-1Spin Me Around Chapter 4, Where We're Going

A/N - Double chocolate cookies to faithful readers and reviewers : D This chapter takes place later in the day of the previous chapter. Also, my in-advance apologies for the later cheesiness. Katara needed something to complain about.

Disclaimer - XP

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The day quickly darkened as thick grey clouds formed in the sky. By five o'clock that evening it was nearly as dark as night, and was beginning to drizzle.

"Aang!" Katara said, putting down the shoe she was mending. "Could we stop soon? It's becoming difficult to see where we're going with all the clouds."

"Yeah, Twinkletoes," Toph agreed. "I'm with Sugar Queen here. I can't see a thing."

Katara glared at her. "Absolutely hilarious."

Aang brought Appa down ten feet. "I think you're right, Katara," he said, noticing a good spot for a campsite, a clear, flat spot in the brush below. "This looks good enough for me," he nodded, looking at the others for approval.

"Perfect," Sokka leapt from the saddle.

"Mmphf," Zuko quietly muttered in what sounded like agreement, speaking through the cloth gag. Katara undid the knot and stuffed it under her belt. "Pardon?" she whispered back, helping Zuko down from the saddle.

"It will be an easy place to escape," he replied. Katara nodded slightly.

"Sorry," she said apologetically as she retied the gag.

"Hey, Katara!" Sokka yelled over the din of the ever-increasing wind. "Help me put up the tent!"

"Of course." Katara scurried over to her brother and held up the tent poles while he stretched the fabric over them. "The tarp," she cautioned.

Sokka reached for it. "The tarp!" he cried, as the wind picked it up and carried it off into the grey sky like a bird. He sighed and watched it fly away. After a moment the brother and sister put up a second tent (one for Aang and Sokka, one for Katara), and Toph made a rock tent for herself, and, at Katara's request, one for Zuko, who was grateful enough just to not be sleeping in the rain.

Not far off, lightning flashed brilliantly through the night sky. The rain pattered down, slowly at first, then with increasing frequency. Before long it would be a steady downpour. Everyone dove for the cover of the tents, save Appa, who decided to wait out the rain in the lee of a sizable rock formation. In spite of the loud cracks of thunder, Sokka, Aang, Toph, and Zuko quickly fell asleep. Katara was left alone to ponder and gaze at the starry sky, deep into the night and long after the clouds had moved on.

By midnight she'd had enough. She soundlessly stood and crept over to Zuko's tent. Ducking under the earthen roof, she unbound his hands and untied the gag.

"What is it?" he asked, rubbing his sore wrists and yawning.

"Quiet," she warned, glancing around. "Follow me. I want to talk to you." She grasped his hand and lead him away from the camp. The two sat on a large flat rock. The sky, though moonless, was bright with the glow of a thousand stars, so that the light was like that of the time just after dusk.

"I don't know what to do," Katara said, leaning her head on Zuko's shoulder. "Aang has a huge crush on me, and I really like him as a friend, so I don't want to let him down."

"Is that all, my dear?" Zuko snaked his arm around her petite waist. "If he brings it up, tell him you don't feel that way. Cross that river when you come to it."

"You uncle is rubbing off on you, I believe," she observed, turning to look him in the eyes.

"Does it matter right now?" Zuko asked, lightly resting his hand on her cheek.

"I suppose it does not." She put her hand over his and let him softly kiss her. Katara closed her eyes to preserve this perfect moment, but opened them suddenly when she heard a rustle behind her.

Someone was watching.

Someone had seen. But whom? She whipped around, and heard and odd whooshing noise. Two dots were glowing behind a bush. And an arrow above them.

Oh please, spirits, no…

Why must it be Aang who had seen? His anger at Zuko had caused him to slip into the Avatar state.

We have to get out of here. The realization struck like lightning.

"Zuko!" she grabbed for his hand. He was frozen by fear. This was worse than when he had seen the Avatar State at the North Pole. This time, it was directed at him. "We have to get out of--"

A large blast of air hit Zuko squarely in the chest, sweeping him off the rock. His head hit the rocky ground, quickly knocking him out. Katara felt a single tear slide down her face.

"Aang, what have you done?" she screeched over the winds, hair whipping against her face. "You nearly killed him!"

Katara's words brought Aang back. He slowed the air and opened his eyes as Katara continued to scream, though the winds had stopped.

"Why? How could you? You're supposed to be helping people, not bashing their heads against rocks!" She was well aware her words would scorch her friend like fireblasts, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

The strain of the Avatar State caused Aang to begin to lose consciousness. Katara quieted right before he gave in and whispered two words, more burning, filled with more contempt than the ones she had shrieked.

"I'm leaving." She inhaled and exhaled, willing the tears to stop though they openly refused. "Don't expect me to return. Tell Sokka I'll miss him."

Wiping off her tear-streaked face, she checked Zuko's pulse at his neck and somehow picked him up and carried him into the wilderness.

Aang watched them disappear before him, then surrendered to the unconsciousness reaching for him.

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Zuko opened his eyes, blinked once, twice, and could see. He sat up, looking around and finding himself in a slightly cramped rock cave. Rubbing his head, he winced as his hand touched a slightly swollen bruise.

"What happened?" he asked when he noticed Katara sitting in one corner. A decorated glass vial lay empty on the soft moss between them. "What is that?"

"The Avatar knocked you out," Katara said, reaching for his hand. "That held sacred was from the oasis at the north pole. I used the water to heal you, if you're wondering. Otherwise you would have died of a blood clot in the head." She bit her lip as he winced a second time. "But don't worry, my love," she reassured him. "You'll be fine. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," he insisted. "But are you injured?"

"I'm perfectly well," she smiled as he softly kissed her hand. "But you'll most likely suffer from headaches for a week or so. You had a nasty blow." A silence followed. After a full twenty seconds, Katara broke it.

"I want to leave as soon as you feel well. I can't stand to be around the Avatar any more." Zuko noticed her abrupt refusal to refer to Aang by his name. She had insisted Zuko call him Aang, not the Avatar, in the past. "But where can we go?"

Zuko pondered this for a moment, then smiled slightly.

"I have an idea."