Okay I am really starting to get pissed off at Nickelodeon. I mean how long are they going on Hiatus? They take Hiatus from Avatar every summer, the they took one last winter, but that one hasn't stopped yet. Did they cancel it? Or does anyone know anything else?

Okay I'm done ranting. Sorry this chapter has taken so long. I had my mind wrapped so tight around school I had almost forgotten about my fanfiction. Here it is and since I have a direction now there should be another one up pretty soon. Sorry again. I realized that I made Katara overly bitchy and Zuko overly asshole, but hey it's okay. I kynda like the Bitchy Katara, I'm not fond of her whoop-your-ass-oh-poor-baby-i'm-here-for-you-mother-big-sister-tough-acting jumble that they have for her personality in the last bout ten episodes. One minute she just looks at some guys and they jump, the next she is immediately heart broken because after a short ten minute 'talk' with Zuko, she thought he changed. Okay is she smart? Or have they decided to make her the stereotypical 'girl'. Hmpf. Okay I'm really done now

HOPE YOU LIKE THE LITTLE SUPRISE!

The small boy set his chest leaning against the neck of the ostrich horse. The fast prodding of the horse's hoofs kept knocking him hard against the beast's neck, despite Katara's attempts to hold him still. His cool blue eyes looked up at Katara. She was a stranger but there was something in her eyes that he trusted. His eyes redirected to look at that man that Katara had called 'Zuko.' He was a different story. His eyes were cold and emotionless. Just pools of sticky black tar that would sooner drown you then empathize. He may have been young in his years, but he knew the look of hunger. And that was the only clear emotion that had shown in those tar pits. They had been hungry for Katara.

Nivian tightened his arms around Katara's arm that crossed his chest holding him securely to him. He closed his eyes and nuzzled against her arm. She protected him, now, and he had to do the same.

He didn't know much, but the one thing he had learned from his short time with his father was to read eyes. He could see it in his eyes when his father was angry, and he also saw the emptiness in his mother's eyes as she watched. Nivian clamped his eyes shut and tightened his grip on Katara. It was the exact same look of emptiness that this "Zuko" had.

Katara looked down warmly at the young child that sat protectively enveloped in her arms. Her eyes softened as she leaned back against Zuko when the horse finally started to slow. She let go of the ostrich-horse's mane and brought her hand up to Nivian's head. She gently moved the feathered bangs out of his face and looked down at him. Even through his bruises and blood he was a beautiful child. She shook her head slightly. It was such a real shame that a man could take such a beautiful thing, in side and out, and tear it apart. Rip it to shreds and the boys still have such a heart of gold. She closed her eyes again and cast the thoughts from her mind. She needed to think positively from now on, for Nivian's sake and her own.

Zuko couldn't keep his eyes away from the boy. He would avert them but they would always wonder back to him. This small child had been so frightened that he even flinched when he had tussled the boy's hair. Zuko frowned as he pulled back on the reins bringing the horse to a slow paced walk as they hit the thick of the forest at the opening of the valley. Katara leaned back against him as she petted the boy's hair. Zuko looked down at the top of her head in confusion.

That kiss. He frowned and watched her intently. Since taking the child only a few hours ago, there had been a change in her. Some of the bitterness and the cold was gone, replaced now with a warm and even nurturing side. Zuko smiled. That suited her a little better. She really didn't come off as a bitch, but under the circumstances, he imagined that anyone could become one.

He looked over her shoulder to the boy again. "Nivian" she had called him. More of a feminate name, but with the small boys looks, he could easily be confused with a girl.

Zuko narrowed his eyes as he tried to measure up the boy's wounds. He could tell just by looking that the boy had a broken nose and quite possibly a broken arm. He would have to stop and examine him further to truly know the extent of the damage. He veered the animal to stop in front of a tree and he started to dismount, but Katara grabbed his arm. She looked at him with wide eyes.

"What are we doing?" Zuko frowned a little then looked down at Nivian.

"I need to see how badly he is hurt. And we have to get a splint on his arm." Katara was quiet for a moment, but still didn't take her hand away from his arm. She looked up at him with worried eyes.

"We can't stop yet."

"What? I have to tend his wounds. They could get infected and . . . " Katara's looks softened as she looked down over the boy. She appeared to be scanning him and thinking it over.

"No. Zuko. Think about it. I just killed a man. And the rest of the villagers will be back soon . . . If they haven't come back already..." She looked up and met his eyes. Zuko stared into her cerulean eyes for a moment before he nodded in agreement.

"They will follow us. We have to get to somewhere we can disappear." Katara nodded and smiled. Zuko put his arm around her and grabbed the reins.

Nivian looked at Zuko's arm that was closest to his face. The beast started walking again at a faster pace, not yet a trot. Nivian watched how Zuko's arm rubbed against Katara's shoulder, and he frowned. He turned his head against Katara's chest and looked the other way.

Zuko watched the little boy watching him. The boy didn't seem to like him much, but that couldn't be helped. Most of the people that he met didn't like him.

The silence of the woods around them would have normally been eerie and unsettling. But the silence gave him the advantage that they needed. He would be able to tell instantly if someone was approaching, from which side, and how many if it came to that. The streams of sunlight that broke through the trees were hot, and the moisture in the air made it sticky and humid.

Zuko could feel the beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He looked down at the boy, and his eyes grew wide. The boy was almost the color of snow. Zuko pulled the animal to a stop and leapt down. He quickly pulled Katara off of the horse, and since the boy was using Katara as support once she was removed he toppled over, right into Zuko's arms.

Zuko quickly laid the boy on the ground and looked at the boy, who was still conscious, but barely. His breath was shallow and his eyes were fogged.

"Zuko?"

"I think he is going into shock... I think."

"What can I do?" Zuko looked up at her a moment then back down the boy. He quickly pulled the boy's shirt off over his head. The movement of his head caused his eyes to roll back, and him to slip into unconsciousness. Zuko cussed and looked over the boy's small frame. His chest was almost completely blue with bruises that looked as if the blood vessels were broken deep into the trunk of the body. At the touch the boy was sweating, clammy, but at the same time burning up.

Zuko grimaced. He was almost afraid to touch the boy, out of the fear that he might bring heat to his hands by accident, and cause the boy's organs to shut down. If they hadn't already.

"Bring me some water." Zuko said as he started to examine the boy just by doing a look over. Katara nodded and grabbed the water pouch off of her hip that Trua had given her. She held it down to him. He looked up at her and frowned for a moment.

"You can heal right?" Katara nodded dumbly. Zuko moved over so that she could sit next to him.

"I don't know if I can do this Zuko?"

"You can. You killed for this child. You can't let him die now." Katara bit her lip and nodded. She gloved her hands with the water and took a deep breath. She placed her hands on the boy's chest. The water sizzled slightly at her touch. Zuko cringed. If the boy was that hot on the outside, he couldn't imagine how high his fever was on the inside. Zuko looked away. There was a very high possibility that it was too late.

He could have been dying before Katara even met him. Zuko looked back and noticed the concentration in Katara's eyes. He set his hand on her arm but she didn't break. Her eyes were focused.

Zuko looked back down at the child and felt his jaw slack. The color was returning to the boy's body, and the boy's breathing seemed to even out.

Katara's shoulders dropped a little as she opened her eyes a little wider. She brought her hands back when the water had fully absorbed. Zuko looked at her and then back to Nivian.

Neither of them drew a breath. Nivian didn't move. Zuko swallowed hard and put his hand on the boy's chest. It was back closer to normal temperature.

Katara and Zuko both screamed and jumped back as Nivian jolted up suddenly and flames shot from his hands.

Zuko instinctively grabbed Katara and shielded her. When the flames died and Nivian passed out again, Zuko and Katara both looked up with wide eyes. Katara stared at Nivian then turned in Zuko's arms to stare at him. She pushed him away from her and crawled over to Nivian.

"What the hell was that?" Zuko looked at the ground then turned to look at Nivian.

"That explains a lot."

"What?"

"Now I know why he looks at me that way."

"What? Zuko what's going on?" Still Zuko ignored her questions. He looked at her as he crawled over to the boy.

"Did you heal him?" Katara sighed knowing that she wasn't going to get an answer out of him.

"No. I tried. But he is still pretty wounded on the inside I think. Mostly bones, not organs." Zuko nodded.

"That's good then. We have to get to a village where they can finish the job." He stood up and picked the small Nivian up in his arms. Katara frowned and mounted the horse taking Nivian from Zuko and positioning him in her lap.

Zuko mounted behind her and grabbed the reins and gave them a swift snap. The horse was off in a gallop before Katara knew which way was up. She gathered her self and looked over her shoulder at Zuko.

Just what happened back there?