A/N: Don't u just love me? I updated twice! GO ME!

Becky (my muse): It's not that great.

Me: Hells yeah it is! you FINALLY got back to work! It's been what, a month?

Becky: w/e.

Disclaimer: Own Avatar I do not.

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Later that night…

Katara raced down the corridors, trying to escape some extremely drunk crewmen.

"Hey baby, wait up! We only want a bit of fun!" One of them shouted down the hall.

"Eep!" she squeaked.

"Gotta hide, gotta hide…" she thought, scanning the halls as her feet took her farther away from the creeps.

Her feet carried her to the last place she'd ever think to find safety until now; Prince Zuko's room.

Only hesitating for an instant, she thanked the gods he forgot to lock his door too, and ran inside. She then slammed the door shut, locked it, and collapsed against it. Zuko, being startled out of sleep by the slam, sat up and rubbed his eyes. As he did this he asked bemusedly, "What in the hell…?" After scanning the room, his eyes locked on Katara's terrified face and instantly knew what happened.

"You forgot to lock your door, didn't you?" he said, sighing.

"Well you did too." She replied indignantly, her breathing normal again.

"You got me there." Katara pressed her ear to the door, and listened to the crazy crewmen singing in the hall. She shuddered and said,

"Umm…would it be okay if…I mean, could I please - "

" Stay here?" Zuko prompted. She nodded meekly. Just seeing the panic on her face caved him in. "Sure thing. Come on." She smiled, relief evident on her face, until she noticed that there was only one bed.

"Where do I sleep?" she asked, knowing she wouldn't like the answer.

"Here." He replied, patting the large space beside him. "There's plenty of room."

She sighed. "Oh well." She thought. "But, there is plenty of room… we might not even touch!"

She climbed into bed and as soon as her head hit the pillow she was asleep. Zuko watched her as her breathing slowed, then too fell asleep.

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(With Aang and Sokka)

They reached Shan-Kiri by nightfall. After spotting the ship at the docks, Sokka insisted that they immediately go and find Katara, but Aang, being a smart, wonderfully trusting friend, forcefully told him to wait until morning. Reluctantly, Sokka agreed, but only on the condition that they visit her first thing tomorrow. They then checked in at an inn, ate some food (Sokka's riddled with some sleep powder Aang had hidden in his pack. Who knew powdered leechi nuts were sleep inducers?), and went to bed.

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The next morning, Katara woke up next to something very warm. Then she felt an arm tighten around her waist. Suddenly, all the memories of the night before rushed back.

"Oh my god…" she thought. Strangely enough, the thought of waking up next to the Prince of Fire didn't disturb her as much as she thought it would. Actually, she was positively giddy about it.

"He's soooo warm!" she thought, nestling closer.

This action, of course, woke him up. He too was very happy about waking up to find her in his arms. This feeling changed drastically as they heard a knock at the door.

"Prince Zuko! Time to get up! You have practice today!Its abouttwo hours til noon!" Iroh said through the door. "Oh, and if you'd like to join us after breakfast, Miss Katara, we will be on the deck." Then he left, his footsteps echoing through the halls.

"How the hell did he know I was here?" asked Katara, yawning loudly as she rose.

"How should I know? He's just psychic like that." replied Zuko, who was rubbing the sand out of his eyes.

"I'm going to check on Aurora." Katara then crossed the room and opened the door to the little girl's room.

"Fine by me. I'm going to get dressed so make sure you close the door."

"Right." She called as she walked through the door, closing it firmly behind her.

Since it was both morning and she wasn't making a big deal about it, Zuko decided not to bring up the subject of them waking up in each other's embrace. So, he dressed in his training clothes, washed his face, and went on to breakfast.

Katara, however, was coming to the very same conclusion as she healed Aurora. She also thought that Aurora should be waking up soon, maybe in another day or two. The thought saddened her, if only for the reason that she had really grown accustomed to the ship. It seemed… right somehow. "Ah, well, enough brooding." She thought. "Time for breakfast.

She then made her way through the maze of hallways and to the galley, where a breakfast of fresh fruit and sweet bread awaited her.

As she sat down, she noticed Zuko wasn't wearing his armor today.

Then she remembered he would be practicing his firebending, which made sense. I mean, who trains in heavy armor? That's when Iroh decided it was time for conversation.

"So, Miss Katara, I hear you are an excellent waterbender. Would you care to spar with us? All the men are in bed with hangovers." He said beseechingly.

"Sure, Iroh. I need the practice anyway." She replied as she bit down on a strawberry.

"Marvelous!" He flashed that big grin he always has on his face.

After they all finished their breakfast, they made their way up to the deck where Zuko proceeded to take off his shirt before the practice.Katara couldn't help but notice how absolutely ripped he was.This of course, made a blush rise to her cheeks, but neither Iroh nor Zuko noticed for they were preparing to start.

"Remember, Prince Zuko, firebending is all in the breath." Iroh said as he took his stance. Zuko nodded and also took a stance. Katara decided it would be a good idea to give them a wide berth, so she sat on a bench near the rail. Soon, she became entranced by their movements. "Firebending was so alive, so much like a dance!" she thought as she watchedZuko do spinning kicks and flaming punches.

Soon, though, it was all over and Iroh came to sit next to her.

"Katara, how about you and Zuko spar for a while? I'm old and I need to rest."

"Sure!" She said getting up. "This will definitely be interesting."

"Don't think I'm going to hold back." Zuko said taking a stance.

"Wouldn't dream of it." She replied, also taking a stance.

Then it began. Zuko threw a flaming punch, and she countered it with a wall of water. She tried to water whip him, but he countered with a flaming kick. Steam soon covered the deck in bursts as they attacked, countered and attacked again. When Katara was just about to land her finishing attack on Zuko, they heard a boomerang come whistling toward them. As they dodged out of the way, they heard a shout.

"YOU BASTARD! GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!" Sokka shouted as he climbed over the rail. Before things could get really ugly, Katara froze Sokka in place and said, "STOP IT THIS INSTANT!" Since he had no other choice, he stopped.

"WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?" she shouted. "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?"

"Umm…no…" he replied, as he quaked from fear.

"DAMN RIGHT! YOU INTERRUPTED OUR SPAR! AND I WAS WINNING!" she screamed in his face, her arms gesturing wildly in the air.

"But I thought…" he tried to say until he was once again interrupted by Katara.

"BUT NOTHING! DON'T YOU HAVE ANY FAITH IN ME? I'M A MASTER WATERBENDER! I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!" She continued ranting. "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU EVEN HERE? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WAIT FOR ME!"

"I WAS WORRIED OKAY? MY INSTINCTS – "

"Your instincts are seriously whacked." Aang interrupted, finally arriving, having also climbed up over the rail.

"DID YOU APPROVE OF THIS AANG?" Katara said, her anger turning on him.

"No! I told him you were fine but would he listen? Nooooo!" he said, defending himself from her wrath.

Zuko then chose this moment to try and calm her down.

"Please Katara, calm down. Breath in, breath out…" She kept breathing until she had regressed to a slight simmer.

"Okay, why the hell are you two here?" she asked irritably.

"HE was worried about you. You know his 'instincts'." Aang replied using air quotations.

She sighed heavily as she unfroze Sokka and rubbed her head.

"Why me?" she thought, her head upturned. "It wasthose strawberries I ate wasn't it?"

"Well, I'm fine see?" she turned slowly around. "You can leave now."

"Fine. How much longer are you going to be here?" Sokka asked.

"About a week. Aurora still hasn't woken up yet." She replied. "Why don't you guys go on to Omashu without me?"

"Can we talk alone?" Aang asked Zuko, signaling to Sokka and Katara.

"Sure, I'm not stopping you." Zuko replied, moving to join his uncle.

"Thanks!" Aang called back as he led Katara and Sokka over to the other side of the ship.

"Okay, Katara. Do you think you could get Zuko to stop chasing us?" he asked.

"I don't know. I think I could. I don't think he even wants to anymore, and if I get him to open up, maybe I can convince him to teach you firebending." She replied.

"Not uh, no way. I am NOT leaving you and fire-boy alone for a long period of time." Sokka objected, brotherly instincts activating.

"Stop being a pig, I can take care of myself." Katara snapped, whacking him over the head with his boomerang.

"Ow! Fine…But you had better not be pregnant when we get back! And Momo is staying with you to keep an eye on you."

"Fine, whatever…"

"Okay, it's settled! Sokka and me will go on to Omashu, and you will stay here and try to convert Zuko." Aang said. "Come on Sokka, let's go. Momo!" Momo flew up over the rail and landed on Aang's shoulder. "You are staying with Katara." He chirped in agreement, then went to sit on her shoulder.

"See you later!" Aang called as he climbed back over the rail.

"Yeah see ya." Sokka climbed over also.

"Bye guys!" Katara called. "Well." She said, turning to Momo. "That was a very interesting morning."

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A/N: Woot! Lucky chapter 13! Next chapter coming within the week!