A/N-

FOR ZOOR- MY BFF

"Unless you're willing to give my nephew back to me." Iroh continued on a more polite note.

"For the last time", Aang waved his hands around exasperatedly, "I – don't –know." The wind began to pick up a bit around them. He didn't think that zuko's uncle was the fighting type- come to think of it he wasn't exactly sure he'd seen the old man fight before. But he was a firebender and all firebenders had to be fighters. They were just menat to be that way. His grip on his glider tightened.

"Well, then let's search for him."

"Uhh….OK" ,Aang relaxed his grip on the glider and stared at the old man. Not the fighting type after all. Iroh told the guards "Stay here in case they come back. Come on, Avatar." He spun on his heel and started towards the forest. Aang hesitated a second before he jumped down from his mount and started following him.

Unknown to them, five pairs of eyes followed their every move. One of them was particularly malicious at that moment.

Momo sat quietly observing this conversation. But his attention kept shifting to the giant creature his friend was riding. The creature glared back at him. Momo could sense the creature wasn't thinking of making friends. It was more probably thinking of lunch. And momo was invited . As the main course.

OK that does it, I'm outta here.

Momo jumped with a shriek and swung his way into the forest and the creature took off after him. He jumped over the heads of the humans and he heard his friend calling out to him before they too took off after them.

Katara still had her icicle pressed close to zuko's throat. They were moving slowly because zuko was taller and with him in front , she had to strain to the side to see the way ahead.

As they picked their way across the clearing, Zuko started to think again about Katara. Damn it, he was becoming obsessed with the girl. When he had the perfect opportunity to get free, what had he done? Fucking tried to kiss her.

And now he was paying. But the problem was not that. The problem was even now that he had a dagger pressed uncomfortably close to his throat, he still wanted to kiss the girl.

My hormones are way out of control. Well, at least she seems to have the same weakness.

Correction, she doesn't. She caught you, didn't she? Even though she doesn't seem to know much beyond a few basic moves. Face it, Zuko. She's not all that crazy about you.

She very well is. And you know it too.

Hah , that was an accident. She wouldn't kiss you again even if you were the last man on earth.

Shut up, stupid voice. I can make her kiss me again whenever I want. I'll show you.

"You're pretty good for a girl", he said suddenly. Fighting hadn't worked. Maybe sweet talking would.

Katara stopped short . "What did you say?" she questioned unsurely. Could she dare trust her ears that he'd just said something good about her?

"I said", He stopped and turned around to face her, feeling the dagger come a little closer as he did so, " you're pretty good- "

At that moment, Momo burst in with the rock hopper bounding after it. Katara turned to avoid the animals running straight into her but stumbled on a nearby tree root. But before she could fall, she felt a hand come up to catch her around the waist. Slowly, zuko pulled her up against his chest. She could feel the warmth coming from him.

"for a girl", he whispered as he stared into her eyes. He wrapped his other hand around her waist and brought her in closer. Katara let out a small sigh in anticipation of what she knew was coming.

"Nephew, there you are. Come on, let's go." They broke apart hurriedly to see iroh and aang standing a few feet away.

Aang stared at them. There he was imagining them wrapped around each other again.

Get a grip on yourself. You're imagining things.

The icicle in katara's hand went back up to zuko's throat.

"He's not going anywhere till you fulfill our demands."

"And what might those be, young lady?" Iroh smiled to himself. He'd seen them all over each other just a moment ago. But if they were going to pretend there was nothing between them, he wouldn't mention it.

"uhh…", Katara started, damning herself for not giving this enough thought. " plenty of food and money…."

"You're bartering me for supplies", Zuko hissed at her angrily. As if he were a worthless cow.

"And a promise to not chase us again or capture aang.", she continued to iroh pretending she'd not heard him.

"A promise?"

" A promise by fire."

Aang gasped inwardly. To make a promise on your element meant risking your bending powers or even your life if you broke it. It was the most sacred promise you could make- one that would have to be upheld for life.

Iroh gazed at his nephew. His hot-headed nephew who reminded him so much of his own lost son. He doubted the girl would harm him. Besides any promise he made wouldn't be binding on his nephew. Obviously, the girl hadn't thought this through. But even if the situation had been otherwise, he knew that there was nothing he wouldn't have done for his nephew.

He bent down on his knees and brought his hands together in a circular motion creating a small ring of fire around himself.

Katara gasped audibly. She hadn't expected him to give in so easily. He must really love zuko a lot.

Zuko stared. No his uncle wouldn't do that. He couldn't let him do that.

"With Agni as my witness, I hereby promise-"

"Uncle don't." Zuko shouted as he shoved his elbow backwards into Katara, slamming her to the ground. The icicle dragged at his neck letting blood. He didn't stop to check instead he flew at Katara.

Aang , seeing Zuko advance towards Katara, hit him with a gust of wind that blew zuko to the side. Before he could do anything more, Iroh let out a surge of fire towards him, which Aang jumped straight up to avoid.

Zuko got up and again sent a flame towards katara, which she stopped with a water whip of her own as she got up.

As the four battled, the intruder in the forest became more and more agitated. Any moment now, they would come into the forest and discover them. He relaxed as he saw the fight was moving away from them towards the beach.

Katara sent a lash towards Zuko's feet tripping him up. But as he fell, he dragged her along too and they both went rolling across the sand and straight into the water. They both had a small glimpse of Aang and Iroh still battling each other as they went down.

Zuko tensed at the first touch of the cold water. He grabbed on to the first thing he could reach which when he opened his eyes he found to be Katara's foot. She was trying to swim back up but he was holding her down. Well, she wasn't getting away that easily.

He tried to send a jet of fire at her, but underwater the only thing that seemed to come out of his hand was a stream of angry bubbles. He smirked as the jet hit Katara on the arm leaving an angry red welt.

Katara swirled her hands angrily in the water. Suddenly, he felt the water press around him, constricting his breath and the hand that grabbed her foot. The lack of air was getting to his head. He let go.

Katara began to swim up when a second later, his other hand caught her skirt and he hauled himself up using her as leverage before hitting another stream of bubbles at her that caught her squarely in the stomach. She was propelled a few apart as they both rose to the surface, gasping .

They both clambered quickly to the shore before facing each other in battle pose. But something was wrong. Katara could sense that Zuko knew this too. They both looked around to see the beach empty. And deadly quiet. Aang and Iroh were nowhere to be seen or heard.

"Where did those two go?"

A/N-

This was entirely for my bff, zoorhlm13 who got me off my lazy bum n got me updating.

N again people, this is set after "The Deserter" no toph. Also , katara's not a master yet so that's why she's not as good as she should be( she's still good though)

And who's the intruder n where did everyone go? Cookies for correct guesses ( I hav a whole batch baked cos that's like the easiest question ever)

N oh ya review plees ( cos this's like my major plot twist)