And he's back again! Been a while since I posted something, but my writer's block has stopped. This follows the continuity from "An Ordinary Water Tribe Custom", so if you haven't read that story yet...well, please read it because this will make a little more sense. I actually intend to write several stories in that alt-verse (alluded to in this story) because "Katara Spanking Aang" is so natural, but then Dani requested a "Katara Spanking Zuko" story and this just kind of happened. I'll fill in the gaps as I get to it, but you can still enjoy this one just fine.

This one is pretty light and not so heavy, but it's still a spanking fic, and some stuff just comes with the territory. Read and review!

Dedicated to Danidot, who knows Zuko's heart.

Finished with the day's laundry, Katara was walking through the Fire Lord's Ember Island summer house, handing out the clothes to their respective owners. To her annoyance, nobody seemed particularly appreciative of her work. Toph was still sleeping lazily. Worse for her sake, she had walked in on her brother and Suki doing something that didn't require any clothes. Embarrassed and aggravated at their behavior, Katara left their clothes in a pile outside the door, then marched off in a huff to find Zuko and Aang.

There was no doubt what they would be doing at this early hour; Zuko would be instructing Aang on his firebending in preparation for his inevitable battle with Ozai. Her mood brightened; she always enjoyed watching Aang practice firebending. His intensity, his strength, his agility, his concentration, and the raw power of the flames made her hot in more ways than one. And Zuko was fun to look at too, even if she didn't have romantic thoughts about him.

"NO!" she heard Zuko shout. "Grrrr, power in firebending comes from the breath, not the muscle!"

"Well, you aren't blowing anything but hot air!" was Aang's smart-aleck retort.

Katara groaned. Gone were her thoughts of being a normal almost-fifteen year-old who could admire two studs getting a sweat. Instead she felt like a mom with two boys that would just never learn to play nice with each other. She starting walking towards the shirtless boys; they were arguing next to the fountain.

"Why are you talking to me like that?" Zuko barked. "I'm your teacher!"

Aang stabbed his finger into Zuko's chest. "Well, I'm trying to learn and you're just blowing up over every little mistake I make!"

"Boys?" Katara prodded, but they ignored her.

"I have a right to get mad!" Zuko shouted, throwing his hands in the air. "This is simple, basic stuff!"

Aang gritted his teeth. "Well, sorry I'm not getting it down perfectly!"

"You're the AVATAR!"

"That doesn't mean everything is just MAGICALLY easy for me!"

"Boys..."

"Well, you're just not trying hard enough!" Zuko accused.

"Well, you're just a jerk!" Aang countered.

"BOYS!" Katara shouted.

"WHAT?" they shouted simultaneously turning to her

She sighed. "Your laundry is done!" she said with false cheerfulness. "And what is the big deal anyway?"

Aang folded his arms. "Zuko is just getting angry over every little thing I do wrong!"

"Well, AANG isn't listening to a word I say!" Zuko folded his arms.

"That's because you're a mean, short-tempered bully!" Aang turned to face Zuko.

"That's because you're a spoiled, irresponsible child!"

Zuko and Aang drove their heads into each other, snarling, daggers of flame jutting out of their fists.

Finally losing her cool, Katara tossed the laundry basket and roared. "WOULD YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP! I'm not up to your stupid bickering today!"

"Well, excuse me, MOM!" Aang snapped at her.

Katara gasped at his rudeness. She hadn't done anything wrong, and Aang bit her head off. Even Zuko seemed to think he he was out of line. She was shocked that he would treat her, his best friend and maybe more than that, this way. Especially since she hadn't been afraid to call him on his occasional immaturity ever since the spanking in the woods. Aang had literally asked for that because he felt guilty over stealing a map to their father, but he was figuratively asking for it right now.

"Aang, what did I do to deserve that?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him. She looked very imposing when she was angry and Zuko was backing away from them, slowly.

The Avatar averted her gaze, looking regretful and a little worried. "Um, I...I...?"

Katara put her face right next to his, staring him down. "Start talking, buster!"

"I don't know!" Aang finally answered, his eyes going wide. She knew that his mind had to be headed the same place hers had already gone.

"Well, I know exactly what you deserve!" she said coolly, and Aang bit his lip. She took his hand and a sat on the fountain. "Nooooooo! Katara, please..." Aang begged, but she pulled him over his lap and pulled his pants down, the perfect position for some well deserved chastisement. "Not in front of Zuko, pleeeease!" Aang begged pathetically, and Zuko watched in amazement.

Katara took a second to reconsider; she had disciplined Aang a few times when she thought he deserved it (and twice just for fun), but those had been in private. Now they had an audience, and the fact that it was Zuko had to be killing Aang. Still, it was obvious what she had planned and it would be pointless to do it elsewhere. He knew, he might as well watch.

"Don't you ever pipe off at me again, Young Man!" Katara scolded. She always became very motherly when it was time to punish Aang. It used to be forced, but now it was second nature. "I won't just please don't do this!" Aang shouted. "I don't want a...a..."

"You don't want a what?" Katara asked, pressing her hand down on his back, between his shoulder blades, to assert her authority and keep him still.

"A spanking..." Aang whispered pathetically.

"Well, too bad, because that's exactly what you are getting Aang!" she said and slapped his left cheek with her palm.

"Nooo!" Aang gasped, but Katara swatted his other cheek. "Ow!"

She peppered his bottom with swats, switching side to side and increasing the speed with every swat. The Avatar let his discomfort be known, yelping after each smack until they came too quickly for him to keep up. Katara was spanking as hard as she ever had, and the parts of Aang's bottom she could see were already turning bright pink. She knew he was getting a dark red glow underneath his trunks.

"Katara, I'm sorry!" Aang whined. "Please...st-stop!" he sniffled, between swats.

"I'll stop when I'm good and ready," she answered and Aang bawled in dejection. She continued to blister his bottom with hard swats, and he kept sobbing over her lap. Though he tried to hold still, his fingers and toes were curling with every strike of her hand and his buttocks clenched involuntarily with the mounting sting.

Zuko watched Katara's chastisement, dumbfounded. He wasn't unfamiliar with spankings, as it was pretty much the norm in Fire Nation familes. Heck, his own mother had turned him over her knee a time or two. But he had never imagined he'd be seeing a fourteen year-old girl swatting a twelve year-old boy, especially considering they were friends. Part of him admitted that Aang deserved it, part of him felt sorry for him, and part of him just didn't know what to do. So he watched Katara reduce the Avatar to tears with a firm hand across his posterior.

"I'm s-s-sorry, Katara, honest!" Aang reassured her. Zuko was amazed at how still he was; the pain had to be driving him nuts, yet he laid limply over her knees and submitted to every swat. "Katara...please, I promise I won't do it again!" he begged. Her answer was an even harder swat, and this time Aang couldn't just take it. He kicked his legs and wept like a child.

"Hold still!" she ordered sternly, and gave two swats on his bare thighs. Aang screamed. "And quit blubbering, you're embarrassing yourself!" She resumed the attack on his backside, and he fought very hard to keep still and accept his fate.

Finally, Zuko snapped. "Katara, he said he was sorry!" he yelled.

Katara looked up at him, looking very perturbed. "Yes, and I'm sure he is. So?" she answered.

"So you should stop...doing that!" he said, unable to say exactly what it was she was doing. "He's sorry, what's the point?"

"To teach him a lesson," she said matter-of-factly, and gave Aang a fresh batch of swats.

"KATARA, STOP IT!" Zuko ordered, and both spanker and spankee looked at him, shocked at his courage.

"Excuse me?" Katara balked. "Who are you to tell me what I should and shouldn't do? I've punished Aang on more than one occasion, and honestly, this is nothing. Between snapping at me and his immature bickering with you, I've had enough."

Zuko's eyes widened at the revelation that this happened before, though it certainly explained the Avatar's compliance. He considered what she said. Maybe he should have stayed quiet. After all, their business was their business. Did he have a right to interfere in that?

His thoughts were interrupted by Katara's motherly indignation. "And you're lucky I'm not spanking you for the stupid fight too!"

Zuko's jaw dropped. "You wouldn't dare!" he said, though he wasn't fully sure of it.

"Do you want to test me?" she challenged. "Because I'm not afraid to!"

"You're not my mother!" he shouted.

"I'm not his mother either," she said, pointing at Aang. "That hasn't stopped me before."

"Uh, Katara..." Aang butted in, but Katara gave him another sharp smack. "Quiet you!" and Aang wailed. "Yes Ma'aaaam!"

"Well, you aren't spanking me!" Zuko said, folded his arms in defiance. "Heck, I'm OLDER than you, so maybe I should turn YOU over MY knee and teach you a lesson in respect!"

Katara laughed. "Please Zuko, we both know you don't have it in you. Now be quiet and let me finish spanking Aang or I swear you'll take his place," she warned, and once again started to punish Aang.

"STOP IT!" Zuko shouted.

Katara glared at him in angry surprise. Zuko suddenly felt far less brave than he had a second ago. He gulped, sincerely hoping she was not going to make good on that threat. Because already, he knew that if she did, he wasn't going to do a darn thing about it.

She seemed to be sizing him up, and she was rubbing her hands together. "Aang, get off of my lap, please. Your spanking is over," she said, and Aang slowly and awkwardly stood up and began to rub his rear end. Zuko stood still, paralyzed with fear of the unknown, not sure what was going to happen to him.

Katara gave him a look that seemed to pierce into his soul. She closed her eyes ominously for a moment. "Come over here Zuko," she commanded, her eyes still shut.

"But I..." he began to protest.

"NOW!" she shouted emphatically, opening her eyes to glare at him again. Yet Zuko's feet did not move, neither forward nor backward.

"You're not spanking me," Zuko whispered, trying to sound tough and brave. But he could tell she wasn't buying it for one second.

"Don't make me bring you over here," she said slowly, and her eyes said, Or you'll regret it.

Zuko stepped forward, hardly believing he was obeying her. But as she continued to glower at him, he kept taking steps until he was right in front of her. Even though he was several inches taller than her even when she stood, she may as well towered over for him considering how small he felt.

"Over my lap, Zuko," she demanded.

He summoned the last of his courage to argue. "You have no right..."

"Over my lap, Zuko," she repeated more sternly.

"You have no reason," he tried.

"OVER MY LAP, ZUKO!"

Zuko still refused to obey. Gnashing her teeth in anger, Katara moved her hand and water shot out of her pouch, wrapping itself like a tentacle around his hands. Zuko gasped in horror, and a second later he was forcefully pulled across her lap. He grunted and felt Katara's hand pressing against his back...she was very strong.

"When I say something, you do it," she said, and Zuko felt his pants being pulled down. "Katara, what are you doing?" he asked pointlessly. She said nothing. Zuko squirmed on her knees, trying to break free, but Katara pressed her nails into the skin of his back. "Awww," he let out, hating her for the sting between his shoulders.

But that was nothing compared to the sting on his bottom when she first struck it. Zuko gasped in shock and pain, and another swat came. And another, and another, and another, and soon she was slapping his cheeks so quickly that Zuko lost count. Determined not to give her the satisfaction of making him admit it hurt, Zuko steeled his nerves. His hands balled into fists, his teeth ground against each other, and his legs stiffened. Even so, he couldn't keep from groaning as her palm assaulted his rear end.

As the initial shock faded, Zuko felt his anger rise. How dare she do this? She had no right, she had no reason. And why was he LETTING her do this? He was older, he was stronger, she couldn't hold him down if he didn't want to be held down. Yet here he was, laying across her lap and letting her whale on him. Zuko's eyes narrowed, and he groaned. "Katara, you better stop right now!" he threatened through his teeth.

"Or what, you gonna make me stop?" she said. Zuko hated her right now. He started to get up but Katara just smacked his bottom even harder until he came back down. "STOP IT, KATARA!" he ordered. "You have no good reason to do this!"

"Oh, I have two very good reasons for doing this, Young Man," she lectured. YOUNG MAN? he thought. WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS? "First, you were fighting with Aang and about to come to blows when you're SUPPOSED to be teaching him to firebend so he can face the Fire Lord. You know, because the fate of the world world depends on him winning that fight?" Zuko started to feel guilty. "And second, for telling me to stop spanking Aang when he clearly deserved it for disrespecting me AND disrespecting you when he should be learning." She had not let up once during this whole lecture, and Zuko began to wonder if she was a secretly a firebender, so great was the burning in his buttocks.

Between that rising discomfort and her logic, Zuko was starting to see her point of view, and it cooled his temper. He still didn't think he deserved to be disciplined like a baby, but he stopped fighting. His muscles relaxed, he lowered his head, his teeth separated. And then, slowly but surely, he lost the battle for his dignity. Yelps of pain sneaked out of his mouth, and gave way to gasps of "Ow!" As she continued to punish him, Zuko looked to his side, trying to keep his mind on something other than his reddening hindquarters.

He saw Aang, still rubbing his sore backside through the fibers of his pants, eyes red from crying and looking on with pity for the Fire Prince. Zuko imagined that he felt much the same as Aang had minutes earlier, even though it was made more embarrassing because Katara was two years younger than him. Aang WAS a child, but Zuko was almost seventeen; he shouldn't be getting...SPANKED at his age.

And yet, as Katara continued to swing her arm to bring her hand down across his cheeks, Zuko felt younger and younger. His anger and embarrassment started to give way, and all he could think about was the wretched, awful sting in his flaring cheeks. He wasn't sure how much more he could take.

And finally, it happened.

He reached his breaking point, and tears started to flow from his right eye. His gasps became weak sobs and he went completely limp in his position. And he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he deserved to be spanked for the way he was treating Aang and Katara. After all, with everything he'd done to them in the past, they shouldn't have even taken him into their group. But now, he was their friend. He couldn't be short-tempered, or rude, or uncooperative. They were a family, and he was part of it now.

"Katara, I'm sorry. Really, really sorry," he apologized sincerely, not even caring if she stopped spanking him. She just needed to know how much he regretted his behavior.

She continued to discipline him for another minute or so, and he sobbed every second of it. Finally, he stopped hearing the "SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!" of her swats, and the sharp sting started to become a burning ache. "I forgive you Zuko," she said kindly, and Zuko sighed with relief. He felt his pants being raised up. "Go ahead and stand up now," she said, and Zuko forced himself up, gasping as he flexed his sore bottom muscles.

He backed two steps away, and began to caress his sore cheeks slowly as Katara stood up. She looked at him, and then at Aang. The two boys looked at each other. Aang still looked uncomfortable, but managed to crack a bit of a smile at him. Zuko exchanged the weak smile.

Then Aang looked at Katara. "I'm very sorry I snapped at you," he said, and his voice sounded strained.

"I forgive you too, Aang," Katara answered. She folded her arms and looked sternly at both of them. "Now, no more of this petty fighting between you two. Aang, Zuko is your teacher and you show him the same respect you show me, got it?"

"Yes, Ma'am," was his eager reply.

Katara turned to face Zuko. "And you have more patience with Aang and control your temper. He's still learning and you need to show him some grace. Understood?"

"Uh...yes, Ma'am?" Zuko answered awkwardly, not exactly thrilled about it.

"And BOTH OF YOU," she raised her voice and both of their backs straightened, "better not give me any more sass or I'll be bringing my hairbrush with me. Am I clear?"

"YES MA'AM!" the two boys said in terrified unison. Aang shook slightly in a way that made Zuko believe he had first-hand experience with her brush, and he was not eager to find out what it felt like.

"Good," she said, and gave Aang a very warm hug. She turned to Zuko, looked a bit awkwardly at him, but then hugged him as well. "Now get back to your training you two. I have more chores to do before the day is done," she left in a much more cheerful mood than she arrived.

Zuko looked at Aang. Aang looked at Zuko.

"Did that just happen?" Zuko blurted out.

"Yup," Aang answered.

"Is she really serious about the..."

"...hairbrush?"

"Yeah."

"Dead serious."

"Shoot."

"Yup."

They sighed, both in relief that these spankings were over, and out of dread of any subsequent ones.

"I'm sorry I acted like a spoiled brat," Aang said, and Zuko was surprised at the apology. "I won't be rude anymore, and I'll try harder to listen and do what you say."

"And I'm sorry I blew my top," Zuko answered. "I'll work on that."

"Sooo...the breath, not the muscles?" he asked with a faint smile.

"Yeah," Zuko said, and they resumed their training.

"Owowowowowowowowowowowowow," Katara sighed as soon as she was out of hearing range. "I swear, Aang's bottom is getting harder!" She looked at her right palm. It was flaring red and stinging. "And Zuko's is even worse!" She bended water onto her left hand and clasped them together, and sighed as the water healed her blistered, burning hand. "Next time, I really just need to use the brush..."