As the sun began to rise above the horizon, and the clouds slowly cleared away, a small beam of sunlight made its way through the forest trees, through the cave entrance, and fell mercilessly upon Zuko's scarred eye. Zuko groaned and rubbed his eyes, fighting the uncontrollable forces that wished to wake him. As if on cue, he felt a looming presence over him. Although the figure blocked the obnoxious beam of light that had nearly deepened the burn on his left eye, the heated gaze emanating from said figure was far less tolerable.

"Zuko! Get up! You need to get outside and teach Aang to control his fire bending! He's going to end up burning down the forest!"

Zuko released a loud sigh before sitting up and firing an agitated glare at Katara, who stood before him, hands on her hips as usual. He pushed himself up to his feet before her, but knowing she was challenging him and wanting an argument, he kept calm. Instead, he made an attempt to smooth talk her, which unfortunately was not one of his fortes. "You're beautiful when you're angry." As if the comment itself was not bad enough to Katara, he slurred when he spoke, still groggy after his abrupt awakening.

Realizing his ability to speak poetry, or anything comparable, was lacking, Zuko took an alternate approach to avoiding an argument. He swiftly stepped closer to Katara, his chest brushing against hers. Seeing her cheeks grow flush, it was obvious she had forgotten her original objective. As she opened her mouth to murmur a quiet protest, Zuko took the moment to embrace her, placing a soft kiss on her parted lips.

Katara abruptly broke the contact after reminding herself that the others were just outside the cave. "Let's try not to do this around the others, especially Aang," she whispered. Zuko looked fairly irritated by her request, but kept his mouth shut about the matter. Looking over Katara's shoulder, Zuko saw Aang step into the cave, apparently unaware of the affair the couple had just had.

"Hey Zuko! What's today's lesson?" Aang blurted out as he scampered inside, Momo flying not far behind. Aware that she was still rather close to Zuko, Katara took several steps back before Aang stopped beside them. Thankfully, Aang's bright smile indicated he was not suspicious. "Are you going to teach me to shoot lightning?" Aang prodded. Katara's eyes widened at the question, and she awaited the inevitable anger that was sure to ensue. To her surprise, Zuko remained calm.

"No," was the dull, simple answer. Aang gazed up at Zuko in disappointment. Zuko further explained, "We're going to work on your control." Aang nodded, knowing he was certainly in need of some self-control when it came to fire bending. He wished more than anything, not to ever hurt anyone again with his bending.

"Later today, after you two have finished your training, we should work on getting Zuko to the spirit world," Katara suggested. She was pleased to see a small glint of hope in Zuko's eyes.

As Katara knelt down beside a stream, filling her flask with the cool water, she began to wonder how Zuko and Aang were getting along. She had left them to their training, along with Momo and Toph, earlier that morning while she ventured out alone to gather dry wood and, though she had not mentioned it to the others, some alone time to relax. After putting away her flask, she took a seat in the soft grass at the water's edge, letting her feet dangle in the cold, but refreshing water. She gazed into the water, watching her own reflection stare back up at her. However hard she tried though, she could not seem to keep her mind off Zuko and Aang, feeling it might have been a mistake to leave them unsupervised. The combination of Zuko's short-temper and Aang's jealousy was sure to cause some problems, and Toph was likely not to help the matter with her sarcasm. Unable to bear the thought of likely disaster, she silently cursed at her reflection before pushing herself to her feet and making her way back to the group.

When Katara arrived back at the site, she was surprised to find that the others were not outside. She silently prayed that they were not practicing fire bending in the small cave. As she made her way closer to the cave entrance, she heard a shrill voice from inside that sounded strangely familiar. She could not quite make out what was being said, but as she reached the opening into the cave, she was certain it was Zuko's voice. Laughter followed the odd outbursts, which she was sure were coming from Aang and Toph. Curious, she slowly made her way into the cave. She was baffled at the sight that lay before her.

Zuko, with his back to Katara, had his hair stuffed behind his ears, with the exception of a few strands on either side of his face, which were tightly looped across his face in a familiar fashion. His hands were flailing about girlishly as he flounced about while speaking in a mocking tone, "Look at me, I'm Katara! I think I can tell everyone what to do, because I'm a woman!" Aang and Toph were both nearly in tears from their fits of laughter. Zuko continued on in an uncharacteristically joking manner, playing with the hair loops he had shaped, "I do my hair like this because the loops work like divining rods, to keep me in tune with the water!" His tone remained high pitched and dripping with sarcasm.

By that point, Katara's initial shock had worn off, and was replaced with rage. She stormed into the room, hands on her hips. Momo chattered in fear from his seat in Toph's lap before taking flight towards the back of the cave. Aang's laughter immediately ceased as he noticed her presence. Zuko, however, had not yet realized that his subject of mockery was standing directly behind him. Toph's laughter had softened slightly. Although she had known the whole time Katara had been present, she was now trying to stifle laughter at Zuko's ignorance. Aang attempted to point past Zuko, alerting him of Katara's presence, but Zuko was apparently enjoying himself too much to notice the signs. Katara cleared her throat loudly, startling Zuko to the point that he spun around so fast he lost his balance, falling backwards into Aang. They both crashed to the floor, gazing up at Katara in utter shock and fear. Toph's laughter grew louder, amused by everyone's apparent tone.

"So you think that's how I act, huh?" Katara demanded as she towered over the guilty boys. "You really think you're cute, don't you Zuko?"

Zuko's cheeks reddened, though from embarrassment rather than anger. He opened his mouth to utter some sort of explanation in defense of himself, but Katara would not allow it.

"And to think I was worried that you two would not be getting along, while here you were, getting along just fine because you were making fun of me!"

Toph lazily forced herself to her feet before butting in. "Cool it sugar queen. We were just having some fun. I'm sure if we were making fun of, say Suki, or your brother, you would have been just fine with that."

Aang released the breath he had been holding as Katara's attention had now turned to Toph. Zuko pushed himself off Aang and they both stood, taking several steps back away from the fuming Katara.

Katara made her way towards Toph, and had she been a fire bender, smoke would have been pouring from her ears and nose. "Fine then, why don't we make fun of you, fungus princess!" she snarled. Katara's voice turned mocking as she chanted, "Oh look at me! I'm Toph! I don't wear shoes because I like the smell of stinky feet, and I like to cut down others to make me feel better about myself!"

Fear returned to Aang's heart, certain Toph was going to lose her cool at the last comments. Another relieved sigh came as Toph's laughter returned. "Good one Katara," she snorted, "Fungus princess! I like that!" Katara's expression slowly lightened, and she too joined in the laughter. Aang stared blankly at the girls, then turned to Zuko, who was just as dumbfounded and awkward feeling as he was.

When the laughter ceased, Katara turned to Zuko, whose face was red, apparently still embarrassed from being caught in the act. "Can I talk to you alone for a minute… outside?"

As if there was really any possible answer other than yes, Zuko murmured an unenthusiastic "sure" before following Katara outside. Katara led him several feet from the cave, to ensure some privacy, but her senses easily picked up on the little spies that had followed them to the cave opening.

"I know you two are back there!" Katara called out. She could hear Aang and Toph scuttle further back into the cave. Zuko stood tall, waiting for what he expected to be a reprimanding lecture.

"Zuko," Katara began gently and slowly, "Although that wasn't exactly what I had in mind, I'd like to tell you how pleased I am to see you getting along with Aang and Toph. It means a lot to all of us that you've joined the group and changed your ways. I think, though, it means the most to me." She took a quick moment to glance over her shoulder, ensuring there were no spies watching them. Apparently Zuko had known what she was intending to do, because when she turned back to him, his face was already nearing hers. They shared a short kiss before Katara stepped back, stifling a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Zuko demanded, offended that she might have been laughing at his kiss, or worse yet, what he had been doing earlier. Sure enough, it was the worse of the two possibilities.

"I still can't get past what you were doing earlier," Katara laughed. "I never would have thought that was you in there acting like that if I hadn't seen you with my own eyes!"

"Me either," Zuko murmured, "So don't get used to it. It won't be happening again." He looked away from Katara, trying to hide his embarrassment and mask it with his typical anger. Of course, Katara saw right through his façade.

"Well, if you do act like that ever again, it had better not be about me!" Katara teased. She stood silent for several moments, just smiling kindly at Zuko as he blushed and kicked his right foot in the dirt. "As soon as my brother returns, I say we work on getting you to your uncle."

Zuko's blush faded, and his scowl was replaced with a look of hope. "Do you really think I can go to the spirit world?"

"No," Katara replied simply, a teasing smile on her face. She laughed when Zuko's face fell sullen, and before it could turn to anger she quickly finished, "I know you can."

Zuko stepped closer, bringing his face close to Katara's. His cheek brushed against hers as he whispered softly in her ear, "Thank you, Katara," earning a soft blush on Katara's tanned cheeks.

Katara smiled shyly, looking away to prevent herself from being distracted by him as she spoke, "We'll need to go someplace spiritual to do this, so perhaps we can go to the western air temple. I know it may not be the best place for you to link to the spirit world, but I have a feeling you can't get there on your own, Aang will have to take you there somehow."

"That's fine Zuko replied and took several steps back, breaking their close contact.

As the two made their way back to the cave, Katara was glad to see that Toph and Aang had no longer been spying on her and Zuko, although Aang appeared to be rather worried as she approached.

"Don't worry Aang, you're not in trouble," Katara laughed. "But as soon as Sokka returns with Appa, we're heading for the western air temple to aid Zuko in reaching the spirit world."