I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, or any of the name or characters of the show. I merely control them for my own twisted pleasure from this point in the story on.

Chapter 11: To Fend For Herself

Katara's mind plunged back to reality when her body hit the ice cold water. Through the haze surrounding her head she couldn't think anything, only feel. Two types of pain filled her when she tried to breathe. Her body's response to the awakening was slow, and she could feel hands on her. Were they hands?

She tried to open her eyes, but nothing happened. She heard a voice, but she couldn't make it out. She hurt like before, and her body longed to go back to sleep, to the darkness that took all pain away.

But darkness was bad. A small whisper in her head. Darkness is bad.

She opened her eyes and didn't recognize anything. The blue was all around her and she felt her mind going at a mile a minute. Nothing made sense anymore and she was full of confusion. She looked around but saw nothing but blue.

"Where…" am I?

"…Katara…." A voice? In her head? "…heal…dying…"

Dying? "Am…" not, she mumbled to herself. How could she be dying? She was master
waterbender and best friends with the Avatar. She couldn't possible be drowning.

Her body moved in the blue and she began to spin in a circle, making her dizzy. She could almost feel the darkness covering her again. She wasn't dying, she was just sleepy.

"I'm sorry," the voice said once, then again. Why was it apologizing?

And when a horrible pain ripped through her back, she knew. More pain came then. More coldness filled her up where hot liquid had been before.

Water surrounded her body like the fear surrounded her brain. Was she screaming? Pain filled her. She was struggling against the pain. Then she felt it; the pull of the water and the lull of the powers within her. Slowly the pain got less and less. It seemed like forever before she felt the ache leave her body and mind behind. She was cold and wet and tried.

She felt heavy for the first time since she woke. There was solid against her back instead of liquid. Her confusion melted when warmth touched her. Warmth accompanied by the smell of trees. A scent she recognized through the smell of water.

And then she was no longer afraid because if he was here, she didn't need to be.

Katara awoke to the smell of water and the lingering smell of the Blue Spirit. She was on her back and she was uncomfortable. She was also soaking wet. She breathed deeply and waited for a long time before opening her eyes.

She saw the sky and trees. She heard water and felt it pull at her mind.

There was a rock in her back and without thinking she moved to sit up. Halfway through the gesture, she remembered she wasn't supposed to budge. But she was already most of the way up and there was no pain. Using her arms -another big surprise- she sat all the way up and looked out over the water before her.

The river? Vaguely, she remembered being submersed in water. And pain. She reached to her back where the arrow wounds had been before and felt a small scar on her shoulder. Katara looked over at her arm and saw another small scar. But they weren't the scars she had expected. They were burns.

The back of the bandaged that tied around her upper body was missing, and she'd known that before. But now that she wasn't stuck lying on her stomach all the time, it bothered her a lot. She swore to find her dress first thing.

She filed it in the back of her mind before getting back to the problem at hand; trying to stand. Her legs seized but she managed a crouch. She looked around for her masked friend and didn't find him anywhere. Had he brought her here and just left her? That didn't make any sense.

She staggered to her feet and quickly figured out that she didn't know where she was, or where the camp would be. It had to be on this side of the river, she assumed, and so she made her way through the trees. She opened her mouth to call out for the masked man before
the sound of metal striking metal caught her ears and she stopped to listen.

A battle? Had the Fire Nation found them? That would explain why she was in the water. He'd
put her there to heal herself before running off to fight.

Katara ran toward the sounds, all the while cursing him for being the same as Sokka; always looking for a fight. The trees were thick and it took a few minutes before she appeared beside the camp. She looked in on the battle, ready to jump in and fight, but what she saw there confused her.

There were Fire Nation soldiers, but most were unconscious. The one still standing was fighting with an old man she couldn't see very well. She watched for a split seconds before she spotted The Blue Spirit on the ground. Not being able to tell if he was unconscious or dead, she rushed out of the trees and to his side. She laid her head on his chest and relief rushed through her when she heard a steady heart beat.

Turning her attention to the battle on the other side of the clearing, Katara got up to help. Any enemy of the Fire Nation was a friend of hers. She rushed to the older man's side and bended the water soaking her clothes into a whip to knock the solider in the side of the head.

Distracted, he fell to the ground and she stood ready to fight beside the older man. He didn't give her a choice to fight, however, when he pushed her back towards The Blue Spirit before she could even see his face.

"Take care of the boy," he pleaded in a tired voice she thought she recognized. She didn't give it a second thought. She lowered her arms before turning to look at her masked friend. Katara nodded even though the older man couldn't see her and she rushed back to the Blue Spirits side. By the time she got there, the old man had beaten back the firebender to the trees and was soon out of her view.

Alone with the hurt Blue Spirit, she went to her knees beside his still form. He was soaking wet, like she had been, and his breathing was steady. Just knocked out.

She looked down at the mask and wondered if she moved to take it off, if he would wake up and stop her. She took a deep breath and reached down. Maybe he was hurt on his face; she could say she did it to see if there were any wounds. She lifted his head to untie the back bands and laid it back down on the ground when that was accomplished. She grabbed the corners of the mask and started to rise it up away from his face.

She sighed and put the mask back down on his face. She couldn't do that. He wore a mask for a reason, and she would respect that reason. Maybe he'd tell her why one day.

"One day," she said with a sad laugh. Like she'd be with him long enough for him to open up. She knew that wouldn't happen, but she wished for it anyway.

She tied his mask back on and started dragging him out of the clearing and back towards the river. She got him halfway there before the firebender came rushing back into the camp.
Katara stood and bended the water from his clothes this time to use as a weapon. "What happened to the old man?" she growled and the firebender lighted.

"I knocked him out and tied him up." He took out his sword and pointed the end at her. At least he was smart enough to know she had the advantage with her waterbending. "Don't worry though," he said and took a few steps toward her, "you and your blue friend will be joining him soon enough. To think we've been tracking the Avatar this whole time and we had bait right here in the woods."

Katara knew she was a master, but she had to be sure he didn't evaporate all her water with his firebending. Better to stay far away from him than try and attack. But she had to keep him away from the Blue Spirit, or he might use the unconscious man against her.

She waited for him to make the first move before knocking him back with a wall of water, smacking him into tree like she had Jet once before. She then bended the water into ice, but the man was a firebender and it didn't work because he quickly melted it.

Stupid, she thought as he came at her again, didn't she just say she wasn't gonna do that? She made the water blade-sharp and dodged most of his attacks by paring his blade with her own. But he was gaining ground, and she couldn't keep him from reaching The Blue Spirit if she didn't do something quick.

An idea popped into her head, and she went to execute it. But when she least expected it a blast of fire blinded her momentarily and the firebender's blade entered her arm above the shoulder. She cried out in pain. At the same time, she managed to send the man flying back into the same tree as before with a blast of water so hard it left a dent in his armor.

She grabbed her bleeding arm and waited for him to stand. She was helpless now, because there was no water. The ground had socked up everything she'd throw at him, and with one arm useless, it wouldn't help to try and bend it out. When the man didn't move or stand up she sagged to the ground in relief.

Crying softly in pain, she staggered over to the Blue Spirit and placed her head on his chest, just to be near him.

So many things went through her head. Her friends had escaped unharmed or they wouldn't be running. They hadn't come back for her because they were being followed. They most likely didn't know she was hurt.

She turned her head to look at the masked man who had saved her twice. She'd saved him once. Even if the life debt had been paid, she wouldn't leave now. She had no idea were her friends and brother were, and she wasn't going to wonder around alone.

She stood up and suddenly felt very dizzy. She was bleeding a lot, and she was sick of being hurt all the time. She grabbed him with one hand and dragged him through the trees until she couldn't drag him anymore.

She sat were she fell and looked down at him one last time. She'd leave him here until she healed herself. She couldn't wake him up with her waterbending even if she'd had water to bend. She stood up and walked slowly over towards the river.

"I'll be back," Katara said as she got further and further away.

This is where my Author Notes go...Enjoy.

Okay so this is going to be completely random but, oh well… There's been two things I've been trying to say for like three days and keep on forgetting to say in my another notes so here we go.

I have a favor to ask of you all. I'm trying to write a better summery of this story, -the thing that appears under the title when you go looking through the fanfic lists- yeah, that thing. It has to be fewer than 210 words long and I suck at writing them. Can someone help?

And two. You know how the whole Zuko-kidnaps-Katara thing is sooo overdone? Well, I bought the video game and that's the first thing he DOES!! I was laughing my butt off!!

After this things will start getting more fluffy between the two main chars. Mostly because I finally got rid of Iroh –evil giggle-

Reviews? I'm up to almost 100 now! –is elated- and over 6000 hits! -falls over in shock-