Moonlight and Fireflies
Chapter 1 - Love Blossoms

The boat drifted quietly down the placid river. Katara stifled a sigh, sitting at the edge of the boat's front and gazing tiredly into the dark water. Clouds scudded across the wan moon reflecting in the smooth water surface. She wasn't alone but she felt that way. The boat was small with a tiny cabin made for storing a bit of traveler's luggage. The man the boat had previously belonged to had uh… sort of forgotten his stuff when he'd been unexpectedly called away.

Yeah, so that wasn't the whole, true story. The boat owner had been a simple firebender pauper, a local of a small town occupied by the fire nation. Katara got a little caught up in a mess stirred up by her temporary companion - since she'd gotten separated from the family.

She glanced behind her at the sleeping prince, recovering from some singes and bruises. Katara was a bit the worse for wear herself, but Zuko had typically taken the brunt of the hostilities. Well, it was only fitting seeing as he had been the cause of all the trouble.

Princes, Katara thought with a roll of her eyes.

Well, he wasn't exactly the picture perfect prince of her childhood fairy tales, but he wasn't bad. Strangely in the day and a half they'd spent together, she found him to be… gallant. That is, when he wasn't gnashing his teeth or shutting himself away, minus that one exception… when they'd found the two of them actually had something in common.

She turned forward again and rested her chin on her knees. It seemed like the night was dragging on. She couldn't allow herself to sleep, being too unsure of the distance they'd placed between themselves on this boat and the seething fire nation soldiers further up the river. It was hard to say how long they'd drifted, but there didn't seem to be anyone following them. Hopefully it would stay that way.

Her pulse jumped when she heard a sound. Then she realized it was Zuko. She let out a breath of relief, and turned around to him. "How are you feeling?"

Zuko groaned. "What... What happened?"

"You got rammed by a rhino and fell off a cliff," she explained, carefully reaching a hand over to check the wound on his back. He was laying on his stomach, which she'd tried to make a little more comfortable by placing a bunch of clothes she'd found in the cabin on the boat's hard floor.

Cringing slightly, Zuko pulled himself up to his hands and knees. "I can't believe those fools burned my scarf."

"They were stupid thugs with nothing better to do. It's hard to believe anyone would think we'd have something worth stealing," Katara said, helping him sit against the boat's rim. Then she saw the frown on his face. It looked too much darker than usual, and his amber eyes... seared as they locked with her gaze. She pulled her hands back to herself, eyes widened. "What's wrong? Listen Zuko, I know you don't like being touched, but I swear all I did was touch your back a little… to heal it! I—"

"Stop. I was just thinking of those thugs… I should've done more to them," he said, a growl almost rumbling up his throat as he looked angrily to the side.

Katara's brow furrowed. "Anymore and you might have killed them," she told him, then remembered that he was probably hungry. She'd found a sack of fruits in the cabin too. An apple might quell his temper some, she thought as she slid over to the cabin. It really was such a small boat.

"They wanted to hurt you, Katara," Zuko suddenly said.

She glanced back at him momentarily, unsure of what he was sulking about, and then pulled the sack from a box she'd rummaged through earlier. Her own stomach had taken compensation from two small pears earlier. Now it was dinner, so she took out an apple for each of them. When she turned to face Zuko, she froze again. Instead of anger, frustration filled his wild eyes.

"Don't you get it? If I hadn't been there, they might've… they could've…" He struggled with the words.

Katara was not a child. She understood what he was upset about. Easing to her seat, she quietly looked at the red apples in her hands. "I know. But you were there, Zuko. And I'm really thankful. Still… I think if you've learned anything about me in the time we've spent together, it's that I'm not a helpless little girl. I can fight too, so you don't need to worry so much."

He was silent, gloomily staring at the boat floor.

"Here," she said, holding out the apple for him. He silently accepted it. "It doesn't matter now. That's in the past, and we're okay." With that said, she sat back on her side of the boat and took a bite of the apple.

Their boat was sailing beneath a tunnel-like canopy of trees. Some moonlight filtered through to create glittering patterns on the water surface. They were heading southeast toward Kioshi Island, and then further south. Katara hoped to come across Sokka, Toph, and Aang along the way. She'd been worried about them since they'd split up in Ba Sing Se. That crazy Long Feng had his loyal friends, the Dai Li, chase Katara out, and she'd consequently came across Zuko who'd gotten in another bout with his sister.

What a mess…

She glanced down to see a silvery catfish sticking its head out of water to look at her… or more specifically, eye the apple. Her expression went flat. But the most of the apple had been consumed, so she rolled the apple off her fingertips into the water. The fish chomped it down in three bites.

"At this rate we won't reach Ogurai-kou in days," Zuko muttered.

Katara placed her elbow on the boat's edge, and propped her chin on her hand. "It's not like we can walk all day and all night. We should probably just sit tight until daybreak when we've rested up."

"Then why aren't you resting?"

Katara gave him a sidelong glance. "Huh?"

Zuko took a last bite from his apple before tossing it over his shoulder. Such a grim look on his face. She wondered if he ever smiled. "You don't trust me, do you?"

At that she turned to face him again, glaring at him. "What are you talking about? First of all, wasn't it only this morning you demanded to take control of our pooled funds? And second, when you've spent a hard month constantly having to look over your shoulder because someone is trying to kill you, it becomes kind of difficult dropping that sense of basic survival!" she fumed, and at some point had jumped up to her feet. She thought she heard an unnatural ruffle of water, but she was too focused on Zuko to care what it was.

The Prince stood up and growled back, "The thing about the money is because we agreed to divide up responsibilities as long as we're traveling together. And if you had any idea about the things going through my head when I thought my father might still actually care about me, you wouldn't dare say a thing about my previous actions!"

"Oh yeah? Sure, it seemed we agreed to share responsibility, but when did we ever agree that YOU would be the one to assign tasks and boss me around! And the only thing I have to say about your obsessive pursuit of Aang before is that you. Were. WRONG!"

There was a loud splash. It happened the moment Katara threw her fists down by her side. And it was too late to stop the large wave that'd formed from the river water from crashing down.

It was like the boat was accidentally kicked by a giant as it slammed against the river edge, and then grinded against the earth and trees that were hanging out from the land. Katara and Zuko managed to duck in time to avoid the tree barely inches above them. The cacophonic grinding noise continued for a few long seconds until the river settled.

They stayed low until there weren't trees hanging over their heads. Then Zuko sat up and grabbed the paddle resting between them to re-center the boat. Katara sat up just as Zuko angrily dropped the paddle back on the boat floor.

Silence ensued for what seemed like the longest time ever.

Katara had her arms crossed tightly, glaring at the shapeless shadows in the forest. Now she fiercely wished the river would pick up the pace. Hold on... Why hadn't she thought of that earlier? By daybreak, she could easily bend the water to propel the boat and they'd surely get to their destination quicker. Yeah! She twisted half way around, bright-faced, before she remembered she was angry at her companion. Quickly she turned her back to him and donned her angry mask again.

"I think your temper is the worst I've come across, and I'm from the Fire Nation," Zuko grumbled.

"Gee, that's a romantic thing to say," she rebuked.

"What?"

She blinked, quickly looking at him. "What?"

"Wait a second. What exactly did you say?" he asked, giving her a confused look.

She blinked again. And then her cheeks started to burn. Turning back around, she desperately searched for words to cover her goof up. No, he'd probably lose interest if she just didn't say anything at all. Of course. Yes. That would work.

But why had she said that? She was simply being sarcastic surely but… Had she been implying something? Did she…?

"Fireflies."

Gulping carefully, she steeled herself before giving Zuko her wary attention. His demeanor had cooled down astoundingly, and he appeared perceptive as he looked ahead of their boat. She followed his gaze to see the small glowing lights hovering midair. Her composure returned for the pretty scenery they floated into.

"Just like small stars," Zuko commented.

Katara was awed by the twilight mood surrounding them. She reached out at a golden firefly as it flew by. "Dancing flames," she offered.

Her heart pounded when she noticed the touch of heat. Rolling her eyes to the corners, she saw Zuko practically sitting shoulder to shoulder with her. It was then she realized the sparks between them weren't just dancing fireflies.

"Zuko, I… I really am so grateful you—"

"Stop." He looked at her, their closeness hardly allowing for breathing room. (Although she wasn't sure if she was breathing anyway.) "It was nothing. You can trust that… I will be there to protect you. Whenever you need me."

The fireflies lent a mesmerizing blaze to his amber eyes, showering them in gold. Then there were those sensual lips, and his fine-tuned body… She started blushing furiously, and quickly turned her head forward. But she couldn't bring herself to move away from him.

So she stayed there, stayed close, wrapped in his fiery warmth.