Thank you all for the reviews! Here's the next chapter; READ PLEASE!!

TWO little kids, a girl and a boy, around the ages of six and seven sat together in the sand on the playground building a sand castle. The little girl carefully patted the top of the castle smooth and the boy picked up the little red flag and put it neatly on the smoothed surface after she finished. The girl beamed proudly and dusted her hands together to remove the dust, then the boy whispered something in her ear and the two ran to the swings and took turns pushing each other laughing and chatting as they did.

Up in the canopies of the ancient oaks, little sparrows fluttered and sang as they flew together from branch to branch, and a couple held hands and shared an unspoken secret as they slowly made their way through the shadows of the trees.

KATARA dropped her book onto the picnic table then sat down folding her arms on the table before her and rested her chin on them neatly. Her fingers tapped the table restlessly, and she checked her watch.

Six twenty-nine and fifty-four seconds... fifty-five... fifty-seven... fifty-nine... six thirty.

"Hey." She jumped. How does he do that? He put his backpack down on the table and dropped his baseball bag on the ground then sat on the bench next to her.

Hey he actually smells good today. She slapped herself mentally.

"Right on time," she said taking her book out. "What's today?"

Zuko brought out his binder and checked which assignment continues the homework. "Chapter five point eight, numbers five through thirty." He ripped out two pieces of paper from his notebook and handed one to Katara.

"I can get my own paper," she said ignoring the piece he held before her and reaching into her bag for her binder.

"Katara you have a piece right here."

"I don't want that piece."

"Why not?"

"The lines are too light," she said lamely.

"Do you ever stop acting like a little child?" he asked annoyed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"It means you never grow up!"

She gasped angrily. "I never grow up?! You're one to talk! You do nothing but tease me non-stop!"

"Well I'm sorry if I offended you Princess!"

"Stop calling me Princess!"

"Why?!"

"Because I don't like it!"

"You liked it until we-!" he stopped.

She grit her teeth. So he decided to bring up those days huh? "I never did like it."

He raised his eyebrows. "Never?" he shrugged then turned his eyes back to his paper. "Alright whatever, let's just get through this next hour without arguing."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Don't yell at me!"

"You started it!"

"I said fine!"

"I did too!"

"You didn't have to!"

"Neither did you!"

"Yes I did!"

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!"

"No you didn't!"

"Shut up!"

They both huffed angrily and turned their eyes back to their paper and opened their books then started working vigorously as if they were racing.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, oooooo!! She thought fiercely scribbling her heading down onto her paper.

She looked at the first problem. Snap! How am I supposed to do this? Aw! I have to ask him...

don't ask him!

Why not?

Because that's embarrassing!

He's your tutor!

That's embarrassing! She leaned her head against her hand and stared at the problem trying to make sense of it.

After a few minutes Zuko looked up from his work and saw that her paper was still empty. He sighed then took her book. She flinched as if just waking from a day dream and looked at him.

"In this one (27, 16) represent a minimum height, so that means it's the vertex," he pointed with his pencil and avoided looking at her as he explained. "Substitute the points into the quadratic function of the appropriate form, and solve to find the constants you need. Then write the quadratic function. Look," he showed her his paper and she looked at it as if she understood. "You get it?"

She nodded slowly.

"Then do it," he offered her his pencil but she ignored it and used her own. "No," he said when she started. "No, no, no, Katara! Were you listening to me at all while I was explaining it?"

"Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't."

"Why are you so damn frustrating!"

"Well I'm sorry, now you know what you're always like!"

"I'm only frustrating when it's appropriate!"

"What!? Zuko, you're frustrating twenty-four seven!"

"How would you know? You're not with me twenty-four seven!"

"You don't have to be with me to frustrate me!" Oops... maybe I shouldn't've said that.

He studied her face and she averted her eyes away from him. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing," she said shaking her head.

"You think about me." it wasn't a question. He said it softly and thoughtfully, as if an epiphany had slowly dawned on him.

"No I don't."

He didn't seem to hear her. He looked out towards the playground and saw a little girl and a little boy, playing together on the swings. Each time the boy pushed her and the swing went up she dropped her head back and closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of floating in nothing. A smile was at her small pink lips and the boy smiled with her as if he knew what was in her head.

"Zuko?"

He blinked. Katara was looking at him quizzically. "What?"

"Homework."

"What's the point? I can't work with you, you're too..." he sighed and propped his elbows on the table and put his face in his hands as.

"Too what?" she asked.

He dropped his hands and looked at her. "Just stop fighting with me and listen okay?"

"Fine," she said. "But it's not like I'm trying to pick fights with you."

"It sure seems like it."

"Whatever."

"HEY look it's seven thirty!"

Katara closed her book tiredly. They'd gotten through two days worth of homework in that time and her head hurt.

"Great, now we can go home." she said taking her hair out of its pony tail and running her fingers through the thick brown locks. She closed her eyes and sighed softly.

Zuko watched her, his own fingers were itching to stroke her hair again, his arms wanted to engulf her... Ooo! He wanted so much to kiss her again!

"What?"

He blinked. She stared at him from her big blue orbs. He cleared his throat and packed his things into his backpack.

"You have a ride?" he asked coolly.

"Yeah, Sokka's gonna be here in a few minutes." She put her binder back into her tote and picked up her book.

"I'll wait with you." he said. They stood up together and faced each other standing barely an inch away from each other. Zuko cleared his throat awkwardly and Katara pushed her hair back behind her ear and took a big step away from him then looked at the ground behind him.

"W-," she cleared her throat and looked up at him. "Why? I can take care of myself."

Zuko smirked, "This is L.A. Katara, and it's getting dark, you're not staying here by yourself."

Katara looked at him, and he thought he saw her smile slightly. "Do you ever stop smirking?" she asked softly.

He chuckled slightly. "No. Not with you."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Habit."

"That's weird."

"You're weird."

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not!"

"Yeah... I think you are."

"Shut up."

"Is that how you end all your arguments?"

"Just the ones with you."

He chuckled again. "You know, you're really something Princess."

Katara blushed and turned away so that he wouldn't see. "How many times do I have to tell you, stop-"

"-Calling you Princess," he finished for her.

"Yeah."

He smiled. "Habit."

"You need new habits."

"I think my habits are just fine."

"I don't."

"Does that matter?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I'm a Princess."

"I thought you said-,"

"Just because I don't like being called a Princess it doesn't mean I'm not one."

"And I'm weird."

"Shut up."

"Okay Princess."

"Stop that."

"I can't it's a habit."

"Change your habits."

"I can't that's why it's called habit."

"Well then develop some new habits that don't annoy me."

"Like playing with my hands and shifting my feet when I'm nervous?"

"I said develop new habits, not steal my habits."

"I've always liked your habits."

Katara looked at him and her smile faded slowly. She turned her gaze out towards the park. Birds fluttered from tree to tree sweetly singing their evening songs. The wind blew softly through the trees, rustling the red, gold, and yellow leaves to the ground. Fall was in the air.

"You know we can never get back together Zuko," she looked him again. "You know that. Right?"

"Why?" Zuko asked, his face turned serious as he looked into her sad eyes. "Katara, I've tried to explain at least a thousand times! I was confused, I didn't know what to do I just wanted my father to be proud of me!"

"So you were willing to hurt me?"

"I didn't know who I was hurting! I didn't know anyone was going to get hurt. Katara," he took her hands suddenly surprising her.

"Zuko I-,"

"Sh!" he shushed her and forced her to look at him. "Katara, what would you've done? What? You don't know what it's been like for me! My father was never proud of me! He never loved me! I was willing to do anything for him! Anything!"

Katara stared at him, a feeling of fright and anger welled up inside of her. She pulled her hands out of his grasp. "What would I've done? I would've accepted that my father didn't want me, and try to realize who did."

Zuko looked at her then shook his head. "No you wouldn't have Katara. Face it, you're just like me. You would've done the exact same thing. Exact same thing." She slapped him hard across his face.

"You're wrong," she said through tightly clenched teeth. "I could never've done what you did." She grabbed his chin roughly and turned his head to face her barely an inch away from him. "Never." Her hand fell back down to her side then she turned and stalked off.

"Katara, Katara where are you going?" he called going after her.

"Stay away from me!" she shouted over her shoulder and started to run. "Stay far away from me! I never want to see you again! Stay away!"

Zuko stopped in his tracks and watched her running away, and the sun disappeared beneath the horizon. When she disappeared from his view, he followed her.

TEARS ran down her face and she didn't stop running. Not to check where she was going, not to wait for traffic, she just ran.

Horrible memories appeared in her mind, and she shut her eyes and ran faster. Then she heard him calling her name. No! Get away from me! She didn't stop.

Then his voice faded away, and she opened her eyes. She didn't know where she was. The sun was gone, and she was in some part of L.A she'd never been before. A cold shiver went up her spine, and she felt as if she was being watched. She turned around quickly and froze in her place. A big black dog stood there baring it's teeth at her and growling low in its throat.

"Nice doggy, good dog," she said softly trying and failing to keep her voice from shaking. Sokka told her dogs can smell fear and she knew she must reek of it. "Good doggy." The dog barked viciously at her and she screamed then turned and ran feeling it chase after her.

"Katara!" who was calling her? "Get away from her!" Then she heard the dog scream out and a thump as it fell behind her. She stopped then turned around, and saw the dog laying there on the ground.

Blood spilled from a cut in its head, and there was pink foam coming from its mouth. A rock laid about two feet away.

"You okay?" she looked up, and saw a boy standing there.

"Do I know you?" her voice shook so much it surprised her and she felt weak in her knees. She was about to fall to the ground but the boy ran and caught her. "Sorry," she whispered. Tears fell out of her eyes, and she buried her face in his sleeve.

"Sh... it's okay, that dog isn't going to hurt you any more." the boy patted her back and comforted her until she stopped trembling.

She wiped the tears from her eyes then looked up into dark brown eyes in a tanned face. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Jet. Can I take you home? It doesn't look like you know these parts of L.A."

She nodded, feeling a strong trust towards this young man. "Thank you." He nodded then helped her stand and with his arm around her shoulders to keep her steady, they turned down the street.

SOMEONE was following them. Jet saw out of the corner of his eye coal black hair and golden eyes duck behind a building. Zuko. So the man thinks he can stop me from having Katara? A small smirk crept to the corner of his mouth and Katara didn't notice.

...

"DAMN him." he cursed through clenched teeth. "Damn him to hell."

Damn that Jet! REVIEW PLEASE!