Title: At Odds

Author: Britata348

Pairing: Zutara

Summary: Every year, the annual 'Peace Among the Nations' meeting is held. Katara and Zuko haven't seen each other in three years. What will amount from their fateful re-encounter? A mission, painful pasts, and engagements turn this 'peace' meeting into utter chaos!

Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA, no matter how much I want to. You would know if I did, because it would have ended A LOT differently XD Still, kudos to Mike&Bryan!

The last sliver of the sun disappeared behind the horizon. Sky above faded from bright blue, to pink, to orange, and then finally to black. One by one, little twinkling lights began to appear in the new darkness.

The growing waves of the ocean lapped gently against her ankles. She sighed, letting her own breath warm her dark skin in the cool night air, and started to walk back to the house where everyone she loved was waiting for her, well, almost everyone.

Chapter One

"Katara! C'mon, get up!" Suki shouted in frustration. "You're going to be late!"

The 18-year-old waterbender rolled over onto her stomach, grabbed her pillow and pressed it over her head trying in earnest to block out the "noise" that was her sister-in-law.

"Go away . . ." She mumbled into the mattress.

"Not this time, sleepy-head, you're getting up wether you like it or not." Suki said relentlessly, as she began pulling at Katara's covers, tying to coerce her out of the expensive bed.

Having arrived at the Earth King's palace around midnight, she was thoroughly exhausted. No matter how fluffy Appa was, it was not comfortable riding on his back, let alone being able to sleep on it.

Although she wouldn't admit it, the flight was extremely. . . awkward. It had been just her and Aang, and even though they had been together since the end of the war, whenever she was alone around him, something seemed- off, not exactly the way it was supposed to be.

This fact troubled the waterbender extremely, as she did not know the reason for the feeling. So, instead of trying to confront it, she just ignored it and pretended it didn't even exist.

To avoid the unwelcome feeling, she had tried to persuade some of the others to join her on the trip, but her efforts failed.

The newly wed Sokka and Suki had traveled with the Kyoshi warriors a week earlier, Toph refused to step foot in what she refered to as "the accursed city" of Ba-sing-se (it was also getting harder and harder to pull the girl away from the gambling house and Jun, her new "pal"), and anyone else she could think of already had made different plans to get there. At least, anyone she let herself think of.

Katara grabbed her blankets and wrapped them tightly around her body, trying to keep the heat from escaping. This just made Suki pull even harder. Katara knew she would lose eventually, but she wanted to draw it out as long as possible, being her stubborn self.

She felt her left foot on the edge of the bed, so she dug her fingernails into the mattress and tried to scramble further away from the Kyoshi warrior.

A look of comprehension flooded across Suki, and she let go of the sheets abruptly and swiftly ran to the corner of the bedroom. There sat a a painted jug filled with flowers and– water.

A sly smile flashed accross her face before she lifted the jug and threw all of the contents towards the waterbending master.

Katara could feel each water molecule flying through the air aimed at her, and her now wide eyes could see it coming as if it was in slow motion. Instantly the she sat up, and stopped the water in midair right before the water would have collided with her head– all with just small movement of her hand. Katara slowly motioned the water back into the jug with ease.

"Fine– I'm up." Katara smirked.

Suki stared back at her skeptically. "Are you sure about that?" She replied.

"Yes, really, I'm awake."

In fact, she wasn't lying. The sudden waterbending sent a rush of adrenaline through her veins, making Katara hyperaware and aching for action. 'Just like the good old days. . .' She thought. Katara knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, even if she tried.

The blue-eyed beauty jumped out of the bed, and immediately felt woozy from the sudden vertigo.

"Okay, well, I'll be waiting outside. You have ten minutes before you're really late." Suki ordered with authority as she slammed the wooden door behind her

Not wasting any time, Katara moved as if the floor was covered in a thick sheet of very slippery ice; she was moving with incredible speed but kept knocking and tipping over objects around her.

Finally, she came to a halt in front of the full length mirror hanging on the pale green wall to the left of her bed. The edges of the mirror were solid gold, and molded into an intricate design of many small flowers, each one slightly different from the other. Only the finest for the enormous palace, of course.

The reflection showed that Katara's hair was very long (the longest it had ever been) and hung down past her waist in stretching brown curls. She had thrown on a blue dress that was a gift from Aang. The dress had many layers of a thin fabric, each one longer and a deeper blue than the last. It hung snugly on her (now developed) chest, and reached the floor– far too long for Katara's liking. She couldn't tell Aang though, that would just be ungrateful.

She quickly slid some beaded combs into her thick hair, and put on matching silk slippers. After taking one last look into the mirror, she left.

Quietly shutting the door behind her, Katara started walking towards the great hall with Suki, who had waited and still looked a bit annoyed from before.

"You're sitting in between Aang and Iroh," Suki whispered as they entered the enormous room filled with mostly strangers, "Zuko couldn't make it–again–so Iroh is taking his place." she added before Katara could ask.

Without thinking, the waterbender sighed in disappointment.

Suki gracefully turned right and went to sit next to Sokka and some old Earth Kingdom governor, while Katara turned left and took her place.

When she sat down, Aang looked over and gave her a wide childish grin that went from ear to ear, obviously happy that she had arrived (even if late). Katara smiled lightly back at the monk, reached her hand towards his open and waiting palm and took hold of it.

"I'm glad you were able to get up." Aang whispered into her ear, tickling her as his lips brushed against her cheek, making her face warm with heat as she blushed. Aang always did embarrassing things, in public, naturally.

Turning her head away from him, she caught sight of the watching Iroh.

"You look very beautiful this morning," Iroh boomed, not bothering to lower his voice, which just increased the heat in her now burning face. "You've grown so much since the last time I saw you. . ." He added as he rambled off into some proverb about a blossoming flower.

"Which was what, a month ago? Really Iroh, I haven't grown at all." She moved her eyes downward. "But, thanks anyway."

The old Fire Nation general didn't respond, but instead just looked straight ahead smiling to himself, as if someone just said a funny joke.

The entire room was filled with dull murmurings in anticipation for the meeting to begin, when a middle-aged man with a thick, bushy mustache sauntered into the center of the room. He cleared his throat loudly, signaling for the people to stop chattering.

"Welcome everyone," the man started, practically yelling, "to the fifth annual summer 'Peace Among the Nations' meeting. We will begin by reciting the treaty among the three–" he stopped himself as he glanced at Aang, and began to correct himself, "–forgive me, four, nations." He motioned for everyone to stand up.

"I swear to keep peace among the nations. To never start another war ever again. To solve any disagreement with words, not by taking violent action. If it is not solved by that, to ask the Avatar for his gracious help. . ." The crowd continued to recite the two page treaty in a discordant mess of voices, and didn't finish for an achingly long time (at least Katara thought so).

"Now we shall begin with our first affair, the Fire Nation rebels. Iroh of the Fire Nation, if you would, please inform us on their status." Mustache mustache man (the nickname Katara had now given him) said.

Iroh stood up directing the crowds attention onto him. "So far, we have apprehended about 53 rebels in their last raid, but there is still an estimate of 200 men and women who are still in hiding." He stated, causing a wave of voices amongst the crowd.

"Quiet, quiet!" Mustache mustache man shouted. A hush fell across the room. "We'll come back to this issue later. We now need to address the free trade proposal by Governor Hwong . . ."

Katara thought she had heard enough, she stopped paying attention to the meeting. Instead, she started to think about a more troubling matter, for her at least: She had found a betrothal necklace in Aangs bag by accident during the flight to the palace. That meant he was planning to propose, Katara guessed very soon too.

It had been obvious he wanted to for awhile, but seeing the handcarved necklace with her own eyes startled her more than it should have. Katara knew she loved Aang, she would do anything for him. They had been through so much together, and he saved the world and turned it into one filled with peace, how could she not give him heart? She couldn't fathom why she kept doubting her feelings.

Katara took it upon herself to imagine the future she would have with Aang. They would get married, start a family, and grow old together. Perfectly perfect, nothing wrong, except there was something. When she imagined this future, she felt the same feeling as when she is alone with him, that something wasn't right about it.

'I'm probably just not ready for the commitment. I love Aang, so it shouldn't matter. When he asks, I'll say yes. I mean how could I ever say, "No" to him?' She she thought to herself.

Even so, every time she thought about accepting, her stomach did belly flops and she felt almost, she hated to admit, repulsed. It was probably the same feeling she would've had if her brother asked to marry her. Aang was her boyfriend– how on earth would she feel the same way?

Katara began to traces light spirals with her pointer finger on Aang's hand, trying to cool her nerves. It didn't help. She was starting to feel overheated and claustrophobic in the room full of at least 300 people.

She waited for five more minutes until she couldn't take it anymore. She abruptly stood up and stumbled her way out of the room. Looking back for a moment, she saw a confused look painted on Aang's face. He appeared to want to get up and follow her. Katara mouthed "No, I'm fine." and continued walking.

Ten seconds passed before three of the palace servants caught up with her.

"Miss Katara, of the Watertribe!" The first one said, out of breath. "Are you upset? Is there anything we can get you? Anything at all Miss?"

The other two looked at her with concerned eyes.

"No, thank you. I just need to, well to– I just have to get out of this godforsaken place!" she anounced, realizing what she needed.

"Can we assist you–"

"No!" She she almost yelled, leaving three very confused and astonished servants in her wake as she ran towards door which led to the palace gardens.

Zuko stared into oblivion, thinking about nothing in particular. Okay, that was a lie. He was in fact thinking about many things. Such as how he was in Ba-sing-se, but had persuaded his Uncle Iroh to go to the meeting instead at the last minute– again.

"I'm such a coward." Zuko spoke quietly to himself.

"You are? Like I didn't know that." Mai said, startling him. Zuko had thought he was alone, but in reality, Mai had walked into the room five minutes previous. He had been so caught up in his thoughts he didn't even notice her open the door. "Why are you here Zuko? Why aren't you at the meeting? What are you scared of?"

The young Fire Lord sighed in self loathing.

"I don't know, Mai. I really don't. I swear I was going to go, but when we were getting ready to leave, I just felt like. . . I don't know. I guess– nervous." He admitted with shame, hanging his head lower.

What he couldn't say to Mai was that he really was just feeling the shame of not seeing, talking, or even writing to her in three long years. He felt as if it was too late now.

"You know Zuko, sometimes you can be a real idiot." She said in a monotone voice as she sat next to him.

She gently turned his head to face hers, and then pressed her lips against his, trying to cheer him up.

Before she could do anything more, Zuko pushed the dark haired woman away, leaving her shocked. He saw the hurt and rejection in her eyes, although she was trying to hide it.

"I'm sorry Mai, but I don't think it's the best time for that." She just stiffened in response, not meeting his eyes any longer. "On the other hand, we'll have plenty of time for it after the wedding." He added knowingly, touching the engagement band softly on her finger that he had given her last month.

"Fine– forgiven." She she said, reverting back to her normal self with no emotion. "But, please, go to the meeting now, for me? I doubt it's over, it's going to take more than one day to finish, let alone a single morning. They probably haven't even started."

"Mai, it probably wouldn't even make a difference if I went or not–"

"Don't. Even. Start. Zuko. You are the Fire Lord. After all the things the Fire Nation has done to the world, you won't even go to a peace meeting? You're going, and that's final."

Zuko knew he couldn't win now; there was no stopping Mai when she got worked up, however rarely she did.

The amber-eyed man hastily got up, grabbed his Fire Nation cloak, and put in his hair piece. He walked to the door and glared sternly at Mai.

"Don't be mad at me Zuko, you'll thank me later, I promise." She said with hopeful kindness resonating in her voice. He just turned around, still fuming, and slammed the door behind him.

A/N: Okay, for anyone who read this story before July 15, 2010 you will notice it's been completly revised with new bits added into it. Anyone who is new to it should be thankful they didn't have to read the previous version (ew)

I am going to try and finish this story, because it really deserves to be. Try and motivate me by giving a review, favorite, or story alert! Also let me know your thoughts and idea's of what you think, or want, to happen next!

Thank you, and have a meaningful existence!

- Britata348

Every year, the annual 'Peace Among the Nations' meeting is held. Katara and Zuko haven't seen each other in three years. What will amount from their fateful re-encounter? A mission, painful pasts, and engagements turn this 'peace' meeting into utter chaos!