Chapter 9:) I have to say that I am very proud of this chapter, it's one of my favorites! I have decided that I am going to get into a habbit of uploading every Saturday, so be looking out for new chapters!:)

I hope you like this chapter!

I do not own any ATLA characters. However, Salji is my mine:)

Katara watched as this random girl tackled Zuko to the ground. What exactly what she think she was doing? Zuko was about to kiss Katara and he just jumps up and runs into another girls arms? Why?

She started to get up and go see what was going on when she saw Zuko start to kiss the girl! Katara was enraged. Why was he kissing this stranger when he was just about to kiss her? She looked closer and saw that he was kissing the scars that covered her face. Katara just couldn't figure out what was going on with this picture.

She got up on her feet. She was going to ask Zuko what in the world was going on. When she made it over to them, Zuko didn't even look up, he just stayed where he was staring intensely into this girl's eyes.

"Uh, Zuko?" she said a little embarrassed.

"Hmmm…" he said as if he was being woken from a dream. He glanced up and saw Katara's face. "Oh, Katara! Look who it is! It's Salji!"

Katara's jaw dropped. It couldn't be the girl that Zuko said died three years ago. It couldn't be his long lost love. She just stared at the girl that was in Zuko's arms with disbelief.

"Hi, I'm Salji" the girl said with a huge grin on her face. She turned to Zuko and asked, "Who is this pretty girl?"

"Oh, this is Katara. She's my friend." He said in a cheerful tone.

This sentence was like a dagger in Katara's heart. They almost kissed and now he was saying they were just friends. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, but she forced them back.

Katara opened her mouth to say something, but nothing would come out. She was so heartbroken that she lost her voice in all the emotions. So she turned on her heels and ran away before either of the two people lying on the ground could see her tears.

She heard Sokka trying to stop her, but she just kept running. She didn't want to go back to the house so she ran off into the forest. She kept running until she made it to a little meadow in the woods. She dropped onto her hands and knees and sobbed. Her chest hurt from running while crying. She let in deep breaths and tried to slow her breathing, but she couldn't. Every time she finally got her breathing close to normal she would think about Salji in Zuko's arms and it would bring on fresh tears.

She looked up at the sun, it was right above her. She heard her stomach growl, but paid it no mind, she didn't want to eat. As she got up, she had to clutch on to the sides of her ribs. She felt as if she let go, then she would fall apart.

When she got back to the house everyone was back except Zuko, and Katara was secretly glad that he wasn't. She didn't want him to see her like this. Everyone asked what was wrong, but Katara just shook her head and walked into the kitchen. She made lunch and served everyone with a blank face.

They were all eating so Katara decided that this was a good time to escape to her room. As she started up the stairs someone grabbed her arm. She turned around to see Aang's big gray eyes staring back at her.

"What do you want Aang?" She asked trying to keep her face unemotional. If she faltered she knew that she wouldn't be able to keep herself from falling apart.

"What happened today Katara?"

"Nothing happened, I just needed some time to myself, that's all."

"I know you are lying Katara."

"I'm not lying." She said stubbornly. Why can't he let this go?

"Katara, you ran away from the beach crying today. I just want to help."

"Nothing happened. Just drop it Aang." She said as she tried again to go to her room, but Aang's grip was tight around her forearm.

"He hurt you didn't he?" He asked through clinched teeth.

His body coiled and his grip on her arm tightened. Katara could tell he was furious. She didn't want him to do anything irrational to Zuko, so she had to defend him.

"Zuko didn't do anything." She answered, and she could feel the tears rising up in her eyes.

Apparently Aang took notice to the tears and let go of her. He balled up his fists and said, "I'm going to kill him." He turned around and started out the door when Katara grabbed his hand.

"Aang, it's not his fault." She bowed her head, "It's mine." She finished in a whisper.

"What do you mean?" he asked puzzled.

She told him what had all happened on the beach-leaving out that the girl was Salji-and when she was finished she could tell he was holding back tears. Why is he crying? I'm the one with the problem, not him she thought to herself.

"Are you ok Aang?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just mad that he hurt you like that." He once again balled up his fists. "He shouldn't have hurt you like that. I'm going to make him pay."

"Aang, it's not his fault, its mine. Don't do anything, I've got it under control." And with that she was climbing the stairs. She turned around mid-step and said, "and I would appreciate it if you didn't say a word about this to anyone else."

She made it to her room before she let the tears overwhelm her. She let the sobs wrack through her body as she made it to her bed. When she made it to her bed she curled up in a ball and just cried. She laid there for what felt like hours just crying.

Everyone had tried to come and talk her into talking about it, so she knew that Aang had done what she said. Suki tried twice, Toph five times, and Sokka was working on his eighth. Sure she could tell Toph because she knew about the whole Salji thing, but she didn't want anyone knowing how she had been played.

If she would have known that there was a possibility that Salji could show up, then she would have never let her feelings for Zuko get this far. But she had, and now she was heartbroken. There was a huge banging sound from her door that brought her out of thought.

"Katara, please let me in!" her brother yelled from the other side of the door. About an hour ago she decided that telling them to go away wasn't going to work, so she just sat there silent.

A few moments passed and there was another loud bang on her door and the sound of Sokka yelping in pain. He must have hit his foot up against the door and hurt himself. Katara didn't pay any mind though, she could barely hear over her sobs anyways.

A couple of minutes passed after Sokka had hurt himself, and Katara thought that maybe they had all given up, but she was wrong. All of a sudden her door fell to the ground and Sokka was on the other side with a huge smile and a screwdriver in his hand.

"YES! I got in!" he said as he pointed the screwdriver in the air proud of his accomplishment.

"Get out Sokka!" Katara yelled through tears.

She bent the water from the plant sitting beside her bed and froze Sokka to the wall in the hallway. Then she pulled the tea from her cup that sat on her nightstand and froze the hinges back to the wall, and deliberately slammed the door. She heard Suki and Toph running upstairs and the sound of Sokka yelling at them to get him down.

She sat there trying to tune everything that was going on outside trying to figure out what she was going to do when Zuko got back. Katara knew that she wouldn't be able to look at him without becoming hysterical. But she couldn't avoid him forever. Sozin's Comet was arriving in four days, she would have to speak to him some time or another.

You can't let him distract you from your job. You have to be strong for everyone. You have to help Aang bring balance to the world. You can't let him get to youshe told herself over and over again as she waited dreadfully for when they would have to talk.