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

Chapter 13: A Motion

Katara knew she should have said something. She knew it when he was the first to pull away. She knew she should, but couldn't find the right words anymore. She just sat there on the ground in an embarrassed silence. The Blue Spirit stood and walked over to the bag and swords that Katara had dropped. He picked up both, first looping the sheath over his head and fastening it to his back, then tucking the bag under his arm.

Katara stopped watching him for a second to turn her gaze to the ground and steady herself. He was human like everyone else. He had feelings and fears and he could become angry. And despite that, he wouldn't hit a girl.

Or maybe he just wouldn't hit her.

She lifted her head and started when he was standing right in front of her. He tilted his head at her and held out a hand. She stared at it for a second. She wanted to stand up on her own, but that would be rude. Maybe he was asking forgiveness for before? No; she was most likely reading into it too much.

She took his offered hand and he picked her up off the ground with ease. She smiled at him and dusted herself off. She noticed that he too was covered in the needle like leaves; she squashed the urge to clean him off.

"Why did you miss?" Katara asked as soon as she was on her feet. He took step back and shook his head.

"No," she grabbed his arm when he started to turn away. "I want to know why." He looked down at her hand and she released his arm. At least he didn't pull away again. He then raised his head up and looked at her for a few seconds. After a while he lowering his head and clenched his fists. He reached out to her quickly and she backed away without thinking.

The masked man shook his head and pointed at her.

Katara thought about it for a second. "You didn't want to hurt me?" she guessed.

He nodded and she felt the flood of joy filling her with affection. So it was just her; or at least she would assume that because she could.

She beamed at him. "Yeah, I guess that has been happening a lot lately." She shrugged it off, hoping he'd do the same. He lowered his head and turned around to walk in the direction of the river.

"Umm…" she said, and he half-turned around to look at her again. Katara knew that she had his full attention. She was going to apologize for hurting him. She wanted to say she was sorry for being afraid of him. But as she felt him looking at her and her insides shifted awkwardly, she knew that apologizing wouldn't change anything. She put on a big smile and placed her hand on her hips instead.

"You know I'm following you until we find the old man, right?" She asked with a bit of backbone in her voice. The Blue Spirit shook his head and continued walking. Worry filled her for a split second before he motioned for her to follow. She smiled and jogged to catch up, sliding into step beside him.

They had been walking for hours…. And Katara hadn't shut up yet. It didn't really matter because he'd stopped listen after the first hour; it was the constant stream of noise that was getting on his nerves. When he finally began listening again, Katara was saying something that he didn't really want to hear.

"I think you're from the Earth Kingdom," was the only thing he heard before tuning her out again.

Were all girls like this? If they were, he feared for his sanity. This one alone was almost too much to stand. He'd actually enjoyed listening to her voice at first. Who knew that anyone could talk at such length?

The mid-afternoon sun had already sunk under the tree line when he'd had about enough. He put one hand over the shared hilt of both swords, and drew them slightly out of their sheath, just enough to make a sound.

The talking noises stopped and Zuko was pleased.

Smirking to himself, he released his grip and kept walking. They'd learned in the port city that the Fire Navy had moved downstream earlier that morning. If they kept going, they'd cross paths with it again in about two days.

Two days no word of how his uncle was doing in their 'care,' and two days alone with this infuriating girl.

But, despite being annoying, Katara had once again put him in a good mood-- something even his uncle couldn't do. How was she able to do that anyway? What about her was so different?

The silence was short lived, however, when she began a new round of questions. "So, I know you don't talk," she said slyly, "but why? I mean, I heard you talking to Aang on the ship: why won't you talk to me?"

Zuko ignored her. Even if he'd wanted to, there were far too many reasons not to answer. So he kept on going, his legs feeling the strain of a hard days walk.

He had one nice thing to say about traveling with her though: she knew her way around. She'd not only managed to find a map, but read it effectively enough to cut their trip in half. Zuko had never bothered to learn how to read a map; he'd always had a ship full of people to do such things for him. He'd never had to learn after his crew had been seized by Zhao either; his uncle always knew where they were going.

But now, his uncle wasn't here, and Zuko was stuck following the girl who was. She had gained some ground on him for she was no longer a few feet behind, but rather a few inches. He half considered stopping right there, just to tease her. And then he wondered where that thought had come from.

What was it about that girl?!

When she opened her mouth to speak again, he spun on his heels. The motion caused her to run into him, and also succeeded in shutting her up. However, this also resulted in her losing her balance. He quickly caught her by the wrists in response, steadying her before letting her go.

She glared up at him. "What was tha- um." Her sentence stopped when his finger lightly covered her lips.

In shock, she looked into his mask, into the eyes she couldn't see.

And blushed.

Why was she blushing?

The thought had barely registered in his head before his own traitorous face responded in kind.

Why was he blushing?!

He stepped away swiftly, glad she couldn't see the look on his face, turned around, and kept walking.

Katara watched him go and slowly placed a hand on her cheek. What had that been? And why was she blushing about it?

She was very sure he hadn't meant anything by it but 'be quiet', but the way that he'd done it made her think of something much less…proper. He'd done it once before, and it had surprised her then, because it had seemed like something Haru would have done.

This time, it surprised her because it reminded her of Jet. Thinking about it, the two were similar in some ways, especially the whole "bad buy" exterior thing. But she knew that the Blue Spirit couldn't possibly be as evil as Jet had been.

And without the dark intent behind it, the motion was that much more enjoyable. She vaguely wondered if the Blue Spirit was as good looking as Jet or Haru, before quickly squishing the girlish thought. It really didn't matter what he looked like, she liked him for who he was.

Wait. She liked him? When did that happen? She was suddenly very sure it had only just happened. She had finally taken that last step into the depths of like. She looked up at him once more to make sure…

And saw him taking the last oblivious step into the depths of…

"Cliff!!"

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

Okay, I'm sorry… I HAD TO. Just to make fun of it. Don't worry-- he's fine! I'm saying it now so you don't freak out.

And if you must hate something… hate the idea, not me. It wasn't even my idea, it was my muse's. -blameher-

Thank you guy for your reviews!!!

If you want a little more--and I do mean a little-- check out the newest addition to my story list.

Possible spoilers for future chapter lie within. –spoilerwhores rejoice-