I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, or any of the names or characters of the show. I merely control them for my own twisted pleasure from this point in the story on.

Chapter 09 :Fire Poison

Zuko spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up around camp. Night soon fell, and he felt uneasy like he usually did when the sun went down. His uncle had gone off earlier in the day. He'd told Zuko he was going to buy supplies with the money he'd managed to gather from the village the day before.

The sun had just left the horizon when his uncle made it back. The old man was carrying a large basket and set it near the ostrich-horse. The animal bent down and began eating vigorously while Iroh made his way back to the campfire.

Zuko nodded in greeting and Iroh smiled back. He was carrying a large bagful of fresh fruit and other assorted food items.

"What did you get?" Zuko asked curious.

"This and that," his uncle said evasively and sat down next to the prince. He then began to heat up the stew he'd given Zuko to feed Katara. Zuko remembered that he hadn't had anything to eat yet and his stomach growled. Iroh gave him a knowing smile.

"Here, you go." His uncle said after a few minutes, "You're a gowning young person too."

Zuko took the bowl, but instead of eating it, he stared down at the food and lost himself in thought.

It'd been little more than a day since he'd freed the Avatar and his group from the Fire Nation ship. It seemed so much longer than that. He'd been vigorously taking care of Katara all day. Maybe if he had let his uncle do some of the work, things might be better, but he couldn't allow Katara to know who he was, and his uncle was a dead give-away.

He looked sideways at the old general and found the man handling something blue and white. He suddenly realized it was Katara's ruined dress. Uncle had taken it off while she slept that morning, and Zuko had assumed he'd thrown the blood-stained, arrow hole-ridden thing out.

"Uncle, is that what I think it is?" Zuko asked, setting his bowl to the ground and leaning closer.

"Yes it is." His uncle gave him a bright smile and held up the dress up in his lap. It wasn't blood stained anymore and Zuko wondered if it was the same dress. "I washed it in the river. Blood is easy to get out as long as it doesn't completely dry first." his smile faded and he set it back in his lap. "There was so much, it didn't have time to dry."

Zuko watched as his uncle took something from inside of his robes and laid it out over the dressed. "I thought that she might want it back," his uncle said sadly, "when she leaves. I began fixing the holes in the back."

Zuko saw then that his uncle had taken out a needle and thread from inside his robe, something Zuko wasn't aware his uncle would carry around with him. Zuko would have thrown the outfit away, but as a boy, he wouldn't need a shirt. Katara on the other hand, she needed something to cover up with, and now that her back was completely bare of the undergarments she'd been wearing, that dress was all she had left.

As he uncle began to sew the arrow holes shut, Zuko sighed and started to eat his food.

Katara felt as though her whole head was pounding. Her headache has slowly gotten worse as the sun sent down. She wouldn't mind the headache if she could figure out what was causing it in the first place.

She could think of two reasons. One: Pain. The wound on her back was slowly getting more and more painful, and it had come to the point where she couldn't feel her arms anymore.

Or two: she was slowly -but surely- falling head over heels in like with the Blue Spirit. And her crushes had caused her plenty of headaches in the past.

She knew it was stupid. She didn't even know what he sounded like, what he looked like, or what his name was or what he was thinking. About the only thing's she knew of him was his smell and his touch.

His scent was warm like a candle, and reminded her of tress. It would have made sense if he smelled like the forest around them, especially because he must have been out here for a long time. But he didn't. There was a different quality to his smell, something more solid. More present. More there.

His touch had made her stomach flip in a unusual way. His finger to her lips and his hand on her back made her know she was his center of attention even thought she couldn't tell if he was even looking at her.

And when he'd held her close, she knew her heart had taken that first uneasy step towards like. And maybe even something more than like. And as she sat here, thinking it over even more, she felt the blood rise to her cheeks at the very thought of him.

It was so stupid for her to even consider liking him. Stupid stupid stupid! She could name plenty of reasons why. But none of those reasons were solid enough when put against what she already knew of him.

He was gentle. Most of the other males in her life were gentle too; Aang was innocent and never wanted anyone or anything to be hurt, and her brother was always taking care of her when she needed him most. But the man behind that blue mask was a different kind of gentle; the kind that Haru had been.

But he also felt different that Haru, and he was definitely more sure of himself. Maybe gentle wasn't the right word.

Caring? No, she couldn't say that was the reason because she had no way to know. The Blue Spirit always seemed to make her feel uncomfortable around him, so she couldn't say she liked his company.

Safe.

That was it. She felt safe around him. He made her feel protected, took care of her in this very strange situation. He was feeding her because she couldn't take care of herself, and cleaning her wounds. He was putting medicine on them when she needed it. She knew that not everyone would be doing that.

Her pain redoubled and she felt her headache get worse. It was most likely the pain, she thought after a few more seconds. Should she cry out for him again? He would come. He would put more of that stuff on her back. Maybe that would help.

But she didn't want to seem like a crybaby, and she didn't want to burden him more than she needed too, and in her condition, there wasn't much of a choice. She was starting to get a little drowsy, but she knew that the pain wouldn't let her sleep.

She'd wait it out. It had to go away eventually. Closing her eyes, Katara lay here breathing in and out as the pain clawed its way up her back and into her head like fire.

It would go away. It would go away. It would go aw-

Zuko finished his food and reached over for his water flask. As he picked it up, a thought crossed his head in a flash. Katara was probably really thirsty. He'd been ignoring her all day after the spoon-feeding thing, and she hadn't called out to him yet, but he had to be thirsty. He stood and walked over to pick up his mask.

"Going back so soon?" Iroh was grinning like an idiot and Zuko immediately felt the embarrassment seeped into his cheeks. He clutched the mask in his hands tightly.

Zuko tried to sound annoyed. "She'll most likely complain about being thirsty next." He held up the water flask and his uncle nodded, the grin not leaving his whiskered face.

"I hate it when she complains." Zuko said, still trying to sound annoyed, "I'm surprised she hasn't asked me to go to the bathroom yet." He sounded irritated, and his uncle stood up so quickly that Zuko took a step back.

His uncle stopped grinning and a looked of panic passed over his eyes. "She hasn't?"

Zuko watched as his uncle started walking toward Katara's camp. "No. Uncle, why do you looked so worried?" when his uncle didn't answer him and continued walking, Zuko grabbed him by the arm.

"I have to go check on her," his uncle was saying as he pulled away.

"I told you," Zuko said, in a slight panic, "you can't go there or she'll know who I am. You said she'd hurt herself-"

"It won't matter if she's dead."

His uncle's voice had been so severe that Zuko's grip on his arm slipped and he hurried after the older man. "What?"

"If she's not going to the bathroom, and it's not just her being stubborn, than something is really wrong. Dehydration can kill slowly and painfully. You don't know what it looks like and I'd rather have her crippled than dead."

"But uncle there has to be some way for me to-"

"No," his uncle said in a stern voice that Zuko recognized as the older man having made up his mind.

Zuko followed closely behind as they made their way along the short route to Katara's camp. Zuko told himself that it was better than having to hide his face all the time. But a small part of him mourned the lost of the trust she'd given him in the short time she'd been here. To be needed like she needed him, it gave him a sense of pride.

Uncle come through the trees near Katara, but made sure to stay behind the girl at all times. Zuko knew that he had taken in to account she wouldn't know who he was until she saw him. He motion for Zuko to go over to her, and Zuko quickly tied his mask on again.

He walked up to her, fully expecting her to be grinning up at him like she always did. Her eyes, however, were closed and he bent down and put a hand on her back.

And pulled it away, stunned, when her skin felt hot even through his glove. Taking the glove off, he leaned over closer and put his hand against her forehead. She was burning up.

Alarmed, Zuko shook her to wake her. She didn't open her eyes or move. He shook her again before turning and looking up at his uncle for help. Iroh took a couple of steps forward and kneeled down next to the sick girl.

"Katara?" His uncle's voice was soft and Zuko looked down at the injured girl. Again no movement and his uncle reached out and put a hand near her exposed back. He tore off the bandage that was in the middle of her back. A small ball of fire appear in his hand and Zuko gasped when he saw with the light that where small burn marks had been before, yellow and green sores that had spread out from under the bandages.

"Oh no," his uncle said and Zuko glared at him in irritation and confusion.

"Uncle what it is? Is that why she's not waking up?"

"I'd say so." His uncle started taking off the other bandages quickly and looking down at the wounds. "It never occurred to me that they would poison the arrows." he said angrily, "but I should have checked anyway!"

At the word "poison" Zuko felt a kind of frozen chill run down his spin. "Poison? Uncle, what poison?"

His uncle had already stood up and was taking something out of his belt. "It looks like the arrows may have been covered in hidoku." Zuko stood beside him, and gave Katara a startled look.

"The stuff the fireant-toad spurts at people? Why would they-"

"It doesn't matter!" he uncle said heatedly, handing Zuko his chance purse. "Run back to the city and ask the nearest healer for Honou. If we don't the antidote in her withen the next couple of hours, she won't survive the night."

Zuko tried very hard to handle all the information that was rushing through his head. 'Hidoku'? 'Won't survive the night?'

"What?" He asked again, and looked down at Katara. Had she been that sick all day while he was wasting time cleaning up camp? Had she been getting worse and worse while he'd avoided her? Had he almost gotten her killed again?

"Go!" his uncle's voice snapped him into rushing toward the city.

It would take him almost an half an hour to make it back at a run. But he hadn't gotten a hundred yards before he saw a blast of fire rise up into the night followed by a familiar yell.

Zuko slowed to a stopped, wondering why his uncle would do something like that, before something came at him from the side. He quickly dodged the spear that would have cut him open.

Spinning around, he found himself surrounded by eight Fire Nation solders within seconds. Weaponless, he thought about firebending his daggers, but soon realized that if he fought all of them, he'd never make it back in time.

Very calmly, he knew that no matter what he did he'd never be able to get Katara the antidote before it was too late. But he might just be able to get her to the river.

This is where my Author Notes go...Enjoy.

Yay! Long chapter!! Thank you guys for all your reviews!!

I hope it wasn't too boring. And I cannot apologize enough for taking sooooo long. It seems that weekends sneak up on me and throw off all my routines. I'm sorry!

–bows deeply-

On another note: even though All About Us, by T.A.T.U is the theme song for this fic, I was being a dork and listening to Nightwish's version of the song The Phantom of the Opera, and went, "Hey, this has a lot in common with my fic." I wanted to say that- even though you guys don't know what is gonna happen and you won't understand- I got it and it was funny.

Anyway…

The SCENT… Zuko's SCENT is sandalwood incenses. I like when people describe his smell, but the whole charcoal thing was getting a little overdone... pardon the pun. Besides, he's been in the forest for how long now? He's not burning anymore.

And speaking of fire, hidoku literally mean "fire poison" in Japanese. So…yeah.

Next chapter should be very interesting. -evil giggle-