Opposite Elements

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar, for it is clearly property of Nickelodeon/Viacom/MTV.

Notes: Shorter than the first chapter, fuck. But I swear the next one will be a doozy : )

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"Woooow."

Katara could feel the air around her prickling with electricity, and she couldn't tell if Zuko bent lightning, or if it was all in her head.

"That was amazing!" She heard Aang exclaim as he trotted over to look at the damage.

Katara glanced down at her feet and saw the remnants of the wooden dummies that had stood before her only moments before. What happened? She thought, and glanced in Zuko's direction. His eyes seemed lost, and he held a bewildered expression that only confused her more.

Not only had the dummies been completely destroyed in her training circle, but in the surrounding ones as well. They all laid in pieces in the dirt, completely sliced and burnt by their elements.

Sokka walked towards them and picked up a wooden splinter. "You sure you haven't been practicing with him behind our backs Katara? Because you two…" he pointed at them with his index and middle finger, "-whew. That was intense."

Katara noticed a strange expression pass over Aang's face, but it disappeared with a grin just as fast as it arrived. "Yeah, how did you guys do that move? That fire-swirly-explosion thing? It was kind of like the water-whip, only…not."

Zuko and Katara both stared at Aang with a blank expression on his face. "The fire-swirly-what?" They asked in unison.

"Yeah! Zuko, you made a fire whip, but it intertwined with Katara's water whip, and then…wait, don't you remember?"

Zuko raised an eyebrow in Katara's direction, and she took it as her queue.

"Of course we do Aang, we'll show you sometime." She hoped that Aang wouldn't notice the uncertainty in her voice.

" So you two have been practicing!" Suki exclaimed behind Aang, but eyed Katara suspiciously.

Before Katara could reply, Hakoda stepped forward, to her relief, and pointed at the sky. "Alright kids. We should start heading back before the sun completely sets."

Sokka rolled his eyes. "Are you serious Dad? It's not a big deal, we've been in the dark plenty of times and we've always been fine. Well, except that night we met Hama, and Jeong Jeong, lots of explosions then, and the Fire Nation usually attacks us at night, and Zuko too, no offense man…"

"None taken."

"…and that one time when the gian-OUCH!" Sokka keeled forward and clutched his stomach just as Suki removed her elbow from that exact location. She smiled and patted her suffering partner on the back. "Well I guess that gives us as good a reason as ever to leave, right?"

Everyone laughed in agreement, Katara's and Zuko's sounding particularly forced, and walked in Appa's direction. Zuko watched as Aang continued to pester Katara with more questions on their performance. Her answers were short and clipped, and Zuko's own personal questions began to slowly answer themselves.

She doesn't remember what happened.

She has no idea what she did.

…and neither do I.

Zuko was silent on the flight back and was quick to avoid most conversation that anyone tried to start with him. He complained of having a headache and a sore stomach, easily avoiding the typical twilight social gathering called 'dinner', and quickly escaping to his room. Katara noticed this but said nothing. She wasn't particularly feeling well either, and her mind swam with unanswered questions. It was also the blunt uncertainty that she wasn't even sure on what questions she should ask, and that reality scared her. Luckily, Aang, Sokka and Hakoda were in high spirits about the 'success' of Zuko and Katara's test, and Katara was able to eat in silence as they retold again and again the events that occurred.

Toph had woken up from her nap, and was sitting next to Teo, sharing a plate of barbequed meat coated in fireflakes. The rest of the group circled around the fire, minus Zuko, scarfing down their food preference on wooden plates.

"Toph, Teo…" Aang began as he eyed their meal, "…that's really disgusting."

"Really?" Toph asked as she tore off a chunk of meat and let it dangle out of her mouth, fireflakes falling all over her lap. "Just because you're stuck with your monkish ways and won't eat meat doesn't mean we all have to suffer for it."

"It's not only that I won't eat meat, it's just that we won't kill a living soul, anything from a person to a dragon nat." Aang cringed as he took a bite out of his lettuce wrap. "…and hippo cow is most definitely included on that list."

Toph chewed thoughtfully for a moment, and then scrunched her eyebrows together. "What are you talking about Twinkle-Toes? Of course you've killed people!"

Aang dropped his lettuce wrap onto a wooden plate and cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

Toph stuck a thumb at Teo who suddenly looked very nervous. The atmosphere of the group darkened, and just about everyone wanted to call it a night. "We've fought hundreds of Fire Nation soldiers. You've blown up tanks at the Northern Air Temple, you've sunk entire ships at the North Pole, you faced an entire Fire Nation army on the day of the Eclipse, and you're trying to tell me that no one has died?"

The group seemed to be holding their breath. The fire even stilled as Aang thought of a response.

"You weren't there at the Northern Air Temple, or the North Pole! How would you know?" Aang suddenly grew angry and tried very hard to control his temper.

"C'mon Aang, be serious," Toph began, "First of all, Teo and Zuko told me. Second, people don't just magically heal or survive things like that. The Fire Nation doesn't have waterbenders working incognito to heal their injured. This is a war, and whether we like it or not, people die. " Toph brushed fireflake powder on her shorts, then crossed her arms over her chest.

Aang glanced from Toph to Katara, pleading with his eyes for some sort of reassurance.

The waterbender let out a heavy sigh and dragged herself next to him. She draped her arms heavily around his shoulders and rubbed his back, trying to calm his sudden trembling. "It's ok, don't worry about it Aang…"

An uncomfortable silence overtook the night, and each group member silently filtered their way out and into bed. Aang soon joined them, leaving Katara to a dying fire, and her own racing thoughts. It wasn't long until only bright cinders remained, and the waterbender jumped when she heard Suki's voice interrupt the soothing sounds of the Western Air Temple's night life.

"You seem very distracted tonight," She said slowly. Katara could hardly see her shadow across the way, her form sitting exactly where she had been all night.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were still here," was all Katara could muster as she lifted herself to her feet. She began to bend water out of the fountain to decimate the cinders, but Suki stopped her.

"Wait a second Katara; I need to talk to you,"

Katara's arms dropped and she plopped back down onto the stone.

"Well?" she asked.

Suki's glare caught Katara off guard, and the water bender couldn't help but avoid her piercing green eyes.

"I know you don't remember what happened," Suki began, watching intently for any shift in expression.

Katara opened her mouth to comment, but Suki interrupted her. "I know you don't remember, and I know Zuko doesn't either. What you two did out there…I've never seen anything like it before. You did moves that I've never seen, moves that bending Masters would kill to learn, let alone actually achieve. I don't think anyone else realizes how crucial this really is…"

"Why is it such a big deal?" Katara demanded, rising to her feet. "Who cares if we obliterated a bunch of wooden dummies? If it were Aang and I, we would have done the same thing."

"No, you wouldn't have." Suki rose to her feet as well and took a step forward to the edge of the glowing cinders. "I've seen the way you and Aang fight. You two replicate each other's moves. There is fluidity, but it lacks intensity." Suki took a breath before continuing. "When it was you and Zuko, you did things that only fire and water could do. It was almost as if you guys were controlling both elements, not just one. You need to talk to Zuko-"

"-No." Katara interrupted. "I have absolutely nothing to say to him."

"That's not fair and you know it. He has done nothing but try and help you guys since he arrived. He helped Sokka get me and your father out of prison. Why won't you just accept the fact that Zuko is good?"

The cinders seemed to glow hotter as Katara balled her hands into fists. "Suki, are you crazy? This is all part of his plan, can't you see? He has all of you turned over to his side, and when the Comet comes, he's going to-"

"Give it up Katara!" Suki interrupted. She backed away from the dying fire and retrieved a full bucket of water from the fountain. "Sometimes I can't help but admire you, but it's really a shame that someone so naïve was able to inherit such incredible bending power." Without glancing at the fire, Suki dumped the entire bucket on it, letting the smoke rise in front of them. A slight look of disgust settled across the warrior's features as she glared at Katara.

"Grow up."

Suki walked away silently, leaving the bucket next to the dead fire. Katara was too shocked to speak, too stunned to think. She could only stare at a stray cinder that had landed near her foot. The fierce glow it emanated dimmed with the passing moments as the waterbender gathered her thoughts.

Maybe Suki's right. I just have to trust him. But how can I? I don't want to trust him. He has done nothing but hurt me since the beginning! But what did happen today? I could feel him, I knew he was there, but…everything moved so fast that by the time I knew what was going on…it was over.

Katara sat crouched in the darkness, her chin resting on her arms, as the crescent moon raised high above the temple.