Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

You guys have no idea how many times I re-wrote this chapter! It was hard, mainly because I'm not good at writing battle scenes, but I got a lot of help.

This chapter is dedicated to Manola3. You gave me sooo much help on this chapter! I give you a virtual cookie! Now, enjoy…


Chapter Twelve: Competition

"See what Zuzu left you for, Mai?" Azula knew he had to cross the line with Mai if she wanted her to fight. Mai kept telling herself not to let Azula get to her. The water girl meant nothing to Zuko.

"Wait, Zuko, you and her?" Aang asked, pointing to Mai and Zuko.

"That's not important, Twinkle Toes. We need to fight!" Toph took her earthbending stance.

"Hey there, Cutie!" Ty Lee approached Sokka and started swinging her hands at his pressure points.

"Hey, um…back off." Just as she was about to strike one of his arms, Toph elevated the ground Ty Lee was standing on, causing her to fly into the air.

"Watch your back, Snoozles!" Toph yelled.

"So, Zuzu, how much will you fight for her?" Azula smirked. She shot her fire again at Katara and was preparing to make another. Zuko jumped on Katara and pushed her to the ground landing on top of her, there was no way he'd have time to redirect it without injury.

"How sweet, Zuzu. What do you think, Mai?" Azula turned to her friend. Mai's face grew to rage and anger. "How about I let you take on the water girl? I think I can handle Zuzu." Mai nodded. As Zuko helped Katara up, Mai shot her arrows at Katara's arm. Katara knew Azula was toying with her emotions and she felt bad for the girl. She didn't even like Zuko that way…did she? No, of course not!

Katara was blocking Mai's attacks with her water, but she couldn't go on the defensive for much longer. She didn't want to attack her. She knew it was Azula who made her attack, not Mai. Zuko was doing his best to avoid Azula's shots, but he was getting exhausted. He realized Katara was, too, and he slipped away from Azula. She surprisingly let him go. She knew where he was running and what would happen. Zuko jumped in front of Katara as one of Mai's knives was about to hit her. It hit him on his right breastplate.

"Zuko!" Mai and Katara yelled at the same time.

"You should leave the Avatar. Me and you would make a great couple!" Ty Lee said to Sokka, she was back to attacking him.

"Or you could stop trying to kill him. You should talk to Azula." Sokka put on a fake smile as he smiled nervously.

"No, Silly." She continued to jab at his arms until Toph started helping Sokka.

Zuko fell to his knees as he ripped the knife out of his chest. He started breathing heavily.

"Good work, Mai. I didn't think you had it in you." Azula put her hands on her hips as she looked down at Zuko. He glared up at her. Katara was about to go after Mai until Ty Lee jumped up from behind and pinched the pressure points in her arms, which fell helplessly to her sides. Toph sent a boulder at Ty Lee that knocked her to the ground, Mai just stood. She stared at the defenseless Water Tribe girl, then looked over to Zuko.

Why did you risk your life for her, Zuko? Is she that important to you? Mai felt tears build in the back of her eyes. They were tears of anger, hate, and jealousy for Katara. Then they were sadness, disappointment, and a little anger for Zuko. She hurt him. She stabbed him. Aang blew a gust of wind at her causing her to lose her balance and fall. She didn't even stand. She wanted to die then and there. Zuko really did care for that girl. He had moved on and she almost killed him. How could she live with herself?

"Guys, there's an army coming!" Toph yelled.

"How many guys?" Sokka asked, everyone was still in a fighting stance.

Azula got a strike of white fire shot at her, it was Iroh. He needed to get her attention off of the weakened Zuko. She fought him while the others debated. He shot weak fire at her. He wanted to distract her, not kill her.

"At least a hundred guys! We need to get out of here!" Toph said. Katara was still standing, she was leaning against a tree, though. Since Mai and Ty Lee gave up, that left Azula. Iroh shot blue flames at her. They weren't strong enough to kill her, but they knocked her unconscious. Sokka scooped Katara in his arms and ran. Toph followed along with Aang, and the other three guys. Iroh helped Zuko up and ran as fast as he could with Zuko's arm around his shoulder.

The army appeared. "Uhh….what happened to her?" One of the men asked pointing to Azula.

"We need to get her out of here! Which one of you strong men could help us out?" Ty Lee asked, getting a response from most of them. Mai slowly stood up with the help of Ty Lee.

She means so much to him. Azula almost let me kill him. Mai sighed. What do I do now? They followed the men that carried Azula.


The group ran for what seemed like forever. Zuko fell to the ground. Everyone turned to face him. He didn't even look up.

"What's wrong, Nephew?" Iroh kneeled next to him.

"N-nothing." Zuko said before everything went black.

"We need to find shelter!" Aang said, everyone agreed.


"Guys, I think he's waking up!" "Oh…great…" "Shut up, Snoozles."

Zuko slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurry. He made out the figure sitting above him. It was Katara, he could tell immediately by her blue dress. He sat up, too quickly, and immediately moaned in pain, holding his chest.

"Wha-what happened?" He asked. Once his eyes focused, he realized they were in a small cave. Aang, Toph, Sokka, and Iroh were sitting around a fire and Katara was sitting at his side.

"Lay back down! You've been awake for two minutes and you're already overexerting yourself!" Katara yelled.

"Just…tell me what happened." He had never felt so weak in his life. He could barely sit up right.

"Nephew, Azula attacked us. She brought Mai and Ty Lee with her. She let Mai attack Miss Katara, Azula convinced her that you cared for her deeply. She let Mai handle the rest knowing her rage would get the best of her. You went to protect Miss Katara and got hit with the knife. It went in your chest pretty deep and you lost a lot of blood. An army was coming and we needed to evacuate. I knocked out Azula and without a leader; the other two didn't know what to do. We found this cave and have been settled in it ever since." Iroh answered. Then he took in a deep breath dramatically, which Zuko ignored.

"How long have I been out?" He asked, now directing his attention to Katara.

"Two days." She answered, she looked to the ground.

"How many days since we left the temple?" He wasn't being cold; he was being very blunt and serious. It made everyone uneasy.

"Nine days."

"We need to head back." His voice then turned cold and stern. "If we leave the bison too long, they'll figure out it's there and kill it. Then we'll be stuck here."

"Zuko, you can't move yet. You are barely healed." Katara was calm. Honestly, she didn't want him to get hurt or…die. She didn't know why, but over the past week, he had grown on her.

"I don't care! We need to leave! Aang, where are the other three?" As if on cue, they came out of the shadows.

"Aang came and got us yesterday." Haru said.

"Then let's leave!" He stood up, but fell right back to his knees.

"Zuko!" Katara yelled as she held his shoulders. "We need to wait until you heal. Just wait one more day, please?"

He looked in her eyes. He wanted to say 'no' but when he looked in her eyes, he felt a pang of guilt. He didn't want to disappoint her.

"Fine. Tomorrow, at sunrise, we leave." Zuko said. Katara let out a sigh of relief as he leaned his back against the wall. He was kind of separated from the others, except Katara who he didn't mind so much, but he wouldn't have it any other way. He didn't feel like talking to them. Katara took a seat right on the side of him and stared into the fire.

Why is she so close to him? What's happened in the past week? Aang thought. He watched Katara talk to Zuko. They were talking about something, but they were talking quietly, so he couldn't here. Along with everyone else who had resumed the conversations they were having before Zuko woke up. He decided to talk with them. He walked over.

Katara was giggling at something Zuko said, both fell dead silent when Aang approached, as if they were telling secrets.

"Hi guys!" Aang said as he sat on the left side of Katara. (Zuko was on her right.)

"Hi, Aang." Katara said. She knew Zuko had really grown to trust her, it was about to get really awkward. He wouldn't be himself around Aang.

"What were you guys talking about?" He asked with a smile on his face.

"Nothing." Zuko answered. He was really talking about nothing. He and Katara were just talking.

"Oh. So, you guys have been getting along good?" Aang asked. It was like pulling teeth to get them to talk. He felt like he did when he was with Haru and the others.

"Yes, we get along fine, obviously." Zuko answered. Katara could feel the tension between them, but she didn't know why it was like that. "Could you leave, now? You have nothing to do with what we were talking about." Zuko kept his eyes on the fire.

"But you said you were talking about nothing." Aang said before thinking, he regretted his words.

"Well, obviously we were! Then you get jealous that your little girlfriend talks to me and come over to see what it was about!" Zuko said, just loud enough to cause everyone to look at him.

How did he know all that? Was it that obvious?

"Zuko, leave Aang alone. We haven't spent much time together, so he just wanted to talk. And he doesn't like me like that, do you Aang?" Katara asked. Aang waited for Zuko to snap on her, but he didn't. He sat and stared.

"Haha…yeah. Me and Katara are just friends." Aang answered.

"I didn't say you were just friends, cause you are, you just want to be more. She doesn't" His voice was back to his normal tone, but everyone was still listening.

"How do you know what she wants?!" Aang thought about what he just said. "I mean, I don't want to be anything more, but you get along with her for one week and you think you share this special bond with her!" Aang said.

"Guys, stop." She was just sick of them arguing. "Let's just relax. Aang, can you please go back over there? I'll talk to you tonight. Promise."

"OK." Aang returned to his seat next to Sokka. Why would she want to talk to him over me?! It's just that she feels bad. He's over there alone and she doesn't want to be alone. That's all. Later, I'll tell her how I feel. Everyone stared at the scene that had just occurred for a moment, and then went back to talking.

"Zuko, why were you so cold to him? He just wanted to talk." Katara asked she kept her voice low so nobody would hear.

"I wasn't… I mean, I didn't mean to be, it's just. He's too damn nosey." Zuko couldn't believe his loss of words. Why did he get so mad at Aang?

"Whatever. Just try to be nicer next time." Katara said. Zuko looked across the cave and saw the young monk staring at them…again. He gave him a cold glare, and Aang immediately turned his head away. Katara rolled her eyes.

"Zuko, do you want to go outside and talk?" She asked, she was really getting annoyed. He nodded and she helped him up. She wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and they walked out. Everyone was staring again, but this time it didn't bother Zuko. He smirked. He didn't know why or when, but it became a competition with the monk to spend time with Katara. And right now, he was winning.


Wow, I really did re-do this chappie like five times. Thanks again Manola3. I hope you liked it. Like I said, I am really bad a battle scenes. This schapter was long, so this is the only one for today! Please do review! XD