I have two OC's in this chapter, but they are temporary, they wont play a major role in the plot.

While I was writing this I was listening to a lot of Serj Tankian and Goldfinger...

ML7: I'll try not to disappoint!

kitkat.the.pirate: Ha ha, thank you. I was trying really hard to get the Zuko down.

crazy-gal-in-blue: Your wish is my command...

Mc fish: Oh, they'll be angry all right...Zuko might do that on purpose just to get revenge, cups are expensive ya know?

Vimuku: Its ok, I still love you...

Wicca in training: Me too.

kawaiiita...: YAY! Cant wait to write more!


o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Zuko was being nice. Zuko, Nice? Wow, those were two words I thought I would use in the same sentence. Even when I was about to fall, after I came out of the bathroom, he caught me. When we got back in his room he told me he changed. I didn't believe him, but after he started talking…I didn't really want to give his a second chance, but then I started thinking about what Aang would have done. He would want me to try to be understanding, not to fight and argue. I looked at him, trying to decipher his true intentions, but saw nothing in his expression. But I thought that if I was going to stay with him for a while, at least until I heal, and then I might as well try to trust him.

A large bang interrupted my train of thought. I looked up just as the door swung open. Two figures stood in the doorway.

"LEE!!" a loud voice, that seemed to belong to a girl, called out. Zuko tensed up immediately. I could have sworn I heard him mutter a string of curse words, but it was too hard to tell.

"Hey guys…what are you doing here?" Zuko stretched his mouth into what might resemble a smile, if it weren't for the fact that his eye twitched slightly in irritation.

"I just wanted to see my buddy Lee!" The stranger sang cheerfully.

"Um….who let you guys up?" Zuko asked, straining to keep his temper in check.

"Oh silly, it was Iroh of course."

It was then that the two figures stepped into the light. The first person I saw was a girl. She was tall and skinny to the extreme, with hair that went down to cover the top half of her face. She had a huge grin on the part of her face I could see. She wore a black corset like thing over her green shirt, and she had with a green, short, wrap around skirt over her pants. She also had a dagger attached to her right leg. I had a feeling she might be pretty too…if she would get her hair out of her eyes.

She skipped up to Zuko's side and slapped him playfully on the back. "That's for not coming over to my house yesterday; Iroh promised me you would…"

Zuko closed his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh.

The second person was a guy. The way he was standing made it seem like he was very shy. He had a slight smile on his lips; he was probably smiling at the girl's strange behavior. His outfit was all black, his shirt, pants and shoes. I didn't know it was possible to wear so much black. His shirt was neatly done up with seven or eight buckles. The only part of his outfit that wasn't black was the white bandages he uses to cover his arms and legs, with only about five inches of his arm showing. Both the girl and the boy looked to be about the age of seventeen.

The boy caught sight of me and softly asked, "Who is your friend?"

"Hey guys, Katara…this is Jeck," Zuko said pointing at the girl, and amazingly her smile doubled in size as she looked back and forth between me and Zuko, "and this is Tayote." He finished lamely pointing to the shy boy.

"Hi." I said at a loss for better words.

"I thought you said you didn't have a girlfriend…" Jeck said. "Well, now you can come to the festival with us! Isn't that great Tayote?" I never knew it was possible for someone to smile so much. Jeck looked over to Tayote. I had to strain my ears to hear his answer, but it sounded like he said it sounded great.

"There's a festival?" I asked excitedly. I felt Zuko tense up for the second time that night. I glanced at him and saw that his eyes were very wide.

"You are in no condition to go to the festival." He said to me with a desperate look on his face.

"Are you kidding me? I'll be fine."

"I really don't think you should go. Cant you rest for another couple days?" he said through clenched teeth. I knew he didn't want to go to the festival, but it really sounded like fun to me. I haven't had fun in a very long time. Lately, it has just been so serious with our group. The only talking we did was about battle strategies and plans for the fire lord. Even Sokka didn't joke around as much any more. I was glad to have an excuse to let go and have some fun. And a town festival sounded like the perfect thing. Plus, there was surely going to be good food there, and I never turned down good food before.

"I'll be fine! Let's go, it sounds like fun."

"Well, it's decided then! We'll meet you tomorrow at sunset!" Jeck said as she grabbed Tayote's hand and hopped out of the room before Zuko could object any further.

I was still staring at the door where the strange couple exited, when I heard Zuko growl in frustration. "Why didn't you say that you were a healer earlier!?" He yelled with a very tired look on his face.

"I didn't think about it." I said truthfully.

"Are you telling me that through all that pain, you didn't once think to heal yourself?"

"Actually…yes."

"Well I hope your happy now! Jeck and Tayote are going to make me shop with them, play games, dance, and worst of all: Karaoke. I hate karaoke! Tomorrow is going to be hell."

"It won't be that bad. I'll try and make it fun for you, ok?" I said desperately trying to get him to go with me, if he didn't go, who else would help me around. I might not like him very much, but I still didn't want to have to crawl everywhere. Any company is better than no company. I know I could ask for help from Jeck and Tayote, but I didn't know them very well. Anyway, if they got along with Zuko, then maybe they aren't really the type of people I should associate with.

"Fine!" Zuko shouted, "I'll go if you shut up about it!"

"Excuse me?!" I almost yelled, but stopped myself at the last minute.

"Stop talking! Dear Agni, do you ever just leave things alone?"

"How dare you tell me to shut up!?!?!" I screamed back at him, "You're so stupid! You're just as mean as you've always been. Why did I ever think you changed?"

"I have changed." Zuko said loudly through clenched teeth.

"No you haven't! Your still stupid and arrogant, no wonder your own father banished you!" The words left my mouth automatically. Right when those words left my lips, I knew I made a huge mistake. I was just so angry at him that I said the first thing that popped into my mind.

Zuko looked like he had been slapped in the face, but surprisingly, he didn't say anything. Zuko just stared at me with a hurt expression. A moment later, his stoic expression returned.

"Zuko…I'm sorr-" I began, but he cut me off by raising his hand.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Zuko said softly before walking out of the room, leaving me alone and guilty.

I plopped down onto the bed tiredly and whispered "I'm an idiot."

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

I awoke in the morning with the feeling that I had been sleeping for a long time. I sat up groggily and arched my back. It popped satisfactorily. I swung my legs over the edge of the bad and cried out in pain. I had forgotten about my broken leg. My eyes started watering and I wiped at them before tears appeared. I needed water to soothe my leg. I knew I couldn't heal the broken leg completely, but I could at least soothe the pain for now. Luckily there was a vase with some water in it only a few feet away. I quickly bent some of the water toward me and formed a healing glove. Placing the glowing water on my injuries, I began slowly breathing in and out, concentrating only soothing instead of healing. After a few minutes the pain was gone so I started to heal the minor injuries. After what seemed like a very long time, I was fully healed…well, except for my leg. I smiled to myself as I stretched and flexed my stiff muscles.

It wasn't until I finished stretching my back, that I saw Zuko standing in the doorway, holding a tray of food… and…wearing an apron. Wow… Zuko, the prince of the fire nation… in an apron. I was about to go into a serious fit of giggles, when I saw Zuko's face. It looked so much older than it did yesterday, like he hadn't slept at all. I started feeling terribly guilty again; he saved me and gave me a place to sleep, but I thanked him by insulting him.

Zuko walked toward me and placed the tray on his bedside table. I looked at and saw some golden toast, some bacon, and scrambled eggs. Off to the side of the plate was a steaming cup of tea. I picked up the cup and sniffed it. I smiled as the familiar scent of jasmine filled my nose. I looked up at him and smiled again, thanking him for the food. I eyed the apron as he sat down in his chair. I began to eat; actually scarfing the food down would be a better way of putting it. Oh dear gods, I was beginning to act like Sokka…

I sensed Zuko staring at me. "Zuko, I'm really sorry about last night." I paused and looked at him for a reaction. He did nothing but stare at me. "Sometimes my temper just gets out of control, I always hold so much in, and it just all comes out at once sometimes."

"Its ok, I shouldn't have reacted like that anyway." His face betrayed no emotion. I was starting to get really sick of that stoic expression. But I was at least happy that he made an effort not to yell at me.

"Can we still go to the fair today?" I asked casually.

"I don't go back on my promises."

"Yes! Thank you! What time should we go? We don't want to go too early…but if we go too late, it just won't be enough time…oh my gods…What am I going to wear?" I started babbling away but was interrupted by a scared looking Zuko.

"Wait…you want to go shopping?" He said slowly with his eyebrows scrunched together. A look of pure terror soon appeared on his face.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Shopping. Dear gods, she made me go shopping. I don't even know how she even convinced me into letting her drag me along? It was a big pain in the butt to get past Iroh too; all of this was really not worth it in my eyes. For all I cared, she could go to the fair in my shirt. But no, she needed a nice outfit. I liked that shirt, it was nice. And I tried to tell her that too. She just mumbled something about wanting a girl's outfit. Why is it that I can't ever say no to people when I really need to?

So this is where I find myself, in a clothing store. The only thing I can do is staring at the wall opposite me, watching the design painted on the wall, counting the lines, finding all imperfections. If staring was a sport, then I would definitely be the world champion. I lost track of time, I seemed to be slowly loosing my sanity, all because of this stupid clothing store. I vaguely remember one of the stores staff helping Katara come out of the changing room a lot; they would go up to a large mirror, she look at herself, make a face, then the lady would help her back into the dressing room. Was this a regular thing with girls? I thought those dresses looked fine, but every time I said so, she just looked at me like I was crazy. Then she would go back inside and start the process all over again. If she was a guy, we would have been done hours ago…

My mind drifted as I sat on the bench.

I remembered the fight I had with Katara last night. She had said the worst thing possible, the one thing that would completely break me. I know she couldn't have known what her words did to me, but it still hurt just the same. After I left I decided to go for a walk, a long walk. I ended up in the same place where I first rescued Katara, it was a horrible coincidence. I had stayed there all night, punching out my frustrations. Working on moves that were way to complex for me, just so I could take my mind off of my father. No, not my father...just Ozai. He will never be my father. I imagined every tree to be him, every rock to me was Azula. I left that clearing black with soot. Now, my muscles ached, and I was so tired I couldn't concentrate on anything.

It seemed like it took forever until the shop assistant finally helped her out of the dressing room and announced she found a dress. I wasn't even aware that she even came out of the dressing room anymore after I got lost in my thoughts. I could only thank the gods that this experience was over.


I know what your thinking..."Omg! The plot is upon us at last!!!" Well...yes. It kinda is...This is where it kicks off.

I am constantly getting more and more ideas for this fic. So far, I have changed the plot about 4 times...but don't worry, I know that I'm doing!

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

If you read this chapter...

Then drop a freaking review!