You Make Life So Hard

Confrontational

Summary: There were many things Zuko was afraid of, but a wrinkled old lady dressed in a blue parka and fur was definitely not one of them. Nope. Definitely not.

AN: silly little story that actually has zutara. yay!
I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or anything else you recognize.

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As Zuko descended from his ship, clad in heavy armor and surrounded by guards, he felt a sense of deja vu. The first time he had stepped onto the frigid plains of the Southern Water Tribe, he had been a perpetually pissed, confused, and brash sixteen-year-old. He had thought his honor was something his father could give him, and had seen the Avatar as just a means to an end. He had plowed down Sokka's shoddy watchtower and treated the boy like a pest. How far they had come since then - Sokka and Aang were now his best friends. He grinned a little as he thought of his other best friend. He hadn't even really noticed her back then, but now, every time he thought of that day, he remembered perfectly how pretty she had looked, standing defiantly with expanses of ice at her back.

Today, Zuko was stepping onto an ice dock as a 22-year-old and looking with awe at the infrastructure of the Southern Water Tribe. He wondered how much of it had been constructed by the love of his life, who was now running into his arms as if lured merely by his thoughts of her.

"Zuko!"

"Katara!" He spun her around one, two, three times before setting the giggling girl down and burying his head in her loose hair.

"It's been so long," she whined.

"You're the one who left me! Some ambassador you are, running away from the Fire Nation first chance you get." She punched him for that.

"I had to help Sokka prepare for the wedding, you know that. He's driving Suki crazy with all his 'planning'," Katara said using her fingers to signify quotation marks. "His planning just consists of all the different foods he wants to eat and how he wants them to be arranged. I'm this close to calling in a favor from Chong and having 'Secret Tunnel' play while they get married. Suki actually likes them, so maybe that's not a totally bad idea."

Zuko smiled as he tucked his head into his favorite spot between her jaw and shoulder. He could listen to her ramble all day.

"-and then he said, 'Katara, I need you to make a 40-foot-tall statue of Suki and me in the middle of the village.' Is he out of his mind? What makes him think I'll have time to do that? Or even the snow to do that?"

"You can do anything you put your mind to, love," he mumbled.

"Yeah, well I'm not putting my mind to a dumb project like that. Maybe I'll make them a miniature sculpture as a wedding gift. That would be nice."

"Mmm, yes, that would."

Katara sighed. "I missed you, Zuko."

He tightened his arms around her. "I missed you more, Katara. I don't know what I'm doing without you." He felt her cheeks stretch and heard a smile in her voice.

"You know, your warmth has really spoiled me. I started feeling cold when I came back here. Can you believe that? A daughter of the Southern Water Tribe, feeling cold!"

"I'll keep you warm for as long as you want."

"Well, aren't you feeling sappy today? And stop speaking into my neck, that tickles!"

"No."

"Hmph. Come on, your guards are blushing at our public display."

"They're prudes."