasn't until they were safe inside, that they remembered Katara and Zuko.

"We have to go out and find them!" Aang said, but Sokka shook his head.

"It's too dangerous. You could get lost, and besides, I'm sure they'll be fine. Katara is a master waterbender and Zuko can rival his father."

"But—"

"If they haven't come back by the end of the storm, I promise we'll go out looking for them."

Aang nodded, and tried to swallow the worry he had for his friends.

Meanwhile, Zuko and Katara were still out in the courtyard.

"Aang? Sokka?" Katara yelled, stumbling around. "Suki? Haru?" Shielding her eyes, she tried to open them, but the snow was too much.

"Arrgh…forget this," she muttered, and used her waterbending to divert the snow from her, so she could see more clearly. Her eyes fell on a blur of red, wandering about in front of her.

"Zuko!" she cried, running toward him.

"Katara! Is that you?"

"Yeah."

"We better head back…I think the temple is this way…" Zuko started heading off in one direction.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's this way," Katara yelled, heading off in another direction.

"No, it's this way."

"This way!"

"*sigh* Fine, we'll try your way," Zuko said, not in the mood for arguing. Walking next to the waterbender, he followed her. Noticing the edge of the cliff, he tried to warn her.

"Katara, I wouldn't-"

"AAAAAAAAH!!!!!!" Katara screamed as she slipped off and fell.

"Katara!" Without thinking, Zuko launched himself off the cliff after her. Katara was just a short distance below him, and if he could reach far enough…

"Katara, grab my hand!"

Katara looked up, and saw Zuko plummeting above her.

"STUPID! I can take care of myself!"

Zuko groaned. "This is no time to be stubborn!" He was about to say something else, but realized that since the snow was falling so hard, the ground was all white and there was no way to tell where the ground was…

"You're the stupid one!" He yelled back at her. Indignantly, Katara raised her hand to point at the irritating firebender, and was about to yell back a retort, but before she could, he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him. Flipping them so that he was beneath her, he hugged her protectively and braced himself for the impact that was sure to come.

"What-" Katara started to ask, but was stopped by a bone jarring impact as they hit the ground. Zuko let out a little groan, as Katara quickly shuffled off him. His entire body was in pain, and ached so much whenever he tried to move.

"Hold on till I find a cave!" She said and was about to go look for one, but she didn't need to. As if by good fortune, they had landed in front of a cave, that was about to be shut off by the snow.

"Oh, no you don't!" she yelled and cleared the snow with on quick sweep. Quickly dragging Zuko inside, she used her water bending to seal them in so nothing could get in. The cave went pitch black.

"Um, Zuko?"

"*groan*"

"Ehehe…could you make some fire? Just a small flame is fine…" she said as she took off her parka. Grunting with the effort, Zuko raised his palm and created a small flame. Immediately, the cave was bathed in light as a large fire burst open.

Zuko sat up in surprise, hissing as the pain hit, and was pushed down by Katara, but not before he saw she had lit her parka on fire.

"Wh-Why did you do that?" He whispered hoarsely.

"So we could have some heat." Katara said nothing else as she gently removed Zuko's clothes, leaving him shirtless. Rolling him over, she said, "Lie still while I heal you." He complied, and gave a small gasp as cool water made contact with his warm skin.

He didn't have any broken bones, which was good and very lucky, but he had lots of bruises, and Katara started the task of healing them. After a while, she finished and asked, "Does anywhere else hurt?"

"No…thanks."

"W-welcome." Katara tried to hide her chattering teeth as her body finally noticed the cold, as she moved closer to the fire, hugging her knees. But Zuko noticed, as she sat in her underclothes, her legs covered by her leggings and her feet covered by her boots.

"Did you burn your tunic too?" Zuko asked, incredulous. She nodded, struggling to get the words out; it was so cold.

"W-water Tribe c-c-clothes are r-r-really tough…s-s-so they'll burn f-for a while." Katara let out a small shiver. Zuko, still shirtless, watched her carefully, pushing his shaggy hair out of his eyes.

"Are you cold?" he asked. Katara was, obviously, but she was still a stubborn girl who disliked asking others for help, even old enemies who had been forgiven.

"I'm fi-ACHOO!" she sneezed. Coughing a little, she wiped her mouth and glanced sideways at Zuko, her breath catching in her throat. His golden eyes were watching her closely, the way an eagle watches its prey, and Katara felt like they were burning a hole through her skin. Quickly diverting her gaze, she continued staring at the fire, determined not to look at him again. She was so intent on not looking at him, that she didn't see him get up and move.

Suddenly, Katara was enveloped in arms, strong, warm arms.

Zuko's arms.

"H-Hey!" she squirmed, trying to get out of his hold, but he held her with an iron grip. Pressed against his bare chest, his mouth was above her ear, and it started to talk.

"You're cold. I'm warm."

And he was, oh Yue, he was so warm…hot, almost. Katara flushed, and closed her eyes, snuggling a little deeper into his embrace, reveling in his warmth. Growing sleepy, she was about to drift off, when Zuko whispered something that quickly put sleep far from being on her to-do list.

"I love you."

I am so tempted to let it end right there and start a new chapter…but I want this to be a oneshot…I'm not in the mood to stretch it out…and besides, Zutarians out there would probably track me down and murder me….so don't worry, the rest is just below the line.

Wide awake, Katara stuttered, "W-what?"

"It's true. Ever since I…in Ba Sing Se…"

Katara's heart beat faster with every word.

"It killed me when you didn't give me your trust, and I made it my goal to earn it."

Katara's heart was beating so hard, she could hear it, and she was sure Zuko could too.

Why is my heart beating like that? It's not like I like him…right? Katara thought, though in her heart she knew the truth. Ever since Ba Sing Se…feelings had developed for this firebender as well. His betrayal affected her more than anyone else, and she found it harder to accept him into their group because of those feelings.

What intrigued her even more, was that she could feel Zuko's heart, too. It was beating as fast as hers, if not faster.

"Katara?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Are you still cold? Cause you feel pretty warm to me."

Katara blushed as she heard the words. She was warm now, and she didn't want to leave.

"I-I don't want to move."

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I-I like…s-staying h-here."

He smirked. "And why is that?"

Katara scowled. He wasn't going to make this easy, was he?

"Because…I…love you, too." She whispered the last few words.

"What was that?"

Her scowl deepened. "I love you," she said in a slightly louder voice.

"I can't hear you!" Zuko said in a sing songy voice.

Her eye twitching, Katara whirled around to face him and yelled, "I LOVE YOU TOO!"

Laughing, Zuko said, "Then why didn't you say so?"

And before Katara could unleash her awesome bending powers on him, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers, in a sweet kiss. Her cheeks flamed, as she leaned against him.

"We're going to have to spend the night in this cave," Katara said a few hours later, after she had checked outside to see if the blizzard was over. "It looks like it's going to go on all night."

Zuko nodded, and the teens sat, leaning against each other, and talked until they both grew sleepy. Balling his shirt up, Zuko used it as a pillow for his head.

"Hey! How come you get the pi-" Katara yelled, but was silenced when Zuko pulled her down on top of him, her head on his chest. Without a word, he used his sweater as a blanket to cover their top halves, and wrapped his arm around Katara's waist. Smiling, she closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against his chest, and Zuko's arm tightened as they both went to sleep.

There you are folks! Since I'm not continuing this story, I'm not gonna press you as hard for reviews as I would my multi-chapter stories, but I'd still appreciate some!

I apologize for any errors, and if Katara seemed too OC.