Wow! This weekend has given me a lot of time to write the chapters for this story! Usually with school it takes longer to do so this weekend I am going to write as much as I can to make you guys happy! Thank you all for so much support! Onto the story!

Avatar: the Last Airbender belongs to nickelodeon…. Why, god, why?

Chapter 3

Katara awoke with a shiver; the air was crisp this morning. She looked to the dawning sun and thought for a moment, she then realized she didn't wake Blue Spirit up! She got up from the trunk of the tree and noticed that the blanket fell off her shoulders. She didn't see a sign of him anywhere. She almost started to panic.

" Morning." She gasped and turned quickly. There he was mask and all standing behind her. " Sorry to startle you." He tossed some wood in a small pit and lit it with two rocks he hit together, or at least that's what Katara saw, Zuko actually used firebending.

" I am so sorry, I guess I was more tired than I thought." She bowed to him. " Please accept my sincerest apologies."

" There is no need for that, when I woke up you couldn't have been out for more than a few minutes." Besides he couldn't bear to wake her from such a restful looking sleep. So he wrapped the blanket around her and remained awake the rest of the night.

She sat down across from him and poked at the fire with a stick. She watched as he shoved small metal spears through skinned rabbits that were just caught. " Wow, I'm no good at catching things. Sokka tries to but never catches anything either and Aang won't eat meat so he doesn't hunt for it."

" You just have to know where to look." He put the meat on rocks in the fire to cook and watched them carefully. " I followed the rabbit back to it's den, that's where I got all these." He turned the five rabbits on their stones, the meat browning and making Katara drool in anticipation. " You have to be patient in the woods and eventually nature will give you the chance to gather food."

" I see." She took her eyes off the cooking food and watched the light of the flames bounce off his mask. She sighed inwardly, I bet he's gorgeous! Man I just want to rip that mask right off him! Why does he have to be so cool? Damn it!

He could feel her staring at him again. Zuko blushed freely. Having the mask on was almost a freedom, he could say and express emotions without anyone watching, but he regretted not letting Katara see his face. Zuko would love to throw the mask off right there but her reaction would be bad. She would run away if she knew the truth. He sighed and lifted his head from his work. "Hmm, what?"

" Oh, um… nothing." Her head screamed idiot! Idiot stupid moron! "I was wondering how far you think we'll get today."

" We will have to camp out another night but we will reach Kimori by noon tomorrow." He held up the meat from the fire and studied it. He slid his mask up so he could bite into it. Katara's eyes grew huge, his lips looked so soft and strong and oh gods! She was blushing furiously. " Here" he handed her a cooked rabbit "it's done."

"Thank you." She concentrated on eating in an attempt to cool down. Traveling with him was going to be difficult from now on.

They saved some of the meat for the road. They traveled faster than yesterday, both wanting to get as far away from the fire nation as possible.

" So tell me" Katara began as she hoisted herself up over a rock that served as a sort of stair as the trail climbed the side of a mountain, " Why are you against the fire nation?"

" Well" Zuko lent her a hand up " I didn't want the Avatar to be captured for starters."

" Oh," duh Katara, why else would he help Aang? She dusted herself off and arched her back to stretch her muscles, she was sore from sleeping against the tree and from walking.

Zuko blushed while she stretched, her bust had become a bit more prominent." Also I can't stand the way the fire nation's warriors behave these days. They have no self control." They kept walking side by side. " It used to be dishonorable for a man to strike a woman in the fire nation but no one seems to care for the rules anymore. Just like the Fire Lord." Zuko gritted his teeth under the mask.

Katara saw him ball up his fist. " Did you grow up there?" She asked unsure of what she would think of his answer.

" A little. I was a child at the time, a few years ago I left those lands."

He said it in such a sad way that Katara decided not to ask him anymore about his past. She wondered if she was ever going to see him again after getting to Kimori. She really wanted to see more of him. She remembered something suddenly; Aunt Wu told her that she would marry a great bender one day. Katara thought she meant Aang but Katara felt like a big sister towards the powerful Avatar. The powerful bender had to be someone else. She looked over at her masked man, she never saw him use bending of any kind. Since he was born in the fire nation there was a possibility that he was a firebender. She frowned, she didn't want to marry a firebender but if he were one… no, Sokka would kill her if that happened. It was better for her not to know if he was a bender.

He noticed her worried look, she was so very nice to him. " My life hasn't been so bad though," he turned to her "After all I got to meet you."

Katara blushed freely. This man was so wonderful. She wanted to be near him, always. She began to step closer to him when an arrow struck the ground between the two. Katara gasped and took a step back.

Zuko saw the next arrows coming and drew his blades. He fended them off and grabbed Katara's wrist. They ran but were quickly surrounded by a band of thieves.

The leader of the fiends showed himself. "Now, we wont hurt you much if you just give us all your money and supplies." The disgusting man laughed. " I also want a ride with your pretty young girl there!"

" Never!" He shouted. Zuko counted at least twenty of them, not promising odds. He couldn't fight all of these men without using firebending but he wondered, Could Katara hold her own in the fight? He had never really seen the girl in action before so he doubted her abilities. Perhaps if there were a source of water around. As if his prayers were answered it started to rain heavily.

Katara smiled, she had been training hard with Aang these past few months and she felt more powerful right now than she had ever felt before. " Should we run, or fight?"

" How destructive can your bending be?" a huge smile showing in his speech.

" Very." With a snap of her wrists Katara sent an enormous wave of water through the thieves surrounding them. Many of the bandits ran and screamed ad the water plowed through their ranks. She twisted the wave back and engulfed more of the scoundrels. She shoved them off the edge of the mountain and looked for more thieves to fight.

Zuko was holding his own quite easily against two of the thieves. They were clumsy in their movements so it took seconds to drop them to the ground and move on to other opponents. Zuko felt something behind him and when he turned it was too late, or so he thought. Katara had immersed the bandit in a bubble of water before he had struck. She released the bandit by throwing him into a nearby tree, knocking him out cold. She grinned at Zuko and stood next to him. It looked as if the bandits knew they couldn't win and had all run away.

" You, Katara of the Water tribe, are truly amazing." Zuko brushed a piece of wet hair out of her face. He moved his mask up halfway and grasped her shoulders. He kissed her in the cold rain.

HA HA HA! CLIFF HANGER CENTRAL! I love you guys and I got to have you wanting more! I am currently working on chapter 4 and I want to get it up by at least Sunday. So I promise not too long of a wait! Ciao!