Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, well things would be different, like maybe the addition of a character who acted like me, paired with Zuko. Clearly I don't.

I woke up to find Zuko no where in sight. For a moment I panicked. I looked around our camp. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw his pack. I mentally scolded myself, 'Get a grip girl. He's probably tending to nature's call or something. He wouldn't just leave you, would he?'

I thought back to our fight yesterday, '. . . you hold my Uncle's life in your hands, I would've gotten rid of you a long time ago.'

'Okay so maybe he would.' Unexpectedly Zuko burst out of the bushes.

"Good you're awake, we can get going."

"What about breakfast?"

"You can eat on the way."

I put my hands on my hips and spoke to him as if he was a child.

"We are about to climb a cliff, correct?"

"Yes."

"And you're going to use both of your arms to climb?"

"Yes."

"Zuko are you strong?" This question made him visibly confused. He answered slowly, picking and choosing his words carefully.

"Yes, I suppose I am considered strong."

"Stronger than say, me?" I asked sweetly.

"Yes." He answered; he didn't have to think very long, about that one.

I threw my hands in the air and shouted, "Then how am I supposed to climb with one arm! If I'm eating on the way that means I'm only going to be able to use one arm to climb. Okay Mr. Muscles, how am I going to accomplish that? You said so yourself that you're stronger than I am. You aren't going to climb with only one arm so how can you expect me to."

I started pacing back and forth still ranting, "Unbelievable. Unbelievable. 'Eat on the way Katara. Climb the mountain using only one arm Katara.'"

I stopped pacing to face him again, "I swear you don't have the brains given to a rock. No offense to the rock of course."

I closed my eyes and sighed in frustration. I opened one eye to look at Zuko; he was just standing there, unmoving. And that scared me even more than, when he was yelling. And when he spoke I felt the icy fingers of fear, brushing the back of my neck, for when he spoke it was in a calm, emotionless voice,

"Are you done?"

Unable to speak, I merely nodded.

"Good." He reached into his pack and threw me an apple. "You have five minutes, and then I'm leaving."

Not wishing to tempt fate I packed faster than I thought humanly possible. I rushed over to where he was leaning against a tree; he looked at me and said,

"You still have a little time." Then he did something that would make me blush when I thought about it later. He grabbed me and pinned me against the tree he'd been leaning on just moments ago. And before I had a chance to protest, he kissed me. It was as if an explosion of fireworks were going on right next to my head. His lips were warm; actually his whole body was warm. Before I had a chance to respond to the kiss, it ended, he pulled back, looking both smug and confused. It would have been quite comical, but I was still in too much of a shock to anything but stare.

Don't get me wrong I'd been kissed before, at the age of 18, I'd had my share of kisses. 'Yeah, right, Katara. Who are you trying to fool? You've had like one other actual kiss and with who Jet? Remember him, he was a slime ball. And he never kissed as well as Zuko. Wait a minute where did that come from?' I pushed the thought out of my mind. I stalked towards Zuko, getting angrier with every step I took. 'How dare he force his attentions on me! If he thinks that I'll stand for this he's got another thing coming.'

I walked right up to him and got right in his face, I open my mouth to speak, but before I could say anything he cupped the sides of my face with his hands and kissed me again! But he'd forgotten one very important thing this time my hands were free, I curled one into a fist and punched him square in the chest. It wasn't a very hard punch, but he wasn't expecting it, so it gave me enough space to escape him.

I was mad. I'm sure that I'd been a fire-bender smoke would've come out of my ears. I watched him through silted eyes rub his chest where I'd hit him. If looks could kill, the world would now be short one Fire Nation prince.

He spoke first, "Hey what was that for?"

I couldn't believe that he was that dense, "For kissing me! Twice!"

He shrugged, "So it was just a little kiss. Not a big deal."

"Maybe not to you, but it was to me."

"I don't know why you're so mad at me most girls would be flattered to gotten the chance to kiss me. You know heir to the Fire Nation throne. They call me Prince Zuko. Ringing any bells?"

"Yeah. Well, since when have I been most girls?"

He pondered this for a moment, reluctantly he muttered, "Well, never."

"Exactly. Now let's go." I grabbed my stuff and started walking the direction I thought the cliff was. I hadn't gotten very far when I heard Zuko call out to me.

"Hey, Wilderness Girl, you're going the wrong way."

The climbing the cliff was a lot harder than I expected it to be. I followed Zuko as close as I could. He went first doing the hard part, finding the footholds and such. He'd insisted that he go first, stating that he knew more about it. I snorted remembering his arrogance, but since I had no burning desire to go first, I'd followed.

'Burning desire. Bad choice of words, Katara.' I blushed remembering our kiss, our kisses; I amended, from earlier that morning. I'd been thinking about them all morning. I didn't want to admit it, but they had been nice. I glanced up to take a look at Zuko. He was concentrating on the rocks in front of him. 'Like I should be too.' I mentally scolded myself.

Then without warning the rocks I'd been steadily climbing, gave out from beneath me. Feeling the rocks shift under my feet, I scrambled for a foothold. Finding nothing to grab onto, I closed my eyes and screamed. I waited for my body to hit the hard earth; I prayed that I would survive. But it never came; instead I felt a warm hand grasp my wrist, saving me from the ground below. I opened my eyes and stared into the golden eyes of my rescuer. He pulled me up, and placed my body between his and the solid rock wall. I felt his chest move in and out with every breath that he took. I shuddered remembering the fall that would've killed me. I felt his breath hot on my cheek as he spoke,

"Are you all right?"

Still unable to speak I simply nodded.

"Why don't you go first? I'll follow behind you."

I nodded, still not over my near brush with death. I started to climb up the cliff. I could fell Zuko right on my heels. We weren't too far from the top. I scrambled over the edge. I rolled away from the edge and lay on my back, panting and staring at the sky. A few moments later Zuko joined me at the top.

"Are you all right?" he asked again. Now that there was solid ground beneath me, I had regained the use of my voice.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I paused and turned my head to look at him, where he lay next to me. I found his eyes searching my face for any sign of an injury. His amber eyes, so different than anything back home, they were full of concern, for me! I was surprised; I didn't know that he cared for anybody, but himself. 'Katara; you know better. Remember his uncle?' I'd forgotten about Iroh.

I sat up and so did Zuko. Before he had a chance to stand all the way up, I gave him a hug, muttered, "Thanks for saving my life," and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. I let go of him and stood up quickly. Too quickly; I bit back the moan that threatened to escape and clutched the side of my head as a wave of dizziness washed over me. I sank back down to the ground on my knees.

I pulled my hand away from my head; there was something red and sticky on it. Blood. I must've gotten hit in the head without even realizing it.

I vaguely heard Zuko's voice in the background asking me if I was okay. I felt him catch me as I started to faint. The last thing I remember, before giving up consciousness, was Zuko's voice whispering in my ear,

"I promise Katara, you'll be okay. You'll be okay."

Author's Note: This chapter is in honor of my sister Arein's birthday. Happy Birthday! P.S. Even though it's not my birthday, would you please leave me a present by reviewing.