A/N: Yay! Another chapter! Hope everyone likes this! And now, let's begin:

Chapter 2

No, Zuko wasn't smiling. And it showed immediately, because he had put his head down, and stared at the ground before looking up again with an emotionless face. It had only been a sad attempt at a smile. But Katara didn't care.

"What do you want?" she yelled at him furiously.

He simply stood there motionless, resting his golden eyes on hers. This irritated Katara even more.

"I said what do you want? Are you here to take me as a prisoner in your latest scheme?"

"No."

A simple no, and it sent shivers up Katara's spine. She disregarded the feeling, and started to walk towards him, arms crossed. She looked directly in his eyes and spoke.

"Well, then, what? Are you going to kill me, or something? Then go right ahead! But I'm not going to go down without a fight! You dirty, good for nothing fire prince!"

Zuko leaned in a bit closer to her, but she didn't budge. Katara just stood there, not budging a single inch, her eyes clearly expressing the deepest hatred.

"I wasn't going to kill you. If I had wanted to, I could have done that while you were sleeping. You know, I thought you were smarter than that."

He stood upright again, and now he was the one crossing his arms. Katara stood there with her jaw dropped, becoming numb by the fact that he had outsmarted her remark. But the thing that shocked her the most was that he said that he wasn't going to kill her. Why not?

She came back from her state of surprise, and again regained control of herself.

"I am smarter than that! So smart in fact, that I know I don't have to be here with the likes of you!"

She stomped her foot and began to march away angrily. What nerve of him! To just stand there like a tree, rooted to the ground, waiting until she woke up! But then again… She stopped and turned around to see if he was standing there. When she did that, their eyes met, and then she looked away in disgust. Just as she was going to turn around again, she heard his deep, dark voice beckoning her to him, calling out to her in a way she found that was so disgusting, yet so deviously pleasurable.

"Katara, I have something… for you."

Their eyes met again, and she stood just watching him for any signs of movement from him. It felt like the world had stopped, and they were the only ones in it. Finally, as if breaking the trance they were in, Zuko reached for something in his pocket, and then displayed it to her without saying anything.

She couldn't believe it. Her mother's necklace was in Zuko's hands.

Katara practically ran at Zuko with mad fury, and when she got to him, she snatched the necklace out of his hands. Of course, the yelling began, once again.

"WHY DO YOU HAVE MY MOTHER'S NECKLACE! OUT OF ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, YOU! YOUR MORE THAN JUST A GOOD FOR NOTHING FIRE PRINCE, BUT YOU'RE A GOOD FOR NOTHING THEIF TOO!"

When she finished, her cheeks were red, and her breath was staggered as she tried to regain control of it. And then, the strangest thing happened. Time stood still again, as within a second, Zuko took the necklace out of her hand and then placed it around her neck. The warm touch of his hands against her neck gave her a sensation like none she had felt before. She closed her eyes, as Zuko worked his hands, tying the necklace into place. Katara was completely numb, but yet she was yearning for something. Finally, when the weight of his hands was gone, she opened her eyes with a jolt, and reality set in.

She looked at Zuko, his calm face. That calm face, that annoyed the living daylight out of her; the face that she couldn't stand to look at. She looked at him with the most anger she had ever felt before. And then she slapped him.

Zuko's eyes bulged out for a second out of the pure shock of what Katara had done. He put one of his hands to his reddened cheek, and stood there frozen to the spot. So that is what she thought of him. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't talk, nor could he move. Zuko was paralyzed and all he could do was look into Katara's eyes.

And she hated it. Hated every second of it. The silence, the silence that held the air in between them in so much tension that she could have sworn that a storm would escalate right then and there. And something, something so small and distant that she could swear it wasn't even real, but it was there. A feeling of wanting, a yearning need for something, and that something she didn't want to acknowledge.

Katara had had enough.

"Why aren't you saying anything? What happened to the almighty fire prince? You always have something to say, and now nothing? SPEAK YOU IMMEBSILE!"

But Zuko said nothing. All that happened was his hand fell from his cheek, and his arm rested at his side. Katara yelled in frustration, and then started to walk away. This time she didn't look back. She didn't want to look back at all, at the person she hated most in her life, someone who had caused her so much pain.

When Katara reached the tree where she had put the food by, she looked back. And she didn't know why she did it either. There he was. Fire prince, still staring at her from that dumb rooted tree. Katara rolled her eyes with a cross expression on her face, and picked up the food. For some reason she turned to look again. Her jaw dropped out of surprise.

He wasn't there anymore.

..:-:..

"Katara!"

Aang ran up to her with the expression of utmost relief on his face. Sokka came running behind him as soon as they saw her come out of the forest.

"What took you so long? We started to worry you know!" exclaimed Sokka, glad to see she was back safe and sound.

"I took a nap. Big deal. I'm okay, I can handle myself you know!" she said somewhat crossly.

"Hey! What's the matter? I didn't even do anything and you're mad at me!"

Katara's expression eased up, as Momo flew to her shoulder and started picking at the pile of food.

"Sorry Sokka. I guess I had a bad dream or something…"

Aang was licking his lips, and he put a hand on his stomach when it growled.

"Hehe, uh, Katara, when are you going to finally give us some of that?"

"Oh," she chuckled, a smile finally appearing on her face. "Right now, sorry."

She handed the food to Aang, who greedily started to eat away with Momo.

"Hey! It's mom's necklace! Where'd you get it?" asked Sokka curiously.

Katara froze on the spot, but then relaxed a bit.

"Oh, I actually found it in the forest. Lucky or what?" she smiled weakly and forced herself to chuckle.

"This is great Katara! You must have found a gold mine out there!" replied Sokka, while digging away at the pile of food.

Katara didn't respond to this. Instead, she went to go sit somewhere, near enough to the campsite that Aang and Sokka wouldn't wonder where she was. She sat down and looked at the sky. Her hands reached up to her neck to touch her mother's necklace. And then her fingers brushed the spot where she had felt the warmth a few minutes before. Shivers came up her spine again. She threw her hands down furiously. Katara hated Zuko, and that's how it would always be.

She glanced at the forest, and felt another shiver, but decided to ignore it.

..:-:..

"Zuko! You were off somewhere again?"

"Yes uncle."

He walked right past him, without even saying anything harsh.

"Zuko?"

He stopped and turned around.

"Are you all right?"

"Sure."

And with that, he walked away, and into his room. Zuko laid down on his bed, and rested his arm under his head. In his heart, he felt that what little care had been starting to grow in it, was now diminishing rapidly. He put his other hand to his cheek, and closed his eyes. He turned onto his side sharply and cursed himself.

A/N: So? What do you think? I'd love to know! I hope that this is better than the first chapter… I do hope you like it! I want to thank you again for reading this fic! It means a great deal to me that you spend your time doing so! So major thanks for that!

Oh, and by the way, just if you were wondering, this is my first Avatar fic!

The next chapter will be REALLY good! Trust me! lol