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 20: Friends and Enemies

Completely surprised when Katara jumped at him, Zuko had no choice but to spin them around to catch his balance -- not that he minded. She was so pretty in that one moment, with her eyes lit up and the biggest smile he'd ever seen on her face, he'd kissed her without a second thought; simply because he wanted to.

When Katara slipped her arms around his neck and leaned into his kiss, all the regret that he'd felt at doing it in front of all those people disappeared instantly. In fact, he wasn't sure if they were still cheering or not, and didn't particularly care; they didn't matter anymore.

A loud whoop coming from beside him, however, did get his attention and he reluctantly broke the kiss. He turned to see a smaller Fire Nation girl not much older than himself walking up from the group of contestants. Katara leaned back, still hanging on to his neck, and turned toward the other girl with a smile on her face that could rival the sun.

"I'd say that was 'the question' all right," a girl said, as she stopped beside them. "Good thing your answer was yes or you guys would have been so embarrassed."

The girl smiled brightly and Katara blushed, letting him go. Angry at first that she'd interrupted, he frowned down at her, but she only cocked her head. "What? Sorry to interrupt, but I figured you'd be going at it again later anyway." As Katara sputtered, the girl smirked and looked out at the crowd, "In a more private location, of course."

Zuko felt as if he'd been caught in a trap; he couldn't deny it, but he didn't want to acknowledge it either. He just looked down at Katara as she looped her arms around one if his and couldn't help but smile...just a little.

As the two girls beamed at each other, a very tall and well built youth walked toward them, wearing his Blue Spirit mask. Zuko knew for a fact that he was Earth Kingdom because he and the older boy had exchanged masks back in the tent, and Zuko had seen his face. Zuko looked down at Katara as she recognized the mask the youth was wearing and worriedly looked back at Zuko. The youth joined them seconds later, placing one arm around the Fire Nation girl's shoulders.

The Fire Nation girl stuck out her tongue. "That stuff smells horrible, Midori," she said, holding her nose.

"I told you the stupid cologne wouldn't work," the youth, Midori, grumbled. "You didn't even smile at me." If the guy had sounded any angrier, Zuko was sure the girl would start crying. "Serves you right to lose for once," Midori said and flicked his waist-length ponytail over his shoulder. Katara titled her head.

"You were the ones who won two years in a row, Akemi?" Katara asked, and Zuko didn't quiet understand what they were talking about.

"Yep," the Fire Nation girl - obviously named Akemi - replied with a prideful smile. "I just followed my nose, but it was hard enough before. The cologne just confused me." She shrugged and smiled at Zuko, who wanted to take a step back. "You guys didn't use any tricks, huh. You did that all on your own."

Akemi laughed before even waiting for an answer, and Zuko was relieved that the girl didn't sound jealous at all. He shifted to put an arm around Katara's shoulders. The movement was very similar to what Midori had done to Akemi before, and Zuko wondered when he'd picked it up.

"Young lady," a voice called from further down the stage. The group turned to see the portly judge walking towards them. "The prize is about to be awarded; would you like your warrior here to present it to you?" The man smiled at Zuko and the bottom half of Katara's face turned as red as the mask she was wearing.

His own blush was the reason Zuko didn't hesitate to march over and take the box from the man.

The crowd was still hanging around watching them, even though the contest was apparently over. Katara smiled warmly as she watched Lee walk over to the judge and all but snatch the prize out of the big man's hands. Akemi laughed so hard tears were in her eyes, and Midori shook his head slowly with an exasperated sigh.

"So, still worried about whether or not he wants to be with you?" the older girl asked with a smirk. Katara shook her head, not really sure what to say anymore. She placed a hand to her lips and smiled wider. He had kissed her back. He'd actually kissed her back.

It was all the proof she needed.

But despite how happy she felt, something else had caught her attention. Because she could see the lower half his face, she also saw the bruise that seemed to have crawled up his throat. She put her hand against her own throat unconsciously and grew worried. He'd been hurt, just like the warrior in the legend.

That was why he didn't talk; he most likely couldn't anymore. She had begun to wonder about it after thinking it over for a long time. She was sure she'd heard him speak to Aang on the ship the first time they'd met. She was beginning to think his voice was the one she'd heard in the river the day she'd healed her back.

Akemi let out a girlish sigh when Lee walked back over and held out the box to Katara. "I bet you he's blushing under that mask." She said none too quietly, and the redness spread to the lower half of Lee's face.

Katara got a really good idea as she took the box gently from his hand. She took hold of his hand before he could pull away and placed a kiss in the center of his palm. When she looked up at him, he was smiling, and he pulled her forward into his arms as the crowd cheered again.

"God, you three are making me sick," Midori said, as he went to the edge of the stage. "Akemi, let's go. Leave the two lovebirds to their fans."

"Awww," Akemi whined, and Katara giggled. "I wanted to hang out with Katara some more." Katara smiled when the girl went up to him and pulled on his arm with both of her own.

She was happy for them, coming from two opposing kingdoms and still being so much in love. But to see her friend hugging someone wearing the Blue Spirit's mask was just uncomfortable, and she turned to the real Blue Spirit to make herself feel better. Lee was standing tall as always; the mask he was wearing gave her a better view of his face, but kept enough of it hidden so that she figured he could still look like anybody.

Not to mention the fact that the bruise on his neck made her fingers itch to heal him.

"Then invite them to dinner," Midori was saying in a tone mimicking his girlfriend's whine when Katara looked back at the other couple. "I'll treat," he sighed and turned to the crowd, "like always."

The words had barely come out of his mouth when Lee grabbed Katara and put her behind him quickly.

"What?" she asked, getting Akemi and Midori's attention. Lee pointed out to the crowd and she and the others followed his finger to the middle of the crowd where trouble was brewing. And then Katara saw what Lee had seen only seconds before.

Three firebenders. In uniform. And five Fire Navy soldiers.

They were steadinly pushing their way through the crowd, spears at the ready. Akemi let out a sigh of frustration. "Those idiots have been here all day," she said, her tone full of disapproval. She put her hands on her hips and made another sound of anger. "Don't they know they won't get a word out of anyone here?"

"What are they even looking for?" Midori asked angrily, flipping his ponytail over his shoulder again as his lover walked up to the edge of the stage.

Katara looked up at Lee and saw his unconscious movement towards his back, noticing that he didn't have his swords with him anymore. She looked around for a water source and was troubled by the fact that nothing was close enough to help her. They could run, but she refused to leave her new friends here to deal with the repercussions of wearing Lee's mask in public.

Why hadn't she thought of it before? If they knew what Iroh looked like, they were sure to have a sketch of the Blue Spirit as well. She vaguely wondered if there was a poster of her now, but didn't get the chance to think too much on it. The soldiers had reached the stage, and were pointing their spears at Midori.

"Yes?" he asked with disdain.

"You're coming with us," one firebender said, taking a step toward the stage and looking up at the tall Earth youth.

"I don't think so." Midori answered. With absolutely no hesitation at all, he jumped off the stage and into the middle of the group of soldiers. Akemi sighed heavily and followed him a moment later.

Katara watched the pair fight in such sync with one another that she was sure they'd done it hundreds of times before. She quickly realized that although Midori wasn't a bender, Akemi was, even though she wasn't very powerful.

As Katara watched in horror, her concern for her new friends began to rise and she moved forward to help them, only to be held back by Lee. She glared up at him before turning back, soon realizing he'd held her back because the couple wasn't alone in their fight. It seemed that anyone close enough to help was doing so, and the crowd made quick work of the severely outnumbered soldiers.

Midori climbed back on the stage and turned to help Akemi up as Katara looked at them in surprise. The couple walked towards her and Lee, and Midori quickly took off the Blue Spirit mask and handed it to its original owner.

"Come with us," he said, and walked back toward the girls' tent. They went past it, and behind a few others before coming out along an almost empty back alley.

"You two need to go," Midori said severely and pulled Akemi closer to him.

She looked up at Katara with a sad smile. "Looks like you won't be able to come to dinner," she said miserably.

"You have no idea how lucky you were to end up here!" Midori continued angrily, holding Akemi closer to him as if to protect her. "The people of this city don't care who you are or what you are to the war, and the only reason they were fighting was because I jumped in."

He was almost yelling now, and guilt rose in Katara's throat as she looked at Akemi for help. The girl just shook her head and lowered her gaze to the ground.

"We're sorry-" Katara began, but Midori just held up a hand to silence her.

"Just leave," he said coldly, and turned to leave himself.

Akemi stayed behind for a second longer and waved goodbye sadly. Midori grabbed her arm and she too turned to go. Katara took a deep breath and wondered if she'd ever see the older girl again, knowing what Midori would say next.

"Your war isn't welcome here, and neither are you."

Zuko wanted to attack the tall youth, but not because they'd been turned away -- it would have happened sooner or later. No, Zuko wanted to hurt him because of what his rejection had done to Katara.

As the pair walked away, Katara took off her mask to wipe at the tears Midori's harsh words had left behind. Zuko took her gently by the shoulders and held her briefly before holding her at arm's length and looking down at her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and lowered her gaze to the ground.

Zuko took her face in his hands, and made her look at him again. He wanted to scream at her, to ask her why she was apologizing. If anything, this whole situation was his fault.

"Lee!" A call came from further down the alleyway, and they both turned at the familiar sound of Iroh's voice. He hurried up to them and folded his hands into his sleeves. "I've found a way out of the city that isn't guarded by the soldiers. We should go quickly." He looked around with a puzzled expression. "What happened to your friends? I thought I saw them lead you back here."

"They...had to go," Katara said sadly, and she took Zuko's hand in his own and squeezed it tightly. Zuko nodded, and motioned for his uncle to lead the way.

"Oh? What a shame," his uncle said, and Zuko saw the sad understanding in his eyes as he led them out into the streets again. "I had hoped to speak with them."

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

Okay, just because everybody is so confused: this fanfic happens sometime between The Blind Bandit and Zuko Alone. That would make this whole thing Book 2 Chapter 6 1/2.

-smiles- Hence the taking credit for teaching Zuko how to bend with his swords. mahahahahah

Thank you guys for all your support, it really is appreciated! You're all the reason I'm able to update so quickly; don't just give me all the credit on that, okay? If you didn't review I would lose my motivation!

See you next chapter! AND REVIEW!!

PS. Yes, Midori has a ponytail that goes all the way down to his ass. Just like my boyfriend's does. -squee-