Chapter 7

Authors Note-Reviews rock, thanks! I was pretty fast with the chapters, didn't have anything to do yesterday. To answer your questions, its called Grey Eyes Watching because 1)I couldn't think of anything better, and 2) it said that Katara thought she saw Aangs gray eyes watching her and Zuko after they went shopping;). Zuko knew that Aang would be chasing after him and Katara, and wanted to give him time to catch up. Of course, he couldn't tell Katara that so he lied to her. Aang didn't want to run out in the middle of all of Zukos firebenders and what not while he was watching, so he waited. And I'm gonna say that Zuko didn't know whether to think of Katara as bait or more, so he couldn't sleep and decided to take a walk)…wow, long note.

Disclaimer- I don't own Avatar
Katara slowly slid out of her sleeping bag, checking to make sure Sokka and Aang were asleep. Getting up, she began tip-toeing away. Walking into the forest, it took her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. Now, where was Zukos ship? Closing her eyes, she could hear waves splashing in the distance. His ship was near an ocean, and an ocean had waves.

Zuko watched Katara stir in her sleeping bag, and waited patiently until she was awake and out of the camp until he moved. He had to make sure the avatar was awake. Slowly, he reached for an acorn that he'd stashed in his pocket. Aiming carefully, he hurled it at the sleeping airbender. Aang jolted awake, looking around for his attacker. Seeing an acorn lying on the ground, he assumed that it'd fallen from a tree. They were in a forest after all!

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looked over at Sokka and Katara…Except Katara wasn't there. Jumping onto his feet, Aang noticed her soft footprints leading into the forest. He grabbed his staff and began following them, followed quietly by a delighted prince.

By the time Katara reached his ship, Zuko had made it back and was now safely hidden in a nearby tree. He kept his eyes peeled for the avatar, who was bound to show up eventually. In the mean time, there was little to look at but the beautiful water tribe girl before him. Still, seeing her sent a fresh wave of anger over him.

He crouched, getting ready to attack as soon as the moment presented itself. Impatience began to show its ugly face as the wait dragged on, until finally it ended.

"Katara?" He heard an all-to-familiar voice question. Katara turned around, stunned. A small smirk grew over Zukos faces, things were finally going according to plan.

"Aang!" She gasped, surprised. Aang, the avatar, had a hurt expression on his face. This only added to Zukos amusement.

"What are you doing here?" The airbender demanded. Katara shifted uneasily.

"I—well…" She said, unable to think of an excuse.

"You were waiting to see Zuko, weren't you." Aang said. Not as dumb as I thought. Zuko thought to himself, watching his prey like a hawk. His muscles tensed, ready to attack. Yet his mind told him to wait.

"I-no…welll….yes." Katara said finally with a sigh. Aang closed his eyes and bowed his head in sorrow. Katara had gone and broken his heart, again. Nows my chance. Zuko realized.

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Katara didn't know what to say to the young avatar. She'd broken his heart for the second time. How many times could he put it back together. She didn't know what to say, what to do. All she could do was stand there, oblivious to the danger that was so near.

A select number of fire benders quietly stayed hidden behind the railings of the ship. Three of them were among the trees, awaiting a signal from their leader. But at the moment, Zuko was lost deep in his own thoughts.

Its either her or him

That's a risk I'm willing to take

His gaze averted, traveling up to the awaiting fire benders. He raised his hand, and they all crouched in preparation. Swinging it down, the group of men leapt from the ship.

Katara began to spin around, hearing them. Before she could open her canteen, or even get a close enough look at them due to the darkness, she felt something hard strike the back of her head. Falling to the ground, she blacked out.

Aangs head jerked up to see Katara fall. He gritted his teeth, seeing the fire nation soldiers. Spinning his staff for a moment, he slammed it on the ground that sent a wave powerful enough to knock them against the ship. He charged forwards, preparing to deal another blow.

But Zuko, who was still unseen by the avatar, was faster. Swiftly jumping from his branch, he landed in a spider-man(don't ask) like post, swinging his foot at Aangs legs. The boy didn't have time to stop before they were pulled from under him, and tumbled to the ground.

Aang slowly got onto his knees, dazed. Zuko took full advantage of this, swinging another hard kick that struck him right in the head. Aang fell backwards, his vision fading. Grunting, he staggered to his feet to face Zuko.

His head was spinning from the sheer force of the last attack. Zuko frowned, why wasn't the boy unconscious yet? Running forwards, he threw his fist right into the avatars gut. Aang fell to the ground, moaning in pain. Finally, he couldn't hold on any longer. The last thing he saw was the prince standing above him, an all to smug look on his face.

"Katara. Katara! Wake up!" Sokka said, shaking his sister. Kataras eyes slowly blinked open, seeing her brother standing above her. Slowly, she put her hands behind her and moved up into a sitting position.

"Sokka?" She asked, still dazed. Sokka wrapped his arms around her.
"You had me worried! What were you thinking, wandering off alone at night!" Sokka demanded, pulling away from her. Katara ignored his questions, her eyes widening.

"Where's Aang?" She asked. Sokka shook his head.

"I can't find him anywhere. Its not like Aang to just disappear, I think the fire nation has him." Sokka said. Katara couldn't believe it, Zuko wouldn't do that.
"Are you sure he's not just…on a walk?" Katara asked, though her worry was clear.

"I'm sure, it had to be Zuko." Sokka said. Sokka knew that Zuko wouldn't harm Katara, at least not more then this. Had it been Zhao or someone else that caught Aang…. They wouldn't have been so merciful. The thought made Sokka shudder.

Katara couldn't believe this. Zuko had used her as bait! Was that all she ever was to him? A tool to catch Aang? Something to lure him out of hiding? Rage filled her, like something she'd never felt before. How could he? Had his whole love thing been an act, a lie?

"He—I.." Katara couldn't speak. Tears poured from her eyes, rolling down her face and splattering on the ground. Sokka sighed, wrapping his arms around her again and holding her gently.

"Don't worry Katara, we'll save him." Sokka assured her. Katara nodded, though her tears continued to fall freely.
You're so stupid!
Zuko never loved you, it was all a trap
it was a trick
and you fell for it.
Katara wondered if Zuko really had loved her. Was Aang okay? Had Zuko hurt him? Katara couldn't keep her mind from spinning, yelling question after question at her.

Finally, she regained herself. Slowly, she rose to her feet, shaking. Sokka got up as well, and the two siblings walked in silence as they returned to the camp.
"Appa, come on!" Sokka said, once they had packed everything and loaded it onto the bison. Both he and his sister were eager to set off, to save their friend. Momo quickly made his way up the bisons tail, followed by Katara.

"Yip Yip." Sokka said, slapping the reigns. Appa grunted, heaving himself to his feet and taking flight. It wasn't long before they were sailing over the clear ocean, but couldn't find anything close to a fire navy ship in its waters. Sokka sighed, leaning back on Appa. Katara however, was intently watching incase they missed the ship.

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Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours. Katara felt like time was taking its own sweet time about sliding by. It felt like they'd been flying an eternity. A worried, troubled eternity. Suddenly, her soft blue eyes shot open.

"A Ship!" She exclaimed. Sokka looked up hopefully, to find that she was right. A small fire nation ship was steaming through the ocean, not far from them. It was Zuko.

"Zukos ship." Sokka said. Katara bit her lip, unsure of what to do know. How did they know Aang was even aboard? But they had to try, they had to find him. Appa immediately dove for the ship, but Sokka swiftly reigned him up.

"We cant just land on his ship and find Aang, we need to sneak on." He said, slowing the bison down. Appa slowly descended into the ocean, swimming along behind the ship. Sokka narrowed his eyes, looking for something to help them aboard the ship.

"There." He whispered, seeing a chain that feel from the side of the ship. Appa speed up enough to allow the water tribe boy to grasp the chain and begin climbing.

"Stay close." Katara said to Appa, though she doubted he understood her. How was it that they could understand Aang fine, but when she'd asked Momo to get some water he'd seemed oblivious to her? Shrugging the thought off, she climbed up after Sokka.

With a grunt, Sokka's head poked out on the ship deck. To his surprise, it seemed pretty bare. Motioning for Katara to follow, he climbed up and inched his way towards the stairs. Aang had told him about them from when he and Zuko first meet, and Sokka assumed that they'd keep him in that cell.

The two siblings swiftly made their way to the steps, halting at the top to peer down. To their dismay, three fire benders guarded the door. It had to be Aang, what else would need guards? Sokka tried to come up with a plan, while Kataras eyes remained glued to the door.

Katara turned to Sokka, having come up with something.

"Sokka, I need you to distract the guards." She said.

"What, how?" He asked.

"I don't know, run past them or something." She replied.

"You got it, I'll run past the people who can shoot fire at me and you stay back here, good plan." Sokka said, frowning. Katara glared at him.

"No you idiot, just keep their attention for a minute." She growled.

"Don't tell me your afraid of a couple of fire soldiers?" Sokka drew back as if she'd spat on him.

"Me, afraid of the fire nation? No way." He said, crossing his arms.

"Fine, but you better know what your doing." He said, sighing. Getting up, Sokka ran down the steps and towards the fire benders. They immediately saw him, taking up their fighting stance.

A sudden column of fire blared straight at Sokka. He gave a surprised yelp and dove onto the ground, feeling its heat as it blew past him. Quickly, he jumped to his feet and rounded the corner, barley avoiding another blast. Turning, he pulled out his boomerang and prepared for another attack, but none came.

Katara stood near the soldiers, who were now completely frozen. Sokka smirked as he walked over, then saw a key attached to the belt of the nearest one. Katara managed to waterbend just enough ice away so they could grab it.

Katara was so eager to see Aang that she could barley keep her hand from trembling as she inserted the key. Sokka groaned, knowing they didn't have time for this.

"Give me the key." He demanded, taking it from her hand and shouldering her aside. Quickly, he unlocked the door and swung in open, revealing a dark cell. Chained to the wall in front of them stood a lone figure, dressed in yellow and orange. The young airbenders head jerked up, fire in his eyes as he expected Zuko.

They didn't soften upon seeing that it was his friends, which only added to Kataras worry. As she took the key and approached him, she heard Aang snarl;

"What do you want?" She looked up at him, stunned.

"What? To help you." She replied.

"Help me? Yeah right." Aang scoffed, growing angrier by the minute.

"We don't have time for this, come on." Katara said, unlocking Aangs chains and grabbing his arm. To her surprise, he jerked away. Walking over to the corner, Aang grabbed his staff and strode out, ignoring Katara and Sokka.

"Why is he acting like this was our fault?" Sokka asked. Katara felt tears threaten her eyes, but forced them back. Because it was mine. She thought bitterly.

"I don't know." She said before following Aang. He was already on the deck of the ship, impatiently waiting for Appa. The siblings walked over to him, but still he acted as if they weren't there.

He has every right to be mad.

Katara thought to herself, barley able to stand seeing Aang this way, knowing it was all her fault. Suddenly, Aang assumed and airbending pose, facing Katara.

Is he going to attack me?

Is he that mad?

Katara thought, stepping back. Aangs face was one of sheer rage, anger that he couldn't control. Bringing his staff upwards, he slammed it on the ground, sending a powerful wave of air busting out from under it and zipping through the air.

Dun Dun Dun! Is Aang really attacking Katara? Oooo…who knows?