A/N: Not beta'd. There will be mistakes.

"Normal Speech"

'Human thoughts.'

"Inner... Voices?"

"Bijuu Speaking"

'Bijuu thoughts'

It was dark red, nearly black and stood on all fours - a skeletal structure covering its back and face, with six tails swaying gracefully behind it. A nightmarish appearance, one that she knew would remain deeply embedded into her subconscious - serving as a reminder of her greatest failure as the Avatar...

Korra's head felt worse than it had when Amon had rid her of her bending - a fact that had seemed impossible at the time. She tried to sit up, and a groan escaped her lips before she could stifle it.

"Careful there," The voice made her sit up faster. Her head swam in excruciating pain, and she winced, pressing her palm against her forehead. She slipped her eyes past the cracks between each finger, her stomach tightening of Naruto, seated next to the stump of a tree, using it as support for his back, "Uh, sorry. You should really be careful. You're pretty sick."

"You," She croaked, her voice dry. She struggled to remember much of what had happened. Only vague memories of the occurrences appearing in her head. She shut her eyes, trying to clear her head, "W- What are you doing here?"

Naruto shrugged with one shoulder, "I was about to change the bandage on my thigh."

Korra's head hurt. Pushing herself up onto one elbow, she looked around. The fire she faintly remembered starting flickered around the circular - rocky - tunnel that was their shelter. She became aware of how her clothing stuck to her body. Slow, curling steam rose off her fur leggings in the heat of the fire. She turned to her enemy, his orange pants and jacket were a darker shade than they usually were.

"You," She repeated, trying to throw a glare his way, but she couldn't pull the expression across her tired face, "I... hate you. Why didn't you just-"

"Leave you there?" He scratched an itch in his eye, "You would've frozen to death."

"Don't act like death is a foreign concept to you, After what you've-"

"I'd like not to be reminded of that."

"I'm sure," Korra managed a scowl this time, "You aren't the first of your kind I've encountered and fought. Monsters like you, they show up frequently - preying on the weak and helpless, acting as if they've done nothing wrong. Were you waiting for a moment of vulnerability from me? Is that why came to me when the Red Lotus kidnapped me?"

A hurt looked flashed onto his features when she called him a monster, but it contorted into one of annoyance, "I saw you being taken forcefully, and I came to help you."

"Right," She laughed drily, "Out of the frying pan and into the fire."

Hot air pushed out of his nose, and it curled in the cold atmosphere. Naruto, seemingly ignoring her, reached to stir the fire with a groan, sending sparks into the air and towards the small unclosed line above the slab he put up to protect them from the cold. Korra continued to stare at him with anger, but the more her irritation left her - the more pain she felt.

"I take it you killed them? The 'monsters' you've fought before?"

And just like that, her anger came flooding back, "What?" She snapped, "You think I'd stoop that low - to your level? I've never killed anyone in my life."

Naruto scowled, "My level," he murmured, "Sorry if I got the wrong idea when you held a mountain over my head when you forced our fight after I saved you. I assumed you did that to every 'monster' you encountered. And, so you know, I've never truly killed anyone either."

"Lie!" She shouted, temporarily clutching her head when the pain got worse, "I was there that day. You know I was. But you still blatantly lie."

His eyes narrowed at her, but he remained quiet. She sat in the silence for a moment; her eyes still set on him. Her gaze flickered to the red lines on his face, and towards the red bandage around his thigh. A frown formed on her lips, the River had caused it - or more specifically, the stones on the river bed. Though, the lack of air must've been what took him out of it for those moments he had floated before she saved him, when the voice had told her to save him, her enemy, from the river. And she obeyed it...

A shiver ran through her. She sat fires length away from her greatest enemy, the cause of her greatest failure... and she'd saved his life. A wave of nausea curled through her stomach. Why had she done it? What had come over her? If she'd let him drown, she would have given all those families he'd split up some form of closure.

"If you'd let him drown, you'd be lying frozen on the riverbank," The voice at the back of her head again. She turned to her side, drawing her knees up to her chest. Another shiver slid through her, this time encouraged by the cold. She fought to contain her chattering teeth. She wished naga was here; the polar-dogs warmth would be a welcome relief to the numbing cold.

The silence stretched. For a long moment, only the crackling of the fire echoed through the cave. Korra gulped, hating herself for her need to break the quiet.

"That thing... The monster with six tails, was that really you?" She glanced across the fire where he still sat next to the stump of a tree. For a moment, she thought he wasn't going to answer. Then, slightly, he raised his head.

"Yes."

"Then why say you haven't truly killed anyone? What you did-"

"Just... Leave it," His hand gripped and curled the fabric of his jacket on his stomach.

Korra blinked, she could've sworn she heard his voice crack, but then she frowned, "You aren't from the Earth Kingdom, are you?" This time, he didn't answer - only continuing to stare at the flames. She noticed his eyes, "Water tribe?... No, news of someone like you would spread like wildfire. Fire Nation?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Fine, whatever. Just sit there and sulk for all I care. I was trying to make conversation," She rolled over to her other side, her back to the flames. She felt the heat soak through her clothes, soothing the still sore muscles. She let out a sigh. Why had she even bothered? Making conversation with her enemy, trying to civil. She wrapped her arms around herself, her muscles trembling as the cold nipped her skin.

She couldn't remember ever being this cold. Not even at her home in the Southern Water Tribe, where she'd been surrounded by snow and ice at every corner. She'd lost all her resistance of cold since coming to Republic city. Once she got back, she would visit the South to get herself reaccustomed to the cold. She wouldn't allow something like this to happen again.

A dark thought went through Korra's mind. If she got back, no, she shouldn't think like that. She'd recover her strength, then part ways with her enemy and find her way through the mountains and snow. Nothing would please her more than bringing him in, but he's shown that he wouldn't come willingly. And she didn't want to be back in the same situation should they engage each other like that.

Korra doubted she was in the state to fight him should one break out. But then again, he hardly looked in top form. She'd seen the blood on his thigh, heard the pitch of his breathing, the sound of someone in pain. She hoped the two of them would be able to merely separate. Postponing their fight to another time and place. Korra drew her arms more tightly around herself. The shiver had taken over, and it was all she could do not to chatter like a frozen squirrel-monkey.

"You'd dry faster if you removed your wet clothes."

The voice made her breath pitch. Turning over, Korra pushed herself upright and glared, mouth agape, at the boy across the fire.

"Why would I do that?

His head tilted slightly, his eyes meeting hers, "Uh... Like I said, to dry faster," Korra's glare intensified, then her gaze against her will fell. She realised he had removed his jacket, his black shirt - which he had been wearing underneath the jack apparently, and laid them out flat by the fire. She didn't hear him even take his clothes off.

He wore only his orange pants, leaving his athletic build and fair skin exposed. His attention away from her now, he sat on top of the stump and fumbled with his bandage - his hands shook from the cold, and it seemed to make the process slower for him.

Korra jerked her eyes away, colour warming her face when she realised she had been staring. Giving no retort, she turned her back on the fire again - trying to think of anything but the cold. She attempted to formulate a plan on how she could bring him down when she felt better if she decided to do it against her better judgement. His leg would be his weak spot - she had to target it, but the injury would also make him slower and limit his movement - a targeted jab could bring him down. However cruel it was.

The cold got worse the more time passed, and it wrapped its icy arms around her. Gritting her teeth, she sat up and took off her waterlogged boots. She turned to him, expecting some sort of satisfied expression - but his attention was still to the bandage, which had stuck to the wound - a gash that made her wince, and he struggled to pull it out, 'Stop being so childish...' Korra thought to her self, pulling her parka over her head and laying it near the fire.

She pulled her sleeves off as well, and her asymmetrical top - leaving her only with her fur leggings and sports bra. Sho moved closet to the fire after laying her clothing near it. As it was, she'd never been this exposed to a boy before, but she pushed any thoughts of embarrassment from her mind. It didn't matter — the basic desire to get warm trumped anything else.

The fire worked better now, seeking into her pores and warming her. She found herself relaxing, her headaches subsiding slightly but still reasonably painful. The feeling of tiredness overtook her again. Korra curled up on the ground, facing the flames. The cold still washed over her back, and she wished she could inch closer to the fire, but that would bring her closer to him. Her body still trembled.

Korra blinked. Where had he gone?... Her eyes darted to the outskirts of the area surrounding the fire, but he wasn't anywhere around. How did he do that? She had been staring at his direction, but she was no movement and heard no sound.

Then, without warning, the cold disappeared. A sudden warmth at her back made her stiffen. She turned to him. To him. Sliding to the ground beside her, propping himself up with an elbow

"What do you think-"

"Relax. I'm not like that," he said calmly, "I have a stronger immunity to the cold. You don't. You'll go into hypo... hypo... Ah, you'll turn into a popsicle."

She bit her lip. He was warm, much warmer than she was, and his body was warding off the chill. Sighing, she relented, "Alright. But any funny business -"

"Hey, like said, I'm not like that. Especially towards old women," he smiled near the end of the sentence. Korra kept a straight face, but that only seemed to encourage him - his smile grew to a grin, before turning into a full-blown laugh. One that made her frown. Of all the peoples she's faced, no one had ever attempted humour. Well, lighthearted banter. Admittedly, his laugh was... nice.

"What are you, like six?" She found herself asking.

"Sixteen."

"Than you're an idiot."

"For speaking the truth?"

"I'm not old," She looked at him, an annoyed expression adorning her features, "I'm only eighteen."

"Geez, two whole years. You're pretty old to me."

Korra's eyebrows furrowed. What was wrong with him? He had dismissed her attempts to be civil moments ago, but now he wanted to speak with her? And even make jokes?

"...I'm gonna get some rest. I kept the fire going for you for some time. I need a bit of time to sleep."

"...Right, " Was Korra's slow response. It didn't matter – people like him usually had something wrong with. Something that made them do the things they did. She relaxed, closing her eyes and trying to focus on the heat of the fire again - calling to her exhaustion. As he drifted into darkness, a thought crept into her mind.

'He kept the fire going for me?...'

A/N: That's the second chapter. Again, it won't be a long story.

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