*I do not own any of the avatar characters (besides Matthew) or the show Avatar the Last Airbender: because if I did, Katara and Zuko would have been together.

*All pictures of the vehicles and dresses are on my profile.

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Previous:

The two of them stood there and looked at each other. Katara noticed for the first time tonight that he wore black pants with black shoes and a red button up shirt. The three top buttons were undone and showed off some of his chest. His black hair was a mess as usual and Katara got suddenly felt the need to run her hands across his body and tangle them in his hair. His golden eyes were soft as they swept over her face and body. Katara usually hit someone when their eyes trailed over her body, but she could not bring herself to interrupt this peaceful moment.

Zuko looked over her body and instantly approved of her clothing. The black boots hugged her legs and gave her more height. The dress sinfully hugged her curves and hid in parts of her skin where his hands wanted to touch. Her belly button was visible and he had the need to peel back her black dress to see what lay below. Her hair was falling loose from its confinement and hang by her neck. He looked at her eyes only to see them guarded.

“Dark Angel!” a voice yelled from the main room. Both of the benders turned their heads towards the source to see Matthew. Zuko almost growled when he saw his face, while Katara was surprised.

“I think you better get going if you don’t want to be in a match.” Matthew spoke quickly as he looked at Katara. Her eyes went wide for a moment before confusion set in her mind. However, Katara did not dwell on it for long and walked towards Matthew. Zuko followed quietly behind her. However, Matthew grabbed his arm and held him still as Katara kept walking.

Katara moved silently through the room as she looked for her brother. She eyes swept over the room quickly and spotted him near the door. Katara made her way towards him and grabbed his arm. Katara was pulling Sokka towards the door when she heard her name. However, Katara ignored it, opened the door, and pulled Sokka with her.

As they made their way down the steps, Katara remember that Zuko was behind her at one moment and gone the next moment.

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Now:



*Back with Zuko & Matthew*



The two of them stood there, sizing each other up. The tension could easily be felt between them, but both were oblivious to it.

“What do you want?” Zuko sneered to the older male. He was not in the mood to put up with this. However, he wasn’t going to back down without a fight. Zuko stopped for a second and thought about it for a while. Why was he getting all worked up about Katara? He could care or less what Matthew said about Katara. That is what he thought anyway.

“Stay away from her.” Matthew said. It was a clear warning to Zuko and his tone made it all too clear. Zuko bored his eyes into Matthew's eyes as they glared at each other.

“This is none of your business, so stay out of it.”

“She is more my business than yours.”

“And why is that? I see her more than you do.”

“You have no idea who she is or what her story is.”

This made Zuko stop and think harder. Of course, he knew Katara; he ran a background check on her and made a few calls. His frown became more apparent as he grew in deeper thought.

“You can’t know a person’s life by doing some background check and making a few phone calls.” Matthew hissed. He was not about to let this person get near Katara; when his plan was to hurt her. Matthew knew that Katara could hold her own ground, but her heart was a different story. It was hard to get into her heart, but once you were in, you were in control.

“You wanna bet?” Zuko asked back. He knew the basic information about her; birthday, age, her hometown, when she moved to America, her dad’s job, her talent in soccer, basketball, and fighting, and he knew her mother is dead. What else was there to know besides her likes and dislikes?


“When you ran your background check, you got very little information about her. All you got was the boring details: birth-date, age, place of birth, and when she moved to America. When that wasn’t enough you had to make some calls.  However, those didn’t get you far either because people don’t much about her or they wont talk.” Matthew said as he kept shifting his weight to either foot.

“What’s it to you?” Zuko hissed to Matthew. His temper was getting shorter with each passing second. He wasn’t quite sure who this person was, but he knew that he was someone important in the fighting gang.

“I have known Katara since she was a kid, longer than you. I know her weaknesses, strengthens, faults, likes, pet peeves, and dislikes. I know more about her than you will ever know in your life time.” Matthew sneered to Zuko. This person was not going to be a good influence in Katara’s life and that was the last thing she needed; more trouble.

“Well I’m going to change that very soon.”

“Over my dead body.”

“That can be arranged.”

“Two things are wrong with that theory. First, I would love to see you try and second, Katara would hate you forever and might even try to kill you.” Matthew smirked. He knew that he could probably take anyone Zuko would send after him; after all, he was a trained killer. In addition, the fact that Katara nearly killed a man who broke three ribs on him. He remembered having to pull her off the person so he wouldn’t die.

“Why would she care? She told me that you weren’t anything but a fellow fighter.”

“I would think anyone would care if their lover was hurt.”

Zuko snapped. He shoved Matthew against the wall and pressed his weight against his. His arm was pushing against his throat as he glared at Matthew. “She is not your lover.” He spat the word lover out as if it tasted horrible.

Matthew tried to speak but the arm only applied more pressure. “I will make her mine and you will not stop me.” Zuko proclaimed. He let his arm pull back a little back to allow him to talk.

“No matter how much you know about her, you will never be her so-called boyfriend. She doesn’t like your type.” Matthew said back.

Zuko glared at Matthew for a while, then he back away from him. He walked out of the room and into the main room. His eyes fall on his sister’s and he made his way towards her.

********

The drive home was quiet but no one really seemed to care. However, the silence was broken when one of them spoke up. “What was up with Katara?” one of them asked. Her focus was still on her nails, but she was waiting for someone to answer.

“What do you mean, Mai?” another girl asked as he turned her head. Both sat in the back seats so it wasn’t hard on her neck to look as Mai.

“She acted like she own the world.” Mai spat with disgust. She hated Katara for reasons that no one truly knew. She stole Kuzan’s attention and she did not even like him. Mai could not get over the fact that everyone had talked about Katara and she grabbed all of their attentions. It really bugged her that Coach (Pakku) had taken a liking to her on her first day. However, what really made her blood boil was the fact that Kuzan had a crush on her.

“It was her world.” Azula said from the passenger seat.

“Yea, and did you see how everyone treated her?” Tylee said as she broke out in a smile. “It was as if they were mindless robots!” Tylee boosted.

“Robots who didn’t want to offend her.” Azula commented.

“She seemed to know her fighting style and skills pretty well.” Tylee said more to herself.

“She just talks the talk. She doesn’t walk the walk.” Mai sneered as she picked her nails.

“If that was remotely true, then she wouldn’t be the greatest fighter on the east coast.” Zuko said. His eyes were on the road but they seemed distant; as if looking for something. Silence filled the car again; no one had a comment after he spoke. Tylee was just fine humming to herself and tapping her foot to the beat. Mai thought that they equally hated Katara so there was no need to explain her points. Azula, however, could see a difference in her brother.

As they drove up their long driveway, Azula studied her brother more closely. Something was different with him and she could not quite place it.

******

Their car ride home was not quiet at all. Sokka had been questioning Katara nonstop since they had got into the car. Katara leaned her body back into the seat after about the first 2 minutes. She answered all the questions as best as she could. Her voice was a drone; no emotions could be found in it. Sokka was too busy asking questions to notice the difference in her voice.

Her thoughts kept drifting back to the moment Zuko and her shared. She remembered how sexy he looked and how she was caught in the moment with him. His chest was prefect from what she saw and she was dieing to see what lay below the shirt. His hair was begging her to run her hands through it and tangle them in the blackness. His golden eyes were soft when they swept over her face and body.

Katara shook these thoughts from her head. It wasn’t a moment between them if one person had feelings, it had to be feelings shared on both sides. Katara was wide eyed after this thought; someone had to have feelings for the other. Did that mean that she had feelings for Zuko that weren’t hate or rage?

That was impossible, Katara thought quickly. She hated Zuko and that was the only feeling she had for him. However, why did she hate him? This question earned Katara a confused face and her face to go white. She had many reasons, Katara thought.

There were reasons why she hated Zuko………….weren’t there? Katara mentally slap herself and focused on the passing buildings. She went over the list in her head over and over again on why she hated Zuko.

1. He was a jackass
2. He called her a tramp
3. He had a nasty temper
4. He called her a bitch
5. He was way too cocky

Her list became shorter and shorter every time she repeated the list. She couldn’t get his face and body out of her head. She enjoyed their conversation they had during the fight. It felt so natural and not forced like most talks Katara had.

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