Authors Note: My MS Word is being super crazy this week! slaps Microsoft silly for being so crappy

Well I just barely managed to scrape out a picture for you guys at the last second. it's not as nice as some of the others, but i still like the drawing itself even if I didn't put much time ito the painting part. Here's the link:

http/ www. deviantart. com/ view/ 32185605/

Just remove the spaces as usual and tell me what you think!

Anyhoo, on to chapter 7!

Got Your Heart in a Headlock

Chapter 7: Don't walk up dry streams

Katara held one hand in the air above her, bending the worst of the rain water away from her as she ran through the stormy night, Zuko just behind her. The occasional drop still hit her though as she could only divert half of her attention to her bending lest she trip over a stray root in the quickly darkening forest.

After emerging from one of the longer tunnels that led up the mountain just under its surface, Zuko and Katara had been met by an increased downpour from the sky above them. The rain was accompanied by regular cracks of lightning and angry rolls of thunder that echoed through the darkening night. The bright flashes of split-second light cast strange, disorienting shadows across the path, causing both benders to stumble often.

It wasn't long before Katara was breathing heavily, though Zuko appeared to have just hit his stride in their journey up the mountain. Weeks of running had increased his endurance for long runs; where-as apparently Katara had grown to use to flying on Appa. Not that she wasn't fit; she simply didn't have the same endurance for running that her companion seemed to have developed.

His companion's weariness did not elude Zuko as they hiked further up the mountain, the sanctuary disappearing from view. He didn't say anything though and simply kept moving, keeping his bright golden eyes open for a place to stay. Several minutes later they reached a clearing with a large pine in its center. It was a tall, ancient looking tree with a trunk that went up at least six feet before any branches sprouted forth from it. The first row of wide, flat branches drooped down to within a few feet of the ground, making the firebender think it'd be a perfect shelter for the time being. Zuko paused at the edge of the clearing, looking back down the path at Katara who was doing her best to keep up with him. She was at his side within a few moments, breathing hard as he pointed out the tree.

"We'll stay here for tonight. It will probably be the best we can find for now." Zuko told her, raising his voice so she could hear him above the thunder.

Katara looked at the tree and nodded in agreement. No doubt it was fairly dry under there as well. "Alright, let's get out of this rain then!" She shouted back.

Together the pair ran hurriedly across the clearing and quickly ducked under the tree's prickly branches. Both benders flopped unceremoniously to the ground, exhausted from their run through the stormy forest.

After getting her breathing a little more under control, Katara sat up and wriggled out of the straps of her pack and looked around. It was completely dark, but she knew she wasn't alone, she could hear Zuko breathing somewhere close by. She reached out to see exactly where he was and felt her hand connect with something, she snatched it back though as Zuko swore loudly.

"That was my eye you peasant! Watch it!" the firebender said angrily. He sat up as well, rubbing his assaulted eye.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Katara said. "I can't see a thing in here…"

Zuko rolled his eyes and suddenly a small flame appeared in his hand, lighting the area with a warm glow. With the new light, Katara could see that her companion was soaking wet where she was only a little damp.

Katara suddenly had a thought though and said "Wait! Put that out!"

"What? Why!" Zuko demanded. He'd thought he had been doing her a favor and now she was demanding he put out the light? He didn't have much of a chance to think about it though as the woman bended water in from the outside rain and put out his fire.

"What the hell is your problem!" He demanded.

"We're in a pine tree! Do you want the whole thing to go up like a torch? This entire tree is probably covered in flammable sap!" She explained.

Zuko didn't reply, because doing so would force him to admit he hadn't thought of that. So instead he merely grunted and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. He shivered slightly as his damp clothes clung to his body. He found himself envying his companion's ability to have kept herself at least relatively dry during the storm. He thought of warming himself enough so that the water turned into steam and dry himself that way, but it seemed like too much work, and he felt the weight of exhaustion pressing in against him.

Katara could hear him shiver by the change in his breathing as the pair sat in silence there under the branches of the ancient pine. The waterbender brushed her hands off briskly and moved in closer to where she had last seen him when he had lit up their small refuge with his fire. She reached out to Zuko and her fingers met with the rough fabric of his clothes as she began to trail her fingers down the length of his arm, the water falling away from them as she did.

Zuko tensed as he felt her feather light touch along his arm. "What are doing?" he asked her challengingly, though not so much as usual. He was too tired to put up much of a fight at the moment. Surely she was too.

"I'm drying you off, now hold still." She replied calmly, not letting his tone bother her.

"I can do it myself." He growled protestingly.

"No you can't. You're cold and tired and in no condition to fire bend." She retorted. "Now be quiet and let me work. This is hard when I can't see and if I can't concentrate I might mess up."

Zuko was silent for a moment, considering what it might mean if she were to 'mess up'. He decided he didn't really want to find out, and so let her continue her work. The firebender found himself being lulled to sleep by her gentle touch and the warmth returning to his body as the water left his clothing.

Katara smiled to herself as she finished off her work, knowing that Zuko had drifted off to sleep some time ago; the slow rise and fall of his chest told her that much. She brushed one hand along the crown of his head to get rid of the water still in his short crop of black hair and then shook out her stiff hands. She didn't know how long she had been working, but the rain had slacked off to a light drizzle that she barely perceived through the fuzzy state of her mind.

The girl yawned and scooted away from her companion in order to give him space. She curled up on the ground in a bed of pine needles, her head resting on her pack, and quickly drifted off to sleep.


Sometime during the night Zuko woke up. At first he was alarmed, unable to remember where he was, but a moment later he recalled their situation and relaxed. He lay there and allowed his golden eyes to adjust to the darkness of his surroundings, his ears picking up on the quiet pattering of rain as it hit the ground outside their tree refuge. His attention was drawn to what had woken him up though as the sounds of a quiet rustling reached his ears over the pitter-pattering of the rain. His eyes now adjusted to the dark, the man could see that his younger companion was shivering, her arms wrapped tightly around her torso, and her knees brought up to her chest.

'Coming from the South Pole you'd think she'd have a higher tolerance to the cold…' the ex-prince thought wryly to himself. He was about to turn over and go back to sleep, but found himself un-able to do so. He cursed the conscience that he have been developing lately and rolled back over. He examined Katara's narrow, blue clad back for awhile, watching as it was racked with small convulsions as a result of the wet, chill air. At long last he sighed and sat up, running one calloused hand through his short black hair as he did so. Zuko crawled over to where the waterbender lay curled up, looking rather pitiful if he did say so himself. He looked down at her, frowning. He could just make out her face in the dark blanket of night; the two strands of hair that normally hung down in her face were tucked behind her ears, her brow slightly furrowed and the corners of her lips turned down in a small frown.

Zuko finally gave into his conscience and lay down next to her. He supposed that in return for drying him off when he had been un-able to do so himself, Katara deserved to have him keep her warm at least through the night. He would probably wake up before her anyways and be able to move away before she any the wiser.

The firebender's heart sped up as he lay down next to her, facing towards her back. She would probably fit so well against his body… she was curled up there, looking defenseless and alone... Zuko had to fight the urge to reach out and wrap his arms around her, pulling her close against him. As it was he tried to slow his breathing and heart rate, but it didn't help much as it only resulted in him taking in deep, heady breaths of her personal perfume. Tempted, Zuko moved in a little closer till he was only a few inches way from her. His hand found itself brushing up against her braid. He was sorely tempted to release her hair from its bindings and run his fingers through it. He knew she would most likely look even prettier with it loose. Once again though, he closed his eyes and took deep breaths, this time he counted to ten before he opened his eyes again.

It took awhile, but Zuko eventually drifted off to sleep, having been too captivated by just watching Katara sleep to fall asleep sooner himself. As the waterbender had eventually warmed up thanks to his body heat, her frown had faded and become a small, secret smile that made him too, want to smile. It was probably the most peaceful night's sleep he'd had in years, there with his one time enemy beneath the boughs of an ancient pine.


As it happened, Zuko wasn't the first person to wake up the next morning. Katara lay there, seemingly frozen to the ground amongst the pine tree roots much like the ice she so often manipulated in her bending. She was lying face to face with Zuko, though he was still asleep, his head pillowed on one arm, emanating a gentle warmth that surprised Katara. What surprised her even more though was his close proximity to her. She could smell the smoky scent that always seemed to be around his person because of his bending. His breath came in warm, slow gusts as he inhaled and exhaled rhythmically in his deep sleep. Katara rolled away from him quickly, stopping only when she was several feet away.

The female waterbender allowed her gaze to drift over her sleeping companion. He looked so peaceful, sweet even, with that scar of his hidden by his arm. The corner of his lips was turned up slightly, making Katara wonder what it was he was dreaming about to make him smile so. She had never seen the fire prince smile in such a fashion. But then again, she hardly knew him either. Katara sighed and ran one hand through her messy hair, picking out stray twigs and pine needles. She soon gave up and simply undid her hair, combing her fingers through it and re-braiding it with deft hands that belayed many years of practice.

Not quite feeling hungry yet, and feeling more than a little restless, Katara gathered up her water flask and ducked out from under their pine tree's low hanging branches, and out into the cool morning air. She took a deep breath to settle her nerves and looked around the clearing. It was small and surrounded by both birch and pine trees, though none so large as the one under which they had camped for the night. In the distance she thought she could hear a stream or river. She thought of going to find it, but decided against it, not wanting to leave without telling Zuko where she was going. Not that she thought he would get overly worried like Aang or Sokka would, but she hoped he would at least wonder where she had gone. So for the time being Katara decided to practice her bending to work off some extra energy.

After stretching, Katara strapped on her flask and un-corked it and drew out a long stream of water, using all of her flasks contents. She started out slow, bending the water around her and then sending it out in long streams. She practiced going through her element's different states, from solid, to liquid, to gas in rapid succession. Her pace picked up as she went through more and more complex steps, each movement flowing smoothly from one to the other. In her mind she envisioned the stead pace of a river, how it was always on the move, never stopping. She smiled slightly as she practiced, finding a certain joy in her bending that she could find nowhere else.


Zuko woke gradually from his sleep, emerging reluctantly bit by bit from his peaceful sleep. He thought he'd had a dream, though he found he couldn't remember what it had been about, as is often the case with dreams. All he really remembered is that it had been a good dream, something he hadn't experienced in quite some time. He opened his eyes slowly and found himself lying on his side, his head pillowed on his arm. He sat up quickly and found that he was alone and cursed mentally. So much for being the first up. He only hoped that either he or Katara had rolled away from one another during the night to save him the embarrassment of having her discover him so close. As he looked out from under the cover of the pine tree's branches, he saw that it was well past dawn, which alarmed him. Normally he woke at dawn with the rising of the sun out of habit. What had driven him to wake up so much later than normal? Surely he hadn't been that tired?

Zuko was drawn away from these thoughts by the sounds of someone moving around outside, and the quiet rippling of moving water. The firebender ducked out from under the pine shelter and was met with the sight of Katara practicing her water bending. Zuko decided to wait there patiently as she practiced, knowing how much he hated to be interrupted when he was practicing. As he watched, the nineteen year old admired the fluidity of her movements, so different from those of a firebenders. Fire bending normally resulted in sudden, violent bursts of fire and movements with a short life that faded soon after they appeared. The result was that the fighting was immensely powerful, but not as aesthetically pleasing. Water bending though combined both power and grace, making it both beautiful and dangerous.

The firebender watched his companion move with the same sinuously elegant movement that the water she was bending did. Each step was well placed with deliberate strength, and her arms flowed with the movement of the water. Each move started from the arm and went all the way down to her fingertips, her element following her every command. Her long auburn hair was freshly braided and not a hair was out of place as it swung gently along behind her, stirring with every step she took, every motion she made with her hands, and every swing of her hips…Zuko put one hand to his face and rubbed his eyes to force them to look away. He drew his hand down his face, taking a deep breath and counting to ten once more. The trick seemed to be working much better for him lately.

When he looked up again though, he nearly lost his regained cool as his eyes met a pair of cheerful bright blue ones.

"Good morning." Katara said in her pleasant voice, deciding at the last second not to mention the rather questionable situation under which she had awoken with him.

"Ah…'Morning." Zuko said, absently rubbing the back of his head and looking away.

"Would you like some breakfast? I think Emi and Eri packed us something to eat for while we're up here." She said with a smile.

"Sure." Zuko said after a moment's pause. When he looked back she was gone, disappearing under the branches of their tree only to return a moment later with one of their packs.

"Could you start a fire while I get things ready?" She asked as she rummaged through the pack for their food, already falling into her normal morning routine she kept to when traveling with Aang and Sokka. She was always in charge of cooking as both boys were helpless when it came to the culinary arts.

Zuko was about to protest, his princely side wanting to kick in and say she should just do it herself, but his refugee side booted his princely side right back out again and took over.

"Alright, since you're making breakfast." The man said with a shrug and began collecting fuel for a small fire to cook over. He didn't want too large of a fire lest the smoke draw the attention of unfriendly eyes.

The pair worked in silence, thought not an entirely uncomfortable one. Katara still wanted to know how Zuko had ended up so close to her during the night, and Zuko wanted to know if he had been close to her when Katara had woken up that morning. Both stubbornly refused to bring the subject to light though, and so they continued going about their chores in the warm morning air.

As Zuko began setting up the wood for their fire, he looked up at the clear blue sky, wondering what had happened to the storm they had been forced to run willy-nilly through last night. In the long run though he figured it was for the best that it had been raining last night. The rain would cover any tracks they had left during the night and throw off any potential pursuers.

The firebender looked back at the neat tee-pee of wood he had been made and stuck some dry grass and leaves in its center to make it catch fire more easily with less help from him. Zuko concentrated and a small flame flickered to life at the tip of his finger. He pressed it lightly to the kindling, increasing its size to help the fire catch quickly. He snatched his hand back hurriedly as the wood caught fire. It let off a smoldering sound and the fire lowered for a moment, showing that the wood was still slightly damp. The prince frowned, but the fire soon took a better hold of the wood and they soon had a small, warm fire for cooking over. Zuko sat back on his heels, rather pleased with himself. Even during his travels with his uncle, they had never really made many camp fires for fear of being discovered. It made him happy that he still remembered how.

Katara watched out of the corner of her eyes as Zuko worked on the fire. She almost giggled at the pleased expression on his face as he sat back and admired his handiwork. She mastered her feelings though and moved over to the fire and sat on the opposite side of the fire from the ex-prince.

"Thank you, this should be perfect for cooking over." She said with a slight smile to her pale skinned companion, her blue eyes holding a certain merry light in them.

Zuko nearly blushed as she smiled at him, but cleared his throat and simply said "You're…welcome." He sat down and crossed his legs, watching Katara stab a sturdy looking stick on either side of the fire, making sure the side with the V was sticking up. Zuko tilted his head slightly to the side, mildly puzzled by her actions. They soon made sense though as she produced a small pot with a wire handle and hung it from a third stick that spanned the other two sticks. She then filled the pot with water from a second canteen beside the one she kept at her hip and sat back, waiting for the water to boil, or so he assumed.

While she waited for the water, Katara rummaged through her pack and produced a smallish canvas bag. When she opened it and peeked inside, she was pleased to find that it was full of oats for making oatmeal. She set the bag down by her side and went back to rummaging through the bag. She also managed to find a small container of sugar. Katara sat back and studied it for a moment. Not necessarily the sugar itself, so much as the fact that it was even there. If Emi and Eri had been in such a hurry to get them out, how had they managed to make such a well prepared bag for the both of them? Well…Katara supposed that they probably had packs such as theirs ready at all times for refugees to take and flee, much as they had. Yes, that had to be it. It's not like they two sisters would lie just to get her and Zuko out of there. What would the point of that be?

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked; his one eyebrow raised as he watched Katara have a staring contest with the sugar.

"What? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking is all." Katara replied. The waterbender set about pouring some of the oats from the bag into the pot of now boiling water and stirred it occasionally with a spoon as their breakfast cooked.

Zuko continued to watch her, leaning down so that his chin rested on his hand, elbow on his knee. He wondered what it was she was making, he'd never seen the like before. His golden eyes followed her every move as she wrapped one hand in the edge of her skirt and removed the pot from the fire and placed it on a rock to cool as she fished two bowls and spoons from their packs. She spooned some of the hot cereal into each of their bowls and added some sugar and mixed it in. She suddenly paused and looked up asking "Oh I'm sorry, I don't know if you want sugar or not. Habit from traveling with my brother and Aang." She said, a little embarrassed.

"Ah no, sugar's fine." Zuko said; taking the bowl she handed to him across the fire. His rough hand brushed hers as he took the bowl and he could have sworn he saw her face heat up just a bit, but it could have just been the light of the fire.

As Katara dug into her food, Zuko examined his. It smelled nice, though it looked a little odd. A silent growl from his stomach made up his mind though, and so Zuko took up his spoon and began to eat. It was actually very good, he hadn't realized that the water peasant was such a competant cook, much better than himself or his uncle. It didn't take him long to clean his bowl of the remaining hot cereal. He even went so far as to get a second serving from the pot and add some sugar to it.

Katara smiled to herself as she watched Zuko eat her food with gusto. Either he was so hungry he didn't care, or he really did like her food. Maybe if she was lucky it was the second. The dark skinned young woman only had one serving and sat watching the fire while her companion finished eating his food.

Fire, it was obvious that was what had damaged Zuko's face so badly. And yet how had he gotten it? It looked fairly old, but Katara had a feeling she could heal it. She wondered if it would be too presumptuous of her to offer to heal his scar. Her icy blue eyes moved from the fire to Zuko himself, resting on his burn mark that spread across the left side of his face. It looked so painful to Katara, and she itched to heal it.

As Zuko looked up after finishing his meal, he tensed as he found Katara staring at him, his scar more specifically.

"What?" he asked, his voice a low growl now as he spoke to her.

Katara jumped slightly as she realized she'd been caught staring. She coughed a little embarrassedly and looked away. A moment later though she suddenly stood up and walked around the fire, sitting herself down on Zuko's left side, looking up at him with a earnest, worried expression on her pretty face.

"Zuko, your scar looks so painful. Will you let me heal it like I did with the rest of you?" She asked quietly as she gazed at him.

Zuko looked right back down at her and said "No."

"But why not?" Katara asked in surprise. "If I were to heal it, you could look completely normal again!" the waterbender was puzzled as to why he would turn down her services.

"I said NO!" The firebender was nearly shouting now. His eyes glowed fiercely, anger showing through as he glared at the girl beside him.

Katara was taken aback. She hadn't seen him actually get angry at her since the North Pole when she'd been fighting him, trying to protect Aang. She decided to change tactics.

"How did you get your scar?" she asked.

"It's none of your business." He growled; good mood quickly disappearing.

"As a healer it is my business! Why don't you want it to be healed?" She demanded, facing him with her hands on her hips, sitting on her knees.

"No, it isn't your business! Are you always so damn nosy you stupid water peasant!" He shouted, standing angrily.

"Water peasant! Why you arrogant, self absorbed jerk! I was just trying to help!" She shouted right back, jumping up to her own feet and glaring angrily at him.

"Then next time, don't help!" he yelled.

"Oh fine then! Next time I won't save you from a life time of pain!"

"Fine! Just keep your nose out of other peoples business, the world would probably be all the better for it." He growled fiercely.

"Ugh!" she screamed, finally losing her patience. She uncorked her flask and shot a water whip out at him, though he managed to dodge it. "I go out of my way to help you and this is the thanks I get! You yelling at me and calling me a water peasant?" she demanded, lashing out again.

"I never asked you to heal me you damn goody two shoes!" he replied, firing off a spurt of flame which she blocked with a wall of water.

"How dare you! I hate you! I don't know how I ever thought we could be friends!" she screamed.

"Friends! Who'd want to be friends with you? I'm a prince of the firenation, I don't need any pathetic water splashing friends!" he spat.

Katara laughed spitefully at him "Prince! You're no prince! You don't even have a home anymore!"

Both of them were breathing heavily, more from their yelling than the actually bending they'd been doing, which wasn't much. This was more a war of words than elements. For now they had both stopped, though they were both glaring bloody murder at each other. It was hard to imagine that just a few minutes ago the pair had been eating a peaceful breakfast together.

At long last Katara threw her arms in the air in anger and exasperation and then turned and marched out of the clearing. Zuko growled and marched in the opposite direction, both of them going to work off some steam before they killed one another.


"Of all the nerve!" Katara yelled into the open air under the canopy of tree branches as she marched angrily through the woods.

"I offer my help and he just blows up at me! I knew he was nothing but an arrogant savage!" she muttered angrily to herself as she forcefully shoved her way through the underbrush. Various curses and insults escaped her usually smiling lips which were now turned down into a ferocious frown.

Soon though the sound of running water came to her and she made for it, hoping that her element could do something to help calm herself. The stream was wide, but fairly shallow here, and Katara had a feeling that it was the same one that she had gone to before to practice her bending, but further up-stream. It must have been fed by a spring far up in the mountains, or so it seemed from the way she kept running into it.

Katara wasted no time in plunging into the water, clothes and all. The deepest part reached a bit up past her waist, and without any further delays, Katara began to push and pull the water, using her anger to fuel her bending. Deep in concentration, Katara began forming a tremendous wall of water behind her, using all of the water that came at her from up-stream. It got taller and taller and eventually no water got past her at all, leaving the stream bed on the other side dry. Katara closed her eyes and continued bending; enjoying the sense of power she got from bending such a massive amount of water to her will.


Zuko angrily ploughed his way through the forest, seething and frustrated. That presumptuous little water peasant! She thought she could just go wherever she wanted, heal who ever she wanted whenever she wanted! She had even thought that they could be friends! As if he would ever lower himself so much as to become friends with a water peasant, even if he wasn't a prince any more!

The angry teenager came to a clearing at the edge of a stream and let out a long, frustrated yell, a column of fire shooting up around him as he did so. It was a good thing he was in the clearing or else the trees would have surely caught fire. As it was the ground within a five foot radius of him had been charred severely. Zuko was breathing hard when the fire finally dissipated. He stood on the bank of the stream and watched as the water moved sedately by, still frustrated, though those feelings were slowly dissipating. He suddenly found himself regretting the things he had said to her. In retrospect he realized she really had just wanted to help after all. One hand went up to his scar, something he'd lived with for the past few years now. He hardly remembered what it was like when he didn't have it. What would it be like if he were able to get rid of it once and for all? Would he feel as though he had been freed at long last from his father's grasp? Or would he feel regret, as it would mean that he had finally put his family and kingdom away behind him?

These thoughts gradually led him full circle and back to thoughts of Katara. She had wanted to be friends with him? Surprise flooded his system. He'd never really had any friends before; did he want to be friends with her? Perhaps he wanted even more than that…Zuko shook himself. Right now she was his only ally out here in the forest and it wouldn't be good if she were to leave him, or he her. They needed to stick together, he realized that now. Not just for safety's sake either. Zuko found that he wanted to be with her. She had such a calm, peaceful aura about her…well, most of the time anyways. The fiercness of her anger still surprised him. Her show of anger would have made any firebender proud.

Zuko finally resolved to go and apologize to her, he didn't need another enemy after all, he already had plenty of those. It would be hard though, he rarely apologized to anyone. Zuko blinked in surprise as he suddenly realized that the river he had been staring at seemed to have dried up right before his eyes.

"What the hell…?" Zuko began, jumping down into the now dry stream bed. What the hell was going on to make all the water suddenly disappear? He looked up and down the stream from where he stood, but could see nothing. Figuring the source of the problem was upstream he started walking up it, picking his way through the mud and gravel bottom, his anger forgotten and replaced by curiosity.

It only took a few minutes walking to find the source of the problem. The sight made his eyes widen. Katara was there, eyes closed and bending a massive wall of water behind her, it had to be at least fifty feet tall now, yet she still managed to keep it up.

"Katara! What do you think you're…" Zuko immediately regretted speaking out. Rule number one of bending: Never interrupt someone while they're concentrating. The results are always disasterous.

Katara's eyes flew open as Zuko called her name, distracting her from her meditative bending. "Zuko…" there was a groan behind her as she suddenly lost her control over the wall of water. "Zuko run!" she screamed. She barely had time to bend the massive amount of water away from her to keep it from crashing into her and sending her flying down the river. Zuko was not so lucky.


Zuko whirled and tried to make for the bank of the stream, but barely made it a step before the rush of water smashed into him with bone crushing force. He thought he heard someone scream, but soon he couldn't hear anything but the thunderous rush of water past his ears. Zuko opened his mouth to yell, but only bubbles of air emerged, water soon taking their place in his lungs. He struggled with all of his strength to get to the surface, but he couldn't tell up from down as the water sent him tumbling along the stream bottom like a child's rag doll. Pain racked his body as he collided time and time again with the bottom of the stream and the rocks that inhabited it. It seemed as though the pain would never end, and Zuko knew he was about to die. He could feel himself loosing consciousness from lack of oxygen, and he welcomed it with open arms. Anything to get away from the pain.
"Zuko! Zuko!" Katara screamed at the top of her lungs, she made her way to the bank with the help of her bending and began running down stream along the bank. Her eyes were wide and filled with terror that she might have just killed the man. There! She could see him under the surface. With a quick upward jerk of her arms, Katara bended the water up into a massive column, Zuko with it. With a flick of her hands the column froze in place, Zuko's torso and head were the only parts of him free from the column's icy grip. Oh gods he looked dead, he was so pale! Katara worked fast and with a sweeping motion, made a sort of icy ramp from the column to the bank, extending it a little ways into the land. One more move released Zuko from his icy prison and sent his unconscious form sliding along the ramp and back onto the land. Katara was there waiting, blue eyes filled with tears as she grabbed the firebender by the arms and dragged him further away from the water.

"Oh please, oh please don't be dead." The water bender pleaded with Zuko's unmoving form as she lay him down on the leaf covered ground. All thoughts of their earlier argument seemed trivial compared to what had happened now as she placed the firebender's head gently on the ground and sat beside him. With the same move she had used for Aang on Kyoshi Island, Katara used her bending to remove the water from Zuko's lungs. There was a lot of it, too much perhaps.

The young waterbender pressed her ear to Zuko's chest, and panicked when she didn't hear a heart beat. "Oh Zuko, don't leave me! I didn't mean it! I didn't mean a word of what I said earlier!" she cried out, shaking him, but getting no response. Katara remembered something she'd seen her father do years ago to her brother Sokka when he'd fallen into the water. CPR he'd called it. Well, anything to save him now. This was all her fault and she'd never be able to live with herself if she couldn't save Zuko now.

Katara opened Zuko's mouth and after a moment's hesitation pressed her own against it and exhaled, then pressed down on his chest. She repeated this several times, periodically stopping to listen for a heart beat.


Zuko seemed to be lost in a thick fog that surrounded him, and obscured anything that might have been there from sight. He couldn't seem to find his way out….where was he going anyways? He thought he could hear someone speaking, though they were too far away to be understandable. The tall, pale man spent an indeterminable amount of time wandering aimlessly through the mists, soon finding himself facing a bright white light. It seemed so calm and peaceful, calling out to him like a mother calling lovingly to her child. He took a step towards it again, but once again the in-audible voice came back to haunt him. He looked around and saw a faint blue light in the distance. Somehow it reminded him of something, though he couldn't figure out what it was.

"Zuko…" came the voice again, though it was very faint and sounded far away.

Who was calling his name?

"Don't leave me please…" It came again. This time Zuko knew the source was the small, distant blue light.

He started to walk towards the blue light, casting one regretful look back at the white light before turning his back on it. There would be time for that later. Someone needed him.

"I'm sorry, just don't leave…" the voice had a tearful, urgent sound to it.

Zuko suddenly found himself running towards the blue light and as he entered it, he was overcome by an intense wave of pain.


After the initial pain he felt, Zuko felt something soft and warm press gently against his lips, breathing air into his lungs for him. His eyes fluttered open slowly, thought not soon enough to escape another kiss of life from Katara. When Zuko's eyes opened completely he felt a raging blush creep up and across his face as he found her lips pressed against his own. When she pulled away again and reached to press down against his chest once more, he coughed and gasped for breath like a fish out of water. Katara sat back, looking surprised and relieved.

"You called?" he muttered incoherently in a rough voice from having so much water forced down his throat and pulled back up again. He felt a little muddled still. As he looked into her tear filled eyes, he recognized the gentle blue light from his fog filled dream. So it had been she who had called him back.

"Zuko! Zuko I'm so sorry! I-I had no idea…" Katara suddenly broke down into tears, not sure if she was still upset about nearly drowning Zuko, or if she was just happy to see he was okay after all. She leaned down and pressed her face into his drenched, muscular chest, her tears adding to the water already there.

Zuko hesitantly placed one arm around her, and then tightened his embrace, trying to comfort her. She was crying for him, just for him. It didn't matter that she had been the one to nearly kill him, her tears told of how she regretted it, and he had forgiven her.

They stayed like that for a time, Katara weeping quietly in relief that the man beneath her had survived her unintentional attack. Zuko simply lay there quietly, waiting for her to finish, lending her strength through his gentle embrace. He was too exhausted to do anything else.


Woo! Well that's the end of chapter seven! I hope everyone enjoyed it! Nothing like a near death experience to bring two people closer together XD

for those of you who missed it the first time, here's the picture to go with this chapter! this time it's just Katara because I was in a bit of a hurry.

http/ www. deviantart. com/ view/ 32185605/

Just remove the spaces as usual and tell me what you think!

Anyways, I decided to make this one extra long since the last chapter was so darn short. thanks for reading all the way through this long chapter! Tell me what you think please! Reviews really make my day!