Summary:Takes place after Southern Raiders episode. Hormones and feelings become fuzzy for Katara after forgiving Zuko, while Zuko struggles with his own urges for the Waterbender.

^.~

Author's Note at the end.

Yes, yes, I don't own Avatar, you know the drill.

"Ugh! Why can't I fall asleep?" Katara flung the sheets off with great vigor. She grabbed a towel as she stomped out of her room. "Maybe a warm bath will do me some good," she whispered to herself.

She stepped out of her room to the hallway. The corridor always seemed too spacious for her. Smaller spaces were the norm back at home; shrugging, she continued her amble until she made it to the washroom.

After one, quiet creak of the door, she was in. Katara walked up to the clawfoot tub to twist the hot water knob on.

Oh! The pleasures of indoor plumbing! I suppose royalty has its perks.

With that thought in mind, she made her way to a full body mirror. The Waterbender twirled her hair around her finger, smiled, winked at the mirror, and gave herself the once-over.

Back at home, girls my age would start thinking about potential male suitors for marriage. It would have only been a year or two before I would have to commit myself to someone. I love being part of the front line protecting and helping those who need it, but…

"Sometimes I just want to be a girl!" she finished her cryptic thoughts aloud, before finishing off in a delicate whisper, "so few are the occasions where I feel feminine."

A simple sigh passed her lips as she began to remove clothing. She missed her Southern Water Tribe clothes, but her Fire Nation attire made the warmer weather bearable. With all of her clothing folded neatly by her foot, she scrutinized her body.

Slender fingers slid up and down her sinewy arms. Katara smirked. Her endless hours of waterbending, be it practicing solo or training Aang, paid off. Her hands traveled to her breasts. She made a wry smile. They have grown since she started traveling, but she still could not shake off the prick of envy at the thought that Suki's appeared to be larger. Moving lower, the tips of her fingers slid down her smooth abdomen. Continuing down her path, her hands splayed out towards her hips.

"I'm finally filling out," she muttered. Noting that the water level was drawing near to the top, Katara headed over to the tub. Her toes curled when they made contact with the warm fluid. Finding a comfortable spot, she sat still against the tub, letting the water soothe her body. Typically, sleep welcomes her, but tonight was different. Regardless of the sleeping position, Katara was antsy. She was confused.

Bringing her fingers to her lips, she recalled the kiss Aang and her shared at the invasion. In that kiss, he exerted passion, but she could not say it was reciprocated. She wasn't expecting it, but she wasn't adverse to it. With so much going on, Katara has yet to sort out her feelings for the young Airbender.

Now that Zuko has been added to the mixture, her romantic desires were all addled. Was she genuinely attracted to him? She knew tidbits about him, but it wasn't as if they engaged in daily, drawn out conversations. All of these changes in a short time span were a lot to handle. Months ago, she was at the Southern Water Tribe with Sokka and Gran Gran. Fast forward some months, she was traveling with the Avatar and her new friends. Sokka was the only male near her age at home, but now there were two guys sleeping in the same house. Taking a peek down at her bosom she could not help but to wonder about her physical changes.

When I was younger, Gran Gran did tell me that not only will my body change, but I will even experience a tingling, warming sensation when I am attracted to a guy. I wish she elaborated more. I already found myself having a tingly reaction in my tummy when I look at Zuko. Am I only physically attracted to him? What about Aang?

Flustered with her thoughts, she dunked her head in the water.

x x x

"Grr! Those two are animals. Is a good night's rest too much to ask for?" Toph grinded her teeth at the obscene noises seeping through her door's crack.

Seizing her blanket, she decided to sleep in Katara's room. At least her room was the furthest away from Sokka's. Walking past Sokka's door, Toph scrunched her face at the sound of groans.

Approaching Katara's door, Toph could tell that her room was vacant. She stomped her foot on the ground. Letting the waves of her surrounding to communicate with her, she let out a sigh of relief; Katara was in the restroom, only a few doors down. Despite the jests targeted towards the Waterbender, she was like the older, caring sister Toph never had. Of course, Toph must fulfill her sisterly duties to pull pranks on Katara.

Stepping away from Katara's room, she journeyed to a different room with a grin on her face.

Balling up her fist, she banged on Zuko's door.

"Zuko, your assistance is needed!"

An annoyed, muffled groan responded back, followed with, "Can't it wait until tomorrow?"

"Nope, it's an emergency."

Zuko opened the door and peered down at her smile. That smile did not sit well with him. "It sure doesn't sound like an emergency."

"Oh, it is. The toilet is clogged." She crossed her arms and frowned. "I went in, and I smelled this terrible stench! I figured someone forgot to flush, so I tried to flush it myself, but nothing happened. I blame Sokka."

"You can't do your business outside?" Zuko was not in the mood to fix the toilet at this hour.

"No, besides, it stinks in there. It's your house. You would know how to correct the situation. Let me know when you finish! I will be waiting in Katara's room." Before Zuko could even question why she would be going there, Toph swiftly left.

"To think, one day I am trying to capture the Avatar, the next; I am a plumber for one of his friends." Running his hand through his hair, he stopped his trek when he was at the washroom's entrance. The door was slightly ajar.

Right as he was about to push the door open, he could make out the sound of running water. His heart dropped. Someone was in there, but whom?

Zuko mentally concluded that Toph was exaggerating, and that the so called "horrible stench" can't be that potent if someone is bathing in there. Not wanting to disturb one of his friends, he was going to go back to his room, but froze at the sound of a feminine murmur.

"I'm finally filling out." The running water ceased.

Katara is in there.

Zuko debated whether to leave, or to stay and watch. Departing would be chivalrous, but he really wanted to steal a glance. Sighing, he stood there staring at the door handle.

x x x

Katara's head resurfaced after her relaxing moments of submersion.

I guess I should finally head to bed. Maybe tomorrow I will spend some time with Zuko, to get to know him better. Hopefully, talking to him might clear up any foggy ideas and desires about him.

Getting out of the tub Katara picked up her towel from the floor, and began drying herself off. She wrapped the towel over her shoulders. She could have used her waterbending to dry herself, but she loved the feeling of being covered by a towel. Sometimes, she would imagine that instead of a towel, a lover would be embracing her.

Smiling at her silly fantasies, she decided to waterbend the rest of herself dry. Once she had her under wrappings on and Fire Nation garb in her hands, she took a couple of steps before opening the door.

x x x

Zuko stiffened as he heard soft footsteps getting louder.

Shit. She's coming!

Not wanting to face her wrath, he scurried back to his room.

x x x

Katara stepped out of the washroom and noticed a figure making hasty steps in the corridor. She dropped her things and took off after the suspicious offender.

What if a Fire Nation spy found us?

Her mind was frantic, and became even more frenzied when the intruder ran into Zuko's room. Katara barged into his room, bending her knees and arms into a defensive stance.

"Katara!" He felt his heart slamming against his ribcage. Great, now she is going to think I'm a pervert.

"Zuko?" she narrowed her eyes to scan his room. Realizing that she spotted no one else but the slightly out of breath Firebender, her blue eyes went large before turning into slits. Clenching her fists, she yelled, "You pervert! You were spying on me when I was taking a bath, weren't you?"

"No! I promise you that I didn't look," he pleaded. Though, if I knew I would be blamed regardless I would have snuck a peek. Damned if I do, damned if I don't. He mentally chided himself for his earlier indecisiveness.

"Oh really? Then tell me, if you weren't peeping at me, why did you rush back to your room?" Katara marched up to Zuko, and jabbed her pointer finger at his chest. "Only a guilty person would run!"

"You know, Sweetness, Zuko is actually telling the truth."

Katara and Zuko both looked over toward the door to see Toph leaning against the door frame.

"Also, I am crashing in your room tonight, Katara. So keep it down you two. Oh, and Zuko, I used the bathroom by Aang's room instead." Toph turned to make her leave with a huge grin on her face. Those two are way too fun to not mess with.

When Toph was out of sight, Katara reluctantly faced Zuko.

"You were telling the truth?" she paused, experiencing some guilt for accusing him so harshly. "Sorry that I yelled at you," she apologized. She awkwardly rubbed her hand against her other arm. Zuko nodded at her apology, but she quickly added, "I still would like to know why you ran from me!"

Of course he couldn't get off that easy.

"W-well, Toph woke me up because she wanted me to fix the toilet in the washroom. I figured it would be the one closest to her room, but I wasn't aware that you were occupying it." He stopped talking, noting Katara's skeptic face. "Then I heard someone coming to the door. I ran because I didn't want it to appear that I was encroaching on their privacy." She seemed pleased with his answered, but she still furrowed her eyebrows.

"I guess I still don't know you that well. And here I thought you were being a no good pervert!" She let out a light titter. Katara felt a little self-conscious when she discovered that he actually did not look. He seemed interested earlier, was his earlier gawking at the beach just spur of the moment? Did he not deem her attractive enough to leer at? Did she want him to look? Now she was beginning to feel like the depraved one.

"Would you like to get to know me better?" He knew he was putting his neck out there, but he yearned for some bonding time with her.

Yes, yes, yes, yes!

Katara silenced her inner chant before nodding. "Yes, I would love to." Then maybe she can finally organize her cluttered emotions.

"How about before dinner we go somewhere, like on the back porch, and just talk?" He would have preferred to spend the morning with her, but he knew that she enjoyed sleeping in.

"Can we do it sometime after dinner? I promised Aang earlier that we would do practice some waterbending," she tried to hide the disappointment in her voice of having to delay their rendezvous. She didn't want to sound too eager.

His body stiffened at the mention of Aang. As much as he liked Aang, he was a force to be reckoned with. Zuko saw Aang's adoration towards the Waterbender. Attempting to pacify the biting guilt that he felt by proposing the date-like situation, he justified it as an opportunity to understand his peer better. The more he knows about Katara, the more efficient they can be on the battlefield, he reasoned. Besides, it takes two to tango.

"Yeah, we can do it after dinner. If you want to, I can help you with dishes again," he teased.

She chuckled, "That won't be necessary. Sokka will do it since it was his fault that we were stuck with them today."

"You sound pretty confident that he will do them." Feeling a bit tired he decided to take a seat on his bed.

Following his suit, she took a seat next to him. "He will wash those dishes if he knows what is good for him."

Zuko smiled at her fierceness, it was one of his favorite attributes that she possessed; especially when he wasn't her opponent.

Katara observed Zuko's profile. His eyes told her that he was somewhere lost in thought, but his joyful expression must have had a trickle effect because her lips tugged upwards as well. Zuko's smile was more becoming than the scowl that used to adorn his face.

He is so handsome.

"What has made you so happy all of the sudden?" Katara's curiosity couldn't be contained.

The Firebender's eyes slightly widened. How long did I zone out for?

"I am glad to be on the right side." It wasn't a complete lie. He was at peace within himself since the conversion. All of this led to the added bonus of being able to pursue an amiable relationship with Katara and her feistiness. He concluded that his response was an indirectly truthful.

"Me too, I'm happy you're with us."

Katara's words hung in the air. The silence exposed the underlying tension that was present. It dawned on her that she was alone with Zuko in his room at night. The thought alone sounded a little naughty. Her cheeks grew hotter. She subconsciously bit her lip.

For awhile he was staring straight ahead, but for the past couple of minutes he could feel her eyes on him. He turned to her to ask why she was staring, only to be in awe of her cerulean orbs. Even through the darkness, he was still able to make out most of her features. Her lips became center of his attention. What would it be like to kiss her? Zuko knew that quelling his raging hormones should be the top priority, but her presence wasn't making it easy. It was nighttime, and here was a beautiful, compassionate Waterbender in his bed nibbling her lip. He began to lean towards her.

Katara's breathing picked up as she saw Zuko coming closer to her. He stopped with ample space between their faces.

"It's getting late. We really need to get some rest," his husky voice sent tingles down Katara's back.

Her voice lowered as she replied, "Yeah. I will see you tomorrow."

A part of her wanted to linger in his room longer, but she knew that Zuko had to get up early and train Aang. He does rise with the sun. Getting up, she took lazy paces to the door. Craning her neck to see him, she wished him a pleasant night.

"Thanks, good night, Katara."

Finding her way back to her room, she found a sleeping Toph in her bed. Rolling her eyes at the sprawled out limbs, she crawled in next to her. Katara snuggled her head into the pillow and let out a quiet squeal.

"Took you long enough."

Katara sat up and screamed. Whipping her head to Toph, she asked, "Weren't you asleep? Better yet, I don't mind that you are here, but why are you sleeping in my room?"

"Well, I was asleep until you squealed like a pig-goat. " Toph adjusted her body as to not hog as much space.

"Still doesn't explain why you are here," Katara pursed her lips at the pig-goat remark.

"I couldn't fall asleep to the lovely ballad of moans and fleshy slaps, courtesy of Suki and your brother."

"Ew, okay, I heard enough!" As much as she loved her brother, sex and Sokka just didn't sit well with her. No one wants to imagine their sibling engaging in those activities.

Toph snickered at Katara's disgust.

"Well, it has been a long night, so good night." Only after she heard Toph's good night did she lay back down. Tomorrow would be interesting to say the least. She closed her eyes, ready for sleep to take her in.

x x x

"Five sets of twenty hot squats and a quick spar, and then we can call it a day." Zuko wiped his forehead clean from the continual onslaught of sweaty beads.

Aang huffed, but began his hot squats with Zuko.

"I don't know about you, but as Sokka would say, I definitely 'feel the burn'!" Aang chuckled at his Sokka reference.

Zuko observed Aang's lighthearted nature. Aang had a free spirit, and he was pretty easy to talk to. His Avatar status during this war didn't hinder him from having his carefree, personable moments.

"Yeah, it's a good burn," he responded.

Is Katara attracted to jaunty guys? Does she find me brooding and too serious?

Zuko immediately pushed his thoughts off to the side to concentrate the task at hand: training the Avatar.

One hundred hot squats later, they readied themselves for their spar.

Aang shut his eyes momentarily and took a deep breath. Without missing a beat, Zuko charged at Aang with a punch full of flames. Sensing Zuko's form drawing near, he used his airbending to sweep himself away from the strike.

"I wasn't ready!" His lower lip jutted out into a tiny pout.

"Always be ready!" Still running towards the Airbender, Zuko threw a series of flame bursts.

Aang made an 'X' with his arms before firebending the incoming flames to either side of him. Zuko caught up to the young monk to fight in a closer range. He attempted to push Aang backwards by kicking flames near Aang's lean chest. Taking steady steps back, Aang avoided every kicked. Aang lowered his knees before darting his fist towards Zuko's feet. He let out a low, wide, wave of flame catching Zuko off guard. Zuko stumbled as he jumped to dodge the attack. The Airbender utilized the moment to send rapid, flaming punches at banished Prince's torso. Falling on the ground on his rear, Zuko looked up and smiled.

"You've gotten better."

Beaming, Aang strode over to Zuko and offered his hand. "Thanks, Sifu Hotman!" Zuko rolled his eyes at the term, but smiled inwardly to himself.

"You're welcome. Thanks," he said as he was being pulled up. Wiping the dirt off his clothes, the two headed back to their temporary residence.

"I hope Toph won't go too hard on me today for our session."

"She probably will. I have seen you two earthbend, and as tough as she is, her teaching methods are suitable." He felt for Aang. Firebending training was always critical in his past. The intricacies of breathing, form, and method of attack would overwhelm him when he was younger. Having to master two other elements in a limited period of time was a heavy burden.

"Yeah, but at least Katara's lesson is after Toph's," Aang breathed out a soft, happy sigh. He made no effort to conceal his dreamy face. "She is gentler with me, and it can be relaxing at times."

Zuko wanted to spend time with Katara like that. He has seen Katara's mothering nature towards the group; it was endearing. He deduced that she would be the type of person to give her all to that special someone. She would be the one who would love unconditionally.

Upon reaching his home, he bid greetings to the other members of the household. He smiled and gave his hello to Katara. He was excited for his hangout with Katara. After hearing her greeting, he went to his room to rest.

x x x

All morning she had been looking forward to their evening. Katara was in the middle of a conversation with Suki when Aang and Zuko returned from their training. When Zuko flashed Katara his pearly whites, she stared. Suki took note of her friend's changed demeanor. Following Katara's eyes she saw Zuko. Suki gave her own acknowledgement to him, and watched the two exchanged their salutations.

It is almost like a date. Katara felt giddy and silly all at the same time.

As soon as Zuko left the room, Suki looked at Katara. "Okay, Katara, spill it."

AN: I am SO sorry for the lateness of this chapter! I wanted to finish this chapter sooner, but I recently took in two kittens, so my time was limited. On the bright side, however, this will be the longest you guys have to wait for a chapter! I promise to get these chapters out quicker.

I would like to say, thank you for the reviews!They really motivated me to get this chapter done ASAP. I love hearing your feedback, so please keep them coming. I don't have a beta, so I can't guarantee my work to have perfect grammar, but if you guys see anything let me know and I will take a look at it! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I will keep 'em coming!

Just to give you peeps a little insight on the story. I want to flesh out the emotions between them, because I feel after the raider's episode they really don't know each other that well. They know things about each other, but for the most part, not from each other. Additionally, Katara would be concern about worldly issues, but she is at the age where she may feel insecure or unsure about herself, in my opinion. It is a little harder to get into the mind of a teenage prince, but let's just see where this goes. Sound good? Oh, and this is rated M for a reason.