Chapter Seven:

Preface

Zuko fell asleep that night very, more oddly though, peacefully. He had empty sleep with no dreams, but no nightmares either; no dreams to keep him day dreaming throughout the day, and no nightmares to keep him grouchy or paranoid either. When he had woken up the next morning, he felt much rejuvenated. He felt that today was the day. Today was the day to teach Aang Fire Bending. He felt well enough, strong enough, and wise enough. He did not feel like the precious toy Katara had put him through. No, it was not that. For now they had a greater bond than ever before.

Ever since they kissed…

It was not that they bragged about it; that would not be too humble. They did not tell anybody about that episode, although they both felt the same way. Zuko knew deep within his heart that she was the one and no one else. He knew how he had cared about Mai and how strong that was, but his affection towards Katara was even stronger; stronger than a whole fleet of Fire Navy Ships.

But Zuko didn't want to get obsessed with this girl. Besides, he was going to die this summer; only in about a month or two when Sozin's Comet returned.

But how could Zuko be so sure?


Zuko looked up and smiled to himself. He saw nobody sitting in the corner and nobody next to his bed, which meant they were almost positive he could get up on his own. Fantastic!

He flipped his legs over the side of the bed and grunted as the muted pain shot through his chest. It had been about a week since he had first arrived, got hurt and almost killed, but the pain was starting to subside and was no longer unbearable. He sat up and lifted himself to his feet. He moved towards the wall for support in case he fell, but he was feeling the best he had ever had despite his pains. He moved along the wall carefully and made it to the door. He wanted to make sure that if he did fall over that there would be either a witness or somebody walking by sometime soon. He opened the door and stepped outside into the crisp summer air. It was only around mid-morning, but Zuko could feel the sun enriching him and making him stronger. Zuko had always liked summer and how it did not make him feel weaker, like winter. Fall and spring were pretty bearable, but the winter at the North Pole had been almost brutal, which was why he had been looking forward to summer. Odd how only last summer he was searching hopelessly for the Avatar, to discover him in the Winter, fall for him in the fall, and ally him in the next summer. It had only been a year, and the Avatar had changed his life's course immensely. Although he did not have much more of a life now…

Why do I keep on thinking about that?

Zuko looked up and saw Katara out in the clearing, her hair blowing in the breeze. He saw Aang next to her, his lack of hair looking almost hilarious next to her amount of hair. He walked over and nodded to Aang; he nodded back. He went over to the pot and scooped himself up some rice. He saw Katara out of the corner of his eyes and she was blushing. Zuko smiled to himself. He sat next to her.

"Good morning," Zuko said, much too enthusiastic for his kind. Katara grinned.

"What made you all happy and cheery?" she asked.

Zuko's expression changed to a serious-playful look; when you try to make a serious face, but end up grinning the entire time, "I'm never happy…"

Katara slapped him playfully.

Aang looked up from his half-empty bowl of rice and looked at Zuko with caution in his young eyes, "Katara told me that you may be able to teach my Fire Bending today… is that true?" Aang asked.

Zuko nodded and Aang picked at his rice.

"What?" Zuko asked.

"Excuse me, I've got to get ready…… for something…" Aang hopped up and walked towards the nearest entrance to the Western Air Temple where he disappeared from sight the moment he got the slightest chance.

When Aang was gone, Zuko spoke up, "What is his problem?"

"He is afraid to Fire Bend," Katara said, looking at the ground, "He is afraid he will burn me… like last time…"

"You were burned…" Zuko looked down.

"Yeah… I was… but I was able to heal myself," Katara said.

"Heal yourself? You mean, you still have a scar, right?" Zuko asked.

"Yes, heal myself. No, no scar," Katara whispered.

"How?" Zuko asked.

"I have healing abilities… absolutely without them you would be dead from my doings…" Katara said.

Zuko leaned back and put his hands behind his head, "How I would have ever wished for a water bender back when I was thirteen…" Zuko closed his eyes and laughed, "But that does not matter now… considering that I'm die-"

Zuko did not have a chance to finish his sentence. Katara was on top of him in half a second.

"I am this close to ripping out your hair and breaking your arm! What makes you so sure that you are going to die this summer?" Katara asked. She had his arms pinned beside his head, close to where they were five seconds ago.

"You know the Avatar is not going to die! He is way too powerful and once I teach him fire bending, he will be almost invincible!" Zuko yelled, outraged from her actions. He twisted and they rolled over onto the ground, fire bender on top of water bender.

"Did you even know that Aang died last fall?" Katara asked him. He had a puzzled look on his face. She took the opportunity to roll back over so she was on top, "He had died! Do you get it? If it was not for my healing abilities and water from the spirit oasis from the North Pole, he would have stayed dead, and there would be no new Avatar. Reason one: the air benders are dead! When the last Fire Nation Avatar died, there would be NO MORE! Reason two: Aang was killed in the Avatar state, but I brought him back to life."

"Well I thought he was just badly injured, almost dead. Azula was right after all…"

"Azula's spoiled rotten, and she is the worst person in the world!" Katara was out of control.

"So what does that make me? I am her brother!" Zuko said.

Katara was speechless again. How did Zuko do this to her. As an act of defeat, she collapsed herself onto his chest. He rubbed her head calmingly.

"Good girl…" Zuko murmured.

They stayed silent for a moment until Zuko broke it, "Come on… you need to calm down. You are starting to breathe like a fire bender and that's not good. I don't want blasts of fire coming my way… although your water seemed pretty worse at the time." He lifted her up and effortlessly despite his own injuries lifted half her weight. They walked through the forest together for about a mile until they came by a small pond in the middle of the forest. He sat down and Katara looked at him like he was insane.

"I know how you calm down with gentle, water bending, so how about it? Besides, I would like to see it." Zuko said.

Katara smiled and bended her first drops of water into the air. She felt embarrassed by it at first, actually knowing that she was being watched, but then her embarrassment eased away along with her problems. She forgot that Zuko was there over time. It didn't matter whether she was being watched or not or if it was night or day. She twirled the water around her body and kept her eyes closed through the entire process. She bended the water to make it into beautiful shapes and sizes and was able to picture the beauty of it without having to use any instinct other that her water bender instinct.

She had lost track of time when she felt Zuko steely grip around her waist. She did not want to stop. She bended the water around them both and felt his amusement through their touching bodies. She swirled the water around their bodies and suddenly remembered the trick she had been teaching Aang and decided it wouldn't be appropriate. But who said someone couldn't improvise? She twisted the water around their bodies and instead of whipping it out, she kept up the process making it faster and faster, until she felt Zuko tense up beside her. She immediately lost her focus and looked up at him. The water sprayed in different directions and all over them. He looked down at her and smiled.

"My type of entertainment does not really include watching water benders water bend for five hours, but that was really enjoyable."

"You are really enjoyable…" Katara murmured into his chest.

"I know," Zuko teased, then lifted up her face and leaned down. Their kiss was much more romantic than the "Healer meets patient" kind of thing they were going for before. They were surrounded by glistening water, beautiful trees, and to top it all off, they were the perfect couple in the world.

Zuko felt as if he could kiss this girl forever, but she had to breathe. She pulled away from him and giggled slightly. He led her over to a tree where he propped himself up against it. Katara laid her head on his chest and listened to his steady heart beat. There was one difference in heartbeats. His was steady, like he had done this before, while hers was spinning out of control…


"What the- get away from my sister!"

Zuko's eyes sprang open as he heard the water tribe boy's shriek in terror. Katara had moved up, but Zuko was on his feet before she was even aware of the fight forming. Sokka had held out his sword. Zuko took a defensive stance not prepared to take the offensive as Sokka's sword blew angrily trying to slice Zuko's neck open. Zuko dodged it effortlessly as he tried to disarm Sokka. He tried to flip the sword out of Sokka's hands and only succeeded in cutting his wrist. He tried to tackle Sokka, but Sokka was prepared, and he managed to press his sword up against Zuko's neck puncturing it. He tried to just plain take it from him, but Sokka pushed him over, knocking him to the ground. Katara, who pinned herself against a tree, was overwhelmed by her brother and her love fighting; she did not know who's side to take.

Zuko heard in the distance the sound of Aang's voice. Zuko had had enough of Sokka and he was over heating himself. He took in a deep breath and two fireballs shot out from his palms. Sokka dodged them and sent another blow. Zuko sent two more fire balls but out of the corner of his eye, saw a giant rock flying towards him. Had his nightmares come true? The rock slammed into him, sending him airborne and knew nothing as his head hit hard against the ground twenty feet away.


Had his worst nightmare come to life?

Was Katara in danger?

Was he finally dead yet?


Zuko slowly became aware of voices. Man!! This was way too much like his dream. He would have to check for bleeding when he became aware of any sort of pain. For now, he focused on the numbness of the pain and the voices.

"Did- did you kill him?"

"Nah, he's alive, but you gave him a pretty bad concussion Twinkle Toes."

"You know how I feel about Fire Bending and I thought he went all evil on us or something."

Quiet murmurs to quiet to hear.

"He's not evil! He just needs time for people to understand him and- as for you, Sokka; I think I could just kill you right now!"

"I don't think you could, little sister, and as long as he's still alive, I'm not happy. Katara, why could you even think about liking him, loving him, or- kissing him?"

"I love him and that's all that matters!"

Zuko felt him being moved and tried to pry his eyes open, but they felt as if they had been stuck shut by gum from a gum tree. His breathing felt normal- which was very odd for him. His head hurt immensely though and he could not move him hands up to investigate the damage. He felt as if he had been handicapped and was a helpless child- which was kind of true. He suddenly felt blackness over blackness over him and could not fight it; he was becoming weaker and weaker by the second. The blackness covered the blackness and the pain slowly turned numb, and his thoughts were chased away from the blackness as he struggled a dreamless slumber.


Slowly regaining his consciousness, he struggled to open his eyes. His head felt swollen and heavy. It was dark so he could not see any faces but someone caught his searching hand and smoothed it over her cheek. He let out a clensing breath knowing that everything was going to be alright. She suddenly let out a small laugh.

"What's so funny?" Zuko whispered.

"You are always getting hurt, aren't you? You just aren't a people person." She laughed.

"I've had some trouble," his free hand instinctively reached his scar. She moved his hand and replaced it with hers.

"You are such and intresting person; do you know that?" she asked.

"I've heard that a lot…"

She grinned and leaned down for the suspension holding kiss.

But what the two lovebirds did not know, was that the kiss, according to the prophesy, might be their last.