This chapter will be dedicated to everyone who reviewed to chapter 4. It's also going to contain my first fighting scene, so please don't be too hard on me if it doesn't live up to your expectations. It's not the greatest ...Educated flames are wanted! Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: Uhh…Do I have to do this every chapter? I don't wish own Avatar: the Last Airbender


Chapter 5 Fire and Water Parted

She loved the smell of him.

The raw, earthy smell of him as she pressed her face to his chest, a man comfortable with who he was and would always be.

Katara buried her face against his neck and breathed deeply. She loved the feeling of his hand stroking the back of her hair, his body pressed hard against hers. She could feel the racing of his heart, matching her own wild rhythm. She smiled and pulled him closer.

Very gently, he slid his fingers beneath her chin. He tilted her head upwards and gazed into her deep eyes. She saw love there, the pure absolute love there, and it made her want to cry, such a perfect reflection of the love she felt for him.

He lowered his head until his lips were lightly brushing hers. He pulled back after a while and gave her a smile that melted her within.

"May I have this dance?" he asked. His voice was deep and sure of itself. He stood up and made a mocking bow, and she pulled back horrified.

"We can't risk losing our senses! Aang and Sokka will be back any moment now and we don't even know where Zula and her men are at…"

"Don't worry," Zuko assured her. "We're going to be able to hear that giant bison groaning from miles away, and Zula's soldiers can't move very quietly in their armor. I won't let my guard down, but we have time, and it would be a sin to waste it. Come on Katara, dance with me."

Before Katara could protest, he led her in a dizzying waltz, around and around, passing their scattered sleeping bags, around the campfire, till she was laughing and out of breath. The glow of low embers from the dying fire softened the dark austerity of the forest – the hard trees, stiff bushes, the dark ambience.

A nightingale sang out in the night, but Zuko's voice drowned it out as he hummed their own tune, swooping and dipping and gliding, laughing at Katara's happiness, dancing faster and faster, till both collapsed in a heap before the low campfire.

For a long and quiet moment, they simply lay there, side by side, trying to catch their breaths. There was no music now, except for the night's natural sounds and the soft hiss of falling ash and the crackling of flames.

Katara turned her head to look at Zuko. His face was only inches from hers and his amber eyes seemed to draw her into his very soul.

Very slowly, he raised himself to one elbow.

With his free had, he took the blue strip of cloth that kept up Katara's braid and bun. Her brown hair fell in curling cascades around her face and shoulders. Katara was glad that she had brushed it this morning, so that it wasn't just a tangled mess but long and smooth. Her shimmering blue eyes were a beautiful contrast to her numerously brown colored hair. Red lips lightly parted, she let out a low, shaky breath.

Zuko reached up with hesitantly slow movements and ran his hand over one side of her face, pulling back lengths of hair and holding on to the back of her head. Katara quickly reached up and grabbed Zuko's wrist as he bent down towards her, never breaking eye contact.

As his lips touched hers, he tilted his head up and caught her upper lip. Katara moaned as she softly kissed back, both their movements light and clinging. Their lips parted as Katara looked down with an unbelieving face.

"I love you." She whispered. She let out a short sigh and shook her head, "Zuko, I love you so much."

It was an unbearable ache inside her. As Zuko's body shifted, his hands caught each side of her face and he kissed her more deeply this time, desperately, his lips melting into hers. She could feel the passion; it was more intense with every second, over her eyelids, her cheeks, tracing a pathway down her neck, burning her soft bare skin.

"I-I…love you to." Zuko's voice was husky with emotion and she clasped her arms tightly around his neck and drew his even closer.

Suddenly, somewhere far in the distance, yet alarmingly close – too close! – came the sound of the growling bison and voices of shouting.

Katara's face snapped towards the direction of the sound as Zuko sat up. They quickly pulled each other up and listened closely. There it was again! The low growl of the bison giving out his warning. Then without mistake they knew that they had to run as soon as Aang and Sokka reached them. Zula had once again tracked them down.

"Hurry Zuko, get the bags!" Katara ran off and started to pack her items. Zuko followed in haste as he knelt down besides her and began packing the few meager items they had.

"Your brother and Aang could have just walked to the village for the supplies you know, the giant bison was too big of an attraction to avoid!"

Katara furiously looked up at Zuko and stood up with her bags. "Don't go blaming it on them again!" Suddenly, her face fell and she looked away, sighing.

Zuko rubbed his face. "I'm sorry, I'm not blaming anyone. I'm just so irritated that Zula was able to find us again."

Then a rush of wind engulfed the two teenagers as Appa landed in the center of the camp, with two very out-of-breath boys in its saddle. Aang air-bended down with his staff towards Zuko and Katara and started grabbing the bags from their hands.

"Come on you guys, Zula and her soldiers cornered us at the market and followed us when they spotted Appa. They'll be here any minute!"

"Alright let me just get my– "

But before Katara could say what she needed, she caught a glimpse of a shadow near the edge of the clearing. She couldn't see the person's face, but she had a horrified feeling of recognition – Zula.

How was she able to catch up with Aang and Sokka so fast? Katara wondered.

Zula was silhouetted there in the shadows – it seemed like she had been standing there a while. The woman she most feared and hated in the world. She was in what looked like armor for royalty, adorned with easy to take off plates and pants that were like the training bottoms that Zuko had on.

She menacingly walked into the moonlight and gave everyone a sinister grin.

"I just keep running into you guys huh?"

Katara could literally feel the atmosphere going cold and Zuko's whole body tensing up beside her. Aang raised his staff in front of him as Sokka simultaneously slide out his boomerang. Zuko and Katara both got into fighting stances. They knew that Zula wasn't alone, and now they were found again, they would have to fight their way out to escape. Fire licked up at Zuko's flaming arms as Katara readied her ball of water from her water skin bag.

Zula's grin just widened at them as she lighted a flame in her palm, and with the rustling of leaves and bushes, an army of firebenders walked out into the clearing, surrounding them and prepared to attack at Zula's order. Zuko looked around himself to notice that there were about thirty or forty fire soldiers. With a sinking feeling, he realized that they were outnumbered almost 10 to 1.

"Well hello Zuko, Avatar…water peasants." She nodded to each person after saying their name.

Sokka's scowl deepened and gripped his boomerang tighter. He stepped forward when a hand reached out to stop him.

"Sokka," Aang whispered, "Don't let her get to your head. No offense, but you're no match against her."

Zula appeared to have heard Aang, for she retorted, "And not anyone else for that matter."

This time she was ignored as the four friends turned so that they were all facing out with no ones back exposed to the firebenders. They held their ground.

"Well then, I take it that you're going to fight instead of coming quietly?"

Aang made the first move. With a loud battle cry, he spun around with his staff and let out a gust of wind towards Zula. The sudden attack caught her undetected, but she let out a stream of fire in front of her, deflecting most of the air upwards. But the force of another air current soon following the first one threw Zula back hard onto a tree.

She quickly got up with a furious smirk, her hair a bit askew. "All right then. Let's play hard!"

She shot a series of fire streams and balls at the foursome. At that, her fire soldiers attacked.

Aang was able to block most of the fireballs, but some passed him and reached the dry leaves of trees behind him, instantly catching on fire. Katara gasped and quickly tried to put the fire out, which was spreading around them until they were trapped in a fiery inferno.

……

Zula stood where she had last gotten up, watching the chaotic fight. To observe… she knew that she should never underestimate anyone, and especially the Avatar, even though he was still just a kid.

She noticed that the Avatar had now mastered Water and a few basics Earthbending moves. He was still weak in the area of attacking and bringing down his enemies. He would just dodge and send wind to blast them away. No serious damage. The Water tribe girl was a master waterbender, she could tell by her movements and complex stances, taking down many of the soldiers at a time. The boy was just as weak, but could say in the fight while defending himself. No doubt Zuko had helped him train up.

Zuko

She glared at her brother and growled. She didn't understand how pathetic and stubborn he could be. The Fire Lord had sent her to finish his unaccomplished task. Because of his weak heart, he had betrayed his own Nation and had planned to help in defeating it! No, she would capture the Avatar, and deal with Zuko.

And she planned to get him out of her way, once and for all.

……

Katara hardened her ball of water into ice and viciously threw it at soldiers now surrounding Aang.

How many soldiers are there? She furiously thought. There's 5 new soldiers to replace every one I take down. There must be more coming from seeing the smoke…We'll never get out alive here…Aang…

Sokka was helping Katara, back to back, from riding of the soldiers that were ganging up on Aang and Zuko. Throwing his boomerang into the air while knocking others down with his club while he waited for it to come back.

Aang and Zuko, they had noticed, made an excellent team together. They fought back with equal ferocity as all of the soldiers fighting put together. They weaved and jumped around each other, Zuko using his Dao Blades and firebending, Aang his air and water bending. Something seemed to have possessed them, maybe the thrill of war, for they didn't seem to tire and Aang seemed to have become quite a warrior.

But a sudden blast of fire in the air interrupted the duo's fighting dance and caused Zuko to stumble back. He looked up to see his sister in a fighting stance, facing him. She raised her arms and put them down again. At the signal, the soldiers ceased from attacking Zuko and went after Aang.

Katara gasped as she saw what was about to take place.

An Agni Kai between sister and brother. The Rrince and Princess of the Fire Nation.

Zuko commanded fire similar to Katara's water ball and he shot it at Zula, a streak of fire from a kick following close behind his first attack. He knew that he was dealing with a master fire bender, despite the fact that Zula was his younger sister. He knew that he would have to use all of his concentration and determination to get out of this fight alive. Zula would show no mercy.

Zula blocked the first attacks easily and sent spinning and very powerful blasts of her own, but not her strongest. She decided that she would have a little fun and teasing before ending his pitiful life. He was no match for her, and everyone knew that. But this wasn't about the strength and skill. It was about who would win and survive this night. It was about their honor and dignity.

Streams of fire shot out of Zula's fists and kicks so rapidly that Zuko could hardly return the attacks. He slowly began to back away, as his arms grew tired and heavy from their battle. His breath came out in labored gasps. He lowered down to the ground and sneaked a fire blast under Zula and toward her unprotected feet.

She was caught off-guard and jumped to prevent the worst of the fire from burning her, but her moments hesitation was all that Zuko needed. Zuko suddenly began taking advantage of Zula's fall as he spread fire on the ground, reaching for Zula as he shot other fiery attacks overhead. Zula was thrown back and instead of running to finish her off, Zuko ran towards Katara.

"Go Katara," Zuko commanded shoving her roughly up Appa's tail, "Go and don't look back!"

Katara called to Sokka and Aang, who both gave out their last attacks to earn enough time to get to Appa.

Then everything happened too fast.

In the wildly flickering shadows, Katara saw Zula on her knees, still down from the close defeat. Then she suddenly lunged forward again, hurling something through the air.

"Zuko!"

But it was too late. She heard a cry of pain and surprised through the air and as she looked around, she saw Zuko staggering backwards, his eyes wide, his hands clutching athis ownbroadsword embedded in his ribs.

"No!" She screamed, "Zuko no!"

Appa growled at that moment, getting ready tofly.

"Sokka…" she cried.

Sokka and Aang were just as shocked at the scene as everyone else was. Zula, the Princess of the Fire Nation, had dared gone against the rules of Agni Kai and had used a weapon to end the duel.

Katara turned around and gave her brother a tear-stained smile at Sokka, sobbing slightly.

"I'm sorry…help Aang!"

Sokka suddenly realized her intentions and quickly scrambled towards her, "Katara…don't!"

But before he could reach her, she jumped off Appa's saddle. She dropped to the ground and cried, "Yip, yip!"

……

Aang turned the bison around after hearing Sokka's heart-wrenching cry. And saw that Katara was missing.

"Sokka! Where's Katara?"

"She jumped off Aang!" he cried, clearly devastated.

Aang frantically pulled at Appa's reins and sped towards the fire, but there was no sign of opening to land near it. It had spread quickly and it looked like the entire forest would be soon nothing but ashes. From up in the sky, the fire was a bright, burning bulb of light in the cold night.

Aang turned his head down as silent tears slid down his face. She was gone…

Sokka clutched his hands tight together as he told the confused Aang to turn around and get away as far as possible. Mostly it was because there was no hope now, because he wanted to get away from the terrible place. But also because he was keeping a last promise to Katara. One that he had foolishly made without thinking a long time ago.

"Whatever happens to me or Zuko Sokka, I want you to promise me that you would never turn back and take care of Aang, all right?"

"What are you talking about Katara?"

"I'm just saying, you know with Zula always on our trail. I don't think that things will always be as safe as they used to be and one day, something might happen to me. Promise me that you wouldn't act stupidly by putting yourself and Aang's life in danger to come back and save Zuko, or me okay?"

"Katara, of course I'd come and save you, no questions asked."

"No Sokka. Promise me that you wouldn't turn around and come back for me."

Sokka sighed and shook his head, "All right Katara, whatever you want…hey is dinner ready yet? I'm starving!"

It would be impossible finding her down there now, but at least she had gotten her last wish. Sokka closed his eyes, and put his head down on his knees, lost in never-ending sorrow and regret.

……

The impact of the high fall knocked all of the breath out of her tired body. Roaring flames burned dangerously close around her as she breathed hard, trying desperately to find Zuko before… she didn't want to say what.

She drew back her tangled hair, matted with sweat and the searing heat of the closing fire. The smoke from the fire was covering up her vision, restricting her sight. Suddenly a sharp pain erupted at her side as blood pumped to the area. She turned over and saw Zula standing above her, poised to finish her off.

"I could never understand what my brother saw in you. Pity he's not here to watch me kill you."

Katara knew that it was over. She had no water with her, she had left her waterskin bag on Appa's saddle. She closed her eyes and waited for her end. She just wished that she would see Zuko again one day, her brother, Aang, Gran-Gran, father…

A shriek filled Katara's ears and when she opened her eyes, Zula was engulfed in a large flame. She fell away as she writhed in pain, burns covering her body before Katara's eyes.

"Zuko!" she cried, "Where are you?"

He had just saved her life she knew, and now she had to find and save him.

Coughing and choking, she tried to find Zuko.

Already the air was swirling with sparks and flying ash; the forest was a tinderbox, collapsing around her. The smoke was so thick she could hardly see, could hardly breathe. She dropped to her knees and started to crawl while groping blindly.

"Zuko," she sobbed, "Zuko…no! Not like this…"

But no one answered.

Katara paused, gasping for breath. She tried to create some water from the air, but everything was dried up and arid from the fire. Nothing. Her throat felt raw and swollen; her body was heavy and her head curiously light. She thought she heard her name being called.

With a surge of hope, she followed the sound, dragging herself on her elbows. Blindly she crawled her way to a fallen figure that hadn't been eaten up by the flames yet. Suddenly she realized that it was Zuko sprawled on his back against a tree.

The sword was gone. Somehow he'd managed to wrench it free, but Katara could see his shirt soaked with blood. The flames where closing in relentlessly now. She could smell the burnt fabric of her dress, her scorched hair…

"I'm here Zuko," she whispered, "Can you hear me? I'm here…I'm here…"

She knew she was losing consciousness. With one last effort she knelt beside him, cradling his head in her arms, desperately searching his eyes for some sign of recognition. His gaze was hazy and unfocused, yet slowly it fixed upon her face, and for one brief instant Katara thought he might have smiled.

"I'm here," she said again, but there was a deafening crash, a blistering surge of heat billowing over her in suffocating waves.

Katara pressed her face against Zuko's chest.

And then she turned her head, breathing deeply of the thick, black smoke, praying to die before she felt the flames.


Waits anxiously So…how was it? Not too bad I hope?

Chapter 6: Recovery will be sort of a calm and explanation chapter, with some Sokka and Yue moments (Back in modern times). See ya all there? Thank you for reading and hopefully reviewing!