2/15/09: Yay! The next chapter's done~ :D I wanted to have it up by Valentine's Day, but it still needed some fine tuning, so it's a day late. xP

This chapter was weird because I wrote it in sections and then pieced it all together... Hahaha.. It was so hard to write. 'Cause I knew what I wanted to have happen, but it was hard for me to write it and have it all transition itself in a believable way. So this chapter is kinda long... And I'm sure most of you will probably think parts of it are kinda retarded, I suppose... but I'm happy with it, so there! :P Haha.

Um, also, it's not very descriptive, (not like a lot of my chapters really are...) so sorry. Yay~ now I can move onto chapter 11..

Wow.. chapter 10. I really didn't expect it to make it this far. Hahaha... O_O Enough babble. No one reads this anyway. xD

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Aiko

With a deep sigh, the young, gray-eyed Airbender fell back onto a patch of soft, thick tall grass—he was exhausted. Since they'd arrived at their new cliffside campsite, the days had flown by. Everyday that passed by was full of nothing but sleeping (very little of it), eating, and rigorous training for the Avatar and his bending masters—as the day of Souzen's comet drew closer and closer.

Aang worked mostly on his Firebending as it was the newest element for him to learn. And with all the tiring activity involved with Zuko's methods of training and being around the constant heat of the flames—Aang was left feeling sweaty, irritated, and miserable—especially today. The sunlight was bright and warm. Every thing it touched instantly lit up and became more vibrant and beautiful. A cool breeze carried the sweet smell of the sea across the lush, grassy field and the sky above was full of huge, white clouds. As if this weren't enough, the sky that peeked out from behind those fluffy clouds was that perfect color of blue that you normally only see when someone paints it that way.

Aang laid there happily in the middle of the field, feeling the wind and breathing in the smells, while the cool soft grass danced along his exposed skin.

"Hey!! What're you doing?" Zuko hollered, interrupting his serene moment. Aang sighed as he opened his eyes.

"Zuko, I'm tired," Aang whined, not moving. "It's such a nice day. Can't we take a break?" He sat up quickly with a smile on his face. "Let's do something fun!" Aang exclaimed enthusiastically.

"I don't think so," Zuko disagreed strictly, blasting a fireball at him. Aang lowered his eyebrows and jumped up from the peaceful field. He brought his fist around and extinguished the attack.

"C'mon Zuko!!!" Aang yelled. Zuko blasted another fireball at the Avatar. Aang evaded it. "Cut it out!!" Aang demanded, his voice breaking a little.

Zuko shot blast after blast of fire at the Airbender. "I've never heard of an Avatar who whines so much!" Zuko scolded, blasting another large shot of flames at him. Aang glowered at the prince as he quickly extinguished each of the blasts, causing a large cloud of smoke to rise from where he stood. Zuko let up on his shots and watched as the smoke cleared.

Aang was gone—as expected.

The Fire-nation prince sighed angrily. "Lazy..." he muttered to himself. Although he had to admit to himself that he felt slightly impressed that the Avatar was able to block all of the attacks using Firebending instead of his other, more familiar, elements. Feeling the lightly salted sea breeze on his face and in his hair, the Firebender decided that maybe he needed a break, too.

He gazed up at the blinding white clouds and beautiful blue sky—and his thoughts instantly drifted to Katara. Turning his eyes away, Zuko quickly decided that he didn't need a break. At all. He shook the image of Katara's face out of his head and headed back to the campsite. As he approached, he saw Toph doing some Earthbending off in the distance. He stood and watched for a moment.

Zuko nodded to himself as he watched. She was very good, and her moves extremly precise. Suddenly, Toph sensed he was there and smirked. She spun around, lifting a piece of the Earth and throwing it at the prince.

Yep. He could always count on Toph to provide a distraction. He grinned and dove out the way, sommersaulting into a stance. His eyes lit up with amusement and he turned, ready to spar with the Earthbender.

He was greeted by a hug instead. "Zuko!" Toph yelled happily.

She took a step back from him and socked him. "Be quicker. I almost got you that time," she laughed.

"Right," Zuko scoffed, "You weren't even close." Toph laughed in response.

Toph had greeted him this way everyday since they'd left the Air-temple on Appa. The prince had quickly grown fond of Toph—it was nice that someone was excited to talk to him, and as it turned out—he was excited to talk to her, too.

It was strange, but since the Air-temple attack, he felt like everyone had distanced themselves from him even more than usual. Even Aang was treating him a little differently than he was before and the prince couldn't be quite sure as to why. Zuko figured that was most likely because Aang was preoccupied with fighting the Firelord though. The prince's memories picked at his brain, remembering the glimpse of a glare he caught on Sokka's face and how he, too, was treating the Firebender differently. He sighed. And then Suki never really warmed up to him (not like he really cared or expected her to)—nor did the rest of the group, really. And it surely wasn't anything new that Katara was avoiding him... It actually worked out better for him that she was.

The Fire-nation prince's thoughts were interrupted as he caught a waft of something delicious in the air. His eyes quickly fell upon a pot of something brewing in the center of the clearing.

"That smells good," he complimented. Toph nodded.

"Yeah, when you can smell it, that's when it's ready," she explained, "At least that's what Katara said." She shrugged as she spoke. Zuko winced slightly at hearing Katara's name outloud.

"Oh," he muttered. Toph turned, a mischeivious grin coming across her face.

"Hey, you wanna race?" Toph challenged. Zuko glanced down to her. He smirked.

"Sure."

"Sweet! This time, I've got the Duke, Hakkoda, Haru and Teo—and you've got Katara, Aang, Sokka and Suki," Toph assigned quickly. Zuko's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to protest, but the Earthbender had already set off, very quickly, in the other direction. Zuko frowned.

This was a game they both had played once a couple days ago and basically, the game was this; whenever no one was around, they'd split up and have to search for everyone they were assigned to find. Whoever found the group they were supposed to and got back the fastest would win.

It was a silly, easy enough game. Zuko admitted that it was sort of fun in an adolescent way—even though Toph would probably always win since she had the advantage of seeing things well beyond the normal eye could see.

Zuko thought about having to go and find Katara. He sighed, frustrated.

Maybe he'd just say that he couldn't find her. Toph would see right through that though, being that she can sense lies. And he was already horrible at it to begin with. But it might be worth it because there was no way she'd figure out the reason he's lying about it...

After going back and forth for a minute, he grew sick of arguing with himself and set off.

Rounding the corner of one of the nearby tents, Zuko quickly came upon Sokka and Suki. Behind Sokka's tent was where they almost always were when they weren't in plain sight. They both stumbled a little and stood up, fidgeting with random things—trying to act like they weren't making out.

Zuko sighed awkwardly, keeping his eyes away from them. "Hey guys, it's time to eat," he muttered. They nodded. He ran off, trying to think in his mind where Aang would be (he figured he'd save Katara for last)—when he realized that they were probably together. Aang's idea of a break usually meant hanging out with Katara. Zuko's nose scrunched up as he thought of what the two might be doing together. He quickly shook the thought out of his head—that was it—he wasn't going to play this game with Toph anymore.

He scowled to himself as he headed towards the woods. Hopefully he'd find them at the river where they're just doing some Waterbending. He'd stop searching for them if they weren't there.

There was no way he wanted to walk in on anything that would make things even more awkward between them. As he pushed through the trees and brush—rays of the warm sunlight peeked through the leaves that hung high over his head. Zuko walked carefully as random wild-life scurried out of his way. The prince grimaced as he compared the scattering squirrels to many of the people he'd met so far in his life. He'd managed to have the same effect on everything he came across. As he approached the riverbank, his feet slowed to a stop as he spotted them.

Zuko cursed under his breath. The prince considered going back and trying his hand at fooling Toph one last time.

The Airbender and Waterbender stood a ways away in the middle of the calm river, laughing together while practicing Waterbending. Zuko watched Katara laugh while moving a string of water fluidly between herself and Aang. He drew in a deep breath, hoping that might make him feel more brave.

It didn't.

The Firebender exhaled just as deeply. "Might as well get this over with," he thought reluctantly to himself and conitnued toward them.

"Anyway... I have something I've been wanting to ask you," Aang said as his laughter slowed to a stop. Zuko's feet froze.

Katara smiled as her own laughter winded down. "Sure, go ahead," she replied.

"Okay, you don't have to tell me but..." Aang asked, "Why are you avoiding Zuko?" The Fire-nation prince's heart stopped as the Avatar's voice echoed off the trees and rang in Zuko's ears.

The water-thread they had been passing back and forth dropped from Katara's hands as she lost her focus. "What?" she squeaked. She immediately began to cough—the high octave of her voice scratched her wind-pipes. Aang eyed her as she cleared her throat. Attempting to play off her awkward reaction, she quickly bended another string of water from the river and passed it gently to the Avatar. Aang received the flowing water and passed it back to her.

Standing on the riverbank, unnoticed, Zuko's heart thudded hard against his chest and the warm sunlight suddenly seemed like an uncomfortable harsh light, beating down over him. He ducked back, falling deeper into the shadows of the forest lining the riverbank. He held his breath. "Crap. I can't just walk out there now..." Zuko thought to himself, "They'd know I was listening." The Firebender clenched onto the large tree trunk he hid behind, the rough bark digging into the palms of his hands.

"Why are you avoiding Zuko?" Aang repeated.

The Waterbender coughed loudly as Aang said his name again. She stopped herself, wondering if she was being obvious. "I'm-I'm not avoiding him," Katara lied. She knew just as well as everyone else that they hadn't said a word to one another since the Air-temple. They hardly even looked at each other. She probably would've been able to forget he existed entirely if Toph or Aang didn't speak of him so much. Katara grimaced. He seemed to be the only topic Toph wanted to talk about anymore.

Katara's thoughts whirled back to the recent getaway on Appa—of the prince laughing loudly about some private joke he and the Earthbender shared. She cringed and whipped the water over to Aang. The Avatar caught the water that she had thrown at him too aggressively and gently passed it back to her. She gave him an apologetic look. Aang just smiled to her, implying she was forgiven. "I don't know, Aang. I just don't really have anything to say to him and I've been focused on helping you train," Katara lied, "I'm busy with other things and feel no need to talk to him. That's all."

"Oh," Aang replied. Katara thought that was it, but then the Airbender added hesistantly, "'Cause well..."

Katara noticed the tone in his voice as she passed the water back to him, eyeing him questionably. "What is it?" she pressed.

"Well, to be honest, I was a little jealous when I saw you and Zuko walking together in the Air-temple. Something seemed... different about the two of you. I thought..." his voice trailed off and he just finished with, "I don't know."

Zuko felt his face get warm as he looked to Katara. Her face was also a slight shade of pink. "What? What did you think?" she asked, a bit defensively. The question was met with silence. Katara looked away. "I'm not sure exactly what you were thinking happened but, don't. There's no way, Aang," she forced a laugh. Her mind ran through all the possibilities that Aang could've be thinking. Her face flushed a shade of red. "Never," she replied as she looked away, her nose crinkled. "Never ever," the Waterbender insisted.

The Firebender pressed his lips tightly together and felt his nostrils flare a little. She didn't have to act so disgusted. He stepped out from behind the large tree trunk and cleared his throat loudly.

Katara jumped and snapped her head around to see Zuko, her eyes wide. The golden pair of eyes and the blue pair of eyes locked onto each other as she found him standing on the river bank. The Avatar followed Katara's line of sight. "Oh—h-hey Zuko," he greeted sheepishly, waving a little. The Airbender bit his lip, thinking that the Fire-nation prince was here to drag him back to Firebending practice. "Uhh..." Aang rambled, "I can explain.. about earlier..."

Without a response from his Firebending teacher, Aang quickly realized that Zuko wasn't looking at him. His gray eyes followed Zuko's and fell on Katara. Aang frowned as he looked back and forth between them. He lowered his eyes to the water string he still had suspended in the air and, taking one more look at Katara's intense eyes and the pink color in her cheeks, "accidentally" bended the water right into her.

"Ack!" she cried out, instantly soaked. She whirled around her eyebrows drawn downward. "Aang!" she scolded. The Airbender laughed.

"Oops, sorry Katara," he apologized falsely. Katara pouted at Aang as he laughed.

"You did that on purpose!" she accused.

"No, you just weren't paying attention—" Aang teased, sticking his tongue out. He laughed. Katara splashed at him, joining in with his laughter.

"So now it's my fault?" Katara laughed as they began splashing at each other.

Zuko stood there, watching the two benders splash around in the river. A few seconds ago he was completely irritated, but that faded away when the Waterbender turned to face him with that look on her face. He had no idea what that look meant, but he knew that she didn't look angry—and that was enough to make his own anger fade.

The prince finally led his eyes away from the soaking wet Water-tribe native that wore only her under-clothes. Zuko coughed as he tried to keep his thoughts pure. His face grew warm again as he failed miserably. "Damnit," Zuko cursed in his head, "What's wrong with me?" He glanced out at the Airbender, frowning.

There Aang stood, out there in the river so easily—laughing with her and playing in the water—while Zuko stood a good hundred yards away on the shore, feeling awkward and unable to choke out the slightest sound. The prince straightened himself up and decided to try and be more casual about it, like Aang. Zuko glanced back at Katara. His eyes glued themselves to her shoulders, neck and stomach. They were glistening with thousands of droplets of water and her wet hair was sticking to her soft, dark skin.

Katara caught him looking at her and stopped splashing.

The prince coughed, his face and body feeling like it was on fire. He quickly realized that he could never act casual when she looked like that. The sun sparkled off her body and the water trickled down her skin—he had no idea how Aang could remain so unphased. "L-Lunch," the Firebender mumbled. As soon as the word stumbled out of his mouth, Zuko strode off so quickly that he had practically run away from them. He disappeared into the trees of the dense forest.

Katara stared after him. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the Firebender's embarrassed, blushed face and now her own face was blushing again as her heart fluttered against her chest.

Aang looked at her from the corner of his eye, frowning a little again.

"See, that's what I mean," he murmered, lowering his head. Katara blinked several times and turned to the Avatar.

"W-What?" she stuttered, the flush still present on her cheeks.

"You get this look on your face," Aang replied, raising his steel gray eyes to hers, "Whenever you see him or whenever someone mentions him—it's like, you're almost... in pain or something."

Katara laughed nervously. "'Pain' huh?" she thought to herself as she continued to laugh. The Water-tribe girl was unaware that her face revealed her emotions so easily. And as she noticed the Avatar frowning at her, she realized her nervous laugh was just as transparent. She stopped laughing and lowered her eyes to the rippling river they stood in. Thinking of the prince's blushing face, listening to her heart pound in her body, and feeling her chest starting to ache, she sighed.

"Yeah, I'm in pain alright..." she agreed. Aang scoffed angrily and started toward the shore.

"Great," Aang muttered as he splashed noisly through the water. Katara cringed as he stormed off. She quickly stepped forward and grabbed a hold of his hand.

"I'm in pain when I see him 'cause I don't want him to be here," she added. Aang turned to meet his eyes with hers. She tried to look sincere, but the Waterbender immediately felt guilty for lying to the Avatar. She lowered her eyes and squeezed his hand. Thinking about what she said more carefully, the Water-tribe girl realized something. She really didn't want Zuko to be around—but only because she felt conflicted about her feelings for Aang when he was. She lifted her eyes as she felt Aang tug on her arm. Her heart imploded when she found the Airbender smiling warmly at her.

She didn't deserve that smile.

"That's not very nice, Katara," he said in a somewhat scolding, but playful, tone.

She tried to force a smile. "I know, I know. You want me to get along with him. But," she hesitated, "It seems like the only way we manage to get along is if we don't speak to eachother." Her eyes dropped to the rippling water of the river that had begun to calm as they stood still. "So, it really is better that we just avoid eachother," Katara replied truthfully. She frowned as she spoke the truth.

Aang noticed her sad eyes and felt sad himself.

"You know what? Honestly, I don't care if you get along with him anymore. I'm just glad that you two didn't like, bond at the Air-temple and become... best friends... or something," he half-joked. He cleared his throat as his thoughts drifted someplace else. The Airbender didn't really mean 'best friends' when he said it, but he couldn't make himself say what he really thought had happened. Katara smiled awkwardly to him and forced a laugh.

"Hah—"best friends"," Katara repeated. She and Zuko definitely weren't best friends. She wasn't sure they could ever even be friends. She sighed to herself. Katara's head was filled with the thoughts about what the prince had said to her and what she had said to him at the Air-temple. Aang tugged on her arm.

"Come on, let's go have some lunch—I'm starving," he urged, smiling to her again. Katara blinked at his smiling face. How could he smile so sweetly and so sincerely at her? The Airbender pulled her along with him until they were out of the water.

Aang used his Airbending to dry himself and leaned down to grab his crumpled pile of clothes from the rocky shore. Katara stood near the water, facing away from Aang while she rung the remaining water out of her long, thick hair. Her thoughts drifted involuntarily to the Firebender's face—all the different faces he'd shown her—and her chest tightened as she struggled to breathe.

"I don't hate you. I never have," Katara thought Zuko's words to herself as she looked out at the mid-day sun reflecting off the river.

Staring at the beautiful, colorful scenery, she needed to admit it to herself. She didn't hate Zuko, either. But Katara wanted to hate him—because it would make her life a lot easier.