The Stranger
He melted the ice from his body and stuck his hand out as if to shake.
"Lee."
"Katara." Katara grasped his outstretched hand and shook while he looked at her wide eyed.
"Katara?! Princess Katara?" Lee asked.
"How do you know that? Who are you?"
"Well I'm not Lee but that's what I tell strangers but since you're not a stranger, my name's Zuko."
Katara's eyes widened and a huge smile spread across her face. "Zuko!" She jumped into his arms just like she had all those years ago.
"Woah, woah, woah! Katara! You forgot to mention you were royalty and what the hell's going on? You know Mr. breaks and enters?" Toph said from behind Katara.
"Well Zuko and I have been friends for years. The last time I saw him I was four. It was about six months before people with bending were deemed dangerous and they started hunting us." Katara said.
"Hm…interesting well I'm hungry now so FEED ME please." Toph stated.
"I'd be happy to Toph BUT I can't exactly see much it's still dark."
"I can help you out there, got any candles?" Zuko asked.
"Um…no we're really low on supplies." Katara said.
"Ok no big deal I'll be the candle."
Toph laughed. "Corny much?"
He growled at her.
"HAHA! Did you just GROWL at me!! Woo! Ok your nickname is soooo gonna be Sparky."
He rolled his eyes and went back to helping Katara.
He walked over a stool that sat by the kitchen counter, sat there and lit a flame.
"So...uh…how've you been, I mean besides all of the hunting down and all that?" Katara began.
He shrugged. "Yeah, not that great, but I found you so I guess that's a plus and what's with the kid?"
"Toph? I found her just after dark. Yeah, she scared me a little I thought I was going to have to kill a bender hunter."
That caught Zuko's attention right away. "Bender Hunter! You've encountered them?!"
"Only once, it was ok though there was a full moon."
That eased Zuko's mind…a little. Katara turned and caught sight of Zuko's scar. She sighed.
"What happened? Does it hurt?" She said and reached out and gently placed her hand on his scared face. He tensed when she touched his scared face but relaxed into her touch.
"No it doesn't hurt. It was an…accident."
She sighed. "I know you're lying about it being an accident but you don't have to tell me about it." She kissed his scarred cheek and went back to work.
He blushed. Should I tell her about what our families did before the hunting began? He thought. Nah! It's probably null and void with what's happened. He decided.
A/N: OOOH! What does Zuko know that Katara doesn't? Does Katara know??? Find out next chapter.
