Zutara I

Chapter 2- Air

"Where were you?!," I ask.
"I was just out with Appa,"
"Why don't you tell us anymore? We're worried,"
"You're not my mom Katara," He says.
"Obviously, but you have to think about-"
I look around but he's gone. Probably with Sokka. Now that he says it, instead of a friend (or girlfriend) I really only feel like a mother. I never really had a mother or father figure always in my life though. I've always adventured and helped Aang train and haven't gotten much time for myself.
"That was heavy," Zuko says in his soft voice.
I take a deep breath. "Am I really like a mother?," I ask my rhetorical question.
" Yes. But you shouldn't feel ashamed of that. Maybe it's not the best girlfriend way to be, but Aang needs guidance. He may be over 100 but he missed most of that time. We need someone to guide us all," Zuko finishes.
"I can see Sokka and Aang needing that, even Toph, but you? You don't need me,"
Zuko looks me dead in the eye. "I don't need a mother figure, sure, but..." He stops.
"What??," I ask too eagerly.
"Nothing. Just know, if you ever get tired of babysitting you can always lean on me. Not as a father though,"
"Then as what? A friend?," I ask eagerly again.
"Hm..sure of course," Before I get another word out, he walks away.
I sit down on the grass and look up at the sky. It was a pulchritudinous day. Warm, but not humid and the sun shone everywhere. The stars came out perfectly one by one.
"I don't want to be Aang's mother," I say to myself.
"Trust me, I don't want that either," Aang says from behind me.
"I'm sorry I just-"
"Katara, it's supper time. We need to focus on more important things at the moment. Come on, I found this tree full of fruits. Appa can take us their."
Ouch. More important things...
"Yeah yeah, you're right, I'll get a basket or something," I walk away.
I wasn't 100% that I wanted us to be more, but I for sure know that that really hurt. Unless that was heartburn from the burrito I had this morning.
I grasp the edge of a big basket and climb up on to Appa. Aang grins at me and with two pats, were up into the sky.