Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar otherwise I'd get rid of any hint of Katang, because it's just manky.

Katara's POV

I felt a lot better, but my muscles were weakened from in use. Zuko came back yesterday empty-handed. He'd shaken his head muttering, "I just don't know what we're supposed to find."

He'd made us supper and told me what he'd seen, nothing too exciting. He then told me about the Fire Nation upon my request.

"Mostly it's hot and there's a lot of red everywhere. Don't get me wrong there are other colors, but red is one of the colors of the nation and everybody wants to wear it. The market is on of my favorite places to go; the people there are so interesting. Most of them try to sell you useless things, but my uncle Iroh has an eye for bargains. He always buys way too much stuff. But it doesn't go to waste he sends it to one of the orphanages so it gets used. Agni knows Uncle doesn't need it.

There are forests and meadows, but I spend most of my time in the Fire Nation palace. The palace is huge; you could get lost for days and never see anyone that you knew. When I was little I always carried a map with me so I wouldn't get lost.

One time I was playing hide-n-seek with my cousin Lu Ten and I forgot my map, I got so lost that it took two days for them to find me. After that I never wanted to play hide-n-seek again. But one good thing came out of it. While I was lost I found this little garden oasis. Well, actually when I found it, it wasn't very pretty it was over grown with weeds. But I went back to it everyday and made it into a beautiful garden with a turtle duck pond. It took me years to restore it. When it was finished I gave it to my mother for her birthday, to this day she and I are the only ones that know about it. But my mother never got to enjoy it; she died three days after her birthday. She'd been sick for a long time.

Now I maintain it in her honor and use it to just get away from it all. All the pressure, everything.

Sometimes when I'm there, I can almost feel my mother's presence there with me." He gave me a sad-sort of smile.

"Sounds stupid doesn't it?"

I reached out and put my hand on his cheek, so he couldn't turn away from me, and I looked into his golden eyes, "No Zuko it doesn't sound stupid to me. It sounds incredibly sweet and caring. I can tell that you love your mother very much."

Keeping my hand on Zuko's cheek, I reached under the collar of my shirt, until my fingers closed around a smooth, circular stone I pulled it out form under my shirt.

"See this necklace, it belonged to my mother, when she died she gave it to me. Whenever I wear it, I feel like she's watching over me, protecting me."

I fell silent. We sat like that far an undeterminable amount of time, just looking into each other's eyes, sharing the bond of losing a beloved parent.

Then, Zuko leaned in and gave me a tender, brief kiss upon my lips. He rested his forehead on mine and whispered, "Thanks. Good night, Katara."

Then he turned away and laid down on his bedroll. I sat up a little while longer thinking about what he'd told me, watching him sleep.

Now it was morning and I was following behind Zuko closely. He seemed to know where he was going and we walked in silence; no mention was made about what was said last night. Actually no words had been no words had been spoken at all this morning.

I looked up and judged by where the sun was in the sky that it was almost lunch. Okay who was I kidding; I had the survival skills of a child. I only guessed it was lunchtime, because just then my stomach gave off a very large growl. I prayed to La that Zuko didn't hear.

My prayer went unanswered. Instead Zuko stopped, turned around and asked if I was hungry. Too embarrassed to speak, let alone answer, I let my stomach do the talking; it growled again this time louder than before.

He nodded and turned and walked a little bit further, before stopping next to a stream. Zuko sat down with his back leaning against a tree. He pulled out, two apples, some pita bread, in which he then proceeded to place pieces of rabbit meat, that he'd caught and cooked while I was sick. He filled our canteens from the stream. I sat down next to him sharing the same tree trunk, he handed me my share of the food saying, "Eat."

I didn't need to be told twice I at my sandwich first devouring it in only a matter of minutes. I ate my apple equally as fast. Zuko just stared at me, one eyebrow raised.

"What?"

He shook his head, "I've never seen anybody, let alone a girl eat anything so quickly."

I felt my face heat up with embarrassment, and when I spoke my voice was a little high and a lot squeaky.

"Well…um…yes… you see… I was hungry and," I paused and cleared my throat and tried to speak again.

"Besides when my brother's hungry he can devour an entire pot of salted seal meat stew in minutes. It's his favorite. He can eat and eat and eat. You've never seen anything like it. There was this one time we went to a party and Sokka ate over half the food. Since then we haven't really been invited to any more parties."

I took a deep breath to stop my rambling. I looked over at Zuko; he was still staring at me.

"What?" I snapped uncomfortable with his scrutiny.

"You ate my food."

I looked down at his lap where his food had previously been sitting, he was right there was nothing there but a few crumbs. I blushed and tried to stammer out and apology, but he just stared at me repeating over and over.

"You ate my food."

"Yes I ate your food," I snapped, "It's not a crime or anything."

I pause then continued speaking trying to shift the blame.

"You know it not very nice to point out thing like that. Besides I'm recovering from an injury, I went an entire day without eating. Also some people are just big eaters, does it really matter home much some one eats? Whether they are male or female? Honestly thought the worst part about this whole situation is you! Pointing out to me something that in your eyes is a flaw. It's like saying that I'm fat or you hate my clothes. Wouldn't it be better to just leave well enough alone? To point something else out, like how beautiful my hair looks or the weather or something. How very rude, sir. And you a prince of all things. I would have thought that you had more manners than a common peasant, but apparently I was wrong!"

My voice had gotten louder and louder throughout my ranting, also at some point I'd moved closer to Zuko. So close in fact my face was only inches away from his.

I stared into Zuko's eyes letting him see the anger rolling around in mine. Then suddenly before I had a chance to react, Zuko put one hand on the back of my head and crushed his lips on mine. I was briefly taken aback, but once I got over my temporary paralysis I began to kiss him back.

When we broke apart for air, Zuko whispered in my ear.

"I think your hair is beautiful. The weather is a little warm for this time of year. And I think that you look beautiful when you're angry with me.

Even though I should take offense for what you said about me, I won't. Because you're right, I spoke without considering your feelings."

Just when I was about to tell him that I forgave him for his momentary lack of forethought he spoke again.

"But I will point out that for the record, I am a prince, but any body else would've said the same thing. Now my only question is, where do you put it all?"

He'd barely gotten all the words out, when I smacked him along side the head. He muttered, "Ow", but it didn't matter to me, he'd deserved it anyway.