It's an accident, of course. They're playing some vague sort of game that Aang has dubbed Avatarball that involves all four elements and a ridiculous number of almost constantly changing rules that they're only able to keep track of because Sokka is on the side-lines refereeing and constantly shouting out rule changes.

Toph is flinging boulders the size of her head around trying to 'tag' everyone else, and if they weren't all pretty much master benders the game would probably be deadly instead of simply dangerous. It's probably something Katara should be more worried about, but so far the only person who's ever gotten hit is Zuko, and that's only because he was too busy arguing with a call Sokka made to properly dodge the incoming missile. It was easy enough for Katara to heal the resulting wound made when the boulder grazed his upper arm as he didn't turn quite fast enough to get clear.

Katara's bending spheres of water at anyone who looks like they're getting anywhere close to scoring a point, even though she hasn't entirely figured out the point system and is rarely sure who's winning. The spheres are more than just balls of water, on impact they explode in all directions with the force of a wave crashing on the shore-or they're supposed to. Katara doesn't always get the motion exactly right, so sometimes the water just falls to the ground when it touches someone instead of exploding.

Zuko is throwing flames at anything that moves (all in a rough ball-like shape in adherence with the rules), whether it's boulders, water spheres, or people. He doesn't seem to care what he's using for target practice any more than he cares about winning. How Aang managed to convince him to play along-or that it's actually a valid method of training-Katara doesn't know. She also doesn't really understand how he can throw one ball of flame and have it completely disintegrate one of Toph's boulders while the next does nothing more annoying than leave a coating of warm but not uncomfortably so ash on Toph herself.

Zuko just shrugs when she asks. "It's all about control," he says, which isn't an answer at all, because of course he has the control to do it, she just can't figure out how he keeps it all straight when he's shooting fireballs around the 'arena' almost too fast to follow.

Aang is flying around the arena with the goal of collecting one of each of their projectiles and combining them with his own ball of rapidly spinning air to create an 'Avatarball' while dodging the elements he's already collected. If he gets hit or loses one of the elements he's already collected he has to start over; if he succeeds in creating an Avatarball, he wins. He hasn't won yet, mostly because he hasn't quite figured out the correct way to merge all four elements together without them exploding, especially while dodging everything else flying around.

Katara still hasn't figured out how to win herself, and she figures that's why Zuko's entire strategy seems to be based on trying to make everyone else lose. It's not a bad strategy in the sense that so far no one has won a single game.

Toph doesn't seem to know how to win either, but she positively revels in throwing boulders at her friends, so maybe she's the real winner in all of this.

Zuko earns a point, somehow. He narrowly avoids being flattened by a boulder as Sokka shouts out the score and without bothering to recenter himself throws a fireball in Katara's direction that she is not fast enough to avoid.

She braces herself for impact but light simply washes over her with a gentle warmth that feels like the sun on her skin rather than the fire and destruction she's expecting, and though he's never so much as singed hair or clothing or skin in any of these games, she's still surprised.

She blinks at him for a moment, caught off guard even though she knows better, and her eye catches his as he turns and prepares to launch a fireball straight up into the air, where Aang is undoubtedly waiting to catch it.

Instead he alters course at the last minute and throws himself at her, knocking her over. A boulder whizzes past as they both hit the ground, but even as Toph is cackling and they're both scrambling back to their feet Katara can tell that it wouldn't have hit her. There's a curve in the boulder's trajectory that suggests it swerved from its path fairly recently.

Katara sends a sphere of water in Toph's direction. "Thanks anyway," she says.

Zuko grunts. Then-

"You're welcome."

Another boulder barely misses them, shattering and throwing dust everywhere. Toph is apparently trying something new this game.

They can both hear her cackling, and Katara can only see out of one eye-the other is watering frantically, trying to get rid of dirt that is probably already gone.

Zuko's blinking rapidly as well, and he's coated from head to toe in a fine layer of dust. He shouts at Sokka that Toph is 'clearly fighting without honor', growls when Sokka ignores him in favor of shouting out a new rule-change, and throws a fireball in Toph's general direction.

It's intercepted by Aang, but Sokka must have invoked whatever rule it is that says that instead of 'collecting' the elements, he has to deflect them-why, Katara still hasn't figured out. Aang whips around in a circle, drawing the ball of flame along with him, creating a display that is almost beautiful as air and fire mingle, mix, and seem to feed off each other. He sends the newly transformed blaze speeding merrily back towards the firebender, already bracing himself for the return, because Zuko is fast, and they all know from past experience that if Aang waits until Zuko is sending the flame back to him to move, then it's already too late.

The attack comes from their left and Katara can feel the heat from it as it passes her and wonders if it's pure arrogance that has Zuko still arguing with Sokka over whether or not Toph is cheating while there's a column of white-hot flame barreling in his direction. She decides it probably is, but Aang has yet to land blow on him, so maybe it's not entirely unfounded.

By the time it occurs to her that something is wrong it's already too late. She can only watch as Zuko turns his head far too quickly far too late, as if he hasn't heard Aang moving in the wind or seen the flames coming toward him, and for less than a breath of time it looks almost as if he feels the incoming heat and that's why he turns, and then Aang's fire blast is hitting him full in the face and he's stumbling, landing hard on the ground and instead of jumping to his feet he's grabbing at his face and screaming, and all any of them can do is stare.

Another breath, and Katara recovers. She's by his side in the very next instant, reaching for his hands and muttering soothing words and completely unprepared when he lashes out, one hand flailing wildly while the other still clutches his face, and the words he shrieks at her are somehow simultaneously full of both venom, and sheer terror.

"Don't touch me!"

She doesn't reach for him again. Not yet. Aang is beside her now, wide-eyed and nearly in tears, and Toph is loudly making her way across the arena, demanding to know what happened.

"Zuko, it's me!" Katara says, but the firebender is curled in on himself, and tears are running freely down the side of his face that she can see. "I can help, if you let me."

She reaches toward him again, and while he doesn't pull away this time, he does flinch as if he expects it to hurt when she lays a gentle hand on his wrist.

"Can I see?" she asks, and he flinches again, but lets her pull his hand away. It's only then that she realizes he's been clutching the already scarred side of his face.

The bottom drops out from Katara's stomach, and behind her she can hear Aang's horrified gasp. Sokka, who has until now been talking quietly to Toph, falls silent mid-sentence.

Tears are still streaming down the right side of Zuko's face, leaving tracks in the dirt still coating his skin from their game, and his breath is coming in harsh, ragged gasps.

The unscarred skin on that side of his face is the light pink of a sunburn, but Katara isn't really worried about that. The way he was clutching at the already existing scar itself, though-

That worries her.

"I need to see how bad it is," she says, and he nods, right eye closed (the left still slightly open), but still jerks his head away violently when her fingers brush lightly against his cheek.

"Sorry." It comes out in a half-whisper and now Zuko is trembling, every muscle taut as if waiting for some sort of attack. "I'm sorry. I-" His breath catches in his chest.

"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to know how badly you're hurt."

"I know," he manages.

He still flinches as she reaches out once more but remains otherwise still until she's finished. Shuddering, heaving breaths wrack his frame as she draws water-clean and pure-from her canteen.

"I know it hurts," she says, trying to keep her voice calm in spite of her horror. "This will help. Can I ask you a few questions about the injury?"

He manages a terse nod as she raises her hand. A strained gasp escapes him as she brings her palm up to hover over his scar. His entire body goes rigid as the healing water makes contact with burned skin.

"When did it happen? The first time." He grimaces, forces himself to breathe in, and somehow manages an answer.

"When I was thirteen. It was-bad. I was unconscious for two days. Feverish for nearly a week." He's being uncommonly reasonable-Zuko does not open up about his feelings or his past or his personal life unless he absolutely has to, and then more often than not whoever's talking to him still has to practically drag the information out of him.

His right hand reaches out blindly and catches the fabric of her skirt; his hand is shaking just as badly as the rest of him. His breath hitches again; he's utterly terrified right now and not even trying to hide it.

"I was bed-ridden for nearly a month. Couldn't see out of either eye for almost as long. Found out later that the injury itself nearly killed me, and when that didn't work, the infection tried to finish me off." Zuko's voice is raspy and uneven as he tells her everything she needs to know without prompting.

"You said you couldn't see-damage to the eye?"

"Yeah."

"How bad?"

"Still can't see." He hears the small gasp she can't quite stifle. "Not well, anyway."

"Can you open your left eye a little wider? The water will help." She has no idea how her voice is so steady.

His lips tighten. "I can't open it any more than this-or much less. There's not a large range of movement on that part of my face." A beat. "Sorry,"

"It's all right. What about your ear?"

"Can't hear very well either," he admits sheepishly. The outer lobe is gone. "Not on that side."

Her chest feels tight and heavy as she straightens. "I can't heal all of it. Not the damage that's already been done." She feels guilty for that, somehow. Remembers a conversation that feels a lifetime away. Remembers offering to try.

"I don't expect you to."

And suddenly there's a hardness to him, a wall almost thrown up between them, so fast that it leaves her almost breathless. She would be insulted, offended, hurt, if not for the way his breathing suddenly evens out, though it's still too fast and too shallow to be anywhere near calm, and his body stops shaking.

"I'm grateful for whatever you can do," he adds, and there's a hint of vulnerability there.

"Does it still hurt?"

"Not as much."

"I've done everything I can," she admits reluctantly. "It should get better in a few days. Let me know if it doesn't. Or if anything gets worse."

"I will," he says, and for once, she believes him.

They abruptly become aware that they're not alone. Aang is quietly sobbing into Sokka's side, Toph is on his other side, listening intently, fear making her look even younger than she already is. Sokka has his warrior face on.

Zuko looks uncomfortable as Katara finishes and leans back, giving him space. His right eye opens almost warily, and she watches him visibly resist the urge to bring a hand up to his face.

"I'm sorry!" Aang wails, and Zuko winces.

"It was an accident," he says. Then, "I'm okay. It um-scared me." His shoulders hunch, and his head lowers. "Katara-Katara took care of it."

Zuko has never looked less convincing in his life. Aang is still sobbing.

"I hurt you," he insists.

And Katara suddenly understands the hardness, the distance between them as the older boy shrugs. "Not on purpose. I told you it's normal for young firebenders to lose control."

"You said you wouldn't let me hurt anybody!"

"I said I wouldn't let you hurt your friends."

"You're my friend!"

Zuko freezes in place, his good eye wide with shock, his mouth hanging slightly open. Katara sees the exact second the revelation is shoved away, ruthlessly locked down until later, when he actually has time to consider it.

"I'm your teacher. I expect to pick up a few burns here and there."

Aang settles only slightly. He's still very much distraught, and Zuko is exhausted. Katara can see it in the way the color is slowly but surely draining from his face.

"I burned your face. Your-" Aang chokes. He can't get the word out.

Zuko can.

"My scar." He frowns. "And the rest of my face is fine. And Katara was able to heal it."

The last statement is an unconvincing lie at best, but Aang doesn't notice. Zuko resists the urge to sigh.

"Aang, we were hurtling fire back and forth and you did what I've been teaching you to do." He hesitates. "And I was too busy arguing with Sokka to react in time. I should have known better than to let myself get distracted."

And Katara suddenly understands the cause and effect of what happened with an agonizing clarity.

Toph effectively throwing dirt in their faces and it getting in both their eyes.

Zuko's sudden anger as he shouts at Sokka.

A quick blast of fire-one more like the ones he throws when he's frustrated and needs to let off steam than the perfect circles he reserves for Avatarball-directed at no one in particular.

Not realizing Aang was there.

Noticing the flames hurtling toward him only when he suddenly feels heat against already damaged skin.

Turning just in time to take a blast of wind-propelled fire to the face.

Her breath catches, and Zuko scowls. "I overreacted, okay!" he snaps, only Katara knows he didn't. "Is that what you want to hear, that I panicked?" His breath steadies. "But it's okay. I'm okay."

Zuko isn't good at this sort of thing. Reassuring people has never been a strength of his. He's out of his depth, and he knows it.

"You can't even look at me," Aang sniffs, and Katara doesn't miss the way Zuko flinches. Or the way some of the color returns to his pale face.

Zuko mutters something under his breath about being caught off guard by a student who can barely manage a high kick and looks away.

"Wait-" Sokka blinks. "Are you embarassed?" He's not. She knows he's not, and she's pretty sure Sokka knows it too, but Aang relaxes just the tiniest bit.

"Sparky's blushing." It's the first thing Toph has said since all this happened, but Aang doesn't seem to notice the strain in what should have been a teasing tone.

Zuko shrugs and mutters something none of them catch.

Aang sniffles again. "I'm sorry, Zuko." His voice cracks, and Zuko sighs.

The firebender lurches unsteadily to his feet and closes the distance between them, pulling the boy into a hug that surprises everyone present. Aang resists for all of two seconds before melting into the other boy's embrace, sobbing into his shirt as he holds the firebender in a grip that Katara knows from personal experience cannot be comfortable.

The color is draining from Zuko's face again. His expression is strained, his body almost rigid. He's realized, Katara thinks, how important physical contact is to the young Avatar. There's no way he's hugging Aang because he's enjoying it.

They break apart, and Aang sniffles and wipes his nose with his hand like the twelve-year-old kid he still is. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asks timidly.

Zuko frowns. "I'm fine." He hesitates. "Or I will be." He manages a small, tight smile that does nothing to warm his expression. "What happened wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault."

Zuko shoves him almost playfully, surprising them again. "Might not be able to help with clean up for a while though..."

"I can do it." Aang offers earnestly. "It's the least I can do."

"Uncle always says meditation helps with healing."

"Sunrise meditation. Got it." Aang looks almost desperate, and Katara feels a sudden flash of annoyance that Zuko's taking advantage of it, even if he is hurt.

"And of course you wouldn't have lost control if you wouldn't spend so much time trying to get out of training. And-" Zuko flounders, and Katara realizes it's all for show as he splutters. "And my feet hurt."

"One foot massage coming right up." Aang looks less than enthusiastic. Zuko snorts, and pats his head almost affectionately. Aang frowns for a moment, then seems to catch on. "Hey!"

Zuko laughs. It's raspy, and sounds like it hurts, but it's enough that Aang relaxes and lets out a small chuckle.

Sokka laughs, relaxing as well. Toph lets out a huff of air. Katara's not sure whether to laugh or cry.

The others head inside to start dinner preparations. At first she thinks Zuko is waiting for her, but as she reaches him and gets a good look at the way he's standing there, shoulders lax, staring out across the distance with eyes that are glassy and unfocused, she reconsiders.

"You okay?" He doesn't quite startle, but she knows now that everything that just happened between him and Aang was entirely for the young airbender's benefit.

"I'll be all right," he says, and his voice is quiet. "It's-terrifying, opening your eyes and not being able to see anything." He hesitates, then adds, "I still can't see as well as I'd like, but between the dust from Toph's boulder and getting hit in the face with my own fire-" He shrugs, but does not finish.

"How bad is it normally?" she asks, after a moment. She's surprised when he answers honestly.

"Blurry on the left side. A bit spotty. The right side's mostly fine." He shrugs again. "I've gotten used to it. People usually can't tell."

"What happened?" she asks, before she can stop herself. He hisses, a sharp intake of breath.

"I don't want to talk about it," he says, when his breathing has evened out again.

"Sorry." She leans forward, looping her arm through his and ignoring the way he stiffens. "Come on, we should probably start working on lunch.

Author's Note: Just little bit of fun mixed in with a little bit of hurt, because I wanted to. Hope you like it. Obviously Katara's starting to thaw a bit towards Zuko, but I didn't have a specific point in time in mind, so imagine this happening between whichever episodes make the most sense to you.

Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender does not belong to me.