Since going through Zuko's kata with the added flair of their elements, Katara has been feeling more and more confident about her abilities. They haven't tried any more sparring, but she's come up with a few cool moves she thinks would be useful in a fight. She's gotten the hang of freezing her water, something she had never even considered doing until recently, and has been putting most of her energy into forming ice daggers, ready to be thrown at a moment's notice. She's also been working on getting the hang of what she's affectionately calling her "water whip," which has resulted in not only frustration, but welts on both her and Zuko from her lack of control. After a few mishaps, Zuko had decided that they should probably stand farther apart while practicing, something Katara had accepted with a deep flush of embarrassment.

They've also been working on Katara's reflexes; Zuko's are honed to a deadly sharpness as a result of his years on the road, but Katara's leave something to be desired. He tells her that it'll help with her sword fighting as well, and as much as she's improving on that front, she still has a long way to go. Zuko's come up with some funny ways of honing her reflexes, the most recent being a game they've started to play when they settle down for the night. Katara will rest her hands lightly on top of Zukos, palm to palm, and her job is to pull them away before he can flip his over and slap the back of hers.

"That tickles!" Zuko's fingers run lightly along her palms, making her twitchy and giggly.

"That's the point!" He's not quite laughing, but she can see the lines at the corner of his eyes crinkle with the slight tilt of his mouth. He jerks his hands back, the miniscule movement causing Katara to pull hers back entirely.

"No fair!" She returns her hands to their place hovering just over his, the charge between their palms hot and electric.

"It is fair." His hands move lightning quick, and he's slapping the back of hers playfully in the span of a blink. He's smirking at her when she looks up into his eyes, the heat housed within their luminosity making her flush. "Try again."

They go on like this for a while, the feather light stroke of Zuko's fingers on her palms making her shiver and sweat all at once. There's definitely a tension in the air, an undercurrent of something deeper flowing below their playful game, and it's got Katara feeling like dry kindling waiting for a spark.

"Alright, your turn."

After many, many losses, they switch positions so that Katara's hands are underneath Zuko's. A strange thrill courses through her as she teases him, running her fingers along his palms like he had done to her. She holds his eyes firmly with hers and swears that the air around them is rippling with energy, her heart pounding at an incredible speed nestled in her chest.

"Shit!" I thought I had him that time! She has yet to best him, his hands flashing out of her trajectory with alarming speed any time she tries to slap them.

"You'll have to do better than that." His voice is a low rumble, the familiar rasp raising goosebumps on her arms. Who knew there could be so much sexual tension in a stupid game? She's not blaming her losses on Zuko's distracting presence, but it's definitely affecting her more than she'd like to admit.

They've known each other for less than two months, but spending all day every day with Zuko has made it extremely difficult for her to ignore his attractiveness. She had known that he was handsome when she met him, but travelling with him has shown her a whole other side of his beauty. The way he moves is graceful and lithe, almost like a cat; he's light on his feet and flexible, surprisingly so for someone his height. She doesn't think there's one muscle on his body that isn't toned, and she's looked a shameful amount of times to try and find one. By far, though, her favorite part of him is his smile. The way his eyes crinkle and his pink lips stretch over straight teeth never fails to stir a warmth inside her, his laugh stoking the smouldering embers in her heart. She's never been in love, her knowledge of the subject learned only through the lens of some of the books her Gran Gran had brought her over the years, but based on how she feels around him and how much she wants to kiss him at any given moment, she thinks that if she doesn't love him now, she will very soon.

"Hello? You in there?" She flinches out of her thoughts at his words, Zuko's single eyebrow raised in question.

"Yeah, sorry." Her cheeks flush what is no doubt a deep crimson, and Zuko's head tilts just the tiniest bit in question. Did it just get, like, ten degrees warmer?

"Ah!" The tips of their fingers brush as she moves to slap his hands, taking advantage of her unintentional distraction.

"Ha! I got you!"

"Nuh uh, that doesn't count."

"Yes it does!" She's irrationally happy for simply beating Zuko at his own game, but it's an accomplishment nonetheless. "I got you, fair and square."

"Fine." Stunning luminous gold shines out at her as he rolls his eyes. "You got me. Are you proud of yourself?"

"Yes, actually." There's a mischievous twinkle in his eye, one that matches the stars winking in the heavens above. But what really gets her, as always, is his smile; as bright as the sunrise, it pulls her in, heat creeping back into her cheeks when she realizes that she's been staring at his mouth.

"You're getting faster."

They're both sitting on the ground, but he still has to look down at her, something in his gaze sending warm tendrils spiraling through her body.

"Well, I have a good teacher." Roses bloom under Zuko's cheeks, and he rubs the back of his neck in a sheepish gesture.

"I'm not that great. You're just a good student." The atmosphere crackles between them, and she so badly wants to reach up to him, to see if his skin really is as soft as it looks.

"Do you want some tea?" She turns away to grab the small kettle before she does something stupid, blind to the dissappointment in Zuko's eyes.

Xx

The next day is warm as they trudge through the dense forest, sunshine breaking through the abundance of pine needles and throwing fractals of light onto the path ahead of them. There's barely a breeze to disturb the sweat pooling at the small of her back, her wrist tiring from constantly having to pull the sweat from her clothes and body. Zuko runs hotter than she does, something about being able to manipulate fire increasing his body temperature, and she tries not to flush each time she guides the sweat off his glistening skin and throws it into the woods around them. They've been mostly quiet today, the shameless flirting of the night before birthing a stilted awkwardness between them. Out of nowhere Zuko throws his arm out in front of her to block her path. His face is creased with concern and concentration when she looks at him, worry pooling in her gut.

"What is it?" It seems like he's listening to something, her words escaping her throat as whispers as she tries to listen too.

"We're being followed." His voice is almost too low to hear, and he's grabbing her hand and leading her swiftly off the road and into the forest before she can really comprehend his words.

They step quietly through the brush, Zuko's face turned up while Katara tries to hear exactly what it is that's got him so skittish. He stops them at the base of a tree, wordlessly pointing upwards to indicate that he wants her to get up and climb it. She steps up onto his laced fingers, and he pushes high enough so that she can haul herself up onto a branch. She looks down at him, and he waves his hand for her to continue upwards, her pack weighing heavy on her shoulders as she does her best to ascend the tree as quietly as she can. The branches start to thin the higher she goes, her breaths heaving when she decides that she's high enough to stop. Surprisingly (or maybe not so much), Zuko is right behind her, getting up next to her on the sturdy branch quickly and peering out to where they can see the path. He's awfully close to her, and her heart jumps around in her chest from the exertion of climbing the tree and from the added nervousness his proximity brings.

The road is empty for a few minutes, and Katara is beginning to doubt Zuko's assessment of a threat until she sees a handful of rough looking men congregating on the path. They talk for a minute or two before splitting up again, and she looks to Zuko to figure out their best move.

"They're looking for us." His arm is positioned almost right above her, gripping a branch to keep him steady, the muscles in his arm flexing with the effort.

"What should we do?"

"We'll have to stay up here for a while until they give up. You should get comfortable."

She moves to sit in the cradle the branches make against the tree's trunk, Zuko grabbing her arm to steady her as she lowers down. Zuko stays standing sentinel as he watches and listens; she doesn't know how long they wait for, but it feels like hours. It's a special kind of torture that she doesn't have anything to distract her from Zuko's looming physique and she's secretly thankful when he sits down for a short while.

"Why are they following us?" She thinks that it's pretty clear that they're carrying nothing of value, and she hadn't even seen anyone on the path the whole time they've been travelling.

"There's a good chance that they're just thugs hoping that we have some money on us. But..." his mouth is a hard slash on his face. "It's always possible that they're after something else."

"Like what?" The look he gives her sends a chill down her spine. He can't mean...

"Like an attractive young woman they can take back to wherever they came from." She wraps her arms around herself, suddenly cold despite the warm air. "It doesn't happen very often." Zuko's eyes are soft, a small comfort in a cruel world. "But you never know. It's better to be safe." She nods wordlessly, her brows pulling together with anxiety.

"We should work on our combat skills more." She wants to feel safe out on the road, the idea of thugs and bandits following them enough to convince her of the dangers of the world outside of her little village.

There's a snap underneath them, and both of their heads whip down to look towards the bed of the forest. There's noise coming from the ground that sounds like movement, and even though it could very well just be an animal, Katara feels an icy fear slithering through her veins. She hates feeling helpless, almost angry that she's been reduced to a scared little girl, and vows to put her all into honing her element into a formidable weapon. Zuko must see her anxiety, and he slots his fingers in between hers in a show of solidarity. Beneath the fear and determination, her heart swoops at the feeling of his hand in hers, and her muscles relax minutely. Eventually the steps fade, but they stay in the tree for a while longer before shuffling down back onto solid ground, resolute in their decision to train harder.

Xx

"Come on, put your back into it!"

She sends her water whip flying towards a snarky Zuko, who ducks and sends a stream of fire out of his heel her way.

"Shut up, I am putting my back into it!" She jumps over his fire and rolls upon landing, using her momentum to throw a large wave at him. "Ah!" One of Zuko's fire balls comes close to her feet, scorching the ground in its wake.

"You said you wouldn't get scared!" He goes to take a step forward, and Katara seizes her opportunity. She pulls water up from the ground and ices it over, causing him to slip and fall. "Oof!"

"Oh, that looks like it hurt." She smirks as he lays on the ground with his arms outstretched, his chest heaving along with hers.

They hadn't been sparring for too long, but the past handful of nights they've been able to best each other a few times. It turns out that integrating their elements with Zuko's kata had been instrumental in learning how to wield their gifts more aggressively. They had each bested each other once so far tonight- not that Katara is keeping count.

She can't help but tease him. "Reading to give up?" Zuko pushes himself up onto his elbows across from her, a mischievous glint in his bright eyes and an attractive smirk growing on his face.

"You wish."

Quick as a flash he's back on his feet, jumping and kicking a volley of plumes at her that she has to duck and roll to avoid. Sparring with Zuko is exhilarating; adrenaline crackles like lightning in her bones, sore muscles forgotten and caution thrown to the wind as she rains ice pellets the size of her fist down onto him. She knows he's too fast to fall for it, a swath of flame arcing over him and melting the ice into a harmless cloud of steam. Katara tries her ice trick again hoping that she can trip him up, but he anticipates her attack and retaliates by sending a spinning wheel of fire straight towards her. Jumping into the air to avoid his attack, she prepares to blast him with a jet of water upon landing, but when she gets her footing he's nowhere to be found. Blue eyes narrow as she listens intently; Zuko is silent as death when he wants to be, his steps measured but fast when his target is in sight. He had taken her hunting once to help her sharpen her own stealth skills, and he had stalked a skittish doe in complete silence before landing an arrow straight in its neck.

Suddenly he's behind her, pulling her arm behind her back and pressing the long line of his body up against hers while he wraps his other arm around her neck in a loose headlock. He would never actually hurt her, but it's clear who the winner is.

"Do you yield?" His voice is gruff and rasping, his hot breath puffing out against the shell of her ear. Heat coils in her stomach as she pants against the hard planes of his chest, a shiver travelling down her spine like a drop of ice cold water.

"Yeah," she nods, trying not to mourn the loss of his heat against her back. Time slows down as he lets her go, and she tries to brand the feel of him into her memory. "Well, that was fun. I think we're getting better."

"I'd say so." Zuko stretches his arms over his head as he walks back to their camp, a tantalizing strip of pale skin peeking out from under his shirt. This man is going to kill me. "We're getting closer to Yangchen." He's got the map unfurled in front of him. "Unfortunately, I think we'll be seeing more people on the road now that we're close. It's only about a week away."

"I guess it's a good thing that we're getting better at combat, then."

"Yeah. But once we use our elements in combat..." his eyes are hard beneath the otherworldly glow. "People are gonna know what we are. And if we let them get away they'll probably try to come back with more friends."

"What, are you saying we should just kill anyone who attacks us?"

"No, not at all." He rolls the map back up and shoves it into his pack. "But people are messed up. The eyes of Othered sell for a lot of money on the black market." She recoils, her stomach filling with acid. "Especially ours since the colors are so rare. You just need to be aware of the danger we're going to eventually be in."

"I don't think I can kill someone." Her back hunches over in defeat, Zuko's hand coming up to rub it in consolation.

"We don't have to worry about that right now. But if it's life or death…"

"I know," she sighs, and leans her head over onto his shoulder, and he wraps a warm arm around her. "Have you ever killed anyone?"

"Yeah." She can't see his face, but his voice sounds like his mind is far away. "Otherwise he would have killed me. There was one guy that just kept coming after me. No matter what I did, he always caught up to me."

"Just for your eyes?" She sits up to look at him, and is surprised to see sadness on his face.

"No." His head tilts to look up at the stars. "He just wanted to kill me."

"What? Why?" She can't imagine why anyone would want to kill Zuko, but then again, she still doesn't know very much about him.

"It's complicated." This is the response she usually gets to any question that could lead to Zuko exposing personal information. She wonders what he's hiding, and if he'll ever even tell her. "I was a fugitive." She stays silent, not wanting to press him. "It wasn't because of anything I did, really. Just… who I was." There's much more behind his story, she can see it in the loss and sadness in his eyes, but she doesn't think he's going to tell her any more tonight. It's the most he's ever spoken about his life in one sitting.

"Well, I like who you are." She laces her fingers with his, leaning her head back against his shoulder. "And if anyone tries to kill you now, they're going to have to get through me first." He leans his head on top of hers, the moment strangely intimate, filling Katara with a warmth that has nothing to do with the fire burning before them.

Xx

It's still dark when she wakes, crickets and the occasional hoot of an owl the only sounds outside the tent. She doesn't usually wake up in the middle of the night, and confusion swirls in her head until she rolls over onto her side. Zuko is twitching in his sleep, his hands clenching and unclenching in the light blanket he rests under, a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. Sleep clouds her mind as she struggles to comprehend what's happening; he must be having a nightmare. She toys with the idea of waking him up, not knowing if it would be too much an invasion of privacy or if he would be upset or angry. His breathing picks up pace rapidly, and in a single moment he's hyperventilating, still asleep and trapped in a dream.

"Zuko!" She lays her hand on his shoulder to shake him, but at the lightest touch of her hand his eyes shoot open. He sits up, propping himself on his elbows, eyes blown wide and gasping for breath. "Zuko, it's okay. It's just me."The fear in his eyes is something she's never seen before, and her concern swells with each of his sharp inhalations.

"Katara..." He blinks a few times, seeming to come back to himself. She twists her wrist and wicks away the sweat that had been stuck to his shirt and clinging to his skin.

"Are you okay? You were having a nightmare." She's turned towards him on her side, watching the heavy rise and fall of his chest as he catches his breath.

"Yeah." It's clearly a lie. The glow of his irises winks out as he lays back down on his bedroll with his eyes closed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Her head is propped up on her hand, and she can see the lines still creasing his forehead. The blankets shuffle as he turns towards her, and she drops her head back down to its place on the blanket she's using as a pillow so she can look into his eyes. For a few minutes the only sounds are those of the forest around them, the rustle of the breeze and the ever present crickets. Her eyes droop closed, and she's about to give up on getting an answer when he speaks.

"My father put a hit out on me," he whispers, quiet as the breeze, almost lost in the small space of the tent. "The assassin he hired was the person that I killed."

"Zuko..." she scoots a little closer to him so she can take his hands in hers. "I'm so sorry. That's terrible."

"He's a terrible man." The scarred side of his face is turned towards the sky, the little light creeping in through the tent highlighting the warped flesh.

"At least you're not with him anymore, right?" The stiff skin of his scar pulls tight with his grimace.

"My sister is." Katara's heart breaks for him, the guilt and sorrow he feels bleeding into his words. "That's what I was dreaming about. I left her there alone with him." She wonders where his mother fits into the picture, but knows better than to ask.

"Zuko..." She takes a leap of faith and drapes her hand gently on his face, the scarred skin smooth under her fingers.

He doesn't flinch, but she sees his lower lip tremble, and he shuts his eyes tight before he breaks. There's nothing she can do but pull him gently into her, moving her hand over his damaged ear to cradle his head to her chest. He doesn't make a sound, but she feels his body shaking in her embrace, her own tears gathering as she feels his soak into her shirt. A strong arm wraps around her waist and pulls her closer as he falls apart, and she strokes his hair in a soothing rhythm. The smell of his cinnamon soap filters in through her nose, and she can't help but feel the desire to be here for him, like this, any time he needs her to be. There's clearly so much pain inside of him that he's never let out; she knows she can't heal him, but she'd do whatever it took if it meant she could hold his hand through it all.

"I'm sorry." His breathing has finally slowed, and the rasp of his voice is more intense than usual, his lips moving against her skin in a mumble.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Zuko." She holds herself back from kissing the top of his head, a more difficult task than she thought it would be. "I'm here for you, no matter what. I know there's a lot about your life that you haven't told me, and that's okay, but I need you to know that I'm here if you ever want to open up."

The hand on her back fists in her shirt, Zuko's eyelashes tickling her neck when he blinks as they lay in silence. The rhythm of his breath steadies, soon falling to an even adagio against her chest as sleep takes him. Her fingers continue to card through his hair, her heart aching in her chest. It's not pity that she feels for Zuko; he's strong and steadfast regardless of whatever haunts him from his past. But she feels the trauma under his skin like a cyst, the ghosts of yesterday trailing him like a shadow, and she knows that pain all too well. She was lucky that she had her brother to lean on when she felt like standing on her own would mean falling apart, but that was a luxury she realizes that Zuko may not have had. She knows from what he's told her that he was close to his sister, the thought of leaving her in an unsafe environment eating him up inside enough to give him nightmares, but the rest of his life is unknown to her still. How long has it been since he's seen her? She can't imagine not seeing her brother for any number of years, especially if she had left him somewhere that he was in danger. And why did Zuko leave if he knew Azula would be stuck alone with their father?

The thoughts circle like buzzards around her head as the night wears on around them. She doesn't let go of Zuko, and his exhausted body doesn't move so much as an inch. All she wants for him is to feel some peace. She wants his bright smile and soft laughter to be a constant in his days, wants to chase his demons away even if it takes all night. After what feels like hours, her eyes close of their own accord, and her resolve blows away with the breeze as she kisses the crown of Zuko's head before drifting off.